Lieutenant
JOHN ALGERNON LEVENTHORPE
Royal Engineers

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE, P.E., MinstRE
(May 2025)

Figure 1. Lieutenant John Algernon Leventhorpe, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

1. INTRODUCTION

Lieutenant Leventhorpe was a Regular Army officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers. He was commissioned in 1912 and served in the 56^th Field Company during the Great War, one of the most heavily engaged companies of the Royal Engineers. The company suffered an extremely high rate of casualties in all ranks. Two thirds of the officers that were in the company when it went to France in August 1914 were killed, including Leventhorpe.

2. FAMILY INFORMATION AND EARLY LIFE

Family Information

John Algernon Leventhorpe was born in Jubbulpore, India on 20 April 1893. He was the son of John Bonfoy Leventhorpe (1855-?) and Nina Jane Wilkins Leventhorpe, née Betham (1867-1935).[1] John Bonfoy Leventhorpe, A.M.I.C.E., worked as a Civil Engineer in the India Department of Public Works from 1877 to 1910 when he retired as Chief Engineer and Secretary to the Commissioner of Public Works.[2]

Early Life

John Algernon Leventhorpe attended St. Clare School in Walmer, Kent. He then attended Marlborough College where he played on the Cricket XI and the Football XV. After Marlborough he attended the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich where upon graduation he was commissioned in the Royal Engineers.[3]

Figure 2. St. Clare School.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

3. COMMISSIONING AND TRAINING

Commissioning

Leventhorpe was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant on 19 July 1912. As a young officer he was a member of the Marlburian Club and the Junior Army and Navy Club. Following his commissioning, Leventhorpe attended the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.) at Chatham, Kent for his Young Officer training.

Training

Leventhorpe’s military training at Chatham included courses in field fortifications, construction, surveying, telegraphy, electric lighting, submarine mining, photography, chemistry, military law and tactics. The Field Fortifications course lasted for 4 months and 23 days. This course consisted of field and siege engineering, field defence, attack of fortresses, mining construction, demolition of railways and water supply. The Construction course was 6 months and covered building materials, engineering construction, hydraulics, construction of barracks, drainage, manufacture of iron and steel, mining, quarrying and machinery. Next came the Surveying course consisting of five months of technical training in geodesy, astronomy, meteorology, trigonometrical chain and road surveys and use of surveying instruments. One to two months of military topography followed, which included military surveying and sketching and elementary reconnaissance. In the School of Telegraphy, Electric Lighting and Submarine Mining he studied the theory of electricity, use of telegraph instruments, bracing and connecting instruments, making of batteries, firing mines and testing tubes. All of this was accomplished in two months with an additional one month devoted to electric lighting, signalling by flag, lamps and heliograph. The School of Chemistry was a short course of varying length that generally covered practical chemistry, especially relating to limes, concrete and other building materials. Finally, the School of Military Law and Tactics, also a course of varying length, consisted of special lectures in law and tactics as dictated by current military situations. This training at the School of Military Engineering lasted for just under 24 months.

4. POSTINGS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

Upon completion of his training at Chatham, Leventhorpe was posted to the 56^th Field Company with the 3^rd Division at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The engineer units in the 3^rd Division at the time consisted of the following companies:[4]

· 56^th Field Company

· 57^th Field Company[5]

· 3^rd Divisional Signal Company

The Commander Royal Engineers (CRE) of the 3^rd Division was Lieutenant Colonel C.S. Wilson, R.E.[6] His Adjutant was Captain Theodore Wright, R.E.[7]

Figure 3. Captain Theodore Wright, VC, R.E.
(Image from the author’s collection)

The following officers served with Leventhorpe in the 56^th Field Company:[8]

· Major Norman John Hopkins, R.E. (Company OIC)[9]

· Captain John James Henry Nation, R.E. (Company 2IC)[10]

· Lieutenant Clive Guise Moores, R.E. (OC, No. 1 Section)[11]

· Lieutenant Cyril Gordon Martin, R.E. (OC, No. 3 Section)[12]

· 2^nd Lieutenant Herbert Wilfrid Holt, R.E. (Special Reserve) (OC, No. 4 Section)

Leventhorpe commanded No. 2 Section of the company.

Figure 4. Major Norman John Hopkins, R.E.

Figure 5. Lieutenant Cyril Gordon Martin, R.E.

Figure 6. Lieutenant Clive Guise Moores, R.E.

(Images courtesy of the IWM and De Ruvigny)

On 4 August 1914, the day war was declared, the men of the 56^th Field Company began a vaccination and inoculation program and route marching to get the men and horses of the company fit. The company left Bulford at 0200 hours on 16 August and arrived at Southampton Docks at 1300 hours that same day. They finished loading their ship at 1800 hours and left the dock to anchor off the Isle of Wight.[13]

On 17 August the company crossed to France and sailed up the River Seine for Rouen. The ship was unloaded by 1100 hours on 18 August and the company marched to a camp about two miles south of Rouen. On 19 August the company marched from the camp at Rouen at 0300 hours and moved to the Gare du Nord railway station where it entrained for a long journey through Amiens to Sasseignes, arriving there at about 1800 hours.[14] The company moved closer to the front line during the period from 20 to 23 August, where on that latter date it became involved in the battle of Mons.

The Battle of Mons (23-24 August 1914)[15]

This was the first battle fought by the British Army against the Germans on the Western Front in the Great War. The battle came about simply because pre-war plans had placed the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the way of the German advance towards Paris. By 22 August the four infantry divisions and one cavalry division of the British Expeditionary Force had disembarked in France and taken up their positions near the fortress town of Maubeuge, some miles south of Mons on the extreme left of the Allied line. General Lanrezac’s French Fifth Army was on the right of the British. By this time the German armies were moving en masse towards the west. Their plan had placed much strength on their right flank, which was by now streaming through Belgium with the First Army under von Kluck – the largest of their armies – wheeling round past Brussels to Ath and Mons. The British command quickly became convinced by cavalry reports, together with those by aerial observation, that German troops were closing in on Mons.

The total British casualties amounted to just over 1,600 of all ranks, killed, wounded and missing, during the Battle of Mons. Among those killed on 23 August was 2^nd Lieutenant Holt who was caught on a bridge by the advancing Germans. Other fatal casualties of the 56^th Field Company during the battle included:[16]

· 13113 Corporal Harry John Wiffen (23 August 1914)

· 22421 Sapper Stanley Thomas Ellison (23 August 1914)

· 9422 Sapper F. Johnson (23 August 1914)

· 23809 Sapper Harry Rodford (23 August 1914)

· 25574 Driver Ernest Thomas Woolbard (24 August 1914)

Following the battle of Mons, the company next became involved in a series of major actions as described below.

The Battle of Le Cateau (26 August 1914)[17]

By nightfall of 25 August 1914 the retreating British II Corps was being closely pursued by the German First Army. I Corps was some way away to the east, and although the newly-arrived 4th Division was moving up alongside II Corps it was clear that the disorganized and greatly fatigued units faced a calamity the next day if the withdrawal was forced to continue. Corps Commander Horace Smith-Dorrien ordered II Corps to stand and fight. The units of the Corps were arranged in the open downs to the west of the small town of Le Cateau.

For long hours during the morning of 26 August, the British force, notably the field artillery, held overwhelming numbers of the enemy at bay. British tactics were similar to those at Mons. The infantry produced intensive and accurate rifle fire, while the field artillery fired air-bursting shrapnel rounds on the unprotected advancing enemy infantry. Many field guns were fired at point-blank range over open sights. But the British artillery was also exposed and came in for heavy punishment from the German guns. Some were withdrawn just as the enemy infantry closed in. For the second time in three days, the British force engaged withdrew just in time. Miraculously, the exhausted II Corps disengaged and withdrew towards the south during the afternoon. Smith-Dorrien’s decision to turn II Corps around from retreat and to stand against the German advance at Le Cateau paid off handsomely. Heavy casualties were inflicted on the Germans and another delay imposed on their Schlieffen timetable. To the east, I Corps was able to move further away from the advance parties of the Germans. However, a rift grew between Sir John French (who had initially ordered a continuation of the retreat) and Smith-Dorrien as a result of this action. It was to have serious consequences in 1915.[18]

Figure 7. The Battle of Le Cateau, 26 August 1914.
(Image courtesy of The Long, Long Trail)

Fatal casualties suffered by the 56^th Field Company included:[19]

· 24748 Pioneer R. Tegg (25 August 1914)

· 24876 Driver E. Welch (26 August 1914)

· 19902 Sapper Albert Warlow (28 August 1914)

The First Battle of the Marne (7-10 September 1914)[20]

By 5 September 1914 the continuing retreat of the British Expeditionary Force and its effective disengagement from the pursuing Germans had taken it across the River Marne and well to the south east of Paris. At the same time, French Commander-in-Chief Joffre had taken steps to form a new Sixth Army and positioned it north of the Marne, from where it could strike into the flank of the Germans. On 6 September the British Divisions turned about and began to move northwards after two weeks of continuous southward retreat and the French Sixth Army was already engaging the Germans who were having to move units back across the Marne to counter the French threat. To the east of the British, the French Fifth and Ninth Armies also began to engage the enemy.

On 7 September 1914 the French attacks continued and the British Expeditionary Force advanced northwards. Forward units crossed the Grand Morin and on 8 September the northward movement continued. The BEF crossed the Petit Morin and approached the River Marne once again. On 9 September the British force fought its way across the Marne, against stiffening German resistance. The advance continued for several more days but the Battle of the Marne had been won. The 56^th Field Company lost one man killed during the battle.

· 17565 Sapper W. Archibald (6 September 1914)

The First Battle of the Aisne (12-15 September 1914)[21]

On 13 September 1914 the lead elements of the British Expeditionary Force made an opposed crossing of the River Aisne and the Aisne canal, which joins it at an angle, and reached the lower slopes below the German forces now digging in along the Chemin des Dames ridge.[22]

During the battle a company of the Royal Scots Fusiliers was holding a barricade at the north end of a bridge over the Mons-Condé canal. The firing on the position had become so violent and the casualties were so numerous that a retirement had been decided on. Lance-Corporal Alfred Jarvis, of the Royal Engineers, was then called upon to destroy the bridge but was without the exploder and leads. It was then that he met Captain Theodore Wright, Adjutant of the 3^rd Divisional Engineers, who had been wounded in the head. Wright told Jarvis to go back to the bridge and he [Wright] would bring the necessary equipment to set off the charges.

It was while attempting to connect the leads under the bridge to blow the bridge that Wright earned his Victoria Cross. Time and again he tried to get at the end of the leads but each time he raised his head above the level of the towpath he was fired upon from about thirty yards off. Eventually he gave up the attempt and in swinging himself back under the girder of the bridge he lost his grip and owing to exhaustion fell into the canal, and was pulled out by a Sergeant Smith. (Lance Corporal Alfred Jarvis was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action).

Figure 8. Corporal Alfred Jarvis, VC, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

At Vailly, on 14 September 1914, Captain Wright assisted the passage of the 5th Cavalry Brigade over a pontoon bridge, and was mortally wounded while assisting wounded men into shelter. An officer of the Scots Greys wrote in a letter later: "We got across the river the day before yesterday a bit before our time and we had to go back over a pontoon bridge considerably quicker than was pleasant, under a very heavy fire too. At the end of the bridge was an Engineer officer repairing bits blown off and putting down straw as cool as a cucumber – the finest thing I ever saw. The poor fellow was killed just after my troops got across. No man earned a better Victoria Cross."

Wright's citation in the London Gazette reads:

“For Gallantry at Mons on 23rd August in attempting to connect up the lead to demolish a bridge under heavy fire; although wounded in the head he made a second attempt. At Vailly, on 14th September, he assisted the passage of 5th Cavalry Brigade over the pontoon bridge and was mortally wounded whilst assisting wounded men into shelter.”

Wright was buried at the Vailly British Cemetery in France.

The Battle of La Bassee (10 October – 2 November 1914)

The whole British Expeditionary Force moved to Flanders from the Aisne, as part of an effort to outflank the Germans in France. On arrival it encountered German forces moving to outflank the Allies. The British II and III Corps arrived in Flanders after the journey from the south. Substantial German forces, mainly cavalry screens, approached the British positions and contact was soon made and developed into battles of encounter (or movements to contact). II Corps advanced until it ran into enemy forces along the line Estaires – Richebourg – Festubert – Givenchy. This developed into the Battle of La Bassée. One man of the 56^th Field Company was killed in action during this battle.[23]

· 12973 Corporal James Alexander Stephen (28 October 1914)

The First Battle of Ypres (19 October – 22 November 1914)

Often known as the First Battle of Ypres, this is a series of named battles that also form part of an outflanking movement. It became a desperate epic fight east of the city of Ypres which finally resulted in stalemate and entrenched warfare. It took place at the same time as the Battle of the Yser, fought nearby by the Belgian Army against the Germans, and the battles to the south at Messines, Armentieres and La Bassee.

During the battle of Ypres, Lieutenant Leventhorpe was wounded in action on 12 November 1914, 24583 Pioneer S. Long was killed in action on 16 November 1914 and Captain Clive Guise Moores, R.E. died of wounds on 30 November 1914.

Moores had been promoted Captain in about October 1914. The company War Diary on 18 November states that “names were called for despatches” and Lt. CG Moores’ name was “sent in.” On 30 November, while in the front line at Kemmel, there is a separate note stating: ”Capt. Neville wounded, Lieut. Moores killed,” and the main diary says: ” Lt. Moores killed whilst working in the front trenches; Capt. Neville wounded, ditto.” On the following day the diary contains the entry: “Lt. Moores was killed last night and Capt. Neville wounded by a German sniper.” Another separate note records: “German saps to within 15 yards of firing line.” A separate account by an eye-witness states (of Captain Lionel John Neville of the 5^th Field Company) that within an hour of his arrival on duty in the firing zone at Kemmel, he was wounded by a chance bullet, which after passing through his chest lodged in the heart of his brother officer, Captain C. G. Moores, R.E. His service record states that Moores was transported to the No. 2 Clearing Hospital, but was found to be dead on arrival through loss of blood.[24] Captain Neville died on 17 December 1914.[25]

On 22 December 1914 the 438^th (1/1^st Cheshire) Field Company joined the 3^rd Division, thus providing the division with its third field company in accordance with the new organization of the infantry division.[26]

Lieutenant Leventhorpe was Mentioned in Sir John French’s Despatch of 14 January 1915 for his performance of duty during the battle of Ypres. The Mention was not published in the London Gazette until 17 February 1915, so Leventhorpe may not have been aware of it. He was shot and killed while working in the trenches near Kemmel on 23 January 1915. An entry in a soldier’s diary describes the events of 23 January at Kemmel: “Trenches heavy shellfire from SE believed to be 6” Howitzers at 12 noon and 4pm, trenches damaged by rifle fire on our left all through the night.”[27] This rifle fire described by the soldier may have been the fire that killed Lieutenant Leventhorpe.

Leventhorpe was originally buried at Beaver Farm Cemetery, but his body was exhumed in December 1919 and reburied at Wytschaete (White Sheet) Military Cemetery as part of the burial concentration program after the war. He was one of 18 Royal Engineers and 4 Canadian Engineers originally buried at Beaver Farm Cemetery and later exhumed. They were all reburied in Wytschaete Military Cemetery, Heuvelland, Arrondissement, Ieper, West Flanders, (West-Vlaanderen), Belgium. Lieutenant Leventhorpe was interred in Section 1V, Row B, Grave 11.[28]

Figure 9. The Grave of Lieutenant J.A. Leventhorpe, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Find a Grave)

Figure 10. A Curious Cross Found on the Grave of Lieutenant Leventhorpe(Image courtesy of Forest Hill Road Cemetery)

The details on the cross (see Figure 11 below) read:

JOHN

ALGERNON

LEVENTHORPE

56^th Coy RE

Killed in action

NEAR

KEMMEL

23-1-1915

The cross appears to have been constructed from door straps or something similar that had been found on the battlefield. A plate has been attached to the cross with lettering that appears to have been inscribed on it using a hole punch. This cross may well have been fabricated by one of the men of Leventhorpe’s section as a tribute to his commander.

Figure 11. Details of the Cross.
(Image courtesy of Forest Hill Road Cemetery)

5. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

For his service in the Great War of 1914-1918, Lieutenant Leventhorpe was awarded the 1914 Star and bar, British War Medal and Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches oak leaf. His family was awarded the bronze Memorial Plaque to commemorate his death during the war.

Figure 12. The 1914 Star and bar, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Image from the author’s collection)

Figure 13. The Memorial Plaque.
(Image from the author’s collection)

Figure 14. Medal Index Card of Lieutenant J.A. Leventhorpe, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

NOTE: The medals and plaque shown above are not those of Lieutenant Leventhorpe. They are presented here for illustrative purposes only.

REFERENCES

Books

1. De Ruvigny, Marquis. Biographical Record of All Members of His Majesty’s Naval and Military Forces Who have Fallen in the War. Volume I. The Standard Art Book Company, Ltd., December 1916.

2. HAYWARD, J.B. Honours and Awards of the Old Contemptibles. Arms and Armour Press, London, 1971.

3. HMSO. Naval and Military Despatches, 11/1914-6/1915. Darling and Son Limited, London, 1915.

4. MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE. Marlborough College Register from 1843-1933. The Bursar, Marlborough College, Marlborough, Wilts., 1936, p. 52.

Census

1. 1901 Census of England (RG 13/1488).

2. 1911 Census of England and Wales.

Civil Documents

UK 1915 Probate Calendar, p. 53.

Internet Web Sites

1. Fold3 Military Records.

https://www.fold3.com/

2. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.