Private Richard Edward William KAY-MOUAT (1902)

Bowker’s Horse (East African Mounted Rifles)
Born 16 November 1884
Killed in action 3 November 1914, aged 29
Buried in Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, Tanzania.

Richard Edward Kay-Mouat was educated at Bedford Grammar School (1897-1900) and St Edward’s School, Oxford before coming to Merton in 1902.

He rowed for the College at the Henley Regatta in 1905. After university he went out to Kikuyu in British East Africa (now Kenya) as a planter.

He joined up in September 1914; Bowker’s Horse was a volunteer unit made up of colonists in British East Africa, and later became part of the East African Mounted Rifles.

He was killed in action at the Battle of Kilimanjaro at Longido (in modern-day Tanzania), on 3 November 1914, following a suicidal mounted attack on German positions when he was shot through the head whilst ‘trying to help a comrade'.

During the battle, the unit suffered the indignity of having a German patrol creep up on them at night and rustle 57 of their horses; after that they were frequently referred to as “Bowker’s Foot”.