Regiment: The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) 3rd Battalion
Date & place of birth: June 1879, Streat, East Sussex
Date & place of death: 2 November 1917 (aged 38), Gaza
Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Frere Lambert was born in East Sussex but was living at Coultershaw in 1911. He started his career in the army fighting in the Boer War but was semi-retired from it by the time the war started.
Family background
Arthur Frere Lambert was the son of Major General William Lambert CB and Margaret Lambert. By 1891 the family were living in Mid Lavant and Arthur was at boarding school in Hartley Witney. There were four boys altogether: one, Anthony, older than Arthur and twins Ralph Michell and David Sidney born 1885. Arthur was a Lieutenant in the Connaught Rangers living with an uncle in Wimbledon 1901. In 1903 he married Etheleen Amelia Donaldson, of Fittleworth, and they were living at Mill House, Station Road, Coultershaw in 1911. He was serving in special reserve as Captain on retired Pay from Regular Army and was also a farmer. They have a daughter Dorothea Margaret Lambert born the beginning of 1907.
Military career
Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Frere Lambert joined the Connaught Rangers and fought in the second Boer war, 1899 to 1902, and received medals for this. Presumably he was called up soon after the start of the war and joined the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment).
Death and commemoration
Arthur was killed in action on 2 November 1917 aged 38, in Gaza probably during the Third Battle of Gaza.This had begun on 27 October and ended with the capture from the Turks of the ruined and deserted city on 7 November 1917. He was mentioned in despatches and is buried at the Gaza War Cemetery.
Subsequent family history
Arthur left £4,427 17s 3d in his will. His wife did not re-marry and died in 1963. She was living in Sheepdown, Angel Street, Petworth at the time and left £21,428 in her will. Her brother-in-law David Lambert is mentioned in the probate document.
David had joined the Navy by 1911 becoming an OBE and gaining the rank of Paymaster Rear-Admiral. He was given the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935. He was Paymaster Director-General until retirement in July 1942 and then served in the Ministry of Supply (Directorate of Economy) 1942-1944. David’s portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.