George Edward Kingsley Bemand (19 March 1892 – 26 December 1916) was one of a small number of officers in the British Army of partial African descent to serve in World War I.[lower-alpha 1] He was killed in action in France.
George was born in Jamaica in 1892 to George Bemand Sr. and his wife Minnie. The family moved to London in 1908 on the RMS Lusitania, with the passenger list in New York recording Minnie and her sons as African. George attended Dulwich College and then in 1913 went to University College, London to study Engineering. At the start of the Great War he joined the University of London OTC and in 1915 successfully applied for a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery; in his application, he declared himself to be of pure European descent.[2] He was sent to France in August 1916 (his school records November 1915[3]). He was killed by a shell on Boxing Day 1916 near Béthune, and is buried at Le Touret Military Cemetery.[4]
His brother Harold served in the ranks as a Gunner. Harold died of wounds in 1917.[5]
References[]
- ↑ Others included Walter Tull, Allan Noel Minns and David Clemetson.[1] Almost a century earlier Nathaniel Wells had received a Yeomanry commission in 1818.
The original article can be found at George Bemand and the edit history here.
- ↑ The officer who refused to lie about being black, BBC News
- ↑ George Edward Kingsley Bemand – the first black officer in the British Army?, Great War London, London and Londoners in the First World War
- ↑ The fallen of the Great War, Dulwich College
- ↑ Second Lieutenant G E K BEMAND, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- ↑ Gunner HAROLD LESLIE BEMAND, Commonwealth War Graves Commission