Rank: 2nd Lieutenant Regiment: Second Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Died: 23 August 1914 Age: 24 Parish: East Budleigh Local Memorials: East Budleigh Memorial Cross, East Budleigh Memorial Tablet Other Memorial: Hautrage Military Cemetery; Charterhouse School [Google] PDF Download: PEPYS John
John was born in Budleigh Salterton on 7 May 1890 to Captain Arthur and Margaret Pepys. The 1891 census tells us that they were living at Stoneborough House, but by 1893 they had moved to Knowle House.
John attended Charterhouse School, like his brother Francis, and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.
He joined the army as a Second Lieutenant in the Second Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in November 1910 and was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force on the 14 August 1914.
He died in action nine days later at Mons, Belgium, three hours after going into action as a machine gun officer, and was among the first British casualties of the conflict. He was unmarried.
The Supplement to the London Gazette dated 17 September 1914 notes, in a section devoted to The King’s Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry): “The promotion to the rank of Lieutenant of Second Lieutenant John Pepys is ante-dated to the 5th August, 1914.”
He is buried Hautrage Military Cemetery, Saint Ghislain, Hainaut, Belgium, and is remembered with honour at Charterhouse, and on the East Budleigh memorials.
[Roger Lendon]
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