Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Baron, Gilbert Henry Heathcote Drummond Willoughby de Ensby, a farmer, born 1831 in London, Middx., and his wife Evelyn Elizabeth Willoughby de Ensby, (nee Gordon, married on the 14th July 1863 in the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, Middx.) born 1846 in Orton Longueville, Hunts. Peter Robert Heathcote Drummond was born on the 2nd November 1885 in Normanton, Rutland, his siblings were, Margaret Mary Heathcote Drummond, born 1866, Nina Heathcote Drummond, born 1870, Cecilia Heathcote Drummond, born 1875 and Mary Adelaide Heathcote Drummond, born 1879, all his siblings were born in St. Georges, Hanover Square, London, in April 1891 the family home was at The Hall, Normanton, Rutland. Peter entered service with the Royal Navy on the 15th May 1900. His record of service began when he joined HMS Britannia as a Cadet on the 15/5/00 – 14/9/01, when he was appointed Midshipman. HMS Formidable, 10/10/01 – 28/4/02. HMS Ariadne, 5/6/02 – 29/11/04, when he was appointed Sub Lieutenant. College attendance, 17/1/05 – 8/2/06. HMY Victoria and Albert, 9/2/06 – 24/9/06, when he was promoted Lieutenant. HMS Venerable, 10/10/06 – Aug. 07. HMS Prince of Wales, Aug. 07 – 21/12/08. HMS Prince of Wales, 22/12/08 – 5/2/09. HMS Victory to attend a Long Signal Course, 6/2/09 – Mar. 09. HMS Dreadnought, as Flag Lt. to Sir Wm. May, Mar. 09 – 25/3/11. HMS Impregnable, as Flag Lt. to Sir Wm. May (Commander in Chief, Devonport), 11/4/11 – 6/2/12. HMS Excellent to attend a Gunnery Course, 10/2/12 – Mar. 12. HMS Bellona, 27/3/12 – 31/5/13. HMS Euralyus, 10/7/13 – Aug. 13. HMS Powerful, 1-26/9/13 – Aug. 14. HMS Monmouth, Aug. 14 – 1/11/14, when he was lost in action off the Chilian Coast. The background relating to the circumstances in which Peter lost his life are as follows; HMS Monmouth was mobilised on the 4th August with a crew that mostly consisted of reservists, and sent to the 5th Cruiser Squadron of Rear Admiral Archibald Stoddart on the Cape Verde – Canary Islands station. Upon her arrival on the 13th August, Stoddart detached her to the Brazilian coast to search for the German light cruisers known to be in the area. She came under Cradock's command in mid-September. At the end of September, Cradock made his first fruitless search of the Tierra del Fuego area and later detached HMS Monmouth and two other ships to search up the Chilean coast, reaching Valparaiso on the 15th October, while his flagship, HMS Good Hope returned to Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, to re-coal and to re-establish communications with the Admiralty. He received word on the 7th October that German Vice Admiral Spee’s ships were definitely bound for the Cape Horn region and waited for the elderly pre – dreadnought battleship HMS Canopus to reinforce his squadron. She was in poor mechanical condition when she arrived at Port Stanley and required time to make repairs. HMS Good Hope sailed on the 22nd October without her, going around Cape Horn, while HMS Canopus and three colliers departed the following day, taking the shorter route through the Strait of Magellan. HMS Good Hope rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron at Vallenar Roads, in the remote Chonos Archipelargo of Chile on the 27th October to re-coal. They departed two days later, just as HMS Canopus arrived, Cradock ordering the battleship to follow as soon as possible. He sent the light cruiser HMS Glasgow to scout ahead and to enter Coronel, Chile to pick up any messages from the Admiralty and acquire intelligence regarding German activities. The cruiser began to pick up German radio signals from the light cruiser SMS Leipzig on the afternoon of the 29th October, and delayed entering Coronel for two days with Cradock's permission to avoid being trapped by the fast German ships. A German supply ship was already there and radioed Spee that HMS Glasgow had entered the harbour around twilight. The cruiser departed on the morning of the 1st November, but Spee had already made plans to catch her when informed of her presence the previous evening. HMS Glasgow departed Coronel at 9.15am after having picked up the squadron's mail, and rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron four hours later. Cradock ordered his ships to form line abreast with a distance of 15 nautical miles (17 miles) between ships to maximise visibility at 1.50pm and steered north at a speed of 10 knots (12 mph). At 4.17pm Leipzig spotted HMS Glasgow, the easternmost British ship, to its west and she spotted Leipzig?’s funnel smoke three minutes later. At 5.10pm Cradock ordered his ships to head for HMS Glasgow, the closest ship to the Germans. Once gathered together, he formed them into line astern, with HMS Good Hope in the lead, steering southeasterly at 16 knots (18 mph) at 6.18pm. As the sixteen 21-centimetre (8.3 in) guns aboard the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were only matched by the two 9.2-inch guns on his flagship, he needed to close the range to bring his more numerous 6-inch guns to bear. The Force 7 winds and high seas, however, prevented the use of half of those guns as they were too close to the water. He also wanted to use the setting sun to his advantage so that its light would blind the German gunner. Spee was well aware of the British advantages and refused to allow Cradock to close the range. His ships were faster than the British, slowed by the 16-knot maximum speed of the armed merchant cruiser Otranto, and he opened up the range to 18,000 yards until conditions changed to suit him. The sun set at 6.50pm, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them. Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 7.04pm, when the range closed to 12,300 yards. Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst, engaged HMS Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at HMS Monmouth. The German shooting was very accurate, with both armoured cruisers quickly scoring hits on their British counterparts while still outside six-inch gun range, starting fires on both ships. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee's ships inflicted. By 7.23pm the range was almost half of that when the battle began and the British ships bore onwards. One shell from Gneisenau blew the roof off HMS Monmouth’s forward turret and started a fire, causing an ammunition explosion that completely blew the turret off the ship. Spee tried to open the range, fearing a torpedo attack, but the British were only 5,500 yards away at 7.35pm. Severely damaged, HMS Monmouth began to slow and veered out of line. HMS Glasgow fought almost an entirely separate battle as the German armoured cruisers ignored her almost completely and she inconclusively dueled with the light cruisers Leipzog and Dresden. HMS Glasgow broke contact with the German squadron at 8.05pm and discovered HMS Monmouth, listing and down by the bow, having extinguished her fires, 10 minutes later. She was trying to turn north to put her stern to the heavy northerly swell and was taking water at the bow. There was little that HMS Glasgow could do to assist the larger ship as the moonlight illuminated both ships and the Germans were searching for them. The light cruiser Nurnberg had been trailing the German squadron and spotted the plume of smoke from HMS Glasgow at 8.35pm, and then saw HMS Monmouth with a 10-degree list to port shortly afterwards. As Nürnberg closed the range, HMS Monmouth?’s list increased so that none of the guns on her port side could be used. The German cruiser closed to within 600 yards and illuminated her flag with its spotlight in the hopes that she would strike her colours and surrender. There was no response from the British ship and Nürnberg opened fire at 9.20pm, aiming high, but there was still no response. The German ship then fired a torpedo which missed and turned off its searchlight. HMS Monmouth then increased speed and turned towards Nürnberg, which caused her to open fire again. HMS Monmouth capsized at 9.58pm, taking her entire crew of 735 men with her as the seas were too rough to attempt any rescue effort.