Ronald D’Arcy Fife

Ronald D’Arcy Fife was born in Scarborough in April 1868. He served in India and Afghanistan where he was wounded, Burma and in the Boer War. He raised the 7th Battalion and led them in France. They were almost all wiped out at Fricourt on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. In April 1917 he was appointed to command a brigade but was seriously wounded and invalided out. During the bitterly cold winter of 1916/17 a general complained to Colonel Fife that his officers were not looking very cheerful. Fife’s reaction was to contemplate detailing an officer in each company as a designated buffoon with orders to put on an act as soon as the general was seen to be heading towards them. He was married to Alice Louisa Grey who died in 1898 and later remarried to Margaret Rutson with whom he had one daughter and one adopted daughter. He wrote his memoirs in Mosaic of Memories, and died on 17 Nov 1946.

Regimental Details | Commanding Officers