Commissioned in August 1914 into the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, Claude was captured at La Bassee on The Western Front on 22nd December 1914 and sent to Strohen camp in Germany. After eleven unsuccessful escape attempts, he finally managed to escape to Holland in June 1917. Claude was interned in a quarantine camp at Eschede for two weeks before being allowed to return to Britain. During his stay at home, Claude had a private audience with the King. He returned to his Regiment on 29th March 1918.
On the evening of 4th June 1918 Claude led a raiding party near Auchy-les-Mines. When returning back across No-Man's Land, Claude was struck by a shell and killed. He is listed on the Loos Memorial to the Missing. At the time of his death, Claude held the rank of Lieutenant / Acting Captain.
“Ypres Salient” by Claude Templer
Tempest of iron prepared the advance of a host ‘gainst a remnant;
Tempest of shouting announced the advance of that host overwhelming,
And as the black rocks o’erwhelmed but unvanquished make stand ‘gainst the ocean,
So did that glorious remnant make stand ‘gainst that host overwhelming,
Till the war pride and war lust of that host like the rage of the ocean,
Broke and recoiled from the wall of their stubborn unyielding resistance.
How many times, say, when you were a host strong and we were a remnant,
When you had guns by the thousand and we had to make war without them,
How many times did you come in your thousands to conquer that salient,
Only to find there the spirit of Agincourt like a flame storm fanned
Burning unquenched in the hearts and the souls of that unvanquished army.
Did you not know in the heart of your hearts when your orders were issued,
When you advanced in the pride of your war lust and glittering harness,
Did ye not know that the men of that little contemptible army
Come of that race that are known as the stubbornest fighters the world through?
Surely ye knew in the heart of your hearts when your orders were issued,
When you were told to go right through to Ypres or to die in the failure,
That you were never the match of that little contemptible army?
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| RMC Sandhurst Memorial |
"To the glory of God and in proud memory of Claude Templer, Captain, 1st Bn The Gloucestershire Regiment. Wounded and captured 22nd December 1914. Escaped from captivity in Strohen, 29th September 1917, after having made 12 previous attempts from the prison camps at Hanover, Munden, Torgau, Burg (twice), Magdeburg, Augustabad, from the Burg Civil Goal (4 times), the Fortress of Wesel, twice whilst travelling under escort between Wesel and Magdeburg. Rejoined his regiment at his own special request 29th March 1918. Killed by a chance shell whilst returning from a successful raid on the German trenches in the La Bassee Sector, 4th June 1918, in his 23rd year."
The Royal Military College (RMC), was founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, UK, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire. The RMC was a British Army military academy for training infantry and cavalry officers of the British and Indian Armies. The RMC was reorganised at the outbreak of the Second World War but some of its units remained operational at Sandhurst and Aldershot. In 1947, the Royal Military College was merged with the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, to form the present-day all-purpose Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Sources: Find my Past, FreeBMD,
http://www.templerfamily.co.uk/claude_francis_lethbridge_templer.html
https://warpoets.org.uk/worldwar1/poets-and-poetry/claude-templer/
“Poems and Imaginings” (Bossard, Paris, 1920), which is available to view as a free download on Archive: https://archive.org/details/poemsimaginings00tempiala
Catherine W. Reilly.- “English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography” (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978), p. 310
http://www.templerfamily.co.uk/claude_francis_lethbridge_templer.html
https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/our-schools-and-colleges/rma-sandhurst/
