A plaque dedicated to a man who lost his life in the First World War has been restored and mounted in a Malvern chapel.
It honours Lieutenant Arthur Galbraith, who served in the Royal Garrison Artillery in the First World War and was killed near Ypres on September 9, 1918.
The plaque was found in the cellar of Malvern Wells Cemetery Chapel late last year having been removed from St Peter’s Church when it was de-consecrated in 1994.
With permission from the parish council and cemetery manager Michelle Alexander, the plaque was recovered and restored by West Malvern resident John Pole, and mounted in the chapel last month.
Last Thursday evening (April 27), Worcestershire residents and representatives from 214 Battery (Worcestershire) Royal Artillery, gathered at the chapel to hear Rev Geoff Vevers, of the church of St Andrews and All Saints Church, re-dedicate the plaque.
Arthur Hugh Courtney Galbraith was born on July 22, 1897 in India (now part of Pakistan), the son of Major General Sir William Galbraith KCB and of Lady Helen Mary Galbraith.
In 1901 the family had returned to the UK and soon moved to Lutwyche (a house which is now 3-3A Grundy’s Lane) in Malvern Wells.
READ MORE: Memorial dedicated to Worcestershire Regiment in Belgium
With the First World War raging, Arthur joined up and passed out of the Woolwich Military Academy in May 1916.
Landing in France on November 5, 1917, he served as an officer with the 284th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.
During July 1918, as part of the British counter-offensive which would end the war, Arthur and his Battery moved to an area around Ypres in Belgium and there followed a week of gas artillery bombardments on both sides.
The 284th Siege Battery were described in diary entries as very unlucky - a gas shell hit their officers’ quarters and Lt Galbraith died a few days later at a base hospital in Rouen.
A fellow officer said of him that “a braver or more cheery soul one could not possibly have wished to meet”.
He is buried in France at the St Sever Cemetery Extension near Rouen.
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