A 1919 North West Railway 'Train Derailment' Officer's Casualty Pair: Lieutenant Hubert Leslie Russell, 27th Light Cavalry, Indian Army

- British War Medal 1914-20. Silver issue (2. Lieut. H. L. Russell.)
- India General Service 1908-35. GV 'Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919' (Lieut. H. L. Russell, 27 L. Cavy.)

Killed 3 September 1919: 2nd Lieutenant Hubert Leslie Russell is confirmed having been killed in a fatal rail accident, at Uchhri, Attock District of Punjab, British India (now located in Pakistan) on, 1 September 1919. The life and sacrifice of Lieutenant Russell is commemorated in perpetuity, both at home and overseas in several memorials. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission preserve the grave and memorial headstone of Lieutenant Russell at the Rawalpindi War Cemetery, located at Rawalpindi, Pakistan

The derailment was a major loss of like, in which a number of Officers and men of the Indian Army lost their lives. The incident was reported in the Civil and Military Gazette issue of, 3 September 1919, which we are quoting below:

Quote,

RAILWAY SMASH

DISASTER ON THE N.-W.R.

EUROPEANS KILLED

HEAVY INDIAN CASUALTIES

OVER 40 PERSONS INJURED

Rawalpindi, Sept. 1- No. 65 up passenger ran into a cutting, which had slipped at mile 260-2 between Chhab and Uchhri, at about 4.45 a.m. today. The engine and one third class bogie were badly derailed. Ten coaches were smashed and piled on top of each other in the cutting. Eight dead bodies of Indian soldiers were removed and the corpses of three European and one Indian can be seen and more appear to be buried in the wreckage. Thirty-nine Indians and three injured British officers were taken to Rawalpindi by an ambulance special. One Indian and one European sergeant were removed in an ambulance car. Mails and passengers of No.65 up and No.64 down train were transhipped at about 3 p.m. The block is expected to be cleared by tomorrow morning. No.65 up and No.64 down of to-night will also be transhipped.

Unquote.

H. L. Russell earned a single British War Medal for his service in India during the Great War, the Medal being sent to his father at Lyghe (now spelt Leigh) near Tonbridge, Kent.

Rank: Second Lieutenant
Regiment: 27th Indian Light Cavalry
Country of Service: Indian
Died: 1st September 1919
Age: 19 years old

Hubert was born in Lewisham on the 28th December 1899 and was the only son of Hubert Russell and Alice Maud Russell (née Hillman). They had married in Devon in 1895. He had an older sister Doris. Their father was an Electrical Engineer. In 1901 the family lived at 13, Lanier Road in Lewisham where they employed one domestic servant. Later they moved to 'South View', Leigh, Nr. Tonbridge, Kent.

Hubert was educated at Lancing College, Sussex from 1910 to 1917. He was a keen gymnast, participating in the college team from 1915 -1917, before being appointed Captain in 1917. In 1916 he was a House Captain and in 1917 a Prefect. With the rank of Sergeant, Hubert was also a member of the Officer Training Corps at the College.

After leaving Lancing, Hubert travelled to India to attend the Cadet College in Quetta. On completion there he was commissioned Second Lieutenant and placed on the Unattached List, before joining the 27th Light Cavalry on the 5th September 1918. In 1919, he served as Aide de Camp to Brigadier General W.G. Walton, the Commanding Officer of the Jubblepore Brigade. He also had a post as Staff Lieutenant in the Derajat Field Force.

On the 1st September 1919 Hubert was sadly killed in a railway accident in Rawalpindi, India.

Buried in the Rawalpindi War Cemetery he is also commemorated in the following locations back in England:

Hubert is commemorated on the War Memorial at St Mary's Church in Leigh, Kent where there is also a beautiful wooden carved prayer desk to his memory in the church which reads:

'In Memory of Hubert Leslie Russell,
Lieutenant 27th Lt Cavalry,
Killed 1st September 1919, in his
20th Yr, Buried Rawalpindi, Ind.

He is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Lancing College

A poignant medal pair and a choice example of medals well earned by a junior British Officer of considerable promise, serving with a crack Cavalry Regiment of the British Indian Army, who at the time of losing his life in a tragic railway accident was only 19 years of age!

With traces of lacquer

Condition: Lacquered o/w EF

Code: 24781