Date of birth: 20 January 1891
Date of death: 10 June 1916

Died of wounds contracted while on active service aged 25
Buried in Abbeville Communal Cemetery, Plot IV. A. 7.

Eustace Walter Russell was the younger son of the Rev. Robert Henry Hadden, vicar of two deprived East End parishes, St Botolph Bishopsgate and St Botolph Aldgate, and his wife, Eva Prudence. The family home was at Hazel Hatch in Addlestone, Surrey.

While he was a boy his father returned to St Mark North Audley Street (where he had served his title) in Mayfair, as the much-loved vicar. He was also the Chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria, and later an Honorary Chaplain to King Edward VII until his early death in 1909.

Eustace was educated at Westminster School and went up to Christ Church in 1908, the year after his brother.

Whilst still an undergraduate at Oxford, he joined the 4th Battalion, Territorial Force in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and was gazetted Second Lieutenant on 29 November 1908. In 1910 he was attached to the 52nd Light Infantry at Shorncliffe and in September 1911 he was promoted to Lieutenant.

In 1912, although still in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Eustace was called to the bar of the Inner Temple and became a Barrister. In 1913 he went to Siam (now Thailand) where he worked in a legal position for the Siamese Government. He returned to England the following year, and was gazetted Captain, on Tuesday 1 September 1914.

In 1915 he was sent to France with the 4th Battalion. Shortly afterwards he was wounded in the face. It was feared that he would lose his eyesight, however, he was treated in France and returned to his regiment. He was promoted to Temporary Major, now becoming the most Senior Officer in his Battalion.

On 7 June 1916, he was admitted to hospital in Abbeville suffering with appendicitis. Although he was operated on that day he could not be saved and died four days later in 2 Stationary Hospital, Boulogne. His death was announced in The Times on Wednesday 14 June.

With his older brother, Captain Archibald Robert HADDEN, he is commemorated on the Memorial to the Great War Dead at St Augustine’s Church, Addlestone, Surrey. Photograph and information from the website are acknowledged with thanks.

Probate was granted on 21 September, his address given as 22 Old Buildings, Lincolns Inn; His Effects totalled £386 4s 4d.