Memorial
Map
MAJOR WILLIAM SYKES BANKS
OF THE DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT
GENERAL STAFF
BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914
WHO DIED IN FRANCE 19 FEBRUARY 1916
BURIED NEAR DIEPPE
ALSO OF HIS TWIN SONS
CAPTAIN RAYMOND D'ALBINI
9TH BHOPALS
INDIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914
SERVED IN FRANCE, EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA
AND AT CAPTURE OF KUT AND BAGDAD
KILLED IN ACTION NEAR SAMARRA
21 APRIL 1917
MAJOR CYRIL D'ALBINI M.C.
ROYAL ARTILLERY
SERVED IN FRANCE 1914 - 1918
DIED 4 NOVEMBER 1918
BURIED IN THIS VAULT
Further Information
This is a memorial to the first two named and a War Grave for Major Cyril D'Albini Sykes-Banks.
The text quoted above is inscribed onto the side of the Daubeney family vault grave. The maternal grandmother of the twin boys was Harriet Daubeny with whom they were living in Eastern Villas Road, Southsea for the 1901 census.
According to the CWGC, Major William Sykes-Banks (GSO, BEF) and his wife Eleanor lived at 19 Queen Square, Bath but Cheltenham appears to have a claim on them as well. At the website www.remembering.org.uk Eleanor is listed as living at Moorend Park, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham and the brothers are both mentioned as being uncommemorated locally.
Captain Raymond D'Albini Sykes-Banks does not appear in the CWGC lists under that name. Like his brother, Raymond was born in the Portsmouth area. He served as Captain, 9th Bhopal Infantry, Indian Army and was killed in action in Mesopotamia on 21st April 1917 aged 27 years. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial To The Missing.
Both Raymond and Cyril attended Wellington College between 1904 and 1908. The grave reference is Central M. 2. 14.
