15th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps
Kenneth Algernon Brooke-Murray was born in Bengal, India on 8 March 1892. He was the only child of Henry Brooke-Murray, a Major in the Indian Army and his wife Kate May. The family came to live at 7 Painswick Lawn, Cheltenham. Kenneth was educated at Cheltenham College and entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in September 1910. He was gazetted as an officer in the Army Service Corps in 1911.
At the outbreak of the Great War he went to France with 19th Brigade and saw action at Mons, the Marne, Ypres and Armentieres.
From April to June 1915 he was adjutant of the Advanced Horse Transport and from July to October of that year was Staff Captain at GHQ. From November 1915 to April 1916 he was Embarkation Officer at Marseilles before being assigned to a Divisional Ammunition Park.
In July 1916 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, retaining his rank of Captain and was posted to 15 Squadron at Marieux, as an Observer. On 16 September he was the Observer in a BE2c aircraft on artillery spotting operations over Miraumont, during the Somme Offensive. His machine was attacked by three German fighters and was forced to land. Although his pilot was unhurt, Captain Brooke-Murray was wounded in the leg. He was transferred to a Base Hospital at Boulogne, where he died of his wounds on 23 September, aged 24.
Captain Kenneth Algernon Brooke-Murray is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery and is commemorated on the Cheltenham War Memorial. His original wooden grave marker hangs on the wall of St Stephen’s Church, Cheltenham.
