VCTORY MEDAL TO CAPTAIN RAYMOND D'ALBINI SYKES BANKS-KILLED IN ACTION NEAR SAMARA-21ST APRIL 1917

Victory Medal, named to:
CAPT.R.D'A.S.BANKS
Medal about good very fine, on original ribbon.
Captain Raymond D'Albini Sykes Banks 9th Bhopal Infantry was killed in action on 21st April, 1917 aged 26.The Son of the late Maj William Sykes-Banks (G.S.O.,B.E.F.,France) and Eleanor M.C.Sykes-Banks of 19, Queens Square, Bath.He is comm on the Basra memorial.



Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned into the Indian Army (unattached list) as a 2nd Lieutenant on 29 Jan 1910. He spent his probationary year with a British Regiment in India. He was posted to the 9th Bhophal Infantry on 31 Mar 1911. Promoted to Lieutenant on 29 Apr 1912 and to Captain on 23 Jul 1916. The Regiment was stationed at Fyzabad (Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh), India when WW1 started, having just arrived from Rangoon, Burma. They were mobilised and sent to France with the 7th (Ferozepore) Brigade, 3rd Lahore Division arriving in Marseille on 26 Sep 1914. They took part in the Battles of La Bassee, Festubert (1914), Givenchy, and the Second Battle of Ypres. In Jun 1915 they were withdrawn to Egypt and after several months guarding the Suez Canal, they were sent in Dec 1915 to Mesopotamia. They took part in the Battles of Sheik Saad and Wadi, both unsuccessful attempts to break through to the beseiged British garrison at Kut. Following the advance up the Tigris River and the capture of Baghdad on 11 Mar 1917, they fought at the Battle of Istabulat on 21 Apr 1917 where Captain Sykes-Banks was killed in action, one of about 2000 British killed. He was buried on the battlefield. He is commemorated on the Basra Memorial. He is also commemorated on his twin brother's grave in Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth, the Wellington College WW1 memorial in Great School, Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire.
His twin brother, Major Cyril D'Albini Sykes-Banks, also died from the effects of gas during WW1 and was buried with his father in Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth, Portsmouth Unitary Authority, Hampshire, England.










His twin brother, Major Cyril D'Albini Sykes-Banks, also died from the effects of gas during WW1 and was buried with his father in Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth, Portsmouth Unitary Authority, Hampshire, England.

Code: 54590