Bertram Henry Samuel Romilly (1878-1940), of Huntingdon Park, Herefordshire, was born on 6 October 1878, the eldest son of Samuel Henry Romilly (1849-1940), barrister and J.P., and Lady Arabella Charlotte (d. 1907), eldest daughter of James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk. His great-grandfather was Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818), Solicitor-General and legal reformer. Bertram was educated at Charterhouse and Sandhurst before joining the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, in 1898. He joined the battalion in South Africa in January 1900, with the first draft of reinforcements, and was later attached to the Scots Guards mounted infantry company, operating against the Boers in the north of the Cape Colony. He was awarded the D.S.O. and mentioned twice in despatches. He left South Africa in September 1902.
In 1904 Romilly was attached to the Egyptian Army Camel Corps in the Sudan, leading the force from 1913. By December 1914, having completed ten years seconded service with the Egyptian Army, he was posted back to his regiment, the Scots Guards, in England. In January 1915 he rejoined the 1st Battalion in France, defending a section of the front near the village of Cuinchy, in command of 'B' Company. On 4 December 1915 he married Nellie, daughter of the late Colonel Sir Henry Hozier and Lady Henrietta Blanche, eldest daughter of the 7th Earl of Airlie.
Between 24 September 1916 and 11 April 1917, Romilly, now Lt. Colonel, was in command of the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Scots Guards, stationed in South Kensington, and later Chelsea. On 3 May 1917 he returned to active service, taking command of the 2nd Battalion, then behind the line at Clery. However, he was hospitalised on July 29th, when his dugout suffered a direct hit from a German shell. After a period of recuperation from shell shock, he commanded the reserve battalion until the end of the war in 1918.
From 1919 to 1920 Romilly was military governor of the province of Tiberias (Galilee) in the British mandated territory of Palestine. Between 1920 and 1924 he commanded the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, retiring from the regiment as a Colonel in 1924. He then returned to the Middle East. From 1925 to 1928 the Egyptian army employed him as chief instructor at the Cairo Military School. Romilly inherited the family estate at Huntingdon Park, Herefordshire, following his father's death in March 1940, but died shortly after, on 6 May 1940.
From the guide to the Bertram Romilly: Letters from Sudan and France, 1912-1915, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)
