Esmond Mark David Romilly was born on July 10, 1918. He was the son of Colonel Bertram Henry Samuel Romilly and Margaret Nelly Ogilvy Hozier. He married Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford, daughter of David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale and Sydney Bowles.

In 1940, Esmond joined the ranks of the Royal Canadian Air Force and trained as a navigator in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In June 1941, he was shipped over to England where he was then involved in nightly bombing raids over Germany. At the time of his death, Esmond was serving the 58 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was declared Missing in Action on November 30, 1941, when his Whitley aircraft # Z 6506 failed to return from operations.

According to official reports, his plane left the base at 4.45 pm as part of a 9-plane mission to raid Hamburg. At 8 pm a radio message advised that due to low oil pressure in the port engine, the mission was being abandoned and they were returning to base. About 40 minutes later, the aircraft put out an SOS but nothing more was heard - their position was 110 miles east of the Yorkshire coast well out in the North Sea. Thick fog hampered rescue craft and nothing was found. P/O Romilly's body was never recovered.

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