Determination and gallantry - another VC

D/DLI 7/388/2 Captain Arthur Moore Lascelles, Durham Light Infantry c.1918

Arthur Moore Lascelles was born on 12 October 1880 in Nightingale Lane, Streatham. In 1902 he emigrated to South Africa, abandoning his studies in medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He fought in South West Africa with the Cape Mounted Rifles at the beginning of the First World War. In October 1915, Lascelles returned to England with his wife and young son. He received a commission with 3rd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (DLI), a reserve battalion, but after training was attached to 14 DLI and went to France in July 1916 and fought on the Somme. 

The battalion was part of the 18th Brigade, but on 2 December 1917, during the Battle of Cambrai, they were placed under orders of 16th Brigade, ready for an attack the next morning. The battalion’s war diary features a report on the action of 3 December 1917 at Masnieres, written by the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Brenchley Rosher. 

In the early morning, 14 DLI took over trenches from the Inniskilling Fusiliers, there were three companies in the front line, two the left and one to the right, and the fourth company in support. Lascelles was now a captain and in charge of the company on the right. Around 10am, the Germans opened a very heavy barrage on all the trenches, and attacked the right company who only had a shallow trench. Shortly after requesting artillery support, the lines of communication to the brigade were severed by shelling.

10-10:30am the report says:
‘Our Right Company was driven out of its trenches, but Captain AM Lascelles with the remainder of his company (about 12 men) immediately counter-attacked and drove the enemy (about 60 strong) back, causing them severe casualties’. 

At 11:30am:

‘A very heavy barrage was opened out on all trenches, causing severe casualties. The enemy again attacked and was driven back by the Left Companies, but drove the Right Company right out, capturing Captain Lascelles…’ 

D/DLI 7/179/5 Section of map sheet 57B: Cambrai and Le Cateau, December 1917

The reserve company counter-attacked the Germans and drove them out, with heavy casualties on both sides. At 12:15 and 12:45 the enemy attacked again. The battalion was ‘practically surrounded’, but made it to the reserve trench. A battalion of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, to 14 DLI’s left, had also been driven out and their line broken. The two commanding officers decided that the ‘position was untenable as there were no signs of support’. The remainder of 14 DLI, 80-100 men, evacuated to the Sunken Road where they re-organised. 

Colonel Rosher found the 88th Brigade Headquarters and reported to the General Officer Commanding. 88th Brigade had been successful in their attack, and 14 DLI carried on with the 88th Brigade, until 1:10am [4 December] when they received orders to withdraw. Of the day, Colonel Rosher reported:
‘Officers and men fought splendidly throughout the day. Had it not been for the manner in which they stood the bombardment with little cover, and the readiness with which they responded to all calls for counter-attack, the whole force north of the canal must have been captured, as the enemy forces used against us were very heavy…’

In this report, the last we hear of Arthur Lascelles is that he had been captured by the enemy. So what did happen to him? In the earlier attack, Captain Lascelles was wounded in the head. He refused to have it dressed and continued to help his unit repel the enemy. In the next attack, weakened by blood loss, he was captured by the Germans, but in the confusion of another attack, he was able to escape and re-join his battalion. For his ‘remarkable determination’ and gallantry’, Lascelles was awarded the Victoria Cross.

While recuperating from his injury, on 23 March 1918, Captain Lascelles went to Buckingham Palace and received his Victoria Cross from King George V. On 27 October 1918, he returned to France, this time joining 15 DLI. They fought their final battle on 7 November. During the fighting at Limont-Fontaine, Captain Lascelles was killed, eleven days after his return to France, and sadly, only four days before the end of the war. 

Laying of VC paving stones at Wandsworth Town Hall, with kind permission of Councillor Peter Carpenter

As Arthur Moore Lascelles was not from County Durham, his Victoria Cross commemorative paving stone will not be laid in this county (although his VC is in the DLI Collection). On 22 April 2017, Wandsworth Council held a ceremony for the laying of his paving stone in the Town Hall’s Garden of Remembrance, alongside those of two other VC stones. Furthermore, new council housing being built in the Balham area will bear the names of these three men. Lascelles House is due for completion in 2018.