OF WORLD WAR ONE INTEREST: CONTENTS OF A TRUNK CONTAINING ROYAL MARINE ARTILLERY OFFICER’S MESS KIT, NO. 1 KIT AND CEREMONIAL UNIFORM AND OTHER ITMES

And a copy of ‘The Roll of Honour: A Biographical Record of All Members of His Majesty’s Naval and  Miltary Forces Who Have Fallen in the War’, by the Marquis De Ruvigny, Vol.1 

Provenance: 

The contents of this trunk were predominately once owned and used by two brothers George and Noel Hathorn, who were both killed in active service in World War I. 

Lieutenant George Hugh Vans Hathorn (1888-1915) of the Royal Marine Light Infantry died on 1^st January 1915 when his Ship, HMS Formidable was torpedoed twice whilst on exercises off the Devon coast. The ship took less than two hours to sink. George was one of five hundred and fifty-one men who died. His Commonwealth War Grave Commission certificate states “Had he survived the Admiralty would have expressed their appreciation of the good service rendered by him on the occasion of the sinking of the vessel.”  He is remembered with honour on the Chatham Naval Memorial, commemorated on Folkestone War Memorial and Dover College (Dover) War Memorial.

Noel McDouall Hathorn was gazetted a 2nd Lieutenant in the Indian Reserve of Officers attached to the 76th Punjabs. He served in the Suez and Mesopotamia, where he was shot and died on 14 July 1915, whilst leading a company across a waterway near Nassau-i-jeh. He was buried at Basra War Cemetery and commemorated on Dover College War Memorial.