SPRECKLEY Ralph Lessingham

Awarded Military Cross.

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral.

Ralph Spreckley attended Bromsgrove School from 1905 to 1911. He was Head Monitor September-December 1911, Colour Sergeant in the O.T.C. and editor of the school magazine. He was the first Old Bromsgrovian to die in the war. Like his brother Arthur he played in the school’s XV and XI teams. In his memory, his parents placed a carved oak kneeling desk in the Chapel. On one side runs the School motto “Deo Regi Vicino” and along the front “He led tham with a faithful and true heart”. On the third side “Jesus Hominum Salvator” and a brass plate is also attached with an inscription.

Source: Bromsgrove School at War 1914-19 by Philip Bowen and Bromsgrove School at War 1914-19 by David Cross.

The following appears in Berrow’s Worcester Journal, Saturday 26th September 1914:
Letters to the Editor – Lieut. Spreckley’s Glorious Death
Sir – Worcester should know the glorious details of the death of one of her sons. The following is an extract from a letter from my nephew R.G. Cherry, R.F.A. Divisional Staff, to his father, Colonel Cherry, The Heath, Upton-on-Severn.
“One fellow, Spreckley, who comes from North of Worcester, earned the V.C. twice over before he was killed. He was hit in the leg at the critical moment, went back and got dressed, and hobbled up to the firing line in the woods cheering his men on. He was hit again, and did ditto, getting back just as his fellows were breaking. He rallied them, and drove the Germans on, only to be shot when the situation was saved.” A.C. Cherry, Henwick Hall, Worcester

Reports on Ralph Spreckley appear in: Worcester Herald 26th September 1914, Worcester Herald 3rd October 1914 (including photo). Worcester Herald information provided by Adrian Carter.

A photograph of Lieutenant Ralph Spreckley can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 3rd October 1914, available at Worcestershire Archives.

The following information has been researched by Geoff Hill:
The 2nd Battalion Connaught Rangers was a Regular Army battalion at the start of WW1. Ralph Spreckley was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the regiment in February 1913 and appointed temporary Lieutenant in September 1914.

On the 4th August 1914 when war was declared, the 2nd Battalion Connaught Rangers was stationed at Barrosa Barracks, Aldershot as part of the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division. The battalion was mobilised for war on 14th August and landed at Boulogne. It was engaged in the very first actions on the Western Front commencing with the Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat, the Battle of the Marne and then the Battle of the Aisne, which opened on the 14th September, the date when Ralph Spreckley was killed.

Ralph was posthumously Mentioned in Dispatches on the 20th October 1914 and posthumously awarded the Military Cross on the 9th January 1915. The Military Cross (MC) was instituted on the 28th December 1914. It is the third level military decoration awarded to Officers and was awarded to Ralph Lessingham Spreckley for an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy.