Captain Barry Hartwell (B 1894.3) who served in the 2nd Battalion., 8th Gurkha Rifles, was killed at the battle of La Bassée on 30th October 1914.
(Above: Barry with some his regiment, possibly in Tibet in the early 1900s)
Early career in Tibet
Barry took part in the Tibet Expedition (1903-4), and had been awarded the Order of St. John of Jerusalem Silver Medal for “saving life in the earthquake at Dharmsala in 1905”.
Dharmsala was the headquarters of the Kangra district of the Punjab, and the centre of a European settlement and cantonment, largely occupied by Gurkha regiments. The station was destroyed by the earthquake of April 1905, in which 1625 persons, including 25 Europeans and 112 of the Gurkha garrison, perished.
(Above: Barry as a young man)
Barry married Maybell Dobbs while he was stationed in Lansdowne and they were married at Bombay in 1912, going on to have one daughter, who was born a year later.
War service of Captain Barry Hartwell
When war broke out in 1914, the Indian army sent an expeditionary force to the western front. Barry was killed at the Battle of La Bassée on 30th October 1914, one of nearly 2000 Indian Army casualties sustained on that front in a month. He was 33.
(Above: Barry’s medals, still treasured by the family today)
His medals include the Silver Medal of St. John of Jerusalem, the 1914 Star, the Victory medal, also called the Inter Allied Victory Medal, and the British War Medal.
Barry is commemorated at the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial, Pas de Calais, France and on the war memorial at Haileybury.
About the Roll of Honour
The information in this article forms part of a wider project for Old Haileyburians to submit information of family members who died on military service and who are commemorated in our Roll of Honour. Our Roll of Honour page enables you also to supply information about your own family members who died on active service.