In 1911 Census living with parents at The Barton, aged 20, pupil Land Agent. SDGW record: Lieutenant. Regiment: Household Cavalry and Cavalry of the Line (incl. Yeomanry & Imperial Camel Corps). Battalion: Gloucestershire Yeomanry. 

Wills & Probate. Robert Graham Anderson of Knowsley Prescot, Lancashire, lieutenant Gloucestershire Yeomanry died 12 Nov 1917 at Palestine on active service. Administration London 17 Mar 1918 to Robert Anderson land agent. Effects £1196 14s. 11d.

 Information supplied by L.J. Birkin on behalf of the Regimental Historical Research Committee of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, Dec 2010: Lieut. Robert Graham Anderson, 1/1 Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry, poet and composer of the Regimental Anthem first performed 29th April 1922 at the Dedication Service in Gloucester Cathedral for the RGH Memorial on College Green. 

War Diary: 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry Imperial Mounted Division: Nov. 12th 1917 ….”The Regiment withdrew to IJSEIR at 1930 and bivouacked for the night and at 20.00 Men were able to fill water-bottles, but no further issue of rations or forage were obtainable. I regret to report that during the action Lieut. R.G. Anderson was killed and Capt. E.J.B. Herbert, R.G.H. attached 16th. M.G. Sqn, was reported as having received a G.S.W. in head, from which he died.” 

Wilts & Glos Standard Nov 24 1917

THE LATE LIEUTENANT R. GRAHAM ANDERSON 

We recorded last week with deep regret the death in action of Lieutenant Robert Graham Anderson, Yeomanry, only son of Mr and Mrs Robert Anderson, of Knowsley, Prescott, Lancashire, and formerly of Cirencester. So far no details have been received, and we can only conclude that the gallant young officer fell in the course of the brilliantly successful operations which General Allenby is now conducting against the routed Turks in Palestine.

Robert Graham Anderson was born August 18 1890 at The Barton, Cirencester. He was educated at Eton, where he went from his private school at Eastbourne in 1904. He boarded in Keates Lane with the late Miss Jane Evans, whose house after her death was taken over by Mr A.B. Ramsay, the present Lower Master. He was Secretary of the Musical Society, Editor of the Eton Chronicle, and in “Pop.” After leaving Eton he spent a few months at Ciceter and passed the examination into the Surveyors’ Institution, first on the list, before going as pupil to Mr Warner Turner, agent to the Duke of Portland. In 1913 he was offered an appointment in the Valuation Department, and was a year in Norfolk. Resigning early in 1914, he returned to Ciceter and was assisting his father when war was declared. He at once enlisted in the Public Schools Battalion, and subsequently Colonel Sandeman gave him a commission in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, quartered at Gloucester. After passing his musketry course with distinction he became Instructor, afterwards going to the East Coast with the Regiment. In October 1915 he went out with drafts to the Mediterranean, joining the Expeditionary Force which had just been withdrawn from Gallipoli, meeting the Regiment at Mudros, afterwards going on to Egypt. In the battle of Romani in July 1916 he was shot through the shoulder and later sent back to England. As we stated last week, Lieutenant Anderson spent a part of his leave at Cirencester [with his uncle and aunt Mr & Mrs Sewell, The Beeches], and enjoyed several days’ hunting with the local packs, as he also did during one or two week-ends when employed as Musketry Instructor on Salisbury Plain. He was passed fit again for foreign service last June and returned to Egypt, rejoining his regiment at the front. He was killed in action on November 12th. 

Lieutenant Graham Anderson was not only one of the most popular but also one of the most efficient officers in his battalion, being simply loved by his men, for he was the personification of geniality and kindness. The estimation in which he was held by his brother officers is shown by the following extract of a letter from one under whom he served:

 “He would have done great things with his life, for he had so many gifts and everyone was fond of him, and with it all he had such a charming nature and was quite unspoiled. He was of the greatest help to me when he came to my Squadron last August, he was so keen and took so much trouble and brought so much natural ability to everything he did, and he ad tact and such a friendly disposition that made him popular with officers and men and made everything go smoothly and happily. He will be a terrible loss to the Regiment.” 

In private life Lieutenant Graham Anderson’s delightfully sunny disposition, charm of manner, and rare natural gifts gave promise of an honourable and distinguished career, and that such a bright young life should have been cut off almost on its threshold is one of the unspeakably pathetic tragedies of this terrible war. As in military life, so in his civil duties, he brought the best of his high abilities to bear on what fell to him to do. He would no doubt have adorned his father’s profession, which he adopted of his own choice. But he had also the makings of an artist or a musician. Some of our readers will remember the pretty water colour drawings from his brush of Cirencester Church, Cirencester and Eton scenes, etc., at the amateur exhibition that was held at the Thomas Street Vicarage a few years ago. As a boy and as a pupil of Mr A.H. Gibbons, he developed high musical talent, and when he went to Eton Dr Harford Lloyd thought highly of his capabilities. He composed and published many dainty and tuneful songs, which showed deft and artistic interpretation and illustration of the lyrics to which they were set, several pianoforte pieces, and an operetta which was, we believe, privately performed. He was also a keen lover of Church music, and while home on sick leave last summer he wrote an evening service, “Cantate” and “Nunc Dimittis,” whic he left behind him in manuscript. R.L. Stevenson’s tender and touching poem, “In Memoriam, A.S.F..” might have been written to commemorate just such a brief, bright, and happy life –