Captain Augustus (Stephen) Agelasto, MC

Notes:

A plague inside St. Sophia Church, Bayswater, London, on the right side acknowledges his death in combat.

Residence: 1916, 185 Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park, London, England.

Education: 1901-, Harrow School, England.

Lieutenant in the lst and 6th Battalion The Dorsetshire Regt. (Mentioned in Dispatches). He had previously been a distinguished soldier in the Greek forces in the Balkan wars in 1912.

He was wounded in 1915 (The Times 4 Jun 1915) and consequently was awarded MC (Military Cross), in King’s Honours List, 1 Jan 1916, reported in London Gazette #29438, 14 Jan 1916 and in The Times on the same date. Promoted from 2nd Lt. to Lt., 20 Oct 1916, less than three weeks before he died.

Mentioned in the diaries of Ernest Howard Shepherd, B Coy 1st Bn Dorset Regt (Winnie the Pooh illustrator):

29 May 1915 - "One funny thing have just remembered. One of our officers, Lt Agelasto, was stripped in his dug-out when the Huns gassed. He had been out all night and fell in a Johnson hole, getting wet thro'. When we ran up he just put his gun, boots, coat and waterproof coat on, and he looked a real sketch, we had to laugh even at that critical time and later we fixed him up with a pair of trousers."

16 January 1916 - "Also to my great delight my Company Commander Captain Algeo has been awarded the Military Cross, also Lt Agelasto who used to command the Company back in May 1915. He is now gone to Serbia. Lt Agelasto I have mentioned before. He rushed up towards Hill naked on May 5th except for waterproof coat and gumboots."

Ordered bankrupt 21 Oct 1914, brought about by an "unjustifiable extravagence in living." London Gazette #28977, 17 Nov 1914. The order was to be discharged 21 Oct 1916, about a month before his death. His bankruptcy petition (copy that allows zoom).

An Agelasto played football for Kersal A against: Manchester University (Manchester Guardian, 13 Dec 1905, p 11), Heaton Moor A (Manchester Guardian, 5 Jan 1906, p 3), and Bolton 1st (Manchester Guardian, 8 Nov 1905, p 3). The newspaper gives his initial(s) as A.N., A. and J., respectively. All are probably typos, and the athlete is either Emmanuel John Agelasto after he finished Charterhouse or Augustus Stephen after Harrow School.

1891 England Census: 71 Gloucester Terrace, London, household headed by Stephen A. Agelasto, 39, bank manager, b. Greece, naturalized British subject; wife Caterina, 31; son Augustus, 3; daughter Lucia, 5; Juliet, 8 mo.; all b. London; brother John, 37, unmarried, civil engineer, b. Liverpool; & 5 servants.

The 1901 England Census shows for the household living at 185 Gloucester Terrace, Paddington, London: Stephen A Agelasto, 46, head, stock & share broker, born Greece, naturalized British subject; wife Caterina, 39; children Lucie, 15; Augustus, 13; Juliet, 10, all born London; his mother-in-law Julia A Ralli, 73, widow, born Marseille, France; and a nephew, Constantine Scarafoglu, 18, commercial clerk, born Constantinople; and seven domestic servants.

The 1901 England census counts him twice. Augustus S. Agelasto, 13, b. London, is a boarder at the Hazelwood School, [Oxted] Surrey.

1911 England census for the household at 185 Gloucester Terrace, Bayswater, Hyde Park, London W, headed by Stephen Augustus Agelasto, 57, b. Syra, naturalized Brit, married 26 years, 3 children born alive, 3 still living; stock broker; wife Caterina, 49; son August S, 23, bank clerk; daughter Juliet, 20, all b. London; mother-in-law Julia A Ralli, 83, widow, b. Marseille; 7 servants.

"The Roll of Honour" A. Agelasto, Dorsetshire Regiment, listed as wounded (The Times of India, 8 Jun 1915).

Harrow School: S.A. [likely a typo, should be A.S.] Agelasto sang choral (Mendelssohn's 'Hearts feel that love Thee,') The Harrovian 5 Apr 1903. A. Agelasto played for Mr. Owen's against Mr. Howson's [11-man squads], and scored the sole point for his side against Mr. Graham's, The Harrovian 5 Apr 1903. A.S. Agelasto ran the half-mile for Mr. Owen's The Harrovian 7 June 1902.

AS Agelasto is mentioned in Dale Vargas, The Timeline History of Harrow School: 1572 to the Present [Supplement: Index], UK: 2010, Worth Press, p. 78.

Christened:
God-parents: Mrs. Dimitris Ralli.

Birth:
His birth announcement appeared in The Times (London), 31 Jan 1888, p 1.

Died:
Until their own deaths, his parents placed a personal notice of memorium in The Times (London) on the anniversary of August's death: "In dear and ever-loving memory of Lieut. August Agelasto, MC, Dorsetshire Regiment, killed in action on the Somme 8th Nov., 1916."

His death was reported on page one of The Times (London) on 16 Nov 1916. A 1300-word obituary appeared on page 13 of the same issue. Death notice included under 'Killed in Action' (Manchester Guardian, 17 Nov 1916, p 10).

Buried:
United Kingdom Lieutenant Dorsetshire Regiment08/11/1916 Age: 28 X. X. 9, Guards' Cemetery (Lesboeufs) (Somme France).

His 3d cousin Richard (Plato) Dilberoglu is in the same cemetery.