Additional
Information: |
Son of the late Sir Anthony Musgrave, G.C.M.G., and Lady Musgrave; husband of Georgeanna Musgrave (nee Hopkins), of Lantern House, Fairlight, near Hastings. Born Adelaide, South Australia. Educated Harrow, England. In 1896, he applied and received a royal commission in the Royal Engineers. Three years later, Lt. Musgrave was sent to South Africa, where he remained throughout the Boer War. After the Boer War, he was placed in charge of the Royal Flying Corps' experiments, including research in ballooning, kiting, wireless telegraphy, photography, meteorology and bomb-dropping. His interest in this came from witnessing the first flight across the English Channel made by Louis Bleriot in July 1909 and he immediately saw the military significance of this event. In September 1914, he did the first experiments with dropping bombs from the air. By 9 January 1915, he commanded the 104th R.F.A. Battery and had the rank of major and in March 1915, he was on staff with the 1st Army in France, but was wounded on 10 August 1916 and had surgeries and recuperated for many months (partly from a letter written by himself and his mother to Clara Herbert). He recovered and returned to France in December 1917 and was on a patrol behind German lines when he was killed by a grenade on 2 June 1918. ref. South African Roll of Honour 1914-1918 |
