Guy Neal Landale LABERTOUCHE

Guy Labertouche was born on 21 June 1871 at Melbourne. His parents were Peter Paul and Eleanor Annie (née Scales) Labertouche. He entered Scotch in 1881.

Guy was a Major in the Indian Army's 122nd Rajputana Infantry.

Guy died on 14 April 1915 at Shaibah. He was 43 years of age. He is Scotch's first known victim of World War I.

Service record

Guy was a regular soldier in the British Army, initially in the Suffolk Regiment. In 1895 he was briefly aide-de-camp to the Acting Governor of Victoria and in 1896 transferred to the Indian Army. He served on the North-West Frontier and was in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. He was promoted to major in January 1910. He died of wounds received at the battle of Shaiba, in which British units attacked Turkish forces that had been threatening Basra in Mesopotamia (now Iraq), in April 1915. The circumstances of his death are unknown but the Indian troops were heavily involved in this fierce battle.

Guy Labertouche is buried in the Basra War Cemetery, Iraq.

Photographs and Documents:

Lieutenant Labertouche is at left here at a Ball at Government House, Melbourne, in July 1895

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