OSWALD, WILLIAM DIGBY, Lieutenant,
was born at Southampton 20 January 188O
youngest son of Thomas Ridley Oswald and the only son of Wilhelmina
Catherine, his second wife (nee Russell), formerly of Southampton, and
afterwards of Castle Hall, Milford Haven, and of Blackheath. He went to Rugby in
1895, and in 1898 he won the Wrigley Cup for his House by his own unaided
efforts, winning four events—the Quarter Mile, High Jump, Weight, and
Hurdles. He left the same year, and in 1899 entered the Army, through the
Militia, being gazetted to the 2nd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment.
He saw service in Egypt, and later in South Africa, as Lieutenant and
Adjutant of the Railway Pioneer Regiment. He was mentioned in Lord
Kitchener's Despatches (8 March 1902), and was created a Companion of the
Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 31 October 1902]: "William
Digby Oswald, Lieutenant, 3rd Railway Pioneer Regiment. For services
during operations in South Africa". viz: the rescue of a Native Scout on 31
January, the enemy being close to him, and pursuing for some miles. So
reticent was he in some matters pertaining to himself, that it is doubtful
if even his most intimate friends ever knew for what special act of
gallantry he was awarded this high distinction. After the South African War
he began mining in South Africa. He served also as Captain and Adjutant of
Royston's Horse in the Natal Rebellion in 1906, and was wounded in fierce
bush fighting in Zululand. He continued mining in Rhodesia until May 1914,
and lived at Bulawayo. On the outbreak of the European War he joined the
5th Dragoon Guards (Special Reserve), as Lieutenant, on 7 August 1914, and a
week later went to France with the 1st Cavalry Brigade. He was in the
Retreat from Mons, and took part, in the Battles of the Maine and the Aisne.
He was wounded at Messines on 31 October 1914, and was sent home. In May
1915, eager to get to the front again, he was attached as Captain to the
Royal Field Artillery, and was with the 3rd Division in the heavy righting
round Ypres. After serving on the Staff as ADC to Major General J A L
Haldane, and as Assistant Provost-Marshal (for which he was mentioned in
Despatches), he was, in December 1915, appointed Second-in-Command of the
12th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, and in March 1916, took over the
command. He took part in much fighting at St Eloi, and in the early stages
of the Battle of the Somme. On 14 July 1916, the 3rd Division took part in
a highly successful attack on the ridge between Bazen-tin-le-Petit and
Longueval, and Lieutenant Colonel Oswald (his promotion was gazetted
posthumously [London Gazette of October 12, 1916], and also mentioned in
Despatches after his death), was struck in the chest by a misfire from an
English gun (a tragic Incident—he had seen that the gun was wrongly focussed
during the day, and had sent orders to that effect), and, after seeming to
make a good recovery, sank rapidly and died on 16 July 1916. Major General
Haldane, commanding the 3rd Division, wrote: "His loss I feel much
personally, but still more as Commanding Officer, for a man like him was
worth a battalion of infantry". Another officer wrote: "I always thought it
an extremely sporting thing to give up a pleasant post such as Assistant
Provost-Marshal, and take on infantry work in the trenches". In dedicating
a memorial tablet to his memory at Victoria, Rhodesia, Canon Ashworth told
how junior officers vied with each other to serve under him, and how his
servant three months after Colonel Oswald's death broke down completely in
describing his life in the trenches with his men and the way in which he met
his death. He had lived a life of movement and adventure; he was a very
good horseman, a keen polo player, and loved big game shooting in Rhodesia,
but, perhaps, the Great War brought out what was best, in him. "One
who never turned his back, but marched breast forward, Never doubted clouds
would break, Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph.
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake". The
officers of the 5th Dragoons and his friends in the 3rd Division intend to
erect a memorial, in the form of a drinking fountain for animals, in Surrey
or Dorset. Lieutenant Oswald had married, on 7 March 1905, at St John's
Church, Weymouth, Dorset, Catherine Mary, daughter of the Reverend J Scott
Yardley, of St Chad's, Shrewsbury, and Mary Yardley (maiden name, Loxdale),
and there were three daughters: Theodora Betty; Ambrosine Mary, and Patricia
Catherine.
