Clifton Inglis Stockwell

Clifton Inglis Stockwell was born in 1879, the eldest son of the late Colonel C. de N. O. Stockwell of the Lincolnshire Regiment.[1][2][4] He was educated at Haileybury and Sandhurst.[1]

After Sandhurst, he joined the 2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and saw service with his battalion in China and India.[1] On the commencement of World War I, he saw service with the 2nd Battalion at the first Battle of the Aisne in 1914.[1] Stockwell continued to command the A Company of the 2nd Battalion until March 1915 when his command transferred to the A Company of the 1st Battalion.[1] In command of A Battalion, he captured Canadian Orchard at the Battle of Festubert in May 1915, and for this he was mentioned in despatches and awarded the DSO.[1]

In September 1915 he was made Brigade-Major of the 59th Infantry Brigade and was once again mentioned in despatches on 1 January 1916.[1] In February 1916 he was given command of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers where he was responsible for several attacks: Fricourt on 1 July 1916, Triangle Trench on 4 July 1916, Bazentin-le-Petit on 14 July 1916, Delville Wood and Ale, Hop and Beer Alleys on 14 August 1916 and the attack on Guinchy on 3 September 1916.[1] He was again mentioned in despatches in July 1916.[1]

Stockwell was later appointed to command the 164th Infantry Brigade, 55th Division.[1] He led his brigade during an attack on the Gord Line and Gueudecourt on 27 September 1916.[1] He was mentioned in despatches in January 1917 and led his brigade in the Battle of Passchendaele and the Battle of Cambrai.[1] He was again mentioned in despatches and awarded the CMG in January 1918.[1]

Stockwell remained in command of the 164th Infantry Brigade and successfully held Givenchy taking 700 prisoners in April 1918, and was again mentioned in despatches.[1] He commanded a surprise attack on Givenchy in September 1918 and captured the enemy position and pursued the retreating enemy from La Bassée to Tournai and in the forcing of the Haute Dendre Canal.[1] On 9 November 1918 he organised a mobile column known as ‘Stockwell's Force’ which reached a point a mile from Enghien on the day of the Armistice.[1] He was made CB and again mentioned in despatches.[1]

Stockwell was later Commandant of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum, and Commander of the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade, Ahmednagar, between 1930 and 1931.[2]

In 1908, Clifton Stockwell married Hilda Rose Westmorland, who predeceased him.[2] By his first wife, he had one son and two daughters,[2] and his brother in law was Percy Thuillier Westmorland.[4] In 1944, Stockwell married secondly, Madeline, widow of Lt-Col W.C. Critchley-Salmonson.[2] Stockwell died on 4 December 1953.[2]