Eric Neville Geijer (1894–1941) was a decorated Guards officer, royal

herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

, and

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

. He was the second son of the Swedish diplomat Carl Emmanuel von Geijer and his English wife, Lila Lucy, née White (daughter of William Arthur White). Educated at Wellington College and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He was a cadet in the Wellington College Contingent of the

Officer Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

. On 26 November 1914 he was naturalized as a subject of the United Kingdom, serving in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

during the First World War. Initially a second lieutenant in the

Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The re ...

, from February 1917 he was attached to the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, serving with distinction. Geijer was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

in 1918, for leading a patrol that entered an enemy position under heavy machine-gun fire, and briefly attained the rank of acting captain. On 19 October 1926 he was appointed to the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

Rouge Dragon Pursuivant Rouge Dragon Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary is a junior officer of arms of the College of Arms, named after the red dragon of Wales. The current Rouge Dragon Pursuivant is Adam Tuck, who was appointed on 12 June 2019. The office had been vac ...

. In 1929 he became a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

. He was a trustee of the

Catholic Record Society The Catholic Record Society (Registered Charity No. 313529), founded in 1904, is a scholarly society devoted to the study of Reformation and post-Reformation Catholicism in England and Wales. It has been described as "the premier Catholic histo ...

. Geijer married Ethel Trueman in 1933. He died on 14 January 1941. At the time of his death, his address was Little Bowstridge,

Chalfont St Giles Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish in southeast Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts, which also includes Chalfont St Peter and Little Chalfont. It lies on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, w ...

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. He was described as a captain in the Intelligence Corps when he was buried at

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...

Publications

*''The Parish Register of Woodsford, Co. Dorset. Baptisms 1678–1812. Marriages 1696–1826. Burials 1678–1811''. (Society of Genealogists, Transcripts of Parish Registers, 1939).

Notes

References

External links

Eric Geijer
at the

National Portrait Gallery (London) The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Geijer, Eric Neville 1894 births 1941 deaths English officers of arms English genealogists British people of Swedish descent Grenadier Guards officers People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Recipients of the Military Cross Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London British Army personnel of World War I Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Intelligence Corps officers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge German emigrants to the United Kingdom Eric Neville