CO-CCCF-0006

The initials 'D.S.O.' stand for Distinguished Service Order, a British military decoration.

Edward John Baylay was the son of a general in the Indian army. Born in India, he joined the Royal Horse Artillery, and was unfortunate enough to be involved in the disastrous Mesopotamia campaign (modern Iraq, then part of the Ottoman or Turkish Empire). The force was ordered to advance upon Kut el Amara and, if successful, to proceed to take Baghdad, as a propaganda coup. General Townshend, who led the expedition, soon captured the poorly fortified Kut, and then treked north through inhospitable desert towards Baghdad, Waiting for them at Ctesiphon was a Turkish army under a German officer von der Goltz and the Turkish general Nureddin Bey, and after a fierce encounter the British forces had to retreat to Kut, where they were surrounded. On the retreat to Kut, following defeat at Ctesiphon, Baylay was appointed Observation Officer, and was one of those nominated by General Nixon for a D.S.O. for outstanding service. At the surrender he, together with some 13,000 soldiers became prisoners of war (having lost approximately 30,000 dead and wounded). Following a long march in terrible conditions, he and fellow officers and men spent the remainder of the war in a Turkish POW camp. After the war he left the army and emigrated to South Africa, where he became a citrus farmer, but that failing, he came to Ireland, firstly to Innislinga Abbey and then to Derreen, where he died. He married twice, first to Violet Bingham, who was a first cousin to the infamous Lord Lucan and granddaughter to the earlier Lord Lucan who ordered the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade. On Violet’s death he married Catherine Freston (“Beloved of Kitty” on his headstone). (Source: ACR Heritage).