by Ken Tout
The existence of the Peterborough Squadron reflects changing history. In later times Peterborough was associated with Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire, but in 1902 the soke of Peterborough was a separate administrative entity, although it was regarded as within the geographical county of Northampton and also part of the Northampton parliamentary county. The Peterborough Squadron continued within the regiment until 1914, its headquarters in the High Street of Peterborough and its horses stabled in Hodgson’s Repositories.
Changing times and high recruiting targets meant that, in contrast to the initial recruiting of farmers and smallholders in 1794, the Yeomanry had to make up numbers with some troopers who had never ridden a horse before, much less owned one. They had to be trained in the elementary tasks of riding and horse care before moving on to the intricate manoeuvres required of mounted dragoons, including the ability to school and ride a horse whilst firing a gun past the horse’s ears. Arthur Arnold and other ‘Old Yeomanry’ from South Africa were involved in instructing this novice ‘New Yeomanry’.
Boer War – Lord Roberts with Yeomanry escort. (Keep Museum, Dorset Yeo)
One of the learners was George Dixon of the Clipston Troop, C Squadron. He was deeply impressed when he was drilled by ‘SSM Kelley of Kettering, a regular soldier with a voice equalling his stature – he must have weighed twenty stone. It was said of him that, in the South African war, he had two Boers on his lance at the same time.’ Whether this bloodthirsty tale was mere old soldier’s exaggeration or not, George was in awe of the squadron sergeant major (SSM). However, he found the officers like Lieutenant Wartnaby friendly, and every Good Friday the troop members were invited to Major Cazenove’s house at Cottesbrooke ‘where we had beer, bread and cheese, after tying up our horses’.2
Training was difficult for the recruits unused to the rigours of riding a horse and George Dixon wryly commented:
We were RAW recruits in more ways than one: the military saddles were very hard, but we soon got accustomed to them.
I remember my first camp, I had not been in the saddle for so long a stretch before and I was feeling somewhat sore. The SSM came alongside me and yelled ‘Sit up, man. You’ve got the Dome of St Paul’s on your back’. I, being raw at both ends, answered back ‘Do you think so!’ I do not remember his exact answer, including words I had never heard before, but it did not sound complimentary. I was frightened to death every time I met him but I have no doubt that he forgot it immediately. I have no doubt it was his and Lieut. Wartnaby’s training which made us the very proficient troop which we became.
Dixon was soon able to laugh at other new recruits’ foibles. They had become skilled at numbering off, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on, as fast as machine-gun fire along the line, and on one occasion a new recruit was inserted into the line and the SSM gave the order ‘Number’. The numbers shot along the line … 6, 7, 8, but when number 9 was reached the new recruit yelled ‘9, 10, 11, 12’ and went on counting until the SSM’s greater shout silenced him. Surprisingly ‘SSM Kelley told him in a fatherly way where he had gone wrong’. George was pleased with his blue walking-out uniform, complete with stick and spurs. ‘All the girls thought how smart we were, at least that is what WE thought and hoped they would be thinking.’
Among fit and active young men there was also the relief after drill of ‘horsing around’. On one occasion after returning to camp, a soldier placed a bottle of beer under his bed and went to sleep. Another lad emptied the beer and replaced it with sheep dip, assuming that the soldier would notice the very different smell. However, the man, apparently very thirsty, woke, grabbed the bottle and took a big swig before anyone could move. He was quite ill for a time but recovered and no lasting harm was done. Nobody owned up to the trick and nobody bothered very much to find out: worse things happened in war.
Worcestershire enacters in red and white tunics hold carbines and sabre. (Worcs enacters)
As predicted by the newspapers, the first camp of the regiment was held at Althorp Park in June 1902 and 350 men attended. If some of the more humble troopers were impressed by their surroundings and by the imposing full-dress senior officers like Earl Spencer and Lord Annaly, they were even more overawed to know that their great parade would be inspected by none other than Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl of Kandahar, Pretoria and Waterford. Roberts has been called ‘perhaps the ablest British field commander since Wellington’ having commanded successfully in a number of countries in a long career.3 He captured Kabul in 1879 and commanded the legendary march from Kabul to Kandahar the following year, while in South Africa he had captured the capitals of both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. At the same time he was possibly the most popular and trusted senior commander of British armies of all time and was known to the troops simply as ‘Bobs’. The feelings of veterans like Arthur Arnold, who had served in South Africa, can well be imagined.
At a pre-war camp, officers now wearing uniforms appropriate to a European war. (NYA)
Until the 1902 camp the Yeomanry had been able to hold peacetime camps, which were as much leisure and sporting events as military exercises. Concepts of war had made it possible still to glory in splendid parades, wearing colourful uniforms and carrying out drills which did not always keep pace with reality. The Second Boer War had radically changed serious soldiers’ attitudes as the realities of the well-aimed bullet at long range (and Earl Spencer’s barbed wire) began to threaten the reliance on sword, sabre or lance. The 1902 camp was still a holiday adventure for most of the troopers, but for officers there were questions to be answered about the tactics and formations of the future. During the camp at Althorp an excited post corporal delivered a telegram to Lord Roberts from Lord Kitchener stating that the peace treaty to end the Second Boer War had now been signed at Vereeniging. The war had ended but its tactical implications had not.
Camps continued regularly and in 1903 Bertie Taylor, aged 9, went with two other boys into the camp and managed to secure a ‘contract’ to collect rubbish at 1d per boy per day. Unfortunately bad weather and floods terminated the camp after only nine days, so Bertie’s profit was only 9d; nevertheless, he was so thrilled that he vowed to join up when old enough and eventually became a hero of the Battle of Arras in 1917. It was not all easy fun with horses plunging around when handled without due skill and care. ‘Jockey’ Wilson was a blacksmith’s son at Brington (near Althorp) whose papers of apprenticeship had been signed by the Red Earl. He enthusiastically attended camps at Althorp and Felixstowe but was appalled when another trooper was killed at Althorp as his horse galloped full tilt into a tree.
The time for great changes was not quite upon them and training continued mainly at troop level according to the timetables convenient in the locality, with a lessening of parades during harvest, for example. When the entire regiment got together its list of camps sounded like a roll call of ancestral estates: Althorp, Milton Park, Castle Ashby, Rockingham Castle, Boughton Park.
In 1906 Lieutenant General Sir Ian Hamilton, who was later to command Yeomanry regiments at Gallipoli, inspected annual camps and was impressed. He expressed:
… his satisfaction at their high level of efficiency. The officers belong to a class fond of energetic country pursuits, they are certainly above average. The NCOs and men ride boldly and well, half of them own their own horses which are of excellent quality. Nothing could be better than the physique of all ranks … his only regret is he had no opportunity of leading such a fine body of men on active service.
Ominous last words when Yeomanry under Hamilton were to suffer heavy casualties as foot soldiers in the costly Gallipoli landings.4
In 1907, whilst Secretary of State for War, Lord Haldane pondered momentous changes to the Yeomanry, and the Northamptonshire Yeomanry camp took on a jollier note than previously. For the Rockingham Castle rendezvous a regimental band had been formed and John Peel had been selected as the marching song; it was a popular choice. Troopers particularly enjoyed bellowing out lo
udly the last verse:
Then here’s to John Peel with my heart and soul,
Come fill, fill to him another strong bowl.
It is not recorded what Master of the Hunt Lord Annaly thought of the choice, for John Peel (who was only 17 in 1794) was not a member of the Pytchley by any means, and did not wear the ‘Pink’. His dress is said to have been a drab grey coat, a choker tie, a top hat and shoes with only one spur. He would not have qualified for the Yeomanry as his horse ‘Dunny’, at 14.3 hands high, was too small for regimental requirements. However, Dunny had one qualification which some troopers might have envied: he had been trained to ‘kneel like a camel’ so that John Peel, after many strong bowls, as was his wont, might mount and dismount without accident.
It was probably not the choice of John Peel as marching song which prompted Lord Annaly’s retirement as commanding officer after long service. He was replaced at the Rockingham Castle camp by Lieutenant Colonel Eyre Coote. Future camps would be organised not only in accordance with the wishes of a new CO but also under new conditions for the entire British Army now being presented to the king and Parliament. The independent initiatives of the past 114 years would be subsumed into the grand design of the Territorial Force.
In 1906 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman’s Liberal party won a landslide victory at the general election, giving them great freedom of action. Richard Burdon Haldane, later Lord Haldane (1911), was appointed Secretary for War and held the post through to 1912, and is regarded as one of the great military reformers. Aware of the possibility of a war on the European Continent, he established the framework for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and set up the Imperial General Staff. Among his other innovations was an Advisory Committee for Aeronautics which continued until the 1970s and gave British science a basis for developing aircraft, both for war and civil use.
Haldane’s Territorial and Reserve Forces Act of 1907, becoming effective through 1908, was of major interest to the Yeomanry. At the local level this established county Yeomanry regiments, each administered by a county association under the leadership of the Lord Lieutenant. These would supply the mounted units to complement the infantry volunteer regiments. Soldiers were not compelled to serve overseas but could volunteer for overseas service, and efforts were made to persuade them to volunteer ready for any future conflict. In the case of Northamptonshire the Lord Lieutenant was the Red Earl, and in 1908 he was succeeded in that role by Charles Robert Spencer, who later became the 6th Earl.
The newly established fifty-four regiments of mounted Yeomanry were formed into fourteen brigades and the brigades were allotted to divisions so that in an emergency it would be possible to mobilise any force from a single regiment to several divisions without further reorganisation. In fact many of the mounted yeomanry formations moved according to this general plan at the outbreak of war in 1914. The entire structure of mounted Yeomanry and volunteer infantry units now came under the title of the ‘Territorial Force’ or popularly the ‘TF’ (later Territorial Army). The ‘Imperial Yeomanry’ title and ‘IY’ badges also disappeared so that the Northamptonshire Imperial Yeomanry became simply the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. Entire established regiments, as distinguished from individual squadrons, on whom a royal title had been conferred, retained that dignity – such as the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (RGH) Yeomanry.5 But the Royal Kettering Yeomanry, which existed for some time independently, did not bring their royal title into the larger county formation because the regiment had not had total continuity.
A further initiative by Haldane was the formation of the Officers’ Training Corps at universities and public schools. This was a response to the shortage of replacement officers experienced in the Second Boer War and also meant that new officers might have a better basic professional preparation than some of the well-intentioned amateurs of earlier days. At the same time the Territorial Decoration or TD was instituted for officers who served for twenty years, with continuity from the old regime to the new.
A unique unit of the Yeomanry was founded in 1907 – a women’s formation. This was the popular FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) set up by Captain Edward Charles Baker, and its task was to provide immediate nursing between the front line and the field hospitals. It was equipped at first with horse-drawn ambulances but by the outbreak of war was gradually transferring to motor ambulances.
Looking forward five years, the 1907/08 Yeomanry reform might seem to have foundered somewhat in terms of recruiting and volunteering for overseas service targets. By September 1913 the target of 312,000 Territorial Force soldiers was still a quarter short of achievement. And, of those enlisted, only about 19,000 had volunteered for overseas service. It was not until ‘when the blast of war blows in our ears’ in summer and autumn 1914 that targets were achieved and surpassed.6
This may have been of interest to the Ian Hamiltons and Eyre Cootes of the day, but for the individual Yeomen such as Arthur Arnold, continuing to serve, camp was much the same, even if a little more strictly disciplined and with somewhat more urgent tactical training. For many youths it was still a great annual adventure with added purpose. George Dixon, now less prone to raw posteriors and no longer answering back to SSMs, remembered with glee one camp catastrophe:
It was pouring with rain when we got there and we were issued with beds which we had to fill with straw, which got somewhat wet in the process. One night the horses stampeded, pulling up the lines out of the flooded ground, and scattered all over the countryside. We had quite a time chasing them on foot and rounding them up across the downs next morning. But it was all part of the fun. Nobody complained.
The Yeomanry found that they were now more popular with the general public than in the dubious times of civil disturbances such as the Swing Riots. The RGH had a camp at Winchcombe and were left in no doubt about their popularity, whilst some of the participants of the camp revealed the depth of Yeoman tradition and commitment:
The town went out of its way to welcome the Yeomen by erecting a decorated archway across the main street. The Cheltenham Chronicle had a picture of Bandmaster Hatton, aged eighty, who was attending. He is shown sitting up straight as a ramrod, attending his sixtieth training with the Regiment. Also shown mounted on his horse is Farrier Quarter Master Sergeant Spreadbury attending his twenty-fifth training. He won the prize for smartest turn-out …7
One great event united the new formations of Yeomanry, the coronation of King George V on 22 June 1911. All fifty-six Yeomanry regiments (now including two Scottish regiments) were invited, that is to say politely ordered in, and this time there was no lack of volunteers. The regiments still wore distinctive dress uniforms and, as they massed, formed a kaleidoscopic mix of colours. The only slight detriment for the traditional cavalry men was that they now paraded with rifles and bandoliers. The Northamptonshire Yeomanry detachment paraded under Maj. A.L. Renton. For the occasion the Yeomen were formed into two battalions in alphabetical order of regiments, with the two battalions lined ‘Piccadilly’, one on either side. The alphabetical order formation was used for this occasion only, with the Ayrshires first and the Wiltshires at the back. The Official Order of Precedence, developed according to date of foundation and uninterrupted existence as a regiment, would have placed the Royal Wiltshires first and the Ayrshires seventh.
If one camp was an adventure greatly to be anticipated, some Yeomen might have felt delighted to be told that they would have three camps this year. But the three camps in 1914 were, for many regiments, an ominous progress towards mobilisation for a major war. The Northamptonshire Yeomanry’s routine camp took place in June 1914 at Milton Park, Peterborough, and rumours of impending war abounded. Troopers sought the opinions of sergeants and sergeants eavesdropped on officers. In spite of all the gossip George Dixon ‘never dreamt that in five months time we should be going over to France and be together four years at war, but we got to know each other very well during those camp years’.8
It is interesting to follow Trooper G.H. Dixo
n through those last few exciting months as a typical young lad among the Territorials, and who would join the regulars to form the ‘Old Contemptibles’ of 1914 in France:
I well remember going on August Bank Holiday to watch Northamptonshire v. Leicestershire play cricket. On our way back I looked in the Chronicle & Echo window. In it was a notice saying that we were declaring war. When I arrived home in Maidwell my mobilisation papers were awaiting me. I was order to report to the Kettering Drill Hall [and the Northamptonshire Yeomanry]. I had a hard bed on the wooden floor but was destined to have it much harder in years to follow.
Whilst Dixon was watching cricket, Cyril Day (destined to be a sergeant and win the DCM) was hard at work, it being the busy season:
Aug. 5th – I commenced harvesting the wheat from Foot Hill field when my elder brother Alf came over the meadow calling me to say my mobilisation papers had come through. I went back to Mill Farm where mother had prepared lunch for me before I had to report to B Sqn of The Northamptonshire Yeomanry at my depot in Peterborough that same afternoon.9
George Dixon and Cyril Day were simple pawns in the great scheme of things planned by Haldane and which was now moving smoothly into action. For the moment the Yeomanry regiments in their allotted brigades would conform to Haldane’s original vision and would mobilise to support the regular divisions which made up the first elements of the BEF. The Northamptonshire Yeomanry was already under command of the 1st (Eastern) Mounted Brigade within the 1st Mounted Division.
It was not only Yeomen that were needed, and millions of horses were mobilised, George Dixon taking part in that process: