Lieutenant The Hon. Albert Edward Keppel - St Andrew - Quidenham, Norfolk - Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

A memorial plaque to Lieutenant The Hon. ALBERT EDWARD KEPPEL Mentioned in Despatches 2nd Bn., Rifle Brigade who died age 19 on 31 July 1917. Located in the north aisle of St Andrew's church, Quidenham.

A wall mounted tablet with a carved stone frame. The left hand side of tablet features a coloured mosaic of St George, with a gold coloured badge in relief at top centre of the inscription. A border of inlaid blue stone is set around the mosaic and inscription.

Inscription -
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND IN EVER LOVING MEMORY OF
LIEUT THE HON ALBERT EDWARD
GEORGE ARNOLD KEPPEL
2ND BATTALION THE RIFLE BRIGADE
WHO FELL IN ACTION NEAR WESTHOEK IN
FLANDERS ON 31ST JULY 1917 AGED 19 YEARS
WHILE GALLANTLY LEADING HIS COMPANY
TO THE ATTACK ON AN ENEMY STRONG POINT
WAS MENTIONED IN SIR DOUGLAS HAIG'S
DESPATCH FOR DISTINGUISHED AND GALLANT
SERVICES AND DEVOTION TO DUTY
"He asked Life of Thee and Thou gave him a long Life even for ever and ever"

Epitaph -
4TH SON OF EARL OF ALBEMARLE
KILLED IN ACTION AT WESTHOEK
MENTIONED IN DESPATCHES
"RESURGAM"
LIEUTENANT THE HON. ALBERT EDWARD KEPPEL
RIFLE BRIGADE
31ST JULY 1917 AGE 19
BURIED: AEROPLANE CEMETERY, WEST-VLAANDEREN, BELGIUM

"Lieutenant Keppel was killed on the opening day of what became known as the Third Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele. A friend, writing anonymously in The Times on 23 August, said that, "many a tear will be shed in his memory; many a pulse will quicken when it is known how and where this gay and debonaire spirit vanished from our midst". A wonderfully attractive character, both physically and by temperament, the writer describes how:

"During his short life, from his earliest childhood, his high spirits and joie de vivre, gave an impression of sunshine and joy wherever he went, and this is shown in the dark hour of his death by the spontaneous testimony of many of his companions, both boys and girls, not to mention older people, officers of standing in the Army, and the pastors and masters under whose guidance he so lightly trod the paths of this world here below".

On the morning of 31 July, Keppel was well out in front of his men with a sergeant "running forward with a Lewis gun which he was about to use on some Germans who were running away".
Keppel was so far out in front that the British never consolidated that part of the line and his body was initially unburied although it was discovered and buried later. Another friend told how he had taken communion with Keppel on the Sunday before the attack. Keppel had told the friend that he was "so looking forward to a real fight", which forced the friend to conclude, "I do not think he knew what fear was".
The final word of the inscription, "Resurgam" means I will rise again and implies a Christian belief in the resurrection of the body after death."

SOURCE - (visit link)

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