Name
Norman Crawford Maclehose
21 April 1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/05/1915
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
London Regiment (Post Office Rifles)
8th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
POST OFFICE RIFLES CEMETERY, FESTUBERT
I. B. 10.
France
Headstone Inscription
LOOK UP ON HIGH AND THANK THE GOD OF ALL
UK & Other Memorials
Holy Trinity Church Wall Memorial, Potten End, Not on the Berkhamsted memorials, Balliol College War Memorial and War Memorial Book, Oxford, Rugby School War Memorial, Memorial Chapel, Warwickshire
Pre War
Norman Crawford Maclehose was born in Marylebone, London on 21 April 1889, the second son of Norman and Olive Maclehose. His father was an Opthalmic Surgeon and his mother was the daughter of the publisher Alexander Macmillan.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Bramshott Chase, Hampshire with Alexander Macmillan and his wife Emma along with several servants.
By 1901 the family had moved to Little Heath Great Farm. His father was living there with his aunt Sophia and three servants. His mother was not listed.
He was educated at Rugby School from 1902 and won the Kings Medal in 1907 for his historical essay. He spent 6 months in France, then went to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1908 where he graduated with a 2nd class honours degree in Modern History in 1911. Whilst at Oxford he was an active member of the Officer Training Corps (OTC) and took a great interest in military history.
After leaving Oxford he lived and worked for more than a year at Toynbee Hall. [Established in 1884 and based in Spitalfields, it is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impact of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere.]
In 1912 he accepted a post at the newly established office of the Umpire for Unemployment Insurance and moved to Vincent Square to be nearer to his work. To make himself a more competent official he began reading for the Bar as a member of the Inner Temple and passed two of his Bar exams before the outbreak of war.
His address was later given as 15 Vincent Square, Middlesex.
Wartime Service
In 1912 he joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and the following year he obtained a commission as 2nd Lieutenant with the Post Office Rifles.
Having volunteered for foreign service at the outbreak of war he spent seven months with his regiment, training at Aldershot, Crowborough and Abbots Langley. He was promoted to Lieutenant and left for France with his Battalion on 17 March 1915. He was killed in action at Festubert on 26 May 1915 when he was shot by a sniper while helping to consolidate the position in a German trench.
He is buried in the Post Offices Rifles Cemetery, Festubert, France.
Additional Information
His father received his pay owing of £55 4s 11d. Probate was granted to his father in London in 1927 with effects of £3771 4s 10d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, rugbyschoolarchives.co.uk.,www.flickr.com/photos/balliolarchivist, dacorumheritage,org.uk., hemelatwar.org.
