2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (British Army)
Date Of Birth:
08/06/1896
Died:
27/06/1916 (Killed in Action)
Age:
20
Summary
Arthur Henry Tottenham was a son of Lowry Cliffe Loftus Tottenham and Isabella Ogle Tottenham. Arthur was born in Roscommon on 8th June 1896. His father was a former Royal Irish Constabulary district inspector who retired to Moy. Arthur was educated at Mostyn House Preparatory School, Chester. Arthur and his brother were also educated at St Bees School, Cumbria. Second Lieutenant Arthur Henry Tottenham was serving with the C Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was killed in action in France near Albert on 27th June 1916. He was 20 years old. In the same week that his family received confirmation that his older brother, Edward had died during the fighting in Mesopotamia in April that year.
Further Information
Arthur Henry Tottenham was a son of Lowry Cliffe Loftus Tottenham and Isabella Ogle Tottenham. They were married about 1888. Arthur was born in Roscommon on 8th June 1896.
His father Lowry Cliffe Loftus Tottenham was a former Royal Irish Constabulary district inspector who retired to Moy. His grandfather had been the Venerable William Creek, Archdeacon of Kilmore and rector of Kildallon, County Cavan.
Known family: Lowry Cliffe Loftus Tottenham, Isabella Ogle Tottenham, Reginald Tottenham (born about 1894), Edward Lowry Tottenham (born 18th September 1894), Arthur Henry Tottenham (born 8th June 1896), James Loftus Tottenham (born about 1898), Isabel Joyce Tottenham (born about 1901).
The 1901 census records the family as living at house 4 in Ballymoney Road, Coleraine, Londonderry. Arthur was 4 years old. His father was a Royal Irish Constabulary District Inspector.
By 1911, the family had moved to Bessmount, Killoughrum, Wexford. His father was still a Royal Irish Constabulary District Inspector. Arthur was not living with the family.
Arthur was educated at educated at Mostyn House Preparatory School, Chester. He is listed on their War Memorial. Mostyn House school first opened its doors in Parkgate in 1855, and was well known in the area for its dramatic black and white buildings in a dominant position on the beautiful Dee Estuary. It also houses a charming Grade II listed Chapel, built in 1897.
Arthur and his brother Edward were educated at St Bees School. St Bees is a village in the Copeland district of Cumbria on the Irish Sea coast about five miles west southwest of Whitehaven. During the Great War, one hundred and eighty old boys gave their lives during the war, and a special memorial was built.
Arthur Henry Tottenham entered the Inniskilling Fusiliers when war broke out. He volunteered from school, and then passed through Sandhurst.
Arthur Tottenham enlisted in September 1914 at Red House, Coleraine with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
1916
Second Lieutenant Arthur Tottenham’s medal card suggests he arrived in France with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on 27th June 1916 – the same day he died.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 20th April 1916:
Mr L C Tottenham, The Grange, Moy, has received official intimation that his son, Edward Lowry Tottenham, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, is missing at the front since 9th April. His brother, Arthur Henry Tottenham, entered the Inniskilling Fusiliers when war broke out, and another brother, James Loftus Tottenham, has just passed for the Indian Army, while two other brothers are in the Loyal North West Mounted Police (the Mounties), Canada.
Second Lieutenant Arthur Henry Tottenham was serving with the C Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was killed in action in France near Albert on 27th June 1916. He was 20 years old.
In the same week that his family received confirmation that his older brother, Second Lieutenant Edward Tottenham M.C., 21, had died during the fighting in Mesopotamia in April that year.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 3rd July 1916: Sec-Lieutenant A H Tottenham
The death has been announced in our obituary column this morning of Second Lieutenant Arthur Henry Tottenham, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who was killed in action in France on 28th June. The deceased was a son of Mr L C L Tottenham, of the Grange, Moy, County Tyrone., formerly a district inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary and a grandson of the late Venerable William Creek, D.D., Archdeacon of Kilmore and Rector of Kildallon, County Cavan. He obtained his commission on 29th October 1915, and was twenty years of age. One of his brothers, Second Lieutenant E L Tottenham, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, was killed in action in Mesopotamia, on 9th April 1916, his death being officially announced last week.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 6th July 1916:
Mr L C Tottenham, The Grange, Moy, has received official intimation that his son, Sec-Lieutenant Edward Lowry Tottenham, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, who was reported missing at the front since 9th April was killed in action on that date. The deceased officer left England for foreign service on 31st December 1915. His brother, Arthur Henry Tottenham, entered the Inniskilling Fusiliers when war broke out. He volunteered from school, and then passed through Sandhurst. Another brother recently passed for the Indian army, while two other brothers are in the Loyal North-West Mounted Police, Canada. Since the above was written, official intimation was received that Sec-Lieutenant Arthur Henry Tottenham, (Inniskilling Fusiliers) has been killed in action.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 15th July 1916:
Mr L C L Tottenham of The Grange, Moy, two of whose sons have laid down their lives in defence of the Empire, belong to an old County Wexford family, but is connected to County Tyrone through his mother, who was a daughter of the late Mr James Lowry, Q.C., of Rockdale. Mr Tottenham was an officer of the Royal Irish Constabulary and retired years ago. He bought the Grange lately, where he resides. He had five sons, all of whom won athletic and other distinctions at school – the type of young Britons who built up the Empire. The two eldest, Harry Leslie William and Reginald, went out to Canada and joined the Loyal North West Mounted Police. As soon as war was declared, they applied for leave to volunteer for the front, but in both cases permission was refused, and they have to complete their period of service, which expires next May, when, if needed, they will enlist at once. The third son was Edward Lowry, who was not 22 years of age. He was a student in the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College in Edinburgh in 1914, and when the call came for volunteers he enlisted in the Lowland Division at Stirling, subsequently getting a commission in the 8th Loyal North Lancashires, of which he was a transport officer. On New Year's Eve he left for Egypt, and thence to Mesopotamia, where he fought the Turks on the banks of the Tigris on the 5th and 6th of April. On the 9th April 1916 he was reported missing, and it was only a few days ago the Red Cross reported that he was killed in that battle. The fourth son, Arthur Henry, was 18 years of age when the war broke out. He volunteered and got a commission in the 8th Inniskillings, but as it did not seem likely to get to the front, he entered Sandhurst and was attached to the 3rd Battalion. He served in Dublin during the Rebellion, and was then sent to the 2nd Battalion in France, where he was killed in action on 27th June 1916. The youngest of this gallant family is James Loftus, who has passed for the Indian Army, and awaits his call to the colours. Much sympathy is felt with Mr Tottenham in his double bereavement, but his sorrow is lessened by the knowledge that his brave boys died as volunteers in the defence of the Empire.
Another brother, James Loftus Tottenham, was with the Indian Army, while two other brothers were in the Loyal North West Mounted Police, the Mounties, in Canada.
Memorials
Second Lieutenant Arthur Henry Tottenham is commemorated on Mostyn House School War Memorial in Parkgate, Cheshire
Second Lieutenant Arthur Henry Tottenham is commemorated locally on Dungannon War Memorial and on Moy War Memorial.
The CWGC records the Arthur was the son of Lowry Cliffe Loftus Tottenham and Isabella Ogle Tottenham of The Grange, Moy, County Tyrone.
