1st/1st (Queen’s Own) Dorset Yeomanry
Seven months had passed since the last telegram arrived in the village environs bringing the dread tidings of a serviceman’s death. This time the bell rang for Charles and Bessie Waters of Woodyates Manor informing them of the death of their son, 26 year old L/Sgt Jack Fitz-Roy Waters, serving in Egypt with the 1st/1st (Queen’s Own) Dorset Yeomanry (it will be recalled that Sidney Hasluck, featured in my last profile, had served with the Dorset Yeomanry prior to his departure in 1909 for Ceylon).
When in October, 1998, I submitted my first account of the servicemen commemorated on the village memorial, I suggested, on the advice of the eminent military historian Martin Middlebrook, that L/Sgt Waters may have succumbed to wounds received in the 1915 fighting at Gallipoli. However, recent research into the burials at Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery where L/Sgt Waters rests, and aided by most helpful conversations with Charles Cooper at The Keep (Dorchester’s historically rich Military Museum) and Philip James of the Dorset Yeomanry (QODY) who generously despatched for my retention a copy of A Brief History Of Dorset’s County Yeomanry (which I hereby acknowledge as the source for much of the material that follows), this assumption is now totally refuted.
It is highly likely that Jack Fitz-Roy Waters was amongst the 300 or more officers and men of the QODY that arrived in Suvla Bay during the night of August 17th/18th, 1915, as part of the 2nd (2nd South Midland) Brigade, the disembarkation being carried out under persistent shell fire from Turkish batteries. With barely time to settle in the hostile climate of Gallipoli, the South Midland Brigade was ordered into action and on the 21st, the QODY, ably supported by the Berkshire Yeomanry and the Royal Buckinghamshire (Yeomanry) Hussars made a splendid dash across open ground and secured the front line of enemy trenches on Scimitar Hill. The cost in carrying the day was brutally high, the QODY alone sustaining over a 120 casualties (seven of the eight officers engaged has been felled). In the grim aftermath of this action, their numbers were slowly whittled away by a combination of continual sniping from the Turks and the ever present rampant diseases that pervaded throughout this theatre of action and yet, it is reported, the stoic qualities of the yeomanry never flagged.
With the abandonment of Gallipoli, begun at the end of 1915, and completed during the first two weeks of January, 1916, the QODY were lodged in Egypt where, following a brief respite, they were reunited with their beloved horses (the yeomanry had fought as a dismounted brigade whilst in Gallipoli) and along with the rest of the South Midland Brigade attached to an All Arms force commanded by Brigadier-General Sir Henry Timson Lukin CMG, DSO. Since November, 1915, Arab insurgents, suitably encouraged by Germany and Turkey, were causing the Allies slight concern, particularly along the coastal strip west of Suez. Regarded more as a nuisance rather than a serious threat, nonetheless, during the November, troops guarding the frontier post at Solum were pulled back to Mersa Matruh and affairs continued to deteriorate throughout December, 1915.
Thus, late in January, 1916, Lukin was ordered to prepare for a march towards the main body of the insurgents, principally Senussi troops loyal to Gaafer Pasha and overseen by Turkish officers, and thwart their ambitions once and for all. Lukin’s brigade was comprised of the 1st and 3rd South African Infantry Regiments, the 1st/1st (Queen’s Own) Dorset Yeomanry, the 1st/6th Royal Scottish, a squadron of The Royal Buckinghamshire (Yeomanry) Hussars and the Nottinghamshire Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery.
On February, 20th, instructions were received for the brigade to make for Barroni, its progress being monitored by the Royal Flying Corps and it was their aircraft (probably B.E.2c from a detachment of 17 Squadron whose main headquarters was at Heliopolis) that first sighted the main body of insurgents near Agagia, a barren area of desert some 14 miles south-east of the coastal town of Side Barrani. By the evening of February, 25th, Lukin’s men were in contact with their adversaries and it is possible that L/Sgt Waters was killed at this time. However, the main action was delayed until the morning of the 26th, and following several hours of close engagement the QODY received its orders to cut off the main body of the enemy retirement. It was not, however, to be a straight forward affair for under the direction of Turkish officers, a strong rearguard of at least 600 Senussi troops, equipped with machine-guns and other heavy weaponry, were well prepared to meet the intentions of any aggressor. What they had not bargained for was the indomitable courage of the QODY, less than 200 strong but commanded by Lt. Col. Souter, an officer of outstanding resolve and determination.
Outnumbered and aware than nearly a mile of open desert stood twixt his yeomanry and the enemy, Soutar ordered the advance. Within second the hot desert air was filled with a crescendo of noise as the sound of machine-gun fire vibrated with that of the pounding hooves of the now charging horses. On they rode, billowing clouds of dust in their wake as, initially, the enemy fire met the momentum of the charge but with no slackening of pace the QODY reached the forward line of insurgents and commenced putting them to the sword. Briefly, the Senussi held but only to crumble under the onslaught of man and beast.
Amongst the fallen enemy was a wounded Gaafer Pasha and in the round-up that followed, he and the surviving members of his staff were made prisoner and as the day progressed, well over a thousand of the enemy suffered a similar fate. The bravery of the QODY had come at a price; five officers and 27 men passed that afternoon from life into death and nearly as many again lay shocked and wounded, these figures being a high percentage of those who had set forth. And it was not only the men who had suffered for no less than 85 of their treasured horses were either dead or missing. Scant wonder, then, that in due course this action by the QODY was recognised with a clutch of gallantry awards.
In no small measure the Dorset’s had helped to ensure that enemy ambitions against the Suez Canal from the west was now negated.
This famous action was later immortalised by the accomplished artist, Lady Elizabeth Southerden Butler RI. Titled ‘Charge at Agagia’, the original hangs in the County Hall at Dorchester, while an excellent copy may be viewed in the Wood’s Library at The Keep.
In the aftermath of this action, Brigadier-General Lukin embarked his brigade (the QODY remained in Eygpt) for France where, in mid-July, 1916, his men went into the trenches in the Somme sector. It is recorded that 121 officers and 3,032 men filtered through the communication lines during the early hours of the 14th, and when withdrawn during the evening of the 20th, a mere six days later, 3 officers and 140 other ranks emerged, such had been the ferocity of the fighting during which the South Africans had played a key role in capturing most of Delville Wood.
Eventually, a roll-call revealed that 29 officers and 751 men had survived from the original force and, it is said, that when Lukin, who was present at the muster, was given the news he took off his cap and openly wept. Today, Delville Wood is the property of South Africa and in the years since the end of the First World War the site has undergone major development in respect of memorials and commemorative buildings.
Postscript to article on Private Edwin Hobbs.
I can now report that the name of the curate, who conducted the funeral service for Private Hobbs, was the Reverend A. R. T. Bruce, though his name is sometimes written in the Church Parochial Council Minute Book as ‘A. R. Turing Bruce’, thus suggesting ‘Turing’ might possibly be a family name, perpetuated by its inclusion as his third Christian name. It seems that he served two spells as curate, for an entry made on April, 23rd, 1919, in the Parish of Handley Vestry Book 1848 refers to him as ‘late curate here’. The full entry is of great importance and I now quote the passage in full; ‘The Rev A. R. T. Bruce, late curate here, presented an extremely handsome Altar Cross to the Church in memory of the brave lads of this Parish who had laid down their lives for their King and Country. The gift of the Cross was very highly appreciated & Mr Bruce’s generosity warmly acknowledged.’ Further light on his pastoral service, gained from his entries in Crockford’s (1930 and 1937), show that he trained for the priesthood at Sarum College, before serving as the curate at St. Paul’s, Weymouth between 1902 and 1906. Bruce arrived in the village during 1908, following a two year stint at Bremhill (east of Chippenham) to serve as curate to the Rev Hasluck. It is recorded that in 1923 he wrote the ‘Scourge of the Moors’ and following the inclusion of the village into the telephone network, his number was Handley 50.
To close, in addition to the appreciations of help given in the preamble to this profile, I am indebted to the Glenwood High School, Durban, website for details of Brigadier- General Timson-Lukin’s post-Egypt service and to reports in Martin and Mary Middlebrook’s epic work in jointly presenting The Somme Battlefield (Viking, 1991). And lastly, a trawl of the Gazette’s on-line website has resulted in two entries concerning Henry Timson Lukin; in recognition of his service in Egypt he was appointed Order of the Nile, 3rd Class, while his Western Front actions were honoured by the French who conferred on him the decoration Commandeur, these awards being Gazetted on March, 9th, 1917 and December, 15th, 1919 respectively.
Countryside Safety
All Scouts visited Simon Meaden’s farm to learn about safety in the countryside and in particular the laws and good practice relating to the use of air rifles. We learnt how to recognise some of the common animals that we can expect to see around the Cranborne Chase. Thank you to Simon for inviting us to his farm and to Jan and Ben Andrews for the talk and demonstration.
Compton Abbas
The Scouts spent an evening at Compton Abbas air field. We started by looking around the museum. There were exhibits of many planes that have been used in movies and a mock up of an occupied war time street. Next we were taken outside and watched a plane take off. The runway was then clear for us to move on to it and watch a demonstration by the Falconer. We were shown how the bird is trained to keep the runway clear of other birds so keeping the area safe for planes. After the demonstration we moved inside and met some other birds of prey that are used on the runway. The Scouts asked so many questions that we ran out of time and could not finish off our tour of the Airfield. Thank you to the management of Compton Abbas Airfield for showing us around and for inviting us back another time to finish our visit.
Summer Camp
Our thoughts are now turned to Summer Camp 2005. 16 Scouts from the troop are off for a week in Mid Wales. The activities planned include mountain biking in the Brecon Beacons, canoeing on the Monmouth Canal and caving in the Llangattock peninsula. The Scouts have practiced putting the tents up, however there is still need for more practice! We will tell you more about the camp in next months Downsman.
Village Hall Gig
The concert in the village hall was very well attended and it was great to see so many people enjoying themselves listening to the live music. The money raised will go towards repairs at the Scout hut and a donation to the village hall. The evening was made a success because of the support of those who came along and the volunteers that helped. Thank you all for your support.
50 Years of Scouting at Woodcutts
Next year will be the 50th anniversary of Scouting at Woodcutts. We are going to take the opportunity to celebrate the many, many young people that have been members of the group. It will also be a chance for our current Cubs and Scouts to learn about the history of the Group and meet people that have been involved in the group during the last 50 years. We will be compiling a display of the group and this would be a great time to dig out any old photographs that you have of Scouting in Handley over the last half century. We will keep you posted with the plans for next years’ celebrations.
I am busy in the week and do not always have time to retrieve your ball from behind the
shed or the patio pot plants. Perhaps you should work on your first touch control
The shed roof is made from a bituminous material and is slippery-you fell off it the day it
was erected and at the weekend - I will not always be there to catch you!
The cat bed is a bed for cats, not a scratching post never to be slept in. The hi-fi on the
other hand is not a cat bed.
When the best glasses have been set out they are for forthcoming company not a designer
cat hop-scotch game.
Your dishes are yours and I never eat from them - could you possibly reciprocate? Your
paw print in my dinner plate does not establish ownership to either the plate or the food on
it!
When I ask you to move could you please make it more than about two centimetres?
The stairway was not designed to be a sort of elevated section of the Silverstone racetrack
and beating me to the top is not the object - coming down is even more dangerous as I will
fall faster than you can run! .
I can not afford a King-size bed - a double is ample for me. You can share when I agree but
remember that although I am a small person I am much bigger than you. Stretching out
like a prostrate goalkeeper so that I have ten inches to sleep on is unfair.
For the last time-there is no secret exit from the bathroom! If by some miracle I beat you
there (see above reference stairway) and manage to shut the door, it is not necessary to
whine, meow and try to get your paw under the edge to try to pull the door open - I have to
exit through the same door - and what is the point to your fascination with water? When I
offered to bath you, you instantly grew two more sets of legs and lacerated me from head
to toe!
Having said all that I must admit that you are far better than my mate's kids. You eat less,
you don't ask for money, you usually come when called, don't want to borrow the car, don't
smoke or drink and are sensibly dressed.
We have recently enjoyed ten days of clear skies and temperatures in the eighties. (This is of course in old money, late twenties if you are metricated.) Apparently according to my computer, of which I don’t appear to be the master, I can’t use metricated. No, instead I am given the option of medicated, masticated or extricated. So please feel free to choose whichever you prefer. This begs me to ask all computer owners out there “Are you in charge of your computer, or does it dictate to you?”
Sorry I digress, so back to the subject in hand, WATER. As a small child you either abhor it or love it, there is no in-between. Baths are out, although mud pies are definitely in, that is in early childhood of course. Later on we begin to realise how essential it is to us. We quickly learn that a lack of it means thirst, poor food preparation, lack of hygiene, poor plant growth, failure of crops and a break down of our normally secure lifestyle.
To us, in our insular, temperate climate region, it is a rare occasion that a severe problem occurs. However over a period of years, our ground-water table is dropping because of the increased population and the increased rate of usage per capita. I use italics here because I did Latin at school and so I want to show off. However thinking back I don’t believe I ever passed an exam in the five years I did it. To return to the subject, water tables, in particular those in the Sixpenny Handley area. In the January Downsman I mentioned the low water level of wells in the area, far lower than in past years. The recent dry, hot spell, the low rainfall throughout this year, improved drainage, increased area of ground with tarmac and concrete covering, increasing rapid run off, have all been part of a continuous increasing deficit in ground water available in the aquifers from which it is extracted. Despite the fact that it rained yesterday, (this rain came because farmers were getting their combines out, and is an expected occurrence) and that it is pouring today will make very little difference, except to the tempers of those farmers who got their combines out yesterday.
Despite our reduction in available water, we have little to worry about compared with many African countries and the others in the tropics.
However if this trend continues year in and year out we might need to start thinking about how we use water, as the people of parts of Spain and Portugal are today. For instance, will we be able to grow our own food in our gardens and allotments. To me growing vegetables for home use is part of our lifestyle, to have insufficient water for this purpose would be a big blow. It would also create problems for all the others I help to feed during the year. There are the slugs and snails, the rabbits, the moles, the pigeons, the pheasants and the partridges. This year for example I had to plant three lots of runner beans, the last yesterday (19.07.2005) I was determined to have some extra-early runners, so I planted seeds in trays and left them in the greenhouse until May, when frosts were no longer a risk With the sticks up ready, I planted out the germinated seeds in one half of the row and put seeds directly in the other half. The next day the plants that I had put in the day before were simply stems, with not a leaf left, I can only assume the rabbits enjoyed them. I thought “O dear, what a shame”, but I thought they would recover and that there would be little difference between the plants and the directly sown seeds all planted on the same day. To ensure good germination and growth, I decided to use trickle irrigation along the line of bean sticks to ensure maximum benefit from the water used, as May and June were times of low rainfall.
How I was to regret this action. Every slug in the garden heard about this damp line of soil and used every available method to visit my runner beans. They were followed by the moles because the worms had been told by the passing slugs and had joined them, causing the moles to journey to this promised land. It was equivalent to the mass, biblical journey to Egypt. Needless to say all the ‘manna’ from heaven disappeared; the runner bean crop had been wiped out. Not to be beaten, I planted more seeds in pots in the greenhouse. Their growth coincided with a long dry spell and so it was only yesterday, half way through July that they were planted out. Hopefully we shall have some for Christmas.
The vegetable garden has of course done its bit by promoting the local shoot as well. Pheasants and partridge are so tame that when they visit the garden to review the Brassica crops, (cabbages, I also did botany at school, hence Brassica), they don’t even take notice of the three Border Terriers we have. As for last year we invested in computer technology to rectify this, having hung up all unwanted program discs with string attached to six foot canes. (If you want that in metric you will have to work it out yourself.) When the pigeons joined the game birds, and attacked our cabbages despite this rather colourful display, it can only be assumed that they are all now computer literate. With it’s netting, fleece, hanging discs and mole traps throughout the garden, it is in fact almost too dangerous for humans to enter it. Gosh, I had almost forgotten the carrots, usually we expect to eat early carrots with the early potatoes during the first week of June, this year the Rabbits ate them in May.
Isn’t it a wonderful world we live in? Mother Nature, sustainability, the environment, eradication of poverty, clean water and a balanced diet for all, what a lot we have to learn. That is the residents of Sixpenny Handley have, we at Woodcutts are several metres higher with what soil we have over very pervious chalk, our situation is far worse and we didn’t even get a mention at the G8 Summit.
All we can do is hope and pray, so God Bless you all and thank you for reading this.