Ronald Edwin Grundy: Saturday 1st July 1916
Ronald was Cecil’s brother. He became a second Lieutenant in the 2nd Batt. Middlesex Reg. By the time he was killed in action on the first day of the Somme, his family had moved out of the Parish. He was buried but his grave was destroyed by fighting and he is remembered on the memorial in Ovillers Military Cemetery.
According to Lance Corporal Noyes, who wrote to Ronald’s father on 1 August, Ronald was killed instantly by a bullet which hit him about a quarter of an inch above the collarbone close to the neck on the left side and was dead before he hit the ground. The bullet came out via the spine. Lance Corporal Noyes dragged him to the advanced sap trench where he was left covered with his coat and reported to the Quarter Master Sargent.
Ronald went to Emmanuel School and is commemorated on the school’s Roll of Honour. Further information on the Grundy family, including information about his other younger brothers, John and Rupert can be found on the page of his brother. The brothers were featured in a BBC short radio documentary about Emmanuel School during the war. Some of his correspondence survived and was featured in a Sunday Mail article for Remembrance Day. The letters were auctioned and are now privately owned.