BORN HULL 18/04/1887. SON OF JOSEPH HENRY HORSLEY (1850-1917) & LUCY DOVE (1851-1937), OF COTTINGHAM AND KEYSTONE MANOR, HUNTINGDON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE. SON OF A TIMBER MERCANT. ONE OF NINE CHILDREN. HE HAD FIVE BROTHERS AND THREE SISTERS. HE ATTENDED MALVERN COLLEGE BETWEEN 1901-1905.
Formerly Sheep-grazer in New Zealand and Cattle Rancher in the Argentine; Farmer in England.
Great War (overseas), Captain East Yorkshire Regt.; Flying Officer 53rd Sqdn. Royal Flying Corps and General List.
‘He was a quiet steady boy who won his way to authority in the House and showed promise of developing into a valuable man. On leaving School he went out to New Zealand and later proceeded to the Argentine. When war broke out he was farming in England. He joined up at once and received a commission in the East Yorkshire Regiment. He went out to France in command of Trench Mortar Batteries. He had lately transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.’ (Malvernian, Jul 1917).
Below is an extract from a very detailed biography written by his great nephew Joe Horsley and kindly provided by Simon Hooper via email:
He served first with the East Yorkshire Regiment in Egypt, and then in France where he commanded his Brigade Trench Mortar Battery in the Battle of the Somme where he was awarded the Military Cross.
In the autumn of 1916 he joined the Royal Flying Corps, and returned to France in June 1917 and was killed a month later on the 2nd July 1917.
His Commanding Officer wrote:-
“He was escorting six planes on photographic duty, over enemy lines in Flanders when attacked: after seeing his escort into safety, he turned and attacked three German planes, when he was shot down, falling in “No Man’s Land”. His Observer was unconscious for three days but is recovering.”
His aircraft was a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 (serial no A3249). There is a memorial at St John the Baptist, Keyston, Huntingdon.IWM
RAF museum story vault
HE ENLISTED AS A PRIVATE IN THE HULL PALS (10TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT). SERVED IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. PROMOTED THROUGH THE RANKS AND COMMISSIONED AS TEMPORARY CAPTAIN. HE WAS AWARDED THE MILITARY CROSS (MC) IN 1916. TRANSFERRED TO THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS. KILLED IN ACTION ON 02/07/1917, AGED 30. HIS FATHER DIED A FEW MONTHS LATER ON 14/10 /1917. CAPTAIN HORSLEY WAS UNMARRIED AND LEFT £13,777 IN HIS WILL, TO HIS BROTHER, FREDERICK NORMAN HORSLEY (1877-1931), WHO WAS A TIMBER MERCHANT.
WILFRED PALMER HORSLEY, MC IS LISTED ON THE COTTINGHAM WAR MEMORIAL. ALSO THE MALVERN COLLEG MEMORIAL AND THERE IS A STAINED GALSS WINDOW DEDICATED TO HIM AT KEYSTON CHURCH. HIS BROTHER CECIL SURVIVED THE WAR & ALSO WON THE MC, AND THE CROIX DE GUERRE. ANOTHER BROTHER CLIVE HORSLEY WAS A CAPTAIN IN THE ROYAL NAVY.
Buried Bailleul France. communal cemetery, Plot 3, Row D. Grave 165.
