Obituary: Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lowndes Aspinall DSO, The Times Monday, 10 July 1916

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ROBERT LOWNDES ASPINALL, D.S.O., Cheshire Regiment, who was killed on July 2, was the elder son of the late Robert Augustus Aspinall, J.P., D.L. Born in 1869, he passed into Sandhurst from Eton (Mr. Luxmoore's House), and was gazetted to the 15th (the King's) Hussars in 1888. He was promoted captain three years later, but left the regiment when it proceeded to India. He went out to South Africa with the Yorkshire Regiment, and subsequently was appointed to Sir John French's staff as A.D.C. He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the D.S.O. and the Queen's and King's medals, the former with five clasps. At the outbreak of the present war he was stationed in the North of England with the Yorkshire Regiment, and at the end of 1914 raised a new battalion of the "Green Howards." When this was made a reserve battalion he applied to be appointed to a battalion going overseas, and was given command of the Cheshire Regiment (sic), which he was gallantly leading into action when he was killed. Colonel Aspinall was a keen sportsman and was frequently seen in the saddle at the Grand Military and other regimental race meetings, winning the Cavalry Brigade Cup at Aldershot in 1897. Latterly he went in for driving, and his coach the "Active" was well known on the Dover and Folkestone road.

Monogram and crest of the Aspinall family with the legend of the 15th Hussars. The letters of the monogram are A[spinall]L[owndes]R[obert]

Colonel Aspinall's 1896 Light Cavalry Pattern Officer's sword was proved and completed by Wilkinson Sword on 24th September 1888. This was his principal sword he carried until he exchanged into the (Princess of Wales's Own) Yorkshire Regiment in 1899 but I strongly suspect he was a 15th Hussar to the core as he continued to carry this sword, which the Regimental History of the 15th Hussars nods in spirit: "......Captain R. L. Aspinall, who landed at Port Elizabeth with the 3rd Yorkshire Regiment, was seconded for service with the 8th Hussars, in which he commanded a squadron composed of Lancer details, and subsequently acted as permanent galloper to the G.O.C. Cavalry Division."

Wilkinson Proved Record. 1821 Light Cavalry Pattern made for RL Aspinall 15th Hussars 24th September 1888. 

Hart's Army List 1899 showing him as senior Captain right before his retirement as the Regiment was leaving for India.