p

The Royal Army Pay Corps Journal

Vol. IV.

Autumn, ]938

No. 31

anxiuu s to obtain ties . Arrang ements have

been made to have the ne\\" colours on the
ribbons of the Corps Christmas Cards and
Diaries for 193 9 ordered t1!roug-h the
"Journal ".
~

EDITORIAL NOTES.
Command Pay Office,
Aldershot, Hants.,
September, 1938 .
The last issue of the " Journal" supplied
flattering proof that its pages are actually
read, for no sooner had it made an appearance than the telephone brought messages
of the lapses contained in its pages. The
whole matter centred round the Editorial
type\\Titer. It is a machine whose orthog raphy at best can only be described as poor
and on this occasion it gave evidence of the
further vagaries of which it is capable.

Th e office representative at Sing apore has

been
a\\"arded the prize of ten shillinas
and
.
b
~lxpence for the current issue.
This prize
IS no\\" replaced by a literary competi hon
open to all, particulars of \\"hich will be
found on another page.

The severin g of the 10ngstandin bo' connectlOn s bet\\'een Warley and our Corps
proved to be of only a temporary nature and
once ag ain a Reg imental Pay Office is established in that to\\"11.

Sir Frederick Bovenschen's honour \\"as

the K.B.E., and not as described in our last
number, and to him and those others who
found themselves confronted with their
names 111 unfamiliar form, ,ye tender onr
apologies.

CO RP S T IE.
The n e\\' design of the Corps tie is in process of manufacture and "" ill be available
shortly. To avoid indiscriminate and unauthorised use of Corps Colours, members
of the Corps should obtain their requirements direct from Messrs . T . lVI. Lewin and
Sons, Ltd., \\'hose announcement appears in
our advertisement pages, or from Major G.
Lidstone, 24, Green Lanes, E1tham, S.R.9.

Major General H. G. Ri1ey was invested

with the Insignia of Companion, Military
Division, of the Most Honourable Order of
the Bath at the Investiture held by the King
on 5th July. Sir Herbert Creedy (Secretary
of the Disting uished Service Order) \iVaS also
present, and it was on this occasion that Mr.
Frederick Bovenschen received the honour
of Knighthood .
At the dinner to the Imperial Forces
given by the Lord Mayor of London at the
Mansion House on 27th July, their names,
as \Nell as NIl'. A . Earl, C.B., C.B.E.,
appeared as guests.

R.A.P. C. GOLFI N G SO CIET Y.

Antumn Meeting, 1938. The Autumn
Meeting \\"ill be held at the Fulwell Golf
Club, Hampton Hill. Nr. Twickenham, on
Thursday, 29th September, 1938. The Club
House is one minute from Fulwell Station
(S. R.) and on the Twickenham-Hampton
C011 rt tram route .

The Editors are always g rateful for newspaper cuttings and ne\\"s relating to the
Corps and its members, and \\"ish to thank
all those who have so kindly furnished them
with such information.

It is wi t h great sorrow that we learn,

at the moment of gO'ing to pr'in,t , of the
death of Prince Arthur of Connaught , our
Colonel -in-Chief. By his dea,t h the country
has lost a d,istinguished soldier and a wise
a.dm in istrator.

The Colours A the Corps Tie have been

chan ged and :1 notice appears on this pag e
giving the necessary particulars for those
30 7

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

THE

JO URNAL

Corps Sports News

R.A.P.C. GOLFING SOCIETY.

The Summer Meeting this year was held
at West Hill Golf Club near Woking, on
Wednesday, 29th June, and there Vi/as an
excellent attendance, no less than thirtythree members turning out.
The weather was anything but kind, a
strong south-"vesterly wind playing havoc
with many apparently INell-hit shots and
being responsible for a large number of
three figure gross ~cores.
Captain Burne is to be congratulated on
his net 69, playing off a handicap~ of,. 18,
whilst Captain Beauchamp's 77 (gross .and
net) represented exceptionally steady golf
Ullder by no means easy conditions. This
77 \.vas the best gross score produced and
won the Ri1ey C1eek, the Toller Cup going
to Captain Burne, who also collected the
Ca pta in's prize by being five upon bogey.
An innovation this year "vas the allowance
of the full handicap when competing for the
Captain's prize, instead of the usual threequarters .
The leading scores in the mormng we re
as follows:Best Net ScoresC~ptain J . R. Burne
87 - 18 = 69
Captain H. R. Beauchamp 77 (Scr.) = 77
Captain A. R. Hamilton 92 - 12 = 80
Best Gross ScoresCaptain H. R. Beauchamp
Captain R. C. Thompson
Lt.-Col. BednaIl and Captain Burne
Bogey for the course is 76.
The Bogey foursomes were played after
1uDch and resulted in a win for Lt.-Col. C .
N. Bednall and Captain C. J. Day with a
score of one down, vvhi1st Col. A. A. Cockburn and 'Captain H. R. Beauchamp ran
them close by being two down at the
eighteenth.
.
There is no doubt that West Hill is a
much more difficult course than the East
Course at Wentworth, thoug h there is probably not much to choose bebveen the West
COllrse there, and this year's venue. A
study of the cards returned reveals the fact
that there were very few threes at the short
holes, fours and fives predominating.
The Campbell-Todd Cup for 1937 was
won by Captain R. C. Thompson with a
score of 4 up, playing off a handicap of five
at Canterbury.

Ann ett and D obb

The prizes "vere presented by Major

General H. G. Riley, C.B. , after which the
Annual General Meeting was held. The
minutes having
been read and confirmed ,
.
the followmg were elected as officers for
193 8 -39 : officers for 1938-39:Ca.pta.in, Major C. D. Vint; Hon. S ec. ,
Lt.-Col. R . G . Stanham; COI1'1,mittee,
lV[ajor O . D. Garratt and Captains J. R.
Burne and R. C. Thompson.
It was decided to hold the Autumn Meeting at Ful well and the Summer Meeting at
Went worth , with alternatives of Coombe
Hill, and Berkshire or North Hants respectively.
Votes of thanks were accorded to Lt. -Col.
Grant for acting as Captain and for presenting a prize for the Special Bogey competition, and to Lt.-Col. Stanham for his
work as Hon. Secretary, a lso to members of
the team wh ich represented the Corps in the
Army Golf Cha llenge Cup at Muirfield.
Match v. R.A.S.C.-A match against the
Royal Army Service Corps was played at
West Hill on Tuesday, the 2.8 th, and resulted in a loss to us by 8 matches to 4.
The foursomes ""ere played in the morning, and the singles in the afternoon, and
in view of the fact that we were all square
at lunch time, one wonders if the members
of our team lunched a trifle too heartily !
The detailed results are as follm,vs :--SINGLES.
R.A .S.C.
M. R. Gardner
(3 &
T. F. B. Law (3 &
R. H . F. Burrell
(2 &
Co l. J.
F. D c ran
(4 &
''::// . N. P. Annett
(5 &
Major H . R. D obb
(5 &
Col. f . B. Barn(s
(4 &
Col. F. W. Beall
(4 &

c.

2)
2)

0
1

1)

R.A.P.C.
Capt. H. R. Beauchamp
(3 & 2)
Capt. R. C. Thompson

1
0

Lt.Col. R. G. Stanham

3)

3)

3)

Capt. D . C. Carter
Lt. Col. C. N. Bednall
(6 & 5)
Lt.-Col. A. A. Cockburn

3)

Capt. A. R. H ami lton

3)

Maj or O . D . Garratt

6
FOURSOMES.
Gardner and D oran
Beauchamp and
( 3 & 1)
Tho mpson
Law and Burrell
(5 & 3) 1 Stanham and Bednall

308

0
0

Barnes and Beall

o
o

ROYAL

ARMY

Car ter .and Cockburn

(5 & 3)
Hamiltc n and Garratt
(4 & 2)

PAY

1
2

5
3

o
7

... 118

T otal
Bcwling: -Hench ley 6 for 27.

R.A.O.C.
Lt.Co l. Love, b. Becconsall
2/Lt. Cou lthard, c. Mard'e n, b. Becconsall
Lt. Bail ey, I.b.w., b . Becco nsall...
...
Capt. Mitchell , c. Matthews, b. Gregory
Sgt. Kelly, b. Becconsall ...
L/ Cpl. AngeU, b . Walker
Maj .-Gen. H oare, b. Gregor y . . ..
Capt. Tarrant, c. Gregory, b. Walker
Cpl. McCallum, c. Matthews, b . Gregory
Sgt. Cook, I.b.w., b. Walker
...
...
Lt. Henchlcy, not out
Extras

CORPS CRICKET.
Corps Cricket Week.
The Corps ~ ide was weakened b;r the
absence of t\\o regular players and (bd n ot
do as well as had be2n expected. The batting of Captain Ma rden, S.S.l\~. Newell anq
S.Q.M.S. Matthews was consIstently good
and S.Q.M.S. B2ccon~all bO\\'led steadily.
Versus R.A.O.C.-2nd July.
We won the toss and batted first, Clowes
at once " ' beginning to scon: runs "vhile
Matthe\\'s quietly pla yed him~elf in. 'With
the score at 29 C10wes played inside a
York er. Gregory did not stay long but
Newell and Matthews took the score to 87
before the latter \\'as beaten by another
Yor1~ er.
With this bright start \\'e had hopes of obtaining 200 runs but H enchley, bowling at
his fastest had other views. Coming on at
this staoe'
for a second spell he
took
six
b

wickets all bo\,v led, for 13 n ll1S 111 S1X overs

-the r~111aining seven wickets falling for
3 1 runs.
Our opponents made a disastrous start,
losing three \\'ickets for 23 runs. The next
pair, hO\,v ever, virtually won the game, putting on 86 runs. Cou1thard should have
been stumped ea rly in his innings and gave
a chance shortly afterwards to square leg.
Otherwise l1e batted attractively, particularly with his square cuts. Kelly, his partner, owed much to the edge of his bat.
O ur score was passed with 4 \i\ ickets
down, the innings closing at 2J I.
In accordance with the usual custom, the
R.A.O.C. held an "At Home" during the
match.
R.A.P.C.
Capt. Clowes, b. Love
S.Q.M.S. Matthews, b. Henchley
Cpl. Gregory, c. McCallum, b. Bailey
S.S.M . Newell , b . Henchley
Major Barratt, b. Henchley
S.Q.M.S. Becconsall, l.b. w., b. McCallum
Capt. Marden, b. Henchley

JOURNAL

Sgt. King, not out

...
...
. ..
L/ Sgt. Weatherall, c. I'arrant, b. McCallum
Capt. Rees, b. Henchley
Cpl. Walker, b. Henchley
Extras

A match against toe Royal Army Chaplains Dept. will be played at the Bramshot
Golf Club on Wednesday, 12th O ctober.

CORPS

T c tal

4
59
4
4
~4

25
14

6
12
9
2

8
.. , 201

Bowling:-BecconsaU 4 f or 51; Walker 3 for 37;

Gregory 3 for 76.

Versus A.E.C.-4th and 5th July.

vVe aO'ain batted first and scoring was fast
until Clowes was unfortunately g iven out,
caught at the \\icket. Matthews and .Becconsall did not stay long but Gregory and
N e'i\'eJl carried the score from IS to 60 by
sound and steady batting.
Barratt and
N ewell then brought the score to 98 :
At this. stage the wicket became dIfficult,
followin g a sh ower and, although Marde!l
batted well, the innings closed at 142, obVIously !~ot sufficien t for opponents who were
a strong batting side.
We met with an early success in dism~ss
ing Duncan, but Rushbridge and SmaIles
batted \\'ell and, at the close of play on the
first day, the score was 118 for one.
Smai les was soon disposed of the next
morning and Meldrum was quickly o~t, ~ut
Rushbrido'e and Kirkvvood, a combmatlOn
we have found formidable on more than 0!le
occasion, scored at a brisk pace. DespIte
steady bowling by Becconsall and Walker,
the score had reached 2II before Rushbridge, who had just made a very good century was dismissed.
Kirkwood \,v as out shortly afterwards.
Pa O'e and Ware then brought the score to
3 1; before the A.E.C. declared at 3 p.m.
Our opponents had a lead ot 172 an~ t~ree
hours in which to get us out. ThIS bme
proved to be insufficient.
Although N ewell and M atthews batted

15
36
5

28
2

5
7

30 9

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

P AY

we ll , fi ve \v ickets had fallen for 45 runs

when Barratt and Marden came together
with. forty minutes left for p lay. They resisted valian tly and took th e score to 8 2
without being separated.
A.E.C.

Capt. Ru shbridge, c. Weatherall, b. K ing

Sgt. Duncan, c. Becconsall , b. Gregory ...
W .O .1 Smailes, c. Rees, b. Becconsall ...
Lt. Meldrum, c. Newel l, b. Becconsall ...
Cant. Kirkwood, c. W eatherall b. Becconsall
Sg t. Page, not out
Sgt. Ware, not out
Extras
T otal (for 5 wickets declared)

100
8
53.
2
53
61
26
11
. . . 314

W .O .1 Pars low, Sg t. Welton, W.O.1 Pirie and Set.

Rodrig ues did not bat.
Bowling: -Becconsall 3 for 78.
R.A.P.C. 1st Innings.

Capt. Cl owes, c. Dunca n, b. Parslow

S.Q.M.S. Matthews, b. Page
Cpl. Gregory, b. Smailes
S.Q .M.S. Becce nsall , b. Page
...
S.S.M . Newell, c. Rushbridge, b. Page
M ajor Barratt, c. Ware, b. Smai les
Capt. Marden, c. Page, b. Parslow
Capt. Rees, not o ut
Cpl. Walker, c. Kirkwood, b. Parslow
Sg t. King, c. Rushbridge, b. Parslow
L/ Sgt. Weathera ll , c. and b. Parslow
Extras

11

19

40
37
14
5
4

J OU R NAL

THE

d isaster, putting 011 80 run s to keep the

game alive.
The tea interva l brought abo ut their dismissal and a lthough Park md Day added 34
for the ninth wicket. the innings closed at
1.6 5, leaving the Chaplains t o ge t 36. This
they did in h a lf an h our without the loss of
a wicket.
\i\Toodcock, a Territorial A rmy Padre
new to us, bowled 36 overs durin g the
course of the ga me for 80 runs and 1 0
w ickets .

Lt. H addock, no t out

Extras
T otal

Foster, b. Becconsa ll
Gladstone, c. M arden, b. H e rsford '.
Barnard, c. Gregory, b. Becconsall
Woodcock, c. D ay, b. Becconsall
Steele, c. Becconsa:Jl , b. D ay
Babb, c. H orsford, b. Becconsall
Swift, c. H addock, b. Barratt
Heal e, c. Barratt, b. Becconsall
Webb, run out
Brown, b. Beccc nsa IJ
..~. '
Craft , not out
Extras

. .. . 20
12

15
131
13
13
14
1
1

o
16

Bowling: -Becconsall 6 for 74 ; p ay 1 for 1;

Barra tt r for 4.

o
o

R.A.Ch.D. 2nd Inni!1gs.

Rev. Foster. not out

Rev. H ea le; not out
Extras

10

25
S
)

T otal (fe r no wickets)

Bow ling : -Parslow 5 for 43; Page 3 for 44.

36

R.A.P.C. 1st Innings.

R.A.P.C. 2nd Innings.

Capt. Clowes, c. Rushbridge, b. Smailes

S.Q.M.S. Matthews, l.b .w ., b. Page
Cpl. Gregory, b. Smailes ...
S.Q.M.S. Becconsall , b. Smai les
S.S.M. Newell, c. Parslow, b. Page
M ajor Barratt, not out
Capt. Marden , not out

10
16
17

T otal (for 5 wickets)

82

Capt. Clowes, b. Ste~l e . ..

Cpl. Gregory, run o ut
Capt. H orsford, b. Steele
S.Q .M.S . Becconsall , b. Babb
Major Barratt, c. Barnard, b. \X"-oodcock
Capt. Rees, b. W oodcock
Capt. Marden, not c ut
Capt. D ay, c. Steele, b. W oodcock
Capt. Coate, st. H eale, b. Steele .. .
Capt. Park, b. W oodcock
Lt. H addock, c. & b. W oodcock . ..
Extras

21
4
1

Bow ling : -Smailes 3 for 20; Page 2 for 3l.

Versus R .A.Ch.D.-6th and 7th July .

Our opponents won the toss and chos~ to.
bat. Steele dominated their innings. It
was obvious that first cla.3s cricket had improved eyes, w rists and feet and, althoug h
he gave several chances, his 131 was good
to watch.
Our reply was not sufficient. Gregory
batted well until running himself out and
Marden ag ain showed that he was in form
but we failed to save the follow-on .
I n the second innings five wickets fell for
.47 runs but Marden and Rees prevented ;1

3
38
()

21

14
1

8
2
2:

3
... 106

T otal

Bowling: --Wac dcock 5 for 29; Steele 3 for 36.

R.A.P.C. 2nd Innings.

Cap t. Cl owes, c. Barnard, b. Woodcock

Cpl. Gregory, c. Barnard , b. W oodcock
Capt. H orsford , c. Steele, b. Foster
.. .
S.Q.M.S. Becconsall , st. H ea le, b. W ocdcock
M ajor Barratt, c. Barn ard, b. W oodcock
Capt. Rees, c. H eale, b. Steele ...
Capt. Marden , c. Brown, b. W oodcock
Capt. D ay, st. Heale, b. Steele
Capt. Coa te, c. Babb, b. Steele
Capt. Park, b. Steele

3 10

18
3
0
1
2:

23
70
7
3
25

ARMY
1
12

_.. 165

Season 1939.
Provisional arrangements have been m ade
for next year as follo ws:Jul y 3rd and 4th-v. A .E.C.
Jul y 5th-v. R.A .O.C
Jul y 6th and 7th- v. R .A.Ch.D .
All matches to take p lace on the 1. 'pper
G round of the Officers' Club at Al rlershot.

R.A.Ch.D. 1st Innings.

Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
Rev .
Rev.

R OYAL

Bowling: -Woodcock 5 for 51 ; Steele 4 for 67.

Total

. . . 142

T ota l

CO RPS

LAWN TENNIS.
Thei'e \\'as a r ecord attendance at the
Anmlal L a wn Tennis Meeting at R oehampton Clu b on 1st July. It \\'as unfor tunate
th a t Capt . T. H '. Sweeny, th e h old er of the
IVIu sson Challeng e Boyvl. found~ himself unable to <,lefend his title ha ving recentl y been
posted to L eith. This trophy' passed into
the hands of Capt. H. R. Beauchamp. \\'ho
defeated Capt . V . W. Rees by 6 / I, 6 / 4, the
latter in the previous round h avi ng disposed
of Lt .-Col. R. G. S tanham by 7/ 5, 6 /3
R .A. P.C . v . R .A.S .C.
A m atch between the tw o Cor ps ,,,as
p layed at A ldershot on F ri day. 24th June ,
and resu lted in a win for th e R. A.P.C. by
six m atches to three.
Lt.-Col. S tanham & Capt. Beal1champ
beat :-lajor Lowde Il & Capt . Saunders 6/ 3,
6 / 4; beat Capt. Leuty & Ma jor Ey re 6/ 4,
6 / 0; beat Capt. Purches & Lt. S treet 6 / I,
6/ 0.
Col. O rmsby-Johnson & Capt . R ees beat
Capt. Leuty & .Ma jor Eyre 6 / 4 , 7/ 5; beat
Capt. Purches & Lt. S treet 6 / I, 6 / 0; lost to
l\lajor Lo wde Il & Capt. Saunders 4 / 6, 4 / 6.
Major Macken zie & Capt. H ogge beat
Ca pt. Purches & Lt. Street 6 / 3. 6 / 2; lost to
Ma jor L owd ell & Capt. Saunders 0/6 , 8 / 6,
2/ 6; lost to Capt. Leuty & Ma jor Eyre 4 / 6 ,
3/ 6 .
Rhine Army Cup.
Saturday , 3rd September , saw the semifin alists of the above contests congregated
t og ether at A ldershot. A delig htful day
g ave its b lessing to the event yvhich was :vell
attend ed by representatives from va n ous
commands and the locals in fu ll streng th.
The matches:Sgt. BO\i\ln v. Pte. M urray. Bow n settled
dovm first and won the first t wo g ames but
Murray then began to find his leng th and

PAY

CORPS

J O URNAL

pulled up to 2-2. At this stage both \\'ere

pla ying good tennis but Murray was a little
more accurate in his length and drew ahead,
5- 3. Even play foll o \yed, v,iith Bown making excellent pr ogress to put the score level
at 5- 5, and later to take three g ames off the
reel t o \\'in the set, 8- 6. M urray took the
lead from the start in the second set and
. d ra \\'ing st eadily ahead won, 6- 3. The
match \vas evenly contested with long rallies and hard driving. Bown , ho wever , w ho
had injured his ankl e early in the fir st set,
seemed t o have lost some of his freedom of
movement and in the third set IVIurray again
drew ah ead and, d espite stern resistance
fr om Bown,won the set, and game, 6- 4
Sg t. Cook v. CP!l. Whelan. This proved
to be
match of opponents with similar
st vles . We were treated to long spells of defe;1sive pla y with sudden excursIons to the
n et, both players favour ing net volleys for
w inning sh ots.
A very even first set we nt to \iVhelan who
started the second set ,.vith a lead of 4-I.
At this stag e the gam e looked over to every one but Cook, w ho proceeded to run out the
winner of the second set by 6-4
In the third set Whelan again raced away
with a lead of 5-1 , but once again Cook
fou o-ht every inch of th e vvay to level the
b
.
d
score at 5- 5. Whelan, hO\.veve r , remal11e
sufficiently steady to \\-in the m atch at 7- 5
F inal : Pte . Murray (Chatharn) v. Cpl.
Whelan (Warwick).
This match brought together t wo youthful contestants for the Corps' Championship
and M nrray won in two sets. Both appeared
t o be sufferin g h om tournament and "centn:
court" complexes and play suffered accoraing ly . When they had wa rmed up things
improved and, after a long series of d e.fensive ga l11esvvith level scores, M urra y gal11ed
the first set , 7- 5
The second set was much th e same as the
fir st, with Murray slig htly the better and
taking the lead to 4- 0 before Whelan recovered t o make thin gs more even. M urray,
however, "vas always slightly the better and
deserved his 8--6 win to finish the set and
game.
At the conclusion of the game Mrs.
Ormsby-J ohnson p resente~ the 'w inner and
runner-up with the tropllles and everyone
set-to on the spread vvhich had miraculously
appeared whilst our attention had been
directed on the courts .
(Small Bore Rifle League , page 3 1 3.)

3I I

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

C O RPS

THE

J OURN~L

Corps News-Officers
From "The London Gazette"

BIRTHS.
~EDNALL-9n Friday, July I, 1938, "it
Pul ey Cust N ursmg Home , York. to Eileen
Margaret (nee Lewin)
\\-ife of LieutColonel C_ N. Bednall, a'daug hter.
. .
~L?WES. -On August IO, I~38, at 3J
Wllbr~ham Place, S.W.I., to Emd, wife of
Captal11 J. H . Clowes, Royal Army Pay
Cor ps , a son.

As fron~ 12th May, 1933, all Staff PayTIlasters wIth the rank of Lieut.-Colonel are
regarded as Staff Paymasters, 1st Class, and
.all Staff Paymasters vvith the 1"1111k of Major
a re regarded as Staff Paymasters, 2nd Class.

To be Major and Staff Paymaster, 2nd Class.

Major and Paymr. R. H. Sayer, D.C.M.,
12/8/ 38 .
To be Majors.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) C. W. Connor,
1 / 8 / 38.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) F. W. Cooper 1
1/8/ 38 .
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) C. H. ParrattJ
1/ 8/38 .
Capt. and Paymr. H. P. Park, 21/8/38.
Capt. and Paymr. E. G. Jonas, 3/9/38.
To be Captains.
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) W. T. Cork, 1/ 8 / 38.
Lt . (Asst. Paymr.) A. Newman, 1/8/ 38.
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) E . B. Godwin
1/8/38.
'
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) J. Quinn, 1/ 8 / 38.
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) A. E. J ones, 1/ 8/ 38 .
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) S. Holman MBE
'
1/ 8/3 8 .
...,
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) H . Stubbs, 1/8/ 38.
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) C . (YLeary, 1/8/38 .
Lt. (Asst. Paymr.) W. H. Moorcroft
1/8/38 .
'
1/~1;8 .(Asst. Paymr.) W. E . C. Loftl1s,

,)

FORTHCOMING MA~RIAGE.
Th e. En g ag em ent is announced b et\\'een
FranCls, youn g er son of Dr. and Mrs S NI
Di~l Campbel1, of Dovercourt, and Daphn~
ElIzabeth Louise, only daug hter of th e late
C?lo~e l R. E. Daubeny, C.B.E., of The
Kmg s Own Royal Rgt. and Royal Army
Pay Corps, and the late Mrs. Daubeny_ Miss
Daubeny's address is the Alexandra Hotel,
Dovercourt.
DEATHS.
HAYNES .- O n March 5,1938, at J ersey,
Col. A lleyne Haynes, C.M.G., late of the
4th Foot and of the Army Pay Department.
HOUSEHOLD.-On July 3, 1938, at 20,
Pembroke Crescent, Hove, Lt.-Col. Henry
Barrows Household, late of the Dorsetshire
Rgt. and of the Royal Army Pay Corps.
INGLIS.-On February 25, 1938, at Fal- '
mouth, Lt.-Col. Albert Gordon Inglis , late
of the Royal Munster Fusiliers and of the
Army Pay Department.
POSTI N G S-O FFI C ERS.
Ba rnes, Major C., D.C.M., Singapol'e to
Barnet, 27/6/38 .
Broadhurst, Ma jor A . G. VV., Wool wich
to Warley, 22 /8/38 .
Cooper, Lt. E. 0 ., Commissioned, York,
3 1 / 8 / 38 .
Cox, Major E. F., Warley to 1N oolwich
18/7/38.
'
Cubbitt, Capt. D. Y., Eastern Comd . to
L ondon, 1/ 1/38 .
Fennell, Lt.-Col. H o! P., Wool\\-ich to
\Varley, 22 /8/38 .
Flux , Lt. S . J. J., Commissioned Woolv;ich,I / 6 / 38.
'
GOll g h, Capt. H., L ondon to Eastern

To be P~ymasters (on prob.).

Captam L. Oliver, W. Yorks R t
3/ 4/33 .
g .,
Capt. N. Reid, E. Yorks R g t., 25/ 4/7,8.
To be Lieuts. (Asst. Paymrs.).
Staff Sgt. ~lajor S. J. J. Flux, 1/ 6 / 38 .
Staff Sgt. l\,faJor E. n. Cooper, 31/8/38.
~etirements.

. Lt.-C?1. and Staff Paymr. J. Sawers, havm g attaIned the age for retirement, 12 /8/38.
Lt.-Col. (Asst. Paymr.) J. M. Macnamara, having attained the age for retirement, 31/8/38 .
INVESTITU~E-

CJll C
1. , 1/ 1/ 3S .
Grant . Lt.-Col. T. H. , Easte rn Cmd. to
Houn slow, I ! 9 / 38 .
Haddock, Lt. C. R., vVooh\'ich to vVarley, 22 /8/ 38.

,
Buckingham Palace, Jul y 5th.
fh e l\ ~ost Honourable Order of the Bath.
Compamol1,
M!litary
Division-Major
General Henry RIley.
31 2

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

H erbert, Bt. Col. A. S., M.C., Winchester

t o Eastern Cmd., 7/9 ! 38 .
H ollingswo rth, Major H. J., Lichfield to
Scottish Cmd., 18/7 / 38 .
Holmes, Lt.-Col. C., M.C., Scottish Cmd.
t o vVoking , 18/7/3 8 .
Ho \\'ell , Capt. H. A. A., l\,LB.E., Aldershot to Canterbury, 4/7 / 38 .
Hunt, Lt. A. K., \Vool wich to Warley,
22 / 8 / 38 .
Ma rden, Capt. H. W. T., M.B .E .. Aldershot to Eastern Cmd., 4/7 / 38 ,
R ees , Ca nt. V. VJ ., Aldershot to Prest on ,
417Woods,
/ 38 . Major J. G_ . Tidworth t o P alestine , 21 / 5/ 38 .
RECO~D AND PAY OFFICES
SMALL BORE ~IFLE LEAGUE.
K otices have b een sent out to all Offices
invitin g entries of teams in the above
L eag u e for the forthcoming winter season ,
and it is h oped that there \\-i ll be a big response.
September 19th is the final date for receiving entries and it is expected that match
cards will be sent out within three \y eek s
from that date.
Clubs abroad have been asked t o fon yard
their entries early so that th ey ma y mal, e a
st art on the fixture list before th e Clubs at
H ome, thus ensurin g matches being kepi:
up to date.
Now that a working Committee has been
appointed, results \,vil1 be sent out each \yeek
and a Leag u e Table published monthly.
There will be a Christmas Shoot this year
and the conditions w il1 be sent out with the
Match Cards for the Leag ue. It is very
particula rly desired to point out that this
competition will not be confined to members
shooting in teams only. ANY member of
an office where a team is entered for the
Leag ue, "vill be entitled to shoot. There
sh ould be a big entry.
Th ere will a lso be a Match between teams
representing Officers, Other Military ranks,
L ac1 ies and Civilians, vvith a prize for each
member of the ,,,,, inning team. Th e condition s for this \\ill not be sent out until the
N e\\' Yea r. .'As the strength of Teams for th e Leag ue
h as been r educed to five shooting members,
many more entries are .expected, as offices
with small staffs have a better chan ce of
entering at least one team. It should be
remembered that there is a fine Troph y for
the ,yinners of the \.vinnin g tea m in th e 2nd
Divi sion .
~
vV .H. S .

CORPS

J OURNAL

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.

To be Warrant Officer Class I arid appOinted S.S.M.
773369 1 S.Q.M .S. J. H. Gibson, 1/ 6/38.
77 33 J92 S.Q.M.S. J. Cow per, 12 17/38 .
To be Warrant Officer Class II

and appointed

S.. Q.M.S.

7733205 . S/Sg t. R. W. Benning, 27/ 5/ 38.

TO' be Staff-Sergeant.
1049707 Sergt. F. H. Ansell, 3/ 5/38.
1415293 Sergt. G. E. Fisher, 1/ 6/ 38.
1862610 Sergt. W. A. M cnks, 1/6 / 38.
535674 Sergt. H . Forse, 16/5/38 .
6337507 Sergt. A. F. Chantler, 26/5 / 38 .
1047724 Sergt. H. E. Evans, 7/6/ 38 .
1020682 Sergt. F. J. Riddington, 12 / 6/ 38.
4441439 Sergt. G . Fraser, 4/7 / 38.
10789 Sergt. W. A. I Gnes, 12/ 7/ 38.
4526190 Sergt. E. Pease , 1/ 7/ 38 .
533 i2 11 Sergt. E. E. Gilbert, 2/ 5/ 38.
To be Sergeant.
54855 1 L/ Sgt. F. ]. Lowery, 17/ 5/ 382318449 L/ Sgt. P. L. Gautier, 20/ 5/ 38 .
3709224 L/ Sgt. R. A. Stewart, 21/ 5/ 38 .
2320788 L/ Sgt. E. H. H aJliday 1 / 6/ 38.
6844542 L/ Sg t. L. A. Morrell , 1/ 6/ 38 .
52850 L/Sg t. E. O wen, 8/ 6/38 .
23 19542 L/ Sgt. W. J- McQuade, 15 / 6/3 8.
1867465 L/ Sgt. T. F. T ay lor, 30 / 5/ 38.
3907641 L/ Sgt. L. R. Spooner, 8/ 7/ 38.
7260223 L/ Sgt.]. L. lames, 12 / 8/ 38.
To be Lance-Sergeant.
6844811 Cpl. A. H. Scola, 10/ 5/3 8.
830423 Cpl. R. Clarke-Halifax, 14/ 5/3 8.
7883174 Cpl. H. Taylor, 29/ 5/ 38 .
4 535331 Cpl. E. Lawrence, 3/6/ 38.
8 19043 Cpl. F. Bamforth . 11 / 7/ 38.
4535 291 Cpl.] . R. Wills, 6/8 / 38.
3959 184 Cpl.~. Curtis, 9/ 8/ 38.
To be Corporal.
753 6329 Pte. C. B. W . Young, 1/ 7/ 38_
84 1786 Pte. H. Makin , 1/ 7/ 38.
788 5955 Pte_ C. A. S. Hunter, 1/ 7/ 38.
850901 Pte. A. G. Ward , 1/7 / 38.
2322406 Pte. C. S. TopJiss, 1/ 7/ 38.
6085791 Pte.]. Q. Bush, 1/7 / 38.
5883476 Pte. D . W. Fox, 1/ 7/38.
833652 Pte. W. A. Walker, 1/ 7/ 38.
2819495 Pte. D. G_ Graham , 1/ 7/ 38_
3187127 Pte. L. W . WerendeI, 1/ 7/38.
6086484 Pte. J. Maule, 1/7/38.
3855880 Pte. W. R. Currie, 1/7 / 38.
6792457 Pte. L. N . Taylor, 1/7 / 38.
Continuance in the Service beyond 21 years.
77333 19 S.Q_M.S. W . A. Masc n. until 3/1/40.
1409914 S.Q.M _S. L. ]. R_ Caveill e, until 31 / 1/ 40.
7657437 S.S.M. G . Forsyth , until 31/10/40.
77333 50' - S.Q.M.S _ H. A. Tarrant , until 31 / 3/40.
77 33578 S.Q.M.5. V . R. HazeJl , until 16/ 10/39 .
77 33200 S.Q.M .S. W_ S. Morris, until 2/1 / 40.
75"7 6209 Sergt. F. Camp, until 2/ 5/4 0.
76 57309 S.S.M. A. L. H. Wilson, until 31/10/40.
7657870 S_Q.M.S.]. K. C. Owen , until 11 /4/40.
7657898 S.Q.M .S. F. J. Harman , until 7/4/40.
773370 1 S.Q.M.S. E. C. Spark, until 4/6/40.
773 ) 707 Sergt. V . Rush , until 10/ 9/39.
7657775 S.Q.M.S. W. ]. Chant, until 18/ 10/39 .

31 3

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

765 7472 S.Q .M.~. A. E. Bishop, until 20/1/40.

7657285 S.S.M. W. e. Gear, until 31 / 10/41.
7733165 S.Q.M.S. E. B. Bradshaw, until 31/3/ 40.
7657513 S.Q.M.S. H . B. Hanson, until 31/ij40.
Re-Engaged to Complete 21 years' Service.
2653909 Sergt. G . W. Bellars.
548551 Sergt. F. ]. Lowery.
7258831 L/ Sgt. e. F. Catley.
2318449 Sergt. P. 1. Gautier.
52850 Sergt. E. Owen.
1071601 Sergt. B. e. Horton.
Extension of service to Complete 12 years.
1070661 L/ Sgt. R. E. James.
5615407 l/Sgt. F. F. Street.
107 3530 Sergt. e. G. Tennuci.
7260223 L/ Sgt.]. 1. James.
4912191 L/ Sgt.]. G. Woodthorpe.
Extension of Service to Complete 9 years.
5181731 L/ Sgt. A. N. Agnew .
6398204 Pte. P. Gee-Williams.
61628 Pte. D . ]. Wylie.
3385281 Pte. E. T. Ashurst.
54219 L/ Sgt.]. Russel!.
5948083 L/ Sgt. T. E. Linter.
7884749 Pte. W. Slater.
838155 Pte. G . Brewis.
46133 76 Pte. H . Jones.
835200 Pte. A. ]. Clarke.
3526865 Pte. A. G. Jeeves.
7885921 Pte. A. B. S. Simpscn.
408112 Pte. T. Pringle-Scott.
847492 Pte. G. O. Young.
4857400 Pte. 1. G. Smith .
6086290 Pte. e. E. Goddard.
6202613 Pte. A. Hartley.
2323782 Pte. R. Herbert.
3385493 Pte. N. Mercer.
7885573 Pte. K. Pinder.
2657290 Pte. P. Ratchford .
5826710 Pte. W. F. Groom.
2875934 Pte. ]' Ainsley.
Reversion.
773 3707 S/ Sgt. V. Rush, reverted to the rank of
Sergeant (at his own req uest); 26/ 5/ 38.
Probationers.
Transferred 26/ 10/ 37. Service in the R.A .P.e. to
count from 27 / 10/ 37.
6398204 Pte. P. Gee-Williams, R.A.M.e.
Transferred on 31 / 12 / 37. Service in the R.A.P.e.
to count from 1/ 1/38.
3385281 Pte. E. T. Ashurst, 1st E. Lancs. Regt.
61628 D vr.]. Wylie, R.A.S.e.
3526865 Pte. A. G. Jeeves, Manchester Regt.
835200 Gnr. A. ]. Clarke, R.A .
4857400 Pte. 1. G. Smith, Leicester Re):?t.
7884749 Pte. W. Slater, R.T.e.
838155. Gnr. G. Brewis, R.A.
2875934 Pte. J Ainsley, Gordon Hdrs.
4613376 Pte. H . Jones, Duke of Wellington 's Rgt.
6086290 Pte. e. E. Goddard, Queen's Royal Regt.
408112 Tptr. T. Pringle-Scott, The Royal Scots
Greys .
817492 Gnr. G. O. Young, R.A.
7885921 Pte. A. B. S. Simpson, R.T.e.
3187178 Pte.]' A. A. D odds, K.O.S. Borderers.
5826710 Pte. W. F. Groom, Suffolk Regt.
2323782 Slgmn. R. Herbert, R. Sigs.

CORPS
3385495
7885573
819848
2657290
6202613

J OURNAL

THE

Pte. N . Mercer, E. Lancs.

Pte. K. T. Pinder, R.T.e.
Gnr. A. ]. Gaunt, R.A.
Gdsmn . P. Ratchford, Coldstream Grds . .
Pte. A. Hartley, Middlesex Regt.

. The undermentioned probationers joined for trainIng at Aldershot on 2/ 8/ 38:840522 Pte.]' e. Batho, R.A.
83 7892 Pte. D . .lanes, Welsh Guards.
840779 Pte.]' King, R.A .
7885394 Pte. e. Shooter, R.T.e.
5249253 Pte.]' e. Wilson, W orcester Regt.
845992 Pte. T. H. Steggles, R.A.
4 52 7583 Pte. W. Fraser, Gordon Hdrs .
412 3593 Pte. J O. Kaylor, Cheshire Regt.
37 ~ 1301
Pte. R. W. Knight, Kin g' s Own R.R.
8)3777 Pte. W . J. McMillan, R.H.A.
409091 . Pte. A. Bliss, 4/ 7th R. Dragoon Grds.
64 59303 Pte. R. P. Whale, Royal Fusiliers.
5724974 Pte. R. E. Pepper, D orsetshire Regt.
48582 48 Pte. e. e. Turner, Leicester Regt.
2323428 Pte. M. D . Smith, R. Si~s .
3711656 Pte. H. H. D avison, King's Own R.R.
7263949 Pte. H. Shilcock, R.A.M .e.
1874456 Pte. R. G. Barford RE
5499088 Pte. H . N . H. Sm ith , H~mpshire Regt.
3856355 Pte. ]' Watson, Loyal Regt.
5568131 Pte. W. ]. Hampton, R.A.
A ttwchments.
T~e undermentioned joined at Chatham (Royal
EngIneers) on the dates stated against their names
with a view to determining their sujtability for trans~
fer on probation to the Royal Army Pay Corps:2925667 L/ Cp!. W . A. Boyd, K.R.R.e. , 11 / 7/ 38.
4268668 L/ Cpl. R. e. Beddow, Royal N orthld.
Fus., 11 / 7/ 38 .
78847 35 Pte.]. McKown , R.T.e., 13/7/38.
826559 L/Bdr. F. 1. Smith, R.A. , 20/7/38.
5669348 L/ Cp!. 1. e. H. W ebber, R.A .M.C.,
21 / 7/ 38.
748 231 Gnr. W. Lovatt, R.A., 25 / 7/ 38.

ROYAL

ARMY

PA Y

The 1924 Mutiny

CORPS

ln

J OU RN AL

Khartoum

By A. C . Pennie, Ex-S.Q. 1.S. (1273)

HIS episode, like all Gaul, may be

divided into three parts:-The Dreanl
-The Explosion- The Result.

The Dream.-The year 19 24 saw E g ypt

seething "vith political trouble and intr~gue.
Mob law was rampant in several Prov111~es
and outrages on the European commumty
were taking place daily. To the cry of
"E o-ypt for the Egyptians" \\'as added
b
E
('The
Sudan
for g"
yp t .
This dissatisfaction naturally spread to the
Ano-lo-Eo-yptian Sudan, \\'hich \Vas then
b
b
.
S l
garrisoned by British, E g yptlan, uoanese
and Arab Troops. v<
The British GaA ison, \\'hich ,,-as wholly
stationed in Khartoum (the Capital and the
Seat of the Sudan Government) consisted
of one Battalion of the-Leicestershire Regiment less one company left at A lexandria,
a det'achment of the Royal Garrison Artillery, about 100 stron g and small d etachments of the R.A. 1VLC. and the R.A .S.C.
This British Garrison was no\\' stren g thened
by the 2nd Ba ttalion of the Arg y 11 and
Sutherland Hig hlanders and about half a
dozen aeroplanes. There bein g no barracks
availab le, this latter battalion \\-as accom-

modated in the GOl-don Coll eg e which l

o\\'ing to the political trouble, \\'as closed
for all the students.
In Orndurman (the old Mahdi Capital),
\\-here the White Nile meets the Blue, were
stationed t\-vo Sudanese Battalions of
Infantry, the 9th and the IIth. In Khartoum the E g yptian Troops consisted of one
Infantry Battalion, one Battalion of the
\iI/ orks Department or Engineers, the Signalling School, the Musketry School, the
Suppli es Department, the tfedical Department, the Veterinary Department and the
Stores and Ordnance Department.
In Khartoum North were stationed the
E g yptian Artillery and one E g yptian Infantr y battalion. No bridge then existed
bet\\-een Khartoum and Omdurman, but the
bridg e between Khartoum North and Khartoum had b een completed about 13 y ears
previously.
The Explosion.-On the 20th November,
I 9 24, Major General Sir Lee Stack, K.B.E.,
C. M. G., Governor General of the Sudan and
Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, while motoring throug h Cairo, was attacked by a party
of E g yptians, severely wounded, and died
the next da y . Captain P. K. Campbell,

Returned to unit.

408494
6343 744
319327

Tpr. G. ]. Crofts, 5th R.I. Dragoon

Guards, 28/ 6/ 38.
Pte. W. Stratford, Q .O . Royal W est
Kent Regt., 29/ 6/ 38 .
Tpr. N . A. Hicks, 12th R. Lancers,
4/ 8/ 38.

Discharges.

14 17205
72 48831
77 33164
1409080
77 33256
1034835
3759997
538853
7657558
77 33011

S/ Sgt. D . H. E. G . Crichton, 15/ 5/ 38.

Sergt. R. ]. Statham , 15 / 5/ 38 .
S/ Sgt. A. Oliver, 31 / 5/ 38.
Sergt. E. ]. Knapp, 31 / 5/ 38 .
S.Q.M.S. G. Garrett, 6/ 6/ 38 .
S/ Sgt. H. H. Pope, 11 / 6 / 38.
S.Q.M.S . W. 1. Hunter, 30 / 6/ 38.
S/ Sgt. e. G. A. Busby, 3/ 7/ 38.
S.Q.M.S. H . H. Rowland , 8/7/ 38.
S.S.M. F. Brierley, 11 / 7/ 38.

Change of Name.
32'44 318 Corporal B. McDaid. Assumed his true
name of Bernard McDADE by
Statutory D eclaration at Aldershot,
11 / 6/ 38.

314

THE PALACE AND GROU:-<DS, KHARTOUM,

31 5

1924.

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

A.D.C., was at the sa me time slig htly

wounded.
The- murder of General Stack caused a
grea t sensation throug h out the \\"hole of th e
Sudan, especially an10ngst the Egyptian
Troops and Egyptians employed on the
Staffs of the Egyptian Arm) and the Sudan
Government.
Colonel H. J. Huddleston, C.M.G.,
D.S. O ., who vvas Adjutant General of th e
Egyptian Army, an C fficer who had seen a
g reat deal of service throug hout the Sudan,
assumed command and Sir vVasey Sterry,
the Lega l Secretary t o th e Sudan Government, was appointed acting Go \" ernor
General of the S udan.

CORPS

THE

JOURNAL

being apparentl;, th eir ob jective . They

\Y?l1ld thus ha ve been able to join hands
\nth the Egyptian Artillery in Kh8.rtoum
North. What mig ht then have happened ,
one can only conjecture, as Kh artoum
\yould have then been cut off. However
as darkness fell the mutineers found theD1~
selves . unab le to proceed fnrth e'r than the
EgyptIan ~rmy l\,Iilitary Hospital grounds]
beyond \\"hIch further progress \\'as barred
by the Argyll and S utherland Hig hlanders
under the command of Major J. R. Coupel:.
The Hospital and its .e xtensive g rounds
and" outbuildings \\"as ;QCCll pied by the
nmtmeers, the Hospitalitself being immediately raid ed and all those on duty murdered.

THE BRJTISH fORT, KHARTOUM, IN

1924"

A .great deal of secret plottl'nQ' aIld

Amo ngst those on duty, who lost their lives
plan1111lg h~d been taking place in the
\\"ere Major R. C. Carlyle and Sergeant
Sudan, .chIefly amongst the Egyptian
S her well of the R .A.M.C. and three Syrian
O.ffic~rs III the Khartoum and Omdurman
Doctors.
Sergeant Perkins, also of the
d.Istncts. Apparently tl>! @o"time was thou o"ht
R.A.M.C., Vias slightly v\lOunded, but
npe to put the British Garrison to tIle S '\\' Ob1-d
manage d t 0 escape.
1aughter all Europeans and seize the SudaI~
sfor
Egypt.
' TI~e 0 ffi cers' Mess of the Egyptian Army
Th
1\Iechcal Corps,
bordering on Sirdar
is came to a head, apparently premaAvenue, became their centre. Here in the
turely,
on 28th November, 1924. DurinQ"
. 1 g rounds and surroundin
'
f
~ the
l'1\I'I't
1 I ary H osplta
<T
ab terno.on
the
IIth
Sudanese,
commanded
"H
1
"
C
1
b
tl
E
oos les .,,,or , ompounc s, they entrenched
y l~Ir gyp tian Officers, quietly crossed
themselves ;" ~ll1d took full advantao"e of the
~e _ nver fr~m Orndur111~n to Khartoum.
lllud ' w"aUs and buildings for co,:er. The
eIe they lmked up WIth the Musketry
Leicestershire Regiment by this time had
Schoo~,. INhere they were able to obtain large
taken command of the Bridge, prepared for
qUa1l~ltIes of ammunition as well as several
any move from the Egyptian Artillery and
mach111e g uns.
They continued their
the Infantry Bqttalion in Khartoum North .
march,. quite orderly, alOlW
Sirdar
Avel1uO
'
,
TI
. '1 Ian
'
~
. . . . le CIVl
population, althouQ"h hiQ"h tenth e B 1'1 d ge leadin g over to Khartoum N-I JO t-t 11
I
d
~ knew
S10 11 la ' been in th e air for some~ time,
>..J

3 16

R OY AL

ARMY

nothing of \,v ha t was taking place . That

night, my ",.rife and I had arranged to go out
for a game of bridge and supper . We were
just going off from. the Sudan Clu~, when
Captain D . H. AdaIr of the Greys, m command of the Egyptian Army Mounted Infantry stationed at Khor Shal11bat, about 3
miles North of Khartoum North, borrowed
my cycle to proceed to the Palace, so n~y
wife went off on her own . Upon Captam
Adair's return in about half an 'h our, I
cycled off to join her. About this time ,
Colonel H. J . Huddleston had called upon
the mutineers to surrender, otherwise the
British Troops would open fire. No satisfaction was forthcoming, so the Argyll and
Sutherland Hig hlanders opened fire . I was
just a few yards from the rear of the mutineers when the first fusillade burst forth.
Not' knowing what was happening , but
g uessing a lot, I immediately dodged to the
side, struck up a side street and on to my
destination. This house, where my wife
and I now were, was quite close to the
Military Hospital g round s and became a
place of refuge for a few British families,
all doors and windows being barred and
s huttered. Heavy and steady firin g continued throug hout the whole night. It was
a nig ht of terror and anxiety to many .
Daylight found the mutineers scattered 1P
and around the Military Hospital g rounds
and the surrounding compounds.
The
Officers' Mess was utilised as an impromptu
fort. The compound gave excellent natural
cover and defence for the mutineers, who
were gradually surrounded and cut off.
Roundin g them up was both a nasty and
dangerous task, one Captain of the
Leicestershires being mortally wounded
while in charge of one party scrambling
over the mud \ivall, which is built round all
chvellings in the Sudan . The order Vi/as, as
fa r as possible. to try and not destroy any
p roperty .
At the first streak of daylight I was outside and found a squad of Argyll and
S utherland Hig hlanders in action close by .
My wife returned to the house but I proceeded to get back to the Sudan Club. On
my way I was hailed by a Lieutenant of the
Royal Garrison Artillery in charge of a
Howitzer, looking for a suitable place from
which he could shell the Medical Officers'
Mess, if necessa ry. I had spent many years
1n Khartoum and had an excellent know-

PAY

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ledge of the place, and was soon able to put

him on to a good site.
Upon reaching the Sutlan Club, I found
the Mounted Infantry (Arab Company)
under the command of Captain Adair in
occupation, all the "Boys" having fled.
Here the Fathers of the Austrian Catholic
Mission and the Mission boys had taken refu ge . I gave them a sufficient quantity of
blankets, pillows, etc., to carry on with and
showed them where water, lavatory acco11,l~
modation and so on could be found. Finding I could serve no good purpose by remaining there, I go t my razor, some provisions (including a bottle of whisky) and
proceeded on foot back to rejoin my wife
and the others "vith the full news of the
situation. Upon getting there I found th.e
house locked and shuttered. Tile Revd.
Mr. Harper of the Cathedral had been busy
and had all British families removed to the
Palace and the Gordon College for safety.
I then trekked off to the Gordon College, the
nearest place of refuge, but drew a blank .
L eaving my provisions and the bottle of
whisky with the British g uard there, I set
off on my sandy trail to the Palace. Fighting barred the use of main roads and the
sandy bye roads and paths only could be
made use of. Meeting one of the g uards as
I was nearing the Palace g rounds, I "vas
shocked to hear that I had been reported
killed, and I was told to report myself at
once to Major Buish, R.E. After satisfying myself that my wife was in the Palace,
I saw Major Huish, who asked me to proceed "vith an armoured car and obtain any
eatables I could lay my hands on, sign for
same, and take them to the Palace to feed
the British civil community. All shops
were closed and barricaded, and the
"Suk", or native market, in a proper uproar. Being well-known to the native and
Greek contractors and knowing where to
find them, I soon go t a load of stuff, meat,
hams, bread, vegetables, etc., to carry on
with until special arrangements could be
made.
Th e fighting around the Military Hospital Grounds continued all day and gradually those in the scattered g roups wen:
round ed up, captured or shot. It ,ivas found,
h owever , that those in and around the
Officer s' Mess could not be dealt with w ithout destroying the buildings and so, on the
second day, the R.G .A. had to shell the

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position, the building being demolished and

a large number of mutineers killed. It \\"as
many \\"eeks before the stench subsided.
The third day saw th e end and the survivors
surrendered.
The Egyptian
Artillery,
a
powerful
force
in
themselves ,
sUld the Infantry
Ba ttalion
in
Khartoum
North, \yhatever
the scheme may
have been, neve r
fired a shot nor
moved a man
beyond
the
limits
allovved .~
by a sing le line
of the LeicesterR.A.M,C. OFFICERS ' MESS
shires
around
their
compounds. Had the Egyptian Artillery seized
their opportunity, the conflagra tion once
started mig ht have blazed across the whole
of the Sudan q.nd the 'w hole country been
converted into a huge shambles. It proved,
however, a damp squib, ovving to the lack
of "guts", of the E gyptian Arti 11ery .
No punishment was meted out to the survivors of the rank and file of the rrth
Sudanese;, but the Officers were tried by
Court Martial, condemned to death and
shot. The rrth Sudanese had been recruited
'from the Nuba Mountain Province at the
conclusion of a successful expedition in
I917-I 8 against the Nyam Myima tribes .
Having taken part in this Expedition, I
knew the excellent fig htin g qualities of this
tribe and was therefore not s urprised at the
determined resistance put up by them
against the British Troops, before finally
being forced to surrender, Too much praise
cannot be extended to the British Troops for
their patience and endurance during this
anxious period of three days under a blazing sun and through the nig ht under the
g lare of the searchlight from the Fort. The
casualties amongst the British Troops, considering their extremely dan g erous operations, were not heavy.

Palace and the Gordon College, were now

allowed to return to their own houses
\\-hich we re found untouched, no lootin orioting having been allowed. This enha~ces
the grea t \\-ork
carried out by
th e
British
Troops, only one
building ha vin g
been destroyed
and a few walls
knocked over.

0;

The ~esult.
The Government
at home now
,,-oke .. up ) for
s \\'ift action was
taken.
The
Sudan,
. then
little
bothered
about,,- -became
AFTER THE MUTINY,
of
importance '
and C rders ,,'ere
issued that all Egyptian Troops had to be
withdra\\'n from the S udan . The ultim atUli1
was accepted by the Egyptian Government
and a special courier arrived by air from
Cairo bearing the command and ordering all
concerned to obey same. A few days elapsed
before the last of the Egyptian Troops
left.

The Sudan had once more passed another

milestone in its va ried and troublesome history. The Air Force and Tank Corps
appeared upon the scene, thus strengthening the British Garrison. Colonel H. R.
Headlam, C.M.G., D.S .O. , arrived and took
over the appointment of Brigade Commander. Colonel H. ]. H uddleston was
promoted to the rank of Major General and
assumed command of all Troops in the
Sudan. The Sudan Defence Force ca,m e
iuto being and Major General H . ].
H uddleston became the first "Kaid el
Amm". Several Officers, N.C.O.s and men
were mentioned in London Dispatches and
received decorations, amongst which may be
mentioned Major ]. R. Couper, Argyll and
S utherland Hig hlanders-D .S.O., and the
Re vd. 1\/[1'. Harper, Church of EnglandO .B.E . Khartoum, being' now a station for
the Royal Army Pay Corps, is well-known
to many of our readers. In those days, the
onl y members of our Corps who saw the
(Continued on page 324.)

The civilian British community, who, as

already stated had taken refuge in the
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Contract Bridge
HIS time last year, the Courtenay Losing Count
was recommended in our Bridge article on the
- grounds that it gave a very accurate valuation of
t he band. It has been found, however to have an
indirect dis.advantage: some players dIslike having
thelf attentlOn focussed en their losers by counting
them, and complain that their play suffers from the
dismal outlook thus induced .

The result of this absurd objection has been very

fortunate, for a winning count system has now been
invented which is just as accurate and far simpler.
It puts the approach bidding meth eds which all the
top-notch players use, within the easy grasp of anyone who IS keen enough on good Bridge to put in
half a.n hour <;>n picking it up ; and even those already
acqualOted With approach bidding will find it interesting, fer it makes the principles on which they
are accustomed to do their calling plain and clear. It
is practicall" the same as Culbertson but the rules
'
are vastly less complicated.
The winning Count is described in some detail in
a P?stscr.ipt at the end of this article, but the illustratlOn g lv.en h.ere, which can be followed easily without !list digesting the postscript, will show with what
effiCiency the system werks both in attack and in defence. Readers must please put themselves in the
place. of each player whose turn it is to bid and must
Imag Ine that they have seen only their own cards and
have no more knowledge of the other three hands than
could have been gained from hearing the calling.
Our illustration is from the final of the Pachabo
Cup in which it was played at a number of tables with
widely differing results. We will try to follow in
turn the thoughts of four imaginary Winning Count
p layers at one of the tables.
+K .x.x.x
Q K.].x
O lO
-ItQ.10.9.x.x
y
~x

\) lO.x.x.x
O A .K.x .x.x
-Itx.x.x

+ lO.x.x
Q A.Q .9 .x.x.x
].x.x.x
.. none

+A .Q.].9 .x
Q none
O Q .x.x
4tA.K.].x.x
YZ vulnerable. Deal er Z .
Z 's hand with th e winning cou nt w inners at a
Spade call underlined :
+ ~.Q,].~.~
Q none
O Q.x.x
-ItA.K.].x.x.
Th e two Queen s are co unted as winners, eacl:;- being
guarded and balanced by an Ace, and th e fe urth and
fifth tru~ps are also counted , making 7 w inners in
all. With 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 winners a " One" call is
m~d ~; and with two strong fi ve-card su its, the seni or
SUI t IS called first.
Z bids " One Spade".

3 20

A s hand:
+ x
Q 1O.x.x.x
0 A.K.x.x .x
~x.x.x.
Can he bid " One Diamond"? NO: - He has onl y 4
W:Inn~rs and the requlfements to open the bidding for
hiS SIde are 5.
A passes.
Y's hand with the win ners 10 support of hi s partner's Spade call underlined:
+K. x.x:x
Q~.].x
0 lO,_,_
-ItQ.10.9.x.x.
For raIsIng partner's sui t, long suits are not co unted
but ruffs 10 short suits are. Y ce unts two ruffs i~
Diamo nds and he also adds one w inner for trump
cont~ol when he holds ].x.x.x or better. Th at makes
5 WInners and Z has shown at least 5, total 10, i.e.,
Four Spages. He can afford _to call game right off .
But that IS ne t approach. biddIng except as a sign off
meanIng that hiS hand IS no use for anything but a
bare ga me 10 Spades. H e can call " Three Spades"
of course, for that call is fo rcing to ga me and - sh ow~
a stronger hand than does a ju~p to game, but it is
preferable to show hiS own SUit a t a minimum take
out, fe r that call i.s f o~cing for one round, and so he
Will get another bid With which to show the ga me in
Spades.
Y's .h and with the winners in an orig inal Club call
underlIned :
+~.x .x . x
Q K.].x
0 10
-ItQ.10.9.x.x.
This .time, he counts his fourth and fifth t~-;;ps,
not hiS ruffs, _because he IS announcing a suit of his
own, not raising partner's. H e has therefore 4 winners . The requirements for a mini~um suit take out
at a " Two" le".'el are 4 winners, plus. The Queen of
trumps~ not beIng. bal anced by an Ace, does not count
as a WInner, but It constitutes a plus.
So Y bids " Two Clubs" .
Next comes B.
B's hand with the winners underlined for a H eart
call :
+ lO .x.x
Q ~.Q.9 .~.~1'.
0 ].x.x.x
none,
~ has" 5 winners. If. he bids, he has to do so at the
Two level, contractIng for 8 tncks and having only
S. He faces a penaltv of 3 down, doubled . When
not vu lnerable, this is well worth while to put Lip a
a fight against a probable game call.
So B bids " Two Hearts".
Now Z again.
Z 's hand in support of his par tner's Club call is
tremer.dous:
+~.g .].x.x
Q ~o~
O Q .x.x
tltA .K.J. x.x.
Co unting th e three ruffs in Hearts, he has 8" ';in ners,
and trump control makes it up to 9; and the 4 shown
by Y bring it to 13, a grand slam exp ectation . Before
ca llIng slams, however, it is advisabl e to investigate
cont rols. By overcaIlIng the opponent' s suit of Hearts
he can , in a single bid , tell hi s partner that he has th ~
control of th e Heart suit, that he is making a slam
s uggesti on and that he accepts the Club suit as trumps.
Remember, he does not know the location of +K .
Z calls " Three Hearts".
Next we come to A again.
A's hand in support of his partner's H ea rt call is
worth 4 winners: 0 A.IS.. and two ruffs in Spades.

ARMY PAY

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JOURNAL

winners are counted, and there must be at least 7

honour cards with 5, or else 6 H .C. winners.
Responses to bids of " One" of a suit.
(1) Pass with less than I! winners. (5 + I! = 6!
onbT_ but as partner may have more than the minimum,
a shaded " One No-Trump" may be called to keep the
bidding open on about 1-}.)
(2) With I! to 3 win ners, " One No-Trump" when
yo u cannot raise partner's suit through lack of trump
support and cannot make a suit-take-out. (5 + 3 = 8,
and unl ess partner can bid again in spite of your sign
off, there is ne game.)
( 3) Raise the opening bid to "Two" with neutral
trump support (Qxx or xxxx) on 2-} winners . This
is a shaded raise (5+2i =7 t) and should only be
made to kee p the bidding open . If opponent has intervened, pass on less than 3 winners .
( 4) A raise of mere than one requires strong trum p
support (Jxxx or XXJ;xx) and is forcing to game.
(5) T ake out into your own suit at a level of " One"
w ith 3 winners. but if yo ur suit is a junior one and
yo u have to take eut at a " Two" level , yo u require
4 + winners.
(6) Call " Two No-Trumps" w ith 4+ H .C. winners
and a balanced hand including at least Jx or xxx of
partner' s suit.
( 7) Jump take out with 6 winners , two primary
controls (Aces or voids) and eith er strong trump support or a strong suit of yo ur own .
(5) is forcing for one round ; (6) is forcing to game ;
( 7) is a slam invi tation and forcing to game of course.
Th e above outline is sufficient te enable anyone to
use the \l{f inning Count. Those who find they like it
are advised to get the book: " The Standardised Code
of Co ntrac t Bridge", price 5/ -. They will soon get
back the cost by enhanced winnings.
Problem I.
(Practical. Tim e allowed: One minute.)
Pick out Z 's hand and lay do\vn dumm y's and the
first trick. Z is play ing a contract of " Four SDades" .
Th en start stop watch and read on.

With B's sh ewi ng of 5, A is entitled to reckon 9

trick s in a Heart call. With a slam in Clubs coming
up against him, A can afford to make a sacrifice bid
of as much as "Six Hearts" and face a penalty of three
down , doubled. \Xlith this line of retreat open . to
him he can easily afford to make a lead-mdlcatlOg
call ' which may prove invaluable in the defence play
of the hand s and cannot deceive his partner beca use
A passed on the first round of the bidding.
A calls " Four Diamonds" Now Y again.
Y has no first rou nd control to show his partner ,
but he can safely show his
by calling SDades. If
he call ed " Four Spades", it might be mi staken for a
sign off and a sig nal to his partner to ste p at a game
call , whereas his sing leton Diamond makes the small
slam look like a certainty . H e sh ould call "Six
Spades" and have done with it.
Y call s " Six Spades".
B, of course, doubles to tell hi s partner th at he is
void of Clubs. He thinks that A after making the 0 A
that he has sh ewn in the bidding, ought to tumDl e to
it tbat B must have doubled on a void in Clubs.
In the actual tournament, at most of the tables the
YZ's call ed " Six Clubs" , whereupon the AB's call ed
" Six H earts" and the YZ's then went to " Six Spades" .
One London team played the YZ cards in " Six Spades"
doubl ed and redoubled . The opposing A, after
making his 0 K and seeing that Dummy had no mc-re,
in stead of trying for a ruff in Clubs, led a trump. The
Contract was then a gift, but incredible as it may
seem wi th such very fine players, Z messed it up
through carelessness.
Observe that o ur wi nning-count A, being abl e to
co un t 9 wi nners in Hearts between himself and his
partner, can afford to make a sacrifice bid of "Seven
H earts" to save a Small slam in Spades again st him.
and would have done so but for B' s double. The
Yorkshire AB did thi s in the tourn ament and were
onl y one down I

By Lt.-Col. ]. GROSE (late R.A .).

ROYAL

The Courtenay Winning Count.

+ Q.10.6.4
Q5
O A .Q .J
"'1 0.9.7. 5.3

Count as w inners :
(1) Each Ace, each King (bar singletons) and each
guarded Quee n that is either balanced by an Ace (in
any suit) or is in sequence (KQJ or OJ10) , but an
Ace can only balance one Queen. These are ca ll ed
High Card (H.C.) winners.
(2a) a pl ayer first calling a suit counts each trump
more than 3 except in a hand of 4.3.3.3 distribution.
(2b) A respo nder raising his partner's suit counts
ruffs: one fo r eacb card ur.der three in short suits ,
provided that th ere are enough trumDS available. Each
trum p but one is taken to be availabl e for ruffing.
(3) One winner is added for ce ntr::: 1 when holdi ng
three Aces or two AK' s not balancing Qu eens.
( 4) One winner is added for trump control when
raising partner's suit with strong trump support
(Jxx x er xxxxx).
Requirements for an opening bid of " One" :
(1) At least 5 w inners incJ uding 2-} defensive tri cks.
(2) A safe reply to any suit-take-eu t by par tner.
N.B.- a suit-take-ou t by partner is forcing fer one
ro und. That is the essence of a pp roach bidding as it
enables the bidding to be kept low w ith out the risk
of Its stopping prematurel),.
For an e pen ing bid of " One No-Trump ", only H.C.

LJ
+K.T.5.3
Q Q. J.4.3
07 .6
.A.K. 4

Tri ck

Dumm y
B
Z
Q5
Q8
Q3
Then (time).
A leads \) 6. Should Dummy trump , o r let it run so
as to make Z' s Q Q and Q J good after B has made
QK)
1.

A
QA

Problem

n.

H ow should Z play the rest of the hand , ass uming

that B plays \) 2 to trick 2 )
(C Ol1li1l1l d 0 11 page 32 4.)

:1 21

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a nd Hung jao Ae rodrom e was ag ain bombed

by the J apan ese .
August 16th.
J apanese a n~ Chin ese bom bed each otl~er~ '
a reas in Ch apel, Y an g tzepoo and H ong t e\\ .
Ma n y civilian casualties occurred and much;
material damag e \\"as d on e.
'"
Before the fi g hting in thi s area was.;;tit;
fini sh it w as t o pr esent an ap pea rance wfnchcan only be illu strat ed by th e ph ot~ b el ow
and \\hich r eminded us of Yp r es dSl:f1n g the
G rea t War.
-'.

WAR IN SHANGHAI
PART 11
By Captain F. \v. C. THOMA S .
( Contiltlled from page 269)
in h orn e papers and m ay be of interest to
In the second a nd third portion s of th e
t h ose reading the Corps journ a l.
descrip tion of life during th e "Shang hai
The British and oth er ga rrison s we re full y
Incident" it is intended to d ea l with events
m obilized and the n orm al eq uipment for
lea din g u p to and culminatin g in the rem embers of the Corps throug h out th e day
tirem ent of the Chinese forces fr om Shan g is sh own by the accom pa n y ing snapshot of
h ai and its en viron s.
the S ha ng h ai detachm ent. It \\ill be n oted
The terri ble eventsi )f A ug ust 14th left all
th at the steel helmets were ge nerally too
here in a ra ther ap preh en sive condition ,
sm all but at tim es they g ave a feeling of
everyone thi nking and saym g "Wh at
sec urity.
next".
O n this day (A ug ust 15th ) a cmfe,, \\"as
Business \\" as
imposed in order
practically su:,assist
th e
to
pende d ,
sh op
poli ce in k eeping
fr onts
,\"ere
ord er. Th e h ours
boa rd ed u p and
\,"ere fr om 10
t h e streets ,,"er e
p . 111 . t o :5 a . III .
t h ronged
\"\" ith
L ater
as
the
sig htseers
and
em erg ency lesrefugees . These
sen ed , the cnrsam e
r efugees
few was r elaxed
ch ose an y p osuntil 11.0\\.( 1938 )
sible corner or
it is from 12. 30
place in whi ch
a .111 . t o :5 a.111.
to establish a
only.
tempor ary h om e .
This
c urfew
It was wonder\\"as strictl y enful t o not e h ow
fo r ced and exthe
C hjl~l ese
ception s
were
S H ANG H AI DET ACHM ENT , R.A .P. C.
refug ees ,,ould
only
a 1l0l\"ed
camp out in doorways, emp ty g a rages, a nd
\\h en th e person con ce rn ed \\as on duty an d
held a special p ass .
even on the pavem ents of side streets.
"with in an incredi b ly sh ort tim e a fir e v\lo uld
Ma n y ni g ht r evellers at . fir st did n ot
be ma de , cooking wo ul d be in p r ogress,
ta k e th e cu rie\\ se ri ou sly and m a ny \ery
child r en attended t o an d SOl1l e sort of roof
indig n an t ~ oul s h ad th eir first experi en ce of
m ade to g ive them sh elter a t ni g ht . Of
a police sta ti on cell in these days, since ,
course it was necessary to " m ove on" m an y
,,"hen detect ed in the streets after 10 p. m .
of these people but a g r eat num ber remained
off end ers \\"ere detained in n ea rby police
u ndistu rbed in their temporar y q uarters
sta tion s un ti1 11l0rni ng. A t fir st the police
d uring the peri od of em ergen cy .
being sy mpa th etic, g ave r ~ fresh111 e nt s t o
On e family , I specia lly noted , h ad
the intern ees but when being detained fo r
installed themselves in a la rge covered
cu rfew infraction was in da nger of being
fu rniture va n. Ther e th ey slept, cook ed
r eg a rd ed by som e as rather " smart" a nd an
and li ved and r eally appea red ve ry comfortexcu se fo r fr ee entertainm ent at police exab le , p r ob ably m ore so than in their n orm al
pense , this "vas discontinu ed!
surroundings.
This d ay m a rked th e C0111mencement of a
I am afraid I am rather dig ressing fr om
daily bo mbardment of Chin ese position s by
t h e actu al war events but these small inciJ apa n ese wa rships in the Whangpoo. ~a n
dents ~U1d item s were n ot g en era lly report ed
k ing t oo had its -first ae ri al bombardment
2
3 2

R O Y~-\'L

<>

S ince m atters look ed ver y seri.ous, th e

Court of Con snls (th e su prem e ru11l1 g bod y
fo r fo reign ers h ere) d ecided to evacuate as
ma n y fo~e i g ll\\o J11 en , children an d all m en
,yho co uld be spared to H on g K on g or
M anil a .
These evac nati ons dem and ed a g reat deal
of \\ork and p repa ration and th e th ank.s of
the ,,"b ole communit y we re deservedl y g Iven
to t hose respo nsible.
.
O n e of th e p rinci ple centres fo r. a rra ll g 1l1g
fo r evacu ati on s \\as th e Sh ang haI Club and
m embers h ad the unu sual experien ce of
seein g its : reading room, entran ce h all and
ba r (th e lar oest in the \\orId! ) ~hr o n ge d b'y
would-be refu gees and offi CIals.
It IS
rum oured th at tbe ba r-boys p rodu ced h ot

32 3

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,JOU R NAL

milk and p repared even baby ' s bottles with

th e sam e n onchalance as th ey did a whisky
and soda !! W onderful b oys th ese.
The British r efugees left m ostly on the
R ajp utana and E mpress of Asia and were
con veyed in tugs, under n ava l escort, to
the m outh of the Whan gpoo wher e these
sh ips were lying.
R einforcem ents arri ved on the 18th and
con sisted of the R oy al U lster R.ifles ,
Am eri can Ma rines and French l\IIann es.
These took over their alloted duties on the
pe rirn et er imm e dia~ e ly.
.
F oreio n n aval shIps also a rnyed and con" ."Ed sa1" ,
sisted of'" th e V.S.S. " A ug usta,
"Parrott" and "Isobe1", (A dnllral Yarn ell' s ship). The last of th~ C. .A .C .
planes (a Chinese civilia n air ll1l e~ left for
an inlan d destination. Further Chl1l ese and
foreig n refu gees left S h an g h ai .
R eo"ardin o the Chinese refugees, as m any
\\ ere "'a rri vi;g in S hanghai at this. time fr01:n
outlying districts as we re dep artmg . . EVIdently conceptions of safety dIffered
g reatl y !
August 19th.
.
..
This dat e r eally con stltuted the beg.111nin o" of J apa nese attem pts to eff ect a landl1lg
in t11e vVoosung A rea and on th e banks of
t h e \ iVhangpoo . By this time th ere were. at
least 10 J apa nese transports t ?gether WIth
store and supp ly ships ly ing off the Whang poo and about t we nty -ei g~t J apanese ~ un
boats and d estroyers were 111 th e Whan g p oo
itself.
L h
The J apanese plan \\ as t o land a t m 0
just West of W oosung on th e ~a nks .of ~he
Ya ng tse River and to rep eat then en.clrclmg
movem ent which was so successful 111 193 2
Very unexpectedly , tl?-e C hin~se t:oops
put. n p a m arvellous reSIst ance m . s~Ite of
h av in O" n o bio O"uns or m an y A ntl-aucraft
\\ eap;n s and i t ~vas n ot until "~ugust 24th,
aft er receiving considerable 1:e1l1forc.eJ:1ent,
that the J apanese succeeded 111 obtammg a
p reca ri ons foo ting in part of Vi oosun g and
the left bank of th e Whan gpoo .. .
Abo ut this tim e the a utho n~l es .of th e
settlemen t ,,ere ex ercised in then m111ds as
to the di sposal of the pl:ison ers in Ward
R oad Jail, which st.ood 111 th e war ar ea.
After som e n eg oti ations, the J ap~ne se p ermitted a few of th e sh ort t erm p n son ers t.o
be evacuated and released outsid e t;h e penm eter but for the most pa rt , p n soners,
\\"aIders and offi cials of th e pn son were

THE

I~ OY A L

AR VIY

PAY

C ORPS

] OU IU,A L
..

compell ed to remain a t their p osts . The

Pri so~l " 'as hit by shellfire on numerous
occasIOns and the devo ti on to duty sho\\T1
by all \,v as v e~y much app recia ted for it \\'as
a dange rous Job and th e p rison ers n eed ed
ca reful h andhn g t o p revent a panic.
Ge n ~ ra lly the situ ation \\'as " hotting u p " .
Even m the South po rti on of th e S ettlement. a nd Frend~ Concession on e \\'as never
c~rta111 from which directi on stray bullets ,
fla g ments of shells a nd blind shells " 'ould
~a ~l. Man y p erson s lost their lives in th e
stl e:ts. ~r~g l1lellt s fell i~l British M ilitary
H eaJqy al tel s and th e va n ou s ca m ps. This
n ecess lt ~ t e d the u se of the steel h elm ets
shown III th e photo of the d etachm ent.
I purpo.se ly ha ve left th e Sin cere Store
trag edy td1 the end of this pa rt 6f m y
n a rrati ve.
. On 23 rd .A u.g ust at 1. 30 p .m . occurred a
d isaster bnng ll1 g dea th and mutila tion to
800 n<;m -combatants at S h ang hai' s busiest
shoppll1g centr.e \\" h en a bom b or shell it is
t~o t knO\:'n \\'hlch, tore its way throu gh th e
~ld e of S 1l1 c er~ Departm ent St ore to e~p l od e
111 . th e Na nkll1 g R oad "-reekin g even the
, ,vm g On S tore on th e opposite side of th e

---------

_- - -

wounded at 500. On e fo rei g n er \\'as killed

and an other severely injured,.
.In th e ne x t and final att1~ie I \\"ili deal
\nth the bombin g of th e Pres'ic1ent H oover
events of tl:e fi g hting round 'S hang hai an d
the casualti es to Briti sh troops near J essfi eld Park.
(To be conc,.hrded.)
CONTRACT BRIDGE.

( Contin7led ft'o m page 32 1.)

<9

Solution s.

tncks. a nd th e Ace of trumps w ill ma ke the third .

H e must make a ll the res t a nd if 0 K is with B he is
done fo r.
'
Bu t if h e ru ffs , he h ~s several chances of makin g the
con trac t even If th e D ta mo nd fin esse f a il s.
Problem 11.

"X

to put
Z ~fter tr umping Trick 2, Dummy leads
In With ,4 K , and then Z lead s \) J w hich Dumm y
tr umps. B s \) K may fa ll as hi S \) 8 on trick 1 looked
a co meo n card fro m \) K .8 .x If th e \) K fa ll s
Du m m ~ leads
and. the contrac t is a lm os t s a f~
even WIth the OK In B s har-d .
Z ' If 2AK d ces nOl fa ll , Du mmy lead s ano th er Club to
.and then IS g l\'en one more ruff in H ea rts
s ~
afte r w hich he leads +Q. Pl aying in this way ' Z
~f\~~/~~ck defea ted by a combina ti on of severa l ni~ces

+9 .

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

H. Mo\ver (late S .Q.M.S ., N o . 326) died

at Brig hton on 9th June, 1938, at the ag e of
76 yea rs. Th e deceased enlisted in '81 and
served over 9 years in the R oyal W est Kent
R eg t ., followed by 2 yea rs in the Military
Staff Clerks. Durin g the 21 years he spent
in the Cor ps he served in Egypt, receiving
the Kh edi ve S tar, Gibraltar and M alta. He
went to pen sion in May , 1914

Colon el Alley ne H ay n es , \\"h o died a t Jersey on 5th March, 1938 , was born in May ,
I 859 . H e began his- service in Aug u st, 1879 ,
w h en h e received his commi ssion as a
Lieut. in the 4th F oot, remaining with that
reg iment as Lieutenant and Capt ain until
18 9 6 , w hen he became a P ay master. From
19 04 until I9 17 he was a S taff P aymaster,
t h en becoming a Colon el and t em porary
Chief P ay mast er. During his ser vice h e rec eived the C JVI. G. and in 1919 h e retired.

Th e death occurred at E dinburg h on 13 th

June, 1938 , of W. S. S aunderson (late
S. Q .lVI.S. , No . 410) at the ag e of 69 . Enlisting at Dumfries in November, 1883 , the deceased served for nine years- with the Argyll
and Sll th erland Hig hlanders before transferring t o the A .P.C. Some (If his fifteen
y ears ' Corps service w as spent in China .
Hi s discharg e was in 1908 .

!'-

THE 1924 MUTINY IN KHARTOUM.

.j"

( Continu ed from page 3 18 .)

S uda n, vve~'e those seconded fo r se r vice with

t!le Egypti an Arm y. P erson ally , I ra tl1er
hk ed the SUd a n. was sta ti on ed there for a
l a ~'ge num ber of years, and w ould enJ OY a
tnp u p th e N il e oll ce ag a i11 .

'"

T h e death in L ond on on 23 rd June, 193 8 ,

of G. M . Stewart meant the loss of another
old member of the Corps-. The deceased
was at the dat e of his discharge in Aug u_st,
19 16 , a S .S .M . in the Corps, his number
being 282 . H e enli sted in 1888 and became
a member of the A.P.C. , as it was then, in
I893 . He saw service ahroad at the end of
the last century in the S traits Settlements
and in J amaica and became S .S .M . in 190 5.

.lE-

Lt.-Col. H enry Barrows H ouseh old died

'uddenly at H ove on Jul y 3rd , aged 67
E ducated a t Shrewsbury an d Sandhurst, h e
join ed the Dorset Reg t. in Octob er , I 900 ,
a nd ser ved with them in th e South African
War. In I 902 he trans-ferred to the Army
P ay Dept . and was a Field Cashier with the
E xp=dition a ry F orce in 1914 . In 1910 he
had 111 arri =d A il een E dith Nl oore, youn ger
s ur viving dau g hter of the lat e M ajor
Gen eral A rthur Moore, C. B . . V .C. , one of
t h e first h old ers of the V ictori a Cross. He
was t wice menti oned in d espatches and was
gazetted brevet Lt.-CoL in 1917 . Retiring
in October, 1924, h e was subsequ ently reemployed from 192 7 to 193 6 .

Of cO ll rs~ jf
ori g inall y led \) A fro m six H earts
to tfh e AK , Z w d I ha ve been tra~ Ded by th at eccen tr ic
per o rma nce I
.

324

ARMY

Lt .-Col. A lber t Go rdon Inglis died at F a1m outh on 25th Fehru ary, 193 8 , at th e age of
75. Deceased joined th e R oyal Mun ster
F u siliers in May of '82 and t \\o months
later transferred to the East L a ncs R g t . H e
\;"Ias mad e Captain in 1891 and t ra n sferred
to the A rm y Pay Dept. in Ma rch, 1893. H e
b ecame a S t aff Pay master in 1901 and a Lt.Col. fi ve yea rs later, retiring eventu all y 111
19 19 .

Problem I.

and m aking a sh ambl es of the \\'h o1e

Immedia te area .
Coming as it did so soon aft er the Pal ace
H ot el a nd {l-vellu e Ed \\'arc! VII ca la mities,
t~ e h appenlll g cast a 0'100111 over th e entire
city and furth e r pa raly zt:d b usill ess. Th e
scene of the tragedy \\'as alm ost indescrib able. and th e task of clea rin g the a rea of
d eb n s and frag ments of bodies \\'as en ou o' h
to .ap pa l th e most strong ner ve'cl. Th e F~'e
Bngad e a nd Boy Sconts ag a in did wond erful
\Vork and had the streets cleared up \.\" ithin
an he m of th e trag ed y.
D ea ths \\'ere numbered at 300 and

ROYAL

OBITUARY

.If Z lets th e H ear! [Lin, he w ill have lest two

~ tr ee t

THE

C . A . B. vVi1kinson (late S .Q .M. S ., N o.

7657I I 5) died at Perth on ~! 7th July, 193 8 ,
aged 59 years. The deceased enlisted at
Sh effi eld in 1897 and his- 25 years' service
\Vas divided between the Scottish Rifles and
our Cor ps. H e was in India for nearly two
years and another t'''iO yea rs were spent in
Mesopot amia. H e left the service in 19 22 .

The d eath occurred in Lond on on 28th

April , 1938 , of M . H . Do"vell (late S.S .M .,
A.P. C . , No . 12I ) . Deceased enlisted in
July , 18 77 , se rvin g in South A fri ca and receivin g the Zululand 18 79 med al and clasp.
In 1884 h e was- P ay mast er Sergea nt being
made Colou r Sgt. the following year and becoming a memb er of the Arm y P ay Corps in
1893 . In 1897 he was made S.S.NI. and became 1st Class S .S .M . in 1905. H e h ad the
I 9 I I Coron ation lVIeda1 an d in 1914 h e left
th e service.

Th e d eath occurred at Ilford on 23 rd

A ug u st, 1938, of H.. E. Nev.iman (lat e
S.Q.1\ LS. , No . 951) at th e age of 55 Commencin g his service in Au g ust 1899 he spent
n ea rly t \\"o years with the Sh ropshire Li o'ht
Ill fa ~ tr y before transferring t o our Corps.
H e " 'a s 19 years in the Corps an d h ad the
Brit; h V\Tar MedaL
325

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

P AY

Reg arding the late S.Q.1\1.S. VV. E. vVilson, our Jamaica representative \\Tites : "Vve' deeply reg ret t o announce the death
of S.Q .M.S. W. E. \ Vilson on the 2nd
!\ugust following an em ergency operation
In the Military Hospital. The suddenness
?f his death. was a great shock to everyone
111 the Garnson .
'Tug ' appeared to be his
u.sual cheery self on Sunday, but had t o go
sIck on Monday, \\'as operated on immediately, but failed to reco ver f ro111 the operation and died at 2. 30 a.m . on Tuesday, 2nd .
We learnt aftenvards that he must have su ffered &, reat pain for several days p rior to the
oper~tI.on but,. ~e yo nd referrin g joking ly
to hIS d yspepsIa , he made n o complaint.
"The funera l t ook place at 5 p.m. the
same day and, attended by the O.C . Troops
and many other officers, and all W.O.s and
N .C .O.s in the Garrison, was extremely im pressive. Captain Black well and S . M. ' Fen Ion were in charge of the arrangements and
S.Q.M.S.s Vallintine and Bro'i,vn, S / Sgt.
Forse and Sgt. Drummond assisted by fO L~r
W .O.s acted as bearers.
"The deceased was an extremely popu lar
fi o'ure throug hout the Garrison and was
keenly. interested in all forms of sport and
entertalllments, both Military and Civilian.
H e was a first class Cricket U mpire "vith a
profound knowledge of the g aJ1.1e-and how
It. should be p layed. I n addition, he acted
WIth
success as the on-'Jlay
in bo' Ca"). great
f
t
1
talll 0 the R.A.S.C . Tennis Team, which
recently wo n the Dalrymple Hay Tennis
Leag ue and his wise v,lords of ad vice had a
g reat bearing upon the success of the team .
"His work as President of the Garrison
Sergeants' Mess Entertainment Committee
was outstanding in its success. He could
always be relied upon to 'put over' a good
show. and "ye have many happy memories
o~ h IS g ema l fi g ure-'i,vith his inevitab le
cIga r-supervising the arrangements for a
Dance, \Vhist Drive or Smoker with hi s
usual calm and efficiency."
ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS
OLD COMRADES ' ASSOCIATION .
COMMITTEE NOTES.

. Th e General Committee h eld their quarterly meet

109 at 80, Pall Mall, S.W.l , on Wednesdav. 13th
July at 3.45 p.m. Th e Chair was occu pied byNIr. R.
Sh arp and the members Rresent were Messrs. E.
B~own e a nd J. Thurgood , S.S.M. s D. Syme and G.
Mltch ener a nd S.Q.M.S . H. Lent , with Col. H . Du esbury, Hon. Treas urer, Major G. Lid sto ne, Hon.
Secretary .and the Assistant H on. Secretary, S j Sgt.

326

CORPS

] ()URKAL

THE

R OYAL

A R MY

P AY

CORPS

J OURNAL

:~. Pond.

Major J. Feehally and Li eut,. P. G

Ihomp.;oll wen, absent on duty.
.
l. M,"utes ~ 'rhe Mlllu tes of the meeting h eld on
Wednesuay, 6t h April, 1938 were read and con.
fi rmed.
2. ~atters ariSing. Th ere were no matters arising
trom th6 prevIOUS meeting.
3. Death of Old Comrades. Th e H on. Sec. reported
wlth. regret the following deaths since the last
_meetll1g :r\o. 111. Mr. T . F. K empton late Sgt. at E xetel'
17.4.38.
'
,
",
112. nIl'. :M. H. Dow ell , late S.S.M .. at Plum
stead, 28 _4.38.
,
113. Mr.. H. Mower, late S.Q.M.S. . at
Bnghton, 9.6.38.
'
114. Mr; G. M. Stewa r t, late S.S.M .. at
l' alcon Wood , 23-. 6.38.
'
115. Lt.-Co lonel H. B . H ousehold at H ove.
~7.~.
'
4. Annual Meeting. Colonel Bilderbeck ftad writt en rega rdlllg. the manner in which his speEch
was recorded U,l the Corps Journal. Mr. Browne
ag reed to fUl'msh amendments in a future iss ue
of the Journal.
5. Annual Dinner .
It wa s proposed by S.S.M.
Mltchener a nd Seconded by S.Q.M.S. Lent that
th 6 next an nu al dmner be held a t Thames House
an d that the p rovision al booking be confirl11ed~
Major Lld stone proposed and Mr. Browne
sec.;o ~d.e d t hat th e Dinn er Accou nt be pass6d.
Carn ed.
6. Finance. St~te.ments showing t he financial state
of t he ASSOCiatIOn were circul ated to each member. Proposed by Major Lid stone a nd SEconded
by N[r. Browne t.hat t he account s be adopted and
approved . Carned.
It was proposed by lVIr. Browne a nd -seconded
by lV[r. Thurgood that the sum of 60 be trans,
ferred from t he General Fun cl to t he Charit.able
Fund and t ha t, 100 of 3 ~{, Co nversiOli Stock be
purchased. Carried.
.
,~
7. Gen ~ral.
The H o n. Secretary in1-:>rmecl t he
meetmg that he was pl'eSEllt at a discussion held
at t he ' i\Tar Offi c~ rega rdin g the new pattern of
the R .A.P.C. Tie. Arrangements were made
whereby the Hon .. S E~ret?ry would a rra nge for
the purchase a nd d istributIOn of t he ties throughout t he Corps.
~. ,
Th ere being no furth er busin ess. the n ext~ meeting
wa s alTanged for 5th October. 1938.
G. LIDSTONE, Major,
Honora ry Secrdary .

A Trip Through the British

West Indies
By S.Q.l\I.S. B . T OZER.

"

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

Harrow, 18th \ ug ust, 1938.

Dea l' Sir,
!t is regretted t hat owing to the breakdown of t he
IDICl'Ophone a nd to t~e mi s hearin g of t he speech
of Colonel Bllderb eck m proposin g th e toast of t h e
O.ld Comrades' Association , at t he a nnual dinner ,
Ins words :vere not fully nor accurately reported
and t he 01111SSIOns have ca used some of the poin ts of
the .speech to be mi ssed . StEPS have been taken to
aVOid any rec urrence of t his. nature in fut ure' but
w~ feel that i.t is due to Colon el -Bilclerbeck to ~ ake
th iS expl:matIOn.
Yo urs faithfully ,
E. J . W. BROWNE.
la t e H on.". SECY, B. A. P. C. , O.C.'A.

throug h the West Indies and I \Vas one vf

the elite. To make the trip more enjoyable, my cabin companions who \yere also
my table companions-American s, by the
\\'ay, father and son, the latter on vacation
from a \\'ell-kno\i\rn American University,
took l11e in as one of them and on all trips
ashore we made a' party toge th er .
After the first day, \\'h en th e d evotions
to the sea were over and I 11ad obtained m y
sea legs, the trip was most enjoyable . The
sea was at peace with the \\'orId, the weather
g lorious, the cuisine "par excellence" and
I did g rea t \york on "knife and fork dri ll ".
The C1'E:,\' seemed a happy family and did
their best t o make the trip an unforg ettable
one for m e.
Two days out from Bermuda the boat
arrives at the first of the British West Indian
I slands and proceeds leisurely from island
t o island doin g most of her travelling at
nig ht, thu s allowing pas?engers ample time
to go ashore and see the sights.
S t. Kitts was the first island and promptly
our patty made for the shore by a small
motor boat.
Here, there was nearly a
vacancy in the Seniority List as, after t\yO
and a half yea rs in Bel:muda, 'iNhere there is
no motor traffic, m y ' reaction to the first
motor car coming round a corner was amusing to my party but called for some invective fr om me to the coloured driver. After
sightseeing in the to wn, V,re thought a walk
to stretch our legs would do us good and
\ye made our way, passing through a great
area of su ga r cane, to one of the sugar factories. We were well received and given a
g uide to show us round. We were told
that all the machinery was being overhauled
read y for the crop, which was cut about the
middle of February each year. This factory
is supposed to be the most modern sugar
factory in the wo rld (this was quoted also
in other islands further south) and is owned
by a Scottish firm, th e name of which I have
forgo tten. About one ton of sugar from
seven to eight tons of cane is obtained- a

U RING the early days of Nove mber,

I 937 , a force subsequently termed
"TRIN F ORCE", consisting of about
1 3 0 Officers and Other Rank s of the 1St Bn .
The Sherwood Foresters and, in addition, 2
Offic ers and 3 Other Ranks of Staff and Departments, left Bermuda for Trinidad. They
\\'ere se11t at the Tequest of the Government
of the latter island as a result of the riots
\\'hi ch had taken place some months befor,:
and during viihich certain police officials l1ad
been killed.
'
About a month after they had left Bel'mucla, O.C. TRINFORCE asked for a
R. A. P .C . Clerk to proceed to Trinidad for
t emporary duty to assist in the financia l
aspect. The necessity for this was main ly
due to the difference in currency, the paper
money being in Trinidad dollars and the
silver, English. A ll Banks and busines~es
keep their accounts in the dollar currency .
F ortunately the dollar remains at a statio11
ary fig ure of 4S. 2d.
The w rite r 'i,v as duly given three da ys'
notice on the 4th December to proceed to
Trinidad on the Canadian National Steai .iship , 'Lady Ha\,vkins'. Then began a 1:J.e~
tic 48 hours of handing over, obtaining th:
n ecessary kit, i .e., Hats Steel, Sheets
G round, etc., and packing up; 'wo nderin g
\"hat the devil to take as duration of the
stay in Trinidad was problematical, and,
m ea nwhi le, cussing a bit about leaving the
family for the Xmas festivities in particular
and the exigencies of the service in general.
At the same time, a ne w part of the world
\\'as to be seen, the wea ther was good and
th e hurricane season past and I must admit
a change from the narrow confines of small
Bermuda seemed a p leasing prospect .
The day of departure a rrived and when
I ob tained m y ticket frorn the Shipping
Agent it was to find that I was booked first
cla ss o\;ving to no second class accommodation being availab le. What a break! for
this was the season when wealthy Americans m.ade a vacation of "doin g " a cruise

't

I
\

327

THE

ROYAL

KRMY

PAY

very high percentage--and the l1lolasses,

1:he main foundation of our English treacle
'\'hich is a by-product from the cane, ha~
had so much sugar extracted from it that it
is not cornmerciable.
The next island ~vvas Nevis, an hour from
St. Kitts only. This is the island vvhere
Nelson was married, in fact, the whole of
these islands are steeped in English history
and recall the day when the English and
French fleets used to play "Hide and Seek"
,\"i th occasiona l sea battles and, further
back, the days of the might of Spain and
the ~udacious exploits of those intrepid
English naval heroes Drake, Hawkins and
many more, not forgetting those \-vho sailed
under the 'Jolly Roger'.
The next day on ''''aking, we found that
we . "vere. anchored off Antioua.
Ashore
'"
agam WIth a letter of introduction to a
g entleman from a mutual friend.
This
g en~leman showed us a system by which
the Island government had in hand the collection and sale of the products of the small
holders. It seemed to me quite sound as it
gives the natives a fair price for their ~rops.
Over a glass of what the newspapers state
in their advertisements is best for one we
were told that the main crops were s~1gar
and cotton and a promise was made that on
the way back to Bermuda, I would give a
t~lk on Football, a subject I thought I could
manage.
On .board again at lun ch time and away
we were off to .iVIon tserra t, a three hours'
journey this time. Here we went ashore in
. a rowing boat and I was deputed helmsman.
This task was foisted on me at each island'
whe.re the means of going ashore was by
rowm~' boat and for this arduous duty I
was glVen a transfer to the Senior Service
with the honorary rank of Admiral. From
the 'Lady Hawkins' an extinct volcano had
been seen and we thought a visit to it
wouldn't be amiss after a peep round the
town . We started to walk but the more we
walked, the further seemed the volcano so
we '.'quit" and, not being impressed ~ith
the ls~and, returned to the ship. I have
read smce that, between the time I passed
and returned, earth tremors had been felt
at Montserrat and I am only too g lad I was
not paying my visit at the time.
Next morning we had arrived at
Dominica or, as I heard it termed 'The
Isle o~ Spice'. Here a visit was paid' to the
Bota111cal Garden!? and it was 'w ell worth

CORPS

JOURNAL

whi le . Trees from other countries su'c h as

India, Australia, etc., had been pla~ted "'jth
a v.ievl to 'watching their developments.
Coffee, Cocoa, Nutmeg and the Eucalyptus
tree were seen growing, a lso exotic flo wers
the one attracting the most attention bein;'
the passion flower. Shaddock, a speci~s of
orange with pink fruit, was tasted and voted
de l~ci ous as also was a sweet grapefruit
"'hlch, we were t old , is only OTO\\"n 111
Dominica.
'"
Just before lunch we "vere a\\"ay again on
a run to St. Lucia where vile arrived about
teatime. V...re had been informed on the
ship's notice-board that durin g this run ,ye
wou ld pass Mont Pelee, a volcano in the
French island of Martinique. This volcano
erupted about 3S years ago causing oreat
damage and wiping out a small town ~lest
ling at its foot. From the deck all eyes
were focussed and we could see p lainly
where the 'cap' had been blown and the
stream of lava had run into the sea at \\'hich
point th~ stream seemed to be weli over 3 0 0
yards WIde. St. Lucia is the 01) ly island in
the British West Indies where the ship can
be moored at a quay. Sight-seeing and a
stroll to stretch our legs were again undertaken. It was too. dark to see anything
much of the island but enormous numbers
of fireflies or firebugs, which seemed to flash
like miniature electric torches, attracted
attention. After dinner on board, as the
moon-came up full, the weather fine and the
temperatur~ warm, one of the party suggested a sall on the bay in a I S foot boat
which had been noticed on arrival. This
was promptly agreed to and an enjoyable
evening 'was spent.
The next morning found us anchored off
Barbadoes where we laid all day leaving late
the same night. Of course the shore called
us, . the morning being taken up by shopgazmg . In the afternoon a visit '<\Ias paid
to the Freshwater Aquatic Club at Black
Rock , the conveyance being a broken down
hackney carriag e which suited our mood
better than an automobile. We found that
the Club was rightly named. Set in a bay
fringed with tall palms, there were fresh.
water springs coming up through the yellow
coloured sands at the verge of the sea. My
companions bathed and pronounced it
most enjoyable, but I sat back, I am afraid ,
and tasted a punch made of that Spirit for
which Barbadoes is world famed, namel y ,
rum, and found it as good as its reputati on.
328

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

St. Vincent and Grenada \\'ere taken in

our stride next day, shore visits being made
and our seal of a pproba tion p laced on them.
In fact, our opinion of the islands, with one
ex ception ,\\"as excellent.
I have forg otten to mention the diving
boys at the different islands, \\'ho caused
much amusement to the passengers, and
they certainly can dive. Arriving round the
ship, in all kinds of old ~oats and a1.l shapes,
there are not many COlns they mIss when
thrown into the water.
The day after, in the early morning, eight
days from Bermuda, we arrived at Trinidad
and my cruise of luxury was ended. I \\"as
extremely sorry to . leave the boat but duty
called. I v,as met at the quay at Port of
S pain and after \,v aiting for my baggage
and clearin g it through the cu~toms, we set
off for the camp \;vhich I was told was 58
miles away. The road surface was g ood
but there seemed to be innum erable curves
and bends and we passed through miles of
sug ar cane. Just before reaching San Fernando, a town en route, I had my first
o'limpse of an oil-field, thoug h these soon
became common sights with their derricks
and pipe lin es. At night you could see the
'pilot lights', that is what I called them .for
'w ant of something better, never heanng
their proper name. They Vi/ere vents to the
oil wells and were always kept alight-a
safety measure, I was informed--and one
could alvvays be sure of knowin g where an
oil-field 'w as situated at night.
From San Fernando to the camp "'e
seemed to pass through miles of sugar cane,
coconut and water nut g roves, whilst cocoa
and coffee ",,,as seen to be g ro\\"ln g .
Occasionally we passed throu gh quaint
nati\'e villages. The housing problem to
them seems to be easy for, from \\'bat I ~a\V
of their huts, a fe\\' wooden boxes and straw
thatch 'w ould make a palace. They are all
built off the g round, the re a~on being
snak es, so I \\"as infonned. I did n ot happen to see any during m y stay in Trinidad
but I u1Iderstand there \\"ere numbers of
poisonous ones of different species on the
island.
The camp, composed of tents was situated
on the land of the Asphalt Company at
Brighton (shades of the well-kn own English \\'atering resort) ,.v ithin a stones thro\\"
of one of the wonders of the world, the
Pitch Lake. The lake is a disappointing

pAy

CORPS

JOURNAL

--------------------

sight, ho\\"ever, and \;vas, from all I could

see, just acres of dry, dark mud interspersed
with pools of water. I wa~. privileged to
see over the working plant that deals with
the purifying and barrelling, with my
Ame rican friends who, after an air trip to
Brazil, paid me a visit on their return. The
most interesting part was the assembling of
the barrels with all its intricate machinery.
From here an overhead conveyor carries the
barrels of tar or asphalt, whichever you like
to ('8.11 it, over about t mile of land and
a1 ,lg Brighton p ier, a wooden structure
3,000 feet in length, to the boats moored
there which carry the tar to all parts of the
\\orId. At night, the conveyor cables PIOvide roosting 'place for hunClreds of pelicans,
wonderful fishing birds; there were not
many dives they made without catching
their fish.
There were 8. number of cases of malaria
in the camp but I was promptly put on a
course of quinine and managed to evade it.
Camp life was quite strange after years of
ease and plenty in quarters, but I soon becai11e accustomed to it again. The rain of
\\'hich we had plenty, and when it rained-well it did the job properly-made conditions bad under foot and the mosquitoes did
not improve matters. Two or three days
before Xmas a welconle move was made into
temporary hutments erected at breakneck
speed nearer the sea. They still left a lot to
be desired and when the actual move \\'as
mad e a g reat deal more work had to be
done on them, especially the Sergeants'
Iless.
Xmas Day arrived and everybody made
it their duty to make it as bright as possible.
A wonderful dinner \i\ as put up by the
Cooks and, considering the conditions, it
\\"as the best I have ever seen for troops. Of
course, follow ing out the ancient custom ,
the Sergeants' :Mess acted as waiters and
we sat down afterwards and all enjoyed the
repast.
Camp life was extremely dull, for at night
t here \\"as nothing to do, about twenty miles
from the nearest town and only a few scatt ered bungalows of the families of the white
people on the staff of the Asphalt Company.
Fishing was engaged in by a few mess members, including myself, and this proved a
disappointment for after a couple of evenings spent in trying to hook a 'big 'un' that
\\"as breakin g: our lines, it \\"as caught on
32 9

THE

EOY AL

ARMY

PA Y

an evening when I was unavoidably absent.

It proved to be a shark, 5ft. 8ins. long; ,ye
\\"ere told it was a yo ung one and on handing it over to some of the workmen still
working on the camp they soon cut it up
and had a feast for dinner.
Indoor games in the mess at nig ht was the
order of the da y and man y exciting dart
championships took place and with so much
practice I bega n to throw a 'nifty' dart by
the time I left.
The Trinidad Government had hired a
couple of buses for camp u s_e and VISItS to
the Cinema \,-ere made on Tuesda ys , Saturdays and Sundays. Tuesdays, the shmying
,,-as at F yzabad and the ,\-eek-ends at Point
FOltin, both places being about ten miles
f rom Camp.
I managed t o ge t a trip into Port of Spain
h,-o or three times and my impression was
that it \\-as quite an Englishlike city, clean
and with a particularly picturesque residential district . Some of the streets \\ h ere
trams ran -w ere very narro\\- but the squares,
two in particular, were w ide ,yith avenues
of trees either side of the road and one in
the centre dividing the road into t\/Vo .
The Savannah which compares favourably ,Nith an English park was larg e with
p lenty of Football and Hock ey pitches and
a racecourse around the outside of it. I saw
t,yO race meetings, the h orses for which
come from Barbadoes , Venezuela and other
pa rts. The sport was good, as were the
prices realized on the Tote , that is if one

CORPS

J OURNAL

THE

R OYAL

AR1\lY

p~-\y

No thing hal)pened except a VISIt asllOre

at I3arbadoes \\-here the boat stayed a day
longe r than on the voyage d O\\"l1. Th e n ight
\\-as spent ashore at the local V. _M .C.A.
\\-here the h ospitality \\-as g reat, the prices
small and all endeavoured to make us comfOl-table. BllS tri ps ,;v e re made to h aye a
look at Barbadoes and the evening spent at
a Cinema wh ere for 1/ -\,ve h ad a so called
Box, although the picture was an old one
and the breaks were numerou s.
At Antig u a the promised t alk on football
\\-as g iven and proved to be most entertaining , various qu~stions bein g fired at me in
rap id succession and I supplied the ans\\-ers.
A li ve green turtle weighin o- about 56 Ibs .
,,-as put aboard here and provided mllch
att ra ction and amusement to the passengers.
This time the trip took two days longe r
for thousands of bunches of bananas and
cases of fruit had been taken aboa rd, so after
ten days of the sea Bermuda was reached
a nd an eventful trip was ended.

S IERRA LEO NE PAY OFFICE, 1909Cl er k" la

N (ve
Clerk , Mr . Edwards
.
.
.
Clerk SPt. H. J. Harvey, Nat ive
1
Stc:ndmg-Office M essenger, Natlve
,
(Chief Cl erk) .
S Q "1 S J Stoddart Sgt G F L.
C t C H Garratt
. . 1V _ . ,
.

Sittin f;- S.Q.M.S - E. Maffey, S.S.M. T. Knapp, ;~~man. .

,
_
' s
t
d (C en tr~0) Fodl-Paymaster s erva n .
0,1 grollnd 1 .C.O. and three men of Treasury Chest Guard an

SIERRA LEONE
The Lion's Head
finest h arb our on the West Coast and is the
headquarters of the Government and troops
in the colony.
The steam er drops anchor about a mile
off shore and, in a rather fl at and heavy
boat, the passenger arrives at the landing
stage.

EDITOR.)

About thirty or m ore yea rs ago Sierra

Leone used to be called "The White Man's
G rave-but not no"v !
An eleven days ' run from Liverpool
broug ht you to Freetown-a beautiful sig ht
w ith its backg round of hills covered with
tropical trees and veg etation. It has the

Freeto\ivlJ is a hub of commerce with its

bank, hotels (of sorts), shops-European
and native-and native h Ollses and huts .
F acing Tower Hill fr om the sea , ~10 unt
Auriol, the barracks of the West India
33 0

J UU RKAL

cnnld get a ticket, poor arrangements being

made for the wagerers on the 'free side'.
Five weeks after landin g and the questi on
of returning to Bermuda had burnt up the
cable lines and with only a few h ours'
n otice, I embarked on the 'Lady Nelson',
but this time my luck \\-as out and the
accom moda tion was second class . N evert heless the trip was enjoyable but could n ot be
compared to the oubvard journey , although
I had a travellin g com pan ion , a sergeant of
the Foresters.

there \\-ith a very fine vie \\- from my be~ .

1ala;ia and Black\\-ater. fe ~er were the t" 0
thilWS to avoid. MalarIa IS ~aused . by the
female of the anopheles mosqmto WhlCh, unlike most females, is silent and, when restin g , stands on its h ead!
Mails ,,-ere ,,-ee1dy and eagerly looked
fon\'ard t o , n ot only for letter~ but for the
fresh meat and vegetab le supplI es. A story
\\-as cnrrent at the tim e that once, when t!le
mails ,,-ere b\-o days late, ~he Cl1lef
E n gineer of the 11ail Boat, fe~llD g rat~le~
tire~d, had lean ed his elbO\:' a~al~lst a bOllel
-and it had di sappeared lIlslde .
Th e \\-eather is tryin g , \-jth a tenlperature
bet\\'een 85 and 95 all th e year rO~1l1d. T .he
"Ha rlll atan", a dry land b reeze, drIes every thing u p th oro u ghl y-~ \~ en the COl ~rs of
books curl up. The ra11lY season IS th e

-SIERRA LEONE- conti-mted.

(l~ith the re-opening of an Army Pay Office .1.t

Sierra Leone this article by Lt.-CoL. C. H.
Garratt, O.B .E., R .A.P.C., R etd., recalls cond;tiom on the "Coast" nearly thirty yea-rs ago.-

CORPS

Re oim ent is on the left and, to the rig ht, a

o-o~l roa(l leads past the Golf Course to
Wilberforce, barracks of R.~\T.A .F.F- ~eg t .
and the'n ce on t o Hill StatlOn . the resldential colony of the Civil Servants.
The Golf Course has one peculiarity. A
t yro at th e o-ame there h as as much chance
.
as, a scratch b111an . The course I~
pal~ Y ba m~
arkl partly rocks and ston es , \nth the resu~t
th~t yo u can never t ell \\-h ere your ball IS
going t o end up.
Recrea tiol1s t ook th e form of footb~ll,
hockey, t ennis, walking, bntt~rfly .catcl:l1ng
and, for th ose who could afford It, hIPPO
h unting in the r ivers and back\\"aters.

Th~ Military H ospital on ]\Iount Al.~ri ol

overlooks the cemetery: I spent a fort111 ght

:;3 I

THE
SIERRA LEONE

ROYAL

ARMY

continued

~ool~s~

time of the year but when it rain sIt rams.' Th~s is also th e tornado season.
T?rrentlal rams accompanied by terrific
wmd, thunder and lightning, which must
b~ seen and ~eard to be believed, descend
wlt.hou t warmng: and only luck a11o\\"s you
to leach home wIthout a drenchin c>.
o'
Many of those ,:vho have to do a yea r' s
tour get a calel?-dar a t the first opportunity
at;ld start markl11g off the days. I knO\\' '1
d Id and I "vas not the only one by any
means.
I was g lad that my duties kept nie 1n
Freetown for everyone, \yithout exception,

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

\\'ho_ v;;~n t np coyn try in to the bush, came

back wIth ma larIa or had it soon after th .
return.
elr
The day at l a~t comes to meet yo ur rel :ef
on board the lllall boat-and what a red lktt~ r .day.! Tl~e day you embark on the boat
\\ hlch IS tabng you home is crimson! .
I have commented on the beauty of Fr~e
town when YO~I approach it from the sea,
~:)U~ I do not thu?-k I ~m alone in saying that
It IS a far prettIer ])lctnre when seen from
the stern of a home bound vessel.
. It shoul~ be remembered that I am \ITitm g of a SIerra L eone of about thirty years
ago .
C.R.G.

AND ,

NEWS .
Home Stations
presented tb th e Captains a nd the team s r eceiyed
in cli vid ual medals.
The Office Rifle Shield, whi ch goes to the best
shot, was won jointly by Sgt. L. Cooper and Mr.
' V. H . Self who each receiyed repli cas .
The C.P. ' s Spoon was won by Cpl. McD::Icle and
S j Sgt. E vans was runnel' up w hil st the Sergeants'
Mess Spoon went to S j Sgt. E n llls with S / Sgt.
Brooks a s the runnerup.
Mr. ' V. H. Seif, with an a\'erage of 99.16 , won the
medal presented each yea r by the S.l\I.R. C. for the
best shot of the Hifl e L eag ue.
The pres entations 'o ver , a \'ery en joyable Smoking
Concert follow ed-\'ery conyenient ",h en cups h ave
to b e filled- and S.Q .M.S. Dayi es and th e art,iste
put up a, \'erv good s how .
I t loo ks as if we ar e going to ha\' e more diffi cult y
in retaining possess ion of the Rifle Shield in fut lIre
as chang
in staff ha ve dep leted our strength a nd
ot h er office t e3 J11 S are making tltem,;eh'es more
promin<: nt. Thi s is all to the good and. \o"ith incr eased comp eti tion, interest will be great.er. ' Ve are
look in g forward to the new campaign and hall do
Ollr b est to Jr aintain our r ecord. - Ladies' Ri'il e Team.--There ha _ been no sh ooting
du'ring t he Summer month - but t h e L a dies are now
looking forward to comll1encing practi ce with a view
to their 'W int er programme.
The di trib l1 tion of medals and s poons wa s mad e
t h : occ,.sion of an interesting gat h ering ill the Ser geants' :Mess at w hi ch :Mrs. Or111 s1)1'J ohnson yel'y
kindly con sented to make the prese ntat,ion s .
The foll ow ing received medals as winn ers of the
L adie ' National L eagu e, Diy. IY:- :-ll's. Corbett.
Mrs. Flux, Mrs. P-easley , Mrs. Pink. Mi ss Pott and
l\.[rs. Thompsoll ..
Spoons were won by Mrs . Peasley and :;'\li ss Pot t
and Certifi cates as follow s :- " Dnily T eleg raph " an d
Bell Medal , Mi -s Pott ; "News of th e ' iVo rlcl " . l\Ir~.
iiVestcott and " Dailv Mail". Mrf;. Pea sle\'.
The assista nce of those ladi es who h elp ed th e team
throughout th e season replacing casua lties was much
appreciated.
Cricket.-History, it is sa id, r epeat s itself. a nd if
we can consider cr.icket an histori cal e\ent. then th e
repetition ha s occurred in our Deta chm ent. In my
notes for the " Summer I ssu e" for 1937. I could no t
count a \'ictorv to om credit but. the clay after th e

ALDERSHOT.
COMMAND PAY OFFICE.

Retirements

'/
I

It.-Col. ]. Sawers served in the South African and

Great W~rs with The Queen 's Own Royal West
Kent RegImen t. (lfter the last war he was posted
to the CM.A., )CImng the R.A .P.C in 1925.

Maj or W . M oran, O ,B.E., M.C, who retired in

Jun e, began his service with the Connaught
Range rs In 1896 a ~d three rears later joined the
Corps. H e served In the South African and G reat
Wars and late r was with th e Emergency Force
that went to Constanti nople.

Departures during the last quarter were Captains

Bm'ne (Wok ing), Howell (Canterbmy ), Lin e (War.
wick), Marden (Eastern Comma nd) and Hees (Pres ton) with S.S.M. J. H. Gibi;;Ol1 (to Easte.r n Command
on promotioll ) and Sgt. Freeman (Hilsea).
Arrivals included Capt. Brewer from Leith and
S.S.M . L E. Litt.ler (Shrewsbury) Sgts. Crowe
(S.LC.D.) and Pearce (Egypt) and r. j Sgt. Nlockler
fro m llilsea.
Promotions, etc.-Sgt. H. E. Evan s wa s promoted
S / Sgt. in June and S.S.M. Pott and S j Sgt. M c
Dona ld we re awarded t h e L.S. & G .C. medal in
April Army Orders
Discharges. - S j Sgt. C. G . A . Busby and Sgt. E.
J. h .napp left us in July a Ild May resp ectiYely but
t hey have not gone so very far away hom the fold
and so we b id them au revoit'.
General.-The Sergeants' l\.ess continues th e even
tenor of its way- or so we hORe-at allY rate th e
Presid enl in forms us that new s of importance is
"nil " .
Th e P ay School has now one offi cer a nd 21 other
r anks und er in struction. This , too, r eports nothin g
of importance s'o presumably there are no new
'howlers'.
.
All who could possiblY tear themselves away from
offi.ce duties sa,w a.s much as t hey could of the Army
\'. Austral ia cricket match wh en the Army put up
a good performan ce. No doubt th e tourists appre
ciated the friend ly sp i rit of t he ga me aft er the stress
of test matches, etc.
Ri He Club.-Th e end of the shooting season left, us
with many t rophi es to dispose of and t h e Sergeant. s'
M ess W::IS chosen as the yenue.
Col. G. A . C.
ql'mshy-Johnson , OB.E. , M.C. , made the pres entatIOns before a large gat hering of Officers , member"
of th e Mess and C~v ilian s who much apprecia ted his
en coura.gin g remal'ks r ep:arding this sport.
ViTe ar e naturally pl'oud of the fact that th e Alder
shot 'B' T eam is the first to have their name inscrib ed
on t h e Sib-er Chall enge Cup recent,l)' l~resented to
th e Rifle L eague by Col. Vi,T. L. H. Bilderbeck,
O.RE. whi lst the 'A' Team retain the 1s t Divisio n
Shield for ::I nother year. These pri zes \\'ere dul~'

333

THE

R OYAL

AR MY

PAY

notes were passed on, our first \"in wa,s reco r ded_
Well , t he same thing happened t his year. My notes
were handed ill on t he 20th May an d t h en, 011 t h e
21st. we beat t he Mid. So uthern Utility Co. by 6
wick ets. Th is was a very creditable p erflOrmance
against Oll e of t h e strongest civi lian teams in Aldershot.
On the 13th July, we visited Ea stern Comma nd
a nd had our revenge for t he defeat at Ald ershot
(earli er in the season) by 81 runs, after decla ri ng
at 138 for 7. Eyeryone of our batsmen made a few
ru n with Sgt. Egan (27) t,oD scorer. Cpl. Gregory
(6 for 26) soon h ad t he home batsmen in diffi cul t ies
and wit h t he help of Sgt . Egan (2 fo r D) t heir total
on lv reali sed 57.
One of t h e ma in featur es of OU I' t ea m this veal'
has been the bowlin g of L ; Cpl. Tupholme anci' h is
figures ill t h e foll owing matches are well "worth recording : \". R.A .V.C. -7 wickets for 9 run s in 7 0\7erS , hi s
last 5 wickets cosLing on ly 1 run.
v . 'iNorce tershire Regt.-7 wickets for 12 runs in
9 overs (including t h e hat trick).
In the latter match we batted first and onlv made
49. and it seemed t hat we were in for anoth eJ'
" hidi ng", but t han l; s t.o Tupllolme 's performance we
had the satisfaction of w inning by 13 runs, mu ch to
our oppon en t.s' sur prise.
Tenni s.- Owing to the re-laying of t h e cou rt. , pl~y
did not begin until t he latter end of lay and I
am afraid tli is ha d a detrim enta l effe ct upon our
ea rly season matches.
Sergeants ' Mess Le agu e.-A fter holding t he championship for the past year we have ha d to reli nqu ish
our title to tFie R.A.S.C. T he Royal Si g nals finished
second and we occupied th i rd place. Our team consisted of S.Q.M:.S. Corbett, S j Sgts . W ilson a nd
EYans , Sgt . Coo k , Meadow s a nd McLaughl an .
S.S.M. D eil con, Sgts . Stewart, Lee and Pount ney
also gave assist.ance.
Army Champ ionships.- Tn t he Ot h er Ranks
Singles Sgt. Coo k lost in th e th ird round and Sgt.
Meadows in t he second aDd, as a ga ir , th ey were
beaten in t he second round of the Douhles bv t he
ultimate winn ers. Sgt.. 'M eadow s wa s also runn"er-up
in the Other Ranks Plate.
Command Cham pionships.- The Championship
Doubles wh ich we have h eld since 1933. wa s r et ained
hv Lt.-Col. R. G. Stanham illld Sgt. Coo k . It has
been suggested t hat one of t he r easons for winnin g
t his event wa to avoid altering t h e sil ver vn lu e
, hew n on t he Mess illsu ran ce poli cy. In t he Inter
U nit Doubl es S j Sgt. E vans an d Sgt. Meadows lost
in t he sem j-fi n il l to t he ult imirte \'-'in ners , and , in
the Singles, Sgt. Cook was b eaten i n t h e first rou nd .
also by th e eventual winner.
Rhine Army CUp.-Our elimi nating competition
again produced ma n y good games and in t he final
Sgt. Cook overcame S ISgt. W il 011 after n gl' at
struggl e. t h e score being 6- 3, 3-6 , 7- 5.
Office Tournaments. T hese annual tournaments
are now in t :1 swin g and t h ree set match es h ave
b een t he rule rnt her t ha n the exce lJtio n . Even two
set ~a m es h ave been pl avecl bv in stn lments whi ch is
understa ndable when scores of 13- 11 , 6- 4 are recorded.
COSTING SCHOOL.
Costi ng School.- Th e 19t h Course assembled at
t he School on 4t h July la st , and consi. ts of twelve
o her ranks:-

CORPS

THE

J OUR NAL

Sgt. D. J . P o untn ey, Cpls . K. W . H o m sey, N .

F ish" F. Potts, G. B ir cll , F. Arnlltage, L JSgt. J.
Bentley, Cpls. E. l\1. I-Iayes, J C. G regson , F . Barcham, L. R ibton , C. Gidlow.
No officers are attendin g on this occasion but
th e n umber of oth er ra n ks is t he g reatest that has
eve r attended at on e co u ri;e. If we co nt inue to get
students in such numbers as this We shall baye to
oo nsider seriously t he form at ion of an "Old Boys'
Club " . ' Ne can visuali se t he "Old Costin g School "
ti e being worn by past students and look ed upon
with envy by t hose who have not h ad t he privilege ( ?)
of attend ing t h e school and we feel sure t hat "Old
Boys" wo uld look fo r ward with great interest il nd
keenness to the a nnual re-u nion wh en t hev cou ld
re-visit t he scenes of their studies and r eca ll th e
days when t h ey obta in ed t h eir qualifi cat ions of
"R.S.A.", " L .C.C." or, maybe. " L.C .C. (F )" I How
:!\1:r. F ison's ears w-Q uld burn when d iscuss'i ons wer e
tak ing place between the "Old Boys" ns to how th e
questions in lheh eXilll1. seemed to be t h e worst e\'er
set I It is beli eved t hat ;:m "Old School Crv " of
" L ay-out. " or " T- shape" would be appropriate and
t h at a badge with " T -shape (rampant) support ed by
th e sides IOf a T r ial Balance (distort ed ) " wou ld be
1)r ouclly d isplayed . Old Schooi Notes would be publish ed and news of old boys p ublished, e.g. :
" Marr iages.-'Ne
underll' entioned
rIages : Cpl. Gardner
Cpl. McD ade
0 1'

are pleased to congratula.te the

olel scholars on t heir recent mar(J an uary, 1938-J une , 1938 ) .
(J anuary, 1938-Ju ne, 1938 ) . , .

~ "iiV e are pleased to congratu late Capt. Rooney

(Jan uary, 1929-July, 1929) and Capt. Hamilton (July, 1937-December, 1937,) on t heir appointment to th e ed itors hi p of the R.A.P.O.
.J oumal. 'iNe feel sure t h eir .experience at the
school has helped to fit t hem for t h ei r duties
in connection w it h t hi" importa nt publication."
B ut enough of dreams , ba,ck to r ea.lit ies.
T he r esults of the examinations sat for bv t h e
18th Course have been received and t h e s uccessful
(and o therwise) candidates notifi ed of the exami ners'
dict um. T he successful students are to be congratulated on t h eir r esults iLnd com mi eration ' to those
who did not do t h emselves iustice.
We are sorry to say Cpl. G idl ow is in h ospita l at
present . 'iNe hope he ,viJI be ret urn in g soon.
BARNET.
Th e da il y rou nd and comll1on ta sks have lately
furn ished li ttle or no material at t,hi s station from
whi ch to compil e "Office NoLes" of genera l interest.
In COlllmon wit h other offices Ba l'll et has struggled
ba ck int<V"K"-...sittina position after having receiyerl
t he "A p'l"il knock-~ut" so suddenly and E ffect i ve~y
a dm iniste re el bv t he powers that be I 'W hether t hIS
or any other o ffi ce will ever full y r ega in t h e " St,and ing position" res t,s ve ry mu ch on th ~i r be~ng all owed
<l long co nva l -scence ilnd good med lcm e 111 the form
of 'postings'.
I t was pleasant to discover t lla,t t lli s office had not
been n ealected in th e voluminous 'Gazej,t,e' a,nd t ll e
promoti~n of Capta in S. Holma n . M.B.E. was made
t h e occas ion of tn kinQ" " Co ura Q"e" in OUI' Sergeants'
Mess I! If article 308 Roya l WalTil nl i ' not duly
nmencl!'. d t hen t h e Mess Acco un l will h:1\'e to b e(l r
a r efund.

334

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

f:

CANTERBURY.

:Ne mu.st apologise for .t he absen ce of notes from

thIS StatIOn

111

J OU RNAL

like many other offices , we changed t he motto t o

' Fa.cia non "ue rb a." for some t ime.
StafL-D urin g the interval since our last notes
appear ed t he fo llowing change,; hav e ta ken place:Arrivals .-Captains H. A . H owelJ , l\1. B.E. a nd
R Horsfidd. S.S.M. T . Blackett and DvI'. J . C_
l\Iit chell. 'iNe hope that all have now become
accustom ed to the relax in g air of Canterbury.
Departures .- Cpl. E. H ayes to Aldershot (Costill g School), Q.M.S. R. '~' ar mi ngtoll and L f Sergt .
B. Fear left for tem porary du ty at Chath.am but It
is learned t h at t he last named IS on 111s way to
re- join uo'. (For which we are trul y t hankful. )
Promot ions , etc.-Oongratul ations to Cap-tain R.
C. Thompson and Corpl. C. Hu nter ~n t h eIr recent
promotions; S.Q .M.S .'s M. V. Barton and R.
' Varmington 011 bein g awarded t he L .S. & G .C.
::'IIeelal and to Ptes. H. Gee-William. and W . Slater
on their transfer to the Corps.
Cricke,t .- For the first time for many years we
ar e fin ishin g t.he season " I nvil1 cible" . Th at statemeut ought to be left un adorned but act uall y . we
have only played one match , that b.emg agamst
t he Sig nals who were more tha n surpn se d to , uffe r
t heir first defeat. S.Q.M.S. Dyer's useful score of
50 was almost enough to win t. he game.
Socia l.- On Friday , 13th July, a charabanc t.our
of t he 'iNeald of J( ent was arranged and 111 spIte
of t.he unfavo u rable weather the outing was a g reat
succe;iS. Tenterde n was chosen as t h ~ stopp ll1g
place for Lun ch , etc., ancl we were JOll1~d the re
by those of the offi cers and WI\-es who mlstlllstecl
t l;e " w etness" of t he char-a-banc. T~a wa sen:ed
at Dymchurch , " 'here but for t he nun . M r. ' NIlls
intended to show the lads how to use the bat
(a nd trap).
\.fter tea we cru ised along the. coast
to Fol kestone an d t be re wound up t h e day 111 t h e
good old- fas hi,oned way .
E FJAEL.
CATTERICK CAMP .
Th e past quarter in t his Station ba.s remai ned
som ew hat qu iet fro m 'J ournal .Note' POInt of VIew.
_-'l.t t he t ime of w ri t ing t.h ere haye been no an'I v~l s
and IlO departures, but Sergeants Bedford , Gaut ler
and ::'IIoore arE. graduall y but surely assul1ung the
usua l sympt.oms akin to heart dIsease. One suppo es t li.at t h ese symptoms d eyelop th rough ~o n stan t
shock of wa.tc hin g th e morlllng ma lls and find ll1g tha.t
the letter wllich smells, look s In Slze and feels lIke
their posting orders , .is really nothlll g morE. t han t he
nsual bucket of ro ut.me mat,ter.
_-\.ugu st 9tl> of this year will Ji ve in t.h e minds of
th e Corps members at t lus StatIOn , ~I S on t!lat date
we had ou r a nnua l out ll1g. I say annua l -but. I
should state t hat t his outing wa s the first of ItS
kind- at, any rate wit hi n r ecent years, attemRted
from CattE.l"lcl< Camp , and its s u cces~ was so grea.t
that I am convinced t he wor d 'an nu al ' may be taken
as r eacl.
.
b t
Ma jor Browning and S.Q}VI :S. Davles e ween
h em ' car ried out t he prelImma.I'Y arra n geme~ts
whi ch end ed in the ~ taff and t heIr wl:;E.s .ancl fam lltes
o'oin o' by charab(ll1 c to t he Lak e Dls~l'l ct .. 'iNe set
~ff at 8 -a. 111. and returned t.o Camp 111 .et thIck fog
a round midnight, th or~ u ghly pleased WIth ~u r ~ay
ont. Tt wa' ye]'y notIceable, that. t he ~ ew lt.dn :1g
hour known as 'openmg tIll le . had a sellOU S eff ect
on . eY.e l'il l of th e male fraterru ty , so mu ch so, that

l\Ia.jor C. Ba ru es, D .O:l\1. joined t he ."r ank Crew'

at t he en d of J une, ex S111 gapOre j ancl ls stIll b u s~y
ho use-hu nting, a form of sport " 'ell known and I nevitably practised by all R.A.P.C. Officers dunng
t heir service. .. .
.
Corporal Bush is under orders for P alestllle, . he
having volunteered for foreIgn serVIce, forgettlllg
t here was such a statIOn as Jl'~ sa lem. On r eceIpt
of his posting orders we were nl'ln leged to, ~~tness
t he amazing dIsappearance of th e famo u:s Bush
Sm ile" but once t h e shock wa s ~ bsorbed t he g nn
re-appeared on the bold non -com 's !ace. On ce m
JerLlsalem , J ew , GentIle 01' Ara~ WIll succumb to
Oorporal B ush 's eveT-pr eSE.nt sm ile.
Sta ff Ser geant Fish er ft'.o m. Londo n j7i ned t bis
station on promotIOn to DIVISIOn H. 'i~, Iih ~ fe \;
more evenings' pra ctIce 0 11 th e l\Iess board , Bud
bids fa ir to becom in g the ~les s Dart s ChampIO n . .
L ieut.-Colon el and Mrs. Gresham have entertmned
the detachment at t h eir home ill St. Alban s j the
married per 'onnel visit ing .first and th e smgle mem bers a week or two later .
Th e Regim ental Paymaster is to be congratulated
on introdu cin a the D etachment to a new sportaarde n " deck-tennis " , and kno'w ing all t.he tri cks he
~pe rated t h em to t he chagrin of t he more agil e and
yo unger players.
Two likely w inners from t h e Command Draw
recently join ed t he office in . t h e persons of Ptes.
Boyne (Wilt.s. R.egt . ) and E.IJ IOtt (R.A.lVl.C.). Th e
fo rmer has alrea,dy proyed hImself a u efnl cn~ k ;ter.
E lliott we h op e wi ll offer Ho ckey 'casualties h IS
profes ional serv ices wh en the 'Bull y off ' season
opens.
.
.
_-\.lmo t co ntinuously in hosHlta l slll ce September,
1937, Pte. Bat,es is 110W well on t h e road to r ecovery ,
and Detachment all d Office memb ers are hopm g soon
t o welcome h im back at Barnet. From his protracted
. tay in ho spit al Pte. Bates should now be a mllle of
infol'm ,Ltion on Il~ atters mecll ca l.
.
Mr. Dave l"'lu ir (better k nown to his ~\Iespot fne J1 ds
as "Chnng Wang") felt t he call of "Auld ReekIe"
nnd respond ed when i]lyitcd to take up a ya Ca ~lcy at
the Leith oflke. ' Ne tr ust 'Dave' ha s settled 111 and
i~ now wieldina a aood "blue lJencil o'er t he bord er " .
t:>
t:>
t
I k
.
'W it h cricket enth usiasm fallned by t l e -een 111ter es t of t he [officers and non-players , together WIt h
the r e-entry in to t he 'activE.' arena of S.S.M. Pearc~,
Barnet tea'm have so far do ne extremely well thIS
seasoll . Best effo r t was wh en the Command Pay
Office, Easte l'11 Comma nd went ba ck to town with
the ir t.ails dow n a.t a defeat by BARNET I I Revenge
is 'weet h owever and at tlieir n ext yisit, we were
beaten- but what a noticeable str engthe ni ng of the
Oommand fiel d.
Colonel H. 'iN. Da k ey ne, D.S .O. vacated th e appointment of Offi ce r i Jc R ecord s B.oyal Tank .Oorps
on 6th Aug ust. Alway s warm ly ~n tel'ested m the
welfare of t h e D et,achment and Olvl ll an members ;
keen to pl'omote t h e social side of th e office, Colonel
.
Da keyn e w ill be greatly missed.
From ou r fa.r ewells to t.he depa rtIn g we t urn and
welcome our n ew Officer i j c R ecords, Colonel E. -:'i .
Forestier-'iNalker wh ose tenu r e of office we hope WIll
be as pleasa n t as t h at of hi s pred ecessor.
.
'N[cSPORR.AN'.
v

CO RPS

the last lssue of t he .Joul'Il(ll , but ,

335

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

hav in g run past a likely spot in the r egioll of

Pemith and ca used t h e dri vel' to bac k his chal'ab a nc
quite a. dista n ce-they found to t h eir great annoyance that they were just 15 minutes too soo n.
Lun ch was taken in K eswick and after a short
shop window feast a nd a little boating on the p art
of our potential overseas staff, in which Mrs . Gautier
and Mrs. l\Ioore qualified in seamanship and became
able seaWOm EI1 ,on the strength of finding their sea
legs , we made our way along to Ambleside, aniv ing
th ere m time for a welcome cup of tea . The party
then t,ook a 11l0tO'1_' boat to Bowness-a jouruey
occupymg thE. best pa rt of a n hour wh en we made
Elur own pleasure. The last I saw of S.Q.M.S. Bla ck
was on t h e b riny working for his living in a rowing
boat. Someone apparently had told him at tea t hat
rowing was good for swiinmin g-whi ch he mistook
for slimmin g.
One liWe ep isode I mu st report,. S.Q.M.S. Dayi es
was the father of t he fami ly, and he for some unknown n:a.so n-perhaps hi s favourite fl owers are forget-m e-not s- took the w h ole partv into t h e wrOl1Ohot~l for lUllCh '! One of those p la-ces usually found
in the A.A. book with five stars against it. All and
s un dry S0011 had t h e run of t h e place-some in the
bar, ot ~ ers in t he lounges and w h en word wa s passed
r?u n d ill a very furtive tone-somethin g like those
l11ght m essages whi ch went t heir way in t he front
line-th at we were in the wrong pub~i t was simply
too funny for words. Of co urse it was not lono- before
the male element got outside. leavin g t,h e fami li e,
to .coll ect t h eir belongings and do lik ewise, and thf'
wnter has seen a few queer sig ht . in hi s t im e b ut
never has he seen anythino- like that "crocod ile"
which oozed its wav Ollt of "th at Hot el- the bd clies
~sk in g what h ad ha-ppene<;l and the wives-well. saylllq )u t, notlnng b ut t.hll1kin o- and looking a lot.
Th ere is somethin g very wrong w ith Sergeant
Lydon t h ese day s . H e h as tak en to m a kin g hi s own
sweetmeats, a nd I understand that on e wh ich h e
gave to Sergeant \Valton ha affeded him so much
that h e h~s adually conceived t h e idea of goin g into
partner lllp With Sergeant Lydon . 01'0\ id ed arrangen: ents can be made for .' uffi cient s il\- e!' naper wrap _
plllg.
CHATHAM , ROYAL SIG N ALS .
()n the last -anpeara nce of th e Journal I was as sailed from all sides on acco unt of my delinquencv in
not. submittin g cony . in rarticular the di sgust o(our
arl'lval from t h e Sudan wh o confidently expected to
see his name in m'int at long last.
To chron icl e the events of t h e Signa l s id e of Chatham dur ing t h e past six month s would not, h owever,
tax t h e mind undulv. 'file are a small bodv compa red with our Engin eer friend s who rath~r predo~in~te at our combin ed social and snortin g
actlvltles . It behoves m e then to touch but li gh tly
on wh at mv R.E. confrere m ust claim as hi :' right .
T alking of Tennis , we h ad hoped to se e t h e S .M
with t h e Rhine Army CuP this veal'. but it was not
to. be. Congratula t ion s to L /Cpl.l\IIurray (R.E.) who
wIll u ndou btedly upll01d t h e tenn is prest ige of Chath am wh e n h e -gets to Ald er h ot. Our cricket Enthusin s t s . three in numb-er. hn ve partic inated in a
most uccessful t holHrh so mewhat curta il E" d season,
Ollr final mat ch with E8st ern Comma nd affOl'din o- m
great sat,isf8ct.ion.
..,
Thinkin ,; of the Football season nh ead. Di ckin son
will he f!rEa tlv mi ssed at fu ll ba k. but ChnthlJl1 cnn

P AY

CORPS

THE

J OURNAL

promise any Offi ce that cares to take up t h e challenge, a good game. It is 50mewhat late to cougratulate our Rifle Club on i t's fine s howin o' last
season, and secretary S.S. Hawkins assu res m~ t hat
we sh all go onE. better this year but we shall need
a little more support, shootei's please n ote, at Chath am.
Promotions. -vVe are always rrlad to r ecord them
we h ave h ad two recently, Haliday and Curtis t~
Sergeant and L ance Sergeant r Esnectively. They
were duly celebrated in the acr, ustomed style, the
o.ffice being pleasingly adapted to su ch circum stances .
To record in dEtail t h e very h earty welcom e we
~xtelld t o all new arrivals would ta k e much space,
If only for t h e fact that an alTival usually in dicates
a depar t ure. In recent months our population h as
definitely been of t h e flo ating type .
Departures.-Doht:rty, Dickinson a nd Ribton 11<1 \'e
ldt us and the system behind. T en nis and Football
are the poorer, and w it h t h e c1epartul'2 of Taffy
Ribton, we now h ave to look out our own trains
to L o ndon a nd Cardiff.
Arrivals.- Tb ey are fiye in number if we can
incl ud E. Cpl. Grant whom we confidently expect from
Wool wich in t h e near futu re. Sgt. H alliday from
the Sudan, S / S. Paul from Malt a and L / Cpl. Brewis
ancl Horton from the School at Alders ho t: that is
the order of arrival. P a ul h as already taken oyer
T e nnis affairs whilst H alliday is the' advocate of
bigger and better batches. By now , we have congratu lated Brewis on a successful probation and wish
the sa l1l ~ for Horton.
Retirements.-T ed Hogg has said farewell to actiye
participation in the work of the office. H e worked
here for nineteen years a nd all who have passed
through Chatham during t hat period, must know him
well. A suitable presentation was mad e to him on
t. h e occa,sion of hi s departure and wit hit WE.nt the
best w ish es of all sections of t h e office for a bappy
retiremen t.
Supplementary Reser,v e.- It is wit h regret -that
the death of L / Sgt. P Earce, A.E. is recorded.
H e served with the King's Royal Rifl es from 13th
October , 1914 to 6th Marr,h , 1927 and during hi s
period as a member of the R .A .P. C. Supple m entary
R eserve dating hom 22nd March, 1935, h e was a
promisin g and popular m emb er of our sma ll band.
H E. will be grentl.v mi;;sed.
L.vV.C .
CHESTER .
Departures.-L / Sergt. E. Jones has left our m idst
on pro ceedi ng to Pembroke Doc k. Known as the
"Co u po n ~l i zard". his departure wi ll li ghten our
post-bags.
S.S .M. R. VV. H. Hownrd who .ioin ed us ex Lich.field a verv sh ort t;me ago is now on fur lough pendin g
emba rkation for t h e Far East.
1I11 pendin q departures of pilrticu la l' note are : Our chi ef, Colonel P. L. Ol lh nl11 cl enarts for Mala ya
in September ancI Major G. D. Vint is leavin g for
B elffl st. vV e reg re/' t h e del)arture of thes-e po))u lar
officers. :1 nd il ll wish t hem t h e best of luck in t ll eir
new stat ions.
Colo nel A. ~ R. Cliff is expected to join us soo n and
weE'xten d our welcom es on hi s l'ehl;' 11 to Ihi s offi ce .
Arrivals.- - L / Sergt. P. Le e has joined us fro m
Spike I sland and still potter!" :nvav at th e mv;:; t er; E's
of CostinQ:.

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

than ks to the untiriug efforts of S.Q.-:U.S. R. E.

B.obE.l'ts and his COl11m it t.ee a lld "O i" ! D eptford
introduced t he "Lambeth Walk " to Chat,ham. The
other m atch wa s with Bal'l1et offlc~ and despite a
very cold day we had an excellent time and a most
enjoyable evening ip t.he mESS.
En t ertainment.-A n eVEnin g was de\-oted to indoor games w ith onr friends t he \ i\7al' D epa l'tmem
COlJ stab ula ry in their Club and it is h oped to repeat
t hese performan ces during the -e n. lllng wlIItel'
months .
On 26th July, the officE. outing was held at ' he
vVarren, I-Iayes, which is th e Sports Clu b of four
Divisions of the Metropolitan Police. With m agnifi cent weather , six bowlin g r ink s, a putting green
of 18 holes clock o-olf, dancin g and a fin ely-eqlllpped
bar, the d~y was \~oted one of t he bEst in t h e history
of the office. All t hose who atten ded took part Jl1
the sports an d t he prizes were handed over in t h e
evening by Col. H. Du esbury.

. Serot. J . .N asb of the Costiu g Brethreu is wit h us

aher ~ sp ell ill hospi ta l.
.
We have qUlte a tall order. III the presen ce 01
Trooper Tupnolme on pl'00at1011 lrom the Lne
GuardS .
.
_. '
General.- Under thiS headlllg, w e must report the
nlual outing run Oll the lines 01 a male Cllon OU\,rl1~ . We had _s uch a variety of notes. The staff
reported to the othce ~,s usual at 8.30 ~.m. o~e n:01l1ing, but in a very dlffel'ent garb, OOtl1 rnelloaJly and
physically to that Jl1 eV ldence 10~1 a work day. WIth
one excep tion we wel'e all mal'l'led men oft the chall1
for et day; wh en our 'b?s set oft Jor IVJ.oleca,n~e ., It
is und el:ltood that our far-s1ghted committee'" a1l2ed
the local Bolice, brewers, Mothers' Umons a nd :hre
Brio-ad-e a,t Morecambe of our Il1tended r aId Oll theIr
tOW~l. We had our usual balf-time halt 101' beer
and bannocks (cheese rolls in English). On a rnval
at Morecambe we h a d a good lunch a nd .then dlspersed to do t h e place in each other's own lIttle way.
::lome played bowls , some sampled beer, an d sO.me
dozed on the beach. One hardy lad went for a sWim.
Tough Guy! 'Tea w as a re-union and salmon was th,~
centre dish. One of the members of our "Central
staff had two helpings ot fish. Query:- "Do hs h
make brains ?"
..
After tea we had an hour, ",hich wa" utili sed. by
most of u s to procure sui table bribes to lay beiore
our better h al ves on our return , a nd so dIvert then
attention from Ollrselves. Our return journey was
broken at Prestoll, where we h ad hoped Lo entertal11
our confreres of the Regimental Office. A s only two
civilian clerks t urned up on schedule we had to dlspose of mu ch s urplu s beer o Ul'selv~s. Passl11 g?n our
way we just reach ed the SWll1 g bl'ldge at .Warnngton
in time to see its gates close to all ow a shl p ca li ed the
" Hesperus" to crawl past on its way up the Manch ester Ship Canal. Th is tramp was far from belll!!
the 'Good s hip Hesperus ', because the dday at th e
canal cost u s our drinks at the next stop, or perhaps
ou r ch ara' load of to ugh s was apparently un accep t able as a busin ess proposition to t h e two co un try
inns we raid ed at 'zero' hour. Any how we event ually
fo und som e unopened bottles in t h e back of th e 'bm
and dra nk to the next trip.
Our n ext little outi.ng will be t.o t h e new H ea dquarter Offices in Ch ester wh;ch are abo ut completed.
LOUDEN.

Cha llenge. - We e! lelo sp p h o ~ ogr'l\~ h

of our
Machine Room Staff who a re Drep,t:'cd to m eet a ny
other lVl.R. Staff at, t!l ui ~ . dart s, tox i ng or runnin g- sta kes :-- 'gin and limes all rO llnd . N.B.-H
the photographs a 1'2 pll bh shed ] t 13 hOI?ed t hat, a
few probatione rs WIll volun teer 101' Dept.Eord.

DEPTFORD.

CORPS J O RNAL
------------------------------

Pro-motions.- Hearty congratul ations ~o Cpl. A .

G. \ i\lal'd a nd C. B. W. Young on p romotlOn to t.hat
rank.
Ar rivals.-Pte . .T. A . Morris h as joined h ere to
CO:llpl et c hi s p, ob<ltio n an d we wi sh him every sutce3S.
W.O.II W. Poyse r has bE en post.ed from .Sa lisburv
and is h appy a n-iong t h e Deptfol'd sta ff WIth whom
he had prev iously served for many years.
Departures.- \i'i/ .O.II J. L. Lomax has le ft us 011
posting to Salisbury wh ere we w ish him a pleasan t.
sojoul'Il .
.
.
A. R.P.-Th e staff attended six ve ry ll1 ten:stll1g
lecturE'S on A i r Ra id Precautio ns given by Sgt. Cox
of t h e War D ept. Constabula,ry.
.
Cl"icket .- \ Ne h ave been co m l~el] e d to curtaIl Oll:'
fixture li st ow in g to a n eXCESS o'f wo rk a nd shorta~E'
of sta ff . How ever , we managed t.o play t,,~o match e:>
with Ch atham where we had an extraordJJ1 ary good
time, the "eat~" and entertainment b ein g fir st cl as~

337

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

EXETER.

. Quite a !lumber of changes of station ill the st.aff

sll1ce 1- last rEnd ered my notes have taken pl ace
fl nd t.he office l1?W presents a vanety of new fa ces .
On t he absorptl?n of the allotted portion of th e
staffs of t he defunct vVad ey and Lichfield offi ces
and WIth the posting of reliefs , dc.. unfam ilifll'
n am.es have cr ept int.o the Pay List a nd' Attend fln ce
R egIster.
S:Q.M.S .. Tl'Ussler joined ~ fter completion of
dutIes at Ll chfield , and previous acq uisition s were
Strgt. Fraser and P te: Lu ckhul'st from , iVa rley,
Corpl. ! ann er from. Llchfi eld , and Corpl. Di x~n
from Hllsea (on loan). Th e Civili an Staff were
Messrs . Nash, Sabine and Beckford , of whom Mr.
Nash has left us for Hounslow.
O~ the 1st June, 1938 we welcomed Mr. Pope (ex
S/ Sot. , R.A.P.C. , Woolwlch) and to him a nd all
the n ewcomers OUl' warmtst welcome was extend ed.
Th~ se who h ~ve at any time in t he past served
~t t~1 offic~ WIll l:ecflll t he familiar figure of Mr.
P at Ha WklllS. L Ik e all of us at some t im e or
anoth er, the t ime arrives .when ' we must doff the
harness and retire to thoughts of things away from
pa t:as. and sub-paras. So on -le 2nd Ju ly' 1938
retIred Pat after long service. H t joined th~ offi c~
before the GrEat vVar after h av in ~ ser ved in the
f\.rm y P ay Corps, a nd h as rendered notable serv ice
ill mo s~ .of th~ Office activities, in hi s latter years
of servIce havl11 g been t.he Office rEpresentati ve of
the O.C.A.
Thus passes a Rillar of t he Ex eter
Offi ce, a nd we fl ll wish him every enjovment in his
w ell- ea rn ed rEtirement.
"
P tes. Cook e and ~oberts left us for Shrewsbury
~.nd ~ondon respectlve]v a nd we wish th em well
In tIlel!' new stations.
Congratulations to Corporal Makin on m ak inO' the
grade (pUI~ not intended) and we hop e t h at he is
not stud ymg A.F. 0. 1734 at this early stage
although evidence seems abundant .
Corpl. Dixon left us to return to hi s 'spiritual
hom e' at ~ilse~ after 'getting us out of the ca.rt'
and we WIsh hIm well at the staside. Vile miO'ht
remind him . that he is still on th e programme'" of
!oeave at t!llS office and hope that i t will materiflllse. (SectIOn Officer please note.)
The Staff Club Outing to Looe and PolpHt'o was
s~ccessfully encountered one day before the hurflcan e descend.eel on Sunny Devo il and th e day was
thot'Oughly enJoyable in all its aspects.
..Thret aspira nts for Corps Honours have recentlv
.I omed, from the School- Pte. Thomp son of the 'Old
Brags (Shmer of York please note), Pte. Comfort
of the Gunners and Pte. Ions of t he R A.M.C . Vile
hope t ha t t hey will do us and themselvt s credit
and can onlv point to thefil'st step on t he ladd er
and say " So what I".
. Finally our' cong ratulatiom to Captain Quin on
hls pron:otlOn to that ra nk. One wonders what
wou~d have l'flppened had not one of t he clerks
~a d .the cou t'flge of his co n victions a nd bought t.he
Da:lv T elEgraph " ,o n the dav t he Gazette was
pub!lshed.
.
~ nd , as Mr. Pepys so abl y put it so to bed .
whch seen13. the a ppropr'iate - place after drawing
dl the o\-erhm E. pay we ha ve earn ed.
BUKRA FER ~nSH MTSH.

T HE

JOCRNAL

Th e Houllslo;; Offi ce _Rep . must a,pologise for not

Office i\otes " 11l the last issue of the
Journ al. H e was. h owe \-er, performin g the duI. of
~er$,ea~ts'. Mess caterer at t he t im t of t he myster1011s
clctl\ ttl-es III and arou nd the Sergeants' :Mess wl
tl:e notes were due. Th ese happenings nectssita~:d
extensIve enqmnes and propelled the caterer throu I
t~l.e "Thlt'd D egreE", with the result t hat not mu~l~
tllne .w as fl ll owed to contlt1ue the normal office dutIes
and I epol't also the mls-deeds anel other activiti es of
the _Hounslow D Etachm ent. It is indeed a mystery
why these notes are not belllg written with in t11 '",
shady portals of Dart moor or t h e Scrubs.
.
rd.Lowever, let us proceed and congratulate e\l'V.

b o y.
~)Iod u clt1g allY

LEITH.

.A rrivals.-\iVe extend a co rdi al welcome t.o Cap. t.Cl,ln 'I' H . Sweeny, on post in g to this Stflti01l flnd
hope that hi s tour of ~l uty wi ll prove a pleilsnltt one.
A hearty welcome IS a lso extended to th e follow ing:-:- S.O.M.S. Need ham. from Woolwi ch, COI'PI.
Curl'le a nd Pte. Impens from Li chfi eld and Pte s.
Wylie a. nd Ashel' from Pretit,on; also to Gdsmn McCn llu 11J from t he Schoo l at A ldershot.
.
Tennis.-CaDta;n Sweeny has si O'nali zed hi s arrival
bv winning th e Com mflnd- Sirl!~l.e; and he fl nd Staff
Sergt. B essent were na rrowly beilten in the Doubles

ARMY P AY

J,

CORPS

JOURNAL

of S.S.M. J. H. Gibson from Ald ershot , L j Sergts.

M. Cuthb ert flnd E. Gordol1 from Hounslow , Corpl.
Gal'dner from London and Rfml1. L. Cross and P t e.
F. Stapleford from t he School at Aldershot. We
hope t hty will enjoy t heir stay in this offi ce.
Th e Crick et season has been one of ups and down s,
for after a good start, we have since uffered heavy
defeats-in the retul'l1 game with Ald Ershot, from
Bal'l1et, and lastlv from Chatham where we receiy ed
a real hiding, bein g all out f.o r 19 run s. We congr.a tulate these offices on thEir victories. The Barnet
defeat was duly avenged in the retum gfllne. but
we shall have to wait until next season before anvthing can be done abo ut the Chfltha m trounci ng .
Everyone has greatly enjoyed t he visits to ot h er
offices and we wo uld like to exp ress our thflnks for
the hospitality show n on these occasion s. A feat ure
of t hE. past season has been the ex cellent battin g
form shown by Mr. P. Osborn.
A detail of the gfllnes played follows :3.6.38.. E.C.P.O. 98 (S.Q .M.S. Matthew>, 40),
Woolwich 80.
8.6.38. E.C'.P.O. 151 (Mr. Osborll 50) , D epot
Middx. Regt. 187.
16.6.38. E. C.P.G. 66, Barnet 103.
24.6.38. E.C.P.O. 162 (Mr . Osborn 7?:J) , Woolwich
87 (Mr. H a ddock 5 for 38).
13.7.38. E.C.P.O. 57, Aldershot 138.
11 .8.38. E. C.P .O. 146 (Mr. Osborn 65) , Bflrnet 88
(Maj. Banatt. 7 for S2 ) .
17.8.38. E.C.P .O. 19. Chatham 93.
From the look of ' this week 's post. bag it IS.
ho wever. obvious that cricket is neadv O\'er and
Mr. Litt lewood will soon bt coming in'to his o\vn
agfl in .

by C010 nel CULlllingham and Staff Sel'gt. Major

, Vell er, RA.S.C.
Outin.g.-O Ll 1st August we held our Annu al Outing, a nd this Y2ar we w~nt by motor cha rabanc to
Aberfoyle a nd Loch K atn ne and t he Trossachs.
Leav ing Leith Fort abo ut 10 a.m. we Journeyed
yia Linlithgow , StirLng, along the . hores of the
Lake of Menteith t,o Aberfoyle . After lun ch at. the
Clacha n, we inspected the old Bailie N icol Ja rvie
Hotel and viewed the famous poker and other rehcs
of the noted B aili e, no t forgetting to sample his
fayoul'ite Blend. Thence on foot up t he Tno sachs
by t he side of Loch Katrine "w here tw ines the
path " and where the scenery wa s much admIred.
R eturning along the margms of Loch Achray a nd
Vennacher under the shadow of Ben Venue past
Co il a nto gl~ Ford , where Fitz James had a scrap
with Roderick Dhu , across the Brig 0' Turk , we
arriv-ed at Callander where we did ample justice to a
"High" T ea, etc., etc.
E veryo ne was in high spirits a nd althou gh we had
no time for a cricket m akh , yet one of the Central
Section. who ans wers to the name of a famous
cri ck et~ r , was caue:ht for twenty in the gull y .
L eavin O' Ca ll and er we continu ed our hron~ eward
iourn ey f~r about an hour wh en a fam il ia r "Sig n"
called' for a noth er h alf hour 's halt . This delay
caused us to arrive in Edinhurgh ju st. too hlte for a
fin:11-and so we came t.o the e nd of a l)erfect day
arriving at Leith abo ut 10.30-t ired-but lookin g
forw:1rd to next year for another of t.he same .
MACSHEMI.

HOUNSLOW .

TO: ~lajor C. VV. C? nlI Or on attai nin g his m ajority .

S. Q.lH.S. V. K emp ton on his promotion t o
, Varrant Rank.
Sg,t,. an.d 1\J.rs. G. ,~ewitt on birth of daughter,
Ma[ gal'et Aun , at Hounslow on 13th Jun e
1938.
. ,
Corpl. L . Taylol' on passing trade t est As. Cl.
Clerk , R. A.P.C. (W e belie ve h e s"WottE.d for
Ill S ,~xam. whilst in ho s~ ital undergoing a n
opelatlOu for appendICItIs, from which we
are glad to see he has fully recovered.)
S / Sgt. P. Murphy a nd C. L angham-"Rooti
Gong"-a nd the Mess was clOSEd.
Ser gt. L. Spooner on promotion to t hat rfl llk .
Ptes. Amslte a nd Ogil vie on tra nsfer to th e
Corps.
Messrs. ?pooner, Leader, Porter and McIntosh
0lll thelJ: bel11g wa rned ~o. p ro~eed to E gypt.,
Mal.ta, GIbraltar a nd Tl entsm r espectively
dunng the forthcom Ing troopin g seaSO ll
AND last but not least. to t hat noble bod y of
caterers,. ~ 110 still take their turn -on weekly ros tf~ r
each \.valtlllg allxlOusly for the Mess to re-open.
~ Arrlvals.-\~T e welcome S/ Sgt. C. Langham and
fanuly from Sm gflpOl'E, Sergeants D. Banbury flnd
L . Sl?Oon~r from Ea stem Command a nd PrIvates
Ogdvle, A m slee. , iVinn a nd Gibbons from t he School.
Departures.-L / Sergts. H. Cllthbert and E
Gordon to ~astet'l1 Command a nd Co rpl. F. B a r cha~
to the Costl11g School. vVe wis h t hem well.
Sport.-A "n il " return-:-it is regretted that cl'icht
matches a rranged have elt her had to be cancelled
through pressure of work or through inclement.
weather. But we are 100kin O' forward to tht Ho ck ey
Season . . ",iVoolw ich-w e I~eard mutterings at the
O.C.A. Dmn er-why not wnte to our Hockey Secretary a nd a.rrange a game. I do believe we'd lih
to m eet you.
OFFICE REP.

ROYAL

LONDON, EASTERN COMMAND PAY OFFICE.

Lt .-Col. E. W. Grant, O.B .E. , our A.P.C., is soon

lEavin g on retirement, a nd with t he departur.e .of this
officer t he Corps will suffer a r eal loss. H IS rearly
smile and hElpful fldvice will be greatly missed in
the office and we all wish him good healtha,nd ha ppiness in t.he JP-H.rs to com e. Lt.- Col. and Bt:-C~1.
A . S. H l'bert, M. C. is sho rtl,:), expect.ed to arn ve 111
relief, flnd we would like to take this opportunity
of welcoming him to the office.
\liTe are also sorry to record that Lt.-Col. T. H .
Gt'flnt, our Cos t.ing -A .C.P. , is proceeding to Hounslow .o n 1st September , to take over the dutiES of
Regimental Paymaster, and we sha ll loo k forward
to m eetin g again from t ime to time.
,Ai e were pleased to see that in the publication of
the London Gazette which caused such a stir in t.he
Arm y , the R.A.P.C. were no t forgotten , and offer
OUt' congrat ulation s to Major F. "V. Cooper and
Captain ,N. E . C. Loftu s upon their advancement in
rflnk . ,,,,le fl lso congrat.ulatE S.S.M. J. H . Gibson ,
Staff Sel"!1;t. F. Ridd ingt.on and L j Sgt. F. Bamforth
m)on their recent advancements.
\Ve seem to have bee.n fortunate as regards overseas oost.ings t his year, for up to t he present the only
one to be lJut under orders is Staff Sgt. Maior F.
Eade. who expects to proceed t.o E gypt earlv in the
New Y Ea r . In com mon with all other offices . many
other oostings have taken place. a nd during the past
quart.er we have sai d ~.oodbve to-Capta in H.
Stubbs to Woolwich , S.S.M. A: E. L ea to Ru1ford
and L/Sergts . L. Spooner and D. B anbmy to Hounslow. Vile wish t hem all a good tim in th eir new
station s. Vile Wt re pleflsed to see Capt. H . ,N. T .
Marden back again after completing hi s course at
the Costing School. also new fl [Ti vals i.n t he persons

LONDON, REGIMENTAL PAY OFFICE.

General.-Our departure and arriva l list for the

q uarter has not been too hwvy. ,iVe hay e hfld to
say ' Cheerio' t,o an old frien d in S j Sgt. Fisher ,vho
for his past Sill S has received his crown , a nd unfortunately , been sent 0 vel' to do his stuff wi th the
Tank Boys at Bal'llet.. Vile wish him a pleasant stflV
in his new surro undings and can qllit~' recolllmencl
him as a mediocre table-tennis enthusiast. to his
new fri.ends. S.S.M. E fl de has joined us ten~porflrily
from C. P.E. C. and we offer him our best wishes for
a pleasant stay herc . whEth er it be a long one or a
short one. Pt e. R.obed s has iOined the f.old for a
furthe': probationary period and Ptes. Mitch-en er and
R.uss hfl ve been added to our numb ers on post.ing
from t.he School. W e wish t. hem every success to
.
t h eir ambitions.
Con g rflt. ulation s are ex t'end ed 10 Pies. Gocldard
and Smit.h. on t lFir hav ing oa.ssed successfully int o
full fl ed .,.!ipgs of th e Corps : F urther co ng ratulati ons
go to S.Q. I1. S. 'Tich' Newton . Sgt. James fl nd L /Sgt.
V\Till s on fltta inin g the ranks as >;howlI .
Our ann ual o~lti ng Wfl. spent at Brighton on
August 1Dt h flnd w ith the weat hfl' on it he;.t behaviour in that part <of I,he \\'orld we mflnaged to
eni oy a verv plea silnt OI'lV t.ogether . A good spreflrl
WilS ol'ov ide'd ilt t he ' Old Ship' hotel and it wai' !11 ilrle
more enjoyable at. t.hat, st.age by t he l)l'fSe nCe of our
Regimental P flv master. Major W. E ad ie. M.C.
Sports.-T he crick et. season draw," to fl close and
we look hflC'k on it wit h ~ C'ertili n deg ree of sfltisffl.ction ? Played 3. WON 1. Lost 2. not fl veryou tstanding nco'rd. but, certainly il n impro vement on
la st seaso n . w hen we had the grefltest di fficulty to

339

THE

R OY~-\L

ARMY

PAY

field eyen a losin g sid e. How eyer, fres h arriyals

are pouring in from the School a nd we are alrea dy
considering the idEa of opening a nursery in the
basement.
If the efforts of L j Sgt. 'Will proye successful,
we hop e to raise a foot ball tea m of no mean r epute,
and a ny blanks on fixture lists will be gratE!fuUy
fi ll ed .
F.L.
NORTHERN IRELAND DISTRICT.

GOIf.- Th e annual m eeting of t h e Army in Ulster

was held at Newcastle, Co. Down , ill June. Lieut.Col. i,/Il. D . N. R,obotham and Major L. E. Jam es
were both competitors but found the glori es of a
champion ship course an added handicap. Th e form er
was in the team representing the A.rmy against the
Royal Co. Down Club, the match being drawn. As
an in centive to ardent golfers to visit Ulster it m ay
be stated that there are ma,ny courses within easy
reach of Belfast, very varied in character, the coastal
ones especially being all the year round courses.
Departures.--=Our District P aymaster, Lieut ,-Col.
"V. D. N. Robotham is leavin g u s on p'osting to the
Regimental P ay Office, 'Winch ester on 3r d October,
1938. It was with much regret we received th is
news. Lieut. -Col. and :Mr s. R,obotham h ave taken
a very keen interest in the social well-being of the
members of the Detachment, civili an clerks and their
respecti ve families and we sh all b e very sorry to say
goo d-bye.
.
i,iVe trust that the ch ange of station will eventu allv
he to their likin g and that they will settle dow~
and be as happy as they h ave been in B elfast . Lieut .Col. R,obot ha m is to b e relieved at this station by
1\[ajor C. D . Vint from Western Command.
Captain E. B. Godwin emb arks for E gy pt on
2nd September, 1938 on H.T. "Nevassa" . \Ne sho ll
b e very sorry to lose this officer. who has been at
t hi s station s'i nce he was commi ssioned in 1931. Vl7e
h a.1 l also miss his happy pe rson ality at our social
functions. VIle wish Capt,. and Mrs. Godwin god sp eed , a h appy stay in Egypt and , on their return
to the United Kingdom on retirement , the peace and
rest they h ave so deservedly earn ed.
Arrivals.-Capt. L . OliveI', West Yorkshire R,egt.,
on probation for the Corp,s , joined h ere on 25th June,
J93<3 from sick leave and has assum ed 'the duties of
Cashi er. "'le welcom e him to this station a nd trust
h is tour of duty here will prove to be a h a ppy and
su ccessful one.
.
Social Club.-A dinn er is to be h eld at the Queen's
Hotel on 26th .Au gust, 1938 in honour of t h e departing members a nd new a rri vals. lfile hope to include
a report of events in the n ext issue of the J ournaJ.
Football.- i,i\7ith the opening of t h e football season
near at h and , we h ea r that S.Q.M .S. B. E. L, Tozer
has been selected to referee certa in matches in the
Irish L eague.
Hi s first two match es are B allymena and Jewry
on 22n d Au g ust, 1938 and Clifto nvi ll e v. Di still ery
on 17th September, 1938. W e admire hi s pluck in
taking up such a responsibility .
Those that h ave been station ed in Northern Ire
land and have witl1('s3?d these matches will und ers ta nd what h e is up against .
PERTH.

It was wit h deep' r egret \\'e report the dea th of

Mt'. C. i,i\ iilkinson . a well-known m Ember of t h e
~taff. whi ch o cc ur~'ed su dden ly on t h e 27th JuJ v

340

CORPS

J OU RNAL

last, The d ecea sed \-vas an old m emb er of the

Corps, b eing discharged in the rank of S.(ll\I. S.
III 1921.
Th e funeral took place at P erth on t he
30th Ju ly , and was atttnd ed by a la rge proportion
of t h e ofllce staff.
Strangely enough, the vacan cy cal}s-ed by :Yrr,
~Wilkinson's death h as been filled by Mr. A. C.
Penme, who also took his disch arge in the ran k
of S.Q.M.S. in 1920 whilst in the service of t he
Egypti~n Government.
Mr. Pennie join ed t h e
Corps 111 1903 and served in this office in 1905. We
trust his stay amongst us will be long and to his
liking.
Th e re-organization has wafted th-e fol1ow ill D' to
this n<orthern clime: Capt, Fryer, S.Q.M.S. But ler
S.Q.M.S. Ede, L j Sgt. Higson , and Cpl. Graham:
All appea l' to be settling down with the usual
sto ic~l resignation which is becoming t he hall -mark
of t IllS remarkable Corps. At this time of the year
"Caledonia stern and wild " can be v-er y attract ive, and it is our wish t hat h er more' pleasant
features be most in evidence during their stay.
TI~ e An~ual Outing this year call ed for sp ecial
co~sld er<l:tlOn by our CO I~lmitt ee and, after many
dell~ e ~'a.tlOn s, It was d eCId ed to visit the Empire
ExlllbltlOn at Bellahouston. Our Committee must
be con gratu lated on the a rra ngements mad e. esp ecially for their perfect understandin g with King
Sol who, in his glory, shon e upon us all day. Quite
a n enjoyable day was sp ent, but t he unan imou s
opinion was to the effe ct thnt a week wo uld not
h ave been too long. As this could n ot, be officially arra n ged , we all did our utmost to see as
mu ch as possible in the time available and many
t ired feet were seen the following day. Th e Exhibition Journal very cleverly reco rd ed our party
on their fixture list as "Record and P ay Corpor ation, 100" the point of which IO UI' latest joi ned
probationers h ave not yet discov.ered .
L /Sgt. Ackland ha s r eturned to t,he fo ld, followillg
a co urse of costing duti es at Ald ershot ; h e is
cover ed in glory, but sadly out of practice at golf.
Sgt. Pountney departed to that fount of kno wledge
at the same time, so the status quo b as been ma intained .
i,N e were delighted to receive a visit from two
old P erthites in t h e shape of S:Q.M.S. SpoonEr and
L j Sgt.. L eader, who were holid aying in these parts.
Th e latter was observed renewing old battles with
th e North Inch , an d we are sure that ven erable
expans e of swa rd gladly accepted the challen ge.
Mrs. Lane, ,wife of Sgt. Lane, h as been di sch ar ged from the local infirm ary following a seriou s
illne~s. Vl7e und rsta nd sb e is now vastly improved ,
and the Doctor ha s gi ven permission for h er to
tra vel. so Ge orge has decided to takr his lon gclela.yed holid ay. It is to be hop ed t ha t the ch an ge
will prove btneficial to both , and en tirely oblitel'flte t h e marks of what mu st h ave been aver.)'
tryin g t ime.
Old P erthites will also be sorry to know that
Mrs. Low h as und ergone an operation in Perth
Infirmarv. D avie ass ures us, however, t h at sh e is
p ro gressin g favourably and will soo n be dispen sin g
he l' ])eerless brew ;]mongst U~ once m ore.
In formel' ye,11's. th e pl'Ospect of commen cin g
sma ll bore rifle shooting wou ld hnve been recei\' ed
with pl r a urabl e anticipnt ion. but times b a\' e

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

JUC Ri'\' AL

was pr esented with a P ewter T ea -Senice.

Con g ratulations to Sergt. and Mrs. Astley on the
birth of their daughter " Joan l\IIa ry" on 4th June,
1938. We hope " Dadd y" doesn ' t ha ve to weal' pll1k
ribbon at night,s to foo l t he baby.
i,iVe also offer om CO[lD'ratulat ions to l\Ies rs . Ward,
L evE.tt and H ensh aw 0;;: promot ion to Grade Ill. A
bit belated perhaps, but so is the res t of t h e "Kews" .
The Annu al Out,in O' ta kes pl ace on Satmday, 20th
'\.U oust. Thi~ year ~ve are tourin g th e Fylde Coa st
~topp in g a MO~'e cambe for Lun ch and Bla ckpool for
Tea.
i,i\ie have fonnd time to have OIle "bowling" and
"dar t " trip to Pilling this season , \I'hich was gr eat ly
enjoyed by aJ l, our RegImental ,~ ayma ~te r an d ~ I,S
partner proving th emselves the Da rt C h a m plO~s .
'We hope to h old anot her O!. these tnps 0~1 th~ L~th
August, and no doubt o.ur "Dar t Chamrnon s ,~ill
t ak e on '111 comEI' C!t thl::; nobl e and anCIent game.
,
(
" ESSELL ' .

to find
cb ang ed . H OIIever., we a re. hoping
.
. fi at leastt
five h ardy la ds who are wllhng to sacl'l ce a s po
of h a rd-eal'lled sleep so tha t we can entE.l' a t eam,
d W ho knows . it m ay be bette r next month ?
an
"
PIBROCH .
PORTSMOUTH .

S ummer new in _this stat ion is not Yery pl entif ul.

Our Office Representative hanng dep~rt ed on fur 10u D'h to hi s native heath l!1 the HIghland , hIS
m a~t1e h as fallen on the reluctant shou ld ers of Ill S
" r elief" and proved heavy ellou gh t,o smo ther a
ho st of bright, and ,original id eas . In other words , It
is easy to think of Office notes If you have not got t o
write them .
At the mom ent t h e a il' is thick with trooping.
Ser geant MOl'l'ell at ",Bovingto Il IS c~ue to emb~r k f~~
Sierra L eo ne abo ut LOth Septembel. and hIS relief l~
SergeaJ1t F. H. Thomas from BuIford-a s tartlln~
exception to t.h e general rule that h e would talk of
postin gs a nd r eliefs 1Il the sa me breath wll] h a~e~o
hold it f.or a remarkably long time. S.Q.i\l. S . BlOwn
embarks for Singa po re abo ut the end of S e ptem~e r,
an d Vie wish both goo d YO:"a ges a nd happy Clays
abroad.
L j Sgt. Wilson h as l eft Devo nport Oil posting t o
Bulford , a nd S.Q.M .S . Barl'ett has gone from Gos port to tak e his place.
Om numb ers in anyone place are l1?t large e nou ~ h
to ad mit of detachment t eams fo r Cricket 01' t enlllS.
L j Sgt. McArthU1', however , assists t he R .A.O:C.
Sergeants' Mess t,eam whIch appears to be h ea chng
for a comfortable victory in t he Ga r]'] sol.l L eagu2.
Sergeant Morrell has rendered good aSSIstance to
RA.O.C . s port at Bovington bot h ns a player an d
orgnniser.
l\1eanwhil e we are lookin g forward t c t ]';i;! opellin~
of t he IntEr-office shoo ti ng, and pleasant e\'enings
with t h e Hilsea Club .

SALISBURY PLAIN.

I sup po s ~ E di tors are qL~ite n ecessa ry , but , when

the familiar post card l'emlllder that notes ale dll~
by the 20th insl. l'each es a b lo~{e on ' hard earmd
lea ,-e well . . . . 1 I sometlun g must be done ,
howe\'er-the last effort proyed wo rth . ten and. a
t an neL I wOllder witat I'll get for t hIs-th e bl1'd
.
.
.
_
.probably.
E\'eryone on the Plam w ho can P?sSlbly. "qu eeze
it in is h ayin g a spot of lea\'e. KlI1 ca ld 1 g0ll1,g
in for foreign tl'a\'el. as is Thomas F.G. , but h ~ s
tak in g t h e oH Port unit y to take unto hImself a w l ~e .
Seelll s a pit:. . to mu ck up a pl'f~Ctl JT good l,ea, e~
J ones is bv the slh ery sea a l~d . Stonehen&e ha"
turned into th e 'Skipper' a nd IS 111 camp WIt h t h e
local scouts . I mllst apologis3 if these not~s ar e
som el\'hat scrappy . but such int erl'UptlOns as ' Slap,
shall We put, (h e sp ud s on ' ; 'Skip, are. these apples
done': 'Skip , Tubby ' s cut 111 ' fi nger ' , ;:]re hardly
cond uci ye to high lit erarY art.
.
Tidwol'lh Tattoo . in which the Co rps nobly chd
it s part. ha s com e an d. gone. E"eryone was 'p.le as ~d
to ~ e c Stan Sibley when li e came to YISlt 111s
peoDIE durin g tl1ttoO week. By t h, way. old members of t h e c. -:\I. :\.. who remember M~. Si bley
senior whil t stationed in L ondo n WIll be Jl1 er ested
to know t hat h e is the T attoo Box Offi ce Supery iso r at Tidworth and lik es to forgather 1II those
ula cs where one clo ,:,s forgat h er a nd ta lk oyer those
h ectic days w hen ' Costing ' first sta l ted..
, .
Ca l'd en ' has l'eceiyecl orders t o hold hlm sdt 111
l'eadine,s to pj'o ceed to Hong Kon<?: abo ut Sept'2111bel' 27th.
.
,
Wh en I left th e office Thom~ ' F.H .-tb at s th e
t all one--was packing ut) for !3oYin'l.ton a.nd ha,
Drob[lblv D'one bv now. i,i, iHis I ~ lEa l'ln g Tldwort h
for Blllfo~d-these fore i!!n statio ns are the ve rv
deyil ~re n ' t they ?-a nd Spark ha s offer ed to go t o
Tientsin in the place of anoth<'r i,i\ .0. who prefers
England. H ome and B Eautv.
.
The other people 'for oyersea1' h aye not. r ecel:'ed
sailin g 0l'der3 and [I re hopin~ to eat theIr Chnsr,ma~ dinner-if anv-in En g-land.
..
i,Nill is a.fter a long sDell of " Hel'll ate H ospIt al and
lfa\'e with a fractured ankle h a~ ret urn ed to du t y
lik e a giant refreshed-we hope.
.
Evervone con D'rat ulates l\ rr. Cowper 'On hIS ])1'0 m o t,ion~ J S llPl~ose like e,-ervone eLe he ' " foun d

PRESTON .

Sin (;e t he last n otes frolll thi s station appea red .

mu ch water has passed un de r an d o\' er , th e bridge
in this part of the country . Some of th e s taff ha\'e
ret ul'Il ed from t h e a nnu al lea" _ very much ta llned
by th e s un , 01' wa " it "Sun tan" obtain ed from the
loca l ch em ist ?
.
..
H owever, to get down to news:Ca ptain Rees . S.Q.M.S. Davies oncl th eIr fanllhe s
h a ve join ed us ' from. Aldersh ot a nd i,i\' ool:V lch respect.ilely , and P te. Davies from Yo rk. We e xtencl
to t h : m a h eartv welcom e and ll op" th at th ell' st ay
in Preston will fJe a h a ppy one.
. . ,
Priva.tes Ashurst ond i,iVvli e h:Jy e left us for Leltll ,
and S.Q.M.S . Craven for \ iVoolwi ch. C~:\. Gr egson
ha been , ent on a " Rest ClI re" to the Cosb ug
School a t }\ ldershot. Gregson, howeYE.r , may h aye
a different opinion of a '~ R,est C ure" . Cpl. H a nsford is expected to embarl, fo r SIn gapo re O il 01' nbout
the 26th Se ptember.
Th e " RemembrancE Fund " has ueen called upon
t"' ice r ecell tl v tp s uppl v parting: gifts to bvo memb er s of th e ci"ilian st.aff. Firstlv to Mr . H. Dyso n
who h as d ecid ed to ta l, e a wei le;Hll ecl rest , an d
seco nd ly t.O i\[iss Alker who kl s by now. we hOp E,
settled dow ll to a life of Matrimomal Bli ss.
Mr . Dyso n was the recipient of a reclilling ch!,ir
from t.h e offi ce sta ff . and a mala cca walklllg shek
from I,he members of the C.S.C. :\.. whilst ?l'lio3 .~lkel'

3-P

THE

R OYAL

ARMy

PAY

it a long w ait but stiJl 'tim e m ar ches on ' and w e

ar e all anot h er one up t,lI e l'oll (B oy ! br ing m e t.he
yellow p eril) .
Arrivals.-Captain In gpen has assumed du t ies as
P aym aster i j c Cost _-\.ccounts . _
-u t he m oment 1
rather fa ncy he find s Tidworth a good place to o-et
out of bu t I'm sure. t he undou b t ed charm of t he
Pl a in will 'get him ' a nd he'll .enj oy his stay h er e.
A fte r 12 yea rs on t h e pla in-th at's m a de some of
yo u loo k up- I find ever yo ne posted her e moan s
like fury a t fir -t, bu t on e and all are .sor ry t o ltaye.
B rooks h as also arri ve u a nd settled down .
Any omission s ar e r egretted but wh en on e is sat
do wn il~ t Ile ol)en on a glorious da y , com fort ably
att.l red 111 practi cally a bll'thd ay sui t it is diffi cul t
to ta ke one' s mind b ack to stuffy offi ces kha ki
uni for m and br ass butto n s.
.
,
Chas. Fowler h as promised t o t ype th ese n ot es
an d fill in dates . etc. if h e ca n lead t he writino.
"STONEHENG E ". o
WARWICK.

Sin ce we last, appea r ed in prin t we h ave, w hen

work permitted, managed t o pa rta ke of Sum mer
pastimes, B owls, T ennis, a Crick et 1vl atch and t he
Annual Gard en P arty have all com e alon g. Bowls
a nd Tennis, of which mor e will be fo und b elo \~. a re
still in progr ess .
.

Garden Party.- Au g ust 5t h , t h e chosen day , did

not daw n too fa il', nevertheless we hoped t h at as t he
da,)' wore on t he weather wo uld also im prove. In
t hIS respect we WHe unfor tun ate, for late in t he
mornin g r ain camp, a hurried co nsul tation of t h e
"Comnuttee" fo llowed and tables, etc. , were m oyed
fro m t he Cour t Yard of St. J ohn 's H ou se t he
origin al place fo r tea, to t he 'War wickshire Y eon;a nry
Drill H all. A lt.hough g r ey , t h e aftern oon r ema ined
fin e a,nd t he guests began to al'l'iYe, un t il fin ally
well over 100 werB present .
'Much amu semEnt was fo und 011 th e D ar t -boa rd
un del' t h e capable orga nisa ti'on of S.O..M.S. W hite.
Skee Ra,11 u nder t,h e direction of }\fr. Littl ewoo d (n o
conn ection wi t h F oot ball P ool ) Wl1S also verv well
patro nized. B owls wi t h cr azy biased woods ca used
m uch laugh t.er and t h e p ri ze- a'va r c1ed to t he Gen t
wit h t he hi gh est score was eye nt uall v ca rri ed off
bv S j Sgt. J on es after a t ie with Se l' gt . -P ocklin gton .
E ventually t he par ty wen t to t ea a nd vo un g a nd
old alike did full justice to t h e WEll -laden tables.
P erh aps th e main events of t h e d:w followe d t eat he Children 's races. W e have to tlia nk Jvri "s Miller
(Adrema ) a nd .M r . H ensh all for fln eXCE ll ent 11 1'ra n gemenL of r aces . INithout. i ! do ub t t he hiQ:Jl li Q:llt
of t h e3e events was t he displ ay given bv ' Master
Bobby Brown , t h e youn g so n ' of our S.M., for
nlt hou gh by far t h e voun Q:est in hi s egg and spoo n
l'ace, and alt hough far bE hin d , he s tucl{ to hi s .i ob
and un daun ted bv t h e fact t hat t he race was over
he. continued to ' forge nh ead un t il h e ha d fin al1 .;
fi lll hed t he course com plete w it h E gg and Suoo n,
fO l' which he was dul y awarded a special nrizE.
T he d ist ri bution of pri zes WflS carried out bv
]\[ rs . .Tohn so n and m anv h nppv fl1ces were seen as
re ul t of t.h e openin g of th e ))nrc ~ l s r eceived.
Sport.-On several occasions in t h e past two or
th ~'ee m on ths, R.S. M . H a'.vkin s nn d members of th e
Ser gea nts ' Mess , D epot. Th e Roya l INarwick shi re
Regt. , h nve kin dly in vited us to Dfl rta k e of th eir
hosnitil li ty in th e' " lair " in t he B~db roo k e Hill s.
Th ~ qU2s Cio n of trn l1 spor t to and fro m h avin g

342

CORPS

J OU R NAL

been solved satisfa ct orily , d ue to t he kindn ess of

Y<'I rious afflu ent p el'son s in possession of p ri\' l1te
ca rs: our own S. S.M ., ably assisted by W.O .I F illlayso n, Sergeant A rro wsmi t h , H..A.M. C. and Q.J\I. S.
(Fo reman of INorks) Youdon RE. , w ere alw ays to
be l'eli :: d upon t u ply uet ween St. J ohn ' s H ou se a nd
Budb rooke B a rra ck s.
Th e first visit was o ffi cially an indoor Games
Toul'll am ent ; an att empt t o r eco rd th e scor es was
fr u trated bv a D om in o School whi ch would not
ag r ee to r et lirn a " points" decision , and secondly a
Eu chre School was un able t o decide th e allotment
of points . However , in view of th e fact t.ha,t Snoo ker
and D art s comp etitions result.ed in our fav our, we
co nsid er ourselves a bl e to uph old "Co rps" prestige
in all gam es associatE d wit h t he Bar .
Th e instiga tion of a Cricket Mat ch w it h t he above
Sergea nts' Mess also w en t off wit h great success .
nnd p l'O ved , with a fter events , to be a g l'eat sendoff
to "Barney".
INe shall no t attempt to give in dividu nl scor es
of t h e cricket m atch , suffi cient for us t,o say t hat
alt h ough w e lost by 18 r uns . we put up a cred itable
performance as m ember;:; of thi s D etachment rarely
play.
Tennis.- ViTe have m a.naged to pb y som e tE nni s
~md perh aps t he m ost notabl e even t so fa r was t h e
win ning of t he Sout hern Commnnd R,hin e A rm y Cup
F in al by Co rpor al INh eln,n . W e feel su r e t ha t all
t.he "school " friend s of CorpI. l iVhelan will join us
in wishin g him th e best 'of lu ck in his effort s at
Ald er hot on September 3rd.
On 26t h June- a T en nis P a rty from INoolwich
visited us a nd after lun ch we settied down to t,en nis.
an d as a r esul t of t,hrEe Gent's Doubles and t hree
Mix ed D oubles, hest of 5 games each. we rn n out
winn ers b y 35 t o 34 ga mes , whi ch left everyone in a
h appy fra me of mind a.n d n p ro mi se of a not.h er \'isit
in t. he nea r fu t ure.
Th e Gent' s Sin gles nn d Mixed Doubl es are still
in progress and a re nearin g t he com pl et,ion stage .
wit h t h e r esult t h at m uch di scussion is bein g
wager ed as to t h e ultim ate wi,nn ers. INe h ~p.e to ? e
a ble to give th e r esul ts of t h ese competltlO!1 S 1Il
our n ext issu e.
Bowls.- vVe have carried out our usunl progr amme
o f game with loca l tefl ms an d ha\'e th or ou ghl y enj oyed olU'selves. Th e A nnu al America n Tounl :l m ent
is still in p rogress a nd we are hopeful of co m p l ~t,i n g
sam e in t he n ear fu t ure .
". !.
GeneraL- Gnr. Youn g a nd T pl'. Prin gle-Scott
h ave been duly t r ansfE rred to t h e C01'9S fln d we hope
t hat t h ey will be h a,ppy in th eir positi ons.
Co r pora ls H oll and 11,nd F ento n have been post ed
from INoolwi ch.
P te. H emstock a nd Sapper Deni ck h ;)"e join ed
us from t he Sch ool for th e r Em ain der of t h eir probatio n a nd we hope th eir stnv in lea fv INal'wick will b e
nn enj oy;] bl e one.
Ser\'t. B arn sha w, wh o coul d not t a nd t he pace
:It thi . Station . h as re trented to vVn rl ey; we k now
hi ~ short sta y 'w ith us W;1, a hap py one and h ope
h e w ill soon recover un der familv co nt rol.
?vfr . K el'sley has ;] lso ret.urn ed 'to INa rlev and we
wish him a.ll t he best.
Pte . Clark e on lo;] n fr om Sa li sbnry for one m onth
has co me and \'o ne a nd we hOPe h e ta k es back m a ny
memories of his b rief ~tfly in an cient IN:wwick.
J\IJDLAN DER

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

] OCRNAL

Col. S. A. God frey r eached t hi s o ffi ce too late for

in clu sion in our Jast no tes but it is t he wi sh of us all
here t o place on r ecord our deep reg ret at this lo ss
and to pay a, last t ribu te to an offi cer for w ~om we all
held an a,ffectionate regard. At a fa rewell dmner gIven
to Col. Godfrey when he left W in chester, a speaker
sa id. very t r ul y, that he had been a friend to us all.
\Ve wo uld li ke to lea ye it t.h E.re.

WINCHESTER.

CORPS

Stra nge t hough it m ay seem bu t neverth eless

t ru e, t h e ;1.ctiyiti es of t h e year com menced last mont h
WIt h a cricket match aga m st t he Rlfle D epot Se r
gea nts ' M.ess . Our team, w ell seaso ned WIt h Supplementa ry H.eservlsts, look ed l~ r e t ty strong nnd e\'8ry
t.hin 0- ~as set for a fi ne game, but a fin E- team and
fi ne ~v i cket are not t he onlv n ecessities for a fil :e
game. Ju st as we were gettin g into our suride a nd
wi th yi ct.o ry i!l SIght, a t hun der clo ud burst with
amazin g su(i denness and in a VEl'y sh ort t ime el'e ~'y
one was lit er ally dr enched. R escue work was ca rn ed
out bl'aYely by th ose .pr esent who ow ned ca rs I In
t ru e Test }\/[atch splnt, t h e match wa.s decla r ed a
draw! It has bew suggested th at tile 'INettin g'
was cont.inued un t il t h e ea rl y hours in t he ?liess.
The l'etu1'll m atch took pl ace on Au gust 13t h , a nd
a aain we w er e able to t ur n out a stro ng team . I t
wOas amazin g t o see such an a rray of ra incoats ~! nd
'B rolleys ' despit e t he fact t hat the sun was Sh 1ll11l g
brillia nt ly. By t he tea m te n 'al , ,~ h e n 140 sat down ,
it. loo ked omin ously lik e a good h cklll g for us WIt h
our sco re at 25 for 4 and a to t al of 86 to bea t.
H owever , a ft er tea, much excitem ent an d m any
t.hrill s were prov id ed by th e "ta il " as a close n1l1 sh
ensued . INe w ere gl'a.dua lly losing good ':" Ick ets--:74 fo r 6, 74 for 7, 75 for 8. RU lllOUl' h as It t h at It
t.oo k t hree m en to faste n t he last ma n' pads on [IS
his legs were shaking so mu ch befo r e he took hi s
place at t h e wick et. At t he close of play , h oweyer ,
t.he R .A. P. C. had much pleasure, I r epeat., lllu ch
pleasure in decla rin g at 100 for 9, t hu s m aint aining
our prestige as cricketl's and sayin g t he h onour of
t he Corps .
At our in vitation , t he Sgts. of t he H.ifl e D epot
gat.hered for a social evenin g in th e ~1e s t he s~Jll e
eyenin g. Spirits were hi gh and priCES low . TIme
did n ot permi t fur t her enco res t o. t h e 'L ?mbet h
\~T alk ' whi ch h app ened alon g four t lllles dunn g th e
eyenin o- wit h t hree or foul' enco r es Each t Im e, and
had it, ~ not been fo r c-ertain Pav Li st,s l1 nd sundry
offi cial m nttel'S t hat n eeded at-t en t.ion , we hould
m ost cer ta inly have bee n still at .it .. In fact t h.er e
are so lll any experts in thi s hectic tI mber tapplll g
revelry th at, we at vVin ch ester chall enge all COJller ~
to a m fl l';]thon in t hi s art.
Th e eVE nin g en ded wit h a Ru gby mntch . RA .P. C.
y. Rifl e D epot . In consisted of a series of 'Huddl es'
nnd a sil k t,onper for a ba.ll. Strl1 n ge t.o r elate. each
huddl e end ed as near as possible to th e Bnt' coun te r !
INe ar e very sorry to be l os in ~ Col. A . S. H erbert.
M .C. wh o h as bee'n wi t h us fo r eiQ' htee n mont hs.
INe w ish him t h e b est of lu ck a I, " E aste1'll ".
INe extend a vel'V w arm 'welco me to L t.. Col. IV.
D. N . R,obotham wh o is to su cceed Col. H erbert as
R egimEntn l Pnyrnnster, a nd h ope hi s sby in IVinchester will be a h appy one.
Cpl. Topliss is t o l eave u s fo r P alestine. a nd w e
ar e ver y sorry t o lo se him . Ou r w i ~h es for eye rv
success' in hi s new sta tion go with him and it is
honed t hnt hi s leisure hou rs, if any . will be profi t abl y spent .
Two' proba,t ioners h ave ,i oin ed in th e perso n of
P tes. Gibson and Moora t . In welcomin g t.h em . we
h ope t h a.t t,h e volum e of work ,,ill not h e too
alarmin g . Alrea dy one h as hea rd t he l'i' m ark. " If
t.hi s iR L1 slll nll oAl ce. Wll:tt i s don e in :l l;] l' Q'e offi ce
lik e vVoolwich ?". H 'i'; U D to vou. IiVoolw ich 1
Th e n ews of t Ile un t im elv dea th of th e ln te Li eut. -

WOKING.

To Lt.-Colonel J. Sawers, who has left us upon

reti rement , we all sin cer ely wi sh eve ry ha pp iness ,
a nd hope t hat his t hou ghts w ill occasiona ll y st ray
to old comrades.
L t .-Colonel C. Holmes, M.C ., has t aken up his
du ti es as R egim ental P aymas t.er , nnd we seize t his
opport uni t.y to wish him a ha pp'y t.o ur of du ty at
Woki ng.
\.mo ng t. he baggage wblch arrIved fo r
t he H..P. t here was an a bun dance of sad dl ery ,
nccordin g to popular rumOUT.
Our Mes enaers who have never befor e ha ndled
anyth in g lar g:l' t1~~ n thB offi ~e cat (while it. li vE d) ,
ar e in a bl ue fun!,., 111 antl clpat lOll of th lll gs t.o
c.ome!
Cl1 Pt.a in J. R . Bmn e anived, in r elief of Capt.
T. H. Sweeny, borne by a monstrous Triumph
Gloria . H e ,vas quickly m ade a F r eer,tl a n of tl~ e
Sero-E an ts ' Mess . The offi cial de cn ptlOn of t.hlS
spa~e appoint ment is act ually '0. i j c. Mess'. To
him lI'e also offer a glad welcome.
~Iore r ece nt.ly t here arrived fro m t he School at
Ald ershot . T rooper W. H,. H owell , E:.D .G .. t o
comp:et.e his t l'aiii in g amid t hE- wh irl' of our m achinerv. I~T e look forward to t h e day wh en h e will
be"come 11, full v fl edo-ed m ember of th e Corps . H e
replace Corporn l P ;tts who expressed grEat. delight
u po n being all otted a vaca ncy at t h e COStlll g
School.
Outings.-.:H tel a vea r's la)J.- e, we a l' ~ at last
nble to gi ve news of 1\1es- Outin gs. Our lIl defat.lgnble spi es hav in g bEen set t.o work . the wh ole of
t he able-bod ied m ilita l'v sta ff soon fo und t hemselves aboa,rd a coach fo r L ondon . em b arkin g upon
a strict ly "stag" pa rt v . In cident.a lly it. was th ought
poli tic to run th e "st.ag" out ing fi rst. for reaso ns
a nv married men will ap precIa t e.
~-\. rt'iv i ng el1 l'l y in Londo n. seyeral enj oya bl E hours
were spen t indi vidu ally . An offe!. by one of t he
a.foresa id s1)i61s,., to , show us the S I ~h t s of L onclon ,
in view of hi s ra t,her murky r eput atl'on , was regretfull y t.urn ed dOWll . _. Cocktail s were se rved at
seven-t hirty. in t h e \i\tll1d sor Cast.le rest.a urant. and
t,he pa,rt y ' t hen sat do\.vn to dinner . Th e m en,u
(perso nall y selected. by on e. of our t nme ~pl e~) , IS
sWI on fil e fo r mform atlOn 'of Corps DlIl l1Er
oraani ;;ers. Luckilv , we had but to cross the road ,
to t:> t h e V ictoria P alace. Of t Ile -h.ow . "Me a ~d
my Girl". one can only ~a.y . t h at It r onsed ya m
hopes in t h e brEasts of DIVISIOn IH wall ~hs-th at
t he more senior members woul d reall y dIe of t.h e
npo pl exy which seemed im~l in e~t, .
After. w e
" Lambeth INalk ed" down V lctOl'l a Str eet. to a
wn it.in g coach and so home.
.
Our n ext, essav n eeds n stern eI' pen. INIl cl sea11l nsic is l'equi reCl. So me t hirt.v soul . .. women and
children first, set off by coach for ~V md sol' . . Our
rood ship layoff in t h e ron ds. by IVll1d sor B~'ld ge.
H ere we regret to s:w . th e ,~'o.m en :l nd ch~l~r en
took second pl::i ce. ~r n n y w tlhn g . h ow wlllm g,

343

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAT

ha,:cl.s assisted in the b E.~ ~ow al of th~ cargo. Th e

sohclt,ud e and tender cal e were tou ching to bei ~o ld.
Not. a _bottle was blokell.
At eleven o'cloc k, so ny six bells , or th ereabou ts.
th.e goo d ship put forth , I~ Olllld for Marlow. lacl.m
\v lt h sta lwa rt manhood ch::nmill a wom a n'hoodand bE.el". The scenery on th e w~v was m<1 o' ni j1 cent , especially the pu ,its. Th e c re\~ s thereof ~vere
ravishing and it wa s with sO Il: e d iffi culty that som e
o f the mOl" ~ im pressionable m emb el s of our CrW
werE. rest l a in ed from dese rting sh ip. A suggestioJl
(by the afo~'esa ld s py , Qf murky repu ta tion) , th a t
free tows be offered, was reg retfu ll y turned dowll.
The rumble of mutiny ab rewillO" -was however
averted by piping all h~1I1cl s to it I"'um is;ue . Aft er:
\"ards , the number of punts seelll ed m ira culou slv
doubled, and the occupant.' mor~ ra v ishing UHI;I
before so everybody wa s happy. Lunch was se n ed
a board , a nd sho rtly after W 3 m<lc! e a landfall a t
Marlow . As a r Eward for walk in g th e plank. the
crew . were granted three hOUl S ' shorelea ye which.
happily , none o\"erstayed.
'
Th e return journev w as Lln e" cntful , despit e th ~
efforts of one or two amateur helmsn:en. Tea \';a~
s~l' ~; ed , and we fin all y made fa st again at , iVilldsol':
gl.V l11~ on e last regretful . look at th e punts, before
chm bmg on th 3 coach . Quit e a few members were
hear~ . di scussill g th e meri k of a riVEr holiday.
provld1l1g, of course . . . !
.,
Great aHd loud praise is due to Se rgea nt Phillips.
wh~se un cea?lIlg_ hard work ga\"e us two sple ndi I
outll1gs. TIus ~ .C. O. I S to sa il for Egypt during
th e first ha lf of thiS trooplll g sea 011 ancl. a~ I
fO~' ecas t in th e last iss ue, he ha ::; had no ,em barkatIOn furlo ugh . H e's much safer when at ,,o rk.
anyway.
Sergea nts Punt er and Vi1ill iam s are und er orders
to sap for E gy pt during th e seco nd ha lf of th e
~roopll1g season! , and L / Sergt. J en ki nso n is cr e2pmg up the waltll1g hst, vel"y s urely indeed.
In
!act. non~ of 11 ~ would he slll'pri eel' should b e be
ll1 Palestm e, or some other h ealt h r esort . b efor e
thes ~ notes appear in print.
'
Co ngratulations to Sergea nt 'W illiams on attaining this rank, on 15t h August.
It will be of gr eat int erest to families wJl0 n~ a v
b e posted to thi s statio n in th e futur 2. to leat;1
t hat gas has bee n laid OIl throughout the m a rri ed
quarters .. Most wives al'e st ill in t he ex periment a l
sta~e Wit h gas-cookejs, gas-iro~s , and. coppers,
whl e the pOOl" husband s are dmly co urtlll g indig.e st lOll by. bell1g compelh:d to "a mple t he piles of
pastry whI ch appear each day .
"GHILLIE " ..
WOOLWICH.
Th e " G unners" now have the unique d istin ct ion
of possesslll g ' town " and "co untry " P ay Offi ces.
S~parati on is now an accorl1.ph sh ed fa.ct. The " AntiI..!rcra fts" have left the Woolwich " Fi eld s " fOI
(;v e e xpect) the ca]m er atmosphere of B rentw ood .
'l.h~~ . spht m eans a redu ction of thirty (incll1d.i ng
clvlh a ns) 1Il t he total strength of thIS office. In
so me cases, pa rticul a rly '- 0 8mona the ci vilian s . th e
association wi fhV\7 001~"ich has b~e n of many ,;ea rs
stand.lI1g and we r egr et the d eparture of so ;n a nv
faml!Jar and pl easa nt per so naliti es. V,l e shall mi -"s
them-and the ir noise-and hope th ey will lik e the
pleasantly ["neal sllrrounding>, of ' V:lrlev. T o the

344

CORPS

THE

J OCRKAL

1'eal Londoner, howe " er, " l. mob of men is helter

than a flock of sheep" I
The summer SPO lt s session. paltly as a co nse qu ence
of tlus r e - ~l"ganizatiol\ being in "s uspen se", was a
\"et'," curtailed ol\e and r eports from the spolting
se ction s a r e either th1l1 or barren.
Arrivals.-Major E. F . Cox, together with
S.S.}!. G: W. Mit ch ener and Staff-Sergt. J. Fol ey
lomed us 111 June after dosing up the ~T a rl ey (Infantr~,') Office-they were all soon to be helping to reopen , iV arley (C.D. and LA., RA.) Offi ce I
From the R .A.P. C ..Aldershot School the fo ll ow in op robationers ha\e also joined; - Tpr. J. M. P ear~
s_on. Pte. D . W. Swilld ells . Pt e. C. B. Huxford,
:r ll S. J. B . L ally . G nl". S. R "IV. Harns and Pt e.
A. ~\ . Edmonds.
P erh a ps, .~ik e Lamb , th ey will find " the glamou r
of th e town ' a pleasa nt change-we hope so anyw ay.
Departurts.- A r egretta ble loss to Woolwi ch . as
a resul t of the separation is th e pendin g depart ure
of om R .P.--:-Colonel A . B. Cliff-wh o will shortly
r enew acquall1t a nce ,u t h H ea ciqu art er s . Chester
Co lon el Cliff ' s "chair" will then be ' occupi ed' by
Lt. -Colonel R. H. Slllyth , M.C . who is a lready with
us.
Tho se leaving for vVa rl ey' are Lt.- Co lonel H . P.
Fenllell- who will be th'e new R.P. t here-M ajor A.
G . W . Broadhurst. Lt. C. R Haddo ck and Lt. A. K.
Hunt. S.S .M. F. Y. Mundy , S.Q.M .S. ' s J. N. Price ,
H. J . Horan. H. J. D enham . Sta ff-S gt. J. Foley , Sgt.
P . J. Thornton. L f S gt. R . ' Voolev .. Co rporals G. F.
Bu chan. A. Kin g . L. Vol. \iVerenclel. H . C. Wih:OIl ,
A. G. Thom sol1, J. C. \lexal1d er. M. J . Churchill,
J. Mau le, F. W est and Pte. P. Rat chford. The following m embers of th e Civi lian StaB al'e also "under
ord ers"-Me3srs . H. Blake, H. Bull. A. G. Farthin g,
"f. W . Hu tchin gs. C. j"fool1::- v, , V. F. Spann e r, H . J.
'Ya kefo rd a nd R. E. P hillips.
. The r etil:en: ent of Maj or ' iV. Mor:1n. O.B.E. , 1\'1. C. ,
I S another Item of reg ret,. An flccount of hi s services
[[lw ea r,; on a noth er page. Hi s d eparture from th e
acti" e li st of th e Cor-ps is tem!1e red with OU!' pl eas ure
d hi s rema illin g with us on t he R e-emplo ved Li st.
Anothe r impendin g departure is that of Maior L .
r. F. BaJton wh o, aft er a very sho rt stay in , ir oolwich. is embilrking for E gy pt.,
S .Q.M.S. G. E. Needh am , ,1ft !" a long spell III
'Yoolwich has le ft us-anci a big gap in om Bi lliard s' tea m which he ha s mate l'ially helped a nd
))lloted .0 s ll ccess full v . for se '-era l years past--fo l'
L eit h. S.Q.~J.S. T. H. D<l\"ies who ma ny t hought
hell a lease " in perpetuity " a t ' iVoolwi ch has gone
to PIES t,OI1 . Sergt. D. ' ' ' ' . Iawso n to Co lches.ter for
Costing duties a nd L /Sgts. R. W. Holla nd and B. H .
F enton to ' ' ' Tarwick. S / Sgt. V. Ru sh decid ed to break
hi s " furlollQ;h pE'ncl il'l g " and reful"Il to th e fol d.
Th nce. a.: Serge to Eci inullI" a h. L /Sgt. J. Ben t ley
and Cpl. K . \V. Horn sev h ~ \' e le ft -to see k fresh
lau r els at th e A lders hot Co.- ting Schoo l.
. To all of .theJ:n " happv .cla i " and . <1 ho pe that
wh el\ \\'e meeLaga in th e '''''' oo lwi ch days may be rem emb ered as p leasa nt ones.
Discharge .-St a ff-S ergt H . H. Pop~ ha s taken hi s
clepat-ture into c i\'illife . ~ ' iVe und ersta nd he is taking
up a post in t he Exet er Pil Y O ffi ce where. we ilre
sure. h e will qui cklv estab li sh hi mself. Our best
wish es to him and we hop e he will be a bl e to pm'sufl
hi ::: horti cultural ambiti o ll ~.
Promotions.- Co ngratulnlio ns on their p-mmotions
t o;- Major I-I. P. P a rk . Ca pt. H. Stubbs (\\'a. he

ROY AL

ARMY

PA Y

CORPS

JO"CRN AL

a nd ' Neekes of the .?llac: hine Staff accol!.1p'anied t he

party to augment the tennis sectio n and generally
kept us cheerful amid defeat. At Bat'net , in a return
game with London Offi ce, we ma ll ilged to "savour
faces " and record ed our first (and perh aps only)
victory of t he season.
Results-

surprised on th e morning ~f :\u gust 6th?). and to

Li eut. S. J. J . F lux on apPoll1tment to comml sslOne.d
rank. At the mom ent (tou ch wood) the latter I S
remaining with u s.
Corporals L . ' V. Werendel and J . }Ia ule have also
been promoted to th at r a nk aJ1lld our good .wl shes .
Congratulations.- To S.Q.M.S. T. H . Davles, our
latest r ecipient of th e L.S . and G.C. }Iedal. Also to
Ptes. K. T. Pind-er , )T. Mercer , A. H artl ey, A. J.
Gaunt, R. H erl::<:>rt and P. Ratchford on fina l transter
to the Corps a nd on passing th e Class II Test.
Marriages.-It has been sa id that ';\,ioolwi ch Note::;
w.o uld b e incomplet.e without news under tl:i s h eading. This time we ha ve to report that MI SS Th.ew
of the !v[ach in e Room Staff ha s left us to be marneu
and also L j Sgt. J. D. Weatherall has "taken th e
plunge". Presentations, or~ beha l.f of the St<l ff,
were mad e to the accompa lllrnent , 111 each case, of
a pleasflnt little homily from our R.P.
Births.-The prefa ce to t he preced in g para g.r a ph
applies equally to this! The . wife .of Sergt. \"':. ,c\..
Car ver r ecently pr.esentecl h1ll1 WIt h tWlI1 s.
Our
congratulations ~re doubled accorchn gly and accom panied by our wl5hes for then pro gress.
Tenn,i s.-Or.gall ise cl by Sgt. P. J. ThorIltOIl , a
partv of tennis enthu siasts of th e D etachm ent ,
mix ~d with som e of the "fair" members of t he
Ma chin e Boom Staff, tl'avelled to ' Val'wi ck and were
ent,ertain ed by th e local d et achm ent.
. A v.ery
pleasant Sunday indeed. Th ank you aga In, Warwick .
Crlcket.- The Secretary wa s ve ry loat he to gi\"e us
t h e m atch r esult s. Vil e are not very surpri se d!
Still we cOll sole ourselves 'w ith t,he thought " th e
gan ;e' s the thing " .
L ondon P ay Office and E. C. Pay Offi ce beat us at
Wi<lOlwi ch arid Cha thmn Offi ce , i'epeating history ,
completely wip ed us out at Chatham. Th e l att e ~'
outing \-l e very muc~1 en Joyed and Ollr oppon ent s
hospitality. Th e lVhsses l\Iarsb, Skeet, SaLlnders

London P ay Ofn ce (at Woolwi ch).

Lost. Woolwi ch 143 (Cp!. W est 63 not out),
London. 153 for 6 wi ckets.
Y. E. C. P ay Offi ce (at Woolwich ).
Lost. Wolwi ch 87 (L j Sgt. Weatherall 48 ),
E. C. Pay Offi ce, 162 for 8 \\'ickets (Major W.
Vero , 3 wic!cets for 16).
y. Chatham Offi ce (at Chatham),
Lost. Woolwich 26.
Chatham. 174 for 5 wickets.
\". London Pay Offi ce (at Barn et) .
Won. Woolwi ch 141 for 3 wickets (Mr. R. Smith
44 , Cpl. F enton 43, Cp!. West 3'2 not out),
Lorldon 57 and 28 (Pte . Hartley , 7 wickets for
25) .

Y.

YORK, COMMAND PAY OFFICE.

The change of faces in the office during the past
t wo or three months has been very slack . due no
dOll bt, to the I11'ior troopin g sea son' slump .'
Th ere have, however been t hree tluetuations on
l he home and foreign exchange m arkets. Sgt.
Stewart and Pte. Benest. to whom a h earty welcome
is acco rd ed , have arrived for duty at ' Nei1lock T erra ce. Although York is a very old city, there are
lllany modern pastimes to be indulged in , and it
need h ard] y be said , that apart from work , service
within the'old citv walls is never to be shunned.
Sgt. Cammidge"pa cked his traps a nd embarked for
'JIalta early in July , and it is hoped that he is as
J1Iuch at home t her e, as he was here. S.Q.M.S.
Hun te r now looks forward to pension day , and we
hope he will do so for many more year s to come.
staff Outing.- An excell ent trip was arranged for

ON THE RIDGE OF THE DEVIL ' S ELBOW .

34 S

It

THE
R OYAL
.:;" ..I4_,_~_,._-,-_",

A RM Y

o ur annual outi ng 01' Stag Pal.'ty, on Sat urday, June

11t h , 1938. A t th e sta rt of t he day t he sky was
la,den wlt h clo uds, bu t u nt ll 6 p.m. th e \\'eather be haved .
A yery co mfor t able cha l'abanc carried us up hill,
down dale a nd more or less e\" elll v o\"er the Yorkshire
Moors , by a de " ious ro ute to ~V\ lii tby. Th e majority
of the party who were n.ot York sh ire born. showed
t heir app reciation of t he ever-ehanging sc~n ery , by
wan t ll1g all wllldows and sun s hUl e roof open , in o rder
not to mlSS anytlung, b u t when in Yorkshire __
so we had to wait u ntil t he 'b us stopped . in ordet
to get out for the fr esh air and cene!"v. '
/ \ halt wa'i call ed at a famous bea~ty spot n ear
\iVlll tby. ca lled t he D evil' s El bow , a place wh en des cribed III map read ing terms-wO Llld be called an
en trant.
F r om the p'hoto rep rod uced it will be obserye d
t hat our party were tand i n~ 011 t he top edge of the
elbow , from wh ere It lS po slble to obtain a wonderful view of the surroun din er co u nt rv. L ookin g down
fr om t his posit ion one ca; &ee at the bottom of the
entrant, several hu nd r ed feet below , a very pi ctu r esq ue fa r mstead . As Ollr tattoo experts remarked.
the farm gr ounds would ma.k.e an ideal arena wit h
na t ural grand stands already provided- b ut 'w h ere
co uld one pu t change boxes a nd t urnstiles?
On r egainin g our seats in t he 'b us, t he usual r oll
c~U w~s m ade, and on fi nding everyone p resent
(lIlclu dll1g Gordo n ) it was decided t hat t,he D e\"il
is no cOlitortionist. inasmu ch t hat he was un able
to cast, a n e~ oyer his own elbow.
A hearty mea l in t he fo r m of dinner was the m ain
attraction on th e e:'en tual a LTi v~1 at V\ hi t by , and
th ose who bad reframed from eatm g too much , were
able to ease t he "top bu tton" by walkina on the
9uav . etc. T ea was to be served a't Scarbol~o u ah . so
111 t he ea rly afternoon t he 'bus with its compl~n:~ent
com plete sped qmckly s~ u th ward s by a coast.al r oute,
to t he ever- ropular seaSId e reso r t .
Th e di sap p ea l~ance of a vast q uantity o f ham a nd
eggs was t h e sIgn fo r David to send " it" down .
There are m a ny p u blic places where a person ma v
obtain com plete s helter fi:o m t he rain. suc h as un d e;'
t he win gs of t he local "Black or W hite Swans" ~r a
dri ve wit h t h e "Coach and H orses", or on t he oth er
hand t he reference r oom of t he local library. As
non e of t he p arty suffered fro m external wetness,
and t he refe rence room was closed-well ! ! ! it was a
gra nd trip .
A fur t he r ou t ing for t he families of t he st a ff takes
place .o n Sunday, 21st Au g ust, 1938. This w e canno t gIve a ny reT?or.t on, except t hat all are going to
!Iom sea and Bndhngton , a nd t he pr os pects of h avm g a fin e day are good.
T he main att raction in t h e sporting wm'ld t his
sum mer has been tennis. Sgt. Bown a.nd L / Sgt.
Mann m ust be con gratulat.ed on winnin g t he Com mand a nd Gar riso n M en 's Doubles
Time marches on, and t hose wh ~ have been told
t hat th ev: s hould go a long way i n t he Corps, ma v
have rea !l se~ t he actual m eaning of t he phrase, since
the pubhcatlOn of t h e List, t roopi ng 38 j39 R. A .P .C.
1st and 2nd h alf.
. A:s t h e s umIl? er season is draw in g t o a close,
bl ~ a ~'d ~u es will b e r e-t ip ped and rifl es oiled . in
ant lclpatlOn of a n even t ful season wit h plenty of
comp ~ti ti o n . et c .. t hese, toget her w it h th e li's ua]
fun ctlO ns t hat go to m ake our win tel's ben rable

P AY

CORPS

J U CRi\" AL

TH E

R OYAL

will be looked forward to bv a ll ra n ks' 'Twixt Trent

a nd Tweed".
.
.YORK, REGIMENTAL PAY OFFICE.
. Arnvals.- Cpl. B . 1I1cDade and Tpr. T. R eed ha\"e
JO lne~l ll . from. _-Ude rshot and we t l'Ust that their

stay

be a happy one.
R. Gid low and L j Cpl. F.
Da n es ba\"e depad d for Ald ershot a nd Preston respectl\-elyanu we WIsh them th e best of luck in t,heir
n ew tatlOns .
Marriages.-Cp!. J . :.\IcG ]ennon to :'\Iiss Korab
Dwye~' on 16th April , 1938, a nd Cp!. L . J . \~7 . T ipler
t<;> l\I1 ~S I re ne E ast on 18th Ap ril, 1938, both
~. C. O. s wer e presented Wlt h wed ding gifts from
Co lonel E. J ames . D .S.O .. i\I. C., O. i j c., Reco,r d
and P ay Office w lth t he best wishes of t h e staff.
Sports Club.-Th e An nual Outi ng to Sout h port by
~Iotor Coach took place on 4th July, 1938. The
Joul"l1 ey comm en ced at 7 a.m. A ha lt "'as made at
Il kley .wb ere a sBl.end id brea kfa t. was enjoyed by
the patty at the h lOSk Cafe. T he 101lrnev to So uth .
port wa s t~1en res nmed. t he t"out~ taken was \"ia
Sklpton, Ch t h eroe to P reston and t hence to South .
port. Sout h port was reac hed at 1- p.m. where lun.
cheo n was p rovided by Messrs. Bobbv & Co .. L td.
A fter lu nc h and a short rest t he party p roceeded to
t he am usement pa rk where seve ral membe rs were
seen el: JoJl ng t bemseh es on t he Dipper a nd not
forge t t m g t h e "OCTOUS", the th r iller: one memo
bel' ?f. t he pa r ty was seen to eye t he octop us yer)'
su P l cl ol~ sly- h e pOSS Ibly thoug ht it was too much
of a thrill.
T he retu rn j our ney to York was com men ced at
6 ..30 p. m. ; a short stop was made at LiYergool t,o
n ew one or two pla ces of inter est. a nd a halt for
s upper was made at Ma nchester . York was reached
at
a. m ., evervone feelin g some ,,-hat tired . but.
h avlllg t horou ghly enjoyed a verv plensant dav.
~ffice Inspection.-We were pleased to see the
Chi ef of t.h e--Corps on his visit to the office on 21st
July, accom'panied by Major Feeha.ll y .
D unn g hIS b ri ef stav he inte rviewed two or t h ree
mem b e l'~ of t he office sta ff who bad pl'e\" ioll sly serv ed
.
under hllll.
We gathered t hat the tr-e nd of his \"isit is to
alleviate in some mea ure t he heavy work t h rown
on the o ffi Ce an d we are await in a w'it h int erest the
developments towar ds t his end . 0
Ten~is. -Th e Yo rk Garriso n Cha mp ionships were
h eld 111 Jul y, an d Sgt. Bown , t h e holdel' . aga in
triu m ))hed in t he Singles. T he R.A. P. C. also won
t.h e Doubles event (represen t ed by Sgt. Bown and
L j Sg~. Ma nn , .Comm and P ay Offi ce) for t he t hird
year In succeSSlOll .
III

thls statlOn

W Ill

Departures.-Cpl. C. E.

A RMy

n_-R~ AL

THE COMP ETITION' IS OP E N T O ALL SUBSCRIBERS T O TH E J UUR TAL

AN D E KTRIES SH O LD BE T YPEWRITTEK A_ ~ D E ~D OR SE D \i\TITH THE
'W RITE R 'S NA ME AND, IF DESI RE D, 1 OJ1 DE PLr.;JI E.
NO MANUSCRIPT \i\T ILL BE RETU RKED 'NLESS ACC0 1\lP A ~I E D BY A
ST Al\I P E D ADDRESSED E N VEL OPE.

Stations Abroad
lar ancl as populous as eyer .
FOt" a n effortle sand u10pensiye eighteen da.'::; '
holiday, the Families' Camp i a model of thoughtful
and efficient oraanisatioll coupled with a complet e
shedding of th el1l ilitary ~t,mospbere. Change of air
is only one of tbe changes a imed at and achien:d.
A part from t he hea \Te n-sent sea breezes and sea
bathi ng it proyides a well-earned .r est for Wlves and
mothers from t he labo urs and worries connected WIt h
housekeepin g. etc., since no t ollly is catering for
mea ls com pletely an d excellently carried out by the
K.A.A .F.I., but the pri \"acy and isola.tion of t}1e
bea ch and ca mp ; leaye child ren happIly and lD 1I0cuou sly fne from the necessity fo r par ental. SUp'ervi sion and anxiet. E ,-en the labo ur of t hmkmg out
what to do when'n ot bathing or lazing on t he beach
is sho uldered by ente rta inn:ent ex perts whose fertil e
brain s bat ch manv indoor aed outdoor amusemen ts
which , mlless one has a puso nal preference fol'
solitu de. offer somethin er to s uit all t astes fo r all
occa iOl~ . To ment ion l)IJt a few ; t h ere are Ya cht
trips; Coac h to ur. , F ishin g exped it iol:s, D a n~es . .
"hi t .drives , Co ncerts a nd as a speCIal dispensation .
pe rmission is us ua lly so ug ht and granted for a eo nc1 uctE.d \"isit to one of t he nu merous and rmlcll;"
excitin g casinos (norma ll y ou t of b~ u ncls) on ~he
sea -front. where as some co mpe nsatlOn for be1l1g
stun g 2J6d. per bottle of be~l' . one may ,~atch a
weIJ .sensoned fl ool" show ,,,,hl ch loses 110thll1 g by
being in a -foreign language.
Altogether, seeing t hat fam ilies are tra nsported
free from quar ters to seasid e and. th at expenses oth er
t ha n t h e yery modera t e bQarchng chargs by t h e
K.A.A .F. I. , ~ eed not exceed th ~ usu al weekly bud get. t he Change of _-\.ir Ca mp 1 a very att racti ve
ameni ty . ,,hi ch is proved bv t he fact t h at tlus
snmm,,;: t here are six periods: each of which caters
fo r a hu ndred or more families.
T uming to ot her diYersions . it eems t hat in
spite of. or beca use of. extra wo rk : I :B . l:eturns .
et c. IT :l lwnys t hink that as a d e cnptI" e t ltle the
pre fh L B. fa lls short by several "B' " ) , WE. ll1ust,
eye" t um to fresh a nd un conq uered sp'h eres of
act i,-itv as th e tomato seasons roll ove r t h e h eads
of this detClchm ent. "Ye are past masters at, T Enni s .
Euchre. P oker -dice and t.he mor e ort,hodox form s of
spol't- 'we haye e,'e n emerged from t he chrysalis
st age at dn rts- now. we appf nl" to be gOlll g a~ [
mecha ni cal ;] nd <1quahc.

CEYLON .

Championships.- Although

Alth oug h t here have been some occasions Oll

which t em peratures like cricket scores were reco rd~d.
th summer in Ca iro has on t he whole been qUl t e
moderate so fa r, alt hough at the .present m omen~
we are ex periencing what are modestly call.e d
"normal" t emperatures.
Th e gen eral exo dus to t,he Medi terra nea.n . hores
and isla nd s which char acterises an E gy p tian sum mer began earl y in Jun e and whi_l~ we may p~ rh ~ p s
envy t h e apparently natural tra;nsltlo n of th e c,l\"lha n
population to t he mor e excluslVe and e~ p ens l ve. re.
sorts on t h e fur t h er shore, our own Rart lcular Lld o~
at, Alexandria- t he Singie So ldiers' and Ma rri en
Fa mil ies' Chan ge of Air Camps-have been as pOIJU-

Command

A P RIZE OF T E i\" S H ~LLIi\" GS A.l~ D SIXPEKCE WILL BE AWARDE D F OR

THE BEST H "MO ROlJS SH ORT ST ORY (ABOGT 3,000 W ORDS ) SU BlIIT~
T E D T O THE E DITORS BY 3IST JANUARY , I939

the R. A.P.C. h ad only two ent r an ts in t his com petit ion , we a r e pleased to report t bat t he Corps
swept t he board in t he Other R a nks even ts . After
som e very ha rd struggles. Sgt. Bown ca me t h ro ugh
to. win t h e Singles cha mpionshi p , a nd in pa rtnershi p
:V-It h L / Sgt. Ma nn , aI 0 wo n t he Doubles. T his
IS t h e fi r t occ~s ion on wh ich a m emher of t he Corps
has wo n t.h e Sm gles eve nt sin ce its in cept ion .
T he Rhll1e Am'v CUD com petit ion for t l1E' nominatio n O! t he ~o rth el'll Com ma nd representatiye. re
suIted 111 a, W 111 for Sgt. Bown fo r t he fourt h veal'
in succession. H e ha' bee n t hrea t ened with' a ll
sort s of puni shm en t lexclnd in q overt ime. wh ich is
now classed as an In doo r Spo rt ) if he does n ot b ri ng
the goods ba ck fro m A lde l'shot.

Northern

CORPS

COMPETITION

__\. yoice sa id " Oin what about some news for the
J ournal, so h a ving appeared on the map in tbe last
i sue we m ust do our hest to keep there.
T he p012ul ation of Ceylon has gone up by fin .
the fam ili es of S.Q .M.S . ' s J ones and J agoi l1 a ving
joined the StatioJl. - yVe. are very glad to welcome
them and w i h t hm- a pleasa nt stay.
Sgt . Hart is p roving a wort hy acqu isit ion to the
I sland as a foot baJl er and has already received local
T he " Times of Ceyloll "
I nternatio nal honours.
describeci h im , when playing in t he recent loca l internat iona l match, as "the best left extreme playing
to-day " . T he Corps basks in t his refl ected glory.
\i\ e t u med out in full to a Royal Artillery wed ding . an d E.njoyed it so m uch t hat shortly we are
to haye one of our own .
:.\Iembers of the Corps who have served here in
the past will do u btless be u1terest ed to know that
H endry is still officia,t,ing as a Peon and " ru ns". t he
office extremely well. T he climate seems as stl cky
as eyel" and mislaid vo uchers ar e nea rly always fo und
stickin g to so meone's elbow.
"
.
One S.Q .M .S . received a Hhoto of his son at the
Milit,ary College of Science-all b ri gbt and shining.
Yo u sh ould see how fat her shin es now in com petit ion !
I t 'll soo n be " T roo pers " and a few old faces w ill
dou b tless be appearin g again en route to pro n de a
gala day .
I intend ed to co ntinue but loo kin g fi rst at t he
calencla l' and t hen at t he clock feel I must desistR obey.
" Posteriores Cogitationes Sa pient iores Solent
esse " .

P_-1.Y

EGYPT .

347

THE

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ARMY

P AY

To take t h e l esse r e\'il fi rst, i t appea rs t h at Lt

growing in te rest in t h e deta chm ent a n d a corr espondingly fr esh terrol' in t h e Ji yes o f t h e "fE.ll a hin "
i the acquis itio n of motor ve hi cles of lo ng lin eage
and d u bio us pasts w hich , a ccord in g to t h eir !l ew
owners, do asto nishin g m ileages per gall on a nd
" n eve r have a t hing dOll e to t h Em , old m an !" T o
date the \'ehi cle stren gth amo ng ot her ranks is one
car, two cars ( ?) a n d o ne ca r ( '!! X - 11) .
Sa d to say, even amo ng o nl y fo ul' ow n ers there is
some d iversity of opinio n as to th e propE-l' fun ction
01' a ca r . Own ers 1\0. 1 t o 3, con te nd that ownel'hi p of a car sh ould co ntr ib u te eq u all y to bu sin ess
a n d pleas ure, bu t owner No. 4, w ho is t h e onl y
sin gle man who h as so far ve nt lll'ed , openly demon s trates his cOllviction t h at to espEct nothing bu t
comfort a nd pl easure is a mere selfis h delu sion.
Accord ing to h is conception , the ove r -rid in g consideration govern in g t he p ur chase and own ershi p
of a car, should be t h e amount of h ealthy and bou n t ifu l eXE-rcise (apart fwm pro\' idi ng a free roost and
convenience for t h e Kite -h aw k es) , wh i ch i t ca n
affo rd to it s owner a nd h is v ictim s- I m ean p assenger s. Not merely sw inging a n ob st in ate and un responsive engine 01' t r ying w it h wh eEls (b oth steering a nd spares), b u t esercise of t he ki nd which

CORPS

JOU RNAL

t ion from S.S.1\1. Hooker t h at a n evenin o"s lease of

t h E- Garrison S wim m ing Bat h m ig ht provi de an
entertall1ment more cO llgel1lal than a dance or other
f un ct ion. T he idea was well s Ll p]Jol'tecl a n d elalJOI'ated to in clud e a few modest events , a wate r-polo
l1l[ltch betw.ceJ1 CO~11Jna lJ d a nd Regimental teams ,
a Jld a l' ull l1J ng b uffet [l t the Mess afterwards. A
Saturday evenin O' was secured a nd " A m ami N io'ht"
as i t w as christe~l ed ap'peared to h ave b een q uite a
Sllccess. The yo un gstE-rs got t h eir fu ll measure of
enJoyment o ut of it (w it h t h e a dde d attracti on d
su p per ) as well as t hose not so youn g .
Ou t of t h e water -p olo m atch , so m e speculation
a rose as t o w h eth er t h e Detachme nt cou ld ra iSE- a
team to play friendl y fi xt u['e s wit h other Messes. A
ba ll has now been p urch ased a nd ou r bath allotment
on two daJ's a wee k seE-S an embryo team practisin g
a nd r eCelVll1 g m str uctlO n w hi ch w e hope to p ut to
the t est very sh or tly.
Hevel't i ng to t h e Com m and v. Hegimen tal m atch ,
th e 'play, al?art from t h e res ult , was am u sing as well
as ll1 tnest m g by reason of the absorptio n of t h e
refe,ree (S.S .M. Rooker-sel f-appo inted) in hi s
d utIes . So absorbed was h e, that h e w as impell ed
to Ju dge t !l 'e game a t clo s0r qua r t e rs. The impu lse
was su ppli ed by one ,o r two co nspirators , and t.h e

L /SGT. AN D M RS. MANN AFT ER TH E WEDDI NG CEREMONY .

produces h ealthy ach es a nd pai ns . a nd ba n ish es

lllght stan-ation .
Thus .th e feat of push in g a four -sea ter ca r some
15-20 kilometres in to Abbassia bv t h e owner and
fo ul' pa, sengers in t he earl y hour:' of t h e mOl'll in g,
recelltl.y reported by gossip, may not h ave b een the
,~ or ~ tnal It appeared.
I n t he light of su bsequent
aclueVEments a nd w ith all th is " H ealth and Fitn ess"
cfl,mpai g n i n the ail', t here are those who are COllv ll1ce,d t hat it wa probably ju st a bi t of secr et,
tl'aJllll1 g for an attempt to set up a ll ew kin d o f
athl etiC record . P ushi ng a C[l l' singl e-hand ed to
J erusalem IS :ller:tionE-d as t he ult imate goa l.
An extra I'l se 111 t h e temper ature co in cident wi th
t h e mo nth ly :.\i[ess Meetin g brought fort h a sugges -

r eferee, complete with wh istle, ge ncil aJl d prog ramme, . etc., found hi msElf neatly deposi ted in
t he IdentlCa l spot to wh ich he had j ust t h row n the
ba I!. T h ereafter h e wa s not so abso rbed a s absorbent!
~iVe h ave al'~' i v e d now to t h e stage w hen th e in vltable troopl ng seaso n mo vem ents begin to loom
up a nd on l~ug u s t 20th we hol d th e custo mary
farew,ell fun ctIOn to those w h o are l eaving us. Th is
fun ctIOn. togeth er WIth som e few wo r ds about th e
"dea l' depa r ted " will p l'ovicle ome material for
futur e notes from th is station .
. Lest ~ h es.e notes b e judged [lS too imp er sona l, let
It b e smd t h at t,h er e h a ve bee n no m a ior casu alt i es
to re l Ol't beyon d the us ua l proll1otio;l S a n d (d is)

348

THE

R OYAL

A ~ :r\lY

PAY

CORPS

JOU RNAL

boa rd until la st seaso n. .A good 1V1Il was J'eo' istE red

in t he ,first ro un d . S j Sergt. T appe nden sc~ rillg a
s plend id 50 brea k in his match. W e we re not des t ined to pro ceed mu ch furt h er, how e\'e r, a.; in t he
SE-cond ro u nd t h e do n ers team, E.S.B.T. knocked L1 .
out by 4 matches t o 2. It mig ht in terest old me.mbel'S of t hi ' Det achment to k now that our two Wll1S
came from t he ol d brigade-S j Sel'gt. Tapp end en
and Sel'gt. Sowel'by.
l iVe has e i u t comm enced th E- an n ua l s nook er and
Billiard IHlIld ica p- and great riy alry is b eing cli s played ill th e m at ches. Mild bnrl'acki ng is. of
course , permitt.3d b ut it ha s been ope nl y state (l that
i [ some membo's wo r E- gas mask s du r i.ng their
match es t heir ga m e wo uld deterio l'[lte 50 % . It is
heal'trend in g to h eal' t he h umble and t earfu l apo log ie as a competitor sinks his opgonent a nd lwves
a doubl e baulk. One fee ls t hat it real lv wa s a most
u nfortu nate m istnk e and d uly ympath(ses \\jt h both
players-it rea ll v is a p ity tLwt s uch accili ent s arise
amon gst fri end s!
Cri ciU!t .- .:-\ most enjoyable season is drawing to
its clOSE.
' Ye ha ve had som e great games and
a lthou O'h 0111' \'ictories hay e b een \'e rv few aud far
bEtw e e~l ; t he enj ov me nt ha s not bee n 'affect ed thereby. 'vV e certainly l13d a l'E:SOUncllUg W1l1 In the! t
Bo u nd of t h e Sergean t s' Mess C up ag:a lllst 1st J>I1.
E s ex B.egiment. ' Ve sco red 174 fo r 3 wick ets declilrf d , S.Q.l\l.S . B oswell a nd Sergt . B.nppl e esceL
lin g t h en ~ seh es wit h s cores of 66 and 56 r es pectively,
b oth bein o' not out at t he declamLlOn . Out' opponents
co uld m u~te r but 99 , t he bowlin g honour~ b eing
sh ared bv S .S.1\I. Booker a nd Sergt. H erbert who
took 5 fo'l' 23 a nd 4 for 411'espe t i\ely. ' Ne m et OlU'
VV at er100 in th e nest round agains t 11th Hussa rs
who have a Ye ,y fin e Sergts.' M e::;s side a n d , but fOl'

ap po in tme~lts whic h a re a nciE.ll t h istory befo re these

n otes get lI1to pnfl t . One sad occulTe nce, however
was the death of t he i nfant son (aged two months)
of Sgt. a nd Mrs. W .el ch , to who m t he, ympathy of
t he D etachm ent went ouL in t h Ei r b ereavem ent.
For the photographs w hich accompany t he se notes
and tho se w hich h aV E- a ppeared in previou s
issues . we a r e i nde btE-d to S. (.),.1\1.S. H igginson. Ko
su bj e~ t appear s to be too difficult 1'01: hi m to ca p t ure
with his ca mera and t h e results achieved by a go od
apparat us in h is capable h ands may be judged by
an yon e w ith an y know led ge of p hotography.
P racticall y all t h e ph oto s wh ich haVE- appeared
wi t h n otes' from t hi~ st[ltion we re ta k en un der
or dinar y artificia l ligh t in o' con d ition s.
' 'TIl e have to repo rt. yet :moth er m ar ri age o[ on e of
om m e mbe rs-L j Sgt. B.ussell- w ho was married to
M iss M cNichol at the Abbassia Garrison Ch nrch
dm in O' fi/Jay last. It was a verv p retty w E- dd ing at
whi cho t h e' Detach m ent t u rn ed llP i n fo r ce-the reception was h eld in the Slad e Club a fte r whi ch
the h a ppy co up le le ft fo r a sh ort honeymoo n at Port
Said.
I t is r egrett E:d t h at t h e marriage of L j Sgt. M Cl nl1
t.o M i:;s B.an kin . da ughter of S / Sgt. H[lllk in . durin g
D ecemb er , 1937, was omitted from o ur last not es .
L j Sgt. Man n c[Wll e u p' ou t of the lan d of p[l lestine
an d was ma l'l'ied at St. An drew' s Ch u rch , Cairo.
A ve r y r epresenta t.ive gath ering of R.A.P .C. was at
t h E ch urch to witness anot h er very pretty w eddin g
a nd afterwards arli ourned to T Ol'ino 's l'estrlura nt for
t h e reception .
.
Darts,- T he Sergeants' Mes Leag ue came to a
close r ecentlv and we fi nish ed in t h e middle of t h E
table-n ot too bad fo r ou r fi rst season at the [l n ci?nt
and n obl e s;nme. T h e l eagu e was wo n by 1st B Il .
B.oyn l T a nk Co rps an d t he fin al m8 tch- , iVin ll el's
ver su s Hest was h El d in ou r Mess . Senrt. Busto n
W[lS onr r epresentative in t h e R est si l e~ H e h8s
certainly been a tower of stre n gth to us [l ll cl I t hJl1k
llas only been b eate n on ce during t h e whole senSOll .
T he k nock -out cup h as al read y reach ed the Sem iF in al stage-we said Q'ood-bve in t h e 2nd Round.
t h e Sergeants' :Mess, B..A .O.C . pl'o\' in g lllllch too
st ron g fo r u s.
Tennis .- vVe ap pea l' to be booked for a raidv
su ccessf ul season a nd to el ate ou r position i ll th e
Se ni or H,an k s L eague is t h at we h ave wo n 7' mat ch es
a n d lost 1.
I n t h e retu['J1 m atch w it h t h e R OY[l l Engineer s we
hope t o reVe l'SE. t h e one defent to date rI nd h n ve
g rea t hop e o f gracin g a posit.ioll of honou r at t he
end o f t h e season .
Th e a n l1lw l to u r na m ent is in full swi n q: a nd m nnv
keen [l ll cl intel'estin Q' match es h ave [l lre ad ~r bee n
plaVfd. Th e sta nrlal'd of play h as gl'ell tly im n ro\'ed
[l nd i t wo ul d b e d ifficul t to for ecast w inn e rs i n a ny
of t h e eve nts.
"\'\l P Il re for t un ate in h a vin Q' two splendi d co urt "
p ract ic[l ll y on t he doorst eD and [lS 75 ?k. of th e deta chm en t ' a r e in t erested th E: v a re p robably n great
facto r in kPep in g us fi t .
.
Su r e]v so manv kn ees h nvf' ne\'er seen dnvh Q'ht
a nd IT'ost of u s liave [l C(1uired a, ta n t h at w ill ta k e
:ve[l )'s to WEa I' off.
'
Billiards.- vVe are not so "I', ron g itS in t,h e l il st
f()w yea.r s- sh ades of P et er m ack~b u t h ild Q' reat
h op e" o f cant m in g t !J P h [l nd some EQ'ynt Strlt e B.a il way cup th is veil ), . Thi s t l'ophy l1sed to g ra ce om

Boswell and Ra pple after their grea t eff c rt aga in st

Se rgeants' !vf ess, 1st Essex Reg ime nt.
p roceed ing to Pa lestin e; woul d Lll~clo L1 bt e d~y hav e
wo n t,he cup . ~\ s It was ; t h e e rgeants Mess,
H .-\. .S. C. ue nt <::el'gea nts ' 1\[ e,s . B.A.O.C. in a
s p irited fi nnl.

:)49

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

Cap t ain H agga rd has been our geni al skippel' in

t he D eta chment matches t hro ug ho ut t h e season an d
w e shall' certainly miss him next season wh ilst he is
in t h e Suda n. Th e Hhotograph wa s taken durin g
o ur m atch w it h t h e E gy pt ian Cricket Clu b \\'ho
beat us b y 2 wickets. Th e fi g ure in t he centre of
t h e fro nt row is t he w ell know n E gyptian ten ni s
star- Shukl'i Bey- wh o is a great supporter of t h e
E gypt ia n cricket club.

CORPS

THE

J OU RN AL

On t wo occasions S.Q.M .S. Brad shaw has bee n

un able to play I n hi s a bsence Sgts. vVatson and
:.'IIcCla ff er ty fill Ed th e breach .
. Major .J3a ines also . t u rns out fo r t he V .S. R. C.,
' , lyle l\J1s. Ba ln es wIelds a powerful r ack et. in the
m IX ed dou bles for t h e sam e clu b.
The D etachm en t fi red t h eir a nnu al Empire Test,
las t WEek . Du~ to t h e range no t bein g ava il able,
t he weekly . oAl ce shoots have been un avoi dablv
cu rt.alled t IllS year a nd r esult s in t lH' Em pir e Test.

R.A .P.C. V. EG YPTI AN CR ICKE T CL UB.

H ONG KO N G.
Hong Kong Calling.-Air.- Th e repeated bomb
in g of Ca n ton h as shock ed t he Colony out of
compl acen t " bu siness a s us ual' . A .R.P . is one of
t he chief topics o f conve rsat ion , a nd th E. Gov ern .
me nt. co nsr.io us of t h e I sland 's hu ddled streets .
is doin g its level b est t o instru ct a nd d i scipli n ~
a nll ll !On a nd a h alf cit izens. T he t ask is H er
culeall ; onl y th irty t hou sand speak E ngli sh , and on
t hese rep ose. t he full w eigh t of precep t an d ex
ample. Thus eve ry E n glish- speaki ng per son has a
'iVeekl y lectures for
valuab le du t y to perfo rm.
wom en a re a n important p a rt of t he pr ogram me,
an :l Det ach ment WiVES are doin g t heir bit b y
att end ing .
Sp~rt. ----:Th e C?rps t eam occupies a comm and ing
p 031tt on 1Il t heu' sect ion o f t he Army Ten ni s
L~ag ? e. T o date t he t,eam h ave played six matches
w lnllln g all fo r t h e loss of four . et s. Chief r ivals
for league ho nours are t he R..A.O. C .. b u t t hey ba\' e
yet to play th e R A .S .C. a nd t h e B..A.M.O. , two
of t he stro ng est t ea ms in t h e leagu e. H av ing
bea ten both by a com fortable m ar gin , t h e D etachm en t awa it t h e com in g batt le wit h quiet confidence.
Team m ember s are : Maiol' B aines and S .Q.M .S.
Tavlol' : S.Q.. :\I. S. Bra dshaw an d Sot. A dlam ;
S. Q.M.R. Pi ttham and Sg t . O'Con nol'.o

w ere 1I ot u p to our usual sta nd ard. Hi ghest scor e

'.ve nt to Sgt. Su t ton who won an u no ffi cial sweep
with 65 ou t of a possiblE. 80.
Social.-A most enjoyable offi ce outing took place
o n 'iiVedn esday , J une 8th, when three ' b uses were
hired to ta ke t h e D etach m ent to R epulse B av . T he
day was glorio usly sun ny and t he sea ideal for
s wi mm ing . After 'a very pleasa nt afternoon in th e
'w ater , t ea w as ser ved on t he lawn of th E Lid o.
T hese out ings a.r e en joyed by ever yon e, a nd a re
a cr edit to t h e hard worki ng Committee wh ose
fau l t less organ isat ion dO ES much to en sur e t hei l'
su cess .
For Home .- L ieu tena nt Lin e', S j Sgt. BUl'l'ow8,
Sgt . T erry , Sgt. F in ch , Sgt. O' Connor a nd Sgt .
Erl und , a re du e hom e t his t roope r.
~
An int er estin g paper wri tten by a lear ned m edi cal
coll eague is appl1 ded below , in t he hope that t heir
r elie fs will die o f fr igh t , th ereby all ow in g t h em to
conti nu e drawin g, ad inj-i n-i llfln , t he lavish Coloni al
Allowa nce.
Trooperitis.- The disea.se is character ist ic in all
. tations abroa d , a nd is not r estricted to r ank or
cir cumsta nces . Th er E. have b een a few isolated
ca ses where p ersonn el h ave not b een infected bv
t hi s comm on complain t , hu t t hey form such it
sma 11 percentage as to b e n egligi ble.
Th e duration of t he disea se is eith er t hree or
.,~o

,),")

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

JOU RNAL

force, of a -somewh at gloomy na tur e t hi s quartE.r

and n ot ill our u ual li gh t vein. Vl7e have .expel'lenced
so many dist ressin g and excit in g events, t ha t it IS
ha r d to know where to start .
The ~ ud cl en death of H.E. The GOVEl'll or , Sir
E ch" ard Bl'andj s Denham , G. C.M.G. , K .B .E. , at a
t ime when t he I sla nd most needed h is wise influ ence
and st eadying h and to dir ect its affa irs was a most
tra gic event.
T he weEk prior t o his death riots had brok en out
in Kin gsto n and various part s ?f th e I sla nd and t he
sit uat ion was very tense. B usm ess was pract Ically
at a st.and still a'ld lootin g and mob v i o l~ ll ce held
sway. E vent uall y t he militar y (includin g th e Local
Forces-a very smart body of men- all negl'oes)
were called in' a. nd wit h Na~Tal rat in gs from H .M.S.
" A jax " (wh o ca me fro m Bermuda in 35 ho urs )
assist ed the Police to restore o r der-unfort un a.t ely
not wi thout some loss of life and dam a ge to property.
T he fun eral of H .E. The Governor too k place on
the 3rcl J~ll1e from Kingsto n P arish Church . where
a ser vice was held prior to remov in g th e bo dy to
H .M .S. " Ajax " for buri al at sea .
I t wa s deel~l y movin g wit h all t he pon:P and cere mony usually attendant u~ on such o cca s JOn~ . E very
person of note i n t he C ~v Il and MIlIt ar y lIfe o[ t he
I sland wa s p l'E;sent, WIth Deta.chm ents fro m t h e
Navy, Army, Local For ces, and m any other local
or ga nisations. Member s of ou r ow n .r:> eta ch m en t
attended as wreath bearers. I n ad dItIO n to t he
hund reds ta.king pa.r t in t he procession t housands
of t he population- reinforced by t housands l~lor.e
fro m t h E. coun try (many had wa lk ed 1~ and 20 mll~s)
- lined t he street s to pay t heir last t n but e t o. a WIse
and k incllv Gove rnor. who had t r ied to do Ill S duty
to t h e las't despite hi s disab ility.
Th e sudd en death of S.Q.M.S. W il son . \-" hose
obit uar y appears on anot.h er page, came as a great
blow to our detachmen t and t o t he wh ole gar n s-o n.
L ast w eek a t ragic railwa.y accident occllrred some
60 miles from Kin gsto n and ~2 .p Eople .hav e lost
t h eir li ves; many more are s t Ill III hospIta l. The
local p ap er mad e qui Le a feat ure of ph o t ograp'h ~ of
th E. dea d in amongst th e wreckage . Th e h Ol'l'lble
sight.s t hu s r eveal d 'would , we \' ~n tu l' e to su ggest.
n ev er b e all owed in any paper WIt h proper regard
fo r t h e feelin gs of t he survivors or r ea der s of t h e
paper and wer e quit e unn E.cessar y .
lVl eanwhile t h e life of t he Ga rrison goes on and
we st ill m an age to get a fa~r a moun t of sport .
althou gh for 10 davs e:verytln ng was at a st,and sWl as no one could r aIse a team of any sort.. the
Aut horit ies b ein g well occupi ed in t rying to r aise
"team s" to 1)1av " Strike Du t ies " . H O\\'ever , t h e
hiatus gave t h e 'grass a chance to grow!'
Apar t from t he Infan t ry B attali on , .no on e in
Ca mp was very much a ff ected b y.t!l e dlst u rJ:>ances
an d most o f our news of t he pOSIt IOn her t 1Il t h e
Island was r-eceived v ia t he B .B .C. on th e Short
, i\lave progra mmes-i t was qu.ite amusing to h ea.r
t he R.adio() Fa.ns t un e up t hen' set s loud eno u gh
fo r t h e nei ghb ours (withou t R.adios) to get. t h e
" low dow n" 011 t h e local sit uation !!
vVe w er e confin ed to B arra.cks while t hin gs w ere
at t h eir worst, and it is surprisin g 110W soon we
g-ot, bored.
A grave sta t e of affairs arose in t he Garri son
Ser gean ts ' MESS one evenin g wh en it wa.s dis-

fi ve year s, d ep end an t Oil t he station; H ow ever , I

will confi ne my remar ks to H ong h .ong.
There a re t hree clearly defi ned stages . Student s
will note t h a t t h e sym pto ms becom e n~o r e aC ~l t e
as time passes a nd r each t h el!' mo st lIlt er est ll1 g
stage in t h e t hi r d o r fi fth yea r.
1st year or Incubation Period.- T he pat ien t is
h ighly str u ng . R efl exes a re w ell n~ark e d . Ta k ES
an act i" e int er est III hIS sUlToun dm gs. F ull of
hope and pla ns for the fut ure. Hi g~ de ~ree of
act ivit.y. V ery pro ne to m ll1 0r skll1 II1 fectlOns 111
t he natur e of Prickly I-TeaL , Sun b ul'n , b ug and
mosqui t o bites. Tak es t hese ea sily w i. thOl~t loss
of vitality. H as a h orror of all cl.'eepll1 g lll sects
ilnd ha s no t t he wilt to destroy th.em WIt h a well
placed boot. D rink s wat,er, tea, and minel:als.
Tr ies to learn t he language. _h Old s Chll1 esE. g Irl s,
par ticula rly th e small var iety. T emper at u re and
pul se norm al. Blood strong and r ich- fl ows well .
2nd Year or Primary s t age.- R esig ned to h is
posit ion and SUlToll nd in g;s with an air of fin ali t y .
T he incipien t n euras thema of th e IncubatIOn st ,,:gE.
has disappear ed. R efl exes ar e slu ggIsh .
\.ctlvlt y
mu ch lessen ed. P r efers to r ide rather t,h an exer
eiss. ,' t ill prone to p rickl y h ea t and su nb urn
whi ch a r e a sonrce of grea t nnnoya nce. N urses
h is occasional mosqui to an d b ug b ite morosely fo r
hou rs. Hi s honor o[ cr eeping ani mal s has dimin
ish ed a nd he can now destrov t h em with a steady
hand ' ' Dri nk s small "tops " -, Gi\' es up t he language a nd speaks pid gin En glish. Consider s t hat
Chin Ese girls, lar ge and sm all, ar e not too ba?
Tem per at ure sli gh tly sub .norm al. Su dden pyrexJa
likely to occur at inter.v als . P ulse alt ernately slow
and boundin g. Bloo d weak :m d sluggIsh .
3rd' YeaI' or Cl imax.-Th ere is a m a rked chan ge,
which becom es mo re and mo r e E.vident as t he year
proceeds. T he pat ient is irritable .and complet ely
withu ut illLerest in per OD S or t hm gs, except as
R efl E.xes absent.
I ncoherent
ment ion ed below.
H as a p ers i ~ten t
and r ambling in hi s speech .
and con sta n t g ro use.
H ates hi s surroun dll1 gs.
Temper \' el'y \'olatile. Suffer s from hallu cmatlOns.
Begins to draw pictu res of shi ps and study calendar s. H a s a distant and \'ag ue look about t he
eyes . Still pron e to prickly h eat and t hi s J'oy ses
his fi erce t emper. Avoids the sun. MosqUItoes
and b ugs avoid him. H e a ccept.s c re~p e rs as p ~ rt
of t h e coun try. Gives up speakll1 g pld glll E ngh sh
and r esort.' to plain swearin g. Drinks large to ps
in gr eat num bel'S. Consid er s C!linE e gi';ls ar e t~o o
lovely. H as dream s of m ysterl 6 U ~ P .O . s a nd 111
valid s. T emper at ure g ra dually l'1 ses from zero.
Bl ood h as t urn ed to m in eral water.
Conclusions.- Th e disease is rarely fa tal. Th e
onl y da n ger i t he patient going complet ely off
t,h e rai ls . This i s over com e by a n early chan !:;e
of air at t he correct stage of t Il e ' disease. V Sl~ally
as early as possible b etween Octob er and Apr~l ~t
the end of t h t hi r d year. Th e chan g.e of an' IS
d efinit e n at ure and includ e
\'ital. I t m ust be of
a long sea. v oyage, after whi ch most a u th o."i ti~s
r ecomm en d a m ont h ' s conv alescen ce at, t he patl-ent s
home.
V ERY , V ERY JUNIOR
JAMAICA.
GeneraJ.- T h e notes from t.h is stat ion ar e, per -

CO RPS

35 1

THE R OYAL
- - - -- - - - - - - -- --

ARMY

PAY

cover ed t h at we were down t o Olll' Jast bar rel of

beer wit h no prospects of ren ewa l ill th e near
future owing to t he Strike of Dock labo lll'el's. 'Y e
had visions of M(ss Members proceeding to th e
Dock in a body a nd unl oadin g the Be-e r but the
crisis was averted at th e la st mom en t by the
arri\'al of t he Beer surroun ded by troops in Full
Battle Order.
Jus t in case yo u imagine t hat we ha\'e beEn
parading the P ay Office y era nd a h in F ull Marching
Order with Rifl es and Ga s I\I asks. we hasten to
disillusion yo u. ' Ne have seen plenty of excit ement, t h e posit ion of the o ffi ce-righ t outside t he
Main Gate Guardroom-ga,ve us a grand stand y ie w
of the troops a rmed to t he eyebwws dashing off
in lorri es , cars and motor cycles to the scenes of
the t,ro nbl e. v'iTe really belie\le that if anvo n e had
sa id "yes" , t h e whole of the P ay Office St;ff would
haye deca mped in a body with t he troops but we
ha d to restrain ourselves and "B usin ess as usual "
has b Een t h e order of the day.
Th e Editors are to be cong i'atu lat ed on the new
Journal Cover ; it is a vast improvement on the
previou s one , and whilst on the subj ect of congratula t ions. may we congratulate "Stonhenge"
on hi win-hi s r emarks I'e Golf have been dulv
appreciated by our offi ce wit s . for future r efel'ence' !
S / S~t. Forse duly collected it crown and L S.
and G.C. m edal r ecently; at hi Yery special re_
quest we refuse to cong ratul ate him. However , he
did the oorrect thing, and duly chri stened his "addition " , which , of course, is the main th in g, is it
not, ! '
Th at' s all from t he land of t he Banana . Coconu t ,
a nd P alm Trees.
BULLD OG.

J OC R NAL

Before the flood-our flood-we a n anged a t rip up

th e Blue N ile III the G .O.C. 's la ullch . The weath er
was kind a lld we enj oyed t he ever, changing scenery
in a dreamy so rt of way . Ju st befoL'e du sk th'e
boat dashEd in amo ng some small island s and som e
of the party saw a cL'ocod ile lid e in to t he water .
arlier \\'e had seen tou can , storks , h eron and ibis
but that was before t he ' l'efl'esh'ment commi tt e~
stagEd t h eir sho w . I t was not un til the sun et
that we r ea lised t hat it was a moonless night and
its absen ce proyed somethin g of a handicap when
t he en gin e refused to funct ion. \ Ne drifted until
t he boat nea d y gro unded on t he sou th bank a nd we
began to wonder at what t ime t he search parties
would start out. However, t he engine was eventually re-started a nd ,except for a couple of bumps
on sand banks. t he remainder of t he tri)) ba ck was
un eventful. The great th in g was that It had been
a, different sort of day-a relief from the monotony
t hat is Kh artoum.
.

THE

ROYA L

Al{;\lY

PAY

Notes on the Khartoum stat ion would not be

complete without a mention of t he "Club " . It is of
" _ recent form a tion and its membel'shil) is confin ed.
- thus f<hl" 'at least, to th e' voun ge r, a nd sin gle l memb ers
of t he Fort f:laff . Th e obj(- ct of the Clill:'i has not
been confid ed to t he present scribe , but it a,ppeal's
to be a phil a nthropi c ,o ne for the encou ragem ent of
t h e latent t.alents of the loca l cabaret ladies. Owin g
to the la ck of vision of t he military a uthorit,ies,
t hey ca nn ot be directly nco LlI'aged at their profes.
sio nal work so. in the g reatness of t heir hearts . th e
men-bel'S of th e cl ub a re doing their utm ost in th e
restricted circum stan ces . The President. Treasurer

His Majesty ' s Award.- \Ne all h ea r tily congr atulate our oolleagu e S.Q.l\'LS. H . H. B owland , ~iJ.B.~.
on th e award he recelv,ed at t he hand s of H. ! .
Th e Kin g at Buckingl-w,n.l Pala ce on July 7t~1.
,
A nnm bel' of promotlOns of van ous SOl ts h~ \ e
come t he W<LY of t he Malayan D eta chm ent dunnf,
the last year: to both o ffi cers and "Ot h ~ r R.anks
and we sh al'~ in S.Q.M.S. 'Rowla nd ' s pn de, as we
ar e sure t he whole Co rps does , at the...honour and
distinction which h as b een accorded hIm .
Th e follow in g photograph shows thi s new Member
of th e Milita,ry Division of the. :Most Ex cell en~ Order
of the British Empire returmng from Buckmgham

Life with in th e wall continues along its wellappointed groove. The ga rden has now plurali zecl
itself and to t he staff of oh e resid ent professional
gardener has now b een add Ed t he services of t'wo
perspirin g amateurs. These latter are nurturin g a
rival bower in t he vicinity of the offi ce whi ch bid s
fai l' soo n to be a sight for'tired eyes.

352

J~ ) l'R~AL
-------- - - - - -

MALAYA.

A hectic series of competitions will be at its height

abo u t the t ime of t he publication of t he autumn
J ournal. E very ga me ever known inside the portals
of a Sergeants ' Mess has been included and sin ce
each m Ember has to indulge in each a nd every gam e.
it seems probable t hat t h er e are some h appy eyen,
ings in store for us.
Our com in gs a nd goin g are limited to the in,
validing of Ser geant Sowerby to Cairo with " Kh :l l',
toum Sp.o ts" (') and his r elief by L / SergEant Bla ckwell. It is rather late in t he vert l' to extend to l'he
latter t he traditional welcome and good wishes. Th e
manner in which he was r eCEiv ed . ~'l S a re all reliefs
in this station , must have co nvi nced him that his
a rrival was ve ry welcome.

Mu ch more frequnt are our aft el'l1oon jaunt s int o

vario Lls parts o f t he deser t Oil Captain Brenn an 's
black and sil yer ju ggel'l1aut.. After a cup of t ea th e
selected par ty ca ptu re ha lf a dozen of t h e Fort
pigeons and take th em out into t h e blue an d release
them. I t usuallv occurs t hat no one has a wat ch
or t he watch es a re not syncro ni zed ~l' perhaps that
no one b as tak en note of t he tim e of release; an:-'
ho w , we have neye l' yet been able to determin e how
fast t hose pigeons r eally fl y. For one li ttle fell ow
we always leave the ga te o!~e n b eca use eitheL' he
dalli es on the wa y or else he walks h ome.

CORP:S

Pala ce wearing t he ~J.e::la l of t h e Order for th e fir st

t im e. He is accompall!ed by !\lrs. How land .
News Social.- Plural.-On th e twe ntIeth of July
the ~I arri ed MembErS of t he Deta chment moyed off
en bloc for Alexa lldra where 0]) t he in vit a tion of
Colonel and Mrs. Golding th ey atended an "At H <?me"
at t he Colon el's rEsid ence and made ex ceedll1gly
meny. Th e pa rty after the usual exchal!ge of g reetings , t ucl;ed into a "tea of teas: ' and , w nen all were
thoro ll a-hly bloated from over-llldulgence (offi cial) ,
a tO llr "'or' in spect io n of t he house and ?, !O l1 ~H.h !y! r-

a.nd .o ne ot h el' official witbout pOl,tfoliu , al~pear

satisfi ed with progress to date, but defil1ltely leslst
all appli cations for enrolment , t h e reaSOll bell1g,
it is understood, t h e lack of cabaret l adl ~s . It beho ves the Octo bel' rebefs to do someth ll1 g. abo ut
t his. A g reat deal co ~ld be wntten concermn g ~l~e
ceremony of ini t iatlOn ll1to the club but It must Vialt
fo r another t ime wbell more aut hentic details are
a vaila ble.
.
I
A,l1d so we pass our tIme - - .
EL TABIA.
A som ewhat mela ncholy eye (happily devoid of
~ast) has just gla nced fur t lvely at a n extr eme ly
ornate calend ar which a dorn s one of th e w~Lls III t he
Comma nd Pay Office a nd is at the mom ent llldlcatll1 g
to the m a ny military me~ bel's, three Clvlha n employ ees
and the office cat the fact that to-day lS the t1~1l
t eenth day of August, mneteen hundred and thll ty. o'ht which l'ea-arded statlstlca lly means that two
~\~Ild~'ed and t:enty-five da:y5 ot t he current year
have trickled on in to obscunLy a nd another ,tJ'oopina- seaso n with its w elcomes , re-UI1l011S , farewells
and depa rtures looms large on the trop l~<11 hOri zon.
Although we are fully aware that t huteen lS an
unlucky number and not at .all th ~.sort of day one
should cho os'~ to go "all h te ral'Y ' our horoscope
has proved itself ueJ:'ond all doubt ,to be of, t he negat ive variety so tha,t It r eally do esn t matt~I. .
The fi rst half of t he year cll~mJl1atlll g 111 t he
present month has, with th~ maJonty of t hE. ?eta chment proved to he of a hl ghly successful cha l acter and o~e can say without fear or fa~' o.'-ll' t hat the
thirty-o ne mem bel'S of the Corps resldmg J11 t h.1S
vicin ity are thriving .. ThI S pro.spenty m ay .b.e 111
the m ain ascri bed to ll1creass 111 'pay, the Ilse 111
Betel Nut Shares non-partlclpatlOn. ll1 Football
Pools and in creased consumption of Pme-apple and
Cocoanuts, coupled with .the ,f act that , alt~ou,gh
rubber shares ar e falling, aIrma ils are now d~hveled
t hree times p er WEek , with a co nseq uent l~ rrease
in the numb er of picture postca rd s .of Bnghton ,
Ea.stbourn e and H astings-not to ment Ion Bla ckpool
-received by various luck y blokes.
A lar a-e numb er of marri ed m en separat.ed from
their Wi~' ES ar e purchasing that well -known gl'a~10 phone r ecord, " Blue-Sin ce I. L eft You" , b? t It'S
it great, I~l a(;e if you can take :t. If you can t take
it, stay hom e! And now , havll1 g sncce~s fully nego tiated' the introductory hurdl e (th ~t s wh at we
t hink) we co ntinu e to purSUE our poli cy of ne.ws at
any price (HId fU I'ni sh readers. of thIS column WIth all
ava,ilable inform a tion re~ardm g personnel ~. A. P 9
strong weak fat and thin. who are carry l11 g on 111
"
"
t he "Gateway
to the F ar E a.st.

KHARTOUM.

From a land that was fair and a joy in the hearts

of its inhabitants and of its so journers , the Sudan,
and particularly Kha rtoum , h as changed to a waste
,of swampy marshes.
The rain , after a yea r of
hesitancy in 1937, has come to draw a cordon of
lakes aro und our home at the Fort. Those of us
who venture forth to taste of the delights of t h e
wild night-life of Kh arto um , have experienced con sid erable diffi culty in fording t he cater act that was
on ce t he road leadin g hom e. There cam e a' time
when taxis r efused at our lo cal Valentine's Brook
and on the ni ght t h at the electrical installation was
pu t out of action by li ~ h t nin g. one m ess memb er
l'etu rned from town with his trousers rolled UP to
his thighs and his shoes sl un g round his neck as in
paddling . This mode of dresf; was largelv due t o the
weather but partlv to a din1ly awakened m emo]'v of
hi s m ethod of arrtving hom e 'a ft-er midnight in more
civilised climes.
Th e negotiatio.n Ol the . \'{ater,Joggesl desert, calls
foL' a sense of navigation, a nd it is our deli gh t to
watch , from the Fort rampa rt s, t he efforts of t h e
skipper of om black a nd sil ver la nd yacht (G .N.
1006) to avoid t h e quick-sands. One lilO rning , admittedly , the Ford rE.mained at a disdainful distan ce
from the office. but that was before the depth s h acl
been chartered a nd the Captain had obtained his
pilot ' s certificate. Still it's nic growin g weather,
if that is a ny co nsolat ion and-well , it mikes a
ch ynge.

CORPS

S. Q .M.S . AND MRS. ROWLAND.

sona ll y condu cted by our hosts was m a~ e ,. a~ter

which a whist drive wa.s held on th e Colon el s H l anda,h . As far as ca n be ascerta m ed nobody cheated
and the prize-winn ers were ;.
1st P ri z-Lad ies-Mrs. No rns . .
1st Prize-Golts-S.Q.lvLS. H ehl1' .
Booby P rize-La dies-Mrs. Ta.ylor.
, . ()" ,,"
Booby-Gents-S.Q.M.S. Norns."
Experiences were th~n exchan -sed o vel.l ",las _
ha ppv pa rty r~t ul. ned
(yarious ) , and all excee din gl)'
n III
hav 1. na-'" ba d . <1 rEa lly
gland.
Ilome ;.'bout 770
.v
e, '
' 1 I
tim e. The fact t hat it really was a J~Jl y goO( S lOW
.
]
d by t h e ma ;ori tv of th e sJ11gle members
IS enc orse
. - . '.
I tl
tl ' .
of t he m ess, a s t he party nd )oul'l1 ec ,1ere. on l~U
return and marri 3d men, never know n to smlle bdOl e,
w ere seen to be almost 1,lUghHl g:-I11 11st baye been
joll y good beer'
News Social- Singular.-Aga ill , on th e eleventh
of Aua-ust t he unattached person nel wended
their ~VflY under t he guidan ce , of. S~r geant
Chappell (Senior U~ -attach e~l) to :\I exan~~l a and
WEre a- iYf\1 a gre:l t tlm e bv Colon el .il lld ~h ~. Golding at <l!1 "At Hon' e" at th e!r resl de n ~e .. :\. ~art,
and Pin g Pong to urn ey occuPl~d the ea l h el 'p alt of
the evenin Q: alld qui te a few hnght sparh dl closed
their skill for th e first tim e. Sergn1l1t Monks walked
a.way with th e Ping Pong tomnflment and wa pre-

353

_ _ _ _ __--:---_T_H_E_ _R_
OY AL

ARMY

PAY

s.ent.ed with a P ewt er Po t (for t he consump t ion of

hqu~d-mo stly beer ) whilst Se.r g.e ant J"am es created
a nu11.0l' da rt record and th E.reby beca me th e owner
of a ver y fine ciga rette box and Sergea nt (Frui ty)
Orchard collected a booby pl'l ze fo r th e lowest ping
p~)J1 g score.
Colonel Goldlllg ll1 cldentally prayed
himself t o be a n exceE.dlll gly use fu l Pin g Pon a
play~~' and \\;?S only just " pi pped 011 th e post" by
th e Cham p - Sgt . Monks, who ha s repres{'nt ed
.
York City in th e Piu g P ong W orld .
KLIP .

CORPS

THE

JOU R N AL

t urned out to be one of t he h ottest, afternoons of

t he season , which mea ns t hat it was fairl y warm '
and althou gh we e\"e nt uaily lost , th e ga mE.S wer~
very even each po int bein g well co ntested. Lon.,.
deuces .were ,nmnero us and th e Detachment wE.nt
down WIt h lym g .colours. OUl' team was as follows:
Colonel Goldll1g a nd Seraean t Cha ppelJ
Major 11'[ illillg a nd S.S.lVI. Mack .
.
S.Q .lVl .S. Tal'l'ant a nd L / Sgt. Co pestake.
A~, we feel ~,hat w.e a re er uitE. . capa ble of bea ting
t he . f edIcals ' . a [ n endly IS bem g arranged in t he
nea r fut tll:e a nd Lt IS hoped t hat ou r "ict ory will b
repo r ted 1I1 the next i sue.
e
Malaya Command Mixed Doubles-Tennis Finals.
-A fter ~ str enuous tW? mont hs of rounds, t he
fin alt sts . 111 tlus co mpetitIO n ,'" ere: Mrs. Led den
(wi fe of Gar nso n SgL :Major) a nd Sgt.. Cha ppell,
R.A. P .C. v . Sgt. Dowhn g , R. E. and Miss D . Non 'is
(da ughter of S.Q.M.S. No n'i s, R. A .P. C.).
Alt hou g h t he fin al of t he Malaya Cup F ootball
Com petIt IOn was played off at the same tim e as t his
fin al, ql1lte a largE crow d of spectator s attended at
Fort Can nin g to se e w ho wo uld carry off t he mixed
doub.les and extra sea t ing accommo da tion had to be
ob t,a med-s hades of 'W imbledo n ,
A very c1osel:v co ntested gam e L'esul ted in Sgt.
~ o wl ll1 g and MISS D. N orris ca rrying off t hE. cup
WIth a score of 5-7, E- l . a nd 6-4, a nd t he spectators were well p leased WIt h t he sta n dard of t enn is
t hiS fin al. p rod uced. I t was un fo r t una t e from a
Co rps POll1t of " iew t hat t he R. A .P.C. performers
""ere "split': , as ot herwist we had quite a fair
cha nc; of bem g 100 % fin ali sts bu t after all it really
d~ es n t ma tter , a nd we were all t,horo nghly bucked
WIt h t he res ult .
.
. Colon el and Mrs. Golding attend ed ancl very
k.ll1 dly p rEsen t ed th e prizes whi ch t oo k t he form
stl vel' cups.

of

FI NAUST S M ALAY A COMMAND M IXED DOU BLE S .

" KLlP"-a non-paying g uest of Colonel

q olding' s. Th~ Colon.el pays for K lip's
iI~en se, buys hIS bISCUItS, pays veterinary
bJ! ls, ensures that de-bugging is periodicaJly carried out, and ack nowledges the
fact that " K lip " is the property of hi s head
servant boy.
(" Klip " sends hi s regards to Lie ut-Colonel
Hi ll , R.A .P.C. , late of Singapore .)
The evenin g concl ud ed wit h lo ts of "eats" and
"drinks" and ~he Col onel, Sergeants Wilson and
J ames each trylg to outdo t he oth er in the role of
raconteur and jolly good t h ey were t oo.
W e all tha n~ t he .ColonE.! and Mrs. Golding for
the extremely Jolly t ime t hey gave us at their two
"at Ho mes" .
More News Social.- A repor t has just fil tered
through t o the effect t hat Miss Violet N orris
(da ug htE.r of S.Q. M. S. Norris) is bein g marr ied t o
Staff- Sergeant ~cSto c ker of t he. Royal Army Orclnance Corps a t Sll1gapore on t he eIg ht h ,of Septemb er
next . W e forward congratula tion s a nd bes t wish es
for the, future t o t h e happy couple.
Tennls.-Inter-Unit Knock-Out Competition.-The
Detachm ent were d rawn "away" in t his competit ion
and h ad to play th e R. A.M.C . at Ta nglin on what

,
I

From left to righl- Sgt. Chapp ell , R.A.P.C., Mrs.

Ledden, Mi ss N o rris, R.A.P.C. , Sg t. D ow lin g,

R.E.

354

R OYAL

ARlVI"y

Cricket. - The Fort Ca nning Cricket Team h av (~ to

dat e experienced a very successful season and th ree
of the Detachment have played fa irly reg ularly in
t he side, i .e., Sergeants Tl'istram , Cha ppell and
Baker .
Ser D'ea n t Tristra m h as on various occasions dist inguished himself wit h th e bat but has not plaYE-d
during t he l ~st month owm g t o h avlI1g b~en det ad ed
by t he MedICal Officer to spend a few oays IJ1 hos p ~ l.
.
.
It. is hoped t h at he Will rep roduce Iu s early fO.rm
aaain before t h E. close of t h e season . vVhen l'{;stm g
fl':'om te nnis; Sgt . Ch app ell has also app eared in
fl a nnels. h e i. really " ho t stuff '" as a shp .fi.elder ,
ancl d o~s some q ueer th ings wit h t he ball when
called upo n to perform . SergEant Baker regrets to
r eport t hat his batting average, which at one t une
was qu ite respectable, .no\~- r un s in~o .fi\e pl aces of
decil1lals a nd h e IS th mkm g of qmttm g t he game
and takin g up poultry far ming: h owever , some of
yo u blokes may be amon g t he ducks yo urself some
day.
sport- Miscellaneous,-Several of our Det achm ent
indul ae ill sRorts and pastimes oth er t han the conventi ~ n al football, cricket, tennis and golf a nd as
WE don 't lik e t o see all these lights hidin g u nder
th eil' various bush els a few odd itEms are appended
her eun der :Fishing.- It appears t hat Colonel an d Mrs . Goldin g
are inte rested in matters piscato rial a nd actually
da ngle lin es a nd hooks co mpl etE. wit h bait over . t he
side of a laun ch in Sin gapore H arbo ur on occaSIOns
and . furt hermore meet wit h a fail' degree of success. '\Ne h ave it on good aut hority t,hat Mrs.
Golding does not bait her own hoo ks and also t hat,
t h e Colonel cau .,.ht a fi sh ,o n one occasion (only on
ont occasio n) t~o fee t in length t hat hissed as i t
was draw out of t h e water . ,\Ahll a ny fis h erma n 111
t he Corps in a posit ion to tell a bet'ter one please
add ress h is letter to C.P ., Ma,]a,ya Command .
Golf.-Major Milling , our Gal'1'iso n Golf <?hampion ,
is sWI restin g and, mu ch to ou r disgust, Will not W I11
a n~r more ch am pion ships-if t hin gs don 't alter soo n
we will be com pelled t o placE. hm1 on t h e open transfei' list.
Misc.-I n t he main our Detachm ent is qui te an
athletic on e as we all h ave to walk to work and,
some of u s do a lit tle more even th an t hat- Sei'geant
W .l1t for instance havin g (accordin g t o an offi cial
r eport ) t a ken up running , which is pretty strenuous
in this clim ate whilst t h e Sergeant MaJor now apr-eal'S as a playi'ng member of t he Garris,o ~ Sergea nts '
lVl ess T ennis T eam and does his stuff 111 t he lo.cal
league. Sergeant vVilson hold s our end up at sw:mmillg. bein g somethin g of a n expert. at Plun gll~ g;
(d efini tely s wimmi ll ~, and not. Rac~n g) .
All~l\l
'\Nrestlin g has not , however , ga m ed 111 popularIty
but we have seve ral Ping-P on g players of o utstanding abili tv , Sergeants ,\Nent, Monks and Copest ak e
h eadin g t he list... '\Ne I~ ope to ",:elcome some more
athletes d urin g t h e ensum g troo.pmg . sea~o n .
Ser gea nt Th omas is qui te a bIg 1.101se m th ~ entert ainm ent, wo rld . and plays t he pIano and S1l1gs . at
quite a I,ot of local shows. in .addit ion to l'\ll1l1ln g
t h e enterta inn' en ts at t he Ga,rrl son Sergea nts Mess
which is, as it should be-Pay Corps runnin g th e
show .
Serial- Third Instalment.-vVe h ave th t honour to

PAY

CORPS

J01JRNAL

repo rt t hat Corpora l Bl'et t's moustache is still fl ourishing and cl ue for promotion to La nce-Sergeant in
t he near future. '\Ai e hope t hat t h e bEe r in t he
SErgea nts ' Mess is suita ble for a moustache of t his
g rowth and text m e, a nd will report fUl't hl?r on t his
matter at a later date.
The Last Paragraph .-Herew it h t he ine \'it ableafter t hree or more (in some cases t hreE. and a half)
yea rs in t he colony eight of our fell ow wo rk ers
leave us for another to ur of duty on H ome E slablishment and we are go ing to miss t hem all.
The eight are as follows :Oolonel H. Goldin g, O. B.E., Ma jor H. G. B.
Millin g, S.Q.M .S. Ta rra nt., S.Q.M.S . Norris,
S j Sgt. H ewitt , Sgt.. R ya n, Sgt. Broa dsmi t h and
L / Sgt. J a m-es.
If t heir reliefs prove to be as good a nd follow in
t h eir footsteps we shall be well satisfied-we ca n't
say more than t hat ca n we?
.,
And now, we say " Goodbye to beaut Iful SlOgapore
- La nd ' of Sunsh ine and vVork " fo r anot her t hree
mont hs.
DEBITS.
SINGAPORE SCOTTISH-R.A . P.C.
Motto-" Blimey the Noo " .-S.Q.M.S. GemmellPresident an d Sgt. Jock Lawson-Senior Mem ber
(treasure r not required), would likt to heal' from
sim ilar societv's 111 any other part of t he world
mainly o n t he 'question cif red ucin g the cost of Jiyin g.
MALTA .
Arrivals and Departures.-Th e i111 gending depa rt,ure of S.S.M. Lovering fo r E gy pt ancl a maidenly
desire on his par t to be excused from wntJl1 g ius
O\\'lI farewell notice, has t hrow n t he job of pen nin a these notes on to the alreadv heayy-bu rdE ued
anl less worthy sho ulde rs of a no-t her. U nder th e
llom-de- plume '''Bal'l'acca'' , S.S.M . Loverin g has
co ntrihut,ed t he Malta notes fo r the past three
year.'; a nd if a di stin ct fallin g-o ff ill qu alit y and
quantity is now obse r ved-well , t hat 18 Just . another debit t o be made t o t he account. of "exiaencies of the ser vice." . S.S .M. LoYerin g, who
s~ il s earl y in Septem ber. will ca rr)' with him t he
good wishes of his ma ny friends in Malta. H e will
not be unknown in E gypt and no do ub t as wa rm .a
welcome will await him t here as does herE. fo r Ins
successor. S.S. M. Douse.
Ser gt . ;' Bill" May and fa mily,. after. havi.ng been
alm ost gi\"en up ev.e ntu a~ ly ar~' lve d 111 t hiS Com.ma nd in .r une. fo llowed 111 J my by Sergt . Ca mmidgt, who ac~ompal1i ed th e Devon R.egt. Our joy
at seeing t hem is t emp ered only by th e reg ret t!l at
they didn 't bring ano t her couple of RA.~. C . - Ites
with t h em. vVe wa nt a oouple of good Cl'lcketer s,
at least t he. sa me number of tennis players and two
good clerks-but (j ust in case t hese notes ~ re r ead
by O. i l c R.ecords) , if only t wo clerks a l'r1" e who
cill1 also play cr icket and tenni s. we will be satisfied a nd eve n grate ful.
Sports.- Our sportin g; activit.iEs , alt hough ra th er
restricted durin g the hottest mon th ~ of t he yea r,
have been r easonably successful. Cln d honours go
to Mrs . Scor e an d Mrs. Humphries who, for ~h ~
seco nd uccessive vea l' . won t he CO ll'mand L a dl~
T ennis C h aml~ ion ship , in t h e. f~ce of keen co mpet~
tion and conside rable OppOSItIOn . If tlle Oup LS
not kept in th e Corps by a third win next, year

35,c,

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

we shall have an c \.cellent excuse a s, unfortuna tely

for our aspiration s in that direction , Mrs. Hum p lu'ies will be leaving us dlll'ing th e coming tl'OOPlIlg sea son. But, perhaps O. il c Records could
endow one of those clerks we want with a tenni slJlay in <Y wife.
The arrangements for t he competition amongst
t he offi ce staff for the OJ. Tennis Cup are now
well advanced and most of the matches will have
been played before these not.tO;, appear in print.
C olon el Charlton has intimated th at he 'will be
" At Home " to the staff on t h e day of the final,
and in due course I hope to r eport that "a good
t ime was had by all" .
At cri ck Et , S.S .M. Bailey and Sergt. Grant have
.rendered cOllsid 3J'able assistall ce to t h e Sta ff and
Departmenta l team th l"Ou ghout the season. Sergt.
Gr a nt is now on leave and we sha ll mi ss him sadly
when we play the R.A.O. C. this month in the
annual match for "The Old Tin Cup " . This event
is on e of the highlights of cricket in Malta so far
a s we are concerned. T,o form a purely Corps
team entails t.urning out pra ct icaUy the whole
m ilitary strength of t hE. office, a ble-bodied or otherwise, b u t what we lack in skill we make up in
enthusiasm. If most of us do SCOl'e our only runs
(or ru n ) of the season in happy ignorance
how
we mana ged it , th a t do es 110t detra ct one iota
from our joy at having scored at all. V>.T e have
no t yet succEeded in winning this much -sought_
.after cup , but every dog has his day and our ta il s
are up.
The rifle range has been out of achon for severa l
months, undergoing reconstru ct ion . It is understood that t he work is now n eady completed and
w e look forward to resuming p ract ice in the very
near future.
At billiards and snooker w e had S.Q.M .S .
Lawrence and S .Q.M.S. Cole r espectively to represent us in the fi nals of the Garrison Sergeants'
IVless annual handicaps. E ach of t.hem had as his
opponEnt Arm .S.M. Greensted , R.A.O .C., who had
sur vi ved all opposition in both handicaps up to t he
finals. He managed to beat S .Q.M.S. Lawrence at
billi ar ds , but his fl ag was at last lowered by
S .Q.M.S. Gale at snooker.
He, however, only
m a naged to w in on the last black in t.hree fra mes ,
after having g iven his enthu siastic supporters (to
say nothing of himself) se veral very-n ea rl y heart
atta cks.
L.S. & G.C. Medals.-S.Q.M .S. Lawren ce alld
S j Sergt. South have joined th e di s1in<zuished rank s
of th e old soldi ers , t houo-h th ey still m<lnagE to
prese rv e youthful appea ran ces . Jt was suggested
-t hat S.Q.M.S. L awren ce should be disqualifi ed for
mem l ership, ow ing to his losing th e aforementioned
billiard I' a ndicap but his lapse has beE n overlooked.
'There io;; no truth in t he rumoUl' that e a ch of them
ha s been tryin g to mortgage his L.S. & G.C . gratu-it y in ord er to perform th e usual christening cel'emony . I am in formed on the highest authorit ~r
that invitation s to t h E. christ enin g ma y be expect ed
at a n early date. so w e are curbing our impa tien ce
even t hough it is th irsty wea t her.
W.K.

of

PALESTINE .

Rumour , ever a lying jade, has proved for on ce

in a whil e, to be tru e. Th e wh isper th at famili es
were embarking on 21st May, 1938 wa s really <;L fact ,

PAY

CORP S

J OURNAL

and w it h the arrival of the go od ship 'Oro.ntes ' a t

Port Sa id on 1 June, 1938, th e 'grou se' of nead y
two years ' stand ing had cea sed to be-the fam ili es
had a rriv ed. (A report was received t.h at t,he :; kip JJO' of th e boat celebra t ed with it night out on d isemb,uking the families. H aving mad e the a cquaintance of ~L few of the son-a ll d- h eirs, I can qui te
Lelieve it.)
But ha rk back to th e wee k p rece diu g thE.ir a r rival.
Hired q lla rters wer e a !lotted well in a d va nce, which
Via s perhaps , just as well. N early all the hirings
were nEW b uildin gs , an d many were the 'housemaid ' s
knees ' that were cl1l'ed in th e Mess th a t night. Still,
with the iss ue of fmnit ure, etc., the fl ats were soon
shi p- shape, and away went th e m arr ied men to Port
Said, to conduct their fam ilies back to the 'rose
covered cottage ' .
Tru e, when the 'Honeymoo n Express ' did alTi" e
in J erusalem on the morning of tile 2nd, th e 'joy of
li vin g ' expression was not mu ch in evidence. But.
maybe th<lt can be understood by those who ha ve
m ad E. the all-night journey from Port Said to J ~ rl1 sa
lem on the Palest in e R ailwa vs. R est and food. howev er , soon brought back th e sm iles a.gain, "a nd I
think we can safely report the fa,milies as all 'hunky
Dory ' and doing well- in t a ct, ueady all the lIIani ed
men have volunteered for a furth E. r veal' in the country. It is not known whet her th e: clim at e or th eir
ntpidly in creasin g ba nk balan c-es are th e cause.
Mean while, the single man!
With only se ,'en
single members left" it was , of course, impracticable
to continue our own Mess . Force Headquartel" s Mess
being in t.he same position , it wa s dEcided to combin e
th e two Messes- and so t he Combined Force Hea dquarter' s and and R.A .P .C. Sergeants ' Mess came
into bein g.
N either of the old billEts were considered suitable,
sillce families would occasionallv ha ve to be enterta ined. And the n ew bill et that was eventually
hired-sh a des of Bu cki ngham Pa lace-it's ced a inly
thE. goods!
Situated in t h e 'high-brow ' quarter of Jeru salem,
with a grand v iew of the surrounding country , large
airy rooms , a huge ga rden , th e picture her ewith call
h ar dly convey a true impressioll of the place. To an y
single men a t home, who may be bemoaning th eir
bad lu ck at having been wamed for Palest in 2. rest
ass ured tha.t yo u a r e com in g to a home from home.

THE

R OYAL

ARl\.JY

PAY

Our recently formed Social and Spor t s Club has

had little opportunity to functlOn to da te. The
ttled state of the coun try has caused the abanuuse of
'any ideas regal" d'Illg ou t'Il1gs , eI. c., but
donDlent
" a~.
I
elsewhere
we
hav
e
man
aged
a
few
cllck
t
repor ,ee
,
.
t . 1 h d tet
matches and th e Club commIttee cel' a w y a
0
work oyertime in arrangmg the ca t er.ll1g fOl leo odd
)le
"Iiaybe the future wIll brmg us greater
peol
secul'l' t'y, :"n d we m ,'ly get a few trips to th e seas1d e
even yet.
.
.
d
To end these notes 111 a happy .ve1n, .a wor .10
tho se under orders Jor the Holy CIty . . fh e a r~1cle
that app eared in a prevlOus. Issu.e of t.he Journal,
iviner a fe w hints on clothIng lIkely to be useful
UI~der
rn P ; lestin e. shou ld be amend ed slightlr
the h eading "of 'Clothing gen erally useful add ~ne
sui t of r einforced , bull et and bomb proof armoUl and dOIl ' t pack it in yo ur hea vy baggage.
Cricket. - \Vhilst we in this station Enjoy for the
great.er part of the year absolu t ely Ide~l cr icket
weather it is to our great. regret th at w e Call110t
t.ake ad vanta ge of it.
.
.
.
In this hilly count ry cn cket pItches .auo. at a
premium . whil ~t for a small det.achmen t III a t~m
porary comm a nd it is p ractIca lly h?peless to thlllk
of cri cket gear or a n allotment of glO~llld s .
/ )
For snort::; purposes we ar~ bnk ed WIth t he C.NI.I.
I '
but for vanou. reason s ha ve t fou.lld
" .. v .
tI
an d R .. \1. 1\'1
oursel \'s unaLle to pa l'ticipa t e in any spor W1 1

~~.
d'
1
l\otwith standi.ng ou r va rious han Icaps we 1.av e
malla ge d to play t hree cricket mat ches a t the t1m e
of goi ng to press , a nd wl1l1st not comIn g out as the
winners \\'e can say that we all thorou ghly enJoyed
the gam es.
..,
hMat che have been play ed a ga,lll ::;t. the Detac
menl R. A.M . C. , Jerusalem , Comb1lled F01'ce , He ad ~
quarter s Sergeants ' Mess and the Sergeants Mes::;
of 2nd Bn. The Black \iV atch.
III th e berame a gain st th e Medi cals we manag~ d
to wi n tb e toss and decid ed to tnk e th e first kno ck.
Our memb er were not in batting . fOl'111 and our
wicket ;: i)e ga n to tumbl e qui ckly. How ever , one <?L'
two of us, ai.d ed as usual by more th an our fall'
share of lu ck . managed to ta k e our total Hl tO th ~
ei o'h t ies which seemed fall'ly r espectabl e. \iVhen 'OUI
ol;ponent wen t in to ba,t t hey soon showed us the
way to ge t runs and 111an,: ged to pass our t?,tal for
t.he lo ss o f on lv ll.v E. of th en' Wick ets . At th l:; game
the wi" es of t:he memb ers of this d eta chm ent, who
are now resident w ith us , turned out III f? l'ce and
by gift S 0 [ bun s, sandwich es etc .. .entert.am ed our
visitol. royaUy . .
d '
1.
On Au g ust Bank Holiday WE. had hope to pity
nn all-day m a t ch against th e ~:Iem b el'S of th e F~n'c~
H .Q. Sel:gea nts' Mess but , oWIng to th e opera tIo n"
in th is Comma.nd offi ce hours had to b e kept ~ s
usual on th is day so that we could only play t e
- , me. T
h 'W,l,
" our
O'ame and we
usual afternoon ga
. IS
.
b '
,
.
enterta
in ed the WIVes
and [amI'1'les 0f OU I 0 pponents
an
to t ea. Nea rly one hun ch'ed a,ttend ed ~nd w ~ c
hon est ly say tha,t everyon e thoroughly enjoyed them . 'we b a tted
first . and
when
selves . . 0 nce agam
..
'
. ht tlweI.
just m a nnged to r each three .Il.gures we t h ou g T~~~
we had a good chan ce of w1l1nlllg th.e gam e.
11 , .
was not. t.o be a,s we found Sj Sgt.. Slmpsonh.ofr OUI
oppon ent.s' ele vell a bsolnt eI.Y on. 1.1l e t op of IS orm1
. with a. ped ect knoc
. I( of 48 no t 0 lIt we provec
illlcl
.0

357

COR-:..::.::,P~S=--::...-JO
_U_R_
N_A_L_. _ _ __

the lose rs by f,OUl' wickets. A return game has now

been a rranged to takE place at the end of Augu st
and we hope then tha t we will be a ble to get our
own back .
Th e match again st the Sergeants' M~ss of the
Royal Highl a nders was played O? their barrack,
sq ua rE. at T ala vera Barracks. ThIS IS. a .very populal
erround -for our member s. Perhaps It 1S because of
fts sm a.llness or, being macadam, it is ea~y to .field
the ball or lastly , th e Mess is adjacent to It a~d thIS
c-ouuts for a lot in a dry, hot. and dll~ty chmate.
In this game we again reached ~be .lghtles and
thoucr bt \ye h ad a fair chan ce of wrnmng but found
our gppon ents on their best of form a nd they ran
,o ut easy winners .
Obituary (or Sad NeWs).-T.<? those. w~o know .our
'Steve' . we must pass on tlns t ragIC l11fOrmatlOn.
H avi;lg lots of avoir-dupois (Hebrew for~eo .
Youngers) t o carry, t~e ge11lal . memb e~' of OuI. ~~
t achm ent 'found the ch mate a httle trymg. Carryin 0' on ma niully for a fEW days, Saturd ay morlllng
fO~11ld him really beaten , and wi.th much regret ( ?) ,
he sent a verbal message that he w?ul? be unable to
report t.o the offi ce, but a mOl'l1ll1 g s rest would
effect a cure.
S uch nEWS caused conster nation in the camp, anft
in a short time the original message had become so
distort,ed , t hat ' the report was circulated that the
' Angel of Darkness' was hovenng around.
Phone messages flying round and 10 I and behold,
there ap-pears a t the' Mess, a.n ambula nce, co~p]e~ e
with stret cher and two of the largest orderIIEs 111
J erusalem , to take away the corp e. V>l e leave yo u
t o i:-nagin e just what t.h e corpse. ha d to. say w~en
t.he orderliES awoke hun to tell hIm how III he w~s .
Very mu ch disappointed, the orderhes had to dnve
away t he ambula nce empty but left orders :01' the
body to report itself sick.
.
Res nlt- a. very quick 'get rea.d y', ~ two m11e walk
to the r eception 'sta tion, a weary h1ke back .agat ~l ,
all in th e gla re of' thE. morning s un and the l11vahd
nearly 'was hors de combat.
.
He has sin ce deCIded tha t th e next tIm e he wants
'I rest h e' ll ero t.o the offi ce fl S usual.
Sale.-S j Sgt.
'Haggis' ,
, Ad~ertise':ents.-For
now occupyill g the house recenLly va ca ted by . the
Mexican Con sulat.e, is prepared to sell Mex.1can
Visa ' s. No reaso:1able offer l'efu eel - but stnct.ly
C.O .D .
SHANGHAI.

Since writin g t.he note's for th e last issue of t.he

J ou mal , local conditions have .calm ed down ql1lte
iI lot but the bulk of work wlthm t~e office has
increa.sed grEatly and our ears and ml11ds ~re full
of 1st year a.nd 2nd year i ncr emen~s , SpeCIal Pr?nciency Pay, et,c., as we a.re busIly. engaged 111
g iving effe ct to the recent Il1 creases 111 tbe rates
of pay.
.
Sgt. \ iVilson , who had been ou t to u~ ron: SIl1g;a pore, left us on the 29th March , takll1 g WIth h1m
the Loyal Regiment. ,'ile are very sorry to lose
him .
So t McClafferty lEa,ves us on th e 25th May, the
Con~~and P ay Office needing thei.r "pool l11a:1"
and so we al;e left with our norma l staff of SI:'.
W e held a ltttle cocktail party In Capta1l1
Thomas' hou se t.o wish Sgt. Wilson a safe jOl11'ney .

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

Owing to Ule suddenness of r:lgt . i'vIcClaff ert.y's departure, it was not possiblE. to do so in hi s case,
unfortunately.
Rifle Shoot ing.-Viie have been com pelled to
cease (we hop e temporarily ) our activ it ies in t hi s
direction ow ing t o lac.k of miniature ra n ge accommoda tion_ an d of good rifl es.
Our ot,her rifles left for Sin gapor e with t he
Loyals and t hose n ow availab le a re so poo r t hat
even our b est sho ts fo und great di ffi culty in
scorin g 60 out of lOO ! !
vVe hope t o r esum e on t he full range (prov idin g
t he J a panese agree! ) an d w e can fi t our t in:tes in
wit h -So V. C. or one of t h e In fantry Battalions h ere.
'IN ~ are now preparing for t h e " hot. weather
period ", at t he en d of which we shall lose t hree
of our n um ber-but we won' t t hink of t h at .
ViTe ha ve no oth er news t o report except t hat
tennis and sw imm ing have star ted and members of
t he detachment seem to be active sup-porters of
both sports .
, Ne hope our n ext set of news items will contain more n ews- " But for t h e p resent I leave
y ou".
" L ONG VIE"," " .
(Non : : Th e above notes were received t oo late for
t he Summer Numb er.- Editor .)
Since our la,st bulletin , Sha ng hai has becom e an
imita tion Venice and t he roads aroun d Headq uarters are ov er eighteen inches deep wit h flood
wa t er owing t o t h e continu al rain s of t h e last t wo
weeks .
Th e only m eans of access to t he pay offi ce was n,t
on e t im e by a series of pla nk brid ges s uppor ted by
odd boxes an d baulks of t imber . This rendered t h e
possession of Blondin-like balan cing faculties an
absolute n ecess ity. It was wit h bated breath that
members of th e det achment watch ed th e Area P ay master make hi s perilou s journey from gat e to offi ce
0 11 t h e first day of th e flo ods.
H e, how ever, di sappointed aJl t h e onlookers by a masterly exhibi tion
of balancing, presum ably acquired during his t reks
in ' iVest Africa, m any years ago, wh er e often n ar ro w

Vol. IV.

PAY

CO RPS

JOURNAL

t r ee tr unks were t h e only meaIl S of crossing streams

a,nd crevices.
There h as been a n epid emic of Cholera here a nd
we all .have had to suffer t wo an ti- cholera inj ect ions
- luclnly 111 our left arms so that we h av.e not b een
im paired in our capacit ies f.o r r aising "food" to our
mout hs. As a res ult of the floods and rain everythin a has
become exceedin gly damp .
Bindings have ~ome
a way fro m books a nd pictures and it is a very unp.l easant jo b t o have t o get int o any bu t t he ' most
SImple and abb reviated cloth es.
Of oth er n e~s we h ave very lit tle; t h e J a ps are
very qmet an!i tb e local popul ace appeal' t o have
fo rg,ot ten t he inciden ts of l ast year o.ompletely.
In deed t h ere is n9 sign, ou tside th e J apanese controlled ar eas , of a ny of th e damage suffered clmin a
t hose excit in g days .
_
0
Ou r chi ef am usem ent , apart from t ennis a nd sw imming is 'the cin ema, for th ese buildin gs affo rd t he
n ea rest t hi ng t o a cool atmosph er e t hat t here is
available, unless one can afford t o patronise t he local
hotels.
Th e fall in t h e value of t he Chin ese currencv has
mell,nt a certain nU!1l ber of extra dollar s for us, but
as is usually t he case, every fall in th e valu e of t he
dollar means a proportional in crease in th e p rices of
our necessit ies and amusements.
' iVe are h aving a Tenni s Competit ion in t h e garrison and our hope is Sgt. Pinkney . The competit ion
commen ces next week a nd we sh all a,11 be prepared
to " root" for our man.
Captain Thomas h as been appointed as ,one of t he
J udges at th e lo cal boxing arena and is to be seen
every F rid ay at the ringsid e.
Rifl e sh ooting has had i o b e ent irely neglected but
we are still hoping t h at wh en th e time com es for us
tollre ou r annual courses, we s hall find some opport unity t o tak e on t h e Sergeants of thl'l r egiments
st ationed h ere.
,iVe hope t h at our n ext news will be fuller but
" F or t h e pr.esent, we leave you" .
LONG VIE W .

Autumn, 1938

No. 3l.
CONTENTS

Ed itorial N otes and N otices

Corps Sports N ews
Corps N ews- Officers
Promotions and Appointments
T he 1924 Mu tiny in Khartoum
Contract Bridge
War in Shanghai-Part II
O bituary
O.CA. Committee N otes
A Trip through the British W est Indies
Sieri a Leone- the Lion's H ead
Re tirements
Corps No tes, etc.-Home
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