Regular reader(s) will think, what is he on about now? Well I will start by telling you about this tribe. They are pygmies, who rarely measure more than four feet six inches when fully grown. They live in the marginal grasslands between the pampas and the rain forests at the foot of the Andes. They actually live in vast areas of dense grass, which grows to a height of some six feet. Obviously these little people are severely disadvantage by this high cover, (it is ideal for game cover in the pheasant shooting areas.). To overcome this problem they are constantly running along and jumping in the air, to find out where they are, while shouting “Where the heck are we?”
You may ask, “What has this to do with Woodcutts?” The answer is quite simple, oil seed rape. Now do you see? No? Well I will try to explain further. This year we have oil seed rape (OSR) drilled all around us, and very few of us are over six feet in height and the OSR is at least six and a half feet high. Yes you’ve guessed it, we at Woodcutts are now running around, jumping into the air and shouting “Where the heck are we?” This of course excludes Mrs. Kirby, our most senior resident, who simply goes upstairs to look out of her bedroom window to see across the lane.
My apologies to those who expected more news from Woodcutts in this edition. God willing, for the next edition things will be back to normal. Until then God Bless.
She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.
Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
Healthy appearing decrepit 69 year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
The patient refused autopsy.
The patient has no previous history of suicides.
Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.
Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.
Since she can't get pregnant with her husband, I thought you might like to work her up.
She is numb from her toes down.
While in ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.
The skin was moist and dry.
Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
Patient was alert and unresponsive.
Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stock broker instead.
Skin: somewhat pale but present.
The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.
Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Blank, who felt we should sit on the abdomen and I agree.
Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
Mentioned in Despatches
Indian Army Reserve of Officer,
Attached 14th King George’s Own Ferozepore Sikhs
It is appropriate that in this 90th year commemorating the fallen from the Gallipoli campaign that this profile should feature just one of the estimated 130,000 casualties sustained by the Allied and Turkish forces locked in this terrible engagement which lasted for the greater part of 1915. Principally because much is known of Sidney’s father, the Reverend Ernest E. Hasluck, a fairly detailed assessment of his young life can be assembled. In fact, I wrote an account for the December, 1999 issue of The Downsman and I will be referring to this report as I convey a broad brush review of 2nd Lieutenant Hasluck’s all too short life.
Born in 1888, Sidney was still an infant when, in 1893, his father took up residence in the vicarage but it seems unlikely that young Sidney saw much of village life as he was sent to Marlborough College, completing his education here in 1906. While at Marlborough, Sidney had taken an active part in the college cadet force and he furthered this embryonic military experience by joining the Dorset Yeomanry, with which he served until his departure in 1909, for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and a future in the tea and rubber industry. I am not able to say if he was able to take leave in England, though I consider it unlikely, but it is recorded that he combined his duties as a planter with military training in the company of the Ceylon Mounted Rifles.
With the outbreak of war in August, 1914, Sidney Hasluck immediately volunteered for active service and was accepted, as a private, in the Ceylon Contingent which, I suspect, incorporated the mounted rifles. Not long after the outbreak of hostilities, the Ceylon Contingent were ordered to proceed to Egypt and it was here, in 1915, that Sidney obtained a commission in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers (I have carried out a search of the Gazettes-online website, but without success in tracing his commissioning details, or that of his Mentioned in Despatches). Gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant, he was attached, initially, to the 89th Punjabis but after arriving in the Dardanelles with the 89th he was seconded to the 14th King George’s Own Ferozepore Sikhs.
His time spent as an officer is best described in a letter, written after his death on the 4th of June, 1915, to his parents by the Commanding Officer of the 89th Punjabis, the formation to which Sidney had first been attached,
‘During the time your son was with us, both in Egypt and the Dardanelles, he worked hard, both at Hindustani and at his military duties. During the fighting at Kantara, he showed himself cool under fire. Again, in the Dardanelles, when Captain Scruby was wounded, he and Lieutenant Masters carried on under a heavy fire, while the Double Company dug itself in, and he gave a good example to everyone near him. I may mention that I sent both his name and Lieutenant Masters’ to the General Officer Commanding Brigade for a ‘Mention in Despatches’, though it is probable that owing to the large number of recommendations their names have gone no further.’
The action at Kantara, referred to in the letter, concerns the attack in February, 1915, by Turkish forces on the Suez Canal, this assault being successfully repulsed by Imperial troops, of which the 89th was a part. It was not long after these events, and with the link between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea secure, that the 89th embarked for the Dardanelles. Victory here would, in simple terms, force Turkey out of the war and at the same time open up a supply route through the Sea of Marmora and on into the Black Sea to the relief and succour of our beleaguered Russian allies.
Despite the misgivings of the author (whose name is not recorded) of the letter, his recommendation was acted upon as Lieutenant Hasluck’s entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s register, published for The Helles Memorial, shows.
In addition to the letter quoted, Ernest and Agnes Hasluck received a second communication, this time from the pen of the wounded officer referred to in the missive from Sidney’s commanding officer. In a personal tribute, Captain Scruby wrote,
‘We were together in a trench for 3 days and at the time I got hit we had gone up to take a new position in front of the old line. He was left in charge all day; we had fairly heavy casualties and I feel sure that if it had not been for his influence our company would not have held the new line. Your son made the men dig a hole for me and looked after me until we were relieved that night.’
The failure in the Dardanelles, a campaign whose architects included Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty and Kitchener the War Minister, has been highly criticised by military historians, but, as in the words of an Australian family, present for this year’s 90th commemoration of the fighting, Gallipoli witnessed the coming of age in respect of Australian and New Zealand and no longer would they be regarded as junior partners in the grand scheme of the Commonwealth and Dominions. To this day ANZAC commemorations for their fallen continue to stir the proud hearts of our Australian and New Zealand cousins for it was over the shell torn and bullet raked landscape of this spit of land guarding the approach to Constantinople, the ultimate prize for the Allies, that the blood of so many of their servicemen had been shed. Sidney Vandyke Hasluck had laid down his brief life in very glorious company.
Postscript. My assumption that the Reverend Hasluck had buried Private Edwin Hobbs, as reported in my last profile, turns out to be erroneous. A visit to the County Records Office at Dorchester and a perusal of the burial records for Sixpenny Handley shows that the funeral service for Private Hobbs was conducted by the curate. Unfortunately, his signature is near indecipherable, though the initials ‘A. R’ are quite clear and I hope, in course of time, to ascertain the curate’s identity.
The Trafalgar Way project is part of this year’s Trafalgar Bicentenary Celebrations and will mark the journey made by Lieutenant John Richards Lapenotiere, returned from the battle off Cape Trafalgar.
After landing in Falmouth on Monday the 4th of November 1805, Lt Lapenotiere travelled to London by post-chaise carrying with him despatches from Admiral Collingwood to the Admiralty and the King, George III, that heralded the news of victory and the death of Lord Nelson. Following what has now been established as the Trafalgar Way, the 271 mile journey took Lapenotiere 37 hours to complete, and he changed horses 21 times. The 13th change was made on the afternoon of the 5th of November at the Woodyates Inn, a place which was well known to the King but which has since been demolished.
A plaque will be erected by East Dorset District Council and unveiled on the 25th of August, at the site of the Inn, to mark Lapenotiere’s stop on this journey. The plaque includes the words:
“to inaugurate the Trafalgar Way from Falmouth to London and to honour the men of Cranborne Chase and East Dorset who fought for their country at Trafalgar”.