A CHORAL evensong is to be held at Brecon Cathedral to commemorate the life of an ace fighter pilot from Brecon who died when his plane was shot down in the First World War.

The evensong, which will be led by John Davies, the Archbishop of Brecon, will be an exact copy of the choral evensong held for him after he died on December 19 1917. On that occasion the Bishop of Swansea gave the address.

Richard Aveline Maybery was 22 years old when he was shot down over Bourlon Wood.

By that time he had seen heroic service in the India Lancers and later the Royal Flying Corps, twice winning the Military Cross.

In addition to his heroic acts, which on their own would have deserved such recognition in his home town, he also had a strong connection to the Cathedral. He was born in 1895 in the Priory, which is now the Diocesan centre of the Cathedral. The Mayberys have been associated with the Priory since 1753 when Thomas Maybery bought the furnace and forge in the Priory Groves. His son, John, the Ironmaster, lived in the Tower of the Priory with his wife, Ann. She was instrumental in preserving the Priory Groves, “cutting walks in various directions”.

Richard’s father was Henry Oxenford Aveline Maybery, a Brecon solicitor, who was born at Ely Cottage (now the Bishop’s Palace). On his mother’s side he was the grandson of Joseph Richard Cobb of Nythfa, Brecon and Caldicot Castle, and the great grandson of John Parry de Winton.

In 1913 Richard was commissioned into the 21st Empress of India Lancers and was sent out to India to fight against the Mohmands on the North West Frontier. In 1915 he was wounded in one of the last cavalry charges at Shabkadar. Unable to continue riding a horse, he started observing for a unit of the Royal Flying Corps who were based nearby.

He then went on to Egypt to learn flying tactics before coming home to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps. He was posted in 1917 to France to serve in No. 56 Squadron alongside aces James McCudden, Arthur Rhys David and Keith Muspratt.

In September 1917 he had won his first Military Cross “for attacking three aerodromes, dispersing mounted men, attacking goods trains, attacking single-handedly large hostile formations and setting a fine example by gallantry and determination”.

Aggressive and headstrong, Richard quickly accumulated a high victory tally, accounting for 21 enemy aircraft between July 7 1917 and his death. His second Military Cross was awarded on December 17. On December 19 he scored his 21st victory over Bourlon Wood downing an Albatros DV, but he was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed 600 yards south of the village of Hayecourt.

According to a supplement to the London Gazette on April 23, 1918 Lt Richard Aveline Maybery, MC, Lrs and RFC, was cited “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as leader of offensive patrols for three months, during which he personally destroyed nine enemy aeroplanes and drove down three out of control. On one occasion, having lost his patrol, he attacked a formation of eight enemy aeroplanes. One was seen to crash and two others went down, out of control, the formation being completely broken up.”

The evensong in memory of Richard Maybery will be held at Brecon Cathedral on Sunday, December 17 at 3.30pm.

Photographs of Richard, Brecon town and surrounds and Brecon priory will be shown at the back of the Cathedral before and after the service.