CAPTAIN LEONEL (LEO) GRAHAM PRINGLE, 1st BATTALION HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY.DIED OF WOUNDS 29th DECEMBER 1914 AGED 34

CAPTAIN LEONEL (LEO) GRAHAM PRINGLE, 1^st BATTALION HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY.DIED OF WOUNDS 29^th DECEMBER 1914 AGED 34

Leo Pringle was born in Ilkley on the 27^th April 1880 to Captain James Thomas Pringle (RN) and his wife Ann (nee Black). His father was the son of the 11^th Laird of Torwoodlee in Selkirkshire and was the Chief of the Clan Pringle. Why the Pringle family where in Ilkley at the time of Leo’s birth is not known nor is it recorded where they lived but they did stay in the town for some time as Leo was baptised some months later in the Parish Church of All Saints.

Much of Leo’s childhood was spent away from his family at boarding school, at Sunningdale Preparatory School on Berkshire and later at the Public School Radley College which he attended from the age of 14. At some stage he also attended the Vitzthum Gymnasium in Dresden, a renowned Grammar School, where he became fluent in German.

It was in 1899 that Leo entered the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and where he was gazetted as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 2^nd Battalion Highland light Infantry. Progression through the ranks was steady and by 1908 he was promoted to the rank of Captain at which point he transferred from the regiments 1^st Battalion to its 2^nd which was stationed in India.

At the outbreak of war the 1^st Battalion were still in India but soon received orders to return to Europe as part of the 3^rd (Lahore) Division of the Indian Army. Moved to the port of Bombay (Mumbai) the battalion boarded the steamer SS Sumatra for the long journey to France on the 24^th August 1914. The Sumatra reached the Suez Canal on the 9^th of September where the whole division dis-embarked at Port Said where it remained until 23^rd November. Finally, the battalion received the orders which would take it to the Western Front.

Arriving at Marseilles on the 3^rd of December the 1^st HLI was sent by train to Vielle Chapelle which took over 5 days. So desparate was the need for fresh troops that the battalion was immediately sent into the front line at Festaubert east of Bethune. With little time to acclimatise the battalion was sent forward in an attack against the German front line on the 19^th December. With a battalion of Ghurkhas the HLI rushed forward at about 5.30pm and managed to capture the German trenches which despite ferocious German counter-attacks they held for several hours. As casualties mounted the HLI began to give ground and eventually retreated to the British Front. It was during this assault that Leo was badly wounded and was left behind in the German trench. Captured he was taken to the German Military Hospital at Lille where he died from his wounds on the 29^th December 1914.

Today the Captain Leo Pringle lies in Lille Southern British Military Cemetery and is remembered on the war memorial in Galasheils.

Photo from the IWM Collection