In memory of Rupert Charles Inglis
Rupert Charles Inglis was born in 1884, writes Phillip Jones. His parents, Charles and Edith Inglis, owned a tea plantation in Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known) and it was there that Rupert and his younger brother Harold were born.
The boys’ paternal grandfather was Sir John Eardley Inglis, who had commanded British forces during the long siege of Lucknow, India, in 1857. The boys were great-nephews of Lord Chelmsford, whose military career included a shocking defeat to the Zulus in 1879.
Rupert’s family had moved to Glanwye Park, Builth Wells, by 1901. After being educated at public schools, the boys became apple farmers in Canada. When the First World War broke out, they quickly returned home to join the army. Rupert was gazetted as a Lieutenant in the South Wales Borderers in December 1914. Harold became a Second Lieutenant in the same regiment.
In May 1915 the brothers travelled to Gallipoli, Turkey, where an attempted invasion of Turkey in March 1915 had started badly and was to end in retreat after heavy Allied casualties.
A fortnight after their arrival, Rupert received a bayonet wound in the knee while leading a party of 10 men with the aim of capturing an enemy trench. He was badly wounded during another attack on Turkish lines on 28 June. He was carried to the hospital ship Somali but died of his wounds the following day. He was 31 years old.
He was buried at sea, like many other men who died in the campaign (the Allies had failed to capture enough territory to bury the dead on land). He is one of 20,906 casualties commemorated on the Helles Memorial in Gallipoli. A plaque in his memory was erected in the church at Llanfared, near the family home.
Harold was also wounded at Gallipoli but survived and later fought in France and Belgium. He received the Military Cross and Distinguished Service Order and was mentioned in dispatches twice.
With thanks to Charles Inglis, Rupert’s great nephew
Return to Builth Wells war memorial page
