Captain, Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Born: February 7th 1897
Died: September 18th 1918
Age at Death: 21
Killed in action, France, September 18th 1918
Son of E.E. Bone, solicitor, Llandudno.
Headstone engraving: Greater love hath no more than this.... John 15 v 13
A donation to the memorial statue has been made in honour of this soldier by a fellow Durnford Old Brightonian
Obituary, Brightonian XVI December 1918
V.A. Bone entered Durnford House in May, 1912, and remained at the College until July, 1914, when he at once joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant. He received his second star in July, 1915, and his Captaincy this spring, the commission being antedated to November, 1917.
Brightonian XVI July, 1919
CAPTAIN BONE.
Referring to our obituary notice in the December number of the Magazine of the late Victor Arnold Hone, we ought to mention that Capt. Bone, by his will, left the sum of Fifteen Pounds to the Head Master of this College to be used for such object as he might think fit. The Head Master decided to include the gift as a subscription towards the new Memorial Chapel. We learn that Capt. Bone's will containing this bequest was written by him on September 14th, 1918, being the day before the Offensive against the Bulgars began, in which he doubtless anticipated that he would almost inevitably be killed, as in fact he was four days later, when with only thirty-five men left of his company he captured the last line of the Bulgar trenches along the frontage, for the capture of which he was responsible.
We are told that when he left England with his Battalion in September, 1915, Captain Bone gave particular directions that the numbers of the College Magazine were to be carefully kept for him, and his love for his old College was further testified by the insertion, in his will written on the battlefield of the bequest to which we have referred.
Captain Victor Arnold Bone (Durnford 1912–1914)
Victor Bone was born in Llandudno, Wales, on 7 February 1897. He was the third son and sixth child of Ernst Bone, a solicitor, and his wife Bessie (née Evans). On 22 September 1914 he received a commission in the Welsh Fusiliers and in October was attached to the 11th Battalion, Welsh Fusiliers, a ‘New Army’ unit then being formed in Wrexham.
In September 1915 the battalion, which formed part of the 22nd Division, was sent to France but shortly thereafter was sent to Salonika where it was to remain for the rest of the war. For much of the war the Macedonian theatre was quiet, but on 16 September 1918 an offensive was launched in order to liberate Serbia and drive Germany’s Bulgarian allies out of the war. On 18 September, Bone, now promoted to Captain, was killed in action during an assault on the Bulgarian fortifications at Doiran in which, despite extensive use of airpower to attack the Bulgarian positions, the Bulgarians were able to pick off the attacking troops one by one.
His grave is in the Doiran Military Cemetery, Salonika, Greece.
Source: LEST WE FORGET PROJECT, Brighton College 2014/15