Captain Wilfred Curwen

Captain Wilfred John Hutton Curwen of the 6th Battalion, attached to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. He was killed in action at the second battles of Ypres on 9th May 1915. He was 32 years old, born 14th April 1883 in Beckenham, Kent. He was the son of John and Maria Curwen. When the war broke out was serving as ADC to the Right Hon. Sir R C Munro-Ferguson, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth of Australia. Captain Curwen was then a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, London Regiment (TF), which he had entered in April, 1911, being promoted Lieutenant in July, 1912. He had also previously served as ADC to Sir John Fuller, Governor of Victoria, and also to the Right Hon Lord Denman when Governor-General of Australia. On war being declared he obtained permission to resign his appointment as ADC to Munro-Ferguson, and returning to England as soon as possible, offered his services, which were immediately accepted, and on joining he was promoted Captain in the 6th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, on December 25th, 1915. Born at Beckenham, Kent, in 1883, he was the only son of John M. Curwen, Esq., and Mrs. Curwen, of The High House, Thames Ditton, Surrey, and of 53, Carlisle Mansions, S.W., and was educated at Charterhouse and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was brother-in-law to the famous Charterhouse and Oxford half-back, Mr. C. Wreford Brown, to whom his sister was married. He was an excellent cricketer, and a fine Association football player, and represented his school and University at both games, and played against Cambridge at Lord's. He also belonged to the I Zingari, the Free Foresters, the Harlequins, and the M.C.C., and represented Charterhouse at rackets, also playing football for the Old Carthusians on many occasions. He was a member of the Bath Club. He fell in action on 9th May, 1915, in the second Battle of Ypres, and was Acting Adjutant at the time of his death, being killed at a critical moment in the fighting, while gallantly directing some of his men. There is no known grave as he was buried near to where he died. He is commemorated on Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 6 and 8. See also the Charterhouse War Memorial.