To the chagrin of Freddy Dalrymple Hamilton – always ‘the unlucky third’ in affairs of the heart, he felt – Rose’s choice fell on a fellow naval officer, William Spencer Leveson-Gower (who later became the fourth Earl Granville).113 He was known as Wisp, partly because of his Christian names and partly because as a child he had straw-coloured hair.
The preparations for the wedding – held barely a month after the engagement was announced – gave rise to much family hilarity at Rose’s expense. ‘We thought of getting the chorus from the Gaiety for bridesmaids, and the two waiters also from the same theatre, because they are so amusing for the reception affair afterwards!’ wrote her younger sister. ‘Also a band of the Royal Scots, and some sailors to pull the carriage to the church and back, and all sorts of such suggestions have been made!!! It would be rather amusing if it could be done!!’114 Elizabeth thought the trousseau needlessly extravagant. ‘I should never be able to use 2 dozen of everything, lingerie I mean, good heavens, I’m thankful to say no.’115 She went to buy her shoes at Pinet, one of the best shops in Bond Street – ‘the first and last time for poverty stricken me I expect, as they were demned expensive’ – over thirty shillings.116
Wisp and Rose were married on 24 May 1916. ‘The “best man” is very nice – Commander Tom Goldie RN,’ Elizabeth reported to Beryl. But evidently not that nice. ‘Jock says the best man has got to kiss the bridesmaid but he’s jolly well not going to kiss me!!’117
Not long after the wedding Elizabeth discovered that society magazines were describing Dorothy Cavendish,* Lavinia and herself as ‘coming Beauties’. ‘Did you ever hear such absolute rot in your life? DC is positively ugly, Lavinia is very pretty, but not even a Beauty, and as for me!’ News of the war preoccupied her more. Worried about friends in the navy, she commented, ‘It seems a “damn silly” thing to go and do, only part, and a small part, of our fleet to go & take on the whole Hun fleet, but its very brave.’118 She was referring to the Battle of Jutland on 31 May, in which 259 warships were deployed to fight each other – Winston Churchill called it ‘the culminating manifestation of naval force in the history of the world’. Prince Albert saw active service in the battle, aboard HMS Collingwood.
It had been German strategy since before the turn of the century to deploy a fleet so large that the British (or any other enemy) would be fatally weakened by any decisive engagement.119 At the end of May, the German High Seas Fleet succeeded in luring the British Grand Fleet out into the North Sea. Sixteen U-boats attacked British ships as they left their ports, though none of the torpedoes succeeded in striking its target. But the next afternoon, within half an hour of each other, Indefatigable and Queen Mary were both sent to the bottom of the sea, with the loss of over 2,200 men. Two hours later as visibility, made more murky by the smoke from 250 funnels and by cordite, began to fail, Admiral Hood’s flagship, Invincible, was blown up and more than a thousand men were drowned. In the dark of that night the German fleet escaped and fled back to its havens.
Despite the immense losses of ships and men, the British navy had not been defeated; but when Admiral Beatty took over the command of the Grand Fleet he concluded that British strategy should be not to engage the German navy but to keep it bottled up in its harbours. The war had to be won in the mud of Flanders.
*
ON 1 JULY 1916 the greatest British catastrophe of the war began. The British and French attempted a mass infantry attack on German lines along the north bank of the River Somme. Almost a quarter of a million shells were fired at German positions in an hour that morning; the noise of this massive barrage was so intense it could be heard on Hampstead Heath. Then the heavily laden men of eleven British divisions hauled themselves out of their trenches to advance against German positions on the north bank of the Somme.
They sang:
We beat them on the Marne,
We beat them on the Aisne,
We gave them hell at Neuve Chapelle,
And here we are again!120
The weather in northern France was glorious. As Harold Macmillan, then a captain in the Grenadier Guards, wrote to his mother, it was ‘not the weather for killing people’.121* The horror unfolding on the Somme was not quickly understood in Britain. At first even the General Staff did not grasp the scale of the tragedy. Indeed, one war correspondent wrote that 1 July was ‘on balance, a good day for England and France’.122
By nightfall that day, the army had suffered over 57,000 casualties of whom 20,000 were dead. One eyewitness, Brigadier General F. P. Crozier, recorded: ‘I glance to the right through a gap in the trees. I see the 10th Rifles plodding on and then my eyes are riveted by a sight I shall never see again. It is the 32nd Division at its best. I see rows upon rows of British soldiers lying dead, dying or wounded in No Mans Land. Here and there I see an officer urging on his followers. Occasionally I see the hands thrown up and then a body flops to the ground.’ Altogether the Battle of the Somme lasted 141 days. The horrors were almost indescribable.
While the battle was in its early stages, Elizabeth and her mother went to visit ‘dear old Pegg’ (Trooper J. Langfield Pegg of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, who had been a convalescent at Glamis in December 1915) in the New Zealand hospital at Walton on Thames. He showed them around; there were more than 350 men there, some of them just arrived from the Front, looking very pale, tired and dirty. Returning to Glamis in early August, they found a new batch of soldiers. As Elizabeth reported to Beryl, ‘They’ve most of them been in this new thing [the Somme] & a Scotch one said that only 52 men were left of his batt: by the time they’de reached the German trenches. It must have been awful.’123
*
ON SATURDAY 16 September 1916 Elizabeth’s father and David went shooting with Gavin Ralston, the Glamis factor, and some neighbours. Elizabeth and her mother remained at the Castle tending to the soldiers. In the afternoon nine of the soldiers and the Sister went to the pictures in Forfar. Fortunately some of the soldiers stayed behind. One of them, Sergeant Cowie, whom Elizabeth described as ‘remarkably good looking. Very quiet and Scotch and huge’, suddenly smelt smoke and realized that the Castle was on fire. He raised the alarm.124 Elizabeth at once took charge, telephoning for the fire brigades from both Forfar and more distant Dundee. She wrote to Beryl later that she, four soldiers and all the maids ‘rushed up and handed buckets like old Billy-o. The more water, the more smoke, we absolutly could not find the fire.’125
The whole village ran up to help, but still the fire spread and ‘the little flames were sort of creeping through the roofs … It was too awful.’ The Forfar fire brigade arrived full tilt but were ‘absolutly no use’, having only a hand pump which was quite unable to get water ninety feet up the tower. Fortunately the Dundee brigade were prompt and reached the Castle only twenty-six minutes after being called out. With their powerful engines they were able to spray water all across the roofs of the tower.
Gradually the fire was brought under control, but then a new crisis developed. The cold-water storage tank in the roof suddenly burst with the heat and its contents cascaded down, along with the water from the firemen’s hoses. Elizabeth at once saw the danger to the contents of the Castle and organized David – now back from shooting – and some of the maids to brush the water down the stairs, away from the rooms. ‘From 6.30 till about 10 o’c I stood just outside the drawing room door, sweeping down the water.’126 At the same time, she directed about thirty people into a line to remove all the pictures, valuable objects and furniture at risk and store them in dry rooms. When night fell she searched for candles so that they could continue as best they could.
‘I can’t tell you all the little incidents, but it was too dreadful, we thought the whole place would be burnt,’ Elizabeth wrote. It was indeed a close call. Next day the wind strengthened, and Captain Weir, the chief of the Dundee fire brigade, told Elizabeth that nothing would have saved the Castle had the wind been as strong the previous day. In the end only the rooms at the very top of th
e Castle were destroyed by fire, but the water damage was serious throughout. ‘It was pouring into the drawing room all night, and the Chapel is a wreck. All the pictures with huge smudges, it’s beastly.’127
Elizabeth’s crucial role was clear to all. She had been vital in organizing both the fire brigades and the rescue of the Castle’s artefacts. When Lord Strathmore thanked one of the tenants for his help, he replied, ‘It was her little Ladyship told us how to do it and kept us to it.’128 The Dundee Courier reported that she ‘was a veritable heroine in the salvage work she performed even within the fire zone’.129 According to Cynthia Asquith Elizabeth was toasted with ‘Highland Honours’ in every house and cottage for miles around. From the trenches of northern France, her brother Michael wrote, after hearing the news, ‘My darling old Buffy … The fire must have been awful! And I hear you worked like the devil himself.’130
Her mother told Beryl, ‘Elizth was wonderful – she worked without ceasing & long before I had time to think of anything inside the Castle, she had gathered up all the treasures & put them in safety – & then she directed & saved all the furniture possible. She really is a wonderful girl, poor darling she was quite worn out after & ached all over for days.’131
For the next few weeks, as the clearing, cleaning and repairs proceeded, Elizabeth spent a good deal of time with the soldiers. She told Beryl that one day she took three of them, Blencoe (‘the wag’), Randle (‘a dear ugly nice Scotch boy, rather shy’) and ‘Sergeant Shell Shock, as I call him, because I don’t know his name’, for a drive in the pony carriage. On another occasion she gave Blencoe a lift to the village and back when she saw him limping down the avenue. He told her that whenever in future he saw her name in the paper he would say, ‘Ah, I had a drive with that young lady.’132
She was playing frequent card games with the ‘boys’ – in particular Hearts, ‘a new game, in which nobody wants the Queen of Spades as she counts 13. So of course, their one aim and object was to give her to me!!’133 There was ‘wild laughter’ when she got the Queen of Spades time after time – and she discovered that they had been passing it under the table to give to her. ‘They are such babies!’134 She and her mother both loved ‘Sergeant Shell Shock’ in particular. She also thought that another soldier, Nix, was ‘angelic. I love him. You would too. ’e’s very small and merry with a golden heart as you might say.’135 She wrote a poem about Sergeant Little because Sister teased him after he put a postal order in the fire by accident:
‘His mental state’ said Sister
‘Gives me quite a fright
He talks such dreadful nonsense
Morning, noon and night.
‘He was’nt sane when first he came
It’s getting worse and worse,
And if he stays much longer,
I think that I shall curse!
‘He received a postal order
(Don’t call me a Liar)
For he looked at it one moment
Then PUT IT IN THE FIRE!!
‘Is’nt it sad, in so young a lad,
Such lunacy to see,
For he drank his cup and saucer
And forgot about the tea!!
‘Though Sergeant Little’s brain is weak
His arm is very strong,
He strafes the Bosche like anything
Here’s Luck to him life long!136*
The soldiers apparently loved this poem. ‘They really thought I had brains!’ Encouraged, she wrote another one for Private Harding, one of those who had ‘delighted’ in slipping her the Queen of Spades.
I sometimes go into the Ward
And play a game or two;
And if I get the Queen of Spades
T’is only due to you –
Private Harding!
Are you not ashamed and sorry
That cheating should go on?
Something’s wrong about the dealing
I put the blame upon –
Private Harding!137
Mr Dunn, the local photographer who had recorded the fire, came to the Castle to photograph Elizabeth and the soldiers. They all dressed up and pretended they were the Glamis Band, complete with gramophone, dinner horn, penny rattle, drum, penny whistles. ‘The noise is infernal! … They are quite mad. Harding was the Queen of Spades!! That was a great joke! Nix was “His Lordship’s Jockey” and frightfully pleased with himself.’138 Next day she had to present the prizes at the whist drive, which she was dreading. In the event it was not too bad, she thought. Harding won first prize, six handkerchiefs – and then they all danced; her partner whisked her round and round until she became quite giddy. Then reels, recitations and the evening ended with a whisky toddy at 12.30 a.m.
After breakfast the following day ten of the soldiers left and Elizabeth waved them goodbye. ‘They were all dreadfully unhappy and too darling … I do wonder if they caught their train! Because every two steps, they stopped, threw their kit bags into the air, and waved frantically, and of course all the kit bags fell down, so that took about 3 minutes to pick them all up. They all enjoyed themselves frightfully last night.’139
She remained in touch with many of them – Nix, ‘the angelic little one’, wrote to her from Hull. Pegg wrote to tell her that he had won the Distinguished Conduct Medal and was going back to New Zealand. Ernest Pearce wrote to say that he had been made a lance sergeant. Some of those who were left at Glamis celebrated Hallowe’en. ‘They all dressed up and got married. It was very profane and most amusing.’140
More serious matters were on her mind because she was about to be confirmed. The Bishop was coming to stay for the weekend,* she wrote to Beryl, and added, ‘’elp!’ She was being prepared for confirmation by Mr Tuke, the rector of St John’s Episcopal Church in Forfar. She sent Beryl a sketch of her confirmation dress – white crêpe de Chine trimmed with white fur, and with buttons down one side. She thought it would be ‘quite useful for dancing classes and things afterwards’.141
The confirmation took place on Sunday 5 November 1916. Instead of a private ceremony in the chapel at home – ‘that’s the one thing I will not have. I’m quite determined. I know exactly what it would be. Rows of gaping soldiers and domestics,’ she declared firmly – she elected to be confirmed at St John’s in Forfar.142 She and the other girls wore white veils above their white dresses. Margaret Cadenhead, who was also being confirmed, said, ‘she had her hair tied back with a bow. Lovely hair and lovely eyes, beautiful blue eyes.’143 Afterwards Elizabeth and her mother returned to the south.
In February 1917 she had to take to her bed for about ten days suffering from a bronchial complaint. She followed the war news and rumours. ‘The news is really quite cheerful isn’t it? Germany howling for peace (silently so far), and we are catching their mouldy subs. This is hush news, two of their biggest and newest surrendered (tho its probably untrue) minus their officers. They’d shot them all. Pip pip. Hurrah to heaven.’144
She remained in the south – at St Paul’s Walden and St James’s Square, where her mother had undertaken another patriotic duty: entertaining overseas officers. This sometimes took the form of thés dansants, which Elizabeth attended. Many of the guests were Australian officers. ‘Thursday is our Australian day. At least every day is that now, we are simply inundated with them!’ she wrote to Beryl. ‘Do come and join the gory throng that goes fox trotting along. You wear a hat & your best dress I believe at these sort of things! The men are very nice and quite RESPECTABLE, so your Mother wont mind letting flighty flirtatious Beryl come & dance.’145 Beryl accepted the invitation, and they both clearly enjoyed themselves. ‘Wasn’t it too too funny? I was never so much amused in my life!! One man was too horrible for words, he was disgusting, & yet even he amused me. The sailor was very nice. Did you dance with him? … And did you dance with Captain Phillips in plain clothes? He is so nice, he’s often been here for lunch and dances simply divinely.’146
The next week, that same Captain Phillips came to tea with her at St James�
�s Square, ‘tete a tete!! Rather funny. He’s such a nice person, & we talked solidly in the dark from 5 till 7.15!! He’s an excellent talker, & told me stories. Its nice talking to an intelligent person occasionally … Captain P asked me if I was interested in letters from the front?’147 This was followed by several rows of question marks.
Back at Glamis for a snow-covered Easter 1917, she found there were only seven soldiers at the Castle. With George Robey rattling away on the gramophone, she played cards with them and, as always, she won their hearts. One of them wrote presciently in her autograph book,
May the owner of this book be
Hung, Drawn, and Quartered.
‘Yes’.
Hung in Diamonds, Drawn in a Coach and Four and
Quartered in the Best House in the Land.148
Behind the fun, the war. By now Germany and Britain were each determined to starve the other out by means of naval blockades. The French had suffered more than 3,350,000 casualties and the British over a million. The Germans had lost nearly two and a half million and were still fighting their enemies on both Eastern and Western Fronts. Food riots in Germany were increasing, infant mortality was growing fast. The German General Staff decided to resort to unrestricted submarine warfare – ships of neutral nations, including the United States, were now targeted. The US Congress responded by voting for war. A million American men were under training, but the Germans gambled that they could destroy Britain and France before the US army could be deployed in Europe.149
Attitudes became more intransigent. In April 1917 Albert Einstein wrote from Berlin to a friend in Holland of the way in which nationalism had altered the young scientists and academics he knew. ‘I am convinced that we are dealing with a kind of epidemic of the mind. I cannot otherwise comprehend how men who are thoroughly decent in their personal conduct can adopt such utterly antithetical views on general affairs. It can be compared with developments at the time of the martyrs, the Crusades and the witch burnings.’150
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