Derek John Mayall

This story is shared by the Trust with kind permission from John Hamblin, Researcher.

Derek John Mayall, Major 113631, A Company, 1/4 th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Died of wounds on the 16th of August 1944, aged 24.

Derek John Mayall was born at Birmingham on the 29th of November 1919, the son of the Reverend John Bardsley Mayall MA MC and Muriel O'Neill Mayall (née White) of Risby Rectory in Suffolk, later of St Mark’s Vicarage, Tunbridge Wells. He was educated at Mowden School, Hove from 1929 to July 1933 and at Lancing College where he was in Seconds House from September 1933 to July 1938. He was served as a School Missioner in 1937 and 1938 and he was a member of the Running Team from 1935 to 1938, the Athletics Team in 1937 and 1938 and held the Half Mile record in 1938. He was elected as Captain in September 1937.

He also served as a member of the Officer Training Corps and achieved Certificate A in March 1937. He was promoted to Corporal in September 1937 and later to Sergeant. He was appointed as Secretary of Toc H in October 1936 and he was appointed as a House Captain in January 1938. He went on to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1938.

In 1939 he was living at Tunbridge Wells where his father was Vicar of St Marks’s Church at Broadwater Down. Following the outbreak of war he volunteered for officer training and was posted to 164th Officer Training Unit at Colchester in Essex in November 1939 where he trained until January 1940. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1/4th Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on the 14th of January 1940 and joined the battalion on the 10th of February 1940 where he was attached to A Company.

On the 11th of April 1940, the battalion embarked at Glasgow on board the SS "Empress of Australia" bound for Norway, which the Germans had recently invaded. On the 15th of April, they arrived in Namsen Fjord and transferred to the MV "Chrobry" the next day. At 3am on the morning of the 17th of April they disembarked at Namsen. On the 21st of April, the battalion received orders to move to cut off the advancing the Germans but after a sharp engagement they were forced to fall back. On the 23rd of April Derek Mayall and 2nd Lieutenant G.P. Roberts were detached from their platoon with orders to make contact with the 4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. While they were away their platoon was surrounded by the Germans who killed or captured all of them. The two officers arrived back in time to watch the surviving members of their platoon being marched off into captivity. It was the 27th of April before they managed to rejoin the battalion. On the night of the 2/3rd of May the exhausted Yorkshiremen re-embarked at Namsos and arrived at Scapa Flow on the 4th of May 1940.

In July 1940 his battalion was posted to Iceland where they served until April 1942. When they returned to England they were based in Hertfordshire. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 14th of July 1941. From February 1942 he attended a Battle School where he was seriously injured in an accident in November 1942 and spent a long period in recovery. He had been promoted to temporary Captain on the 7th of November 1942. The battalion later moved to Durham until June 1944. He announced his engagement to Miss R.D. Bullen, a State Registered Nurse, in the summer of 1944.

The 1/4 th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry landed at Gold Beach in Normandy on the 10th of June 1944. On the 16th of June they were involved in the capture of Cristot where they suffered casualties of eleven men killed, two missing and fifty three wounded. On the 25th of June they were involved in the Brigade assault and capture of Fontenay-le-Pesnel and Tessel Wood.
At 9pm on the 13th of August 1944 they moved to relieve the 1st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment at the village of Chicheboville. They were shelled during the handover. The following day there was a heavy bombing attack by Allied aircraft on the enemy who were trying to escape encirclement. During the day, the village came under occasional shelling and it was during one of these bombardments that Derek Mayall was seriously wounded at 7.30pm. He died of his wounds two days later at the British General Hospital. At the time of his death he was the longest serving officer still with the battalion. He was replaced as Commanding Officer of A Company by Major A.J.H. Rutherford on the 18th of August.

Derek Mayall is buried at La Delivrande War Cemetery, Plot V, Row D, Grave 5. He is commemorated on the war memorial at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and on the memorial at St Mark’s Church, Broadwater Down, Tunbridge Wells in Kent. He is also commemorated on the memorials at Lancing Prep, Hove and at Lancing College.