2nd Lieutenant Donald Vaughan

Donald Vaughan was born in Wallasey on 14th April 1893, the son of Francis Samuel Vaughan and his wife Elizabeth (née Gould).  Frank, born in Nottingham, and Lizzie, in Liscard, married in Birkenhead in 1889 and had two children.  Donald had an older brother Frank, born in 1891.

 

Donald was baptised on 15th April in St. John’s Church, Egremont, his parents’ residence given as 22 Mossy Bank Road, and his  father’s occupation as photo engraver.

 

In 1901 his parents are living at 12 Kinglake Road, Liscard, but there are no children in the household.  His father is a process engraver, employer.  Donald, 7, and his brother Frank, 9, are student boarders in Deytheur G(?) School, Llansantffraid, Montgomeryshire (close to the Shropshire border).  They are both listed as born in Liverpool, but as there are no birth records for a Donald Vaughan of the right age in the Liverpool area, we can say with confidence that these are the correct entries. It is not known how long the boys attended the school.

 

By 1911 all four family members are at 1 Neville Street, Wallasey.  His father, 46, and Frank, 19, are both process block engravers and photo lithographers, his mother is 45, Donald is 17, a student.  Donald attended Wallasey Grammar School.

 

Donald enlisted in the 19th (Pals) Bn, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment as Private 17748 and was promoted to Lance Corporal. He was later commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Bn K.L.R. and was attached to the 2/6th Bn K.L.R.

 

In mid-October 1917 the 2/6th Bn was at St. Hilaire and on the 20th moved to Proven in Flanders, then on the 24th entrained for Elverdinghe, northwest of Ypres, and marched to Wolfe Camp, Malakoff area.  On the 26th the battalion moved into the line and was heavily shelled by gas projectiles during the march to Masouin Farm. The next day they marched from Masouin to Eagle Trench, again heavily shelled, including many gas shells.  On the 28th the battalion moved from Eagle Trench to relieve the 2/5th K.L.R. in the front line (front line consisting of a series of shell holes).  Posts were assumed to have been established at a number of locations, including Memling Farm and Rubens Farm. Casualties sustained: 20.  

 

The War Diary from 29th October records:

 

Donald was killed in action on 30th October 1917 and buried close to where he fell.  He was 24 years old.   After the war when graves were concentrated his grave was identified (by his identity disc), and his body was exhumed and reburied in Cement House Cemetery, Langemarck, FlandersLangemark has given its name to the Battles of 21-24 October 1914 and 16-18 August 1917. The village was in German hands from April 1915 to August 1917 and from April to September 1918. Commonwealth, French and Belgian forces have in turn defended and attacked it. "Cement House" was the military name given to a fortified farm building on the Langemark-Boesinghe (now Boezinge) road. The original Cement House Cemetery (now Plot I, an irregular group of 231 graves) was begun here at the end of August 1917 and used by the 4th and 17th Division burial officers, by field ambulances and by units in the line until April 1918. In the years immediately following the Armistice, most of Plots II - XV were added when Commonwealth graves were brought in from the battlefields and small burial grounds around Langemark and Poelkapelle, mostly dating from the Autumn of 1917. 

 

Plots XVI, XVII and XVIII originally contained some 500 French graves, but these were removed in 1922. The space vacated has been filled in over the intervening years by graves brought in from communal cemeteries and churchyards in the area, when their maintenance in these locations could no longer be assured. The cemetery is still used for the burial of remains that continue to be discovered in the vicinity, and a number of plots have been extended to accommodate these graves. There are now 3,592 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery, 2,425 of the burials are unidentified. Of the 22 Second World War burials in the cemetery, five are unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. at X.D.47 where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"LEAD THOU ME ON" 

 

Donald’s death was announced in the Liverpool Daily Post on 8th November 1917:  

“October 30, killed in action, Second Lieutenant Donald Vaughan, K.L.R., the most dear son of Frank and Elizabeth Vaughan, of Wallasey.”

 

His father evidently spent time in Dublin on business as he wrote to the War Office on 5th December 1917, from City of Dublin, Technical School of Book Production, Bolton Street, Dublin:

 “Sir, ... I shall be glad if you have any further business communications to send in connection with the death of my son (Second Lieutenant Donald Vaughan, 3 Battalion Lpool Regiment attached 6 Bn Lpool Regiment, Territorial Force) if you will send them to me here as Mrs. Vaughan, my wife, is no longer at the address you have, viz:- Fountain Lodge, Rake Lane, Liscard, Wallasey & I would much rather deal with the matter personally & so save her a further amount of pain.  Yours Truly, Frank Vaughan.”

 

Tragedy again struck the family a year later.  His father Frank was killed when RMS Leinster was sunk by U-boat U-123 on 10th October 1918 just outside Dublin Bay.  The ship carried 77 crew and 694 passengers, and the loss of life was believed to be 564.

 

Frank’s death was reported in the Liverpool Daily Post on 15th October 1918:

“The Leinster Disaster, Liverpool Victims:  Among the local victims of the Leinster tragedy is Mr. Frank Vaughan, of the firm of Frank Vaughan, Limited, process engravers, Lord Street, Liverpool. He had been in business for many years.  For some time past he had been connected with science classes in Ireland and was returning to Liverpool on the Leinster.  He leaves a widow and son, his other son having been killed in the war.”

 

Ten days after the sinking, U-123 hit a mine in the North Sea whilst returning to Germany.  There were no survivors.

 

Donald earned his three medals which were sent to his mother, who also received his effects and a War Gratuity of £13-10s.

 

His brother Frank enlisted  in December 1915, serving in the Machine Gun Corps and later the Tank Corps. He survived the war and was demobbed in February 1919.

 

Donald is memorialised on the family gravestone in Rake Lane Cemetery, Wallasey.

 

 

Donald is also commemorated on the following Memorials:
 

Wallasey Grammar School

St Hilda's Church, Wallasey

Parish of Wallasey War Memorial

Liverpool Hall of Remembrance, Panel 35.

 

 

We currently have no further information on Donald Vaughan, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.