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Lieutenant
LOUIS LEYSON REES-MOGG
Royal Engineers (Reserve of Officers) 

by 

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MinstRE
(December 2023)

Figure 1. Lieutenant Louis Leyson Rees-Mogg, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum) 

1.  INTRODUCTION 

            The life span of a Lieutenant during the Great War of 1914-1918, as with all wars, was unpredictable.  Many lived for the duration of the war and many died very soon after entering the theater of war.  Lieutenant Rees-Moggs was an extreme case.  He landed near Lala Baba at Suvla Bay in Gallipoli on 6 August 1915 and was killed in action on 11 August 1915.  He had been serving in the Reserve of Offices since February 1913, but his active service during the war was to last for only 5 days on the battlefield. 

In Memory of

Lieutenant

LOUIS LEYSON REES-MOGG

68^th Field Company, Royal Engineers

Who died on 11 August 1915, age 25

Remembered with Honour

HELLES MEMORIAL[1]  

2.  FAMILY INFORMATION AND EARLY LIFE

Family Information

            Louis Leyson Rees-Mogg was the son of Leyson Mogg (1855-1921) and Mary Swete Admonition[2] Rees-Mogg, née Radcliffe (1853-1917).[3]  He had one sibling, a sister, Mary Joyce Ann Rees-Mogg (1896-1977). 

Early Life

            Louis Leyson Rees-Mogg was born in Batheaston, Somerset on 15 February 1890.  His early education was at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devonshire where he gained an open scholarship.  While he was at the school, he was a member of the Cadet Corps, showing an early interest in military service.[4]  

            In 1908 he entered Sydney Sussex College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.  He was elected to a Bachelor of Arts Scholarship and a school Exhibition; that is, a small financial award or grant, normally on grounds of merit or demonstrable necessity.  He took First Place in the Mathematical Tripos (Part I) in 1909 and First Class in Mechanical Tripos in 1911, the year that he graduated.  While at Cambridge he had been a member of the Engineering Section of the Officers Training Corps.[5] 

3.  COMMISSIONING AND TRAINING 

Commissioning 

Rees-Mogg’s excellence in mathematics and mechanical engineering and his training in the Blundell School’s Cadet Corps and the Cambridge O.T.C. made him eligible for a commission in the Reserve of Officers.  In February 1913 he was gazetted as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers.  He undoubtedly trained with a Territorial Force engineer unit prior to the start of the Great War and upon being called up for active service he was sent to the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.) at Chatham, Kent for further training as an engineer officer. 

Training 

His 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 the completion of his training at Chatham, Rees-Mogg was posted to the 68^th Field Company in the 11th (Northern) Division.  The Division came into existence as a result of Army Order No. 324, issued on 21 August 1914, which authorized the formation of the six new Divisions of K1 (Kitchener’s Army). It was formed of volunteers, under the administration of Northern Command. After initial training at the regimental depots, the units of the Division concentrated: the infantry at Grantham in Lincolnshire, artillery at Leeds, Sheffield, Norwich and Weedon in Northamptonshire, RE at Newark, RAMC at Sheffield, ASC at Lichfield in Staffordshire.  In addition to Rees-Mogg’s 68^th Field Company, the 11^th (Northern) Division’s engineers consisted of the 67^th Field Company, the 86^th Field Company (which joined the division in February 1915) and the 11^th Divisional Signal Company.[6] 

            On 18 October 1914 the 11^th (Northern) Division was inspected by Lord Kitchener at Belton Park in Grantham, Lincolnshire.  On 4 April 1915 the division assembled at Witley and Frensham in Surrey for final training with all division units and then on 31 May 1915 the division was inspected by His Majesty King George V at Hankey Common near Elstead in Surrey.[7] 

            2^nd Lieutenant Rees-Mogg was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 9 June 1915[8] and on 12 June the 11^th (Northern) Division was alerted for deployment to the theater of war at Gallipoli.  The division moved from Surrey to Liverpool where it embarked for Gallipoli aboard RMS Aquitania and RMS Empress of Britain.[9] 

Gallipoli (1915) 

            The units of the 11^th (Northern) Division arrived at Cape Helles on 31 July 1915, the rocky headland at the southwestern most tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, and after waiting offshore for a week they landed on 6/7 August near Lala Baba at Suvla Bay.[10]  The division began an immediate advance inland.  A page from the 68^th Field Company’s War Diary provides a good description of the action in which Lieutenant Rees-Mogg was involved: 

 AUTHOR’S NOTES: 

The War Diary pages were handwritten, but fairly legible, although some words could not be deciphered.  The notations […] indicate words that were illegible.  The text above is from one page of the 68^th Field Company’s War Diary (Army Form C. 2118) and it was selected for inclusion here because it describes the actions of the company and the circumstances of Lieutenant Rees Mogg’s death. 

The author was fortunate to locate the map shown in Figure 2 below.  The large grid squares on the map are 3,000 yards on a side.  The source of the original map was from the Map of Suvla Bay and ANZAC Cove from Gallipoli Diary, Volume 2 by Sir Ian Hamilton. These are two halves of a map found on opposite pages in the reference that have been stitched together.  The large grid squares are numbered sequentially from left to right using a numbering system that appears to have been created by the British military.  This map, or one similar to it, must have been used by the author of the War Diary page to designate the location of the company in the diary.  Grid square 118 mentioned in the diary has been outlined in yellow by the author.  To the right of grid square 135 is a legend that designates the subdivisions used within each large square.  The 25 small squares, labeled “a” through “z”, omitting the letter “e” are used to designate locations within the larger squares; hence, Ree Mogg’s location when he was killed was somewhere between 118 v 6 and 118 q 6.  The red dot on the map is at a location on a stream (a possible water point) in the vicinity of these two coordinates.  The dot may not be the exact locations of his death, but it is close.

Figure 2. Map of the Gallipoli Peninsula Near Suvla Bay and ANZAC Cove.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia Common)

            Lieutenant Rees-Mogg was buried where he fell and has no known grave.  His death is commemorated on the Helles Memorial and on his parent’s gravestone.[11] 

Figure 3. Lieutenant Rees-Mogg’s Parent’s Grave with a Commemoration for Him.
(Image courtesy of findagrave) 

            The probate of the Will of Louis Leyson Rees-Mogg took place in London on 13 July 1921.  His effects were left to his sister, Mary Joyce Ann Rees-Mogg, a spinster.  The effects amounted to £167, about $13,000 US in 2023 currency.[12] 

5. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

            For his service during the Great War his sister was presented with his 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.  These medals were sent to her on 31 October 1922 at her home at 19 Saint James Square in Bath.  She also would have received the bronze Memorial Plaque to commemorate his death while on active service. 

NOTE: The medals shown below are not those of Lieutenant Rees-Mogg.  They are presented here for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 4.  The 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Image from the author’s collection) 

Figure 5.  The Medal Index Card of Lieutenant Louis Leyson Rees-Mogg, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

REFERENCES 

Books 

1. CAREY, G.V. (ed.) The War List of the University of Cambridge, 1914-1918. Cambridge University Press, 1921.

2. CLUTTERBUCK, L.A. The Bond of Sacrifice.  Biographical Record of All British Officers Who Fell in the Great War. Dallington, UK: The Naval & Military Press, 1992.  2 volumes, Vol 1: August-December 1914; Vol. 2: January-June 1915. First published in 1915.  

Family Trees 

Family Tree by maffclem 

London Gazette 

Supplement to the London Gazette, 14 July 1915, p. 6928. 

Military Documents 

1. Medal Index Card

2. Royal Engineers Medal Roll: 1914-15 Star.

3. Royal Engineers Meda Roll: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

4. War Diary: 68^th Field Company, Royal Engineers. 10 August to 13 August 1915.  

Periodicals

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

Web Sites 

1. Imperial War Museum: Lives of the First World War (Royal Engineers)

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/3077805

2. The Long, Long Trail: 11^th (Northern) Division.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/11th-northern-division/

3. Wikimedia Commons: Map of Suvla Bay & ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli Diary.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Suvla_Bay_&_ANZAC_Cove,_Gallipoli_Diary.jpg 

 ENDNOTES: