Tag: dorsets

Let’s camp here for the night

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3rd October 1914

The 15th Brigade rested during the day, concealing themselves from enemy spotter planes. At 6pm the Dorsets paraded and marched about 12 miles to Corcy in the West.

Portrait of Robert de Montesquiou by James McNeill Whistler
Robert de Montesquiou. “Arrangement in Black and Gold” by James McNeill Whistler

Gleichen spends the day in bed with a cold. He gets driven to Longpont where he finds lodgings in the château attached to the ruined abbey at Longpont with Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac, “a courteous and frail old gentleman”. I’m not sure Gleichen would have stayed had he known the outlandish history of his host.

This old gentleman was almost certainly Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac. He is worth dwelling on for a little while. The archetypal dandy, he counted Proust among his friends and was “the world’s most laborious sayer of nothing” according to Gustave Kahn.

His wikipedia entry had me laughing out loud. It includes such chestnuts as “he reportedly once slept with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt, after which he vomited for twenty-four hours” and “his poetry has been called untranslatable, and was poorly received by critics at the time.”

In 1901, in what became known as the Moberly–Jourdain incident, two prominent British female academics claimed to have had supernatural experiences while walking near the Palace of Versailles. They reported having seen people from the 1790s, including Marie Antoinette. These “ghosts” were possibly Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac and his friends who frequently held parties in that area dressed in period costumes.

Fog on the Aisne

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2nd October 1914

The Dorsets left Missy at 12:45am and assembled by company near the Moulin des Roches pontoon bridge. They then crossed back over the Aisne and billeted in Jury. They rested during the day and at 9:30pm the 15th Brigade marched to Droizy, where they met up with the Norfolks once again. The Dorsets must have been a bit rusty as they managed to get lost in the fog, according to Gleichen, but they eventually reached their billets in Launoy at midnight.

Why had the Dorsets slipped away in the night in such secrecy? Rumours were rife as to their destination: Antwerp, Calais and even Great Britain were proposed in conversations throughout the battalion. But no one, not even Gleichen, had any idea where they were going.

For Love and Courage

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1st October 1914

Another quiet day ended at 9:30pm with the news that the Battalion would be relived by the Essex Regiment and that they would be returning to Jury.

I was talking to my Father-in-Law a couple of weeks ago about a book of letters from Lieutenant Colonel E. W. Hermon to his wife, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. It’s called For Love and Courage.

It’s moving and heart breaking. But it’s also an insight into the impact the First World War had on class in the United Kingdom. It also features photographs of his beloved Jack Russells. What’s not to love?

I also read today with surprise that it was edited by Anne Nason, who turns out to be mother of James Nason, my old next door neighbour at boarding school. He must be very proud of his Great Great Grandfather and, of course, his mother for producing such an excellent book.

I’ll be adding more pages to this site this week, including a reading list and a Frank page for all your Frank facts in one handy place.

Sharp shooting Frank

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30th September 1914

Carrying on from yesterday, which I though was an excellent post (trumpet blowing is fair enough, as I make up about 50% of this blog’s readership), we’re going to look at Frank’s skills. Apart from ladies and beer, of course.

Photograph showing Frank Crawshaw in some stables
Frank is on the far right. The rest of this motley crew are Royal Artillery or Royal Horse Artillery.
Photo of an Royal Field Artillery cap badge
Royal Field Artillery cap badge

The photograph above shows Frank outside a stable with a bunch of artillery men. I’ve always assumed these other men were Dorsets too.  I’ve looked at this photos many times but my non-military mind completely failed to spot their cap badges were different. Their cap badges link them to the Royal Artillery. It’s hard to narrow this down to the Royal Field Artillery, Royal Horse Artillery or Royal Garrison Artillery. However, much discussion is to be found here as to whether or not the men have ball buttons (Royal Horse Artillery) or plain buttons (Royal Field Artillery).

The photograph was taken between January 1912, when Frank was made a Lance Corporal (the single stripe on his left arm), and the beginning of the war. It’s more likely that this is when he’s in Aldershot as Royal Artillery units were stationed there in 1912. The Dorsets left for Belfast on 9th January 1913.

If you look closely at his left hand sleeve, towards the cuff, there’s another badge there in the form of a pair of crossed rifles. This is the marksman “skill-at-arms” badge, awarded when a soldier had scored 130 points or more in an annual “musketry” test. 50 rounds were fired at targets from different positions. 4 points were scored for a bull, 3 for an inner and 2 for an outer, making the maximum score 200 points. Impressive stuff, but the badge was not as uncommon as you would think. Many regiments really went to town on musketry training so a quite a few of their men had these badges. If you like statistics then fill your boots with this thread on the Great War Forum.

The Dorsets’ diary reports a quiet day and night, with only the occasional high explosive shell passing over them into Sermoise across the Aisne. The weather had cheered up a bit and the Dorsets were beginning to enjoy something approaching a frontline routine.

 

Memories

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28th September 1914

The Dorsets’ war diary records that the shelling continued the next morning at 9:45am and carried on throughout the day, although “not nearly as heavily as yesterday.”

The diary also notes the work of Major and Quartermaster J Kearney at this time. He ensured that the battalion received supplies in their forward position. Every night during this period, the transport vehicles crossed the bridge at Venizel and actually drove across the face of the enemy frontline into Missy. I cannot find anything more about J Kearney, not even his first name, other than the fact that he was one of the longest serving officers with the Dorsets, having been with them since at least 1898.

I’ve had a lovely time at my parents’ this weekend and I spoke to my mother about her family. Frank is from her side of the family. We talked about her memories of her grandmother Mabel, Frank’s sister. We also spoke about the importance of sharing memories of family life. Record or write down their thoughts if you can. I would dearly love to speak once more to my grandfather, but that chance has gone and it will, sadly, never return.