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  • George Edwin Southern

    George Edwin Southern, HMS Lion, Royal Navy
    George Edwin Southern, HMS Lion, Royal Navy

    George Edwin Southern was born on 2nd February 1882 in Ermington, Devon, and having worked as a farm labourer, then joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class (Devonport No.297525) with Vivid II from 13th June 1901, being rated as a Stoker whilst with Bulwark on 11th August 1902, and then advanced to Stoker 1st Class whilst with Isis on 1st July 1906. Advanced to Leading Stoker whilst with Indus on 5th February 1914, he was aboard the battleship Marlborough on the outbreak of the Great War when a part of the 1st Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet. He was promoted to Stoker Petty Officer whilst aboard her on 1st November 1915, and was posted to Vivid II from 9th January 1916.

    Posted to the light cruiser Cambrian from 19th July 1916, he then rejoined Vivid II from 8th September 1917, before joining the destroyer Bullfinch from 27th November 1917, but then joined Vivid II from 5th March 1918, before being posted to Wallington for service aboard the destroyer Sandfly from 20th March 1918, this vessel being then employed as a minelayer. Southern saw service aboard Sandfly for the rest of the war, and was awarded a Mention in Despatches for gallant and distinguished service in the London Gazette for 21st March 1919. Posted back to Vivid II from 1st February 1919, he then joined the battlecruiser Lion from 15th June 1919, and was with her when he was awarded the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 13th September 1919. Southern was pensioned from service on 12th June 1923.

    HMS Vivid was the Royal Navy designation for the barracks at Devonport in England and for other nominal bases in Cornwall, Ireland and Wales. Vivid II was the Stokers and Engine Room Artificers School.

    HMS Cambrian was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was the name ship of her sub-class of four ships. Assigned to the Grand Fleet upon completion in 1916, the ship played only a small role during the war. Cambrian was assigned to the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets during the 1920s and was sent to support British interests in Turkey during the Chanak Crisis of 1922–1923. The ship was placed in reserve in late 1929. She was sold for scrap in 1934.

    HMS Cambrian
    HMS Cambrian

    HMS Bullfinch was a three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896–1897 Naval Estimates. She was the third ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1857 for a 4-gun wooden-screw gunboat. In July 1914 Bullfinch was in active commission in the 7th Destroyer Flotilla based at Devonport tendered to Leander, destroyer depot ship to the 7th Flotilla. In September 1914 the 7th Flotilla was redeployed to the Humber River. She remained in this deployment until the cessation of hostilities. Her employment within the Humber Patrol included anti-submarine and counter-mining patrols. On 15 August 1914, she was involved in a collision in British waters, with the loss of four stokers. In 1919 Bullfinch was paid off and laid-up in reserve awaiting disposal. She was sold on 10 June 1919 to Young of Sunderland for breaking.

    HMS Bullfinch
    HMS Bullfinch

    HMS Sandfly was an Acheron-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served during World War I and was sold for breaking in 1921. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to be named after the small biting fly of the same name. In 1917 the Acheron-class destroyers Ferret, Sandfly and Ariel were converted to minelaying destroyers, capable of carrying 40 mines. Sandfly served with the 20th Flotilla, and operated out of Immingham.

    HMS Sandfly

    HMS Lion was a battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s. She was the lead ship of her class, which were nicknamed the “Splendid Cats”. They were significant improvements over their predecessors of the Indefatigable class in terms of speed, armament and armour. This was in response to the first German battlecruisers, the Moltke class, which were very much larger and more powerful than the first British battlecruisers, the Invincible class.

    Lion served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet’s battlecruisers throughout World War I, except when she was being refitted or under repair. She sank the German light cruiser Cöln during the Battle of Heligoland Bight and served as Vice-Admiral David Beatty’s flagship at the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland. She was so badly damaged at the first of these battles that she had to be towed back to port and was under repair for more than two months. During the Battle of Jutland she suffered a serious propellant fire that could have destroyed the ship had it not been for the bravery of Royal Marine Major Francis Harvey, the gun turret commander, who posthumously received the Victoria Cross for having ordered the magazine flooded. The fire destroyed one gun turret which had to be removed for rebuilding while she was under repair for several months. She spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols in the North Sea, although she did provide distant cover during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917. She was put into reserve in 1920 and sold for scrap in 1924 under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.

    HMS Lion
    HMS Lion
  • HMS Terrible

    Postcard of HMS Terrible from circa 1905.
    HMS Terrible

    Postcard of HMS Terrible from circa 1905.

    HMS Terrible was the second and last of the Powerful-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1890s. She served on the China Station and provided landing parties and guns which participated in the Siege and Relief of Ladysmith in the Second Boer War in South Africa. A few months later she did much the same thing to help suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China. During this time, her captain was Percy Scott who trained his crew to a high standard in gunnery and had his training methods adopted by the entire Royal Navy.

    Upon Terrible’s return home in 1902, she was refitted for two years and was then placed in reserve, sporadically being activated to ferry replacements to China, escort a royal tour to India or participate in fleet manoeuvres. The ship served as an accommodation ship from 1909 to 1913. In July 1914, the month before First World War erupted, she was offered for sale. Thus, the offer was withdrawn, and she subsequently made one voyage as a troop transport in 1915 before becoming a depot ship. Terrible was assigned as a training ship in 1918 before being hulked and converted to suit the role two years later. The ship was sold for scrap in July 1932 and demolished several months later.

    Design and description

    The Powerful-class cruiser was designed to counter the Russian armoured cruiser Rurik which had been designed as a long-range commerce raider. This required long range and high speed to catch the Russian ship. The ships displaced 14,200 long tons (14,400 t) at normal load. They had an overall length of 538 feet (164.0 m), a beam of 71 feet (21.6 m) and a draught of 27 feet (8.2 m). The ships were powered by a pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by 48 Belleville boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 25,000 indicated horsepower (19,000 kW) using forced draught and gave a maximum speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). Terrible reached a maximum speed of 22.4 knots (41.5 km/h; 25.8 mph) from 25,572 ihp (19,069 kW) during her sea trials. She carried enough coal to give her a range of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) and her complement consisted of 894 officers and ratings.

    The main armament of the Powerful-class cruisers consisted of two 9.2-inch (234 mm) Mk VIII guns in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Her secondary armament of a dozen 6-inch (152 mm) Mk I or II guns was arranged in casemates amidships. The end casemates were the first two-storey (guns on the main and upper decks) casemates in the RN. For defence against torpedo boats, sixteen 12-pounder 3-inch (76 mm) 12-cwt guns and a dozen 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) Hotchkiss guns were fitted. Two additional 12-pounder 8-cwt guns could be dismounted for service ashore. The ships also mounted four submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, a pair on each broadside.

    With the exception of the barbettes, all of the protective plating of the cruisers was Harvey armour. The curved protective deck ranged in thickness from 2.5–4 inches (64–102 mm) and the conning tower was protected by 12 inches (305 mm). The armour of the gun turrets, their barbettes and the casemates was 6 inches thick. The casemates had 2-inch (51 mm) backs.

    Construction and career

    Terrible was laid down by J. & G. Thomson in their Clydebank shipyard on 21 February 1894 and launched on 27 May 1895. The ship arrived at H. M. Dockyard, Portsmouth on 4 June to be fitted out. She was temporarily commissioned in July 1897 to participate in the fleet review commemorating Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Terrible was commissioned for active service by Captain Charles Robinson on 24 March 1898. In May, she ferried the First Lord, George Goschen, and the Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Austen Chamberlain, to Gibraltar and Malta. While transporting relief crews for the Mediterranean Fleet to Malta in December, the ship set a record, taking 121 hours to cover 2,206 nmi (4,086 km; 2,539 mi) despite heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay. During the Portsmouth to Gibraltar leg she averaged 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) from 12,500 ihp (9,300 kW) and 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) from Gibraltar to Malta.

    On 13 March 1899, a boiler explosion while underway en route to England killed one stoker and injured three others, who were discharged to hospital on arrival. The inquest identified that the use of salt water caused extensive corrosion and blockages in the boiler tubes, seven of which consequently burst due to overheating.

    Boer War and Boxer Rebellion

    Captain Percy Scott relieved Robinson on 18 September 1899, with orders to take the ship for service on the China Station. Expecting hostilities to break out in South Africa, Scott persuaded the Admiralty to allow him to make passage via the Cape of Good Hope rather than the originally planned Suez Canal route. Terrible arrived at Simonstown on 14 October to find war imminent. With no threat from the sea, Scott set about determining how he might adapt the navy’s guns by mounting them on wheels for use on land as to support the army which lacked any long-range artillery and found that its ordinary guns were out-ranged by the Boer artillery. The mountings looked somewhat amateurish, causing the authorities to regard them with considerable suspicion. However, they proved very effective and the role of two of his 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns at the siege of Ladysmith received quite a bit of publicity. Terrible arrived at Durban on 6 November and Scott was appointed Military Commandant there the following day. A naval brigade from the Terrible accompanied the Ladysmith relief force, including two 4.7-inch and eighteen 12-pounder guns, and participated in the battles of Colenso (December 1899) and Spion Kop (January 1900) and the relief of Ladysmith on 28 February. Scott also adapted a small searchlight as a signal light mounted on a train to communicate with the besieged force in Ladysmith. After the relief of Ladysmith, Terrible’s crew rejoined her and she departed Durban on 27 March 1900.

    She arrived at Hong Kong on 8 May and Scott mounted four 12-pounders on field carriages later that month, once he became aware that Terrible and her crew would be ordered north to assist British forces against the anti-foreigner movement known as the Boxers. Orders arrived on 15 June that Terrible was to load three companies of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and sail to Taku where she arrived on the 21st. A single 12-pounder gun accompanied the relief force that reached the foreign quarter of Tientsin on 24 June. The other three guns accompanied the expedition that defeated the Chinese forces in the city of Tientsin in mid-July. All four guns were part of the second relief expedition to Peking in August and her crewmen returned to the ship on 7 September. After hostilities ceased Scott focused to working up his ship’s gunnery capabilities, devising various training aids, and her crew shot a very respectable score of 78.8% in the 1900 prize firing. Terrible arrived in Hong Kong on 17 December after a typhoon had struck the city, and Scott volunteered to salvage the capsized dredger Canton River. Work began the following month and Scott succeeded two months later. In the Navy’s 1901 prize firing Terrible achieved a score of 80%, the best of any ship in the Navy.

    In early 1902 Terrible spent several months at Hong Kong, providing relief and condensed water for the dockyard, amid an outbreak of cholera in the city leading to a water famine. In July 1902 Scott received orders to return with his ship to Britain, and after visits to Colombo and Aden, passed via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean where she visited Malta and Gibraltar before she returned to Portsmouth on 19 September. On her return, 700 of her officers and men were hosted to a public dinner in Portsmouth, before she was paid off on 24 October to begin a long refit at Messrs. John Brown and Co.′s works at Clydebank. During this refit, the RN added four 6-inch guns in casemates amidships, although no additional ammunition could be accommodated in the ship.

    Later career

    Terrible recommissioned on 24 June 1904 for special service and took out relief crews to the China Station, returning in December. She was paid off again on the 22nd, but was assigned to the reserve on 3 January 1905. The ship was activated in August to escort the battleship Renown carrying the Prince and Princess of Wales—the future King George V and Queen Mary—during their tour of India and returned home in early 1906. Terrible served as the temporary flagship of the 6th Cruiser Squadron during the annual manoeuvres in June and July and returned to reserve afterwards. She was reactivated on 7 November to ferry relief crews to China, losing a propeller on the return trip, and finished the voyage on one engine. The ship was refitted from 4 May 1908 to 1 April 1909 and was assigned to the Fourth Division of the Home Fleet upon its completion. Terrible was primarily used as an accommodation ship from 20 July until she was transferred to Pembroke Dock on 6 December 1913. The ship was listed for disposal in July 1914, but this was cancelled when the First World War began shortly afterwards.

    Terrible was recommissioned in September 1915 to transport troops to the Dardanelles and her 9.2-inch guns were removed. She reached Mudros on 2 October and became a depot ship at Portsmouth upon her return. The ship was assigned as tender to HMS Vernon in January 1918 and then to HMS Fisgard a year later. In September 1919 Terrible was hulked, disarmed and had most of her propulsion machinery removed to convert her into a training ship for engineering apprentices. When the conversion was completed in August 1920, she was renamed Fisgard III. When Fisgard moved to accommodations ashore, the ship was listed for sale in January 1932 and was purchased in July by John Cashmore Ltd. She was towed to Newport, Wales in September and broken up. Parts of her teak would later be made into souvenirs and sold off.

  • Cameron Highlanders 1

    Postcard of men from the Cameron Highlanders
    Cameron Highlanders

    Postcard of men from the Cameron Highlanders.

  • RAMC 4

    Postcard of men from the Royal Army Medical Corps.
    Royal Army Medical Corps

    Postcard of men from the Royal Army Medical Corps.

  • British Red Cross Society Medal, 1914 – 1918

    British Red Cross Society Medal, 1914 - 1918
    British Red Cross Society Medal, 1914 – 1918

    The British Red Cross Society medal was awarded for service in the First World World and made by J. R. Gaunt & Son.

    The medal was given to members of the British Red Cross and Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses who volunteered for one year or 1,000 hours of service during the First World War and did not receive a British War Medal.

    The medal was only to be worn on a Red Cross uniform. Made from bronze gilt, the Latin inscription on the medal translates as “Admist the arms, love”.

    British Red Cross Society Medal, 1914 - 1918
    British Red Cross Society Medal, 1914 – 1918
  • AOC 1

    Postcard from 1917 of Army Ordnance Corps serviceman.
    Army Ordnance Corps

    Postcard from 1917 of Army Ordnance Corps serviceman.

  • 1914

    1914

    Brighton and Hove Albion team photograph from 1914.

  • 31st January 1914

    31st January 1914

    Souvenir Brighton & Hove Albion postcard from 1914.

  • 1901-02

    1901-02

    Brighton and Hove Albion team photograph from 1901.

    The photo is taken from the 1953-54 Brighton & Hove Albion Annual.

  • 15th February 1930

    Sussex County Football Team

    Postcard of the Sussex County Football Team in 1930.

  • 1906-7

    1906-7

    Brighton and Hove Albion team photograph from 1906.

  • RAMC 2

    Portrait postcard of a Royal Army Medical Corps servicemen
    Royal Army Medical Corps

    Portrait postcard of a Royal Army Medical Corps servicemen.

  • The Boys, No. 10 Hut

    Royal Army Medical Corps Great War Postcard
    The Boys, No. 10 Hut

    Great War postcard of men from the Royal Army Medical Corps.

  • 1905-6

    1905-6

    Brighton and Hove Albion postcard from 1905.

  • William Alexander Mellish

    
Great War Victory Medal awarded to William Alexander Mellish, British Red Cross

    Great War Victory Medal awarded to William Alexander Mellish, British Red Cross

    William Alexander Mellish, born on 28th August 1895, joined the British Red Cross on 28th October 1916 and volunteered to serve as an Orderly in France until 1919.

    Following the end of the war William qualified as a dentist in 1921.

    William passed away in 1979 at the age of 84.

    
Great War Victory Medal awarded to William Alexander Mellish, British Red Cross

    Great War Victory Medal awarded to William Alexander Mellish, British Red Cross
  • 1910-11

    Brighton & Hove Albion Postcard from 1910.
    1910-11

    Brighton and Hove Albion postcard from 1910.

  • 1921

    29 January 1921

    Souvenir postcard of cup tie between Brighton & Hove Albion and Cardiff City on 29th January 1921.

  • 1908-9

    1908-9

    Brighton and Hove Albion postcard from 1908.

  • Frank Buckley

    Frank Buckley

    Frank Buckley was born in Urmston, Lancashire in 1882. He attended St Francis Xavier’s College, Liverpool, and became an office clerk. Already part of the Manchester Regiment, Buckley signed up for a 12-year enlistment in the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) and expected to serve in the Boer War, but was instead sent to Ireland. He bought himself out of the army in 1902 to become a professional footballer.

    He went from Aston Villa to Brighton & Hove Albion to Manchester United and Manchester City all within six years, and found something approaching stability only with Birmingham, where he made 56 appearances. Soon after that he was on the move again, this time to Derby County. It was with the Rams, in 1914, that he gained his sole England cap, in a shock 3–0 defeat by Ireland before upping sticks, again, to join Bradford City. His stay in Yorkshire shortened by the start of the First World War.

    Frank Buckley went to war with the 17th Middlesex Regiment (where he commanded the Football Battalion), seeing action and receiving wounds in the Battle of the Somme, and rising to the rank of Major.

    Frank played 34 matches for the Seagulls in 1905-06 scoring 2 goals.

  • Billy Hayes

    Billy Hayes

    Billy Hayes who played as a goalkeeper began his senior career with Preston North End, where he made 10 league appearances, all of them in the 1914–15 season. During the First World War, he played one match as a guest for Burnley. After the war, Hayes played for several clubs including Brighton & Hove Albion and Southend United playing more than 250 league matches. Towards the end of his career, he played for a number of non league sides.

    Billy played 225 matches for the Seagulls between 1919 and 1924.

  • Ben Garfield

    Ben Garfield

    One of the great characters and most notable players in Brighton’s early years, Ben Garfield had played for England only four years before arriving in Hove and was a major capture for the infant club.

    The slight winger began his career in his native Northamptonshire with Finedon and Kettering Town, and was introduced to the Football League by Burton Wanderers in June 1894 where he scored 27 goals in 59 Second Division matches over two seasons. Such form earned him a transfer to First Division West Bromwich Albion in May 1896, and he went on to become a most popular and famous performer with the “Throstles’, scoring 38 goals in 117 League and Cup games over six years. It was an excellent return for a winger in any era, and Ben was rewarded with an England cap in March 1898 in a 3-2 defeat of Ireland in Belfast.

    Although he suffered a number of injuries during his time with West Brom, it still caused a minor sensation when he was released to join Brighton in August 1902 amid competition from more illustrious clubs. At 30 years of age, Ben made quite an impact at the Goldstone with some sparkling displays, the finest of which was undoubtedly his four-goal performance in the 5-3 defeat of Watford in the test match that clinched promotion to the Southern League’s First Division in April 1903.

    A real bundle of energy, he gave total commitment, but the injury problems continued and his appearances became fewer. In May 1905, Ben was released and moved to Tunbridge Wells Rangers, but was soon forced to retire.

    Ben played 64 matches for the Seagulls between 1902 and 1905 scoring 29 goals.

  • Walter Anthony

    Walter Anthony

    Walter Anthony developed both his physique and his game at the Goldstone to become a fine player. He rarely missed a game, and produced such sparkling displays in his third season with the club that he was sold for a big fee.

    Walter began his career in Derbyshire junior soccer with Osmaston before progressing to Heanor Town in February 1899. His form with the Midland Leaguers attracted nearby Nottingham Forest and in February 1903 he was offered a professional engagement by the Football League giants at the age of 23, but he was considered too frail to compete in the hurly-burly of senior football and failed to fulfil his early promise, making just six First Division appearances before his release to join the Albion in May 1905.

    Having impressed during the three F.A. Cup matches with Preston North End in January 1908, the 28-year-old winger was transferred to Blackburn Rovers the following month as the main part of a triple deal which also saw the departure of Dick Wombwell and Joe Lumley for Ewood Park.

    Walter went on to make 149 League appearances for the First Division side and won a League championship medal in 1911-12. In May 1914 he dropped into the Lancashire Combination with Stalybridge Celtic. Walter was the younger brother of the Nottinghamshire cricketers George and Henry Anthony.

    Walter made 119 appearances for the Seagulls between 1905-08 scoring 13 goals.

  • George Ritchie

    George Ritchie

    West Derby, Lancashire born inside left George Ritchie began his football career with Rossendale United and joined Lancashire Combination club Chester in 1910. Signed by Preston North End in 1912, he spent 1912-13 on the books at Deepdale without making their first eleven, before a move to Southern League club Norwich City in 1913. His career was then interrupted as the onset of the First World War forced the suspension of peacetime football in May 1915, and during the War Ritchie served as a guardsman in The Grenadier Guards and also played one match of wartime league football for Liverpool in 1915-16.

    After the War he signed for Southern League club Brighton & Hove Albion in 1919, and after Brighton joined the new Third Division in 1920, Ritchie made his Football League debut in The Seagulls’ inaugural League fixture at Southend United that August, playing in their next two matches before losing his place. He transferred to Reading in the 1921 close season, scoring the only goal of the match on his debut against Newport County that August, the first of 4 goals in 10 appearances for The Royals before he lost his place that November. Ritchie joined non league side Northfleet United in 1922, his last known club before his eventual retirement.

  • Fred Blackman

    Fred Blackman

    Kennington, London born right back Fred Blackman had been on the books at Arsenal in 1907-08 without making their first eleven and played for Hastings & St Leonards in 1908 before joining Brighton & Hove Albion in May 1909, where he made a big impression prompting The Athletic News to label him as “wonderfully quick on his feet, sure kicker with either foot, fearless tackler”, and he was ever present as they won the Southern League Championship in his first year at the club. In September 1910, he was a member of the Albion team that beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Stamford Bridge to win the Charity Shield with a goal from Charlie Webb.

    He twice represented The Southern League against the Football League. In January 1911 he was given an England trial at Tottenham, without being selected for the full England squad. After making 76 appearances for The Seagulls, he signed for Second Division club Huddersfield Town for £300 in May 1911, making his Football League debut that September against Barnsley and quickly establishing himself as a fixture in the first team. When Arthur Fairclough replaced Dick Pudan as manager at the end of the campaign and appointed Blackman captain; he missed just two games and led them to a fifth place finish in 1912-13.

    He was a regular in The Terriers’ first team until February 1914, when he joined Leeds City after 96 matches for Huddersfield Town for a fee reported to be “upwards of £1,000”. According to the Leeds Mercury, the transfer “caused quite a sensation in Huddersfield soccer circles yesterday, and the action of the Huddersfield Town directorate in parting with their most reliable defensive player was somewhat adversely criticised”. The Yorkshire Post described him as “possibly the most stylish and polished back in the Second Division” with “few equals as a tackler”; the Leeds Mercury claimed he was “regarded as one of the best full-backs in the Second Division… a cool and resourceful defender, who kicks to a very useful length. He is a man of fine physique standings 5ft 11 ¾ in and weighing 11st 1lb”.

    Blackman continued playing regularly making 46 appearances before peacetime football was halted by the onset of the First World War. After 46 appearances for Leeds City, Blackman returned to London at the end of the 1914-15 season, though City retained his registration, and he guested during the War years with Fulham. After the War he signed for Southern League club Queen’s Park Rangers in July 1919 and when they joined The Football League a year later Blackman played in their inaugural Football League match against Watford in August 1920, and making 43 appearances for Rangers during their first two League seasons before his retirement.

  • George Holley

    George Holley

    Inside left George Holley was born in Seaham, County Durham and played local football for three different Seaham clubs: Seaham Athletic in 1901, Seaham Villa in 1902 and Wearside League champions Seaham White Star in 1903 before joining First Division Sunderland in November 1904. Initially, Holley played in the reserves where he was a regular goal scorer, although he made a scoring Football League debut away to Sheffield Wednesday in a 1-1 draw on 27th December 1904. Following the transfer of Alf Common to Middlesbrough in February 1905, Holley became a first team regular.

    In his first few seasons at Roker Park he was overshadowed as a goal scorer by Arthur Bridgett, but in 1907-08 he was the club’s top scorer with 24 League goals. On 5th December 1908, Holley scored a hat-trick in a 9-1 victory at St James’ Park over bitter local rivals Newcastle United, with the other goals coming from Billy Hogg (another hat-trick), Bridgett (two) and Jackie Mordue. Despite this Sunderland finished the 1908-09 season in third place, with Newcastle finishing as League Champions.

    Holley won his first international cap for England against Wales on 15th March 1909, playing on the right alongside his Sunderland team mate, Arthur Bridgett with Holley scoring after 15 minutes as England ran out 2-0 victors. Holley was also selected for the 1909 summer tour of Europe, playing in all three matches, scoring twice in both the 8-2 victory over Hungary and the 8-1 victory over Austria. Holley scored five goals in five internationals that season. Surprisingly, he was dropped from the team after failing to score in the first game (against Wales) the following season. He did however go on the FA Tour of South Africa in the summer of 1910, scoring 3 goals in 3 “Test Matches” against South Africa. He also made 5 appearances for The Football League in representative matches.

    Holley continued to score plenty of goals for Sunderland and ended up as the First Division joint top scorer in the 1911-12 season with 25 goals. During the season he scored four goals in a 5-0 defeat of Manchester United at Roker Park on 27th January 1912, as well as a hat-trick in a 4-0 win against Everton in April. He also won back his place in the England team and scored in all three games he played in the 1912 British Home Championship.

    Sunderland won the League Championship in the 1912-13 season. Holley’s 12 goals made an important contribution although the club’s top scorer was Charlie Buchan with 27 goals. Buchan later argued that in a game against Bradford City on 2nd November 1912, Holley’s performance was the best he ever saw by an inside-forward. “He scored a magnificent hat-trick, running nearly half the length of the field each time and coolly dribbling the ball round goalkeeper Jock Ewart before placing it in the net.” Sunderland narrowly missed out on the Double, losing the 1913 FA Cup Final 1-0 to Aston Villa at The Crystal Palace. Holley was not fully fit for the Cup Final and went into the game with his ankle and knee bandaged.

    Holley played his last game for Sunderland against Everton in April 1915 after which his career was interrupted by the suspension of peacetime football with the advent of the First World War, having scored 160 goals in 360 appearances.  He was Sunderland’s top scorer in five separate seasons and during his time at the club. Altogether he scored nine hat-tricks for Sunderland and his scoring record for Sunderland is bettered only by Bobby Gurney, Charlie Buchan and Dave Halliday.

    After the War, Holley left Sunderland to play for Brighton & Hove Albion in July 1919 where he scored 5 goals in 13 appearances during their first post war Southern League season. He retired from playing in 1920 and returned to Sunderland in January 1921 for an 18-month spell as a coach. He later had spells coaching at Wolverhampton Wanderers for ten years and then at Barnsley.

    His son, Tom played as a central defender for Barnsley from 1932 to 1936, and then for Leeds United from 1936 to 1948.

  • Charlie Webb

    Charlie Webb

    Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Ireland born inside left Charlie Webb is truly one of the greatest figures in the history of Brighton & Hove Albion. He was born into a Scottish military family began his football career as a 16-year-old, when he played first-team football for West Sussex League club Worthing, and in his second season, he contributed to Worthing winning a treble of the Sussex Senior Cup, the West Sussex Senior League, and a local charity cup. In 1904, Webb followed in the family tradition by enlisting in the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment, and while serving in Ireland, he furthered his football career playing for his regimental team in the Leinster Senior League, and from 1907 he played in the Irish League for Bohemians. He scored freely for his regiment – in November 1907 he scored all seven in a 7-4 defeat of Dublin University – and early the following year was the only player from outside the Irish League to be selected for the Leinster representative team to play Ulster and later that year was chosen to represent The Irish League in a match against The Football League, when he played in a 6-3 defeat at Roker Park in October 1907.

    He had a trial with Scottish club Rangers in 1908 and in November that year he was capped by the Ireland amateur national team, in a match against the England Amateurs at Dalymount Park, Dublin. Described by The Times’ reporter as “distinctly the best of an indifferent forward line”, he scored Ireland’s late consolation goal in a 5-1 defeat.

    In January 1909, while on Christmas leave from his regiment, Webb played and scored for Brighton & Hove Albion in a Southern League match against West Ham United. On his return, the Army discovered he had appeared alongside professionals and banned him from military football for 12 months. The Football Association fined the Brighton club £5 “for having approached and played Webb in violation of the Rules of the Association.” Rumours that the military authorities would prevent him playing for Bohemians in the semi-final of the Irish Cup proved unfounded, but when Webb finished on the winning side, the Irish Times reported that Glentoran, the losing club, intended to protest his inclusion, on the grounds that playing in the Southern League made him ineligible to appear in the Irish Cup competition. The result stood, though by the time the Final was played, Webb had left the club. Forced to choose between his military and his football career, he bought himself out of the Army and signed for Brighton & Hove Albion as an amateur.

    A few days later, Webb became the first Brighton player to be capped at full international level when he made his debut for Ireland in a 5-0 defeat against Scotland at Ibrox Park on 15th March 1909. In his second international match, a week later against Wales at Grosvenor Park, Belfast, Ireland lost 3-2, and Webb had to play the second half out of position at left half because of an injury sustained by English McConnell. Called up after Aberdeen’s Charlie O’Hagan withdrew from the party selected to play England in 1910, Webb was unable to accept the invitation. His third and final cap came the following March against Scotland, as replacement for James Macauley; given “one rare chance to open the scoring … with no one to beat but the goalkeeper”, he shot wide faced with an open goal as Scotland went on to win 2-0 at Celtic Park, Glasgow.

    Webb proved a reliable goalscorer from inside left for Brighton, and in the 1909-10 season he scored nine times as the Seagulls won the Southern League title for the only time and in the FA Charity Shield he scored the winner against Football League Champions Aston Villa – the only time a Southern League team won the Shield. At the end of the 1909-10 season, the Times reported that “Brighton and Hove Albion have not had much difficulty in finishing at the head of the Southern League”. Webb played in every game as Albion won their first and, as of today, only major League title.

    This achievement earned them a place in the FA Charity Shield in which they faced reigning Football League champions Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge in London on 5th September 1910. The only goal of the game was scored in the second half, following a corner kick taken by Albion’s Bert Longstaff. Aston Villa’s goalkeeper parried the ball into a knot of players, from where Bill Hastings touched it to Webb, “who cleverly evaded a couple of Villa defenders and found the net with a rising cross-shot.” Crowds packed the area around Brighton railway station to welcome the victors home at 11:30 pm, and the Sussex Daily News suggested that the team could “now be dubbed as Champions of England”. A testimonial fund raised more than £120 which was distributed among the professional players. As an amateur, Webb could receive no prize money, so the club presented him with a gold tie-pin instead. He turned professional soon afterwards.

    He finished as the club’s leading scorer in 1912-13, with 13 goals in all competitions, and went on to set a club record for goals scored in the Southern League of 64. Though his Ireland career was at an end, Webb continued to be selected in representative teams. In September 1912, he scored for The Southern League as the Football League XI beat them 2-1 at Old Trafford, Manchester, and the following season, he was selected for a Southern Alliance eleven to play that League’s champions, Croydon Common; among his teammates was Patsy Hendren, the England Test cricketer. However a serious leg injury sustained in a match against Millwall in November 1914 effectively put an end to his playing career, not helped by the onset of the First World War. By that time Webb had scored 68 goals in 232 League, Cup and Charity Shield appearances for Brighton, and 79 goals in 275 matches in all competitions.

    On the outbreak of War, Brighton & Hove Albion supported the War effort by having a rifle range built at The Goldstone Ground. Webb led rifle drill on the pitch, using wooden replicas where there were insufficient actual weapons to go round. He re-enlisted as a Second Lieutenant in The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and served on the Western Front from July 1917. Promoted to Acting Captain (the rank was confirmed after the War), he was leading a patrol near Nesle in March 1918 when they were challenged in French. Unfortunately for Webb and his men, the French speakers were German troops. Preferring to avoid unnecessary injury or death, Webb surrendered. He saw out the duration as a Prisoner of War in Mainz, Germany. While awaiting repatriation, he received a letter from the chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion offering him the post of team manager, an appointment he took up on his demobilisation in 1919.

    The club had closed down during the War, so Webb’s first task was not only rebuilding the team but also involving himself with rebuilding the ground. Competition resumed in 1919-20, Brighton’s final season in the Southern League, and the following season Webb led the team into the Football League as a Third Division was formed largely comprising the Southern League First Division teams of the year before. Awarded a testimonial in recognition of his service to the club, Webb chose the League game against Watford in April 1921 as his benefit match; it attracted more than 10,000 spectators and raised nearly £500. In the 1923-24 FA Cup, Webb led Albion to the Fifth Round (last 16), defeating First Division Everton on the way in what he later described as “the best Cup exhibition of any Albion team under my management”.

    He earned a reputation as a sound judge of a player. Immediately after the War, the signing of former England international forward George Holley for a club record £200 fee was viewed as quite a coup. Holley suffered a career-ending injury, so hardly played, but Webb replaced him with Jack Doran who finished as the club’s top scorer despite joining halfway through the season. He brought Tommy Cook through from the juniors into the first team; Cook was top scorer in three seasons, but when he left the club to concentrate on his cricket career, Webb brought in the Queens Park Rangers reserve Hugh Vallance, who turned out to be a “goalscoring phenomenon” alongside Dan Kirkwood. Again, when twice top scorer Arthur Attwood succumbed to appendicitis in 1933, Webb signed former Norwich City centre-forward Oliver “Buster” Brown who had failed to break into the first team at West Ham United; with regular football at Albion, Brown produced 41 goals in his first two seasons.

    Between the wars, Webb’s teams finished in the top five of the Third Division (South) on ten occasions, but challenged seriously for promotion only in the latter half of the 1930’s. He led the team to third place in 1936-37, despite an uneasy relationship with the club’s board, the supporters, and the press. The board came under criticism for alleged interference in team affairs, having undue influence over the manager in pressing the claims for selection of one player over another. Letters to the local press suggested that Webb should “be allowed greater freedom”, while in the Evening Argus, the pseudonymous “Crusader”‘s “vitriolic attacks on the directors and management of Brighton and Hove Albion for their alleged lack of ambition and inept team selections … generated a massive readership response” and led to “near physical confrontations with Charlie Webb, the beleaguered manager and former Albion player, despite the team usually finishing in a respectable position in the League table.” The club’s relationship with the local newspaper worsened during the 1937-38 season, to the extent that “Crusader” was “either banned by the directors or was voluntarily taken off by [the editor]”. Webb himself told the Daily Express: “Here you have a town full of people with money, yet hardly one of them will give us a hand. Without attractive new players and a winning team you can’t get gates and without gates you can’t have money.”

    Nevertheless, the national press recognised his achievements. A Daily Mirror feature in 1939 compared him to George Allison of Arsenal and Major Frank Buckley of Wolverhampton Wanderers:

    “but where some think and act in thousands of pounds, Charles is compelled to do the same in pence, and the consistently good football of Brighton is a tribute in itself … His great knowledge of the game has saved his club money in the way of transfer fees, and the reserve team is composed entirely of players found by him, costing not a penny. Even the first team cost very little, the highest fee paid being £50, and yet Brighton have been keen fighters for promotion for the past three seasons.”

    A Guardian retrospective on the club, written in 1973, described how “Brighton had a skilful team usually playing to the top six” under Webb, “whose transfer acquisitions were as often as not costed on the price of his train ticket and buffet sandwiches”.

    No longer of an age for active service, Webb joined the Home Guard during the Second World War. Brighton & Hove Albion continued to compete in the various wartime leagues, and Webb skilfully exploited the regulations allowing players to make guest appearances for the club nearest to their base. He was particularly fortunate that the King’s Liverpool Regiment’s posting to Newhaven in 1941 gave him the pick of Liverpool’s pre-war team. In their absence, he was reduced to selecting youngsters or soliciting members of the crowd to make up the numbers, as at Norwich City at Christmas 1940, when his travelling party of one senior player and three amateurs was supplemented by Jimmy Ithell of Bolton Wanderers, Norwich City juniors and local servicemen; Albion lost 18-0.

    At the end of the 1946-47 season, at the age of 60, Webb handed over responsibility for team affairs to former player Tommy Cook, remaining with the club on the administrative side, as secretary and general manager. A few days after a 4-0 home defeat to Walsall left Albion at the bottom of the table, provoking a demonstration after the match, the directors appointed Don Welsh as secretary-manager. Webb stayed on until the end of the 1947-48 season to assist his successor, then left the club and retired from football. Such was Webb’s standing in the game that he was awarded a second testimonial. In September 1949, Portsmouth, reigning League Champions, though unable to field a full first team because “[their] dressing-room [was] like a hospital”, beat Arsenal, their predecessors as Champions, by two goals to one in “an exhibition of memorable football” at the Goldstone Ground. After his retirement, he wrote a regular column in the Sussex Daily News.

    Webb’s stewardship as Brighton’s manager lasted 28 years in charge remains a club record and spanned 1,200 games and the club’s election to the Football League as founder members of the Third Division in 1920. He famously produced a number of steady sides on a shoestring budget and worked tirelessly for the club, selling tickets for cup ties from his house and storing the gate money in his larder over the weekend while waiting for the bank to open!

    Webb is still fondly remembered in his adopted town. In 2003 a bus was named after him and that same year a plaque was unveiled in his honour at his long-time home on Frith Road. His daughter, Joyce, born on the same day as the 1910 FA Charity Shield match, spoke on screen at Brighton’s centenary evening, at which her father was one of 24 former players and managers nominated as “Legends” and profiled in the commemorative volume. According to Jess Willard, one of Webb’s post-Second World War signings, “everybody called him Mr Webb because he was a perfect gentleman”. A 1929 feature on the club in the Sussex County Magazine spoke of him as “one of the most dominating personalities associated with the club”, discharging his managerial duties “with such conspicuous success” while remaining “genial and popular with directors, players and public alike”.

  • Jock Caldwell

    Jock Caldwell

    One of the great successes of Albion’s earliest days, Jock Caldwell a robust defender with a prodigious kick who became the club’s first penalty expert, thirteen of his fifteen goals came from the spot (or line, as it was until 1902).

    The Ayrshire-born full-back began his professional career with Hibernian before coming south to join Woolwich Arsenal in August 1894. After 59 Second Division games in two seasons at Plumstead he returned to Scotland for a short spell with Third Lanark, but rejoined Arsenal in December 1896, adding another 35 Second Division appearances to his total.

    With his reputation growing, Jock also represented the ‘Professionals of the South’ in a 2-0 defeat in March 1897 at the hands of a London F.A. XI at the Leyton Cricket Ground.

    In May 1898, Jock was one of the first players to be recruited by the newly formed Brighton United and played in 45 of the ill-fated club’s 49 competitive matches in its initial season, but then returned to Scotland again to play for the Ayrshire junior side Galton.

    In 1901 the 26-year-old was tempted back to Hove to join the Albion on its formation, and became an essential member of the team until May 1904. During the 1902-03 promotion campaign Jock was the club captain, but his last season at the Goldstone, 1904-05, was spent entirely in the reserves.

    Jock played 65 matches for the Seagulls between 1901 and 1905 scoring 15 goals.

  • Joe Leeming

    Joe Leeming

    Preston, Lancashire born left back Joe Leeming started his football career with junior club Turton in 1896 before joining First Division Bury, for whom he made his Football League debut against Blackburn Rovers in April 1898. From the following season he was an ever present, playing mainly centre half or inside left until he switched to left back from 1905, and he stayed a total of 11 seasons with The Shakers. During that time he won the FA Cup twice with Bury, playing in their 4-0 victory over Southampton in the 1900 Final and scoring twice (playing as a forward) in their record 6-0 thrashing of Derby County in the 1903 Final, both staged at The Crystal Palace. In November 1899 he was selected to play for The Football League against The Irish League in a 3-1 victory at Burnden Park, Bolton, but he never played for England.

    He scored 20 goals in 280 appearances for Bury before joining Southern League Brighton & Hove Albion in 1908, where he became the club captain and played a further six years, most notably he helped Brighton win the 1909-10 Southern League Championship, and also was a member of the Albion team that won the 1910 FA Charity Shield when they beat League Champions Aston Villa 1-0 at Stamford Bridge that September. In the five years that the Charity Shield was contested by the winners of the Football League and Southern League between 1908 and 1912, this was the only occasion on which the Southern League Champions prevailed. The victory remains Brighton & Hove Albion’s only national honour to date.. In 1914 he returned to Lancashire to join non league Chorley before retirement, having played 193 matches for Brighton without ever scoring.

    He was the father of the footballer Clifford Leeming, who went on to play for various clubs including Bolton Wanderers, Bury and Tranmere Rovers.

  • Billy Booth

    Billy Booth

    Sheffield born centre half Billy Booth joined First Division hometown club Sheffield United from Thorpe Hesley Parish Church in 1907 making his Football League debut at Blackburn Rovers in January 1908, which proved his only Blades appearance. He joined Southern League Brighton & Hove Albion in the close season of 1908 and helped Brighton win the 1909-10 Southern League Championship. He also was a member of the Albion team that won the 1910 FA Charity Shield when they beat League Champions Aston Villa 1-0 at Stamford Bridge that September. In the five years that the Charity Shield was contested by the winners of the Football League and Southern League between 1908 and 1912, this was the only occasion on which the Southern League Champions prevailed. The victory remains Brighton & Hove Albion’s only national honour to date.

    Booth was called into the England squad in February 1913 being a non playing reserve against Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast, but never returned to the England set up and remained uncapped. However he did represent The Southern League against The Football League in 1914. Booth also served as a private in the 17th (Service) Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment) during the First World War. He played both sides of the War for Brighton scoring 8 goals in 303 appearances for the Seagulls but joined Midland League club Castleford Town in 1920, returning to the South coast to play for Worthing in 1921 before his eventual retirement.

  • Jack Woodhouse

    Jack Woodhouse Brighton & Hove Albion
    Jack Woodhouse

    Smethwick, Staffordshire born right half Jack Woodhouse began his football career with Cheddleton Asylum and signed for Southern League club Brighton and Hove Albion in 1912, playing for them both sides of the First World War, featuring regularly in Brighton’s team during 1914-15, and by the time peacetime football was suspended in May 1915 he had scored 9 goals in 52 appearances for The Seagulls. During the War he fought with the 17th (Service) Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment), the so called Footballers’ Battalion, serving as a private.

    After the War’s conclusion he returned to Brighton in 1919 and was a near ever present in their 1919-20 campaign which was their last in the Southern League, being called up to play for the FA XI on the tour of South Africa in 1920. When Brighton joined The Football League he made his League debut in their inaugural Third Division fixture at Southend United in August 1920. Indeed, he was ever present in the season and was the club’s only ever present player. He kept his place until 1923, when he was seemingly injured in the second game of the 1923-24 season and was forced into retirement after 22 goals in 241 appearances for Brighton & Hove Albion.

  • William Jones

    William Jones

    Tipton, Staffordshire born centre forward William Jones played for Smethwick Town in 1899 and for Birmingham & District League club Halesowen in 1900 before turning professional with First Division Small Heath in 1901, making his Football League debut against Sheffield United that October, scoring in a 5-1 victory. However he only played 4 times as they were relegated, playing more of a role the following season as they were promoted at first time of asking in 1903 as Second Division runners up. He was their leading scorer for four successive seasons, from 1903-04 to 1906-07, and his performances were rewarded in October 1904 with selection for the Football League against the Irish Football League in a 2-0 victory in Belfast. Jones then suffered a series of injuries, the team’s form declined, and, believing the player to be past his best, the club, now re-named Birmingham, released him at the end of the 1908-09 season.

    Jones joined Brighton & Hove Albion of the Southern League. He was top scorer for them in both his full seasons, with 22 and 19 goals respectively in all competitions. He significantly contributed to them winning the 1910 Southern League Championship and the 1910 FA Charity Shield, in which they beat Aston Villa, Football League Champions, and scored the winning goal in the 1910 Southern Professional Charity Cup. Nevertheless, when Birmingham wanted to re-sign him in January 1912, the form of Jimmy Smith meant that Albion’s directors were willing to let him go for a £300 fee after 42 goals in 85 appearances..

    Jones again top-scored for Birmingham in 1912-13, bringing his total for the club to 102 goals from 253 appearances in all competitions, before returning to Brighton in November 1914. Across his two spells with Birmingham he had scored 102 goals in 252 appearances.

    In October 1914, Jones played for a Southern League representative team against The Scottish League; the game, played at Millwall’s ground in London, finished as a 1-1 draw. By January 1915, Jones, like many of his teammates, had enlisted in the Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. They trained at the White City in London, were released at weekends to play for their clubs, and Jones finished the season, the last completed before the Football League was suspended for the duration of the First World War, as Albion’s top scorer for the third time.

    He returned to the club after the War, played his last competitive first-team match in December 1919, at just short of 39 years old, and continued to appear occasionally for the reserves until as late as 1927. His combined record for Brighton saw him score 63 goals in 156 appearances. He later performed various roles for the club, as assistant trainer, scout and groundsman.

  • The Sweet Shop

    The Sweet Shop
    Delicious

    Scuffed, worn shoes

    free school meals

    we the lucky ones

    learning to deal

    Selling our dinner tickets

    was our trick

    to the sweet shop

    pretty darn quick

  • Knitted Jumper

    We Ruled

    With the grandma

    knitted jumper

    skipping, jumping

    the proverbial thumper

    Arms to the ground

    stretched and pulled

    the streets

    were

    where we ruled

  • Soles

    Soles

    Brakes were for wimps

    soles of shoes

    would shudderingly do

    as we whizzed

    our tyres

    were the fabled glue

  • Cribbage

    Save!

    Days when the glass fizzy pop bottle

    was borrowed not owned

    days when grandpa

    played cribbage at the bar

    Days long gone

    a distant glorious star

  • Time For An Ice-cream

    Time For An Ice-cream
  • Robert Whiting

    Robert Whiting

    Canning Town, London born goalkeeper Robert “Pom Pom” Whiting began his football career with South West Ham in 1904 and spent 1905 on the books of Southern League club West Ham United without making their first eleven. He joined Kent League club Tunbridge Wells Rangers later in 1905. On 13th January 1906, Whiting played in goal for Tunbridge Wells Rangers in a F.A. Cup tie against Norwich City. Scouts for Chelsea were impressed by his performance and in April 1906 he was signed signed by Second Division club Chelsea, where he was initially understudy to the legendary William “Fatty” Foulke, making his Football League debut at Bristol City in April 1906 as Chelsea missed out on promotion to the First Division, finishing third in their inaugural League season. When Foulke joined Bradford City, Whiting assumed the Chelsea gloves and he was a virtual ever present in 1906-07, missing just two matches as Chelsea won promotion, finishing runners up in the Second Division. But in the top flight he lost his place to Jack Whitley in December 1907 and joined Southern League club Brighton & Hove Albion in the 1908 close season after 54 appearances for The Pensioners.

    Whiting was noted for his punched clearances and long distance kicking. It is reported that “on more than one occasion he drove the ball from his goal area to the opposite square – a matter of a hundred yards”. Whiting’s kicking power was compared to the force and range of the military Pom Pom Gun, hence his nickname of “Pom Pom”, which he already had during his time at Chelsea.

    It was at Brighton that Whiting spent the rest of his career, making 253 appearances for The Seagulls until the suspension of peacetime football due to the onset of the First World War in 1915. Most notably Whiting helped Brighton win the 1909-10 Southern League Championship when Whiting conceded just 28 goals in 42 matches, still a Brighton club record for a 42 game season, and also was a member of the Albion team that won the 1910 FA Charity Shield when they beat League Champions Aston Villa 1-0 at Stamford Bridge that September. In the five years that the Charity Shield was contested by the winners of the Football League and Southern League between 1908 and 1912, this was the only occasion on which the Southern League Champions prevailed. The victory remains Brighton and Hove Albion’s only national honour to date. Whiting continued as a regular between Albion’s posts and in 1914, to mark the goalkeeper’s six years with Brighton & Hove Albion, the club planned a benefit match for Bob Whiting, but this was postponed because of the outbreak of the First World War

    In December 1914, four months after the outbreak of the First World War, Whiting enlisted in The Football Battalion, The 17th Service Battalion of The Middlesex Regiment. He was killed in action whilst assaulting a fortified German position at Oppy Wood during The Battle of Arras on 28th April 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. Whiting was married with three sons and the second-youngest, William, later followed in his footsteps to play as a goalkeeper for Tunbridge Wells Rangers.

  • Being A Tad Nosey

    Hertford Hertfordshire
    Being A Tad Nosey
  • The Sussex Downs

    Postcard of the Sussex Downs
    The Sussex Downs

    Postcard of cricket being played on the Sussex Downs from the 1960’s.

  • Arthur Hulme

    Arthur Hulme Brighton & Hove Albion
    Arthur Hulme

    Leek, Staffordshire born Arthur Hulme began his career as an inside right in local junior football from where he signed for Second Division club Lincoln City in June 1897. He made his Football League debut on 4th September, the opening day of the 1897-98 Football League season, in the away match at Newton Heath (now Manchester United), Lincoln lost 5-0. He played regularly, scoring 13 goals from 31 appearances in all competitions, 12 from 29 in the League, but was released at the end of the season.

    Hulme and a Lincoln teammate, goalkeeper William Wilkinson, were two of numerous new signings for Southern League club Gravesend United for the 1898-99 season but after a single season neither was retained for the following campaign. The club’s committee was keen to dispense with the services of “the men with drinking reputations, who proved such failures last season”, though there is no indication that Hulme was one such. He played for Midland League club Wellingborough in 1899 before returning to the Southern League with Bristol Rovers in 1900.

    Hulme signed for Brighton & Hove Albion in 1901 ahead of their second season in the Southern League. His profile in Carder and Harris’s Albion A-Z describes him as highly influential in Brighton’s successful campaign for promotion to the First Division, and, by now playing in defence at right back, he missed only one match in their first campaign at the higher level. In 1904-05, he played more frequently for the reserves than for the first team, though he did replace the injured centre half Micky Good for the high profile FA Cup tie against his former club Bristol Rovers. Albion lost 2-1, and the winning Rovers players were presented with gold medals in honour of their victory.

    At the end of that season, Hulme was one of only three players retained by Albion. He was appointed club captain and contributed to their reaching the last 32 of the 1905-06 FA Cup, in which they lost to Football League First Division club Middlesbrough, only after two replays; according to the Daily Mirror’s match report, Hulme played splendidly. By 1907 he was again primarily a reserve, standing in when Arthur Archer was unavailable. In recognition of his five years’ service to the club, he became the first Albion player to be awarded a benefit match. The chosen match was the Western League fixture against Southampton, but the weather was extremely wet and the attendance was reported as “barely two thousand”. He played only one first team match in 1908-09, and retired at the end of the season, having scored 7 goals from 174 appearances for Albion in first team competition. He then returned to his native Leek where he was trainer of local team Leek United.

    Hulme enlisted in The Royal Sussex Regiment at the start of the First World War. He was serving as a corporal in the 7th Battalion at the time of his death in action at Gueudecourt, on the Somme in October 1916. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial and on the Nicholson War Memorial in Leek.

  • Howdy

    Alpaca
    Howdy
  • Soldiers

    Whose Turn To Be The Baddy!

    Soldiers we were

    spud gun in hand

    hunting the enemy

    across

    someone else’s land

    The frill of the chase

    was within our grasp

    covered in mud

    we reluctantly

    had to bath

  • Jack Doran

    Jack Doran

    Born in Belfast, but brought up in the north east of England, centre forward Jack Doran was discovered playing junior football in Newcastle and played for Northumberland against Durham in 1910-11, but he started his professional career at Southern League New Brompton (now Gillingham) in 1912 where his stay was brief, joining Gravesend United in December the same year. He then returned to the north east with North Shields Athletic, and having joined them in May 1914 he made a single Southern League appearance for Coventry City scoring twice in a 3-1 away Southern League Division Two victory at Ebbw Vale in March 1915 while on leave, having enlisted in the Army in September 1914 and with the 17th Middlesex Regiment (1st Football Battalion) in February 1915. He was gassed at the Battle of the Somme & again at the Battle of Cambrai, being awarded the Military Medal while in France in October 1916. Doran had brief spells as a guest with Brentford and Newcastle United towards the end of the conflict in 1918-19.

    Immediately after the First World War he played for Southern League Norwich City under his ex Commanding Officer, Major Frank Buckley, scoring 18 goals in 25 appearances in 1919-20 before signing for Brighton & Hove Albion in February 1920. He still managed to finish as Brighton’s top scorer with 10 goals in 10 games (his 18 goals at Norwich meaning he topped the goalscoring charts for both clubs), as he would for the next two seasons, netting 54 times in 81 games. At the start of the 1921-22 season he scored hat-tricks in home and away victories over Exeter City, scoring all six of Brighton’s goals in the two matches, and then scored five times in a 7-0 win over Northampton Town in November, before signing for Manchester City in August 1922.

    It was feats such as his five goal haul that convinced the Irish selectors of Doran’s potential international pedigree, he made his Ireland debut against England at Roker Park in October 1920 and won further caps a year later again against England at Windsor Park, Belfast and against Wales at the same venue in April 1922. His form did not transfer to the international scene however, as he failed to score in any of his three international appearances. At City he couldn’t break into the (very strong) team at Maine Road playing only 3 games in the next two years, scoring once, and having moved to centre half while with City he eventually left for Crewe Alexandra in January 1924. Although he also featured at centre half for Crewe, a return of one goal in 16 games was all he mustered, and that goal was something of an oddity:

    On 3rd March 1924, in a match against Bradford Park Avenue, Crewe were awarded a penalty for handball – Doran’s effort was saved by ‘keeper Alf Laycock. A few minutes later another handball offence was committed, and another penalty awarded. This time Doran shot wide, but a retake was awarded. Now Doran’s team mate, William Goodwin stepped up, only to hit the crossbar. Once again the referee spotted an infringement and it was Doran who stepped up again to score (at last). Laycock had faced four penalties in the space of five minutes; Doran had taken three of them and finally found the net. The match finished 1-1.

    He had a spell at Southern League Mid-Rhondda United from July to December 1924 when he returned to Ireland to join Shelbourne, where he scored 7 goals during the rest of the season. He scored the third goal as Shelbourne defeated Athlone Town 4-0 in the semi final of the 1925 Free State Cup, and appeared on the losing side in the Final. He then had a brief spell with Irish League Fordsons before returning to England with Midland League Boston Town in August 1925, finishing his career back in Ireland with Waterford Celtic, where he was also appointed coach, going on to be their manager in 1930.

  • Tommy Cook

    Tommy Cook

    Cuckfield, Sussex born centre forward Tommy Cook joined Brighton & Hove Albion from his local club Cuckfield, signing amateur forms while serving in the Royal Navy during the First World War and turning professional in August 1920, making his Football League debut at Queens Park Rangers in September 1922. He played seven seasons for The Seagulls and developed a record as a consistent goalscorer bagging over 20 goals in three of those seasons. His 28 goals in 1923-24 included 4 goals in a 5-0 win over Bournemouth in December 1923 and further hat-tricks against Aberdare Athletic, Reading, Newport County and most impressively First Division Everton in a 5-2 FA Cup shock in February 1924. He followed these feats with successive hat-tricks against Newport County and Merthyr Town as his 18 goal return again saw him top Brighton’s goalscoring charts.

    In February 1925 he was selected to play for England against Wales at The Vetch Field, Swansea in a 2-1 England victory, it proved to be his only England cap. He missed much of the following season but still scored 8 goals in 10 appearances during the late summer and autumn, returning to the top of Brighton’s goalscoring charts in 1926-27 and 1927-28 with 23 and 26 goals respectively (including a hat-trick against Millwall in September 1927), although in the former season he was outscored by Sam Jennings as Brighton recorded successive 4th place League finishes.

    He played his last Brighton game of 209 in total, scoring in a win over Walsall in May 1929, and, having scored 123 goals, had a spell at non league Northfleet joining them in September 1930, before returning to League football with Bristol Rovers in October 1931, top scoring with 19 goals during the rest of the season. In two seasons at Eastville he kept up his ratio of at least a goal every other game by scoring 22 in 44 appearances for The Pirates before retiring in 1933 to concentrate on his cricket.

    Cook fought during the Second World War with The South African Air Force, rising to the rank of corporal in January 1943. He was seriously injured in an accident at an air school, which hospitalised him for 6 months. He later returned to Brighton becoming their manager from May to November 1947.

    He was almost as well known as a first class county cricketer as for his football. Between 1922 and 1937 he played cricket for Sussex making a top score of 278 and averaging over 30 with the bat in first class cricket.

  • Frolic

    Foul!

    The days where long trousers didn’t exist

    hand knitted jumpers, time to burn

    can we recall

    that which we yearned

    The weeks where school was our home

    Sun to play, rain to frolic

    memories

    heartfelt

    possibly melancholic

  • Tatty Jumpers

    Kick It!

    Bruised knees, rushing home for dinner.

    The days that were, when minutes could feel like hours, hours could feel like minutes.

    Tatty jumpers, worn shoes, a light heart.

  • Alfred Richard Stocks

    Gravestone of Alfred Richard Stocks, 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment
    Alfred Richard Stocks, 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment

    Alfred Richard Stocks, born in 1915, a pre-war regular was serving as a Private (No.6596188) with the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment during the Arab rebellion in Palestine in 1936. It is likely that he was with the Battalion when it was sent to join the International Force overseeing the Saar’s referendum in 1934. The records state that by that time Alfred had attained the rank of Lance Corporal.

    During World War 2 his unit saw service in the Sudan, where having broken and retreated in disorder was withdrawn from the frontline and sent back to Palestine for a period of time.

    The 1st Battalion later served in Burma as part of the 23rd Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Chindit Expedition. In 1944, the Infantry Brigade fought in the Naga Hills to the north and east of Kohima, and while a part of Wingate’s Special Force they were the only Long Range Penetration Unit that did not take part in Operation Thursday, the principal Chindit operation in 1944.

    Alfred was evacuated to England and later died at Southend Municipal Hospital, Rochford on 16th May 1944. He is buried at Eastwood (St. Laurence and All Saints) Churchyard.

    Alfred was awarded the General Service Medal clasp Palenstine, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Burma Star and 1939-45 War Medal.

    General Service Medal clasp Palenstine, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Burma Star and 1939-45 Defence Medal awarded to Alfred Stocks
    General Service Medal clasp Palestine, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Burma Star and 1939-45 War Medal awarded to Alfred Stocks.
  • Believe

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Believe
  • Snow In Feb

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Snow In Feb
  • Simple

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Simple
  • Field Of View

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Field Of View
  • Burning Through The Wind

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Burning Through The Wind
  • Paddling Paradise

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Paddling Paradise
  • A Way

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    A Way
  • No Words

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    No Words
  • Just A Peek

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Just A Peek
  • A Welcome Stop

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    A Welcome Stop
  • Just A Piece Of String

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    Just A Piece Of String
  • A Trickle No More

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    A Trickle No More
  • The Path (Or One Of Many)

    Aston, Hertfordshire
    The Path (Or One Of Many)
  • Maurice Tate

    Maurice Tate Sussex CCC
    Maurice Tate

    The son of Sussex off spinner Fred Tate, Maurice Tate began his career for Sussex as a hard-hitting batsman and spin bowler with one match in 1912. He played a few matches in 1913 and 1914, but established himself as a batsman in 1919 by scoring over a thousand runs for the first of eleven consecutive seasons. In the following two years, Tate’s batting developed further with a double hundred against Northamptonshire in 1921 representing his highest first-class score. However, his bowling remained secondary throughout this period.

    In 1922 Tate had, aided by some very poor batting sides, enjoyed more success as a bowler than in previous years. However, in a famous incident at practice with his captain Arthur Gilligan, he bowled a faster ball, and it scattered the stumps.

    This led to the famous quote “Maurice, you must change your style of bowling immediately”. From then on Tate developed as a tireless fast-medium bowler and the founder of modern seam bowling. Though not exceptionally fast through the air, Tate gave the illusion of gaining speed off the pitch. His easy, rhythmic action and solid build allowed him to do a great amount of bowling – his bowling of 9567 deliveries in 1925 is unparalleled among bowlers of medium pace or above, this when he was still opening the batting for Sussex in many matches.

    From 1923 to 1925, Tate had great success, not only in county cricket, but also in Test matches. In each of those years he took over 200 wickets, but his batting did not suffer even though Sussex were very weak in this department and though bowling support from Gilligan largely disappeared after 1924 due to a serious injury.

    In 1924, on his Test debut, he and Gilligan dismissed South Africa for 30 in just 12.3 overs in the first innings of the First Test, played at Edgbaston. He took 4/12 with Gilligan taking 6/7. Moreover, when he toured Australia in 1924-5, on pitches which had proved too much for all English bowlers since Sydney Barnes and Frank Foster in 1911/1912, Tate took 38 wickets (average 23.18) and got through over 600 balls in three of the five Tests with almost no useful bowling support. It is still the record number of wickets by an Englishman in an Ashes series in Australia.

    In the following six years, Tate’s grand all-round service to Sussex and England continued, with his batting reaching a peak in 1927, when he hit five centuries for Sussex. In 1929, Tate hit his only Test century against South Africa, but from 1930, whilst he remained a force as a bowler, his batting declined severely and he began to go in very late in the order.

    The storm created by Don Bradman that year did not pass Tate. From that time, with exceptionally fast bowlers such as Harold Larwood and Bill Voce available, Tate was no longer an essential member of the England side, though he was still a match-winner for Sussex with 164 wickets in 1932. On his third tour of Australia, he did not play a Test match, and even with Larwood unavailable in 1934, Tate (though still bowling superbly for Sussex) was not chosen for any Test.

    In 1936, Tate’s bowling waned, except for 7 for 19 against Hampshire, he was much more expensive than before, and after 1937, when he had been in and out of the first eleven, Sussex chose not to retain Tate any longer.

    Tate continues to hold the record for the most wickets in a season outside England (116 in 1926–7 in India/Ceylon, average 13.78; he also scored 1,193 runs in that season and is the only man to do a ‘double’ outside England). He achieved the exceptional double of 1,000 runs and 200 wickets in a season three years running (1923, 1924 and 1925). His career total of 2,784 wickets (average 18.16) is the 11th highest ever, and with 21,717 runs (average 25.01) he is one of only nine people ever to get a career double of 20,000 runs and 2,000 wickets. He took three hat tricks in his career. He was Wisden Cricketer of the year in 1924. Also Tate was one of the fastest scorers in Test cricket history.

  • Anthony Dickson Home

    Anthony Dickson Home
    Anthony Dickson Home

    Surgeon General Sir Anthony Dickson Home VC KCB (30 November 1826 – 10 August 1914) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

    Biography

    Home graduated from the University of St Andrews School of Medicine with an MD in 1848. Home was 30 years old, and a surgeon in the 90th Foot, British Army during the Indian Mutiny on 26 September 1857 at the Relief of Lucknow, India, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:

    For persevering bravery and admirable conduct in charge of the wounded men left behind the column, when the troops under the late Major-General Havelock, forced their way into the Residency of Lucknow, on the 26th September, 1857. The escort left with the wounded had, by casualties, been reduced to a few stragglers, and being entirely separated from the column, this small party with the wounded were forced into a house, in which they defended themselves till it was set on fire. They then retreated to a shed a few yards from it, and in this place continued to defend themselves for more than twenty-two hours, till relieved. At last, only six men and Mr. Home remained to fire. Of four officers who were with the party, all were badly wounded, and three are since dead. The conduct of the defence during the latter part of the time devolved therefore on Mr. Home, and to his active exertions previously to being forced into the house, and his good conduct throughout, the safety of any of the wounded, and the successful defence, is mainly to be attributed.

    In the early 1860s, Home was stationed in New Zealand and fought in the New Zealand Wars. He was awarded a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and achieved the rank of surgeon general.

    Home died on 10 August 1914 and was buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery.

    His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum, Mytchett, Surrey.

  • William Bradshaw

    William Bradshaw
    William Bradshaw

    William Bradshaw VC (12 February 1830 – 9 March 1861), born in Thurles, County Tipperary, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

    Details

    He served during the Crimean War in the 50th Regiment of Foot transferring to the 90th Regiment of Foot.

    Bradshaw was 27 years old, and an assistant surgeon in the 90th Regiment (later known as The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 26 September 1857 at Lucknow, India, for which he was awarded the VC:

    For intrepidity and good conduct when, ordered with Surgeon Home, 90th Regiment, to remove the wounded men left behind the column that forced its way into the Residency of Lucknow, on the 26th September, 1857. The dooly bearers had left the doolies, but by great exertions, and notwithstanding the close proximity of the sepoys, Surgeon Home, and Assistant-Surgeon Bradshuw. got some of the bearers together,.and Assistant-Surgeon Bradshaw with about twenty doolies, becoming separated from the rest of the party, succeeded in reaching the Residency in safety by the river bank.

    Later life

    William Bradshaw died on 9 March 1861 and is buried at St Mary’s Church graveyard, Thurles. Memorial is in the church. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum (Aldershot, Hampshire England).

  • William Temple

    William Temple
    William Temple

    Lieutenant Colonel William Temple VC (7 November 1833 – 13 February 1919) was a British Army officer and an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

    Early life

    Temple was born in Monaghan Town, Ireland, on 7 November 1833.

    Victoria Cross

    Temple was 30 years old and an Assistant Surgeon in the Royal Regiment of Artillery during the Invasion of Waikato (one of the campaigns in the New Zealand Wars), when the following deed took place on 20 November 1863 at Rangiriri, New Zealand for which he and Lieutenant Arthur Frederick Pickard were awarded the VC:

    For gallant conduct during the assault on the enemy’s position at Rangiriri, in New Zealand, on the 20th of November last, in exposing their lives to imminent danger, in crossing the entrance of the Maori keep, at a point upon which the enemy had concentrated their fire, with a view to render assistance to the wounded, and, more especially to the late Captain Mercer, of the Royal Artillery. Lieutenant Pickard, it is stated, crossed, and re-crossed the parapet, to procure water for the wounded, when none of the men could be induced to perform this service, the space over which he traversed being exposed to a crossfire; and testimony is borne to the calmness displayed by him, and Assistant-Surgeon Temple, under the trying circumstances in which they were placed.

    From 1884 until 1889 he served in India as a Lieutenant Colonel and Secretary to the Surgeon-General of the Indian Medical Service. On 10 April 1885 he became Brigade Surgeon and from 1886 until 1889 was Honorary Surgeon to the Viceroy of India. Temple died in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and is buried in the Highland Road Cemetery in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

  • William George Nicholas Manley

    William George Nicholas Manley
    William George Nicholas Manley

    Surgeon General William George Nicholas Manley, VC, CB (17 December 1831 – 16 November 1901) was a British Army officer, surgeon and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He received awards from several other countries, and is the only person to have been awarded both the VC and the Iron Cross.

    Early life

    Manley was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 17 December 1831, the second son of the Reverend William Nicholas Manley, his mother being a daughter of Dr. Brown of the Army Medical Staff. He was educated at the Blackheath Proprietary School and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1851.

    Military career

    In 1854 Manley joined the army medical staff, and was attached to the Royal Regiment of Artillery serving in Crimea. He was present for the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. He was later posted with his regiment in New Zealand.

    Victoria Cross

    Manley was 32 years old, and an assistant surgeon in the Royal Regiment of Artillery during the Waikato-Hauhau Maori War, New Zealand when the following deed took place on 29 April 1864 near Tauranga, New Zealand, during the assault on the rebel pā (“pah”) Gate Pā, for which he was awarded the VC.

    For his conduct during the assault on the Rebel Pah, near Tauranga, New Zealand, on the 29th of April last, in most nobly risking his own life, according to the testimony of Commodore Sir William Wiseman, Bart., C.B., in his endeavour to save that of the late Commander Hay, of the Royal Navy, and others. Having volunteered to accompany the storming party into the Pah, he attended on that Officer when he was carried away, mortally wounded, and then volunteered to return, in order to see if he could find any more wounded. It is stated that he was one of the last Officers to leave the Pah.

    He also served in the same war under Sir Trevor Chute, and was present at the assault and capture of the Okotukou, Putahi, Otapawe, and Waikohou Pahs. For his services on these occasions he was again mentioned in dispatches and promoted to staff surgeon.

    Later career

    When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870 he proceeded with the British Ambulance Corps, and was attached to the 22nd division of the Prussian Army. He was present for several battles, and received several decorations including the Iron Cross (second class) on the recommendation of the German Crown Prince:

    For services with the British Ambulance Corps caring for the wounded of the 22nd Division in the actions of Chateau-neuf and Bretoncelle, on 18th and 21st December 1870, and the battles of Orleans and Cravant, on 10th December 1870.

    In 1878–79 he served with the Quetta Field force in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, and in 1882 he was in Egypt for the Anglo-Egyptian War as Principal Medical officer of the Second Division under Sir Edward Hamley and was present at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. After this war he was promoted to Deputy Surgeon-General.

    Later life

    Manley was awarded the honorary rank of surgeon general and retired from the army in 1884 with a distinguished service pension. Upon retirement he was made a Knight of the Venerable Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and a Companion of the Order of the Bath. He died in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on 16 November 1901.

    Family

    Honours and awards

    Manley was awarded 18 medals by several countries, and was the only recipient of both the VC and the Iron Cross, the highest medals of the United Kingdom and Prussia (later part of the German Empire).

    Among his awards were:

    Crimea Medal

    Decoration awarded on 1855

    Clasp : Sebastopol

    United Kingdom

    Victoria Cross (VC)

    Decoration awarded on 23 September 1864

    Citation for Victoria Cross (VC)

    United Kingdom

    Afghanistan Medal

    Decoration awarded on 1879

    United Kingdom

    Egypt Medal

    Decoration awarded on 1882

    Bar Tel-El-Kebir

    United Kingdom

    Order of the Bath

    Decoration awarded on 1894

    Companion level (CB)

    United Kingdom

    Order of St John (chartered 1888)

    Decoration awarded on 1894

    Knight of Grace level (KStJ)

    United Kingdom

    Iron Cross

    Decoration awarded on 1871

    2nd Class for Non-combatants

    Kingdom of Prussia

    War Commemorative Medal of 1870/71

    Decoration awarded on 1871

    Made of steel as for Non-combatants

    German Empire

    Military Merit Order (Bavaria)

    Decoration awarded on 1871

    Kingdom of Bavaria

    Order of Osmanieh

    Decoration awarded on 1880

    third class

    Ottoman Empire

    Khedive’s Star

    Decoration awarded on 1882

    Ottoman Empire

    During his time in New Zealand he also received the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society for rescuing a man from drowning, and after the siege of Paris he received the Cross of the Société française de secours aux blessés militaires.

    Royal Humane Society

    Decoration awarded on 1855

    United Kingdom

    Société française de secours aux blessés militaires

    Decoration awarded c.1871

    France

  • Campbell Mellis Douglas

    Campbell Mellis Douglas
    Campbell Mellis Douglas

    Campbell Mellis Douglas VC (5 August 1840, in Quebec City – 31 December 1909), was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. The awarding of the VC to Douglas was one of the few (only six in number) instances of the VC being awarded for actions taken not in the face of the enemy.

    Details

    Campbell Mellis Douglas graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School with an MD degree in 1861. He was 26 years old, and an assistant surgeon in the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot (later The South Wales Borderers), British Army during the Andaman Islands Expedition when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

    VC not awarded for bravery in action against the enemy, but for bravery at sea in saving life in storm off Andaman Islands. On 7 May 1867 at the island of Little Andaman, eastern India, in the Bay of Bengal, Assistant Surgeon Douglas and four Privates (David Bell, James Cooper, William Griffiths and Thomas Murphy) of the 2/24th Regiment risked their lives in manning a boat and proceeding through dangerous surf to rescue some of their comrades who had been sent to the island to find out the fate of the commander and seven of the crew, who had landed from the ship Assam Valley and were feared murdered by the cannibalistic islanders.

    The citation was gazetted on 17 December 1867:

    THE Queen has been graciously pleased to signify Her intention to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned Officer and Private Soldiers of Her Majesty’s Army, whose claims to the same have been submitted for Her Majesty’s approval, for their gallant conduct at the Little Andaman Island, as recorded against their names, viz. :— 

    For the very gallant and daring manner in which, on the 7th of May, 1867, they risked their lives in manning a boat and proceeding through a dangerous surf to the rescue of some of their comrades, who formed part of an expedition which had been sent to the Island of Little Andaman, by order of the Chief Commissioner of British Burmah, with the view of ascertaining the fate of the Commander and seven of the crew of the ship ” Assam Valley,” who had landed there, and were supposed to have been murdered by the natives. 

    The officer who commanded the troops on the occasion reports : About an hour later in the day Dr. Douglas, 2nd Battalion, 24th .”Regiment, and the four Privates referred” to, gallantly manning the second gig, made their way through the surf almost to the shore, but finding their boat was half filled with water, they retired. A second attempt made by Dr. Douglas and party proved successful, five of us being safely passed through the surf to the boats outside. A third and last trip got the whole of the party left on shore safe to the boats. It is stated that Dr. Douglas accomplished these trips through the surf to the shore by no ordinary exertion. He stood in the bows of the boat, and worked her in an intrepid and seamanlike manner, cool to a degree, as if what he was then doing was an ordinary act of every-day life. The four Privates behaved in an equally cool and collected manner, rowing through the roughest surf when the slightest hesitation or want of pluck on the part of any one of them would have been attended by the gravest results. It is reported that seventeen officers and men were thus saved from what must otherwise have been a fearful risk, if not certainty of death.

    Later life

    He later achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel, and served on the Northwest Frontier in India. He retired from the army in 1882 and settled in Lakefield, Ontario. He married the widow of Valentine Munbee McMaster VC. He was recruited for service as a medical officer during the North-West Rebellion in 1885, where he further distinguished himself, arriving in time to treat the wounded from the 3 May Battle of Fish Creek and caring for the soldiers wounded during the Battle of Batoche, on 14 May.

    Campbell Mellis Douglas retired to England in 1894, and died at Hollington, Somerset, on 30 December 1909.

    His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Canadian War Museum (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).

  • James Henry Reynolds

    James Henry Reynolds
    James Henry Reynolds

    Lieutenant-Colonel James Henry Reynolds VC (3 February 1844 – 4 March 1932), born Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), County Dublin, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was educated at Castleknock College and Trinity College, Dublin.

    Details

    Reynolds was 34 years old, and a Surgeon in the Army Medical Department (later Royal Army Medical Corps), British Army during the Zulu War when the following deed took place on 22/23 January 1879, at Rorke’s Drift, Natal, South Africa, for which he was awarded the VC:

    For the conspicuous bravery, during the attack at Rorke’s Drift on the 22nd and 23rd January, 1879, which he exhibited in his constant attention to the wounded under fire, and in his voluntarily conveying ammunition from the store to the defenders of the Hospital, whereby he exposed himself to a cross-fire from the enemy both in going and returning.

    Surgeon Reynolds also had by his side the whole time during the battle his fox terrier named Dick. Dick never wavered as shots and spears continued falling around them. He only left his side once to bite a Zulu who came too close. Dick was specially mentioned in the citation for “his constant attention to the wounded under the fire where they fell.”

    For his conduct in the battle, Reynolds was also promoted to Surgeon-Major (promotion dated 23 January 1879).

    His account of the battle

    At 1.30 a large body of natives marched over the slope of Isandhlwana in our direction, their purpose evidently being to examine ravines and ruined kraals for hiding fugitives. These men we took to be our native contingent. Soon afterwards appeared four horsemen on the Natal side of the river galloping in the direction of our post, one of them was a regular soldier, and feeling they might possibly be messengers for additional medical assistance, I hurried down to the hospital as they rode up. They looked awfully scared, and I was at once startled to find one of them was riding Surgeon Major Shepherd’s pony. They shouted frantically, ” The camp at Isandhlwana has been taken by the enemy and all our men in it massacred, that no power could stand against the enormous number of the Zulus, and the only chance for us all was in immediate flight.” Lieutenant Bromhead, Acting-Commissary Dalton, and myself, forthwith consulted together, Lieutenant Chard not having as yet joined us from the pontoon, and we quickly decided that with barricades well placed around our present position a stand could best be made where we were. Just at this period Mr. Dalton’s energies were invaluable. Without the smallest delay, he called upon his men to carry the mealie sacks here and there for defences. Lieutenant Chard (R.E.) arrived as this work was in progress, and gave many useful orders as regards the lines of defence. He approved also of the hospital being taken in, and between the hospital orderlies, convalescent patients (eight or ten) and myself, we loopholed the building and made a continuation of the commissariat defences round it. The hospital however, occupied a wretched position, having a garden and shrubbery close by, which afterwards proved so favourable to the enemy; but comparing our prospects with that of the Isandhlwana affair, we felt that the mealie barriers might afford us a moderately fair chance.

    At about 3.30 the enemy made their first appearance in a large crowd on the hospital side of our post, coming on in skirmishing order at a slow slinging run. We opened fire on them from the hospital at 600 yards, and although the bullets ploughed through their midst and knocked over many, there was no check or alteration made in their approach. As they got nearer they became more scattered, but the bulk of them rushed for the hospital and the garden in front of it.

    We found ourselves quickly surrounded by the enemy with their strong force holding the garden and shrubbery. From all sides but especially the latter places, they poured on us a continuous fire, to which our men replied as quickly as they could reload their rifles. Again and again the Zulus pressed forward and retreated, until at last they forced themselves so daringly, and in such numbers, as to climb over the mealie sacks in front of the hospital, and drove the defenders from there behind an entrenchment of biscuit boxes, hastily formed with much judgement and forethought by Lieutenant Chard. A heavy fire from behind it was resumed with renewed confidence, and with little confusion or delay, checking successfully the natives, and permitting a semi flank fire from another part of the laager to play on them destructively. At this time too, the loopholes in the hospital were made great use of. It was however, only temporary, as, after a short respite, they came on again with renewed vigour. Some of them gained the hospital verandah, and there got hand to hand with our men defending the doors. Once they were driven back from here, but other soon pressed forward in their stead, and having occupied the verandah in larger numbers than before, pushed their way right into the hospital, where confusion on our side naturally followed. Everyone tried to escape as best they could, and owing to the rooms not communicating with one another, the difficulties were insurmountable. Private Hook, 2/24th Regiment, who was acting as hospital cook, and Private Connolly, 2/24th Regiment, a patient in hospital, made their way into the open at the back of the hospital by breaking a hole in the wall. Most of the patients escaped through a small window looking into what may be styled the neutral ground. Those who madly tried to get off by leaving the front of the hospital were all killed with the exception of Gunner Howard.

    The only men actually killed in the hospital were three, excluding a Kaffir under treatment for compound fracture of the femur. The names were Sergeant Maxfield, Private Jenkins, both unable to assist in their escape, being debilitated by fever, and Private Adams, who was well able to move about, but could not be persuaded to leave his temporary refuge in a small room. The engagement continued more or less until about 7 o’clock p.m. and then, when we were beginning to consider our situation as rather hopeless, the fire from our opponents appreciably slackened giving us some time for reflection. Lieutenant Chard here again shined in resource. Anticipating the Zulus making one more united dash for the fort, and possibly gaining entrance, he converted an immense stack of mealies standing in the middle of our enclosure, and originally cone fashioned, into a comparatively safe place for a last retreat. Just as it was completed, smoke from the hospital appeared and shortly burst into flames. During the whole night following desultory fire was carried on by the enemy, and several feigned attacks were made, but nothing of a continued or determined effort was again attempted by them. About 6 o’clock a.m., we found, after careful reconnoitring, that all the Zulus with the exception of a couple of stragglers had left our immediate vicinity, and soon afterwards a large body of men were seen at a distance marching towards us.

    I do not think it possible that men could have behaved better than did the 2/24th and the Army Hospital Corps (three), who were particularly forward during the whole attack

    — James Henry Reynolds

    His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Museum of Military Medicine (Aldershot, England).

  • Joseph John Farmer

    Joseph John Farmer
    Joseph John Farmer

    Joseph John Farmer VC (15 May 1854 – 30 June 1930) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

    Early life

    He attended school in King’s Cross, and thereafter was apprenticed to the building trade. However, at the age of 13 years he went to sea with the Mercantile Marine serving aboard English and American ships. In 1875, he was shipwrecked off the Isle of Wight, and again a year later in a hurricane off Hong Kong. He left the sea in 1878, and on returning home he fell ill with smallpox.

    Whilst still under medical care he saved the life of a delirious patient who tried to jump out of a window. When he had recovered from his illness, he took an appointment as a night porter to look after demented patients. Another similar appointment followed, and after having his interest in medical matters further awakened he joined the Army Hospital Corps on 27 February 1879. Following a course in anatomy and ambulance work he left for the Cape of Good Hope.

    When the South African War broke out he served in a Field Hospital. He then served in the relief column sent to the beleaguered garrisons of Potchefstroom and Lydenburg, and saw action at Laing’s Nek and again at Majuba Hill.

    Details

    Farmer was first utilised treating the wounded from the Battle of Ulundi during the Anglo-Zulu War. He was 26 years old, and a provisional lance-corporal in the Army Hospital Corps (later Royal Army Medical Corps), British Army during the First Boer War when the following deed took place on 27 February 1881, at Majuba Hill in South Africa for which he was awarded the VC:

    For conspicuous bravery during the engagement with the Boers at the Majuba Mountain, on the 27th February, 1881, when he showed a spirit of self-abnegation and an example of cool courage which cannot be too highly commended. While the Boers closed with the British troops near the wells, Corporal Farmer held a white flag over the wounded, and when the arm holding the flag was shot through, he called out that he had “another.” He then raised the flag with the other arm, and continued to do so until that also was pierced with a bullet.

    He later achieved the rank of corporal. He was forced to leave the army due to his wounds and joined the Corps of Commissionaires and then became a house-painter.

    His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum in Aldershot, England.

  • Ferdinand Simeon Le Quesne

    Ferdinand Simeon Le Quesne
    Ferdinand Simeon Le Quesne

    Lieutenant-Colonel Ferdinand Simeon Le Quesne, VC (25 December 1863 – 14 April 1950) was a British Army surgeon and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

    Details

    Le Quesne was educated at King’s College London before he joined the British Army as surgeon captain on 28 July 1886. After the Third Anglo-Burmese War, local leaders started a guerilla war against the British forces who now occupied the country. Le Quesne’s action was during this period. He was 25 years old, and a surgeon in the Army Medical Service (later the Royal Army Medical Corps) serving with the Chin Field Force in Burma when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

    On 4 May 1889 during the attack on the village of Tartan (now Siallum near Voklaak Village), Burma (now Myanmar) by a column of the Chin Field Force, Surgeon Le Quesne remained for the space of about ten minutes within five yards of the loopholed stockade, from which the enemy was firing, dressing with perfect coolness and self-possession, the wounds of an officer who shortly afterwards died. Surgeon Le Quesne was himself severely wounded later while attending to the wounds of another officer.

    Further information

    Le Quesne served with the Chin-Lushai expeditionary force in 1890, and with the Wuntho Field Force in 1891, and was promoted to surgeon major on 28 July 1898. He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, from which he returned in August 1902. He later served in World War I, and retired in 1918 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

    His VC is held at the Jersey Museum in St Helier.

  • Owen Edward Pennefather Lloyd

    Owen Edward Pennefather Lloyd
    Owen Edward Pennefather Lloyd

    Sir Owen Edward Pennefather Lloyd VC KCB (1 January 1854 – 5 July 1941) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

    Details

    Lloyd was born in County Roscommon and educated at Fermoy College and Queens University, Cork (now University College Cork). He joined the British Army Medical Service, later the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), in 1878. He was in the Zulu War in 1879 and the Transvaal War of 1881–82 before being sent, with the rank of Surgeon-Major, to join the Kachin Hills Expedition in Burma (now Myanmar). There on 6 January 1893 the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:

    During the attack on the Sima Post by Kachins, on the 6th January last, Surgeon-Major Lloyd on hearing that the Commanding Officer, Captain Morton (who had left the fort to visit a picket about 80 yards distant) was wounded, at once ran out to his assistance under a close and heavy fire, accompanied by Subadar Matab Singh. 

    On reaching the wounded Officer, Surgeon-Major Lloyd sent Subadar Matab Singh back for further assistance, and remained with Captain Morton till the Subadar returned with five men of the Magwe Battalion of Military Police, when he assisted in carrying Captain Morton back to the fort, where that Officer died a few minutes afterwards. 

    The enemy were within ten or fifteen paces keeping up a heavy fire which killed three men of the picket, and also Bugler Purna Singh. This man accompanied Captain Morton from the fort, showed great gallantry in supporting him in his arms when wounded, and was shot while helping to carry him back to the fort. 

    Lloyd took command of the fort after death of Captain Morton. In 1894–95 he was medical officer to the Franco-British boundary commission on the Mekong River that decided the Thai-Lao border after the Franco-Siamese War, and in 1898–99 he was medical officer to British-Chinese boundary commission on the Burma frontier. Later he was Principal Medical Officer in India and then in South Africa, served in World War I (mentioned in despatches), and was Colonel Commandant of the RAMC 1922–24 with the rank of major-general.

    Lloyd was appointed CB in the 1910 Birthday Honours and was knighted KCB in the 1923 Birthday Honours. He died at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, on 5 July 1941.

    Lloyd’s Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum (Aldershot, England).

  • Henry Edward Manning Douglas

    Henry Edward Manning Douglas
    Henry Edward Manning Douglas

    Major-General Henry Edward Manning Douglas VC CB CMG DSO (11 July 1875 – 14 February 1939) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

    Biography

    Born in Gillingham, Medway, Douglas took the Scottish Triple Qualification (LRCP(Edin), LRCS(Edin), LRCPS(Glas) in 1898. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 28 July 1899, and travelled to South Africa following the outbreak of the Second Boer War three months later.

    Douglas was 24 years old, and a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second Boer War, when the following deed earned him the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Magersfontein, South Africa, on 11 December 1899:

    On the 11th December, 1899, during the action at Magersfontein, Lieutenant Douglas showed great gallantry and devotion under a very severe fire in advancing in the open and attending to Captain Gordon, Gordon Highlanders, who was wounded, and also attending to Major Robinson and other wounded men under a fearful fire. Many similar acts of devotion and gallantry were performed by Lieutenant Douglas on the same day.

    Douglas was himself wounded by a bullet in the face at Magersfontein, and was invalided back home. He returned to South Africa only two months later, however, leaving Southampton in the SS Ottoman in late February 1900, and continued to serve until he returned to the United Kingdom in early 1901. He received the VC from King Edward VII during an investiture at Marlborough House on 25 July 1901. The following year he was appointed for light duty in the Home District, and promoted to captain on 28 July 1902.

    He also served in the First World War and later achieved the rank of Major General. In October 1914, the Duchess of Wellington’s Hospital was opened at the Casino at La Touquet with a staff of sixty orderlies, nineteen Bart’s nurses and four qualified dressers. The chief surgeon was Major (later Sir) Charles Watson FRCS assisted by five Medical Officers. Its commandant was Major HEM Douglas RAMC, VC, DSO. 

    He is buried in Epsom. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum in Aldershot, England.