Christ College Remembers … Lieutenant Colonel George Udy Yule Dsa Mid

CHRIST COLLEGE REMEMBERS . . . LIEUTENANT COLONEL GEORGE UDNY YULE DSO MiD

REMEMBRANCE DISPATCH No. 57 COMMEMORATES LIEUTENANT COLONEL GEORGE UDNY YULE (SCHOOL HOUSE 1894-1895) WHO DIED WHILE IN SERVICE ON 22^nd DECEMBER 1918.

Lieutenant Colonel George Udny Yule DSO MiD

22^nd December 1918

School House 1894-1895

Aged 37

George Udny Yule, the son of G U Yule of the Indian Civil Service, was born in Calcutta. He was first educated at Ripley Court School from where he gained a scholarship to Christ College. Leaving School House after just one year, he was one of 14 boys who accompanied the departing Headmaster, the Reverend M A Bayfield, when he moved from Christ College to Eastbourne College in 1895.

Intent on following a military career, George went to Woolwich and received a commission into the Royal Engineers in August 1900. He returned to India and remained there with his young family. He was wounded during service with the Royal Engineers in Aden, and in 1906 he was appointed to a post with the Indian State Railways.

At the beginning of the First World War, George returned to military duty, entering France on February 1915 and serving at the Front with distinction. In September 1916 his dug-out was hit by a shell, and he was found to be unfit for general service on account of “shell shock and gassing”. Instead of taking sick leave, he was attached to the India Office. A further medical board found him to be fit for light duties in India. He arrived in Bombay in February 1917 and served the remainder of the war there.

In the closing weeks of 1918 he became ill and died of pneumonia at Colobar War Hospital, Bombay on 22nd December 1918. He is buried in Bombay and commemorated on the Kirkee War Memorial in Poona, India. There is also a plaque to George and his wife, Phebe, at Gullane Parish Churchyard, East Lothian, an area of Scotland where his family had strong roots.

Lieutenant Colonel Yule is not listed on the Christ College War Memorial because his death was not known at the time. In November 2013 his name was permanently added to the Roll of Honour read on Remembrance Sunday at Christ College.