With family
background of father and grandfather
In military
careers, Osborne Brace Pritchard
Perhaps was
destined to follow in army boots -
From the end of a
previous century year 1787,
Saw birth of Samuel
Pritchard, who by 1851 had
Become retired
Captain RN, living at Southsea.
Mary Pritchard
bore 3 daughters and an only son,
Edward Brace
Pritchard who in 1851 was 15 -
As a youth he
joined Royal Marine Light infantry -
By year 1861 Edward Brace
was serving at sea
Under rank of
Lieutenant. 1865 saw his marriage
To Margaret
Rosamund Osborn, at Arundel.
Children followed
- after the eldest Beatrice Maud
In 1868 was
Osborn Brace taking his mothers
Maiden name;
place of birth being County Donegal,
Where his father
was likely posted. Made a widower
By 1881 Edward
took his family to Southsea -
There he married
once more to Elizabeth Cotton.
At this time the
children had grown and gone their
Ways with Osborn
Brace joining the forces - from
Sandhurst with
the Welsh Regiment as Lieutenant
1890. Having
taken part in Sudan 1888, Gemaizah
1898, North West
Froniter and 1903 Somaliland
Campaigns, Brace
was a Special Service Officer.
1911 aged 43 Osborn
Brace had reached the rank
Of Major to be a
commanding officer at Cardiff
Barracks - Major
Osborn Pritchard had by opening
Hostilities of
1914, experiences of a senior officer -
Among the first
to enter initial campaigns in France,
Brace took part
in fighting at Gheluvelt in Belgium.
A campaign that
followed from German attempts to
Dash through France in a 'Race to the Sea' had led
Into the first
battle of Ypres - centered on the village
Of Gheluvelt lying
on a low ridge close to Ypres -
With ground lost
a counter attacked had ensued -
Taking part in
the lead Major Pritchard was wounded.
Praised for his
gallantry the Major had been hit
During three
different events. With recovery in Britain
For some months,
Pritchard again returned to France
In late months of
1915, then as Lieutenant Colonel -
With 2nd Battalion
into Somme Offensive 1916 aged
48, Osborne Brace
Pritchard was in the midst of battle.
In the dug out of
an HQ Battlefield Pritchard, along
With a signaler
and orderlies, felt the sudden force
As an enemy shell
made a direct hit - while signaler
And orderlies
were killed outright Lieutenant Colonel
Pritchard was
buried alive - by luck he was rescued;
With this narrow
escape his old wounds flared up.
The swelling on
one leg was so severe that fellow
Officers were
surprised he could walk - this required
A return home by
September - invalided Osborne
Pritchard
went to stay at the home of his older sister,
Beatrice
and brother in law Ted, at Lewisham Hill,
South East
London - yet matters played in his mind.
Having always
been battle fit and close to his men,
Osborne now 48
and with various wounds to slow
Him down, laid on him perhaps as he left hospital
17 November to
dwell on what happened and how
He might never be
able to work with his men again;
Possibly led to a
sudden deterioration of his mind.
In such
contemplation he took to his room Monday
27 November. With
his sister elsewhere in the house
He wrote some final
words; 'Dear Ted and Bea - I am
Getting paralysed
and my brain is going, please
Forgive -
Osborne.' having picked up his service
Revolver from the
desk Osborne shot himself dead.
A cocktail of
despair and possible latent shellshock
Had led to
suicide - a coroner declared how no one
Could have done
more for his country than such
A gallant gentleman
- posthumously awarded 1914
Star, he was
recorded as having died from condition
Of battle fatigue, cut up by losses of his battalion.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Untitled. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 December 1916. P.10.
Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213909/Daily-Telegraph-December-2-1916.html>
[Accessed: 13 December 2016].
Source: File: Osborne
Brace Pritchard. Available at: <http://historyinportsmouth.co.uk/people/ww1/pritchard-ob.htm
Lives Lived and
Lives Lost - Portsmouth and the Great War> [Accessed 13 December 2016]
Source: File: People
in Portsmouth Lives Lived and Lives Lost -Portsmouth and the Great War Osborne
Brace Pritchard. Available at: <http://historyinportsmouth.co.uk/people/ww1/pritchard-ob.htm>
[Accessed 13 December 2016]
Source: File:
Genes Reunited. Available at: <http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/results?memberlastsubclass=none&searchhistorykey=0&keywords=brace%20pritchard>
[Accessed 13 December 2016]
http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/results?memberlastsubclass=none&searchhistorykey=0&keywords=brace%20pritchard
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 13 December 2016).
ttp://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/
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