Raymond Asquith
| Raymond Asquith | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 6 November 1878 |
| Died | 15 September 1916 (aged 37) Near Ginchy, France |
| Resting place | CWGC Guillemont Road Cemetery |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Winchester College, Balliol College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Spouse(s) | Katharine Frances Horner |
| Children | Lady Helen Asquith Perdita Jolliffe, Baroness Hylton Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith |
Raymond Asquith (6 November 1878 – 15 September 1916) was an English barrister and son of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. A distinguished Oxford scholar, he was a member of a fashionable group of intellectuals known as The Coterie, notable for unconventional lifestyles and lavish hospitality. Like several of them, Asquith was killed in action in World War I.
Asquith was the eldest son and heir of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. by his first wife Helen Kelsall Melland (died 1891).
He was educated at Winchester, from where he won a scholarship to Balliol in 1896, taking with him a reputation for brilliance. He won the Ireland, Derby, and Craven scholarships, and graduated with first-class honours. Elected a fellow of All Souls in 1902, he was called to the bar in 1904. The tall, handsome Asquith was a member of "the Coterie," a group of Edwardian socialites and intellectuals.
Asquith was junior counsel in the North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration and the investigation of the sinking of the Titanic, and was considered a putative Liberal candidate for Derby. However, his rise was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. He was initially commissioned, on 17 December 1914, as a second lieutenant into the 16th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment. He was transferred to the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, on 14 August 1915 and assigned as a staff officer, but he requested to be returned to active duty with his battalion, a request granted before the Battle of the Somme. While leading the first half of 4 Company in an attack near Ginchy on 15 September 1916, at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, he was shot in the chest but famously lit a cigarette to hide the seriousness of his injuries so that his men would continue the attack. As a result, he died while being carried back to British lines. He was buried in CWGC Guillemont Road Cemetery,[Plot I. Row B. Grave 3.] where his headstone is inscribed 'Small time but in that small most greatly lived this star of England', a concluding line from Shakespeare's "Henry V", about a warrior king who had died in his thirties after campaigns in France.
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