CAPTAIN WILLIAM JOHN ARMSTRONG PRATT, MC
THE KING'S LIVERPOOL REGIMENT
23RD AUGUST 1918 AGE 28
BURIED: DOUCHY-LES-AYETTES BRITISH CEMETERY, FRANCE
It's true that Cicero is credited with this statement but it isn't exactly what he said. Three days after Julius Caesar's assassination, what Cicero actually said (in translation) in his attack on the consuls Mark Anthony and Dolabella, was:
" ... it is impossible for me to keep silence respecting the error into which you are both falling; for I believe that you, being both, men of high birth, entertaining lofty views, have been eager to acquire, not money, as some too credulous people suspect, a thing which has at all times been scorned by every honourable and illustrious man, nor power procured by violence and authority such as never ought to be endured by the Roman people, but the affection of your fellow citizens, and glory. But glory is praise for deeds which have been done, and the fame earned by great services to the republic; which is approved by the testimony borne in its favour, not only by every virtuous man, but also by the multitude."
Philippics 1. 12.29
Cicero doesn't mention the word 'noble' but noble deeds are surely those that give great service to the state and if this is how glory is achieved it explains why the words on the cenotaph in Whitehall read, 'The glorious dead'.
William John Armstrong Pratt was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Margaret Pratt. Born in Queen's County, Ireland, he served with the King's Liverpool Regiment and was killed in action during the Third Battle of Albert on 23 August 1918. Three months after his death the London Gazette announced he had been awarded a Military Cross:
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during a raid. He showed great pluck and dash as a company commander, and set a splendid example to his men, being one of the first to enter the enemy line. For three nights previously he had reconnoitred the ground."