Thank you to Lenka Cathersides for the following research.
Herbert Connell Whipple was born on the 6th of September 1879 at St Andrew’s Lodge in Plymouth, Devon to surgeon of the South Devon Militia and of the South Devon and East Cornwall Hospitals Connell Whipple and Harriett Whipple nee Batson.
Herbert Connell Whipple´s maternal uncles were Dr William Lascelles Batson of Dorking, and Colonel Herbert Batson, C.B., who commanded the 2nd Battalion of the Devon’s, which formed part of the force that relieved Ladysmith in the Boer War.
Herbert Connell’s father Connell Whipple was born in the 4th quarter of 1842 in Plymouth, Devon to general practitioner John Whipple, born about 1801 in Kingsbridge, Devon, and Sophia E. Whipple, born about 1810 in Titchfield, Hampshire. At the time of the 1861 Census, Connell Whipple was a medical student. At the time of the 1871 Census, general practitioner Connell Whipple lived at 4 Sussex Terrace, Plymouth, Devon. The household further comprised of Connell’s brother John H. C. Whipple, a surgeon of the Coldstream Guards, and a housekeeper and general servant.
Herbert Connell’s mother Harriett Batson was born about 1849 in Ross, Hertfordshire to annuitant & proprietor of houses Thomas Batson, born about 1822 in Limehouse, Middlesex, and Harriet Batson born about 1824 in Limehouse, Middlesex. Harriett Batson younger was baptised on the 16th of September 1842 in Sellack, Herefordshire. At the time of the baptism, the family lived at Sellack. At the time of the 1871 Census, scholar Harriett Batson was a lodger of builder Thomas at 2 Bridge House, Lynton, Devon.
Connell Whipple married Harriett Batson in the 2nd quarter of 1872 in the Registration District of Bath, Somerset.
Herbert Connell Whipple had six siblings: Beatrice Connell Whipple born in the 2nd quarter of 1874 in Devon, Plymouth; John Whipple born in the 3rd quarter of 1875 in Devon Plymouth; Connell Arthur Whipple born in the 2nd quarter of 1878 in Devon, Plymouth; Adria Lilla Whipple born in the 3rd quarter of 1881 in Devon, Plymouth; Phyllis Mary Whipple born in the 1st quarter of 1885 in Devon Plymouth and Connell Whipple born in the 1st quarter of 1888 in Devon, Plymouth.
Herbert Connell Whipple was born on the 6th of September 1879 at St Andrew’s Lodge in Plymouth, Devon. He was baptised on the 1st of October 1879 at St Andrew’s church in Plymouth. At the time of the baptism, the family lived at St Andrew’s Lodge in Plymouth and Connell was working as a surgeon of the South Devon Militia.
At the time of the 1881 Census, the family lived at St Andrew’s Lodge, Plymouth, Devon. Connell Whipple was working as a general practitioner and Harriett was at home with their children: Beatrice Connell Whipple, John Whipple and Herbert Connell Whipple. The household further comprised of a nurse, middle nurse, parlour maid and housemaid.
Herbert Connell Whipple was educated at Hartford House Preparatory School and at Rossal School.
The 1891 Census reads that Herbert Connell was a boarder and scholar of Hartford House Preparatory School at Hartley Row Street, in Hartley Wintley, Hampshire.
In 1894 Herbert Connell was a scholar of Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancashire. At this time his family still lived at St Andrew’s Lodge, Plymouth, Devon.
At the time of the 1901 Census, Herbert Connell’s family lived at Windsor Villas, 7 Lockyer Street, Plymouth, Devon. Connell was working as a medical practitioner and Harriett was at home with their daughters: Adria Lilla and Phyllis Mary. The family further comprised of a cook, parlour maid, kitchen maid and two housemaids. At the time of the 1901 Census, the family was visited by Winifred A. Matthias.
Herbert Connell Whipple was gazetted as 2nd Lieutenant to the Devonshire Regiment from the old South Devon Militia on the 18th of October 1899, just after the announcement of the Boer War. He served in the South African War (1899-1902), taking part in the Relief of Ladysmith, including action at Colenso; operations of 17th to 24th January 1900, and action at Spion Kop; operations in Natal of March to June 1900, including action at Laing’s Nek and those in the Transvaal, (30th of November 1900 to 31st of May 1902), receiving the Queen’s medal with 4 clasps and the King’s medal with 2 clasps.
Herbert Connell became a Lieutenant on the 11th of May 1901.
Herbert Connell Whipple was also engaged with the West African Frontier Force (South Nigeria) from 1907 to 1912, receiving the King’s West African medal with 1 clasp. The 1907, 1909 and 1911 Passenger List Leaving UK registers read that Lieutenant Herbert Connell Whipple departed from Liverpool to Nigeria.
He became a Captain on the 4th of November 1911.
Herbert Connell’s father, Connell Whipple died in the 1st quarter of 1910 in the Registration District of Devon, Plymouth.
At the time of the 1911 Census, Herbert Connell’s family lived at St Andrew’s Lodge in Plymouth, Devon. The widowed Harriett was at home living off private means with her son Connell Whipple, niece Barbara Batson, born in Dorking, and a cook, housemaid and chauffeur, indicating that the family was in possession of a car. The house had twelve rooms. Harriet Whipple stated that she had given birth to seven children of whom five were still alive.
Captain Herbert Connell Whipple of the Devonshire Regiment married Joan Uppleby Stapylton-Smith on the 2nd of July 1913 in Brentwood, Essex. At the time of the marriage, the bride’s father Gerald Uppleby Stapylton-Smith lived at Hutton Wood, Roundwood Avenue, Hutton, Brentwood in Essex. Later, he moved to Dorking.
Joan Uppleby Stapylton-Smith was born in the 2nd quarter of 1893 in Eastbourne, Essex to stock exchange jobber Gerald Uppleby Stapylton-Smith, born about 1854 in Melton, Lincolnshire, and Elizabeth Maude Stapylton-Smith nee Coles, born about 1861 in Eastbourne, Sussex.
At the time of the 1911 Census, Joan Uppleby was attending Bentley Priory Ladies School, Harrow Weald Lodge, Stanmore in Middlesex.
At the outbreak of the war, Captain Herbert Connell Whipple was part of the 1st Battalion (11th Foot) the Devonshire Regiment. He disembarked on the 22nd of August 1914 to the Western Theatre of War.
During the early days of the Great War, the exposure and long periods of duty without relief affected Captain’s health, and brought back African fewer. However, he remained cheerful. He returned to the trenches in a few days, and was shot in the head on the 19th of November 1914 in France.
Captain Herbert Connell Whipple died on the 24th of November 1914, without regaining consciousness.
The British Army Bond of Sacrifice reads that: “in his home circle, as with his regiment, he was a general favourite, much appreciated also by his men. He had a great love for music, and was a very good pianist with a perfect touch, which made him in great demand among his friends.”
He was also a member of the Junior United Service Club. Captain Herbert Connell Whipple was a frequent visitor to Dorking when he was on leave at home. At the time of the 1911 Census, his maternal uncle, Dr William Lascelles Batson resided at 73 High Street, Dorking. The 1913 Medical Register reads that William Lascelles Batson was a general practitioner of Dorking. He died in 1921 in Dorking and was buried on the 9th of July 1921 at the Dorking Municipal Cemetery. William´s son, Lieutenant Alfred William Batson died on the 14th of March 1915 near Ypres.
Captain Herbert Connell Whipple is buried at the Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord in France. His grave reference number is: D.2.3. The headstone bears the inscription: R.I.P.
Herbert Connell Whipple of St Peter’s Barrack’s, Jersey left to his wife Joan Uppleby Whipple £2.299, 15s and 2d in probate.
Joan Uppleby Whipple also received £1, 3s and 9d in 1915 and a further £45 on the 15th of December 1925 in Soldier’s Effects.
Captain Herbert Connell Whipple received the British War and Victory medals and the 1914 Star.
Herbert Connell’s wife, the widowed Joan Uppleby Whipple must have been an extraordinary woman. She became a fiancée of an English national hero Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson.
William Leefe Robinson was born on the 14th of July 1895 at a coffee estate of Kaima Betta, Pollibetta, South Coorg, India to Mr Horace Robinson and Elizabeth Leefe. William was grandson of W. B. Robinson, the chief naval constructor of his Majesty´s dockyard in Portsmouth.
In August 1914 William Leefe Robinson joined the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and on the 16th of December 1914 he was gazetted into the Worcestershire Regiment. In March 1915 William went to France as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps. On the 9th of May 1915 he was wounded in the right arm by shrapnel while flying over Lille, France. As the result, William underwent pilot training in Britain, taking his certificate on the 28th of July 1915. Subsequently, he was trained as a night pilot, becoming attached to No39 (Home Defence) Squadron situated at Sutton Farm airfield in Essex.
On the night of 2/3 September 1916 over Cuffley, Hertfordshire, about a dozen miles north of London, William, flying a converted B.E.2 night fighter, sighted a German airship, 1 of 16 on a mass raid over England. He made an attack on attitude at 11.500 feet, approaching it from below, and closing to 500 feet, raked the wooden framed Schutte -Lanz with gunfire. The airship burst into flames and crashed into a field. (VCs of the North: Cumbria, Durham & Northumberland by Alan Whithworth)
He was the second man to shoot down a German airship, the first being Lieutenant Warneford who destroyed a Zeppelin in Belgium, and the first to do so on English soil. William received a Victoria Cross for extreme gallantry from King George V. It was the 1st Victoria Cross won by a man within UK territory.
William Leefe Robinson was also awarded Mr Joseph Cowen´s prize of £2.000. Mr Cowen offered a reward to the first British aviator to bring down a Zeppelin on British soil or in British territorial waters.
Sometime after his heroic deed William announced his engagement to Joan Uppleby Whipple.
“Joan was working in a Surrey post office, but visited Sutton’s Farm frequently with some friends from her days at Bentley Priory in Stanmore. Considering Robinson had so many admirers, there must have been something very special about Mrs Whipple. None of Robinson’s letters to her from Germany survive, but he refers to her as “the best girl on God’s earth” in a letter to his parents.” (VCs of the North: Cumbria, Durham & Northumberland by Alan Whithworth)
William Leefe Robinson was taken as a German prisoner of war in April 1917.
He died from cardiac arrest, as a result of the Great Influenza Pandemic, three weeks after his return from captivity, on the 31st of December 1918 at Lavender Cottage, Stanmore, Middlesex. William was weakened by his ordeal as a German prisoner of war. His sister, Baroness Heyking, and fiancée Joan Uppleby Whipple nursed him until the end.
Joan Uppleby’s father Gerald Uppleby Stapylton-Smith died in the 3rd quarter of 1918 in the Registration District of Dorking. He was 64 years old.
Joan Uppleby Whipple remarried John Gardener Grahame Gardiner Brockbank in the 4th quarter of 1929 in the Registration District of St George Hanover Square, London.
John Gardener Grahame Gardiner Brockbank was born about 1884 in Fulham, London to Gentleman John Brockbank and Mary Brockbank. John was baptised on the 23rd of March 1884 at St Paul’s church, Kensington. At the time of the 1911 Census, John lived at 32 Powis Square, London and was working as an assistant engineer of the London General Omnibus Company.
John Gardener Grahame Gardiner Brockbank C.B.E., D.S.O. of St Omer Mylor Bridge, Falmouth, Cornwall died on the 4th of January 1961. He left to his wife Joan Uppleby Brockham £11.417, 4s and 2d in probate.
Joan Uppleby Brockbank died in 1968 in the Registration District of Truro, Cornwall. She was 75 years old.
| Born | Plymouth, Devon | |
| Son of | Connell Whipple and Harriett Whipple nee Batson | |
| Husband of | Joan Uppleby Stapyton Smith | |
| Nephew of | Dr. W Lascelles Batson, Dorking doctor | |
| Regiment | 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment | |
| Date of Death | 24th November 1914 | |
| Place of Death | France | |
| Cause of Death | Died of Wounds | |
| Age | 35 | |
| Cemetery | Bailleul Communal Cemetery Nord, France |
