Memorial Plaque 1914-18 (Hubert Charlton Rome), very fine £100-120

Hubert Charlton Rome was born in October 1883, the son of Thomas Rome, J.P., of Charlton House, Charlton King’s, Cheltenham, and was educated at Cheltenham College and the R.M.C. Sandhurst, from which latter establishment he passed out with honours as Under Officer.

Gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant, unattached, in January 1903, he went to India and was attached to the 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, prior to joining the Duke of Cambridge’s Own Infantry (Brownlow’s Punjabis) in April 1904. Advanced to Lieutenant one year later, he was seconded for service with the Khyber Rifles (Militia) in March 1909, in which capacity he remained employed until rejoining Brownlow’s Punjabis in March 1914, in the rank of Captain.

Rome was on leave in the U.K. at the time of the outbreak of hostilities, having married Doris, only child of the late W. S. Dykes, Writer to the Signet, and Mrs. Dykes, of Darnaconnar, Barrhill, Ayshire, in June 1914. One of 240 Indian Army officers detained for the New Army, he was appointed to the 9th Battalion, Essex Regiment, gazetted as a Temporary Major in October, and, shortly thereafter, ordered to France to replace casualties in the 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis. And he was serving in that capacity when killed in action near Givenchy on 18 December 1914. He was 31 years of age and is buried in Beuvry Communal Cemetery.