Major Alfred Bond Trestrail MBE & Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Ernest Yates Trestrail B.A.
Major Alfred Bond Trestrail MBE
Alfred Bond Trestrail was born at the 'Willows', Mitcham Common, Surrey on 5 February 1849. He was the second son of the Reverend Frederick Trestrail, and was educated at Mill Hill and Amersham Hall Schools. Trestrail later attended the Royal College Of Chemistry and the Royal School Of Mines.
Trestrail resided at 'Southdale', Albert Road, Clevedon, and was commissioned Lieutenant in the 1st Gloucestershire Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers (Clevedon Company), in March 1885. He advanced to Captain and took over command of No. 9 Battery on 27 November 1891. He commanded the Company from 1891 to 1905, when be retired.
The battery, which had been raised in 1860 by Sir Arthur Hallam Elton of Clevedon Court; the unit was also known as the 1st Somerset or Clevedon Artillery Volunteers. The battery, in 1886, stood second in the Brigade for skill-at-arms, the competition being held at Portishead Battery, for some years the Sergeants and Corporals held the 3rd and 4th Cups for carbine shooting at the annual brigade competitions.
They manned two 64 pounder guns mounted on Wain's Hill and from there used to shoot at a target moored in the bay. Their Drill Hall, built in 1863, was in Albert Road, only a few minutes walk from the Trestrail residence. Nearby was a carbine range.
In 1900, he was made Honorable Major and on the 12 September 1905 received the Volunteer Decoration. Trestrail retired as Honorary Major in September 1905. He took a prominent interest in municipal affairs. For over 20 years he was a member of the Urban District Council. He was made a JP in 1896, and sat regularly on the local Bench (frequently as presiding magistrate) until his illness. He was prominently identified with many local charitable and philanthropic institutions, notably the Clevedon, Kenn, Tickehham and Walton Dispensary, of which he had been Hon. Secretary and Treasurer for many years. He was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a member of the Geological Association, the Hon. Secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of ruelty to Animals (Clevedon District), a member of the Clevedon District Council, Vice President of the Westonsuper-Mare Division of the Liberal Association.
He also took a great interest in sport. He was a member of the Somerset County Football Association and served on the board of Appeal. He was a vice president of the local football and cricket clubs, a founder of the original golf club, a founder and vice president of the bowling club, and trustee of the Herbert Gardens. A keen Volunteer, he succeeded the late Sir Edmund H. Elton, Bart., as Captain of the Clevedon Company, Royal Gloucestershire Artillery Volunteers, and put in over 20 years service. During the Great War, he commanded the V.A.D Red Cross Hospital, Oakland's, in Clevedon, and the Commandant of the Clevedon Ladies Voluntary Aid Detachment for which he was awarded with an Member of the British Empire for his services in 1919.
Alfred Bond Trestrail (seated) at the Red Cross Hospital
Alfred Bond Trestrail's medals: MBE and Volunteer Officers' Decoration.
Resources
Medals from the Rob Campbell Collection - YUDU
Military Chest - The Clevedonian, Winter 2010
Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Ernest Yates Trestrail B.A.
Alfred Ernest Yates Trestrail was born at Hallatrow Court, Hallatrow, Somerset, near Bristol, on 24 January 1876, the son of Major Alfred Bond Trestrail, and was educated at Amersham Hall, New College Eastbourne, and Christ's College, Cambridge.
A keen sportsman, he represented Somerset at cricket (captaining the County side 1896-1900), football - played for Clevedon since 1890 as well as Cambridge university; Crusaders F. C. and Bedminster F. C.; hockey, lawn tennis, and was a member of the all England hockey team which toured Germany before the war.
F. C. Trestrail was admitted to the roll of Solicitors in 1900, and practised in Clevedon. He served as a Captain with the 1st Gloucester Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers (Clevedon Company). On 1 April, 1908, Captain Alfred Ernest Yates Trestrail, from the 1st Gloucestershire Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers), to be Captain precedence as in the Volunteer Force.
He unsuccessfully stood for Parliament as a Liberal for Tiverton, Devon, in December 1910. Trestrail was appointed a District Councillor for Clevedon in April 1912.
Trestrail served during the Great War with the Cheshire Regiment in the French theatre of war from 2 June 1916. He had a distinguished career in the Army, his period of service extending over a quarter of a century.
When war broke out, he threw up his practice and took a commission in the 14th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment. He proceeded to France and was both wounded and gassed on the Somme. He returned to France in 1918 and was serving with the 15th Battalion when he was awarded the D.S.O. for conspicuous gallantry and his leadership of his company in the attack on Summerbee Farm. It is of interest to record that after the attack, the N.C.O.s and men of his company wrote a letter to the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison-Johnston, D.S.O., expressing their appreciation of the manner in which Major Trestrail had conducted the attack.
Alfred Ernest Yates Trestrail's medals: Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves, Coronation 1902, Territorial Decoration
His DSO citation read:
During the operations east of Terhand on the 14th October 1918, he led his men to the attack in a most determined way, and when hostile machine-gun fire was encountered from numerous strong points, he got his men to surround them and either killed or captured the occupants. His marked gallantry, cheeriness, and initiative were largely responsible for the objective being carried promptly.
Following the war, Trestrail joined a law firm in Huddersfield, lived in Kirkburton, and was the moving spirit behind the building of the Woodsome Hall Golf Club. He engaged his batman as a private servant, and one day was examining with his father and the servant, one of his war trophies - a captured German bomb. The servant pulled out the pin, thinking the bomb was harmless. A terrific explosion followed, in which the batman was killed, Major Trestrail wounded in the thigh and his father also slightly hurt. Major Trestrail subsequently pensioned the servant's widow.
In 1932, when the Regimental Council was formed, Major Trestrail became a member of the Council as one of the two representatives of the New Army Battalions, and was so serving at the time of his death.
Major Trestrail was the best type of Englishman, kind, fearless and a true sportsman - never deviating from what he thought to be right, and outspoken when the occasion demanded it.
Lieutenant-Colonel Trestrail died at "Far Dene", New Milton, Hampshire, on 5 February 1935.
Resources
Alfred Trestrail - Wikipedia
Medals from the Rob Campbell Collection relating to Clevedon, Somerset - YUDU
We Remember Alfred Ernest Yates Trestrail - Imperial War Museums
Sources and Resources
Derek Driscoll's original pages
Contemporary Biographies 1890 (PDF, 7.03Mb)
Contemporary Biographies 1890
Contemporary Biographies 1890