Lieutenant-Colonel Neville Reay Daniell, 9th KOYLI
Neville, formerly a Captain in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, was appointed second in command of the 9th KOYLI in October 1917, taking over the battalion on 18 March 1917 when its commanding officer was sent to India. Lt-Col Daniell led his battalion in its successful attack at the Battle of Arras on 9 April 1917.
During his battalion's next major attack, the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October 1917, his headquarters came under a heavy German bombardment. One shell exploded at the entrance of the battalion HQ dugout killing the signalling corporal and wounding both the signalling officer and intelligence officer. Neville Daniell was hit by shrapnel in the stomach and right thigh; the wounds proved to be fatal.
Lt-Col Neville Daniell (the only son of Maj and Mrs. Holford Daniell, formerly of Broadleigh, Wellington, Somerset and husband of Elizabeth Adela Crawley-Boevey (formerly Daniell), of Birchgrove, Crosswood, Cardiganshire) is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing.
Lt-Col Daniell's Medal Index Card (front and back) is shown below
Research by David Tattersfield MA, WFA Development Trustee.
Sources:
Derek Clayton, From Pontefract to Picardy: The 9th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the First World War (Stroud: Tempus, 2004).
WFA Medal Index Card Collection
