LANCE CORPORAL 10183 GEOFFREY ARTHUR LUPTON 23RD (PUBLIC SCHOOLS) BATTALION ROYAL FUSILIERS.


LANCE CORPORAL 10183 GEOFFREY ARTHUR LUPTON 23RD (PUBLIC SCHOOLS) BATTALION ROYAL FUSILIERS. KILLED IN ACTION, 17TH FEBRUARY 1917 AGED 23


Geoffrey Lupton was born in Bramley, Leeds on the 18th August 1893, the son of solicitor Arthur Lupton and his wife Kate. The Luptons moved to Ilkley and took up residence at a house called Red Gables on Parish Ghyll Drive. Geoffrey began his education at Ghyll Royd School which was then on Grove Road, before becoming a boarder at The Leys School in Cambridge in 1907.An accomplished athlete he represented the school at hockey, cricket and football. Geoffrey was also a gifted linguist and in 1912 won a scholarship to Kings College Cambridge to study classics and graduated with first class honours in 1915.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, Geoffrey had attempted to enlist in the army but was rejected because of his poor eyesight. He made several further unsuccessful attempts before he was finally accepted by the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers in January 1916. Geoffrey arrived in France in July 1916 at the height of the Somme battles. Promoted to lance corporal he received a recommendation to be commissioned as an officer.

Geoffrey never underwent officer training. On the 17th February his battalion took part in an attack near to the village of Grandcourt in the Somme Valley. The winter of 1917 had been fierce and the ground was frozen solid. However, a sudden brief thaw turned it into mud. The attack literally became bogged down and, although, deemed a success, cost the 23rd Royal Fusiliers 230 casualties, including Geoffrey, who lost his life.

Today, Geoffrey Lupton lies in Regina Trench Cemetary and is remembered on the war memorials at The Leys School and Kings College, Cambridge, as well as our memorial in Ilkley.


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