Merrick Orville Prismall, Lieut. RFC. Special memorial at Isleworth, but buried at the historic St Lawrence's Church, Brentford, nearby. His birth was registered at Brentford in the first quarter of 1892. I am unable to find his memorial. Work is presently under way at St Lawrence's (Jan. 2009) and memorials appear to have been removed. Merrick Prismall was a pupil at St Edmund's College, a Catholic boarding school at Old Hall Green, near Ware, in Hertfordshire, from 1905 to 1908. Seventy-four ex-pupils died in the First World War and fourty-four in the second. He had been at primary school in Bognor, also as a boarder. This is the contemporary report of Prismall's life and death:-
Lieutenant MERRICK ORVILLE PRISMALL, R.F.A. and R.F.C., second son of Lieutenant-Colonel E. Prismall, T.D. (attached General Staff Canadian Oversea Forces), was killed as the result of an aeroplane accident while flying near Grantham on December 20th, aged 25 years. He was educated at St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, and served for a short time in the Windsor Troop of the Berkshire Yeomanry. He left England at the age of 18 to explore, and visited Queensland, Northern Territories of Australia, New Zealand, the back blocks of New South Wales, Natal, Orange Free State, and Cape Colony. In 1913 he was serving in the 2nd South African Mounted Rifles, and had his thigh shattered at Estcourt as the result of a gunshot wound. In 1914 he served through the Moritz Rebellion and afterwards through the German South-West African campaign under General Botha. On reaching Windhoek, at the end of this campaign, he applied for service in France, and returning to England, received a commission in the R.F.A. He went to France early in 1916, and was wounded at the Somme. Last February he joined the R.F.C., and served as an observer for six months. After 18 months' service in France he returned to England last September, and married Miss Marie Comerford, of Woodford Green, Essex.
At the time of his death, Merrick appears to have been living at Ealing. His wife later returned to Woodford Green.
The inscription on the provisional headstone does indicate that both men named are still buried at Brentford.
Lieutenant MERRICK ORVILLE PRISMALL, R.F.A. and R.F.C., second son of Lieutenant-Colonel E. Prismall, T.D. (attached General Staff Canadian Oversea Forces), was killed as the result of an aeroplane accident while flying near Grantham on December 20th, aged 25 years. He was educated at St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, and served for a short time in the Windsor Troop of the Berkshire Yeomanry. He left England at the age of 18 to explore, and visited Queensland, Northern Territories of Australia, New Zealand, the back blocks of New South Wales, Natal, Orange Free State, and Cape Colony. In 1913 he was serving in the 2nd South African Mounted Rifles, and had his thigh shattered at Estcourt as the result of a gunshot wound. In 1914 he served through the Moritz Rebellion and afterwards through the German South-West African campaign under General Botha. On reaching Windhoek, at the end of this campaign, he applied for service in France, and returning to England, received a commission in the R.F.A. He went to France early in 1916, and was wounded at the Somme. Last February he joined the R.F.C., and served as an observer for six months. After 18 months' service in France he returned to England last September, and married Miss Marie Comerford, of Woodford Green, Essex.
At the time of his death, Merrick appears to have been living at Ealing. His wife later returned to Woodford Green.
The inscription on the provisional headstone does indicate that both men named are still buried at Brentford.
Merrick Orville Prismall, Lieut. RFC. Special memorial at Isleworth, but buried at the historic St Lawrence's Church, Brentford, nearby. His birth was registered at Brentford in the first quarter of 1892. I am unable to find his memorial. Work is presently under way at St Lawrence's (Jan. 2009) and memorials appear to have been removed. Merrick Prismall was a pupil at St Edmund's College, a Catholic boarding school at Old Hall Green, near Ware, in Hertfordshire, from 1905 to 1908. Seventy-four ex-pupils died in the First World War and fourty-four in the second. He had been at primary school in Bognor, also as a boarder. This is the contemporary report of Prismall's life and death:-
Lieutenant MERRICK ORVILLE PRISMALL, R.F.A. and R.F.C., second son of Lieutenant-Colonel E. Prismall, T.D. (attached General Staff Canadian Oversea Forces), was killed as the result of an aeroplane accident while flying near Grantham on December 20th, aged 25 years. He was educated at St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, and served for a short time in the Windsor Troop of the Berkshire Yeomanry. He left England at the age of 18 to explore, and visited Queensland, Northern Territories of Australia, New Zealand, the back blocks of New South Wales, Natal, Orange Free State, and Cape Colony. In 1913 he was serving in the 2nd South African Mounted Rifles, and had his thigh shattered at Estcourt as the result of a gunshot wound. In 1914 he served through the Moritz Rebellion and afterwards through the German South-West African campaign under General Botha. On reaching Windhoek, at the end of this campaign, he applied for service in France, and returning to England, received a commission in the R.F.A. He went to France early in 1916, and was wounded at the Somme. Last February he joined the R.F.C., and served as an observer for six months. After 18 months' service in France he returned to England last September, and married Miss Marie Comerford, of Woodford Green, Essex.
At the time of his death, Merrick appears to have been living at Ealing. His wife later returned to Woodford Green.
The inscription on the provisional headstone does indicate that both men named are still buried at Brentford.
Lieutenant MERRICK ORVILLE PRISMALL, R.F.A. and R.F.C., second son of Lieutenant-Colonel E. Prismall, T.D. (attached General Staff Canadian Oversea Forces), was killed as the result of an aeroplane accident while flying near Grantham on December 20th, aged 25 years. He was educated at St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, and served for a short time in the Windsor Troop of the Berkshire Yeomanry. He left England at the age of 18 to explore, and visited Queensland, Northern Territories of Australia, New Zealand, the back blocks of New South Wales, Natal, Orange Free State, and Cape Colony. In 1913 he was serving in the 2nd South African Mounted Rifles, and had his thigh shattered at Estcourt as the result of a gunshot wound. In 1914 he served through the Moritz Rebellion and afterwards through the German South-West African campaign under General Botha. On reaching Windhoek, at the end of this campaign, he applied for service in France, and returning to England, received a commission in the R.F.A. He went to France early in 1916, and was wounded at the Somme. Last February he joined the R.F.C., and served as an observer for six months. After 18 months' service in France he returned to England last September, and married Miss Marie Comerford, of Woodford Green, Essex.
At the time of his death, Merrick appears to have been living at Ealing. His wife later returned to Woodford Green.
The inscription on the provisional headstone does indicate that both men named are still buried at Brentford.
