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Colonel
ARTHUR WILDERS MONTAGU MAWBY, O.B.E., T.D.
Royal Engineers (T.F. and T.A.) 

by 

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE, P.E., MinstRE
(April 2026)

Figure 1. A.W.M. Mawby as a Lieutenant Colonel, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum) 

1. INTRODUCTION

            Arthur Mawby served for a combination of 23 years in the Royal Engineers Territorial Force during the Great War of 1914-1918 and in the Territorial Army following the war and up to the start of World War 2.  He started his military career in the London Electrical Engineers, R.E. and ended it as a Colonel commanding an Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battalion.  His father served for a short period at home during the Great War and his brother served with an infantry regiment during that war.

2. EARLY LIFE

            Arthur Wilders Montagu Mawby was born on 16 September 1888 in Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire, a village in Tameside, Greater Manchester.  He was the son of Frank Wilders Mawby (1862-1923), a 25-year old medical student, and Emily (Amy) Mawby, née Summerson (1852-1938).[1] 

            The 1891 Census of England shows the Mawby family residing at 234 Kings Road in Kingston, Surrey.  By that time his father had completed his studies and had qualified as a practicing physician.  In 1896 his brother, Claude William Mawby (1896-1975) was born in Littleport, Cambridgeshire[2] where the family was residing at 25 Silt Road in Littleport.[3]

Figure 2.  The Mawby Residence at 234 Kings Road, Kington, Surrey.
(Image courtesy of Google Earth) 

            Arthur received his primary education at King’s School[4] in Ely, Cambridgeshire and in 1907 he entered the University of London, City and Guilds College.[5]  He graduated in 1910 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and was appointed an Associate of the City and Guilds Institute (A.C.G.I.).  The Associateship of the City and Guilds of London Institute was awarded to undergraduates of the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London upon completion of their studies.  The A.C.G.I. is a legacy of the historic City and Guilds College and association between the City and Guilds of London and the college.[6] 

            The 1911 Census of England shows Arthur Mawby living at 209 Slade Road, Gravelly Hill, Birmingham as a boarder in the home of one Harry Richards and his wife and daughter.  At the time, Mawby was employed as a Draughtsman with The General Electric Company (GEC) at Witton, near Birmingham.  The company was heavily invested in electric lighting, a sector that proved to be immensely profitable in the long term. The GEC was heavily impacted by the outbreak of the Great War, supplying various goods to the military, and thus becoming a major player in the electrical industry.[7] 

            On 25 June 1915, Arthur’s brother Claude was appointed a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 1/1^st Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment.  Claude had been a Cadet in the Cambridgeshire University Contingent, Senior Division, of the university’s Officer Training Corps.[8]  The 1/1^st Battalion of the regiment was the only battalion to serve abroad during the war.  It landed at Le Havre, France on 15 February 1915 and came under the command of the 82^nd Brigade, 27^th Division.  On 15 November 1915 the battalion was transferred to VII Corps Troops and then became a Training Battalion for the Third Army School at Flixecourt.[9]

3. COMMISSIONING AND TRAINING 

Commissioning 

            While his brother was in France, Arthur was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers (T.F.) (London Electrical Engineers).[10]  Following his commissioning it is assumed that Arthur was posted to the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.) for his basic officer’s training.  Given the fact that he was posted to France in May 1916, his training may have been abbreviated to some degree.  Also, academic credentials as an electrical engineer may have something to do with the curtailment of his time at the S.M.E. 

Training 

Normal training at the S.M.E. for a newly commissioned officer in the Royal Engineers generally consisted the study of field fortifications, construction, surveying, telegraphy, electric lighting, submarine mining, photography, chemistry, military law and tactics.  As an officer in the London Electrical Engineers, Mawby may not have needed training in electric lighting, and submarine mining studies may also have been curtailed from his curriculum.           

4.  POSTINGS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

            Following the completion of his training Mawby probably was posted to the headquarters of the London Electrical Engineers at the unit’s drill hall at 46 Regency Street in London S.W.1 pending further assignment to France. 

Figure 3.  The London Electrical Engineers Drill Hall at 46 Regency Street.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia) 

The Great War, 1914-1918 

            On 1 April 1916 Arthur Mawby was appointed a Temporary Lieutenant (T.F.) in the Royal Engineers (London Electrical Engineers)[11] and on 8 May he was posted to France.[12]  On 1 June 1916 his temporary rank became substantive and he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, R.E. (T.F.), London Electrical Engineers.[13]  Although his posting to a specific unit is not known, at the time of his arrival in France there was one searchlight company (50^th Field Searchlight Company) and 76 Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Sections in France, 25 of which had been formed from units of the London Electrical Engineers.  He may have been posted to any one of these units as a section commander. 

            While Lieutenant Arthur Mawby may have been serving with a searchlight section, his brother, 2^nd Lieutenant Claude Mawby with the 1/1^st Cambridgeshire Regiment, was involved in a number of major actions on the Western Front with the 39^th Division, to include the following:[14] 

·         The Battle of Thiepval:           26-28 September 1916

·         The Battle of Ancre Heights:  1 October to 11 November 1916

·         The Battle of Ancre:               13-18 November 1916

On 1 July 1917 2^nd Lieutenant Claude William Mawby was promoted Lieutenant[15] and on 21 July received a promotion to Captain.[16]  He continued his service in the 39^th Division and then took part in the following actions:[17]

·         The Battle of Pilckem:            31 July to 2 August 1917

·         The Battle of Langemarck:     16-18 August 1917

·         The Battle of Menin Road:     20-25 September 1917

·         The Battle of Polygon Wood: 26 September to 3 October 1917

·         The Battle of Passchendaele:  26 October to 10 November 1917

On 30 November 1917 Captain Mawby was wounded in action[18] following the Battle of Passchendaele, probably as the result of artillery fire.  He was treated and returned to his unit, when on 9 May 1918 his battalion was transferred to the 35^th Brigade in the 12^th Division and absorbed more than 400 men from the 7^th Suffolk Regiment.[19]

In August of 1917 Arthur Mawby, then an Acting Major, was appointed Assistant Inspector of Searchlights for the Fifth Army.[20]  The 354^th Searchlight Company was in the Fifth Army at this time and certainly a number of A.A. Searchlight Sections as well.  It was these units that Mawby would be responsible for inspecting.  This position took him out of the field and placed him on the Fifth Army staff. 

On 18 August 1917 Frank Wilders Mawby was appointed a Temporary Lieutenant and Medical Officer in the 3^rd Battalion, Cambridge Volunteer Regiment.  He was 55 years old at the time and probably felt a need to serve King and country in the Great War as his two sons were doing.  This unit was formed at Cambridge in February 1915 and then moved to Windsor in August and to Halton Park in October 1915.  On 8 April 1916 it became the 1^st Reserve Battalion of the regiment and on 23 July 1917 it amalgamated with the 4^th Reserve Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment to form the Cambridge and Suffolk Reserve Battalion.  The battalion moved to Crowborough in August 1917 and to Hastings in August 1918.[21]  Temporary Lieutenant Mawby did not remain with the battalion until the end of the war.  On 1 June 1918 he transferred from the 3^rd Battalion, Cambridgeshire Volunteer Regiment to the Cambridgeshire Medical Volunteer Corps.[22] 

On 17 December 1918, Lieutenant (Acting Major) Arthur Wilders Montagu Mawby was mentioned in the despatches of Sir Douglas Haig for distinguished service in the field from 25 February 1918 to 16/17 September 1918[23] and in the New Years Honours List of 1 January 1919 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.). 

Post War Life and Service (1919-1938) 

            Arthur Mawby ended the war as a Lieutenant (Acting Major) in the Royal Engineers.  He remained on the active list for almost a year following the Armistice and on 25 September 1919 he relinquished the rank of Acting Major.[24]  Surely he must have taken part in the demobilization of the searchlight units of the London Electrical Engineers at the war’s end. 

In 1920 Arthur Mawby was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.  His residence at the time was 43 Penywern Road, Earl’s Court, London S.W. 5.[25]  On 7 July 1921 Arthur Mawby applied to the War Office for his British War Medal and Victory Medal.[26]  His brother Claude had been awarded the same medals for his Great War service and must have applied for them about the same time.  Arthur’s medals were issued to him on 15 October 1921 at the Penywern Road address.[27] 

          In addition to the British War Medal and Victory Medal, Arthur Mawby was awarded the Territorial Force War Medal.[28] 

            On 18 November 1922 Arthur Wilders Montagu Mawby, O.B.E., Territorial Army (T.A.) Reserve was appointed a Major on the active list from the T.A. Reserve and was posted to the 11^th Anti-Aircraft Battalion.[29]  This appointment came about when in 1922, the London Electrical Engineers was split into the 10^th and 11^th Anti-Aircraft Battalions R.E. These battalions were renumbered in 1923 as the 26th and 27th (London Electrical Engineers) Battalion, R.E.[30] 

            The Sapper magazine of December 1928 provides the following information regarding Mawby.  It shows him as the Officer Commanding the 305^th Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Company in the 27^th Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battalion (L.E.E.).  At the time the battalion consisted of three companies, the 304^th (O.C., Major P.F. Foulger), 305^th and 306^th A.A. Searchlight Companies and the battalion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel C.H. Silvester-Evans, O.B.E., T.D., R.E. (T.A.).  The battalion’s adjutant was Captain Clement Topham, M.C., R.E. and the battalion’s headquarters was at 46 Regency Street in London.

            Major Mawby was appointed a Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, R.E., T.A. on 1 January 1929 and appears to have been the Second-In-Command of the 27^th Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battalion.[31]  On 1 April 1930 Major (Brevet Lieutenant Colonel) Mawby was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel while still with the 27^th A.A. Searchlight Battalion.[32]  

            Lieutenant Colonel Mawby was appointed a Brevet Colonel (T.A.) on 1 April 1934.  He was then the O.C. of the 27^th A.A. Searchlight Battalion and had been awarded the Territorial Decoration.[33]  He vacated command of the battalion on 1 April 1935 and was made  Supernumerary.[34]  The London Gazette of 17 May 1935 shows “Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet Colonel Arthur Wilders Montagu Mawby to be from the 27^th (London) A.A.S. Bn. (L.E.E.), R.E. (Supernumerary) to be Colonel, 1 April 1935 with seniority 1 April 1934.”  

            On 10 December 1938 Mawby was retired from the Army with the retention of his rank of Colonel and with permission to wear the prescribed uniform on special occasions.[35]  He had served for a combined total of 23 years in the Territorial Force and the Territorial Army.  His residence at the time was 63 Hampton Road in Middlesex.[36]

Service in the Second World War (1941-1945) 

            When World War 2 began, Mawby was unwilling to sit it out.  On 1 February 1941 he was appointed a Lieutenant Colonel in the Home Guard and was made Second-in-Command of the London District.[37]  For his service during the war he received the 1939-45 Star and War Medals.

Figure 6.  The Mawby Residence at 63 Hampton Road. (Image courtesy of Google Earth)

Figure 7.  The Mawby Residence at 24 Coval Gardens. (Image courtesy of Google Earth)

            Arthur Wilders Montagu Mawby, O.B.E., T.D. died at 32 Westbourne Terrace in Paddington, London on 12 March 1945.  He was only 56 years of age.  At the time of his death his residence was listed as 24 Coval Gardens, East Sheen, Surrey. Probate of his Will took place in Llandudno, Wales with his effects going to his widow, Lillian Caroline Mawby, in the amount of £1827-8s-6d (approximately $140,100 US in 2026 currency). [38] 

5. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

For his military service, Colonel Mawby was awarded the Order of the British Empire (Military Division), Territorial Decoration, British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1939-45 Star, War Medal and the Territorial Force War Medal as shown below.

Figure 8.  Medals of the Type Awarded to Colonel Mawby.
(Images from the author’s collection) 

Note:  The medals shown above are not those of Colonel Mawby.  They are presented here for illustrative purposes only.

REFERENCES: 

Army Lists 

1.      HMSO.  Monthly Army List, June 1919, p. 857.

2.      HMSO.  Monthly Army List, October 1942, p. 2766.

Books 

1.      INSTITUTION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS.  The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers.  Volume V.  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1952, p. 495.

2.      Register of Students of the City and Guilds College, 1884-1934.  Butler and Tanner Ltd., London, 1936, p. 243.

Family Trees 

1.      Ancestry.com: Arthur Wilders Montagu Mawby.

2.      Ancestry.com: Frank Wilders Mawby (father).

Census 

1.      1891 Census of England (RG 12/608).

2.      1901 Census of England (RG 13/1547).

3.      1911 Census of England and Wales (RG 14/…).

4.      1939 Register of England.

Civil Lists 

Probate Calendar, 1945, p. 559. 

Fold3 Web Site 

1.      Mention in Despatches, London Gazette, 17 December 1918, p. 14930.

2.      Territorial Forces War Medal.

3.      London Electrical Engineers Seniority Date.

4.      27^th (London) Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battalion Seniority Date.

5.      Territorial Decoration.

6.      Home Guard Service.

7.      Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.).

8.      C.W. Mawby Wounded in Action Notification.

9.      C.W. Mawby Army List Entry, 1918.

Internet Web Sites 

1.      University of London Student Records, 1836-1945.

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61488/records/14601?tid=&pid=&queryId=44de1851-9b47-4c5f-9722-c89e8ea6fd9a&_phsrc=hFr7050&_phstart=successSource

2.      U.K. Electrical Engineer Membership List, 1921-1925.

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9057/records/9447?tid=&pid=&queryId=b8eb3ce2-9daa-4568-8a62-d08a69405f59&_phsrc=hFr7056&_phstart=successSource

3.      Long, Long Trail: Cambridgeshire Regiment.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/cambridgeshire-regiment/

4.      Wikipedia: General Electric Company

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_Company

5.      Wikipedia: London Electrical Engineers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Electrical_Engineers 

London Gazette 

1.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 24 June 1915, p. 6161.

2.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 15 May 1916, p. 4827.

3.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 27 June 1917, p. 6370.

4.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 6 September 1917, p. 9256.

5.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 26 October 1917, p. 11030.

6.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 13 November 1917, p. 11693.

7.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 24 December 1917, p. 13471.

8.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 8 January 1918, p. 469.

9.      Supplement to the London Gazette, 19 March 1918, p. 3444.

10.  Supplement to the London Gazette, 2 July 1918, p. 7742.

11.  Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 January 1919, pp. 6 and 9.

12.  Supplement to the London Gazette, 11 November 1919, p. 13753.

13.  The London Gazette, 17 November 1922, p. 8115.

14.  The London Gazette, 1 December 1922, p. 8524.

15.  The London Gazette, 4 January 1929, p. 153.

16.  The London Gazette, 11 April 1930, p. 2329.

17.  The London Gazette, 3 April 1934, p. 2188

18.  The London Gazette, 2 April 1935, p. 2236.

19.  The London Gazette, 17 May 1935, p. 3223.

20.  The London Gazette, 9 December 1938, p. 7787.

Military Records 

1.      A.W.M. Mawby Medal Index Card.

2.      A.W.M. Mawby MID card.

3.      C.W. Mawby Index Card.

Periodicals 

1.      The Sapper magazine, December 1928, p. 149.

2.      The Sapper magazine, March 1929, p. 226.

3.      The Sapper magazine, December 1930, p. 139.

4.      Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers.  The Royal Engineers Journal, Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1925-1932.

ENDNOTES: