Rice, Gerald Spring-, 1864-1916 (farmer)
Biography
Gerald Spring-Rice was born on 13 September 1864, the seventh child and third of four sons of the Hon. Charles William Thomas William Spring-Rice and his wife Elizabeth Margaret Marshall of Mt. Trenchard, Foynes. After Charterhouse he studied at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He went to Canada in 1883, and with his younger brother Bernard Wilfred Charles, he became a farmer and rancher in the North West Territories. Over 25 years they turned a large area of rough prairie into highly productive farms. Returning to England, they lived at Watermillock, Cumbria; he was appointed County Director of Voluntary Aid and in recognition of his work there and for the Territorial Association, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Cumberland. Gerald married Mary Isabella Bush of Gatesgarth, Penrith, Cumberland on 21 June 1905, by whom he had two sons, but both died in infancy. Wishing to take a more active part in the Great War, despite his age, he was commissioned into the Border Regiment as transport officer to the Lonsdale and joined the 11th Battalion, arriving in France in November 1915. He was killed in action by a sniper’s bullet when in charge of the regimental transport and supplies on 27 May 1916 and is buried at the Authuile military cemetery, France.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
RICE, Gerald SPRING-, 1905-1906
Two letters from Gerald Spring-Rice to Ida Darwin dated [8] August 1905 and 18 March 1906. The first letter thanks Ida for the gift of 'Brown Jones and Robinson' a novel by Anthony Trollope, and the second, sent from Pense in the North West Territories, thanks Ida for the gift of a three-volume edition of the life of Charles Darwin and provides some brief comments on life in Canada and asks for news of Ida's family.