Papers of Captain Henry Telford Maffett, 2nd Battalion, Leinster Regiment, and his sister Emilie Harmsworth (née Maffett),
1907-1942.
Captain Henry Telford Maffett and his sister Emilie Harmsworth were the two youngest children of William Hamilton Maffett (1817-1903), a barrister, and Marcella Bayly (1830-1913), St. Helena, Finglas, County Dublin. Emilie married her cousin Cecil Bishopp Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth, in 1897. Captain Henry Telford Maffett joined the Leinster Regiment, in 1894, and was killed on 20 October 1914 in the Battle of Armentières, France, during the First World War. He was shot at a forward observation post and his body was found and buried by a German lieutenant, Walther Reinhardt, who returned Maffett's personal effects to Emilie Harmsworth. Reinhardt then wrote about his experiences of the Western Front in a book called "Sechs monate Westfront: Feldzugserlebnisse eines Artillerie-Offiziers in Belgien, Flandern und der Champagne" [Six months on the Western Front: The Campaign Experiences of an Artillery Officer in Belgium, Flanders and Champagne] (published by Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Son, Berlin, 1915). In this book he mentions his discovery of Captain Maffett's body.
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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Notes: | Physical description: 1 box (6 folders & 2 phase boxes). |
| Arrangement: | Fonds |
Letter from the Military Secretary [David Lloyd George?], War Office, Whitehall, London, to Emilie Harmsworth, enclosing a copy of a letter from Lieutenant Walther Reinhardt via the American Embassy in Berlin to the Foreign Office in London, about the whereabouts of the body of Captain Henry Telford Maffett, and that he, Reinhardt, has Maffett's personal possessions which he would like to return to "Capt. Maffett's widow",
1916 May 12 & July 27.
| In Collection: | Papers of Captain Henry Telford Maffett, 2nd Battalion, Leinster Regiment, and his sister Emilie Harmsworth (née Maffett), 1907-1942. |
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| Description: | Reinhardt mentions that his uncle Captain Roser was shot down in his aeroplane behind the British lines at Ypres on 25th July 1915 and was buried with military honours by a British Colonel, Colonel G.D. Goodman, who returned Roser's personal effects to his family. Reinhardt explains that he wants to return Maffett's personal belongings to his family so that he "may be able to make a return for the chivalrous service rendered to my family by Col. Goodman". |
| Main Creator: | |
| Language: | English |
| Extent: | 2 items (1 page & 2 pages). |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Call Number: |
MS 46,536/6/13
(Manuscripts Reading Room) |
| Rights: | Reproduction rights owned by the National Library of Ireland. |
| Corporate Author: | Great Britain. War Office |