Cpt Hugh Christopher Tower

Hugh Christopher Tower, born to Christopher John Hume Tower JP, DL for the County of Essex, in 1886, was a son of his father's second marriage to Cecilia. Christopher's father's first wife passed away during childbirth, followed by the loss of their daughter shortly after.

The 1891 census shows him living at Weald Hall, South Weald, with his parents, an elder brother, and 14 household servants. The Tower family had owned the house since 1752.

He served as a Flight Commander in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). He joined the RFC from the Special Reserve in August 1914 and was deployed to the Western Front, serving with No. 60 Squadron.

Tragically, Tower was shot down and killed over German lines near Grevillers on September 19th 1916 in the early evening. His plane, reportedly on fire according to German sources, crashed in the vicinity of Grevillers Wood. The German ace Oswald Boelcke was credited with shooting down Captain Tower's aircraft.