Lieutenant Ambrose James Sherwill, MC
Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (Ex-Petty
Officer SABC, Royal Naval Air Service & East Kent
Regiment ("The Buffs")
Following some preliminary machine gun
training with the Royal Guernsey Militia during 1914,
but when efforts failed to get this unit to the front
in time, he volunteered in London as a dispatch rider
and enlisted as a Petty Officer Air Mechanic in No.
8 Squadron of the Armoured Car Division of the Royal
Naval Air Service. He trained in England and served
in Belgium as a dispatch rider for the British Attaché
to the Military Governor of Dunkirk. He came under shell
fire from 'Big Bertha' while in Dunkirk, after which
he returned to England. His division was broken up and
No. 8 Squadron disbanded, and he joined the Airship
Section of the R.N.A.S. at Walney Island, Lancashire.
Recommended for a commission in the East Kent Regiment
('The Buffs'), he left the Airship Station in January
1916 for the western front with the 8th Buffs. He was
awarded the Military Cross (MC) in 1917 for bravery
at the Battle of Messines, being promoted to Lieutenant
shortly afterwards. Wounded in the battle, he returned
to London for several months.
In February 1918 the 8th Buffs were disbanded and Sherwill
joined the 24th Divisional Depot Battalion, serving
again on the front during the German March Offensive.
Severely wounded on 23 March 1918 in front of Peronne,
he was taken back to London where he stayed in a hospital
bed until mid-July, after which he resumed his studies
in law.
Discharged from hospital on 11 November 1918, he was
sent to join the 2nd Battalion Royal Guernsey Light
Infantry at Fort George in Guernsey, but still having
shell fragments in him, was operated on and he had to
spend 30 days in hospital. With this came automatic
demobilisation.
22/01/1916
Born in 1890 at Castel, Guernsey. The Son of James
Edgar & Elizabeth A Sherwill of Castel, Guernsey.
Husband of May de Beauvoir Clabburn. In 1960, he retired
to Alderney, where he died in 1968.
President of the Controlling Committee during the German
Occupation of the Channel Islands during WW2, before
being deported to Cherche-Midi Prison. Later Sir Ambrose
Sherwill, Bailiff of Guernsey 1946-1959
Interned during WW2
Information courtesy of Dick Sherwill & the Guernsey
Press & Priaulx Library
