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Reginald Henry Napier Settle was one of 3 Gentlemen Cadets Commissioned into the 19th Hussars from the Royal Military College on 3rd September 1910. He was Gazetted with the award of the Military Cross as a Captain on 2nd June 1916. He was awarded his DSO as a Captain (Temporary Major) in the New Year Honours of 1 January 1918. 21st Battalion Machine Gun Corps was formed on 24th February 1918 from the Machine Gun Companies of 21st Division.//

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Hugh Iltid Nicholl was originally a Bedfordshire Regiment officer. His appointment as a Second Lieutenant in 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment (from Lieutenant 4th Militia Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, which he had joined in 1880 aged 18), effective 12th March 1892, is published in The London Gazette of 11th March 1892. As a Captain, Hugh Iltid Nicholl was a member of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom. It was through this association that he met his wife, a founder member of the Aero Club since 1901, then Miss Vera Butler. Miss Butler was apparently the first lady in France to be granted a certificate to drive a motor car. She took part in a 1,000 mile automobile trials rally, and was an enthusiastic hot-air balloonist. (In fact the Aero Club of the UK was formed in a balloon basket - the 3 original members being Mr C S Rolls, Mr F Hedges Butler, and his daughter Miss Vera Butler). The Nicholl family home was in Portland Place, London. Iltid Nicholl and Vera Butler married at Steyning, Sussex, in 1904. A son, David Iltid Nicholl was born in 1906 at Hartley Wintney in Hampshire, (his mother enrolled him as a Member of The Royal Aero Club in 1909, aged 3). During the Boer War Iltid Nicholl was the Officer Commanding the 6th Mounted Infantry Company of the Bedfordshire Regiment. He afterwards wrote up his South Africa Journal which was published in 1900.

Lt Col H I Nicholl at age 45, served on the Staff of 49th (West Riding) Division as a GSO1 from its arrival in France in April 1915 as one of the first entirely Territorial Army formations to engage on the Western Front. 49th Division fought at Aubers Ridge in May 1915 and in December 1915 it was subjected to the first Phosgene gas attack. It was for his tireless efforts during this period that he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He later served as DAA&QMG in 47th (1/2nd London) Division as they prepared for their attack on the Somme in July 1916. Unsurprisingly by the end of June 1916 he had probably given of his best and he was appointed to the UK based 67th Division, the Headquarters of which was in Canterbury in 1917 and Colchester in 1918, until March 1918. Remarkably, despite the rigours of his extensive military service in India, South Africa, France and Flanders, Hugh Iltid Nicholl lived to the age of 83, dying in Marylebone in 1953.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

Just a note really, 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment is spelt Welch not Welsh, this may have been changed after the 1st Word War though!!

It can't be changed now. The French spelling of a Flemish place name is always adopted and never the Flemish one. French maps must have been used. Gheluvelt is Geluveld in Flemish.

rmatt11 Hi, thank you for your comment. You are right, the name of the regiment was changed after the First World War, in 1921. We have kept the spelling of regiments etc. contemporaneous for consistency, hence it is still Welsh here.

John William Harford Nicholl was the son of Lieutenant Colonel John Iltyd Dillwyn Nicholl MBE (Imperial Yeomanry) (Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan from 1899) and Eleanor Dorothy Nicholl (nee Harford) of Merthyr Mawr, Bridgend, Glamorgan. He was the third of 5 children, with a brother, Robert, b. 1894, and three sisters Gladys, Olive and Rachel. He was Commissioned from Gentleman Cadet into the Rifle Brigade on 22nd January 1913. He was seconded to 3rd Battalion Welsh Regiment as a Second Lieutenant on 14th August 1914 [LG 1 Sep 1914]. The 3rd Battalion Welsh Regiment was the Depot and a 'holding' unit. With 1st Battalion in India, it is likely that 2Lt Nicholl volunteered for the 2nd Battalion almost immediately on his secondment being confirmed. The photograph shows him in full Welsh Regiment service dress, so taken at some time in the 77 days that he served with the Regiment, but certainly in the brief period when he was still in England before going over to France. The 2nd Battalion had actually landed at Le Havre (complete with their goat 'Taffy', the Regimental mascot) as part of 3rd Brigade in 1st Division on 13th August 1914. Gheluvelt was the most desperate of battles, arguably the last effort against the BEF of the 1914 War of Movement; victory offered the German Army a breakthrough to Paris and the decisive victory required by the Schlieffen Plan. The 2nd Welsh fought there alongside 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Wales.//

Hi, I just came across this photo of John William Hardford Nicholl and couldn't get over the resemblance he has with my great Grandfather John Nicholl!. That's my Mothers Fathers Father, and my Grandfathers name is William James Nicholl and his older brothers were John Nicholl then Robert Nicholl, Robert died in the war aged 19 in 1944. My great Grandfather John Nicholl is from Ballymena (N.Ireland) where the surname Nicholl seems to be quite common. Although it states that John William Hardford Nicholl was born in Swansea (and around the same time as my great Grandfather) I wouldn't be surprised if we are distantly related!, but I find this very interesting and I would like to say thank you for posting this information on here. Yours sincerely, Sarah Nicholl.