Household Cavalry Memorial Zandvoorde Lord Worsley

On the site where the memorial to the "Royal Household Cavalry" now stands, Lieutenant Charles Sackville Pelham, Lord Worsley (° 14-8-1887) was killed on October 30, 1914.
Worsley was a British nobleman, officer and brother-in-law of Douglas Haig, later commander-in-chief of the British forces on the Western Front.

Pelham was commander of a machine gun section of the C squadron of the Royal Horse Gards at that time. During the heavy fighting around the hill in Zandvoorde on October 30, 1914, the group is isolated so that they do not receive the order to withdraw, they fight until the last man is killed. 120 men. After the battle, Worsley and the others were buried by the Germans and an officer posted the exact location of his grave.
When the war is over, this detailed plan reaches his family.

After the war, his wife Alexandra Vivian, Lady Worsley (° 27-2-1890) bought the land with her husband's grave. In 1921 when the cemeteries began to be centralized, his remains were transferred to the Ypres Town cemetery Extension in Ypres (II. D. 4.).

The memorial to the Household Brigade was erected at the original site of the grave. It was unveiled on May 4, 1924, in the presence of British and Belgian soldiers, veterans and Douglas Haig.

Lady Worsley never remarried and during WWII she was very active with the WVS (Women's Voluntary Service). She died on September 21, 1963.

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Source

• Text: Jhonny Bastiaensen
• Photos: Jhonny Bastiaensen