Name
Leigh Rigby Coke
17 Sep 1880
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/11/1917
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Hampshire Regiment
8th (Isle of Wight) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GAZA WAR CEMETERY
XXI. B. 10.
Israel and Palestine (including Gaza)
Headstone Inscription
SURSUM CORDA ( Lift up your Hearts)
UK & Other Memorials
Haileybury College Cloister Wall Memorial, Hertford Heath, Bengeo School Memorial – Location to be confirmed, Haileybury College Memorial, Hertford Heath, Haileybury College Chapel Roll of Honour, Hertford Heath, Solicitors And Articled Clerks - WW1 , Holborn Greater London
Pre War
Leigh Rigby Coke was born on 17th September 1880 in Ashford Kent to parents William Harriott Coke, Surgeon & Medical Practitioner, and Mary Elizabeth (nee Rigby), he was one of seven children.
From 1881 to 1911 he was living with his family at 17 High Street, Ashford, Kent, where his father was a registered GP. He was educated at Haileybury College from 1894 to 1897. In 1903 Leigh was employed as a solicitor at Kingsford & Drake in Ashford.
By 1913 he was a Solicitor and Commissioner for Oaths still living in the family home. Leigh married Anna Bergendorff on 14 May 1914 in Matteus, Stockholm, Sweden.
Wartime Service
Leigh joined the Army as Private 1614 East Kent Regiment (The Buffs). On 22nd May 1915 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant and posted to 8th Battalion Hampshire Regt (Isle of Wight Rifles).
The battalion sailed to Greece and from Lemnos to Gallipoli where they landed at Suvla Bay on 10th August and went straight into the front line. He served in Gallipoli until December 1915, most of the time in the trenches apart from a short spell in hospital after being taken ill. On December 2nd the battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli and went to Egypt via Lemnos.
In March 1916 the battalion began their move to Palestine where they took part in the 1st Battle of Gaza. They remained in the Gaza area for some months training and carrying out defence work. Leigh was taken ill and spent some time back in hospital. He was fit again however for the 2nd battle of Gaza (17-19 April 1917) and it was in this period that he was promoted to Captain.
During the attack by the Hampshire Regt. Capt. Coke was in charge of a party of 20 stretcher bearers. His unit spent the next 6 months in the line carrying out trench raids on Turkish positions until November 2nd when the 3rd Battle of Gaza began, and it was during the Hampshire Regiment’s attack that Leigh was killed in action. He was interred in Gaza War cemetery together with others of his Battalion who died that day.
Additional Information
His moither, Mrs A Coke, Enfield Lodge, Christchurch Road, Folkestone, ordered his headstone inscription: "SURSUM CORDA" ( Lift up your Hearts). According to probate records he left £740 10s 6d to his wife Anna. 4378 10s 8d. Ernest Cyril Coke served a Captain West Riding Regiment. Edward Coke served in 28th (Artists Rifles) before being commissioned as 2nd Lt RFA He won his MC in 1917 as Artillery Liaison Officer. He was a well-known actor as Edward Rigby.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Malcolm Lennox, Karen Smith - Acting Director of External Relations www.haileybury.com/, Ann Hacke, Terry & Glenis Collins
