Euan Lucie-Smith
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Euan Lucie-Smith | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 14 December 1889  |
| Died | 25 April 1915 (aged 25) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Officer |
| Parent(s) |
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| Relatives | John Dudley Lucie-Smith |
| Branch | Royal Warwickshire Regiment |
Euan Lucie-Smith (14 December 1889 – 25 April 1915) was a British Army second lieutenant of World War I, of mixed British and Afro-Caribbean descent.
He was one of the first mixed-heritage infantry officers in a regular British Army regiment,[a] and the first killed in World War I.
Lucie-Smith was born on 14 December 1889 at Cross Roads, St Andrew, Jamaica, the younger son of Catherine, the granddaughter[b] of Samuel Constantine Burke, a lawyer and politician referred to as "coloured"; and John Barkley Lucie-Smith,[c] a white colonial civil servant who was Postmaster of Jamaica.[2][3][4] His grandfather was John Lucie-Smith, Chief Justice of Jamaica, and an uncle was Alfred Lucie-Smith;[d][5] the art critic Edward Lucie-Smith (born 1933) is his nephew.
He was educated at Berkhamsted School, and then Eastbourne College, both private schools in England.[3]
On 10 November 1911, he enrolled in the Jamaica Militia Artillery, as a commissioned officer.[3] His father had commanded the Militia Artillery.[5]
Military career and death
Six weeks into the First World War, Lucie-Smith joined the 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a second lieutenant, announced in the London Gazette on 30 November 1914, with seniority to others from Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and New Zealand.[3][6][7] He travelled to England in December 1914, and undertook training on the Isle of Wight.[8] He then went to France on 17 March 1915, and was killed in the Second Battle of Ypres on 25 April 1915, age 25.[3][6] A witness said he was shot through the head, but his body was never found.[3] He was the first-known mixed-heritage officer killed in the war and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing in Belgium and on the memorials at Berkhamsted School and Eastbourne College.[3][6]
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