Name
Geoffrey Richard Henry Talbot
29 March 1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/06/1916
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Flight Lieutenant
Royal Naval Air Service
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LITTLE GADDESDEN (SS. PETER AND PAUL) CHURCHYARD
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Little Gaddesden Village Memorial,
St Peter & St Paul Church Roll of Honour, Little Gaddesden,
St Peter & St Paul Church Roll of Honour (2018 Revision), Little Gaddesden,
Eton College Roll of Honour,
Pre War
Geoffrey Richard Henry Talbot was born on 29 March 1888 in Little Gaddesden, the son of Hon. Alfred Chetwynd and Emily Augusta Louisa Talbot (nee de Gray) and grandson of 18th Earl of Shrewsbury. He was baptised in St Peter and St Paul Church, Little Gaddesden on 10 May 1888. He was the third of their four children with an elder brother Humphrey and sisters Bridget and Kathleen.
The family seemed to always be at their London house on Census nights, but spent much of their time in Little Gaddesden and on the 1891 Census they were living at 74 Cadogan Gardens, Chelsea.
They had moved to No. 28 Cadogan Gardens in 1901 but Geoffrey was at Wellington House Preparatory School in Kent and later went to Eton College, following in the steps of his brother Humphrey. Whilst there he was a member of the Eton College volunteer rifles.
Geoffrey helped to form the Little Gaddesden Brass Band in 1902 and was its Secretary. They gave performances in parades and concerts in the village. Fifteen members of the Band served in the war, two are also named on the Little Gaddesden Memorial.
His mother died unexpectedly from a cerebral haemorrhage, aged 59, in 1912 and his father the following year from pneumonia. They are both buried in Little Gaddesden churchyard.
Prior to enlistment Geoffrey had been employed as an Assistant Traffic Superintendent on the East India Railway Company and was a member of the Indian Army, East Indian Railway Volunteers.
Wartime Service
He volunteered for the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915. From 2nd May 1915, he served as a Flight Sub Lieutenant at HMS Fisgard, Portsmouth before being posted to the Royal Naval Air Station, Chingford, Essex, where, on 27th June 1915, he took his Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate on a Maurice Farman Biplane. Later posted to No. 5 Squadron, R.N.A.S. Dover, he was promoted to temporary Flight Lieutenant on 1st April 1916.
He died from multiple injuries on 29th June 1916 soon after take-off from Dover, nr Fort Burgoyne, whilst flying a Nieuport 10 aircraft. An Air Mechanic, Abraham Alfred Hampson from Lancashire who was in the plane with him, died the following day. Eye witness reports indicated that the plane was caught by a gust of wind, stalled on the turn, side-slipped, crashed and was completely wrecked. The coroner's inquest concluded that nothing was wrong with the aircraft and it was suggested that pilot error, in difficult circumstances, contributed to the crash.
On 4th July 1916, he was buried in Little Gaddesden churchyard, aged 29,
Additional Information
Probate of his estate was granted in London on 18 August 1916 to his brother Humphrey John Talbot, lieutenant A.S.C. and his sister Bridget Elizabeth Talbot, with effects of £13879 0s 1d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, dacorumheritage.org.uk, hemelatwar.org., littlegaddesdenchurch.org.uk
