November 1925

THE DIE-HARDSTHE JOURNAL OF THE MIDDLESEX REGIMENT

(D uke o f Cam bridge's Own)

V o l . II. N o . 2. N O V E M B E R , 1925. P r i c e 6d.

THE MIDDLESEX REGIMENT (DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE’S OWN).[57J

Home Counties Area.The Plume of the Prince of Wales. In each of the four comers the late Duke of Cambridge’s Cypher and Coronet.

Mysore " ■■^eringapatarn,” " Albuhera,” '' Ciudad Rodrigo." " Badaioz," " V ittoria," " Pyrenees," " N ivd le ." - Ni»e " " Peninsula " Alma'' , . l.° kcn” an' , ? “';astopo1 "N ew Zealand," “ South Africa, ,87,.” " R e lie f of Ladysmith," South A.rica .000 oz ”

“ Mons, Marne, 1914, "Yp re s, 1015, '17,18,' “ Albert, , „ 6 , '18," " Bazentin," “ Cambra, i „ 7 ’ is .” “ H iodcnburfE ta« - Suvla, ‘ Jerusalem, “ Mesopotamia, 1917-18.” ’

Le Cateau, Retrea from Mons, " Atsne 1914, '18,” “ La Bassée, 1914.” “ Armenti res, i9 I4," “ Neuve Chapelle ”Gravenstafd, St .Ju lien • Fre lenberg” " Bellewaarde,” “ Aubers,” “ Hooge, 19.5,” "Lo o s ,” Somme, 1916, '1 8 ” “ De Wille

Wood, Poz.eres G.nchy, Flers-Courceette,” “ Morval." • Thiepval," “ Le Transiov,” " Ancre Heights,” " Ancre 1 9 1 6 ^ 8 ”Bapaume, 1917, 18 / Arras, 19.7 18 " " Vimy. 1917,” " Scarpe. 1917, ’ .S." " Arteux," " Messines, 1914,’17,’ 18,” “ K lc ’kem ”Langemarck 1917 Men.n Road,” “ Polygon Wood ” “ Broodseinde,” “ Poelcappelle,” “ Passchendlèle,” “ St Ouent“ ’"Rosières, _ Avre, Vdlers Bretonneux, “ Lys ” “ Estaires,” “ Hazebrouck," “ Bailieul,” “ Kemmel,” “ Sch^rpenberg ” “ Cankl

« ¿ L S i S f t l Cana1’ ß » ™ tra!i .‘ ‘ Selle, " Valenciennes,” " Sambre.” " France and Flanders, 1914-18,” “ Italy ,’o rei?A 1’-an,-Ir » .‘ ' La,^>ngt at Suvla,” “ Scimitar H ill,” “ Gallipoli, 1915,” " Rumani,”

Egypt, 1915 16, Gaza, E l Mughar, ‘ Jericho, “ Jordan.” “ Tell ’Asur," "Palestine, 1917-18.”Murman, 1919,” “ Dukhovskaya,” “ Siberia, 1918-19.”

Agents— Lloyds Bank, Limited, Cox & K ing ’s Branch.

R e g u l a r a n d M i l i t i a B a t t a l i o n s .

U niform— Scarlet. F a cin g s— Lemon Yellow.

is t Bn. (57th F o o t ) ................2nd Bn. (77th Foot)5th Bn. (R. Elthorne Mil.)6th Bn. (R. East Middlesex Mil.)

Aldershot. Ahmednagar M ill H ill. M ill H ill

Depot— M ill H ill. Record Office— Hounslow.

T e r r i t o r i a l A r m y B a t t a l i o n s .

Bn. ........ D rill Hall, Priory Road, Hornsey, N.u ........ D rill Hall, Hamvortb Road, Hounslow.

9th Bn. ... ... D rill Hall, Pound Lane, Willesden, N.VV. 10.

A l l i e d R e g i m e n t s o f C a n a d i a n M i l i t i a .The Peterborough Rangers ......... Peterborough, OntarioThe Wentworth Regiment ......... Dundas, Ontario.

A l l i e d R e g i m e n t o f D o m i n i o n o f N e w Z e a l a n d .The Taranaki Regiment.

C o h n el-in -C h ie f :Col. H .R .H . the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. K G

P C S I-’ G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., G.B.E.,’ M.C.’ Col. W. Gds., Colonel-in-Chief 12th L., R. S. Fus., S. Wales’ Bord., D.C.L.I., P.W. Vols.. Seaforth, and R. W ilts Yeo. Personal A.D.C. to the King.

C o lo n el:Gen. Sir Ivor Maxse, K.C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O.

C O N T E N T S

PAGEO f f i c e r s o f t h e 2 n d B a t t a l i o n , I n d i a ,

J u l y , 1925 . . . ...... . . . F ro n t i s p ie c e

E d i t o r i a l ................................ ^g

E l B o d e n .............................................................. ^

i s t B a t t a l i o n N o t e s ( I l l u s t r a t e d ) .................. 70

L ie^ - C ol. D. C . P e r c y - S m i t h , D .S .OO .B .E .

2ND B a t t a l i o n N o t e s ( I l l u s t r a t e d )

R e g im e n t a l A s s o c i a t i o n N o t e s

O f f i c e r s ’ C l u b ..................................

D e p o t N o t e s { I l l u s t r a t e d ) .

80

82

95

95

-r p-A y— , _ PAGEI h e U l d C o m r a d e s D i n n e r ( I l l u s t r a t e d ) . . . 102

; t h B a t t a l i o n N o t e s ( I l l u s t r a t e d ) ................. 106

B w a n a S a h a n i M o ja (A T r u e T a le ) . .. 107

8t h B a t t a l i o n N o t e s ................................................. I0g

M e d a l s o f t h e R e g i m e n t { I l l u s t r a t e d ) . .. n 0

9 t h B a t t a l i o n N o t e s { I l l u s t r a t e d ) ................. II2

O b i t u a r y ................................................ I20

Y p r e s B o o k o f V a l o u r .................................. I20

L i s t o f O f f i c e r s o f t h e R e g i m e n t . . . 121

S e n i o r i t y R o l l o f W a r r a n t O f f i c e r sa n d N .C .O s . ........................................... I22

68 THE DIE-HARDS

N O T I C E T O C O N T R I B U T O R S , & c .

" T h e D ie-H a rd s ” is pub lished early in F ebruary, M a y , A u g u st, and Novem ber, and copies m ay be obtained through all M essrs. IV. H . S m ith & S o n ’s Bookshops and B ooksta lls.

A l l Contributions intended fo r p u b lica tio n should reach the E d itor not later than the i st o f the month previous to that o f issue. Contributions m ust be written on one side o f the pap er only and signed, stating whether it is desired to p u b lish contributor’ s nam e or not. R ejected m anuscripts, & 'C ., w ill only be returned i f accom panied by a stam ped and addressed envelope. T he E d ito r w ill thankfully receive C ontri­butions fro m p ast or present M em bers o f the Regim ent or others interested, but necessarily reserves to him self the right o f p ub lica tion . A l l com m unications con­cerning the p a p er . in clu d in g A dvertisem ents, should be addressed to the E ditor, " T h e D ie-H ard s ” J o u rn a l, M ill H i l l B a rracks, N .W .

Su bscrip tion s should be jorw arded to the Editor, to whom all Cheques and P o sta l Orders shou ld be m ade payable and crossed " — <S- C o .”

A N N U A L S U B S C R I P T I O N 2 / - ( P o s t F r e e ) .

D I T O R I A L

T IS7'E take this opportunity o f w ishing ’ ’ our readers a very H ap py Christm as

and the best o f luck for the com in g N ew year.

* * 46-C o ngratu lation s to L ieu t. B. B.

R ackham , M .C ., on his m arriage, which took place in Septem ber last.

* * 46-

M ajo r D . C. P ercy-Sm ith , D .S .O ..O .B .E ., and Capt. J. C . D allas, M .C ., have retired from the Service.

46- 46- 46-

Capt. R . D . Bennett has been prom oted M ajor. H e is serv in g on the Staff in H o n g -K o n g .

46- 46- 46-

A r m i s t i c e D a y .— A short service will be held at the R egim en tal W a r M em orial, M ill H ill B arracks, on W ednesday, N ovem ber n t h , com m encing at 10.45 a.m . A ll relations and friends of the fallen are invited to attend. It is hoped that battalions will send representatives and w reaths.

I N D E M N I T Y O R I N D I F F E R E N C E ?

A t the next Com m ittee m eeting o f the R egim ental A ssociation the subject of revisin g the price o f T h e D ie - H a r d s will be discussed.

Th e Journal w as resum ed in A ugust, 1922, and the charge w as fixed at 9d. a copy, post free.

T h e first issue contained 1 photo and 21 pages o f news. C ontributions gradu­ally increased with each publication.

In 1923 it was subm itted that the price w as too h igh, and, if reduced, the circula­tion w ould be la rg e ly increased. In F ebru ary, 1924, the ch arg e w as lowered to 6d. a copy, post free. Since then the m agazine has progressed , and its size g ro w n to its present dimensions. Th e A u g u st, 1925, issue contained 15 illustrations and 65 p ages o f regimental interest. N atu rally the cost o f produc­tion has gone up, and at present w e are publishing at a loss.

Since the reduction in price the number o f subscribers has not reached the in­crease expected. T h e low er rate has, therefore, not justified the revision. The size of the Journal can, of course, revert to the m eagre proportions o f its early issues, but we are m ost reluctant to retro­gress, and consider it w ould be a sign of ultim ate failure.

W e are now faced w ith three alternatives—

(1) L eave the price at 6d. andstrictly limit our news pages and photographs.

(2) L ea ve the price at 6d. and main­tain the present standard and publish all the excellent contri­butions received, but obtain greater support by a large increase o f subscribers from those w ho have left the R egim ent.

(3) Increase the price from 6d. to 9d.a co p y if (2) is unsuccessful.

N aturally (2) is the ideal, and we think that this am bition is within our reach. But how ?

W e venture to su g g e st there are a vast num ber o f O ld Com rades who would w illin gly support the Journal if they knew o f its existence. It is from them we require assistance.

. J f*{ Pr <■

THE DIE-HARDS 69

<rr

H ow m any o f all ranks served in the M iddlesex R egim ent during the G reat W ar? A rough estim ate o f 100,000 would perhaps be oh the safe side.

H ow m any non-com m issioned officers and men who served on a peace e n g ag e­ment have been discharged since the termination o f the w ar?

H ow many o f these enorm ous numbers are subscribers to T h e D ie -H a r d s to ­day ?

Two hundred and thirty ex-non-com ­missioned officers and men o f the R e g i­ment only are sym pathetically interested in the news and actions o f their old Corps. Th is is the num ber purchasing the Journal.

W e cannot afford to advertise, and broadcasting our existence is a difficulty which presents itself. S u ggestio n s will be welcomed as to a m eans by which T h e D ie -H a r d s can be b rou gh t to the notice of all O ld Com rades w ho have left the Regim ent.

O ur appeal to the servin g m em bers of the Regim ent has been successful, with an exception, and that is one o f our Territorial Battalions. W e cannot believe that this particular Battalion lacks interest in its Regim ent, but the unpleasant fact remains that it ignores the Journal by failing to obtain subscribers am ongst its rank and file.

A publication m ust rely 011 its sales and revenue from advertisem ents to pay its expenses. T he D ie - H a r d s is not paying its way, through lack of support from those who have served in the ranks o f the Regim ent.

It is to our O ld Com rades we m ake this request, and ask them if it is not worth it.

If every ex-m em ber o f the R egim ent who is a subscriber, w ill induce one of his friends who served with him to do the same, 1 h e D ie - H a r d s will not fail, and we shall know that our appeal has not been made in vain.

E L B O D E N .

D e a r M r . E d i t o r ,

I succeeded the other day in g e ttin g an old copy o f the D uke o f W e llin g to n ’s despatches, by L ieu t.-C o l. G urw ood, dated 1837, and looked up w hat the great D uke had reported 011 the B attle o f E l B oden, which (on this, the 114th anniver­sary) I th ought w ould be of interest to the readers o f T h e D ie - H a r d s Journal; and although this battle is not yet 011 the C olours o f the M iddlesex R egim en t, it is, nevertheless, the “ great day ” o f the 2nd Battalion. E l Boden is am on gst the battles on the old Band P rogram m e, and the R egim ental M edal, which w as allow ed to be struck for the 77th R egim en t (a copy o f which was in last q u arter’s D ie - H a r d s Journal), and the rem em brance o f the battle has alw ays been a stro n g connecting link between the 5th Fusiliers and 77th R egim ents. W hen I w as in com mand o f the 2nd B attalion I w rote to our M ilitary A ttach é in P o rtu g a l and asked him to try and find out if the B attle o f E l Boden was on the C olours o f the 21st P ortu gu ese R egim ent, which he m ost kindly did, and in his reply said that a lthough it w as not on their C olours the R egim ent understood that it w as on account of their good behaviour at that battle they w ere allow ed to have

Peninsula ” 011 them.Th e fo llo w in g are the extracts from the

W ellin gton despatches : —

G e n . V is c o u n t W e l l in g t o n , K .B ., to L t .-G e n . H i l l .

M y d e a r H i l l ,

Quadras eis,29th S epter., 1811.

I could not prevent M arm ont from relieving Cuidad R o d rig o , and we have retired to this n eighbourhood, but we had tw o little affairs w ith him, in which the troops behaved rem arkably w ell, particu larly the 2nd battn. 5th, 77th, and 21st Portu gu ese, and Gen. A lte n ’s brigade o f Cavalry, near E l Boden 011 the 25th. Th e French have gone back.

Believe me, etc., L t.-G en . H ill. W e l l in g t o n .

70 THE DIE-HARDS

II .

G en. V is c o u n t W e l l in g t o n , K .B . , to

T h e E a r l o f L i v e r p o o l , S e c r e t a r y

o f S t a t e .

Quadras eis,29th Sep ter., 1811.

M y d e a r L o r d ,I enclose the last w eekly state and the

last m orn in g report o f the A rm y. W e are really alm ost an A rm y of convales­cents. T h ere is no serious sickness am on gst the troop s, and but few die, but I never saw the A rm y capable o f bearing so little, nearly one h alf of those recently arrived from E n gland , have gone into the hospitals. Y o u w ill see that w e w ere hard pressed on the 25th (E l B oden), but 1 never saw the troops behave so zvell or so steady. T h e F rench produced an im m ense A rm y.

B elieve m e, etc.,W e l l in g t o n .

Th e Earl o f Liverp ool.

III .

G e n . V is c o u n t W e l l in g t o n , K .B .. t o

T h e E a r l o f L i v e r p o o l , S e c r e t a r y

o f S t a t e .

Quadraseis,29th S epter., 1811.

M y L o r d ,. O n the m orn in g o f the 25th

Septer. the enem y sent a reconnaissance o f C avalry tow ards the low er A za v a , con­sistin g of about 14 Squadrons of the Im perial G uard . . . but the enem y’sattention w as principally directed during the day to the 3rd D ivision (Lt.-G en . P icton ) in the hill between Fuente G uinaldo and P asto re. A b o u t 8 in the m orn in g th ey m oved a colum n consisting o f between th irty and fo rty squadrons of C avalry and fourteen battns. of Infan try and 12 pieces o f cannon from Cuidad R o d rig o in such a direction that it was doubtful w hether th ey w ould attem pt to ascend the hills o f L a E ncina, E l Boden, or by the direct road tow ards Fuente G uinaldo, and I w as not certain by which road th ey w ould m ake their attack till they actually com m enced it upon the last. A s soon as I saw the direction o f their m arch, I had reinforced the 2nd battn.

5th R e g t., w hich occupied the post on the hill over which the road passes to Guinaldo, by the 77th R e g t. and the 21st P ortu gu ese R e g t., under the com mand of M ajor-G en . the H onble. C . Co lville , anti M ajor-G en . A lten 's brigade, of which only 3 squadrons rem ained which had not been detached, draw n from E l Boden.

. . In the m eantim e, how ever, thesm all body o f troops in this post sustained the attack of the enem y’s C avalry and A rtillery . O ne R e g t. of F rench Dra­g o o n s succeeded in tak in g tw o pieces of cannon w hich had been posted on a rising ground on the rig h t of our troops, but they w ere ch arged by the 2nd Battn. 5th R e g t., under the com m and o f Major R id ge, and the guns w ere immediately retaken. W hile this operation w as going on on the flank, an attack w as made on the front by another R e g t., which was repulsed in a sim ilar m anner by the 77th R e g t., and the three squadrons of Major- Gen. A lte n ’s brigade ch arged repeatedly different bodies of the enem y which ascended the hill on the left o f the two R eg ts . of B ritish Infantry, the Portuguese R e g t. being posted in the rear of their right. . . . I determ ined to withdraw our post and retire w ith the w hole on Fuente G uinaldo. Th e 2nd battn. 5th R e g t. and the 77th R e g t. w ere formed into one square, and the 21st Portuguese into another, supported by M.-Gen. A lte n ’s sm all body of C avalry, and the Portu gu ese A rtillery . T h e enemy’s C avalry im m ediately rushed forw ard and obliged our C avalry to retire to the sup­port of the P ortu gu ese R e g t., and the 5th and 77th R e g ts . w ere charged on three faces of the square by the French Cavalry, but they halted and repulsed the attack with the utm ost steadiness and gallantry. W e then continued the retreat and joined the rem ainder o f the 3rd D ivn ., also form ed in squares, on their m arch to Fuente G rinaldo. . . .

I cannot conclude this report of the occurrences o f last week w ithout expres­sing to yo u r Lordship m y adm iration of the troop s en gag ed in the affair of the 25th inst. Th e conduct o f the 2nd battn.

' 5th R e g t. com m anded by M ajo r Ridge, in particu lar affords a m em orable example of w hat the steadiness and discipline of the troop s and their confidence in their officers can effect in the m ost difficult and

THE DIE-HARDS71

trying situation. Th e conduct o f the 77th R egt., under the com m and o f L t.-C o l. Bromhead, was equally g o o d , and I never saw a m ore determ ined attack than was made by the w hole o f the enem y’s Cavalry with every advantage o f the assistance o f a superior A rtille ry and repulsed by these tw o w eak battalions. I must not omit also to report the good conduct on the same occasion o f the 21st Portuguese R e g t., under the com mand of Colonel Bacellar, and o f M ajor A rentschild ’s A rtillery . T h e P ortu gu ese infantry were not actually charged but were repeatedly threatened and they showed the utm ost steadiness and disci­pline both in the m ode in which they prepared to receive the enem y, and in all the movements o f a retreat made over 6 miles of plain in front o f a superior Cavalry and A rtillery . T h e P ortuguese Artillery men attached to the guns, which were for a m oment in the enem y’s posses­sion, were cut down at their guns. Th e infantry were on this occasion under the command of M .-G enl. the H onble. C. Colville, L t.-G en . P icton h avin g remained with the troops at E l B oden, and the conduct of M .-G en. C olville was beyond all praise.

IV .

Return o f the killed, wounded and m iss­ing of the A rm y under the com mand of Genl. V iscount W ellin gton , K .B ., in an affair with the enem y on the heights of El Boden on the 25th and near A ldea da Ponte 011 27th Septer., 18 11: —

KilledWounded ... M issing

é ■ac 1 -I£ 1 | Ê 1 cifiO «O C/5 os X HOZXI I 40 40 42

l6 I3 -156 63 I85--- I 33 9 34

^ — Several attem pts have been madeto have this action recorded on the Regim ental Colours, but so far w ithout success. Perhaps our Colonel, in con­junction with the Colonel o f the cth Northumberland Fusiliers, will renew the attack with better success ?

G. W . W . S.

0 !Gi r7»V **

p p s ~ J ! -iK rf Bâifâ/ion.

N otesM O W that the train ing season is

over, m ost of us are lo o k in g forw ard to leave. W e left A ld ersh o t on Septem ber 4th, staying one n igh t at Bordon on our w ay to encam p at Peters- field. Th e earlier part o f our stay there which was occupied in B rig ad e and Divisional Training, was m ore interesting to m ost o f us than the actual manoeuvres, which consisted la rg e ly in m arching. Th e B rigade and D ivisional schemes entailed lo n g distances too, frequently in the w orst possible weather, and it speaks very w ell fo r the fitness o f the Battalion that casualties did not occur. Petersfield camp was vacated on Sep­tem ber 22nd, when the B attalion m oved via Cheriton to Itchen Stoke, where billets were secured in a farm . From there we w ere embussed, and after a cir­cuitous jou rn ey found ourselves near Porton, six m iles from Salisbury. The only battle of the M anœ uvres in which we took part was at T o w e r H ill, near here. T h e original intention was for C a rey ’s force, which consisted o f a battalion o f Tanks, a m echanicalized bri­gade o f A rtillery , and ourselves, to attack the W essex A rm y behind his right flank, but actually we w ere never behind the enemy s line, as he had previously w ith­drawn, and w e came into touch with the C avalry B rigade which was p rotectin g his extrem e right. O u r first tw o tanks were ju dged to be unsuccessful by the umpires, o w in g to the superior W essex forces en gaged , and ju st as we had com menced our third attem pt, under co ver o f a bar­rage, the “ Cease fire ” sounded. A t this time a fifty-five mile trek back to A ld ersh ot w as in front o f us. A m arch o f about seven m iles brough t us to the village o f B rou gh ton , w here w e were billeted for the night. T h e rem ainder of the jou rn ey was com pleted by stages, as fo l lo w s :— O n Friday, to M artyr W o rth y (north-east o f W inchester); on Saturday,

72 THE DIE-HARDS

to C haw ton (near A lto n ) ; and on Sunday, the 27th, w e arrived back in barracks. E veryw h ere w e m et w ith the very best of receptions from the civilian inhabitants. It w as on m any occasions entirely due to their kindness that the hardships o f the w eath er w ere lessened by g iv in g us straw to sleep on, hot tea to drink, and m any other com forts. A n o th er unit in this Com m and has com puted that it m arched 350 m iles during the tw enty-four days, and probably the distance covered by us is m uch the same.

Sports are now about to com m ence again , and by the time these notes appear in print all branches w ill be in full sw ing. A t S o ccer, w ith practically the same team as last year, w e have entered fo r the fo l­lo w in g c u p s :— A m ateu r, A rm y, H ants Senior, A ld ersh o t Senior and Junior, and the R u ssell C otes. In b o x in g w e are about to hold a N o vices’ Com petition, for which the num ber o f entrants is again very large. Som e w ell-know n b o xers will g ive exhibition f ig h ts : S e rg t. F lem ing, Im perial Services Cham pion, and Cpl. Co nn olly (Scottish R ifles), A rm y Cham ­pion; M r. T o m B erry (late M iddlesex R egim en t), E uropean Cham pion; and Lieu t. Curtiss, E uropean O lym pic and Im perial Services Cham pion. V ery sh ortly we m eet the G renadier Guards in the A rm y N o vice s ’ Com petition, our first fixture of the season. Th ere w ill be, unfortunately, som e g rea t changes in our R u g g e r team , as Capt. H ayd on and L ieut. P en n ycook are still unable to p lay o w in g to injuries. W e have also lost Lieut. H ed g eco e, Pte. Stem p, and L ./ C p l. H enderson, w ho have all left the B attalion . A s an offset again st this we have gained the services o f 2 /L ieu t. J. D . Clinch, o f “ A ” Com pany, w ho has ju st joined us, and is an International, h avin g played fo r Ireland. L ieu t. Clinch is also the H eavy-w eigh t Cham pion of D ublin U n iversity , and is a first-class sw im m er as w ell, as he w as in the Irish w ater-polo team that played the E n glish ’ V arsities a few years ag o . A m o n g the other prob­able players of g reat prom ise in the R u g g e r X V is S erg t. Jones.

W e regret very m uch lo sin g M ajo r D . C. Percy-Sm ith , about whom another article appears elsew here. H e served w ith the R egim en t fo r over tw enty-five years, o f w hich ten w ere spent in E g y p t. H e is

now D .A .A .G . R oyal G uernsey Militia. M ajo r W . W . Jefferd has joined us from the D ep o t, and has taken over the com­m and of “ B ” Com pany. L ieut. A . Dix- L ew is has left us, and is seconded for service w ith the W est India Regiment. L ieut. S. F . H ed g eco e has now become A d ju tan t o f the 8th Battalion, and Lieut. F . G . P ark er has gone to the D epot in place o f L ieu t. B. B . R ackm an, w ho joins us shortly. Capt. J. C . D allas has resigned his com m ission, a fter a tour w ith the W est A fr ican R egim en t. He served o ver ten years w ith the Regiment, including the period from A p ril, 1916, to O ctob er, 1920, when he w as w ith the R o yal Corps o f S ign als. A ll w ill regret these departures. Capt. E . N . Appelbe is now attached to us, pending proceeding to join the 2nd B attalion.

“ A ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .A lth o u g h we prom ised m ore news than

usual fo r this issue, w e b eg to be excused again on the grounds that the doings of the Com pany are to be summ ed up in the w ord “ M anoeuvres.” T h ese have fu lly occupied our time since the last “ N otes ” w ent to press. W e welcome S e rg t. Stevenson to the Com pany; he has recently vacated his appointm ent as S ergeant M aster-C ook, and is now at duty. W e are also pleased to see L./Cpl. W ilson w ith us again . W e w ish every success to S e rg t. Cam pbell and Cpl. Jones on their transfer to H eadquarter Wing; also to L ./ C p l. Painter, w ho has left us for the D epot.

T h e feature of this quarter’s issue will be the fo llo w in g article, w ritten by our Special (V e ry much so .— S u b - E d itor) M anoeuvre correspondent, and it is hoped that this w ill m ake up for any deficiency:

M a n œ u v r e s , 1925.

N ah, look ’ere, gents. I ain’ t no E d itor and g o t no fird. A s soon as we g o t to Petersfield orders w as issued aht one of ’em w as “ T o uch not the forbidden fruit or ye shall surely be C o urt mar- tialed .” So now courts M artial gro w on trees. So B ew are. W ell blokes, fings w as g o in ’ o f fine when one of ahr ’ Orses ate our ’ aversack rations (B iskits and K a sey), and o f corse there was a rah, and the rah w as between P rivates Day

74 THE DIE-HARDS

and K n ig h t o f the m ule g a n g , so I turns rahnd to m y m ate and ses to ’ im “ ’A rk at ’em B ill.” So jest so as to m ake a day of it ’ e ses “ G ood even in g .”

O n F u rsd ay n ight, when everyfink was quiet excep t fo r the sound of the P ig sty not far orf, the fo llo w in g w as ’e a r d :

B i l l : “ G is a F a g .”“ A in ’t g o t n on e.”B ill: “ W ell, sell us some.“ A in ’t g o t none, I tell y e r .”B i l l : “ W ell, shut yer eyes w hilst I

pinches the one y e r sm o k in g .”T h e m arch in g w as not to bad, but one

o f the fellers com plained that he couldn ’t bends ’ is le g s, w ell bein ’ as I ’m a bit o f a D o cto r I ups and arst ’ im w hat w as up and he show ed m e. N o w onder e couldn ’t bend ’ is le g s, ’e ’ d w orn ’em down to his knees.

Th ere is one th in g abaht manoeuvres and that is the rum issue. Y o u could see b lokes w iv little shiny eyes and it ’ s ser- prisin ’ the yarns that w as told too. O n cet the Q u arter B loke came up and sed “ Som ebodyies knocked over my rum issue.” W e ll p ’ raps ’ e did, but I bet ’ e g o t som e m ore fo r his yarn.

O ne person threatens that when ’e leaves the T a rm y ’es g o in ’ to buy a Bus sos ’e can run it up and darn past the troops je s so as to ’ear ’ em shaht “ K eep to the le ft .”

A lot o f old so n gs w as su n g on the m arch, including “ H e re ’ s to the good old rum , knock it b a ck .” “ D o yo u w ant us to lose the W a r ? ” and m any others.

W ell b lokes it ’ s all o ver now , and we cou ld n ’t av been so bad after it cos we played football the day after w e g o t back and w on again st our old rivals D Com pany.

W ell old dears dont grum ble at these ere notes cos I aint no skoler, and if yer ever g o on m anoovers bew are o f “ Courts m artial ” and don ’t dodge yer Rum ration. H a g g i s .

“ B ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .So m uch fo r M anoeuvres! W hen in

billets, m any o f the Com pany seemed to be at hom e “ D ow n on the fa rm .” and apart from m ilitary tra in ing several new th ings w ere learnt, such as the use o f the hay fork, p lo u g h in g, the g ro w in g of m ustard, its uses, etc., and not by the reason in g m ethod.

In spite o f the w et w eather and the d iscom forts it caused, on the whole we had a fairly g o o d tim e. It w as w onder­ful w here the ju g s o f tea, apples, etc., cam e from . N o. 8 P latoon seemed very lu cky in this respect. W as it because o f their kind faces or tactful non-com ­m issioned officers. Billets on farm s are usually com fortable, but w hen the cows are loose in the yard w here a whole com pany lie sleeping, one is rather nervy o f receiv in g the “ cloven h o o f ” in the dark. D u rin g a n ig h t’s so jou rn at B ro u gh to n this w as the case, and a cer­tain senior non-com m issioned officer was heard to shout, “ Sen try! S en try! Comeand m ove these ------ m ice ” — or wordsto that effect.

O u r train ing camp at Petersfield was beautifu lly situated on the South D ow ns; these, how ever, did not p rotect us from the winds, fo r when a ga le sp run g up “ A ” and “ B ” Com panies’ dining tent rose to the occasion. M atters were soon straightened out, under the able guidance o f “ Skipper P e lly 2, in Sou' W e ste r ,” etc., and w e settled down to w ait fo r the next turn in the tide, which happened to be the S erg ea n ts’ M ess. It was rather am using to w atch Sergt. Bennett ju g g le w ith m arquees, and it is quite a p ity that the o rig in ato r o f “ Old B ill ” w as not present at Petersfield, for we m ight have had som e new characters.

S e rg t. R o g ers has ju st left the Com ­pany fo r a course at H ythe. W e con­gratu late him upon the addition to his fam ily.

M ajo r W . W . Jefferd has taken over the Com pany. A ll ranks now are w ork­in g hard to keep up the nam e o f B ” Com pany as one o f the best sporting com panies in the Battalion.

K n o v v all .

“ C ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .

So sorry, dear readers, that w e cannot fulfil our prom ise o f last issue o f win­n in g the Cricket Shield, o f which we w ere practically certain o f gettin g , accord­in g to the talent show n in tne Company, but the fact o f the m atter is, as some m ay probably know , a “ w ar ” broke out. and that kind o f upset th ings, for time w ould not perm it the B attalion to include cricket in its sports program m e.

THE DIE-HARDS 75

Still, better luck next tim e. W e are, however, keep ing the other odd bits o f “ siller ” w ell polished.

The “ w a r ” dow n in the south of England cancelled our hopes o f being cricket cham pions tem porarily. R efer­ring to M anœ uvres, on the D ivisional scheme our Com pany com pleted some miles m ore than the rest o f the Battalion, who did 374 m iles. Y e t another small “ s h o w ” in which the Com pany took part involved a g reat deal o f m arch in g; we covered about 50 m iles in the course of a day and night, but w e w ere fortu ­nate enough to have lorries supplied to convey us back to Petersfield camp. B y this time the m ajo rity o f the Com pany were beginning to bank th eir m oney in order to provide cycles fo r the next M anœuvres, in case th ey m ight be fortu ­nate enough to be included am on gst the cyclists. Som e hopes !

A few w ere fortunate in h avin g a week in town before “ w ar broke o u t,” and others experienced a heavy storm in camp, which necessitated p ick in g up several abodes and p u ttin g them stra igh t ; but one cannot gro u se at that, fo r no one can consider th ey have been under canvas unless their tent has been blow n down at least a dozen tim es, and their clothes and kit wet.

W hen w e m arched to “ w ar ” orders came along that w e w ere to leave in the m orning early, and M ajo r L . L . Pargiter, D .S .O ., w as to g o on as billet­ing officer. T h at seemed to indicate that our Com pany w ould have a decent billet, and it was so, very nice indeed. Th e only trouble w as that w e could not eat everything that w as obtainable; it rather upset some people (inw ardly). From this point som ebody insisted that we should g o by lorries to the n ext scene of the battle. W ell, a fter g e ttin g our feet so used to m arching we groused about this. Still, no good . L o rries it had to be, and in lorries w e w ere until " e met the ferocious enem y, and o f course, a fter m eandering and riding about fo r a day or so a blast on the bugle sounded. E veryone knew w hat it waf ' ^ was no question o f ” g o round and tell them ,” fo r hardly had the last

sounded when ever>-one said,1 hat s the ‘ Stand fa st,’ ” and that

ended our “ war. W e had w on. N ow

for barracks. W e were fifty-five miles from home, so we com pleted the m arch steadily, tak in g three days. W e arrived on Septem ber 27th. I hear that one of our officers intends b u yin g a tank all to him self, and another says he w ould rather m arch instead o f rid in g his m otor bike on the next M anoeuvres. T h a t’s w hat I call spirit.

W e have started our w inter sports pro­gram m e. O u r b o x in g and football team s are under the guidance o f L ieu t. F . B ailey and S e rg t. H aw kins. T h e b o x in g team com petes next w eek. O u r results will be show n in the n ext issue.

L a s t H o p e .

” D ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .W e returned to barracks a happy, con­

tented, but very tired C om pany on Sunday, Septem ber 27th, lo o k in g none the w orse fo r our three w eeks’ sojourn in H am pshire, and are now lo o k in g forw ard to a season full o f Soccer, h ockey and R u g g e r thrills. O u r Com pany team s have not yet been definitely decided upon. A few changes from last year w ill be im minent before the leagues proper com m ence. H o w ever, C .S .M . W alker, Cpl. X orth cott, and Pte. H u tson w ill cer­tainly do their best in ch o o sin g a team that w ill retain the S o ccer .Shield. A t hockey this year w e are fortunate in havin g the services o f our Com pany Com m ander, Capt. Paul, and w e should do better at this branch o f sport than we did last year.

W e are sending the usual draft to the 2nd Battalion this year. A m o n g st those g o in g are our erstw hile Com pany Clerk, Pte. Evans, Pte. Such (the gym nast), and Pte. M eadle, w hose Irish b rogu e often causes amusement. W e all wish them luck, and hope that they w ill en joy sold ierin g in the 2nd B attalion as much as they have done in the 1st.

S erg ts. W ard and G ray and Cpl. Thom pson are aw ay at C atterick under­g o in g a V ocation al T ra in in g C o urse; they w ere popular non-com m issioned officers, and are badly m issed in the Com pany.

“ D on ” Com pany has solved the problem o f the “ W em bley £100.” It appears that about a dozen o f the Com ­pany w ent to W em bley and decided to

76 THE DIE-HARDS

divide- their regim ental num ber by 100 in the attem pt to forecast the numbers present. Pte. H utson w as, we believe, very close.

Ptes. T e a r, E veritt, B rooker, M arshall, B aker, and B rady wish to know ifS .R .D . is the bay rum so m uch adver­tised. W e refer them to the Com pany Q u arterm aster-S ergean t.

W e all tender our con gratu lation s to M rs. and S erg t. O verton upon the recent addition to their fam ily. J. S.

H E A D Q U A R T E R W IN G N O T E S .T ram p ! T ram p ! T ram p ! E ven the

H eadquarter W in g are m arching. S tra n g e, but M anoeuvres level all things.

P rio r to Septem ber the w hole W in g w ere on sum m er train ing, and so, with the exception o f cricket, little occurred outside n igh t operations. Th e results of the cricket are shown in the sports notes.

T h e past few m onths have made the H eadquarter W in g an extrem ely live unit o f the B attalion ; not that it w as ever otherw ise than sm art; but there is a difference. T h in g s seem to harm onize better, and esprit de corps is greatly im proved. T h ere is, o f course, a great rivalry am on gst group s to be top o f the W in g in all th ings. T h e C lock Com peti­tion has made g rea t sport, and some e x c itin g m atches have been played fo r points tow ards the cham pionship. A ll gro up s vie w ith each oth er in their effort to have spotless room s, fo r this also counts.

O n M anoeuvres the “ W i n g ” did w ell, no man fa llin g out, and all kept a cheer­ful countenance and did their various job s w ell.

W hen w atch in g com panies tra in ing one is apt to overlo o k “ H .Q .” W in g and its m any job s. T h e cooks, pioneers, police, etc., all have their w ork to do, and it is ju st as im portant as the “ front lin e.” G reat praise is due to Cpl. G ibson fo r the w ay in w hich he provided the hot m eals fo r the B attalion under very try in g cir­cum stances. M an y m ay grum ble, but let those w ho do so try c o o k in g on the m arch. T h e T ran sp o rt, another branch o f H eadquarter W in g , did w ell also, b ein g one o f the few transport units to keep their vehicles and horses on the road th rou gh out M anoeuvres.

A g reat deal of am usem ent w as caused by the appearance and actions of som e of the hired horses. Som e w ere evidently much m ore used to plo ughs and other m ore peaceful im plem ents. H ow ever, they grad ually settled down to A rm y life.

O ne o f the ch arg ers (?), if dyed black, w ould have made a go o d hearse horse. It is a w onder it w as not punctured.

W e are now lo o k in g forw ard to some brilliant form from the “ footb allites.” Th e M achine Gun P latoon intend doing th ings in style, and are h avin g an outside fixture list.

T h e group s are putting in N otes of their own com position again , and doubt­less they w ill be o f interest.

W e wish all H eadquarter W in g s o f our R egim ent a H ap py Christm as now , as this w ill be the last issue p rior to that period. M ay they have a festive time.

W in g e r .

T h in g s w e w a n t t o K n o w .

W ho is K enneth M arshall ?* * *

D o es the tide com e up very h igh atW eston-super-M are ?

* * *

W ho gave the exhibition there ?* * *

W hat is the passw ord fo r tea now ?* * *

W ill our m otor-cycle g o on the next n ight operation ?

* * *

W heth er porridge is a g o o d hair dress- ing.?

* * *

If the drum m er likes horses?* * *

If there is any more “ tinned fruit ” in the N .A .A .F .I .

* * *

A nd, if so, w ill they please lose it?* * *

W h o is the “ chit k in g ” ?* * *

D id the m achine gunners en joy them­selves at W est M eon ?

* * *H o w m any apples w ere consum ed at

B righton ?

THE DIE-HARDS 77

Did the late C .S .M .I .M . hit any aero­planes in Bram dean W o o d when con trol­ling the A .A . guns th ere?

* * *W ho w rote “ Tram p, boys, tram p, and

be contented ” ?

<•> •<$>

Y ^ i S - Q e R G & N T S '

i ^Mess Nores'T 'H E quarter which has ju st passed has

not from a journalistic point o f view produced much m aterial. Sum m er train­ing takes one and all aw ay from barracks, and leaves little tim e fo r the ordinary things of life.

W e were unable to com plete our tennis engagem ents, and so did not shine in the league table. It w as obvious, how ever, that with practice and co-operation between pairs som e fine m atches could have been played. Billiards and “ pokey die ” matches have been held over, and a rush season will no doubt now com m ence.

Manoeuvres, of course, stopped all these things. Y e t a deal o f fun w as obtainable in camp, especially on concert n ight. It is certain that S e rg t. Green m issed his vocation when he joined the A rm y ; the chef t o o ! Th e storm w hich visited the camp during our stay rather upset the mess m arquee, not to m ention S im onds’I.P .A .

W e regret h avin g lost S erg t. Parsons, who has gone to civilian life. W e wish him the best of luck. T h e M ess presented him with a handsome clock as a m em ento of past times.

Several m em bers o f the Second Battalion are with us aw aitin g to re- embark for India. W e hope th ey will have a pleasant tim e w ith us during their stay here.

Congratulations to S erg t. T u n gate upon his promotion to w arrant rank. W e wish him all success.

A s this issue w ill be the Christm as issue we extend good wishes to all m em bers of the various messes o f the R egim en t. M ay the season be a good one for all.

G. A . P. S. A .

C O R P O R A L S ’ M E S S N O T E S .O u r Com m ittee, under the able presi­

dency o f Cpl. N orth cott, are prep aring a season o f dances and w hist drives, which will no doubt be as popular as last year.

Cpls. Jim m y Green, Thom son and W illiam s are aw ay on a V o catio n al T ra in ­in g Course. Th e latter w ill be badly missed from the Jazz Band, o f w hich he was the m usical genius. A lre ad y the piano is lookin g m ore substantial.

It is noticed that D ick H old er is even better o f late at the cross w ords. Perhaps this is due to his fondness fo r tinned fish.

Cpl. Gibson has joined the co o k in g staff, although m ortality in the B attalion is on the increase. H e assures us that this will soon diminish.

H e can turn a square-shaped rissole,M ake m eat burn and frizzle,A n d turn it into grissel,

A n d the tea is never done till it ’s no m ore. But w ith sausages and fish,H e ’s all that we could wish.

In fact, he’ s m ighty go o d at anything.H e cooks ’em black and blue T ill th ey ’re like an old brow n stew ;

Then dumps ’em in a pan and says they'll do.

Then he crashes them and sm ashes them

A n d turns them outside in,T h at B u rg o o bashing rascal R o g e r Din.

Cpl. E g a n , o f “ C ’ ’ C om pany fame, w ishes to m ake it know n that the hired horses the Battalion so kindly used on M anoeuvres this year suffered from an iron indigestion. In fact, one of them ate nine maps on one occasion, and then cast ravenous eyes at C harlie ’s tin hat.

'I wo old friends o f ours are fo rsak in g us, and are about to get m arried, nam ely. Cpls. M acdonald and Sw indon, so w e all wish them the best of luck, and hope that we shall now and again see their cheery faces in the M ess as o f yore.

W'e wish all M esses of the R egim ent the heartiest greetin gs for Christm as.

E M M A G E E G R O A N S .It is now alm ost three m onths since the

last M achine Gun N otes w ere sent in, and since then th ings have been m oving. M any new people have com e and one has

78 THE DIE-HARDS

gon e. W e w elcom e those well-know n sportsm en Capt. H o rro cks, L ieuts. R oyffe and W o rto n , S e rg t. F arro w , togeth er w ith Cpls. L e w is and Jones.

S e rg t. P arsons has left us fo r civilian life, and is doin g w ell. A ll go o d wishes to him. W e have been trem endously busy on M anoeuvres, and a lthough the gunners had m any hardships there w as alw ays a g rea t deal o f cheerfulness. Several new so n gs have been introduced b y our old friends “ B ob H eath ” and “ L o fty L o w ,” am on gst them b ein g ” P raise ye the Gun all ye G un n ers,” “ T h e y ’ re G ettin g L a r g e r ,” and “ Y o u take the Gun, and I ’ ll take the T ripod, and I ’ ll be in action before you, but if you g et shot, I ’ ll carry the lot, and I ’ ll eat yo u r iron rations in the m orning.

O n the w hole, the gunners acquitted them selves very w ell th rou gh out the whole o f the M anœ uvres, and w ere frequently con gratu lated by the C om m anding O fficer fo r go o d w ork .

W h a t we are lo o k in g forw ard to now is the w inter sports season. G reat th ings have been prom ised, and g reat th ings are expected. W e are exp ectin g som e new talent in a day or tw o to form a new class, and w ith the old hands w e hope to form an A .L . team fo r both football and hockey. O th er com panies and platoons please note. W e co n gratu late S e rg t. R ussell on passin g his in stru ctor’s course at N etheravon .

T h i n g s w e w a n t t o K n o w .Is it possible to obtain lather from

cheese ?* * *

D id tw o non-com m issioned officers have a race to g ro w the largest m oustache, and w ho w on ?

B A N D N O T E S .W e have had a m ost successful season

both as regard s en gagem en ts and tro ttin g about. W e have played at the fo llo w in g places : — B risto l, L o w e sto ft, Southsea, B rig h to n , lo r q u a y , and W eston-super- M are.

Q uite a lot could be said about each of these tow ns in turn. E ach m em ber o f the Band has, in fact, his own little h istory. H o w ever, we m ust generalize.

A t T o rq u a y the M ayo r presented the B andm aster, M r. J. W . C lark , with a gold

w atch and a silver cigarette b ox . Quite a crow d collected to w itness this, which took place on the last evening o f our stay, and, a fter a speech, in which he com­m ented upon the fine perform ances of the Band, said he hoped that they w ould all have the great pleasure of hearin g them again next season.

A t the conclusion o f his speech, he gave a suitable present to each o f the Band, w hereupon M r. C lark, the Bandmaster, replied to the M ayo r's speech.

N o t only has the Band been p layin g to audiences within sight, but w e have been broadcasting from the Bournemouth studio. W e also played at the British Em pire E xhib ition at W em bley from O cto b er 12th to the 17th.

W e went to m eet the B attalion on Sunday, Septem ber 27th, and after our lo n g sojourn aw ay we m et with a fine reception. “ A ” Com pany greeted us w ith cheers, and we replied harm oniously w ith “ I ’m tired, and I w onna g o to bed,” and to the strains o f this tune the whole Battalion left A lto n . D o m i n a n t 7TH .

D R U M S N O T E S .Back again to the old routine o f drum

and fife life and b u gle practice. W e are lo sin g our old friends o f “ B rig ad e Retreat B eatin g ,” and w e are w aitin g to m eet our friends the “ M ick s.” W e had a change during M anoeuvres, and Charlie w as not a bad jo ck ey , a lthough a lot o f people make him out to be. O u r A .A . gun team s made a name for them selves at cam ouflaging, especially the Prim us stove.

W e left six drum m ers at Petersfield, and by all accounts they have learnt the art of n avvyin g and p ortering, for which they were m entioned in despatches. W e are running a football team , and on paper it seems quite g o o d . W e exp ect to fix up a num ber of m atches with other platoons for the com in g season.

R e x greeted us w ith his usual tooth­paste smile.

A t present w e expect to g o on a m onth ’s leave on O cto b er 19th.

T h i n g s w e w i s h t o K n o w .

W ho is the non-com m issioned officer who wished he w as back in the Life Guards ?

S n a k e C h a r m e r .

THE DIE-HARDS 79S P O R T S N O T E S .

C r i c k e t .

In spite of the calls o f Com pany, Battalion and B rigade T rain in g, the Battalion were able to play a fa ir amount o f cricket during the season. In friendly matches we alw ays did w ell, and com piled some useful scores, gen erally w inning our matches. O ’ Brien and K en n ett proved to be our best and m ost consistent bow lers, and on occasions they bow led unchanged throughout an innings.

W e reached the Com m and stage o f the Cricket K nock-out w ithout much difficulty, but were unfortunate in losing to the A .A . Searchlight Battalion in a very low scoring match. O u r batsm en failed on a very difficult w icket.

Mention has been made o f our bow lers. In the other departm ents o f the gam e Sammons kept w icket excellently, the fielding on the w hole w as g o o d , but the batting w as inconsistent, which m ust be put down to lack o f net practice.

f r i e n d l i e s .

v. Shop W anderers, on July 10th; won. 1st M iddlesex, 174 (Capt. Paul, 39; M ajor Pargiter, 36; M r. Goulden, 35; Capt Phillips, 29); Shop W anderers, 152 (Cpl O 'B rien, 4 fo r 64; Capt. Phillips, 4 for 18).

v. 1st Bedfs. and H erts. R egim en t, on July 14th; lost. 1st M iddlesex, 114 (M r. Clowes, 41; Cpl. Sam m ons, 22); 1st Bedfs. and H erts. R egim ent, 124 for 5.

G loucester R egim en t; w on. 1st Middlesex, 65 (M ajo r P a rg iter, 32; Cpl.

? " e,n ’ T, 16); Ist G loucester R egim ent, 47 (Cpl. K ennett, 5 for 16; Cpl. O ’ Brien 5 for 22).

/r-1’’ R - y ;M -C-; Won. 1st M iddlesex, 123 tj a nV 5 hllhps’ 2 7 ; M r - Goulden, 27); r A r v u ” 72 C p l' N o rtllco tt. 3 fo r 9;

nfl) n ’ 3 28’ C a p t' PaUl’ 2 for

The other tw o gam es in the Com m and Knock-out require a fuller account.

i s t M i d d l e s e x R e g i m e n t v . T r a i n i n g C o l l e g e , R .A .S .C .

levp" Julji 23i.d w e met the T rain in g Col- had X * e , R 'A S C - Ground. Af they had already beaten the Service Com panies,

266

164

w h o w e re co n sid e re d on e o f th e s tr o n g e s t tea m s in th e C o m m a n d , th e y a p p eared a fo rm id a b le p ro p o s itio n , and w e did v e r y w e ll in b e a tin g th em b y a g o o d m a rg in , ta k in g in to c o n s id e ra tio n th e s ta te o f th e w ic k e t a fte r h e a v y ra in . S c o r e s : —

ist Middlesex Regiment.M a jor Pargiter, c W are b M arrison ...M r. C low es, st H ickey b M arrison Cpl. N orthcott, c W are b ClarkeCapt. Phillips, c W are b B a r r y ................M r. W orto n , b M arrison ...Capt. Paul, c Barry b M a r r is o n ................Cpl. Painter, c Clarke b M arrison M r. G oulden, b M arrison ...Cpl. Sam m ons, c Hushar b Clarke ...Cpl. K ennett, c M cL aren b Clarke Cpl. O 'B rien , not out

Extras ......................................................... 0

T ota l ............................................................I25Sergt. M arrison 6 fo r 59, M r. Clarke 3 fo r 47

Pte. Barry i fo r 19.

Training College, R .A .S .C .Capt. P enruddocke, c W o rto n b K ennett ... 6Pte. W are, c G oulden b K ennett ................. 0Mr. Hushar, c and b O ’B r ie n .... ... 0M r. Clarke, c and b K ennett ............................. r8C .Q .M .S . M arrison, c W o rto n b O ’ Brien ... 20Capt. H ickie, run out ............................................. ~rM .S .M . B oote , c W o rto n b K e n n e t t .................... 8S ./S e rg t . Blackburn, b K e n n e t t ................................ r6L ./C p l. M acLaren, c N orthcott b O ’ Brien 1 S ergt. Paul, c C low es b O ’Brien ... 0Pte. Barry, not o u t ................................. 2

E xtras ..................................................... ’ g

TotaI .Cpl. K ennett 5 fo r 45, Cpl. O ’Brien 4 fo r 27.

i s t M i d d l e s e x R e g im e n t v . A .A .

S e a r c h l i g h t B n ., R .E .

P la y e d at B la c k d o w n on J u ly 29th. T h is m atch w a s th e first in th e C o m m a n d s ta g e p ro p e r, the w in n e r e n te r in g the sem i-fin al. A f t e r d e fe a tin g th e R .A .S .C . T r a in in g C o lle g e w e h ad e v e r y h o p e o f re p e a tin g o u r su ccess a g a in s t th e A .A . S e a r c h lig h ts , ab o u t w h o m w e k n e w little . U n fo r tu n a te ly , th e lu c k o f th e g a m e d eserted u s, and w e lo s t b y th e n a r ro w m a rg in o f 6 ru n s. T h e to ta l at th e fa ll o f each w ic k e t is in te r e stin g , b o r d e r in g 011 th e a b s u r d : — is t M id d le se x R e g im e n t : i fo r 18, 2 fo r 27, 3 fo r 27, 4 fo r 27, 5 fo r 27, 6 fo r 32, 7 fo r 34, 8 fo r 34, 9 fo r 40,10 fo r 40. A .A . S e a r c h lig h ts : 1 fo r 2, 2 fo r 2, 3 fo r 5, 4 fo r 5, 6 fo r 7, 7 fo r 10, 8 fo r 3 1 , 9 fo r 37, 10 fo r 46. S c o r e s : —

i s t M i d d l e s e x R e g i m e n t .

W o rto n , b D avey C low es, b D avey

. X orth co tt , c Jenkins Phillips, b Penny

ijor P argiter, c Pearce »t. F arrow , c O sborne b D avey

G oulden, c M cC orm ick b Tenny . Painter, n ot out . Sam m ons, c and b Penny ...

K ennett, b Penny .... O 'B r ien , c O sb orn e b Pennv

Extras ...................... ...

T ota l ... .................Sergt. D avey 3 fo r .25, Spr. Pennv

should w elcom e any new s, via the journ al, from the Sign als of the 2nd B attalion.

W e should like to know w ho the band­m aster of the Sign als quartette is, and if he has any vacancies fo r persons with m usical talent.

T o k E d d y A c k .

L I E U T . - C O L . D. C. P E R C Y - S M I T H , D .S.O ., O .B .E .

Spr. M ansell, c W o rto n b O 'B rien 0C O . M .S . O sb orn e, c Phillips b O 'B rien ••• 3M a jo r C olbeck , b O 'B rien 0C O . M .S . D avey , b K ennett ................. 2Spr. Sm art, c Sam m ons 1) O 'B rien . . . 19Serg t. H arrington , b O 'B r i e n ................. 0Serg t. P earce, b O 'B r ien ... ................. 2c pi : Jenkins, run out ................. I

Spr. M cC orm ick , run out ... 8S erg t. Penny, lbw b O 'B r i e n ................. 3Se ft t. W elsh , not out

Extras ...........................................- 3

5

Total ............................................ ... 46

C pl. K ennett i fo r 12, Cpl. O ’Brien 7 fo r 21.

O w in g to the w eather, the A rm y athletics and tra in ing neither the Platoon K n o ck -o u t nor the Com pany K n o ck -o u t w ere com pleted.

T h e fo llo w in g com posed the Battalion cricket eleven, and w ere aw arded their fifty-seventh c a p : — Capt. Phillips, M ajo r P a rg ite r, Capt. Paul, M r. C low es. M r. W o rto n , M r. G oulden, Cpl. O 'B rie n , Cpl. K en n ett, Cpl. X o rth co tt, Cpl. Sam m ons, and l../ C p l. Painter.

S I G N A L S E C T IO N .

N o w that M an œ u vres are o ver and the w inter tra in in g period has com m enced, the " flag bashers ” are g o in g in strict tra in ing to com pete again st the rem ainder of the Battalion.

W e are h op in g to obtain som e new talent from the S ign al C lass w hich com m ences in N ovem ber next.

W e have been rather successful as regard s to sports, h av in g been only beaten once at cricket, b y H eadquarter D etails.

W e con gratu late L ./ C p l. O sken at and Pte. W illiam s upon b ein g representatives in the Battalion athletic team s, and we hope to have m ore entries next year. W e

T IE U T .-C O L . D O U G L A S C Y R IL P E R C Y - S M 1T H is a son o f the late

M aj.-G en . P ercy W yndham Percy-Sm ith, Indian A rm y, and w as born in India on N ovem ber 14th, 1875. H e w as educated at Cheltenham C o lleg e , and joined the 3rd Battalion L o y a l N orth Lancashire Regim ent in M arch, 1893, and served till 1897.

Failing to pass into the A rm y at the M ilitia Com petitive E xam inations, he pro­ceeded to India in A p ril, 1896, and joined the B engal P olice, in which he served till the outbreak o f the S outh A fr ican W ar in 1899, when he enlisted as a troop er in L u m sd en ’s H orse, w ith w hich he pro­ceeded to South A fr ic a . W hilst Serving there, on A p ril 4th, 1900, he w as gazetted as Second-Lieutenant in the M iddlesex R egim ent and attached to the O xfo rd ­shire L ig h t Infan try M ounted Infantry Com pany in the 8th M ounted Infantry, com manded by the gallant Col. R oss, now Gen. S ir W alter R oss, K .C .B ., of C rom arty, a w ell-know n H igh land chief to-day.

S erv in g w ith the 8th M ounted Infantry. 2 /L ieu t. Percy-Sm ith w as present at much o f the fig h tin g in the O ra n g e F ree State and T ran svaal, including actions at H outnek, Zand R iver, Johannesburg, and P retoria. H e w as prom oted Lieutenant in A u g u st, 1900. Subsequently he was present in the action at B athaville, where the Colum n Com m ander, Col. L e Gallais, w as killed and Col. R oss very severely wounded, his lo w er jaw b ein g shot away. F o r his services in this action Lieut. P ercy-Sm ith w as awarded a D .S .O .. and. bein g slig h tly w ounded, w as sent to Cape T o w n , and thence to join the 2nd M iddlesex R egim en t in N atal. T h is he

THE DIE-HARDS

did 011 Christm as m orning. 1900. at N ew ­castle. N atal, and served w ith that battalion fo r the rem ainder o f the war. He was awarded the Q u een ’s M edal with four clasps, and the K in g 's M edal with two clasps.

A fter the w ar he joined the 1st Battalion in Secunderabad, India, in A u g u st, 1902. and was later appointed Station Staff Officer there, being subsequently trans­ferred to Bellary, and later in a like

to the D ep o t, w here he remained until he joined the E gyp tian A rm y in M arch, 1911. I apt. P ercy-Sm ith . on jo in in g the E gyp tian A rm y , w as posted to the n th Sudanese, in which he served two years and w as then detached to raise a new corps, in the N uba M ountains in Southern K ordofan , w hich, b ein g locally enlisted, w ere called T erritoria ls. From here he was prom oted to com mand the E quatorial Battalion on the Southern Sudan Fron-

L I E U T . -C O L O N E L D . C . P E R C Y -S M I T H D .S .O ., O .B .E .

■capacity at Lu ckn ow , after the Battalion Tad gone to Burm a. In M ay, 1904. he was promoted Captain, and was again posted to the 1st B attalion.

In N ovem ber. 1904. he w as appointed y i p Y . to the G .O .C . 8th Lu ckn ow

iMsion, which he held till appointed Assistant M ilitary Secretary to the G .O .C . Northern A rm y in 1908. In 1909 he w as -ap p om ted to the 1st Battalion in Allahabad and posted for a tour o f duty

tier. D u rin g this period Capt. Percy- Smith took part in four expeditions, being him self in command of tw o o f them . H e thus earned the Sudan General Service M edal and three clasps, and w as m en­tioned in despatches and awarded 4th Class O rd er o f the Nile.

In O ctober, 1914, being 011 sick leave in Cairo when w ar w as declared again st lu rk e y , Capt. Percy-Sm ith w as given command of an arm oured .train 011 the

82 THE DIE-HARDS

Suez Canal, w ith w hich he served at the first T u rk ish attack on the Canal in Feb ru ary, 1915. O n Septem ber 15th, 1915, he w as prom oted M ajo r. In 1916 he w as transferred to com m and the 1st B attalion E g yp tia n A rm y, which he took to Palestine in July, 1917, and joined L o rd A llen b y ’ s arm y 011 that front, w here he served till the conclusion of hostilities F o r his services in Palestine L ieu t.-C o l. Percy-Sm ith w as three times m entioned in despatches and awarded the O .B .E .

A fte r the A rm istice, L ieu t.-C o l. Percy- Sm ith w as present in Cairo when the R evolu tion broke out in January, 1919, and w as given com m and of an area. F ro m here he w as prom oted to the com ­m and o f K h artoum D istrict, a F irst Class M ilitary D istrict, and w as given the rank o f L e w a (M ajor-G en eral), w hich rank carries w ith it the title o f P asha. H e served as such until the conclusion o f his ten y e a rs ’ service in the E g yp tia n A rm y, w hen he returned to regim ental duty w ith the 1st B attalion , b ein g awarded a Third C lass O rd er o f the N ile on leavin g the E g yp tia n A rm y. T h e rem ainder o f his service in the A rm y w as spent w ith the 1st B attalion in Ireland, Silesia, the R hine, and A ld ersh ot. H av in g attained the age lim it, fifty years, as a M ajo r, he w as prom oted to a half-pay Lieutenant- C o lo n elcy on Septem ber 15th, T935, and retired from the A rm y the next day. O n retirem ent he w as appointed D .A .A .G . of the G uernsey M ilitia as a retired officer, and placed in the R eserve o f Officers as a L ieuten an t-C olon el.

<•>— -

2”iBciffallorj~ A rMMtkq p H E new C o lou rs w ere presented to

the B attalion on July 15th, 1925, by H is E xcellen cy the Com m ander-in-Chief in India, Gen. S ir Claud Jacob, K .C .B ., K .C .S .I . , K .C .M .G ., on the B rigade parade ground, A d m ed n agar. Th e B at­talion w as in position b y 7 a.m ., form in g the base of a hollow square, o f which

the 4 th / n th Sikh R egim en t composed the left flank and detachm ents of the two other units o f the 16th Indian Infantry B rig ad e, 2nd/7th R ajputs and jth/sth M ahrattas and D epartm ental D etails, the right. A fte r the inspection by the Com m ander-in-Chief, the B attalion took up dispositions for tro o p in g the Colours.

T h e old C olours, which w ere presented by F ield-M arshal H is R o ya l H igh n ess the D uke of Cam bridge, K .G ., on M ay 4th, 1876, w ere trooped, a fter w hich the new Colours were consecrated by the Right R everend Bishop L o y d , A ssistan t Bishop of B om bay.

H is E xcellen cy then addressed the R egim en t as fo llo w s: —

“ I feel it a g reat honour, as w ell as a g reat pleasure, to be standing here before you to present new Co lou rs to a B attalion which has such a fine record of service, not only in the G reat War, but in every cam paign and country in which it has served.

M ost o f you are aware of the history o f the M iddlesex R egim en t, but I should like to recall, as briefly as I can, the m agnificent story o f the 2nd Battalion T h e M iddlesex R egim ent, w hich is on parade to-day.

It w as raised in 1787 as the 77th Foot, and w as specially raised in that year for service in India.

In 1788 it w as presented w ith Colours at D o ver, and em barked fo r India. From that year till 1807 it w as en gag ed in the w ar against T ip p oo Sultan in Mysore, fo u gh t in the attack on Cannonore, and at the subsequent surrender o f Seringa- patam . It to o k part in the capture of Ceylon from the D u tch , and w as present at the second siege o f Seringapatam, w here it gained distinction. O ne of the survivors o f the cam paign w as Lieut. John L aw ren ce, w ho becam e the father of tw o o f the greatest soldiers India has know n— S ir H enry and L o rd Lawrence. T hen it served in Southern and Central India, under S ir A rth u r W ellesley, being m ost favourably m entioned by him in despatches.

In 1807 the B attalion returned home, and in the same year w as presented with n ew Colours at Chatham by the East India Com pany.

[Photos: Backhouse & Co., Poona.

PR ESE N TA TIO N OF COLOURS BY G E N ERAL SIR CLAU D JACOB, G .O.C.-IN-CHIEF, IN DIA, JULY 15TH, 1925.

«4 THE DIE-HARDS

In 1809 it form ed part o f the F orce despatched to capture A n tw erp .

In 1811 the 77th F o o t landed in the Peninsula to serve under the D uke of W ellin gto n , and w as posted to Gen. Sir T h om as P icto n 's D ivision. It shared in the siege and capture o f Ciudad R o d rigo , during which the brilliant action o f El Boden was fo u gh t. L o rd W ellin gto n , w ho w itnessed this action, embodied his h igh approval of the conduct o f the R egim en t in a general order, describing it as a ‘ m em orial exam ple of w hat can be effected by steadiness, discipline, and, confidence.'*

T h e Peninsular W a r added a g lorious chapter to the h istory of the M iddlesex R egim en t, for not only w ere e igh t battle honours, out o f seventeen now borne 011 the R egim en tal C o lou r, added to its roll, but the cherished nam e o f ‘ Th e Die- ITards ’ w as there first bestow ed on it, this name h avin g been gained by you r 1st Battalion, the old 57th F o o t, at the B attle o f A lbuh era on M ay 16th, 1811.

In 1823 the 77th F o o t served in Jam aica for tw elve years.

In 1854 it proceeded to the Crim ea, w here it took a very gallant part in the B attle o f A lm a and in the capture of the castle o f B alaclava. It w as also present at the B attle o f Inkerm an, and, to g eth er with the 57th (now yo u r 1st B attalion) suffered very heavy casualties in the fight. L a te r , to g eth er with the 57th. it g rea tly distinguished itself th ro u gh o u t the siege o f Sevastopol. Th ese tw o R egim en ts w ere awarded four V icto ria Crosses fo r splendid heroism , while no few er than tw enty-eight non­com m issioned officers and men won the D istinguished C onduct M edal.

In 1857 the 77th w ere sent to A ustralia , and in 1858 w ere about to be transferred to H o n g -K o n g , when the Indian M utiny changed their destination to India. The R egim en t took part in the clo sin g scenes of the M utiny C am p aign, and remained in India till 1870.

In 1876. fo r the third tim e since 1787, the D uke o f C am bridge presented you with new C o lou rs at Chatham . These C olours, to which we are bidding farew ell this m orning, have thus been forty-nine years with the B attalion.

In 1881 the 57th and 77th becam e per­m anently incorporated as the 1st and 2nd

B attalions o f the D uke o f Cam bridge’s O w n M iddlesex R egim ent.

T h e year 1900 saw the 2nd Battalion at the South A frican W ar, w here it greatly distinguished itself at the R elief of L adysm ith, including the action at Spion K o p , and at the actions of V aa l Krantz, Colenso, Pieters H ill, \ an W y k , and A llem an ’s N ek. A fte r Spion K o p , Sir Reclvers Buffer, in his despatches, said,* T h e M iddlesex R egim en t m agnificently* upheld the best traditions o f the British A rm y .’

A t the outbreak of the G reat W a r the Battalion w as at M alta, but w as brought home to proceed to France w ith the 8th D ivision, with which division it remained th rou gh out the w ar. T h e Battalion played a prom inent part in m any battles and m inor en gagem en ts, but the out­standing occasion 011 which the ‘ Die- H ards ’ g loriou sly upheld the traditions o f the R egim ent was at the B attle of N euve Chapelle on M arch 10th, 1915. Th e R egim en t w as then opposed by the Prussian G uard, and no less than four gallant attem pts were made before the position was gained.

Such is the brief h istory o f yo u r gallant Battalion.

In the G reat W ar the Middlesex R egim en t provided 110 less than forty-six battalions, and they served in the fol­lo w in g theatres o f w a r : —

France and Flanders, Salonika, Egypt, G allipoli, Palestine, M esopotam ia, Bul­garia , T u rk ey , Siberia, India, and Italy.

T h e num ber o f the battle honours accorded to the R egim en t in the Great W ar was seventy-nine. N o other regi­ment has a sim ilar record. O f those honours the fo llo w in g ten are authorized to be borne on the K in g 's C o lo u r: —

“ M o n s,” “ M arne 1914,” “ Ypres1915, ’ 17, ’ 18,” “ A lb ert 1916, T8,”“ B azen tin ,” “ Cam brai 1917, ’ 18,'“ H indenburg L in e ,” “ S u v la ,” ** Jeru­salem ,” and M esop otam ia.”

M ay these new Co lou rs which I am now p resenting to the B attalion, on which the m any honours gained by the Middlesex R egim ent are inscribed, be an incentive to you and future generations to uphold the splendid traditions o f the British A rm y, o f yo u r R egim ent, and o f your B a tta lio n .”

THE DIE-HARDS

Lieut. P. P ater and L ieu t. E . L . ITeywood received the new C olours, and the Com m anding Officer, L ieu t.-C o l.H. P. F. Bicknell, D .S .O ., rep lying to His E xcellen cy ’s speech, said : —

“ Y o u r E xcellency, on behalf of the officers, w arrant officers, non-com m is­sioned officers and men o f the Battalion, I wish to thank you fo r the great honour

9 you have done us to-day in p resenting our new Colours.

The old ones which they replace have been with the Battalion for alm ost fifty years. D u rin g the last tw enty-five the "Battalion has been en gag ed in tw o cam ­paigns, in South A frica and in the G reat W ar, and I think I can say that in each it has maintained the great reputation earned by our predecessors in the Crim ea, in the Peninsula, and in this country.

A generation in a regim ent quickly passes, and although it is only seven years since the G reat W ar there are com ­paratively few now servin g who fought with it then; but I have no hesitation, Sir, in saying that the present generation are prepared to carry on the g reat traditions of which they are the heirs, and o f which these Colours and this occasion will constantly remind them.

A gain , Sir, I thank y o u .”

The Battalion then m arched past in column in slow time, and afterw ards advanced in review order. A general salute concluded the cerem ony.

A t 11 a.m. the officers were photo­graphed with H is E xcellen cy and Staff. A fter an introduction of the officers an inspection o f the Institutes and the Machine Gun Platoon was carried out. The Com m ander-in-Chief expressed great interest as to the localities from which the men o f the B attalion hailed, and commented very favourably on the terri­torial character of the R egim ent, which, as he said, really did com e from Middlesex.

I hat night, H is E xcellen cy and about twenty guests w ere entertained to dinner by the officers of the R egim ent. Before leaving, Gen. Sir Claud Jacob made a short inform al speech, and said what great pleasure it had given him in com ing to Ahm ednagar to see the R egim ent, which he had not m et since h avin g it

under his com m and, as Corps Com ­m ander, in France.

I he fo llo w in g tw o letters were received : —

Com m ander-in-Chief Cam p,Bolarum , India.

1 yth July, 1925.I wish to tell you how pleased I was

with all I saw at A h m ed n agar on W ednesday. I was particularly struck by the turn-out and steadiness under arm s o f the m en o f the M iddlesex Regim ent.

(S ign ed ) C l a u d W . J a c o b .

T o T h e Officer Com m anding,2nd Bn. The M iddlesex Regim ent

(D .C .O .)

M em orandum .I am very honoured by h avin g the

pleasant task of in form ing all ranks of the 2nd Bn. Th e M iddlesex R egim ent (D .C .O .) that H is E xcellen cy the C o m ­m ander-in-Chief in India expressed the greatest satisfaction at the m agnificent w ay the Battalion carried out its duties during the cerem ony o f presentation of new Colours.

T h e bearing and drill of the Battalion was excellent in all respects, and w'orthilv upheld its traditions.

I congratulate all ranks.

(S ign ed) A . M . M o e n s . Colonel, C olon el Com mandant,

Com dg. 16th Indian Infantry Brigade.

C R IC K E T .

D u rin g the last few m onths the C o m ­pany C ricket L ea g u e and the Platoon K n ock-o ut Com petition have both been played off. Th e gam es w ere very keenly contested, and there were m any close finishes.

“ A ” Com pany and “ H .O .i ” drew fo r first place in the L ea g u e, each side havin g lost to tne other once. “ H .Q .2 ” w ere third, closely follow ed by “ D ,” then B and “ C ” respectively.

T h e Platoon K nock-out was won by N o. 2 Platoon, who played N o. 8 in the final. Th e latter w ere considerably a w eaker team on paper, but put up a very good fight.

86 THE DIE-HARDS

T h e B attalion has so far played only tw o outside m atches; firstly, again st the G ym khana Club, and secondly, N on ­com m issioned O fficers and M en against the same side.

In the first m atch the Club opened and put up 132, Capt. Bam pfield, w ith 56, b ein g the h igh est scorer. Th ree of our w ickets w ere down for 62, L ./ C p l. Flint and Pte. Butterfield both h avin g reached the tw enties, but S erg t.-D m r. P alm er and C .S .M . Siddons then made a splendid stand, and in an incredibly short space of time carried the score to 199 before they w ere separated, Siddons m akin g 89 and P alm er 51. P lay stopped with our score at 223 fo r 6 w ickets.

In the second m atch, w hich w as played 011 ou r groun d, the Club w ere dismissed fo r 64, which score w e passed before the fall o f the fifth w icket and eventually finished w ith 175, L ./ C p l. A ddinall (50) and S e rg t. G lo ver (36) both doin g som e very spirited h itting.

T h e w ickets in the first m atch were taken by S e rg t.-D m r. P alm er w ith 4 for 32, C .S .M . Siddons 3 fo r 11, L ./ C p l. A ddinall 1 fo r 7, and Pte. W o rg e r 1 for 12; and in the second m atch S e rg t.- D m r. Palm er 2 fo r 18, C .S .M . Siddons 2 fo r 9, L ./ C p l. A ddinall 4 fo r 6, and P te. L in coln 2 fo r 6. L ./ C p l. F lin t has developed into a very sound w icket­keeper, and w as responsible for three catches at the w icket in the second m atch.

V e r y sh ortly w e play the R o yal T an k C orps at A h m ed n agar, and early in A u g u s t m eet the R o y a l W e st K en t R egim en t in Poon a, the return being played here the fo llo w in g m onth. W e have tw o m ore fixtures with the Club, but, apart from regim ental m atches, cricket has had to g ive w ay to hockey.

C O N C E R T P A R T Y .T h e show given by the “ P oth ooks

on M ay 25th, 26th and 27th, fell naturally into tw o parts.

T h e first part, pu rely variety, opened w ith the chorus, con sistin g o f 2 /L ieu t. Chisholm , S e rg t. H art, Cpl. R u ttledge, L ./ C p ls . M oss and Pollard, D m r. R a y­m ond, and Ptes. L eo n ard and Jacobson, sin g in g “ O h , that P o th o o k s S h o w ,” an adaption o f “ O h, that Q u artz A rts B a ll,” from “ Y e s , U n c le .”

Th is w as follow ed by D m r. Raymond with tw o son gs, “ A t the end of the R oad ” and “ T h ey never have a Cross W o rd n o w ,” the latter assisted by the chorus and both being accom panied by M oss.

T h e third turn introduced the popular couple, M oss and Leon ard , w ho sand­w iched a hum orous d ialogue w ith two cheery duets, v iz ., “ K en tu ck y ” and “ M an d alay.”

T h e curtain w as dropped, and on b ein g raised again we saw the Verilites M andolin Q uartette occu p yin g the stage, T h ese clever perform ers, hailing from “ A ” Com pany, were L ./ C p ls . Flint, G libberry and Jenkins, and Ptes. Giller and P a g e . T h ey played a selection of popular chorus son gs. T h e curtain fell once m ore, the m usicians hurried off, and the stage w as quickly prepared fo r the n ext num ber, in which R u ttledge and Jacobson proved that their cross-talk com edy was appreciated as m uch in India as in the old days in Cairo. T h e y were follow ed by the V erilites once m ore, who entertained the audience from in front of the curtain w hile the stage w as being set fo r the revival o f another old Cairo favourite. T h is w as a sketch, entitled “ C o n ju ga l B liss I llu strated ,” w ritten by Cpl. R u ttlcd ge. It showed that, with the help of a little alcohol, even the most henpecked husband and the m ost down­trodden w ife can turn the tables on their respective spouses. Th e four players in this sketch were all excellent, Pte. M artin as the henpecked M r. Sm ith, Pte. Leon ard as his h ectorin g w ife, L ./C p l. Pollard as the o verbearin g M r. Jones, and L ./ C p l. M oss (takin g up the part at five d ays’ notice) as the m eek and mild M rs. Jones, all pu ttin g in really good w ork.

T h is brough t the first h alf o f the p rogram m e to a close.

P art II consisted of a m usical comedy in tw o scenes, called “ O h U n c le .” The “ book ” w as b y L ieut. C lark and Cpl. R u ttledg e, with lyrics by Clifford Grey and m usic by N at D . A yer.

B ertie B ellam y, an extravagan t young man, w ho has m arried Enid w ithout the kno w led ge or consent o f his godfather, Sam uel H etherw ick, is s lo w ly but surely travellin g tow ards the bankruptcy court when his old friend, Charlie Cum mings,

THE DIE-HARDS 87

enters with a telegram . O n opening the telegram they discover that H etherw ick, not satisfied with his g o d so n ’s repeated appeals for m oney, is com in g in person to make inquiries. Charlie hurries the young couple aw ay and stays to greet H etherw ick. Sim on de B o k o , an im macu­lately dressed yo u n g man with an irritating habit o f repeating one's remarks, pondering deeply, and finally saying “ Y e s ,” appears on the scene. Charlie obtusely m istakes him for H etherwick, and on that person ’s arrival behaves insultingly to him. Th e situa­tion is saved by the return o f Bertie, who is placably m an aging the old gentlem an, when Enid enters and the fat is in the fire once m ore. Charlie steps into the breach by claim ing Enid as his fiancee, and the curtain falls on Scene 1 by Simon de Boko inviting them all out to lunch.

Scene 2 reveals Sim on in his true colours as a blackm ailer. H av in g failed in an attempt to exto rt m oney from Bertie and Enid, he exposes them to H etherwick, w ho, how ever, forgives them their youthful fo lly. A detective enters, and recogn izin g Sim on as “ H ose lo p H arry ,” a notorious crim inal, drags

him, handcuffed, away.

Cpl. R uttledge, as Bertie B ellam y, sang and acted w ell; S ergt. H art, as Charlie, was full of en ergy and resource; 2/Lieut. Chisholm, as Sim on de B oko, proved him ­self an excellent ligh t com edian; M rs. Jones, as Enid Bellam y, played th£ harassed w ife in a very capable m anner; and Lieut. Clark (as Sam uel H etherw ick) and L ./C p l. M oss (as the detective) were also quite able in their parts.

A word about the music. Th e Band, under the direction of Bandm aster Clibbens, helped very considerably to­wards the success of the evening. The most popular son g was “ Th e V isito rs' Book ” (H art, R uttledge, and 2 /Lieu t. Chisholm). A n oth er popular num ber was I was so yo u n g, you w ere so beautiful ” (R uttledge). Th e rem aining songs, which were also well received, were, “ ’W ould you believe i t ? ” (Lieut. Clark and S ergt. H art), “ B etter late than never with the girls " (M rs. Jones and • trg t. H art), and “ H ere ’s to you ” L e r g t. Hart and 2 /L ieu t. Chisholm ), and two concerted numbers.

S E R G E A N T S ’ M E S S N O T E S .

It first happened early in June. Som e­body said the M onsoon had broken, but after enquiries am on g the w eather prophets of A h m ed n agar (chiefly boot- boys) it was ascertained that we w ere h avin g the prelude to the M onsoon. In E n gland they are gen erally known as “ A pril show ers ” ; in the “ M ystic E ast ” they are known as “ M an go sh o w ers.” G oodness know s w hy they receive such a h ign-sounding title. T h e troops had the im pression that the m angoes were ripe, and forthwith proceeded to investigate. The results w ere rather disastrous. No. not dysentery, but— seven d ays’ C .B .

T h e M onsoon has really broken, but nothing like w hat we expected. W e were all anxiously w aitin g for an issue of skiffs, but, so far, the “ b r e a k in g ” has been confined to sundry show ers at m ost inopportune m oments. “ Pukkah regim ental ra in ,” in fact; I think it is safe to say we are h avin g the tail end now, and that nobody is particularly sorry, either.

Social life has been rather dull in A hm ednagar during the past quarter. True, we have had the usual dances, etc.,

but, what with having a new staff at theTank School ” and “ M achine Gun

S ch o o l,” we are not yet so well acquainted as we m ight be. W e are ju st begin n ing to know each other, and by next quarter hope to be the greatest of pals.

A Clock G olf Tournam ent was arranged some while back. There were a num ber of entries, but, ow in g to the strenuous­ness o f the gam e, many retired. O thers retired on the grounds that one was not expected to play clock g o lf fromnullahs. Th e survivors, after many hard-fought gam es, at last m anaged to reach the semi-finals. T h e presi­dent of the R ecreation Com m ittee had such a shock at the gam e g o in g so far, that to date he has not sufficiently recovered to post the namesfo r the final on the board. W e arehoping that by the time the dry w eather com es again he will have recoveredenough to allow the players to continue. It is hoped by the next quarter we shall be able to publish the name of the fo rtu ­nate individual who is the w inner o f the C lock G olf Tankard.

88 THE DIE-HARDS

Th an k s to a su g g estio n by C .S .M .I .M . C o x , the M ess has started a m onthly “ S ilver Spoon S h o o t.” T h ere have been three held, and each one has been a suc­cess. T h e w inners to date are L ./ S e r g t . B u rg e ss, C .S .M . Siddons, and S erg t. S p erry. T h e “ shoots ” are very popular, and it is hoped to run them indefinitely.

A t the last shoot a “ P o o l B u l l” C o m ­petition w as held. Th is w as com m enced at 500 yards, and when practices w ere finished it w as transferred to the 600 yards point. B y the time the shoot was over, nobody had been lu cky enough to hit the coveted “ b u ll.” Th ere were ordinary “ bulls ” by the score, and, inci­dentally, quite a num ber of “ fla g s.”

A ll the above events fade into in sig­nificance w hen I com e to the event o f the year. T h e B attalion w as presented w ith new Co lou rs on July 15th.

A fte r the fo reg o in g event, it is only natural that w e should celebrate it in some w ay in the M ess. A cco rd in g ly , a dinner w as arranged, at w hich all m em bers attended. T h e w hole affair w as splen­didly arranged, and our thanks are tendered to C .Q .M .S . Sm ith and his com ­m ittee fo r the w ay everyth in g w ent off. A m o n g the gu ests w ere the R .S .M s . of the R o y a l T a n k C orps and R o ya l W est K e n t R egim en t, and also representatives from their m esses. R .S .M . Fane made a short speech a fter dinner, in which he rem arked that a parade such as w e had attended that day very seldom came in the ordinary routine o f a so ld ier’s life, and he felt v ery h ig h ly honoured that he had had the p riv ileg e of presiding on such an auspicious occasion. T h e speech was replied to by R .S .M . Sutherland, o f the R o yal T a n k Corps, and R .S .M . Stroud, o f T h e R o yal W est K en t R egim en t, both o f w hom rem arked on the splendid drill and turn-out o f the B attalion.

In c lo sin g , it w ill probably be of interest to the readers of T h e D i e - H a r d s to know that the old Co lou rs were presented in 1878.

“ A ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .

Since the last publication o f the Journal m uch strenuous w o rk has been accom ­plished b y the Com pany. A fte r tw o m onths’ Individual T ra in in g we have settled dow n to a m ore or less quiet life.

W e are at present duty Com pany, so there are plenty of fatigu es and guards g o in g spare.

N e xt m onth the Com pany go es to the F o rt fo r duty. M any o f the troops are lo o k in g forw ard to this sojourn from H eadquarters. Goodness know s why, unless they think one guard in five days at the F o rt is better than one in eight at B arracks.

A t present there is a S co u ts’ Class run­ning in the Battalion, under L ieut. H . P. L am bert, o f this Com pany. W e have one non-com m issioned officer and two men attending, and by all accounts they are hot stuff. T h ere is n othing they do not know about “ m agnetic bearings,”“ panoram a sk etch in g,” and the hundred- and-one odds and ends that a go o d scout should know . I have heard it stated, on go o d authority, that they have even gone so far as to do “ one g o o d turn a day,” but this is probably exa g g e ra te d a bit.

Co ngratulation s to L ./ C p l. C lark on his return from the B ritish A rm y School o f E ducation w ith a “ D ,” and also to Ptes. Sibley, S ta g g , and F o w le r on their appointm ents to L an ce-C orp orals, and L ./ C p ls . Jones and B allard on their p rom otion to Corporal.

W e are h avin g our full share of Com­pany w hist drives and dances, and these are popular am on g the troops. They take place in the C om pany dining hall, and gen erally last from 7 p.m . to mid­night. Besides passing a few pleasant hours aw ay, they help considerably to sw ell the R ecreation Fund. A charge of fou r annas is made fo r adm ission, and refreshm ents are supplied during the interval. M ind you , the dancing isn’t w hat one w ould expect to see in a first class ball-room , but everybody is cheerful, and that is all that m atters. “ A ” Com­pany are again to the fore in dances, and w e have our ow n dance band. This, I think, has been m entioned in a previous issue, but ju st lately the band has im proved by leaps and bounds, and we have a great addition in Pte. Jacobson, w ho has at least g o t a “ pukkah jazz set.”

A m onth or so a go w e had a great scare about “ loose w allah s,” those dusky gentlem en (?) w ho have a nasty habit o f v isitin g bu ngalow s at about 2 a.m . and carry in g aw ay b oxes of kit. T ro o p s w ere sittin g up all n igh t to catch

THE DIE-HARDS 89

them, but evidently the “ loose w a lla h s ” did not want to be caught, fo r after about five nightly visits they struck their tents and went silently into the n ight. T h ey have not returned since, and I fo r one am not anxious to hear o f them again— they m ight pinch my only pair o f socks and “ greyb a ck ."

Several invalids (and others) have been for a “ rest ” to Purandhur. T h e y say it would be a go o d place fo r “ m ountain w arfare.”

M ost of the last quarter has been occu­pied with cricket. W e have been w ithout Sergt. Capel, our w icket-keeper, who has been aw ay as P .T . Instructor, but L ./C p l. Flint has ably filled his place.

In the Inter-Com pany L ea g u e we were equal first w ith “ H . Q . i , ” h avin g won nine m atches out o f ten and h avin g an average of 104.6 runs per innings. The best individual averages were : —

B attin g.— C .S .M . Siddons 24.7, L ./ C p l. Flint 14.7, Lieut. Chisholm 13.3, and Pte. Linley, 11.4.

B ow lin g.— S ergt. M ew ett 4.4, Pte. Roberts (07) 5.3, Pte. Prim e 5.7, andC .S.M . Siddons 5.8.

The Inter-Platoon C ricket in the Company was won by N o. 2 Platoon, who therefore represented the Com pany in the Battalion K n ock-o ut. T h ey reached the final by beating the Band, and beat N o. 8 Platoon in the final. C ongratulations. On Albuhera D ay our football team , in a Six-a-side K n ock-out, were beaten in their first gam e by the winners, “ H .Q . i , ” after a very fast gam e, but we lifted one or two prizes in the G ym khana Sports in the afternoon.

C .S .M . Siddons, L ./ C p l. Flint, Pte. Prime, and Pte. Pulham have been play­ing regularly fo r the Battalion hockey team, who play the 4 th / n th Sikh Regim ent every week and gen erally beat them.

W e are just startin g our Inter-Platoon H ockey, and have already a fairly good idea as to who will be the winners. H o w ­ever, We shall see. T h ey will have to nght for it, literally, to all appearances.

“ B ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .This quarter finds us in the m idst of

Individual T rain in g, which has had to oe somewhat curtailed ow in g to the

Battalion practice parades fo r the presen­tation and troop ing o f the C o lou rs. Th e sh ootin g has, how ever, so far been m uch better than last year, and w e hope that we m ay again reach the Com pany standard gained in S in gapore in 1923, when w e won the Com pany S h o o tin g Cup.

In the C ricket L ea g u e, which has ju st finished, we started by beatin g “ C ” Com pany, and had a m ost exc itin g m atch with “ D ” Com pany, which resulted in a tie. O u r first gam e w ith “ A ” Com ­pany w as also som ewhat th rillin g; w e made 52, and they had g o t 49 fo r 9 w ickets when the rain made it absolutely im possible to continue. In the second half of the L ea g u e we beat “ C ,r Com pany a g a in ; w e lost all our oth er m atches.

W e were rather unlucky, in that one of our best bow lers was 011 leave in E n gland and Pte. Lincoln was, during part of the L eagu e, up at the Convalescent H ill Station.

N o. 8 P latoon won the Inter-Platoon Cricket in the Com pany, which counts tow ards our Platoon Shield, N o. 6 P latoon being a close second. N o. 8 consequently represents us in the B at­talion Platoon Tournam ent, and h avin g beaten N o. 10 Platoon o f “ C ” Com pany r is now due to meet N o. 2 P latoon in the- final.

D u rin g the quarter the Com pany has- had several whist drives and dances. O n A lbuhera D a y , “ A and “ B ” Com ­panies ran a dance in the Cinem a; th is was a great success, and we hope to have m any m ore like it. O n A lbuhera D ay also we did quite well in the Com pany Six-a-side F ootb all Tournam ent, beatin g “ D ” Com pany and g iv in g the stro n g “ H .Q .i ” side a good gam e in the final.

D u rin g trooping- season 1925-26 w e lose a few o f our numbers, m ost o f those leavin g h avin g been with the Com pany since 1919. Seven are due to g o — CpI. R uttledge, L ./ C p l. G rim m ett, Ptes. D ack, Sharp, A lderson, R obinson (52), and Entw histle.

Cpl. R uttledge w ill be a b ig loss to the Concert Party, with which he has done much good w ork during the last tw o shows. Pte. D ack will be g rea tly m issed in the sporting line, and espeeialfy by the

THE DIE-HARDS

Com pany football team . W e w ish all the above the best o f luck ;\nd prosperity in civil life.

“ C ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .H av in g been relieved from detachm ent

at the F o rt, the Com pany is now concen­tra tin g on Individual T ra in in g and P re­lim inary M usketry. W e have not yet been able to get settled down, o w in g to p art of our time b ein g taken in practising for the presentation of our new Colours,

and the interruptions of “ M iss M onsoon, w ho has on m any occasions damped our hardened spirits (both inside and out). D esp ite the scath in g rem arks overheard on practice parades, the parade on July 15th. w hen our new Co lou rs were presented, passed off successfully.

O u r P latoon Sports L ea g u e is p ro­g ress in g favourably, and N o. 10, having finished first in the C ricket L e a g u e , have once m ore taken o ver the job of keep ing the shield clean. W e con gratu late N o. 10 on reachin g the semi-final of the Platoon K n o ck -o u t Com petition (Cricket), and wish them success in the n ext match against N o. 8 P latoon , “ B ” Com pany. “ I f such gian ts as Bishop and M ilne m ake th eir first-w icket stand such a suc­cess as their last, and the renow ned Bailey hits a few o f his fours, the shield is ours. O u r next spasm o f sport is h o ckey; it has been heard that the M .O . w ill not a llow this until the hospital has been enlarged.

W e are very glad to have C .S .M . Rand with us again . H e has rejoined after k n o ckin g the stu ffin g out o f the sacks at the Sm all A rm s School.

C o n g ratu la tion s to S erg ts. Sim m onds and C olbourne on ga in in g their First Class Certificates of E ducation. T h eir recent success now b rin gs our total of F irst C lass Certificates to five.

L .O .2 still keeps us w ell supplied with inform ation, but has not yet broadcasted our next m ove. S om eth in g must be w ro n g with the crystals, or perhaps the wind is b lo w in g the w ro n g w ay.

* * *

T h i n g s w e w a n t t o K n o w .

W ho was the brainy individual w ho com m enced his tr ig g e r pressing: season with the fo llo w in g ? : ” O f course, ow in g

to the h igh standard o f tr ig g e r pressure in the A rm y of to-day, w e are now able to fire our rifles in the open o r benind co v e r.”

* * *A re M ills grenades filled with

“ enam el ” ?

■■ D " C O M P A N Y N O T E S .Individual T ra in in g is over, and w e are

en jo y in g a well-earned rest at the F o rt— at least, those o f us who are 011 detach­ment can say that. B ut W inter Train in g w ill soon fee here, closely follow ed by Christm as, when w e can buy a new calendar and cross off another year. " T h at b ig boat ” gets ever nearer.

Since our last notes we have w orked off the Inter-P latoon F ootb all L e a g u e . No. 16 P latoon won. T h ey w ere easily the heaviest team , but they had to fig h t for their place. Th e m ove to the F o rt upset the Cricket L e a g u e , but in the first half of it N o. 16 Platoon w as the outstanding team . It therefore represented the Com ­pany in the Battalion Inter-Platoon K n ock-o ut at cricket. T h ey played N o. 10 P latoon in the first round, and after an e xc itin g gam e they w ere defeated.

W e con gratu late L ./ C p l. A ddinall on passing the “ R efereein g and Judging C o u rse ,” and also L ./ C p l. W illiam s on g e ttin g his F irst Class Certificate of Education.

T h e troop ing season is draw in g near, and we shall soon be losing som e of those w ho have served with the Company for m any years. W e wish them all the best of luck.

* * *T h i n g s w e wa n t t o K n o w .

If the “ V is ito rs ' B ook " w ill be available soon ?

* * *If the “ D ole ” is b ein g kept 011?

* * *H ow are “ U ncle Sam uel’s ” feet"

* -X-

If H ats Pith at Rs2 annas 4 aren’t useful ?

M A C H I N E G U N N E R S ’ N O T E S . P revious to the presentation of our new

Co lou rs the G .O .C . Poona D istrict came to inspect the Battalion. A bout an hour before his arrival we received a wire

THE DIE-HARDS

stating that he would inspect the M achine Gun Platoon. N aturally, everybody dashed about, including even our Sepoy drivers. A n yh ow , we reached and left the parade with a stainless character. Then came the g reat day (July 15th, 1925) on which we were presented with new co lo u rs by H is E xcellen cy the Com- mander-in-Chief o f India. Th is finished, he visited the M achine Gun bungalow , and gave us credit for our hard w ork.

W e must con gratulate Cpl. Ruff 011 filling the vacancy as Sergean i-In stru ctor at the M achine Gun School, A hm ednagar.

There isn’ t much news from the old Gunners this time. O u r new section are getting a lon g quite w ell; in fact, they have finished practical stuff and are at present delving into the m ysteries of theory (poor kids). Plow they keep inter­esting faces during lectures I don ’t know, but they do.

W e are to lose quite a lot o f our non-commissioned officers this troop ing season, but “ m ethinks ” they will change their minds, as 1 am sure nobody wants them to leave us. But still, we must await developm ents.

Last, but not least, we must con gratu ­late Ptes. (dew , W rig h t and Cadw allader on being appointed Lance-C orporals.

S t e a m T u b e .

S I G N A L L E R S ’ N O T E S .

In the sports w orld hockey reigns supreme, and we are still g o in g stron g at it. M any victories o f four and five goals have com e our w ay.

W e challenged “ B ” C o m pan y’s team and went forth to do or die, but owing' to a cricket match claim in g their best men we beat them 9— 0. A lth o u g h they failed at hockey, fo r their good sports­manship they deserve a cup as high as St. Paul’s.

E very minute o f the gam e was hotly• tnd cleanly contested, and they never once gave up hope.

W e can only trust that, when we do meet their full team , we shall put up as good a show.

W e congratulate L ./ C p ls . Jeffrey and• parks on their prom otion, and wish them every success in their new role.

ie Section were w ell represented at the presentation o f the new Colours.

T h e C olours w ere carried by Lieuts. P ater and H ey wood, our present and ex-signal officers, while the rest o f the Section were split up am ongst the escort and guards.

F l a g B a s h e r .* * *

T h i n g s w e w a n t t o K n o w .

W hat is “ sym pathy ” ?* * *

W h y does “ D uke ” hate aristocrats?* * *

W ho will be the first victim o f our newboxer ?

B IR T H S .H i l l .— O n June 9th, 1925, at A hm ed­

n agar, the w ife of 6190901 S e rg t. F . H ill— a son, Dennis Francis.

G l o v e r .— O n June 24th, 1925, at A h m ed ­nagar. the w ife o f 6188694 S erg t. H . G lo ver— a daughter, M olly D oreen Ivy.

M A R R IA G E .D a r k — K i n g h a m .— On June n t h , 1925,

at St. P eter's Church, Clapham, London, 6189483 Bdsmn. S . D ark to V icto ria M ay K ingham .

P R O M O T I O N S , A P P O IN T M E N T S , E t c .

R everted to Private at own request.— 6192609 L ./ C p l. G. H unt, 6/5/25; 6191170 Cpl. T . F uller, 8/5/25; 6190721 L ./ C p l. H . Cassam , 30/5/25.

Appointed Unpaid Lance-Corporal.— 6190000 Pte. F . Jeffery, 27/5/25; 6192060 Pte. F . Sparkes, 30/5/25; 6189572 Pte. T . S ibley, 8/6/25; 6191821 Pte. T . M artin, 9/6/25; 6192376 Pte. F . W rig h t, 6/7/25; 7814740 Pte. D . G lew , 6191382 Pte. A . Cadwallader, 7/7/25; 6193821 Pte. L . S ta g g , 18/7/25; 6193692 Pte. A . F ow ler, S /7/ 2 5-

P rom oted Sergeant.— 6189754 L ./ S e r g t.F. D raper, 17/2/25.

A ppointed Paid Lance - S erg ean t.— 6191311 Cpl. A . Clifford, 6190826 Cpl. T . T iller, 17/2/25.

Prom oted Corporal.— 6189092 L ./ C p l. A . Secretan, 5/5/25; 6189466 L ./ C p l. J. Jones, 8/5/25; 6191235 L ./ C p l. T . B al­lard, 13/5/25.

THE DIE-HARDS

A pp ointed Paid Lance - Corporal.— 6192715 L ./ C p l. W . E ld rid ge, 5/5/25; 61Q0684 L ./ C p l. A . G ranshaw , 8/5/25; 6189563 L ./ C p l. F . T o w ell, 13/5/25; 6194.285 L ./ C p l. W . S ch o o ledg e, 30/5/25.

C O U R S E S O F I N S T R U C T I O N .Qualified Q .i at S ix th Com bined

Course at Sm all A rm s S c h o o l, Satara, 26/3/25.— 6189120 S e rg t. T . M assey, 6189531 S e rg t. J. H art.

Q ualified F irst Class at the Arm y S ch o o l o f Physical Training, Am bala, 28/3/25.— 6191641 L ./ C p l. L . L axto n .

Q ualified “ G o o d ” at R egim entalN u rsin g O rderlies’ Course at British Stationary H ospital, P oon a, 12/5/25.— 6192615 Bte. S. B ailey, 6189734 P te. J. D ad sw ell; 6190735 P te. H . W hite.

Qualified at the Second BritishR efresh er and R efereein g and Judging Course at the Arm y S ch o o l o f Physical Training, K asauli, 23/5/25. — 6194531 L ./ C p l. E . A ddinall.

Q ualified “ D istin guish ed ” at theSecon d Course, Arm y S ch o o l o f E duca­tion, B el gaum , 2 6 /6 /2 5 — 6192374 L ./ C p l. A . C lark.

C E R T I F I C A T E S O F E D U C A T I O N .

Azuarded Third Class Certificate of E ducation, Ahm ednagar, India, 15/4/25. — 6193272 Pte. G. D uffen, 6193885 Pte. J. D avis, 6195090 P te. G . W ilso n , 6003165 Pte. G. L ee. 6195138 B o y G. K em p, 6194029 Pte. W . K in g , 6195255 Pte. W . D avis, 6188035 Pte. C . M artin, 6193217 Pte. C . I lillier. 6538135 P te. F . H ig g in s , 6193820 P te. A . H ill, 6193750 P te. H . B all, 6193512 P te. G . W ilso n , 6195075 P te. J. Sharpe, 6194436 P te. F . H arvey, 6538175 Pte. J. N eal, 6189765 Pte. J. E n tw istle , 6191042 P te. J. A rn old, 6189831 P te. J. W ard, 6191093 P te. A . D isbu ry, 6195235 Pte. H . R ussell, 6191683 P te. W . Sum m erfield, 6194010 Pte. J. A y le tt, 6191310 Pte. J. Prim e.

T h e underm entioned non-com m issioned officers and m en are awarded Secon d Class Certificates o f Education, 28/4/25. — 6192569 P te. W . M app, 6189905 Pte. S. Y o u n g , 6190202 P te. W . Jones, 6193220 Pte. W . G reen, 6194979 L ./ C p l. B. G ow er, 6192708 L ./ C p l. J. D avis, 6190542 Pte. G. M orris, 6188157 Pte. G. N orris,

6194534 L ./ C p l. E . G eary, 6194971 Pte.V . K ea , 6192699 Pte. G. Poulson, 6193455 Pte. A . M ay, 6191208 Pte. R. W ilson , 6193463 Pte. A . C o x , 6191001 L ./ C p l. R . W in g ro v e , 6194681 Pte. W. C halkley, 6190939 Cpl. R . W o o d , 6191006 Pte. E . Crum p, 6192707 P te. R . Hun- n ings, 6193636 Pte. C . Sale, 6192537 L ./ C p l. J. P ow er, 6193102 Pte. G. Man­hood, 6195635 B o y A . P o tts, 6195710 BoyD . Green.

A w arded Third Class Certificate of Education at Purandliar, 17/6/25.— 6193564 Pte. J. Shaw , 6193091 Pte. G. R ose, 6194270 Pte. C . B acon, 6194202 Pte. G . Chapm an, 6193469 Pte. W . West.

Aw arded First Class Certificates of Education at Ahm ednagar, 8/4/25 (Authority W . 0 . L etter N o . 43/certs/ 122 (S .D .S ) dated 3/6/25).— 6191591S e rg t. R . Colbourne, 6190336 S erg t. L. Sim m onds, 6191883 Cpl. L . Baker, 6192837 L ./ C p l. D . W illiam s.

-

R E G I M E N T A L A S S O C I A T I O N N O T E S .

S E C R E T A R Y ’ S R E P O R T F O R Q U A R T E R E N D E D S E P T . 3 0 T H , 1925.

Am ount o f gran ts made : £79 11s. 9d.Special loan sanctioned b y Executive

Com m ittee : £100.N um ber o f cases dealt w ith : 92.N um ber of cases assisted : 51.N um ber of men registered fo r employ­

m ent : 3 9 .N um ber of men found permanent

e m p lo ym en t: 9 .N um ber of m en offered employment:

26.N um ber of parcels sent out from

L ad ies’ G uild : 10.Th e Q u arterly M eetin g o f the Execu­

tive Com m ittee w as held at the Central L ondon R ecru itin g D ep o t, W hitehall, on Saturday, July 25th, 1925.

P resen t: Col. A . M . O . A n w yl Pas- singham , O .B .E . (in the Chair), Brig.- Gen. F . D . L u m ley, C .B ., C .B .E . , Lieut.- C o l. V . L . N. Pearson, D .S .O ., Lieut. Col. G. B each, O .B .E ., T .D ., MajorD . C. Percy-Sm ith, D .S .O ., O .B .E ., Capt. FI. E . F o ster, Capt. M . Thorne, Capt. V . E . Stock , M .C ., R .S .M . H.

THE DIE-HARDS 93

Anderson, M .C ., R .Q .M .S . A . Purcell, Sergt. W , R o g ers, M r. E . M orris, and M ajor F . S. Steed, D .C .M ., Secretary and Flon. T reasurer.

The M inutes o f the previous m eeting were read and confirmed.

The accounts of the O ld Com rades’ Dinner (February, 1925) w ere read and passed. It was decided that, in future, advertising the D inner be lim ited to send­ing notices to m em bers who attended previous dinners, and to Pensioners and Reservists, through the R egim ental P a y­master, and to in sertin g notices in papers that publish free o f charge.

It was proposed and carried that, in future, the O ld Co m rades’ D inner be held in the early part o f the w inter, and that the next D inner takes place in N ovem ber. Ic was also proposed and carried that the follow ing lie invited as R egim ental G uests: Th e D uke o f B edford , K .G ., Lord Lieutenant o f the C o un ty o f M id­dlesex; the Chairm an, V ice-C hairm an and Clerk of the M iddlesex County Council.

Capt. Foster, Chairm an o f the H istory Comm ittee, reported the p rogress being made with the H isto ry o f the R egim ent in the Great W ar, and explained the causes of the delay in publication. H e stated that the H isto ry Com m ittee have every reason to believe that the first volume will be in the hands o f the printers by the end o f the year.

it was proposed and carried that the follow ing am ounts be subscribed, on be­half of the R egim ent, to the variousCharities fo r 1925 : —

£ s. d.Charity O rganisation S o c i e t y ................. 4 4 0C .O .S ., Registration Branch ................. 1 1 oBritish L egion ... ... 1 r 0Friends o f the P o o r .............................. 2 2 0Gordon B oys ’ H om e ... 1 1 0Hospital for Sick Children ... ... 2 2 0National Association fo r Em ploym ent

o f ex-Soldiers .................' ... 2 2 0Netley Charitable F u n d .............................. 2 2 0New port Market Train ing S ch oo l ... 1 1 oRoyal D rum m ond Institute ................ 2 2 0Royal Soldiers’ D aughters’ H om e ... 2 2 0Soldiers and S ailors’ Fam ilies A ssocn . 2 2 0Soldiers’ and S ailors’ H elp Society ... 2 2 0St. Dunstan’ s .................................. " . . . 1 1 0

It was proposed and carried that the follow ing sub-com m ittee be appointed to consider the possibility o f exten d in g the C ottage Hom e Schem e, or in any w ay assisting men, discharged to pension, in obtaining housing accom m odation: —

Chairm an: L ieu t.-C ol. G. B each, O .B .E ., T .D . M em bers: M r. E . M orris and M r. J. G. P eacock.

98, B u lw er R oad,Silver Street,

Edm onton, N .18. A u g u st 4th, 1925.

T h e .Se c r e t a r y ,M iddlesex A ssociation,

M ill H ill.S i r ,

O n behalf o f the fam ily o f the lateC .S .M . J. B. Parker, I b eg to thank you fo r you r expressions o f sym pathy in our sad bereavem ent and inestim able loss of our dear father, and also fo r the beautiful w reath. K in d ly convey our thanks to the m embers of the M iddlesex A ssociation , particularly the officers, N .C . officers and friends o f m y dear father.

I am, Sir,Y o u r obedient servant,

(Sd.) A . W . P a r k e r .

London, N . n ,A u g u st 8th, 1925.

M a j o r F. S. S t e e d , D .C .M .D e a r S i r ,

Enclosed please find P .O . value ys. 6d., being final instalment in repaym ent of loan of £4 ios. from R egim ental A ssociation.

M y w ife and self wish to express our gratitude and appreciation fo r all the A ssociation has done. It is im possible to give expression in w ords to the deep gratitude we feel.

Since last w ritin g to you I have been appointed a “ regu lar ” service, and I understand that when this takes place one’s position is as good as perm anent.

A fte r receivin g 25s. per w eek unem ­ploym ent benefit, and to receive £3 14s. (my last w eek ’s salary) I think you will understand a little o f the appreciation we m ust feel.

V e r y sincerely yours,J. E . K . H .

H arlesden.S i r ,

E nclosed please find £1 2s. 6d., being the final instalment o f loan granted to me. A lso 5s. as a subscription to the R egim ental A ssociation.

94 THE DIE-HARDS

I w ish to exp ress m y thanks fo r the lenient w ay you have dealt w ith me in p ayin g this loan back. I am a m arried m an, and unfortunately my w ife is ailing, and has been fo r the past six m onths, but I am hop in g now that in a few m onths she w ill be quite well again. T h a n k in g you again for the jbb that you obtained fo r me on the tram w ays, also fo r the loan.

W ish in g the A ssociation the best of success in the future, and that they m ay help men as they helped me.

Y o u rs thankfully,G . R . S.

A rraw a tta G oodm ent Farm ,Inverell, N .S .W .

Sunday, M arch 29th, 19.25.D e a r S i r ,

Just a few lines to let you know that we have safely reached our destination.

A fte r a m ost enjoyable and interesting v o y a g e we disem barked at Sydney 011 the 19th inst. M ost o f that day was taken up in v isitin g various governm ent offices and g e ttin g our b a g g a g e th rou gh the C u stom s. T h e next evening we en­trained fo r Inverell, and had tw enty-tw o hours in the train. O u r boy. Bob, m et us on the 19th and travelled up with us— he has g o t a jo b fairly close to us, so that W e shall be able to see him at inter­vals. T o m y surprise I did not at first recogn ize him— he has gro w n s o ; his m other and I were delighted to have him with us fo r a few days.

W e w ere m et at Inverell railw ay station by the m an ag er o f this farm , and driven out to our co ttag e, about ten m iles. H ere we found everyth in g ready fo r us; a stock o f food laid in also. W e w ere off to bed pretty early that n igh t, as w e w ere all fairly tired out, and needed no rockin g.

T h e n ext day— Sunday— w as spent in lo o k in g round a portion o f the farm , which is about tw ice the size of R ich­mond Park. It is split up into about eight sm aller farm s, with a dairy at each place. Th ere is a central butter and cheese factory, which takes all the m ilk. A river runs th rough the estate: it is rather low at present, as there has been no rain to speak of since Christm as.

A lot o f the land is under w heat, corn (m aize), and lucerne.

O n M onday I started off at the dairy and had m y first m ilking lesson, and have m anaged to get in a lesson each day since, and am gettin g fairly efficient— I m ilked five cow s this m orning.

Th e go o d th ing about m ilking, from a farm learn er’s point of view , is that it can be done w ithout in terferin g with the rest of the day’s w ork, because it is done so early in the m orning.

M y other tasks— all of them somewhat strange to me— have been : — H andling heavy horses— harnessing and unharness­ing them and gen erally g e ttin g acquainted with them ; h o ein g noxious weeds; pulling corn (maize)— the cobs are pulled off the stalks by hand.

T h e w eather has been g loriou s— I think we have seen and enjoyed more sunshine already than we had in England all last year.

E veryone here, though, is anxiously lo o k in g for rain— the ground is very dry and hard and the grass is parched up. T h is district is said to be the m ost fertile in the state, but the rainfall is uncertain.

W cdnesday evening, A pril 1st.

I was unable to finish w ritin g 011 Sunday ; we had several neighbours come in 011 Sunday to m ake them selves known to us.

T h e m ost surprising th ing that strikes me about this country is the freedom and confidence o f the children; you n gsters of four years are quite at home to the saddle — not one 01* tw o here and there, but all of them . T h is evening, on m y .way home I met the farm m an ag er’s boy of about nine tru d g in g hom e with a double- barrelled gun, and carry in g four rabbits which he told me he had just shot— he left home with four cartrid ges only and returned with four rabbits with all the assurance o f a gro w n man and a crack shot.

T h is is a surprising coun try in many w ays, and I hope to enjoy m any surprises o f the right kind.

I don ’ t know w hether it is peculiar to this district, but one can w o rk all day— from dawn to dusk— without feelin g un­duly tired. M y one n ightm are before leavin g E ngland was w hether, after my sedentary life and at my age I should be able to do a hard d ay ’s w ork without being knocked up, but I find I can hold

THE DIE-HARDS

my own with the best of them , and the remarkable th ing is that I am not unduly fatigued when the lamps are lit at night:. The climate and air are w onderful.

It is “ early days ” with us yet, but I am of opinion at this m om ent that I would rather w ork here fo r nothing except my tucker than to return to England to w ork fo r a w age.

On M onday I spent the day p lo ughin g with a team o f eight heavy horses, driven abreast, the plough h avin g five fu rrow s; it was quite thrilling.

N ow I really m ust stop, as I have other letters to w rite. T ru stin g that you are in the best o f h ea lth ; also that her ladyship is fit and well.

I remain.Y o u rs very sincerely,

A . T . C o u s i n s .P .S .— M y w ife started m ilking the cow s

to-day, and has arranged fo r riding lessons.

<$ <$>

O F F I C E R S ’ C L U B .

T ' H E Q u arterly E xecu tive Com m ittee M eeting w as held at the Central

London R ecru itin g D ep o t, W hitehall, on Saturday, July 25th, 1925.

Present: Col. A . M . O . A nw yl-Pass- ingham, O .B .E . (in the Chair), B rig .- Gen. F. D . Lum ley, C .B ., C .B .E .,L ieut.-Col. V . L . N . Pearson, D .S .O ., Lieut.-Col. G. Beach, O .B .E ., T .D ., M ajor D. C. Percy-Sm ith, D .S .O ., O .B .E ., Capt. II. E . F oster, Capt. M . Thorne, Capt. V . E . Stock, M .C ., and M ajor F . S. Stead, D .C .M . (H on. Secre­tary and Treasurer).

The M inutes of the previous m eeting were read and confirmed. It w as pro­posed to ask m em bers w ho are in touch with, or m eet, ex-officers o f the Regim ent, to notify the names and addresses to the H on. Secretary of those wishing to join, in order that the rules and particulars m ay be sent to them.

D E P O T N O T E S .

/\ I present, six squads are u n dergoin g training. A draft is due for

Aldershot this month.

T h e R egim ent requires 258 recruits by the end o f M arch, which indicates a busy time for us all. There is no “ off ” season here fo r anyone, and the greatest difficulty is experienced in w o rk in g in the annual leave fo r all ranks, o w in g to the continuous inflow o f recruits. Th e D epot has lost L ieut. B. B . R ackham , M .C ., who has rejoined the 1st Battalion.

M ajo r A . C. A rn old, O .B .E ., M .C ., has arrived in relief of M ajo r W . W . Jefferd. L ieut. G. P arker relieved L ieut. Rackham , and Lieut. S. M inim s has been appointed A c tin g A djutant.

The D epot, about 160 stron g, atten­ded the T o rch lig h t T atto o at W em bley 011 Septem ber 24th. T h e p arty was despatched and returned in five hired buses.

The w inter program m e of amusement has com m enced. F ootball, passball, hockey, quoits, dances, w hist drives, b o x in g and sh ootin g are in full sw in g.

T h e Cadre, under Lieut. S. M iram s, M .C ., attended the M iddlesex B rigade Territoria l Cam p. Its services were appreciated in a form al letter o f thanks from the B rigade Com m ander.

Since A pril, 1923, 326 recruits have been drafted to the 1st Battalion. O f these, 264 gained Certificates o f Education and only seven failed to qualify in m usketry.

T h e Annual D epot Rifle M eetin g was held on Septem ber 1st and 2nd.

T h is year the second day w as observed as a holiday, and in addition to the small arm s com petitions a ‘ ‘ F a i r ” w as organized. T h is proved an unqualified success. Th e fo llow in g were the side shows : —

Cocoanut Shy— Run by S erg t. H art.A unt Sally— Run by S ergt. Cobbett.Fortune T eller— Run by S erg t. D arby.A rt E xhibition— Run by C .S .M .I .

E lliot, A .P .T .S .D arts— Run by L ./ C p l. Jones.Five T en — Run by Cpl. D ickm anton.These shows provided intense am use­

ment to all, and were a constant draw during the w hole day.

“ M anagers ” worked like trojans, and displayed high ability in their respective roles.

The sum of £15 13s. 3d. w as made, and after all expenses had been paid a balance o f over £9 was credited to the D epot amusement funds.

96 THE DIE-HARDS

R i f l e M e e t i n g P r i z e W i n n e r s .

Com petition “ A ” — D ep ot Staff Individual Charnpionship.

Possib le points— 55.Score.

W in n er, M a jo r B ucknall ... 48 Runner-up, L ./ S e r g t . Cobbett ... 47 W o o d en spoon, L ./ S e r g t . T a y lo r 12

Com petition “ B ” K n o ck-o u t Pairs. W in n ers, S e rg t. Griffen and L ./ S e r g t .

R obbins.R unners-up, L ieu t. W eller and Lieut.

R ackham .

Com petition “ C ” — Inter-M ess Challenge Cup.

P ossible A g g r e g a te — 220. W in n ers, O fficers’ M ess (M a jo r A rn old,

M ajo r B ucknall, L ieu t. R ackham , and L ieu t. W eller) 136 points.

S e rg e a n ts ’ M ess (S erg t. W ilcockson , S e rg t. C obbett, S e rg t. C lark , and S ergt. R obbins), 102 points.

Com petition “ D ” — R ecru its ’ Handicap. Possib le A g g r e g a te — 160.

W in n ers, “ M o n s ’ ’ (L ./ C p l. Patterson, P te. S co vell, P te. Q u ick, Pte. D eacon) 120 points.

R unners-up, “ N ivelle ” (Pte. Cham ­bers, P te. C ro co tt, P te. K n ig h t, Pte. C o tcro ft), 115 points.

3rd, “ Y p res ” (Pte. R andall, Pte. A llen , Pte. A n d erson , Pte. D oe) n o points.

Com petition “ E ” — Lew is Gun Pairs (D ep ot Staff).

P ossible points— 80.W in n ers, S e rg t. H art and Cpl. Stew ard,

54 points.Runners-up, M ajo r A rn o ld and Cpl.

Bearne, 49 points.3rd, S e rg t. R obbins and S e rg t. Cobbett,

49 points.

Com petition “ F ” — -Lewis Gun Pairs (R ecruits).

P ossible points— 40.W inners, Pte. P a g e and P te. Parnell,

25 points.R unners-up, Pte. Q uick and Pte.

P erkin s, 16 points.

Com petition “ G ” — Inter-Squad Fire Order Com petition.

Possib le a g g re g a te — 24.

W inners “ M ons I V ” (S erg t. W ilcock­son, L ./ C p l. P atterson, Pte. D eacon, Pte. Q u ick, Pte. Scovell), net score, 12.

Runners-up, “ N ivelle I V ” (L ./C pl. H u ll, Pte. G rocott, Pte. Searle 39, Pte. Fallon, Pte. H ale), net score, 7.

Special prizes w ere also awarded to Pte. M ellish and Pte. M ern (recruits) for g e ttin g into the semi-final o f the Knock­out Pairs Pipe Com petition, open to the D epot.

S P O R T S N O T E S .

D e p o t F o o t b a l l T e a m .

T h is year the team w as entered fo r the H endon and D istrict L e a g u e , D ivision I. U p to date we have only played three gam es, v iz .: —

Septem ber 5th.— v. B rent United(aw ay). R esult, lost 3— 1.

Septem ber 12th.— v. H endon M.E. Club. R esult, won 2— 1.

Septem ber 19th.— v. B ritish Thomson H ouston. R esult, lost 4— 1.

It is w orth y o f m ention that this year’s team includes four recruits.

D e p o t F o o t b a l l L e a g u e .

O u r S o ccer L e a g u e is now in full swing. Seven team s are com peting— Sergeants, D ep o t Staff; C orporals, D epo t Staff; P rivates, D epo t Staff; “ Y p r e s ’ ’ Squad; “ N ivelle ” Squad; “ Ladysm ith ” Squad; “ Som m e ’ ’ Squad.

U p to the present tw elve gam es have been played. “ N ivelle ” Squad are at the top o f the L e a g u e , w ith four points.

P a s s b a l l .

P assball at the D ep o t alw ays provides keen com petition. T h e S ergeants, who were the winners o f the Passball L e a g u e , and the Privates (runners-up), w ere presented w ith silver and bronze m edals respectively 011 the occasion of the D epo t Rifle M eeting.

J u d gin g by recent form displayed by the O fficers’ and P rivates’ team s, who are constantly battlin g for the top rung of the “ ladder,’ ’ the Sergeants are in grave d an ger o f being deprived o f their laurels.

S E R G E A N T S ’ M ESS, D E P O T , T H E M ID D LE SE X R E G IM E N T .

Standing.— L./Sgt. Robbins. L./Sgt. Trapp, Sgt. WUcockson, L./Sgt. Cobbctt, L.Sgt. Raindle, Sgt. Hart, Sgt. Darby, Sgt. Clarke, L./Sgt. Warren, L./Sgt. Taylor.

Sitting.— Sgt. Goldstraw, C.S.M.I. E llio tt, A.P.T.S., R.Q.M.S. Purcell, R.S.M. Mantel! Lt.-Col. V. L. N. Pearson, D.S.O.Major G. C. Bucknall, M.C., C.S.M. Gray, C.Q.M.S. Gray, Sgt. Shaw.

Ground.— Sgt. Forknall, R.A.M.C., Sgt. Osborne, A.E.C.

Photo : A rthur H ailey.

A L L R A N K S, D E P O T T H E M ID D L E SE X R E G IM E N T , S E P T E M B E R , 1925.

THE DIE-HARDS

S p o r t s L a d d e r .

T h e D epo t Sports Lad der is still very m uch alive, and keen rivalry is prevalent betw een squads and m esses forprom otion.

D e p o t S p o r t s L a d d e r .

S ix -a s id e H o c k e y .— I, Sergeants ; a. C orporals ;3 Y p re s IV ; 4, Officers ; 5, M ons I V ; 6, PrivatesD .S . ; 7, N ivelle IV ; 8, A lbuhera.

Six-a side F o o tb a ll.— 1, C o rp o ra ls ; 2, Ladysm ith ;3. M on s I V : 4, Y pres I V : 5, O fficers; 6,S erg ea n ts ; 7, Privates D .S . ; 8, N iv e lle ; 9,Albuhera.

P a ssb a ll.— I , Privates D .S . ; 2, O fficers; 3,Ypres I V ; 4, N ivelle I V ; 5, M on s I V ; 6, Sergeants ; 7. Corporals ; 8, A lbuhera.

Q u o its .— 1. C orp ora ls : 2, S ergeants: 3, Nivelle I V : 4, Y p res I V : 5, O fficers : 6, M ons I V ; 7, A lbuhera I V ; 8, Privates D .S .

T u g -o f-W a r — I, S ergean ts; 2. Y p res I V ; 3, O fficers; 4, M ons I V ; 5, C orp ora ls ; 6, Nivelle I V ;7, Privates D .S . ; 8. Albuhera IV .

S h o o tin g .— I, O fficers; 2, \7pres I V ; 3. Nivelle I V ; 4, C orporals ; 5, M ons IV ; 6, Privates D .S . ;7, Sergeants ; 8, Albuhera IV .

I n t e r - S q u a d B o x i n g C h a m p i o n s h i p .

W e have ju st concluded a R ecru its ’ B o x in g Com petition, and are co n g ra tu ­la tin g ourselves 011 havin g such good m aterial.

O u r entries w ere limited to the strength o f the w eakest squad on the day the m eetin g started; nevertheless, we obtained seventy-six entries, and out- b o x in g made three even in gs’ sport. It w as decided to have a few days break a fter each series, and by so doing we enabled fellow s w ho had received m inor cuts and sprains to carry on, instead of scratch ing.

T h e com petitors are to be con gratu ­lated on their fig h tin g spirit, for in many cases science w as lackin g, but pluck never.

W e have several prom isin g lads, and fo r the benefit of the Battalion b o xin g instructors w e w ill nam e them later.

P oints for the D epo t B o x in g Shield w ere as follow s : —

M ons, 51; N ivelle, 39; Ladysm ith , 38; Som m e, 37; Y p res. 31; A lbu h era, 26.

Sem i-finals and finals of the various w e ig h ts : —

Light-w cigh ts Scmi-FiHals.Pte. Collins (N ivelle) P. Pte. B rightm an

(M ons).— Collins gave us a very good exhibition o f the use of the stra igh t left, and one gathered im m ediately that he had

had a little previous experience. B right­man fough t pluckily, but was 110 match fo r his m ore experienced opponent, who gained the verdict 011 points.

L ./ C p l. P atterson obtained a walk-over, his opponent being detained in hospital.

F inal.— Collins (N ivelle) knocked out P atterson (M ons) in the second round.

Collins should be noted as a likely lad.

M iddle-w eights Sem i-Finals.Pte. Palm er (Ladysm ith) v. Pte. F.

Sm ith (Ladysm ith).— A very g o o d bout, w hich Palm er won on points. Smith put up a good show , but his opponent’s long reach stopped him from obtain ing the necessary points. Sm ith is a diamond 111 the rough.

Pte. Paris (N ivelle) v. Pte. Ower (Som m e).— A slam m ing m atch, and one could see that the stron gest man or the luckiest m an w ould win. O w er stuck it pluckily until the middle o f the second round, when a stra igh t left and right hook to the jaw low ered him; he w as game enough, but the referee intervened, and so saved a plucky man from further punishment.

Final.— Palm er outclassed Paris, and the referee stopped the bout in the second round.

Palm er should make a second strin g to the Battalion m iddlew eight.

Feather-w eights Sem i-Finals.Pte. Burton (Som m e) v. Pte. Clowes

(Y p res).— Clow es opened w ell, but Burton boxed coolly and sparred fo r an opening, which Clow es showed in the second round. Like a flash B u rto n ’s rig h t con­nected with his opponent's jaw , and Clow es took the count.

Pte. A llison (Albuhera) v. Pte. Lyford (M ons).— A good , gru ellin g contest, with A llison w inning every round against a very plucky opponent. Th e referee awarded L y fo rd a good loser s prize.

Final.— B urton beat A llison 011 points. B oth lads are w orth y of note.

W elter-w eights Sem i-Finals.Pte. Baulch (A lbuhera) v. Pte. H ogg

(Y p re s).— Baulch knocked out H o g g in the first round, with a heavy punch under the heart.

Pte. M arshall (Som m e) v. Pte. Quick (M ons).— M arshall won this bout on points. Th e loser put up a very game

THE DIE-HARDS

show, and the referee awarded his team an extra half point.

p-mal '— M arshall outclassed Baulch, who stuck it gam ely after h avin g received several uppercuts. Baulch received an extra half point for a p lucky loser.

We will hear m ore of M arshall, who shows every prom ise of becom ing one of the Battalion team at a future date.

Bantam -weights Final.Pte. D avis (M ons) beat Pte. Brett

(Ypres) 011 points. D avis should be noted.

The fo llow in g fou gh t pluckily 111 the opening stages o f the m e e tin g :— Ptes. Hughes (M ons). N eal (N ivelle), Chambfflg (Nivelle), and K irb y (Y p res).

T h e C . O . ’ s P h y s i c a l E f f i c i e n c y M e d a l .

The underm entioned recruits w ere awarded the C .O .’ s S ilver M edal for the best all-round recruits at physical effici­ency ; — 6196552 Pte. C . Joslyn (Albuhera), 6196638 Pte. R . H ew itt (M ons). W e congratulate them.

Result of W hist D rive held Septem ber 17th, 1925 : —

Ladies.— 1st, Pte. K in g , 161 points; 2nd. Mrs. H ull, 159: 3rd, M rs. Shelley, 156; consolation, M rs. M organ, 134.

Gents.— 1st, Pte A llen , 166 points; 2nd, Pte. Ravenall. 164; 3rd. Pte. A nderson. 157; consolation, Pte. Parnell, 144.

S E R G E A N T S ’ M E S S N O T E S .

Events for the last quarter have been few and far between. A number o f m em ­bers of the M ess w ere attached to the Territorials at Shoreham Cam p during August.

The en tout eas tennis court sprang into life 011 July 20th. A n “ A t Hom e was held, at which the officers o f the Depot were invited. A very pleasant afternoon was spent in tennis, billiards, and initiating our visitors into the wiles of " Pokey D ie ."

A week afterw ards we paid a return visit to the O fficers’ M ess. It w as a glorious day, and we indulged in tennis, bowls, croquet, archery, ping-pong. The rain that came during the late afternoon did not damp our feelings.

99

D u rin g July, W .O .2 Inst. R . S. Dunham , A rm y E ducational Corps, after fou r and a half years w ith the R egim ent, first with the 3rd Battalion and then the D epot on the disbandment o f that battalion, has left 11s for the " S i g s . , ' M aresfield.

S ergt. O sborne. A rm y E ducational Corps, has taken his place am on gst us, and we wish them both success in their hew surroundings.

O u r congratulations and go o d wishes g o to S ergt. T u n g a te on his prom otion 011 postin g to the home B attalion, to the " d i z z y " rank of W .O .2 .

S ergt. Raindle is his relief at the D epot, pending the arrival of S erg t. S p erry from the 2nd Battalion.

S ergt. C larke is once again w ith us for the purpose of carryin g out the training of the sixth squad at the D epot.

The m onthly tournam ent fo r Sep­tember, being “ sk ittles," proved fruitless for the m any novices in the M ess, S e rg t. W ilcockson being the winner, but as he has already gained a " p o t," C .S .M . G ray takes possession.

A Billiards Tournam ent, fo r special prizes, is now in p rogress, and has reached its final stage— S ergt. W ilcockson v. C .Q .M .S . G ray. T h e bettin g is with the first named, a future Inman.

W e take this opportunity o f co n gratu ­lating our late A ctin g-A d ju tan t, Lieut.B. B. Rackham , M .C ., S e rg t. Shaw , and S ergt. Griffin on their bravin g the ties of holy m atrim ony, and we wish them and their w ives every success, happiness and prosperity.

Q uite a number of m arriages have taken place at the D epot lately. It m ust be the " air " o f lovely M ill H ill, especially as a certain mem ber o f h igh rank has found a " cousin ” a fter all these years.

----------------- I n k y .

C O R P O R A L S ’ C L U B N O T E S .

Th e ranges at the D epot w ere the scene of great activity on a recent occasion, which explained the m ystic and fierce whispers, such as “ Grip it ." “ H old yo u r b reath ," and “ T ak e yo u r time ’ ’ which had been heard previously in many isolated corners.

Th e D epot Annual Rifle M eetin g had arrived, supported by a sm all edition of H am pstead H eath.

IOO THE DIE-HARDS

R ifles and L e w is guns had been dis­covered by officers, non-com m issioned officers, D ep o t staff, and recruits, and a keen d ay 's com petition with L ew is-gu n pairs, inter-m ess team s, individual piping, and “ F ire O rd ers ” w as the outcom e. A ll m esses w ere still represented at the tea interval, and later the finals presented m any thrills w ith som e success fo r our ow n m em bers. T h e results are probably m entioned elsew here, so w e w ill pass over to the fact that the day w as enjoyed by all, as w as evidenced by the hearty applause given after the presentation of prizes by M rs. P earson , w hile the two-, fold ob ject of g o o d com petition, and the results o f the F a ir ably organ ized by L ieu t. W eller, seem ed to be fu lly realized.

P assin g on to other fields, the C o rp ora ls have had a fair share in the sp o rts: the final of the F fockey T o u rn a­m ent saw our team at last take aw ay the S ergean ts ' w in n ing sequence by beating them 3— i, the result of a hard tussle. S p orts Lad der show s us on the top rung fo r footb all, hockey, and quoits, w hile in the D epo t L e a g u e , ju st com m enced, we have, w ith tw o m atches, a w in and a loss, reg is te r in g ten go a ls to three against.

W e very m uch reg ret seein g our late A d ju tan t, L ieu t. B . B. R ackham , M .C ., leave the D ep o t. H is en ergy in p ro­m o tin g com petitions, and so en co u rag in g the social side o f sold ierin g, w ill be g rea tly m issed. T h e C o rp orals wish both L ieu t, and M rs. R ackham every happiness and success in th eir new sphere.

W e extend a h earty w elcom e to M ajo r A rn o ld , O .B .E ., M .C ., and L ieu t. Parker, w ho have com e to jo in us from the 1st B attalion.

T h e first D an ce o f the season w as held by the C o rp orals this w eek, and, under the m anagem ent o f Cpl. S tew ard and Cpl. B earne, proved a g rea t success. Ju d gin g by the in creasing num bers at these events, w e m ust sh o rtly have a M ill H ill Palais de D an se; the on ly serious opposition b ein g ‘ 'P o t K ed N e l ly ” w ith his Rin T in , ably supported by Jock, w ho says there should be no co lou r bar w here liquids are concerned, and is tak in g as his slogan “ Be a b a r .”

O u r con gratu lation s to L ./ C p l. Bearne on his prom otion to C o rp oral, and to L ./ C p l. S argen t on his appointm ent. Th ere have been m any new com ers to

the Club re c e n tly : from the is t Battalion w e w elcom e L ./ C p ls . Painter, Pinder, and B ow den, w hile from the recruit squads L ./ C p ls . P aterson, Benson, §mith and A n derson have com e to sw ell out­ranks.

T o help balance, we have been sorry to lose Cpl. S tacey and L ./ C p l. W ilson to A ldersh ot, a lthough the form er has only left in spirit and not in body, still being attached. A n event w hich caused great excitem ent w as the departure on leave, a fter all these years, o f “ S lasher ” and “ S an d y,” T h e y certainly w ent with the im pression that their ow n to rch ligh t pro­cession w as enligh tenin g, and that the W em bley T a tto o couldn ’t hold a candle to it.

B efore c lo sin g these notes, the Corporals wish to say how much the photographs of regim ental life, contained in recent issues o f the Journal, are appre­ciated, and all looked forw ard to as one of the best features o f their quarterly news.

G. E . G.

G e g i s m s .

Is the invention o f a certain non­com m issioned officer to put a pipe line th rou gh a solid w all w orth patenting?

W as it m erely a knock-out, or did ” D iz z y ” get really dizzy over his jazzy partner ?

* * *Did the offer of W em bley rock at the

T a tto o appeal to the T h u rsd ay humour of those w ho w ere “ on the rocks ” ?

* * *W h o to o k note o f the w ords “ syn­

c h ro n izatio n ” and “ pedanticism ” fo r a possible cross-w ord solution?

* * *

W heth er it w ould be to the satisfaction of m any if “ M adam e Y o u k o v sk y ” could change place w ith “ A u n t S a l ly ” next F a ir D a y ?

M I L I T A R Y “ H I S T O R Y ! ”

“ Th e B attle o f A lbuh era w as fort in France in 1916.

“ In this battle the M iddlesex Regiment gained the m ick name the D ie H ard and there is not m eney R egim ents have a mick name.

THE DIE-HARDS 101

“ H ow we gained the name D ie Flard.“ Lieutenant Cornel Ingles w as gentm an

that gave the M iddlesex theire m ick name during the battle of A lbuh era in 1916.

“ Conal Inglis w as searelus wonded and his men carried on, hey went to take him to the rear and he refu ged and said he wish to keep w her he was.

“ A fter a w ile Cornel Ingles caled out Die H ard my men D ie H a rd .”

The above is a true extract from the pen of a gentlem an stayin g at M ill H ill.

P o s t i n g s .

6188444 S ergt. G. H o ad ley: Posted to ist Battalion, 30/7/25.

6189130 S ergt. J. T u n gate : Posted to 1st Battalion, 19/8/25.

6192291 Cpl. F . S tacey: Posted to ist Battalion, 20/8/25.

6189800 S ergt. W . R aindle : Postedfrom ist Battalion, 16/8/25 (tem porary).

6192291 Cpl. F . S tacey: A ttached from ist Battalion, 20/8/25.

6538128 L ./ C p l. W . B ow d en : A ttached from ist Battalion, 18/8/25.

6194174 L ./ C p l. E . P inder: Postedfrom 1st Battalion, 22/8/25.

6189095 S erg t. L . C larke : A ttachedfrom ist Battalion, 22/8/25.

6194828 L ./ C p l. H . W ilso n : Posted to ist Battalion, 22/8/25.

6189092 L ./ C p l. J. P ain ter: Postedfrom ist Battalion, 28/8/25.

C o u r s e s .

6194406 L ./ C p l. E . B earne: Attended 27th Course of instruction at the A rm y School of E ducation, Shorncliffe, from 27/ i / 2S t° 5/6/25, and obtained a very satisfactory report. Pass (Class I.)

C e r t i f i c a t e s o f E d u c a t i o n .

6282364 Pte. E . D allison : A w arded 3rd Class Certificate, 23/5/24, w hilst serving with the Buffs.

5823570 Pte. T . P age : A w arded 3rd Class Certificate, 12/2/25, w hilst serving with the Suffolk R egim ent.

i 2i 917 > Pte. H . P arn ell: A w arded 2nd Class Certificate, 9/5/24, whilst serving with the Cam eronians.

The underm entioned were awarded 3rd Class Certificates o f Education during the last quarter : —

6196721 Pte. R . A nderson, 6196659 Pte.C. Brown, 6196627 Pte. A . Bird, 6196640

Pte. G. D avis, 6196656 Pte. E . K n ig h t, 6196608 Pte. A . M urray, 5243106 P te. J. N icholls, 6196616 Pte. E . L y fo rd , 6196702 Pte. T . A llen , 6196720 P te. E . B yrne, 6196722 Pte. S. D oe, 6196633 Pte. H . H u gh es, 6196723 Pte. R . K en t, 6196637 Pte. W . M een, 6196646 Pte. J. O atw ay, 6196411 Pte. A . Brett, 6196721 Pte. C. Escudier, 6192854 Pte. F . Green, 6196748 Pte. F . ITipgrave, 6196732 Pte. J. L u cas, 6196801 Pte. C . O ffer, 6196819 Pte. A . Parker, 6196700 L ./ C p l. G. Sm ith, 6196704 Pte. J. Clow es, 6196812 Pte. V . Farebrother, 6196713 Pte. G. H ale, 6196804 Pte. C. L o ckett, 6196733 Pte. J. M urray, 6196737 Pte. F . Paris, 6196743 Pte. C. Searle, 6196814 Pte. C. W hite.

B i r t h s .

T u n g a t e .— O n 11/7/25, at Strood , K en t, the w ife o f 6189130 S e rg t. J. T u n g a te — a son, John A rthur.

R a v e n a l l .— O n 10/9/25, at Tottenham , the w ife o f 7814814 Pte. W . R aven all — a son, R eginald W illiam .

M a r r i a g e s .

S h a w — S o m e r v i l l e . — O n 1/8/25, at Finchley, 7808649 S ergt. E . Shaw , to A lice Ellen Som erville.

G r i f f i n — E l l i s .— O n 5/9/25, at Surrey, 6191073 S ergt. J. Griffin to G ertrude M ay Ellis.

E x t e n s i o n o f S e r v i c e .

6190512 Cpl. G. G o ss: E xtended his. service to com plete tw elve years w ith the Colours, 14/8/25.

6189019 Cpl. J. S tew ard : R e-eng aged at M ill H ill, 14/8/25, to com plete tw enty- one years with the C olours w ith the M iddlesex Regim ent.

D i s c h a r g e .6191915 L ./ C p l. P . B a ker: D isch arged

under para. 363 (xxv), K .R ., 7/8/25.

P r o m o t i o n s a n d A p p o i n t m e n t s .

6196611 Pte. J. M orrison : A p p oin ted Unpaid Lance-C orporal, 28/7/25 (recruit).

7735205 Pte. A . S a r g e a n t: A pp oin ted Unpaid Lance-C orporal, 29/7/25 (recruit).

5243106 Pte. J. N ich olls: A p p oin ted Unpaid Lance-C orporal, 6/8/25.

6194406 L ./ C p l. E . B earne: Prom oted Corporal, 15/6/25.

6194174 L ./ C p l. E . P in der: A pp ointed Paid Lance-C orporal vice W ilson , 22/8/25.

1 0 2 THE DIE-HARDS

6196629 P te. E . B en son : A ppointedU npaid L an ce-C orp oral, 21/8/25 (recruit).

6189292 L ./ C p l. J. P a in ter: A ppointed P aid L an ce-C o rp o ral vice B earne, 28/8/25.

6196700 Pte. G. Sm ith : A pp ointed U n ­paid L an ce-C o rp o ral, 31/8/25 (recruit).

6196611 Pte. J. M o rriso n : (recruit)D eprived o f L an ce-C orp oral stripe,5/9/25-

6196721 Pte. R . A n d erso n : A ppointed U npaid L an ce-C orp oral, 11/9/25 (recruit;.

H O W S O L D I E R S A R E H E L P I N G T H E I R P A R E N T S .

T h e latest returns from recruitin g centres in all parts o f the country show that m ore than 2,000 men w ho have en­listed in the R e g u la r A rm y during the past three m onths have made allotm ents from th eir pay to parents or other de­pendents, and that the num ber o f recruits a va ilin g them selves of the p rivilege of m akin g such allotm ents is steadily increas­in g. T h e m oney in each case is sent home w eekly th rou gh the R egim en tal P ay­m aster, and the recruit, havin g once nam ed the am ount which he wishes to be rem itted, has no further trouble in the m atter.

So g reat has been the appreciation of this arrangem ent, especially 011 the part o f new recruits w ho have been accus­tom ed to contribute to the support of their parents, that the A rm y C ouncil has decided to extend the p riv ilege to all unm arried soldiers, and m arried soldiers w ho are not entitled to m arriage allow ­ance, w hether th ey be serv in g at hom e 01* abroad.

T H E O L D C O M R A D E S D I N N E R .

' T ' H E A nnual O ld C o m rades’ Reunion D inner took place at the G reat

C entral H o tel, M arylebon e, on Saturday, O cto b er 24th, 1925.

T h e Co lon el o f the R egim en t, General S ir Ivo r M axse, K .C .B ., C .V .O ., D .S .O ., occupied the chair, supported by B rig .- Gen. F . D . L u m lev, C .B ., C .B .E ., Col. R . M . H eath , C M .G . , D .S .O ., Col. A . M . O . A n w yl P assin gh am , O .B .E ., L ieu t.-C o l. G. B each, O .B .E ., T . p . .

L ieu t.-C o l. J. K . M aitland, M .C ., and L ieu t.-C o l. V . L . N . Pearson, D .S .O .

T h e fo llo w in g R egim en tal Guests were p r e s e n t: —

L ieu t.-C o l. S ir M on tagu Sharpe, K .C ., D .L ., J .P ., Chairm an o f the C o urt of Q u arter Sessions; A lderm an B. Todd, j . P . , Chairm an of the M iddlesex County Council; the R t. H on. S ir Herbert N ield, P .C ., K .C ., M .P ., D .L ., J.P., D eputy-Chairm an of the Court o f Quarter Sessions; Col. C . Pinkham , O .B .E ., D .L ., V ice-C hairm an o f the M iddlesex County Co un cil; M r. Cecil D e Salis, D .L ., J .P ., V ice-C hairm an and A c tin g Chairm an of the M iddlesex T errito ria l F orce Associa­tion ; and M r. E . S. W . H art, M .B .E ., C lerk to the M iddlesex C o un ty Council.

Th e Grand D in in g H all, which has hitherto proved ample to accommodate the assem bly, w as strained to the utmost, fo r although extra sm all tables were requisitioned and fitted into odd corners, space could not be found to seat all who wished to attend. T h e unfortunate result was that m any w ho applied fo r tickets at the last m oment had to be refused.

A m o n g the 65 officers and 320 men to whom tickets had been issued, m any had travelled lo n g distances to attend, some m aking the jou rn ey from Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands, Yorkshire, Lan cash ire, Leicestershire, and other dis­tant parts o f E ngland.

T h e gath erin g w as well represented by all battalions, and m any old officers and com rades, w hose faces we had not seen for years, put in a w elcom e appearance.

A very g o o d dinner w as provided, and the com pany, a m erry and jo v ia l one, th o ro u gh ly enjoyed them selves.

T h e S trin g Band o f the 1st Battalion, under the able conductorship o f M r. J. W. C lark, played a popular programme during the evening.

Gen. Sir Ivo r M axse, prior to pro­posing the toast o f “ T h e K in g ,” announced that the fo llo w in g telegram had just been received from Sand­ringham : —

“ G eneral S ir Ivo r M axse, G reat Cen­tral H otel, London. T h e K in g wishes the O ld Com rades o f the Middlesex R egim ent an enjoyable evening together, and thanks them for their loyal greetin gs.

“ C l i v e W i g r a m . ”

104 THE DIE-HARDS

In p ro p o sin g the toast o f “ H .R .H . the Prince of W a le s ,” the Chairm an informed the assem bly that it w as much regretted that H is R o y a l H igh n ess could not be present w ith them , but after the very strenuous and len gth y tour ju st com ­pleted, it w as only reasonable that he was tak in g a m uch-needed rest.

Gen. M axse went on to say that those present that even in g represented at least one hundred thousand men of the M idd lesex R egim en t who w ent through the w ar. H e appealed to his hearers to do all they possibly could to g et into touch with old com rades, particu larly as it w as earnestly desired to obtain em ploy­m ent fo r all m en o f the M iddlesex R egim en t. M ajo r Steed was doin g a very fine w ork for the R egim ent and the O ld C om rades, and the question was, w hether they all could not do a little m ore to help M ajo r Steed. ( H ear, hear.) T h ey could be o f valuable assistance in n o tify in g him o f any likely vacancy that came to their notice during the next tw elve m onths. T h e y had had 3.300 applications fo r w ork within the last five years, during which period they had spent £3,300 on helping people who really needed help, and had actu ally g o t billets for 462 men. (H ear, hear.) T h e L a d ies' Guild had done a trem endous lot to help in providing- clo th in g fo r old com rades. T h e speaker m entioned that next year they w ere b rin g in g out the regim ental h istory up to date.

H e paid a tribute to C ./ S e r g t . M orris, w h o had had a great deal to do with the arrangem en ts fo r that dinner. (A pp lause.)

T h e toast o f “ T h e Co lon el and the O fficers o f the R e g im e n t,” w as submitted b y e x -C ./ S e r g t. F . E . H olm es, who alluded to the spirit o f com radeship which perm eated that g a th erin g, one o f the o bjects o f which w as the cem enting of friendships between all ranks. Th e officers w ho served on the Com m ittee of the A ssociation w ere doin g a splendid w o rk in helpin g old com rades in need of assistance.

M usical honours w ere accorded the toast, and response w as made by the Chairm an. H e spoke o f the fine spirit of bonhom ie and g o o d feelin g which existed in the R egim en t, and o f his desire to see the closest co-operation

between the R egu lars and the Territorial battalions.

In subm itting the health of the guests, the Chairm an referred to the p lacin g of the Co lou rs o f the 3rd and 4th disbanded B attalions in the Middlesex Guildhall last year. It was practically certain that the Co lou rs of the 2nd Battalion in India would he offered to the County Council for safe keep ing in the G uildhall, w hich he hoped would become the shrine of the R egim ent.

T h e toast w as cordially honoured, and Alderm an T odd, w hose name w ith that of M r. D e Salis w as coupled with it, in reply said he understood that was the first occa­sion on which the Civil authorities ever had the opportunity of partakin g of their hospitality, and he accepted w ith the greatest possible heartiness that hand of fellow ship which had been so eloquently offered by the Chairm an that evening. T h lS w ould do their part in promoting the interest and w elfare o f the O ld Com­rades' A ssociation . (Cheers.) It was a source of great gratification and pride to the County Council to be honoured with the trust of tak in g care of the Colours, bearing in mind the R egim en t’s splendid achievem ents.

M r. De Salis said he knew of the excel­lent w ork their A ssociation w as doing, not only for the R e g u la r Battalions but also for those battalions in which he was particu larly interested— the 7th, 8th and 9th. W ith regard to the officers of the T erritoria l A ssociation , he thought they o ught to be much obliged to them, as they w orked hard for their men. (C h e e rs .)

Copies of photo 011 previous page can be obtained from the H olborn Banquet P h otograp h ic C o ., 7, L ittle Turnstile, H olborn, W .C .i , m ounted 5s.. unmounted 3s. 6d.

L ist o f those present at the Old Com rades' D in n e r: —

Adam s, YV. Duller, H . H .Alexander, P . A . B linco, A.Arm itage. Brow ne. M a jo r M.Arden, F. Beth line, L t .-C o l. H. A.A llott, M a jor P. B. B ow en, F . F.Ash, E . Burnett, '1'.A m or, M a jor E. FI. Bosw ell. T .A rnold . M a jor A . C. Burdon, Capt. C. SA llen, W . Brucas, J.A lleoon , Pte. X . Beadle, H. J.A nderson , R .S .M . H . Beazley, W .A nderson , R. B0.6thby, J.

THE DIE-HARDS

Blackman, M . G. Burt, Capt. C. A Bull, L t.-C ol. F. J. Battson.Boddington, L . FI.Baldry, C.Bailey, N. A .Bishop. W . A . A . Brown. Pte.Bloxham. J.Booth. Pte. C. M. Bradell. Pte. Blackman. Pte. Blackman, L ./C p l. Beaslev, R .S .M . Bowles, R .Q .M .S . IF Bungay. Sergt.Bird, Pte. C.Chipp, M ajor T . F. Clelland. H . A. Cheesewright, Col.

W . F.Capel, T. A.Chid ley. A . C. Cuthbert. W .Cluett, FI. A .Carvell, C. F.Cutler. YV. E.Cook, W .Coldicott. A . B.Cole, 2 /L ieu l. A . G. Cutting. Pte. FI.Cook. C .Q .M .S .Carey. L ./C p l. Christian. Pte. T. Capel, G.Clark, R .Q .M .S . Dines. W . G.Deacon, j.Davies. W .Dellow, C. B.Dawson, C. FT.Dupe. C.Davis, A.Doyle, G.Dennies. J. FI. Deacon, Pte. A . Deacon, Cpl.Day, E. C.Driscoll, Pte.Dundas. M ajor A . C. Denton, C .S .M .Digby. C.F.dwards, H . A . F.ilison, R.Elkins, Sergt. T . English, Capt. T. Evans, R. E.Eeles. C .Q .M .S . S. T . Escudier. Pte. C. Forbes, J. B.Furness. E. R.Furse, A . C.Foster, Capt. FI. E. Foster, J. Framingham. Capt.

Fitzgerald. C .Q .M .S . Firken, E.Fry.Farehi other, Pte. V . Fletcher, Pte.Findell, Pte. A.

l-enem ore.G reg ory . H.G ooda ll, J. W . G ibson , C. \V G ris w ood . R. G orrin ge , J.G uscott, R . T .G ray, J.G ibbons, W .G ooda ll, E . C. G ibbons (9th Bn.) G ibbons, Pte.G arleb, V . F.G reen, Pte.G ray, C .Q .M .S . \Y. G ibson , Pte.H ew itt. Id.H ing lev , L t.-C o l.

S. H .H arding , F . J.H azell, W . L H aw kins, W . F. H arris, T . C.Heath, C ol. R . M. I-Iolwell, J.H em blev. G . W . PTunt, M .H olm es. F. E. H arragan , F.H udson. G . E. H aggard .Flea cock . A.H awkins. G.H olm es, J.H olt, W .Hannah, Cpl.Tarrett, M a jor C.

Johnson , W .Johnson . Capt. G. Tames. E . F.Jones. C. P. Tenkinson, Pte. Johnson. Pte.K ent, E. C.K in g . W .Ker.swill, G . W . Kallend, C. FT.K in g , W . Id.K in g , E.K night. F. G.K n ock , L ./C o l . G. K em p. Pte. W . L ow en , FT.L id in g fon . G.L aw son . Capt. F . C. L um ley . B rig .-G en .

F . D .L oftus, R . K .L arncr, W . FT.L ance, A .L yon s , Capt. E. F. L inton (oth Bn.) L lo y d , Pte. F. Lavesder. S ergt Leaton, W .M itchell, M a jor F . A . M elleish-Jackson,

Capt. W .M artin, W . T . M cD onald . D .M axse. Gen. Sir Tvor. Mather. FT M atthew s. A . E.

Martin. A .M eachen, W . A . M orris, E.M ackenzie, T .Maule, R . Id. M cL ernon , E.M erison, J F M olz, L ieut. F. E. Maitland, L t.-C ol.

J. K.M unday, G. E. M arven, W .Mirams, Lieut. S. Matthews, A . I.Man tell, R .S .M . R. Mulcahy, J.Min tern. T’ tc. H . Marshall, P ie.M orey, A.Martin, Sergt.M oo re , W .M cD onald . D.Needes. F.. F.. N ethercctt, G. O rm iston, FT. J. O liver. Pte. V . Ovenden, Pte. O 'D on ou g lu ie , L t. W . Orarn, F..Purcell. R .Q .M .S . A. Phillips. Capt. Id. Patrick, T.Parsons. T. C.Pasby. W .Peacock , T. G.Pullen. E.Paiba, Capt. R . I. Passingham , Col.

A . M O . Anw yl Palm er, G.Parker, A . J.F’ ond, Capt. F.Perkins. R .P ilgrim . F C.P earson. L t.-C ol

V . L . N.Parker, Lieut. F. G. Parker, Pte. A .Peel, Cpl. W . D. P rocter. Capt N . P. Phillipson, L ./C p l. Painter. C. J.Pargiter, M a jor L . L. Painter, J. F..R ooke. L t.-C ol.

C. P.R ouse , W .Richards, Capt. C. FT. R ice. T . E.R ice, V . E.Riddell, V .Ryan, T .Reed, C.R oss (9th Bn.)R a d d a /R .Q .M .S . W . Richards. Capt. W . Sam uel. L t.-C ol. W . FT. S tafforc. W . T Safferty. A .Saunders, F. J.Smith. Capt. T . J. Sherw ood , Capt. H. Saltmarsh, F.

Schaper, F . F..Sm ith, W . A . Sim m onds, (1.Slee, M a jor R. A. Stephens, A .Stacey, M . VV.Stace, W .Shouler, C. A . S tocker. G.Shaw, H .Slaughter, G.Sam son.Stevens, W . Sutherland, J. F. Stephens, G.Southey, A . H. Stanley. FT.Stone. W .Steed, M a jor F. S. Stock Capt. \ . E. Smith. P tc. F. Skinner, Pte. T . Sm ith. C.Sm ith, S ergt. G . H . Sparkes, S ergt. F . G. Smith, FI. W .Sayer, R .S .M . Sim m ons, C .S .M . F. Shaw, C .S .M .Spring.T hacker, J. J.T w ig g . H .A .T ulley, E . G. T hom pson , L t.-C ol.

B. A .T ay lor. N .T aylor, M a jo r L. T urner, E . A . Turm ean, A . T hom pson . A . E. T idburv, M a jo r O . H. T hom as, T ie. T hom pson , Sergt. T hom pson . Pte. A . Todm an, A .Tennant. Pte. G. V in g o e , Capt. A . F. W hiting, R . C. W hipps, C. J. S. W heeler. L ieut. W . T. W ard . F.W ard . F.W eston , A.W atkins, P>. G. W atson , G. C. W heeler. W . H. W eddell. J. M . W alker. E . G.W righ t. T . C.W ill me r. H .W ells, Td. T.W hite. W .W arren . F. J. W am sley. H . E. W aters, E. W .W eller. L ieut. A . V. W hite. H.W ilcock son . S ergt. J. W alker. C .S .M . ' W aite. Pte. C.W ard . E.

THE DIE-HARDS

7th B A T T A L I O N N O T E S .

n p H E ch ief event that has taken place w ithin the last three m onths w as the

period o f A nnual T ra in in g , w hich w as held at Shoreham -by-Sea in A u g u st. It can be said that, on the w hole, it w as a m ost successful fortn ig ht. T h e num ber o f all ranks w ho attended w as very satis­facto ry , and form ed a good percentage of the B attalion strength , which has been steadily in creasin g since the recruiting cam paign held in June last. A ctu ally 19 officers and 324 other ranks attended for periods of either e igh t or fifteen days. A s

p rogressive train ing, and the keenness dis­played by all ranks w as exceptionally good.

Th e B rigad e G ym khana w as held on the last F rid ay, and the B attalion achieved a g reater success than at first w as con­sidered possible. T h e actual results were as follow s : —

Platoon D rill Com petition, 1st.Battalion T ran sp o rt Com petition, 3rd.Senior B u g le rs ’ Com petition, 2nd.G uard M oun tin g Com petition, 2nd.T en t-pitching Com petition, 1st.A larm Race Com petition, 3rd.T u g -o f-W ar, 2nd.

OFFICERS OF T H E 7TH B A T T A L IO N .Stan din g.— 2'Lieut. A . G. Womersley, Lieut. A. S. Lindsay, 2/Lieut. A. F. Thomson, Lieut. A. G. Widdicombe, Lieut. W. E.

Pringle, M.C., Capt. VV. E. H. Muir, M.C., Lieut. L . C. D. Doidge, Lieut. E. B. Murrell, R.A.M.C. (T.), Capt. & Qmr. G. E.Framingham, M .B.E., M.C., Capt. H. A. Murray, 2'Lieut. A. G. Cole, Lieut. E. N. Cunlifie.

S ittin g .— Capt. & Bt. Major J. H. Cossar, T.D., Bt. Lieut.-Col. S. C. M. Smith, T.D., Lieut.-Col. J. K. Maitland, M.C., Lieut. &A./Adjt. H. R. F. Butterfield, Ma:or Bower, M.C. (T.A. Reserve of Officers).

to the tra in in g itself, it w as o f a h igh er grade than the previous year, and much valuable w o rk w as done and m any lessons learned. T h e im provem ent in sm artness and bearing o f the B attalion w as very m arked, and it w as felt that this would be an im petus to the w inter tra in ing now ju st b egin n ing, and w hich w ill show its effect at n ext y e a r ’s camp. T im e and space does not perm it o f m any details of the actual tactical operations perform ed and lessons learned therefrom , but it w as

T h is G ym khana w as an undoubted success, and it is hoped that the authori­ties w ill hold a sim ilar event next year. T h is success can be attributed in no small degree to the kindness o f M r. Harrison, who lent B uckingham P ark fo r the occa­sion, w hich w as adm irably suited for a display o f this nature.

Since returning from camp, musketry has been our first th ought, and a great endeavour has been made to put all ranks th rou gh their annual course. T h e attend­

THE DIE-HARDS

ances have been very g o o d , with the result that only a very few men have not fired, and o f these som e have found it impossible to g et aw ay, and others have not shown the keenness that is desirable.

The Battalion held a rifle m eeting at Rainham on A u g u st 30th, when various challenge cups and shields were com peted for. Th e results were as fo llo w s: —

Arnold W hite Cup— W inners, “ B ” Company.

Officers’ Cup.— W inner, L ieut. A . S. Lindsay.

W arrant Officers' and S erg ea n ts’ Cup. — W inner, S ergt. M unro, “ C ” Com pany.

M arksm en’ s Cup.— W inner, L ./ C p l. P. H. Unwin, “ B Com pany.

A t the B rigade R ifle M eetin g held at Bisley on Septem ber 6th, the Battalion did not fare so w ell, but w e m anaged to secure 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th places in the Individual Cham pionship, and 3rd place in the L o rd L ieu ten an t’s Challenge Shield. It is hoped that w e shall give a better account o f ourselves next year.

A s regards recruiting, this is steadily im proving, and the type of recruit now joining the Battalion is very much better, and by the time annual train ing com es round again next year it is hoped that the Battalion will have reached the strength of 500 at least.

The Battalion Efficiency Com petitions are now nearing an end; the results will be published in the next issue o f this Journal. There is no doubt that these competitions do much to foster the com ­petitive spirit within the B attalion, and the individual zeal of all ranks.

The Territorial Efficiency M edal has been awarded to the fo llo w in g w arrant officers and non-com m issioned officers : — Company S e rg t.-M a jo r J. T . Jenkins, '■ B ” Com pany, and S ergt. H . A llin , “ A ” Com pany, to whom we offer congratulations.

We are very pleased, indeed, that the Adjutant, Capt. H . B . W . Savile, M .C ., has made such a good recovery from his recent very serious operation ju st before annual training, and we look forward to his return to the B attalion within the next few days.

Before closing these notes our con­gratulations must be offered to Col. E . J. K ing, C .M .G ., T .D ., on his appointment to the H on orary Colonelcy o f this Battalion on the resignation o f Col. H . F. Bowles, T .D

B W A N A S A H A N I M O J A (T h e M an w ith O ne Plate).

( A T r u e T a l e . )

Ir \ F F the map in A frica hospitality is

proverbial. O ne white man alw ays feeds another, even if he does not like him. In fact, a traveller arriv in g at an encampment of another European, even if the ow ner is aw ay, is alw ays w elcom ed by the “ boy ” and fed as a m atter o f course. I only met one exception to this rule, and he was a weird individual in the Political Service.

1 he natives have an uncanny knack of sum m ing up a man, and in this case they had given the nick-name of “ O ne Plate ” to the hero of the fo llow in g story.

II

It was a distant m ilitary post, and after a punitive expedition 1 had been left in charge with som e fifty askaris o f the K in g ’s A frican Rifles, to initiate the adm inistration of a hitherto untouched tribe. A t first all went well. T h e local people were com plaisant and helped me in every w ay to build the station.

W ithin a few weeks, how ever, a civilian arrived and im mediately put a stop to my activities. H e was agn ast at the fact that I was using native labour w ithout pay­ment, and that I had established a local m arket with the object of supplying the necessities o f life for m y detachment. A lth ou gh the aborigines were quite con­tent, and had never seen m oney, he declared that they ought to be paid for their services. H itherto I had been g iv in g them “ chits ” which could later be redeemed by the Governm ent tax collector. H e was a ltogether a difficult proposition.

B y means o f the aforesaid native labour I had already built a hut for his accom ­m odation, which I im m ediately handed over to him on his arrival. H e seemed rather astonished, as he apparently e x ­pected that we should mess togeth er. H e had, he said, an excellent cook, I had som e stores— so it did not take m e lo n g to understand the appellation o f “ Sahani M o ja .” I was very firm, how ever, and left him to his own devices, w hile I lived alone in m y small tent.

THE DIE-HARDS

M y fo llo w ers soon inform ed me that he had started, out o f sigh t of the encam p­m ent, a local m arket. A s I knew that he had no m oney I at once sent my regim en tal police to put a stop to this practice on the grounds that tne Political O fficer had forbidden all transactions with local people unless properly paid for with G overnm ent currency.

Soon m y friend began to look rather lean, and I alm ost felt sorry for him when I le ft him to his “ one plate and returned to m y tent to quite a presentable m eal. A fte r about a week I asked him to dinner. A fte r quite a decent m eal and several p eg s I hazarded the su ggestio n that as th ings seemed so lo n g m aterializ­in g it m ight be well fo r us to start a local m arket and utilize the services o f the local people.

W ith a sm ile the h u n g ry man replied, “ A ll rig h t, have it yo u r ow n w ay, and as w e have so m uch to do to geth er, for the sake o f appearances I think w e ought to live to g e th e r ."

P u sh in g the bottle of w hisky tow ards him , I said, “ C erta in ly , m y boy is a w retched cook, and no doubt you r stores w ill be up so o n ."

T h in g s w ent on as before till an epidem ic o f d ysentery broke out. I was one of the first to g o dow n, and w as soon reduced to a state o f utter w eakness.

O n e day the P olitical O fficer cam e in to see me, and after a few conventional phrases retired to deal with som e local m atters. A s he w ent out I heard him say to his interpreters, “ T n e Com m andant has w asted aw ay to n o th in g ; he cannot last lo n g ."

A day or tw o la ter “ Sahani M oja ’ left the station, and I think all o f us w ere not sorry never to see him again .

W . L l o y d - J o n e s .

8th B A T T A L I O N N O T E S .

" A ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .

O W IN G to the exigen cies o f m ilitary duties w e, unlike other com panies,

m uch regret that recently we have not had tim e to " t e l l the w o r ld " all about our­selves. H ow ever, w e b e g to inform our friends and foes that we are very much alive.

O f course, you all know we had a very successful week-end camp at Stanwell; that a certain officer distinguished himself by very nearly extin gu ish in g himself. " 'N u ff sa id ."

A t annual train ing we shared the honour o f w inning the Efficiency Cup w ith " D " Com pany. H eartiest congratulations to " D " C om pany; they m ust be a fine Com- pany. _ ^

Th e cricket m atch with " B " Company resulted in a win for us.

It is w ith very great regret that " A ” Com pany bids farew ell to Capt. Thorne, for during his tour o f duty as A djutant he has helped us to a very great extent. In conclusion, we w ould wish him the very- best o f luck.

" B ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .

T w o officers and sixty-five other ranks left E a lin g on Sunday, A u g u st 2nd, for annual train ing at Shoreham , entraining with the Battalion at H ounslow Whitton at mid-day. Th e cam p w as m arked for its several periods of indifferent weather, three or four days h avin g to be given up to lectures and dem onstrations in tile restricted accom m odation provided by the Com pany M ess Secretary.

M ost o f the field w ork consisted of "p la to o n attack tra in in g ." M uch good w o rk -was done by all ranks, the progress o f the recruits being particu larly good. A t the B rigade M ilitary D isplay in Buck­ingham Park on the 14th tw enty non­com m issioned officers and men were selected for the guard of honour. The Com pany, jo in tly with “ H .O . ” Wing, took second place in the Tent-pitching com petition. L o o k in g very bronzed and fit the Com pany returned to E alin g on the 17th.

W e congratulate C .S .M . Sim ons on w inning the L o rd Cheylesm ore Cup for the h igh est score at the B rig ad e Rifle M eetin g held at Bisley on Sunday, Sep­tem ber 6th. T h e Com pany rifle team took second place in the inter-compan; shoot. W e hope the L ew is gunners will have better luck next year.

T h e reports received on the w ork done by L ./ S e r g t . G o slin g and Pte. Tripp, who attended the non-com m issioned officers classes held in cam p, are very satisfactory.

Photographs by kin d perm ission o f ‘ 'T h e D a ily M a il." ]

8 T H b a t t a l i o n s g u a r d o f h o n o u r t o h .m . t h e k i n gA T T H E OPENING OF TH E G R E A T W E ST ROAD

n o THE DIE-HARDS

O n Septem ber 17th w e visited W em bley to see the T o rch lig h t T a tto o . A ll ranks spent a very enjoyable evening.

T h e D ance Com m ittee are to be con­gratu lated on the very successful dance held on the 19th. W e hope this is only one o f the m any we shall have during the w inter.

W e cannot conclude w ithout exp ress­in g our very g reat re g ret at lo sin g our A d ju ta n t (Capt. M . T h orn e). W e feel his to u r of duty has been far too short. W e wish him every success w ith his new regim ent. W e would remind him that E a lin g is easily accessible from all parts.

T h e annual concert and p rize-g iv in g w ill be held on T u esd ay, D ecem ber 22nd, at the D rill H all.

“ B " T r o o p s .

M E D A L S O F T H E R E G I M E N T .

“ D ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .

W e w elcom e e x -R .S .M . E dw ards, M .C . (late 2nd B attalion), as our new C .S .M ., and by his jo in in g us it proves that “ old soldiers never d ie ," and from w hat we have seen o f E d w a rd s’s activities we rest assured that he w ill not even “ fade a w a y ."

W e are glad that our P .S .I . , C .S .M . S parkes, is rem aining w ith us for another year.

T w en ty-seven m em bers of the Com pany attended the T a tto o at W em bley on F r i­day, Septem ber 25th last, under the com ­m and o f Capt. I i . C . E llis , and, despite the inclem ency o f the w eather, all enjoyed a w onderfu l display.

A successful fancy dress dance w as held at the D rill H all on S aturday, Septem ber 26th, and we w ere alm ost crow ded out. M an y useful prizes w ere kindly g iven by local people, and the dresses were e x ­trem ely g o o d , both in character and orig in ality .

W e are not p lay in g football this winter, but are con cen tratin g upon b o x in g and sh ootin g, and we hope before lo n g to have our clubs in full sw in g.

A t the recent B rig ad e R ifle M eetin g our com pany team s did w ell, and the “ yo u n g soldiers " w ere w ell in the running. W e unfortunately have not the full details to hand w hile w ritin g , and as the time for g o in g to press is close at hand w e must “ blink i n " fo r another quarter.

L a r g e G o l d M e d a l f o r t i -i e P e n in s u l a .

G E N E R A L O rder, H orse Guards, Septem ber 9th, 1810.

O bverse .— Britannia seated on globe w earing a helm et; her rig h t hand is extended and holds a laurel w reath, and in her left is a palm branch. O n her right is the lion o f E ngland , and on her left a shield ch arged w ith the crosses of the U nion.

MAJOR DUDLEY ACKLAND.

57!» FOOT.

T h is m edal, 2 I-lo ins, in diam eter, with a plain border, w as given to General Officers and to the Com m anding Officers of corps, not below the rank o f Lieutenant- Colonel, and w as w orn w ith a crimson ribbon with blue border.

S m a l l G o l d M e d a l .Is sim ilar to the form er in design, but

is only i 8-loins, in diam eter, and was w orn at the button hole, attached to a go ld sw ivel bar fastened to the medal between tw o small go ld balls on a gold pin, and suspended by a crim son ribbon I 3-5ins. wide, with blue edge.

T H E D IE -H A R D S

It was given to F ield O fficers, or officers of equal rank, and to such others as had succeeded to the com m and of a battalion, or a corps equivalent to a battalion, during an engagem ent, in consequence of the death or rem oval o f the original Com ­manding Officer.

Both medals are set in go ld fram es and glazed on both sides.

The name and rank o f the recipient was engraved round the edge.

The medal illustrated is that o f M ajo r Dudley A ckland, 57th R egim ent, w ho was killed at the B attle o f N ivelle at the head of the light com panies o f the brigade, 57th, 31st and 66th R egim ents.

The R everse.— " N i v e l l e ” within a wreath of laurels.

T h e M i l i t a r y G e n e r a l S e r v i c e M e d a l ,1793---- 1 8 1 4 , COMM ONLY CALLED THE

P e n i n s u l a r M e d a l .

General O rder, 1st June, 1847.Her M ajesty com manded that medals

should be struck to record the services during the w ars com m encing in 1793 and ending in 1814, and that one should be conferred upon every officer and soldier of the A rm y w ho was present at any

battle or siege for which go ld m edals had previously been given.

The medal was given fo r victories gained in E g y p t, Italy, Spain, P ortu ga l, and France, and also in the E ast and W est Indies and in N orth A m erica.

Th e medal was issued in 1848, and though thirty-four years had elapsed since the last battle in 1814, it is stated that there were over thirty thousand claim ants who received the medal.17 officers and 219 men of the 37th R e g t.

and13 officers and 76 men o f the 77th R e g t. received the medal.

Th e 57th R egim ent received clasps as u n d e r: —

C ia sfs.Busaco, battle in P o rtu ga l, Sept.

27th, 1810 64A lbuhera, battle in Spain, M ay

16th, 1811 121V itto ria. battle in Spain, June

21 st, 1813 171Pyrenees, battle on French and

Spanish frontier, from July 25th to A u g u st 2nd, 1813 ... 129

N ivelle, battle in Spain, N ov.10th, 1813 83

112 THE DIE-HARDS

N ive , actions on the N ive, on the F ren ch frontier, D ec. 9th to 13th, 1813 ............................. 79

O rth cs, battle in F rance, Feb.27th, 1814............ ............................. 50

T o u lo u se, battle in France, A p ril 10th, 1814 ............................. 124

T h e 77th R egim en t received clasps for Ciudad R o d rig o and B adajoz.

T h e m edals illustrated contain the w h ole o f the clasps.

R . G w illym , 57th F o o t, B usaco and A lbu h era.

W illiam B arkley , 57th F o o t, A lbuhera, V itto ria , P yrenees, N ivelle, N ive, O rth es, and T o u lo u se.

J. G reenw ood, 77th F o o t, Ciudad R o d rig o and B adajo z.

R . G w illym ’s broth er w as sergean t in the 57th R egim en t, and I believe his m edal is in the O fficers’ M ess o f the 1st B attalion .

J. G reen w ood also had a brother in the 77th R egim en t. H is m edal w as a single clasp, Ciudad R o d rig o , and is now in possession o f M r. E . E . N eedes.

T h e m edal is very rare to the 77th, and a co llecto r w ho died recently, w hose co l­lection is at the U nited Services M useum , g a v e £ 17 at a sale a few years ag o for one o f th ese; this is about fou r tim es the value o f a tw o-clasp m edal.

T h ere w ere 9 eight-clasp m edals, all told , to the 57th R eg im en t; only tw o of these are k n o w n : M r. N eedes holds one, and I am try in g to g et the other. T h e late C o l. A sh had one in his collection, but it w as stolen, and no doubt w as m elted dow n. T h ere w ere 8 seven-clasp m edals, o f w hich one officer, one sergeant and fou r m en had the same com bination as W illiam B arkley.

In our n ext issue o f T h e D i e - H a r d s the C rim ea M edal w ill be illustrated by the m edals w orn b y the C om m anding O fficer o f the 57th R egim en t o f nearly fifty years a go .

E . M o r r i s .

■$>---------------A

9th B A T T A L I O N N O T E S .

H A D not the E d ito r succeeded in g e t­tin g the Journal delivered to the

B atta lion in camp, it is doubtful w hether w e should have had the nerve to produce

any notes fo r this issue after his opening rem arks in the A u g u st number. How­ever, thanks to the tim ely arrival of the paper— as the Officers C om m anding Com­panies w ere d raw in g the Com pany pay— w e had w hat m ust have been almost a record sale fo r the B attalion, and can therefore start w ith a certain amount of relief on the n ext budget.

B efore startin g on this quarter’.s notes w e feel that w e m ust call attention again to the E d ito r ’ s rem arks : “ O u r appeal for an increased circulation has m et with a ready response from our R eg u la r Bat­talions, but it is now up to som e of the T errito ria l units to support their Journal (the italics are ours) b y becom ing sub­scribers,” etc., etc., etc., and it is sug­gested that if the notes w e receive are w orth reading they m ust be w orth buying by those w ho forw ard articles.

T o this w e have our ow n remarks to add. Starting at the end, if every man w ho contributed an article, joke, or rem ark of any sort to the B attalion Notes bou gh t a copy it w ould not mean more than six copies, because fo r nearly every num ber the Battalion N otes are compiled by a com m ittee o f one. T h a t ’ s all wrong to start w ith 1 Secondly, the Journal is our concern as m uch as that o f any other part o f the R egim en t, and it is up to us to support it just as much as the Regular Battalions. If you buy it you rself, don't lend it to yo u r friends; m ake them buy their ow n copies. T h ird ly , w e have started now a new volum e. W hy not begin stra igh t aw ay by becom ing an annual subscriber?

T h e m iserable sub-editors spend many hours try in g to outdo the other sub­editors in provid in g the best budget. It w ould be a considerable help to them to know that there w as a substantial backing of subscribers w ho w ere g o in g to read their efforts and help by criticizing and contributing.

Bounties are upon us, and if every man w ho draw s a bounty becom es a subscriber we shall be able to feel that w e are justi­fied in tak in g up our usual share of the jo u rn al.

W e m ay w ear the badges of the Regi­m ent and bear its honours, but if we are to be really o f the R egim en t w e must sup­port its Institutions, and, in addition, 1“ no w ay can w e keep better in touch wit“

9 t h B A T T A L IO N .No. 1.— “ B ” Company. No. 2.— A Family Record ?

No. 3.— “ D ” Company, Champion Company.

A F A M I L Y R E C O R D ?

WybornH.G

These three (all enlisted 16th June, 1925), are the youngest of five brothers who have all served in the Middlesex Regiment, In

Regular or Territorial Battalions. * H. G. and I. F. are twins

114 THE DIE-HARDS

a ll th e u n its o f th e R e g im e n t th a n by su b s c r ib in g to T h e D ie - H a r d s .

H a v in g delivered our serm on, we will now g o 011 to the prim ary purpose o f our penning— the q u arter’ s news.

B efo re g o in g to cam p, there are a few notes fo r July w hich occurred too late fo r the last issue.

A belated finish w as made to the M inia­ture R ifle M eetin g season by hold ing som e com petitions on July 12th. F irers w ere divided into trained and recruits, and the practices consisted of ten rounds application and ten rounds snap. Th e trained m en’s shoot w as a handicap, and ended in a win fo r Cpl. H arro w ell, of the M achine Gun P latoon , in the application w ith a score o f 31 plus 10 = 41, fo llow ed by L ./ S g t . T h om p son w ith 38 plus 2 = 40; Cpl. C o g g in s , o f the M achine G un P la ­toon, w ith 29 plus 10 = 39, w as third. P te. A u stin , C . M ., o f “ H .Q .” Com pany, and Cpl. C o g g in s tied fo r the snap­sh o o tin g. A u stin w on on the shoot-off, w hich w as no m ean feat, as, w ith S ergt. Soden, he w as on the scratch m ark. Th e recruits started all square, and the applica­tion w as w on by P te. A v e s w ith a score o f 30, w ith several tie in g fo r second place. In the sn ap shootin g, to o , no less than six tied, and on the shoot-off Pte. B ritta in , o f the M achine Gun P latoon , w on.

C am p .— It rem ains to be seen in what p osition in the scale o f pop ularity, or otherw ise, the 1925 cam p at Shoreham w ill even tually rank when the p assage o f time has le ft only the salient features in the m em ories o f the then to be old soldiers.

W ritin g now , im m ediately a fter camp, the outstan din g points that strike one are, firstly, the rain, w hich w ith the utm ost persistence kept p o u rin g at the m ost inopportune m om ents, the bum ps w hich guarded the approach to any lines, messes o r offices, and succeeded frequently in gu id in g the steps o f the unw ary into a n etw ork of tent ropes from som e m arquee or tent n ecessarily pitched at an u n ex­pected angle, and, secondly, the deaths and burial o f our very old friend “ O u t­p o st,” to g e th er w ith his son “ Picquet P o s t ” and gran d so n ’ s “ Sen try P o s ts ,” B ut there are other happenings and inci­dents w hich w ill probab ly be rem em bered lo n g e r and not necessarily affairs at B rig h to n , or visits to the local n ig h t club.

T o those w ho do not m ake a habit of trave llin g by local trains south o f London, it m ust have been a new , if b o rin g experr ence, to be lost fo r an hour at Claphan Junction. H o w ever, once a guide had been obtained to lead the train on its southw ard jou rn ey, w e rolled along ata fast pace, and arrived, a fter all, only a com paratively short time after the scheduled hour.

A s at Seaford , we w ere fortunate m h avin g only a short distance to march from the station to the cam p, and we were w ithout doubt lucky in b ein g the nearest unit to B uckingham P ark , the trees of w hich bordered our area and improved the appearance.

T h e num bers attending cam p this year, th ough practically the same as last year, w ere a considerable advance in proportion to the stren gth of the B attalion , but as this is m ainly due to a w eedin g out of men w ho w ere only paper stren gth soldiers, we have no cause to be unduly elated over the attendance. Still, it is a step forward, and w hen all the paper stren gth has been replaced by live men w e m ay hope to have a real B attalion cam p instead of a skeleton.

In v iew of the fact that the m ilitary cor­respondent o f one o f the m ost weighty of our daily papers has been seen and approved o f the tra in ing to the extent of a colum n and a half, any comment on train ing by us seems unnecessary and alm ost presum ptuous. Nevertheless, a lthough the sale o f T h e Daily Telegraph o f F rid ay, A u g u st 14th, in the camp must have been considerable, there are doubt­less people w ho did not see his remarks, and fo r their benefit w e w ill shortly give our ow n com m ents.

A s in 1924, w e again had a Demonstra tion P latoon , this year from the Royal W arwicks"hire R egim en t, and they were attached to the B attalion during their stay. In addition to L ieu t. H erbert, who com­m anded the P latoon , the Com pany Com­m ander, M ajo r B . L . Montgomery.D .S .O ., cam e out daily to assist in the dem onstrations, and these officers alone w ere an enorm ous assistance.

A lth o u g h com parisons are odious, it is a lm ost im possible to avoid com paring the tw o P latoon s and their demonstrations, and, as is only natural, there are points® favou r o f both. B u t one th in g is certain.

THE DIE-HARDS

we shall probably be a very lo n g time before we have tw o m ore enthusiastic showmen than we had this year, and the ability of L ieut. H erbert to turn out a demonstration at a m om ent’s notice to assist us when rain interfered with the set program m e w as invaluable.

This year, in addition to the cadre from our own D epot, under L ieu t. M iram s, the Royal Sussex D epot also sent a cadre, and as a result tw o non-com m issioned officers’ classes were run, one for the seniors and one for the juniors. T h e benefit that the non-commissioned officers who attended the 1924 class derived has been very obvious during the last year, and we hope that this year classes w ill have benefited as much.

Passing on to the train ing in general, the outstanding feature was the very b ig stride made by the jun ior non-com m is­sioned officers, which enabled us to start practically w here we left off last year, in spite of the fact that the m ajority o f the sections consisted of yo u n g soldiers with no previous tactical train ing, and an additional result of this w as that such exercises as w ere perform ed during train­ing went with a far greater sw in g, whilst in contrast to last year it w as a com mon occurrence to see a Section Com m ander doing som ething, and probably the right thing, on his own w ith his section w ell in hand, and not w aitin g to be pushed, like a piece on a draughts board, by the officer com m anding the platoon or company.

N othing m ore than com pany or inter­company exercises w as attem pted (with the exception of tw o occasions, when two companies w orked togeth er), but as these are the basis of all la rg e r operations, the mastering of them is, a fter all, o f first importance. Th e outstanding points which still require much practice and improving a r e : —

(1) Fire O rd ers.— T h o u g h m any non­com missioned officers g ive good and easily understood orders, there are still too m any orders of such a vagu e kind given that an inevitable w aste of amm uni­tion m ust necessarily follow .

(2) There is still a tendency to fireLew is guns from positions where n othing can be seen of the enemy, or to place a gun in

a position w here nothing can be seen, or to m ake no endeavourto find a suitable position,although easily available, close at hand.

(3) A deplorable lack o f know ledge o f the use o f cover and the handling o f both rifles and L ew is guns round or over cover.

T h e specialists were again under theB rigade specialist officers, and this, w ith­out doubt, enables the specialists o f all units to derive the greatest advantage from the attachm ent o f these R egu lar specialists.

O n Saturday, A u g u st 8th, the com peti­tion fo r what is to be known as the Inter- Com pany T actical Cup w as held.

E ach com pany was required to provide a com posite platoon, and a scheme w as drawn up which w as carried out by each platoon in turn; in order that the orders given to the Section Com m anders should be the same and given at the same time, the Platoon Com m ander and Platoon S erg ea n t’s places w ere filled up by the ju dges, w ho, to sim plify the ju d g in g , took one the rifle sections and the other the L ew is guns.

A n excellent piece o f ground w as found near the camp, and a very instructive little exercise w as drawn up, in w hich, fortu ­nately, it w as perfectly sound to have the two L ew is gun sections togeth er on one flank and the rifle sections on the other.

Lieut. H erbert, o f the R o yal W arw icks, very kindly volunteered to act as one of the ju dges, and whilst the A d ju tan t took the rifle sections he went with the L ew is gun sections.

The result of the com petition was : —1st, “ A ” Com pany (Cpl. Sew ell, S ergt.

L u sby, Cpl. Im pey, and Cpl. Stenhouse).2nd, “ D ” Com pany (L ./ C p l. B lox-

ham , L ./ C p l, D evereux, and Cpl. G ray).Sh ortly after dinner the Dem onstration

Platoon left fo r Shorncliffe, and a very large num ber of the Battalion turned out to give them a “ send-off.” Th e playin g o f the Band and Drum s was very nearly drowned by the whole-hearted noise made by L ./ C p l. B loxh am ’s extra special bath- beating corps of drums, w ho w ere only narrow ly diverted from “ p layin g ” the Platoon down to the station.

i i 6 THE DIE-HARDS

T h e B rig ad e Com m ander’ s Inspection w as, to put it m ildly, disappointing as far as the appearance o f the Battalion was concerned. F rom the turn-out as a whole during cam p, one w ould have expected a better sh ow in g than last year. Granted th at h alf em pty and unboarded packs are not very s ig h tly ; but, leavin g them out, the turn-out as a w hole w as not good , and, in fact, com pared none too w ell with last year on this particu lar day.

A fte r the m arch past the Battalion stayed in B u ckingham P ark and per­form ed another m arch past, this tim e for the benefit of a cinem atographer, who spent the day in camp tak in g yards of films o f the various happenings in camp.

A new feature this year w as the substi­tution o f m ore or less m ilitary events for the sports o f previous years, and the com ­m ittee responsible are to be congratulated on their efforts fo r this, the first experim ent.

T h ere are, w ithout doubt, g reater pos­sibilities o f p u ttin g up an attractive p rogram m e on the present lines, and with the exp erience gained this year it should be possible to run a very g o o d show next year. A s the events this year consisted very la rg e ly o f transport com petitions, it w as only to be expected that the day pro­vided a “ field day ” fo r the R o y a l S u ssex; not that I m ean to infer in any w ay that our transport let us down— far from it.

A s usual, they w orked im m ensely hard, and, had the spirit o f the m en on ly been required, w ould probably have broken their lo n g sequence o f seconds, but the flesh, in the form o f the fou r-legged about-to-be-sausages called horses, rather defeated them . H o w ever, we succeeded in h o ld ing our ow n w ith the other M iddlesex B attalion s. From the specta­to rs ’ point o f v iew the M assed Bands and M assed D rum s w ere certainly the m ost spectacular, and both did extrem ely w ell, w hile the G uard o f H o n o u r of the four battalions m ade a g o o d spectacle, and it is fortun ate that no ju d g in g w as required as to the respective m erits o f each guard, as the w hole did v ery w ell.

T h e B atta lion G uard M oun tin g Csm - petition this year w as decided not on one guard only, but on the a g g re g a te o f the gu ards per com pany during camp and a final picked guard at the end.

T h is w as w on by “ C ” Com pany, with " D ” second, and in both these com­panies the standard th ro u gh o u t was quite g o o d , but taken as a w hole it w as disap­poin tin g to have to find the same faults w ith every guard, in som e cases even the picked gu ard , and to find very little effort made to rem edy the faults in m any cases.

In the B u g lin g Com petitions the C.O’s. B u g le this year changed hands, Dr. L. Jenkins b ein g the w inner, but L./Cpl. Taven d er had his reven ge by w inning the B rig ad e Com petition. B o y M cQ uire won both the B attalion and B rig ad e Junior Com petitions.

W hilst on the subject o f b u glin g , it was a considerable com fort to the orally sensi­tive to find that there w as an all-round im provem ent in the standard o f bugling within the B attalion.

F o r one th ing, w e have to be truly gratefu l to the w eath er; it allow ed us to get aw ay dry.

F o r this reason, possibly, everything m oved like c lo ck w o rk on the last morn­in g, and w e w ere w ell up on our time schedule.

T o lessen the w o rk o f the rear party, all tents other than the m arquees were “ downed ” by the B attalion before depar­ture, on a “ G ” from the Battalion bugle.

W hen I say all tents, I err. Th e bugler dotted the crochet o f the “ G ,” and, as a result, three tents of the Band failed to g et off the m ark, and rem ained unmoved until an additional dot and dash were supplied by the R .S .M .

A n d so to the trains and Willesden, w hich, need w e say, w e arrived at an hour late. N evertheless, there seem ed to be no sh ortage o f w elcom ing friends, relations and others about, to w elcom e the B atta lion hom e from the w ar. I wonder if “ Socrates ” w as present. I expect not. B ut even he could not have said much m ore in criticism than E arl H aig , at Bath, said of the A rm y in gen eral: “ It’s too sm all, but it ’ s g o o d .” A t any rate, we hope so.

T h e B rigad e M eetin g on September 5th w as carried th rou gh in considerably better w eather than last year, and the average standard w as an im provem ent on that of

J924-W hen com pared w ith the results of the

units w ho head the lists in T .A .R .A . coffl-

THE DIE-HARDS 117

petitions a g reat deal is still to be done if we hope to do anything better than throw away £5 a year in futile entries fo r the T .A .R .A . com petitions.

A few individual shots such as C .S .M . Todman, am ongst the trained men, and Ftes. A ves, Griffiths and P atterson amongst the recruits, put up really good shows. Sim ilarly, L ./ C p l. Batem an and Cpl. Breed did w ell in the L ew is Gun, but after these there w as, as a general rule, a terrible drop, and w hilst in no w ay w ish­ing to detract from the efforts o f “ A ” Company in w inning the B rig ad e L ew is Gun Com petition, and “ D ” Com pany in winning the Y o u n g Soldiers, a com ­parison of their w inning scores w ith the lowest score am ongst those placed in the T .A .R .A . Com petitions is not only odious, it’s a rude shock.

It is proposed to change the present Brigade M eeting so as to prevent the pre­sent rush, and it w ill be in terestin g to see whether, as w e anticipate, a very general improvement w ill take place in the team scoring.

The Battalion Com petition fo r the Com ­pany doing best in the T .A .R .A . Com peti­tions was w on by “ A ” Com pany, with “ D ” Com pany second.

On Sunday, 27th, field firing of an elementary nature w as carried out at Purfleet, and, in addition, a few demon­strations with tracer amm unition.

An inter-com pany com petition run in connection with the field firing w as won by “ A ” Com pany, w ith “ B ” Com pany second.

The follow in g have joined the R egu lar Army since c a m p :— P te. V iccars, “ D ” Company, to E ast S u rrey R egim en t; Pte.D. Brown, “ C ” Com pany, to R oyal Engineers; Pte. F . M orris, “ D ” Com ­pany, to D uke o f C o rn w a ll’ s L ig h t Infantry; Pte. Bucknell, “ H .Q .” Com ­pany, to Coldstream G uards; Pte. E. Setters, “ H .Q .” Com pany, to M iddlesex Regiment.

W hilst regrettin g that in the enlistment of the latter the D rum s are deprived of their bass drummer, we are very pleased that he should have gone to the R egu lar Depot of our own R egim en t, and we hope that our loss w ill be their gain. T o him and to the others w e w ish the best o f luck and hope that w hat they have learnt here will be of use to them in their new spheres.

B efore we close our notes w e feel that we must refer to one m atter o f deep regret to all, nam ely, the death o f L o rd Cheylesm ore. A lth o u gh probably un­known personally to m ost o f the Battalion he had a far-reaching influence over m any.

N ot only w as he Chairm an of the M iddlesex Territoria l A rm y A ssociation , but in his lo n g connection w ith the N .R .A . he w orked incessantly fo r the m any thou­sands o f soldiers and civilians w ho are interested in the rifle, and it can only be described as a cruel coincidence that he should meet w ith the accident which caused his death whilst returning home from B isley and the N .R .A . M eeting.

D etails o f L o rd C h eylesm ore’s career and activities have already appeared in the Press, and it only rem ains fo r us to express our deep regret at the tragic death o f one who has w orked so lo n g and w h ole­heartedly fo r the A rm y, riflemen and the M iddlesex T erritoria l A rm y A ssociation .

Th e wide w orld loves a soldier. So says one o f the placards advertising W em bley, and it w ould appear to be true if you m ention T atto o at the same time. Be it at W em bley, A ldershot, W illesden, or T im buctoo, if it is known that there is to be a T atto o the full g lare o f the lime­light is switched on to the soldier, and he im m ediately becom es a popular figure as lo n g as the T atto o lasts. In a m inor degree this w as witnessed here on Sep­tem ber 5th, W'hen the B attalion contri­buted a T a tto o to the events at the W illesden H ospital Carnival and F ete.

F ilth y w eather had driven m ost o f the attractions under cover, though the per­form ers in the P agean t of W illesden gallantly carried through their show both in the afternoon and evening, in spite of the sodden finery and the prospects of appalling colds the next day.

It was therefore rather surprising to find at 8.30 p.m . that there w as still a very large crow d w aitin g in the dark and damp park to see the local T errito ria l Battalion endeavour to em ulate the W em bley T atto o . H ow ever, the fact re­mains that people did remain, and when the Battalion arrived there m ust have been 5,000 people assembled round the arena, and considerable persuasion and pushing had to be resorted to before a g a n g w ay could be cleared fo r the perform ers to m arch on and off.

ix S THE DIE-HARDS

T h e p rogram m e fo llow ed the usual course o f such show s and requires no com m ent, excep t that the D rum s m arched extrem ely w ell and the torch-bearers com ­pleted all their evolutions w ithout anyone g e ttin g lost.

T h e tab leau x by the D rum s had to be repeated— about turned— for the benefit of a v ery large crow d w hich assem bled behind the arena and under co ver of m om entary darkness they perform ed the necessary shuffle w ith considerable suc­cess.

A t the conclusion the w hole m arched .b a c k to Pound Lan e, w ith Band and

D rum s playin g, lighted b y the torch- bearers as lo n g as the torches lasted.

W h a t w e w a n t t o K n o w .

D id the m em bers o f the S erg ea n ts’ M ess w ho did not g o to Purfleet find the M ess quite com fortable on the m orning o f the 27th, and how far could theircheers fo r g o o d old “ S cottie ” be heard?

* * *W h eth er the “ y o u n g ” m achine gunner

w ho b ro u gh t in tw o recruits on the day fo llo w in g the end o f cam p doesn’t deserve a V .C .?

* * *

p lo w it happened that there w as a bedavailable fo r a senior officer at the D rill H all a fter the T a tto o , and w hether the ow n er exp ects to be rew arded if it failed to uphold the sleeper’ s d ign ity?

# * *W heth er the firers at Purfleet w ere as

taken aback at b ein g expected to convey food to th eir m ouths w ithout knives, etc., as the C anteen M an ag er w as at being exp ected to have them ready fo r use ?

* * *W h eth er the su g g estio n that the

m achine gunners should fire over the heads o f a selected band of non-com m is­sioned officers alarm ed the m achine gu n ­ners m ore than the non-com m issioned officers ?

* * *

Should C h ief M arshals be asked to look after ladies’ dressin g room s? (W e shall not require M r. L o v a t F raser to answ er this in the Sunday Pictorial, as the M arshal concerned says m ost em phati­ca lly “ Y e s .” )

“ B ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .”

Cam p, w ith all its attendant joys and sorrow s, is over. Th ere w ere m any joys this year in B rig h to n , Shoreham , and B u n galo w T o w n , and there were many sorrow s fo r B ” Com pany in camp. W e did not win a sin gle com petition, and, ju d g in g from the rem arks of certain people, there appeared to be a large num ber o f extra duties to perform , yet in spite o f this w e are still cheerful, and have already nearly been rew arded by the result of the Field F irin g Com petition at Purfleet, “ A ” Com pany ju st beating us on the p o s t : how ever, perhaps in the long run an eternal crow n is m ore satisfactory.

W in ter train ing is now commencing, but not, it is hoped, the w inter hibernating season. In addition to our w ork, we are g o in g to run a Com pany D an ce in the N ew Y ear, at which there m ust be at least five hundred people present, and “ B ” Com pany w ill have to produce those five hundred people. W e can then start right ahead w ith our arrangem ents for the Com pany D inner to be held in the early sum m er. It is also hoped to run a Com­pany W eek-end Social Cam p in the spring, at which no w ork w ill be done beyond erectin g tents, etc., and to w hich we hope to be able to ask our w ives to tea on ounday afternoon; but these th ings cost m oney, so the dance m ust be a success.

Co ngratu lation s to S erg t. M artin, Cpls. Carter, L ew is and Pearce on the reports which they g o t from the T ra in in g Cadre at cam p; also con gratu lation s to Cpl. C arter on his m arriage. W e hope that his hom e ties w ill not keep him entirely from Pound Lan e. A n d , lastly, congratu­lations to our Com pany Commander, Capt. Sherw ood, on his becom ing the father of another daughter. M r. Editor, please note the sex this t im e !

T h i n g s w e w a n t t o K n o w .W hat certain officers from “ H .Q .” and

“ D ” Com panies found on the shingle.' * * *

W ho left the push-bike in the ditch; and what the Q uarterm aster thinks about it?

* * *

W heth er a certain w ell-know n member o f the Com pany enjoyed the Beach Club;and if he enjoyed him self next day?

THE DIE-HARDS 119

“ D ” C O M P A N Y N O T E S .Since the la st n o te s a p p e a re d w e h ave

spent o u r fifteen d a y s ’ “ w a r p e r io d ” at S h o reh am -b y-S ea , and I th in k , on the the w h ole , e v e r y b o d y e n jo y e d th e m se lv e s and g a in ed a c o n s id e ra b le a m o u n t o f valuable k n o w le d g e .

The site of the cam p m ight have been better and the num bers attending train ing larger, but the general feelin g could be summed up in the w ords o f a man w ho said on the m orning we m arched out, “ Ah w ell! I wish we w ere stayin g down here for six m onths.

Some very keen com petitions w ere held in camp, and we did not do at all badly, being second to “ C ” Com pany in the Guard M ounting and second to “ A " Company in the Section L ead in g , but we have learnt, accord ing to the keenness shown, that we have g o t to look to our laurels if we w ant to retain those cups we hold.

A t the B rigade Rifle M eetin g, held at Bisley on Septem ber 6th, by a coincidence the Company finished exactly the same as last year, w inning the Y o u n g Sold iers’ Competition and b ein g second in the Lewis Gun Com petition. “ A ” Com ­pany, who won the L ew is Gun Com peti­tion, were second to us in the “ Y o u n g Soldiers.” W e w ere rather let down by our “ H igh Sheriff’s ” team , w ho finished last and brought us to second place in the final result.

The Com pany A nnual D inner is to take place at the D rill H all on Saturday, November 28th, when w e shall be pleased to see any old m em bers of the Com pany.

R H Y M E S O F C A M P .I

If you should see a Pirate Chief,A t daybreak stro llin g round,Do not at once show sign s of grief, Y o u ’re not for lu g g e rs bound.If you should g et a kindly hint From one with hatband blue,Just act upon a kindly hint,Don’t ask him, “ W h o are y o u ? "If you should see— a Colonel, say— On shanks’ ponies plod The long, steep hill so far aw ay And help an errin g squad,You can safely guess it is

The H on orary Colonel.

IIW hat is that noise that rends the air? Surely it ’s som ething very rare.A ll the police are on the s p o t ! Soldiers are passing at the t r o t !W h y ! I declare— it can ’t be true ! T h at was “ D efaulters ” the b u gler

blew.

IIIH ave you seen our horses?Y o u should see our h orses!Som e are blind and som e are lame, And all of them are very tam e,

T h ey are such lovely horses.

C o lon el’s w o n 't leave the O ther horses and the A d ju tan t’s has g o t no teeth,M ajo r’s soon down underneath W ill cross the river Lethe.

“ A ’s ” n ag is a stage crock,B ’s ” n ag is from bad stock,

“ C ’s ” and “ D ’s ” have done a trek, A re galled o f g irth and stiff of neck, The D o c ’s, has g o t a sore hock.

H ave you seen our h orsage ?Y o u should see our h orsage!Be it dry or be it dampA fte r they have done with campT h e y 'll m ake such lovely sausage.

I VThe man stood in an em pty camp,

Th e rest had gone away,H e ’ d done no drills before the camp

A n d so he had no pay.

V(i) R ise u p ! Rise up ?

L ie in as lon g as you can,W hen “ Charlie ” blows E veryone knows

Y o u should lie in as lo n g as you can.

(ii) L ig h ts out! L ig h ts out?M ake as much noise as you can,

W hen the bugle goes E veryone knows

Y o u should make as m uch noise as you can.

R . O t t e n .

THE DIE-HARDS THE DIE-HARDS

O B I T U A R Y .

T h e L a t e M r . A r t h u r A r t h u r s .

E x -S e rg t. A rth u r A rth u rs passed away at H o u n slo w on July 30th last, at the age o f 75 years. T h is old com rade enlisted in A u g u st, 1874, and served w ith the 57th R egim en t in C eylo n, and also during the S outh A frican W a r o f 1879, b ein g awarded the m edal and clasp. H e w as discharged to pension on A u g u st 30th, 1897, the latter portion o f his service h av in g been spent on the perm anent staff o f the 4th (M ilitia) B attalion . T h e funeral took place on A u g u st 1st at H eston, when a representative from the D epo t attended w ith a w reath from the R egim en tal A ss o ­ciation. W e tender ou r sym pathy w ith the relatives in th eir bereavem ent.

T h e L a t e M r . J a m e s B . P a r k e r .

A n o th er old com rade, ex-C o lo u r-S ergt. Jam es B . P ark er, died on July 28th, aged 61 years, and w as buried at Edm onton Cem etery on A u g u st 1st, when a w reath w as sent from the R egim en tal A sso cia ­tion. T h e deceased joined the R egim ent in 1883, and w as d ischarged to pension on M arch 16th, 1910. Pie served w ith the 1 st and 2nd B attalions at hom e and in India resp ectively. H av in g been posted to the perm anent staff o f the 1st V o lu n teer B atta lion , he w ent to South A fr ic a w ith the 1st V o lu n teer Service Com pany in M arch, 1900, w hen that Com pany joined the 2nd B attalion in N atal. O n the out­break o f the G reat W a r, M r. P arker im m ediately re-enlisted, and served at the D epo t until F eb ru ary, 1919, becom in g a 2nd Class W arran t O fficer (Com pany- S e rgean t-M ajo r) in July, 1915. H e was in possession o f the Q u een ’ s South A frican M edal and the M edal fo r L o n g Service and G ood Conduct. W e offer our sym ­pathy to the w idow and other relatives.

T h e L a t e C a d e t - C a p t . A . L . H y d e .

W e re g ret to announce the death, which occurred at Johann esburg on July n t h last, o f Capt. A . L . H yd e, Q uarterm aster o f the P otch efstroo m Cadets. T h e de­ceased w as one o f the “ O ld Contem pti-

b les,” and w ent to P'ranee w ith the iS[ B attalion in 1914. A fte r the Battle 0f M ons he w as sent to South A fr ic a as one o f the Im perial S ergeant Instructors to the O verseas Infan try C ontingent. He had been associated w ith the Cadets since 1-921.

<*>.-

Y P R E S B O O K O F VALOUR.

THE MIDDLESEX REGIMENT (DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE’S OWN)r 571

9, B aker Street,L o nd on , W .i .

July 1, 1925.

T o the E d itor o f T h e D i e - H a r d s .

S i r , —

M ay I ask fo r a little o f yo u r valuable space that I m ay inform all m ilitary units interested in the preparation of the pro­posed “ Y p res B ook of V a lo u r ” that they should address me in place of the late F ield-M arshal the E arl o f Ypres on this su b ject? N otices w ere recently sent to regim ents tellin g those w ho have not already contributed to the material of this b ook that accounts o f heroic deeds that they wish to have included must be received by Septem ber the 30th next.

T h e y w ere also told that in view of the im m ediate success o f “ T h e Immortal Salient ” it has now been decided to com­pile the “ B ook of V a lo u r ” in the form o f a com panion volum e to the first book. F o llo w in g the roads o f “ T h e Immortal S alien t,” w e propose to fill out the map w ith incident and sto ry connected with each h istoric spot.

A ll replies w ere to have been addressed to F ield-M arshal L o rd Y p res , and the publication o f this letter w ill be the quickest w ay to g et in touch with the officers, so as not to delay the publication o f the book.

T h e late F ield-M arshal took a deep interest in it, and it is our earnest wish that every regim ent w ill be represented som ew here in this epic.

I am,

W . P . P u l t e n e y , Lieut.-General, Chairm an, Y p res League.

Colonel-in-Ckie1

C o lo n el......................

Officer Commanding Depot

1st and 2 nd Battalions. (Regular.)

It.-Colonels (2). îBicknell. H. P. F.,

D.S.O. 28Sept.24iStewart, W. A.,

O.B.E. 28Sept.24

Majors (8).20wen, D. C., D .S.O.

4 May 16 i. iPearson, V. L. N.,

D.S.O. 24 Ju ly 16bl. It.-col. i Jan. 18

2White, P. G. [Dein.Bks.) 4Julyi8

iDundas, A. C., O .B .E .{I) 29Julyi8

iBrowne, M., M .C .(s.c.) 28Sept.24

ijan.19 2ßrown, G. L., D.S.O.

28Sept.243junei9

i Jefferd, W. W. iqDec24 s. Bennett, R. D., M .C .

i5Sept.25

Captains (14). zSloane Stanley, L. F.

14OCL14 s-C. Tidbury, 0 . H ., M.C.

(h nDec.14bl maj. 3Junei8

iPargiter, L. L.,D.S.O. nDec.14

t mai- 3Juneig«• Cooper-Key, A . L.

Wollocombe, T. g1*'’00’14 M.C. (i) i2Dec.i4

x j r P y - 3ju n e i8 cyon. N. H . B ., M.C.(courts Martial

> % £ , E . n. !7Feb!i5

■•.2), s. 3oAprili5

I Oct.! 5

[ 5 7 ]

Home Counties Area.

Col. I l .R .H . the P rin ce o f Wales and D u k e o f Cornwall K G K T G .C .S .I . , G .C .M .G ., G .C .I .E ., G .C .V .O ., G .B .E ., M .C ., Col. W Gds Colonel-in-Chief 12th L., R. S. Fus., S. W. Bord., D C L I P W Vols., Seaforth, and R. Wilts. Yeo. Personal A . D c ’ to the K in g . .. ......................................................

... Maxse, Gen. S ir F . Ivor, K .C .B . , C .V .O .

Pearson, Maj. (B t. L t.-C ol.) V. L . N., D .S .O ..

d. Arnold, A. C., O .B.E. (2) M.C., p .s .c ., d. 7Dec.i5

bt. m aj. 3 junei9 2 Thorp, J. R. [/]

26Jan.i6 i Phillips, H ., M .C .

26Aug.i6 d. xBucknall, G. C.,

M .C . (s.c .) 26Aug.i6bt. m a j. 3June19

iPau l, H. W. M.,O .B .E ., M .C . (s.c.)

26 Aug.16 iHorrocks, B. G.,

M .C . ijan.17iHaydon, C. W., M .C .

25Apr.i7 ïLautrence, F . A . L .

7Mayi7 (i)del Court, S. F. W. M.,

M .C . 28Sept.202Whinney, C. T.,

M .C . 23Mar.2it. Procter, N . P .,

M.C. xApr.zi(1) Lyons E . F., M .C .

i8keb.22 zGarrow, V . J. 25Feb.22

Subalterns (35).

Lieutenants. iBailey, F. A . ijan.172Manson, E. P., M.C.,

i j u l y i71 Roberts, W . L-,

M .C . iT u ly i71 Butterfield, H. R .F l

i j u l y i7iNunn, F. J.,

M .C . 6Aug.i7c.o. H ill , R . L . 21 Aug. 17iBostock, F. E. 2Sept.i7

w.i. D ix-L ew is, A .2Sept.i7

a. iMirams, S., M .C .1 iSept.17

iRoyffe, H. S. i8Sept.i7iRackham, B. B., M .C .

13OCL17 s. Steveni, L ., O.B.E.,

M.C. 13N0V.17c.s. Charlesworth, J . F .

17N0V.17 iKempster, G. W.

I9 jan .i8c.o. aW cller, A . V .

I9 jan .i8 2Pain, E . T . i9 jan .i8iDobbs, J . E.

M .C . 1 Feb. 182 Jones, W. H . V. i6Feb.i8 1 P en n y cook, G . H . C .,

A d jt . 27Apr.i8(. Hedgccoe, S .F . 2 7Apr.i8

d. Parker, F. G. 4junei82Clyne, A. iNov.18

2Overall A. N. iNov.18 iC lowes, J . H. iNov.18 2Chapman, J. R. S._ T 5jan.i9

iTa it, J. i2Mar.ig2Pater, P. 2 ijune i9 2Wray, E. M. G., D .S .O .

27Aug .i92Clayden, H. W. 27Aug.i9 Stephenson, G. A.(A d jt. Singapore Vol. Corps) 24OCL19

2Howell, H . A. A.24OCL19

(1) C lark, S . J . 2iFeb.20 c.o. W alden, F . 21 Feb.20 2 Hey wood, E. L.

29Feb.20 2Ayscough, E . S. M.

2oDec.20 spec. appt. Reid, J. G. E.

i8 Ju ly2 ia.m . Colam , E . F . i7Dec.2i a.m . H udson, E . V . H .

i7Dec.2i a.m . M usselw hile, C . C .

i6Julv22 iCub itt, D. Y . 24Dec.22 2Tuckey, P. E. C. I4july23 iW o rton .J. B. X4july23 2Lambert, H. P. i4 ju ly23 iGordon, I. D. S.

I4july23 iCrawford, M. 23Dec.23

2nd Lieutenants. i Newton, W. C. 3oAug.24 2Jacob, M. A. 3oAug.24 2Chisholm, G. A. N. -

i8Dec.24iGoulden, G. A.

29jan.25

A d ju ta n ts (2). 2-Moore, R. N. i8July22

xPennycook, G. H. C.,It. i8Mar.23

Quarter-M asters (3). d. Stock, V . E., M .C .

25.Aug.i4 capi. 1 Ju ly 17

I English, J. 25 Aug. 14capt. 25 Aug. 17

2Douthet, R . T.,It. i8June23

5 th B a t t a l io n ( M il it ia ) .

D .S .O . ...

M idd’x R.

Captain. Schooling, J . H. 3Apr.i5

6 th B a t t a l io n ( M il it ia ) .

H on. Colonel.M askiter, Sir George C. K.C.B., C.M.G., Lt.- Col. ret. pay t.a.

25Feb.2iLt.-Colonel.

Graves, C. A. H.,O .B .E . 4Apr.x8

Captains.Josephs, L . H . O.

22Apr.i4 Graham-Toler, L . J.,

M .C . 2oMar.i5Pechell, H. C. ijan.17

7 th B a t t a l io n ( T e r r i t o r i a l ) .

“ South Africa, 1900-02.” D rill Hall, Priory Road,

Hornsey, N.

H on. Colonel.King, E. J. C.M.G.,

TD ! 3Aug.04

Lt.-Colonel.

Maitland, J. K., M .C .

M ajor.Smith, S. C. M., TD

l.a. i June 16bt. U.-col. 31 Dec. 24

Captains.

Cossar, J. M., td2 3 Apr. 16

bt. m a j. 1 Jan. 19 Muir, W. E. H.,

M .C . (s.c.) (Capt.Res. o f Off.) 7July20

Vickerage, H. G., M .C .4june24 Murray, H. A. ¿Aug.24

............. ioMar.23

Lieutenants.H ill, C. W. iju n e i6Lindsay, A . S. sSept.20Pringle, W. E., M .C .

24N0V.21 Doidge, L . C. D. x J une22Widdicombe, A . G.

7june22CunliSe, E . N . 3oSept.22Garioch, F. H . 15OCL22Thompson, A. F. i9Jan.24Hay, E. J. W. 29APG24Kent, C. E. 21N0V.24

2nd Lieuten an t.Cole, A. G. 4API.25

A d ju ta n t.

Savile, H. B. W., M .C . capi., M iddx. Regt.

8Feb.24

Quarter-M aster. Framlingham, G. E.,

M.B.E., M .C ., Capt. (Capt . R es. o f Off.)

26Sept.25

[Uniform — Scarlet. [Facings— Lemon Yellow .]

Cadet Units affiliated, i Cadet Bn. M idd ’x R 5 Cadet Bn. M idd’x R

Schools.

8 th B a t t a l io n ( T e r r i t o r i a l ) .

“ South Africa, 1900-02.

D rill H a ll, Hanworth Road, Hounslow.

H on. Colonel. Garner, IV., C.M.G., td t.a. 5Apr.2i

Lt.-Colonel.

Baker, E . E. F.,D .S .O ., M .C ., t.a.

20 Feb.23

M ajor.

Lewey, A . W . 28 July23

C aptains.Palmer, H . A.

3Nov.r8Parmeter, W. H.

22Apr.22 Ellis. H. C., O.B F..,

7Feb.2 SMurray, P. F . 30ct.25

122 THE DIE-HARDS

Lieutenants. Newbery, R . E.,

M .C . 26Feb.i9Wells. E. T. W. i Mar. 19 Boys, R . H. G. 5july22 Jewson, D. A. i2Aug.23 Wells, R . B. 2oJuly24 Pattison, P. R. iNov.24 Pattison, D. R . 13N0V.24

2tut L ieuten an ts. Murphy, D. B. 7Apr.23 Heanly, R. L. S. W.

28July23 E llio tt, P .R .H . 22ju'y24 Cary, R. C. uMar.25 |

A d ju ta n t.Hedgecoe, S. F., Capt.

L ieu t. Middx. R.iOct.25

Quarter-M aster.

Dymore, H ., M .C. capt.igAo r 20

[Unitorm— Scarlet.

Facings— Lem on Yellow .]

Cadet Units affiliated.

2 Cadet Bn. M idd'x R.2-2 Cadet Bn. M idd’x R.

9 th B a t t a l io n ( T e r r i t o r i a l ) .

“ South Africa, 1900-02.”

D rill Ha ll, Pound Lane, Willesden, N.W.10.

B lum feld , J . L . , t d t.a.10 Jan. 22

Beach, G., O.B.E., t d t.a . i7Aug.2

M a jor.

Tupper, G. W . H.t d t.a. 7jan.2 i

C aptains.

Lamont, J. N., M .C .i ju n e iö

Findlay, L . F.25OCL21

Fox, G. L. i7Aug.22 Sherwood, H . 220ct.22

Lieutenants.

Hardcastle, H . K.2Feb.23

Hogg, F. G. 3iMar.23 Furlong, 1. E . nMay23 Hewson, A. S. 9June23 Townell, S. H. 25june23 Wright, L . C. 24Dec.2i Wright, E . W. 24Dec.2i I

Heffer, H. nyFurness, G. J.B ^

Ryan, J.W.S.5HAdjutant.

Procter, N. P. uf capt. Middx. R.1

Quarter-Masiu,Lawson, E. C., M.C (Capt. Res. o) Off.)

“ ■ >iinr.[Uniform—Sc^

Facings— Lemon Y/Ss,

Cadet Unit

No. 1 Co. 3 Cadet Bi Midd'x R.

SENIORITY ROLL OF W ARRAN T OFFICERS

AND N.C.O’S.

Date of presentRank. Name. Battalion. promotion.R .S .M . H . A nderson , M .C. I St 1/ 5 /20

29/9 /23R .S .M . F . Fane 2ndR .S .M . R . M antell D epot 26 /9 /24Bdm r. J. C larke ... 1st 26 /6 /16Bdm r. H . Clibbens 2nd 2 2/2 /24R .Q .M .S . A . C lark ... 1st 2 I /6 /I7R .Q .M .S . A . Purcell D epot 15/7/24R .Q .M .S . H . B aker, D .C .M . 2nd 30/12/24C.S.M. W . Beasley 9th 30/1/15C.S.M. C. G reen ... 9th 18/4/16C.S.M . J. W alker 1st 3/7 /16C.S.M. W . B eam an I St 1/9 /17C.S.M . H . G ray, D .C .M . D epot 4 /9 /18C.S.M. S. Cox 2nd 9/ 7/23C.S.M. H . Siddons 2nd 29/9/23C.S.M . E . Crouch 1st 1/9 /24C.S.M. C. D av is .. . 2nd 13/10/24C.S.M. E . Burns ... 2nd 28/1/25C.S.M . H . R and .................. 2nd 28/1 /25C S .M . C. D enton 9th 26/3 /25C.S.M. E . Green, M .M . ... 1st 26/5 /25C.S.M. C. G ooda ll 7th 4/6/25C.S.M . J. T ungate, D .C .M . 1st 19/8 /25C.Q .M .S. F . P elly .................. I St 8 /IO /16C.Q .M .S. W . G ray ... D ep ot I/8/2OC.Q.M .S. F . Cushion 2nd 2/2 /22C.Q .M .S. J. C ook 1st I2/IO /22C .Q .M .S. S. S teadm an 2nd 23/7 /23C.Q.M .S. H . L yd ia t 1st 15/7 /24C Q .M .S T . Sm ith .. . 2nd i 3 /IO/ 24C.Q.M .S. C. K en t .................. 2nd 4 /2 /25C .Q .M .S. W . O ’Brien 2nd 27/2 /25C .Q .M .S. R . F latm an, D .C .M . 1st 26 '5 '25C.Q .M .S . C. K in g .................. 1st 26/5 /25C.S. (O .R .S .) R . F ox I St 1/4/24C.S. (O .R .S .) W . P illey 2nd J5/1/25C.S. (O .R .S .) A . F inch D epot 13/6/25Sgt. C. Shaw ... 7th 30/1/12Sgt. F. Sparkes 8th 25/9/14Sgt. W . Sperry, M .C. .. . 2nd 23/12/14Sgt. J . G oldstraw D epot 26/4 /15Sgt. F . R ose 8th 2/5 /15Sgt. F. Cam pbell, D .C .M 1st 11/ 7/15

SgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgtSgSgtSgSgSgSgSgSgSgtSgSgSgtSgSgSgSgtSgtSgtSgtSgt

Name.

A.. B aynham C. C ook ...G. H oadley W . Green, D.C.MH . M anders L. H ills ...W . W est ...E . K e lly ...E . Pain K ingC. M abb ...W . M oore S. Speakes H . G lover C. Cox A . W a lk er ...A . M ayhew W . Palm er W . N okes-B ourn E . M argrave W . W illard, M.M E . H eath ...J. W ilcockson J. C ookG. G oodw inH . D arby ...E . W alsh ...J . H artF . Stevenson H . H art ...W . T hom psonG. Capel ...S. W ilsonH . Tisdale

(O .R .C .) C. StuartF . Hill S. Colbourne V . O iterholm e P . M ew ett W . L eatherby W . Connors H . H ew ett T . M asseyF. P eck ...E . Shaw ...G. A ndersonG. Cullen ...H . F arrow

(I.M .) J. Griffen (I.M .) V . B rockm an

Date ot present Battalion, promotion.

D m r.

is t 13/10/15Supn. 19/10/15is t 20/11/15is t 18/2/178th 28/2/1;2nd 26/4/172nd ■ 0/9/179th 20/11/17is t 26/10/18is t 18/1/197th 19/9/19is t 7/11/19ist 1/5/202nd 1/5/202nd 2/5/202nd i / 5/202nd 1/5/202nd 1/5/20is t 1/5/202nd 15/5/20is t 3/11/20is t 20/11/20D epot 30/11/202nd 30/11/20is t 1/7/21D epot 25/8/217th 25/8/212nd 25/8/21is t 25/8/21D epot 9/1/222nd 9/1/222nd 9/1/222nd 9/1/228th 22/1/22is t 23/4/232nd 22/8/232nd 6/10/23ist 10/10/232nd 12/12/232nd 12/12/232nd 12/12/232nd 10/1/242nd 12/1/242nd 12/1/24D epot 19/1/24is t 20/2/24is t 20/2/24is t 7/5/04D epot 11/6/24is t i 5/7/2,í

THE DIE-HARDS 123

t.-Dmr.

Name.Date of present

Battalion, promotion. Rank. Name.Date of present

Battalion, promotion.

L. Sim m onds 2nd 24/8 /24 Cpl. H. G ibson ist n / i / 2 4L. Clarke ... is t 1 /9 /24 Cpl. E . L ione ... 2nd 12/1/24W . Clements D epot 10/11/24 Cpl. W . G race ... 2nd 12/1/24J. Beaveridge W . Palm er

2nd 28/1 /25 Cpl. T . French 2nd 12/1/242nd 4 /2/ 25 Cpl. C. O lden ................ 2nd 12/1/24

F. Draper 2nd 17/2/25 Cpl. T . H annah is t 2/2/24A. Russell ist 19/2/25 Cpl. O. Phelps . . . is t 5 /2 /24S. Ingle ... 2nd 27/2 /25 Cpl. G . E gan ... is t 16/2/24E. Jones ... is t 1/3/25 Cpl. J. Stretton ist 20/2 /24

12/3/2418/3/24

E. Burt ... is t 26/3 /25 Cpl. K elly ................ D epotE. Flem m ing is t 16/4/25 Cpl. W . N orth cott, M. IV istG. Lam bert is t 26 /5 /25 Cpl. E . N orm an is t 7/5 /24W. Rogers ist 26 /5 /25 Cpl. E. H ow ard 2nd 4/5 /24S. T ibbs ... is t 1 /6 /25 ■ Cpl. W . T ibbie is t 11/6/24W . Raindle is t 16,8/25 Cpl. S. D avis ... 2nd 2/7 /24L. Fairchild 2nd *5/12/21 Cpl. C. L ew is ... is t 16/7/24W . F letcher 2nd * l/ l2 /2 2 Cpl. W . H ow ard 2nd 23/7 /24W. Cobbett D epot 13 0 /1 /2 3 Cpl. W . Patterson 2nd 28/7/24S. Mason ... 2nd *12/1/24 Cpl. C. Soper ... is t 16/7/24C. Banfield 2nd * I 2/ l /24 Cpl. G. Goss D epot t/9 /2 4C. T aylor ... D epot * 19/ 1/24

*20/2/24Cpl. H . Sam m ons, M.M ist 29/10/24

B. Gray ... is t Cpl. A. Stenning ist i o / i 1/24A. Lawrence is t *20/2 /24 Cpl. S. B u rgess... 2nd I I /I I /2 4G. Bone ... 2nd *30/8 /24 Cpl. V . H all ................ 2nd I I / I I /2 4G. Clift ... is t 1 /9 /24 Cpl. A . W right 2nd I I /I I /2 4J. Trapp ... D epot *1 /9 /24 Cpl. S. B ishop ... 2nd I I /I I /2 4Robbins ... D epot *1 /9 /24 Cpl. W . Sw indon is t *25/11/24E. Hazledene 2nd 22/IO /24 Cpl. G. Raw lings ist *25/11/24T. Tiller ... 2nd 17/2/25 Cpl. F . Denchfield 2nd 27/12/24S. Hawkins is t 20 '2/25 Cpl. R . K in g ... is t 30/12/24A. W ard ... is t *26/3 /25 Cpl. J. B row n ... 2nd 4/2 /25H. Warren D epot 26/3 /25 Cpl. R . E cclestone D epot 19/2/25A. Clifford 2nd 17/5/25 Cpl. S. C o p e lin ................ 2nd 24/2 /25W. O verton is t 1/6/25 Cpl. L . Johnson 2nd 27/2 /25T. Page ... is t *1/6 /25

*1/6 /25Cpl. K ennett ... is t 1/3 /25

W. Bennett is t Cpl. A . W illiam s ist 26/3 /25H. Thom as ist *8 /6 /25 Cpl. J. O 'B rien is t 16/4/25R. Green ... is t 1/5/20 Cpl. J. O ’N e i l l ................ is t 26/5 /25J. Sharman 2nd 1/5/20 Cpl. L . H oneybun ist 26/5 /25H. W ilson 2nd 1/5/20 Cpl. E . Leggett is t 26/5 /25W. F loyd ... 2nd 1/5/20 Cpl. A . Secretan 2nd 5/5 /25R . W ood 2nd 13-5/20 Cpl. J. Jones ... 2nd 8/5 /25E. Aird 2nd 30/11/20 Cpl. T . Ballard 2nd 13/5/25L. Baker ... 2nd 30/11/20 Cpl. W . E idrett ist 1/6/25J. Bray is t 29/12/20 Cpl. W . McM urdie ist 4/6 /25F. Thom pson is t 1/7/21 Cpl. E . Beam e D ep ot 15/6/25R. N ew com be ist 1 /7 /2 1 L./C pl. J. M urphy ist *20/8 /20G. Horrex D epot 1/7/21 L ./C p l. A . Sando ... D epot *1/1/21R. Holder is t 18/7/21 L ./C p l. B . P ope ... is t *1/4/21F. Stacey ... is t 25/8 /21 L ./C pl. F. Clarke ... is t *1/4/21C. Misso ... is t 25/8/21 L ./C pl. F. Carter ... is t *6/4/21W. Harwood 2nd 4/12/21 L ./C pl. H . Channon is t *21/11/21W . Richardson 2nd 9/1 /22 L ./C pl. C. K ingdom D epot *12/10/22H. Clarke ... 2nd 9/1 /22 L ./C pl. G. Skeats is t *12/10/22H. Ruff ... 2nd IO/1/22 L ./C p l. J. M orden ... is t t2 4/l /2 3H. Barker 2nd 4 / 3/22 L./C pl. J. P ainter is t t 23/ 3/23R. Ruttledge 2nd I7 /I I /2 2 L ./C pl. A . R eed ... is t * 1/ 4/23J. Steward D epot 1/4/23 L./C pl. W . T om kins ist * 13/ 7/23G. M cDonald is t 1/4/23 L./C pl. W . Curl ................ is t *13/7 /23A. Jones ... is t 10/4/23 L ./C pl. W . Sm ith ... is t * 13/ 7/23F. Button 2nd 4/7 /23 L./C pl. G. Staines ist *27/ 7/23H. Myland 2nd 4/7 /23 L./C pl. G. Green ... is t *27/ 7/23F. B uckby 2nd 4/7 /23 L ./Cpl. L . Yesterley ist t 3° 8/23W . B ratby 2nd 21/8/23 L ./C pl. G. F o ley ... D epot *13/10/23C. Newton 2nd 12/12/23 L ./C pl. A . F ow ler ist *15/2 /24G. Hatfield 2nd 12/12/23 L ./C pl. A . Harnes ist *15/2 /24C. Mardle is t 19/12/23 L ./C pl. G. M cG lone ist *15/2 /24W . Travarthen is t 19/12/23 L ./C pl. P. Edwards is t *15/2 /24W . D uckm anton D epot 19/12/23 L ./Cpl. A. Bartram ist *15/2 /24J. W est ist I I /I /2 4 L ./C pl. G. Stagpoole ist *15/2 /24

12 4 THE DIE-HARDS

Rank. Name.Da

Battalion.jresent

Rank. Name. Battalion.L ./C p l. G. F rost . . . is t L ./C p l. A . Clark ... 2ndL ./C p l. H . W ilson is t L ./C p l. S. H unt ... 2ndL ./C p l. R . Challis is t L ./C p l. G. A tk ins ... 2ndL ./C p l. C. W a tson is t L ./C p l. H . B erry ... 2ndL ./C p l. C. T urner ist L ./C p l. R . N eighbour 2ndL ./C p l. E . B attersby is t L ./C p l. G . M ilne ... 2ndL ./C p l. E . D en y er... is t L ./C p l. A . S im m onds 2ndL ./C p l. H . W illiam s is t L ./C p l. J. W hiting 2ndL ./C p l. J. H enderson is t L ./C p l. A . W e b b ... 2ndL ./C p l. R . Arnibold i D epot L ./C p l. E . G libbery 2ndL ./C p l. S. H arnett is t L ./C p l. R . W in grove 2ndL ./C p l. L . P rid d y ... is t L ./C p l. E . Addinall 2ndL ./C p l. H . S hort ... D epot i / i 3 L ./C pl. J. Jenkins 2ndL ./C p l. G. Sew ell ... is t 3 L ./C p l. F . W elsh ... 2ndL ./C pl. G . Mills ... is t 3 L ./C p l. C. Clem ents 2ndL ./C p l. A . W allace is t 3 L ./C p l. W . M akewell 2ndL ./C p l. J . F rost ... is t 3 L ./C p l. H . P ou lter 2ndL ./C p l. E . R a tty ... is t 23 L ./C p l. W . F lin t ... 2ndL./C.pl. G ooda ll is t 4 L ./C p l. L . L ax ton 2ndL ./C p l. S. Jackson is t L ./C p l. A . R ow ell 2ndL ./C p l. H . R ile y ... is t L ./C p l. IT. Lucas .. . 2ndL ./C p l. G. T heobald is t ./ 4 L ./C p l. S. S im pson 2ndL ./C p l. E . B urton ist 4 L ./C p l. C. F orster 2ndL ./C p l. H . H u ll .. . D epot L ./C p l. C. D onaldson 2ndL ./C p l. E . P ind er ,.. D ep ot L ./C p l. W . Pollard 2ndL ./C p l.L ./C p l.L ./C pl.

R . G lover ist L ./C p l. G . P ow er ... 2ndR . A ldridge D epot 4 L ./C p l. R . Franklin 2ndH . B a tt .. . is t 4 L ./C p l. G. B row n ... 2nd

L ./C p l. A . Case is t 4 L ./C p l. W . P otter 2ndL ./C p l. A. H ow s ... is t *28/5 /24 L ./C p l. J. R ile y ... 2ndL ./C p l. A. A nson ... is t 4 L ./C p l. H . Craw ley 2ndL ./C p l. C. Pestell .. . is t L ./C p l. H . R eadings 2ndL./C.pl.L ./C p l.

W . Sm ith ... is t L ./C p l. B . G ow er ... 2ndS. N icholls is t L ./C p l. G. M atthew s 2nd

L ./C p l. G . O ’C onnor is t 4 L ./C p l. J. F ow ler ... 2ndL ./C p l. G . O skinat is t 4 L ./C p l. W . C halcroft 2ndL ./C p l. W est is t 4 L ./C p l. W . H athaw ay 2ndL ./C p l. Bayles is t 4 L ./C p l. W . M illbery 2ndL./C p l. Vials is t 4 L ./C p l. E . Jenkin 2ndL ./C p l. B ow den is t 4 L ./C p l. C. G w innett 2ndL ./C p l. W . Banham is t 4 L ./C p l. E . F isher .. . 2ndL ./C p l. C. P ettitt ... T S t 4 L ./C p l. T . D ib ley .. . 2ndL ./C p l. G iles................ is t ■8/9 L ./C p l. T . L e ve tt ... 2ndL ./C p l. G ough is t L ./C p l. J. S tanford 2ndL ./C p l. B arley is t 8/9 L ./C p l. G. W illiam son 2ndL ./C p l. M arshall ... is t L ./C p l. W . A dam s 2ndL ./C p l. N orm an is t 4 L ./C p l. E . B anks ... 2ndL ./C p l. O ’N eill .. . is t 4 L ./C p l. E . W right 2ndL ./C p l. T om pk in s .. . is t 4 L ./C p l. F. F isher .. . 2ndL ./C p l. K e lly is t 4 L ./C pl. R . B aldw in 2ndL ./C p l. L . W estn ey is t 4 L ./C p l. E . B arker 2ndL./C p l. T h om p son is t /24 L ./C pl. F . W ingrove , M. 2ndL ./C p l. P . P hillipson is t /24 L ./C pl. J. S im m onds 2ndL./C p l. W . C larke... D epot 4 L./C pl. W . Sm ith ... 2ndL ./C p l. F letch er . . . is t 4 L ./C p l. W . E ldridge 2ndL ./C p l. H am m ond is t 3 L ./C p l. A . Jones ... 2ndL ./C p l. W o o d ro fi ... is t 24 L ./C p l. J. B rooks ... 2ndL ./C p l. W h e a t le y .. . is t 24 L ./C p l. T . Grogan 2ndL ./C p l. Chasney .. . is t L ./C p l. A Granshaw 2ndL ./C p l. C am oll ist L /Cpl. F T ow ell ... 2ndL ./C pl. Painter is t 25 L /Cpl. W . Schooledge 2ndL ./C p l. F . E d w icker I 5t 25 L./C p l. F. C ook ... 2ndL /Cpl. H . H olness is t L ./C pl. C. T isdall ... 2ndL ./C p l. W . L ee . . . is t L ./C p l. E . N oakes 2ndL /Cpl.L ./C pl.

Balls is t L ./C p l. C. Cham pion 2ndG. B lackm an ist °5 L ./C p l. J . Lane 2nd

L ,/C p l. P . Palm er is t 25 L./C pl. W . K em p 2ndL ./C p l. S. H u tton D ep ot 25 L ./C p l. W . W aterm an 2ndL ./C p l. A . L am kin 2nd 11 2 20 L./C pl. G. R eed 2ndL ./C p l. F . Colton .. . 2nd 20 L ./C p l. W . B udd ... 2nd

! " 2 /""/2o* " ‘ /7/2I* I 2 /7/2l*22/8/2i

«/9/2I

1111'2!»* 6 /2 /2 2*4/3/22*4/3/22*7/3/22*8/3/22: 22/3/22* 23 /3 /2 2*27 /3/2 2* 21 /4 /2 2

2 4 /8 /22* 30 /8 /2 2* 2 /1 0 /2 2* 7 /10/22*22/12/22*24/3/23*"4/3/23

"4/3/23* 19/4/23

*29/5/23*4/6/23*9/6/23113/6/23 t"5/6/23* 2 1 / 7/23* 2 7 /7 /2 3*13 /8 /2 3t "3/8/23 * 1 3 /8 /2 3 *15 /8 /2 3 *17 /8 /2 3*23 /9 /2 3*8/10/23*13/10/23*24/10/23*24/10/23

f29/"0/23729/10/23tIO /I I /2 3Î I 7 /H /23720/11/237 23 /H /2 3 720/11/23 7 4 /1 /24 7 4 /1 /2 4 7 4 /1 /2 4 715/1/24 716 /1/24 f 16/1/24*16 /1/247 2 /2 /2 47 4 /2 /2 4719 /3/24*25 /3/24*25 /3 /2 4*19 /4/247 5 /5 /2 4718 /6/24724 /6/247 7 /7 /24717 /7/247 3 /1 /257 IO /I/2573 1/1/25731 /1/25

THE DIE-HARDS

Rank.

L./C p l L./Cpl L ./C pl L ./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L ./Cpl L./Cpl L /C p l L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./CpJ L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L /Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl L./Cpl

Name. BattalionDate of present

promotion.C. Stewart 2nd 731/1/25D. W illiam s 2nd 731/1/25IT. M eddom s 2nd 731/1/25A. Boen ... 2nd 731/1/25F. G ribble 2nd 7 3 1 / 1 / 2 5W . G rim m ett 2nd 7 7 / 2 / 2 5J. Carroll ... C. Moss

2nd 72/3/252nd 7 6 / 3 / 2 5

A. Lee 2nd 711/3/25F. G ray •• 2nd 711/3/25J. Davis ... 2nd 72/3/25Deam er 1st 7 ' 4 /2 5G. Brow n ... 1st 7 ■ 7 /4 /25A Johnson rst 717/4/25E. Foulger 1st 718/4/25

721/4 '25F. G oodall 1stSmith I St 75/ 5/25Chalkley ••• I St 726/5/25F. Jaffery ... 2nd 727/5/25F. Sparkes 2nd 7 3 0 / 5 / 2 5G. Maund ... 1st *2/6 /25T. F letcher 1st 74/6/25T . Martin ... 2nd +9/6/25L. Harrison 1st 713/6/25Pike 1st 17/0/25Lack 1st 18/6/25A. Lazarus 1st 722/6/25

* Paid. f U n p a

‘olden A ldershot Telephone No. 2 A ldershot

Rank. Name.Date of present

Battalion, promotion.L ./C pl. K ruck 1st 730/6/25L ./Cpl. T . S ib ley ... 2nd *30/5/25L ./C pl. F. W r ig h t ... 2nd 76/7/25L ./Cpl. D. G lew ... 2nd 77/7/25L ./Cpl. A . Cad waller 2nd 77/7/25L ./Cpl. L. Stagg ... 2nd 718/7/25L./Cpl. A . F ow ler ... 2nd 718/7/25L./Cpl. L. T im so n ... is t 724/7/25L./Cpl. A . Sargent... D epot 729/7/23L./Cpl. F . W ood ... is t 75/8 /26L./Cpl. B . M eddelson ist 75/8/25L./Cpl. J. N icholls ... D epot 76/ 8/25L./Cpl. Pratt is t 710/8/25L./Cpl. W . C ox ... 2nd 710/8/25L./Cpl. W . Skull ... 2nd 710/8/25L ./C pl. D onovan ... is t 714/8/25L ./C pl. M. H orton ... is t 714/8/25L ./C pl. E. Paterson (R ) D epot 715/8/25L./Cpl. S. Benson (R) D epot 721/8/25L ./Cpl. G. Sm ith (R) D epot 731/8/25L./C pl. IT. Daliim ore is t 71/9 /25L./Cpl. J. G ould ... is t 71/9 /25L ./Cpl. Trestain ... 2nd 74/ 9/25L./Cpl. P. H ale ... is t 726/9/25L./C pl. F. B lackburn is t 729/ 9/25L ./Cpl. J. M inter ... is t 73/10/25L ./Cpl. A . Mason ... is t 73/ 10/25

: T r a d e S ch o o l.

Gale & Polden Ltd.THE ARMY PRINTERS an d P U B L I S H E R S

\of M i l i t a r y Handbooks are

always reliable and up to date.T/ie Mar A

Excellence

*1 I?rite fo r Complete Catalogue

Written by the Leading Military Authors.Recognised throughout the Service as Standard Works.

Specialists in Military Printing & Stationery.All orders correctly and promptly executed under expert supervision.

Experts in M ilitary Photography. Regim ents and Corps visited on appointment.

WELLINGTON WORKS, A LDERSHO Tan d a t L o n d o n & P o r t s m o u t h

T O L E T

P r i n t e d b y G a l e & P o l d e n , L t d ., W e l l i n g t o n W o r k s , A l d e r s h o t . 2 , 8 i o - d

THE DIE-HARDS

T e l e p h o n e : 3 A l d e r s h o t

Junior Army & Navy StoresDOMESTIC SUPPLIES AN D M ILITARY REQUIREMENTS OFFICERS’ & N.C.Os’. MESSES SPECIALLY CATERED FOR

T h ea tr e T ic k e t O ffice — F u r n itu r e R em oved & S to red — In su ra n ces Effected

W eekly or Monthly Accounts by Arrangement

Y o r k H o u s e , U n i o n St r e e t , A l d e r s h o tIncorporated , w ith the C iv il S erv ice C o-opera tive Society, L td .

HAYMARKET STORES, LONDON, S.W.l

CHAS. KINLOCH & CO. LTD.W ine Sh ippers sin ce 1861

BACK CHURCH LANE - - LONDON, E.lP h on e :— ROYAL 4 6 4 6 / 7

Suppliers of Genuine WINES and SPIRITS PORTS, GRAVES, CHABLIS, SAUTERNES

CLARETS, &C.

See th a t e v e r y bottle bears K I N L O C H 'S G U A R A N T E E S L IP

K .22—EXTRA OLD LIQUEUR (22 u.p.) 10 years old Pre-War WHISKY at Pre-war Strength

THE FINEST ON THE MARKET

A W hisky tha t ap p eals to a ll who a p p reciate quality

Support those F irm s who support us by advertising in “ The Die-Hards.”