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← Older revision		Revision as of 04:48, 6 September 2022
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	{{Short description\|British cavalryman}}		{{Short description\|British cavalryman}}
	{{More footnotes\|date=October ~~2022~~}}		{{More footnotes\|date=October 2019}}
	{{EngvarB\|date=June ~~2022~~}}		{{EngvarB\|date=June 2018}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=June ~~2022~~}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2018}}
	{{Infobox military person		{{Infobox military person
	\|name= Charles Beck Hornby		\|name= Charles Beck Hornby
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	*{{cite book\|last=Gilbert\|first=Adrian \| authorlink =Adrian Gilbert\| title = Challenge of Battle: The Real Story of the British Army in 1914\|year=2014\| publisher = [[Bloomsbury Publishing]]\| isbn= 9781472808141 }} <small>- Total pages: 312</small>		*{{cite book\|last=Gilbert\|first=Adrian \| authorlink =Adrian Gilbert\| title = Challenge of Battle: The Real Story of the British Army in 1914\|year=2014\| publisher = [[Bloomsbury Publishing]]\| isbn= 9781472808141 }} <small>- Total pages: 312</small>
	*{{cite web\|last=University of Limerick \|authorlink=University of Limerick\|date=July 24, 2014 \|url = https://longwaytotipperary.ul.ie/the-military/4th-royal-irish-dragoon-guards/meet-dragoons/4dg-capt-charles-hornby/\|title =Captain Charles Beck Hornby\|publisher = [[University of Limerick]]\| accessdate = August 22, 2022 }}		*{{cite web\|last=University of Limerick \|authorlink=University of Limerick\|date=July 24, 2014 \|url = https://longwaytotipperary.ul.ie/the-military/4th-royal-irish-dragoon-guards/meet-dragoons/4dg-capt-charles-hornby/\|title =Captain Charles Beck Hornby\|publisher = [[University of Limerick]]\| accessdate = August 22, 2022 }}
	*{{cite web\|last=Yorkshire Regiment\|authorlink=Yorkshire Regiment\|date=2014\|url = http://www.yorkshireregiment.com/museum/collection/hornby-sword/\|title =Capt Hornby's Sword \|publisher = [[Yorkshire Regiment]]\| accessdate = August 22, 2022\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809155510/http://www.yorkshireregiment.com/museum/collection/hornby-sword/\|archive-date=9 August ~~2022~~}}		*{{cite web\|last=Yorkshire Regiment\|authorlink=Yorkshire Regiment\|date=2014\|url = http://www.yorkshireregiment.com/museum/collection/hornby-sword/\|title =Capt Hornby's Sword \|publisher = [[Yorkshire Regiment]]\| accessdate = August 22, 2022\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809155510/http://www.yorkshireregiment.com/museum/collection/hornby-sword/\|archive-date=9 August 2014}}

	==Further reading==		==Further reading==

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{{Short description|British cavalryman}}
{{More footnotes|date=October 2022}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Charles Beck Hornby
|image= CaptainCharles Hornby charging against German cavalrymen at Casteau 1914.jpg
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption= Captain Charles Hornby and his squadron charging against German cavalrymen at Casteau. Illustration by [[Charles Mills Sheldon]]
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{birth date|1883|02|07|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Bangalore]], [[British India]]
|death_date= {{death date and age|1949|01|10|1883|02|07|df=yes}}
|death_place= [[Hexham]], England
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Army]]
|serviceyears= 1901–1922 1941–1943
|rank= [[Major]]
|servicenumber=
|unit= [[4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards]]
|commands=
|battles= [[Second Boer War]] [[First World War]] [[Second World War]]
|awards= [[Distinguished Service Order]] [[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2) [[Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]] (France)
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Charles Beck Hornby''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|DSO|JP}} (7 February 1883 – 10 January 1949) was a [[British Army|British cavalryman]]. While serving as a captain in the [[4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards]], he is reputed to have become the first British soldier to kill a German soldier in the [[First World War]], at around 6:30 am on 22 August 1914, near the Belgian village of [[Casteau]].{{sfn|Gilbert|2014|pp=16–17}}

==Early life and career==
Hornby was born in [[Bangalore]], [[British India]], on 7 February 1883. His father, Colonel John Frederick Hornby, served with the [[12th Royal Lancers]].

Hornby was educated at [[Harrow School]] and was commissioned as an [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] in the [[4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards]] in 1901. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1903, and captain in 1909. He served in the [[Second Boer War]] and was the regiment's [[adjutant]] from January 1911 to January 1914.

==First World War==
Following the outbreak of the [[First World War]] in 1914, Hornby was sent to France with the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF), as second-in-command of C Squadron of the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards, under Major [[Tom Bridges]]. His squadron became the first unit of the BEF to engage the German army outside [[Mons]], Belgium on 22 August 1914.

The squadron was guarding the road from Mons to [[Soignies]], near the village of [[Casteau]] to the north-east of Mons (later to become the location of [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe]]). Two troops were dismounted in ambush, and two in reserve commanded by Hornby. Four patrolling German lancers—[[4th (Westphalian) Cuirassiers "von Driesen"|4th Cuirassiers]] of the [[9th Cavalry Division (German Empire)|9th Cavalry Division]]—were reconnoitring the route around 6am on 22 August, as the advance guard of General [[Alexander von Kluck]]’s [[1st Army (German Empire)|1st Army]] which was about to advance on Mons. Sensing danger, the German cavalrymen retreated and were pursued by Hornby's two reserve troops, the 1st Troop leading with swords drawn and the 4th Troop following. The Germans retreated towards a larger force of German lancers, which Hornby charged with his men. Hornby is said to have been the first to kill one of the German cavalrymen, fighting on horseback with sword against lance, reputedly using a [[Pattern 1908 and 1912 cavalry swords|1908 pattern trooper's sword]] now held by the museum of the [[Yorkshire Regiment]]. Historian [[Adrian Gilbert]] writes that he inflicted "the first casualty on the enemy by a soldier from the BEF." {{sfn|Gilbert|2014|pp=16–17}} While author Douglas d'Enno was "the first British soldier to kill a German soldier."{{sfn|d'Enno|2016|p=31}} On the centenary of this action, in 2014, The Yorkshire Regiment museum wrote that Trooper [[Edward Thomas (British Army soldier)|Edward Thomas]] fired the first rifle shot of the British Army of WW1 and that Hornby's sword, "reputed to be the sword used in the very first encounter of WW1." {{sfn|Yorkshire Regiment|2014|p=}} Authors Desmond and Jean Bowen note that the historian of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards says that Thomas "undoubtedly fired the first British shot of the war ... [while] Hornby was the first man to kill a German." {{sfn|Bowen|Bowen|2005|p=203}}

After further pursuit, the Germans turned to shoot at the British cavalry, supported by a force of [[jäger (military)|jägers]]. The 4th Troop dismounted to provide covering fire for the 1st Troop, and Drummer [[Edward Thomas (British Army soldier)|Edward Thomas]] is reputed to have fired the first shot of the war for the British Army, hitting a German cavalryman.

For his efforts, Captain Hornby was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]], gazetted in February 1915,<ref>https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29074/supplement/1688, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29111/supplement/2940</ref> but he was seriously wounded a few weeks after the engagement. He was promoted to major in March 1916, with effect from August 1915,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29498/supplement/2450|title=Page 2450 | Supplement 29498, 3 March 1916 | London Gazette | the Gazette}}</ref> and served in the [[War Office]] in England as GSO Grade 3 in 1916 and 1917.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29844/page/11731|title = Page 11731 | Issue 29844, 1 December 1916 | London Gazette | the Gazette}}</ref> He was [[mentioned in despatches]] twice, and awarded the French [[Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]] in 1917. He went on half-pay due to illness caused by wounds in July 1917,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30221/supplement/8088|title=Page 8088 | Supplement 30221, 7 August 1917 | London Gazette | the Gazette}}</ref> and retired from the army in 1922.

A monument to the action was unveiled in Belgium on 22 August 1939.

==Later life==
Hornby married Dorothy Henderson in 1914. They had four daughters. He survived the war, and served as a [[Justice of the Peace]] from 1924, becoming vice-chairman of the bench of magistrates in [[Hexham]]. He served in the rank of captain with the [[4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards]] in the [[Royal Armoured Corps]] the Second World War, from February 1941 to April 1943.<ref>https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35202/supplement/3655, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35997/supplement/1947</ref> {{sfn|University of Limerick|2014 |p=}}

Hornby died in [[Hexham]] in Northumberland, with an obituary published in ''The Times''.

==Notes==
{{reflist|20em}}
*{{cite book|last1=Bowen|first1=Desmond |last2=Bowen|first2=Jean | title = Heroic Option: The Irish in the British Army|year=2005| publisher = [[Pen and Sword Books|Pen and Sword]]| isbn= 9781844151523}} - Total pages: 331 
*{{cite book|last=d'Enno|first=Douglas | title = Brighton in the Great War: Your Towns & Cities in the Great War|year=2016| publisher = [[Pen and Sword Books|Pen and Sword]]| isbn= 9781473865860|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1SqCwAAQBAJ&dq=Charles+Beck+Hornby+1st+british+kill+german+august+22+1914&pg=PT31}} - Total pages: 176 
*{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Adrian | authorlink =Adrian Gilbert| title = Challenge of Battle: The Real Story of the British Army in 1914|year=2014| publisher = [[Bloomsbury Publishing]]| isbn= 9781472808141 }} - Total pages: 312
*{{cite web|last=University of Limerick |authorlink=University of Limerick|date=July 24, 2014 |url = https://longwaytotipperary.ul.ie/the-military/4th-royal-irish-dragoon-guards/meet-dragoons/4dg-capt-charles-hornby/|title =Captain Charles Beck Hornby|publisher = [[University of Limerick]]| accessdate = August 22, 2022 }}
*{{cite web|last=Yorkshire Regiment|authorlink=Yorkshire Regiment|date=2014|url = http://www.yorkshireregiment.com/museum/collection/hornby-sword/|title =Capt Hornby's Sword |publisher = [[Yorkshire Regiment]]| accessdate = August 22, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809155510/http://www.yorkshireregiment.com/museum/collection/hornby-sword/|archive-date=9 August 2022}}

==Further reading==
* Obituary, "Major C. B. Hornby." The Times, 12 January 1949
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=S-3wdiDG-r0C&pg=PA113 Riding the Retreat: Mons to the Marne 1914 Revisited], Richard Holmes, p. 113–114
* [http://lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library/Biographical/library/The-VC-and-DSO-Volume-II/files/assets/basic-html/page361.html The VC and DSO Volume II], p. 361

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornby, Charles Beck}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Bangalore]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)]]
[[Category:4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards officers]]

Charles Beck Hornby - Revision history

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