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Fascinating life of forgotten Leamington soldier

Buy photos » Leamington’s very special fallen soldier William Charles Denis Browne. (s)

NEW LIGHT has been shed on the fascinating life of a fallen First World War soldier from Leamington described as “very special and very forgotten.”

William Charles Denis Browne, who went off to war with close friend and famous Rugby born poet Rupert Brooke, is commemorated on the town's war memorial but little more has been told about his story, something historian and Gulf War veteran David Eason is seeking to change.

Sub-Lieutenant William 'Billy' Browne, who served in the Hood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division, was killed in action aged 26, in Dardenelles, Turkey, on June 7, 1915. The battle saw the Ottoman Empire and Germany defeat British forces led by then Lord of the admiralty Winston Churchill.

The youngest of five children, William was born in November 1883 at 'Lynwood' 111 Lillington Avenue, to parents William and Louisa.

He was educated at the town's Greyfriars Preparatory School then Rugby School before attending Clare College, Cambridge, where he was the college organist and became known as a musician of exceptional promise. It was at Cambridge he met, and became a friend and comrade of, Rupert Brooke - best known for his iconic poem The Soldier, with its famous opening lines, "If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field."

While students they were active in the Marlowe Dramatic Society alongside conductor EJ Dent, who described William as “excelling as a pianist, accompanist, organist and conductor.”

He composed many works and in 1912 secured his appointment to Repton School, mainly due to signing in the chorus of Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Wasp, after which the celebrated composer said of William: “He has a most musical nature and his artistic judgement and perception are remarkable.”

On one visit to Berlin in late 1912, over-zealous piano practice is credited with causing William neuritis and threatening paralysis, prompting him to resign from the school and become organist at Guy's Hospital in London.

While there he conducted several choral societies in the area and in 1913 and 1914 also contributed written columns to both The Times and New Statesman.

After war broke out, it was Churchill's private secretary Edward Marsh who managed to engineer both William and his old Cambridge friend Brooke into the Royal Navy Division in 1915 and they soon sailed for the Dardanelles.

On May 8 William was shot through the neck and after recuperating in Egypt he returned to the frontline not fully fit.

Writing to a friend on June 4 – the day of his death – he said: 'I've gone now, too; not too badly, I hope. I'm luckier than Rupert, because I've fought. But there's no one to bury me as I buried him so perhaps he's better off in the long run.”

Brooke had himself died on April 23 from blood poisoning and was buried on the Greek Island of Skyros.

William's own body was never retrieved but he is commemorated upon the Helles Memorial in Turkey and also on the respective war memorials in Leamington, Lillington and Rugby, at St Paul's Church in Leamington and also at Clare College.

* David Eason's war memorial to all fallen soldiers since 1939 is available exclusively at our website www.leamingtonobserver.co.uk

He has spent many months compiling the roll of honour and is now working on a First World War list as well.

The memorial is packed full of lists broken down into years, information about each soldier, special extended stories and a hundreds of photographs.

Anyone with information for the memorial can call Mr Eason on 07896 201176 or email husrollho@yahoo.co.uk.