World War Rolls of Honour at Lord's

Date released: 6 November 2007

Famous for the Honours Boards in the home and away dressing rooms, which show the names of some of the world's best batsmen and bowlers, Lord's also has Honours Boards of a very different kind.

WWI Roll of Honour This year Remembrance Day coincides with Remembrance Sunday, 11th November. What better time to revisit the First World War and Second World War Roll of Honour Boards, which carry the names of MCC Members who fell during the two wars?

The original First World War Roll of Honour was commissioned by the Club in 1920.

When honorary life Member, Trefor Jones, undertook research to compile a list of Members who had fallen in the Second World War the names on the record on the First World War Roll were also examined.

Second World War Roll of Honour As with many memorials erected soon after the War, a number of errors were found.

Accordingly, the MCC Committee decided to commission a Roll of Honour for Members who fell in the Second World War and to adjust, correct and refurbish the First World War Roll too.

The two boards were unveiled by Field Marshal the Right Honourable The Lord Bramall in 2005 and were dedicated by the Right Reverend Weekes.

The lists count 612 names, including: five recipients of the Victoria Cross, six Test match cricketers and 98 other Members who had played first-class cricket.

• First World War - Roll of Honour
• Second World War - Roll of Honour

You can see the Rolls of Honour (and the batting and bowling Honours Boards) on an official Tour of Lord's.

Each Roll of Honour includes a 'key' to the names including information on their rank, regiment and final resting place.

• Tours of Lord's

Victoria Cross recipients

Five MCC Members were recipients of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

^{VC research courtesy of wikipedia.org}

First World War

John Fitzhardinge Paul Butler: was 25 years old and a lieutenant in The King's Royal Rifle Corps, British Army, attached to Pioneer Coy., Gold Coast Regiment, West African Frontier Force during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 17 November 1914 in the Cameroons, Nigeria, Lieutenant Butler with a party of 13 men went into the thick bush and attacked a force of about 100 of the enemy, including several Europeans, defeated them and captured their machinegun and many loads of ammunition.

On 27 December when on patrol duty with a few men, Lieutenant Butler swam the Ekam River, which was held by the enemy, alone and in the face of brisk fire. He completed his reconnaissance on the further bank and returned to safety.

He was killed in action Motomba, on 5 September 1916.

Francis Octavius Grenfell: was aged 33 and a Captain in the 9th Lancers (The Queen's Royal) during the First World War - when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 24 August 1914 at Audregnies, Belgium, Captain Grenfell rode with the regiment in a charge against a large body of unbroken German infantry. The casualties were very heavy and the captain was left as the senior officer.

He was rallying part of the regiment behind a railway embankment when he was twice hit and severely wounded.

In spite of his injuries, however, when asked for help in saving the guns, by the commander (Ernest Wright Alexander) of the 119th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, he and some volunteers, under a hail of bullets, helped to manhandle and push the guns out of range of enemy fire.

He was later killed in action, Hooge, Belgium, on 24 May 1915.

Second World War

Bernard Armitage Warburton-Lee: was 44 years old, and a captain in the Royal Navy during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 10 April 1940 in Ofotfjord, Narvik, Norway, in the First Battle of Narvik Captain Warburton-Lee of HMS Hardy led a flotilla of five destroyers in a surprise attack on German destroyers and merchant ships in a blinding snowstorm.

This was successful, and was almost immediately followed by an engagement with five more German destroyers, during which Captain Warburton-Lee was mortally wounded by a shell which hit Hardy's bridge. In 1942 he was awarded the Norwegian War Cross.

Charles Antony Lyell, 2nd Baron Lyell: was 29 years old, and a temporary captain in the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

During the period 22 April/27 April 1943 near Dj Bou Arada, Tunisia, Captain Lord Lyell's outstanding leadership and gallantry enabled his company to take its objective.

On 27 April accompanied by a Sergeant, a Lance-Corporal and two Guardsmen, he led an attack on an enemy post consisting of an 88mm gun and a heavy machine-gun in two separate pits.

He destroyed the crew of the machine-gun with a hand grenade and then, three of the party having become casualties, and with the lance-corporal to give covering fire he leapt into the second pit, killing several of the crew before being overwhelmed and killed. Both the guns had been silenced.

Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes: formed part of a force formulated to attack various objectives behind enemy lines.

For the operation, codenamed "Flipper", Keyes deliberately selected the most hazardous task for himself: the assault on the Headquarters of the General Officer Commanding the German Forces in North Africa - at the time General Rommel.

Keyes led his men on an 1,800 foot climb and an approach march of 18 miles in pitch darkness and torrential rain.

Keyes led a courageous but ultimately failed assault on their target and was awarded the VC posthumously.