Captain Charles La Coste MC

General List att. 1/8th West Yorkshire Regiment

Killed in action at Poelcappelle, 9 October 1917

Captain La Coste is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial.

There is also a La Coste listed on the Great Eastern Railway memorial at Liverpool St Station in London. CWGC has only one soldier of this surname on its lists, so presumably this must be the individual concerned.

In 1916, captain La Coste was based at Chisledon camp, near Swindon, which was a large training area for troops destined for France. Thousands of men were trained here and a large complex of trenches was dug nearby.

During the attack on Poelcappelle, casualties in 49th (West Riding) Division – of which the 1/8th West Yorks was part – amounted to 2,585 of which 654 were fatal.

CWGC states captain La Coste was educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst. He was commissioned in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and retired in 1905.

He rejoined the army in September 1914 becoming a staff captain in 57th Brigade. In 1916 he was a brigade major at Chisledon, returning to France in June, 1917.

The was the son of colonel Charles Frederick La Coste (RMLI) and Margaret Mary Ann Banks, his wife; husband of Grace La Coste (née Neilson), of Philadelphia, US, and of Manor House, Shottermill, Haslemere, Surrey.