School Tonbridge School Next of kin address Frances Olive Poland 83 Vanbrugh Pack Blackheath Sons: Richard Domville (b. 1914) & Edmund Nicholas (b. 1917) Canada Lieutenant Commander Allan Polland Father William Poland More info Served as a Turret Officer on HMS Warspite during The Battle of Jutland. MAJOR RAYMOND ALFRED POLAND, R.M.L.I. 1ST BATTN. R.M., 63RD (R.N.) DIV. KILLED IN ACTION AT ACHIET-LE-GRAND, AUGUST 21ST, 1918. AGED 31. At the School 1901—5 (Hill Side). Major R. A. Poland was the eldest son of William Poland, of 83, Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, S.E., whose second son, Allan Poland (H.S. 1901—3), obtained a Royal Naval Cadetship in 1901, was 1st in the Britannia Class and Prize Lists in 1905, and as Lieut.-Commander R.N., commanding one of H.M. Submarines, was awarded the D.S.O., as announced in the Gazette of September 20th, 1918, " for services in submarines between January 1st and June 13th, 1918," and was promoted Commander December 31st, 1921. R. A. Poland entered the School in September, 1901, from Mr. A. M. Kilby's, Lindisfarne, Blackheath, having been elected to a Foundation Scholarship in the previous June. He became a House Praepostor in January, 1905, was in the Shooting VIII in 1904 and 1905, and won the Warner Cup for the best average in matches in 1905. In the summer of 1905 he also won the Army Class Mathematical Prize and passed the R.M.C., Sandhurst, examination and was gazetted a Probationary 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Marines. After a two years' course of instruction at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, he received his commission in the R.M.L.I. on September 1st, 1905, became Lieutenant the following year (Portsmouth Division), and Captain (Plymouth Division) September 1st, 1916. He served in the following ships : Formidable (1909—11), Doris and King George V. (1912—13), Antrim (1913—15), and Warspite (1915—17), and received an expression of their Lordships' appreciation in 1910 for having " contributed towards good results obtained by H.M.S. Formidable at Battle Practice, 1910," and again in 1913 for having especially contributed towards good results obtained at Battle Practice and Gun Layers' Test in H.M.S. Antrim." Passing for Adjutant in 1911, he also, in 1913, qualified as a Gunnery Instructor (1st Class Certificate) and as a First Class Interpreter in German. During the War his active service had been afloat in the North Sea until the end of 1917, and included the Battle of Jutland on May 31st, 1916, in which he was a Turret Officer on board H.M.S. Warspite. On January 2nd, 1918, he joined, at his own special request, the 1st Battn. of the Royal Marines in France, was promoted to be Acting Major whilst commanding a Company on April 29th, and for two short periods, in January and July, acted as second in command of the Battalion. He had been Adjutant from June 17th to July 18th, and was once more Adjutant of his Battalion when he was killed on August 21st, 1918. On that day he was leading two Companies forward in an attack at Achiet-le-Grand, which resulted in the capture by his Division, the 63rd, of Logeast Wood, between Amiens and Albert. Early in the advance he was hit in the left shoulder, but refused to go back, and continued to lead his men forward. Shortly afterwards he was instantaneously killed by a shell. He was buried, where he fell, amongst his comrades, at Achiet-le-Grand, about three miles north-west of Bapaume. He had married on November 19th, 1913, Frances Olive, daughter of Colonel and Mrs. E. C. Weston, of Swanmore, Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire, and leaves a widow and two sons, Richard Domville Poland, born October 22nd, 1914, and Edmund Nicholas Poland, bom February 19th, 1917. A brother officer, writing from H.M.S. Warspite, said:— " All who knew him loved him. . . . As for his men, they thought the world ol him, and with good cause, for he was always thinking of them, and I don't think that I over knew any one with a greater sense of duty." A Dep. Asst. Adjt.-Gen., writing from the Admiralty, said :— " I hear he did magnificently and led the two leading Companies of our Battalion into action with the utmost deliberation and coolness, with total disregard of the enemy's fire. The Corps have lost a noble and valuable officer." The CO. of the Battalion wrote :— " I personally have lost one of my best friends. I cannot tell you how much I am indebted to him for the fine fighting qualities and general efficiency of the Battalion. He had an instinct for doing the right thing, and was one of the best soldiers I have ever known. His conduct throughout was extraordinarily gallant and he displayed bravery of the highest order.