Three Cawley Brothers, 1878–1918
Killed in Action Great War
Sir Frederick Cawley, 1st Baron Cawley and his wife Elizabeth of Berrington Hall Leominster lost three sons in the Great War.
John Stephen was a professional soldier who served in South Africa. He was part of the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1914 and was killed during the retreat from Mons.
Harold Thomas was a barrister and MP. He was killed at Gallipoli on 1916.
Oswald was a businessman who succeeded his father as an MP in 1918. Later that year he was killed in action in France.
Harold Thomas Cawley, 1878–1915
Harold Cawley was a barrister with the Northern Circuit when he joined the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Manchester Regiment. In 1910 he was elected MP for Heywood, and a year later he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary Reginald McKenna.
On the outbreak of World War One he mobilised with his Territorial Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, and in 1915 was part of the force landing in Gallipoli. His battalion was providing a covering party holding the lip of a mine crater when Cawley was shot by a Turkish sniper. He is buried at Lancashire Landing Cemetery in Gallipoli.
John Stephen Cawley, 1879–1914
After his education at Rugby School and Sandhurst John Cawley commissioned into the 20th Hussars in India. He served in the South African war in 1901 and received the Queens medal with four clasps. He subsequently served in Egypt where he became Adjutant of his Regiment before returning to the UK to a staff appointment at Sandhurst.
He was part of the British Expeditionary Force to France in World War One. During the retreat from Mons his Brigade was surprised by a much larger force near Nery. Cawley went forward to restore order, and was killed by a piece of shell which struck his head.
Oswald Cawley, 1882–1918
Oswald Cawley was educated at Rugby School and Oxford. After graduating he travelled to Germany, India and Japan before joining his father’s business.
He joined the Shropshire Yeomanry shortly before war broke out and served in Palestine before being posted to France with his Regiment. In 1918 he was elected in a by-election to succeed his father as Member of Parliament (MP) for Prestwich. This was delayed because his regiment was posted to France, and it was not until June that he finally appeared at Westminster. After a short period of leave, he returned to France.
In a confused action in August of that year he was wounded in the arm, after treatment he returned to the line and was wounded again in the jaw. He was killed leading an attack. He was buried close to his brother John at Nery.
