O.C.
No. 5 Detachment,
ST. OMER.
Hostile Aeroplane is reported about KEMMEL (N. of BAILLEUL) directing Artillery Fire.
Send an Avro out.
R.F.C. H.Q., (Signed): W. Salmond, Mjr., G.S.
20/11/14
——————————————
Received 1-30 p.m.
I will immediately take action.
(Signed): R.O. Abercromby, Lieut.
Fourth Corps
G.H.Q. have allotted Wireless Aeroplanes at present available to 2nd & 3rd Corps.
——————————————–
4B
MESSAGES AND SIGNALS
Words Recd at 1-30 p.m.
ADR 46
DHQ Sent at 1-21 p.m.
TO Colonel Sykes G.H.Q.
Senders Number Day of Month In reply to Number
H.R.O. /421
We are much in need of a Wireless installation here to range our batteries AAA Henderson told me he would send me two but none have arrived so far and our artillery is much handicapped in consequence.
From: Fourth Corps
Place:
Time: 1-20 p.m.
Signature of Addressee
4C
MESSAGES AND SIGNALS
TO Fourth Corps
Senders Number Day of Month In reply to Number
GQ/20/3 20 HRO/421
GHQ have allotted Wireless machines to 2nd and 3rd Corps.
From: R.F.C. H.Q.
Place:
Time:
W. Salmond, Maj., G.S.
Signature of Addressee
G.H.Q.
Steps are being taken to interfere with these Aeroplanes.
Two details would help us:
Also there are six Aeroplanes with the IInd Corps. Was the information sent to them? Sending in to H.Q. adds 30 miles and no doubt other delays.
(Sd): David Henderson, M.G.,
Commanding R.F.C.
20/11/14.
3
G.O.C., R.F.C.
The information regarding the position of the 3rd Cav. Bde. was sent up to you subsequent to the despatch of this message. I regret it was not sent up at the same time.
The Brigade is just South of the YPRES – MENIN road.
The IInd Corps has been informed.
20/11/14. (Sd): C. Deedes, Capt., G.S.
for Brig-Gen., G.S.
Reconnaissance No. 764 20th November 1914.
Aeroplane: Avro – No.
Squadron: No. 5.
Pilot: – Lieut. Strange
Observer – Lieut. Penn-Gaskell;
Hour commenced: 10-30 a.m. Reference Map: 1/40,000
“ concluded: 11-50 a.m.
================================================================
Time Place OBSERVATION
—————————————————————————————————————-
11-0 a.m. WYTSCHAETE Rifle trenches N.E., E. & S.E. of town about
half occupied; not much indication of
to sapping. A gun fired one round from south
corner of wood ¾ mile North-east of town at Pt. 60.
Also trench unoccupied along south side of
11-20 a.m. wood, North of W in WYTSCHAETE.
Also two trenches unoccupied running parallel North & South through W in WYTSCHAETE.
Also trench unoccupied running from last E in WYTSCHAE to east side of wood by l in l’ENFER.
Also two trenches unoccupied, one running S.W. from about 200 yards west of above wood to the road running from IN (?) de KRUISSTRAAT to MESSINES, the other trench is about 300 yards West of above and parallel to same.
WAMBEKE. Marks in the snow, indicating horses having
been exercised this morning in several places (about 6) N.E., E. and S.E. of town.
MESSINES Many trenches South of town, nearly half-
occupied; also signs of a good deal of sapping; also trenches, about 1/3 occupied and some sapping on East Side of town.
11-20 a.m. Rifle trench unoccupied, running South on West side of road to ARMENTIERES from Pt. B6 to D in DOUVE.
to LA BASSEE VILLE. Marks indicating horses having been
exercised N.W. of town in several places.
11-40 a.m. BOIS DE PLOEGSTEERT. No trenches N., N.E. & S.E. of wood as far
as WESTHOEK station are about half-occupied and some of the saps on east side of wood have been occupied this morning.
BAS WARNETON Signs of horses having been exercised this
morning in neighbourhood of LE BANC
COULON in several places round the village.
GEULEMONT Shelled by anti-aircraft Guns. Lt. Stranger
dropped bombs in neighbourhood of town.
(Signed) L. Penn-Gaskell, Lieut.,
Observer. R.F.C.
MESSAGES AND SIGNALS
Priority Recd at 341
G.H.Q.
OB/B2342
TO R.F.C.
Senders Number Day of Month In reply to Number
O.A. 521 20
Ref 3rd Div. G.C. 509 3rd Cav. Bde. is just South of MENIN YPRES road.
From: G.H.Q.
Place:
Time: 12/40 p.m.
P. de Radcliffe, Mjr.
Signature of Addressee
George Ryan’s letter home dated 14 Nov 1914
S.S. “Dilwara”
Nearing Port Said
14 Nov 1913[4]
Dear Mother & F,
We left Gibraltar last Sunday at mid-day. We seemed to have been there quite a long while. It’s a nice place, I would not have minded staying there; but I was glad to leave it as we had got a long way farther to go & the sooner we get off this boat the better I shall like it. Of course we all get jolly hungry but each mess-table is only allowed a certain amount. The food is practically the same as we should get on land; bread & butter for breakfast & tea, &fresh meat & potatoes for dinner. We could generally eat double what we get. But of course we can’t get anything extra. The canteen’s jolly short of stuff; no mixed biscuits & what biscuits they have got they charge 1d for it. Oranges they bought at 3 or 4 a penny in Gib they charge 1d each. 2/- for a 2 lb tin of marmalade etc, etc. but we will soon be there now I hope, then we shall be able to make up for lost time. By all accounts we shall live alright in barracks.
We’ve had quite a smooth journey since we left Gib. The first day the sea was like a lake, but it’s not been more than choppy since. There was a thunderstorm all Thurs night; we couldn’t hear much thunder but there were flashes of lightning every half minute. It’s the rainy season along here, so the weather has not been so very grand. It doesn’t give you much warning when it does start; it’s more like a cloud burst. When we were in the harbour at Gib. we could hardly see the rock when it was raining, it was all misty.
We reckon to reach Port Said early to-morrow morning, I don’t know if we shall catch the other boats up there, they didn’t wait for us at Gib, we’ve come all the way from there by ourselves, no escort at all & we are not fitted with wireless. But we’ve met no Germans or Turks so far so I don’t suppose we shall now.
We shall not stop more than a few hours I think at Port Said, that is if the canal is clear. Then it’s 4 or 5 days journey through the Red Sea to Aden. We shall stop there 3 or 4 days as the other battalion on board is staying there. I don’t know whether we shall pick up some more in their place; I hope we don’t; we shall have a little more breathing room then. Then it’s about another 5 days journey to Bombay (or Karachi).
I’ve had the first dose of inoculation & got over it alright. There’s nothing much in it as long as you keep quiet for 24 hrs after you’ve been done.
Hope you are all quite well.
Write as much as you like
Love to all,
Yr affectn son
George
Excuse the scribble as the pencil is so small.
George Ryan’s letter home dated 2 Nov 1914
S.S. “Dilwara”
Nearing Gibraltar
2 Nov 1914
Dear Mother & Father,
Hope you got my P.C. safely from S’ton. I’d given up hopes of sending one as we were not allowed outside the docks. Then a few minutes before the boat left a sailor called out “any more letters or P.C.s” so I just scribbled that P.C. in about ½ a minute & gave it to him to post. Well, we are just getting used to our house on the sea. A lot of fellows were ill the first day but I was alright until Sun morning. We were half way across the Bay & our boat was just like a tub on the water. I was sick a little but I kept my dinner down. There are very few fellows that have not felt a bit queer. I’m quite A 1 now again. Our steering gear went wrong on Friday.
So I think we are going to call at Gib; I’m writing this in case: In the ordinary course we were not going to call anywhere until we got to Aden.
We shall stop for repairs at Gib. But I don’t think we shall be allowed off the boat as I shan’t be able to get any stamps but the way I’m going to mark the envelope I don’t think you’ll have to pay any more that 1d. We are having a very lazy time on board; it’s getting rather monotonous we’ve only sighted land once & that was the southern coast of England. There are 9 other boats & one escort; a cruiser brought us part of the way, now we’ve got a battleship. There are 1200 of us on this boat & I suppose there’s as many on each of the others so there’s 12000 altogether but they are not all going to India. 1000 are staying at Aden, 1000 are going to Rangoon (Burmah) etc.
Of course we’re rather crowded & the food isn’t very plentiful but we can’t expect anything better on board. I wish I could still receive your weekly parcel of cake. We generally have a spoonful of porridge & bread & butter & stuff they call tea for breakfast; tinned meat & potatoes & sometimes pickles for dinner & a biscuit or two & tea for tea. There’s a canteen but its only open for a few hours so you can imagine there’s a fine rush when it is open; it means waiting something over half an hour.
We sleep in hammocks which we have to put up every night over our mess tables. I didn’t like it at first but now I get quite a comfortable rest.
I’m not sure where we are going to land; I thought Bombay but I heard Kurachi mentioned, it will be one of the two. They say we’ve got 5 day’s train journey then across India. Dinapore is about 150 to 200 miles north of Calcutta. I think we shall all be about sick of travelling by the time we get there; I’m tired of it already.
You can answer this directly to Pte. GWR 1945 “D” Company, 9th Battn, Middx Regt, Dinapore, India. It won’t matter if it gets there first, I expect I shall get it alright. Write as much as you like & tell me all that’s going on; get May to help you; write it in weekly parts if you like. Have you sold or given my clothes away yet? Did you receive £1 from the office on 1 Nov? Has dad still got something to do?
I don’t suppose I shall have time to write to Bert this time; you must tell Mrs Taylor to tell him I’m getting on alright. Besides I don’t like writing to anyone when they’ve got to pay anything to receive it.
Well I hope you are all getting on alright & are all quite well. Love to all,
Yr affectionate son
George
I’ve learnt since that the captain himself was sick so you can tell it was pretty rough on Sunday.
Letter to Rev. W. Laporte Payne 19 Nov 14
(8055) 4th Dragoon Gds
Jarvis St Hospital
Dublin
Ireland
19-11-14
Dear Sir,
Just a line to thank you for your welcome letter which I was very pleased to receive also the Testament. Well I do not know how long I shall be here as I had an operation a week ago, the doctors said that another half an inch and I should have been paralysed in both legs. They took a splinter of my spine out in the operation so you see what a near thing it was. It was at Messines where I was hit it was a terrible battle the sights were awful. We were retiring as there only two regiments of cavalry trying to hold them back until the infantry could come up they numbered about 20 to our one. We held them a day and a night but they were to much for us. They were eventually driven back in the evening though I had left the firing line and was bringing a chum back who was wounded but we had not got far when a shell burst a few feet away that was all I remembered until I came too and when I started to crawl along about thirty Germans started firing at me but there I expect you have already heard what sort of men they are, they size all right killing our wounded, to come out and face our steel they never will with-out their artillery. They would be lost, they even stripped our dead and wounded so as to wear our clothing to deceive us but they are paying dearly for it, and yet more so before they are finished. Well I think I will close now. Hoping to see you soon
Yours ever
Alfred Lilly.
Army Form B 261.
APPLICABLE TO ENGLAND.
———————————————
ORDER FOR THE RECEPTION OF A DANGEROUS
LUNATIC SOLDIER.
——————————————————-
Whereas, by the Army Act, section 91, as amended by the Army (Annual) Acts, 1899 and 1909, it is provided that the Army Council, or any Officer deputed by them for the purpose, may, if they or he think proper, on account of a soldier’s lunacy, cause any soldier of the regular forces, on his discharge, to be sent to the parish or union to which under the statutes for the time being in force he appears, from the statements made in his attestation paper, and other available information, to be chargeable; and such soldier, if delivered after reasonable notice, in England or Ireland at the workhouse in which persons settled in such parish, shall be received, and in Scotland to the inspector of poor of such parish, or union are received by the master or other proper officer of such workhouse, or such inspector of poor, as the case may be; and it is further provided by the said Act as so amended that the Army Council or any Officer deputed by them for the purpose, where it appears to them or him that any such soldier is a dangerous lunatic, and is in such a state of health as not to be liable to suffer bodily or mental injury by his removal, may, by order signified under their or his hand, send such lunatic direct to an asylum, registered hospital, licensed house, or other place in which pauper lunatics can legally be confined, and for the purpose of the said order the above-mentioned parish or union shall be deemed to be the parish or union from which such lunatic is sent, and that in England the lunatic shall be sent to the asylum, hospital, house or place to which a person in the workhouse aforesaid, on becoming a dangerous lunatic, can by law be removed; and it is further provided by the said Act, as amended by the Army (Annual) Acts, 1891, 1894, 1899, and 1909, that an order of the Army Council or Officer under section 91 of the Army Act, shall be of the same effect as a Summary Reception Order, within the meaning of the Lunacy Act, 1890; and the like proceedings shall be taken thereon as on an Order under that Act. *
* Note – Where the order directs the Lunatic to be received into any Asylum other than an Asylum of the County or Borough in which the Parish or Place from which the Lunatic is sent is situate, or into a Registered Hospital of Licensed House, it should state that the Army Council or Officer is satisfied that there is no Asylum of such County or Borough, or that there is a deficiency of room in such Asylum, or as the case may be, the special circumstances by reason whereof the Lunatic cannot conveniently be taken to an Asylum for such first-mentioned County or Borough.
Page 2.
And whereas it appears to me the undersigned being an Officer deputed by the Army Council for the purpose, from the statements made in the attestation paper of No 18134 Pte. Henry King a soldier, now of the Worcestershire Regt Corps, but about to be discharged therefrom, and from other information, that the said Henry King is, or on his discharge will be a pauper chargeable to the Parish of Poplar in the County [or Borough] of London.
And whereas it also appears to me from the Medical Certificate annexed that the said Henry King is a dangerous lunatic, and is in such a state of health as not to suffer bodily or mental injury by his removal.
And whereas it has been represented to me [that the Asylum at Woodford Bridge for the said County [or Borough] of London] is a place to which a dangerous lunatic if an inmate of the Workhouse, of the said Union or [Parish] could by Law be removed.
Now I hereby order and desire you to receive the said Henry King, as a patient into your Asylum. Subjoined is a statement of particulars respecting the said Henry King.
i/c Administration for General Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Command (absent on Duty)
to the Superintendent of the Claybury Asylum, Woodford Bridge
Asylum for the County of London,
or, the Lunatic Hospital of or
Proprietor of the Licensed House of
Page 3.
STATEMENT of particulars relating to the said Henry King
Name of patient, with Christian Name at length King Henry
Age 22 11/12 years
Married , Single, or Widower Single
Name or Number of Corps, and Rank Worcestershire Regiment. Private
Religious Persuasion Church of England
Whether First Attack Yes
Age (if known) on First Attack 22
Supposed Cause –
Duration of Existing Attack 7 days
Supposed Cause Unknown
Whether subject to Epilepsy No
Whether Suicidal No
Whether of temperate habits Yes
Union or Parish to which the Lunatic}
appears to be chargeable } Poplar
Name and Address of Relative to whom}
Notice of Death to be sent } (Mother) Mrs. King, 20 Cahir Street, Millwall Poplar.
Signed, Name, E. Hewitt
Major R.A.M.C., Registrar.
Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley
To be signed by Officer Commanding
Corps or Regiment.
Back page.
MEDICAL CERTIFICATE
———————————–
I, the undersigned O. J. Stephenson being a person registered under the Medical Acts, and being in the actual practice of the Medical Profession, hereby certify, that I, on the fourth day of November at D Block, Royal V. Hosp Netley in the County of Hampshire personally examined Henry King a Soldier of the 11th Worcester Regt Corps, and that the said Soldier is a dangerous Lunatic and a proper person to be taken charge of and detained under Care and Treatment, and is in such a state of health as not to suffer bodily or mental injury by his removal, and that I have formed this opinion upon the following grounds, viz: –
Patient has aural & visual hallucinations, his memory is poor, is rambling and confused at times, & cannot fix his attention.
Signed, Name O. J. Stephenson
Place of Abode D Block, R. V. Hosp Netley.
Dated this fourth day of November One Thousand Nine Hundred and fourteen.
Pasted inside:
D Block R.V.H. INSTITUTION
Netley
To the Superintendent of the
COUNTY OF LONDON
LUNATIC ASYLUM at Claybury Woodford Bridge.
I hereby certify that No. 18134 Pte H. King 11 Worc Rgt is free from any infectious or contagious disease, and that, in my opinion, his admission into the above Asylum will not be attended with any risk of infection to the inmates thereof.
Signed Unreadable
Lieut R.A.M.C. Medical Officer
Dated this 10th day of November 1914
Also a letter:
3 Cahir Street
Millwall E
July 13th 1915
Sir,
Many thanks for the discharge book which we received alright, this morning relating to my step-son Henry King (6770). Again thanking you for past kindness to him whilst he was a patient with you.
I remain
Your Humble Servant
War Diary of AA Laporte Payne
Extracted from
Brigade Diary, Personal Diary, Operation Orders, Note Books, Memoranda &
Correspondence
—————–
November 1914
1
Nov 13th 1914
Sir,
I desire to apply for leave from 12, noon on Saturday, November, 14th 1914, to midnight on Sunday November, 15th 1914.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant
A.A. LAPRORT Payne
2/Lieut R.F.A.
O.C. 260th Battery
R.F.A. Colchester
II
Forwarded and recommended
H.F.T. Blowey
Lieut R.F.A.
O.C. 260th Battery R.F.A.
To O.C. 83rd Brigade R.F.A.
Colchester
3
Returned. Brigade Order No. 145 has not been complied with
Colonel R.F.A.
Commanding 83rd Brigade R.F.A.
Colchester, 13.11.14
Monday November 16 1914
R.P.
“Tomorrow I hope to go into a billet. It will only cost me threepence a day over the amount I am allowed for living out, which is 4/9 per day.
November 27
“We have a new Battery Commander, the last having left for France to join the Royal Flying Corps.
My host’s brother, Major Chopping R.A.M.C. has arrived tonight from Ypres for a short holiday of 3 days. He has told me a great deal of interesting information. He says that our troops can only hold the Germans for the present, and nothing further. The men are worn out with constant marching & fighting.
I see Huntriss, whom I knew at Salisbury, has been wounded.
The Bay Museum & Research Facility 