Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War pair awarded to 2nd Lieutenant H. L. Villiers, Inniskilling Dragoons, attached Royal Flying Corps, who was killed in action over the Somme in February 1917: ‘although shot through the right arm, he climbed up and worked his overhead gun, and went on firing (he then got a bullet in his chest and later on two more in the body) till he fell from exhaustion’

British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut.), together with related Memorial Plaque (Henry Lister Villiers) and Memorial Scroll (2/Lieut. Henry Lister Villiers, Inniskilling Dragoons att. Royal Flying Corps), the whole contained in an old glazed leather display case, the medals with heavily polished obverses, thus fine, the Memorial Plaque also polished but a little better (3) £400-500

Henry Lister Villiers was born in July 1897, the son of Thomas Lister Villiers and a scion of the Earls of Clarendon, and was educated at Cheam School and Wellington College, prior to entering Sandhurst in May 1915. Gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Inniskilling Dragoons towards the end of the same year, he went out to France in early 1916 but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps that November. Posted to No. 11 Squadron, he was killed in action on 4 February 1917 while flying FE2b 7023 on a patrol over the Somme sector, with 2nd Lieutenant A. B. Coupal as his Observer. Of his final action, The Roll of Honour states:

‘While on reconnaissance work over the enemy lines, his machine lost contact with the rest of the Squadron, and was attacked by three Huns, who went on firing at the machine until their ammunition was exhausted, and Lieutenant Villiers, although shot through the right arm, climbed up and worked his overhead gun, and went on firing (he then got a bullet in his chest and later on two more in the body) till he fell from exhaustion. He was buried near the frontline trenches where he fell.’

As it transpired, he appears to have crash-landed his aircraft near Hebuterne, for his Observer, 2nd Lieutenant Coupal, survived, although injured and suffering from shock. Villiers had ultimately fallen victim to the guns of Jasta 1 ace, Leutnant Paul Bona, who himself would be killed in action later that year (sold with copied photographs of his aircraft behind enemy lines; see The Cross & Cockade, 1966).

A brother officer wrote:

‘Lieutenant Villiers was a great favourite in the Squadron. I could see those with whom I talked very genuinely felt his loss. One of them told me that on the night of his death everyone cleared out of the mess after dinner; they couldn’t pretend to carry on as usual. Major Atkinson told me Lieutenant Villiers was doing awfully well; he was full of promise and very keen on his work. He had already qualified in most of the subjects, and was practising taking photographs and wireless. One felt that he had made a place for himself among the other men.’

And Captain A. M. Moncrieff, his old Squadron C.O. from the Inniskilling Dragoons, wrote:

‘He served only a few months in my squadron. I very soon realized, as did everyone else, that your boy was full of dash and courage. He was remarkably quick in grasping a situation and acting on it, and was rapidly getting a thorough grip of his work in the regiment, where his loss will be greatly felt. I thought myself, when he set his heart on going to the Royal Flying Corps, that he would make a name for himself or die in the attempt. I notice how highly he was spoken of by his flying C.O.’

Villiers is buried in the Pozieres Cemetery, Ovilliers-La-Boiselle, on the Somme.