Lt-Col Sir Richard des Voeux

1911 ◐ – 20 Sep 1944 ◐

Lt-Col Sir William Richard de Bacquencourt des Voeux, Bt (52592), Grenadier Guards, commanding 156 Parachute Battalion

About: A Grenadier Guards officer who commanded 156 Parachute Battalion, Murphy's battalion, from 1943, and was killed ◐ about 20 September 1944 (the CWGC has the 20th, one graves form "on or shortly after 19.9.44"), as the battalion fell back on the Oosterbeek perimeter as the 4th Parachute Brigade's rearguard. He was the ninth and last des Voeux baronet.

Unit or role: Grenadier Guards, commissioned in 1931; a staff officer on Lt-Gen Browning's staff, and a liaison officer with the 1st Parachute Battalion in North Africa in 1942; commanding officer of 156 Parachute Battalion, 1943–1944 (Pegasus Archive; ParaData). Twice mentioned in despatches (CWGC).

Where: Buried at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, grave 6. C. 10.; his widow of Adbury Holt, Newbury, Berkshire (CWGC).

Evidence: ✓ the CWGC record and its graves forms; ✓ the London Gazette, 1931–1945 (below); ✓ 156 Battalion's war diary, September 1944, p. 1; ◐ the Pegasus Archive's biography and its accounts of the officers of 156 (Powell, Pott, Waddy, Haley); ✓ The Times, 22 May 1974; ◐ search snippets of books by Saunders, Hackett, Fullick, Bennett and Waddy (below).

• ✓ His parents and wife. The CWGC has him as the "9th Baronet", the son of "Lt.-Col. Henry John Des Voeux, O.B.E., and Dorothy Gladys Des Voeux", and the husband of "Lady Des Voeux (nee Elkington), of Adbury Holt, Newbury, Berkshire" (the record); the cemetery's printed register says the same (p. 18).
• ◐ Born in 1911. Wikipedia's list of the des Voeux baronets and a Chinese book on the battle of Hong Kong (2013) both give him "1911–1944" (Wikipedia, a secondary source whose references, a Burke dictionary of the peerage and baronetage and Rayment's list, are not shown to give the year; the book, from snippets, p. 446). Neither is a birth record. The CWGC's "Age 32" on 20 September 1944 puts his birth between 21 September 1911 and 20 September 1912 (the record), so both fit only if he was born between 21 September and 31 December 1911.
• ✓ The baronetcy. He was the ninth and last of the des Voeux baronets: the CWGC has him as the "9th Baronet" (above) and The Times of 22 May 1974 calls him "ninth and last baronet" (the paragraph, p. 22). The Gazette has him plain "W. R. de B. des Voeux" in August 1939 and "Sir W. R. de B. Des Voeux" in August 1944 (below), and Saunders (1950), telling November 1942 with "subsequently killed at Arnhem" in the same sentence, calls him "Major Sir Richard des Voeux", which does not show he held the title then (the snippets).
• ◐ The eighth baronet. Wikipedia and the Chinese book have the eighth, Sir Edward Alfred Des Voeux (1864–1941), killed at the North Point power station in the battle of Hong Kong (same sources). Wikipedia cites a book by Cracknell for it, which we have not read, and the Chinese book's snippet, which gives his birth and death years, renders the title as "伯爵" (earl), not baronet.
• ✓ His marriage. The Times of 22 May 1974 reported the death of his widow on the Monday, 20 May: "She was Jean Margaret, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. Elkington, DSO, and she was married in 1939. Her husband was killed in action in 1944." (the paragraph, p. 22, read on the page image). The death notice in the same issue gives her as the widow of "Lt.-Col. Sir Richard des Voeux, Bt." and the mother of three daughters, whom it names (the notice, p. 40).
• ◐ A nephew of Colonel Elkington. Richard Adams, in his memoir The Day Gone By (1990), writes of his godfather, "Colonel Richard Elkington" of Adbury Holt, near Newbury: "His nephew, Sir Richard des Voeux, commanded 156 Parachute Battalion at Arnhem, where he was killed." (p. 112; p. 113, read on the page images). Adams does not say how they were related, and how his godfather Richard Elkington stood to The Times's Lt-Col J. F. Elkington, the father of des Voeux's wife, is not shown (where the sources disagree, below).

✓ From the London Gazette:

• 27 August 1931. Among the Gentlemen Cadets from the Royal Military College to be 2nd Lieutenants, under Foot Guards, "Gren. G'ds. —William Richard de Baquencourt des VOEUX." (28 August 1931, p. 5623).
• 27 August 1934. "Gren. G'ds.—W. R. de B. des Voeux." in the Foot Guards' list in the promotions of that day (28 August 1934, p. 5460); ◐ the column's heading, in the page's PDF and not in the text extract, is "The undermentioned 2nd Lts. to be Lts. 27th Aug. 1934", and the Foot Guards' names under it are the men commissioned with him in 1931.
• 4 February 1937. "Gren. G'ds.—Lt. W. R. de B. des Voeux to be Adjt. vice Capt. H. R. H. Davies. 4th Feb. 1937." (5 February 1937, p. 789).
• 27 August 1939. "The undermentioned Lts. to be Capts. 27th Aug. 1939: — W. R. de B. des Voeux." (29 August 1939, p. 5916).

• ◐ On Browning's staff. The Pegasus Archive has him with the Grenadier Guards "and then as a member of Lt-General Browning's staff in the early days of the airborne movement" (Pegasus Archive).

◐ North Africa, November 1942. The Pegasus Archive:

As a Major, Des Voeux was assigned to the 1st Battalion as a liasion [sic] officer, and accompanied them when they were parachuted into the Beja region, North Africa, on 16th November 1942. Unfortunately his landing was hard and he broke a leg.

— The Pegasus Archive · Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Des Voeux · the biography

Saunders's The Red Beret (1950) agrees, from the Archive's full-text search and not read on the page (the snippets):

• at Maison Blanche, "Pine-Coffin and Major Sir Richard des Voeux, a staff officer, subsequently killed at Arnhem";
• "Major des Voeux, who jumped as liaison officer, broke his leg".

• ✓ Italy. The London Gazette of 24 August 1944 has "Maj. (temp. Lt.-Col.) Sir W. R. de B. Des Voeux (52592)" under the Grenadier Guards (p. 3931) in the list that begins on p. 3926, "that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy" (p. 3926); pp. 3927–3930 carry no new heading (p. 3928, p. 3929, p. 3930; p. 3927 is Hackett's).
• ✓ 156 Battalion.
  • ParaData's list of the battalion's commanding officers has "1943-4 Lt Col R de B Voeux" (ParaData).
  • The Pegasus Archive has him given command "in 1943" (Pegasus Archive), and Saunders has the 156th, "under Lieutenant-Colonel Sir W. R. de B. des Voeux, now recovered from his broken leg", reach England from the Middle East (the snippets).
  • The battalion's war diary for September 1944 gives its commanding officer as "Lt Col Sir W. R. de [?] des Voeux Bart", handwritten; the stroke after "de" is not a clear "B.", and the transcript has "Sir W. R. des Voeux Bart." (the war diary, p. 1, read on the image).
• ◐ His men's memories. Major John Pott of A Company, in Tunisia: "our much loved Colonel Dicky Des Voeux was seen taking his gammy leg for a run" before a battalion cross-country run (Pott). His brigadier, Hackett, calls him "that gallant Grenadier Dick des Voeux" and "my old friend" in his memoir I Was a Stranger (1977) (the snippets, not read on the page).

Murphy was in C Company of 156 Parachute Battalion at Arnhem, ◐ 11 Platoon (Mrs Esveld-Strubbe's statement, 28 May 1945, which has him as "Lt. Tom MERPHY, 6457, C Company, 156 Batt.", down on 17 September; His own account checked, where Walsh's "of my Coy" carries the company better). ⚠︎ The Pegasus Archive's note in Hardy's report has instead "[2656457. Pte. Thomas Murphy. Mortar Platoon, 156 Parachute Battalion]", with no source given (Hardy); His own account checked reads the mortar platoon as his platoon in Italy. Des Voeux commanded the battalion; no source found puts the two men together. ◐ The Pegasus Archive tells the battalion's part from his side (Pegasus Archive):

• 18 September.
  • The battalion dropped on Ginkel Heath "at just after 15:09" and began the 4th Parachute Brigade's attack at about 17:00 (same).
  • Hackett told him to halt at dusk, but he kept his men moving after dark, with C Company under Major Powell in the lead, until it came under fire from a strong German position. He went forward to C Company, agreed with Powell that the position was too strong for a night attack, and withdrew the battalion into the woods (same).
  • Pott's account has the same: "The C.O., Lieut Col Des Voeux , then withdrew the Battalion to a firm base with the aim of renewing the advance, after seeing where the enemy were." (Pott).
  • Mike Haley of HQ Company was, as he put it, "to all intents, the Colonel's runner", following CQMS Badger, who "kept close to the Colonel, Dickie Des Voeux" (Haley).
• 19 September. A Company led the attack on the next high ground and was cut to pieces; the news did not reach Battalion HQ, and he urged B Company on, believing A Company had met only a few snipers (Pegasus Archive; Waddy).

20 September. The battalion was the brigade's rearguard on the way back to the Oosterbeek perimeter, and few of its men got in (Pegasus Archive):

Sergeant Andy Thorburn discovered his fatally wounded commander, leaning against a tree. He asked if he could help him, but Des Voeux said "No. Move forward. The enemy is in front of you; they need you there". It is believed that Sir Richard died shortly after.

— The Pegasus Archive · Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Des Voeux · the biography

• The Pegasus Archive's account of Geoffrey Powell, C Company's commander, has Hackett tell him on the way that the Brigade Major, the Intelligence Officer, "Lt-Colonel Des Voeux and his Second-in-Command had all been killed within the last quarter of an hour" (Powell).
• ◐ David Bennett's A Magnificent Disaster (2008) has "... barely fifty of them from 156th Battalion, at 1850 hours, minus Lt. Col. Sir Richard Des Voeux." and then "The badly wounded commander of the battalion, revered by his fellow officers, ordered his troops to continue the [...]" (the sentence before is cut off, so what they reached is not shown) (the snippet, p. 330; the date is not in the snippet).
• ◐ Roy Fullick's life of Hackett (2003) has "that in 156/Para both the commanding officer, Sir Richard des Voeux and the second-in-command, Major Teddy Ritson, were among those who had been killed during the day" (the snippet starts at "that", so the verb, who was told and by whom are not shown; Hackett is the book's subject), and "most grievous of all to 156 Battalion was that its fine commanding officer, Dickie des Voeux, was among them" (the snippets). Saunders has "Among the killed were des Voeux, commanding 156th Battalion; Dawson, the brigade..." (the snippet stops there) (Saunders).

Murphy's own days at Arnhem, and his capture, are on Arnhem.

• ✓ A mass grave at Oosterbeek. The graves forms move him on 13 August 1945 from "OOSTERBEEK Isolated Holland Mass grave Sh.6NW MR. 684785" (the typed form's wording; the field form punctuates it a little differently) to the Arnhem British Cemetery, plot VI, row C, grave 10 (the field form of 15 November 1945, serial 7; the typed form of 28 January 1946, serial 5; what they say).
  • The same grave held Maj. C. N. B. Dawson, "R.BERKS/HQ.4PARA BDE. PARA REGT" on the typed form, and two privates of 156, R. Tappin and J. George, among others (same).
  • The field form leaves his date of death "U/K"; the typed form adds in red "on or shortly after 19.9.44." (same).
  • ◐ Fullick has him buried "in a field grave, probably by the Germans after the Battle of Oosterbeek was over", and his body "re-interred in the British military cemetery the following year" (the snippets); "probably by the Germans" is Fullick's own guess.
• ✓ The register and the stone. The grave registration form of 10 October 1956 has "52592 Lt.Col.Sir (Bt.) W. Richard de B.des VOEUX", "Grenadier Guards Commanding 156 Para Regt. A.A.C.", 20.9.44, in plot VI, row C, grave 10, beside Dawson in grave 11 (the form). The headstone schedule gives a cross and the inscription "Altiora in votis" Higher things Are among our wishes (the schedule, p. 3).

• ✓ Mentioned for Arnhem. The London Gazette of 20 September 1945, in the list "that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services at Arnhem", has under the Grenadier Guards "Lt.-Col. (temp.) Sir William R. de B. des VOEUX, Bt. (52592)" (p. 4684). With the mention for Italy (above), ◐ that matches the "Twice Mentioned in Despatches" of the CWGC record (the record).
• ◐ In Hackett's memoir: "…was only much, much later that I was to learn that Dick — des Voeux, my old friend, that gallant Grenadier" (the snippet breaks off) (the snippets).
• ◐ In 1958. Bernard Fergusson, writing "Arnhem Afterthoughts" in The Sunday Times of 25 May 1958, p. 30, named him among the dead: "Ken Smyth, Dickie des Voeux, John Coke, and over a thousand others who were robur militum, of the flower of the British Army, were killed" (the passage, from the Internet Archive's full-text search; the page itself is locked).
• ◐ In the battlefield guides. John Waddy's A Tour of the Arnhem Battlefields (1999): "The CO of 156 Battalion, Sir Richard des Voeux, and his 2ic, Major Ritson, were killed" (the hits); Robert Kershaw's A Street in Arnhem has "commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Richard des Voeux" (the snippet does not name the unit; it came up in a search for 156) (the hits). Snippets only, not read on the page.
• ✓ His widow died at home on 20 May 1974 (The Times, p. 40).

• His number. 52592 in the London Gazette of 1944 and 1945, on the three graves forms and in the Pegasus Archive; "52952" on the CWGC record and in the cemetery's printed register (sources above). ◐ 52952 is very probably a transposition.
• His name. "William Richard de Baquencourt" in the Gazette of 1931; "de Bacquencourt" in the CWGC register and the Pegasus Archive; "R. R. de B." on the concentration forms of 1945–46, and on the typed one the surname struck through with a dark line, the first "R." crossed with a red slash, the second "R. de B" left as typed, and "DES VOEUX W. E5824" written above in red; "Dick", "Dickie" and "Dicky" to Hackett, Fullick, Fergusson, Haley and Pott (sources above).
• The date of his death. 20 September 1944 on the CWGC record, the 1956 registration form and the headstone schedule; "U/K" on the field form of 1945 and "on or shortly after 19.9.44" on the typed one (sources above). The Pegasus Archive puts it on the 20th; Powell's account gives Hackett's statement no date, but by its sequence (the drop on Monday 18th, Tuesday, then "the following morning") it falls on the 20th.
• Colonel Elkington. Adams calls des Voeux the nephew of his godfather Colonel Richard Elkington of Adbury Holt; The Times calls his wife the daughter of Lt-Col J. F. Elkington, DSO, and the CWGC gives her address as Adbury Holt (Adams, p. 113; The Times; CWGC). Whether the two Elkingtons are one man, and so whether he was a nephew by blood or by marriage, or a son-in-law, the sources held do not show.
• His year of birth. 1911 in Wikipedia and the Chinese book; the CWGC's age, 32, allows 1911 only from 21 September (above).

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