Major Spencer Maxwell Tahourdin of the 12th Indian Cavalry was one of three sons of the Reverend Richard Tahourdin and Mrs Julia Elizabeth Tahourdin of 41 Queen’s Gate Gardens. The Revd Tahourdin was Honorary Chaplain to the King.
Tahourdin went to Eagle House, the prep school associated with Wellington College and then on to Malvern College, in No 2 between 1889 and 1891.
His Malvern leavers report stated:
“He was a boy of considerable ability and showed marked originality. He left Malvern rather young, otherwise he would certainly have played a prominent part in the life of the School.”
He indeed left early with the Army Class, gaining a scholarship to the the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and passed out first on the Indian Army list in the summer of 1895, before joining the Indian Staff Corps at the end of 1896 after his attachment year.
He served the whole of his 20 years in India with the 12th Cavalry, with two short breaks — the first when he was employed from January 1904 to August, 1906, with the King’s African Rifles, and the second when he was employed for a period as adviser to a young native rajah.
Major Tahourdin’s brother, Captain V R Tahourdin of the Cheshires Regiment and an Old Wellingtonian was a prisoner of war in Germany since the battle of Mons, and his other brother was in the Indian Civil Service, but died after only two years’ service.
Major Tahourdin died of Wounds in Mesopotamia on 8 February 1916 having been wounded at the Siege of Kut on 7 February.
A Memorial Service was held at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge led by the Reverend Canon Sheppard. It was attended by the family, Colonels Carleton, Lynch and Myers, Lady Duckworth and Mrs Whitelaw Reid. Bugles and Drums of the 5th Grenadier Guards sounded the Last Post.
Tahourdin was initiated into the Lodge of the Nine Muses No 235 in 1906. His Mother Lodge remained a constant over his life but he additionally joined a series of lodges in Imperial India corresponding with his postings and and Regimental moves.
He joined Mooltan Lodge No 1307 in Bengal on 9 October 1906, resigning 29 May 1909, he then joined Lodge of Independence with Philanthropy No 391 at Allahabad on 19 October 1909. He then joined Lodge Nipal No 2018 at Gorakhpur on 4 January 1911 (now part of the Grand Lodge of India), resigning 1 April 1912. Lastly he joined Lodge of Light in Adjoohia No 836 on 25 April 1914. He was a Past District Grand Warden for Bengal.