Cpt Lionel George Carroll, 16th Baron Petre

Lionel George Carroll, the 16th Baron Petre, was an English peer and army officer born on November 3, 1890, in Wadhurst, Sussex. He received his education at the Oratory School in Edgbaston and later attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Initially intending to join the King's Royal Rifle Corps, Petre was instead accepted into the 4th Pioneer Battalion of the Coldstream Guards, where he advanced from lieutenant to captain.

In 1908, at just 18 years old, Lionel inherited the title of Lord Petre following the death of his father, putting him in control of the family estates including Thorndon Hall in Brentwood and Ingatestone Hall. That same year, he became engaged to Catherine Margaret Boscawen, granddaughter of the 6th Viscount Falmouth. For their engagement, a diamond from the historic Petre family jewels was used to craft the engagement ring. The couple married at Westminster Cathedral on June 28, 1913.

In 1910 he had finished his officer's training at the Royal Military College and entered the Coldstream Guards as a second lieutenant. Still serving with them when World War I broke out, his regiment was one of the first to arrive in France. He saw action in France and Belgium. In 1915 he returned home while he recovered from an illness, but returned to the front in September. Only three weeks later he was gravely wounded during the Battle of Loos and succumbed to his injuries on September 30th 1915, at Paris-Plage. He died at the age of 24, the fifth British peer to be killed in the war.

Very unusually for casualties of the first world war, his body was repatriated and buried in the family vault at Thorndon Hall.