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Trem: A Short Memoir of Lieut. Elias Tremlett, DSO, 9th Devonshire Regiment & Machine Gun Corps, LL.B. (London) of Gray's Inn, Barrister-at-Law.
1st Ed., 130pp., 190x130mm, portrait frontis., 4 plates (including original wooden cross grave marker at Mory Abbey Cemetery and a memorial plaque erected in his memory in Crediton Church, Devon). Partridge & Co. [1919].
#69304
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Elias Tremlett was born in 1890 and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Crediton, University College, London (Faculty of Laws) and studied for the Bar at Gray's Inn. He was a member of the O.T.C. at university, enlisted in the University and Public Schools Corps at Epsom in September 1914 and received a commission in the 9th (Service) Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in December. In November 1915 he accompanied the Battalion to Egypt and two months later became attached to the 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. With this unit he was transferred to France in March 1916, serving for some months in the Somme sector near Beaumont Hamel before moving to the Ypres Salient in July. In October he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and came home to Grantham for specialist training. He was posted to the 208th Machine Gun Company and returned to France with this unit in March 1917. He was awarded the D.S.O. for Arras, 3rd May 1917 (the official citation stated: "He organised a bombing attack and succeeded in working his way down 500 yards of the enemy's trench. Throughout the attack he showed admirable coolness and greatly stimulated the men under his command.") Of the battle he wrote: "It was a terrible experience, but, thank God, it is over now! …How I escaped is simply a marvel to me even now… I lost about half my men, three killed and several missing… very sad to see the remnant on parade…" He was mortally wounded on 22nd May 1917: "Trem was still in the trenches talking in the midst of a little group of officers and men… when a great shell from one of the enemy's 'heavies' came over, and burst in their immediate vicinity. Trem fell mortally wounded and two of the others were severely injured…" He died of wounds that night (date of death recorded officially as taking place on the 23rd May), was twenty-seven years old and is buried in Mory Abbey Military Cemetery, Mory. A detailed biography including extracts from his letters from the Front etc. He seems to have faced the prospect of death in action with equanimity, bolstered by religious faith: as early as 1914 he had written "Of course, if we go to the front, a great number of us will never come back, and equally of course, I may be one of those who don't; but then it is a glorious death and you must die sometime. It seems to me that by fearing death we show want of faith in the existence of Heaven and immortality." Orig. blue cloth, gilt to sp. & front, minor wear, VG, with presentation inscrip. "To Dear May from Auntie Grace in memory of our darling 'Trem' January 1921." See illustrations on our website.
£165
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