Rough Riders E-Book

Peter Doyle

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 333

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Frank and Percy Talley of the 1st City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) were destined to leave England to take part in the last, and most costly, single-day battle of the Gallipoli Campaign, on 21 August 1915. In never-before published letters, the Talley brothers describe their training in England and their move to the East Coast to man the trenches there during the invasion scare of 1914 and the Zeppelin attack at Great Yarmouth. Their letters provide a rare insight into the activities of the yeomen in preparing for war, their transportation to Egypt and Suez and their expectation that they would be used in action at Gallipoli. After walking into a maelstrom of fire on 21 August 1915, the trooper-brothers were separated; each wrote home not knowing whether the other had survived. Both were wounded. Their letters from the Suvla trenches are brief but telling – the last, desperate battle for Gallipoli as seen through the eyes of two brothers from London.

Leseprobe

For the forgotten men of Suvla Bay

Acknowledgements

The letters of Frank and Percy Talley came to me from an antique shop in central London. It has been a privilege to recount the stories of the two men, their lives at home and in action at Gallipoli. I hope this book does them justice. I would like to thank those who have had faith in their story, and who shared my enthusiasm and interest in it.

I am grateful to Glad Stockdale who typed up the letters for me – a gargantuan task – and to Jo de Vries at The History Press for her unremitting enthusiasm.

I have called upon friends and colleagues for advice and assistance: Chris Foster for his wise counsel, Rob Schäfer for his patience (while we worked on another project together), and Paul Reed. Steve Chambers very generously allowed me to use photographs from his personal collection depicting the men of the Middlesex Hussars at Suvla (and the modern vista of Scimitar Hill); these are shown in the picture section. Paul Hewitt from Battlefields Design worked with me on the maps. Julian Walker sourced newspaper references for me, which was very valuable. Hugh Petrie, in the local studies department of Hendon Library, similarly assisted me in a search for obscure newspaper references. The Antiques Storehouse, Portsmouth, kindly supplied the image of the Rough Riders’ pre-war uniform. In good faith I have endeavoured to seek out copyright holders.

Finally, my biggest thanks are reserved for my greatest supporters, Julie and James.

Contents

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

1 The Rough Riders

2 Home Service

3 Egypt

4 The Yeomen of England

5 Back from Gallipoli

Bibliography

Plates

Copyright

Preface

A bundled collection of letters which chronicled the wartime histories of two brothers from Muswell Hill, a relatively well-to-do suburb of London, emerged in an antique shop. Frank and Percy Talley, Troopers 2365 and 2366 of the 1st City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders), were educated middle-class men who volunteered for duty as ‘yeomen’, and who experienced what it was like to be soldiers of Britain’s volunteer cavalry in the early years of the war. It was their destiny to leave the shores of England to take part in the last, and most costly, single-day battle of the Gallipoli Campaign, on 21 August 1915.

In more than 200 previously unpublished and carefully composed letters, the Talley brothers describe their training in England, and their move to the east coast to man the trenches there during the invasion scare of 1914, in the wake of its bombardment by the German Navy.

The letters are from two loving sons to their parents, and have been only lightly edited. They observe the attack of German Zeppelins at Great Yarmouth. They describe the activities of the Rough Riders in preparing for war, of their transportation to Egypt and Suez, and of their expectation that they would be used in action at Gallipoli. Anchored offshore from the peninsula, ultimately they observed the landings there and the First Battle of Krithia in April 1915, and their preparations for action in the near future.

Both brothers were later involved in what was to be the last battle of the Gallipoli Campaign in August; this is their story.

The Battle of Scimitar Hill, at once the largest, the most costly and the least successful of the Gallipoli battles; the day’s gain a single trench ... the day’s losses a third of the troops engaged.

A.S. Hamilton MM, The City of London Yeomanry (Roughriders), 1936.

1

The Rough Riders

The City of London Yeomanry (CLY) was special. While many volunteer cavalry regiments were created during the Napoleonic Wars, the CLY was raised as part of the Imperial Yeomanry in support of the Empire during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. With the war in South Africa demanding new tactics, the mounted infantryman came into his own, and new units were raised to counter the Boer threat.

Originally styled the ‘County of London Yeomanry’, very soon the new regiment aligned itself with the City – that square mile of financial institutions that was the hub of Empire – and adopted the suitably dashing and fashionable designation as ‘Rough Riders’ (RR), after the style of Theodore Roosevelt’s volunteer cavalry that had stormed San Juan Hill in Cuba in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Like many yeomanry regiments, the CLY (RR) soon became a favoured club of City men who had a penchant for equines – of officers who liked to ride to hounds in the shires, and of other ranks drawn from the various trades that dealt with horses.

Dazzled by the uniform of purple and slate blue, developed after the style of the lancers with traditional ‘chapska’ helmet and lancer plastron tunic, others were attracted by the possibilities available on ‘walking out’, and the chance of gathering the admiring glances of ladies in parks and on promenades, not to mention their annual parade as part of the Lord Mayor’s Show through the City of London.

Whatever the attractions, the 1st City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) indeed became a force to be reckoned with during the Boer War, when, now clad in cotton khaki drill and cork helmet, the regiment was thrust into action. For this service the CLY was awarded the first of its battle honours, honours that would later be supplemented by others in the Great War – gained over a terrain in the Middle East that was not too unlike that first experienced in South Africa.

Following the South African War, the CLY (RR) formed one of the fifty-five yeomanry regiments that would become assimilated into the new Territorial Force created by Viscount Haldane in his reforms of the British Army – again in the wake of the experiences of the Boer War, when it was realised that the army would need some significant reorganisation if it ever wanted to fight a large-scale war again. Men of the volunteer, part-time, Territorial Force were designed to be home defence units, but with the arrival of a war that soon spread beyond the confines of Europe in 1914, the part-time yeomen would be asked to take the ‘Imperial Service Commitment’ that would take them overseas to face ‘Johnny Turk’ in Egypt and Gallipoli in 1915.

Frank and Percy Talley were brothers destined to serve in the ranks of the Rough Riders. Born within the City of London itself, they worked in its financial institutions – as did their father, head of a household that boasted a domestic servant in the fashionable north London suburb of Muswell Hill.

George Talley was of advanced years when his sons went to war. Originally from Portsmouth, for most of his working life he had worked in the City of London, living at its heart in Old Broad Street, just south of London Wall. Both boys were born here. An ancient part of the city, this road had been at the heart of the cutting-edge communications serving the submarine cable industry that had been born in the mid part of the nineteenth century, after the discovery of the value of gutta-percha, a natural rubber material, as an insulating material over a copper core. Laying submarine cables was big business, and by 1914 there were 322,000 nautical miles of cable laid, which enabled telegraphic communications across the globe.i This industry meant that George was able to support his large and growing family that would amount to six sons and two daughters. Of these, only Frank and Percy would see service in the First World War.

In 1910, Muswell Hill was a very fashionable suburb of London, the epitome of Edwardian style. Largely constructed between 1896 and 1914, the area was well planned and laid out, meeting the expectations and aspirations of the commercial classes who worked in the bustling centre of the City of London. It was constructed by the builders and developers James Edmondson and William Collins, who, amongst others, were working to take advantage of the sale of large estates to construct their Edwardian show suburb. They built fine rows of Edwardian villas arranged in curving avenues, the area ringed by green open spaces with the attractions of Alexandra Palace – built as a pleasure palace – on the hilltop to the north.

The area was prosperous. The Woodlands Estate that contained the Talleys’ home was built on the site of a large house and ‘pleasure gardens’ that was sold in 1890 for development. By 1905, the developer R. Metherill had built ‘solid substantial Edwardian houses, with two storeys at the front and three behind’ houses in Woodland Rise – houses that retailed at a handsome £550.ii It was to this brand-new, leafy street, that took its name from the ancient woodlands of Highgate Wood and Queen’s Wood, that George Talley and his wife Sarah moved in his retirement, together with his youngest children, Alice, Percy and Frank.

Still living with his parents in 1910, Percy Lima Stanley was 22½ years old and was working in the City of London as a clerk in the stock exchange. At the outbreak of war, he was 26 years of age and was the smaller of the two brothers, standing at 5ft 4in, at a time when the average height of the British soldier was 5ft 5in – and the minimum acceptable requirement was 5ft 3in. He was described as of good physical development and fit, although he had suffered from kidney issues some two years before joining – problems that would return.

Frank Leslie Talley also gave his parents’ address on attesting to join the Rough Riders, when both brothers made their commitment to join on 27 August 1914 at the wartime home of the regiment in Putney. Frank was 28 and had already served four years as a Territorial ‘Saturday night’ soldier. He was taller than his younger brother, standing at 5ft 7in. Joining the 3rd London Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery at the age of 22½ years in February 1909, he emerged as ‘479 Driver Frank Leslie Talley’.

In the early part of the twentieth century the Royal Regiment of Artillery was divided into the Royal Horse Artillery, which accompanied the cavalry as the ‘Galloping Gunners’; the Royal Field Artillery, the ‘Gunners’, who deployed the field guns; and the Royal Garrison Artillery, the ‘Heavy Gunners’, who were siege gunners, capable of taking on fortifications with their heavy howitzers. Serving with the Gunners, Frank Talley worked with horses in teams of six, that would haul field guns like the 18-pounder, the principal field gun of the British Army, each pair of horses having a driver, and Frank was trained to handle this position. Frank served his time as a Territorial (nicknamed the ‘Terriers’), achieving the standard required of him, and attending the annual summer camps, in Okehampton, Bordon, Salisbury and Swanage, that were so much a part of the Terrier’s life. Having served the requisite amount of time, he was discharged from service exactly four years later, on 11 February 1913 – and just over a year before the world would be thrown into conflict.

As Frank was a time-expired Territorial soldier, there is little doubt that this experience must have played a part in the decision of both brothers to volunteer for service in August 1914. The Rough Riders were undoubtedly more glamorous than the artillery, and with their peacetime headquarters located in Finsbury Square – just half a mile away from their childhood home of Old Broad Street – the brothers would have been aware of the gloriously attired yeomen in their lancer uniforms who paraded through the City of London as part of the Lord Mayor’s Show (as their successors still do today).

Though the headquarters of the regiment was in the fine apartments of Finsbury Square (moved from the Guildhall in 1907), their riding school and stables were established in the residential street of Lytton Grove, Putney, and paid for in part by the London livery companies and the City Corporation, as well as other, private, benefactors. Here, the peacetime complement of horses was maintained; just enough to form a nucleus of the full regimental requirement on embodiment. These horses were a local attraction, hired out and earning revenue for the regiment. There were too few horses to serve as mounts for all of the volunteer cavalrymen at their annual camps – held at Salisbury Plain from 1912 onwards – and good mounts had to be hired locally. With the coming of war and the embodiment of the regiment, this shortfall had to be made good by the regiment purchasing more mounts.

For many peacetime Rough Riders, the commitment to serve meant an annual responsibility to attend training camp. In the summer of 1914, the regiment was based at Worthing in East Sussex – a popular site for Territorial training camps. Though the early days of August were cooler than those of July, it was sunny and rain unexpected. With the summer camp having a holiday atmosphere, and the August Bank Holiday looming, the deterioration of the international situation must have come as a surprise to many, and the normal diet of training, exercise and military practice was interrupted.

And so it was that on Sunday 2 August 1914, Lieutenant Colonel O.E. Boulton TD (Territorial Decoration), commanding officer of the City of London Yeomanry, addressed the assembled ranks at their drumhead service, giving them his opinion on the darkening scene, and asking them to volunteer for overseas service. The next day, the camp was cut short at reveille:

Camp was to be struck at once. During the morning the horses were taken back to the railway and sent back to the contractors who had supplied them ... In that afternoon, with their gay Lancer uniforms of slate-blue, purple and gold packed away for good, the men marched down the road again, between crowds of cheering holiday makers ... On arrival in London, the Regiment was dismissed to await orders.iii

The following day, Tuesday, 4 August 1914, war was declared, and the whole Territorial Force was embodied for service, by proclamation of the King:

We do in pursuance of the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, hereby order that Our Army Reserve be called out on permanent service, and We do hereby order the Right Honourable HERBERT HENRY ASQUITH, one of Our Principal Secretaries of State, from time to time to give and when given to revoke or vary such directions as may seem necessary or proper for calling out Our Army Reserve or all or any of the men belonging thereto.

George R.I. iv

With war commenced, the Rough Riders busied themselves with preparations for active service. While the British Expeditionary Force of six regular divisions was being assembled prior to their movement onto the Continent, the City’s yeomen took stock of their situation. Instead of the more normal four squadrons, there were to be only three, ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘D’, themselves subdivided into troops. Filling these troops with an adequate number of men was challenging initially as many were exempt from service, and new recruits were needed. Men were recalled to service, and others with a military background were also recruited to fill the numbers.

Supplied by the local Territorial Association, finding uniforms for the new men was a struggle, and the issue of ‘part-worn’ outfits was the norm, as was the issue of the standard leather 1903 pattern equipment used by mounted troops, which consisted of belt and ammunition pouches, while the leather bandolier worn across the chest that accompanied this would have to wait. Finding horses was also a struggle. The army remounts service was hungry for suitable mounts and regimental agents scoured a list of suitable suppliers for appropriate animals.

The Rough Riders decamped from their City headquarters and relocated to their riding stables in Putney – a temporary location before the regiment finally moved on 11 August 1914, some 8 miles westwards to the late eighteenth-century cavalry barracks that adjoined Hounslow Heath. This move was significant; here was concentrated the London Mounted Brigade, comprising the 1st County of London Yeomanry (Middlesex Hussars), the City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders), and the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharp Shooters), together with attached artillery from the Honourable Artillery Company (‘A’ Battery), a Royal Engineer signal troop, an Army Service Corps company, and a Royal Army Medical Corps field ambulance. These units would serve together throughout the war.

Life at Hounslow was a waiting game, the regiment housed in bell tents. The Horse Purchasing Officers continued their searches, while training was invariably dismounted. It was at Hounslow that the men of the London Mounted Brigade were invited to sign the Imperial Service Commitment. With the yeomanry part of the Territorial Force, and therefore having no obligation to serve overseas, signing the Commitment meant that they would serve wherever the army wished to send them.

For most, this would mean Egypt, Gallipoli and the Middle East as part of the 2nd Mounted Division, a yeomanry cavalry formation that was raised at the close of August under Major General William Peyton. For those refusing to sign, or barred from doing so by dint of German heritage, it meant a return to the riding stables at Putney. As new recruits, the Talley brothers were not drawn into this flurry of activity at the opening of the month. Joining at the end of August 1914, they had to seek out the regiment at Putney, as the Finsbury Square address had been closed down for the duration of the war.

With the British Army reliant on volunteer recruits for most of its history, on 5 August 1914 the new Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, set to work ensuring that there would be an expandable army structure to receive them. For him, the future of the army was in the creation of a ‘citizen army’ – the New Army of 100,000 volunteer tranches that would eventually lead to the creation of new ‘service battalions’ of the county infantry regiments, an ever-expanding number of new units.

In Kitchener’s view, the Territorial system, developed in 1908 to provide home defence, was not capable of such rapid expansion. Nevertheless, each Territorial battalion, also part of the county infantry regiment, was given orders to duplicate. This meant that the ‘first line’ Territorials could draw upon the ‘second line’ Territorials – based at home – for recruits and drafts.

While the mounted yeomanry regiments (typically 550 men, roughly half of a single infantry battalion) were not directly comparable to their infantry brethren, they too were ordered to duplicate for the same reasons, the likelihood being an acute shortage of men as the war took its course. And so it was that joining the 1/1st City of London Yeomanry was the entirely new 2/1st City of London Yeomanry – created from scratch at Putney in August 1914, completely without horses or arms with which to train. This would become the Talleys’ temporary home.

On 27 August 1914, Percy and Frank Talley reported to Lytton Grove, Putney, in order to join the Rough Riders. With regimental numbers one digit apart, they formed up next to each other in the line of potential recruits. Accepted into one of the more glamorous mounted regiments of the British Army, they set to training for their eventual active service that would take them to the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula, and one of the most costly battles of the whole sorry campaign.

Notes

i. Commercial Cable Company, How Submarine Cables are Made, Laid, Operated and Repaired, 1915.

ii. Jack Whitehead, The Growth of Muswell Hill, 1995, p.101.

iii. A.S. Hamilton MM, City of London Yeomanry (Roughriders), 1936, p.6.

iv. Royal Proclamation, 4 August 1914.

2

Home Service

The formation of the London Mounted Brigade at the cavalry barracks at Hounslow in August 1914 was significant. By this time, the regular units of the British Army were being deployed overseas. There was not only the battlefront in France and Flanders to support, there was also Britain’s widespread imperial commitments to protect from the tendrils of German influence. There could only be so many regular infantry divisions, and clawing back regular infantry battalions from outposts meant replacing them with Territorials. Kitchener’s New Army would take months, if not years, to come to a fully trained and operational status – and there would be no additional volunteer cavalry units raised. The responsibility for mounted actions would fall upon the shoulders of the two regular cavalry divisions, and on the reserve cavalry – the yeomanry.

Each infantry division had its share of attached cavalry, and in many cases these were yeomen. There were three regular cavalry divisions, and two regular Indian Army cavalry divisions, all of which had landed in France and Flanders by the close of 1914. The traditional role of cavalry was to provide advanced reconnaissance – the eyes of the army – probing positions in advance of the infantry, as well as spearheading attacks in the charge, routing the enemy with the force of their momentum and in the face of the sword or lance. Yet they were also to provide mobile, mounted soldiers who would fight on foot. And it was in this role that the yeomen were adept. They were grouped into mounted divisions – so named in recognition of their work in the Anglo-Boer War – and there were four mounted divisions in total, with only the 2nd Mounted Division seeing active service as a formation. The others served to supply brigades or drafts overseas, or remained on home service.

The journey from England to Gallipoli.

The yeomen of the 4th London Mounted Brigade left the cavalry barracks in Hounslow, on 29 August, to applause. Though they were no longer clad in their showy uniforms of old, the khaki figures mounted on their warhorses must have looked impressive. They were en route for Streatley, a village some 45 miles west of Hounslow, and a camp in the Chiltern Hills. The two-day march was trying for soldier and horse alike, and several animals had to be destroyed as unfit for further service – the first casualties of the Rough Riders’ war.

Streatley was where war training started in earnest, training that was enacted alongside other units of the 2nd Mounted Division. Here, in the green Berkshire countryside, were brought together men of the English shires who would ultimately go on to serve together in the parched landscapes of the Middle East and the shores of Gallipoli – men of the 1st (South Midland), the 2nd (South Midland) and the 3rd (Notts and Derby) mounted brigades.

For the City men of the Rough Riders, the training was hard, with much attention given to the horseflesh that would become their mounts. Both men and horses deemed unfit for active service overseas were weeded out and replaced by those who had joined the 2nd Rough Riders at Putney. It was in one of these drafts that the Talley brothers arrived in D Squadron on 11 October, having taken the Imperial Service Commitment the month before. When they arrived, they found their squadron had been quarantined, as on 18 September one of the horses had contracted a highly infectious glandular disease (‘glanders’), which had the ability to jump from species to species. With two more horses identified as having the disease, they were destroyed, and both the remainder of the horses and the men of D Squadron were isolated on the opposite bank of the Thames, at South Stoke, in Oxfordshire. The squadron only returned to the regimental fold on 11 October 1914, having missed a divisional inspection by the King and Lord Kitchener on 8 October. With the Rough Riders billeted across the region for the winter, D Squadron returned to South Stoke to be accommodated in the Malt House on 18 October.

Throughout this period, training included fitness, musketry and riding skills. Raised as mounted riflemen in the Boer War, the Rough Riders were expected to be proficient in the use of the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield, the same rifle used by all British soldiers of the day, and designed to be equally effective as an infantry rifle and as a cavalry carbine. But, significantly, on 14 October the regiment was symbolically converted from mounted soldiers to cavalrymen. From this point onwards the men were trained in the use of the 1908 pattern cavalry sword, reputedly the finest cavalry sword ever produced. Straight and true, the sword was a formidable piece of steel with a basket hilt that was designed for thrusting and the cavalry charge.

These newly acquired and carefully honed skills would nevertheless be held in abeyance once the Londoners boarded their ship bound for Gallipoli. The Talley brothers, newly attested yeomen, describe their lives in these heady weeks before action would come their way.

3October 1914

My dear Mother

I am sorry not to have written a letter before this but our odd moments are not many and then is always plenty to do; however, the parson of this village (South Stoke) has put the village hall and schoolroom at our disposal for letter writing and games, also supplying note paper and envelopes which has made things very much more comfortable for us.

We are both feeling very fit and well, I think Percy has shaped down to camp life very well and I certainly think he is the better for it.1 We have both got our horse blankets and keep quite warm at night and on the whole sleep well.

The country round here is very pretty hilly and woody in parts with plenty of open space for good hard gallops.

Ever your own son

Frank

4 October 1914

My dear Parents,

Today, we have been to church 9.30 out 10.30 then we took horses to water, and have just been paid 8/2. We got up at 6 today, an hour later than usual. First we water horses and clean stables, then breakfast and wash if there is time. From about 9 till 1 we are riding - which I can tell you is very hard work, riding horse back with rifle, dismounting with it, along fire five and then back and mount it is so tiring. About 12.30, we water horses again then lunch (stew every day), then rifle instruction, then horses again at 5, then tea. We finish about 7 o’clock, then of course there are fatigues and extras, so you see we do not have much time. My hands are the limit, I won’t discourse on them.2 I am feeling fit, although tired at times, I have not slept much at night. I must own the work is jolly rough. I was on stable guard the other night, a rotten job from 11pm till 2am. We have to watch the horses, to see they do not break loose, they kick, bite and fight.3

Ever your loving son

Percy

8 October 1914

Thank Father for his letter received on Sunday. We had quite a nice quiet day with Church Parade at 9.30 in the little village church. Percy is on horse guard tonight, I was on yesterday, this is our second since we came down. The weather still continues fine although the last two days have been cloudy, as soon as the weather does break we shall probably go into billets which have all been arranged.4

Love to all

Frank

12 October 1914

My dear Parents,

We came over to Streatley yesterday and we are now here with the brigade. The latest rumour is that we move off to Southampton Monday week to be in readiness to cross over to France; but do not believe anything until we find ourselves actually on the move, as we have a new rumour every day. The Germans seem to be making headway, worst luck.5 I hope Dr Lejeane is safe, what is the Belgian boy like?6 It is very nice being at Streatley, for such things as we can get a good wash now and then. I had one today, washed in detachments down by the river, the second time I have had my pants off in two weeks, my word I am not so particular now. You ought to see me at times, hands absolutely filthy eating my fruit. I should so like to get home and see you all, but we have been told leave has been practically stopped. We have to consider ourselves finished with home, but we might have 48 hrs granted7 but after that finished.

Ever your loving son

Per

13 October 1914

My dear Mother

I hope you received my letter written on Sunday. I quite intended to ask you to also include one or two pieces of clean rag for wiping our plates and knives on, if you have already sent the rest it does not matter.

I had a line from May8 this morning and she said that you had had six Belgians, if so I am afraid it will mean a lot of extra work for you.

I hope the rumour that I mentioned did not upset you too much,9 although I said I did not believe it. I really don’t know what to think, today they have had swords sent down for us, so it looks like business.

Whether we shall get leave or not, is another thing which we don’t know, I shall be terribly disappointed if I have to go without seeing you all and I know you all will be, and also May, it seems ages since we were all together.

You remember one day I said that I should get married if I went out to the front, but you only laughed and took it as a joke, but I really should like to if it can be arranged and I can get leave, but everything is horrible uncertain and things will have to be left as they are for the time being.

We have both in fact had a third blanket issued so we are quite snug.

Love, your affectionate Son

Frank

17 October 1914

My dear Mother and Father

We have been to the railway station to send home dirty clothes which you might wash for us and keep until we write you, as we go into billets tomorrow and at present do not know our new address. The vest you sent I am not wearing and have returned it on top of kit bag, but socks, pants and shirt will be all I shall require. Frank will still wear his vest. Such a lot of troopers were leaving for home tonight, we felt quite sick not being one of them. We are both quite well.

We have also returned our lounge coats which are very much in the way and [we] are not supposed to have. I had a rotten experience last night on guard and I had to guard over old rifles quite a distance from our lines. The guards were for 2 hours, and we did it quite alone. I went on at 8 till 10, then 2 till 4, at 3 o’clock somebody fired, and then horses started to stampede, officers came out shouting and firing orders. I thought the Germans had come, I was alone in a dark field while all this was going on; at 4 o’clock everything was quiet.

Please send things back in kit-bag when we write you. How is Marguerite and Lily, have they heard anything of the Dr? Please thank Harry10 for the tobacco he sent me, and give him my love. We shall have to be moving in about 20 minutes, so will say good bye with oceans of love to all.

Ever your loving son

Percy

18 October 1914

1 Lathbury Road

Oxford

My dear Mother and Father

Yesterday I had to go into Reading with more cart horses, but had to ride back again so in all the distance was about 23 miles but did not feel very tired afterwards. While we were going to Reading the other fellows were striking camp as we went into our billets, we are in a disused cottage at South Stoke the little village near our camp ... we are very comfortably situated and can now, thanks to a pump, get plenty of washing water which is a great treat, the dame in the next cottage will give us a can of hot water after each meal for washing our plates, etc. The horses are all in a barn about 1 minute walk away, and I am glad to say that at present we have not to do any night guard and shall not have to unless they kick up a row and generally make a nuisance of themselves.

Now with regard to marrying before going abroad, I am sorry that you should have all taken such a strong objection to it. Firstly we are not so young as we would like to be and could afford to wait, and I think we shall neither be any the worse off when I come back. As regards May, she has to be kept and Mr Howell11 is quite prepared to do it after we are married, as he has done up to the present. Should I not return, May, I know would rather be left as you have termed it ‘a young widow’ than otherwise; it will make us both considerably happier if we are married and I am sure to get into something quickly on my return and the fact of being married will make it easier. May on the other hand will be getting an allowance of 12/- per week, which will also be an advantage.12

Percy has said something about leave to our officer for the next weekend so it may all have to be fixed up very quickly so I do hope that you will fall in with my views.

I have asked Harry to buy on my behalf a new waterproof, more after the style of a southwester as the old one I brought down with me lets as much rain as it keeps out, the price should not be more than 21/- and I should be glad if you could settle with him for me, and I will let you have it when I get back pay which is still owing.

Our new address is

Tpr F.L. Talley

‘D’ Squadron (No 4 Troop)

City of London Yeomanry

(Rough Riders)

South Stoke

Nr Goring Oxon

20 October 1914

My dear Mother and Father

Thank you so much for the birthday present it is very good of you during such times. We left 7.45 this morning to finish a sham fight we started the other day, we returned about 5pm such a long day. I have got a dear of a horse, a chestnut, the only thing is he changes step now and then, which is awkward, but think he will soon get out of it. The cottage we are in is quite nice, quite large rooms. We are on the ground floor, and have a grate. We have lit a fire of wood today, we hope to get some coal. I do not sleep on the hard floor so well, I don’t seem to get any sleep. I have got a nasty pain under my ribs have mentioned it to one or two fellows and they say it is indigestion.13 I think it is so, but it has been playing me up otherwise I am quite fit. I do hope you are all well at home, I think of you all at night during the day you do not have time to think of anything. Yesterday I had my first shave for about four days. My word I did look a sight. You might send our clean underclothes as soon as possible. Shall try to have the others cleaned down here to save the trouble of sending them home. How is Marguerite and Lily?14 Please give them my love. Please do not send my vest, only pants shirt and socks. Frank wants his vest.

Ever your loving son

Percy

1 November 1914

South Stoke

My dearest Mother

I am sorry not to have written you before, but we have had a somewhat busy time since I got back,15 drawing new kit and military saddles, etc., so today has been really my first chance of writing.

You will see by the address that we are still here which is due to our not having all our equipment.16 We shall be here definitely until Thursday this week, but after that we may have to move off working 12 hours after receipt of notice.

You will remember Percy mentioned a little row I had or rather our Sergeant had with me, I told you at the time that it was nothing and all would be right when I came back, this has turned out as I said and we quite in good terms with one another.

Yesterday we were inspected in full marching order and I am giving you a list of the things we have to take.

On the Horse

Cloak Rolled in front of Saddle

Sleeping Blanket rolled in macintosh

Shirt rolled at back of saddle

Mess tin in one side of cloak

Grooming kit “ other “ “ “

Sword

Rifle

2 spare horse shoes and nails

2 picketing pegs attached to sword scabbard

And 2 ropes for picketing

On the Man

Haversack containing holdall with knife, fork, spoon, razor, comb tooth brush

1 pair socks

Waterbottle

Bayonet

Belt

Bandolier

100 round of ammunition

Under the saddle 1 Blanket for the horse and a second for ourselves

This practically all we carry but it is bit of a job to climb into the saddle and out again but we should soon get use to it.

Today we draw spare tunic and riding breeches from stores, they are not exactly a fit, but it is better to have them to fall back on than nothing.

Ever your affectionate son

Frank

11 November 1914

South Stoke

My dear Father

Thanks for your letter today and also for stamps enclosed. Will you also thank Mother for the chocolate received yesterday, it was most acceptable.

Today has turned out very windy and rainy real November weather. We are, however, very lazy in our billet, which has not been condemned.

Our sergeant has bought an oil lamp for our room, which is a great improvement, Percy has bought some cocoa and condensed milk and have just made ourselves a cup, it is very comforting in this weather and warms one up.

It is good news about the Emden and Koeningsberg17 I think. Soon we shall be getting them on the run, I don’t suppose we shall be back before Xmas but think we might soon after if things take a decided turn.

News is very scarce just at present and there is nothing of importance to tell you. I am sorry the letter is short but I know you will be glad to get it, to hear we are still fit and well. It is possible some photograph of our regiment may appear in some of the daily papers, has we had them taken on Monday we should both be in the front row if it is possible to recognise anyone.

Your affectionate son

Frank

13 November 1914

My dear Parents

The chocolate you sent was simply grand, it has been quite a meal to me at times when out on the march. The news here is just the same continual work, tomorrow our troop are having a dinner in the evening. Please give my love to Madame Marguerite and Lily.18 Today has been perishing, we had to stand for about an hour and half in a field and all of us were nearly frozen, the horses very restless. Tomorrow, Saturday, we have a very big scheme19 on. The other evening we attacked the Middlesex.20 I thoroughly enjoyed it, except coming home I was dead beat and could hardly keep awake on my horse. We arrived home about 12.30 going to bed about 2pm, up at the same time in [the] morning.

Ever your own son

Percy