John Noble Jephson

In memoriam

DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI (IT IS SWEET AND HONORABLE TO DIE FOR YOUR COUNTRY) Thy Will Be Done

British Officer killed in the Dardanelles Campaign, WWI. Major Noble Jephson was born in India to the second son of the late Deputy Inspector General William Holmes Jephson and Mary Harden (Noble) Jephson. He was christened on 1 Nov 1864 in Bangalore. Jephson married Lilian Belle Bere Wood (daughter of Edward Septimus Wood) of "Thandiani", Paignton, Devon, on 20 Dec 1890 in Lucknow, Bengal, India. Jephson's father passed away in 1870, and his mother moved the family to England shortly thereafter. In 1871 Jephson (age 6) lived in Heavitree, Devon with his mother Mary Hardin and five sisters: Mina N (10), Mary N (9), Amy N (8), Margaret M (3), and Anna H F (0). Jephson was gazetted from Sandhurst to the Manchester Regiment in 1885, joining the 5th Bengal Infantry in 1889. Jephson (while Captain, Indian Staff Corps) lived in Exeter, Devon in the household of his sister Mary N., along with his wife Lilian, and son Edward. Of his two sons, the elder served also at Gallipoli and was granted the Military Cross. He retired from the Indian Army in 1905, through malaria. In 1911 Jephson was employed as a Territorial Officer, living in Paignton, Devon, with his wife Lilian, and son John (age 9, School Boy). Their older son, Edward (13, Student), was attending Wellington College Public School in Crowthorne, Berkshire. Upon the outbreak of the war in Europe, Jephson at once offered his services and was appointed second in command of the 6th Royal Munster Fusiliers. On 15th and 16th August the 30th Brigade of the 10th Division (including the 6th Royal Munster Fusiliers) advanced from Jephson's Post at Gallipoli during the Sulva Bay landings. The British attack at Suvla, unbeknown to the British, was the main Turkish ammunition dump for the whole of the peninsular was positioned just beyond the ridge. If this was to be captured or destroyed the Turks could yet be defeated. It was during this advance that Jephson was badly wounded; on 29 August 1915 he died of his wounds. Accounts suggest Jephson fell, shot through the head, while leading his men along the ridge. Major Jephson is buried at East Mudros Military Cemetery in Mudros, Greece, Island of Lemnos. Below submitted by A Fifer in Exile (49902043): Extract from The Roll of Honour, A Biographical record of all members of His Majesty's Naval and Military Forces who have fallen in the War, by the Marquis de Ruvigny, Volume I., The Standard Art Book Company, Ltd, December, 1916. Major, 6th (Service) Royal Munster Fusiliers, 2nd son of the late Dep.-Inspector-General William Holmes Jephson, M.D., by his wife, Mary Harden, daughter of the late Major Horatio Nelson Noble, Indian Army, and grandson of the late John Jephson, of Limerick, J.P.; born Bangalore, India, 8 Oct. 1864; educated Norwood (Exeter), Newton Abbot College, Kelly College, and Sandhurst; gazetted to Manchester Regiment in 1885, joining the Indian Army (5th Bengal L.I.) in 1889. He obtained his majority in 1903, but becoming subject to malaria, retired from the Indian Army in 1905, and joined the Territorial force in Devon, with the Command of the 4th Wessex Brigade, R.F.A. He resigned this command shortly before the outbreak of war in 1914, when he again offered his services, and was appointed second in command of the 6th Royal Munster Fusiliers in Sept. 1914. He took part in the landing of that Regiment in Suvla Bay on 7 Aug. 1915, and in the subsequent fighting on the Karakol Dagh; on his own initiative he took an important position there, which was subsequently officially named "Jephson's Post"; he was shot through the head on 15 Aug. while charging at the head of his men in the attack on Kiretch Tepe Sirt, and died of his wounds in Mudros Hospital on 29 Aug. 1915. His Colonel wrote of him: "From the first the loyalty he always showed to me, though junior to him in years, never slackened or failed; when we got into the active sphere of operations, his energy and keenness were marvellous; he practically alone captured an important height which the Brigadier always afterwards in his orders called 'Jephson's Post,' and it was in the defence of this post that he was shot. For absolute dash and fearlessness he had not an equal, and his loss is irreparable." He was mentioned in Sir Ian Hamilton's Dispatch of 11 Dec. 1915 [London Gazette, 28 Jan. 1916], for good work done in Gallipoli. Major Jephson was a keen sportsman and a first-class shot. He married at Lucknow, 20 Dec. 1890, Lilian Bell Bere, only child of the late Captain Edward Septimus Wood, of the Indian Forests Department (formerly of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), by his wife, Bessie Bella Gordon, daughter of the late Major B. Edward Baker Bere, 16th Lancers, and had issue two sons: Edward William Francis (gazetted to R.F.A. Feb. 1915), b. 5 Nov. 1897; and John Arthur Holmes, b. 13 March, 1902. He is also commemorated on the Kelly College (Mount Kelly) WW1 Memorial in Tavistock, Devon (see: https://www.devonheritage.org/Places/Tavistock1/KellyCollegeWar1914-1918Memorial.htm) and on the Indian Army WW1 memorial in the Royal Memorial Chapel, RMA Sandhurst, Camberley, Surrey Heath Borough, Surrey, England. Cenotaph here

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