LIEUTENANT JOHN EDWARD RAPHAEL
KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS
11TH JUNE 1917 AGE 35
BURIED: LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
The original quote comes from Heraclitus (c.535-475 BC), the meaning being that a man's character shapes his fate. The words appear on 'Jack' Raphael's headstone inscription in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, and on his memorial in St Jude's Church, Hampstead-Garden-Suburb. His obituary in the Marquis de Ruvigny's Roll of Honour ends with the words, "If character is destiny, then his is assured", which is the dedication in the front of his posthumously published book, 'Modern Rugby Football'.
Raphael was a sportsman, playing both international rugby and county cricket. Educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St John's College, Oxford, he was a barrister at Lincoln's Inn when the war broke out. He joined up immediately, initially taking a commission in the Duke of Westminster's West Riding Regiment and then transferring in June 1915 to the 18th Battalion the King's Royal Rifle Corps, which was raised by his uncle, Major Sir Herbert Raphael. By June 1917 he was ADC to Major-General Lawford, General Officer commanding the 41st Division.
This did not stop him making periodic visits to the front line, which is what he was doing on 7 June 1917, the opening day of the Battle of Messines, perhaps curious to see the results of the nineteen mines blown that day along the Messines Ridge. Injured by a shell that exploded just in front of him, which killed his batman, Raphael died four days later.
There is a postscript to this story. Jack Raphael was his parents only child. His father died during the war. In 2014 a story appeared in the Daily Express. Apparently, one day in 1929 a well-dressed elderly woman made a visit to the cemetery at Lijssenthoek and sought out the gardener. It was Mrs Rapahel, Jack Raphael's mother. She had a request: when she died she wanted her ashes to be buried in her son's grave. She knew this was strictly against the War Graves Commission's rules, which is why she went directly to the gardener and not through any official channels. She died thirteen months later and the gardener on receiving the parcel containing her ashes promptly did as she had asked.