Image of Jesus College war memorial

Robert Lamplough Mann, Lieutenant, 7th Dragoon Guards

Robert Lamplough Mann came up to Jesus College from Uppingham School (and private tuition) in 1910.

Born: Leamington Spa, Warwickshire on 23 September 1890

Fell in action: 21 December 1914 near Festubert

CUOTC

There is little documentation about his three years at College. His obituary in the Jesus College Society Annual Report, written in 1920, says that he took a keen interest in the Officer Training Corps and that he won several prizes in the “O[xford] and C[ambridge] military tournaments”.

Mann, whose family home was in Warwickshire, may well have been one of the sizeable group of Jesus cadets who attended a CUOTC weekend at Croxton Park in Easter Term 1913, as reported on by Chanticlere.

I” Company, i.e. Jesus College were apparently “nearly the largest Company on parade” at an event which was notable for being a rather soggy affair, perhaps at the expense of the required precision and smartness.

The Chanticlere correspondent noted that the General may not have appreciated “the colossally ingenious way in which the various sloughs and quagmires were negotiated in the march past” (Chanticlere, Easter Term 1913, p26).

Military service

After attaining his degree in 1913, Mann was gazetted to the 7th Dragoon Guards in India. They returned to France at the outbreak of war in 1914.

Mann was originally thought to have been wounded on 29 December 1914 and was recorded as a prisoner of war on 25 March 1915 (Jesus College Society Annual Report, 1916, p53).

However, the Annual Report in 1920 records that Mann was reported wounded and missing at Festubert on 21 December 1914 and it is likely he died then. He was last seen carrying a wounded comrade to safety under fire when he was struck by a bullet from a German machine-gun (p21).

We don’t unfortunately have a verified picture of Mann.

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