BOLTON, GEORGE AUGUSTUS, son of George Bolton, Palace Road, Surbiton, Surrey, and Elizabeth Anne Harding; b. 6 Jan 1858; adm. 27 May 1869 (James'); exhibitioner 1871; QS 1872; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1876, adm. pens. 13 Jun 1876, matr. Mich. 1876; BA 1880; MA, BCh and MB 1884; St. George’s Hospital; MRCS 1884; a medical practitioner in Twickenham, Middlesex; d. 16 Nov 1933.
BOMPAS, CECIL HENRY, elder son of Henry Mason Bompas QC, Fairfield, Far Headingley, Leeds, County Court Judge, Bradford district, and Rachel Henrietta, eldest dau. of Rev. Edward White, Tufnell Park, Holloway; b. 31 May 1868; adm. (G) 27 May 1880; exhibitioner 1882; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1886, adm. pens. 8 Oct 1886, matr. Mich. 1886; President, Cambridge Union Society, 1889; BA 1889; appointed to Indian Civil Service after exam of 1887; arrived in India 15 Nov 1889; Assistant Magistrate and Collector, Bengal; Under Secretary, 1893; Joint Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Apr 1896; Magistrate and Collector, Aug 1900; Deputy Commissioner, Aug 1901; Chairman, Calcutta Improvement Trustees Board, 1912; member, Bengal Legislative Council, 1916; CSI 1918; retd. [check]; translator, Folklore of the Santal Parganas; m. 1st, 28 Apr 1897 Geraldine, dau. of James Banton, civil engineer, Farnderg, Dundalk; m. 2nd, 27 Sep 1911 Nita Frances, dau. of William Goode, Port Pirie, South Australia; d. 22 Jan 1956.
Bompas, David Aldersey, son of Hugh Steele Bompas (qv); b. 19 July 1910; adm. May 1924 (G); left July 1929; ICI 1930-1; Aluminium Ltd Group 1931-72; Roy. Bucks Hussars 1939 (Tpr), transf. to Reserve as asst controller Light Metals Control, Min. of Aircraft Production; m. 21 July 1933 Elizabeth Anne, d. of Thomas Douglas of Whitchurch, Oxon; d. 29 Jan. 1999.
Bompas, Eric Ainsley, son of Cecil Henry Bompas (qv); b. 22 Sept. 1915; adm. Sept. 1929 (G); left Dec. 1933; a clerk in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank; 1st Mountain Battery Hong Kong and Singapore RA 1940-1, despatches (posth.) Apr. 1946; killed in action on reconnaissance behind Japanese lines Dec. 1941.
Eric Ainsley Bompas was born at Calcutta, India on the 22nd of September 1915 the younger son of Cecil Henry Bompas OW, Indian Civil Service, and his second wife, Nita Frances (nee Goode) Bompas of 26, West End Avenue, Pinner in Middlesex, later of Rookery Lane, Broughton in Hampshire. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Grant’s from September 1929 to December 1933. He boxed for the school in 1933. He was a member of the 2nd and of the 1st Football XIs in 1933 and was a member of the 2nd Cricket XI in the same year. He was appointed as a School Monitor in 1933. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps and was promoted to Sergeant in September 1933.
On the 24th of October 1936 he boarded the RMS Lancastria at Liverpool and sailed to New York where he joined the staff of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank as a clerk. After a brief return to London in November 1937 he travelled to Hong Kong to work for a branch of the bank in the colony.
He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on the 12th of February 1940 and was attached to the 1st Mountain Battery, 1st (Hong Kong) Regiment, Hong Kong and Singapore Artillery.
At 10am on the 7th of December 1941 the 1st (Hong Kong) Regiment received orders to man its war stations following the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong earlier in the day. The 1st Mountain Battery was deployed to the New Territories on the mainland and established its Headquarters at the north end of Waterloo Road. The 1st Mountain Battery, which consisted of four 3.9 inch howitzers based at Customs Pass, was in support of the 5/9th Rajput Regiment. They came into action on the 9th of December when they were called upon to bring fire on a number of small groups of enemy infantry which were advancing to their front. The following the day the defenders began to fall back under the enemy attacks and on the morning of the 11th of December the 2nd Mountain Battery and the 25th Medium Battery were ordered to withdrawn to Hong Kong island. On the morning of the 12th of December 1941, Eric Bompas joined the Battery and immediately went to the Battery observation post near Devils Peak. During the evening an enemy attack was driven off by the Rajputs with supporting artillery fire and that night the order was given to evacuate Devils Peak and fall back to the island. The Regiment had suffered five casualties during the fighting but had lost a large amount of ammunition and equipment.
On the night of the 18th of December 1941 the Japanese began landing on the north shore of Hong Kong Island. That night Eric Bompas and his men were manning a howitzer at a position on a hillside above Island Road near San Wan Fort. The gunners of No. 1 Section, 5th Battery, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force, who were stationed at the fort itself, had been caught by surprise by the Japanese who had killed their sentries and then attacked the fort. Those who surrendered were executed with bayonets by their captors three hours after capitulating.
Their commanding officer, Captain Bosanquet, and a few of his men fell back from their positions and withdrew down the slope to Island Road where they met Eric Bompas and two of his men who had escaped when their gun position had also been overrun. This small group then moved down Island Road where they gathered more stragglers from their Regiment and spent the night deployed along Island Road in an attempt to stop the Japanese advancing southwards towards Tai Tam Gap.
By the morning of the following day all that stood in the way of the Japanese advance was two 3.7 inch howitzers of the 1st (Hong Kong) Regiment, Hong Kong and Singapore Artillery and a small number of troops from the Hong Volunteer Defence Force. Eric Bompas was placed in command of the two 3.7 inch howitzers based on a knoll at Gauge Basin. At 5.30am Captain Penn arrived with a force of around thirty men which he deployed around the gun facing Sanatorium Gap, from where the Japanese advance was expected. Later in the morning Captain Penn saw the Japanese advancing along a ridgeline towards Jardine’s Lookout where they were in pursuit of the Allied defenders there who were falling back. At 9.30am the Japanese turned their attentions to the position at Gauge Basin and about 25 to 30 of them brought the area under small arms fire from their position on another knoll, some 400 yards to the rear. The howitzer itself began to come under mortar fire at the same time. During this exchange of fire and having suffered a number of casualties among his gunners, Eric Bompas ordered his men to manhandle their guns into a position to face the enemy threat and brought the Japanese troops under fire over open sights. The Japanese ceased firing at 10.30am. At 11am, with Allied troops falling back around, them the Gauge Basin guns began firing rapidly in anticipation of an order to withdraw and at about the same time a message arrived saying that he and his men were to fall back to new positions at Stanley. The two guns at Gauge Basin were spiked and abandoned.
On the 21st of December 1941, a British counterattack was planned in an attempt to reunite the Eastern and Western Brigades which had been separated by the Japanese advance. The remaining artillery was ordered to fire in support of the attacks on Red Hill and Bridge Hill. When the attack began, the leading Bren gun carriers were approaching the driveway to “Erinsville”, a villa near Turtle Cove, when they came under heavy fire from Red Hill on their right flank. When one of the men in the leading carrier was killed the remaining carriers ground to a halt where the men abandoned them and took cover. The enemy fire was coming from an abandoned British gun position on Red Hill and a party of infantry was assembled under the command of Eric Bompas and Lieutenant William S. Fry, Royal Rifles of Canada, with orders to clear the crest of Red Hill. The patrol moved down the hillside towards “Erinsville” before beginning to move up hill towards the crest of Red Hill with the support of covering fire from Allied machine guns. As they neared the top of the hill both Fry and Eric Bompas were killed. The fighting in the area died down at about 1pm.
He was Mentioned in Despatches: -“In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the defence of Hong Kong in 1941”, which was announced by the War Office on the 4th of April 1946.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Broughton.
He is buried at Stanley Military Cemetery Plot 6, Row C, Grave 11.
Bompas, Hugh Steele, brother of Cecil Henry Bompas (q.v.); b. Dec. 9, 1881; adm. Jan. 17, 1895 (G); left July 1900; Pembroke Coll. Camb., matric. Michaelmas 1900; B.A. 1904; called to the bar at the Inner Temple Nov. 1904; South-Eastern Circuit; Divisional Director, Training Department of the Ministry of Labour 1919-25; Secretary for Education to Dental Board since 1925; served in Great War I, first as Flight-Lieut. R. N. A. S., and afterwards as Capt. R.A.F. in France, Egypt, and Mesopotamia; m. 1st Aug. 13, 1907, Violet Dorothy, eldest daughter of Henry Lupton, of Headingley, Leeds; 2nd Sept. 12, 1938, Dorothy Cathcart-Jones; d. July 19, 1944
Bonas, Peter David, son of Lionel and Sheila Bonas of Maida Vale; b. 22 Nov. 1914; adm. Sept. 1928 (R); left July 1931; worked in the film industry; RN 1940-2 (AB), discharged for ill-health May 1942; d. 1 Sept. 1945 of disabilities contracted on active service.
Peter David Bonas was born at Paddington, London on the 22nd of November 1914 the only son of Lionel Maurice Bonas, a film representative, and Sheila (nee Spero) Bonas of 16, Lauderdale Mansions, Maida Vale in London. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1928 to July 1931. He was a member of the 2nd Football XI in 1930 and of 1st Football XI in 1930 and 1931 where he played at left back. The Elizabethan wrote the following on his 1930/1931 season: - “He has played so often for the Eleven that he deserves a mention. His main fault lies in his slowness of foot, but he is young and should be much faster next year. He has a good tackle when he is in time with it, and kicks well.” On leaving school he went to work in the film industry for the United Arts Film Corporation. He was married at Plymouth in 1941 to Hilda May Hope (nee Dunstone) of North Wembley.
He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1940 but was invalided out of the service in May 1942 due to ill health from an illness which he had contracted while on active service.
He is commemorated at Golders Green Crematorium Panel 1.
BOND, ROBERT (or PETER); b.; adm.; KS; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1627, Westminster Student to 1630, but did not matric.; in the Dean’s Book at Christ Church he is described as Peter Bond.
BOND, THOMAS, second son of Sir William Bond, Kt, Highgate, Middlesex, Alderman, City of London, and Catherine, dau. of John Povey, Lauderdale House, Highgate, Middlesex; b.; adm.; KS; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1627, Westminster Student to (?) 1629; MB 1634; MD 1638; m. Catherine, dau. of John Osbaldeston, Warwicks.
Bone, Alexander Drummond, son of Drummond Bone of Buenos Aires and Jane Johnstone, d. of David Hume of Enniskillen, co. Fermanagh; b. 22 Dec. 1914; adm. Sept. 1928 (B); left July 1929; re-adm. Sept. 1931 (H); left July 1933; Univ. of Lond., MB BS MRCS LRCP 1939; RNVR 1940-3 (Surg. Lieut.); served in HMS Dorsetshire at the sinking of the Bismarck, torpedoed in HMS Lively; DSC (Med.) Nov. 1942; lost with HMS Dulverton 13 Nov. 1943.
Alexander Drummond Bone was born at Battersea, Surrey on the 22nd of December 1914 the only son of Drummond Bone, a consulting engineer, and Jean Johnston (nee Hume) Bone of 64, Prince of Wales’ Mansions, Battersea, later of 122, Sloane Street in London. He was christened at St Mary’s Church, Wandsworth on the 3rd of March 1917.
He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Busby’s from September 1928 to July 1929. He was readmitted in September 1931 when he was up Homeboarders until July 1933. He went on to the St Thomas’ Hospital, University of London from 1933, achieving MB BS MRCS and LRCP in 1939. On the outbreak of war he was working as a House Physician at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. He was commissioned as a Surgeon Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the 14th of May 1940.
He was serving on board the heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire when she was involved in the sinking of the Bismarck in May 1941. He was serving with the destroyer HMS Lively when she was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean on the 11th of May 1942. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross: - “For bravery and devotion to duty while serving in HM Ship Lively in the Mediterranean.” which was announced in the London Gazette of the 17th of November 1942.
He was later posted to the destroyer HMS Dulverton (L63).
In October 1943 HMS Dulverton, under the command of Commander Stuart Austen Buss MVO DSC RN, formed part of a force which was supporting the capture the islands of Kos and Leros from the Germans. On the 22nd of October she fired on shore targets at Levitha and she transported troops and stores to Leros on the 27th of October when she came under sustained attack from enemy aircraft and E Boats before she returned to Alexandria.
On the 12th of November HMS Dulverton returned to the area to support the garrison on Leros, which had just been attacked by German paratroopers. At around 1.45am on the 13th of November 1943, she was some five miles off the coast of Kos when she was attacked by Do217 aircraft of KG 100 which were using Hs 293 glider bombs. During the attack she was hit abreast of the bridge by one of the bombs, which blew off her bow section and started a number of fires on board. While the destroyer HMS Echo (H23) began rescuing the survivors, the escort destroyer HMS Belvoir (L32) continued firing on the enemy aircraft. By 3.20am the now abandoned destoyer was burning fiercely and orders were given to HMS Belvoir to scuttle her with a torpedo. HMS Dulverton was hit by the torpedo and sank at 3.33am. Six officers and one hundred and fourteen ratings had been rescued but three officers and seventy five ratings had been lost in the attack. Alexander Bone was among the dead.
He is commemorated on the St Thomas’ Hospital Roll of Honour
He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial Panel 84, Column 2.
Bonner, Charles Bradlaugh, son of Arthur Bonner, F. S. A., of Upper Tooting, by Hypatia, second daughter of Charles Bradlaugh, M. P.; b. April 28, 1890; adm. as exhibitioner Sept. 24, 1903 (H); K.S. (non-resident) Sept. 22, 1904; elected head to Trin. Coll. Camb. (with Samwaies and a Triplett gratuity). July 1909, matric. Michaelmas 1909; B.A. 1912; M.A. 1916; enlisted in 2/8th Essex Cyclists May 1917; asst. master at County Secondary School, Bromley, Kent, 1919-22; Head of Boys' School, Woolwich Polytechnic, 1922-28; Senior English Master, Mercers' School, 1936-50; Henry Thornton School 1954-63; author of various translations from French; m. April 1914, Gabrielle Marie-Louise, daughter of Octave Uldry, of Lausanne, Switzerland.