Name
Walter Robert Stewart (DSO, MC)
7 Feb 1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
08/04/1918
30
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant Colonel
Rifle Brigade
13th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
COUIN BRITISH CEMETERY
VI.C.3
France
Headstone Inscription
LOVED FOR EVER
UK & Other Memorials
Welwyn Village Memorial, Welwyn, St Mary the Virgin Roll of Honour, Welwyn, Harrow School Memorial
Pre War
Born in Chelsea, London on 7 February 1888, the younger son of Major-General the Hon. Alexander Stewart, Deputy Lieutenant of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright and Adela Maud Stewart. He was baptised on 14 March at St Saviour, Chelsea where their address was given as 36 Lennox Gardens and his father described as a retired officer.
Walter was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst, His father died in 1896 and his mother in 1915. In January 1914 he married Esme Winifred Mary Grenfell, in London. She was known as Mollie and was the daughter of Riversdale Grenfell, who lived at Welwyn Hall throughout the war years.
Walter had been commissioned as Second Lieutenant , Rifle Brigade in June 1908. Lieutenant in Mar 1911.
Wartime Service
When the 7th (Service) Battalion was raised in 1914 he was appointed Adjutant and soon promoted to Captain, (Nov 1914).
He went to France with the 7th Battalion in May 1915 and took part in fighting around Hooge, being awarded the Military Cross in June. During September he was given command of the Battalion but was wounded at the Somme and returned to England. In January 1917 he was mentioned in dispatches by Sir Douglas Haig. In March 1917 he returned to France in command of the 13th Battalion as Lieutenant Colonel and was mentioned in dispatches during the Battle of Arras. He was killed in action on the 8th April 1918.
Additional Information
Mrs Stewart, of 36, Lennox Gardens, London, S.W.1. ordered his headstone inscription: "LOVED FOR EVER". Probate was granted in London on 11 September 1918 to the Public Trustee with effects of £48488 5s 4d. A war gratuity of £108 was awarded to the executor, the Public Trustee.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Paul Jiggens, Welwyn and District History Society - www.welwynww1.co.uk, Brenda Palmer
