L/581 Stewart Alexander Laverty, 9th Lancers

L/581 Stewart Alexander Laverty of the 9th (Queen's Royal) Lancers was killed in action on this day, 24th August, 1914. He was born in Acton, West London and gave his residential address as Hammersmith at the time of his enlistment. He enlisted in Winchester.

Stewart's number indicates that he joined the Lancers in 1907; probably around October that year. That in turn almost certainly suggests that he was coming to the end of his seven year commitment to the Colours when Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914. His medal index card records that Stewart arrived in France on the 15th August and he'd therefore been overseas for just nine days when he was killed.

Stewart Laverty has no known grave and he is commemorated on the La-Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial on the Marne. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission information about this memorial reads:

"The La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial commemorates nearly 4,000 officers and men of the British Expeditionary Force who died in August, September and the early part of October 1914 and who have no known grave. The monument consists of a rectangular block of stone, 62 feet by 30 feet and 24 feet high, with the names of the dead engraved on stone panels on all sides of the monument. The monument is surmounted by a sarcophagus and a trophy carved in stone. At the four corners of the pavement are stone piers with urns, carved with the coats of arms of the Empire. The memorial was designed by G.H. Goldsmith and unveiled by Sir William Pulteney on 4 November 1928."

Stewart's medal index card notes that he died "on or since 24/8/14" and that he was entitled to the 1914 Star and the British War and Victory medals. These latter two medals were returned, either because the impressed naming was incorrect or because the addressee had moved. Nevertheless, in 1919 Stewart's brother applied for the clasp and roses on his behalf and these were sent to him at his home address in Shoreham, Sussex.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
La-Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial image taken from the page dedicated to Edward Martin Panter-Downes of Clifton Rugby Football History Club.