The Royal Army Pay Corps Journal

Vol. IV. No. 32

EDITORIAL NOTES.
Command Pay Office,
Aldershot, Hants.
December, I938 .
This number completes Volume IV of the
"Jonrnal" , which extends over a period of
two years that have been as critical as any
of the eight years intimate Corps history
recorded in these pages.

The Editors do not vvish to remind readers

<of the recent International tension but rather
would they wish to all a Merry Christmas
.and a Happier New Year.

A special tribute must be paid to that

harassed band of staunch supporters-the
office representatives. ' Right nobly have
they responded to the demand for news, desl)ite all too obvious calls on their valuable
'time . To them we tender our humble
thanks.

The competition announced in our last

'issue has met with little response and
readers are reminded that an award of ten
'shillings and sixpence awaits the sender of
the best humorous short story to reach this
office by the end of January. Surely it can'nbt be that we have lost our sense of
humour?

-r:

he following letter has been received by

Major General H. G. Riley, C.B., from Sir
Herbert Creedy, G.C.B., K.C.V.O . , Permanent Under-Secretary of State for War : 16th November, I938.
My dear Riley,
The year which is passing has brouo'ht
special and heavy responsibilities to the
Royal Army Pay Corps, and I should like to
take this opportunity of congratulating all
ranks on the g reat success which rewarded
their devoted labonrs. The development of
anti-aircraft units gave rise to new and difficult problems and entailed much work
which had to be performed in circumstances
of the g reatest pressure. The Royal Army
Pay Corps made a notable contribution to
the genera l effort.
May I recall one event which \\'as a source
both of pleasure and pride to me personally?
I shall not forget the kind thought which
prompted the invitation to me to make the
formal presentation of a Standard to the Old
Comrades Association last April.
.
I send you all my best wishes for Christmas and th e New Year.
Yonrs sincerely ,
H. J . CREEDY.

T HE OFFICE RS' CLU B.

The Hon . Gen. Secretary informs us that
the last annual general meeting passed the
following amendments to Rule 7 : -

We are informed by Major Lidstone that

the cheaper Corps ties are 110W available and
that they are of surprisingly good quality.

(a) That the column headed "Overseas"

be deleted.
(The amendment not to apply to
members serving overseas at the
date of the Annual General Meeting , during their present tour of
foreign service.)
(b ) That the subscription for retired
officers be reduced rem 10 /6 to s/ -.

With this issue we \\'elcome for the first

time the appearance of notes from Foots
Cray and we are particularly pleased to be
:able to draw attention to the fact that notes
.also appear from Chatham and '\iV arley.

It is interestin g to note that thirty-six

-reg iments and corps of the Army are represented amongs t th e -latest eighty to transfer
to our Corps. It is possible that we have at
least one representative from every branch,
regiment and corps in onr midst.

TIle effect of Amendment (a) is that in

future the rates of subscription for officers
serving at home and overseas . will be the
same . The CluD yea r commences on ISt
April.
359

THE

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ARMY

P AY

CORPS

Corps Sports News

R.A.P.C. GOLFING SOCrETY.
One of the minor but none the less disappointing effects of t lle "Crisis" h as been
the absence of R. A.P.C. Golf . The AutUInl1
meeting , "'hich was t o have been held at
Ful well on 29 th September , ,vas cancelled
and then, when we we re looking forward to
our battle against the Chaplains at Bramsh ott on 12th October, two members ,) f the
team \yere under orders for Czechoslovakia
and other membe rs we re vYorking in strange
offices for about 19 hours a day. In addition
p ractically no further cards h ave b een re~
ceived for th e Cam pbell Todd Cup. Members are remi n ded that this com petition o'oes
on unt1l the end of th e yea r and any n~1l1J
ber of cards can be sent in, so there is no
r eason \;vhy members sh ould not take out a
card every time they g o out for a friendly
game.
This brings to mind the true story of
James Braid, who, w hen he had missed ~l
p utt on the last g reen at Walton Heath,
stamped his foot with r age. An onlookl:"r
sa id, " J ames , I'm su rp ri sed at yo u , los in,;;
your temper in a friendly g ame." Oid
James Braid replied, "There 's 'nae sich
thing as a freendly g'am e o 'go uf."
There is no doubt that if one can ge t a
good ."hate" up against one's opponent,
there 1S more chance of winning . This may
account for the fact tha t most of us are i)eit er aga in st fl esh and blood than card ~ nd
pencil .
As we have n o matches or competitions to
report, the Editor perhaps will allow me
space to try and persu ad e m ore members of
t he R.A.P.C . Officers' Club t o take up thi s
game of golf . Most good cricketers become
good golfers and it see ms a p ity that some
of our shining lig hts in th e cricket team are
still strangers to the Golf Course. There
are also m any oth ers who are gettin g beyond
the age for the more active games and they,
as well as ,those who ha ve n ot been bor eat
O' a1~leS p layers , sh ould take up this game,
,,,,h1Ch ~an be played u p to p rac ticall y any
age , wI thout any appreciable loss of skill.
Only a year ago I met a bewhiskered old
111an at Sandwich wb o h ad just holed the
St. George's Course in the sa me number of
strokes as his age .
I h ave h eard it said by those ",bo don't
play , tha t the trouble about golf is that it

spoils a good walk or consist s of two oth er\vise n orm al peol?le walkin g along t ogether
one of them saymg b--! ! and the other
"bad luck" .
l 'he la tter cn tlClSlll may COll tain an elem ent of truth, but n ot the former. I am
sure if the rna11 who e recreation is vva lkin o'
~akes up go lf ;he. wi ll find th at , besid es bein~
111 the open a1 r 11'~ p leasa nt surroundin gs, h e
h as the added mtcrest of th is absorbin bo'
ga m e.
One great advan tage golf has over other
games is that t he novice can p lay 'w ith the
crack "'ithoL~t spoi ling the latter's ga me .
At la \\'n tenl11S Budge cou ld ol;ve 40 and o'ive
40 to practically any of us and \Ne sh~uld
never get a gam e ; but a t golf getting a
stroke or t"vo a h ole from Cotton wou ld
be quite an easy proposition .
Please g ive this m atter your seriou s consideration and let u s see some lleViI faces at
ou r n ext meetin g .

HO CKEY CLUB NO TE S.
Many m embers of last year's successful
XI are no longer available and it has; therefore , been necessar y to build up a new team.
Those \/ilh ose services we have lost include
Captains Oliver, Mardel1, Sweeny and
R ees , and S .Q. M .S . Hehir.
Captain Oliver h as been our Secretary
longer than most of u s care to remember
and h e has been largely instrumental in
making our Corps H ockey so successful.
His enthusiasm \\'as certa inly responsible
for k eeping a hock ey stick in th e hands of
many ""ho mig ht oth erwi se have join ed the
more staid m embers of the Corps 'wh o hit a
go lf ball from bunk er to bu n k er.
His
~ffor t s h ave been resnon sibl e for putting us
l!1 persomll touch with man y \ \' 110 p rev iou sly
had on ly kno\\'n tb e Corps as a n ecessary
evil.
Cal tain lHard en h as been Captain for
seve ral sea on s and has helped to build up
the team . It is fitti ng tll at his last season
should have been so successful.
Capta in Sween y \\'as a tower of streng th
at back for many seaSOllS . Th ose of u s \;vh o
sa w last season' s Eastern Command fina l at
S h ornecliffe \\'ill long remember the part he
a nd CaJ)tain Oliver played in that rn at ch .
Captain Rees came into the side last year
and stren g thened th e for ward line considerably by his play at outsid e rig ht. His ex3 60

THE

J OU R .' a \.L

ROYAL

ARMY

-perience in man y Anny Cup matches proved

;a valuable asset .
S.Q .M .S. Hehir kept goal for a long time
and had developed into a first class p layer.
H e was absolutely reliable and his d eparture
before the end of th e season interfered \yith
the efficiency of the side.
The present season has Dot been an easy
,one . First cam e the crisis to cause many
matches to be cancelled and th en th e task
of constructing the new side .
Only five matches have been played to
date . The first \\'as lost to the Milita ry College of Science but '\'e cannot count tbat as
t,;vo of our tea m , \\'ere tourin g the Kent H op--fields whilst the ga me ,,'as b ein g played.
S ince then , ho,,'ever, we have beaten the
'T raining Batta lion , Roya l Engineers, a
representativ e R .A .P.C. Aldersh ot side, the
Woo1wich Garrison and 2nd Bn . Th e Dorset shire Reg im ent.
This year we have entered the Army
H ockey throug h the A ldershot Command
a nd were fortunate to dra w a bye in th e first
r ound. This \yill a llow more tim e for team
building and also more practice. In the
second round " 'e meet the 1st Bn. Royal
B erkshire Re o'iment. The match sh ou ld be
p layed by 19th J anuary, 1939, but, although
it has not yet been fixed, it is possible that
i t will occur at Aldershot on 23 rd Janu ary,
I939
~EC O RD

AND PAY OFFIC ES

SMA LL BORE RI FLE L'EA GUE.
The fifth season of the above L eagu e has
110\\1 commenced and results received show
that the ultimate_\\'inners of either Division
are not g oing to have an easy task before
them. Shooting is not of such a hi gh
character at this period of the season as in
former years, but n o doubt 111any of the
better known rifle shots will soon be settlin g
do'wn to their work, and scores \\'ill reach
the high spot of other yea rs.
Each Division has nine tea ms and it
l ooks, if the present results are 1l1aintained,
t h at we shall see some n ew n a mes on both
trophies. H O\\'ever, perhaps it ,\'i11 n ot do
t o count chickens too early .
Before these notes are published it is expected that the first Leag ue Table will ha ve
been compiled, and this v"ill be followed by
()thers at the end of DeceJnber, January and
February, but to ensure this being done,
C lubs must keep their fixture s up to date .

PAY

CORPS

JU URNAL

As t he seaso n progresses, the Committee

\\'ould \\'e1come remarks and sugge-:;tions.
There are s till quite a n umber of Offices
from \\'hom entries h ave not been received.
Although of course too late for this yea r, it
\\'ou ld be appreciated if, these \\'ouId, during
the summer, cOllsider the matter. A n y information req uired "ill be g ladly sent. As
has already been mention ed, this is our fifth
yea r; so far we have progressed very " 'ell ,
and the formation of the Leag ue h as fully
justified itself, but there is no rea::on \\'hy
the season of 1939-1 940 sh ould not be a
record one. S uch offic es as W ooh\'i ch,
\Voking ,
Houl1slo,,'.
Canterbury
and
Preston, former members, are very much
missed.
These Clubs had to drop out
throug h diffic ulties ,,'hich could not b e overcome. We should like these Ciubs t o make
another eff ort to resu me th eir activities n ext
year. A l~o those offices ,,'ho have n ot yet
enjoyed the pleasure of pitting their
streng th against others . Perhaps the Hon.
Secreta ry and th e C011lmittee cou ld help?
A ldershot ha ve had the p leasure of training some really good shots in the past. Many
of these are no,,- \\-ith other offices, but their
names do n ot appear among the tea ms in a
lot of cases. In some cases they have joined
offices " 'here no team exists; it is to these
members that ,,'e look to t ry and crea te the
shooting spirit, th us maintainin g and increasing the interest S11O\\,11 "'hile they \\'ere
in Aldershot. It does Jl ot do anyone any
harlll to learn to use a usefu l ,,'eapoJl . ':'Iay
,,'e therefore ask th ese 1l1embers to do their
utm ost for ll S.
At present the L eague is represented by
I I offices at H ome stati on s out of 23.
In
1939- 194 0 \\'e \\'o u ldlik e to see 100 per cent .
T ea ms have been purposely reduced to 5 so
that even the smallest office mav enter.
The d~;fficlllty of obtaining a ;ange is all
importa'l1t facto r, \\'e kno\\' , but if the spirit
is the t-e':this difficulty sh ould easily be overCOlne.
Before these n otes are published th e
entries for the Xmas Sh oot \\'ill have been
received and it is hoped that this competition will h ave a large entry . At the
end of the season ,,'e shall have an.other
competition for teams representing Officers,
O ther :lVIilitary rankS, Ladies and Civilians',
and the selection of these teams \:vill be
made according to average obtained from
the com mencement of the season. There
may also be time for ye t another competi36 1

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

tion, so if there are any s uggestions rergatding the conditions that mig ht be adopted ,
please send them along.
The Hon. Secreta ry had a visit fronl the
Area representative of the S. 1.R.C. recently . I cannot repea t all he had to say
about our L eag ue, but I can assure all members that we h old a ve ry prominent place in
their esteem, and the Secretary of the
S.l\I.R.C. is very inte rested in our activities.
If any member of an offi ce team is a member of any civilian Club, the Hon. Secretary
of the Leag ue would like to h ea r from him .
Although the Hon. Secretary of the
Leag ue has had to g ive u p serious rifle
shooting owing to recen till-health, he \;vill
still enjoy watching the results coming in
\\edd y, and is still eve r ready to g ive his
assistance.

From "rrhe London Gazette"

DIVISION T.
Fired

Aldershot "A"
5
Hil sea " A" ...... 5
Chatham " A " .... 4
W arwick " A" ... 4
Aldershot " B" ... 4
Perth " A ...... . . 4
York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Edinburg h ...... ... 5
Egyp t-Not yet fired.

1I"0 ll

Dra 'wll

4
-1
3
3
2

1
1

To be Lt.=Co~s. and Staff Paymrs., 1st Class.

Major H . C. Pe\\sey , 7/9/38.
Major E. W . Boo th, .M .C., 28 / 9/ 38 .
Ma jor F. A. Woods, 28 / 9 / 38 .
To be Major and Staff Paymr ., 2nd Class.
l\Iajor and Pay mr. H. G. Enso11, 7/ 9/38.
To be Major.
Capt . (Asst . Paymr.) P. R. Fryer,
22 / 10 / 38.
T,o be Captains .
Lt. (Temp. Capt .) R. C. Thom pson,
Wilts. Reg t., 25/6/38.
Lt. (now Capt.) R . D . Coate, Devon
Regt ., r/8 / 38 .
Lt. (now Capt .) S. C. R ogers,
. Stafford Regt., r / 8 / 38 .
Lt. (Asst. P aymr.) E. W. Lines, 12 / 9(3 8 .
Lt. (Asst. Pay mr.) G. Ross, 17 / ro /38 .
To be Lieutenant (Asst. Paymr.).
Staff Sgt . Major C. P earce, 2r / rr /3 8 .
Transfer.
Capt. H . T. Pepp er, W elch Regt., ceased
t o be employed with the R.A.P.C., 25/9/,,8.
Retirements.
Lt .-Col. and Staff Paymr. E. W. G rant,
O.S.E :, ha-vin g attained the age for retirement, 7/ 9/38.
.
Major (Asst. Paymr.) P. C. Hard1l1g ,
having: attained the age for retirement,

Lost rJgg . Pohli s

1
1
1
1
2
3
4
5

2403
239 1
192 4
1891
1-868
1826
2259
2178

8
8
6
6
4
2
2

DIVISION 11.
Cllfb

Fired

11 0"

Dn11C'J I

Salisbury . . . . . . . . . . 5
4
Chatham " B" .... 4
3
Lond on . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3
Hilsea " B" ....... 3
2
Warwick " B" .. .. 3
2
Shrews bury~' ......
4
1
Perth "B" ... ..... . 4
M alta;" .... ... ...... 3
*Serv ice Rifl es.

L os t r l gg. POi" t5

1
1
1
1
1
3
4
3

2263
1821
18 18
1365
1352
1477
1718
1140

J OURNAL

\\"ith equal points can occur, and it wou ld be

to the interest of these Clubs , and in fact
to all Clubs, if they took this lesson to heart
no,, and concentrated on getting as many
points per match as possible. I hope this.
\\ill com ey to Captains of teams the g reat
importance of coaching and that their duties,
lie in the direction of seeing that their members 'sight in' m ore carefully before commencing the Match card. I am aware by
scrutinising the Ca rds so far received that
more attention could profitably be made to
the u se of the \\ind ga uge and elevation.
\iVhat about it-Cap tains of Teams ? One
click ri g ht or left, up or dm,vn, may make a
Bu ll of \\"hat \\ould have been a 9, and that
one point per member in the Team represents 5 points on th e t otal score. Well v,forth
considering.
W,H.S.

League Tab J.es to 19th November, 1938 .

Cllfb

CORPS

8
6
6
4
4
2
0
0

In sea rching throug h the Leag ue Table of

Matches completed up tovveek ending 29th
October, r93 8, it ma y be of interest to Clubs
to know that in Division r, one Clu b (not
Aldershot) has completed and won three
matches with an aggregate of r,449 points,
which is an average per match of 483; two
other Clubs have completed and won two
matches with an aggregate of 949 points
(average 474.50) and 932 (averag e 466) .
The Division 2 is more interesting still,
tvvo Clu bs have completed two matches, and
, von both with an average of 452 points.
This shows that each point obtained is
going t o have a g reat bearing in the ultimate
resu lt of winning or losin g a trophy, as ties

21 / rrl 38 .

DEATHS.
MACLURE.-On r6th November, r93 8 ,
at West Byfleet , Colonel Sir J ohn Edward
S tanley Maclure, Baronet, late Army Pay
Department, aged 69 .
362

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

POST IN G S-O F FIe E RS.

Allen, 2nd Lieut. J. G. , D orset Reg t., attached
Woking, 12 / 10/38.
Barte n, Maj or L 1. F. , Feots Crav to Egypt, 1/9/38.
Bednall, Lt.-Col. C N., M.C , N orthern Cmd . to
Chatham (R.E.), 3/10/38.
Bl ox ham, Lieut. P. F. C , W. Yorks Regt. , joineJ
Perth on Probation, 4/ 10/38 .
Brayden, M ajor G . B. A., Deptford to So uthern
Cmd. , 10/ 10/38.
Cliff, Col. A. B. , W eolwich to Western Cmd. ,
1/9/38.
Cox, M ajor E. F., Foots Cray to Eastern Cmd. ,
12/9/38 .
D aish, Maj or L G ., So uth ern Cmd . to Palestine,
2/9/38.
Eth erington, Major E. C , Exeter to Palestine,
2/9/38.
Eynon, M ajor J. S., M .C, Hong Ke ng to Shang hai,
8/10/38.
G odwin , Captain E. B., N.I.D. to Egypt, 1/9/38.
H and s, M ajor A. C W ., Egypt to D eptford ,
14/ 10/38.
HartCox, Lt.Col. E. W. , O .B.E., Chath am R.E. to
York , 3/10/38 .
Hill , Major S. N. , Palestine to Egypt, 27/9/38.
Jonas, M ajer E. G. , Palestine to Eo-v pt, 15 /9/38 .
Kelly, . Major E. R., York to Palestine, 4/ 10/38 .
Ma rd en, Capt. H . W. T., M .B.E., Eastern Cmd . to
Palesti ne, 4/10/38 ,
M orreil , Major H. H ., Chatham R. Sigs. to W es tern
Cmd ., 1/ 11 /3 8.
Mouldin g, Capt. J., Shrewsbury to H ong Kong,
1/9/38.
N elso n, Lt.Col. G. W. , York te Northern Cmd. ,
3/10/38.
NoelClarke, Capt. R. E. , R. Tank Corps, joined
Foots Crav on Prob., 7/9/38.
N orton: Capt. F. G. , M.C , D .CM., Egypt to Foo ts
Cra)" 26/9/38.
Oldb am, Ce l. P. L, Western Cmd. to Singapore,
21 / 10/3 8.
Parra tt, M ajor CH., Eg)'pt to N.I.D ., 15/ 10/38.
Pepper, Capt. H . T. , Welch Regt., Returned to
Regim ental Duty, 25/9/ 38 .
Pewsei', Lt.-Col. H . C, Malta to Chatham R. Sigs.,
1/ 10/38.
Robo tham, Lt.-Col. W. D . N., N.I.D. to Winchester, 3/10/38.
Vint, M ajor C D. , Western Cmd. to N.I.D. ,
3/10/38.
Willi ams, Lt.-Col. F. C , M.C, H ounslow to Palestine, 2/9/ 38 .

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.

To be Warrant Officer Class I and appointed S.S.M .
7657961 S.Q.M.S. R Scott, 31 / 8/ 38.
1030912 S.Q.M.S. J. H. Spooner, 12 / 10/ 38
7733578 S.Q.M.S. V. R H azell , 29 / 10/ 38.
To be Warrant Officer Class 11 and appointed
S:.Q.M.S.
4026887 S / Sgt. W. J . Newto n. 20/ 8/ 38.
7657916 S / Sgt. C. Walk er , 15 /9 / 38.
7040473 S / Sgt. W. Snowc1en , 4/ 10/ 38.
7869980 S / Sgt. E. L . Botfield, 17/ 10[38.
1022503 S / Sgt. H. F. Everett, 25 /10/ 68.
7733578 S ISgt. C. Swann, 11/ 11 /38.
5609796 S / Sgt. A. H. Cashm an , 14 / 11 / 38.

PAY

CORPS

J OURNAL

To be Staff Sergeant.
1411624 Sergt. G. D. E gan, 3/3 / 38.
317'0684 Sergt. G. A. Lane, 25/ 8/ 38.
7Q{)76E5 Sergt. J. K elso, 6/ 9/ 38.
1412452 Sergt. E. W. Lewis, 31 / 8/ 38.
1419622 Sergt. D. J. F. S. Adlam, 9/ 7/ 38.
7576209 Sergt. F. Camp, ';.8/ 9/ 38.
7578182 Sergt. F. G. Gore, 12/ 10/ 38.
6910464 Sergt. S. R. Walker, 15/ 10/ 38.
773'357 Sergt. J . C. Simmond s, 29 / 10/ 38
2650378 Sergt. G. W. Crowe, 7/ 11 / 38.
To be S,ergeanl' .
7882828 L / Sgt. R. F . Soper, 10/ 8/ 38.
7260223 L / Sgt. J. L. James, 12 / 8/ 38.
5616638 L / Sgt. T. G . .1\. vVilliam,s, 15/ 8 /38.
4912191 L / Sgt. J. C. Woodthorpe, 17/ 8/ 38,
404003 L / Sgt. A. E. BJackwell , 21 / 9/ 38.
3445258 L / Sgt. P. Lee, 20 / 10/ 38.
To be Lance-S e.~geant.
4535305 . Cp!. VV. G. Johnston, 12/ 8/ 38.
7883178 CpJ. J. Brett, 19/ 8/ 38.
835850 Cp!. W. E. Gardn er, 9/ 9/ 38.
6912.956 Cpl. H. Vincent, 24 / 9 / 38.
552819 CpJ. S. Newby, 1/ 10/ 38.
317099 Cpl. A . Mackenzie, 14/ 10 /33.
To be Corpcral.
7262353 Pte. C. :D. Brophy, 1 /8/ 38.
4269034 Pte. J . K. Gi! christ, 1/9 /38.
826879 Pte. A. E. MUlTay, 1/ 9/ 38.
2928271': Pte. J. M. Stewart , 1/ 9'/ 38 .
5184453 Pte. F. Rice, 1 / 9/ 38 .
2819282 Pte. N. Brow n, 1i 9/ 38 .
4269664 Pte. R B. John ston, 1/ 9/ 38 .
3384444 Pte. G. L. Imp ens, 1/ 9/ 38 .
7884789 Pte. H. D. Main, 1/ 9 / 38.
5436546 Pte. C. F . K . Lon g , 1/ 9/ 38 .
7885115 Pte. K. W. J. Ogi lvie 1/ 9/ 38.
2695073 Pte. A. lVlcIntosh , 1/9 / 38.
82.5116 Pt e. H . H. Lu c.khul"st, 1 / 9/ 38.
7262913 Pte. C. Suth erla nd , 1/ 9/ 38.
54894 Pte. C. Mitchell , 1; 9 /38.
34477;:\9 Pte. F. Dav ies. 20/9 / 38.
6398204 Pte. P . GeeWilliams , 27 / 10/ 38.
Rev.e rsion.
14033()0 S,'Sgt. J. Daly re verted to the rank of
Sgt. (at his own r eq uest), 25 / 8./38.
Probationers .
Transferred 31 / 12/ 37. Servi ce in R..A.P.C. to
oount from 1/1/38.
7884537 Pte. J. R D. Rob erts. RT.C.
Tra n ferred 2/5/ 38. Service in B.A.P.C. to co unt
from 3/5 / 38 . .
6141404 Pte. J. "\iVill l1 , E. Surrey Rgt.
4689399 Pte. F. St,apleford, K.O .Y.L.I.
4745944 Pte. A . V. Gibbons, Loyal Rgt.
33851151 Pte. R. Gra,y, E. L a ncs. Rgt.
5932546 Pte. S. J\ . Russ , R A. M. C.
408007 Tptr. J. H. Horton, 5th RI. Dragoon
Gds.
554989 Tptr. W. R Ho well, J~ .D.G's.
4192344 Pte. J. B. LaDy, R Welch Fus.
815169 Gm. S. R W. Harris RA. . , .
5182154 Pte. A. A. Edwa rds Gloucester Rgt.
6011076 Gill". V . G. F. Comfort. RA.
5569278 Pte. R J. A. Boyne , Wilts . Rgt ...
68455'<l1 Rfn. L. IT. Cross, K.RR C. . .,:
5181795 Pte. J . Thomj:!son, Glouceste r _Rgt.
7880013 Pte. J . .1\. Morris, RT.C.
5948898 Pte. M. R C. Briggs, Beds. & H erts. R,

THE

I~ OYA L

ARMY

788608'8 Pte. D. V'.7. Sw in dells , RT.C.

2695320 Gdsmn. P. McCa llurn, Scots Gds.
4G'7249 TpLr. T. R eed R Dragoon s.
18853'56 Pte. J. B. H emstock, H .T .C.
4914424 Pte. C. W . P ea rce, S. Staffs. R gt.
Transferred 3/ 5/ 38. Service in RA.P. C. to count
from 4/5/38.
831549 Gm. J. T . C. Massey , RA.
Transferred 10/ 5/ 38.
Ser vice in RA.P. C. to
count from 1'J./5/~8.
40900 T13tr. L . A . Page, 5th Dragoon Gd ~; .
Transferred 11 / 5/ 38.
Service ill RA .P .C. to
count from 1'1./5/3-8.
4974879 P te. C. B . Huxford , Sh'wood Forester s.
295135 Tptr. W . A. Tu13hol l11e, The Life Gds.
72633~8 Pte. A . J . J8nes, RA.l\/f, C.
726'1353 Pte. H. F. Ell iotL, RA.M. C.
7263407 Pte. P. J . Ion s, KA. 1VI.C.
2695487 Gdsmn . S. F reega rd , Scots Gds .
Tran s~erred 15 / 5/ 38. Service in th e R A. P .C. to
count from 16 / 5/38.
3529026 Pte. G. J. Kilb, Manchester Hgt.
1873895 Spr. R S. Derrick. RE.
5381989 Pte. S. Gibson, Ox. & Bucks . L.I.
614183'2 Pte. S. N. B en est , E. Surrey R egt.
The undermentioned join ed for training at
Aldershot on 5/9/38:835662 Gur . P. E. Patman. RA.
6201375 Pte. G. C. Adkins, ' Middlesex R gt.
4080'25 Bdsl11n. F. Pridmore, 5th Dragn. Gds.
6845375 Rfn. B. S. Grice, K.RR Corps.
318960 Tpr. A . E. Cock sed ge, 12th R Lan ce rs.
2876658 Pte. A. H ay . Gordon Highl and er s.
78%673 Pte. W. G.' Brown , RT. C.
6202'163 P te. G. P . H ewso n, M iddlesex R gt.
8'12831 Gdsmn. G. \i\ iilli ams. Scots Guards.
851<:'8 3 Gm. G. VV. Hubba,rd . RA.
851:'l84 Gill'. J. Rob ertson , RA .
5436888 Pte. G. L . Dudlev, D. C.L.I.
853553 Gm. J . Sharp, B.. A .
7887017 Pte. R J enk ins , RT. C.
5669~6g Pte. A. E. G. CranLon, E. Surrey Rgt.
4975146 Pte. V. Robinson, Sh erwood Foresters .
4537396 Pte. J. A . Gent, W es t Yorks R gt.
4975"44 Pte. A. B edford , Sh erwood Forester s.
72f35'Z0 Pte. H . R Hugh es, RA.1\I. C.
3959539 Pte. R R. Gilm ore, Welch R eg iment .
S / 57201 Pte. J. Raptie. RA.S.C.
40822 7 1 Pte. K. F. D. Pool e, Lin colnshire R gt.
On 1/11 /38.
7262'f180 P te. K. \ "7. Birms, RA.M. C.
3527075 Pte. F . T. Armstrong. Man chester Rgt.
3]88'18 Pte. H. A. R eeves, 9th Q.R Lan cers.
845386 Pte. C. H. Lumsden, R.A.
2657009 Pte. H. W . K . Offer , Co ld stl'eam Gds.
1879.5<7 Pte. F. Kitso n. RE.
2f.'i71'7 Pte. W. E. C. Land er , Coldstrea l11 Gd s.
27'547<3 Pte. C. D ew<tr , Black W atch .
8.'i3 7 F3 Pk A. G. Snwt,h. RA.
788F561 Pte. W. Carey,' R.T .C .
85fOF9 Pte. C. Holdin g, RA.
'7887()94 Pte. S. Johnstone , R.T.C.
3?43741 Pk T. H. Leggett, RA.M. C.
538?4J O Pte. H. C. Griffith, Oxf. & Buek s .. L.T.
?68777 Pte. H . C. Pipk in , <RA.
314RW"9 Pte. F . Wailer: Lancs. Fu s.
?2i)a"'Q<l Pte. H . F . C. ' Brown, RA.M .C.
?38047 Pte. K. Eskret.t , RA.
5380620 Pte. J. Hu s("<,,,i tt, Oxf. & Buck s. L.T.

PAY

CORPS

THE

JOURNAL

R UYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

J UU RNAL

On 4/11/38.
7887983 Pt e. H. Lowe, RT .C.
Attachments.

Joined with a view to, determinin lY t heil' suitabili ty for tra nsfer on prob ation t~ tlie Hoyal
A.rm )' Pay COl'p,s:At Chatham, H..E.
E913034 Rfm. C. I-Iolmes , Th e Rifl e Bri gade,
23 / 8/ 38.
6913117 Rfm. J. Poulton , The Rifle Brigade,
23 / 8/ 38.
2322247 U / L / C13l. W. F. Robin s.on, Hoyal
Signals, 16 /9/ 38.
At Hong Kon g.
6201882 Pte. R F. Wi ckell ::; . Middlesex Hgt.,
17 / 10/ 38.
'
Returned to Unit.

i17 / 3~:

Ja cobs , R

5336075

Pte'

5669384

C131. L . C. W ebber, ]l{,.A.M. C., 8/ 10 /3t3.

Pte. F . J . ']\{ool'at, Queen 's R Hgt.,
17/ 10/ 38.

6086624

Transf,e;"red to Army

824c46

Berk s.

Hgt.,

Reserve.

L / Sgt. G. H. Ca ye, 18/ 9/ 38.

Discharge.

2323782
7869636
7733042
6973591
773'1282
7733112
7257414
1865609
7733056
7733151

Pte. R H el'h ert , 2/9/ 38.

Sergt. P. B . J Oh ll 30J1 12 /10/ 33.
S.S.M . J . A . G . _-\'sh er, 28 / 10/ 38.
Sergt. J. P . Brelllla,n, 1/11 / 38.
S.Q.:U.S. L . S. Carpenter, 14 / 10 '38.
S.Q. :Jr .S. A. J. Talbot, 6/ 11 / 38.
S.Q.M.S. S. T . Steel, 6/ 11 / 38.
Ser gt. C. P. Ba rlin g, 7/ 11 / 38.
S.Q.M.S. H . Corb ett, 15 / 11 / 38.
S.Q.M.S. F. C. Ban'ett , 18/ 11 / 38.

HONG KONG VOLUNTEEQ D'EFENC'E

COQPS-PAY SECTION.
The Pay Section of th e H ong h.. ong
Volunteer Defence Corps came into being
in Ma rch, I 937
The Comm andant, Lt .-Colonel R. C. B.
Anderson, :M .C., sa \\' th e necessity of a
Pay Sectibn fEl r the . Corps, . and del egated
its formation to Captain C. de Saille R obertson, M.M.
R ecruiting began almost immediately and,
by June of that year, the Pay Section was
an established fact and a fully recog nised
unit of the H.K.V.D.C.
For this new section. the conditions imposed for prospective members m ade recruiting less easy than it mig ht at fir st appear,
as no man under 40 yea rs of age could be
accepted. It \~l aS considered, and quite
rig htly so, that for a Volunteer Corps, men
under that age could serve more effectively
behind a machine g un.
The majority of the members of the section are ex-Service m en and ha ve seen war
se rvice.L..the O.C. in ' th e All stralian Infantty : th ~ 8~rge.ant Major in th e A u stralian
Lig ht H or~c; "'hile th e four Staff Ser o'ean ts
3 64 .

MEMBERS OF P AY SECTION, HONG KONG V OLU NTEER DEFENCE CORPS .

served respec tivel y \\ith the Durham Lig ht

Infantry; the Civil Service Rifles; the
R .M .L.T. ; and tile Straits Settler1'lent V olu n teers. Of the Se l~ge ants, two were wi th the
New Zealand Artillery, on e with the H.L.T.,
and anothe r with the Royal Navy . It is a lso
interesting to note t hat ex -Se rgeant A. C .
Tribble of the R .A. P.C. is a very enthusi astic member of the Section.
O n format! oi'l. , weekly instruction comm enced with S .Q .M .S. F. Nloss , R.A.P.C.,
as instructor, the first lecture being attended
by Colone l L. J. Lig h tfoot. O .B .E.,
R .A.P.C., who took considerable iuterest in
th e form a tion of the Section .
Lieut ena nt E. VV. Lines, R.A.P .C.,
visited the Section on severa l occasions and
h as rendered g rea t assistance to the O.C.
b oth 0 11 and off pa rade .
Co lonel Lig htfoot 's successor (Colonel T.
t. R ogers , C. B.E .. R. A .P.C. ) has t aken 8.
pe rsona l interest in this adjunct to the
R .A .P.C . , and is endeavourin g to obtain its
affiliation to the Mother 1 nit, a fact of pride
and pleasure t o the m emb ers of th e Pay
Secti on .

Parades are held every week at Volunteer

Headqua rters. 'fhe present instructor is
S .Q.M.S. H. V. Woodman, R.A.P.C., who
h as proved him self able and efficient in the
L ecture R oom and popul ar \\ ith the
ll1el1l ~e rs .

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS

OLD COMRADES' ASSOCIATION.
COMMITTEE NOTES.

Minute of the mee ting of the Genera l Committee

held at 80, Pall Mall, S.W.1 on vV edn esday , 2nd
Novenlber, 1938, a t 3'. 45 p.m.
.
.
Present : Mr. E. J. W. Browne- Actmg ChaIr.
ma n . Memb ers-Major J. Feehally, Li eut. P. G.
Thomp soll. S.S.M 's. D. Syme, G. W. Mitchener and
F. PoLt, S.Q .1\LS. H. J . Lent. HOIl. Sec.-Majol'
G. Lidstoll e. Asst. Hon . Sec.-S / Sgt. T. F. Ponel,
Th e Chail:man welcom ed S.S.M. F . Pott to t h e
ComIni tee.
Colo nel H. Duesbul'Y was absent on du ty and
Mr. J. Thurgood wrote tbat he was in hospital.
III the absence of Mr. Ho. C. B. Sharp, 1\11'. E. J.
'.IV . Browne was voted to the Chair.
Th e meetirlD' arranlYec! for 5th October, 1938 had
b een post13on-~ OWil.;='g to the intern at~on al crisis.
1. Minut es. T he m.illutes of the meetmg held on
\iVec! ll e day, 13t.h July, 1938, were read and COI1fi I'm ed.
2. M ~tters Arising. Th ere were no matters a rising
from t he previous !1::e~i~g ._.

3 6 ,:'

'1' 11

t:

W)YAL

ARMY

~eat~s of CI.ld Comrades. The HOll. Secretary

I epOl ted , WIth regret, th e followmg deaths sin ce
the last meetll1g;~o. 116. S.Q.lYLS. \1\'. . E. Wilson, R.A.P. C.
No. 117. H.B..H . Prlnce Arthur of Co nn a ught
K.G. , K.T ., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., C. B. ;
Colonel 111 ChIef, R o.ya l Army Pay Co q r.
No. 118. Ca ptall1 \ iV. J. lHlll s late No 5Yl
S.Q.M.Sgt.
'
'
.,
No. 119. MI'. J. Grant, late S.Q.M.S. it P C an d
M.S .C. (Aged 26.)
"
. .
No. Im. Mr. A. E. E astwood late S Q -,,,r S
B..A.P. C.
'
. . ~Y.l . ,
Telegrams and letters of co ndol en ce and wreaths
had been sent w here possible.
.
4. Items R~ fe rred from the Manag ement Comm ittee .
Apphcatoons for ,a ss istance. No. 182. Mr. C. N .
Facer-to .wh om total previous gra nts amoun ted to
7 .. Applicant asked for the p'rovision of an ill valid
chal~' and s~ bn: ltteel a doctor's certifi cate in support
of hlS a pphcatlOll. It was decided to refer th e case
to the B rit ish Legion.
No. 184. Mrs. E astwood-w idow of the late Mr.
A. E. E ast"lvood. A grant of 5 was made a nd the
gran~ of 2 lreviously made I'\'as approv~d by t h e
meetll1g.

3.

PAY

CORP S

J OURNAL

1 . CO~'ps !ies . . The Honorary Secretary submitted

liS .report and s uppli ed a deta il 'of transactions.
Subj ect to receIpt of outstanding amoullts from
overseas sa les exceeded ICO, and the Hon. Secretary took pleasure 111 ha ndill g over a cheque for
10, belllg pa rt profits to date. The Cha irm an and
90m nllttEe com men J ad Ma jor Lid sto ne on hi s h 'tful efforts. Major Lid stone sui tably resp'on ded Ul
5. Correspondence . Several letters on tl~e su bject
ot employm ent wel'e read, In cl udin g one of
thanks from SIl' Kin gsley Wood .
L etters ,of acknowledgment fo r fra med photos
of the Standard prese ntatIOn ceremony h ad b een
recel veel from S11' H . Cl'eedy, Major-General
R.lley anel Colonel Armstrong.
6. Other Busi ness . It was proposed by 1111'. Bl'owne
a nd seconded by S.Q .i\LS. L ent that th e a nnual
affili atIOn fee oi.1 I s. Od . be paid to the British
L egIOn. Carned .
It was decided to again refer the subject of
enl'olment of RA.P .C. Supplementary Reservis t,s
to the A nnual General :Jleeting.
The next, m eetll1 g IS on 7th December, 1938.
G. LIDSTO NE ,
Hon . Secretary.

- - - --- --

-T ;HE

R OYAL

A R MY

FUNERAL OF PRINCE ARTH UR

OF CONNAUGHT .
On I6th September, I93 8, the fun eral of
Prince Arthur of Connaught took place at
Windsor, attended by the Kin g and \\'ith
military ceremonial.

PAY

CORPS

J OURNAL

Colonel G. A. C . Ormsby-Joh nson,

O. B.E ., M .C ., and other officers associated
\\ith Prince Arthur, acted as pall bearers.
The procession proceeded throu g h the
Henry VIII Gate\\'ay by "'ay of the Lo\yer '
Ward and the H orseshoe Cloisters to the

RETIREMENTS
Lt. -Col. J . .M. MacNamara, who retired
3Ist Aug ust, I93 8 , bega n his soldiering
WIth the Sherwood Foresters in I894 . He
t~ansferr~d to the Corps four years later and
hIS statlons included Ireland, Wadey,
Egypt, Malta, Hounslow and York .
o~

PI/O l o by Plan et }\'n"5. Ltd.

Ma.ior P. C. Harding joined the Devon

in I 893 . H e came to the Corps
111 I 89 7 and spent a oood dea l of his service
in Africa, both So uth and West and Ireland. He is now re-employed at tile R ecord
and Pay Offic e, W a n \ick .
~eg irnent

Fonnino' Up in th e G reat V/est ern l~ail

way Station yard the procession moved off
. throug h the sh ort route to 'W indsor Castle
which was lin ed by the 3rd Battalion,
Grenadier G u ards and thronged \\-ith
thousand s of people. H eadin g the procession were d etachments and deputations of
the regim ents an d formations \\ith \\'hich
Prince Arthur hall been associated. Th e
deputation of offi cers of th e R oyal Army
Pay Cor ps con sisted of Lieut. -Col. R. G.
:8tanham, Ma .ior L. H . M . tf ar:k en zie and
'Caf) tai ns R ooney and l\'falpass

steps and state d oor of the Chapel of St.

Geo rge an d moved up the na ve, which "'as
lined by non-commissioned officers and men
of the R oval Scots Grevs and a detachm ent
of the Royal Army P ay Corps. This latter
detach m ent, dra\\,l1 from the Command Pay
Offic e, A ldershot. consisted of , .S.M .s Pott
and Littler , S.Q ..;\f .S .s Westcott, P easley
and Davis, S / Sgts. Brooke, Evans and
Egan , Sg ts . Cook and Pearce, L / Sgt.
Mockler and CpL Clark.
Th e SC2n e in the chapel of th e Knights

TH E

ROYAL

ARMY

of the G arter \\'as on e of impressive

grall(t-eur \yith \\'hich th e service, of austere
sim p lici ty, \yas in striking COll trast,

P/lOlo b y L o n do n

Nc~t,S

PA Y

CORPS

JOFRN AL

COllllll8.11d of lVfajor Sir Francis Featherston

Godley. Every Area supplied its quota and
all parts of Britain \\'ere represented. The
R oyal Army Pay Corps O ld Comrades '
Association had the honour of supplying
t\\'O m embers, Lt.-C ol. E. W. Grant and
Mr. E. J. W. Bro \\'n e, wh o \\'ere appointed

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

vVe sailed bearing \\'ith lIS the good\\'i1l of

the whole L egion and anchored off Southend t o a \\'ait instructions . T\\'o days later,
as everyone kno\\'s, orders \\'ere received
that th ere ,,'ould be n o plebiscite and th e
F orce \\'as to return t o Tilbury and d emobilize . Then began a bu sy time for the

CORPS

JOURNAL

every member of the F orce had received a

cheque for his final settlement and Col.
Grant had rendered a fi na l statement, showing a full" complete and accnrate account
of all our transaction s.
Valuable assistance \\'as rendered bv t\\'O
members of the British Leg ion Staff' from

A ge n cy Phot.os, Lld..

A m em ori a l service \\'as held at the same

time in London at the Church of St. I artinin-the-Fields which ,vas attended by the
Colonel Commandant , Colonel J. C. Armstrong , C.B., C .M .C., Colonel A. S.
Herbert, M .C., Lt .-Colonel s Hack and
Hackett, Ma jor Vi . Eadie, lVr. C., and Capt ain W. C. Harker.

BRITISH LEGION
VOLUNTEER POLICE FORCE.
The British L egion P olice F orce , I, 200
strong, \\'as formed at th e req uest of Hi s
Majesty's Government fm.. servi ce 111
Czechoslovakia on a mission of peace and
gooc1\yill.
It \\'as composed o f L eg ionaires of every
rank and station in life and \\'as di vided into
Headquarter s and t\\'O divisions, under th e

MR. E .

J.

W . BRO'X'NE.

the Paymaster and Assistant Paymaster

respecti ve I,Y.
Th e lll e mbers of the Force assembled at
Oly mpi a on Th ursday , 6th October and ,
\\'ithil1 24 hours ,,'ere fnll y eq uipped, sworn
in, :md had received th eir first issue of pay.
After several days at Oly mpia, ,\'here they
\\'ere illspected by Gen eral LiddelI, the
Adjutant General, the Force embark:ed at
Tilbury , I 2th, October, Headquarters and
2nd Divi sion on the "Na ldera" and Ist
Division on "Dl111 era ".
Lt.-Col. Grant
\\'as
"N aldera , Pay mast er"
and
Mr.
Bro\\'ne "Dullera Pay mas ter".

BRlT l S H LEGIO N POLICE FO RCE

Inspec tion by Lt.-Genera! Sir J ames O 'D owda sho'wi ng (third from right) Lieut. ,Col. E. W , Gran t, R.A.P.C. (ret'd,)

Haig H Ollse , Messrs . H o\\'es and J e nnings ~

\\'ho were attach ed during: the \\'h ole period.
In conclusion, it can be truly sa id that
the whole orga niza tion of th e F orce \\'a s an
arnazing lesson, \\'h ich \\'ill surely appeal to
all those read y to rend er \\'illing ser vice ill
a tim e of nati~nal en1ergency. E. J .\ iV.B.

Paymasters, who had to devise a pay system t o s uit the peculiar situation of a F orce
formed and disband ed in t\\'elve days, with
allotments pa id to the m en' s families and
pay issu ed wh en ever required; but I am
proud to say tha t the, old R .A. P. C. were
equ al to the occasion and \\'ithin a \"eek
36 9

,
THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

J OURNAL

THE

IRST of all, Christmas greetings to all readers of

these columns and may the New Year bring them
prosperity, in chess and otherwise.
The new editorial policy whereby our chess effervescence alternates half-yeflrly with that of our Bridge
friends (we believe ao appreciable proportion of
readers take interest in. both) renders continuity of
thought along prescribed lines somewhat difficult. As
a consequence we deem it wiser to make each contribution self-contained, rather than attempt to
serialize our considerations. A half-promise, therefore, made on our last appearance to discuss examples
of an "open" and "close" opening is not strictly fulfilled . Instead, however, we give two short game
examples contrasting the two different styles in opening tactics.

Game No. 51.

A " Scotch" opening, typical of the open game.

Blackburn used to say the beginner could learn more
real chess from this opening than from any other.
1. PK4
1. PK4
2. KtKB3
2. KtQB3
3. PQ4
The move which di stinguishes the opening.
3. PxP
4. KtxP
This constitutes the Scotch " Game" , the alternative
4. BQB4 being termed the Scotch " Gambit".
4. QR5
5. BKt5
5. KtQB3
6. KtB 3
6. QQ3
7. QPxKt
7. KtxKt
8. BxKt
8. BQ2
9. KtxP
9. BxB
10 . .QK2
10. QQ4
11. QKt4cb
11. Castles (QR)
12. PB4!
A very neat trap. If BQ2 at once, Black naturally
plays KtxB.
12. QxBPch
13. BQ2
13. QKt5
KtxB being now impossible.
14. QQ8ch'
14. KxQ
15. BKt5 dbl. cb.
15 . KK1
16. RQ8 Mate.
A ga me won by Baron Kolisch many year~ ago.

Game No. 52.

White.
Spielman.

Black.
Stolz.

French Defence.
1. PK4
1. PK 3
This move gives the opening its name .
2. PQ4
2. PQ4
3. KtQ2
3. KtKB3
4. PK5
4. KKtQ2
5. BQ3
5. PQB4
Tbe key m ve in handling this close defence.
must al ways be played before KtQB3.

6. PQB3
6. KtQB 3
7. KtK 2
7. QKt 3
Bl ack has now reached a typica l "French" disposition of bis forces. Notice tb at in contrast to
the open game, each player develops hi s pieces behind rather than in front of hi s pawns.
8. KtB 3
8. PxP
9. PxP
9. BKt5ch
10. KBl
A bold move based on the consideration that his
centre is strong enough to justify this awkward
avo idance of exchanges.
10. P B3
Another typical French move, wbich like PQB4
attacks White's centre .from the flank s.
11. KtB4
N ot PxP, KtxP which would relieve Black.
11. PxP
12. PK5
12. KtxKP
13. BKB4
Both players are forcing th e pace and out for a
win. This threatens BB7 winning the Queen.
13. PxKt!
But Black doesn 't mind !
14. KtB 3
14. BB7
15. KtxPch
Played before the Queen capture to prevent Black
from cading.
15. KB2
16. BKt5
16. BxQ
Note now all three White pieces are en prise.
Black is pl aying to obtain three nieces for the Queen,
adequate compensation in such a position.
17. PKKt3
Space does not permit of analysis of other variations
but they will all be found to favo ur Black.
17. BR6ch
18. KxKt
18. KKtl
19. KRK1
19. BB7
20. BK5
If 20. QxP, KtxP ; 21. QB4, RK5; 22. QKt5ch,
KB2 and White's position is hopeless.
20. KtxB
21. RxP
21. PxKt
22. BQB4 !
22. QKt3
23. BB5
If 23. QxKtPch, RK2 ;
D esperately played
24. QxR, KtKt5 win s.
23. Bx B
24. KKt3
24. QxKtPch
25. RK7
25. QxR
26. BxPch
26. PKR4
27. BQ6
27 . KB1
28. KKt4
28. PR5ch
29. Resigns.
A splendid game by Black, prov ing that even the
Close game can take on a very lively aspect.
Christmas Curiosities.

(1) Tbe following once occurred in a Scottish

championship T ourney : 1. PK4, PQ4; 2. PxP, QxP.
Here White intending to play 3. KtQB3, absentmindedly placed his Knight on QKt3. Black, strictly
(Continued on pClge 374.)

It

37 0

ARMY PAY

COR P S

JOU RNAL

WAR IN SHANGHAI

Our Chess Page

Foreword.

R OYAL

PARrr III

By Captain F. W. C. THOMAS .
( Concluded trom page 324. )

The Chinese Boy S conts-many of them

tiny littl e follo\\'s- clid their share and
more than their share, of the work of assisting the wounded and deserve every praise.
The J apanese had by September 12th
effected a sufficient concentration of troops
and sup plies and had obtained a sufficiently
close g rip on W oosun g and its environments
to warrant their commencin g a general
ad va nce along their whole position. It was
essential that they should join forces with
their troops at H ongkew and near Chapei.
Once this had been effected it would be
possible to carry on the advance West in
ord er to threaten the rear of the Chinese
posi tions around Shanghai.

H E first byo portions of thi s article

have dealt with the more spectacular
incidents around Shanghai and I have
ma.d.e no reference t o fi g hting in other parts
of t.he count ry.
By August 28th, the J apanese had
managed t o reinforce their troops in Hongkew, had control of the mouth of the
Yangtse and held the whole of the Whangpoo as far as Shanghai itself.
Chinese forces 'w ere established on the
right ba nl;: of the latter river but, beyond
sniping at Japanese warships and looting
enemy property in this area, ili'ere unable
to do much.
The Japanese had effected a landing in
the vicinity of Woosun g and held a little
g round, in some places only one or t\~-O
hundred ya rds in depth alon g the left bank
of the vVhangpoo. It was a very precarious
hold for some time since the Chinese put
up a very o'ood show and resisted stron g ly.
If their plans had not been p ut into operati on prematurely and th ey had had more
gUllS and A.A. facilities wh o knows what
would have been the situation at the present moment!
The bombardment of Woosun g itself,
Chapei, the Civic Centre and Kian gwan
racecourse continued daily . Planes bo~bed
the Chinese positions hourly and the sounds
of war were a constant accompaniment of
our daily avocations.
Numerous casualties were caused by
stray projectiles fa lling in the Settlement
and Concession, making one conscious that
death or hurt were liable to occur at any
time.
By this time numerous Chinese hospitals
had opened in Shanghai and, each nig ht,
lorry loads ,,-ere t o be seen arriving. These
wounded were only those 'iVith some chance
of recovery. The Chinese appeared to have
no equivalent to our R.A.M.C . nor were
there any Chinese doctors 'with the front
line troops ! It is to be feared that the
number of wounded who were actually
evacuated, represented but a very small percentage of the actual casualties .

ANOTH ER PHOTO OF THE BOMBING OF PAL'ACE HOTEL.

I should ha ve mentioned that, by this

time, there had been several abortive day
and nig ht air raids by Chinese p lanes on the
J apanese warships and positions near the
Whangpoo . When this occurred at night,
the scene was reminiscent of a fire work display at the Crystal Palace, for "tracer" bullets' from machine g uns and artillery
appeared to be proceeding towards every
point of the compass. Standing at a window
of the Shangh ai Club one someh ow got an
impression of colossal "wind-up"; for the
am ount of ammunition expended appeared
to be out of all proportion to the amount of
harm to be anticipated from the Chinese
airplanes. Most danger was likely to come
to non-combatants "for what goes up must
come dovv n"-usually in the Settlement and
Concession!
371

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It ,,'ould be \'v earisome to readers to recount the day to day details of the struggle
for Shang hai. Suffice it to say the Chinese
held their positions 'w ith g reat bravery and
hov, they survived the incessant bombing
and shelling was a source of \\'onderment
and admiration to all.
All the same, the Japanese advantag e in
g uns and their absolute mastery of the air
p ro ved too much for the Chine::e e ven
thou g h sheltered by their concrete pillboxes .
At times it appeared likely that the
Chinese would make Hon g ke\\' untenable
for the Japanese, indeed 011 several
occasions, the Chinese penetrated as far <'S
the Isis Theatre (or at least what remained
of it) .
Every nig ht, the sky \"as lit up by the
flames from innumerable fires but this \;v as
as nothing compared \,ith the fire spectacles during the follo\ying fev,l days, when
in some places it was possible to read at
nig ht by the lig ht emanating from these
fires.
Cn October 26th the Japanese succeeded
in dri ving- the last Chinese from their positions at Tazang . This menaced the Chinese
left flank and, in order to save themselves,
the Chinese were compelled to evacuate
their positions at Kiang \yan and Chapei.
This was carried out during the nig ht of
October 26th to 27th and, vi'hen we woke
in the mornin g , the whole of the area from
Hong ke'N to J essfie1d w as in flames caused
b y the r etreatin g troops .

This "vas a mag nificent but a \\'e-inspiring

sight , one that personally will be remembered ahvays, flames and smol.;;:e in all
directions rising hundreds of feet into the
alr.

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J
THE

It \Vas possible to trace th e course of the

Chinese retreat by the prog ress of the burnings since they s\yung their left backwards
but kept their ri g ht flank close to the
Settlement's perimeter. Indeed the distance'
,,'as in places as little as 30 y ards frO '.ll
British posts.

GUA RDI NG TH E G ARDE N BRIDGE.

The re tirement ,,' as quite orderly and the

only " g rouse" of th e Chine::e troops \vas
that they \\'ere gr eatly ill need of planes
and A.A . \yeapons and without them they
,,'ere badly handicapped .
There ,,,ere fe\\ attempts by them to seek
s helte r in the S e ttlement and all seemed' in
good spirits--some eve n talk ed of returning
soon!
The Ja pan ese t roops , apparently, g ot a
bit out of hand in their excitement and to
this I attribute the machine g unnin g by aircraft of British troops and foreig n civilians.
The approaches we re crovi'd ed with refu g ees, anxious to obtain security in the
S ettlement , and many of these helpless
peo ple cam e und er machine g un fire.
I personally sa w some of the \,vorst of
these incidents and it was heartbreaking to
see the terrible\\'ounds inflicted on womeli,
old m en and children.
Some of us \\1ho were in the vicinity of
J essfield raiha y bridge were fired on and it
was quite exciting for a few moments
especially as the only cover a vailable to the
w riter himself \vas a totally inadequate teleoraph pole about nine inches wide! ! !
The poor victims of these shootings 'w ere
very brave and did not complain. Every
effort was made to give them medical assistance but a certain delay " 'as inevitable.
During the wait, they just sat down quietly
and even thoug h some had suffe red dreadful
\VOllllds, nobody complained.
372

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J O CRKAL

rhe British troops 'here did excellent

work and sho\\'ed great tact and kindness
in handling the s\varms of people at the
gates on the boundary.
To revert to the actual fig hting , unfortunately for all concerned , the advancino'
::;,
Japanese \\'ere apparently not too sure
vvhere the limits of the foreig n Settlement
.and French Concession lay and, in consequence, the troops on duty there had to endure the constant menace of stray and miso
directed missiles. One sol!clier
belono'in
.
::;,
::;,' to
The Royal U lster Rifles had already been
k:illed on the Keswick Road near the
boundary \\'hilst on Octobe r 30th three more
Riflemen were killed and t\yO wounded (one
of the latter subsequently succumbing to his
injuries), by shells from a source which at
the time could not be identified. Needless
to say each side blamed the other!
Mention has not hitherto been made of
the "Doomed Battalion", but it \\'as on
'October 31St that a body of m en, orig inally
800. strong , who had been cut off durino'
the
::;,
retirem ent of October 27th and \\"ho had
taken refug e in a larg e " gO dO\\"ll" or storehouse near N. Honan R oa d ha vin o' since
been subjected to the concentrated fire of
th e Japanese forces, decided to m ake a dash
for the safdy of the Settlem ent.
At 2 p.l11. this day, they emerg ed throug h
some Chin ese shops at th e rea r of the
" O'0 c1 0\v11" and made a da sh over 100 y ards
of g round into safety. Only on e or t,,o
ca sualties \y e re suffered and 327 g ot across
safely; a furth e r 100 being \y ounded and
unable to be m oved "'ere left in the
" godo\\n" . The survivors had managed to
bring with th e m most of their a nnnunition
and stores a nd set fir e to th e " g-OdO\Yll"
prior to leav ing- !
~
On th e ' san; e clay , three more British
soldiers \"ere \\'ound ed \\'hen som e shells
landed in J essfi eld Park Camp and further
casu aities \\'ere caused by th e sam e m ean s to
civilia n during th e sam e da y .
Th e Japan ese h ad b y no \\', \\' ork ed them'selves into a suita ble positi on for a final
eff ort to cl ear S han g hai of th e Chin ese \\'ho
were hold in g- N anta o and the 1I1ain assault
commenced on N ov ember I2 th at 2.1 5 p .m.
By ,"3 .34 p.m., November 12th, the fig hting w as ove r so far as Shang hai \Vas concerned. The last firin g from the Chinese
was heard a t 3. 15 p.m. but the Japanese
ad vanced ve ry cautiou sly a nd did n ot
ac tn ally complete occu pa ti on nn til 334

p.m.

Sporadic fi g htil1 g \\'as heard all that

but this \\'as probably due to "moppmg up" operations.
Some 3,000 Chinese soldiers \\'ho \\'ere
allo\\'ed to enter th e French Concession
\",ere disarmed in an orderly fashion and
taken a\\"ay to concentration camps in trams
and buses.
So ended Shang hai's experience of war.
Hostilities had lasted in this,y icinity for 92
days, cost many; billions of dollars and the
loss of thousan.ds of lives. Industry \yithout th e Settl ement and Freneh Conces::ion
had been red.!'l ced to a standstill. Many
foreig ners had . lost their employ ment, many
more had suffered larg e reductions in their
salaries and .it \yill be a considerable time
before conditions are settled sufficiently to
allow of rebuilding the ruined factories and
homes in the actnai' \\"ar areas.
It is 't ill uncertain ,\'hat \\'ill be the result
of the \yar and even no\\' reports are to hand
concerning Japanese reverses in the North.
One thing appears certain and that is that
"The g ood olel days" are gon e for
forei o'ners and they will henceforth have to
expect far 1110re competiti on than ever before.
The final incident so far as tbi s article :s
conce rned \yas the Japan ese "Victory"
march.
On D ecE'lll bel' 3 I'd th e Japan ese decided to
indul ge in a march throug h the Settlement
to celebrate the capture of Shang hai.
This occnrrec1 about 11.30 a .111. and long
before tb at h our parties of Japanese
civilians could be seen entering the Settlem ent each a rmed '.\it11 on e or t\\o Japanese
fla gs. These parti es \\'ere evid ently acting
und er in stru cti on s for they di stributed themselves all alon o ' th e route w hilst others
entered th e Palace and Cathay H otels and
acted rather like th e "ne,,' o\\'ne1's" entering
th eir
recell tly
inh erited
estate!
"Bal 7.a i' s " conl d b2 hea rd fr om th em all
along th e ro'lte .
O \\ ing to the ex cell eu t preca uti on taken
by the ettlem ell t police , on iy one 111inor inciden t occn rred and tha t only to\\' ards the
end of the l1I a rch, near Sin cer e' s st ore , a
bom b \\'as thro\\n fr om a \\'indo,,' and
\Y Ol111c1ed three Ja pa n ese . The thrO\y er \V i::;
sh ot d O\\'11 irll1Tl ediately and , th olwh for
some h ours Ja pa nese troops took: ch arge of
th e \\'h ole Cen t ra l cli trict, \\'e \\'er e relieved
of their presen ce before ni;> h tfa ll and life
res Uined its llc rm al course .
n~g ht

373

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The Japanese spokesman stated that (this

time) they did not intend to take undue advantage of the incident but a recurrence
would mean stronger measures.

PAY

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JOURNAL

ment. game ever played. Incidentally, it may be

that thiS lega l compulsion to move the
King has recently been abolished. The law hers now
been amended to read that in the case of an illegal
~ove, the plec~ s~ n:oved ~luSt make a legal riiove
Instead. If thiS IS Impossible any other piece or
pawn ma y be moved.
(2) The following position has the added interest
that it arose in an off-hand game pl ayed in March
1917, in a Church Army Hut near Arras.
>

(con tinued from pag e 370.)

enforcing the existing rule, insisted on the Knight
being replaced on its original square and the White
King being mcved instead. Hence there followed
3. KK2 , QK5 Mate, probably the shortest T ou rna-

374

N 1903, \yhen I "vas serving in the Cardiff

Pay Office, a telegram from the War
Office arrived. . It read "Does Staff
Sergeant Gill-Houghton volunteer for
immediate service in Somaliland. If so have
him medically examined, wire reply."
He did volunteer and everything being
satisfactory, within a day or two found himself reporting at the War Office. Colonel
R. M. Ireland and ' Mr. Bruce were both
known to me . I was clerk to the former
when he was Field Paymaster at Standerton,
in the Transvaal, in 1900, and Mr. Bruc ~
was S.S.M. at Wool\,vich when I joined the
Corps in 1895. To this day I remember the
words Colonel Ireland spoke \I,ihen bidding
me farewell.
"You are to be the only representat:ve
of the A.P .C. out there , I rely on you not
to let the Corps down ."
On October 2nd I embarked at Tilbmy
on the P & 0 steamer "Britannia" and first
met my nev,' chief, Captain A. A. L. Collard, A.P.D. The voyage was, I suppose,
much like other voyages and I enjoyed every
day of it excepting, perhaps, a following
wind in the Red Sea, . which made the ship
like a furnace. On arriving at Aden we
transhipped to a small stea mer. ovvned by
Messrs. Cowasjee, Dinshaw & Bros., \yhich
took us across to Berbera. There were
about 8 white officers and m yself accommodated on the "Bridge" while the lower
deck was crowded with sheep, camels and
n atives, m ostly seasick. Howe ver, I slept
all ni g ht so this did not \\'orry me.
Berbera is a freak! The original coast
line is 8 or 9 rniles inland and in some convulsion of nature a plain, lTlostly coral rock ,
has been thrown up. This contains a pear
shaped gap which is the harbour and th e
only one for lTliles on either side. The
,,,,h ole of this grea t plain is practically bare
but the Civil authorities had employed
prisoners in digging large holes at various
points and filled these holes with earth
broug ht from the interior. These \"ere
planted with mimosa, palms, etc., and the
result is a very pleasing oasis in th e surrounding desert.

JI

In th e above position White played BR6 and upon

Black replying with . . . KRK1, White resigned in
view of the Queen pin. H e could , however have
won by the following:1. BxPch KxB, 2. RBlch KKt1 , 3. RB8ch! RxR,
4. QKt7 Mate!

This is an old favourite the orig in of which is unknow n to us. The sa me id ea has been vari c usly
clothed, but perhaps this is its most bea utiful forni.
Th e main variation runs: -1. PQ6 QxP, 2. RB 7ch
(this is the difficult move to fin d) BxR , 3. BB4 QxB ,
4. KtQ5ch BxKt Stalemate. There are many othet
weaker lines for Black, which we will leave to readers.
to explore, except to mention: if 2 ... KKt3, 3. RB6!

OUR CHESS PAGE

PAY

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JOURNAL

1n SOlllaliland~

By F . G. Gill-Houghton (formerly N"o. 568 S.Q.M.S., R.A.P.C. ).

White has pursued a sacrificial line in the Evans.

Gambit, but with his opponent" s last mcve of . . .
KtQ5 , attacking the Queen and the pinned Knight
simultaneously, Black appears to have turned the
tables. ~owever, there foll owed : 1. PK5! KtxQ
2. PxB dls.ch. KB1, 3. BK7ch KtxB , 4. PxKtch ' KK1,
5. KtxP M ate. Subsequent analysis proved PK5 to
win in other variations also.
(3).

solution t o Problem No. 26 .

ARMY

A _Solitary

m~ntlOned

The following day, the Japanese endeavoured to march throug h the French
concession as far as Nantao. This, however, "vas not permitted by the French
authorities sin~e the Concession is legally
French territory and the Japanese had to
relinq uish the idea.
'Vhile the prohibition has since been relaxed by mutual agreemen t, every Japanese
vehicle passing throug h the French Concession must have a permit, carry no arms
and have a Police escort!
Since then things gen erally have become
much more normal and it is to be hoped that
soon Shanghai \Nill forget the "undeclared
\"ar" .

ROYAL

As soon as \ye landed \ve were surrounded

by a yelling crowd of "boys" seeking employment and brandishing papers in ou r
faces. To this day I remember one of those
"Recommendations". It read : , 'Ali is the biggest thief in Somaliland and
I hope whoever reads this will kick him for
me." We were lucky in getting a Pathan,
who could speak a fair amount of English
and who had served, as a camp follov, er, in
the Boer War. Indeed, in after conversation, it transpired that he and I must have
been at Standerton, in 1900, at the same
time .
We had now to see about tents , o'ffice and
camp equipment and, thanks to the great
kindness of the Army Ordnanc.e COl1)S, this
was soon settled. I had an Indian "Staff
Sergeant's" tent, half the size of a marquee
and, thanks again to the A.O.C. it was spon
pitched and, what was more important,
furnished. For office we had a room in
OBe of the Civil Staff buildings. Our staff

PART OF THE

OFFIC IAL

BUILD INGS.

(The th atched rocfed house on the right was the first

Residency.)

\\'as Captain Collard, myself, a native Indian

clerk (who came later on) our Pathan messenger and a punkah wallah. Just after
we landed the PO\\'ers-that-be decided that
all the British reg iments which had come
from India and were , the refore, 011 Indian
pay, were to be transferred to the British
Estab lishment. Then Captain Collard wa

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appointed Indian Treasury Chest Officer

and ha\l .to P:llX all Indian imprests, so it
may be llllagJl1ed ,ye had our hands full.
Captain Coliard applied for and \yas g ranted
e xtra duty pay for his double duties but an
application for something extra for myself
met with a decided negative .
. I scarcely remember which \\"as hottest
{)ut there-night or day--but it seemed to
suit us and neither Captain Collard nor my self had a day off through sickness. At one
season of the year a wind, called "Kharif"
started to blow and everyone " 'ho could do
so scuttled inland to Sheikh or Burao. I
do not kno\\- why but we decide to remain
.a t Berbera and stick it out.
One example -w ill shovv what this
'''Kharif'' was like. My cook house \vas
about 20 yards from my tent and a boy

A SOMALI BRIDE

AND

BRIDEGROOM .

starting with. an uncovered p lateful of soup

,yould arrive \\ith a p lateful of sand .
Another plag ue at on e season of the year
"'as fii es ; they fl ouri sh ed in milli ons , \\-ere

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

~-------------------

a tre111endou~ nuisa nce and then, quite

suddenly, vamshed and \\"e were left in comparative peace.
The l1I?noton~ ?f our lives was broken by
an occaslOn~1 V1S1t of one of H.M. Ships,
\\- hen the sa110rs usuall y \\"anted a o-ame of
cricket. This was played on the "J\1aidan"
on a matting \Vicket \\'earing s un helmets
(\\'e, not the " 'ickets) and in a temperature
of about 120 -but it ahvays seemed hotter
than that!
The harbour simply swa rmed with fish
(including sharks) and we had good sport
a~ter sunset.
Sometimes, amid g reat exCItement, we \\"ould see a shade or a o-iant
ra y killed by one of the civilians and la~1ded
by a swarm of yelling Somalis.
One day we had news of a consio-nment
of Maria Theresa dollars
was comi1~oover

b
and \\le had to receIVe, count and repack
them so as to travel by camel. These coins
are all dated (I think) 1798 , a re somev.,hat
larger than a fiv e shilling piece and made of
a very inferior g rade of silver. For some
reason the Abyssinians \Vould not take
Eng lish or Indian currency but insist ed on.
th ese. coins. Th ere \\-ere 2g,000 of th em and
I th:nk they must h ave recei ved 2g,000
blessl11gs to take up country \Vith them.
One of the g reat troubles in the interior
was supplying the troops \\Iith \\'a ter, which
h ad to be carried in tanks slung on each side
of a camel. Somaliland is practically a
waterless country b ut experts \vho had been
sent on t reported t hat there was plenty of
\\'a ter underg round and proceeded to sink
\Yells . Then th ey found th e \\-ater would
h a \Te to be pumped to the surface and cabled
t o England for th e n ecessary apparatus.
The yarn goes that the cable read :-"Please
send three Parsons pum ps", meaning the
pu mps named after the inventor of th e turbine. However, someone at the other end
in d ecodin g , omitted the last \",' ord and, il~
dl1 e co urse , there arri ved at Berbera : Cha plain s-C. of E., one
Do. -R.C., one
Do. --Presbyterian, one
to the g reat delight of all of us, excepting
perhaps the chaplains vvh o were generally
!znowll as the Pumps. Anyhow, jf this yarn
1S not authentic (which I believe it to be)
then all I can say is, "It oug ht to be".
Just belovil our office was a hug e ci rcular
wa.te r tank. used morning and evening by
a l11111 a1s, chtefly camels. A ll convoys g oing
to and comin g fro111 Berbera lrl et th ere
a midst scenes of gr ea t excitem ent - for the
0

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ARMY_ PAY

Somali seems not to be entirely happy unless he can- yen his head off.
At Berbera we had a fairly large number of native troops, Indians, Somalis and
Africans. I put it in this way because the
male Somali is a most conceited creature
and would not mix with other Africans. So
they had to/ be in separate units. There
were several fights, some serious, betwee!).
these various peoples, when the White
troops would arm themselves with sticks or
guns and wedge in between the opposing
forces, banging each side with impartiality
on the shins.
After the battle of Jidballi, early in 1904,
it became apparent that the Mad Mullah's
followers had dispersed into the interior and
that operations would come to an end.
Well, at last we embarked in Berbera
harbour. It was on a B.I. boat, a contrast
to the stately P & 0 which had brought us
out, but we were going home, so who cared.
The only happenings on the voyage were a
stoppage at Malta~where I nearly broke
myself buying Maltese lace and curios-anJ
another stoppage in mid-Mediterranean due
to a b1~~ak down in the engine room. We
4uly hoisted the signal "Not under control"
'bi.1t !we w.ere in a dense fog so perhaps it was
as well no other vessel appeared. As we
left Malta the Mediterranean F1eet were
coming in and in those days it was a sight
worth seeing. They were in two long lines,
about half a mile apart and we a tiny dot
between them.
We duly landed in London and were given
an office in Victoria Street to clear up the
accounts . By the way, when the B.I. boat
came to take us home, we had no previous
warning but banged every book and paper
into boxes, nailed them up and took them
on board with us. I think I am right in
saying we had no "Observations" on the
Account and I remember one morning a
very genial gentleman from the War Office
(Mr. Barge I think it was) coming down to
Victoria Street and congratulating Captain
Collard and his "staff" on their '\lork.
Another recollection is of people admiring
the colour of my face, hands, etc. , which I
think were a deep mahogany.
Then Captain Collard and I parted and I
have never since seen him. He gave me a
beautiful pair of Silver Candlesticks "suitably inscribed" as a memento of our "vork
together. These are on my desk as I write
and are treasured by me.

CORPS. .

J ()u R~AL

I have served unckr many A .P.D. officers

during my 24 years in the A.P.C. but
superior to all, I value my recollections of
Captain COl11ard . Probably much of the
smoothness of my life in Berbera and the
comforts I enjoyed were due to him and I
shall ever remember my tour of service with
him as a very pleasant and happy one.

At"lT HILLS.

Now for my second tour. In January,

Ig0g , I was serving at Preston v.,hen another
War Office telegram arrived identical with
that of Ig03, except for the change of rank.
Quite a number of my colleagues suggested
that, as I ohviously would not want to go
to such an unpleasant country a second time,
they out of the goodness of their heart~
would go instead. I could not, hov.;ever,
permit such a sacrifice (on their part) and
so , having duly passed the Medical examination, I found myself again bound for
London. On reporting at the War Office I

377

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THE

Our office work this time was not so

strenuous as in 1903. In addition to the
White troops there were a large number of
special service officers and special service
N.C.O.'s of the A.S.C. all of whom had to
be paid and their accounts transmitted
home.
General John Gough, V.C., was in command and I believe there were over a dozen
V.C.'s in the Field Force so that what it
lacked in quantity it made up in quality.
The civil officials were most kind to us and
I remember with pleasure the dealings I
had with them, especially with the then
Colonial Secretary.
We again remained at Berbera all throu g h
the Kharif and again Major Wood all , who
was promoted S taff Paymaster on 1st May,
1909, and myself go t through without being
a day a way from the office through sickness.
My final job was to check Conductor Donnelly's huge A.O.C. receipt and issue ledger
prior to his going home . I did this sitting
in my bath (as it "vas the hottest'part of the
year) and, according to traditio n checked
and ticked every entry. I was t~ld after\\"ards that a proportion wo uld have satisfied
the Colonial Secretary but that they "were
p leased th e job h ad been thoroughly done . '

was told that I was the only A.P.C. rnan

going, that Captain F. Woodall ,vas the
paymaster and that we were to go overland
to Brindisi, of course in plain clothes. Inciden tally, this was the last time I saw Colonel
(later Sir) R. M. Ireland, w ho died during
the Great War, although I received several
letters from him after my return home in
1910. He was g ruff but underneath "vas a
very kind heart. May he rest in peace.
The following Friday evening myoId
friend S.Q.M.S. Kenneth Bain saw me off at
Charing Cross Station and I met my travelling
companion
Conductor
Donnelly,
A.O.C. We had a t wo berth compartment
on the luxurious P & 0 Express. The
Channel was pleasantly calm and the
journey across France, through Switzerland
and down to the "heel" of Italy was a revelation to me. I don't know which I enjoyed
most, the early morning sight of the Alps
or the Sunday journey down the length of
the Italian East Coast, generally in sight of
the Adriatic. At Brindisi we embarked on
the "Isis" and proceeded to Port Said where
we caught the P & 0 steamer which had left
Tilbury the Friday previous to our departure. On arrival at Aden "ve transhipped
to the same Cowasjee boat and made a
similar voyage during the night to Berbera .
There was a g reat improvement in the
appearance of the town since my last visit.
N evv and imposing buildings for the civil
staff had been erected, the gardens had
spread until the houses appeared to be surrounded by green and, last but not least,
Messrs. Cowasjee had built a large store
w here practically everything one needed
could be purchased. One of the firm, a Mr.
Dinshaw , was in charge and I had a lot of
dealings with him, official and un official.
Official, becau se he was the Banker and universal as provider for the Officers up
country.
As soon as we landed we were fortunate
in engaging a one armed Native as Chuprassi. He could speak English, Hindustani
and Somali, with a smattering of French
and we soon discovered he could do as much
with his one arm as many others w ith t wo.
We were given a t wo-roomed hut, close to
the camel tank, as an office and I turned one
of the rooms into a bedroom for myself.
Thanks to the generous kit provided by the
Crown Agents for the Colonies, I had a bed,
table, chair and all sorts of clothing suitable
to the climate.
-

" THE KNF.ELlNG F IGURE IS NOT ME

I"

The show closed down and I returned to

Aden to await a P & 0 steamer. I remained
there four or five days and this was made
very pleasant by the kindness of Mr. Dinsha w who lent me his g harri to view the
sig hts of Aden and its neighbourhood.
My reward for the two shows was the East
African G.S. Medal with two clasps
"Somaliland I902-3-4" and "Somaliland
I908-9-1 0 " with the added distinction of
being the only man in the Corps to be able
to wear them .
37 8

j,

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

Some years after I read how the Royal

Air Force had smashed up the Mad Mullah
killing him and most of his forces within ~
few days , at a total cost of a few hundred
pounds.
To return to our journey. We joined the
P & 0 "Persia" about 8th March left her
at Port Said an~ travelled by the tender
"Isis" (or "Osiris") to Brindisi where we
joined the P & 0 train for Calais. I had
two travelling companions in my compartment this time, a Colonel and a Major of the
Indian Army going home on leave. We
tossed up who should have one side of the
compartment to himself and I won. I have
often wondered if they had any idea of my
status; if they had they concealed it very
successfully and treated me with the utmost
courtesy. The Seine had been in flood during the winter and it was interesting to see
the mark s of the flood water up to and
sometimes above the first storey windows of
the houses on the various islands .

CORPS

JOURNAL

OBITUARY
Colonel S ir John Edward Stanley
:.VIaclure, Baronet, late of the Army Pay
Department, died suddenly at his residence
in West Byfleet, Surrey, on 16th November,
1938, aged 69.
Sir John, \\'ho joined the Manchester
Regiment in 1890, became the second
baronet on the death of his father, Sir John
Vi. Maclure, M.P., in 1901.
.
An accident on the rifle range in India resulted in the loss of a leg and under the
special circumstances, the Treas~ry allo,vecl
him to transfer to the Department without
the necessary qualifying service, in 1894. He retired, when Command Paymaster.!
Scottish Command, in 1913, but vvas reemployed for the duration of the Great War.

The death occurred at Edinburgh on 25th

August, 1938, of J. Grant (late S.Q.M.S.,
No. 95), aged 86 . The deceased join~d the'
North Stafford Regiment at Birming ham in
1875 and served with them for almost fifteen years. Subsequently he spent about
three years as M.S : Clerk and was five years
with the Army Pay Corps. His date of discharge was 30th June , 1898.

Within practically one week I was in

Aden (at the hottest time of th e year ) and
landipg at Dover (with th e ground covered
with snow). At Dover I parted from Major
WoodaU, who was visiting friends in the
neighbourhood, . and proceed to the War
Office to report. From th ere I was sent on
leave and informed that as I had been
seconded to the Colonial c)ffice I was supernumerary and could select any station I
wished.
I chose Che.s ter. where I had gone in lC)04
on my return from th e first show and have
been there ever since, excepting for a couple
of years in German East Africa from IC)I7
to 1919 which was only an interlu de.
In conclusion, I am \'v'onderin g if perhaps
I have mixed thin gs up between what
happened in the first show and in the
second. If so I expect they are mostly trivial
and may perhaps be pardoned after a lapse
of behveen thirty and forty years. I have
never kept a diary (at least not after the
first "\leek in January) and I have therefore
relied on my memory and the few relics of
m y Somali experiences I have kept.
I trust the foregoing may be of interest
to old and new members of the Royal Army
Pay Corps, to one and all of whom I send
my fraternal greetings and best wishes for
the success of the Corps and of them-whatever part of the world they may be in.

W. J. Mills (late S.Q.M.S., No. 59I),

w ho died at Balham, London, S.W., on 2nd
October, I938, was 66 years of age. He
joined th e service in 1891 and served about
four years \\ith the R oyal Inniskilling
Fusiliers before transferring t o the Corps.
His fifteen years in the Corps included a
tour in Malta .

The death occurred at Thorntol1 Heath,

Surrey, on 27th October, 1938, qf W. C. H.
J ones at the age of 62. The deceased joined
the G loucester Reg iment in Jul y, I895, and
served. with them for two years. He W;lS,
" 'i th the Corps for over h\"en ty years and
was S.Q.M.S. at the date of his discharg'e
in I917. His Numbe r was 658 .
~

A. E. Eastwood (late S.Q ..lVI.S . , No.

7657518) died at Chatham, aO'ed 55 years,
on 28th October , 1938. The deceased en-'
listed in L ondon in 1915 and was disch arged, after twenty-one years ' ser vice in
the Corps, on 2nd April, 1936. During the
Great ~Tar he served in France and Turkey,
for almost a year in each place, and he was
on the Rhine for a furth er four years.
379

THE

f!

CORP5

NOTES

AND

.,

NEWS.
Home Stations
ALDERSHOT .
CO'MMAND PAY OFFICE.

L / Sgt. C. Reeves has joined from Can terbmy

and S.Q.M.S. A. Barlow and Sgt. C. P. Barling
have t.aken their . discharge, whilst L / Sgt. G. H.
Cave has transferred to the Army Reserve.
Sgt. G. D . Egan and L / Sgt. J . G. Woodthorpe
have been promoted Staff Sergeant an d Sergeant
respectively and Gm. J . T. C. Massey ha13 u-ans
{erred to the Corps.
A new course began at the P ay School on 2ntl
November, 1938 when twenty probationers joined
for instruction.
Cricket.-There is very little to mention on this
subject except perhaps to give a b ri ef review of the
season.
In the first place I must say that we have had a
s u ccessful season from a sportin g a nd social point
Qf view, if not from a winning one.
The following table summarizes the results:Mat.ches arranged. Won. Lost. Drawn . Cancelled.
30
6
15
1
8
Th ese figures possibly giy e a false v iew of our
abilities, especially as the m a jority . of matches
played were a gainst Units and FormatlOns up to a
good B attalion standard . We were, however, successful against two Infantry Battalions.
.
Some of our matches have only been lost by a few
run s, for instance--against the Royal Engineer s,
Aldershot (which team included an Army player)
th e margin wa,s only 2 runs.
Then again we were without the services. of Cap tain Malpass for most of the season, whlCh con siderably weakened our attack, but we w ere fortunate
in having Corpo ral Gregory and L /Cnl. Tupholm e
to carry on with t h e good work. They collected
quite a lot oE good wicket s b etween them.
Before closing these /1Jotes for the season our
thanks are due to the ladies who k indly helped us
with the teas and we earnestly hope th ey will again
offer th eir services in t his capacity next year.
Hockey .-At t h e time of writing W!3 have played
9 D etachment games, lost 5 of t~em and drawn the
remaining 4. Goals For 11 , Agamst 26.
We had some pnomising youngsters on t h.e .course
which was in session at the time of the cnSlS, but
these were lost to us when they were sent to help in
Qther offices. An8ther course commen ced on 1st
N ovember , 1938 , and we h ave been grateful for

their h elp . One or two oi these probationers will be

of use to the Corps team later on.
Two of t he Detachment have been playing for
the Corps Team on IiV ednesdays, a,nd it. is rather
sign i.f icant that t hree of our lost games were played
on IiVednesdays wit,h th e scor es 2-4 ~ 0-4-;, 0-4 .
Our policy has been to try to give e,:eryone
interested in ho ckey t he chance to play, With the
resul t that we hav e" never ha d th e same t eam twice.
Howevel', t he games h ave been very enjo yable and
we are looking forwa rd to more of t hem.
On Wednesday the 16th Novemb!3l', t h e Corps
T eam p layed a mixed team from Al dershot. A fast
a nd in terestin g game ended in a win for the Corps
Team by 7 goals to 5. W e were very favourably
impressed with t h e Corps forw ards, and, no do ubt,
the selectors have spott ed t hat the defence needs
stiffening.
Tennis.- An Ameri Cc't11 Tourn ament was held on
3rd Septe mber, 193'8, in con necti?n with th~ fin a l
of the Rhin e Army Cup (repo rted 111 our las t Issue).
A dozen mixed doubles participated in some very
enjoyable sets a nd i.n the fin a.l S j Sgt: Brooke and
Mrs. P..eid ran lo ut w 1l1ner s aga1l1st Major MackenZIe
and Mrs. Pink . The sealed handicap worked very
well especially from the Committee's point of view,
but ' also pro ved that curiosity is not confin~d h)
the ladies . On a fine afternoon upwards of eIghty
persons enj oyed tea and watch ~~ t he play amidst
th e rustic setting. Among our VISItors we welcomed
Colonel and Mrs. Mackenzie and Lt .-Col. and Mrs.
Sawers. The prIzes, very kindly given by our C.P.
were presented by Mrs. Ormsby -Johnso n.
.
Office Tour naments.-The doubles' fina l provIded
a close m a tch in which Col. Ormsby-Johnson and
S / Sgt . E vans (owe 15.5) b eat Major William s and
L jSgt . Rob ertson (plus 15.3). ?y 7-5, 6-4.. Un~
fortun at ely , lo wing to the CrISIS , etc. , t~ e smgles
final has not yet been decided ):Jut possIbly a ,fine
day in the near future m ay see It played before the
hibernation period gets too b~g a hold.
Rifl e Club.-In common WIth many other clu?s,
postin gs an d promotions h ave . played havoc. :"'.tth
our teams for this se~son. Severa! of ou.r ~,lvlhan
m embers have also deCIded to lay aSId e theIr shooting irons" but we have no doubt t hat t h e great
keenness and enthusias m shown by our n ew members
will overcome all our diffi.culties and hope that Alderhot may be "on t?P" a t the en~ of th e season .
In addition to havm g two teams m the R. & P.O.
L eague thi s year We have also entered the Hamp-

,
A
I

ROYAL

ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

shire and North Hctmpshire Leagues. This enables

us to give all our members experience of competitive
shooting which, wit,ho~t do u bt, improves the general
standard of the shootmg.
As usua l we entered two teams fm' the BUlToughs
and Watts Cup and to date we know that o ur "B"
team is still in the competition. Their joy is at
present complete and for t he momen t. the <lA"
team mllst remain in the backgrqund. Optimistically, the members _of t he "A' team a re sayin g that
they have probably received a bye int,o the next
round but time will tell.
Both our tea,ms started th e season rather shakily
but a re now showing steady impl10vement as each
match is fir ed. We congratulate Chath am "A" in
g ivin g our "A" team a sound beatin g but they
may find that our " B " team with a soo re of 484
will-in the parlance of t he mo yies-shake 'em .
Mention must be made I)f our two newest recruits,
the t,wo Reginalds (Johnston and Mockler) who are
showing s plendid form und er inst,ru ct.ion. Of course,
we a dmit th at Co rpor<11 Johnston 's ex.pel'iences in
Palestill e and Tra nsjordani a under active service
cQnditions must have macie his handling of a .22
d fl e seem like a pop -gun. Captain and Mrs. Rooney
are also showing greatly improved form a nd t h ere is
keen compet,it ion between t hem-we wonder how
the winner expends the bet.
Our one note of regret t.h is season is that the
Ladies ' Club has ceased to fun ction owing to lack
of numbers. Several of them are still shooting with
the league teams but. it is to be hoped that when
their numb ers in crease t hey will. OB ce again be r epeating their fin e performances of previou s yea,rs.
R.N.L.
PAY SCHOOL .

Th e last Co urse had just got, und er weigh when

t he 'crisis ' occurred and an urgent call frol11 Pay
Offices for more staff forced us to sudde nly disgorge_
all our fl edglings -before they could even walk ,.-Iet
alone fly. If enthusiasm was all t hat was reqmred
they sholJld have done ,,:,ell. It, is to be hoped that
th ey did pro ve helpful 111 the o~ces to whlCh t hey
were po'sted for temporary du ty WIthout gomg so far
as to wish t,hat t hey pulled them t,h rough. After all
th ey had only been with us three weeks, b ut t hey
had got their r egula tions up eo dat.e before t hey
left.
By the t im e th is edit ion of t he ! ourl? al is in circula tion the School will have been 1Il eXIstence t hree
years and dur in g t hat time no less than 2811 student.s
of all ranks have been put throug h th e rn~ll. At. th e
present t im e ,0Ul' thirteenth COllrse IS 111 sesslO~l.
It, consists of 20 other ranks who, If all owecl , as IS
mu ch hoped, to r emain the fu ll periotl. sl~ ou la ~e
found to be well up to t he average (d es pIte t heIr
unlu cky se l'i <11 number).
COSTING SCHOOL.

The ' m emb ers of t he pre ellt co urse 11<lYe ha d a

rather ull settlin g tim e and at t he time of wri tin g,
five of them are s till " un set,Ued".
At the end of September, half of t h e m emb eJ:s
were sent to IiVo king on tem porary duty .a nd ,from
there th ey pro ceeded t,o W a l'l ey. Th e .remalllder
lef.t shortly .a fter. to join at Chatham . Th e W ar~ ey
. detachm ent I'e-j.o ined, at Ald e r s ~ot at the beg)[)nlllg
of Novembe r a nd ar e now trylllg to complet e t he

course by mid-December. Th e commer cial examinatio ns were held just a week afte r the return of the
tudents and in addition to the compulsory. examination , fo ul' students entered for the Advanced.
The entries had been made some time before by
other members of the course, but unfortunately it
was no t found possible t,o release them from Chatham and to avoid wasting the papers, those who
were here sat, hoping for the he. t. If the " best"
res ults in a pass, it will be a reward for the intensive work put into a few days .
It is a Illeaslll'e to r ecord t h e award ing of another
London Chamber of Commerce Priz!3. Capt. Rees
ga ined t,hi s distinction for Costing. As it is possible
that t he full value of this a ward is not realised, it
may be eA-pla ined that the examil1at,ions at which
students of this school gain prizes are th e high est
g l'ade examinat,ions set by the London Chamber of
Commerce in the various s ubj ects . But when it is
rea lised t hat t he caudidates for t he exa mination s sit
at centres throughou t the B ritish Empire, it is no
mean achi evement, fo r candidates from her e to gain
F irst Prize .a t Costin g at two successive exams. as
weH as a first and a second place at Book-keeping
a nd Accountancy during t he last fo ur exam s .
At the presen t time S/ Sgt. Miller is in hospital.
H e had <l leg:J.cy from footb all in the way of knee
tro uble an d it was necessary to put it r ight. This
has now been don e and \>,-e wish him a speedy
r ecovery.
Sergeants ' Mess.- Un li ke other of our contem.
poraries we have no nominal rolls of prize-winning
whis t fiend s to !offer our editor and readers, as th e
amo unt of card playing accommodation offici~lly
allotted to the Mess, whilst adeq uately fulfilhng
t h e proverbial catsw in ging acreage, scar cely allows
for more t han half a, dozen card-and beveragetables . StilI . ftOr all that . we do .manage to .poke
it little ' hun{our into t h e' paucity <Of our accommodation fo r during the past few mont~ls, s~yeral
of our Members, after the age-old- fasluon. oi. the
Corps old timers, have seen fi t to lash the lions
of the Treasur y t o t h e t une of fou l' .fivers, to say
nothin g of t he few odd clothing allowance bobs
t h ey picked up und er the sub.tlety of t he phra se
" discha rge not foreseen, etc. " .
~Ne refer, of
cou rse. to t he 'Hak es-off ' dra wn 111 r espect of
'Rooty Gongs' by our old sta lwarts, Messr s . Corbett Barlow Busby a,nd Knapp, on once more
becdmin g pl ~in :Misters. May t,hey live long to
en joy t he pensions t hey've earne?
.
'vVe would also like to take thIS opportu mty of
congratulating S / Seq~t. Crow~:(a) On his e1evatlOn to Drv. H , and
.
(b) His un timely posting to a very o ut -stat )(~n
st.ation just a few days before th e sale
promulgation h ad reach e~ t he, palate of
t he Mess . ("Oh , for a touch from t.h e
van ished hand .")
S.S.M. Littler ha s left us to I'el:ew his acquai~~ .
ta nce with "Stannah schwyeh qUl n~a l y pense .
We presum e by t his .t ime his 'baa (1111 chart' has
r eceive some dIrect luts. Also as we go to. press
we learn t hat S/ Sergt. E van s is shortly l eavlI~g ~ s
for t he wooded slopes of Brentwood (or IS It
Brookwood).
Anyhow its either IiVarley or
ViTokin g.
Th e very best of our good wisbes to t hem both
m t heir new statiO!ls.

THE

ROYAL

ARMY P k Y

The }\-Iess Xm as cards are on t,he wa,y, but t o

t hose undi.scernin g recipients who may ha \re do ubts
as t o t he length of t ime t hey liave been in t h e
post h ere is t h e offici..'ll mlin g of t he Chairma n
of t h e Mess Commi ttee:" F or t he printe rs' omission of t he date on
folio t wo please r ead 'Xmas 1938'."
BARNET.

I n an t iciRatin g t hat oth er offices will repol'!, 1 he

excessive wor k a nd strenuous times durin g t,he cri sis
l et Barll et also stri k e ' it's c.1a im' Fo r we a re t he
financial administrators of t he recently c reate d
National Defence F orce a nd a lso t he ' A uxiliary
T errito rial Ser vice. A n d surely when openin g t he
lad ie ' loose-leaf ledger acco un ts it is more ro ma n t ic
to enter the na me of little Audrey Goldilocks t han
t he uninspirin g particulars of Atkin s, J ohn Thomas'
And if B arnet.'s E stabli shm ent, is snlall , well its
actual strength is slilaller! Our casualt ies in clud e
t h e promotions of Lieut. P earce an d S.S.I\1. Spoon er
-may t heir h appiness co nt inu e at t heir new
st a tions. S.S .M . L aws w ill be h ear t ily welcomed
back to Barn et on his posting fr om \Narwick a nd
we hop e his second stay h er e will be tw ice as long
as his ,fi rst. To Sergt. and Mrs. C. G. L ew is t h e
cong ratulation s of t h e detachment are extend ed on
t he birt h of a son on Novemb er 1 st, an d r umour
h ath it t hat we sh all be a,ble to report a simil a r
addit ion to t h e fold in t he n ext issue of the j ourn al.
To CpI. N ewman who proceeded on tem pora I'y
du ty to Chath am long , lon g ago we send t h e ki ndest
r egards of hi s landlady who sin cer ely hopes t h at
he will return to B arn et. in t ime to eat his Xm as
Dinner wit h her.
F rom N o. 3 P an ,o f our Short lave R elay Serv ice
_we learn that Sergt. R oss , at present on Costin g at
rSouth e1'll Comma nd, will sh ortly t ak e up duties as
a Civilian in this offi ce. This inform a tion is strict ly
reser ved as owin g to static in terfer ence and so many
contradictory repor ts 011 other sub j ects, we cann ot
believe anythin g until t he occurre nce has actuall y
taken pl ace.
G.H :S.
CATTERICK CAMP.

Corps members at t his Station-or w hat is left

of t hem up to thi s morning's post, are still goin g
along wit h t he " Bu siness as Us ual" aspect, in
, pite of the r ecen t demolit ions.
"'Te h ave los t t h e good ser vi es of Sergeants
Moo re and Gauti er r ecently. w ho have packed u p
th eir tro ub les and proceeded, it is hoped , t o more
salub rio us climat es in P alestin e an d E gypt r es pectively , and we sincerely ho pe t hat t h ey will
enj oy t he best of h ealt h a nd get on , at least ~s
well in t heir new' Station s as t h ey did h ere. It 1S
un derstood th at Ser geant Ga.utiei intends visit in g
Sergeant Moore duri ng -h is fi rst leaye period (sic)
wh en it an'ives . They recently fo und out that t hey
h ad several points in common .
1. Th e ways an d mean s of en joyin g life with out
any money.
2. Th e most suita ble kind of nnt s on which t o
feed t h e cam el.
3. Th e crl lorifi c effect on cert.ain n erves after a
n ight out.
And we h ope t h at work will not un dul y interfere
with t hei l' stu dies .

CORPS J OUR NAL

S.Q .lvLS. Davies , a l'ld Sel'geants ' Lydon, Bedfo rd a nd \"alton have been keepin g t he fl ag Hyin g
durin g t he crisis, so much so-' th at it is now in
shreds. It. has left t hem wIt h t hnse far away
loo ks in t hei r eyes usually associated with cer tain
poets . This reminds me t hat t hey ha'vc ' been re hem's ing poet ry an d son gs for w hat looh s like
being a -bum per show for Christmas. One of t heir
efforts is t he re nd ering of t hat soul -stirring piece
'A Tisk et ' 'A Tasket' in 'rounel' fas hion-before it
becomes - h ackneyed. A fUl' t her item whi ch promises to be goo d is a recitation' by S.Q.M.S. Black
,wcl S.Q .i\ LS. H a rdi ng ent itled 'A R id e to Yor k'
in t'\\'o parts. Thi s is bein g look ed upon with
special interest as S.Q.M.S Bl ack has put in a
g reat deal of t ime punching back Par t 1, a,nd
S.Q..M.S. H a rding h as no teeth fo r Part 2.
A
furt her item (I hope I am not giving away st.able
information ) is a big drum piece ent itled Swin g
It' and Fowler a nd Fowler by our wives. Thi s
piece is being conducted at e 110rmou ~ suspense by
our lone sin gle m emb er, Ser geant vValto n , a nd
should be t he star t Ul'l1 of t h e evening if we can
persnade t h e ladies that it is essent ial t h at,... th ey
should sit so t h at t hey can all see th e condu ctor
a,1, t h e same t ime. Sgt. lalton sh ows ' a certain
am ou nt of stage fright but h e will drum thr.ou gh
alri gh t.
Major H . O. B row nin g , :'\1.C. an d the Catterick
staff desire to pass alon g t he Season 's Greetings
to a,ll Members a nd ex-Member s of t he Corps
everywh ere-not fore:ettin e:. of course, t hose ladies
who will b e spendin g Chri stmas, unfortun ately,
wit hout t h eir hubbies .

THE

CHATHAM, ROYAL ENGINEERS.

P rofuse apologies ar e no do ubt d ue on account

of t,he absence of n ews fro m thi s sta,t ion in t,he last
iss ue o f t h e Corps J ,o urnal. bu t it. is q uestionable
as to w hi ch i" di viuun ]s a nd in part icul ar t,h e Offi ce
B.epresentative shoul d :lpologise. In poin t of fact ,
hi s apology co nsisted o f handin g over his job t o
some otbl; wiling soul , w ho is t hus left to "carry
t he ca n". fo r a ny moans , groans or grumbles.
Since t he last series of notes appeared in prin t ,
m uch h as h a ppened, a.nd same will be dul y
chro nicled in due course.
Th e Emergency h as caused a gr eat deal of extra.
wo rk , ,a nd has caused a great infl ~lx of temporar y
civili an staff and a goodly gath el'ln g of R A. P .C.
])el'sonnel fro m various places on tem pOr0l'y du ty.
Bv tIle t.im e t h at t his appears i n prin t most, if n ot
all. of t he latter will h ave r etul'I1 ed t,o t h eir r espective station s, and we wish to place on r ecord
our pleasure at seeinQ: som e of the ol d faces once
"gain , and at makin g th e acg uain trl nce of new ones.
Arrivals.-To Lt .-Col. C. N. Bed nalL M .C . Sergt.
Gore and A /L /C])ls. Gray. Freeganl and Br iggs,
Pt.es ' H olmes, Pou lto n, McKow n. Bedclow, Smi th
a nd Robinson we extend a cor dia l welcome, a nd
h ope t hat t heir respective tou rs of d uty in Ch ath am
are pl easant.
Oepartures. - L t .-Col. E. VV . H art-Cox, O. B. E. ,
h as left u s, and .o ur best wishes . go with hi m to hi s
new station . L/Sergt. Searle and CorpI. Su th e rl a ~ d
h ave emb arked fo r t h e H oly Lan d, Cm'pl. Wh 1,te
sa,iled for Tien tsin with m uch adv]ce an d dark wJnspel'ill gs. \Nit h refel'f' nce t.o t h e t wo last-ment ioned

ROYAL ARMY . PAY .,CORPS

m oves, ru mo ur hets it t,hett t hel'e al'e one 0 1' two

lon ely red -eyeu lll aidens in G illin gl~am as a result ,
a,nd t,hat OorpI. Sut herla nd 's favo uri te dance hall
was t h e " P avili on " . CorpI. Birch has gone to
Aldershot on a course at th e Costi ng School a nd
we wish him lu ck.
Births.- To t he wife of Corpl Ba r tlett a dau ahter
011 5t h NO~'ember, 1938. To t he wife ~f A / L/cpl.
Gray, a son on 25t h October, 1938.
Marriages.-Lj Sel'gt. W. E. StelTett, a nd Co rpI.
G. BIrch. T he former "pulled a fas t. one" on us.
Wh en askin g for a fe w houl's' leave, he merely
stated tl.lat he ha,d to appear before a J.P., a nd told
hIS SectlO n L eader t hat he did not wish to be fin ed
for Co ntemRt of. Court. It was wit h great reluctance t hat pel'm1SSlOIl was granted, and away ile
went. Th e next day it came to light t hat, in those
few hou rs, he had do ne himself in, a nd had been
sentenced hy the aforementio ned J .P. to life, for
b etter and worse.
Oeaths.- It is wit h g reat regret that we have
to anno un ce th e death of Mr . E astwood, an exmem ber of t he Corps, who had been empl oyed in
~he office.,a s a civilian clerk. Our deepest sympa th y
IS expressed to Mrs. E astwoocl in hel' g reat loss.
Promotions.- \iVe extend our co ngratulations to
S / Ser gt . Gore on hi s crown, a nd to Corpl~. lVIurray,
S ut herland and Gilchri st on promoti.o n to t hat ran k,
a nd we hope to be near t he bar w1th them on t he
n ext occasion.
Office Out ing.- Th e a nnu al out ing took place on
29 t.h June, when <L good ly gatherin g of lads an d
laSSIes Look coach (or is it "encoached ") for
H ast,ings, t here to blow awa,y dull cnre and worries of pun ch cards. The weather, at firs t rat her
t hreatening, soon briglltened up, a nd a very
pleasan t cl ay was spent . Our hearty tha nk s are
du e to the Comm ittee fo r t heir splendid work.
S,port-Shooting.-The combined offi ces have
a.gain entered t he inter-o ffi ce Small Bore L eague,
alld some very gratifyin g results a re to ha nd , the
"B" Team havin g won t hree out of fo ul' mat,ches,
an d t he "A" Team two out of t hree.
Football.- \iVe opened th e season wit h a s111ashillg win of 7- 3 against M Company , RE. Our
for wa rds gave th e lie t,o ,a ll t he hard t hings t he
defence h ad a,ccll sed t hem of a nd pl'oceeded t o
score at every opport uni ty . Th e score by no means
r epr esents t he play but p,ays a high complim ent
for- t he excellent scorin g efforts of t,he fo rwards .
Sgt. Gore, fres h fro m E astern Comm and, emerged
fr,om retirem ent an.d opened t he scoring with a
b eauty from t he wlllg. Cpl. Oook made a beast
o f himse lf and co red fo ur. L / C. McK eown fro m
t he Tallk proved himself a blessin g and collected
.a couple apa rt fro m havin g a hall d ill most of t he
other . Th e goa.lie, inspired by t he sig ht of our
fo rwa rds playin g footba ll, put up .a side show on
his ow n and touched a p ena.l ty 011 to. t he crossbat :l nd completed ' t he effort by sHving t he shot
from t he rebound, elToneously bawlin g ' Offside 1
. Off ide !!' :l,t, t.h e same t im e.
For t un ately , his
co nve l'sationa l powers did not in terfere wit h hi s
sa ve but , neverth eless, g<1ve it t he appearance of
n.n afterthought.
Th e next m:l.t ch again st H eadg na rter \iVin g 'of
\th e T rainin g BAtta li on, R .E., th e forw:i.r d liilf'

JOURNAL

restin g on their laurels, ga ,)e a Rerfect exhi. bition

of ' foo~less.. wOJlders' . \i\1e hope t hey enjoyed the
fres h all'. T he defence spent all t he t ime defending
a nd we dId well to get away with just t he bare
fi \ 'e goals against us. Cp!. Bullou s at centre-half
moved heaven and ea rt.h to keep the score dom! .
In fact he mo~' ed so much earth t hat we expected
.i. compLa mt from t he groundsman .
The goalie,
L j Sgt. Taylol', who had t he m isfortun e to have
his wife as a spectator , tried ha rd but h e w.as
handicapped by hav in g just t he odd pair of hands
a nd feet.
Foll owing t hi s debacle t he RE. Boys played on
t he same pitch as us and very dece ntly scor-ed
'fo ur goals for t hemselves and one for us fo r " hi ch
we ext ~ ll d our heartfelt t hanks. As our goa lie was
cleill:lI1 g t he one shot t hat hit him t heir mid get
outs1de-left swerved ronn d a daisy and baraeci
him, to t he mani fold delig ht of abo ut 200 spe~ta
t ors who were waitin g fo r a ' FOOTBALL match
to start nearby. H oweyel', we' were treated to a
jolly fin e display of footb:l ll by our oIwonents.
Th ey must have been our opponen ts for t hey
sco red t heir goals against us. 'We un derst and t hat,
_c\ rse nal also nre havin g a bad t im e at. t he moment.
Against C Compa ny, T .B.R E. , we 'co mpletely
reo rgani sed the side a Ild brought, L j Sgt. T aylor
from goa l to -centre-forw:l l'd on the g rounds t hat
If anyo ne should know how goals were sco red he
should . 'W e lost 2- 1, but he scored.
Seriously though, to keep on t ry in g as our
fellows do , in sp ite of pl aying aga in st teams in
much better physica l co nditi on a nd with more
facilit ies for practice. shows a very hi a h deal'ee
of sportsmanship which is greatly appr:ciatel' by
t he teams in the gal'l'i so n, fo r we never lack a
ga.me a nd afterw ards our opponents are in va riably
pressing fo r a return ma,tch .
Latterly we h ave been un able to field our best
side on account of t h e attractions of London' s
bright -er-lights. We seem to be feelin g t,he adva.ntage, physicall y, for our efforts a nd before lon er
"'e should strike a winnin g vein.
0
Cricket.- Th e season ended wit h a yictor y for us
ove r Eastel'l1 Command Pay Offi ce and i,bus we
went t hrough t he season with onl y one defeat,
by th e Depot Battn., RE.
Against Eastern we batted fi rst, and :It 93 fo r 8
our ski pper , S.S.M. Newell , snrp ri. ed us by decla rin g. H e justifi ed his decision by ta king 3
w i c ~ ets Jor 8 run , whil st Mr. Coekley collect ed
6 for 11, a nd E astel'l1 were a ll out for 19 r uns.
Thi s must be tllei I' record 10,1' ~ COl' e, for Eastern
Com man d always eemed t.o have bat.smen of th e
monot.o nous 50 va riety.
Th e best in dividli Al pe rformances over t he
season are: 13a tl'i 11 /Z .
S.S.lV( N ewell , y. '\Noolwich, 78 not o u ~; Y. Naya l
Sto re , 55 not onto
S.S.M. Sheppard, v . Deptfo rd. 40 not: out.
Cpl. B ull ous , v. P ost Offi ce, 58 not ont.
Mr . Cockley , v. E. Comm:1 T1 d, 30.
1307fJ /.i 11 1-:'.

,S.S.M. <Newel! , V. ,\iVoolwich , 2 wicl,ets for 0 run ;

v. Nav:l l Sto l'es, 5 wickets for 13 run s: y .
E. COlll mand. 3 wickets fo r 8 run s.
Sgt. K in g. V. \Noolwich , T wickets fo r 14 run s'
Y. R
Ma rin es. Se rgeants . 7 wi ckets fo r 33.

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

lvIi'. Cockley, \ . E. Comm and , 6 wickts for 11

runs:
Q.M.S . Elam, Y. POllt Offi ce, 3 wickets for 4 runs.
L / Sgt. Taylol', Y. Post Office, 3 wick et s for 12
runs.
S.S.M. N ewell , as us ual, runs away with the
best all round p'erformance in spite 01. his constant
references to old age. All we can say is that we
wouldn 't mind t aking the Corp s t,eam 011 , with a
nice side bet on the issue , wit h a t eam of ,such
" old men" .
.
It was a great pity that so m a ny inter-offi ce
matches were cancelled for ther e is no m at ch like
a pay office mat ch for keenness a nd sportsmanship.
If these ;fixtures are allowed to fade out, t h e life
of the Corps and spirit of t he game will be so
much the poorer and so next season we particularly request tha,t we shall see you all again a t
Chatham a nd tha t you will give u s t h e opportunity
of seeing you on your ow n " ITliddens" . After all
r esults don't count for more t ban a season but the
spirit wh ereby L / Sgt . Soa ndso says of hi s form er
Section L eader after a social evening, " H e's not
a bad old
", goes on for y ears.
Just two smart an ecdotes whi ch desen- e to go
down to post erity .
Section L eader (t o Clerk) : " H ave you cleared up
Faro 's Account yet ?"
Offi ce Comedian (sotto voce ) : " Blimey! Are we
as fa r behind as tha t ?"
Various voucbers kep t disapp earin g in a mysterious ma nner . a nd . after fra nt ic sea rches had been
instit uted, d.uplic~1 tes h ad to be obtained where
poss ibl e, and wh ere no t possibl e on e just hoped
for t he best. The ma tter became seri,ous, however ,
as docum ents were continually vanishing into thin
air, so the lo cal " G " men got to work . It was
then di scove red t hat a newcom er to t he Cbal'lady
staff was treatin g t.he Sections Offi cer' s "Out"
basket literally, an d s ome of t he missing documents were found carefull y fil ed in t he wast e
papel' sack s, ot.hers had been used to li ght, fires.
" ELMER" .
CHATHAM, ROYAL SIIGNALS.

A vel')' busy three mont hs has paslled sin ce our

last appearance. Some of us who knew all about
A .F.N. 3085 in t h e a bstmct gained iirst haud knowldge, whilst oth ers merely renewed acquaintan ct
Th e e::l:pen ence gained d uring our par t ial mobilization was both instructin g and amu sing , as when we
was both in structin g and a musing , as when we
remember t h e nig bt the lig h t f.ail ed us at 9 p. m .
and came on again at 9,30 p .m ., .- uch li g ht, as we
had comin g from t he bi cycl e la mp ,of on e of our
senior ranks and mu ch to our disa ppoin tmen t , th at
ligh t did not fail before t he po wer came on aga in .
W e were evisaging a walk home for him . Only
recent ly a no th er li ght was a pplied to ou r office
fire, it being one of t hose cold mornin gs wh en t,he
caret a ke r had fa iled us. I t mea nt evacuation for
half an hour un t il t he smoke, whi.ch compl etely
fill ed t he offi ce, had disapp eared ,
Th e Christmas Draw li st hav in g a ppeared again,
we wo uld g i\' e a timely wal'llin g to Hilsea a nd
wou ld ad vise t hem to pu t a handica p on S.Q .M.S.
May a nd so gi.n ever ybody a cha nce.
Rifte Shooting.- A ny Thur.- day dow n at t he
range yo u will fin d our shootin g expert s a nd ty ros

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

THE ROYAL

th e Office sit,na ted ill pl easant surroundings .

Of dep artures and . a rl'l va.ls, we have to r epor ~
t.h e depar t ure of Major C. D. Vin t t o Belfast On
3rcl October , 1938, a nd th e ani val of Colon el .A .
B . Cliff from Woolwi cll and Ma jor H . H. Morr ell
from Cha th am on 1st Septem ber and 1st Novel11be l' respectively. To all we wi sh a pl easant stay
in t heir new station.
To Pri vate ' liT. A. Tupholme we offer out' COllg.ratulation.s on successfull y completing his probatIOn and hI S tra nsfer to th e Corps with effect from
1Uh May , 1938.

doing all sorts ,of things to the bull. It 's "all in"
or " just clipping" for th e form er and usually
" hard luck " for the la tter, bu t whatever it is,
we' re trying very h a rd . Compensation is t o be
found on the da r t board when some tyros becorne
expert and vice-versa. P erh aps " exp ert " is not
quite the word eit her a t da rts 01' shooting, but we
really are doing well and have ou r eyes on the
top rungs of both divison s. Fol.U' results only are
t o ha,nd in each di visioll booth " A " and " B "
teams having lost' orie m~tch each. ' V ell dOlle
Aldershot " B " who beat our "A" team by a
comfo rtable margin, t hi s b eing t heir re venge fOl'
t h eir "A " team 's defeat . W e have one possible
only t o r eoord in mat ch shooting, th a t of Mr.
Thol'l1 e, who , with S / S. H awkins is guide a nd
....
ment or to all n ewcomers to th e ra nge.
Arrivals.-On arri val from Malta we were soo n
cong ratulating Lieut.-Col. Pewsey on his p rontOt ion and a ppointment, as our n ew R egim ental P ay master, In welcoming him to hi s ,first mechanised
offi ce we hope t h at his stay will be a pleasant
one.
Ptes . Cocksedge and Gen t have been pos.t.ecl
hom Alders ho t , t hu s brin ging our School of In struction average to 80% Thir d Di vision.
Th ey
should feel at hom e her e.
Departures.-Major MOlTeJI stayed with _us just
long enou gh to set t he machines running smoothly
w hen he left us for t he more peaceful chimes .of
Chester. Good luck to him in his n ew appointment , but we would re mind the offi ce t h ere t ha t
he plays off a handica.p of minus 15.
Cp1. Kay has left us' for th e lanel of umbrellas
a nd bowler hats and the oth er deli ghts t ha t ap, pe.rtain to P all Mall . N.o more batchin g, no mor e
final s.
Promotion.-I was stumped fo r a heading under
which to record Sgt. H allid ay's award of the nimble
3d. As he earned it un der the head in g of Long Ser vice and Good Condu ct, I think I am justified
in calling it promoti.on .
P te. Hortoll ha.s joined t he ha ppy ba nd after
a successful prob ation . H e is somewhat of a
stran ger to us t hese da ys being on det achmen t
assistin g th e RE. office.
In conclusion, a V ery H a ppy Xmas a.nd N ew
Year to all offices and our best wishes t o all those
w ho left us dUTing t he past t,welvemont h.
L.W,C.

DEPTFORD.

. Arrivals. - :.\laj or A. C. W. H a nd s has report ed

du ty f rom E gypt :m cl we wi sh him it happ'v t onr
at Dept fo n l.
."
Pos.sibly as a res.ul t of t he photo g raph s of Ollr
Machllle R oom , t aff lU th e last issue of t he 'Journ al'
there ha s been an influx of probationers to our
office. Th e foll owin g ha ve join ed a nd we wi sh th em
every success.
Gunner W . J . .1\1.c:.\liUan, RH. A .
Pte. H. N'. H. Smit h, 2nd H ants.
Pte. G, P . H ewson, Depo t, Middl esex Regt.
Pte. G. L. Dudl ey, 2nd Bn. D .C ,L.I.
Gunn el' R E. Patman , R. A .
Departures. L / Sg t. H. J. Cox has emb arked f 01'
P al estin e. S.Q.M. S. C. Bon e . and L / Sgt. G. H.
McCann are t,empo]'a ril y attached t o Chath a m
(RE.) a nd W ad ey respectively. Sgt. G. Bella1';;
emba rk s for Palestine s hortly.
Transfers. Pte. J. A. :,\i{orris havin.g successfullv
completed his probation hilS been tra nsferred to th'e
Corps an d we off er our con gratulations.
General. Owing to t he 10ll g working hoUl's necessitated by the measures t aken during t he cri sis it ha::;
been found impossible t o pursue any sp.orts or run
any entertainments . Instead we participated each
evenin g in il sort of Blind man' s Buff in a search
in th e fo ggy da rkn ess for t he main gilte of t he Depot
in which the offi ce is situ at ed.
Durin g th e emergency we had a Ball oon Barrage
Compan y as guests of the Depot and it was most
interestin g to witn ess t he balloon going up after
peace was assured . Thi s led to a li ttle celebration
betw een a few of our staff and t he Balloon Barrage
Compa ny ::m d we felt we had lost som e friends
wh en th e disp ersal day dawn ed.
Retirements . .1\11". (lat e S.Q.M .S,) M. F arrelly retired
on 16t h Novemb er , 1938, havin g attain ed the age
limit. W e all fel t parting wit h " Mick" , a fine
old soldier of the Corps-loyal, hard workin g and
very popular wit h his comrades. H e was presented
"ith a walkin g stick , cigarette G.:1.se and lighter
and every good wi sh follows him into hi s retirement.
10 1'

CHES,T ER .

Th e r ecent crisi s , a nd as a resul t of th e tem

porar y post ing of mili tary sta ff to ot,her Offi ces,
has fur t her cur ta iled t he act i"i t ies of t his Detachment , alt houg h in recen t yea rs th ey have h een
" few and far b et,wee n".
Th ere is l~e rh a p s on e item whi ch may interest
"those wh o have in t he past ser ved at t his stati on
and , t hat is, t he Comm a nd P ay Offi ce has now
vacated t he old premi ses i n 'Vate r ~a t e St reet
a nd moved into th e n ew Comm and H eadqu ar t.ers
buildin g in Queen' s P ark . This modern huil rlill g
. is situated on the opposite b ank of th e rive r to
th e C~ty. a nd between th e Suspension Bridge a nd
th e Olci Dee Bridge . It is two storeys hi gh and
h as more th an 100 rooms . Th e loft y roo ms with
windows facin g all poin ts of t he cOll'l pass are ill deed a gr eat con t rast to the small attic room s in .
t he old prerr. ises. New comers to Chel' ter will find '
38-1.

ARMY PAY

EDINBURGH.

Firstly , we in t he Land of the Scots mu st wish

all those in oth er stati.ons a Merry Christmas and a
H appy N ew Year from a land wh ere th ere is little
Christm as bu t plenty of N ew Y ear.
There are
man y compensations fo r this; durin g this year we
have been within 50 miles and 2s . 1d. of one of the
finest Exhibitions the world has yet seen, only
marred by an excessive amount of moisture fallin g;
as at all other E xhibition s 75 % of th e people were
to be fOl1nd in t he Amu sement P ark .

CORPS

JO URl' AL

Th e Services Display, in respect of which thi s

Office played 11 0 small pa rt towards it s admini strat IOn a nd organization of fin il l1cial arrangements was
on e of t,he best " shows" perfo rmed by MiI'itary
P erso nn el. t hat has been seen anyw here. 'Ul1fortm;atel,Y, owmg t o pOOl' pUblicity (which was not und er
MIlIta ry cont rol ) tb e attend a nce of spectators was
meag re a nd only ~ow a l'd s th e close of t he Displays
were th e staJl ds lull. It was a pit,y t he Display
could no t have last ed longer.
In .Edin burgh t,he sin gle men a re qua rtel'ed within
50 ya,rds of wh ere Mary Qu een of Scots li "ed and
J a mes t he Sixth was . bom , not forgettin g the
wond erful ' Va1' Memonal III whi ch actuall y th e
Corps Badge is modell ed.
Life is not t oo bad here i f you play Chess or
Bnd ge, but th e only ot her sport we ta ke part
in th ese days is "Darts".
Since Jast notes we ha ve lost S.S ..1\1. F orsyth,
who ha s gone t o sunnier clim es ; we wi sh him all
t he best in his new station and hope t hat t hey will
take advantage of his t ennis.
Ma jor I? avis, S/ Sgt. Kirb y, Sgt. Brenn an a nd
S/ Sgt. Cl'l chton have all left us for privat e life
a nd we wi sh th em all good huntin g and hope th at
Dorry Cl.'l cht.on manages to weil r a kilt in hi s T .A,
a,ppoin t ment.
' i\Te t hou ght we were in dan O'er of losin g Major
Bla ir , but to our deli ght he h~ s returned after a
short stay in "Varley.
Cp!. Day a nd Pt.e. P earce are I'a pidly gettin g the
upper hand of Command work.
Ma jo r Spence has retum ed to us a nd we wish him
a long a nd ha ppy stay as Comma nd C,<tshiel'. Th e
same good wi shes apply t,o Yir , P ent ney (la t e
S/Sgt.).
Our new S.M., S.Q .M.Sgt. Clarkso n from Sunpy
(?) Leith, has happ'ily settled down amongst us.
W e are losin g S.Q.M.Sgt . Caveill e. L / Sgt,. John ston e and Owen, who are all leavin g on th e Bi a
Ship-Bon Voyage!
. 0
Th e smalln ess of our Detachment preclud es us
fro m t.akin g par t as a Unit at any Sport (excludin'g
Dart s) but a ooupl e of t he st aff have shown t he
Scots how Hockey and Cricket should b e played
-1\.l1c! Sgt. V, Rush k eeps up his r eputation as a Chess
and Bridge player ; " Shades of his r eturn to the
floodlit Castle around midni ~ht oompl et e w.ith
um.brella can be 8een against. t.he Castl e wall from
Pri nces Street. "
If any Corps memb ers a re propo sin g t o apply for
thi s Station , th e writer will be glad to giv~ full
det ails of th e n ecessary wearing apparel, et c., to
combat th e many "deep depression s" expel'ien ced
h ere.
After t his we expect. that everyone will b e anxiou s
to be post ed to thi s Station-one of t he most beauti,
ful and histori cal citi es in t.he world ,
K C.RB.
EXETER .
Impatience Weak 's Corner.

(Vi70rk it ou t for
yourselves 1 ! I)
E vents of the past I reoord here. at last , and I
hop e th at my essay will answer . For from nights
on the t ask , away from the cask , I'm afraid l may
prove just a 'chancel" .
Th e. :followin g' s st[lle, a nd, as news. it may .f:j,il,
so I'll mention it now I .remember. L ast Au gu.s t
we hil iled, t o our est,ablishm ent frail. Major Camp

THE

R OYAL

A RMY

P AY

CORPS

JOURNAL

THE

FOOTS:CRAY.
The Xm as N umb er shows the late , iVoolwich Office
unde r a Ilew name. Th ere is, how evf;lr, little or no.
ch.ange as rega rds t he life 'of t he Detachment . We
a re still exp erien cing a variety of changes in respect
o f P ers,Oullel, t ra yellin g and work. Our n ew abode
is sit uated some miles 1rom Woolwich in the grounds
and pa rt of the buildin gs ,of Messrs. Kolst er Brandes
Radio W orks . F ort unately t he L .P. T.B. Garagf;l is
opposite and convenient fo r bu s services to the
ma ny distant glaces in which th e office s t aff r esides.
Many ha ve been a ble to secure accommodation near by where building IS proceedin g quickly .
It will be some time before th e Offi ce Staff settles
down a nd th e Social an d Spo rtin g activit ies bacJr'
to t he \ iV oolwich days. In t he meantime we are
besiegad by Car penters, J oin ers , P aint ers and other
inflictions w hich go wit h a buildi ng which was
occupied so hurriedly.
Vile mov ed here at 24 hou rs ' notice. Th e usual
paraphern ali a of t he office was packed up wt 3.30
p.m. on t he 26t h a.nd by 1 p.m. 27t h Septemb er
most of the ofti ce was at work ill Sid cup. Th e speed
wi th which t he move was carr ied out with hardly
a brea k in t he work earned t he praise of th e ~7 ar
Offi ce. It is h oped t h at by t he t ime the Spring
N um ber appears th e new offi ce will b e norm al and
th e staff no longer cov ered in paint, etc. , which
tarpa uli ns, so .con sidera bly provid ed by t he Cont ractor, fa ils t o stop.
It may be of in te rest to t h ose in small or m uch
divided offi ces t ha t our buildin g cov ers a considerable a rea, being abo ut 250 feet by 170 feeL Ex cept
for t,he !\lachine Staff a nd Offi cers if c Groups t he
whole staff is accommodated in one large room . So
large that t he " Li ghts Out" W histle at 4 p .m.
can not be bea r d in all t h e corners.
Th e A uLunllJ notes showed a oonsid erable reorganisat ion when we sent to ~7 ad ey t he personn el fo r t he C.D. & A.A. Offi ce. Still more a re to
joill \iVa rley O'oo n when t he A nt i-Ta nk R egts. ar e
t rans fe r red, but to el ate 11 0 1l ;ll1l eS a re kn own .
Increases in Esta blish men t s . -\~ e welcom ed Captain RE. Noel-Clar ke, R T .C. 011 t he 7th Sept ember ,
Cpl. Ackla nd on t he 20th, Ma jo r G. L idstone from
retirement on t h e 6t h Octob er, a ll d S.Q.M.S . Craven
in A ug ust , a,lso Sgt. Sowerby on 14t h Oct obel'. W fY
con'g ratula ,tJe CpI. and Mrs. K erry for t he son ,
Ronald Glyn , bor n on 4th Octo ber, a nd Cp!. Reed
on his marriage to Dorif:; G . E ve rard on 22ud Oct o
ber. Also Capt. Norto n wh o almost got overl oo ked.
H e j,oinetl as we mov ed.
Decreases in Establishments.-W e regr etfully re-
cord th e departures of Major E. F. Cox to E. C. ,
Lt. C. Good e to W .O., Ma jor B rllto ll to E gypt, CpI.
Acklan d to Dover, L JSgt. Vil ilb uf ll t o Pa lest ine an d'
t h e imp endin g departures of Sg t , Tennu ci fo r E gypt
and Sgt . R eid fo r H ong l{o ng. Also Op1. R ousseau
to P alest irl e, Pte. H erb ert dischar ged by p urchase,

386

AR .m.
l\/ry

Sgt . P . B . JO].1nson , Discha rged. Mr. J . G. (Jock )

Hunter on retIrement on 22nd Septemb er.
. Congratulations.- To Major Ensoll on his promotwn to Staff P aymaster Cl. I! on 7'th September
and to S.Q.M .S. Botfield to W .O.I! on 17th Oct.

A repo r t goes t he rou.IId th at o ur Ber t P ring:

has found behind his old boxes a nd barrels, hats,
t hree-corner ed crown ed a nd musick instrum ents,.
sound , so the 'n ight- shi ft is practising carols.
N ow to clear up th e dish a nd being in t h e . posish
of represent in g E xeter's minions, to all confreres.
rH wish (I Bukl~'1 fer lVlish Mish )-H APPY
CH R1ST1vIAS AT HOME AND D01I'IINION S.

(Ret ired ) , a ct ive . Corps .member . Whil st you all

knolV t he -so ng of t he 'Old Soldier s' strong , from
evide nce we haye, it ' s quit e sure, he still ma rch es
along, a nd ' not out :"~,~,ith:,_ tl!~: gong ' . ' iVe hope
.'
he'll cont.inue t he cure.
Now fir3t. to relate in orde r of date , was t he
vacancy ca used in Adrema. Our Miss Lamacra ft ,
wi t h that femin ine craft . hook ed h er JUall to t he
altar- t he schemer !' It's sad to relat e, w hilst bemoaning t heir fate, the staff seemed to g row so much
thin.nel'. Bu t I'm willin g to bet t hat her hubb y 's
regret won ' t b e lack of. 'full J?lates' for his dinners .
And so to ca p it all , alon g came Miss B all , a
smart and a winsome yo un g miss . W it hou t any
delay , t hose of u s goin g g rey, preferred ' dyein g '
before takin g a fall . \iV e wish her success at th e
keys s he lllust press an d t h e pedal keep pound ing
a way. W e hop e t hat ' ere long she'll get used t o
th e thron g who 'll endeavour to ma ke worri es less.
So a pal for our vV in may disp el the ch agrin and
b ri gh t en t he staff on ce agai n. Seein g Win Wylie's
gr in and la ughte r 'agin ' , will, we hope, soften
separ ation ' s pain.
The B OA T 100l11 s in sig ht for a trio ,a lright , including t h e R P. fo r a topee. Q.M. S. Osborne says
'Right ' and F raser says ' Qu ait e' 'Now's t he t im e t o
com mence ma king Whoopee' . So, afLer t h eir leav e
(which we envy an d g rieve) Osborne a nd wife sail
fo r Tientsin. And Fraser 's " Och Ay e" for t he
Straits of Malay. 'Good luck an d Success ' is our
wish most convincin g. '
.
Congratula t ions to t hree whose probatioll s for
th e Corps ha,Ye successfull y ended after negotia
t ions with regulations. 'Good L uck ' is our wish
no w ex t ended. But wh o will explain-t hough I' ll
not complain of Com fort no r vet of 1ons- (t h e
latter disd<tins m y Rronou ncin g his nam e) t he r evel'sin O' of coll a r-b ad O'e lions . . You ' )] see I'm no
prude .'" but t h e jok eO could ' b e rud e. w hen lions
round coll a rs do ro m p , son . 'Old B rags can conclude, if they feel in t h e mood , B ack Ba dges bein g
chaf:<> d ' quot hs youn g T--son.
The R. P . we ' re losin g . so whil e F .9 were choosing,
h e studied the Riddle of Sphinx . To make matter s
confusing . it 's to Malta h e' s cr uisin g. Thu s E ~ypt
remain s mvst ic we t hinl; . So bound for V alett a
would see m a bit b etter . Our regret at t ll e partin g
is keen . Abandonin g t he vendetta , h e's awa.iting a
let t er st atin g time , pl ace and bo at. all ser ene.
Of late I'll confess t h ere h as been . mo re or l ess ,
a wa ve of illnes ' dist ressfuL W e were pleased
n el'e l't,j1E'less t o hear Os101'n e expr ess t ha,t ll is wife' s
operat ion was successful. ~7 e all h op e th at. th e tri p
on th e East-bound shi p to convalescen ce WIll prove
ben efi ciil l , :1 nd t his China 'flip ' st iffen s her upper
liD. an d a l' ri v in ~ , repo rt A .I. Offi cial. Th en In
.o cula ti on , t hat excuse for vacat ion , cam e alon g a nd
painfu ll y intrud ed . Th e short -liv ed elation was a
good irinpva tion, bu t fi zzled out w hen Sunday's
in cl u ded. \Ne welcomed ba ck Ar t hur P ope t o t h e
Pa.ck , b ut were sorr y he again soon depm;t ed for a
renewed attack laid him fiat 'On his b ack. W e tr ust
on the mend h e' s now started . A ddin g t o th e distress, while going to press, I learn of a,n oth er news
it em. Q.M.S. Adam' s voungest contract ed spots on
hi s ch est. Diagnosis 'Scarlet F ever' enlightens . ~7 e
all hODe t h at t h e kiddy , who feel ' s 'purty viddy ' ,
will sh'O rt,ly b e out on ' his feet . fo r it would b e a
pity if this fever invidi-ous di d him out of t h e
Ch ristmas Treat .

ROYAL

Hockey.-? wing t o t he emb arkation at an early

date of th e Secretary no notes have been handed in
H e how ever left this message-" Just a remind e ~'
to other offi ces th at as pa rt of the " N ational Fitnes~ Campaign " we are r unning a Hockey Tec'1 m
d un ng tl1ls season and would welcome any F ixtures
(Home or Away)" .

Billia,rdS.-1t is hop ed to inclu de notes l'egarding

t,h~s excellent game. The Detachm ent has been
dOll1g very well and if any visitors like to t est the
powers of th e T eam- well Hockey .a nd Billiard s can
be played th e same day.
vVe did not an t icipat e t hat we should hav e anythm g to report under t his h eadin g for th e 1938/ 39
season, the Det achmen t h aving ceased to be a t tache.]
to. th e Milita,ry .Co~l eg~ of Science, but having re
cel ved a cOrd lal ll1VltatlOn to " carry 'On" and defend
ou.r t it le ~ f " S hield ~ hamps . ", we are again in th e
thl?k of It , <tn d hopmg t o add 1939 t o the shield
WhlCll already bears R A. P. C. p,lat es for 1936-19371938.
.
Al ready t here have been whispers among t h e
" Gunners" to the effect th at th e R A.P.C. are " off
aga: in ", OUI' record being t o date: Played 24, W on 18,
which pu ts u s at t he top of t he table with ,a 2 points
lead.
vVe mi ss t he services of two of our "star " per.
fO rJ~ ers, S. Q.M.S. N eedham and L / Sgt. B entley
h avlll g left th e offi ce, but welcome to our midst
S.S.M. Th ornhill, S.S. M. Mitchener an d S.Q.M.S.
~7orts , althou gh it has b een l'umoured t hat fo ul
tactics h ave b een resorted to by a certain W.O .
in hi ~ effo rts to b ecome on e of the "regulars", a
ce rtalll memb er ?f t he selection committee havin g
already b~en remlllded that t here are such thin gs as
Confid entlals , Overseas Rost ers Additional work
and Continuances in th e Servic~.
'
Xmas.- \iVe all j'oin in wishing Offi ce Staffs a
Merry Xm as and H appy N ew Y ear.
Our Annu al Xm as par t y is scheduled to t ak e place
on 17th December and a fu ll report will be included
in t he Sprin g Number.
Contributions.
(I ) By Briggate.
(Wit h apologies to Hia watha .)
" On t he shores of L ondon River
By t h e ferry which r un s freely
L ived a man whose n ame was - - - -- *
Son of K ingston , Tank Man
*
Then t hey moved him Sou t hwa rd Eastward
To a place called Foots Cray vill age
H ere h e fast ed not nor feast,ed
Bu t imbibed the amber flui d
Quaffed in pints the amb er flui d
But he lik ed it not and lan guished
For a pub that' s known as ' ''~N oo d m an ''
On t he road t hat leads to Ch a,rlton
T hen he thou ght h e' d buy his ticket
H ow to raise those golden so vereigns ?
Sixty glorious golden s'overeigns

PAY

CORPS

JOUR NAL

So he fi lled in footba ll coupon

Coupon of the famous Vernon !
Bu t they heeded not nor hear d him
Heard not . all his pla,intive wait ing
And the bIrd s sang round o'er him
*'
Do not leave Ui> Mr .
So he still remains a t Foots Crav
Thinkin g of the great hereafter'
Toiling, ~ atchin g, .som e:Vhat sad ly
I n th at lIttle K entish VIllage."
* Oensored . It rhymed wit h Oinder .
(2) By Probationers.
I. - Consterna t ion was shewn by a Sect,ion Leader
recent ly when F. A. was re viewed in connection
With a recent order.
A Qrob ationer produ ced
:' dozeJ?-s" .o f ~ases of " Motherless Children " . On
lI1 vestlgatIon It was fo und that t he innocen t had
produced "Chil.dless Mother" cases. At least that' s
w~at ,t he Sect IOn. Leader i~ no~ grapplin g with .
~ e al e no w for mmg a confu-matI-on cla.ss , pending
transfer .
.
2;. -~\ f ter ca:refully explaining t he snags wit h
W.O.I. s clot hll1 g a nother desired to know if t,he
overalls of a W.O. I. was supf;lrfine clothing.
Rep~esentatives. -To enable others to c.ommunicate WIth our representatives in regard to challenges
and other Sports matters, <tlso as a delicate r eminder
to those who may l e~ve here withou t paying their
O.O.A. Subs, Corps Jour nals, Corps Cards. Dian es
we sup ply t he following inform ation :'
Sports Offi cer : Major H . P . P ark.
Ho ckey Secretary: Cpl. S. Beattie.
Billiards Secretary : S. Q.M. S. E. L. Botfi eld .
O. Q.A. Representat ive : S.S. M . O. Thornhill.
Office R epresentative: Lieut. P . G. Th onlpson
(Journals etc.) .
'
R.A.P.C. Supplementary Rese.r ve.-Th e recent
crisis brought. our Rese rve very m U CH t o th e fore
~)U t t heir s ~ry l~es were not required for the serious
Job of mobIh zm g. H owever we w,ou ld haye been
very glad of t heir services in ot her emergen cies a nd
upsets a nd now as th e year ends we can review t he
h appenings of t hose who will be our stan dby fo r
fut. ure events.
En~istments.-Messrs . F . W. Gardn el', S. W.
Pu rklSs, C. G. Dunstall , R. Carew, J . Fisher and O.
A. Smit h j'O in ed t he R.A .P. O. S.B.. durin g the year,
Promotio,ns.- Corpora ls: \~7 . J . H arrison, J . J .
8h ep ha rd, R G. Spal'kman, R H. Smith . To
L / Sgts. : Cpls. A. E. Sheph al'd , H. S. Smith , J . E.
J ackson , R S. Fairley, S. K. Yo ung, H . L . P ennison ,
R \"'T. Chapman, R J . H ogan . J. A. God d<trd, T.
R Archer , V . R But ler, L . W. Hood, R. M. Beardson, J. L . P ickerin g, A. R Dingwall , J . E. Putt,
R D . Brown, A. R Wad ey, D. M. l\IIUI1l'O, F . V .
And erson . T. R Ba rnard . L . W. Boll ands, J. J.
L awso n, S. A . Matthews , J . vV. Moorhouse, W. F .
P hilbey, F . A. H a nis, J . E. Wil cocks, H . E. Ro gers,
W . A. B ennett , JJ. W. PUI'don , A. E. Kessler. G. E.
W ec'1ld, 1-I. W hit ney, H. F . J oslin g, C. Ch Ul:ch , A.
Adams, G. S. Mitch ell, E. W . Jar vis, D. G. F .
Morris, R B. Chapman .
Th e Year 's activities ended with t he RA .P .C.,
S.R . dinner which is now an annual affair and a
report of the ~inn er has been ably written up by a
memb er and gl\Ten below.

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

Late News.-Major Sant proceeded t.o E.C. on 8th
November, 1938 ; Sgt. Day is for Jamaica in J a nuary; daughter "Margaret" borll to Sgt. and Mrs.
Staff on 13th October. 1938 ; Ptes. Edmonds, Swin
dells , Han'is, Lruly and Huxfol'd tra.nsferred to
R.A.P.C. and passed Cl. II trade test.
" SUPPLEMENTARY " NOTES.
Those of our Supplementary Reservists _'w ho
attended for annual training during the period 19t h
to 30th September, trained this year in " moving"
times. Apart from the "Czech " situa,tion, which
kept them k eyed up during the first week , they
ce rtainly h ad to move dming t,he second. On
Monday, September 26th , the order was received
for the "Pay" side of the office (less Depot) ,
RA.P. C.) to mo ve to Foots Cray. Training that
evening, in Lawn House, was carried out amidst
an array of packing cases, dismantled office fumit,ure and so on, earning the comment from one
member that the place sho uld be re-named "Forlorn " Hou se. Howeyer, -on the next evening, th e
building was more presentable, having been vacated
by pay side and occupied by " Records". The following evening the place was even more "forlorn"
as " Records " had also received and commenced t,o
carry out the order to move.
The remainder of training had to be performed ,
therefore in the n ew Hea.dquarters of the Depot ,
RA.P.C., viz, " The White House", Royal DO,ckyard. Incidentally, Garrison H .Q. were enjoyin g
"extended hours" and the periodical arrival of
a despatch rider during the latter evenings often
caused looks of apprehension on the faces of many
of those present. However, what "might have been"
- wasn't-and shortly after conclusion of training
the majority 're-assembled, together with the February and May classes , for a function which has
been reported under the appropriate heading.
Co ngratulations are extended to Pte. Gardiner
and L /Sgt. Josling on their r ecovery from recent
illness and also to Pte. and Mrs. Tbompson on the
occasion of an increase in the Nat,ional Census.
"AGGY".
R.A.P.C . (S.R.) Dinn.er .-If you will just turn
back to page 189 of the Christmas, 1937, issue of
the " Journ al" you will note that last year we held
a re-union dinner on the 19th November. 'VeIl, we
could not wait a full year for the second edition, so,
Saturday, October 8th, found us gathered for the
fray at, as before, the Shakespeare Hotel, 'WoolW;ich, which h a d kindly reserved the date since February.
. Over sixty sat down to dinner, including and thereby adding to our pleasure, Lt. -Col. R H. Smyth,
M.C . (O .C. Detachment) , Majors H. G. Ensoll, H.
P. Park, W. Moran, O.B.E. , M.C., W. Vero , and
G . Lidst.on e, Captains Norton and Stubbs, S.S.M's.
Everett, Mitchener and Thornhill and also our
v;lOrthy instru ctors, S.Q.M.S. W eston a nd Sgt. Staff .
Much to the relief of last year's Chairman, that
office was this year very kindl y an d ably taken by
S,.S .M. Mitchener.
After the toasts to "The King" (proposed by
Pte . .J . Fish er , S.R) and "Absent Friends", Lt.
Col." Smyth told us of the move of the "office" to
Foots Cray. H e snoke of the sudd enness of the
move, the quickness with which it was a.ctually
-carried out (work being resumed almost without a

break) a nd of the joy;; experienced by t he Regulars:

sUlToullded by a,n army of ca rp ent ers, etc. He also
expressed the hope that none of the Supplementary
R.esen-ists would ' find Foots Cra.y too diffi cult to
reach for futme training. (Th ere ought to be a. joke
abo ut being "Foots Sore" h ere but we'll let it pass).
H e also told us lots of other things, but, of course,
ou r modesty prevents us mentioLling t hem.
.
The concert which followed was excellent, being
contributed to by J .. Willocks , A. R Wadey , The
Vica,r (J. Gough) , J. Shepherd , " The Se.ptember
Choir " and A.. H . Scott, with Major Pal'lcc and C. P.
Fox (how does he r emember a.ll the pieces?) at the
"Grand". Humorous anecdotes by the Chairman,
"Our Quarter Bloke" and others. added t{) Out'
enjoyment and had time allowed, 'we still had C~
Turner a nd others to "call up" . However , 11.30
anived all too soon, but we were to note: 'w ith;
delight that all the ofncers were st,ill with lis aild
lo oking as we -felt, "' ha.ppy'''.
It would not do to end th is report withollt thanking out" Comm ittee _ (S.Q.M.S. 'Veston, Sgt. Sta ff ,
a nd Pte. Fisher (S.R)) for the very excellent.
a rrangements mad e and especially for having continued optimisti cally with the necessary ptelimin-.--""
aries during that p'eriod of national (and 'office? )
stress wben many of us were fully <mti cipatin g the
ca ll to be " in rations".
JACKO (S.H.).
HOUNSLOW,
Consequent upon the impending departure for
abroad of L an ce-sergeant Porter this Office has a
new Office R.epres8l'1tativ'e and these, my initial
notes, are laun ched with il feeling of complete
temerity. The r ecent issue of Spectacles (at Public
expense) is, however, h elpin g in no. small measure
in the comp'ilation of tl1ese Notes by giving the
writer the feeling .and appeara nce j,o urnalistic.
Now to the news.
Hounslow Office h as suff ered lllany losses and
staged quite a rew welcomes since th~ last number
of the Corps magazine was pub~ished. Tbe departure of Lieutenant-Colon el F. C. vVil1iams and
Lieutenant E. O. Cooper occurred on the same day
on their posting to P alestin e and York respectively.
Sergeant Spooner waited only long enough to jom
in welcoming his namesake S.S.M. Spoon er and h e
too departed for warmer climes, followed a day or
two later by Lance-sergeant Gedeles on posting to
the quieter atmosph',ere of Command Pay Office
(Eastern). He was overheard to refuse the offer of
a couple of machines to assist him in his new sphere,
his excuse being that he had exhausted his stock of
oil rags .
Lieutenant-Colonel T. H. Grant assumed duty as
Regim ental Paymaster on 1st September, and his
Staff take this opportunity of wishing him a long
and hap,py stay at Hounslow.
D espite t h e changes in Staff-and rush of work
conseq'uen t upon th e crisis, etc., social endeavours
and sports activity h ave been k ept going.
Sixty of the Staff joined in ,opening the S . .& D.
Sports' Club 'Winter season with a dinner and show
in Town . Lietenant-Colonel GnLl1t and other Officers
were very welcome guests .
.
-.
A billiards and dart tournament I S attract1l1g keen
interest of the Sergeants' Mess members, despite
rumours that the expectant billiards winner ball
had hi s name already inscrib ed on the trophy.

388

THE

RO ~.l:TAL

AR~IrV.!"ry

R ecruits hom t he D epot, Royal Fu si.liers t urn ed

a Soc ce~' team out to meet an rle\"en from tl~c Offi ce
111 tIle nr~t game of the seaso n.
The fact that the
Fuslhl"s ioun ~1 the Ilet four tim es whil st only allowII1g us to SCO I e one goa l IS not going to discoura o-c
the fixture of a seco nd game.
0
Hockey enthUSiasts haye ample scope here and
our fixture h t ha s seyeral blallk Saturdays. ' _-in '
chall engers please ? Commu ni cations foi yacan~
elates ad,dress to " Hockey" at this Office.
TJl e ,Gym ha s beel~ mad e a\'a ilab.l e fOJ" Badminton
every Tuesday evernn g, and an enel'o-etic dozen or
so spe lld a str enuou s few hours "~ ha c kino' (h e
feather " .
'"
Deptford and London Ofn ces may expec t a seriou ;,
challenge before t he seaso n is mu ch older-- "so look
to yo uI' rackets".
:\[I'S. Gibbons has made Lan cecorpora l Gibbons
father to a daughter-Congratulations!
Lan ce-sergeants Tavlor and Ogih'ie a re w elcom e
add itIOns to t he Sergeants ' Mess li st of catereJ"s:whlch hi1 ~ been so .~arl1y depleted by t he departme
o~ the .~ on-collllll l ~slOned officers mentlOn e'c1 pre\" Iou sly Ul these Notes.
. HOllll slo,:" Record and Pay' Office st aff join in wis h.
m g thE' EdI to r ' and s ubscr ib erf: of the Co rps JOll rna l
a Yery H appy CJll"lSim as and New Y ea r.
G .IV.H .
LEITH .
Th e ~ hor t clays a nd long night s are with us
aga in , winter IS fa st appro<1ching and in doo r
sport s a re now the order of the dav. Our weekl\"
" Ihi t Drives , und er th e m<1nagement of :\h:.
Palllter. h a\"e already started and .are pro\"ino' yerv
pO lJular.
<:>
..
The 1'.ifie section of Olll. SRorts Club is aga in
fll nctlOlll ng, and , alt llou g hwe ha ve won 110
nHlt~h es yet, we are \" ery hopefu l- the YOUl1 O'
~ ol(lte rs who ha ve recently joined us are p;lttin~
~n some r~ X Cell e!lt practi ce and with their inclu sio~
ll~. OLlr I en m In th e .near. fut.ure , our opponents
~lll not hilY t:! easv Ylcton es III comin a compet itions. In a "Pick your ow n handi cap Co~n petitiol1"
t wo we ek :12,"0 Pl"n-ate ' iVvli e W<l S the winn er of
th e co\'et ed Spoon. Th e i'es ults of OUI' monthlv
Spoon Shoo t <;tre not vet compl ete but det aiL- wiil
bE' pubJt hed In our next Report.
Arriva ls.- ' Ve exte nd a heart,y ,\'-elco lll e from t he
school at Ald ershot to Pri\'ates' i\IcCullum. Knio'ht
[lncl. ~h oote l' and <l lso to Privnt es Cril nto n ;nd
Robln so n from th e ' iVil rle.v Offi ce.
Pro mct ions.-('ongratuJ ations to Corpol"<l Js Stewar t and Il1lpen ~ on promotion to th at nmk.
Det achm ent .-O ur senior W.O . IT, S.Q.~1.S.
Clalkson. is temporarily at the Command Office
where he is peJ"formi no' the dut ies of ~taff Seraeant

~ fa jor.

:\f.\ ('SI-TT , IT.

LONDON- EAS T ERN CO MMAND P AY OFF ICE.

'~7 ith the publication of the Chri f: tlll<l , J3s11e of
notes, we a t, 80. Pall Mall. ext elld Sea, Oll<lb Je Greetings to All. Havin g lost S.Q,.1\LS. F. E. lvrnttJlews
on hi s delJn rture for Yo rk (R.P.) (14th NOn'll1ber,
1935) . we <l.l~o lost t he Orfice R epres ent<lti\'e of t he
.Tou rn a l and cO Il;; eq u e ntJ~' find o;11'seh e ~ "pll<h ed"
for lime in gathe rin g notes for thi s if:s UE'.

PAY CORPS J()liRNAL

Arrivals and Departures.-Still more postinas
occur, a nd we haye to wel~me . to this office o~r
n,ew A.C.P., Lt.- Col: and Bt.-Col. A. S. Herb ert
:\1.:., Lt.-Col. T. K elly, M.B.E. , Major E. F. Cox;
S;S.M. G. FOl"syth , L / Sgt. G. A. Geddes and Cpl. D.
h <1Y, and trust thell' sk'ty in -this office will be a
\"ei"y pleasant one.
:Uthoug h Lt.-Col. T. K elly, M.B.E., did not rellHtl ll wIt,h us long (for h e left us on 7th D ecember,
19~8 011 takIng up ~lutl es as RP., London Pay
Office), we regret losmg him so soo n, and trust he
:IJoyed hiS s hort stay with us. Other departures
"ho,11 we wIll ~ reat.1y mIss are, Cap-tain H. ' N. T.
:\I~ rd ell (1'alest111e) and S.Q.M.S. F. E. Matthews
(~ol'_k ), two cheerful stalw arts of the E.C.P.O.,
Cl lc\',et Club , w ho~~ names ha\'e often appearecl in
~he . H,9llours List III the cri cket notes published
III th.ls JOlll'llal.
'~I e have nothin g to fear in the wa
of cflcket. fixLuresfrolll P alestin e, but now anti cipat~
recel.nng ~'t .challenge from York (R.P.) durinO" the
COllllllg Cncket Season. A noth er of our cl~cket
10 ses was Sergt. F. Gore who was po ted to Cbatham on 20th September, 1938 ; so next season we
mily be able ~o see what he can do against us.
L j Sergt. W. ~. Gardn 31' proceeded to Shoeburyness (for COStlllg duties) on 211st November 1938
Srergt . J . N . J ames (Costing) . expects to ' spenci
Xmas 0.1~ t he wa,~er and wlllter III Hong Kon g. and
Sergt. . Fredd le . Astles is expected to spe nd the
next three years III Slllgapore ",h ere he ma v also
be able to study the method s of rai sing ponHrv on
next to nothlllg.
'
TelllIJorary Absences con sequ ent upon the elllerg:~lC:V lll clnded ?apta in H. Go u ~ h (sin ce return ed)
a .1J S.Q.M.S. "'". Snowdon (stdl ab ent) to whom
we offer our heal'best congratulations on his recent
promotIOn to W.O.II (4th October, 1938). ~bjor
S. } . Banattllncl S.Q.M.S. S. ' N. ,J. Knight. ex
members of t h e "C" Force with. we believe suitca ses bul g in g with sports gear. wer e rea ll~' el isaplJOlntecl that their trip to the Contin en t wa's canceJlecl. " Sl a n~ing t.o " in readiness was apparenily
a t11'eS0111e hu sl11ess.
.
To. L ; Sgt. ~V. E. Gardner. L / S!?;t. A . 1\1. :\[ackenzle, Cpl. 1\. Brown, a nd Cp!. F. Hi ce . we offer
our hearty co ngra tulati ons on. th eir recent prom otion
to tho e l'anks a nd extend the hand of welcome
to, Pt e- . L . H. Cross and F. Stapleford on their
be~ll o' finallv t r311 sf lTed to th e CorI>,,; w.e.f.. 2nd
.\[a v. 1933.
_-\'fter 18 vears' service, et c., etc., S.O.7Il.S. F. E .
Matthews, S / Sgt. H. A. Fox . a nd S /Sat F .r
R oslin g have been awarded the L.S. & G . C.1\J~d;l:
Our congratulation s to t hem on their joinin a the
r:1nk of the " R.obin Red-breast s" (it, being l~lder
stood that such IS t,he htl e given to R.A.P.C. ,
holders of the "singleton").
SpO-!'t . -Cric ket: ANew Secreta ry (York 11 0W
possesse. our old one). Grounds are' still unfit for
play. Gear now in store until next sea on.
Foot ba ll : One civilian memb er ha s bee n heard to
S:lV th at he used to pl;1Y football r eglll:lI'lv al 'out
10 year " ago .. However, no player .- no ball. no
games; but WIth th e a1'1" ivil l of yonna blood there
lllay be t hreat , of raising a loan fo pu~'cha e a ball ,
;l ncl I f a rounel ca:l he found. there Illav be a11111es
ill 1939/ 40.
"
to
D art~:

AO cha.llenges receiyecl to elat e.

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

LONDON , REGIMENTAL PAY OFFICE . ' ;-

'Ne' like ~dI" oui' cQ J1~ {ia d es at hom e, bay! Iiad

quite' enol1gh to think about since tI~e last" issue
of the J ournai-. It has been work, v.olleYll1g not alone
to the right a nd left, belt all around us, so ll aturall~
there has been no time for anything else but,
8ticking to our pens and pa per and puttin g 3iside
all other activities.
It is with great reg ret it n.ow h as to be recorded
that before these words are 111 pnnt, we shall hav e
said farewell to ,o ur Regimental Paymaster, lV[ajor
'N . Eadi e, M. C. , who will have r etired on reachin g
th e age limit.
I am sure that all who hav e
served with him in any capacity will a g ree t hat
t he Corps are losing from their active list on e of
the finest of officers one could eyer Wish to serve
under. Our best wishes go with him a nd may he
be giyen th e best of health \Iith which to enjo.'his long-earn ed rest.
Conaratulations are extell ded to Ptes. Ru ss and
Robert s on becoming full m emb ers of the Corps.
Through the m edium of t he Journal ,ve ext.end
to all at home and abroad , the comphm ent s of
t he coming seaSOll, and may their load s, and ours .
be so mewhat relieved in the New Year.
F.L.
NORTHERN

IRELAND DISTRICT.

Postings-Arrivals.-Major C. D. Vint, 31'd October, 1938, from Western Comm and , Major C. H .
P a rratt 15th October 1938, from Egypt and Cp'l.
. J . A. Whelan, 1st O~tob er , 1938, from Warwick.
Departures.-U .-Col. ' N. D. N. - Robotham-to
' ;\ linchester, 3rt! Oct ob er, 1938, Captain E. B .
Godwin-to E gypt, 1st September, 1938, S j Sergt.
W. A. Monk s- to W arwick, 5th September , 1938
and L j Sgt. A. P. Gilbert-to W a rwi ck , 29th September, 1938.
Social Club.-A dinner was h eld at the Queen's
Hotel on the 26th Auaust. in honou r of the departing members and ~Iew ' arrivals, NLajor L. E .
James, M.C. , in the chair. The guests of h?nour
were Lt .-Col. \11' . D. N. Robotham, Capta ll1 L .
Oliver, Captain E. B. Godwin and S j Sgt. "\T. ;\ .
:Monks.
After the repast a nd t he usual aid s to digestion
had b ee n consumed the Loyal To ast proposed by
the Chairman wa s passed with the usual honour:,.
Brief regretful and eulogistic speeches were ~l p.
livered by Major J ames a nd S.S. 1\IL Cl ark wlm~h
were suitably responded to by Lt.-Col. Robot~a nJ ,
Captain Godwin and S j Sgt. Mo~k.s. Th~ remall1~lf'r
of the evening was spent convlnally 111 recalling
happy memories of past events. We parted reluctantly at 10 p.m. after a vel'y s uccessful and
hap py evening .
PERTH .

The migrating in stin ct ha s. been playing hayoc

with our staff , and the foll OW in g hal" e departed to
" The Holy L and " with OLl!" bl.essing a nd ill- concealed
regret that we are not accompallying them-Cpl.
Graham, Cpl. Fox and L j Sgt . Bl'u ~e. Th e last
two were staunch supporteJ's of th e nft e club, and
t heir places in that conn ectioll will be diffi cult to
fill.
Sgt. '0.7. Rumphries h as joi li ed from ~\ ra lt a. an.cl
fJ'om hi r end er ing of " " -ha sa w the 42uc] " , It IS

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

obyi~i.l s he - is no stranger to Perth. Vhll Malta

please note that .this posting is 110 " wangle" .
. Co ngra t ulation s to Ma:jor Fryer on attaining that
rank, likewise S j Sgt. L ane on acquiring th e coveted
crown s: George Bobly responded in the approved
m a nner.
Once aga in on the Armistice P a ra de the Deta:chm ent showed the inh abita nt.s of P erth what soldiers
loo k lik e, but the local paper spoiled things by
r eferring to our party as "A platoon of the \.r111y
Educational Corps".
The first ' Nhist Drive and D ance . of the season
took place during the latter part of October , and . if,
perhaps, the attendance was not up to ex pectatIOn
a most enjoyable evening was spent .. ~he next
ven t ure is to be held in J a nuary, when it I S hoped
that m embers will have more inclination to attend.
W e are taking this opportunity of offering ~he
sea-ons greetings t,o all offices and trust the ~ n S lll\l g
~- ea l' will pass in contentment and prospenty .
" PIBRO CH ".
PORTS,MOUTH.

Once again Christmas is upon us, and we ,offer

the aood wishes of the season to all readers.
It is with great r eg ret that w e have t.o r eport
t ha t S.S.M. J. A. G . Asher w as uischar ged from
the Service on medical gronnt!s on 28th October.
' Nithou t doubt friends in many [offices will wish to
join us in ex p ressing most sincere sy.~athy to
S.S.M. and Mrs. Asher on th e misfortune which
has b efallen tbem and in the di sappointing end of
their Arm y career. Happi ly ]\fr. Asher is still with
us as a ci vilia n costin g clerk at Port mouth , and
everyone will hope for beUn news oOf his h ealth.
S.Q.NLS . F. C. Barrett wa s di scharged on the
19th November, and has secured a po st 111 the
R.E. Office at- Gosport, so we hop e to retmn at
least CL nodding acquaintan ce with him. Th e nodding (if any) will not be done by the R.A.P .C.
clerk-contrary to ge neral behef, t1l11 e does 110t
permit.
The Emig rat ion Stakes for 193'8-39 were won by
Sergeant L . A . Nlorrell on M.V . " Al!=>a " (for Sierra
L eo ne on 12th October) , S.Q.M.S. W . H. Brown on
"Du nera" was second (for Singapore on 21 st October), and Ser gea nt ' N. V. Davies on " Somersetshire" was third (for Egypt on 11t h Novemb er).
Sel' O"eant, Da vies' baggage accid ent,ally emb ar ked In
" D~rsets hire " lyin g alon gside, a nd t b er eby hap plly
ga \-e u s the ch::r~ ce of showing that we do know the
correct prel~osltlOn. A comb1l1ed Weymouth an d
P ortsmo ut h detachm ent boarded tIns predatory
g reyhound of the ocean and reco\-ered t he spoil.
Captain R. D. Buck IS awa lt ll1g ord ers to emba rk
fo r Singapore, ea rl y in the .New Ye ar~ and S.Q.M.S.
V;'.T . E. \1I' atkins is due to sail fo r Jam a ica on or about
11th J a nuary.
S / Sergt. '~T . S. p a rt has h ad a spell in hOSIJital
at D evo npod , an dl;; now 111 Netley. "\Te Wish h11n a
(Tood recovery and hop e to welco me him back to
~;; 'ere lon a'-:'both foO l' bi s sake a nd our' s I Sergeant
C. A. P a~ khurst ha s join ed at De \o npor t from
Salisb ury . and Co rporal B. McD ade at Hilsea from
York. L j Sergt. T. McArthur h a!' been posted from
Hils aa to D eyo np ort.
The shooting seaso n has r e-opened . ~ nd once more
w e strive to remove t he somew hat llnmoblle look

39 0

_ _ _ _ __ T
_ H_E_ ROYAL

ARMY P AY CORPS . JOURNAL

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

worn by the Inter-Offi ce Shield. INe have managed

to Wll1 our_first two matches, but the mot! eration of
our present. scores. forbids E!xce.. si.ve optim ism. However, we a re hopl.ng for. t he best- a. ha bit engender~ d by reSIdence 111 our Idyllic station s, upon which
VVli1ter never lays his icy gr~l~. Anyone doubting
t!le last statement shou ld wnte to our r ep resentatIve- c j o RA.P .C. Deta chm ent Bo vin aton- prefer'
0
a bly in February.

SALISBURY.

':M0o.nrak er': has .gone . to wa'lTrier .' dinies- not

exactly. to the neth er regions- a nd ~e hope t hat the
adll1iSSlO n of Ollr new scribe to th e Union of Office
R epresentatives will be unopposed.
.
E vents have been moving apace since Salisbury
not es last a ppear ed but it must be recorded that we
did not move om 'o fflce during t he crisis.
We
managed t~ at la st November so it would appear that
OLlr local duectll1g sta ff were better inform ed of the
po li tical situ a tion than oth er f,olks seem to have
been. P erh a ps it is that we have su ch a n outsta ndin g "spy-er" in th e city.
. Our congmt uJations- very belated-are due to
Corp!. Long on hi s marriage last April. We hope
that Mrs. Lon g will find life in t he Corps very
conge nifl,l.
.

PRESTON .

Departures and Arrivals.- Fridav 2,l st October,

1938, was the day on which we said 'Good-bye' to
our old Officer i j c R ecol't!s , Colon el J . Bois, D.S. O.,
M. C. a nd we now welcon~ e Co lon el G. V. v\T. Hill,
D.S .O., late of Record a nd Pay Office Li ch fi eld in
his st ead.
"
Cpl. R a ns ford ha s left liS for a sunnier clime, and
Cpls. Dola n and Lyl e a re ea rmark ed for Ud ersho t
in the very nea r futine. To co unterbalance the move
of these t\\o. we welcome Pte. J. '~7 . J acques from
the School of Instruction .
Congrat ulations to S.Q.M.S. H . F. Everett a nd
Cp!. F . Dav ies on attaining their respecti ve ranks.
On August 29th we ended our summ er seaso n 's
~,ctivities. with the 'final Bowlin g Trip' to Pillin g.
E at, drInk a nd be merry" was the slo a.a n a nt!
everyone did hi s share. Our amateur e nt~rt ~iners
rend er ed g ra nd exhibitioOn ; the surprise item of t he
evening being a solo by non e other th a n t he exSergeant-Major, late of the R A. S. C. It ha s.. in ce
b eel\ rUll'o ured that he enter ed a n a ll sta r Variety
Contest at the loca l Cin ema: his name. h ow ever.
was not includ ed in the li st of prize winners .
'
~h e Autumn. illumination s have co me and goO ne.
Th.Is year we VISited lV[orecambe. a nd the trip wa enjoyed by all and sundry: especia lly by those who
happ ened to visit Happv Mount P il,rk where Sno,v
\1I7hite and her Seven Dwarfs were on view to
musical accomp.animent.
Th e cri is took away from us t he se rvi ces of Liellt.
P. A. Anderso n and S~t. B. Hom er. who were call er!
upon to ass ist om friend s in '~7a d ev . Capta in J.
'~7 . Rees il ncl Cpl. Smith \I"('!re selected to to ur Czecho
Slovaki a bu t :ifte!' a hurri ed da.sh to Londo n they
were sent ba ck on leave aga in.
"

Following t he normal co urse of events we then

have to r eport a birth. In this case Sergt. and
1\1rs. Allan receiv e OUI" conaratulat ion s on the arrival of David Malcolm.

Arrivals and departures 11ave bee n numerous.

Major Brayden has a rrived from Deptford and
S.Q.M.S. Lon: ax left the sa me neighbou rhood for
t he mo re salubrious a ir in this vicinity. In exchange for S.Q.:-LS. Lom ax we let Deptford have
S.Q.M.S. Poyser.
S.S.M Ead e felt t he homing
in stinct and ha s aga in returned to us from Eastern
Command.
Co rporal INykes and P te. Hemstock
11<1 ye joined us from Warwick. Vo,7 e hope that all
newcomers will enjoy their stay in this district..
After severa l effort s we mana ged in June to send
Sergt. and Mrs. Fraser to E gypt where we tr ust
t hey will haye an enjoyable tou!". L j Sgt. Catley
\'vas the fi I.'st to depart overseas from this office
during t he CUlTent trool'iug ~e.<:l so n and our best
wi she go with him t,o Shanghai. Unfortunately,
Mrs. anu Mil ster Catley had to be left behind but
we hop e the family remiion will not be long delayed .
1\[1". Catley-broth er 01 t.he a for ementioned Chin ese
ch<1F-ha s gon e to seek hi s foOrt une Shornecliffe way ,
wher e we hope he will pro per.
The advent of the crisis made it appeal' unlikely
t hil t we should e\'er get S.S.M. and l\Trs. Gear
shipp ed off to i\lauritius. H owever, the ship sailed
at last-o ne of the real luxury lin er s- a nd we trust
that, S.M. and Mrs. Gear ar e now finding Mauritius
completeJy to t heir liking. We miss S.S.M. Gear for
he was th e talwart of our rifl e team and assist,ed
in all our ot her socia l act ivit ies .
Se rgeant P an khu rst hns I!one too. 'liTe did our
best to get, him ent to Czecho -Slovaki a with Sta ffSergeant Cullom but our repr esent.atives faih~.d even
to participn te ill that voyage to Tilbury. How ever ,
Sergeant Pankhul'st has now gone to .D evonport .
His departure on 29th October closed hiS long connect ion ",it,h th e costing sect.ion a nd ended hi s unobtrusive but \'ea l servi ces fo r the welfare of the
office. In the la nd of Devonshire crea m we hope
that Sergeant Pankhurst and his fa mily will thrive.
Although perhaps infring.in g a ll th~ preserves or
(,he Portsmouth l'epresentat,lVe, we WI sh to e:,press
out' regret at the departure fro m the ServIce of
S.S.M. Asher. So passes from our roll another of
th e old , old rosters . and we hope that. MI". \.sher

Footb all.-Durin g th e close easo n our 'player

manager ' obta in ed t,lle sign at ures of S.Q.M.S.
Davies. L j epl. Whal e and t hree men of the Royal
Army lV[edica l Corps to assist li S at this mailly
sport. Strange to snv we. won our :first match by
the only gon l ; need less to Doint out that. t hi s has
been Ollr onl y win. althou gh we ha ve mnnn ged to
make one draw, losin g t.wo ot her games by mar gin s
of 2-1 a nd 6-2.
A visit to Manchester to see t he In t ern ational
Match-En gland v. I rela nd-wa s ve ry mu ch enjoyed
by t ho se partaki ng, a nd if t he news went around
that our 'playe r manager' wn~ after vVillie Hall and
Stanley l\'[nthews well , after th at ga m e, who can
blame him ?
INith Chri stmn s fast, ap proaching a rra ngements
have bee n made for the Children's Party. Santa
Clall s ha been supplied with .<1 list of the presents
required. a nd it is hoped t,hat hi s sleigh will hold
t h em nIl.
MACNOON SRA WISH .

39 I

'I

THE

ROYAL ARrvlY

will nn d hea lth a nd h a pp in ess ill hi s n ew car eer.

S .Q.M ,S . Da rrett, wh o was a noth er ~f th ose w ho
co ul d tell kl les of t h e ea rly day.;; of costlll g, h as also
a ba ndoned h is uni for m fo r t he lo un ge SUi t. Vile hop e
t h at he will fin d h is new pos itio n at Gosport a
co ngeni a l one a nd- t h at Im pr est s =cti on will see
h e O'et s hi s ju st d ues.
Finally in th is list of dep ft l'tures mc ntion mu st lJe
ma de of S.Q .i\l.S . B row n wh o h as left D evonpo r t
fo r Singapore a nd Se rgt. D ay ies \\' h o h as been rem ove:l from t he sa n Is at \'" eym out h to t h e sands
of E gy pt. W e h op e t l1[1 t oler eas se r l' ice w ill t :'eat
t hem kin d lv and t ha t M rs . D 8 1"les wdl . oo n be able
to join h el:" h u ~ b a nd .
.
.
Sergea nt a n d :\1rs. H a p pe w Ill h al'e sa iled for
H ong r o ng befo r e t h e next not es a re prep ared.
D uI' best w ishes for t. h eir heal t h a nd h appll1 es3 wlll
0'0 wi t h t h em .
o Th e office cricket team closed t.h e season wi t h an
undefeated r ecord . T hree m atch e wer e p Jayedtw o wo n a nd on e dra wn .
Old Sal'u l1l i tes "Vill b e in t.e re t ed to h ea l' t h at t h e
H eadq ua rters' foot b all club i. still 8liYe. To d~t e
seye ll leag ue match es JHtve been p layed of w lll ch
t.hree have b een won a nd on e d raw n. Ser geants
H oare 8 nd Taylor are pl ayin g me m be rs of t h e Club.
As usual, the offi ce 'staff gave as isb n ee in t h e
box offices of t h e Tidworth T attoo in Au g ust.
The cri si period b r ou gh t u s a n add iti o nal quota
of II'ork bu t no doubt , t.h e R egim enta l offices were
m uch mo re distu rbed t h an w e were. H oweyer, we
were all pleased w h en the easin g of the tension
re tored us to som ethi ng lik e nor ma l wo rkl11 g hours.
S.Q. M. S. L omax h as ta k en ol'er t h e d u ties of the
manaO'em ent of our Rifl e Clu b . H e h opes t hat u nder
his directio n th e t eam w ill quali.fy fo r th e first
division of t h e leag ue. T o date t hree m atch r esul ts
are to h a nd a nd we ar e ag r eeab lv surp ri sed to n n d
t h at we h ave bea.te n L o ndo n . Perth "B" andld alt a .
T he Clu b will m iss t he sen'ices of S.8. :\'I:. Gear.
It i su~ges t e d t hat if he propos es to nter a leagu e
tea m fro m !v[alll'i tius, h e sh o uld commence t h e
1939 / 40 nxtures at once (Ml'. Self plen se note) . .
ConO'rat ub .t ions to S.S.M. H a7ell I)!l hI S p rOJ11 ot lO n
to th ~t rank. ' ''7e un derstood that h e' d id n ot
anticipate ~,tt;:li n i n g t h at d ig ni t,v unti l he was 8S
old as "St~ll1 ~h e nge".
In concl usion we wo ul d CO Il I'eV t.o Ollr own sta ff
scatter ed o n co t ing duties t hroughout t h e Comma nd nnd to all rank s of t h e Oorps at H om e a nd
.-\ broa 'l 011 1' hest w i h es for X m as 8 nd the ne'"
yeaI'.
SARUJ\I.
SALISBURY PLAIN.

T he people wh o had to make bri ck wit hout straw

had 8 'imple job compa red with th e poor old . offi ce
repre entati'-e who h as to p~'odu ce notes w lt hout
new:.
\ h well, on ce more m to th e b r each , d eal'
fr ien I .
I II the la st notes I forgot to r ecord a \ er,)' ,;velcom e fl vin g y isit fro m E l'11i e Blail ' (late Sergeant
in t h e Co rps) . E mie is now " mi ne h ost" of t h e
Blu e B all Inn at Bridport an d .r do k now t h at
a nyone wh o is t h at way ;lll d d r ops in to " h ave one"
is as u red of a very h ear t.y welcome .
liVe on t h e P lai n wer e all Yel'V ])lea secl to h eal'
from J i m B retherton (late S.Q.i\I. S. ) now vel',\'
com fortably hedded down in ci vi li 8n life at WalTin gton.

PAY

CORPS JOURNAL

S .S.M. L ea h as al'l'ived fr om E aste rn Oomm a nd

a nd is nO\\1 at -Bulford. ' Ne will ' restra in o urselves
fi'o m a s urin g hiih t hat "th e a ir h ere is lovely:' or
h e mig ht tell u s w hen he Drst breath ed t he all' of
Salis bury Pl a in . ~o Ser gt. R oss we say. " h ail a nd
fa rew ell ". H e a nll'ed <It \iVarnlln t e t' WIt h t he 3rd
T a nks a n d is n Oli' i n process of diggin g ou t h is top
hat a nd spats ready f or cil'l'y life. \ Nil son, con t inuin g hi s "Cook ' s to ur " is going fr om Bulfo rd t o
relieve him.
Card en , a ft er a false sta r t du e to t h e crisis, is
now o n t h e hi g h seas- I h op e fO l' Card en 's sak e
th ev a.r e n ot too hi O'h-b ound fo r H on g K on g .
Sl)a rk w on 't ea t 'th at Chr i.stm as dinn er i n En g.
la nd afte r all , as h e h as l'ece lyed orders to embark
o n 13th D ecemb er n ex t.
\ Ve ha "e t o r epor t " T o Sel'gean t a.nd Mrs. MacQnade, t,h e gift of a dau g h ter" (more lil; e " Th e
T im es" every day, a ren 't we) . M ay t h e youn g lady
be one o f t hose' that s lee p 0 ' n igh ts.
It h as been whis per ed t o m e t h at fri end J on es of
Di dcot took un to him self a wife whil st o n summ er
furlou gh. Our congr a tulatio ns a nd good w ishes fo r
f ut ure h a pp in ess , t hou gh som ewh at bela t ed , ar e non e
.
t.he less siIlcere.
Everyo n e h as b een ver y n ice ill . con g ratulatll1g
S.S.M . H azell on p romotion (h ow I love to wn te
t h at wo rd) to \ N.O. 1. . rank . I may say t h at n o
p romotio n co ul d h ave gIven t h e w l'lter greater personal satisfa.ction.
I n clos in g m ay we of t h e " P lain " o ff er ~to all
past an d present m ember s of t he Corp s, w h er eever t hey m ay be " :\ very H appy Chnstm as a nd
eve rythi ng t h e~T co ul d w ish t h ems el ves fo r t h e
~ew Year " .
STONEHE NGE.
SHREWSBURY.

Seaso na l greet ings hom t h e membe rs o /" t hi s

Detachme nt t o c.1I Detachme n t. at H om e a n d
.-\ broad.
T hel e w ere 11 0 no t e' from t his office in t h e
Autumn issue, the office r e l~. was o n m u ch neederl
leaye of ause nce and the notes w<;r'e compll ed.m n.
dec k ch a ir . but unfort unately t hey wer e claImed
I v t h e ea. T his wa , of cou rse . some mo nt hs
a~o. but it is dimly rememb ereel that t h e beauty
or leave was clarke'ncd by thought of overtime,
"h o l>tao'e o f sta ff d ue to m oves overseas , and all
~t h er "woni es t h at o ffi ce rep. t ry so h a,rd n ot
to in clude in t h eir n ote.
..
' Ne h ave to welcome to our s taff Pte . E. ' N.
Cooli e who join ed from Ex e ter o n 20th June, 1938;
Pte. G. J . I{ilb a n d Tpr. L. A . Page fro.m Aldershot o n 4th A ug nst , 1938: Si g; .i\r. D. Sn11th , D m r.
D. J o nes and Pte. J. O. Ta)"o r from Alder s hot
o n 5th September, 1938.
.
Oapt. :\rould ing I ft u. for S ha nghai, Cp!. D.,
J eacock left for Palest in e on 2n d September, 1.930
a n d L / S ~t Bl . T.[ _{ . Br irr.., gs left for E 0O'y pt on lOt,IJ
cl
X ove m ber. 1938: to all w e w is h bo n v~.;age, a n . ~.
h app y sojourn in "these foreIg n part
Sgt . .:s.
T. Ch ellingsworth left on tem por a ry duty w lth
t h e R.E . O ffi ce, Ch ath ::t m o n 30th September , 193ti
. .
.
::tnd has not yet return ed .
S .S.M. M. J. Doh er ty h as h acl a spell IH h ospItal
but we a re glad to r epo r t t hat . he lS n ow on ce
m ore back at duty. L / Sgt. T roke, aItel' a long
tim e i n h ospital, is now back at duty.
u

THE ROYAL ARMY PA Y CORPS JOURN AL

--------------------------------------\iVe IH1I'e a bevy of cong rat ul n tion3 t hi s time,
firs t to Ca pta in ( 'ork on his prom oti on to t ha t
ran k. Cpl. Coo k e 011 hi s prom otion a nd to
S.Q.M .S. Cas hma n 011 his elevatio n . In t he latte r
case t he p romotio n "cele brn tion " t oo k place in t he _
D epOt, K S. L .1. Sergea nts' Mess.
Tho ~ e present
'\ve re lu cky , ot her s wer e not so fo rt un ate; a nd
lastly to PtfS. Kil u and P age o n t heir t ra nsfer to
t h e Co rp.
\iVe have ma naged one o r tvvo pleasa nt ev.enin gs
at tennis Oll the pu bli c courts II it h t he fa mili es,
a nd eve ryo ne enj oyed th emseyes. vYe a r e loo kin g
fo rwa rd to next yea r a nd hopes of n U l' ow n court
are very hi gh at' the mome ll-t. A v is it W8S paid
to th 10t h F ly ing Tra inin g Schoo l, R.A.F. , Turn hill, w h ere we wer e ve ry wa rm ly welcomed , b u t
unfo rt unately. t h e weat he r was 11 0t ideal a nd ten n is wa spoilt a nd fi nally aba nd oned , a nd we
v isi to r s were take n o n .a 111 0 t int el'esting an d in structiv e to u r of the ha ngm s durin g th e even in g.
Ou r rifl e club are busy a nd we hope to pro du ce
eviden ce of our prowess in t h e next issue; one
me mb er h a ~ alrea dy p ut up a 95 wit h ordinary
serv ice r ifle.
Cp!. D . Moo dy had a t ri al for th e \l'my Nort h ern Co m mand 'football t eam, b u t unfortunately
hur t hi s <t llkl e ea rl y in t h e ga m e a nd had to retire.
A t rip to \iV 01ve rhamp t on by seYeral m em bers
to see t he \iVolves v. Liyerpool was made a nd a
ve ry enj oyable half day s l~e n t.
Some pe riod icals have a co lumn headerl " Things
w e wa nt to kn ow" . Kow t his i. a m ost hac kn eyed
m eth od of scandal. a nd recentl y a well -k nown
pape r started a column " \"le k;lOW". and wit h
apolog ie. we have u nearth ed. t hro ugh t h e effo r ts
of Oll r pet office boy (not officiall y sl.low n on t h e
s taff and wor k returns) t h e fo ll owlll g scan dals
from all over t h e wo rld .
\iVe k now wh o furnished his bu nk in b a rrack s
m ost com for tab ly on t h e " n ever n ever system ".
\iVe kn ow who. on a rece nt ra il way journ ev. was
accosted by a fa il' damsel w it h "i t h ough t 'yO ll
were i n t he Ki n~'s Army?"
Som e hours aft er
r ecovery. h e real ised t hat he had passed t hro ug h
t he D epot tow n of t he Kin g ' s R egime nt .
\iVe kn ow who u ed to suffer with lapses of
memory a nd could only at t im e r emem ber wi t h
di ffic ul ty t hree n gures of h is .A rm v N um ber .
Th e I~. a m e of t he nersia n cat, iL Dri ze one too .
wh o calml y prod uced a li t ter of tabby ki ttens, t h e
sa ucy DUSS I
' iVe hODe to brin O' yo u som e mo re sca nd al pieces
wh en t.ll e o ffi ce boy" l:etur ns from deli ve rin g letters
in t,h e ca use of econo nw . Th ere nre urge nt, letter s
fo r E gvpt an d t h e Far E a,st so we m8V hear o f
som ethi ng rea ll y i n terestin ~.
Any in terestin g
pieces w ill be gratefull y recei ved by m u' offi ce rep.,
w h o is prep8 1'ed to pay the sa m e rates as a r e now
in fo rce to offi ce rep s.
PUGGLED .
WARLEY .

Th e tas k of dra.win g up t he e note~ has been

ll a nd ed to on e wh o i. ve ry lackin g in li te,r a ry l)Ower s
and wh o co nsid e r!" i t ::t mu ch to ugh er t as k t ha.n
t h e rece nt Em erge ncy .
\i\Tell , t rustin g to lu c k-h er e goes.
Sin ce t he o pening of t h e O.D. & A.A. P ay
Offi ce at t,hi , station on 2~n d \U g ll st, mu ch h as
h a ppened a nd we are still t ryin g to settle our-

393

selYE S in .
III fact, tll in g.; ha I'e ha ppell ed so
q ui ckl y t ha t on e has not tee n a ble to ~ Cl ew ,h em
in to memory a t al l.
Our sLren'gt h has been va ry in g, up a nd dow n .
alm ot d uil.v s ince we first opened . W ewe l e jU3t
gett lll g ol'er th e initial worry and t ro uble of
openin g up (it is r um oured t h at one o r t wo of t h e
'la d, ' ma naged a few ga m es on t he H a rd T ennis
Co ur t ju t outside t he office, b ut as th ere is a deficie n cy of 'Arc La11l ps' w e haven 't mu ch fa it h in
t he I'un: o u l') w hen '- th e Em ergency was upo n us
a nd it cam e ll eavilv too. L ac k ,of m::tterials a nd
tools pu t ll S ill a ~'e ry awkward RO ition-to say
notl11llg of people to use sam e.
H oweve r , cbaos was a \'er ted a nd eye rything
ll'E' nt off very smoothly, co nside rin g t he state we
IYere 111 w hen it ca me upon us-a ll ' is well t hat is
Our mac hin e aid s st uck it vel' V
end; n g well.
well. Out' pe.r ma nent staff is ~ow made up of t h'e
ro llow in g:-- L t .-Co lon el H . P. Fennell, Majo r A.
G. W. Broa clhurst, Ca p ta in 1. S. H ogge, Lie utena n t.
C. R. H addock , Lieut ena nt A. K . Hunt, Sta ff Sergea nt M a jor F . V . i\Iun cly, S .Q.M.8 's. H . J . D en b am , H . J. H ora n, J. N . P r ice, S / Ser gean t J .
Foley, Ser geants H . Ba rn s haw . P . J. Th ol'lltoll ,
Co rpomls J . --'dexa nd er. C. Bu cha n . A. Kin g, J.
;,bule , J. M ontgo mery, A . Thompso n, L. \ iVeren del, F. \i\Te.- t , C. H . W ilso n, Pri"ates P . R atchfo rd. J . Mercer, and Probatio ner s G il mo re, Gray
a nd P oole. Ci\'ili an staff are jo inin g a nd leaY ing
8ga lll a nd are at pres en t om ewbat un set t led, bu t
\Ye still hal'e som e of t he ' Ol d H an ds' from \ Nool,,-ich and ' Nadey wit h us .
Other al'l'ivals a nd departures II'ould m ak e t h ese
notes m uch too len gthy , bu t we ta ke t his opport uni ty of t ha nkin g all t hose temporary a tt achments w ho ha\'e sin ce left u s for t heir own m ore
set t led statiollS, fo r th eir help a nd compa ny during
the crisis. Th ey surely w ill n ever forge t \iVarl ey .
On 30t. h S e l~teJllb er, inform ation was r ecei ved t o
the effect tl wt we were to expect .0111 e seven
Officers, seventee n Ot her R a nk 8nd eigh tee n P robat,jo ners fro m Yal'ious statio ns, to join us that
nigh t , 8nd n o soo ner h ad t he n ews been l'ecei\'ed
t h a n t he arriyals commenced a nd t hey co nt inu ed
t hro ug h t h e nig ht. The o ffi ce was sudden] y tra n sfo r med in to what o ne brig ht l~ d call ed a " Doss
H o use". B eds we re ma de up on office table an d
floors a nd a nywhere at, ail, as it w a n ot p ossible
to arra nge acco mmodatioll i.n ba lTClcks un t il t he
n ext clay. B ut. even so, everyo ne seem ed quite
ha ppy a nd ch eerf ul abo ut thin gs a nd ma ny a good
la ugh was had from it. Many acq uainta nces were
also re newed a nd enj oyed , both in t he S e r~e an ts'
:\Iess of t he Essex R egimen t and in t he Incal
" H orse and Groo m ".
vVe h ave heard 1hat on one or tll'O occ,,'l ions t he
Bar T a kings in t he Se rgeants :\[e ' s of t he Battalion
8nd D epot, Th e E ssex R egim ent we nt up wi th a
ban g! 'Verv lll a ny t ha nks a re due to t he 2nd B n.
a nd - T he Depot . Th e E ss 1\ R egi m ent, fo r t he
t roubl e t hey ha ,;e ta ken ill a n'a ng in g acco mmoda ti on . etc . For Ollr em ergency stn ff.
Slowl y b ll t s urely en' el''ting from t h e abyss. we
begin to sea " v is ion " (m ay it p rol'e no t onl y a
yi ion ) o f hope of !ea\,e-o yel'd ll e a nd well earned
-i n Ol'del' t,o res t.ore t he neryou s . yst.ems of all
memb ers of t h e st a ff w ho recei\'ed cl s hatterin g a
dose in t he early st.ages of joinin g her e. but. ~h o

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

nevel'thele 's carried the banner ill a manner worthy

of the best tradition s of t he Corp.
Co rporal H. G. Wilson actually fo und time in
which to be m arried. "Vell don e, 'Tu g' , an d our
very b es t wishes .
Corporal L. Werendel has ea rn ed for himself a
great name as a footba.l ler , play lll g at times for
' ""' ell don e,
t he Depot, The Essex Regiment.
L esli e, and m ay offi ce hours l~ e l'llll t more football.
Th e R egim ental Paymaster IS at present wa chng
his way thro ugh a pplications for leave from a ll
and sundry, and, of course, t he lads are lookmg
forward to best results.
On closing these not.es , we take this opportu)1ity
of wishin a all other offices and th eir staffs a 'Ver y
H appy CI~ristmas and t he best of good lu ck. in th e
comin g New Y ea r-and no more Emergencies.
TAN KY.
TOUR OF THE WARLEY BATTLEFIELD-EMERGENCY, 1938.

A nd it came to pass t hat at app rox imately 4.45

p.m. on 30th Se pt.emb er, 1938, t he ~OWERS THAT
BE decided to b urn the telephone wnes wlth urgent
commands as a r esult of which the early hours of
1st O ctob ~l', 1938 found t he W a rley Offi ce closely
resembling a bra nch of Rowton H ouse.

THE

.-,

l"

GLA':fO~ R

' , : ' ...

, .

",

/ :.

PAY. CO RPS

J OU RNAL

t he R.A. (Sho eburyness) in th e first. round of the

Army Footba ll Cup , but despite our cheers and
fir ework s, failed by "seven goals to one. H a d their
efforts been as strenuous as ours in t ryi ng to get
t im e off to atten d t he match, th e score might have
beeu reve rsed .
"W h ether by accid ent or desig n, we fo ulld ourselves with only one sin gle member. Bnt he uph eld
t he traditions !of the Corps in t he appro ved style,
and sa llors are no longer th e only ones who can
boast of a wife in every port . Unfortunately, h e
was "spotted" one nig ht, and thereafter confined
his activities to lesser known lanes and paths.
Th e only cas ualty to r epol't is t hat con cerning
S! Sgt. Bessa.nt, who knew a thing 01' two , a nd after
a week in H ospital (n ice work if you can get it) ,
he gave us a soldier' s farewell before returning to
Scotla nd , Home Hnd B ea uty . ' ""'e thought of t ryin g
t he same stnnt, bnt i\I.O. 's are not w hat t hey were.
Of course, one or tw.o minor t,ragedies occurred, if
waking up in a differ ent room to t hat in which one
ret ired can be term ed a tragedy .
A plea,sa nt surprise a\\'aited. us on anival, in that
Snow ,""lhite and her seven stnkers wer e l~erformll1g
at a local cinema. Having informed the m anagem ent that we could "mak e it" prov iding h e'd r isk
putting on a midnight show , t he picture wa.R duly
view ed and appreciated.
For th e b enefit of t hose who may be posted to
Wad ey in the future, and find it necessary to -hftv e
a hair- cu t m ay we ach 'ise them not to waste t ime
searchin g 'th e 'town fm' a Hairdresser 's shop.
A
\\'or-d or two in t h e D etachm ent bloke 's e<1.1', an d 10 !
the mountain comes to Moh ammed. But, of course,
t his only applies to t hose ~ ho now know that
twen tyfive hours can be got m to a day.
In conclusion don't miss t.he Spring notes, playmat,es, when w~ hope to tell you of our Ch ristmas
experi ences in "iTarley . Of co urse, if t hey do not
appear, it will mean that our "fortnight's" tour
of the viTarlev Battefi eld is oyer. W e should hate
t hat!
.
" D.442" .
WARWICK.

..

During t he last qu arter , a,rrivals, whom we

welcome with open a rm s h ave been S / Sergt. Monk s
and L /Serg t . Gil bert from Belfast. W e must a lso
extend a welcome to Messrs. Johnson and Tolley,
and in a ddition t.o Major P . C. H arding who
joined us from A ldershot.
Our p artin g m em bers, whom we r egr et to lose,
have been Cpl. Whelan to BeHast, Cpl Wykes to
Salisb ury together w it h Pte. H emstock.
Our
te nnis will suffer next yea I' t.h roug h t,hen' absence.
Wbela,n and Wykes h ave been the 'stars ' this
season.
Capt. G. F . Line and S.Q.M.S. L aws are also
leavin g us; Capt. Line r et urns to Aldershot a.nd
S.Q.M.S. L aws to Barn et, tl~ e la tter. ta~es WIt h
him our congratulat ion s as hIS mov e IS 111 consequence of promotion , although we shall feel the
loss of t h ese two popular members of the Corps.
Congratula tions to S / Sergt. C. Wa,~k er on pro motion to
IT, and to Spr. D ernck, RE. on
being transferred to the Corps.

' S QUAD.

In addition to the "G lamour Sq ua d" show n in

the accompanyin g photograph , part of t h e RA.P. C.
School and Costin g Bran ch helped to make up t h e
number.
In due co urse actlvltles co mmen ced, very
seriously, fm' rumom h ad it t hat a fortn ight would
see the job done. How ever , t he pass-word bell1 g
"CA JCEL " th e w eek s rolled by wives sent urgent
requ ests for' Postal Orders, a nd' i,he Hi gher rate of
At t he time of
R ation Allowances went wesL.
tb es ;:) notes, t hose elusive warrants are still tucked
away in t h e old oak chest.
Th e catering (by k ind I~ermi ss ion of t he 2nd
Bn . E ssex R egt.) wa.. excellent and It was geneI"
all y agreed t hat t he P ompado urs have h eard of the
co rrect met hod of gettin g to a man' s h~art. In
fact , thi.s R eg im ent ha ve looked after us 1I1 a ver y
hospitable a nd "what's yours" manner , and we
sh all leave behind many' good friends wh en we
break up. During our stay, th e Battali on played

'""'.0.

394

.T HE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

Sho'o ting.-Bot,\J " A" and " B " teams ha ve fired

six matches to date; t he results so far recei ved are
" A " t h ree win s a nd "B " team won two a nd lost
one. The next match, made up of teams of eig ht ,
is wit h the D epot, Royal Berkshire R egiment, and
a k een co ntest can be expected if our members
continu e to show t heir present form.
General.- A bowling match was played r ecently
between the "Avon House" sections a nd 'St.
John's" section s, resulting in a victory for the
latter.
\ vo n Hou se seemed to b e shinin g at
Eu chre after t he bowls, but perhaps the St.
John 's side wer e exhausted or too el.a t ed, aHer
th eir victol',)' on t he green , to give of their best.
An Armistice Day parade was held at wh ich
t h e D et achment t urned out a t full strength after
a prelimin ary pa r ade. The Detachment mar ched
to St. Mal'Y ' s Church , 'Warwick , a nd attended t h e
Sen'ice; after\\'ard s a wreath of poppies was
placed on the , Nar Memorial by Capt. G. F .
Lin e, on behalf of t he R ecord and Pay Office,
' Narwick. L ater t he Det achment received the congratu lations of om R egimental Paymaster on th e
smartness of t he parade.
The Old Comrades of the , Nal'wick Association
also par aded und er th e command of Major C. E.
Ellio ttH eywDod.
Arrangemen t s have aLready commen ced for t h e
X mas P a rty to take place on t he 21st December,
a nd owing to the ex pansion of the office, the Party
will be on a mu ch la rger scale this year than hither
to. Th e detail s of this event will be given in t h e
next iss ue.
MIDLANDER.

CORP!:)

J OC; RXAL

hand ed over to t hem. Th e O.R. had a very suc.

cess ful week , being able to rema in out to all sorts
of un godly hours .by explaining to I\1rs. O.R th e
necess!ty of vlsltmg t he out lying picqu ets lat e,
very late, at I11 ght, to ensure t ha t t he sentries
were sleeping on their posts. H er r emark t hat
tales abo ut sentries sleeping on posts a re as much
to be believed as t he one about whitewashin O'
t he Last P.ost was ci ismi ssed as bnnal ,a n d he~
obser vation that whether t he picqu ets were outlying or illlyin g.' t her e wa s some pretty har d lyin g
gom g Oll , was Igno-l:ed.
Ju st aft er the "crjsis" Li eut.Colonel ,N. D. X.
Roboth am arrived ;.from Northern Ireland a nd too k
O\'er from Major R. H . Sayel's who h ad been
actin g RP . duriug the in terim followin g Colonel
H erbert' s departure to E astern Command and we
t ake this opportunity of welcomin g him and Mrs.
Robot,h.am to Winchest.er a nd h OI~e that their stay
h ere Will be a very happy one.
P te. Gi.bson has been t r ansferred to the Corps
and .1'eCel\TeS our congratulations, blessings and
wa,rm ngs. Gds . vVi lliams alid Fus. , ",,' ith have
an-ived on probati.o n and Wadey has borrowed
Sergt. Ash. (Please return him in good co ndi t ion ,
we shall charge for all breakages .) , Ne also expect
th e arrival of Captain Groves Rain es from t he
E ast Yorks , also on lJl1obation.
_-\mid ~t t h e stress of t he crisis, one highspot
eme rgeCl. Th e perfect calm preserved by the local
Royal En gin eers. It was only by main force t hat
t hey ,were prevented from ~'hitewa shin g, distempering and paint in g t h e offi ce Lhroughout" in the
last week o f September . Th e intim ation t hat
t.her e was a war on left them quit e cold , being
regarded apparent ly as a frivolous excuse to diYert
t hem from th e narrow and stern path of dut,y.
To all OUI' fri euds in all t he other offices , w e
offer t h e old wish of a Merry r:hristm as and a
Happ'y N ew Yea.r, with special referen ce to those
who have served in ,""Tinchester.

WINCHESTER.

N ot so easy, " Notes " from a s mall offi ce,

esp ecially after a "Crisis" and being a bit pushed
ever sin ce. Still, apparently t he Editor expects
every Office Representative to do his duty, so here
goes .
E vents have moved pretty swiftly of late. After
a fairly quiet SLUllmer with a couple of cri cket
m atch escum-socials to break the monotony, ca me
t he "crisis " Ol1e occasionally hea rs abou t'.
Just
befor e that Major R H. Sayers and Capt. B eauch amp each came here for a few cl ay ' change
from Command Office, whilst others of t his offi ce
staff too k t heir well-earned leave I Then in rapid
su ccession Ma jor H.. H. Sayer and Ma jor R H.
Sayers alternated with each .oth er. This caused
ou r Bank to develop a "thi s is the RP. , that
was " co mpl ex and ,Lhe question of signatures on
cheq ues hp-came acute, causing them to enq uire ~t
intervals why t h e R.P. constantly changed Ius
handwriting and pl ease, why was he handin g over
to him self twice in one week. , Ne ex plain ed t hat
it was all due to t he crisis a nd as tha t was being
generall y acceeted at that time for all sorts of
extraordinary, not to say alarming, conduct, all
was well.
]Uea nwhile, everyone in , iVi nchester and district
w.as bu sy diggin g t renches or c.riticising those tJlat
we re (a mon g t hese latter beIn g t he O.R who
watched a row of currant bushes . hlS suppl y of
rhuba rb a nd his favo urite m a rrow disa ppea r under
a. hastily prepared parapet) , fi t t,ing gas masks a na
tellin a everyon e else how much better t.h ey coul d
have 0 handled t.he sit uation
h a d it
been

WOKING .

, VeIl, here we a re again a nd let ll S be a mon a

-t he first, to wish , om coll eag ues at . H om e and
.:-\broad, and our old comrades . a \'ery m elTY
Chri stmas an d a h apl~v X ew Year.
Dare we mention t he word ' Crisis ' ? ,""le all
received [1 wond erful lesson in perpet ual wakefulness and 11 0W find it somewhat diffi cult to conquer
t he st ra nge ar t of sleeping at ni ght.
Sergt.
Po tter is, ho we\,er, exclud ed . .. he saw the red
li ght and went into :Kent for t he hop.picking at
Chatham I ,~T e are now teaching him to work for
hi s li vin g!
It is with deep r egret t hat we announ ce a delet,ion from our in ventory board. Our oldest inhabit ant, Ser gt. Phillips: is leaving for t he Holy
L:1n d a nd should be in Palestin e bv th e time
t h ese notes appear in print. H av in g completed
seven years at ,Vo kin5, he feels t hat life has
nothin g fnrther to offer him , and was qui te un deterred uv new sp,lJ)el' cuttin gs . dea lin g wit h t he
mo r e gO I'V aspects of the P8 le tin e sit u.ation .
t,houghtf ull y placed 011 hi s table from tim e to time
bv inevel'ent comrades. , Ne ca n 0111 v 8y . manf l~ll v chokin o- ba,ck our sobs. t hat 'om -l oss is
Pa lestine ' g~ in.
\ very promisin g yo un g N.C.O.
. always promising . . . never perform in g.
,Y e shall meet and we shall mi ss him: t here will

395

If
I

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

be it V<l ca nt cha ir . . . and a th umnin g big bole

in t he cate rers duty r oster 1
It is said th at h e
has sened ill \i\lok ing offi ce eyer since it 'wa s a
litt le dog k enn eL Fu ll ma l1 Y a time a nd oft ha s
he regaled us w it h y<ll'lI S o f t he .days wh en t he
accou nts wer e main tain ed Iyi t h t h e a iel of chisels,
on slabs of ro ck. H oweyer . . . De m ort uis . ni l
ui si bo num.
'
'W hil st on t he su biectoJ obit uaries, we l' co rd
al 0 t he d epart ure o( L j Ser gt . J etl bn soll, w ho by
now wi ll be keeni ng on t he shores of th e D ead
Sea . far from hi s nat ive E rin . Indeed , now t here
shou ld be some r eal feelin g ill hi s rend erin !:i of t h e
" Mo untain s of :M ourn e" . Hi s d epartUl'e ha s robbed us o[ on e of ou r most deligh tful r ecreation s,
t he pectacle of an I rish Free St at er sitti n g 'oP'posite an Ul st erma n . Ah . t he golden d ays, wh en
th e mer e whistling of "Th e Bovn e vVat er" wa s
suffi cient to st art a small war . '\ g reat man for
syst ems was our 'J enky ' . h is svst ems often cracked
but never completely collapsed'.
.
Ser gt s . P un ter and ' iV illi am s ar e st ill sitt in g
back, hau nt ed by ev ery ma il. aw aitin g post in g
orders. Th ey have no t v et r eceive d t h em but
expect tha t 'Dear Old Fat her Christma s ' will r e
m emb er t hem a nd sp eed th em on t heir way, on a
Cook 's t our, early in th e N e\\' Y ear. For Ser gt.
Punter. th is will b e no new experience as in th e
case of Ser g t . W illiam s a nd , as 'i t is p rob able t hat
t hey will pro ceed t ogether, 11 0 do ubt Syd ney will
show ' Nillie the ropes bot h en rou te a nd on al"
r iya L ' Ne m ention 'en route' with mali cious a nt icipation.
Ser g t. Pun t er will soo n b e abl e to
look ove r t he pyramid s . . . h e need onl v st a nd
on th e sh o.ulders of Sergt. W illia ms . E gyp t shoul d
be the Wlllner here a nd , a li ttle hint , if YOUl'
billia rd. t eam could do wit h a stal wart . . . 'lend
' Vil lie :1 cue and leave t he rest to him .
S.'O, .iVLS. Steel w as dischar ged on 6t h NOYe11lber
a,ncl has t-aken u p his residen ce a t Surbito n. \ N p
all mourn hi s decision t o leave us a nd our snooker
fi end s m iss him sorely . H ow ever, t her e it is . . .
Sid has gone and all w e ca ll now do is to wish
him ever y ha ppin ess a nd success in hi s ne\\' life.
T hose of us who r em ain in U.K . hope to meet him
at t he next Corps Din ner, t h er e to r esume ou r
fri end ship for a s pace.
Priva te ' iV . R . Howell has been tra nsferred t o
the Corp s with effect from 2n,d May la st and IS
to be since rely cong rat ul a ted . ' Ne all join in
wishing hi m a most s uccessful career. A little
bi rd has w h i~ p e re cl that he is to celebr a t e shortly
by ma['l'ying hi s La dy-lo ve . ' iVell , well , . .
let' s wait u ntil he has ,fi na ll y burnt his bo at s
before passin g opinion .
.
_-\ new arl'i val is Privat e Gl'ice from t h e K ing' s
Royal Rifl e Corp. (60t h R ifl es to yo u cads I), H e
i on prob at ion for- tran sfer t o t h e Corps and . in
welcom in ~ him . we also add our wi 'hes fo r a
s uccess fu l p robat.ion.

PAY

CORPS

JOURN AL

T ennis, . c ri c k ~t allCI s umm er out ings are just . a

memory for 1968, b ut b efo r e opening t he win ter
~e a s o n 011 th ese pages, ou r A nnu al Tenni s " A t
Hom e" shou ld be r ecorded .
.0 1\ t he 8th Septem ber , w hich . b y t he wa:', was one
of t h e two s umm er days v,- e had t his yea r t he
Comma nd P ay Offi ce held a t enni s a ft erll oon on t he
Yo rk W.O. s an d Serg ea nt s' courts . Colon el F Ol'de,
t he Comma nd Paymast er . a nd ot her offi cers a t t end ed , t oget her with military and ciyilia n clerks
and fa,milies . T he Jadie- offe red a fo rm idable oppOSIt IOn , and all who played tbor oughl y enjoyed th e
aft e1'l1100n which wa s in t el'rupted by t ea on t he
lawn . . }\Jale guest s who d id not play t en nis too k
t o t he " woods" wit h " J ack " . T he bowlin o' ureen
is no t wha t it should be, accord in g to th e p~rrorm
a nce !a nd lang uage) of t hose th a t took part , b u t
how m ce It IS to lea"e th e offi ce for t he aft ernoon
\\it h a genuine ali bi 1
R ifl e shootiJl g ha s start ed, b ut Yo rk " A " t eam is
sadly deplet ed , and has co nsequen tly su ffer ed low
scores . It shoul d be not ed t ha t althou gb we a re
wea k, we a re not st rong enoug h to hold t h e r est
of th e lea g l1 e up , a nd t her efore do not inte nd to stay
anyw her e nea r t he bottom . Ma,ny m ember s of our
club. have ask ed to be provided wi th t argets wit h
statIOn a ry b ulls 1 A certain \i\l .O. even asked for
th e windows of t,he r ange t,o be op ened to let out
th e fo g-becau se he wa s nb solu telv sure t hat t he
.
Lllll et ha d left his end : 1 I
Th e Ser gean ts' Mess Billi ar ds Lea gue is also""--in
f ull swin g. I nclu ded i n a t eam of 5, t he R ~'\ .P. C.
(Yo rk C.P. & R P .) hay e one player (who also
kll Ows t he r ul e;:; ) a nd 4 A.K. ot her s who are chosen
wh en t heil' res pective birt hday star s a re in t he
ascenden t. according to Ya riOllS well-k nown ast l\ologist s of dail y newspaper fame. The t eam somet fm es r ead s as fo llows :- S .S.M. - - . Sgt. Scorpio,
S / Sg L V enu s, I; / SgL Satul'l1 a nd t he " Milk y W ay " .
Q.}I. S. P. B la ck has \'isit ed us for tempora ry duty
from Catt el'l ck. HIS p rowess at shooti ng . biHia r ds
a nt! euch l'e bein g; well knov,- n, it is wondered wh eth er
h e has com e fo r th e ole pu rpose of t emporar y
du ty . H e nat u rallv ha ') j oin ed t he billi a rd team .
but excep t for one' g lorious l GO J, \'icto r)' oy er th ~
R.A.S. C.-t he ou tlook has been Bl ack.
L / Sgt. J . P et,tie has fo rsa k en t h e comfort s of b arr acks (l'e-const ructe d ) a nd ha s tak en t he oath . To
h im a nd Mrs. P ett ie, we wish long year s o f happ in ess . and pleasant sta t i,o.ll s abroad.
Li eu t .-CoL J. M . MacN<lma ra retired r ecent ly,
after a very lon g a nd distin guished car eer wit h th e
RA.P. C. vVe are ;1 11 sorrv to lose him , b u t wish
him good luck and health 'in h is r et irem ent.
T he numb er of shoppin g davs t o Ch r istm a.s ar e
st eadily dimi nishin g, a nd <I S th is ha ppen,; Xm as
dra w t ickets , wit h t heir never t irin g s<ll esmenincr ease.
\n d so, w it h t he bes t wishes fo l' a very
h appy Ch ristmas, a nd ]Jl"OSperOL1S N ew Y eal' t o air
from Y ork . vve sav goodbye.
" NURO ' .
YORK-REGIMENTAL PAY OF F ! CE.

A!'rivals.- Colon el .A. M . Cntbill. M .C .. our new'

o ffi cer in cha r ge of t he R ecor d :md Pay Offi ce ar ri ved
on 8t h Nove mb el'. 1938 a nd took ovel' fr,om our l.a t e
chi ef, Colonel E : J am es . D .S.O .. NLC., who h as
retired . ' i\Te wish t 'le Colo nel m any hap py c1;,:v s
dlll'in g his sojourn in thi s a,ncient ci t ~r .

YORK- COMMAND PAY OFFICE.

Activities which mak e for th e provision of journa l

news h a ye been ver y scarce d u r ing t he last few
mon t hs, altho ugh in oth er sph eres , our life h as b een
f :11' hom inact ive.

39 6

THE

ROY AL

AR MY P-A Y

Lt. -Col. E. W . H ar t -Cox, O.RE. arri ved from

C ha.tham o n 3,rd Octo ber, 1938 a nd too k over t he
dut Ies of R egll11en tal P ayma st er from Lt. -Colonel
G . \i\T. Nelson , and we t rn st his stav with us will
be a very pleasant one.
.
Th e f? llowing pro bationers haVE joined to put
theory lI1to practlCe fro m th e RA .P. C. Sch,ool.
Aldersh ot: P te . ' N. C. T. Frase r, amI T roopel' T :
R eed , and w e exten d t hem a hearty welcome.
,:?epartu res.-:-Colone.1 E. James, D .S.O. , M.C., has
relll1 qUlsbed IllS appo m tm ent as Offi cer i n Ch arge
o f t~e Recor d alld P ay Offi ce on 8t h Noy emb er, 1938
on Ius retu-ement. All o ur good wi. hes go w it h him
on h ls well. ea l'll ed res t.
L t.- Colo'ncl G. ' i\l . Nelson h<ls left us fo r th e
Command P ay' Offi ce , Yor k , and S.S.M. D 'All enge;'
h as proceeded t o . S l e lT~ Leon e, a ~_ d we wish th em
the b est of luck III t heIr new st a tions.
Obit~ a ry . -It is wit h r egr et tha t we haye t o r epor t th e deat h of Mr. R. M. Car t el', civili an cler k
III t he R ese r ve Sectio n of t hi s offi ce which too k
place suddenly .oil 10t h Sept em bel', 1938. T he fun er al
t ook pl ace a~ Fulford Cemetery on 14th Sep t emb er ,

CORPS JOURNAL

- - - - - -- -

1938 w hich was a ,t ten ded by a large number of his

l1u h t a J'Y a nd cl\'ihan fn ends. Mr . Cartel' ha d more
t han 40 years' sen'ice t o his credi t and was due fOl'
r et,irement t his .month. Our deep sympathy is exte nded to IllS vnfe and famlly.
Christmas Chi,ldren 's Party.-The annu al m ee ~ i n g
of the st aff of t il e R ecord a nd P ay Offi ce, preSIded
over by Colonel A . M. Cu t bill, M. C., ha s beEm held
for t he purpose of arl'a ngin g t he a nnua l Christmas
party for t he children. It was decided to leave t he
ana ngemen ts in t he hands of t he commit tee duly
appoin t ed.
T emporary Dut y. -Capt ain H . R S. Sang uinetti
and Sgt . ' i\l . BowB departed very sudd enly durin g
t he evening of t he 30th Septemb er fol' duty a t
Chath a m a nd W arley resp ectively ow ing to t he
cnSlS, <l.nd we are a nxio usly wa itin a for t heir r eturn
to the fold wh ich is n nd el:st ood t o'''b e very shortly.
Departures.- Maj or E. R K ell y has departed fOl'
t he troubled ar ea in P alest ine. VIle t ru st t hat h is
stay t here wi n Le as pleasant as possibl e under th e
ci I' CU lll s t a n ces .

Stations Abroad
CEYLON .

EG Y PT.

H a Vin g . made a som ewhat sket chy app ea rance in

th e last Issue 0 f t he J oUl'l1al we feel that s ome
attempt at imp rov em ent is d ue.
' Ne wel'e ve ry pleased to see S .S.M. and Mrs .
H ow ard w ho ~all e d t o see us for a brief sp ell whil st
en r out e to Chllm and , amo ns st ot hers , S/ Sel'g t-.
Bowen who .ca lled t o. see old fn ends during his trip
from P<llestlll e t o Sm gapo re. \i\Te hope t o r enew
a fe w mo re olel acqu aiu ta nces in t he Yel'V n ear
fu t ure w hen I-I.T. "DUNERA " calls on h ~r W[lV
t o th e F a r Ea, t . The ju nior memb er o f t his Delacl; ment has beeJol fo llowing with g reatest conce l'll t he
move''1.ents of t hi s T l100pship , h is fi a ncee, M.iss P .
L eahy, Q.A .S. who is nost ed to Colombo for du ty,
bem g a boa rd-see expla na tion below 1
. Sergt. B. H a rt , our versatil e spo rt sman, has bee n
pI cked [.0 play f,or t he \ rmy versus t he R est in a
r epr esen t at ive soccer match on A rmistice Dav. This
m em ber t a kes a keen in t erest ill all fo rm:; 0'[ sport
in t he ga rri so n a nd t h is new hono ur is one whi ch
he thorou ghly deserves a nd upo n whi ch we co ngrat ulat e hin-i .
A very enj oyabl e even in g was s pent r ece nt ly by
o ur member s on t he occasion of t he R .E. Sergeil.l1 ts'
Mess Allnual Dinner-.o ne of t he fun ct ions in t his
gar riso n t ha t is hi ghly app recia ted fro m a social
Foint of view .
Coming Event s. - \i\le a re all looking forwa r d to
th e R E. Sergea nts ' Mess Annu al Fancv Dress B all
to be h eld o n D ecemb er 31'rl . also t he ga r rison
Ghil d ren's Ch r ist mas P ar ty. From previous exp erience it has been noticed t hat t.he g rown-ups enj oy
t he la tt er two parties as mu ch, if not more so. t han
t he chil d ren t h emselves .
L a st , l;)l1t not, least , we have Oll r j unior memb er
contempln t ing ma t ri mo ny in t he nea !.' (or very near).
futur e but fu r ther deta il s must be left oyer ti ll t he
n ext iss ue o f t he J ournal.
Xmas Greetin~s. -To all memb ers of RA.P .C.
D et ach m en ts at H om e and Abroad. we extend om
hea r ty wishes for a vel')' joll r Chri stmas <l 1l c1 et
p rospel'G US (a nd le s strenlloLls) New Y ea r.

' i\Te sllspect th at in t he majority of cases, station

no tes w ill bear relation to t h e st irrin g events.
connect ed with t he E uropea n crisis, eit her at
lengt h or briefl y accordin g to wh at ot her news is
av ailable. No apology is offer ed , t herefore, for making only pa sin g refer ences t.o the embryo war as it
affected us ou t here. For one th in g, we h aye plenty of
other mater ial to wri te upon (though not t he time to
do it just ice we fear ) , and secondly the st.ages of
tra nsit ion fro m iJ.eace to pseudo wn.r con dit ions
hcr e wo r e pl'obably a mn ch less startling seqblence
of events t ha \1 elsewhere.
Over -riding t hese consid erations, of cour se, is t he
realisation t hat, " war remini scences " gain oonside rab lv in lit erary and comm er cial value if left
to vegetate fo r about 20 years, after wh ich perio d
inaccuril cies and exa ggerations ar e less lik ely t o
b e challenged and cont,emporary condit ions ar p.
su.ffi ciently changed to m ake t he v ivid ima gin ation
of t he a ut hor accepted as t he t ru t h .
Overshadowin g t he afo resaid t h reats t o our .])eace
of min d and estate was t he peremptory ev iction
of t he R ei!'imental P ay Offi ce from 1911 Buildings
<It Abbl1ssia , immediat,ely foll owin g " demobili sat ion " orders . T he lower :floor of t he buildin g hasbeen t he home of t he B.egime nt a.l offi ce sin ce 1926
b ut was r eq uired fo r ot h er staff at sho r t not.ice.
Alt er nat ive accommodat ion in the r edundant and
r edolent, V et erin ary H ospit al was t hreatened but
success fLlll y sidestlDped 'in fa vour ,of a new block
of fl at s a t H eli opolis which wa s secured only t he
ev eni na before we wer e due to eVflC Ll a,t e 1911
Buildi ,~g aft er a house-hunt ing exp d.i t ion by t he
RP. and S.S.NI.
Ow ing to t he demands on Go vernm ent tra nsport
rnade by t he crisis we fou nd ourselves ,obh ged to
do onr own " hum pin g" wit h the assistance of hired
lorries and eyen p riYate cars . Our t emporary B..P .
- Major S . N . HiU-thus spent hi s first day of
offi ce s peedin g back wards and fo rwa I'ds be.tween
Abbn.ssi<l ancl Helionoli s. Th e new offi ces, If not
as spacious a8 coul d be w ish ed, are nevert heleEs

397

THE

ROYAL ARMY PAY

an improvement on 1911 Building in this respect.

From the ' married persollI1 els' point of v iew the
offi ce now nestles on most ,of their doorsteps wiLil
its corresponding ad vantages and di sa dva ntages,
but as regards the single m emb ers and the cont inued exi1>t,en ce of the Deta chment Mess, the position is at, present a wkward a nd obscure. It is now
the Abbassia inhabitants' turn to claim da ily
travellin g expenses a nd the Tvless undoubtedly suffers from the isolation of the H eli opolis contingent. .
The solution appears to be the pro vision of a
Mess .and 'ingle soldiers' accommodation in t h e
v icinity of the new office, but sin ce we are led
to believe that 8\"erything is still more 01' less
provisional, nothing definit e ca n be forecast at the
present moment.. The Ilew offices are located at
26, Sharia Ya coub Artin (n ea r the Metro shop in
Sharia Ismailia. for the benefit of ex- a nd 131'0Egyptians), and the address h as b een duly publi sh ed in General Orders enou gh times to get it
right in the end, aft,er which i t was intimated that
the postal address was c / o British Military Po st
Office, Abbassia!
Considering the fa cts t h at we have successfully
contended w it h th e r ev ision of pay, fami ly allowances, colonial .a llowa n ces, a European crisis and
a flo ck of othel' emergencies during the last six
months, the R,egim ental personnel h ope that with
th e mo ve of office a new era has daw ned wherein
even the fabulous ' Ved n 'day morning off might
come to pass.
Amid all t h e welter of po tings . wa ming orders
and cancellatio ns coin cident with recent event s,
we can at last melltion by name, w i thout dropping too many bricks , those who come and those
who go to and from th is slice of ex-territory in
th e p eriod co\"el'ed by these notes.
Li eut. -Col. T. Kelly, who has been RP. , Ahhass ia since 1934, and Sergt. " Tom " Sowerby shared
the distinction of getting "Crisis Pa ssages" to the
United Kin gdom, t he forme r tour-expired an d
shortlv due for retireme nt , a nd "Tom" as an
in va1id with (a ccording to S u dan notes in the last
is n e) "Kh a rtoum Spots" .
S uch was the doubt
surrounding m~yements at that particular time
that, to u se an Irishi sm, we ollly knew who was
going when they were go ne.
.
Majors Han ds and P arratt also h a d t h e ex perience of no t being sure th ey w ere really off
unt il the scr ew began to turn-in their cases t1~ey
were r elu ctantly compelled to put up with th.e
S.S. "AQuitania" which suddenl y ap p eared at
Port Said from llowh el'e.
Others ' less fortunate,
perhaos, in their n ew station are Captain H aggard,
S.O.M.S . Hi ggin so n , Sergts. Whiteman and Endacott , who went to the Sudan fol.' il tour of duty
in relief of Capt. Brennan, S.Q. IVL~ . A. Roberts,
Sergts. Fergl1 sso n and Rae.
A second instal ment for the Sudan in January
will leave us, cons isting of S,S.M. Littler, Staff
Sergt. Kent. Sergt s. 'i\7in ch a nd Lees while, last
but no t least, we have it on good authority tllat
S.S.M. Rook er. who h a h a d hi, s\1nre of false
alarms , will leave fo l.' U.K. o n 3rd D ecemb er
(fi l'l lrers crossed and all t hat).
After a year in the S udan and foul' in Egy pt
during a period of ch allges and uph eavals , S.S.M,
Hooker vacates 'w h at must b e o ne of the mo. t

CORPS

JOURNAL

arduous and difficult appointments a Warrant

Officer in the Corps can hold. With a brge and
scatter ed detachment su ch as ours, the :>Dcial and
sporting aspects alone call for more than mere
acquiescen ce on the p art of the sen ior IV.O. a nd
mess m emb er and it is not a platitud e to Eay th a t
S.S.M . Rooker has by his perso nal appli cation
kept the social a nd s porting life of the D et.achment
running uuder the most trying co nditioll i3.
Like the girl, he will try anything once. and
has succes :;ively reprEs ented u s at T enni s. Hor'key,
Football , Cri cket, Billiards and most of t he indoor
games, including Darts L eag Lle 'l atch es. Latt erly,
the burden of years (says him!) a nd all injury to
the ri ght hand have curtailed his actiyities as
regards s port, but despit e hi s great age , we pass
him on as a "nrobabl e", once his h a n d r egaing
its cunning . In cid enta lly , even if we were, given
to such cliches, we cann ot trot out the overworked "o ur loss is so-a nd- o's gain" since up to
t.he time of writing Mr. and Mrs. Rook er an d
fa mily hav e no "go to" from h ere. Perhaps this
may prompt. t h e offer of a trailer- ca ra\"<ln ~
Under arri vals, we ha ve to report lVIa.jor S. N.
Hill from P alestin e, Major J onas , Capt:tin Godwin ~tnc1 S.S.M. Littler from U .K. It is 1l11derstood that, with the exception of S.8.1\1. Littler,
who proceeds to Khar to um in J a nuary_ t h ere is
a distinct possibility of t h em qu alifyin g 1y length
of residence for disturban ce allowan ce.
Also under the heading of "arrival;; " . although
the "Egyptian M a il" saw fit to classify t hi' event
under " Sports and P astimes" , we must mclLld e
twin daughters to S / Sel'gt. and JUrs. Boaw.Ls on
Odober 14th (without distLlrbance allowance) . We
are not so sme that S / Sergt. Boanas' proficiency a t
sports m.a y not have some conn ection , however.
H e is a finali st in the ten ni " "H;].ndi cap Doubles "
a nd appears to h ave got his . H e also played in
t h e fin al of the Billiards Hnndi ca p the (:; ay b efore
h is l'espon sibiliti es wel"(~ in c rea. ed -by one e~aughter
mar k ed with a spot and th e oth er p lain.
Hockey No-t es .- The Hock ey Season opened optimisticly with th e purchase 'o f som e new sticks,
the n, to our dismay, w e found diffi culty in rai ing
;l
team a nd two matc be.' were can cell ed . ' Ne
ope ned the seasoll w it h a match again st the Sergeant.s' Mess , 7th Q.O. Hussal's .and lost. 7-2 to
a ve ry st.ron O' team. Thi s match served (he u seful
pu rpose of persuadin g some of our ~ elf -s t:vled
vete rans t hat thev h ave not yet l'e<l ched theIr
dota,ge. Our n ext' two Jll::ltch es' were lost to 1st
Company, Egvpt Signals 4--0 a nd 33rd Compal~y,
H.A.M .C . 3-':0. Th en at la t we broke the Ice
nnrl defeated "B" Rqu a dron , 7th HU Si3il rs 2-1 in
the 1st round of the D ela nev Cup. Ent\usi asm
is now l'unning hi gh a nd we ha ve alrea dv decided
t ha t t he c np shall ~t<lnd ill the centre of the top
s helf of th e silv er c upboard. S ince that match
we have drawn wi t h "C" Squ ad ron , 7th Hu sa.l'S
1- 1 a nd a r e 1I 0W ill s trict, tr.ainin 'l: fo r our 2nd
ro unel Delan ey CuP game with 45t h., QuadroTl ,
R.A.F. ' Ve h ope t.o repor t Ollr su cces"; In th e next
notes.
Ot her sporls.-W e are afraid thnt (h el e is nothing sufficientl y intel'est.ill g to report in this respect ow in g to ullavO ldabl e po.'tponement o f fixture!;
a nd th e in t ru sion of oth er ,:ctlvltl es .

39 8

THE R OYAL ARMY PAY CORPS J OURNAL

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

The Darts League has only just s ta.rted and final

.l'esults in tbe T enni s Touma-ments hav e not yet
been at tained .
' i\7e hope to be more fu lsom e in the n ext issue.
GIBRAL TAR.

General.-Since Ollr last notes were penned, most

'of the happenings in this . Fortress have been duly
rec~rdecl ' lr~ .extenso ' in the world's press; so to
.a.vOld rer.etltlOn these notes mu st necessarily be
somewhat curtailed .
III most Overseas commands t h e complaint 1S
:generall y that one day is very mu ch the sam e as
.a?other. He r ~ of late, we've had quite a hectic
t1l11e, what w1th a naval engagement just off the
coast that resulted in a Spanish Government des"troyel' limping into our h arbour early one mOl'lling
b adly damaged (so mu ch so that it is still there I),
a good deal of A .R.P.-ing durinO' and after the
'crisis', some " black-outs " of which one was enlightened by a powerful searchli gh t from Ca rnera.
POll1t, c ~a nge!'; of Governor, chan ge of Office, some
cel'emo lllal parades, etc.; so that we've rath er
Teached t he stage of wondering "What n ext !" .
Probably much will be written in t h e future
ab-out the recent "crisis" , so it b eho ves us to re'cord her e and no w that the lad ies of our D etachm ent r eq uired a good deal of persuad ing that the
serV1ce r esplrators lss ued out to them were " th e
latest style, modom".
As regard s our change of office, would-be v isito rs
might care to know that we h ave left Fo rtress
H eadqu a rters and are now located in Gunners
B a rracks, Library Square. As [or the actual move
itself, p erhaps it will suffice if we m ention that
'One of our staff was h eard to sin g somethin O'
about " Du st of ages left for m e" !
'"
Per~onal.-'Ve ' ve had no ch anges, promotions or
any cas ualties of n ote for some t in1e now , a part
from t h e lengthy stay in hospital of S.Q. :M.S.
Booth t hrough a busted kn ee : but we' re expecting
some new blood in the nea r future, fol' we 've no less
than 2 Offi cers and 4 O. Ranks who <Ire tO Ul'expired. T he homin g ones, we m ight add. are to
be seen taking 11 good deal of in terest in Troopers;
and tIle recen t v isit of the "Aquit a ni a" on emergency trool;: ing duties raised gre;lt. hopes in certain
brea,sts t ha t. will probably be dash ed when t.h ey
bo a rd one of the older v intage t h at most. o[ llS seem
to catch.
Tennis,-Ma.ior Aski n a nd S.g t. Horl1 by enter ed
the Garrison Open Doubl es, a nd a.fter a good fight
w er e unfortun ate to be eliminated in t h e first
round by Cmdr. Garnons WiJlinms and C.P .O.
Ad a ms (R. I.) . Th e event was \"entually won by
Capt. P aclmI'd and Sgt. Bell (R.A.).
Our congratulatio ns to 1II[rs l'\ ice _ who with Mrs.
Thmston (RE.) won the Garrison Ladies' Doubl es.
This is all th e more p leasing as this nail' have
entered un s uccess fully for severnl yenI' running,
reach ing t.h e fin al last year.
On 31st October, in fine weather, a n "At Home"
wa,; h eld o n 'B' Court, whell nearly all the D etach llle nt togeth er wit.h their ladi es a nd children
were prese nt. Mrs. Owen obtained top sco re in a
"pbnned" tOU\'l1alllent. _\1rs. Brickman nnd l\>lrs.
Askin kindl y provid ed a tea whi h was mu ch en-

joyed b,~ . all flresent. 'i\l e were pleased t.o see

S.S.M. 1 la 11 wlth a racq uet in his hand, and he
proved what may be done even thouuh it had been
idle in iL' s press for ages. V\"e hop~ he will now
keep it "o iled" for the next " do " . ~\. fa irly deep
trench made by the H.E' s. in a co m er of t he surrounds of the co urt caused a little div ersion during the co~rse of play: ba ll s were continually dis~
appearll1 g lIltO l t and kept both players and nonplayers bu sy retrieving them. It was observed
t.hat no senior ' N.O's . ventured down th e hole I
A ltho ugh a fairly early st3.l-t was made , a most
enjoyab le afLel'11oo n was broug ht to a. close too
soo n with the failing light .
Fishing.-Manv of us here a re me mb ers of the
Rock Fishing Cltlb a nd set forth betimes. lik e old
Izak , fu ll of hope a nd la den with t ackle ' and bait
of all sorts (the latter varying from naste to
pra wns , cockle s, worms, sa,rdin es, etc.), in valiant
endeavour to tickle the palates of our loca l species
of fi.sh. But. fishing is a humbling pursuit, and
dunn g the pas t seaso n few of us have any real
successes to reco rd: there is always the exc'eptioll
to pl'o\'e the J'ule and ours lS the C. P. , who goe.
o ut the ot her day and in the space of less than
half-an-hollI' lauds 8 tine Bonit.o (a species of
mackerel) wit h a. total weig ht of 36 Ibs.
GoU.-vVe ha\"en't to reco rd ailV " bags" on this
occaSlO n because our r epresent:tti \'es, 0 far as we
ca n make out have h ad th eir we ights r aised to
t.h e 12 st. 7 class or in other wo rds are suffering
from red uced handi caps.
Social.-K ot so ve ry long n go we :tU spent a Yery
enjoyable gam es evening in th e Sgts. Mess, 2nd
Bn. Royal Norfolk Regt. at B eun a Vi sta.. Respecti vely we eith e r disting uish ed and / or extinguished
oUl'selve:s at, Euchre (they pla y a qnaint partner
ga~ll e up the J:e t hat. got some of us ill a flat spin) ,
Bl'ldge. Rlllw n ls. Snooker, D arts, etc. ) 'W hilst
S.Q .M.S . Owen did his stuff as schoo lmaster in
L ex ico n. A ltogeth er it was a \'el'Y good show,
and we ha ve invited the " Dumplin gs" to visit
our m ess for a retu rn tourn ey in t he immediate
future .
\ r ecen t, innovat ion ill our l\Iess ha s been :J.
series of Eu chre Drives : (h ev a re bein g held
regula rly and ha ve been the nlea,ns of di~clos in g
quit e a lot of ta lent and some casE'S of infinite
ca.p-a ci ty.
In pass ing may we mention t hat a ll vo ne passin g
thro ugh , who would ca re to drop in , will find
t hat we've now a reall y imm ac ul ate mess-fo rthe RE." have been in 'a nd h[l\"e Ill[ld e a. rea lly
good " periodi ca l" joh of it . Sapp ers, we raise
r e.'pectful glasses t o yo u I
In co nclu sio n may we take [.hi s opportunit.:v of
wi sh in r;( on e and al l of e\'ery Det;l chllle nt the old,
old wish- a Happy Ch ri stmas ;llld a Bright New
Year.
KHARTOUM.

Since the last. notes were prepal'ec1 t he ra.ins ha ve

given p'ace to id eal weather. c1 esl) ite th e fact that
the temperature is hig h ag::lin. So 0 1lE' i aule to
get about without fear of bein g ma r ooned . 'rho e
wh o sleep on t he ra mparts ar re-in ta Uecl (h ere,
but owing to t h e ab nol'll1,'"t! amollnt of malaria. a r e
cOlllpelled t.o use t.h eir n ets . Th e Kile, whi ch at
one tim e t.hreate ned to flo od I\:h:ll'toum (indeed it

399

THE ROYAL ARMY

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

r@se aoo \'e . t he level of t h e drain s, necessitating
pumps) is now q ui te low a n d sho rtl y we shall h op e
to fi x up some t rips in t he G neral' s laun ch.
Th e Fort ga rde ns h ave h ad a most successful
s umm er, oll r zi nni as b ein g reall y il ne, a nd providin O' one b i" splas h of colour to all otherw ise ve ry
dr~b fo r ty~rd. Th ey h an bee n in flow e r for t hree
m ont h s a nd are still ver y bea utif ul.
Vie h ad h ea rd m a ny yar ns abo ut the nu mb er of
snak e in a nd ar ound t he Fo rt, but h ad ollly seen
two or t hree, each a bout ten in ch es lo ng, a n d h ad
beO' un to wo n der i f t here we re a ny dece n t ones
a b ~u t w hen O)le da:r t h e S.M. came l'o uud fo r h elp
as t h ere was a lar ge snake o utside hi s q uarte r. As
it wa" only six o' clock i n the eve nin g , i t was certain
t h at h e was not 'seeing t hin gs'. ~ n d so we a rmed
ou rselves wi t h stick s and golf cl ubs a n d event u ally
k illed the s nake. w hich was well over 40 inch es
l0n g a nd q ui te th ick. "'i"le we rc not, able to ascertain i f it were poisonous o r n ot, bu t it is said t ha t
t h e S . 1:. gi\'es a good look ro und befo r e retir in g
fo r t h e nig h t n owadays .
I ' m afr aid t hat t l1 ere is n 't a nythin g to r elate as
regards t hi s station r elati ve to t h e Sep t em ber -W a r
Scare. but as oth er offices will fo r a cert,ai nty be
ment ion ing it, p erhap s it is just as well.
.
On 26th October we h eld a "welcome a n d farewell " evenin g to Captain H agg<1rd . S.Q .M.S. Higgin son a nd 8ergt. "'iiV hi tem a n , w ho had al'l' ived t h at
clay from Cairo , a nd to Captain Bre nn a n , S. 'Q.lVL S.
Roberts, Se r gs. Fer gusso n a nd Rea, w h ose depart ures were i mpe nding. A pa rty o f twen ty sat down
t,o a d in ner which i ncluded t w o t urkeys t h at h ad
been inh ab ita l1 ts of t h e Fo r t fo r two ni on t b s. All
ag;reed t hat t he e.'fforts of t h e " T urkey Ma jor"
(S gt. R ea ) a nd t he Messing Ser geant (Sgt. Blac k w ell ) were m ost - uccessf ul. Foll ow ing dinn er abou t
forty g uests h eh)eu u s to sh ar e the l'ema in der ,of
th e evening, which co nsist ed of a very in te restm g
cin em a show a nd ref resh me nts-liq ui d a nd oth er Wlse.
"'iiVit h m a n\' rea rets we bade fa r ewcll to Cap t.ain
B re nn a n a ncl' Sgt~ Fe r gusso n on 30t h October. Cap t ain Bre nn an h ad do ne much to h el p u s pass a
y ear w hich , at t he best, is a lo ng a n d t rvin g o ne.
His in te rest i n ou r well -bein g ,It t.h e Fo rt an d ou r
sever al h obbies a nd r ecreat io ns, inclu ding t h e ga l'deRs, was Illu cb ap preciated , w hile. Sgt .. Fer g usson 's
effor ts i n t h e Mess gar de n y emal n w lt h u s . "'i"" e
ho pe he also left his p r ickly- h eat behin d. S .Q . ~:S .
Rob erts, wh ose read y w it a nd ha.p pv ,11SpoSltlOn
(includin g a ne\'er endin ; w hisi'l e) m ade him po pu lar t hrough out t he garrj on , left fo r Cairo IOn 2n.rl
N ovemb er . Sergt . "'i",7h ite m an h ns ta ken over hI S
pi geons , so t h at t h e detach me nt 1l1 i1Y stlll look fo r
a pigeon fe ed n ow a nd agai n.
S .Q . 1.S. H iggi nso n hopes to suppl y som e p h otogra ph s for f ut ure iss ues of t hi s iou l'll a l prOVided h e
can fin d t h e t im e, w hil e Capt ain Hagg.ard IS de t ermin ed t o improve h is golf .
Se rgt . En da.coU is exp ected fr om Ca iro in relief
of Se rgt. Rea ea d y in N o\'emb el' a nd at t he t un e
of wr it ing S. S .M. Little r is ou e h ere in J a nuar y a nd,
in a d va nce, we exte nd a h earty welcom e to t h em .
'VIle w i h all l'eader s of t hi s journ al a H a ppy Xmas
and a pros pe rous X ew Yea r.
E L TABI A.

MALAYA.
Li t erally A Literary Lament.- In t h e very earlydays b efore t h e old est of yo u r eaders "ca m e up "
soldie'r s u sed to "sol d ier " a nd ~ ll t h at a nd thea rmy was in m a ny ways a decid edly easier s ort
of in t itution to belon g to t h an it is t o-clay.
"C i vv ies" we re unh eard of, yo ung "rooki es"
did n ot rus h up to t h e coun ter at t h e D ry Canteen
and fri tter away t h ei r Special P r oDcien cy P ay a nd
t h e lik e on Milk Ch ocol.ate. v\l h en t h e old-timer
went on leave h e wore h is un ifo rm, cal'l'ied a can e
and a k it, b ag a n d tra,vell ed t hi r d class b ecau se
t h e G uard on t h e eleven- twen ty w ould not allow
him fre e access to t h e B ra k e Va n: bu t times h ave
cha nged " nd to-day we h ave education a nd its
attendant evi'l s.
The modern soldier patronises milk bar s, m oan s
ab o ut, the seven co urse dinner served in t h e mess.
and goes o n leave in a sp eciall y cu t "Civvy" suit,
pork pie h at, pointed sh oes, gloves a nd u su ally
tra\'e Js i n t h e Riley N ine his moth er pu rchased
fo r h im f.o r his las t bi rthd a y o ut of the X m as Club
mo ney . In .a dd it io11, h e 'possesses a fir st class.
ce rt ifi cate which m ea ns t h at he can read and dema nd t h at his unit s upply hi m w i t h a Corps or
H.egim en tal }'d agazine periodically.
.
Th e articles in t he a fo resaid m agazm e are
us uall y compiled by selected blokes qu alifi ed by
v i rtu e of t he fact t h at t h ey h a ve been edu ~ated
at ome s uper-establi shm ents s uch as "'iN oolwi('h
K ig h t Sch ool. Claph a m Common a nd Epsom
D own s a nd .after t h e pOOl' "Suck er " selected for
th is duty h as wo rk ed fa r in to t h e n igh t tryin g to
satisfy t h e i nsatiable appetites of t h ;)t swar m of
locust s kn own as his "comrad es" w lt h n otes re~al'di n p t h eil' activit ies over a period , h e us ually
h a th~ p leas llre of h earin g t h e in tellectua ls who
h n\'e r ea d his a rticle arg uin g as to w h eth er'
"LO ll SY" i::; s pel t 'wit h an "5" or a "z" .
As t h e ma io rity of art icles a r e prefaced by et
prelimin ary di sco iuse k now n as t he in trodu ctio n
which mu st n ot und er a ny C1rclllnst.111ces h ave a ny
bearin g on t he r est of t h e work. ou r opemn g'
paragraph , which is som ethin ~ in t h e n at~r e of a
m oan , m ay be ta k en to be qUlte ln orderlf som ew h at i rrelevant, and t h e overwo rk ed ' r epr esent a
t ive w ill n o w endeavour to "push t he old tr uck
b ack on to th e r ails" a nd proceed w it h th e custo m ary n otes .
On Ocean Travel.- H .T. " Dilw al'a" dep osited the
old "m u d h ook " in Sin gapore h a r bour on the 2Gth
Octobe r , on h er first voyage of t h e 1 938 / ~g TroopingSeaso n and t.h e us ual t ravel-stain ed t h ro n g cla mber ed dow n t h e g:mgwav "thrill ed ~o b i~s""at t~ e
Drospect .o f spe ndl11 g Lhree yea r s 111 t hlS TropIC
Pa,r.adise" .
T his d raft Drodu ced o ne .C.O. fo r our offi ce in
person of S j Sgt. B owe n wh <? em b~l rked wi.t h t h e
'M anch ester R ep:t . in Palestm e w it h. a Vlew t o
residin g down our way ['? l' qm te ~ t Im e a nd w e
:;111 extend t h e u su al g reetm gs to 111m .
Be l'ore p assin 2: on. Vie should lik e ~o ~ e n t~ on. t h e
fact t h at included III t h e new. al'l'lval s k 1t, IS a
ration hag , a n articl p. whi ch t h e youn ger m em?ers
of t h e detachm en t h ave never set eyes on b efo re,
a nd of whi ch OLll' "'iNa r V eteran s _discLaim all k n ow lec1g::> a previo us to S j Sgt .. Bowen 's arrival w e
al ways nll d entood that t hlll gs we re so to u gh

400

DE TACH M ENT

R .A, P.C.,

PAY

CORP~

Mf. LAY A,

OCTOBER,

lurin g t h e last w a r t hat eating was out o f t h e

a nd t h ey just carl'i ed on wi t hout pro-tem s .
On 26t h Octob er , 1938 the " Dilwa l'a" t urn ed
aboyt ,,::it h a v iew to ul tim ately r eachin g t he
Um ted Kmg dom a nd on it sa iled Colonel Goldin O'
-and fa mil y a nd S gt. "Steve" Rya n ~nd we wer~
n ot a t all k een about th em leav in g us. In ad dition to b eing Command P aym aster, Colon el Goldin ~ was t h e very good friend of every m emL er of
t IllS detachmen t a n d h e too k a keen in ter est in all
our acti vities.
W e .all find it diffic ul t to co nvey in full to
'Col.o nel a nd M rs. Go lding jnst how m u ch we
est eem ed t h e very genuin e in ter est t h ey too k in us
a ll a rld we w ish t h em well in t h eir new station .
Wi t h t h e dep a rt ure of Sgt. R:ya n , "one of t h e
lads" leaves M alaY<1, and t he Garrison :Mess a n d
office will b oth feel the loss . .one gets sort of
'u sed to a bl,ok e aJ t er h e h as been sticking aro und
fo r t hree year s es pecially when h e is J11usci<1.l a,n d
plays the acco r dia n . S gt. "'iNen t also goes home
on this boat and ;;1S he is som et,hin g of a J'ecluseshy a nd r etiring-we cann ot defam e him. in a ny
way , bu t do hop e t h at h e find s t h e "Old Coun try "
t o his likin g.
On Detachment Health.-"'iiV ay b ack i.n A u gu st
1ast on e of our numb er who is rath e.r good at
,fi g ures pl!I l'chased a n ew pail' of specs ,'tnd in sp ected
all t he book s a nd m atter p ertainin g to ou r Genera l
F und , a nd surpr ised u s all by an no un cing t h at the
balan ce on t h e account was of t h e credi t yariety .
So , in accordan ce wi t h t h at a ncient, cu stom
peculi a r t o th e R.A .P. C. a m eetin g was called to
: det ermin e (a ) , why ~h ere was ' a credit bala n e
. 'and (b) h ow soon su ch b a.l an ce co uld be spent
a nd, aft er t h e expendit u re of m uch hot air it w as
d ecided t h at " h ealt h t rip w ould b e t h e mo st
b en efi cial way of fr itterin g a way t h e un expected
w indfall .

JOU RNAL

1938 .

In passing it sh ould be noted t h at in }Ialaya

a h ealt h tl'l P entalls the charte ring of a "'iiVa r Depart me nt \'e3sel stockin g of same w it h food, drink
a:l c1 odd comforts a nd t he ch arting 'of a course
fo r o ne day amon gst the nu me rous islan ds with
which Sin gapor e H a r bour i' inundated .
A committee composed of S.S.M . Mack, S / Sgt.
T 'Jmm y M dl s, Sergeant " J ock " L a.w on a nd S er geant " T ug " W .ilson was selected to r ound u p
Vl dlJlJ S, Issue rOll tm e or der s a nd gen er ally supervise t h e mnnin g of t h e t rip, and t h e Sunday duly
a rri ved wh en we all made for the sea .
Seventy t h ree per so ns, being detachm ent personnel , wives, fam ilies and fri ends ma.de t h e t rip a nd
eventually after the Garriso n Bus ha d deposited
load after load ,o f fr eig ht on t h e quay-side the
Capta in s took over t h eir Comma nds an d t h e
Married Men staggered aQoa rd complete w it h kit
whil st t heir wives selected what they consid er ed
t.he m ost sui table p ortions of t h e deck a n d settled
down for th e day. vVh ilst it's h ard to decid e as
to w h eth er a life on t h e ocean wave is bet ter than
goin g to sea wh en o ne pa ddles a round in a PUllt
at R ichmo nd, no diffi culty was experienced by a ny
meJnb er of t h e par ty in vo icin g a n opi.nion on t h is
p a r ticular occasion as it was one of t h e r ou ghest
of ro ugh da,ys a nd t h ree of t h e party and t h e crew
w ere not sea-s ick.
Sgt. W il son r an t he ba r an d h ad a n exceed in gly
successful day an d alt,h oug h nobody ca u ght t his
versatile N.C .O. waterin g t he b eer it is gen erally
ag reed t h at his organ ising ability is distin ctly
above t h e average a nd h e should go far in the
sel'v ice. A word of pra.ise mu st a.lso be extend ed
to Q.M. S. Gem m ell Wl1 0, a.l though a hundred p er
cen t . Scotsm an , .gave aw ay hi s services in the
('a,use of hum ani ty to a n ala rmin g exten t te ndin g
the s ick , co mfortin g th e alm ost dead a nd even on
o('ca-sion s purch asin g ch'inks fo r t he overcom e,
whi ch goes t,o prove t h at once a Scotsma n leaves
Scotla nd an ythin g may h app en .

'q~ esti o n

40 1

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

a1ld R.A.O. C. ) and ,'.-e all yoted it a great s how .

Colonel Golding m ade an apt and w itty speech
and, after ( h ~ urid e and brid egroom had d eparted
for a honeymoon tour o f th e F.M.S. all th e guest
repaired to the G aTrison Ser geants' Mess , Fort
Ca nnin g, where a dance had been arra nged by t h e
br ide' parent3 .
Be t w ishes for t he f uture are extended by the
detachment to t bi s very popular co uple.
On Spo rt and All ied Games.-Tb ese da ys we all'
seem to be extrem ely active a nd if nll; ch more
ha ppen in th e district we shall have t o publi sh a
m agazine of our own in Malaya as we seem to be
ta kin g up r at her a lot of fl oor space in th is i sue,
but we .a re hopin g for th e Editor' s fayo ul' and aU
t hat . At the tail end of last cricket seaso n we
field ed an a ll R A.P .C. cricket eleyen for t he first
t ime and m et t he R.A.M .C. at Tan glin in a friendly
ga n~ e which nroduced lots of fun if not much skill.
Sgt. Chappell took over t he d uties of playermanager alld .Sgt. B aker acted ,a s ca pta in , whilst
M a jors Burgess and Millin g ca m e alon g to watch
t he rnatch a nd acted as "Cheer-leaders".
It is such a long t im e ago s ince thi s ma te:l was
played t hat th e sco res are n ot now a vaibble but
Sgt. La\\'so n shon e as a bat m a n and Sgt. J ohn son
v,'ould ha ye done a lot better i f he had been
a llow ed t o pla y in a corn er on hi s own with a
private uowl er. VV e hope to r un a cri cket tea m of
our own at some fu t ure date but it w ill haye to
b e a little better t han th is one as we suffered
defeat at the ha nds of t h e R.A.NL C.
,lile a re much more effi cient at Snooker and
R. A .P. C. h ave s wept t he boa rd in th e Garrison
Mess Snooker L eag ue, despite th e fact t h at th e
bu , in ess mana ger in t hi s enterprise is Sgt. Wilsort
(already m entioned elsewher e in t h ese no tes) .
Thirty players entered t h e competit ion an d tw elveof our de tachm ent fini shed in t he first twe nt y,
Sgt. Thom as head in g t he li st. S.S.M. Aa ck , who
fin ish ed e i ~ hth , sho wed very goo d fo rm at the
. tart of t h e competit ion and wa s very stro ngly
fayo ured for a plac but, as h e w,a s carrying too
mu ch weigh t, rather fell awny on t he str aight a nd
d id not pay it divirlend. Sergeant Broadsmith and
S j S~t. H evvett roth got the gam e r ather m ix ed up
wit h b illiar d , a nd wo uld p ersist in going -in -o ff
(us u,n lly off t h e black) and so fin ish ed at the
bottom of t h e t.able but w it h a spot more practice
w e fee l t hat Se;t. Broad smith might fini sh up 29th
inst ead of 30th.
Q.M.S. H ehir who used t o k eep lSoa l for t h e
Corps Ho ckey E leven st ill employs hi s spare t im e'
in lettin g 'em t hrou gh for lh e H eadquarters' t eam
at Fort Canning and Sergea n ts L a wson , Taylor
a nd B,'\k er lose a lot of weigh t runnin g up a nd
down t h e fi eld vigo rously applyin g a stick a t t h e
g round wh ere t h e ball ought t o be, whilst Sergeant Copes take a nd Monks keep our end Up. on
the Pin a-Po ng T able in t he Mess . With t he departure of Ser geant Went on the " Dilwara" welost ,o ut' w alking ch ampion and it is now a n ticipated that Ricksh aw Shares wi ll r ecover.
On "Primrose and Blue " .-It is t he deligh tful
custo m of th e 2 j B attn. Th e Loyal Regiment, wh en
entertaining military guest, to a~Tange for thei:r
band to play after dinn er the Reg l~nental. March es
of t h e Arm s of th e SenlJ ce to wh ich th eir guests
belon g. On su ch a n occasion recently. vo.:hen the
Comm and Paymast.er enj oyed th e pnvIlege of

Lunch was I: ro\' ided for seveu ty odd l~e rSO ll S anJ
twe nty or so p eople at = t hree po in t somethin g recurrina lun ches each thereby ensurin g t hat nothing \\'~ wasted a nd , afte r 'fo ur hoUl's of mighty
ro ugh tray el smooth wate r.3 on t he lee of a large
Dutch I sla nd were reached wher e t he whol e pa rty
once again r ecaptured th e joy of li vin g a nd in\'aded t he joll y old terra in. A n ry happy couple
of hours wa s p ~ nt ashore and <tll t he loca l buildin g" a nd places of int erest were inspected a nd
p hoto grap hed . Se r gea nt Bro adslT it h la ys claim to
h ay in g been the most succe sful ph oto graph er
havin g t a ken a snap of t he fattest Chinaman ever.
W e all event ually r eached hom e a nd bed about
8 p.m. after an' especiall Y vigorou s day and
Q.M.S. GemmelL S/ Sgt. Mills and Sgt. " Tug "
Wil 0~ 1 in forme d the press that it had b een a most
successful and enjoyabl e day.
On Marriage and Matte~s Matrimonial.-On t he
8th Septemb er, 1938, Mi ss Violet Norris dau gh ter
of Q. M. S, TOn'is of our detachm ent, took t he
ever-poD ulal' ])lunge and was m arriecl to S j Sgt.
M cStocker . R :A.O. C. in th e Garrison Chu rch.
Tan~lin , Si ngapore, the R ev. H ead ley , R,.A :
Ch .D . offi ciatin g a nd Sergt. T . M er cer , R.A.O,C.
WEDDfNG AT S!NGAPORE .

Left to Righl : -Mi ss D . Norris, the Brid egroom

(S/ Sgt. McStocker), the Bride (Miss V . Norris),
Miss D , H ewett, and Sgt. T. Mercer, R.A.O.C.
acting as best man. The choir and Band of t he
1 j Royal Inniskillin g F usili ers provided the music
at th e service a nd the r eception was held a t Robinson 's Cafe where 130 g uests w ere entertained.
Members of the detachm ent assisted in t he set t in g out fo r view of seven ty- fi ve presents and th e
cons ump t ion of a wedding cake whi ch w as decora t ~ d with t he r espective Corps ColoUl's (R.A.P.C.
402

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

din ing with Lieut. -Colonel J . E. HUll1 e, D. S. O.

and th e ,.officers of t he Battalion, th e R egim ental
March or th e . Ro)'a l Army Pay Co rps wa s played
for t he first t Ime III 1alaya. Sin ce Hi s Excellency
the Govern~ [' a nd Command er in Cbief (S ir Shentoll
Thomas, . G.C .M .G., O.B .E. ) was pre ent as t he
g ues t. of honour, we regard this as an h istoric
occaSlOn III the annals of t he R.A.P. C. in this
co untry. Colonel Golding remarks t hat th is mar ch
wh~ch h e heard for t he fir st t ime pl ayed by a fu ll
regim ental band IS most impress iYe a nd we a re all
pro uQ to own it, particularly too as it was composed by " on e of us" .
' ,
,
On Our Late Colonel-in -Chief. - Th e d etachment
deplored t he news of th e death o[ our Colonel-inChief, H.R:.H. Prince Arthlll' of Connaugh t. All
Officer s, Y\ anant Offi cers and K. C.O s. assembled
lI1 t he CO,mmand Pay Office at F ort Canning on
the day 01 the f un er al, a nd, sta ndin g ill sil ence fo r
o.ne mll1ut e. JOll1 ed t he whole Co rps in a n expres- ~
SlOn of sorrow at our loss.
On Why We Should No,t Write Any More.-And
now, a ltho ugh we have missed out lots of odd
item s w e should like to brina to your notice t he
fact that t he ' H iter of t his iss ue 'has to eat and
sleep and he feels th at if he's foraotte n anything
~t's "j u;:.t too ba d ", bu t t here's always t he next
Issue.
Q . M. S , GEMMELL.

Pres ident,_Singapore Scotti sh, 19 38.

Singapore Scottish-R.A.P.C.-Vi e have the
honour to r eport that t he secretary of t hi s con cern recently attended the races at Singapore and
backed a red ho t favour ite both ways wi th a fif ty
cent stake aft er. he had r eceived th e t.ip from the
owner a nd t raID el' and confirmed it with t he
jockey. Th e r es ultant win of fift.een cents has put
th e society in f unds but w e und erstand that the
president is goin g to levy a fin e of fi fteen cen ts
on t he treas urer for conduct to t he prejudice-i.e.,
attendin g a ra ce m eet.ing .
DEBITS.

40 3

CORPS J OURNAL

~ate Extra (No Football Results).- Amon ast t he

t lll rty -one "s,o uis" makin g up our numb ~'s we
harbo~\r ~ few who are misguided enoug h to t hi.nk
that Lll ey ca ll b ~lld l e a ntl e and w ho desire to
disfi g ure ta l' ge~5 III the small bore league by expend lJ1g lots of .22 ammunition.
liVe .have borrowed a rifl e range, all the rifles
and w dl pro bab ly wangle an iss ue of a m m unitio~
free and we should like to heal' from other offices
th in k th ey ca.n shoot-so ho w abo ut it you
dead- eyes " ?
MALTA.
Th e best of Christm as G reetin gs to all r ea ders
from us all ~~ Malta. After t he r ecent Em ergencies
some "Peace" a nd "Goodwill" will be m ost acceptable to e\-eryo ne.
Departures.-'iiVe were sorry to 10 e Li eut. -Col.
and Mrs. P ewsey, and we hope they will haye a
pleasa n t stay 111 Chatham. liVe offer our oo ngratuJatlO ns to the Colonel 011 hi s promotion Sat . d
Mrs. Huml)hri es I.lad a yery quick move hom~. ~~e
shall "certa:nly m~~s th em. Sgt. HUlllphri es was a
fin ~ .All-1 0under a nd has work ed very hard for
OUI R ifl e Clu b. i\i[rs. Humphries with Mrs. Scor e
h as wo n t he ':Open " L adi es' Tennis Doubles fo;'
t h e R.A .P.C. Ul the last two competit ion s. All
t he b_~st to the;ll . .L/ ~gt. Du ckworth to P alestin e.
H e \" a our l en l1l S 1::lecl'et ary, and altbouah we
h~ ve r ecently had very little t illl e for Ten;is. he
has
' ,' '"
d ' ! done yel'y good work fo r u- . S .S. : tIf. L 0'-elln
IC n ot go to Egypt., t hough his passage \\'a~
~.u0tted a~;d his 'packing nearly completed.
As
B ~ l'l'acca he Will co ntinue to report our " happemn gs " .
Tennis.-"\ve are SOlTY that circulll stances 11 a \'e
dela ed t he " O,J. " Cup Competition t his year. I t
l resu It,s W I'11 b e O'iyen
is hOI)e d . howe\' er. tll at t .1e
i~l the ];ext ~ sue. ' 1\I1rs. P etch (with Mrs. L~ m b
km, R._'i.O. C.) ha. Just won the Garri son Ladies'
Do ubl es. Co ngratulation s.
Cr icket. -Wi t h. a nry depleted siGle (ou r only
class bowlel' being absent) we had to let th'e
R A .O. C. keep t he Tin P ot CUD for another yea r
Co nductor Ru se returned from' hi. leave in "t im~
to m a ke a century again st 11. Apart frolll thisw e were level. Bett.er lu ck next veal'.
Rifl e ~IUb. -W i th the R ange un der r epair for it
lon g p erIo d al~d t he r ece nt up et , t here have been
few opport um t les for shootin O' . Vile hope to be
ab le t,o " get down " to it 'er~ long.
ltem3 of Interest. Armistice DaY-1938.-The
second "\Var Memorial. in- th e fo rm of a Monum ent
>vas un veil ed bv Hi s Excell ency t he Governor'
Gel~ eral Sir Charle Bonham Ca rter on 11th Nov:
U llltS of t he
a\'y, Armv and Air Force were
present a nd t he party of our Detachm ent was
und er the comllland of Captaiu J one. Th e whole
sta ff agai n assisted the Command Pay mast er in the
co un tin g, etc. of t he 11 oney colle~ted fro m t he
sales of Poppies and th e follow in g figures spea k
fo r t hemselves .
Collection 1935-608:0 :0.
193'6-693 :O:O-A record.
"
"
1937-782:7 :O-Anoth er r ecord .
"
1938- F inal figure no t yet to hand- but
_ANOTHER record.
Movement of .Troops.-The following is t h e out ?om e of t he eXCItement ca used by t he recent warnlIlg of two battalions for th e N ear East. :v\ hat did th e ser gea nt say (in t he stilly night ) :

;;!1O

THE
"Th e Italians aTTe

lJl

RUYAL

ARMY

the H a rr bo urr

or
Th e B attalions arr e leayin g to mo rren ?
and
' iV as he p1'Top en-ly drressed ?
" B :\RRACCA " .
MAURITIUS.

By t he t ime these no tes a r e i.n Hri;1t, t h e anllu ~ l

fr eightship will h ave com e a n d gone. S.S.M. V' I .
C. Gear , who r elieves S .S. M. F . ~\Iitc h e ll, w ill, we
feel sure find Ma urit iu s a very ni ce st ation , alth ou gh
perhaps 'a litt le t oo quiet. H OWey el, t h er e is much
h er e to compensate one for t h e ab se nce of th e m a ny
amusements available at h om e.
The islan d
boas~s a sp lendid clim ate,
whi ch p ermit s of
.all t he
yea r
bathing
a nd
fis hin g ,
m OUilt ain s capable of giving a t hrill to t h e b e~t ~f
climb ers and som e wiO n derful scen er y . :'Ia unt lU s IS
described by some as the la nd of rainbows a nd
waterfalls . 1 'he la t t er are indeed num erous , a nd one
se ries of seven falls total a h eigh t of almo st a
thou sand feet. Th e Ga rriso n is for t un ate in havin g
a r eally crood sports ground- occe r , ho ck ey, ru g ge l' arId "'c ri ck et p it ches-which is k ep t in nearly
perfect condit ion all t hrough th e year b ecause of
the plent it ude of r ain a nd s un shine, a nd t h e serVI ces
of a n excellen t groundsman . Ser gea nt R. Sm ith I S
doing a n extr a year ou t h er e, which a lso seem~ to
indi c:tte th at Ma uri t ius is n ot to o b ad a st atlOn.
A s a fur th er inducem en t t o a ny N .C.O. who m ay
fan cy comin g out n ext yea r , it may b e a dded th a t
Maur itiu s has also claim s to bell1 g the ch eap est
statioll in the world outsid e t h e U. K .- or at a ny
r at e that may b e ass um ed fr om the fact t h a t it is

abou t t h e only .o ne wh er e married oU13r r a nk s do

not receive Colonial Allowa nce (~ .B .-~\llow an ce
R eg ulations du e for am endment).
. ..
May we L<Lke t Ins opportumty of wIshll1 g all
m emb ers ,of th e Corps a very m erry Christmas and a
h app.y New Y ear.
TOU S DEUX.
P.S. - vVe ar e enclosin g so me ph otograp hs, a coupl e
of whi ch lil ay b e thou ght sui tab le fo r p ubli cation .
These sha rks were r ecently caugh t by Se rgea nt W.
Godfrey, R.A ., off F ort Geo l'ge.

PAY

CORPS

J OURNAL
PALESTINE.

To all offi ces, a t h om e and a bro.a d , w e send our

best wish es fol' Chri stm as and th e New Y e:tr.
General.-A month of a]a,rums aHd excursions
h as mad e us som ewha t s haken , b ut owin g t o fr esh
a l'l'iy a ls \\" e h ave a. big offi ce t o k eep t h e fl ag
Hy in g . Twent y-seven h ave arrived in P alestin e,
a nd only t hree h a ve d epar ted.
The even ts of t h e past t wo mo n ths h ave na tu ra lly ca used consid era bl e activity h ere, and w e h ave
h a d a great m any in quiri es from all sorts of people
in th e t own who seem ed to be anxious to h elp in
a ny way t hey co uld (m ainly female t y pi st s ) . D ea ["
old la di es rang up wi th offers t o p eel p otatoes ,
etc., and we al so h ad numer ous inquiries fr om
oth er la di es, equally de::t r if not so ol d . T,lese
we re rece iYed wit h mix ed feelings, parti cularly b y
t he confirm ed bach elor s w h o usuall y go around
wit h t h at :twfnl hun te d look in t h eir eyes . H owey el' , we h aye b en efi ted to t h e extent t hat a m ale
typist h as been employed , whil st t h e reg ul ar la dy
t.ypist is on holid ay in En gla nd.
Arrivals and Departures.-O n 13th Septem ber ,
:Majo r S. N. Hill hand ed ove r the reins of Com
malld P ay mast er to Li eut. -Colon el F. C. William s,
M .C.
Ot h er departures a re Ma jor E. G . Jon as t o
E gY IJt. S / Sgt . Bowen t o Sin gaRo re, and Sgt. P.
B. Johnso n t o t he U nited Kin gdom fOJ" di sch arge
t o Ci\'il Life .
~-\.lTi \"al .; Oil boa rd H.M.T. " Nevasa " , we re Ma jor
L. G. Dai s h, :'[a jor E. C. E t h erin gton , Cpl. J . D.
Bush , Cp!. A . D . Dick enso n, Cp l. D. J eacock ,
Cpl. D . G . Grah a m , Cpl. A. E. Rou ssea u , a nd
Cpl. C. S. Topliss.
Th e latter bad th e misfortune to b e det ain ed at
H aifa R ecep t ion Station wi t h :tppendi citis for two
days , was transferred t o t he RA.F. Gen era l HospitaL Sa r afand , [tml finally sp ent a " holid ay " at
t h e Com 'alescen t D ep c3t, N ath anya-h e did a spot
of escort duty (volunt eer of co urse), a nd sin ce h e
h as anived i"n thi s offi ce, t h e only t hin g we h ea r
of, is hi s t.hrilling ex perien ces of the hills- I
wonder what th e RA .F . Sisters think ?
Ot h er al"l'i val s a r e :!'IIa jor E. R Kelly , Captain
H. '",,7. T . Marden, :\1.B.E. , Sgt. L. Moore , L / Sgt .
E. Wilbum, L j Sgt . H. Cox, L / Sg t. R Woolley ,
L / Sgt. A. Dawsol1, Cpl. M. Churchill, Cp1. F.
Dean , Cpl. L. Tipler , Cpl. A . M acF arla ne, Cp!.
D . Fo x , Cp1. C. Sut h erJa.n d, Cpl. E. T ann er on
14th Octob er , n er S.S. " Montcbl'e"; L / Sgt. G.
J enkin so n O il 23rd October , pe , S.S. " T eiresias";
Sgt . P . L ee and L / Sgt. J. Du ckw ort.h o n 1st
No vemu er, p er H.T . " Dunera".
' ",,7e h a \'e pl easure in infor min g th e B a rn et Offi ce ,
t h at t he famous " Bush " smile h as developed into
a n ult ra -fa mous " Bu sh Cackle". and we can t ell
yo u th a t J ew, Gentile, a n.d A r~b h ave s ~u c!d ere d
when t.hi s h as been heard 111 J eru salem. HI S sch oo"l
coll euD"u es at th e P a v School, Ald er shot could h ave
infJrn~ed you in the nI'. t place t h a t it w as a
cackl e , a nd not a smile .
Promotions and APpo,jntments.-Con grat.ul nt ion s
t o S / Sgt. S. R W alk er , Sgt .. P . L ee and L / S p;t .
'iN. G . John ston e on at tammg th en res pectIVe
r a nl<s.
Mo."e General. - D espite t h e r estri ctions la id
dow n as r egard s v isit in g t h e Old City, orga ni sed
p a rties, com.plet e w it h escorts, il re bein g a rran ged

40 4

THE

R OYAL

ARMy

PAY

to t ou r t hi s i1n c ie '~t place every Sun dny , an d q uite

a lot of t h e detac hmell t have had the pr iv ilecre of
seein g sOl11e of t h e sight.s, such a;' t he Ecce Homo
(said t o h a ve bee n the place wh ere Po nt i us P il ate
tried Ch rist).
P erh:tps by the n ext is ne of the
Corps J ou I."lHl I , one of the det:tchment may be able
to s up-ply a n arrative of on e t hese E'xpe li ti o1l 5.
As much was said in t he last is.:;ue o f the Corps
,J oLll" ll al about t. h e s1l1g1e Sel'geant a nd hi' mess,
pe rh aps a small note abou t the sin gle Cor poral if
n ot so " high brow", may be mentioned .
The
b ill et is just as comfol'tahle, b ut n ot so form id
able to look at. Mr . H oreBeJislla has p r esented
t he m ess- room wi th I< ni\"es , fo r ks an d spoo ns, a nd
our t Ul"llstlle system of ch ecki ncr has been ~ success. ' Ne did , how ele r, lose a knife one morn in g,
u u t WI th the aid of our effic ient n ative staff t h e
missing article was r ecovered 0 11 the mes .;oom
fl oor. Vile a re curi otjS to know who r efn,ed supp cr
that evenll1 g , : a nd sent ho me for a set of "eatin oi' o11 s" . Perh ap the N .C.O. w ho s uggested h avin g
a pin t 0 [,beer w it h his sup per can t ell u s?
Sport- F ootball. - Owi ng to the gr owth of the
office, we have ente red t h e J eru sa lem Ser vices and
P olice F ootball L eagu e. Th ere ar e tell team s in
t he com peLi tion a nd every tea m h as to be played
t wi ce, so pe rha ps by the n ex t issue of t h e Corps
J ou l"l1 <1 1, fur ther inform:ttion as to ou r soccer st atus
will be ava il able. Of co urse , the detachment is
small compa r ed w it h some of th e uni ts, but Ca pta in (Manager) M ar den , assisted by Sgt,. Pullin,
a nd on e 01." two other senio r m emb ers of th e staff
a l." e qui te confi de n t t hat a sid e will shortl y be on
v iew t h at will do t. h e offi ce cred it. T o date we
h ave h a d two leag ue ga mes . Th e first l11 :1tch ' wa s
.1gain st t,lle R. A.M .C., and a lt hou g h we lost by
s ix clear goals, t h ere was every prospect, of our
d eveloping :t good team . This was p roved in t,h e
seco n d match , wh en wit h a few alte rnt ions, we
played tIle 68tll Compa ny, R A.S .C.-a l11 u h better
side t h a u t.he " l\l{edicals"-and ilfte r a h~w d
s t,ru ggle wit nessed by t he Colo nel an d ot lle r loya l
s up port ers of the D etachmen t we lost by two
goals to one (Graham )-if we had had any lu ck
at all , we sh ould h ave gath er ed a point.
Still , t here are . high hopes fo r th e futu re, and
w e ar e goin g to h ave a trial ma t eh shortl.v (s eems
a b it fun ny :tl'ter t wo leilgue games) -- t he Cor
por als vers us t he Se rgea,lJ ts an d abov!' . Th ere a re
beer stakes on t his m atch , and being one of t he
p l. ayel.'s myself. 1 de. not like to s:ty who is going:
to wi n , but is 111 y to ng ne dry? , Oh boy' Oh boy!
T he p roof th at soccer is se rious ou t here. i s t h?
fa ct t hal. rE'port~ on our mat ches ilre published
ill t h e loca l "Teleg rap h " i. e., " The Pa lestine
Post" .
Th !' fo ll ow in st is :1n extrilct fro m /he " P,l lestine
Po ~ t" . Local Football- J erusa lem Sen ices P oli ce
L eague-Th e J eru salem Services and Police L eague
has now uee n well and truly laun ch ed a nd . apart
from a, few davs r ecently wh en a ha I t h;] c1 to be
called o v; i nq: to ba d weat her co nditions, goo d pro
g ress ha, lleen made.
.
.
Th e L eag ne h il S lI11 do nb tedl v ilrousccl qm te it lot
of local ill t erE;, ra nd oth er Units h ave expr ess~cJ
a desire. to tak e pn rt., [tncl it is il lmost .cert alll
t h at, withi n 1".h e next few davs . t IIp n UJ1l bel' of
ra r t iciu[]'ti n g Cln hs . will rench th e r ou nd dO'1.\' n b v
t h e i ncl usion o f t he 11t h Hnssa rs a nd t h e 1\1[ / 1'

CORPS J OURXAL

Section or tIle 2nd Baltn. T he Black Watch .

Specia l me ntio n must be made of the new comers
to P alesti ne , 'occe r games , the Royal Armv Med ica l
Corps and th e Roya l l\ l'my P ay Corps.
They

C,Lme toget her in t heir op enl11g fixt ure in the

L eag ne a nd wi th the latter team it wa$ ju st t h e
ca.se of selectin g eleven m en an d put tin g t hem on
th e fie ld . Th ey suffered a h eavy defeat bu t th ey
n re by 11 0 mea ns dish ear te ned and t h ey cer tainly
pu t np a mu ch bette r sh ow in their next game
w hich was against t be Roya l Arm y Service Corps.
' Vh il e all t heir pl ayers a re as keen as mustard,
t hey always b rin g a long with t hem a good crowd
of s np po r ters an d all t h eir officer s in J er usalem
ma ke a point of bein g p rese nt at th eir matches
a nd g i\'e t h en1 euco uragem en t . Th eir n ~xt ap pearan ce w ill be on "Vednesday n ext (t h e 16t h . inst.)
at. t he J erusa lem Spor t.s Club ground at 2.15 p.lll.
w hen th ey meet t he J erusalem Di strict P oli ce XI
and t h ey a,r e all out t o prove t ha t t h e t hi rd tim e
pays foi all , although t h ey r eali se they are up
again. t a t.o u gh proposit ion.
Stop Press!! !-O n go in g to p ress . we hav e
plea sure in repo r t in g t he result of our t hi rd
leagu game : "R ova l A rmv Pa~r Corps, T WO (Scola, Dea n ),
J e,:ns[l lem D ist rIct Police, NIL.
SHANGHAI.

T hese notes will probably b e t h e last under t he

nresent reg ime sin ce Ca pt ain Th omas, S.S.lVL lV10ss ,
Sgh: . P earsoll all d Kir ke a re du e to leave here e it l~e r
O l~ t he " L a.ncashi re" or a la ter t ransport.
S.S.1\ . Moss will onl y be going t o H on g Kon g;
to reli e\e Lt. Lines t h ere . bu t it can be seen t hat
il ver y complei e cbanoe-oyer is expected a nd kn ow
ing b~' experience ho~v slowly. t,hi s average detach~
111 eat co n e ponde nt takes to hI S n Sl~all y unask edfo r
job, i t was fel t t hat, it .woul d b e k~nd er to send off
t h e n otes as fa r as posslble to date 111 order to allow
t he n ewcomers a nm!e t ime to settle dowll .
Sin ce our last rlotes , Yery little of interest has
ta ken place. Colonel R og;ers .. om C. P. is clu e h.er e
on :Mond av a,nd we are loo lung fOl" w:tr d to seemg
him again "and also to hear ing s?m e t he ' Corps news '
w hi ch does not a lways appea r 111 t he Journal. (9 ne
of th e thin gs is Ro ssibly "when are our reh efs
coming ?")
' Ne h ave still been unable t o r ecommen ce our
Rifl e Clu b ac ti viti es but we h ave entered our suc-

40 5

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

cessors for next year's oo mpetition just to make

sure tha.t it is not forgotten till too late!
The weather has been its usual hot sticky self
amI we are yery glad to feel a co ld nip in the air
occa~ionally. P03si bly it is still 1 at.her a matter of
imagination but Autumn must Le near now.
Captain Thomas and one 01' two of the deta chment
have taken trips up the Yangtse River during recent
week-ends and have benefited from them.
Swimming and tennis have had t h eir supporters
in Sgts. Pinkney, Pearson a nd Kil'ke. The lattr
two are great lights in Life Sa ving Society circles
and can be relied upon to deal with tile most hopeless cases of drowning or attempted suicid e!!
We will take this opportunity of ~a ying goodbye
to Shanghai and to those of the detachm ent who
will be remaining here. 'V e wish them a successful
tour and a speedy return of the "trooper" next
year.
Some of us have b een Oye l heard to say that they
would willingly volunt ~e r for a further tour here uut
those who have family ties will proba bl\' feel that
tnree years is quite enough.
.
" LONGVIEW " .
SIERRA LEONE.

These are the first notes from the Imperial Gal'l'ison, Sierra Leone to appear in this journal, the
It.A.P.C. having left this stcLtion in 1929 when it
was closed down.
Our journey out was not exactly uueventful for
both of us w ere empllo yed, one as Ship' s S.M. and
O.R.C . an.d the other as Ship 's Q.M.S., etc. to th e
6 officers and 61 O.Rs. who embarked on the lVLV.
"Aba" .
. After leaving Liverpool w e saw neither ships Ilor
land until we approached Madiel'a wh ere the hip's
S.M. went ashore but th e poor ship s Q.M.S. had to
i'emain on board more or less on police duty.
Howeyer, the visit to th e tow n of Fun cbal wa s a
1'evelation of flowers, and park s seemed to be in
great profu sion , and at the entrance to t he pier
there were about a dozen flow er girls an dresse d
alike in a red material with embroidery all over it
and to set the dresses off, th ick red capes of the
pattern used by our own nUl'sin g ser,/ice also em broidered. On top of tbeir heads in high baskets
were bunCHes of flowers of all kind s and hues. \flle
did get a photo of th em whi ch we hope will be
l'epl'oduced in this issue. On t h eir fee t ,they wear
the now familiar mosquito boots.
Tb e town itself is buiJt on a hillside, whi ch is

FLOWER

SELLERS

AT

FUNCHAL,

MADEIRA.

406

CORPS

JOURNAL

very steep in places a nd the meall s of transport are

bullock ca rt.s mounted on sk id s, mot.or ca rs and
buses.
Com ing off the sh ip after 4t days we decided that
iI walk would be most benefi cial to us and so off
we went: But after an ' hour and a half of walking
Oll pohshecl cobbles we wer e very glad to find OUl'sel ves back on the pier. SOOI1 after we were once
more on our way.
During t he voya~e w e had th e usual ship 's sports
and two carmval l1lghts when the saloon looked like
a Christmas party wit.h balloons , streamers and hats
of all shapes a nd sizes. Among the iten1 s of deck
games, the S.M. was champion at deck quoits and
Sergt. MorreIl walked ,off with the deck golf ancl so
we felt we had clone OUt' bit t.o uphold the dignity
of the Corps.
Our first view of Fl'eetown ea dy on th e morning
of the 231'd October, was a very pretty ()ne and from
the shJP one cou ld see the BalTacks perched on top
of what appeared to be, and actua lly is, a hill with
a grad ient of 1 in 3. We were, however denied
the pleasure of walking up it as a rourte~n-seater
' bus was waiting to transport us and s o we arrived
in Barracks feeling less warm than we had expected.
Th e walks here are very interesting. Trees and
shrubs {)f all. kll1ds and hu es, balla nas , mangoes,
oranges and lIm es abound togeth er with the palm,
date and bamboo and out of the town one comes
to jungle where thick grass grows about six feet
high and where a variety of .na kes-from the small
gra.ss snake t,e> the blacl,: mamba-lizard s, leopards,
monkeys , wild pigs a nd other animals are said to
abo und.
V.l e have so far onlv met one of th e species and
that wa.s on the morning of our a rrival when the
mess caterer found a nake about two feet long in
a case of beer. How ever, both were soon despatched,
nerves needed soothin g .
The climate here rarely rises above 95 0, the mean
a nnu al temperature in the shade being max. 88
and miH. 72 .
The rainfall averages 164 inches
during the season which begins about May a nd
lasts until September. Th e period December to
March is rainless.
The Barracks are being reconditioned bit by bit
but there is so much to do that it does not appear
that this will be completed before we are on our
way home again.
(,iV ho's talking about coming
hom e ?)
The office is now situated in th e old Offi cers' Mess
next door to the Commander of the Garrison. The
old xV.O's . quarters are mostly occupied by married
O.R's., ,o nly 4 of th e quarters being used by 'iV.O' s.
Ma il days are look ed forward to . eagerly for we
average 3 boats a mon t h from hom e but th ere is
a.n Air Mail in a nd out every w eek and by this
means it is po ssible to get a letter hom e and h ave
a reply in a week. The only snag is that there is
only one pilot in the colony and if he chan ces to
fall sick, as h e did on on e occasion ; t.he Air Mail
is suspended.
As it is hoped that th is will appear in th e Christm as number, we send our greetings to everyone
;)nd es pecia lly to the offices at Warley, Foots Cray
and York , and on this note we will end with the
concluding lin e of Lawrence Benyon's imm ortal
poem " .A t t he going dOWH'of th e S Ull , a.nd in the
morning, we will r ememb er th em " .
A.R.D .