SERJEANT JOHN STONE HEPWORTH MM
DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S WEST RIDING REGIMENT
22ND SEPTEMBER 1916 AGE 25
BURIED: BLIGHTY VALLEY CEMETERY, AUTHUILLE WOOD, FRANCE
The phrase may translate simply as fearless and faultless but it resonates with associations to the Age of Chivalry. 'Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche' was the tribute attached to Pierre Terrail (1473-1524), the Chevalier Bayard, who, according to the chroniclers, was the epitome of chivalry: a brave and skillful commander and a fair and honourable foe. Association with Bayard implied piety, generosity, honour, independence, truthfulness, loyalty, courtesy, modesty, humanity and respect for women, as enumerated by Kenelm Digby in his 'Broad-Stone of Honour or Rules for the Gentlemen of England', published in 1822. The story of Bayard was given a further boost with the publication in 1911 of Christopher Hare's 'The Good Knight Without Fear Without Reproach', the title incorporating the description Bayard himself preferred. The association was a great compliment whether one was the English general Sir James Outram, hero of the Indian Mutiny, buried in Westminster Abbey under a slab inscribed with the words 'The Bayard of India', or John Hepworth, a serjeant in the Duke of Westminster's West Riding Regiment killed in the First World War.