Private Donald Robert Rewcastle
| Date of Birth | 1892 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 23 |
| Date of Death | 24 April 1915 |
| Service Number | 1223 |
| Military Service | 3rd London (City of London) Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps |
| Merton Address | 1 Central Road, Morden |
| Local Memorial | St. Lawrence Church, Morden |
Additional Information
Donald Robert Rewcastle was born in Banstead in Surrey and baptised on 3 February 1892. Both his parents, Joseph Henry and Lydia Charlotte Rewcastle, were school teachers and the family lived in Kensington Schools, Banstead. By 1901 they had moved from Banstead to 1 Central Road, Morden in the Parish of St. Lawrence. They were still living in Central Road in 1911. Donald was now 19 and working as a bank clerk.
Donald enlisted in Chelsea as a driver in the 3rd London (City of London) Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps. His service number was 1223. The Field Ambulance was not a fighting force. It was responsible for establishing and operating a number of points along the casualty evacuation chain from the front line. Donald’s battalion, later renamed the 85th Field Ambulance, was in action in the second battle of Ypres and the Battle of Loos in 1915. It was at some point during this period that he received the wounds from which he died on 24 April 1915. He was 23 years old.
Private Rewcastle is buried at ll.P.1. in the old military cemetery at Poperinghe near Ypres which was a centre for Casualty Clearing Stations at the time of his death. The cemetery contains 450 Commonwealth graves and commemorations from the First World War. It was closed soon after his death as the Clearing Stations had to be moved further back from the front line.
His headstone at Poperinghe is engraved with the words ‘‘AT GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER HIM” at the behest of his parents who were still living in Central Road, Morden at the time of his death. Donald's name also appears on one of the panels in the Lychgate at St. Lawrence Church, Morden, which serves as the parish war memorial and also on a brass plate in the Assembly Hall of Morden Primary School.