2/Lieut Horace Stanley Sudlow attached to the 2/8th Bn Worcestershire Regiment was instantly killed by a shell on the 27th March whilst the remnants of his unit prepared to cover another retreat by the 5th Army in the face of the German Army’s Spring Offensive.

He joined up soon after the outbreak of war and went out with a draft of the Herefordshire Regiment, however as the Malvern News also stated that he took part in operations on the Somme in 1916 it is likely that he was attached to the Hereford’s parent regiment the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. He was slightly wounded on the Somme, suffering from trench fever and pneumonia and returned to England. He was given a commission while at home and went to France in January 1917 as an officer in the Worcestershire Regiment.

He was on Old Boy of the Queen Elizabeth School Darlington. His father received a letter from the CO of his battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Bilton: “Your son had been quite a short time with me and during this recent battle he proved himself a fearless and good officer. I only wish I had more like him. Please accept my very sincere sympathy.”

NB Officers Died in the Great War and the CWGC note Lieut Sudlow’s date of death as the 30th March 1918, but official records at this time of great upheaval and loss are sketchy – the casualty figures for these days are quoted all together i.e. 27th March to 30th March; Colonel Bilton’s testimony is a far more reliable source.

Stacke, Capt H FitzM The Worcestershire Regiment in the Great War Kidderminster 1921
Malvern News 13/4/18