A brave young man rushed to the front as quickly as possible only to be fatally injured in the Battle of the Somme.
Captain Ralph Kite, who died aged 21, was the son of the Dean of Hobart in Tasmania and boarded at Upland House School in Downs Road, Epsom.
He opted for the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry because its high casualty rate meant he could go out to fight sooner.
Mr Gilbert said: "Eventually toward the end of the Somme, he was leading his men forward and was hit in the shoulder by a piece of shrapnel."
A nurse who treated Capt Kite before his death described him in her diary as "a very parfit, gentil knight" despite the agony.
Mr Gilbert added: "He was of his era. The young lad who wanted to do his bit. He was captain at 21 and won the Military Cross."
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