Captain Douglas Lucas-Tooth was killed in action at the Battle of the Aisne on 14 September 1914. He had been awarded the DSO for his part in the fighting on 24 Aug 1914 at Audregnies where Captain Francis Grenfell VC led the charge of the 9th Lancers.
Douglas Keith Lucas Tooth (name changed in 1904) was born in Sydney, Australia on 10 Oct 1880. His father was Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth 1st Bt. and his mother was Lady Helen. Sir Robert was an Australian MP for New South Wales and a JP for Herefordshire in England. Their English home was at Holme Lacy, Herefordshire. The name Lucas-Tooth was adopted in 1904. He was created 1st Baronet Lucas-Tooth of Queen’s Gate, Kensington and Kamaruka, New South Wales on 26 July 1906.
Douglas joined the 9th Lancers as a 2nd Lieutenant on 8 Aug 1900. He served in the South African War, attached to the New South Wales Mounted Infantry and was slightly wounded. He was in the Relief of Kimberley, operations in the Orange Free State and at Paardeberg including the action at Driefontein, operations in the Transvaal including actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond Hill. He was on the operations in the Orange River Colony including Bethlehem and Wittebergen, and further operations in the Orange River Colony and Cape Colony. He was mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 16 Apr 1901) and promoted to lieutenant on 13 Aug 1901.
On 22 Jan 1910 he was promoted to Captain and put in charge of a Troop. For his service in World War One he was mentioned in Sir John French’s despatch of 8 Oct 1914 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (Gazetted 9 Nov 1914). His elder brother was also killed in the war, Captain Selwyn Lucas Lucas-Tooth of the 3rd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, killed on 20 October 1914. Their younger brother Archibald inherited the baronetcy in Feb 1915 but was killed on 12 Jul 1918 as a major in the Honourable Artillery Company.
Captain Douglas Keith Lucas Lucas-Tooth was buried in the Moulins New Communal Cemetery in France. An inscription on his grave: ‘Sleep on and take thy rest only good night Beloved not farewell’. His name is also inscribed on the 9th Lancers plaque on the wall of Canterbury Cathedral along with many casualties of WW1.
