Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 18

W ORLD W AR O NE (1914 - 1918) INCLUDING THOSE WHO DIED LATER AS A RESULT OF THIS WAR

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name JAMES CROMWELL BUSH (Capt)

Roll Number 1184 Died 07:10:1917

Set / House E

Arrive SES 1904

Lef SES 1910

Where ROULERS, FLANDERS, BELGIUM Serving with 22 SQD, ROYAL FLYING CORPS

Age 26

Buried Neuville-en-Ferrain Communal Cemetery, Calais, France Remembered

War Memorial Neuville-en-Ferrain, Memorial Cross, Haslemere, Surrey and The St. Edward’s School Chapel (Wooden Plaque) and The Cloisters Stone Memorial

Born in Salisbury 1891, eldest of three SES brothers, sons of a clergyman. He was also a descendant of Oliver Cromwell. All served in The Great War and, apart from James, survived. At St. Edward’s James was appointed a School Prefect and was a member of the Cricket XI 1910, Rugby Football XV 1909 and the Rowing IV and VIII 1908 and 1909. He was in the Upper VIth Form. In 1911 he left for Ceylon then moved to Coorg, South India in 1913. In both countries he suffered ill health, often necessitating return trips to England for medical care. During his final trip to England in 1914, he began an estate agency business. In 1914 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, promoted to Lieutenant in 1915. Attended Machine Gun Instructor Course, before moving with his regiment to the Dardanelles in July 1915. Involved in the great attack on Sari Bahr, despite suffering from dysentery and malaria - eventually invalided back to England in October. In December he returned to the Dardanelles where he was awarded the MC and Mentioned in Dispatches. Appointed Aides-de camp to Brigadier General Short, Royal Artillery, Egypt January 1916. Promoted to Captain in September, transferred to Dorsetshire Regiment/Royal Flying Corps September 1917. Disappeared in fog over Belgium October 1917, his death later confirmed by a note dropped by the enemy that Bush and his navigator had been killed behind their lines, over Roulers on 7th October. By the time of his death, Bush was an experienced flyer and had five ‘kills’ to his name.