Born:  May 22nd 1918
Died:  January 19th 1943

Dick was the youngest child of Lt. Col John Ford Elkington D.S.O. and his wife Mary Rew of Adbury Holt near Burghclere Berkshire where he was born.

He was educated at Eton and matriculated in 1936. He read Chemistry and was awarded his degree in 1941.

He joined the 10th [2nd Bn The Tower Hamlets Rifles] Battalion of the Rifle Brigade and died of wounds received near Bou Arada, Tunisia on 19 January 1943.

He is buried in Medjez-el-Bab War Cemetery Plot 11. H. 5.

He is commemorated on a wall plaque and a window in Burghclere church.

In May 1946, Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery of Alamein unveiled this plaque, together with a stained glass window in his memory and another plaque in memory of his brother-in-law, Sir Richard Des Voeux who was killed at Arnhem in 1944 when commanding 156 Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.

John Ford Elkington came from a long line of military officers. In August 1914, he was charged with ‘Cowardice and Conspiring to Surrender’. He was said to have conspired to surrender to the enemy by the signing of a paper. He was acquitted of the Cowardice charge, but the other charge was upheld and he was dishonourably discharged from the Army, losing his rank. Two weeks after his Court Marshall, he joined the French Foreign Legion as an ordinary soldier. In 1916, he was seriously wounded and retired home. In October 1916, he received a letter from Buckingham Palace, requesting him to present himself to the King so that his DSO could be awarded to him in a private Investiture Ceremony. On 30 October at Buckingham Palace, the King handed him his pardon and invested him with the D.S.O which he had been awarded whilst serving in the French Foreign Legion.

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