Vol.

No. 8

THE

Royal Army Pay Corps

Journal

CHRISTMAS, 1932

THE

RO YAL

ARMY

P AY

COR PS

The Royal Army Pay Corps Journal

J OURNAL

By Official Appointment

,LICHFIELD

T o the R.A.P.C. O fficers' Club

T HE SWAN

H OTE L

T elep hone 93

THE

Best Hand Framed Sweaters (Trimmed)

Medium Weight .... .. ... .. .......... 33 / 6
Light Weights . . ....... . ..... from 19 / 6

GEORGE

HOTEL

Best Hand Framed Wool Scarves

Medium Weight . . ....... . ........ ... 16/ 6
Light Weight ... . . .. . .. . . . ........... 12/ 6
R.A. P .C . Officers Club Blazers (mad e
to m easure) . ......... .. ..... . 57 / 6

T elephone
69 70
.lit either.

Regimental Colour s
Our special Pure Dye Reppe Silk
Ties .... . . . . .. .. . .... .. ........ . .. 5 / 6
Our Uncreasable Weave Silk Ties 6 / 6
Pure Dye Reppe Silk Squares,
32 inch . .... .. ........ .. . . ...... 21 / -

0/ the abo'lle

Hotels,

'IIi3i/or3 may be assured 0/ the

utmost comfort & convenience,

F ull P rice List on App lication.

All goods ~re subject to 10 per ce nt .
C~s h Discollnt to members of t he Officers'
Cluh .

0/ the

best 0/ catering and 0/

attentive, willing & courteous
seroice.

eWll1

~MT

I'M.'

B ALL ROOM . BILLIARDS . GA R AGE

O L D W OJU.V COMFORT & H OSPITALITY

stabcl.

1898

39, Panton St ., Haymarket, London s.w . t

Oll iy Address

The Royal Army Pay Corps Journal

V ol. 1.

No. 8.

MANY liAPPY R[TURNS

Christmas. 1932
In om next issue we hope to be able to
introduce certain changes which will make
the Journal more attractive in many ways
wbile keeping its price at the same modest
figure. During the past two years we have
had to curb our desire to spend our full
income in order to obtain a small reserve
fund. Having ach ieved this object our
policy for the futu re is to enlarge and
improve each issu e. We hope th erefore that
all our readers will assist us in making our
J ou rnal second to none among Ollr military
contemporari es.

CONTENTS
Editorial Notes
Corps Sports N e\\'s
The L ondon Gazette
Old Comrades Associati on-Commit tee Notes
- Dinner 111 Egypt
Short Story-The Day of t he Sortie
Our Chess Palle
Obituary
"Life on th e Rock"
Promotions and A[)pointments
K otes on t he History of AI-my Pay
(concluded) by Lt. -Col. E, En ever T odd, Cl.B.E.
Corps Notes and Nell'S

Advert isements- 312a- 312d,

/1

Cover pp.

(ii), (iii) , and (iv) .

SUPPORT THOSE FIRMS WHO 'SUPPORT US.

28 9
29 0 - 29 1
29 1
29 1 - 29 2
29 2
293- 2 97
29 8
299
300-3 0 7
308

30 9-3 1 4
3 1 5- 33.1

80 , Pa ll l\1all , London, S.W.I.

We would draw the attention of all ou r

readers t o the a rrangemen ts made for binding their copies cif Volume One, wh ich
appear elsewhere in th is issue.

December, 1932.
W ith the p ublication of this issue \\'e
cOllclude our first volume, During these
two years of its existence t~le Journal! in
consequence of the support It has receIved
from all ranks, has established itself as a
medium of communication between the
many scattered stations of the Corps.

We take this opportunity of wishing all

our readers--at home and abroad-a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
289

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AR iY

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

Corps Sports Notes

broke a,,ay down the left wing, p rimarily
due to the backs keeping too far up the
field.
They scored and this naturall y
rallied them and they pressed us hard for
the next twenty minutes and added t,,o
more goals to their score. It ,,as obvious
during this half that Endacott \ras playin g
under d ifficulties o,ring to his not being
in his normal position. In the interval
three changes ,,ere made-Haggar 1 to
inside left, Endacott to Tight h alf and Burnett to left back. This alteration wo rk ed
,r ond ers Ifor it en abled the fOr\\'ard line to
get going ,,ithout in any way ,,'eakening
the defence and the latter found its burden
considerably lightened.
Soon after th e
commencement of the second half, Haggard
rushed the ball up the left win g and ,,ith
a
back
stick
passed
to
Mard en
,,ho scored .
nfortunatelv ,,e failed to
repeat the performance and our opponents
after a ding-dong scrap succeeded in addin g
another goa l t o their score .
So ended our first attempt at the Army
Hockey Tournament. Alth ough ,,e lost,
the standaTd of play a ugurs ,,'ell ,for th e
future, for " th e more we play togeth er the
bette r ,,'e sha ll be,"

For the first time in the history of the

Corps ,,e entered a team to compete in th e
Ar11IY Hockey Tournament. Hockey in
the Corps is yet in its infancy and \\'e ,,ere
defeated in the first round by the Mi litary
College of Science, by four goals to one.
Next year, ,,e hope, after further experience, to be able to report better prog ress ill
th e T ournament, and to see many more
supporters at the game for there is nothing
'rhi ch gives more help to a team than a
crO\rd of hearty supporters.
A report of this match appears below.
A revie\\ of the h ockey season, \\ith results
of other matches ,,ill appear ill our next
Issue.

ARMY HOCKEY TOURNAMENT.

O n Wednesday, 16th Tovel11ber, we ,,"ere
draml against th e Military Colleg e of
Science at Woo]"'ich, in the 1st Rounel of
the Arm\' Hockev Tournament.
The C~rps is ai]o,,ed to enter one team
in th e Tournament, a nd \\hen \\'e h eard
,,hich team ,,'e had to play \re \rere in
some trepidation, for they had already
beaten us 9-1 and \\'e gathered they had not
then turned out the best team against us.
However ou r ,fears were not justified, as
,,ill be seen,.
Text year ,,e hope to dra"
further afield for our team than ,,e did
th~ , but for obvious reasons ,,e can on l\'
do this If \\'e can get pl a~'ers " 'ho ar~
playing regularly. One must he in tip-top
condition for a game of this nature and
able to go all out till the bitter end, and
further it is only by constant practice that
one is enabled t o control the ball at will.
The team ,,e fielded was Sgt. J . J . Hellir
(Hounslo,r), Capt. J. L. Oli veI' (Eastem
C011Imand ) . Capt. G. H aggard (London),
Sgt. E. Burnet (.l!astern Command),
L / Sgt. R. Smith (London), Sgt. E, T.
Taylor (Aldersh ot ), Capt. A. L. Dunnill
(Eastern Command), Capt . R. S . ElIicott
(Barn et) , Lieut. H. M . T. Marden (Wool,,"ich ) , Sgt . C. Endacott (Woking), rajor
A . A. Cockburn (Hounslo",,).
The game commenced briskly and ,for
the first ten minutes was mostly in the
area of the M.C. of S. twenty -five, but
\Ye failed to score and presently the College

R.A.P.C. GOLFING SOCIETY.

Autumn Meeting, 1932.
The Autumn Meeting \\'as held at
Fukell Golf Club on October 4th and ,\"as
the most successful au tumn meeting so far
held. There was a record a ttendance of
twenty-one and the ,,eather cou ld not have
been better.
The follo wing meml ers competed: Brigadier A . I. Ml1sson, Lt .-Colonels,
Genge-Andrews, Rogers and Brickman,
Majors, Skinner, Cockburn, Holmes and
Pocock, Capts., Vint, J . C. Woods, Ingpen ,
Garratt, Sayers, Jam.es, Edinger, Bm-lo\l,
Buck, Haggard a nd Haynes, Lieuts., Thies
and Holman.
Bogey Singles under handicap ,,'ere
played in the morning.
Winner of the Red Cross Trophy and
Sweep.
rst
Capt. P. H aynes
2 up
2nd
Capt. A. E. Barlo\\'
4 dO\\"ll
31'(1
Lt.-Col. T. L. Rogers
5 down
2 90

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CO RPS

J OURNAL

From 'The London Gazette'

Winner of S,,eep for best 2nd nine h oles

in sin g les Cart. P. Hay nes, 5 up . Bogey
Foursomes un der handicap ,,'ere played in
the afternoon .
Winners of the Young Prizes and Sweep.
. Brigadier A. I. lVfusson and Cal t. R . L.
L . Ingpen, 4 do\\n, Run ners-u p-Capt.
Vint and Lt .Thies, Capt. Woods and Capt.
Sa,,yers, Col. Rogers and Capt James tied
,,ith 6 cl o \\n. The prizes being a,,arcled
to Capt. Vint and Lt. Thies, the longest
Handica ps .
Brigadier Musson very kindly presented
the prize.
Handicaps .
Th.e foll o \\"ing rev isions of Hand icaps
are notified:Major Cockburn
20 to T S
Ca pt. .J\1i 11 i ng
1.) t o 10
Ca l t. ln g pen
18 to 16
Capt. HaYlles
30 to 22
Capt. Meek
8 to 6
Capt . Ca natt
16 to 14
Ca pt. Edinger
36 to 32
Capt. J. G . Woods
10 to 12
Half Yearly Spoon Competition.
Members abroad aTe again remind ed of
the Bog ~y Competition under Handicap
" 'hich is running throughout the yea r in
t,,o p riods ending Jun e 30th a nd December 31St. There is no limit to th e number
of carc1:-; " 'hi ch may be entered.
The competition is open to members at
hom e a nd abroad.

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS.

Th e following promoti'ons are ma,l e (Jul yl);Maj or' (A ssl. Pa y ml'.) J. F. Linds,\y to be BreYet
Li ellL. -Co l.
Ca pt. and P"ymr. F. A. Woods to be Brevet
Maj'vr.
Ca pt. (A sst. Paymr. ) C. Grim shaw. v.D.E. . to ue
Brevet Maj ol.
Maj or' and Sta ff P aymr. A . W. M. C. Skinner to.
[,3 Li eut. -Colonel (O ctober 1) .
Maj or a nd Sta ff P ay mr. J . G. MacC l'lndl e to he
Li eut.-Colonel (Oct obel' 9).
. Iajor a nd B t. Li.e ut. -Col. (Asst . Pa y n1l'. ) J. F .
Lurdsay haVlng attarned th e age limit for retirement
ret ires '.:>11 ret. pay (October 17) .
Sta ff Sergeant' Maj ol' G. R oss to be Ljeut. (Asst.
Pay mr.) (Cictol,er' 17) .
C"pt. J. L. OliveI' fr om Somerset L.T. to be Cap t m n and Pa y mr. (N ol'emuer 15) wi t h se ni ori ly
Nuyember 15, 1930.
.
Lt. H.
Co Lt ier fr om R.A. t o be Lieut. and
Payn1i'. (Nov ember 24, 1930) and la be temp. Capt.
a nd P a vmr. (N\) l' ember 24. 1931).
Lt. ( Te n~o. C"P. t.) H,. H . Co Lti er to he Capt. a nd
P ay mr. ( 'oyeml1er 24) with .eni ol'ity N oveml'61'
24, 1930.
Li eut.. q. H agga rd . Th e Qu een' s R egt. (Pavm r.
on pro uatr on ) to be t em p. apt. (K ovem bel' a).

p.

REGULAR ARMY RESERVE OF OFFICERS.

Co l~

and. Chief P aym as ter R, E. Da uil en.v,

C. B.E. , ha\"ln g attalll ecl th e age limit of li'a hili ty
to _r'ec"lI , ceases t'V uelong tu th e Rf'serve o f Dill 'er'S
U'i 0 'em bel' 9).
OLD

COMRADES ASSOCIATION
COMMITTEE NOTES.

T he Committee o f Ma nagement held their usual

monthly meetrn gs at ao. Pall M,r11. S.W.I. , a nd di spo. eJ of fom' appli cati ons for as ista nce' in t w,).
case ,is istan ce wa gra nt-ed. aud the ot hel' t wo
cases (non -menlb ers ) were refel'l'ed to other fund s.
fol' fa vuum!.J le consideration.
Lt h a d !.Jeen de c id e~1 lo plllc hase. . ationa,l Sa vin i('
Ce rt rfi cates to th e n' mln <ll valu e of 1CO ; but thi s
\\"<1 ' 1l0t . possible as th e conditiollR of purch ase by
As 'oc ratLOlls had l,een altel'ed , so i~ was decid ed to
purchase Convel'si on LOPtl to th e nomin a l va lue of
100 . Othe!' items o f mill'vr imporlance were sa.tis fa.ct ol'il y settled ..
The Gener'al Committee met at ao, Pall Mall ,
S.W.l. , on Stir Oct obe r, 1932, Ml'. W. Woodland
being in (h e chair. Other members pl'esent wel'e
Mess rs . R. O. B. Sha l' p. J.P. , J. Thurp:ood, Lieut.
J. Feehally, S.S.M. P. Plowman. S.Q.M.Sergt. F. V.
l\[undy , S.Q.M.Sergt. R. T. Vallintin e, Sergt. T .
F. PO~l ~1. Sel'!~~. A. C. Tribble, Lieut. Col. H. Duesbul'Y, Hony. ] reas .. and S.S.l\J. E. J . W . Browne.
Captain James having l'esigned the position of
H'.:> norary Tl'easme r on pos ting lo Ma lta , the duties
\\"ere tak en over' by Lieut. Col. Dllesbury , who reported a ll cOl'rect 10 the Management Committee.
Th e ha irm an on behalf of the Committee we lcomed
Col. Dues uury , and expl'essed their pleasul'e at having hi$ servi ces on th e Committee.

HOCKEY FIXTURES.
Th e follo,,ing additions and amendments
have been made to the fixture list which
was notified in the A utumn I ssue:30th November.
For 1st Tng. Bde. R .A. subst itute
Record and Pay Office, H ounslo,,
7th December.
Depot R.A.M.C. at Crookham.
14th December.
St. Mary's College at Strawberry Hill.
4 th J anuary,
2nd Trn g . Bde. R.A. at Wool\\'ich.
1st February.
St. Ma ry's College cancelled.
1st March .
Trng-. Bn. R.A.S.C. at Aldershot.
29th March.
Ist Trng. Bde. R.A. a t Woolwich.
5th April.
War nffic.~ O\\'ls a t Ashford.
29 1

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J ODR N AL

ably pl'Opose.1 by Lt.-Col. E. W . Ha rt.. Cox, O.B .E.,

an d vel'Y sui ta bly replied to by our o ffi ce represen ta t ive. S.Q.M .S. (Dona l' ) Syme.
To desc ribe l he eveni ng in detai l wo uld be far
too lengt hy; suffi ce to sa y that iL was in full swin O'
in t he ea rly hours 'U [ th e 19t h. Th e thanks of a O
who a ttend ed we re heartily acco rd ed to Colonel
R il ey who fi rst moot ed t he id ea, S. Q.M.S. Syme
who t hen " nu r sed " it, a nd to S.S.IYl, Ten; pie:
S. S.M. Bll rnes and S.QJvl.S . 'T. W ood ford who ill
co njun cLion wi t h S.Q. M.S. Syme, ul'ought' th e idea
to such a ucces fu l co ncl usion.
'T he followi ng was th e progrnmme of t he runce l'(, :, 1. ~!a.nofo l' te , ~e l ec t i on : Sel'gl. S. G. J ones; 2.
Song :
'1I'Va na, Mr. Meli or : 3. HUm Olll'Ous : 111 1'.
T homas : 4. So ng : "Selected." Major F . C.
R obin ; 5. Ventril oqui al Sketch : L t.-Co l. E. W .
H a rt -Cox, O.B .E.
(Ass isted b v
bis fri end
" Angelina"); 6. At th e Pia no : Mr. W allis 7.
D ue t wilh ''O KE. ' : Me sI's . Bag uley a n.l SimIm:lIlds; 8. So ng : " Dow n th e Ya le," Sergt. Carter ;
Hum o r~ u .. ln~~ rlu cl e : M r . Bu IlJer:i< ; 10. Song :
FrIend 0 1I l me, S/ Sgt. R ouel't ; 11. ,Pian oforte

It was dedded to hold the next annual general

m eet ing ami - dinner at H a lTods. K lu ghts bl'idge, 'U n
28th April, 1933, the meeting to be held at Q Hm .
and th e dinner to corn mence at 7.30 p .In. , the cost
to be 7/-.
The quest ion of exten sion of membership to th e
R .A.P.C. Supplement a l'y Rese rve was ordered to
be place:! on t he agenda [ 0 1' t he Genera l Meeti ng.
The question of empklym ent was discu sed let ter s from W a r Office, etc., were rea d a nd di'scussed,
a nd it \\'as decided to contin ue th e c&mpaign for
the employment of ex-mem ber of th e Corps in Army
P ay Offices .
The Hony . Treas. reported d on ati on~ o f 50 from
N ortb el'll w mm a nd per Colonel Lang , a nd 10 from
Aldershot per Co lonel 1I lackenzie. T he COmm ittee
d esire to place on record th eir apprecia l ion t o all
t ho e who helped to obtain such a handsome a ddi t ion to 'U ur fund s.
Th e Committee report with deep reg ret the death s
-o f Capt. R. J . HWllphries a t St roud , Gloucester,
a nd M r . ' 'V. T hom e (ex-S.Q.M.Sergt.) at W ad ey.
E. J . 'vV. BROW E ,
H on o ra ry S ec1e{m'y .

?;

O.C .A. DINNER IN EGYPT_

Selectio n : Sel'gt . S. .G . J ones;\ 12. Song " 'The

Desert So ng ," fr . Mell ol' ; 13. H Ul11ourous : Mr.
Bul beck : 14. Song " Selected ," Sergt. Cartel' ;
15. Duet with " lTKE. " : Mess rs. Bagu ley an d Simmonds ;; 16. Song: " Selected ." Major F . C.
Rlvbins; 17. H umoul'o us : Mr. T homas; 18. Son g :
"Selected , " S j Sgt . R obert s ; 19. .A t th e P iall O:
Mr. W a llis; 20. Song : " Aid Ree kie." S.Q.M .S. R..
Re nn ie. GOD S.<\ VE 'THE K 11\G .

On t he 18t ll N<;lvember, at the H eliop'olis H ouse

H otel, the Corps 1.11 E gypt held i t~ first an nua l din ner of t he Old Conwacl es. Ass'vcia ('io n. Was it successful '! Don't ask ! Gee whi'z I I To call the d in!ler a s ~ ccess ful a ff'1ir is to put it very m il dJy
m deed , SlL1 ce, 111 arrang'll1 g an " old coml'. des" dinner In a country where everyone almost da,ily meets
everyone else, t he very pro ba bility of i ~ beillg successful i~ fraught with douM .
No less a number th an [ol'ty-eight old C'vml'a des
~at down to a n extremely delectab le din ner whi" i1
was af,ter ward s. fo ll owed by. a wen o rgan i ~ed COIl cert. f he Splrl t th at prevaIled very soon di spelled
a ll doubts . and they who attended as cl;ti'cs as well
.as comrades frankly aslm it ted th a t t he n-atherin g
was " the best yet" so far as Egypt was c~ll cel'll ed
and beyond all expect ati'vll.
. ,
Th e. toasts. were qui ckl y got over, t hat of .H .M.
'The Ktn g.' bew g proposed by the Chai rman, Colonel
H . G. R lley (S .S. M. B. J . ~ . Tem ple performin g
~h e o ffi ce of toastm aster) whll st the only remainrng toast , that o f th e Old Comrad es .A ss'vciation, was

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

Th e Edi tors ac knowledge with many than ks receipt of t he f'U ll owi ng J ournals :" R .A.M.O. News and Ga zette." Oct . and Jov.
" Th e W ire." Oct. , Nov. and Dec.
" T he Sa ppe r," Oct ., Nov.
" 'The Gnnn er," Nov. and Xm as.
" R.A.O.C. Gaze tte," Oct. a ll d ~O\ .
" The Wasp," Sept.
" T he Accou ntant " - (F ive copie$) .
" The A.E .C. Jo urna l," Octobel'.
" R .lI .V. C. J ournal," No veJnbel.

29 2

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COM PLETE SHORT STORY.

The ,Day of the Sortie

By
C. G. LEAROYD.

\\ife an d a sma ll boy of fo ur woul d be \\'aitin g for him . Any th ought of relief he kn ew
to be absolutely o ut of th e question. Th e
Government of Indi a was powerful , but
slmy in action . Next year, or th e year
aft er, th ey woul d sen d u p a puniti ve ex pedition, push th e Pa th a ns back a li ttle
fm th er , rebuil d J ond ola an d provision it so
that th is sort olf thin g sh ould not occur
aga1l1 .
Mea l1\\'hil e Maitl and had to face some
very stern rea lities.
It was , of course ,
CJ u:te absurd fOT 16 men to di e of sta rvation
\\' hen th ere \\'as enoug h food to last four or
five men throug h the \\inter. H e resolved
th erefore to \ya it three weeks in case t he
\\'eat her shoul d cha nge (whic h hum orously enoug h , \\'o uld b ring him to th e date
\\h en h e h ad been wa rned officially to expect th e advent df sn ow) , ancl then sall y
forth to di slodge th e h olders of the pass or
perish ' in th e attempt. The odds \\'ere
h eavily on th e latter. He would leave th e
S uba da r beh ind with four men . Jondola
could be easily defended, and th ey would
bl! relieved \\'hen th e snows melted in ea rly
summer. Th e men must draw lots to determin e \\'h o rema ined .
Durin g these th ree weeks Nfai tlan d
stren g th ened th e defences of th e fort ; made
out his return s of stores and ammuuition
in tripli ca te; and \\Tote hi s report.
In th e evenings he wrote to his wife,
ex p ressing a ll his thoug hts a nd h opes for
her and th e boy , wh o \\'ould, wh en h e
g re\\' np , "com e to th e regiment. " This
journal \\'as written in a schoolboy'S copybook , ca refull y sealed dO\\'n in a n envelope,
a nd handed to Budri Na r for personal delivery .
The last entry was head ed : " The 23 rd
Day-THE DAY OF THE SO RTIE . It
is t\\o hours before dawn and in ten minutes we start- - . " Then b ad foIlO\\'ed
messages too intim a te for eyes oth er th an
those for \\'hich th ey were intended .
Budri ' ar held Jondola "1hrollgl;out th e
winter. Th e nature of the country favoured
t It e defender, and he was not seriously

Captain Di gby Maitland was kilJ.ed by a

fr ea k of th e \\'eather , assisted in all probabil ity by a few b ull ets. N ever before
had th e sn o\\'s been known to come so
earl y on th ose n orth-west In dian hills, n or
ha ye they sin ce- and tha t was fi fty years
ag o.
Ca ug ht\\'bile engaged in a reconn oitring
ex pedition with a G urkha officer a nd
t wenty men , h e had bee n forced to fall
back on the half-form ed fort of Jonclola ,
a two-room ed shanty with a loopb oled ston e
\\'a ll al'oun d it. H e bad only t\\o month s'
suppli es an d very little fuel. T he on e po sible pass \\'as domin ated by fana ti ca l hillmen , who firml y believed th a t th eir ch a nces
of happin ess in th e n ext \\'o rld \"ere in
direct proportion to the number of unbeli evers th ey killed in this, but \\'ere quite
astute enough to reali se th a t if t he SI1 0 \\' S
h eld they \\'oul d be able to p revent th ese
ill truders If rom gettin g back .
T wice h ad Captain I\laitla nd reconnoitrecl
cl O W11 th e pass , a painfully ta rd y p rocess
because of th e soft sno\\', only to be m et
\\'ith a \\'ell-directed fire a long \\'ay before
h e got to th e crucial passage in th e g orge .
Th e second time had been a t ni g ht, a
fl ounderi ng affair \\'hich had fou n d the
en emy awa ke a nd alert. Each tim e he had
had casualti es, losin g in all seven men .
H ad th ere been 11 0 snow , he could h ave
got back by one of tbe oth er passes, which
\\'ere 110 \ \ ' drifts of twenty feet or more , or
tri ed to stalk round a n d cut off hi s adversa ries, \\' ho , ra th er tha n tak e th e risk of
th eir bod ies fall ing into the ha nds of th e
unfaithful, \\'ould have with dTa\\'l1 , So
th ere was no alterna tive but to retire to
J on dola and \\'atch th e S 11 0 \\' getting deeper
an d deepe r. Even S uba da r Budri Na r, a n
experienced offic er, born and bred in th e
mountains, could ma ke 11 0 suggesti ons.
O nce th e stH) ca me <,>ut at mid- day for a
bri ef half-h our , and Maitland seized the
occasion to he liograpp ~ntin ~lOusly . "All
\\'elr, don ' t , \'orry ," in th e h ope tha t it
mi g ht be picked up down the valley and
passed back to headqnarters, \\'h ere a youn g
293

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a ttacked ,
In the early summer he \\'as
relieved, and later a detachment ,of his 0\\' 11
regiment erected a caim to the memory of
Captain Digby Maitland and the men \\'h o
fell with him, In the mess, \\'here he Jlad
h een affectionately knO\\'I1 as "Olc1 ,Dig ,"
it \\'as felt that his conduct \\'as in accorda nce \\'ith the tradition of the Gurkha regiments , His son eventually became Colonel
of the father's regiment, and h is most
valued possession \\'as a COl y -book, goin g
yello\\' at the edges,

CORPS

J OURNAL

THE

a show a:fter\\'ards, He found hi s way to

the doctor's chambers, O utside th ey lo~k ecl
dingy and repellent.
Half an hour later he \\'as out aga in with
a \\'hite face, There ,w as somethillg \\'rong,
Insurance was , 011t of the question , Yes,
he had been getting thinner lately, but
h adn't thoug ht anything about it. He \\'as
on his \\'ay n ow to see a distin g uish ed
physician, The doctor had run g- u p a nd
made a n appointment for him , H e h ad
dedined to tell h im \\'hat \\'as th e matter:
"Go and see Sir Arthur P erks; he's th e
best man in L ondon at thi s sort of thin g."
S ir Arthur received him " 'ith kin (11)"
olcl-\l'orlcl courtesy and examined him \I'ith
meticulous care,
Are your people here?"
he asked at
last.
" 1-0, Sir , My people are in, Ill dia; a ncl,
in any case, I don't \\'a nt th em to kn o\\'
about this."
" But h ave yo u no rel a ti ons jJl this
coulltry?"
"Excuse me, sir , but I am going to keep
thi s to myself as far as possible, Please
tell me th e truth."
After a pa use Sir Arthnr sa id s lowly:
'-Well, it' s about as serious as it co nkl be."
"Does that mea n I am going to die?"
"Yours is an exceedIngly rare di sease and
th ere is no recorded case of recover y."
" H o\\' long \\'i11 it tak e, mOJltl~s or
years?"
"lVlonths.' '
"Thank you very much, si r. H o\\' much
do I owe you ?"
The physician \\'aved th e question aside,
alld th e robes of office seemed to fall from
him,
"Come an d let me introduce you to my
wife, boy, Bring your traps rou nd h ere
allc1make this your home for as long as you
like, Th en yo u can cable your people a nd
make arrallgemen~s." He laid his hand on
young Di g 's shoulder, and looked towa rds
the door so as not t.o face him .
"Thanks a\\'full y, sir.
You a re very
kind, but I don't thi11k I will."

Th e Colonel sal\' to it that "Old Dig"

,,'as not forgotten by his g randson , Wh en
youn g Dig \\'as six he \\'as \\'ell-versed in
all the details of th e s tory as they had
been told him so frequ e ntl~' by his fa ther.
At ni g h t in bed he would croon N epali
songs, epics full of exaggeration a nd embellishment, concernin g the valorous (leed
of his now almost lege nda l-y g ra ndsire, He
"'Cl", as much a Gurkha in speech and \\'ays
as he was English, and when he \\'as sent
home to school to h ave every sh red of what
appeared un-Eng lish torn from him, he still
kept this legend as a priv.ate and cherished
background,
On his !fourteenth birthday his father se nt
hil11 a pocket-book with ~ mica facing,
enclosin g a photograph of the cairn at
J ondola , Under it he had \\Titten one line
from "Clifton Chapel":
"The fron~ie r-gra7J e is fa?' Q1I1ay-"

This \\'as carried in hi s breast pocket all

through the yea rs of his public school life
and never shown to a soul; an inspiration
in moments of stress and a p romi se of
g lorious and exciting times to come,
When young Dig had been a yea r at th e
Royal l\'Iilitary College a relative gave h im
as a t\\'enty-first birthday present th e first
premi 11111 Cif a life insurance policy, It \\'as
very h-ind of him, and he supposed that in
the remote future it \\'ould come in useful
hut at present it was a bit of a nuisance:
He had to fill up some dreary form s, and
~\' aste a morning of his all too brief holiday
111 Lond on on a medica l examination,
It wa~ a bright April morning, and he
wondered how long this affair 'would take ,
Would he he in time to call for Ph yIlis
a nd tak.e h:r oU,t t9 1(~lc,h ? He I was pusy
to-day , HIS 'tailor tfllS afternoon tea at :
R,obso,l~s, ill t~e eveniJig h ~ \~'as (\il~ing "\I,itl]
hiS fnend Gough, and they \\'ere going to

T\\'o clays later he \"as in a train, bonnd

for COTnwa11. Everything \\'as settled up;
the authoritie;; ,at Salld!lUr~t had been nqtifled that he \\'o\1!i(ij not be , retl,.HIl,illg and
the necessary mec)ical certificates sen.t, I;Iis
great friend, Gough,:, who ,,'as also of a

294

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Gnrkha tradition, had been let into the

secre t and 'was goin g to lend hiJ?l R,M ,C; ,
stati oner y so that he could \\Tlte t?, hiS
people in India \\'ithout raising Sl1SPlCIOll,
N 0\\1 he was 011 his \\'ay to the \\'est
country to eke out his "month" in th e
littl e cottage where he had spent ,a happy
h olida y \\'ith his parents the la st tnne th ey
\\ ere h ome on leave,
A ll V thought of L ondon or th ea tres or
dances \\'as repellent to him , He wa nted
to be ou t in the ope n, alone,
The cottage \\'as on a cliff, looki.n g Ollt
over th e A tlantic, Steps, cut in th e rock,
l ed clo\\'n to the beach \\'bicb, at this time
of the yea r after the \I'esterly gales, was
deep in seaweed, The .village la ~ h alf a
mil e inlalld and the rat!l\'ay statIOn five
mil es beyond ,
"
A cranky old ca ~' deposited han a nd h lS
lu ggage at the g:!te , and \\'el1t rattling
a\l'a\', He \\'as al0ne a t last, an d could
think, The ('otta,ge had been got ready
for him, It was full of h appy memories,
but looked rather desolate,
He got his kit in sid e and opened all the
doors and \\'indo\\'s, Th en he stroll ed out
in~o th e garden, which ,,'as a n ove r g r ~\\'n
tangle of fl owers and weeds, enclosed wIthill fou r walls of loose stone,
Suddenly and splendidly it struck him,
a lm ost with the force a f in spired revelati on,
th a t thi s must be like th e littl e fort of
J ondol a; and that he \I'as like "Old Dig"
in this, at any rate , tha t he \I'as doomed
by a rare stroke of misfortune ,
Th e tho ught cast a glam our over th e
whole sordid business, He \\'alked round
the wa ll s whistling , He looked over the
sea, which lay like a mirror under the
settin g sun , and saw only the, sno\\'-covered
hills and v;lst spaces bet\\'een them; east\\'ard, \\'here the coast road clipped ~lJland,
he pictured the valley and gorge wh,lch led
back to the base a nd had pTQved mpenetrable to "Old Dig."
At the garden ga te a mong rel \\'ith
intelligent eyes and a lon g tail ,,'as looking
at him through the wooden bars, He
ccJa'xed him in ancl christened him Budri
Nar. Then he 'went in and prepared a meal ,
and Budri Nar's 'loyalty was secured for
ever \\'ith half a -tin or bu'lly beef. '
h,
A''fter\\''ards 'ill the ga tl~eiil;g t\\'ilig11t he
,\'ent round the defences with the Subadar ;

PAY

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in th e dusk he could easily imag ill e the

crouching sentry by the loop-I; ole , and crave
him a friendly \\'ord,
That evening he wrote to his parents, a
letter full of dances and theatres and gay
times he should have had, He enclosed it
in a letter to Gough so that he could post
it in London , In his mind this corresponded to the heli ograph message: "A ll
\yell don't \\'orry ."
He also started th at
jour~al \\'hich told every th ing, even about
his imagiuin gs and Budri Nar, \\'ith out
whi ch this story could not have been 'ITitten, The old copy-book \\'as th e para ll el.
Then started a daily routin e ,
Each
morning he walked into the village for
stores and a paper. He th ought of it as
reconnoitrin g, Later he went along th e
cliff path, imagining the r arefied a tmosphere of IO,OOO feet and the l\Iehal Valley ;
and \\'ithont effort he heard th e \\'h istle of
bullets and distant rifl e fire,

It was ex traordina r~ for ho\\' much of

the day this dream possessed him, Often
he had to put it hurri ed ly asic1e-\\'hen th e
baker ca lled every other afternoon, or once
\\'hen a small boy suddenly appeared a nd
said , "I \yant my dog," pointincr to Budri
N a r. The mong rel changed o\\'uers ,for a
half-crown ,
Sometim es hi s brain tired of fantasy,
and he found him self staring at naked truth
-a doomed man playing at soldiers, a boy
li ving in a \\'orld of imag i.nation , a \\,o,rthless fello\\ 'of no use a nd out of everything,
These fits of depression came in th e evenin gs , a nd to counter t~lem ,he \\Tote in his
journal communing \,\,Ith hiS o\yn fl esh and
blo~d, '
One lli o'ht the longin g to see his pa rents
nearly o'~rcame him , He visualised them
in the room-his father , kindl y a nd ra ther
g rim, an d his mother, grey ~nd \\'ist/htl ,
just as he had seen them leanlllg over the
side of the departin g ship, He sa Il' th e~n
\\'ith sllch clearness that l1e put Ollt hIS
hand to tOllch them , He started lookin g
lip passage routes in the paper. He could
be \\'ith them in three \reeks if he \\'ent
by air. H l even beg~l1 to paSk, ~lIt!n
the night <;a me th ~ ~pnre of ,a s.olcher ,111
an ol<;l-fashiollecl umform, bnngmg \nth
hifi;t s6metIrillg', of tl{a t stern , r~solve tha,t
seemed to match the mountall1s among
\\'hich he died, No: as he had to \\'Ollllc1
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his people, it should be a clean, sudden

cut; not a laceration.
A fortnight passed. The spring air and
flo\~e rs, the glorious freshness, and the sea
calmed him, and enhanced rather than
spoilt his day dreams of the snow-clad hiI1s .
put he was getting very short of breath,
especially going uphill. His morning reconnoitre into the village had to be done with
subtlety. He dragged himself up the small
hill , and lay dmm out a f sight just before
he reached the crest; then after a rest he
\\alk ed jauntily do\vn the hill, a nd did his
shopping. Coming back he strolled very
siowly, pretending to read his paper.
This " 'a rned him that he o ught to make
some final arrangements,
He had an
uncle, a retired Civil servant, who lived at
Cheltenham; an unexciting person with
,\"h0111, as a boy, he had always done his
best to a void staying . He sent him a
telegram: "Dig dangerous ill. Come at
once to Sharkey Cove Station, St . Aubrey."
He pnt it on the sideboard in the cottage
sitting-room, with the money for sending
it, and put a notice in large letters beside
it : " If al1yon~ finds me dead or very ill ,
please send thlS message." Then he wrote
an explanatory letter, to await his uncle's
arrival.
It particularly asked th a t the
journal shou ld be forwarded to his people
unreacl and registered . There was a second
request: "Look after my dog, Budri Nar."

It " 'as the twenty-third day since his

coming. With "Old Dig" that had been
the Day o.f the. Sortie. .He sat on the edge
of the chff \\'lth Budn Nar between his
knees, gazing out to sea. He wished he
could go out and face a sudden bullet.
TO-l11orrm\' he knew his imaginings would
be less real. There was ,no twenty-fourth
da" i!l the ye~ l o\\' journal of his boyhood,
VOIces belllnd him startled the dog.
There "'ere Ifour boys carrying a rope;
they were after seabirds' eggs 011 the cliffs
heyond. "Damn it, "'hy can't they leave
the poor brutes alone?" he thought. Budri
Nar ran harking after them but came back
at a n'histle, his tail \\"~gging low ill
apology.
The long westerly swell, hreakillg on th e
rocks below, held his eyes, while his mind
\\anc1ered. Yes, Old ,Dig had had the better
part.
,
Then a shout behind him. One of the

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boys, red in the face and scared, gasped:

"Bob's fallen over the cliff, mister." Young
Dig followed him along the path, walking
slowly. The boy broke into a trot, but
turned back Wh ~l h~ saw Dig not keepin g
up. "Couldn't you run? He might be
dead," he whimpered.
He was not
answered; breath was precious.
Arrived at the spot, young Dig looked
over and saw a small figure, about 30ft.
do\yn and resting on a providential ledge.
He was plainly unconscious, and the dangling rope reached down to within a foot of
him,
"You've got to hold the rope ""hile I go
down," he explained to the boys . He made
them dig holes in the ground to put their
heels in, and then went over the edge.
As he went down the rope the thoug ht
struck him that ~f he had been fit he wouleT
have been too heavy for the boys to hold .
Was it for this that he was wasted?

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Dig shouted to the boy to hold on to bis

leg. Then slowly he pulled himself up,
and joined the ropes, doubling the line.
A pause, and he was making a "bowline on
a bight" from half-forgotten memories of
scouting days. , He slipped the loops over
the lad, and then he shouted to the boys
to haul. The slack was taken up and the
rope tightened, and gradually the injured
lad was dra wn up. Fqr a second the instinct of self-preservation asserted itself and

He got to the ledge where the boy was.

ly ing and touched him. He was just regaining consciousness and stirred. It was.
clearl y impossible to move him and the
rope was too short to tie him on. Young
DIg shouted to th e boys above, telling one
of them to lun to the cqttage and fetdl a
coil of clothes-line which was lying in the
porch, and th e others to hang on. Then,
vvith one hclllc1 clinging to the rope and the
other holding the inj"ured lad, he waited.
Suddenly the thought flashed on young
,Dig's mind: this was the Sortie-the
twenty-third da y ! His whole being swelled
with gratitude and thanksgiving. Aloud
he kept saying, "Oh, thank God fOl' the
Sortie, thank God for the Sortie !"
Dimly the boy heard the words ,,hidl
he couldn't understand but .rem~mbered
later.
Meanwhile, in his strained position,
every muscle in young Dig's body seemed
to cry aloud for mercy. It was as though
each nerve and joint an<1 sine\\" implored
the coutrolling brain to let go. And the
brain seemed to telegraph back orders relentless and inexorable, to hold on. N~ver
again would they be asked to do anything.
This was their final effort~ All those years
of games and training would not have been
in vain if they could last out no\\"o And,
through an eternity, they beld.
At last the clothes-line arrived and voun g
29 6
.

CORPS

young Dig, held Qn. When be saw be was

checking tne upward progress he let go
and fell.
On the top of the cliff the shouts of the
boys and the barking of Budri Nar told of
a successful ascent .
.
DO\Nn on the rocks below lay a huddled
figure. To him the o.nly realities were the
loved figure of a grandfather leaning over
him, the sound of the wind in high places,
and the glory of achievement.

A N APPRECIATION
at'

REJfCTED EfFORTS.

297

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Our Chess Page

by ~ ll the great p layers for his occasional
wonderfu l foresight in intricate positions
such as the above .
O ur current problem is something of a
curiosity-it has been composed ,,ith the
task of White to have only two pieces and
the key is therefore an easy one .
PROBLEM No. 5.
By the Chess Editor.
Black (8 pieces)

The sad death of F. D. Yates recently

in London removes one of the very few
players of Master rank that we have in
England and one who was as much feared
in tourneys as any world p layer. He was
the only p layer who has ever defeated Dr.
Alekhine twice in the big International
Tourneys, and his death is much regretted
by all chess p layers. We give below the
,/ finish of one of these games in which a
brillia nt sacrifice entailing a t\\'enty moves
analysis finished the game. The average
chess player is quite satisfied ilf he can
see even ten moves ahead .
END
Black
F. D . YATES.

GAME.
White
DR, ALEKHINE.

White (2 pieces)
White to p lay and mate in tll'O moves.

PUZZLE.

White

P!ace the W hite King 011. his Q B 6,

WhIte Queen on Q R 8 w}lllst the Black
King is on his K R 8.
In this position
\Vhite has to mate \\ithiI;1. 30 moves without
movi1;lg the King. Players " 'ill find this
easy if they call master the I\"av to drive
the Black King out of the corne;s . A fa scinating puzzle.
Sol uti on to Problem No. 4 (page 254)
by G. Page.
Key. R-B4.
(2 ) Kt .-B7 mate
If (I) K-Q3
(2) B-B6 mate
If (1) Kt.~Q3
(2) Kt. (R6}-B6
If (1) any other
mate
A neat example of a wa itin g problem.
Solved by irA. J .," "R. V ., " "Well\\'isher," "Beginner," and "A. P."
Solution to Puzzle on Page 255 .
There are several ways of placiil g the
eight Queens in a position where 110 two
a re "en prise."
If the eight are placed as follows-QRs,
Q KT 7, QBr, Q3, K 8 , KB6, KKTs a nd
KR2 i1 wi ll be seen that by turnin'g the
board in each direction th ere are four different ~Iays.
Both "Well-wisher" and "Begillner"
gave one df these keys.

Black

PxR
R x R check
K-Kt 2
Q x P check
KxR
Q-R 8 check
K-B 2
B-Q 5 check
K-Kt 3
Q-Kt 8 check
Q-B 8 check
K-R 3
F.-Kt 2
Q-R 8 check
4I. K-Kt 3
Q-K 8 check
42. K-R .,
P-K Kt 4
43. R - Q B 2 (b) Q-B 8 check
44 . K-R 2
Q-Kt 8 check
Q-R 8 check
4.5 K-R 3
46. K-Kt 3
Q-Q 8 !
Q-Kt 8 check
47 R-B 3 (c)
48 . K-R 3
Q-B 8 check
B-B 7 check
49 K-Kt 3
50. K-B 3
B-Kt 8 check
Resigns.
Black's last move was Rook takes Kt. on
Kt. 4 and it will be seen that the succeedin g sacrifices are brilliantly execllted and
conceived . Yates made many such coups
in International Tourneys and was feared

34 .
3 -.
36 .
37.
38.
39
40.

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further fifteen years, being discharg ed in

January, 19I 3. He was subsequently em ployed as a civilian clerk in th e Army Pay
Office, Warwick.

Obituary
The death took place very sudden ly in
London 011 30 th September, 1932, of Mr.
William Henry Symes (late S.Q.M.S ., No,
63.1 ) at the age of 59 years .
He enli sted in the 6th Iuniskillil1g Dragoo ns on 17th October, 1889, and after
serving for nearly seven y ears with that
unit he transferred to Army Pa y' Corps in
1896
He was one of the larg e detachment of
Co rporals in the Main Barracks at Capet OI\" n in 1901-2. In 1915 he left the Corps
lI'ith the rank of S.Q.M .S . to take up an
appointment in the Arm y Audit Office,
Eastern Command, and later joined the
Audit Staff of the Mi nis try of Pensions
lI'here he remained until the end.

The death of Robert John J ohustone (late

No. 227 ) took place at St.
Nicholas HOSI ital, Plull1stead, on loth
November, at the age of 73 years .
In 1873 J ohnstone enlisted into the Scots.
Guards and after tlyelve years service transferred to the West Yorkshire Regiment .
Five years later he joined the Corps of
M ilitary Staff Clerks and in 1893 I\"as transferred to the Army Pay Corps on its.
formation. He continued to serve in the
Corps for the next eleven yea rs and ",as.
discharged ill :M arch, 1904, ",yith the rank
of S.Q .M .S.

S.Q.~l.S,

The death is a nnounced of William

Thorne (late S,Q.1\1.S. No. 245), at Brent\I'ood, E ssex, on 17th November, at the
age of 68 years.
The deceased served with the Welch
Regiment for eight yea rs prior to JOIJ1Jng
the C.orps of Mi litary Staff Clerks, and
subsequentl,' th e Arm\" Pay Corp , I\" here
h e served for 21 ~' ea rs, bein g discharged
011 21st 1\'[a)-, rq 22
He \\"as th en re-emp loved as a civi lian clerk 1n the A rm\' Pav
Office, vVarle~T . nnt"! November, . J92'S ,
\I'hell he lI'as discharg ed on red11 ction of
esta blishl1len t.

The dea th o f Major Clarence R oss S mith

took place at Hastings suddenly , follo\\'in g
an operation, on 18th November , at the age
of 63 . Born in 1869 the deceased received
his commi ssion in the Welch Reg iment on
29th March, 1890, and was promoted
Lieutenant ill February 1892.
He proceeded to South Africa \\"i th his
H.egiment a nd lI'as employ ed 011 the E1l1baI'kation S taff from February, 1900 , to
th e heginning of 1903.
In April 1900 h e was promoted Captain
and retained his substantive rank on 1 ein g
transferred to the Arm y Pa y De partm ent
in Febru a r~ ' 1903 .
From J905 to 1909 be was emp loyed
\\'ith'the Army Accounts Department and
lI'as p l-omoted to the rank of Major in
March, 1910 . At th e outbreak of War he
I\"as serving in the Command Pa y Office
Ea tern Command.
AJfter servin g in Malta he was posted to
Warley a n d '\'hile serving there Iyas pro1110ted Staff Pavmaster.
H e retired 011- the I2th March, I92 3, a.nd
has recently been living at Bexhill on Sea.

Che ss ( continued frolll page 298)

TO

CO~~ ESPONDENTS.

"FllITZIE" (VVARWI CK) .- Your key will not do

as t he Black Kin g $ iml~ l y return s to hi s IJ riginal
positi'o n art er lh e chec k. Try the present one. N o
cook s 0 1" n6 ,luaI5.
"CONTRACT. "-N o. I ha ve rouna atel' a gO'vd
d ea l o r eX].Jerience that th e Two Club Conventi on
works hest .
" F.J."-Jt now a ppea rs mu ch better but YOlt
will h,we to eliminat e a Black Pawn or th e positio n will be imposs ibl e owing to th e numbel' I:J f
poss ib lo cil.ptures . Th e on e on KR3 probably.
" \NELL WrsHER."- At eit her th e K onig Cafe 0 1'
th e Impern to r yo u will get a good gil.me a.nd t hey
a lwa ys welcome Eng li' h players. Both are in th e
centre of th e City.
" EXl'EllT. " -KL to KS is a mu ch better continu a tion .
" A.H.F. " -T lI'a :leli gb ted to see F.W.F. at th e
Co ng res and talk O\'e r old tim es . Ca n you se nq
a lo,1g a gam e 0 1' two?
"DJ.\~' O N])B." - Ye . I think it woul d he a good
inn ova,ti on. Th ere al'e a, lI:Jt of players in th e Corps.
" A.M. "-Ir he pla yed Kt to Kt3 Bla ck st ill takes
th e roo k.

E rnest Robert J ennings Perry (late Staff

Sergeant No. 662), died on 13 th October,
1Q; 2, at Leamington at the age of 55 years .
The deceased en listed in the Highland
Light Infantry and after serving for t\\o
yea rs with that unit transferred to the
Ar111Y Pay Corps where he ser ved for a
299

(A,lswe rs to Corrcsponde"ts on pag~ 299).

298

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Life on the Rock

GIBRALTAR- Rock seen from the Bay .

(Co pyright vested in Beanl and, Malin & Co .)
III t he fov regr01llld is " R osalind ," one of th e A Class yachts of t he Gi'braltar Y acht Clu b. sail ed by
o fficers of th e R .E. To the ri ght of " R osalind" is H .E. The Governor ' s M.L. " Eliott. "

.... -1

HARBOUR.
~,

u...:==::;, ~o\oe
.
.. eP

SULE:.
T.

" .:1'1' (.

~
"

1'/z 'Nc"EI
III

"" 'J-E.

~------------------~
SKETCH MAP OF THE COLONY,

1.

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.

F011;r ess H eadqua rtel'S.

Bristol Hotel.
Gal;rison Rowing Club.
Naval R ecl'eati'on Grounds.
Casemates Bal'l'acks.
Moorish Ca stle.

7.

8.

g:

10.
11.
12.

REFERE CES :Yac ht Club.

&lad to Spain.
N orth Front Ba rracks.
Catalan Village.
Windmill Rill Barracks.
Mi litary Hospital.

3 00

13. South Ba1'l'acks.

14. Buena Vi sta BalTack s.
15. SaDdpit~ Tenni s Club.
16. Alemeda G:1l'd ens.
:t7. Windmill Hill Flat s.

It is a common saying among the garrison of Gibraltar th a t the Rock is tbe

best station in the world because it is easy
to get away from. In Malta and Bermuda
and elsewhere one has to make the best
of a confined area, and it is a longish
journey home on leave . But from Gibraltar YOll have the whole of Spain ,yithin
your reach, and the most beautiful part of
Spain, Allda lu cia, at your dom' . The golf
course and th e polo ground are in Spain;
the best bathing is in Spain; and all our
\\'orld goes pic ni cking in Spain. On SU11"
days the Garrison deserts the place, so that
about sunset the road back into Gibraltar
resem bles the Sunday even ing trek back
into London. And 'i t is easy , and reasonably cheap, to return to Engla nd Qn leave
-three or four da ys on the finest liners,
by about half a dozen regular lin es; \\'hile,
overland, London is only 51 hours from
Gibra ltar.
But of course \I'e ra1 the Rock is good
because it is easy -to get away from, on ly
because E ng lish people the world over
must have t heir g rouse.
Many people,
especia lly ,,,omen, after they arrive, hate
the place : nobody quite kll0'VS why. But
in about three months everybody begins
to love it: the reasons are easy to guess.
The scenery is magnificent; every sport is
available, a tld not expensive; the town is
not - so sma ll that everybody is sitting in
every body else's pocket , and 'it is not too
large, as in a big city where individuals
are isola ted . G ibraltar is ind eed a sma ll
country town, with many of th e amenities
of a city, with entertainments that are
enough without being luxurious, and ,,ith
rather a un ique social life of its o\\n.
For in Gibralta r their is no socia l Club .
In that it must differ from any other
foreign station. There is no cen tr~ l point
at which one assembles for the sundown
peg, or at which oue entertains friends at a
di nner-dance. We do not go to cafes or
restaurants in the town . There are no
public dances . There are da nces almost
every night throug hout the ,,,,inter , but
they are p(ivate dances organised by the

Services. There has gro,Yn up a tradition

of private entertaining In our private
quarters-the newcomer is inundated with .
invitations to d'i nner parties, which are
paid off in, say, the first year, after which
people more or less sort themselves out .
The garrison is a happy family. The tourist \yho comes to Gibraltar probably finds
little to do, unless adopted into the life of
the place. This sounds exclusive, but I
have been in many much more exclusive
stations, and so far as tbe Services are concerned, there is no "stickiness."
The hotels are moderate .
There are
plenty of tbem-the Cecil, Victoria, Grand,
Bristol, and the new Rock Hotel ,,,ith its
wonderful view over the Bay, (these almost
I think in ascending order Of expense)but I am reminded of Baedeker's sarc astic
remark (how often do \ye find humour in
Baedeker?): "the accommodation is not
always in accordance \vith the high prices
charged." Yet the Bristol is only 15/- a
day during the season (from January t o
March when the F leets are in ), a!!d th e
Rock from 17/6 up. But tbey are dear,
relatively to what one gets, as compared
with the best Spanish hotels. rbe Reina
Cristina, a popular resort for tea and dinner
and occasional dances, ill Algeciras across
the Bay, is of course Spanish, but catering
for the English , .c ha rges much more than
the real Spanish hotels. But then we are
spoilt ; for one of the d~li ghts of the Rock
is that 'i n from three to seven hours' run
by ca; you can spend the week-end at
Cadiz or Seville, or Ronda or Granada or
Ma laga, in tbe most lux uri ous hotels at a
mere fraction of the price you would pay'
in England .
Gibraltar is like an exceptionally lively
county town in Engla nd , set , in .a ve~y
different setting, not at all like the
cathedral to\n1S in which so many of the
Pay Corps find themselves p lanted . Nevertheless, an officer who came on a visit from
IVIalta was " taken" (more, I think, that'!
by anything else) by the quiet. Malta, r
am given to understand, is an island of
never-ceasing discordant church bells, and'
301

THE- ROYAL

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PAY CORPS

i-; a land \\here natives do not talk, but

scream. We have bells enough in . Gibraltar; and the Spaniards ai1d 11ati'ves do th~il~
fair share of screaming; but the general
impression to me also, is one of quiet,
though I doubt if anyone quartered in
.M ain Street would agree. Other visitors
from Malta, who had spent a year or two
there, seemed to be spell-bound bv the
greenness of the country, both of Gibraltar
and of Spain . And that is true for about
eight months in t,he year; \\'hile'during the
other four months, the country presents
a kaleidoscope of warm bro\\'ns and reds
most attractive in their variety. There ar~
artists who, tired of the greenness of England, prefer .the infinite reds and browns
the incessant sunlight and the bright peak~
and shadows of the mountains of Andalucia; and the Rock for this purpose is
Andalucia . Whether you -come into Spain
from the south of Portugal, or come dO\\"ll
from the north from the vast flat expanses
of Castile, or come from the east from
Barcelona and. Valencia , immediatei y you
enter Andalucla you are captivated by the
wanntl? an~ colour of the mountains and by
the dIVerSIty and magni ficence of the
scenery . The vien: an cl colours seen from
the Rock are the same g enre . When the
Fleets are in, in the first quarter of the
year! 'snotties' and 'sub-loots' race up
Iecllterranean Steps (a staircase cut out of
a precipice) to what at different times has
been called Sugar Loaf Hill, St. George's
T.o\\'er or O'Hara's Tower (136r feet) the
hIghest of the three main outstanding peaks
o~ the Roc~, though not quite actually the
hIghest p01l1t. I doubt if the naval lads
go up purely for the sake of the view '
more likely they go up to see who ca~
do it the quickest without bursting an
a.rtery; but when they recover, they feel
hke Cortes on his famous peak. To the
east, along the Mediterranean coast-line to
~alaga and beyon.d, rise Sierras upon
S~erras, culminating in the snows of the
SIerra Nev.ada, over II, OOO feet high; on
t~e _other SIde of th~ Mediterranean the eye
pIcks up the Afncan coast-line, \\'hich
comes nearer and nearer till the port of
Ceuta and the other Pillar of Hercllles
seen: .only a .few miles away ; across the
StraIts, TangIer can .just be descried l'ike
a bunch of \Vhite rocks cJimbing the hill

JOURNAL

above the \Vater; slewing round to the west,

you look over the whole horse-shoe of th e
Bay of Gibra'ltar, here some four or fi\'e
miles wide, that QIl many days resembles
a blue Swiss lake. Facing you is the to\\"J1
of Algeciras and the 'farifa heights, from
t~e top .of \\'hi.ch the Straits, here only
eIght mIles WIde, make an unrivall ed
panorama. To the north, the eye run s
alon g the knife-like ridge of the R ock
with the Dockyard and the to\\'ll bel o,,'
the flat strip of neutral ground s traig ht
ahead, and, across the frontier, the to\\"n
of La Liuea " ''ij11 its bull-ring, the hill
called the Queen of Spain's Chair ever
since a misguided Queen vO\\'ed to sit there
til.l the British flag should cease to flyover
Glbralta~, tl?e polo .ground and the golf
course WIth ItS conspicuous "browns" alld
above and beyond , the old NIoorish ~itadel
of Castellar rising up in the sea of mountains and \\"oods that stretch to the horizon .
About the town itself one cannot be
lyrical. It is a sorry sho\\". There are no
fin~ streets ~nd no fine buildin g s . The
Mam Street IS full Qf noisy cafes and trippery shops that sell expensive rubbish to
the th ousands of tourlsts \\"ho la nd dail y
for a few houTs on the historic Fortress .
For the rather mean appearance of the
to\\"l1, history is to blame. Gibraltar is
first and foremost a fortress, and always
has been. The area is extremely liU1ited~
!he \Vhole~ lell~th of the British possessi on
IS only 2~ ITIlles, and the popula tion has
to. be restricted to some 20,000, visitors
bemg. allowed to " settle" only b~' speci al
p~rU1lt. A Berber from Ceuta establislied
~l1mself .on the Rock in A.D . 7II and held
It .as Viceroy of the Caliph of Damascus.
HIS name ",as Tarik, and the Arabic for
"1~ill" being "Gibel," Gibel Tarik or
Gibraltar, "the hill of Tarik," replaced the
olel Roman name of Calpe . The Spaniards
ancl moors played battleclore and shuttlecock with it, till on St. Bernard's Day
2? th !'--ug ust, 1462, the Duke of Medin~
S.Idol1la added it to Castile. Followed ten
sIeges.; . then in 1704 Gibraltar " 'as taken
b'y Bntlsh and Dutch marines; the eleventh
siege took place next year; the twel.fth
twenty-tw<? years later; and the thirteenth
an] last siege, commemorated yearly still
0~1 "Sortie D~y," ended in J783, sillce
\0\' hen
posseSSlOn has beel) undisputed .
30 2

THE ' R OYA-L

ARMY

Though undisputed in. ownership, Gibraltar continued to have a part in famous exploits of the British Army.; and the Fortress has remained the primary, and the
to \\"11 only a secondary, consideration.
The names of the streets and districts betoken their origill-l\;Ioorish Castle, Bomb
House Lane, West Place of Arn~s. Horse
Barrack Lane, Glacis Road, King's Bastion, Cannon Lane, Engineer Lane, Hesse's
Bombproof, Casemates' Tunnel, and Right
Shoulder Forward Lane, On the Rock
there are no factories, and little production; there is no agTiculture, and no market
gardens ; only the Governor and RearAdmiral have a few co\vs (and the cows
haven't much grass). There are no trams
or trains. But for the street noises, Gibraltar \\'ould 'be as quiet as Venice. One may
live here for years without, being in a train;
and a lad I had to look after my' car, who
had been driving a car ever since he could
reach the pedals, was open-mouthed with
wonder ,,hen I . took him . one day into
the Cork Woods about fifteen miles away
and the Madrid "express" happened to
pass by.
O ne of the first things to do when you
are posted to Gibraltar is to get from the
N.A.A.F.I. their small handbook: this will
give y ou information aboll servants and so
forth. One of the first things to do when
y ou land at Gibraltar is to obtain the
Quarterly Official Directory of the Garrison : this \\"ill give you information about
sports and clubs and where people live and
what shops sell what. About these therefore I need not fill up space . The servants
are on the \Vhole good.
They are all
women, a few Gibraltarians but mainly
Spanish-the latter from La Linea, the
to\m just across the frontier. The be.st
ones seem 'to form a sort of traditional
servant caste, 'atld the best way to secure
a servant is to get a known good servant
to send you one and then you don't need to
bother about ref.er,e nces. They are trained
to "dinner parties," and it is significant
and amusing that if you bring home any
particular dainty such as, say, pate d e foi e
gras or pheasarit (from cold storage), the
cook \\ill most likely ask you '''For dinner
party ?: ' Despite rel?eatecl ~umours to the
contrary, the Spai1)sh maids are thoroughly
honest. I would trust them with anything.

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There is very little language difficulty;

English is, of course, the official language
of the Colony, though sometlmes it is (lifficult to recognise it as snch. Few of the
Spanish servants kno\\' much English, bnt
it is easy to pick up enongh Spanish
phrases, \\"l}ile, for the rest, there is a kind
of pidgeon English in use. It is not a
pidgeon English common to the Colon y ,
but more or less individual to each h ousehold . My own cook, for example, refers
to "stuffing" (in chickens, etc .) as " stiff, "
and you must learn "stiff" and speak:
"stiff" if you are to carry on; but " stiff"
may be unknowll next door.
All the
Spanish servants sleep in; and some may
do your marketing for you, but most people
do their own. I have seen even a learned
K.C. complete with shopping basket.
No\V as to sports and clubs. As I have
said already, Gibraltar is peculiar in not
having a central social club, and I rather
think the tradition of the place is ag ainst
it and .in favour of private entertaining.
But there is every sort of club and sport,
all at very' reasonable cost, and it is also
possible here to indulge in sports outside
of the ordinary which would be prohibitive
elsewhere. The Cal pe Hunt Club is extraordinarily cheap; and if brushes are fe\V
and far between, the meets give ~' Oll a
gorgeous day in gorgeous country , The
usual price of quite a good hunter 'is 2 0
to 30; the cost of upkeep is b,y no means
excessive; and if any posted to Gibraltar
like riding , here is an opportunity they
will have nO\\'bere else. The same may be
said of polo and racing and yachting,' and
in the h\"o latter at least the Pay Corps
has taken a prominent part, the " blue
ribbon" of the yachting season havin g been
twice in recent years ca'ptured by a Pay'
master . The same officer has also twice
,v alkecf a,\~ay with the golf championship,
The Detachment has equally distinguished
itself at tennis; and at cricket it has al\\.ays
held its 0\\'11. There is also fishing, in which
our staff, military and civi1ian, has taken a
prominent part; and apart from the usual
sports such a.s football and hockey , you
can go in for winter sports on the Sierra
Nevada '(early last June I saw .about 50
I)"eople ski"-ing), and as for .rock-climbing
and mountaineering there is as much as the
most suicidally inclined can \\"ish for. It is,

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

however, forbidden to rock-climb on the

Rock, for the last candidate for Heaven had
to spen.d the night on a cliff-edge, and the
searchhghts of-a destroyer, plus naval gear
and IJerSonnel , and the personal bravery of
a comrade sold.ier .were involved in his
rescue.
As to shopping facilities little need be
sa id.
You can get anything you w~nt
within reason at ordinary prices'; and if
'rOll Irant anything special from home, you
can get it out C.O.D. Be!fore I left England, I had not the slightest knowledge of
the place, and I foolishly had drill jacket
and breeches made by a West End tailor
so that if necessary they might be a patterJ~
to some local "dhirzi" as is the custom in
India. On arrival here, I found a number
of tailors, on~ of whom made me another
suit of drill at ~ess than half the price, and
Irhen both SUitS had been in the wash
I couldn't tell which was which. My wif~
also purchased an inferior riding habit in
London, and afterwards in Gibraltar had a
really good habit made at one-third the
cost. I give these instances as typical.
A vis!t to Wo~lworth's--preferably one
of ~he big depots II1 London-is well worth
w~Ile before preparing to set up house in
Gt.braltar. Th~re are a htilldred-and-one
thll1gs from pots and pans to ,vine glasses
that can be obtained there, of the utmost
use here, and on which one is glad to save
expense at a very expensive time . Incid~ntally Wool\V?r~h's packing for export is
excellent; and It IS worth knowing if one
has to pay freight on packages, th~t they
shoulc! be handed over to the P. and O.
?ffice 111 Cockspur Street, after which there
IS no. trouble tlll you claim them in Gibral'
tar, .111 preference to paying all sorts of
lan,dmg and other charges to a shipping
agency. A. certain amount of furniture
ma.y . be h~red locally from Ordnance.
()~UlIOI1S differ as to the advisability of
dOlI1g So-~ome prefering to bring out their
oll" n-:-but It depends entirely on the length
of time yo u expect to be stationed here
and th 7refore to pay the high rates of hire,
as agamst the cost of freightage . There
seems to be always a good market for
household effects l;yhen an officer leaves.
One lVord of warning: it would con duce
largely to amity in the Army if the incomer does l10i take over the outgoer's

PAY

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JOURNAL

effects by written agreement in advance.

There are no auction sales. .T here is a
so-called "Jews' Market" at which respectable pieces inay occasionally be picked
up; but the customary method of furnishing is to begin with just enough and later
collect extras as officers leave and things
come into the market. One thing everybody finds essential-a picnic outfit . .
Food is fairly good and fairl y cheap.
Spanish lamb, veal and pork are excellent.
Beef is bad. Chickens and turkeys are
pl;enti.ful and a certain amount Qf game.
FIsh IS good and very varied. Vegetables.
and fruit are plentiful, varied and generally cheap, Oran~es, tangerines, grapes,
melons, figs, chernes and strawberries are

The vegetable market is peripateti'c.

all local products and among the best in

the world. Tinned milk is used almost
exclusively. Drinking water is collected
in t~nks off t.he roof of your own quarter,
and many people do not like the idea of
drinking it; others, like myself, drink it
after boiling; but the D .A .D.H., who.
should know, drinks it in its pristine condition.
The only water "laid on" in
military quarters is the so-called "sanitarv
water" from brackish artesian wells use~r
for household purposes and for bath~ . In
this, as in Qther respects, all Gibraltar is,
lke Caesar's Gaul, divided into three parts:
naval, military and civilian. Each has its.
own telephone sy'Srem, ' its own electric
sy.s~m an~ its own water supply, and
mtlItary Wlves fume because their naval
and civilian sisters bath in fresh instead of
sanitary water. Alcoholic drinks minerals
and tobacco are from half to two-thirds
the home price. Spanish wines are excellent and very cheap in Spain-not socheap in Gibraltar. An ice-chest tS necessary.
Cooking is universally by old-.

.T HE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

fashioned kitchen range-gas is very

expensive and little used.
The climate, humanly speaking, is ideal,
except for one drawback, the Levanter.
\hen the east wind blows, moisture is
swept up from the Mediterranean and
forms dense clouds on the mountains all
round the Bay and Straits of Gibraltar.
The air becomes moist and sticky, and this
is as true of Malaga and Cadiz as it is of
Gibraltar,
But elsewhere the Levanter
clouds escape, whereas on the R ock they
linger long and escape only ",ith difficulty.
Owing to the peculiar air currents (it is
not uncommon to see flags on ships in the
harbour flying in opposite directions) the
clouds swifl round and round, and appear
to be fastened to the top Qf the Rock. All
Spain may be in brilliant sun, but the
black Levanter sits upon Gibraltar. Seen
from a distance, the Rock resembles a
smoking volcano. More 'often than not, it
is enough to go along the half mile to the
frontier to get beyond its influences; but
while you are beneath it, it is not pleasant,
especially in summer, for then no breath
stirs and the heat given off by the vertical
cliffs has no escape and you are in the
grips of an airless depression .
Women
seem to suffer more than men, but with
men too tempers get short, and with both
the thing resolves itself into what is
euphemistically called "Gibraltar tummy ."
I have known "Bagdad tummy," and I
believe there is a variety known as "Malta
tummy," and probably there are countless
geogr.a phical tummies. Not being troubled
with it much myself, I am in consequence
inclined to be sceptical; and frequently
suspect that what is "Gibraltar tummy "
in the morning was whisky the evening
before.
But I give you the traditional
account of the matter. Apart from the
Levanter, \I'e have nothing to complain of.
The summers are not too hot-keeping up
an average of perhaps 80 to 85 degrees,
seldom gettin g up to go, and only rarely
progressing to\l'ards 100 degrees. From
October to May, provided th ere is no
Levanter and it is not raiuing, we have
brilliant sun and champagne air. We have
30 to 40 inches of rain a year. But it has
all accommodating way of raining: when it
do es rain, it makes a downright business
of it, and though half an 'inch may fall in

CORPS

JOURNAL

the comse of a morning, the afternoon will

probably be perfect. Hence fe w picnics are
ever postponed for rain, My mackintosh
was stolen from my car three y ears ago,
since when "I have had none other," and
I have never been inconvenienced; and the
number of times I have used an umbrella
may be counted on the finge.rs of one hand.
The ,,,inter temperatme never falls below
42 degrees, hence fires are required only
in the evenings from the middle o~ November.
There are a few sand-flies and a few
mosquitoes, but beyo.nd an occasional
snatch at a buzzing mosquito when half
asleep in bed, I rarely notice them. Some
people, on the other hand, sleep under
mosquito nets. Moth and silver fish and
ants have to be guarded against but they
are not such a pest as to make this difficult. Snow or ice is unknown, though I
have been in a sleet blizzard Qn the Tarifa
mountains, about 1,500 feet up. To sum
up, the climate is healthy and unusually
pleasant, for children even more than for
adults.
Dress follows climate. Winter clothing
is lighter than in England; summer clothing as light, of course, as is "comme il
faut. "
We wear sun-helmets in uniform
but not in mufti (only local civilians wear
\I'hite helmets and white suits). White
mess dress is usual in summer. Top hats
and morning coats are worn at garden
parties only by civilians, while for women,
I imagine one garden party creation per
annum is enough . For women the usual
wear is sports clothes and evening dresses
-plenty of both-with many washing
frocks in the summer. A fur coat is essentiaL Most things can be obtained locally ;
and there are Spanish sewing-girls who
are clever and good under direction. The
Indian shops seem to stock everything of a
normal sort in the way of women's unde.rclothing , and I am told that in La Linea
and in nunneries at lVIalaga intimate garments are made of a caressing daintiness
and beautitul workmanship.
Spain is
famous for shoes-very good and very
cheap, not suitable for Englishmen, but
the envy of all those Englishwomen who
are unable to walk with comfort on their
stilt-like heels. For men, by the way, the
bowler is de rigueur at race meetings.
30 5

THE

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ARMY

Though the Rock is so small, the disances seem on fqot very long or very
arduous. The main thoroughfares go either
longitudinally, or, i.f transversely, up the
most exhausting hills . Wherefore, in no
other town is a car more essential. If you
have a car at home I should think it advisable to bring it out, especially if you can
get it taken on the "Baccbus ." * \Vith the
_ s(.nstant ebb and flow of naval, military
and civilian officers, there are invariably
econd-hand cars to be had in Gibraltar;
and to give an example of prices, a 1929
Whippet in good condition and running
order recently changed hands at 30 (including about 10 of unexpired tax and
insurance). Petrol consumptiou is heavy,
becanse of the hilly' nature of the country.
The main roads in Spain are now among
the best in Europe, and secondary roads
are being rapidly opened up. There is
no import duty on cars entering- Gibraltar
-indeed Gibraltar is a Free port apart
from a few moderate revenue duties on
spirits, wines and tobacco, petrol and scent
and so forth. Petrol costs 1/ lot per 5
litres (5 litres = I 1/10 gallon) . A car
is essential not only for getting about the
Rock but also for all -journeys in Spainto golf, pqlo, the Hunt, bathing, picnics,
and tours in Spain. To be stationed at
Gibraltar and to miss so easy an oppor.oCOJlllDOtllf

.. .PE~:JR

./p

lfC'If"N(7~1J

SEVtLLIf 0.\...

l>1If
A"'Tt} vEKA

../

._~;-:;;;;;--.'b"OND..,

19JV

:\~ ..f
,/

/ ;:';"'RA

<9,b,q

/1;,J;. ~ ~ JVe"''''DA

.....

>,,,.,. .

~----.~""""c~-drttl'KI'""7-9,.q

"

town s of'S.W . .Andalucia.

*Th e Bacchls is a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel
w~i ch ocnveys stores, etc., between Chathn.m and
Gibraltar and Malta. Particulars of accommodati'o n for cars and charges for conveyance may be
ohlained from th e SUf.6rinten, ling Nn.val Store
Officer, Rl:>yal Dockyal'( , Chatlmm.

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JOURNAL

tunity of seeing unique places like Granada

and Seville and others whose names are
household words, is unthInkable. Large
motor "Pullmans" run on all the maiIl
roads in Spain, but connections are difficult. The train service in Anda1ucia is
slow, ,,,here it exists at all, for in Spain
road-building has entirely ousted rail way
construction.
An increasing number of
officers motor home and back on leave.
The Miche1in road maps are good, but
somewhat out of date; no map can keep
pace
\\'ith
Spanish
road-building .
Driving requires perhaps more than usual
care and skill: the coast and mountain roads
are frequently a series of fantastic figureeight bends, and there are some unique
climbs-such as the 18 kilometre hill out
of Malaga, or the 7,000 feet climb up the
Sierra Nevada. Motor insurance is considerably dearer than in England. Quite
a number of women drive both in Gibraltar and in Spain. In Spain two or three
years . ago a wqman driver seemed to strike
the average Spaniard as somewhat incredibly funny, . judging from the oontortions
and excited though friendly hilarity to
which they gave rise; but now they are
part of everyday life, and one occasionally
sees even a Spanish woman driving.
Schools for English children are difficult,
at least above the age of ten or so. After
that age it is usual to send them to school
in England, and they are shipped home
at the beginning of term and shipped out
at the end of term by the "'School Boat"
run by the P. and O. for children from
Malta and Gibraltar. (Adults who appreciate peace are advised to give the School
-B oat a wide berth, with its ISO children
romping over every deck! ) The children
look after themselves, and a grown-up '
person of, say, IS years is generally put in
charge of mere kids of I2. During the
holidays, they become almost surfeited
'w ith bathing and picnics and yachting and
parties of all kinds, so that the advent of
the School Boat to England is almost
hailed with relief (probably by parents
also) .
There are 110 commendable boardinghouses; you can't live in furnished rooms;
there are few flats to be let furnished or
unfurnished; and if you are not entitled
to a quarter the 'best thing you can do is

THE

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ARMY

to rent a R.E. Letting. British and Spanish currency, plus the Gibraltar note, are
equally received, and some tireless people
play the ring on the exchange, thereby
making a penny or so on the morning's
marketing, If you have an accou}1t at the
Gibraltar Bank, don't send your Gibraltar
cheque home in pay ment for a home account-the commission is iniquitous. We
are all on the military telephone, which is
connected ,yith the civilian system, and it
has the advantage that you pay a lump
SU111 dO\l'll and make as man y calls as you
like and talk for as long as you like-which
of course has the corresponding disadvantag e that some inveterate gossip may be
holding up the number you want.
The Gibraltarian is mostly of very mixed
descent, mainly Spanish and quite a lot of
Italian, but Jews and all Mediterranean
nationalities as well as Moors have influ enced this small but distinct race . Their
habits and houses are Victorian; their
shops display old-fa shioned courtesy, and
give credit more than is al\\'ays advisable;
they are intensely patriotic, and everyone
of them, though he has never seen England, speaks of England as "home ." The
couTtesy of the Spaniard, from the poorest
peasant upwards, is very striking; he has
natural good manners, and I verily believe
that were an Andalucian peasant translated from his mountain shack to a Londoll
drawing-room, he would not be at a loss,
but would remain his simple courteous
self. This elemental co urtesy belongs also
to the Gibraltarian. Not that the Spaniard
is not readily roused to anger: far from
it, but his \\-rath is speedily quenched. I
once collided with the gravel-laden pannier
of a donkev. Most of the gravel poured
into my car, but it was the Spanish
"arriero" or donkey-man who flamed up
in anger, and the voice of his eloquence
was heard over the land. SIO\dy I drew
a dollar (five peseta piece) from my pocket
and held it towards him: immediately his
rage-riven countenance changed to the
SUJlny face of the Andalucian, and he
pirol1etted round holding the dollar on high
for all the crowd to see. The Spaniard
ah\-ays passes the time of the day with
yOI1; the Civil Guard and the Carabinero
salute you; and Republican demonstrations applaud you . At the frontier the

PAY

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British are passed through without inspection, and the entire relations of the Garrison with Spain are wonderfully cordial.
vVoe to anyone who abuses the fact, or
attempts to smuggle in or out of Spain .
You must salute the Carabinero and pass.
the time of the day with the peasant; you
must talk and laugh with the laughing
Anda1ucian, though neither you nor heunderstand the other; and you must never
hurt Spanish pride by offering a tip-a
cigarette, yes, but not a tip .
You may go camping-no country is less
"enclosed" than the country near Gibraltar . You can go for cruises on a destroyec
or submarine. Yon can go on shootingexpeditions with the reasonable expectation of a fair bag, You can become a
botanical expert, and among the fifty
botanists of many nationalities who havebeen attracted to ' this district, officers of
the British Army have taken a foremost
place. The bird life attracts several enthusiasts, and recently a field officer made
most days a field day with butterflies.
Tumbers of scientists visit the Rock. r
even had to endure the scorn of one Professor of a Scottish University at the fact
that none of the officers, "with all the timeat their disposal," had taken up what I
think he called the submarine biology of
the Bay. Some people spend their spare
time devising 111tra -short wave-lengths ill
an attempt to make " 'ireless pleasant in
this the 1110St difficult of \\'ireless stations.
Naval Paymasters are Cil1'~111a experts and
run for the services the best "talkie" on
the Rock .t o which all rQnks go at least
once weekly. But \vhen your time is up,
YOll will remember most the blue Bay that
is like a Swiss lake, the amphitheatre of
sun-lit hills, the champagne winter air,.
floating in the summer sun 011 a crystal
Mediterranean, liners bound for all parts.
of the ,,"orld, the ships of war, the luxuriant gardens ,,here scarlet hibiscus flames
and geraniums grow tree-high, the b100dred or turquoise sunsets over the Straits,
the charcoal burners' fires on the mountains, the lights of a car threading its way
among the distant hills like a smuggler's
ghost train-and (last but - not least) a
pleasant office.
E .E.T(Plans and sketch by S.S.M. R. G. Smith , RA .P .C.)

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Notes on the History of Army Pay

By Lieut .-Col. E. ENEVER TODD, O .B.E., R .A.P.C.
(Conti n ued from page 253)

--

BELFAST GARRISON STAFF , September, 1890.

*Indicates members. of Army Pay Co rps.

*
.x(STANDING, BA OK ROW) .-Foran , Lomax, McLagan, Dryer, Hall, Ru st . .
* Ca,ddy,
*
*
Gordon Smith,
(CENTRE) .-Lynch , Wallace,
McCl'eedy, 'W ort, McKenna, Fuller,
'
*
Gibbs,
Stewnrt,
Beuuett, Kitchen, Stevens.

Kirk,

(SITTING) .-Witkowski, Mayell, Payne, Pecknold , Carlisle, Hayes.

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.
To be W arrant Officer Class I and appointed! S .S.M
765T!lJ5 S.Q.M.S. C" Pearce, 11 /4/ 32.

Probationers fin ally transferred.

7882013
5493894
3052635
6844500
7880432

7657312 S.Q.M.S. J. J. Moss, 24/4/32.

'iP be Staft Sergeant.

7733525
7658015
7733513
7733236'
7658021

Sgt.
Sgt.
Sgt.
Sgt..
Sgt.

J . g, Ascott, 11 /6 / 32.
J . H. Haskins, 28 /7/ 32.
E. T. Malloy, 30/7/ 32.
J. J. Warren, 15/ 8/ 32.
W. C. P . Elam , 23 /9/32.

Probat ioners Jo ined.

2873752 Pte. E. Gordon, 21 /9/32 (Chath am).
404003 P te. A. E. Black well , 21 /9/ 32 (Preston) .
3445258 Fu s. P . Lee, 20 / 1O/ ?f2: (Pres ton).
DISCHARGES .

To be SeF'B'eant.

1425280
22JJ5196
5492522
6455450
5666652

~382129

1425155
542514
313902
2691998

L/ Sgt.
L / Sgt.
L/ Sgt.
L / Sgt.
L / Sgt.
L / Sgt.
L / Sgt.
L / Sgt.
L / Sgt.
L / Sgt.

Pte. J. Slater, 24/ 2/ 32 (Winchester ).

Pte. A. F . Elgood , 24/ 2/ 32 (Hilsea) .
Pte. G. J. Roan, 3/ 3/ 32 (Chatham).
RIm. E . J . Monk s, 29 / 3/32 (York) .
Pte. W. V. Davies, 29/ 3/ 32 (Warwick).

H. Deveau, 8/ 5/32.
W. Lees, 3/9/ 32.
E. R. Ran som, 1/9/ 32.
E. W . C,Ilappell, 1/9/32.
W . G. Moody, 26 / 8/32.
P. Lydon, 1/7/ 32.
R. Hudson, 17 /9/32.
W . Hornby, 27 /9/32.
B. J. Wj'n ch, 3/ 11 /32.
F. W ebber, 4/11/32.

7657243 S.Q.M.S. C. W. P. P ratt, 2'2, /9/32.

7657026 S.S.M. E. J . W. Bl'ow ne, 30/ 10/32.
RETURNED TO UNIT.

7881100 P te. E . E. K. Lo we, 7/ 9/ 32 (Preston).

MARR IAGES .
5333380 Pte. C. H. Davies, 20 /8/ 32.
4441439 Sgt. G,. Fraser, 20 / 8 /32.

7878034
7733561
6907976
5609483
7734327

To be Corporal .

1073530 P te. C. G. Tennu ci, 11/9 / ~.

7260523 Pte. C. McLaughlin, 9/9/32.
1065660 Pte. G. W . DaJ e, 14/ 11/ 32. -

308

L / Sgt , R. H. Baten;an, 3/9/ 32.

Sgt . R. J .. Drummond, 10/9/ 32.
Sgt. F . J. R osling, 25/ 9/32.
Sgt. E. J . Burnet, 16/10/32.
Sgt. E .. T. Taylor, 29 / 10i 32.

being voted in detail by Parliament.

Wellington gave his opinion against the
findings of both Commissions; and indeed
it was difficult to amalgamate the Engineers
and Artillery , in \"hkh clothing was done
by a Board and promotion was by selection,
with the Cavalry and Infantry, in which
clothing was done by the Colonels and promotion went by purchase.

CXXV.
I have already said that after the Crimeall
War, seconded by the smashing victories of
Prussia over Austria and France, British
Army administration was put into a boiling
cauldron. That this is not an exaggerated
use of words, is, I think, proved by the fact
that, in the twelve years or thereabouts
after the war, no less than 89 inquiries were
held, Royal Commissions, House of Com mons Committees, War Office Committees,
and Committees of Officers, to consider the
administration of the Army. I can here
give only a bald outline of the changes that
took place, nor is Army adminstration the
subject of these notes; but, as I have found
frequentl y before, you cannot follow the
history of pay without grasping the Army
system as a whole. Before the Crimean
War, there \\'as a Minister for War and the
Colonies, each ,,\lith his own Secretariat;
the Home Office administered the Militia,
Yeomanry and Volunteers; the C. in-C. at
the Horseguards ruled over the Cavalry
and Infantry ; the Master-General of the
Ordnance (\\'ith a seat in Parliament) over
the Engineers, Artillery, and the provision
of prearms and greatcoats; the Treasury
ruJed over the Commissariat, i .e., supply
including treasure, and t ransport; the
Secretary at War was responsible for all
mi litary expenditure; the Board of General
Offi.c ers inspected the clothing of the
troops; the Colonels provided the clothing;
\yhile there were other func tionaries, the
Paymaster-General, the Comptroller of
Ar,DlY Accounts, the A udit Office, the
Governors of Chelsea Hospital, and the
Army Medical Department (still distinct
horn the regimental surgeons), who \\'ere
almost independent functionaries.
As
early as 1833 a Commission had advocated
the consolidation of some of these.
A
second Com mission in 1837 did the same;
hut all that was d(me was to abolish Army
Extraordinaries," which were large sums
left to the discretion of the Army wit hout

CXXVI.
The authorities might argue on the
principles of administration; but events.
forestalled them . The disasters of the
Crimean War roused public opinion to fever
heat, set the Cabinet in a flurry, and forced
the organisation of an Army which was no
longer a congeries of more or less privatelyowned regiments, but a centrally-controlled
united Force. A Treasury Mintite was
enough to transfer the Commissariat to t he
War Office. The militia was transferred to'
the War Office. The Secretary at War ,
who had been responsible for the finance of
the army, was merged in the Secretary of
State for War. T)le sufferings of the army
in the Crimea were largely put down to the
lack of transport and forage- both then
under the Treasury. Wherefore the Commi.ssariat, transport, stores, barracks and
hospitals, with the supply of Treasure included, were all put under a single Controller. The Controller had his own Pay
Department, distinct from t he regimental
Paymasters . But the "Control System," as
it "Was called, failed; the very name was
unfortunate; every junior rank thought he
was in control of the entire Army; all \vere
at loggerheads, up to the Controller and
C. in-C . themselves. So the Commissariat
an.d Transport were formed into a separate
Corps, known from 1880 as the Commissariat and Transport Staff, and this in 1888
was reformed on a purely mili tary basis as
the Army Service Corps. This left the
Contr0ller's Pay Depart ment rather in tJ1e
air , ready to be joined up with th e Regimenta1 P aymasters .
30 9

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CXXVIl.
~lean\Vhile the Ordnance Office, carrying
with it the Artillery and Engineers. had
bE:.E:ll put under the authority of the C. inC. - at the Horseguards. The fusio.n of all
these departments led for many years to
little but chaos, until. in 187r the staff of
the Horse Guards was removed to P all
Mall to serve under the same roof as the
Secretary of State, and a memorable Com-mission laid down principles by which
military efficiency might be combined in
practice with economy and the professors
of both should work in harmony.
CXXVIIl.
This Commission reported that the old
tradition had been to distrust, watch, and
stop expenditure proposed by the military
staffs. There were two semi-independent
powers, one seeking to spend, the other to
prevent expenditure. The whole military
administra tion had been organised on the
basis of a want of trust, which had led to
doubl.e staffs ' attacking the same problems
fro;';1 two antagonistic points of view. Two
principles were therefore laid down:- (r )
the Secretary of State should be responsible
both for military efficiency and for economy, and everyone else \I'as to be subordina te and responsible to him.
Financial
considerations should be taken into account
from the very inception of military policy;
and to help the Secretary of State along
this line, as he wa~ helped along the military line by the heads of the Army, he \I'as
"given a Financial Secretary, who, in order
to safeguard his independence, was to be
a .J\'l ember of Parliament. Thi s Officer took
over the accounting and audit branches and
was given powers of concurrent financial
review as well as of initiative. (2) ConfideQce should be plac ed in, and responsibi]ity fixed upon, the heads of subordinate
departments, with whom the Estimates of
expenditure must originate, but originate
with the concurrent advice of the Financial
Secretary's staff.
CXXIX.
vVe have now very nearly reached the
poin t at \I~hich the Pay Staff ' of the shortlived Control Department cotfld be united
with the ' PaYmasters of the Regiments to
form the Army Pay Department- uuder- the

PAY

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Financial Secretary. But one last great

dragon lies in my path-the rise and
abolition of the Purchase System of Commissions and Promotion. Now the ultimate
reason of the abolition of Purchase is contained in two phrases, one, wel l-known,
spoken by a French General about the
Charge of the Light Brigade:- "C'est
magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la g uerre";
and the other, less .known, spoken by a
British Minister:- "We cannot afford to
have many repetitions of the Balac1ava
charge." Both of which may be boiled
down into saying that modern armies were
becoming a 111 a tter of technical efficiency
and not alone of magnificent gallantry.
The spectacular defeats of Austria and
France at the hands of Prussia underlined
the moral tbat bad been more dimly seen
in the Crimea .
CXXX.
The sale of Commissions goes back to the
earliest records . I have told in previous
Notes ho\\- Companies were raised by conh-act; ho\\( Command \\'as given for raising
so many recruits; and how regiments were
regarded as almost the personal property
of their Colonels. Now it is n ot to be
snpposed that the Officer who had spent
time and mo ney in raising a Company,
,,"ou ld appoint other Officers free of charge
to the s ubor lil1ate posts. The total cost
must naturally be shared by all, in proportion to the rank held; and \\'hen an Officer,
who had himself incurred expense, retired
or exchanged , he \\-ould natural1~- demand
to be recouped by his successor. Moreover,
the value o f Commissions \\'a s constantl y
increasing, so that the sa le of a COlllmission
()n retirement provided the retired pay of
the Officers. Probably the most important
reason for the long-conti nuance of a system
\\'hich in theory as well as practice became
more and more disliked , was that thereby
the l\on~Effective Vote was kept at a
lUl 111 III um.
CXXXI.
The first officia l recognition of the system
was in tbe reign of Charles Il, when r/- in
the on both the sale and the purchase
priee was levied for the benefit of Chelsea
Hospital.
William III prohibited the
practice; but it was permitted again in 1701
3 10

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on the ground of the provision it made for

retirement . In r7II no Commission was
to be sold except by specific Royal permission; and George I, who was against it,
laid down a tariff of maximum prices in
addition to requiring the Royal sanction,
and claimed absolute control of the sale
money, for payment of debts and so forth.
At the same time there \\'as to some extent
a prejudice against Officers who had obtained their commissions otherwise than by
purchase. Thus in 176r an Officer was
retired for ill-health whose pension \vas
ordered to be 10/- a day, to be made up
from the pay of non-purchase Officers, of
whom the youngest ensign had to contribute 3/8 a day, "the same being the whole
of hi s pay."

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,Then an extra Company was formed, the

Senior Subaltern stepped into command
without payment. Ranks above that of
Lieut.-Colonel were not saleable; wherefore a Lieut.-Colonel 'A.- ho had the chance
of promotion to Major-General sold his
commission to an officer ou the half-pay
'list, thereby goiug himself on the half-pay
list until he was promoted . Purchase \\'as
forbidden in the regiments transferred
from the East India Company; and cadets
at Sandhurst on passing had their commissions without purchase-indeed by 1862
Sandhurst was open only to cadets \yhose
commissions were not to be purchased.
The on ly arguments in favour of the system were that (r) an Officer could not be
compulsorily transferred to the half-pay
lIst \\"itb out pecuniary loss to the officer;
(2) the system facilitated retirement and
therefore accelerated promotion, and gave
security against favouritism in promotion.
But against this, \\'as the fact that only
the next senior who could afford to purchase must necessarily succeed to the Command, irrespective of merit. And that
would not do, with the example of Prussia
before Parliament. The Royal Commi ssion
stated that, if purchase \\"ere abolished, lye
should have to introduce the "French
system" of promotion by merit and of
compulsory retirement.

CXXXIl.
In 1766 a new tariff \\"as laid down by a
Board of Genera l Officers, to be applied
"whenever Your Majesty shall in yo ur
good pleasure permit such commissions to
be sold." The tariff varied from 6,700
in the case of a . Lieut.-Colonel of Footg ua rds to 400 for an Ensign in the Marching I{egiments of Foot. It was ordained
that O'Aicers should sell what they bad
bought and no more, but this was ignored;
otherw'ise the system IllUSt have come to
an eIld autolllaticall y. By 1821, however,
a still higher tariff \ras laid dow)], the
maximluIl no\\- becoming 9,000 . Yet
actual prices \\'ere ah\'ays in excess of regulation prices, and in 1856 a representative
of Cox and Co., stated in evidence to a
Royal Commission that whereas the regulation price for a Lieut.-Colone1cy was
6,175, the usual price was .14,000; and
he had knowll 16,000 pald, and once
.r8,000. So much had the value of commissions gone up that in r 856 it was estimated that Officers o n full pay had paid
4,742,280 for their commissions, whereas
they were entitled to -receive on sale,
'7,126,03 0 .
CXXXIlI.
All sorts of impediments \\'ere put in the
,,-ay of selling commissions, even \\"hi le the
system itself g rew in extent. A commission could be . sold on ly when the holder
.\\-as alive-="'9ther~v~s.e il "cl~a_tl: vacancy"
occurred, wHen . the next semor stepped
iuto the higher rank without payment.

CXA.'lGV_
General Officers who had active sen-ice
experience were not slow to condemn the
Purchase System. A early as 1794, .l\lajorQeneral Craig, \I'ho \yas A.G. with the
expedition to the Lo\\- Countries, wrote
home that " There is not a young ma11 in
the Army that cares one farthing whether
his C_O., his Brigadier, or the C-in-C .
himself approves his conduct ' 01' not. His
promotion depends, 'not on their smiles or
froll-us--hi s friends can give hi11l '1
thousand p.ounds with which he goes to
the auction room in Charles St., and in
a fortnig ht he becomes a Captain. Out
of 15 regiments of Cavalry and 26 of Infantry \yhich we have here, 21 are literally
commanded by boys or icliots . ., As to
moving, God fqrbid we should attempt it
within three miles of all enemy . .. As
to'l)lundering) it is beyond anything that I
b~lieve ever disgraced an army, and yet I

3II

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both Houses of Parliament. A "dilatory"

mQtion in the House of Lords was tantamount to the rejection of the Bill; whereupon Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet bethought
themselves that what a Royal Warrant had
originally authorised, a new Royal Warrant might equally well disallow . Purchase
was illegal except when the Crown permitted it under a fixed schedule of prices;
if the schedule were cancelled and the
permission of the Crown revoked, the
practice would remain, as it for long had
been, illegal. This \;vas done. The outcry
against the Government was greater than
ever; but the Lords recognised that they
were out-manoevred and passed the Bill,
subject to a Vote of Censure.

think we do all we can to prevent it, that

is with the little assistance which the
ignorant boys and idiots above alluded to
can give us." Major-General Craig may
have been somewhat prejudiced by the illfate of the Low Countries expedition; but
in 1846 we find Lord Grey, an ex-Secretary
at War, stating of the promotion of Officers
that it "depends exclusively upon seniority
..QC upon interest, and their having money
to purchase their successive steps. There
is not even a pretence of making it depend
upon their showing themselves to be fit for
it . . . Can we be surprised that the
regimental officers of our army should as a
body be so inferior to those of the Artillery and Engineers and of the Navy?"
(The Purchase system did not apply to the
Artillery and Engineers \\"ho came under
the Board of Ordnance, or to the Navy).
Finally, the Royal Commission of 1856 reported that "An Officer who performs his
routine duties and who keeps a sum of
money available to purchase his promotion
. . . may look forward with confidence to
the attainment of high military rank . . .
,,"hile the subaltern who has not the means
to buy advancement may serve during all
the best years of his life in distant stations
and in deadly climates, yet he must be
prepared to see his juniors pass over him."

CXXXVII.
The loudest objections to the abolition of
Purchase came from the Officers themselves; and it is difficult to understand why
this should have been the case, unless it
was that, as the price of Commissions
seemed to be advancing, the abolition of
Purchase would deprive them of the
chances of appreciation. Under the Act,
the State became the universal purchaser
of all Commissions as and when they came
inJo the market. No Officer was to to be
placed in a worse position than he would
have been in, had the system continued.
Moreover, as Mr. Gladstone pointed out,
the Officers were relieved of the deadweight
of 8,000,000, the interest of which was
" 'orth to them 320,000 a year. The actual
cost to the public worked out at about
7,000,000. It is stated that the public was
fQr the Bill; but they were l?uzzlec1 as to the
almost virulent opposition of the Officers.
In a year or two all complaint had died
down; and twenty-one years later, when
"The Times" published a review of the
matter by Sir James O'Dowd, then the sole
survivor of the Army Purchase Commission, the editorial comment was that it was
very difficult to realise the strength of the
passions aroused by the removal of one of
the most astounding anomalies ever prodltced by our peculiar. habits and institutions. The immecliate perdition of the
Army was painted in those d~ys with
a vividness of colour and a force of imagin~tion that went far to perturb the judgment
even of ordi.n arily cool observers. All of

CXXXV .
The Purchase System had indeed led to
some curious anomalies. In the 41st Foot,
one of the Lieutenants was senior to every
Officer above him, including the Lieut.Colonel. In a regiment serving in the
Crimea there was a Captain with 47 years'
service who had been at Waterloo, at
" 'hich time not one of his brother officers
had been born. In 1846 there were two
Captains, father and son, in the same regiment, the father with 40 years' service.
A ::'.Iajority became vacant; and the father
alIo\\"ed th,e son to purchase it over his
head. Two y~ars later the regiment went
011 active service, \\'hen the son " 'as killed
and the father then got the Majority without pnrchase.
CXXXVI.
The Army Regulation Bill of 1871, by
\\'hich the Purchase System " 'as abolished
11l.et witl;1 the most stre.l;lllOuS opposi.~ion i1;
31 2

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which meant that, translating the magniloquent lang uage of "The Times," the
peppery old Colonels of tradition were
vociferating that "The Army would go to
the dogs."
CX]L"{VIII.
The sequel to the abolition of Purchase
was to lay down new rules for promotion .
If you could not buy' your next step, how
were you to g et it-by seniority, or by
selection, or what? The answer of Mr.
G~adstone's Cabinet was "Seniority tempered by selection"-a compromise on \'\hich
to this day nobodv has been able to improve, if indeed it- can be improved upon.
In regard to the ranks also Mr . Gladstone's
Government took an immense step forward .
The bounty on enlistment ,,"as abolished,
.thereby doing a,,-ay with the chief inducement to bad characters to enlist and with
the trouble of fraudulent re-enlistment.
Men of bad character were to be discharged
from the service, and thereafter the service
became inc reasingly in the public opinion
a reputable one in \yhich to serve. Good
Conduct pay " 'as speeded up; but the
greatest step \\"as taken in regard to rations.
I have said in a previous ote that from
the soldier's pay of 1/ - a day there " 'as ill
the first place deducted the actual cost of
the ration up to 6d. The cost was ah'\ays
more than 6d., so that 6d. had become in
practice a fixed sum. In 1854 this was
reduced to 4td., although the actual cost
was then 7d. In 1867 2d . a day \\"as added
to the pay; but it "'as left to Mr. Card"'ell
in 1873 to g ive to the soldier free of charges
the 1/ - a day " 'hich he \"as supposed to
have enjoyed for nearly two centuries. In
other words, the ration was issued free of
charge.
CXXXlX.
In the meantime, in the early 'sixties,
a new phenomenon appeal"ed, tiny and
isolated at first, but, as it ~ turned Otlt, of
enormous portent. The regimental can teens under the Board of Ordnance had
been hired out to contractors at a rental
amounting to something over 50,000 a
~Tear. Many evils had been associated \yith
these !;:;Inteens, the cl;lief of which was
probabJy the supply .to soldie~s of che:;lp
raw spirit. To this much indiscipline ancl
crime in the Al.'my ;,\"as (h.ie~
In the
middle of the century, when steps were
being taken to improve the soldier's lot,

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the canteens were improved; but the evils

cmpped up again here and there. Then at
Gibraltar a Captain Jacksoll set up an
Army Institute for the Garrison-a private
Club with 2:500 members-vvhich turned
out a huge success. In 1862 a similar
Institute was set up at Portsmouth, aided
by a small subscription from the Government. In other stations the canteens, instead of being h.ired out to a contractor,
were put under the management of a Committee of Officers.
These Regimental
Institutes supplied better goods to the men ,
and any profits "'ere used for their benefit .
Th.e soldier might be saved Id. a daya sum small enough, it would seem; but
it must be remembered that the "free"
b~lance of the Private's pay, after pa)-jng
for rations and stoppages, ~'as only 2td.;
and Id. saved was 40%. In 1864 it was
laid dO\\'n that a Committee of three
. Officers must be appointed in each Regiment to run the Canteen, and the system
became permanent.
CXL.
The next step \\"as the formation of a
co-operative Society to supply the Canteens . This was done in 1894 by three
Officers, one of the Grenadier Guards, Olle
of the 17th Lancers. and one of the Army
Medical Corps, \\"ho raised behYeen them
400, issued shares of which nobody ,,"as
to hold more than 200, and so founded
th~
Canteen and Mess Co-operative
Society.
Interest on the shares " 'as
limited to 5 % , and any balance remaining
\\'as paid over as discount to the canteens.
Early in the War in 1914, the Canteen and
Mess Co-operative Society and a firm of
contractors were taken into consultation
by the War Office, 'with the result that the
Expeditionary Force Canteen came into
being; and I need not trace here the .transitions" from the E.F.C. to the N.A.C.B.,
and from that to the N.A.A.F.I.
My
reason for introducing the subject here lies
in the increase in the purchasing value of
the soldier's pay which resulted from the
institution of Canteens as regimental and
co-operative affairs .
CXLI.
In a previous Note I said that in the
'seventies the way was becoming clear for
the amalgamation of the Pay Staff of the
3 13

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

'Control Department with the Regimental

Paymasters. The Control Department was
a short-lived failure, owing to the friction
it generated between the Department and
the executive Officers of the Army. All
ranks of the Department came to regard
themselves, or came to be regarded by the
executive branches as regarding themselves, as in Control of tl1e Army ; in other
\\:ords, they ,\'ere, or were looked on, as
Jacks in Office. On the break-down of
the Control System, the Army Pay Depart-ruent was formed. The subsequent history
of the R.A.P .C. was briefly outlined in the
first number of this Journal, and there is
no reason to repeat it, while any more
detailed account would require the discussion of events which are even now so
recent as to be in some ways still contro,'ersial. But it is interesting to note that
the words of the Royal Warrant in 1878
hy \\'hich the A.P.D. \\'as established, "To

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JOURNAL

receive, disburse and account for, under

the direction of the administrative Officers
of the Control Department in each Comm~nd, money receivable and payable on
account of Army Services," are very
nearly those used in the first paragraph
of the present Financial Instruction; while
the wider functions added "later, and now
embodied in the second paragra ph, by
which the Command Paymaster is "Adiser to the Officer i / c Administration Ul
regard to the financial aspect of all questions of pay and allowances and to cash
and cost accountu1g services,'J is directly
traceable to the principle laid down for th e
first time by the Commission of r871, th at
the old system based on distrust and check
must cease, and that finaucial cOllsiderations must be taken into account from the
inception, and throughout the whole
administration , of military policy , thus
harmonizing economy with efficien cy.

THE END .
COMMAND PAY OFFICE , ALD E RSHOT, 1903.

Snr Row .~ggt. WiJli otms, Sg t. Rob erL~on. Sgt.. M ick man, Tpr. R oge rs.
4nl Row.-Sgt. Dowsett, Sgt. Hard, Sgt. P erry, Sgt. Mcph ail. Sgt. Reading, Mr. Adair:
Cpt. Twittv:. Cpl. Harnsley , Cpt. O'Hagen, Cp\. vVali ba llk , Cpl. Hi ckm a n.
3RD R ow.-Cpl. Wilinore, S / Sgt. Stephens,
( ?) Cp!. Foster, ' CRI. Troo'g hton, Cp l.
U\jJldry, S.Q.M.S. )Valsb, Cpl..lOOberts, Cpl. B ale, Sgt. Ravenscr oL, CpI. Youn g, Sgt.
Lewi .
2 ND R ow.-M.r. y ou.n g, S/ Sg t. Men zles, S.Q.M.S. Abbott, S.Q. 1.S. Jones, S.Q.M.S. ,M ans
fieltl , S/ Sgt ...Whlte~lde, S.Q.M.S. Waguer, S.Q.M .S. Graham, Mr. Davis, Boy Thomas, Boy
Wlfhers, Mr. J?awson, Mr. '1'hul'ston , Mr. Connolly,MesStlllger Flet chel'.
ls'r Row.-S.S.1\!. Hutclu.ngs, Lt. Macfie, Capt.. Mal'chant, Major Woollett, Lt.Col. F ox,
OoL Ward, Major Bass, Capp. . Goustable, Capt. D!llacomb,e., L~. SpeJding, .S ..S.M. L lLwson ,
Ei.S.M. Jon e~.
.

314

THE

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PAY

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JOURNAL

Aldershot Command
COMMAND PAY OFFICE , ALDERS H OT.
A numb er of changes have t aken place during th e

past t hree m O llth ~ . S.S. M. Bri erl ey embark ed for

Egy pt on 14th September , S.Q.M.S. Hudson [or
Jamaica on 6t h October, and L / Sgt. B adin g Jeft
us for Cantet' bury on 11th Novemb er . Capt. R uo ney
emba rk s for E gy pt on 1st Decem ber a nd t.ak es w ith
him the very best wi shes o f th e Det achm ent. Hi s
un t iring energy as Sports Offi cer will he m uch
missed in all a cti vitie~ o f the Office.
S.Q .M.S. Bal'tiett join ed from J ot lll a ica on 31st
Oct.ober. Th e 7th Costin g Co urse, det a ils o f whi ch
appear else wh ere, has di s persed an d th e 8lh Co urse
i now well I)n its way .
Vile offer our co ngratula t ions to S g t.Ran ~o m on
hi s promotion to that ra nk , and to Sgt. Taylor Oil
t he occasion 1) hi s ma l"l'i age a t Fl'iml ey on 29th
October .
Cost ing School.-Sill ce th e last iss ne of th e

COMMAND PAY

J Olll"ll al t he res ult s of t he R ova l Society o f Arts

Stotge IT (Interm edi a te) Boo k :keeping ex amin ati on
ha.ve co me t,o ha nd , a nd 'u t" th e fh-e wh o sa t fo ul'
were a war'c!ed fil 'st class cCI'Lifi ca tes and one a
second c1 a.s~ . I t i s sati s fy ing to receive such
s plendid res ults, es peciall.\ wh en t he co mpl et e re
suIts of all examin ees of th e SocieLy's examin ati on
show th at 49.4 per cent . fa iled . Qu e stud ent sat
fo r th e elementa ry eX ~ 1llin a ti on and ach ieyed the
d istin ct ion of a p'", s wit h credi t.
.
Th e se venth COllr e completed its labolll"S in
October a nd the res ult of th e \.\' 31' Office exam iM
t ioll was most enco urag in g. The posti ng for Co t
ing Dl1tie resulted in t he foll o\\"ln g :Sgt. Boa nas La Hil sea. L /Sg t . Levey and ( \ur pl.
Cemel'tli c to 'I'id wo rth. L /Sgt. H ansen to P orton.
L1Sg t. Lee to Clltterick and L Sgt. Plln nell to
Alder shot. CatA Millin g has rema il lNI in Alder
shot. 'We \\' i h t hem eve ry S l1 cces~ in their new
dut ies and st ations.

OFFICE , ALDERSHOT, 19a2 .

THE

ROYAL ARMY

The eighth course assembled on November 8th

and is composed of the f'ullowing members of the
Corps from the stations named. L / Sgt. Grant,
Woking ; L / Sgt. Finn;London: Cpl. Thomas, York;
Gpl. Gowel', WoolwiclL; CRI. Targ~tt, Canterbury;
Cpl. Bewick, Chatham.
Cricket,-We have had a very successful season
having playej 19 matcbes-wOIl 9-drawn 4-and'
lost 6. Most of the matcb e~ lost were played at
the en;:1 of the season when our team was sadly
depleted o\\-ing to leave, etc.
Th.e batting averages a.nd bo\yling analysis are as
follows:BATTING
Sergt. Endacott
22.3
Sel'gt. Taylor
22.2
Capt. Ingpen ..
17:9
Sergt. Tristram
14.4
Sergt. Camp
13.7
Mr. Thornton
1~.3
Lt.-Col. Rogers
12.4
Mr. Bas'un
...
12.2
BOWLING
Mr. Thornton
Sel'gt. Endacott
Sergt. La wrence
Mr. Self
.. .
Sergt. Taylor
Lt.-Col. Rogers

10.6
10.7
11.6
12.0
12.5
17.5
Lawn Tennis. -During September the doubles
handicap was concluded, resulting in a win for
Lt.-Colonel Sawers and Sergt. IEndacott against
Sergts. Boanas and Morris. Th e game was well
C\Jnt.ested , taking over two bours to decde who
should be victors.
.'\. mixe,j doubles team from Woking office visitecl
us for I,he retul'll match a.nd endeavoured to avenge
their deieat. but were not successful. Everybodv
thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and it is 'h oped
that simi lar matches can be arranjled next year.
Sergt. Bl:>anas' journey to Woolwich in connecti'o n .with . the "Rhine Army Cup" competition was
not m yam for we are now the proud holders of
this trophy for the season.
.'\. team visited our friends a.t Hounslow who
entertained us in a most huspitable manner. ~t
we were ungratefu l enough to leave with the score
in our favour.
The closing match of the season was against a
local club that p'u' sesses a, good reputation. We
were a.ble to more than hold \Jur own however
\\'i nning by the odd game in nine. '
,
Fo~tball .-At . l east we c~n say tha,t we started
well 111 the Command J untor Leaj!ue this season
having obtained 3 pOj~tB from our first three game~
-a, draw (4-4) against the 7th Hus~ars and a
\":~ (1- 0) against the 2nd Bn. Queens Royal Regt.
glVlng \IS these.
Since then . how~ver , we have played and lost
three other jlames m the League but houpe to strike
a wi'nning vein again soon. Aoart from the League
"'e h<\ve plaved a number of friendlv p:ames (in
all cases against Units numericallY stronger) and
a Itogether our record stands:-
.
Goals Goals
P.
W.
L.
n.
fOI'
a!!,st.
13
4
7
2
27
46
\Ve have lost (or shall lose before these note"
appear in print) Capt. O. P. J. !V00ney, Sgt. E .

PAY CORPS

JOURNAL

T. Taylor and L / Sgt. C. Ba,rling. All these players

will be sadly missed (especially "Sammy") and \\'e
are grateful for the help they have given liS . part icularly as their departures will considerably deplete our rank~. It i's - r emarkable that during the
time we have catered for soccer in this- Detachment
we have lost more footballers than we have had
l}osted, and things are getting now to the time
when we shall have diffi culty even to raise a team.
It makes our Secretary's mouth water to read in
the "Journal" under other office Dotes that "COl'PI.
Blank has signed amateur forms for the Ar~enal"
or t.hat " Sgt. Query has been selected to play for
England" when he we are tlying to finJ eleven
players out of a possible ten-perh aps one day we
shall be luckier in our postings and in the meanti'me the "old guar.:!" (with a few grumbles) ca rries on.
Heard at a Football Match-Royal Army Pay
Corps v. Coldstream Guards.-Guardsman on lin e
continually shouting "Play up the soldie1"S-Come
away the soldien- Shalie 'em up the sold,ius,"
etc.
A R.A.P .C. Corporal stand ing beside him kept
quiet as long as possible, but eventually, getting
exaspera.ted, said to him "Here Mate! Why don't
you shout for Y'ilur own blinking team ."
Rifle Section .-Thi'~ section of our sports club is
again in full swing, and despite the fact that \\'e
have changed our "shooting night" from Friday
to Thursday, it still com men ces to I'ain just a it
is time for members to f'uresake their fire sides for
the somewhat cooler rifl e range.
~Te have <\gain entered a team in the H ampsh ire
Co unty Leall'u(\. and although we secured third place
in Division III last yea1', the powers th a t be h:tve
decid ed to put our team in Division II for this
season. To date we have fi ,'ed two matches. the
fil~t a~ninst Lloyds Bank , B\)Umelllouth, scorinK
577, and against Colbury when we made one point
less. We managed to "see off" Llovds Bank. but
the result of the Colbury match is still awaited .
One friendly match has been fired when we met
Canterbury Record and Pay Office. Our "A" team
scraped home by three points , whilst "B" team
had a comfortahle margin of eleven points. Other
fri'e ndly matches are in the offing against Woolwich
"A" and "B", Woking "A" and the return with
Canterbury.
The students on the present Costing Course have
been subjected to the usual scrutiny. and so far
only one "shot" has been discovered. There is,
however" plenty of t ime yet and we hope to secure
one 'ur two m0re.
The following was received too late for classification
Football Notes.-The football team is going on
as well as can bee expected and is hoping to get
stronger.
What we require i's a little r6l)rganisation-that's
the stuff- reorga,nisation . The positions of the wi ng
forwards could be reversed . the outside left being
ril[ht outside, and the outside right beinp; left outside. The remainder of the tea,m could take their
places amonllst the spectators, \l'Mle the difficulty of
getting a suitable goalkeeper C\Juld be overcome hy
enp.:ajling a carpenter to bORnl up the Il'oal, thereby
relieving unemployment. TIllS would also frustrate
the effol,ts of opposing sides who play the game
with the sole object of scoring goa ls.

THE

ROYAL ARMY

WOKING .
With the C\Jming of the dark winter evenings and
the consequent increased activity in the social lin e,
especlalJy as regards fun ctions in our newly acquired
Sergeants' Mess (see notes below) quite a number
of events have occurred here since th~last issue.
ArrivaIS.-Sergeant Punter is due from Egypt-date of arTiva l, of co urse being depend ent upon
the "boat." A hearty we j come awaits him. .
S.Q.M.S. Mockler joins \)n I?robati'on fOT W.O.I.
on 26th November. He anJ h,s family are assured
of a. splendid time, .and wiLh the good company and
statIOn WhlCh awalts them the tour of probation
will go very quickly. We also extend a hearty
welcome to Ourporal Ra,ppell (fro~n Leith).
Oepartures.-S.S.M. Thompson and family embark for Hong Kong on 2nd January 1933 'and
we wish them a splendid voyage out a'nd a I;appy
time in their uew station.
The depa rture of this W.O. will be a distinct
loss to our rifle sbO/Oting secti'un of the Sports
Club, in which he has a,lways tak~n the keenest
interest. Besides losing an "all round shot" he
\\-i~ be much missed in the organisati'on of competltlOlls and mouthly spoon shoots. From a point
of VIew of the Sergeants' 1I1ess hi s services in regard to our social functions will be p,articularly
missed, as it is mainly due to his untiring efforts
in the past that our whist-drives and da,nces are
such a huge success. During his brief tour in
Wo king he has
~teered
the
old W.O .'s
and Stlr~eants Club a nd the newly fonned
Sergeants Mess. through some .:Jifficult times, and
the guod work done has been greatly appreciated
by all concerned.
By the departure of LjSergeant Grant to the
Costing School A ldershot has gained an all-round
sportsman anel hi~ loss to Woking is keenJy felt.
He is pa.rticularly missed as M.C. a t our social
gatherings.
Corporal McClafferty leaves for his native land
shortly.. All extend him g'uod wishes on departure
for his Jlew ~tation (Leith).
Promotillns.- The receipt of "crowns" in this
office was doubly welcomed. S/Sergt. Elam gained
the promotion \)n 23rd September, 1932, and all
duly celebrated at the openillg function of the
Sergeants' Mess, which bappened to COillcide with
the date of receipt of news. Htl also "celebrated"
th e first promotion honours vide mess rules, in
spite of the antedate.
Sergeants' Mess.-The notes in the Autumn issue
mentioned the new lease of life to the W.O.'s and
Sergeants' Club. This Club bas now ceased to
exist, but we have gained considerably as, on the
3rd Ocrobar, the Sergeants' Mess R.A.P.C. came
into being. Under the new regime the soci'al life
of the Det.1.chroent has gone ahead by l eap~ and
bounds. a nd our hard-working members are booked
up fOl' months to come. Here are a few of :the
events :WhistOrives.-These are much sought after and
successful drives were held on 7th, 14th and 28th
October, 18th and 22nd November (17 tJv 21 tables ).
Others on ha.nd are 30th November and 16th D ecem bel', 1932.

PAY CORPS JOURNAL

oances.-Considering the di stance front the town
and that no 'buses run after 11 p.m ., the attendanc~
IS remarkable.
Some 150 turn up and enjoy 'the
musi c provided by the dance band of the 2n~1 Bn.
Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Dances were held
on 7th and. 28th October and i18th November.
Others pcndll1g are 30th November, 16tl~ December
a,nd 30th December.
Games Tournament.-The tourn ament amongt
the Detachment held last month , mth the ladie in
attendance, was the means of locating "dark
horse "-handicapper;s have dulv noted for futu re
guidance .

Results :-Billiards : S / Sergt. Pan'.

Snooker: Sergt McDonald.
Table Tennis: Sergt. Montague.
. Shove ha ' penny, dominoes. darts and other
parlour gal.nes will be reported in future issues .
The la.dl es of the Detachment are practisina
secretly a,nd when the next liuurnament come&alon~
results will show them well to the fore
0
The membel'S of the Sergeants' Mess 'visited the
Prmce of Wales' Bowling Club, St. John's, on
17th ovember and a. n excellent reception was giyen
us; Bllhards, snooker, bagat-elle, darts and shoye
ha penny were played and the honour of the Detachment was upheld in most gamell.
The Detachmen~ a nd famLlies will meet for
a n'Uther tournament on 29th November.
Shoot ing.-Without doubt this paslinle is at
present the most popular amongst the members of
the Sports Club, and max i'inum attendances an,
made most. Wednesday evenings, when they fore pather, be It for matches .or just ot\iinary practices.
!'he Secretary of the . RIfle Shootmg Section has
been busy and fixtures have been ara,nged with
Aldersl1l:lt, 16th November. Canterbury, 23rd
November,. Aldershot, 30th November, ' Egypt, 7th
De?ember, Edinburgh and Leith, 14th December.
Edmburgh and Leith, 18th January 1933. Other
offices: p'lease note dates. Offers will be accepted
for any ~ate-. after 4th January, 1933. Excellent
progress IS bemg made.
The first monthly "spoon-shoot" took place on
t~e 2nd ~ov~mber; S jSgt .. P<\rr, mth the help of
Ius handicap, ma.:le a pOSSIble, and was d,uly: rew~rded aCC\Jrdingly-mth Mr. Willis runner-up
WIth a score of 99.
,A recent shoot under S.M.R.C. competition rules
gave the following result:Sergt.
McDnnald-94: Sergt.
Boggis-94 :
S.S.M. Thompson-92 ; Sergt. :r.rontague-91 ; Mr. Eyle$-90.
Sergt. Jones as "reserve" deceived us all and
scored 95.
Pending.- w mmittees and all others a va.ilable
are busy preparing for the Xmas rush. vVilat with
whist-drives, dances and tournaments their hands
are full. A big event i~ being arranged for December 20th, when the staff df the combined offices
gather at the "Children's Xmas Party. " It is
<\nticipated that over 100 will be there. More of
this anon.
Xm as Greetings.-All here send good wishes for
Christmas and the coming year to old comrades. A
hearty welcome awaits anY'une who finds himself! rn
or near Woking.
F.E.G.

THE

ROYAL ARMY

PAY CORPS

JOURNAL

Eastern Command
COMMAND PAY OFFICE ,
80, PALL MALL, S.W.1.
Om cri c k e~ section und er t he direction of IV[ajor
Robson has not been id le siilce th e close ~'f the
past' sea S'J 11 , As we have recei,-ed t,he hosp'ltaht,Y
of se,-erol offices and ha ve not been able to reCIprocate. it ,,-n fe lt Lhat we s hou ld endeayoUl: to
iorlll 3_"pukka" club, wIth gro und accommodatIOn ;
this \\" oull enable us to offer sever al games to
'J ffl ces "ithin easy reach of L ondoll. A meeting
has heen held. subscription5 are coming in and we
are 110W li \-ing in hopes of belllg U1 a posltJon to
commence the next season as a fully -fl edged club .
Ca pt, Jam E's \\" ill be leaving us very soon for
:'\falta an I \\"e h,tll lose a great spoltsman by hi s
~I epal'ture .

The eatl." sa ilin g of Sgt. " Tu g" "'7i'l ~ on to H 'JII,g

Kong will deprive us of one of our star tenlllS
pla:;ers, T hi s is another -lepartment of sport in
,,-hich thi s office excels, but out of sheer mod esty
is not represented.
We lo~e Sgt. W orsley earl~' in the New Year, h e
is pL'Vccedi11g thi s tim e to Shanghai..
We wi h lhem all the hest of lu ck in theil'
new sta tions,
To Sergt. BUI'uet \\"e offer our heartiest congratulation 011 his marriage.
'W e have three represen t ati ves in tbe Corps hockey
l;!am-Capta in A. L . Dunnill , Capt. J. L. Oli ver
and Sgt.. Burn ett. and t hey have b een p layin g
reg ularly each week sin ce the openin g of the easoJl.
F,J.L.
BARNET.
Arr iva ls.-S.,. Majol' J, T. K a in e has joined
from Deptford ane! we h ope that hi s stay ill Bamet
will he lon g and en joyable.
Departures.- S.S.Major E. J . W. 13ro\\' ne ha s left
th e Co lollrs aft er 37 years' sen'ice, a nd has joined
a ne"- a rm .\'. the " Bla ck Coats. " We gave him a
sl'nd off at a Sergea nt' Mes Smoker I) n 28th
October, 1932.
Both Co lonel E. J. Carlel. O. i/ c. Record and
Par Office. in his speech prior to p,reseniatidn to
Se!'gea nt . Ma ,i,or BL:owne of OUl' parting gift (a
llItabl:; II1 sc l'lbecl s ilver tankard), and Major C. J.
K . Hill. R egihlental P ay mast er. gave all of USI one
I) r two point s to t hink of reg;lrding OUl' ow n ul till1ate passin g out of the senice, but we put the
thought~ of that away in th e enjoym ent of th e
pl'ogramme. ;I nd sin ce rely hope tha.t Mr, Brown e
li\'es to enj oy the memory of th at evening for many
ma ny yea rs.
General.-There are no items of spo rt news to
reClJrd. Our cricket qlub is resling, beyond th e
~\'eek l ~' work on our practi c~ pitch , now ill the m akIng,
,
Owing to the zeal of a very k een Officer i/c Bar rac ks. wh o sta nd s by hi's " schedules,'" and has
collared all our lovely " tables-o ffi cers, " so well
rem emb~red I am sure by all old Ba-m etonians , it is
r um oured that a certain Q.M .S, on the Lodging
List is fl)rced to purchase his own desk with lockup drawers. in order to store his billet doux.
Happy Christmas Greetings t o all the Corns trom
all at Bamet.
F .M .L.

CANTERBURY .
Th e pa~t quarter has been a comparativel y qui'e t
and un eventfu l one, a nd th is must be refl ected ill
OLlr notes which a re ver y s hort comp,ared withl those
in the past two issues of th e " J ournal." CpI. Targett, has left US t'J be taught the my ste ries of Cost
Eccounting !It th e C.A. Schoo l, Aldershot, and it
i hope.] that he will successfully terminate hi
Co urse th ere. L / Sergt. BarJing ha s Olll' gOvd \Vi's he s
on joining the office from Aldershot.
Rifle Shooting.-We have C'Jmmen ced OLl r 1932 /33
season with two new rifles and the results to dale
show a, great improvement in members' scores . The
October spoo n wa , won by Cp!. Targett with Capta.in TI,ornas a s runner-up. Th e following a re th e
r esu lts of '.) ur fixt ures with other affices a nd units
to date: v, Aldershot "A" . Lost by 4 a nd 16.
v, AI':!ershot " B ". Lost by 18 and 12.
v W okin g "A" . Won by 8.
v . Wokillg " B " . Lost by 1. Result of second
shoot not to h and,
\'. Suffolk Regiment "A", L Jst by 7.
v, Suffolk Regiment " B " ., Won by 2.
v. Cumuridgesbire R egt: "A". Lost by 9,
v. Cambridgeshire Regt. "B". L ost by 29.
v. Hounslow "A". Won by 44.
v. Hounslow "B". Won by T,
Several hi gh scores have been m ade recently, the
highest lJeing 97, made by Captain Th'1 mas ancl
Mr. R eynard, wh ilst Pte. Soper a nd M."i, Arnos
follow with scores of 96. Our m emb ership h as in creased an d mem bel'S are entering into tbe various
compet ition s with g reat en thusi as m. We should
w" lcome chall enges fl 'om other office;; for d at es
ill F ebruary a n.:! Ma rch next .
Billiard);.- Co mbine.:l teams from QUI' military! and
civili an staff, repr'esenting our Sports Club, have
p layed the Sgts. Mess , Depot, The Buffs, on two
occasions recently and hav e been well a nd truly
wha cked on ea ch occasion.
CHATHAM.
Recreational Training.-What has come I)v er the
Detachment at Ch atha.m ? You might well ask.
but as a matter of fa ct we hardlv know Qurselves.
S in ce S,Q.M.S , Pittham con cei ~ed th e id ea that
the Detachm ent needed a dose of recreational train in g , alld , a ided and abetted uy Lan ce Sergeant Pu lling. forthwith made football the principal item in
the scbeme, the wh ole of the Detachment see ms t o
ha.ve taken a new interest in li fe.
The first thing , of course, was to find out. h o'"
many 'J f the D etachment thought they con ld pla y
footba ll, and surpri sing as wall the number who had
"played for the school eleven" or the "Regimenta l
team ," it was m ore urpris i'ng sti ll lo find ,that
some actually did have a.n idea of the game. Well ,
after a great deal of jugglery, it was decided' th at ,
with th e assisk'lnce of a few "has beens," we could
mak e up a coupl e o f tea ms; so' acoordingly, '.he
poss ibles and imp,o~s ibl es-a fair number of both
on each side-took the fi eld. And how they took
it! Some by the e,w ful , many by the mout,hful,
frequently se rved up by somebody's boot, a nd
many more laid down a nd hugged it. That th en
was the beg iimin g.
After one or two mOTe entertainm ents of this
nature we began to recognise that th ere ce rtainl y

THE ROYAL

ARMY

PAY CORPS J OURNAL

was a fail' amo unt of ta.lent in the Detachm ent,

S_Q.M.S. Pittham, S / Sergt. Tru s~l er, L / Sergt. Pul
lin, Cpljs. Taylol' and W atson and' Pte. l'ocklington
bcin& Quts tand ing, t he last named particu la rly so,
a nd iurther we found that we had :~ cOJ le of good
goa.lkeepers in Sergts. Bloss and Moody which was
a good thi ng, as we som etim es need ,
two, we
sub!lequ ently found), so with out losing IiJO mu ch
time and before the pl ayens could get cold, challenges ",eL'e issued to various Com pany teams of
the . R oya l Engineers, and to the R.A.S.C.-and
callmg our bluff they accepted them.
Our first matcb was against the R.A.S.C., wh o,
to mak e certain we were not pull.ing t heir legs,
turne<i out their ful l L eague teJ.111 with th e exception of three reserves. With such a fonnidable
OPPollition it wou ld have been perfectly excusable
if our laws had d ecid ed to toss for th e o.:!d trick in
preferen ce to "go ing out" for a grand slam but
not'Jn yO UI' life. FL'om the very beg inning of the
game it ,,' a? ev i'd ent too everyone that if Lhere was
to be a g rand slam our lads were going to do a

ing a week, un'.:!jll' regimental aLTa ngemenls, a nd

one or two Dlghts a week voluntary training. Th e
voluntary ~vening s are thoroughly enjoyed by the
few ~nthu slasts tha t attend, and no douht more
would turn up if only t hey ClJuld get a pass signed .
We havp. a punch ba ll , two 'pairs boxing glolVes,
chest eXp'and e r~, a 10 lb. mech Cl ne ba ll and se"eral
oth er paraphenalia . Th e med icin e ball was very
kindly preosented by o u!' R egimental Paymasler.
Besides this very tangi'ble token of his interest h eattends the ma.l 0L1ty of '0ur football matches 'and
" eggs t' lads on."
There is littl e doubt that our eff Jrts on the footba ll fi eld can be classed as " honest endeavour , .
but even t he most biased enthu sia. t wou ld not declare it "en terk'1inin~" from the point of view of
the football fa.n .
evertheless, our Officers and
sen ioL' Warrant Officers still parade the tQuch linemuch to t he pl easure of tl ,e lo\\'er deck. Here. at
least, esprit de corps i? sIi'll alive.
Yet we are now \\'iitching with keen a nt icipation
that little spot along the Thames where, we o,re

aE. r-o~.... c--.d

CO\.."l ~ ~-

A~T .... R.

of='

D~.J ..r: L-O~~

1==================Y====--~"'1"1"~4((!'.'11-=-=====1
11'"'~"'~
;",.",

,I,
t,'
\

1,1, 1' "~"',I, ,,("

~I

'H
"l

J at!t7 :{

/(
~\......\ ~;'
, G
U~

......

\ .~~ /(
", "'''--- ~ ~~
,;

, .I
,J

..

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:..\

lv~' -:::' . ~

-rl,,)

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bit o r t.h e sla..m-I-n-il-lg

- ; - a- l-'ld....::.l-l o- ,-,,- tl-le- y- l-le-I""d"-t-he-K-e-n-t-'---t-o-Id-,- t-he B,.A.P.C. find the " Gu nn el'S" t!as y meat,
L eaguers ill t he first half, it was simpl y exh il a rata nd we are hoping now the:; will im'ite u s to chase.
in g , Th e seco nd half, llOweve r, found OUl' wen,k
tb e ball with them for 90 minutes; this a ppli es als'':>
Sp'Jt-ia.('k o f st,lmina, U:S is only to be ex pected ill
to a ny ,oth er o,ffice wh ich happens to be looking for
those who e duties a,r e of a sedentary na,ture. 'l11at
a grand ChlHlCe-al l offers will be dea lt "' it h in ~ tL~ Ct
is the snag that was , for wit h th e assistan ce of
rotation :
Lt, -Cololl el Lightfoot and Mr. W. Huggin s a
There is auother thing I was going to mention ,
and that about a \:lance the Detachm ent pro]J.'Jse
remedy was soo n fOUlld-phy sic.1 1 jet'ks-no t only
for the footba llers but for the detachment
So
holding-but more of this anon.
Moves.-Wi t h the Ilosting of Captain S. N. Hill
now we have set out to develop wind and muscle
where previously such things nevel' exi sted.
tJi) Shrewsbury ou 16th Janu ary, 1933, the Socilll
\bove ~-o u see pub.lished for lhe first timel an d
Club will lose one o f its most ardent s upporter'S.
probably the last, a p~ct ure of what. our wellw lshers
We hope, ho wever, that his stay at Sbrewsbury
are up ,'Igfl in:St. Bllt take a look a t both pi ctures,
will be as ha ppy as tha t at Cbatllam. Our best
;NU would never imagine t hey were one and the
wishe,s a lso go with Mrs. Hill.
so me person, would you ? As a ma tter of fact
Just a,bout the time th~ issue of the " Journ al"
they are not, but the illustration is apt so what
is r eady for distribution we will be saying adieu to
does it mntler. Look at the difference between
S.S.M. H . P . Penny who is to embark f'Jr MalU'ithem. In th e first you haNe na.tul'e in the ra,w ,
tiu s on 22nd December, 1932. He wi ll take with
while in the caS!3 of tbe other rough neck our di'ffi him the very best wishes from the Detachment, and
culty wn.s to get him fixed within reasonable space
we all hope he will h ave the bes t of hea lth and
I"J r :,1 picture, even now you see h e is inclined to
good Illck at his new slation .
la p over the lines.
COlpl. W . Poole is d ue to embark for Shanghai on
Tha \ i): the result of two hours' phYllic.'l1 trainor a.bout 5th Jannary, 1933, S'J he should arrive

31 9

THE

ROYAL ARMY

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

or less) o.n Monday evenings for an hour, anli

about a d.:>zen enthusiasts brave its terrors in the
appropriate absence of badges of rank and dis
tinguish ing cheVTons. We 11ave hopes of producing
a wnter.polo team eventually which will [unction,
notwithstanding (pa nse for it to sink in!) and may
be able to offer our usual summer visitors some
thing in this. line shoul.d they be ahle to muster
enough talent. At any rate, we have by this means
been able to detect quite a number of moJest vio
lets who hide their bicel?s under a tunic as well as
.
a few noteable cases of mcipient, hydrophobia.
Our first evening was almost malTed , l1'.:>wevel,
by a display of reckless enthusiasm and eagerness
on the pa,rt o[ a certain sergeant who, disregard
ing warning shouts and th e more othodox metnods
of entering. the water, boldly plunged the first joint
of one finger into the bath with no more concern
than he draws his pay. Although such obvious
enthusiasm is extremely creditable \\"e fear t.hat
such a shock to the system cannot fail to produce
harmful r e~ u l ts, and although he i'mmedia,tely in
dulged in a brisk to'Weling of the portion' affected
and went home, quite a. few redink pens a re p.:>ised
expectantly over his name in the Seniority List.
Promotions.-The congratulations of the detacQ
ment are offered to S.S.M. C. P ea r ce on the suc
cessful conclusion of his probation an d lu'5 pro
motion to Warrant Officer Claso I with effect from
1/ 4/ 32. We forbea.r to express the wish that he
may long continue to serve in that honoUl"ed rank,
although perhaps others wo'n't!
To Sergeant Moody ~lso we accord the usual
salutation on promotion from Lance Sergeant with
effect from 26 / 8/ 32.
Departures.-CorporaI Bewick to Aldershot Cost
i.ng School on 8 / 11 / 32. We look forwo\!:d to seeing
his photo is the prospectu~ of a correspondence
college in due co urse above ~he caption: "Let me
be yonr father. "
E. WL.

when it's ju~t about ,rsixcoats" eold . TW'V pair~

of football boots arEi included in bis kit-he al ways
carries t.wo pairs in case olle pair ruu bot-although
I am g~ven to undel'stand th at this second pair he
pl\Jposes to El'esent to the Chinese bandits as a
peace offering . Be~t of lu ck, and bon voyage.
Wilh the discharge of No. 7657243 S.Q.M.S. C.
'V. P . Pratt, afte, close on 31 years' service, a
further link hRS been severed with what has long
since been r ecognised as the "Old Corps~ " We
wish him all the best, and trust, with fortune smil
ing more sweetly upon him, the little parting gift
wIli soon we \\"orking overtime.
We take this opportunity of welcoming Capt.
K.C. JohnstonJones, M.B ..E ., M.C. , who arrived
from Warley on 21st
ovember, 1932, and NO'.
2873752 Pte. E. Gordon (Gordoll HighlRllders) who
has joined here on probation.
Birth.-Congratul ations to Sergt. T. Lewis on
the birth of a sou, 7th 1 ovember, 1932.
Season's Greetings.-Chatham Detachment send
their best w i ~hes for a Merry Christmas and a
Prosperous New Year tJv all readers of the
Journal" at Home and Overseas.
STOP PRESS NEWS.
(By Radio . )
FOOTBALL.
Sit back and hold tight, \\'e have just had a win.
Vve ha\ e just bea,ten a team of Marines \no, not
dead marines) by 4 goals to 2. It was a great game,
played in a heavy downpour right from the very
beginning, but the lads stuck it Irke trojans, and
right well deserved their victory.
My pencil is positively out of breath rushing off
thls message, and it can o,uly just -about pant
WELL-DONE-THE-DETACHMENT.
7

CHATHAM (ROYAL SIGNALS).

From a "newshound's" point of view the p'ast

quarter has not provided much hunting. 1'here is,
of course, the usual activity beh ind the scenes
which has for its ultimate end the brightening of
the approaching Festive Season-and it i'5 surpris.
ing to what depths of cunning the organisers will
stoop to gain oue's pa,rticipation in thiS sweep and
that draw, the proCeeds of which \vill eventually
go ~ make some poor "quarterbloke's" Xmas the
happier.
Meanwhile, what should have been a leaceful
winter hibernation has been rudely shattere by the
sudden rising up 'Vf a coterie of sportsmen among
the detachment who have Ereached a gospel of
phy~ical training, football and s,vimming and
gained so mauy adherents that we now have two
doses of P.T., two of football and one of swim
ming per wt\ek. The necessary enthusiasm is sup
plied mainly by the more h:>w lyplaced in Division
Ill, who, poor wretches! hope thus to prolong their
lives long flnough to qualify for promotlon to
Divi'sion n . As the R.E. Office Representative has
threatened to let himself go as a football fan, we
are quite happy to leave further details to him ,
especially as our ~upply of bated hrealh has been
depleted by other matters. Since, however, the
fishbla.:>ded individual who was resp'onsible for our
weekly dips dwells amon~st us, we think that per
haps a few words on thiS cheery subject may be
permiLted.
The detachment has secured an allotment of the
S.M.E. indoor swimming bath (heated U.:> 65-more

THE

ROYAL ARMY

SOC i'81. Our Ellterta.inments Committee has been

workmg hard to provide. us with llome enjoyable
hour~. We have had two whist drives a nd d'a nces
<line u~ September and the other in October. Ou;'
next IS to be helJ on the 25th November. III
December we pl'opose to hold a dance .:>nly on the
23rd. Ally member of the Corps o[ the 'rank of
Sel'geaut and upwnrds also ch'i lia n friends em.
pl.eyed JI) Ol!r offices are cordially invited to an
of .0Ul functIOns which take pla.ce on the fourth
Fl"lday of th e monthi." We were pleased to see
Sergt. " T~g" Wi lson had not forgotten Hounslow
or our SOCial fun ctIOns.
.
Our whist drives and dauces lire well patroniseJ
fOl' we had 81 players in September n.nd 84 ir:
Oct'.:>b~r.
Thl'; should be very gratifyil1a to the
commIttee.
0
. Cr i ck~t ,-Our crick et season produ'ced some
lJ)t.erestl~ game~, all of which were !keenly con.
tested.
e played 22 mntches of which we won 7
d.I:e w 5, and lost 10, and'" considerioa the class of
c rl cke~, thI S r esult is yery sati sfacto'I~Y. Individual
peI"forman ces are also I'ea.,~onabl e,..ch'ef amon.gst

PAY CORPS J OURNAL

~ifle Shooting.-We are now in full swing with
tillS sport. The Handicap Spoon for September was
jon by Sgt. E. Botfield , the runnerS'UR being Capt
h Br~nnan and Cp'l. N. Caterham . f'or October'
t . e wlOner was L / Sgt. T. Peacock,' the runners.u '.
b~lng Messrs. Webb a.nd Nash. We heartily con~
gratulate Cnnterbnry on theIr ~ hooiing in our postal
~hdot . When they sent thei'r cards to us for check.
I ~g, a note accompauied them to the effect /l>hat
(they had not ~hot SO' well today." Phew!!!!!
Another Postal Shoot has been beld with WO';)I.
wlCh. ThelI' cards have just alTived and we finJ
hat
tw th~y are better shots than us. C~ngratulations
oolWlch! !
~ockey.~This is our second season, and our
secletary appears to have done his best to ensu.re
th a t the players do not have a spare Saturday to
themselves. There is no doubt that at the end of
the season qur tealn should be profi cient; if not
t~,ey wlll neve)' be able to claim "not sufficient prac:
tlce !"
"Ve have had nine matches to date. of whi ch \\"e
ha ve won three, drawn one and lost five.

HOUNSLOW PERSONALITIES (NI os '5 , 6, 7, 8, and 9)

HOUNSLOW.

The Officers and other ranks of this Detachment

desire to wish the Editors and all ranks of the
Corps, past and present, a very Happy ChrisLmas
and a prosperous New Year.
Congratulations are offered ID L / Sgb. F. Astles
on passing hi's exa,mination for Pay Duties, also on
being awarded the Long Service and Good Con
duct Medal, and to S.S.M. E . O. Cooper and
S.Q.M.S. G. Mitchener who have also been awarded
the L.S. and G.C. Medal.
We were ~rry to hear of an acciden~ . resulting
ing in a broken leg, to a son, Eric, of o;,gt. Forse.
It 'is hoped that the boy wil l soon be discharge.:!1
from hospital and be fr~e from any serious after
effect of his injury.
Arrivals ,-An exmember of the Corps, Mr. J . E.
H. Stringer, has become a civili'an employee in this
office. We wi~h him wflll and hope that his "tern
porary" may become "permanent."
Information bas just been recei veJ to tbe effect
that Sergeant H. J. Wright is to join us from
Hong Kong, and Sergeant W. J. Newton from
Shanghni in the near future. They will find friends '
here.
Departure.-L/Sgt. T. Peacock hns been placed
under orders to proceed to Shanghai for duty duI"
ing the current troopmg season. We wish him 0,
good tour.
320

HARVEST FESTIVAL.
them being:WOOLWICH.
Best BaUing score in an innings ,
The latter months of the year are noticeably un
Mr. V. Taylor ..
58
eveut.ful and lterns I:Jf news from this station are
Col. M. O. Clarke
55
somewhat limited.
Mr. P. Nash
49
It is with no small meaSllce of rel ief. therefore
Best Bowiing Ai/erages:'
that the Office Repre~entati ve can include a short
Col. M . O. Cial'ke
9.2
Sgt. Snndiord
..
aCCOullt of the final cricket match of the season
11.2
whICh t?ok 'pla.c e on 21st ,Septembflr, too late for
Sgt. FOI'se
.
12.7
puhhcatlOl1 III OUI' Autumn issue
Number of Catches
The match was pla.yed at Bur~n Court., Chelsea.
M,'. Nl1sh..
.
15
Sgt. L a ncaster .. .
...
8
agalIlst the Record and Pay Office, London.
'
Favoured by p'leasant weather, we had 11 most
Sgt. FOt'se
.. ~
:::
6
enJoya.ble ~ame which ended in a win for London
Cpt N. Cnterham .:listinguished him self by taking
hy a small margiJl.
5 ~v l ckets for 14 runs ia our game wi'th the Barnet
office.
London batted first. and made 88 fOI ' 8 wickets
(dec.) of wh Ich Lt.Col. Char![,on o.:>ntributecl 3U
Mr.ntion m u~t. also be mAde of those who gave
n~t out, a n.d 1111'. Atkins 26.
With 89
get' to
o[ th eir best In " backing up." "A. chain is os
s trong at ,ls weakest link. "
WIJ) W.oolwl~ h commenced to bat \\"ith confidence,
but
thIngs
Just
happened,
and
our
wickets
fell
:IS
-:We take this opportunity of tha nking the com.
fo l1 o\\"s:lmttee, and S/Sgt. Brown for their work during
t.he sensoll.
12345678
910
., t:~otball.-TheJ'e does not seem to be ally os.
~ TI ~ M W W W w n
~
Slblhty of. OUl' fielding 11 te:lm this yea,' S'':> POllr
news. of tlus game is " Nil."
.
,
(Selgt. Blltler 42 not out.)

to

321

THE

ROYAL ARMY

PAY

L j Sgt. Finn (9 for 23) a lld a, mattillg wi cket

p layed ha voc with us.
E ,tch of our mat ches (w on 4, 10 t 5) ha ve been
th oroughJy enjoya ble, and " 'e look for ward t o meeting our worthy opponents a~all1 next season.
Football.-Th e detachment t eam ha ve dOll e very
well 0 fa r in the Ganison League.
P layillg six mat ches, to date th ey have won four,
.dra wn 01le and, lost one.
Th e latter ~ am e wa s the first of th e ~ e aso n when
yo uuger candIdat es were tn ed ou t. It was , howe-;"e r decid ed to re-introduce th e " old hand s" with
re q.lts as mentioned.
.
__ W e a re sti ll wa iting patiently ror th e youngster s
wh o a re worthy of the places o f t he v etera n s~
Co rporal H a rt has agam been select ed to represent th e Army Ul several mat ches.

CORPS J OURNAL

THE

WARLEY.
Cricket.-As our cricket season extended until
well in to Sep~mb er, deta il ed res ults of all m~ t.ch es
pl ayed could n ob be inserted in the last is" c. e of
th e " Joul'l1 al. " They are now giv en below :18/ 5/ 32. Wa d ey 51 v . Depot. Essex R-egt. 148.
Lvst by 97.
9/ 6/ 32. W a rl ey 88 v . R.A .F. No nh W eald 79.
Won by
14 / 6/ 32. W a rl ey 114 v. W oolwi ch 129 for 3.
L ost by 7 wk t s.
24 / 6/ 32. Warl ey 178 v. London 90. W on by 88.
29 / 6/ 32. W a rl ey 36 v. Depot . E sse x R egt . 85.
L ost by 49.
7 17 /32. W ad ey 96 for 7 v. Ho un ~l o w 52 for 7.

Ir.

...

Dl'a ,\,,,l.

21 / 7/ 32.

Miniature Rifle Club.-Th e club 's activities ha ve

re- opened with a kn ock-out comp e~ition I)n th e
dropped point handI cap. system winch has been
\\'on by a probationer-SIgnalman McQuade.
This win was ' fuily deserved as Slgmn. McQuad e
started th e comp,etition with an average of 67 and
the t a rget th a t won bun th e final 11 ad a, gun score
of 88.
In addition , a N'vv ices' Coml"etition is beul ~
beld , a nd without wl slnng .t o ra Ise fa l ~ hopes It
loo ks as i'f Mr. Yeatm an WIll be the wmn er .
W e have had a P osta l Matchl with H ounslow for
wh om we proved too strong , with a t eam of 6
(5 t o C\:Jun t ) the scores were:Hounslow 382
W oolw ich 439.
'Ve hope that Hounslow will pay us a visit in
the New Year an.d will be a ble to beat us wi th
Out own rifl es . W e are 100ki1lg forwa rd to mat ches
with Aldershot and Canterbury in the near futme
and with any body else \VIm cares t o challenge us .
Vile can turu out two te,1ms of 8 (6 to count)
wi th average$ of 93 a nd 86 resp ec t~v el y.

10 (8/ 32.
18/ 8(32.
25 / 8/ 32.
1/ 9/ 32.
9 (9/ 32.
Total

W adey 105 -v _ W Ol)lwi ch 76. W on

by 29.
Wad ey 101 v . Barn et 83. W on by 18.
W a rley 99 v. Brentw ood Mental
Hospital 151. Lost by 52.
'a rl ey . 152 for 2 v . Ba rnet 77.
Won by 8 wkts .
W ad ey 65 for 8 v . E aste rn Command 109. Drawn.
Wad ey 99 for 7 v. L onJ on 104.
Drawn .
R esults :- Won 5, lost 4, drawn 3.

Thi s result i's very sa,tisfactory, .a nd: all co ncern ed,

both players and officin.ls of th e club , d ese rve a
p-at on the back , w.hich ill hereby accord eJ them .
Wi t hout wishing to be controversial, it must be
pointed out that the referen ce to th e weath er in th e
E ast ern Command notes in the Autumn issue of he
" Jouro al" did nl)t go quite far enough. Th ere is
no doubt that the weather pl ayed right in to t he
ha,nds of the Eas ~l'l1 Command team. H owever,
n.parL from th e in clement weath er , it was a very
pleasant match , n.nd th e Easterr. Comm and are t o
be congmtula.~d on a very sporting eff ort to win.
P erh aps tl1 ey will have betteI' lu c~, next ~eas on.. (W e
hope n'vt, however!). We thanK th em very muCTl
for th eil' kindly r eference to our hospitality .
Impending Changes.- We mu ch re ~I'e t to have
t o a nn oun ce t hat Capt. K . C. J ohnst on-J ones,
M.RE. , _ LC. is lea\ling us on 21st. Noy,elllber 6n
pos tin g to Chath am (R.E.) .
Se l'!~t . C. A . Cross is leav ing I)n 5th J anuary
for Cbina'. He lifts been th ere before . so needs no
reh en. r~al s in th e aL;' <?f us~ng yhopsticks.
Greetings.- H ea rtiest Greeting go from us t o all
co mr~ cJ ". ot, H ome a nd abroad for Chri stmas a nd
th e l\e \.. Y e ~ I.
,. C. A . GR.OSS.

Arrivals.
l\Iajor C. Grim sha w, O.B.E ., from W ar Offi ce,
14/ 11 / 32.
Li eut. Ma rden , H .W .T . (Dorset R egt.) (on
p robation) , 22 /8/ 32.
L / Sgt. Meadows, R .A., -from South ern Com mand , 11/ 11 / 32.
Departures.
JJi eut. F eehall y, J. , !Iv W ar Office, 31 / 10/ 32 . .
W.O.Il. (S .Q.M.S .J Cowper, J. , emba rk ed 10 1'
Egypt, 13/9 / 32.
Sergeant Hoanas, H. E ., t o -So ut.hern Command ,
.
1/ 11 / 32.
SerO'eant OIivel' A. , to Colchest er, 15 / 11 / 'lt2..
c pt Gower,
to Alder~hot .for 'Course of
In struction- Acco untll1g DutIes, 8/ 11 / 32.

A:,

Southern Command continurd from page 329

HILSEA (AND WESSEX AREA).
Greetings.-AII members of Hilsea an ;:l W essex
Aren. send hearty greetings of th e senso n to n.1I CO Il h 'eres, old and new.
Postings.-Sergt. A re;ent to E gypt ; Serp;t. P ensley t o Hil sea Pay Offic'e ou pa v dutI es: (L(Sgt .
W oorls to Re~ e nts Park on pay dutI es . Good lu ck
a nd best wish es .
.
Scrgt. B-,)fUlaS fr om Aldershot ; ~ ( Sgt . ~1alltl e r
front Sali sbury. W elcome, and hope ') 'ou'l\ I~ke th e
cha nge. Pte. El good hn.s passed th e e X?mU1 a ~llo ll
for fina l tra ns[er t o the Corp~. COJlgrat ulatlon s .

Marriages.
Pt-e. Da vi es, G. H. , 20 / 8/32.
Sgt. Rosling, F. J ., 25.'9/ 32.
Promotion.
Ple. Tennu ci, C. G .. t o Co rporal , 11 / 9/ 32.
Certificates.
Sgt. Ri ppin , J . P . E ., R.S.A. E conomic
Theory, Sta ge IT, 2'nd Class.
Sg t. Everett, H. F. , R.S .A . Hook-k eeping,
Stage lIT, 2nd Class.
322

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

Northern Command

CORPS

J OURNAL

Northern Ireland District

COMMAND PAY OFFICE, YORK.

III contrast t o th e weather we will sta rt on a
cheu flll note and wi sh all a ve ry H appy Chri stm as;
of course th ose in offi ces a broad will be ab le to glo.\t
O\'er the weath er qu esti on.
Th e " 'inter has st a rted. n.nd ,dth ough \\'e do not
boast of hockey or socce r t ea m, at table tenl1l s we
n.re very busy, climbing th e local L eague ta ble and
lookin g und er chairs and settees, wonde rful exet'cise: th e bi llia.rd room extensIOn to th e clubh oll e
is under constru ction, and we hope soon to be able
t o publish arti cles on billi ard s alone.
Tw o ver y successful J an ces have been held by
th e H eadqu a rters clu b, th ese dan ces are hecont1l1 g
p ro mi'nent events inl the social life of the City. Th e
General Office r Comm andin g and th e Officers I)C t.he
Ga rriso n a ttend as well a~ m n.n y o f th e leadin g citizens ; our next dan ce is early in t h e> Ne w Year.
Sgt. Drummond who is t o lea ve us shortly for
Sh anghai, WiLS married n.t P reston t o Mi ss E lsie
Dunn, on 10/ 9 / 32, all join in wishing th em every
lu ck a nd happi.ness.
.
Sg t. Hud son is for Egy pt a nd ,,ill be there for
Xma s; Sgt. Youn g ' is pn.ckin g u p fl)l' Singapore;
bO'l voyage to th em.
Om' oth er moves n.re Sgt. fLnd i\Jrs. P addi ck fl'om
Li chfi eld and Sgt . L ee fr 0m Ald ershot; we hope
t hey will soon settle down in thi s ancient Ci'ly.
Sgt. Hum phreys has left her e for E xete r, en vied
by mn.ny .
It is with d eepest regret we ann ounce the dea th
of th e b~l, h y (Beryl Joan) of Sgt . a nd Mrs. Hud so n
on ,23 / 9/ 32.

Although sej)n.mted fm m our urethren by n strip

of wa t er ""hlc,) not Infrequ entl." co ndu ct s i'tself ill
a ma.nner ,P1eJudi.clal to. the ma intena nce of go d
order ~nd III tel'l1 al dl sclpllll e, we do not find li fe in
th e N . LD. altogeth er lacking in co lour. (One of
our members I'ecently desc ribed i't as " K aleido sco pic." but th at was , of CO lll'Se, quite ea d y in the
evellll1 g ) .
III Jul y we olJsen'ed a distinct ora nge tint in the

s k~', a nd gazed wi t h wond erin g. admirati on upon

numerous orn a menta l representatIOns of th e Gates

of Den y . whil e our ea l's were a ~sa il ed by th e soun J
of ma nv drum s bea ten by wb at appeared to be fish.
II1 g rods.

111 AUi(u st T. T. motol' ca rs sho wed us their pa ce

round th e Al'd s Ci~'c ni t and in Septemb er TT.
motor cycles foll owed suit. '
In October we kept om'selves fi t by ni ghtly racin g th e curfew home.
Thi ~
tUlllt~'

mont h ( N~ \'em b e r ) \\'e have had t he opporof \\'lt nessln g t he pageant (in whi ch t wo
members of t he d ~ tac hm e Jl t wl)l'thil y )Jlayed th eir
parts) .and celebratIons in conn ection wi t h th e \' isit
of H .B. H . t he P ri nce of Wales t o open th e ne\\'
P a rli'a ment Buildings ut Storm ont .
. T he Socia~ Clu b has, despite t hese co unter att l'A ctlOn s, orgu msed t wo very successful fun cti ons. T he
fi rst w as n.1I ou t ing to P ort ru sh on Au gmt 26 th.
a nd w~ tl:i ed th e ex perim ent of ma kin g th e joum ev
by trum JI1 stea :i of t he usun.1 cha rabanc. T he I'ai l\Va,y compa ny pl aced a saloon carriA ge a t our .:Ii sposflIl and the tra in a,ltendlhnls " 'ere d istin ctly
" help-ful. " Fine weatb er favoUl'ed us alld th e lllOl:e
energeti c were able t o di$play th eir new bathin g
cos tum es . A most excell ent teA ha d been <\ \'I'a ll ge:l
h ~' our .H on. Rec. wh o was ho liday makiu g n ea rh~.
The g UId e-hook a vs 'v f P ortrush-"The ai~' is iu t
in toxicating ," bu t ' we di d not find it qui te so 'hac!
as th at. Tt wa , ho\\' e\'el', a \'ery enj oyable duv.
thou g h th e sin g ing on t he retu1'l1 ' joul'ney wa s not
perh a ps quite u p to our lI sual st a nd a l'cl- thi ha
to be hefll 'd to be helieved.

REGIMENTAL PAY OFFICE, YORK.

Apart f!'Om an office dance held in t he Depot ,
W est Yo rkshire R egt ., p rill H all, on 7th Oct ober.
whi ch WA S in every way a huge success. th ank s t.o
th e untiri~lg effort s o f th e Co mmi ttee und er th e cont.rol o f S.Q.M.S . Spiel'S, th ere is very litt le news o f
interest tl) report s in ce th e last issue of th e
clJ oul'oal. "
In th e onl y two games pl ayed to cJ n.te,. OLlr hockey
team has suff.eJ'ed defeat (6--3J aga inst th e Depot,
,~rest Y'v rk shJ're R egt., and OUI' Jl ewl y formed socce r t en.m lost 4-3 t o the RA .S.C. Sergeants.
Our Office St aff casualties are :Depart[l\'es: Lt. -Co!. H. P . F enn ell t o Command
P ay Office. York . on 14 ( 11 / 32.
Co rpl. T . Th omas to Costing
Sch oo l, Aldershot , 8 /11 / 32.
Prom 'l t,io n: L / Sgt. F. W ebb er to Sgt.. 4/ 11 (32.
T m n.sf er: Rfmn . ~. J : Mon ks (prob' r.) fin a lly
tl'f1n s ierred 29 !3i 32.

Our seco nd relaXA tion wo k the form of a bachelol'

d inn er Oil 27th October. foll owed by a "show." The
dinn er was as usua l ver.v good and \\' ell t hough t
out , a nd th e speec hes were bright a ud num erou .
Pr ocee clin g~ were th en interrnpl ed by a noi'se whi ch
a t first was ta ken fOl' th e boo min g '0 f a bitt er n.
hut whi ch prove.:1 on ill\'estigati on to he a memhel'
sin gin g o f th e ha rm whi ch befell an individual wh o
wa ndered (t.h ough t to be suffering fl'0111 l o~s of
memory) wi thout headgea r on a YI)1'kshil'e moor.
Thoug h cons id erahly shaken, we ra lli'ed i n ~im e t o
proceed to the how. This tUJ'\led out to he a
revue a nd was \'e l '~' ente rtn.ining. but pel'lln.p it
was iust as well t ha t O Ul' wi ves were fid e e t / idll cia
keepin g th e home fires hurnin g . W ere we mi sta ken
01' did we re'llly see an occasional blu. h ma nt.ling
th e features of l11'0re than one hard v a nd sea oned

LICHFIELD.
Sin ce th e last notes for th e " J our nal" were sent
in Ma io r H. Price has left us on retil'ement and
~\'e wish him the best of health and a long enJoyment I) f hi s leisure. Li eut. E. W . Lines from
'VHrwick has jQined 0)1 promoti on and to him we
extend a .heartv welcome.
Wi ~h th e advent of winter, activities at . thi s
~ ta\i'on a re mn.il1ly co nfilleJ to whist dl'iv el> , . the
first, o f wbich Lakes pla ce on Monday, 28th N ovem ber.

warri or '!

vVe tak e this opportunity o f se ndin g t o all rea c\ er~

of th e " J oumol " OUl' bes t wi shes fOl' Chri stma, a nd
th e New Yea r.

323

THE R OYAL
THE ROYAL ARMY
I

PAY CORPS JOURNAL

Spottish Command
will be warmly wc,lcomed here .as two ,nonmembers
of th e Co I"p,S hav e to be requi sitioned t o C'vmplet e
our eleven .
Sergt. Orm erod occasiona ll y favours us with hi s
refereeing, whi ch he places at the di sposa l of th e
Inverleith Clu b at the week ends.
Th e writel makes the number up in many wa ys.
LOUDEN
LEITH.
Th erc is very little news of a n interesting na ture
t o report, from thi s sta ti on . . Fol1 ~wing num erOU 3
changes ill th e perso nnel of th e . offi ce sta ff Jml.n gt he past two yea rs or so, a penod of compa ratl\:e
tra nquillity appea rs to have set in and th ere IS
only one anti cipat ed move in th e imm edi at e fu t ure .
Pte. H. W . R ap ple heing und er o rd ers to proceed
to W oking in December . In one or two inst a nces
it has been a case o f "sweating on th e top lin e."
to qu ot e a well used metaph or. but th e individu als
co ncern ed ha ve now coole:1 down again and resign ed
th emselves t o a pl'vlonged st ay in th e R omanti c
City .
Social Club .-The socia.l life of th e detachm ent
proceeds on th e Ilsual lin es, the twi ce weeldy whi st
dri ves continuing to be th e chi ef mode of relaxa
tion Jurin~ th e winter mon t hs. Th e attendances
at these fun cti"ons a re well ma intained and th e
gathe rin gs have heco me quite a feature of Leith
F or t. A Rifle Clnb has now been fvrmpd and thi s
branch of th e Social Clu b, t ogether wi t h th e ~d
ventures of the hockey players will be found full y
dea lt with in the notes of th e Command Office
representative.
Th e prelimin a ry a rrangements in connection with
the Christm~s fes ti vities are well in ha nd , and no
douht th e ,tffa ir will " ssume its usu al importance
as th e seaso n apPI'Vaches. It i~ ",nti cipated thara Yu letid e party will a~ain be held . at whi ch th e
"Old Man with th e fl owing beard " will be in
attendance to deli ght th e youngsters wit h hi s mul
tifarious gifts.
Birth ,- A da ullhter (Ann Ethel) was be rn t o
L / Sergea nt an .l }\f1'S. Humphries at P erth on 26th
September, 1932.
Greetings.- AlI rank s of this detachment tak e
this OPpoI:tunit), of wishing old comra,d es at I! ome
and ab"oad a )o)"vus Chyistmas a nd all happmess
dl1l'ing the coming yea r.

COMMAND PAY OFFICE, EDINBURGH .

Retirement.- Sillce th e la,st issue we have said
"goo" bye" t o Bt. Lt .. Col._J. F . ~inds a y, .whose
lo ng a ssocia ti on with th e Corps tenmnated with hi s
ret,il"ement on 17th Octo ber, 1932. After almost 40
yea r~' sel"\"i ce, h e lea ves behilf"d th e genera l wish
t hat he may h\"e long t o enJ oy hi s ha rd ea rned
retired pay.
.
Obituary.-\e very mucb regret to a nnoun ce th e
de..'tth, at E d inb urgh, on the 15th September, 1932,
o i 111". C. G. White, an exS.Q.M.S. of th e Corps.
T he in terment took pla ce at Newington cemetery
. n Sep,tembel' 18th, 1932, and m a n~' o f hi S. o ld
frie nds were in attend ance t,o pay th eir last tnbute
t o " Tiny" as he was aff ecti ona tely call ed.
:M r. White, a fter his discha rge ill 1921, ser ved
in t he ca pacity of a civi"J ian clerk in this' offi ce for
Q,'er ten veal'S before retiring on a cco unt o f th e
age limit. " Hi s sudden death at th e age of 68 years
Cli me as a great s ho ck to all hi s fu nn el' friend.
Shooting. -Com bJllUlg With 0l1\' coll eagu es a t
L eith , we ha ve form ed a min ia t ure rifle cl ub, a
ve nt ure ,,,hi'c h prom ises ilo . be . a great su ccess .
aptain C. C. Blackwell , tIle ort g tn ator of tIll S ex
cellent id ea ha!; infused th e clu b with some of his
init ia l en th~ si asm and wi t h a membership of 26,
most of wh om are kee n and anxi ous to do well,
m3.ny a pl easant e,' ening is promised durill g th e
winter mont hs.
Our weekly sh'vo ts have been well a tten.d ed and
a lthough ~10 possibles have been mad e, It 1& hoped
t hat with pl'acti ce and coaching we may sh ortly
he a ble t o put a good t ea m on th e ra nge. U
keenn ess is one of th e e~sentl a l s, th en we have It
100 per ' cent.
:'\lr. Th ompson of th e Leith st a ff won th e sp(Yvn
fO I' the best two t a rgets submitted for October. It
is hoped to run t hp.se ha ndi cap competiti'ons
monthly , and some close fini shes are anticipated.
.'\. the r es ult of friendl y ri va lry, t wu mat ches
have been stage.:] betw een th e Co mmand and Regi.
menta l offi ces and in each instan ce th e Command
emerged successful - the first by a short hea d a nd
t he second b.v a length 01' t wo. Both enjoya ble
matche . and it i's hop.ed th at mOI'e of a like nature
will he forth coming 111 the future.
An attra ctive programm e fm: th e present season
has beeu a l' ranged an':! w e a re looking forw a rd t o
som e good post al shoots with other offices. W e
still ha\"e a few vacant dates and challenges will
he welco med by the Rifle Clu b Sec retary, S.Q.M.S .
H arm a n.
Hockcy,-As in pl'evi ous years, th e Command
P ay Offi ce has joined for ces with th e sta ff of the
R eg im ent a l Offi ce at L eith Fort for the purpose o f
running a hockey t ea m . I t is too early in th e
season to ma ke any remark s on OUI' performan ces
as we ha ve only played four mat cit es, of which t wo
were lost and two dra wn .
OUl" fi xtul'es al'e of necessity confineJ to EJin
hurg h. a nd alth ough 've do not l1;et mu ch va riety
we enj oy ou r gam es immensel.v. Capt. O. C. Black
well assist ed by S.S.M. Lawson rule our crew, and
wi t h th e aid of old friend s in Sergt. Riddington
a n i 2\ft-. Joe Ga rland we manage (only just) to
nl ise a presentable eleven.
, \1 anti cipate Coros pl avers in th e younger
members, 1./ SergL Humphri es. Pte. Rapple and
Pt e. BL"iggs, wh ile S,.Q.M.S. Le~ s Clt11 still tUI'l1 out
an d . hew us a few good points. JIockey players

PERTH.
T he passing of th e " out door" d ays is always a
mat ter for regret , mO l'e so to those of us. whose
acti'vities ha ve in cluded go lfing , tennis , hikl11g an(1
climbing during th e year now Oll the wane . .We o f
th e P erth Detachm ent look ba ck to some dehghtful
d ays spent out in the countryside and distri cts of
beaut-iful Pelthshil e, yet our regrets at the arriv a l
of Winter dav s is not so kee\l when we remember
that "If Winter oomes, Spring is not far behind. "
",nj so in eagel' anti'cipation 0l1\" plans are hemg
laiJ for 1933 to find us aye ready to lead t he Open
Air Campaign . So, happi ly enough, we settle to
the routine of Winter social activitiesl: our Corn
mittee lost no tim e, and the first of the season 's
month lv whist driv e a nd dl1,nce was held on th e 21st
October. A very successful evenin g , a feature heinga demon~tration (giv en fre e ye ken!) by th e "Dai ly
Expre s" Yo Yo Chl! m pion r /

324

ARMY

PAY CORPS J OUE.NAL

Our recently promoted S.S.M. and Mrs. Moss re

cei ved their initial lesson in th e myst eries of
H ie' land Dancing-Mrs. Moss qui ck ly adapted herself to thi s, entirely new form o f rec reation , bu t our
w\)rthy Sergea nt Ma jor " Tho ' kee\l ye ken! had
owe" mu ckle d efire ta' foutl e a n hid \Vi ' ony but
hi'5 a in pa rtne,'- na' doo t the pace was a wee bit
ti e too whirly fer th e puir fell ow !". However ,
with hi s usual determin ation to conquer, S.S.M.
Moss has, we hear, had a seri es of lessons. in H igh.
land Da ncing in r eadiness t o t a ke t he floor as a n
accomplished dancer next -tim e. Li eut. Colonel
<\nd Mrs. Go lding were present a t th.is openi'ng
fun ction, a nd wh en one r emember s Lha t their pre
seuce entail s a cold d rive of a bout t en mi les into
P ert h from Bankfoo t , a. joul11 ey possibly perfm med
t wice a lready that d ay, it speaks v o lum e~ for the
spil'it, of real interest evin ced hy t hem in every
socia l fun c ti~n o f th e Detachm en t . Ma jor a nd Mrs.
H epbl\l"n , C,\ptaiil a nd Mrs. P ewsey also invariably
attend th ese homely offi ce affairs.
Th e work of a rrangin g and prepa,ing fm' these
whi st dri ves and d ances is not easy, a nd if every
oth er o ffice has s ucb a competent, ener getic Corn
mittee as our smal.l Detachm ent ca n boast , they
m ay congratula te th emselves.
M6ves.-Ser geant E. O. Kiruy, E x E gyp t , will
find many old friend s on hi s a rrival in P erth on
posting to t hi s ~ tati on . One looks forw ard to t he
day wh en Ed wi'n Owen' from Bow E. firs t attempts
to co nverse wit h some of hi s new office pals of
t he Hi e' land cla,n.
Kn owin g " Sh aver " Kirby,
however, I kllow his L ond on wit will be aye a
match for th e Sootties-.
L ance Serg t . L . G. Bed fol"Cl has joi ned t his office
f rom. the Southern Comm and .
S .Q.M.S. F ellowes, after ma ny d isa ppointm ents
regardin g th e " Bi g Ship, " has now a reaso nab le
hope of reaching Malt a for 1933 a nd ~h e four yea rs
foll owing. W e srlall ~ e-x tremely so n')' wh en he
leaves us, for during hi s long ~ tay in P erth " El11ie"
F ell owes has mad e him self really popular wi t h all
r anks.
The Wee Bailie, or the Story of an Accident.
Twi ce sin ce our last no tes appeared th e golfers
h,we t urned out in strengt h-oll th e 30th Septem
be l', wh en a,n offi ce co mpetition was played o ff on
the now fa milia r North In ch Course, an d again on
the 7th Octobe r, when our Au tu mn m ee ~in g was
held a t Dunkeld Golf Course.
M I. Fo rsyth took the honours fo r th e Inch Com
petition , t he ga mes being played under ideal golf
IIlg wea th er conditions.
Major H epburn's car and Serg eant Sp en cer '~ com
bina tIOn pr(}vided th e tran sport mea ns for the 17
lr.qe run to Dunkeld. A misty, rain y, fresh October
a ;Lernooll l I believe allweather golfers call such "a
golfer 's (lay !" but I didn ' t t hink it wa s myse!,
so s wa llowed my p rotes ts fInd in Sergeant Sp en cer'~
id ecar settled dow n to th e 17 mil e \"Un at th e tail
o f Mlljor H epbum 's ca r. Th e machine was a recent
acquisiti'on, Ser geant Spencer h avin g sold his oIJ
" jigger" a nd laun ched out i~l a brand new s ilver
" d evil." Through th e vil lage of Ba nldoot we rattled ,
Oyel' half way t o Dunkeld, wh en, without warning,
something cru nc hed a nd slamm ed in the eng inebrakes' on-a qu ick in vestigati on and t he l'uefullooi<
ing Spencer iilform ed me " Drivin g Chain brok en! "
Tha t m eant a mile or so pushin g th e combination
back to t he wee ga rage, a task accomplished at the
expense of m uch honest sweat . Tempora.ry repairs
comp,let ed , the "combination crew" a,lTiv ed a,t th e

golf course over an hour late to find the remaind er

had partnered off and proceeded to play.
The late arrivals joined for ces and pl aye,1 off.
and III an end eavour to catch up wi t h th e rest of
th e pairs, lost balls, foozl ed :1rives a nd scattered
divot~ genera lly sha med th e P erth Deta chment
Golfing 8ecti",n with their exhibiti on 0 it was as
well none witn essed the di splay but 'th e111se "e8 .
Mrs. Goldil1g haJ again ex tended t he hosp iLalily
of " Air li e," Bankfoot , to our golfin g nl em bel's. and
it was wir-h out a ny regret s t hat t wo a t l ea ~ t . He\\
over tht! road from D Ull keld for tile generous t aL ie
'vi our hos tess.
1 t was gloamin g whell th e pa r ~y sat clown to t.ea .
a hun gry ba lfdozen or so-a large, co s ~' roomfa milia r now t o we go lfers-ahd tlt e sp rea d lable
lit with the wal"l1l g low of a table la mp. Warm . anJ
t be inner ma.n replet e, 't \\' a~ no wo nder the ' tea"
hour exte l, deJ to seven o'dock , whi lst we talk ed
on t he dozen a nd oue, to pi cs Lh at men di cn
ill
such co ngenia l slllTo'l11 di ngs.
R etul"ll ing to P erth a long the da rk countr.' road .
co m fort'lble in th e side car, wit h t he ca pa ble
Spell ce r .!1ivi ng t he bike, I refl ect ed fo r t he ump
t eenth t im e how really fo r ttln a~e t he Corps dwel
fer in P ert.h is, a nd in particul ar t he erstwhil e
l\1cSPORRA:' .
go lfers.
Mountaineering,-It was reported in the Au t ul11H
iss ue that t he Pe rt h Detachment had, a lmo t o\er
ni'ght, pro,lu ced a mou nt.a il1eeri ng section- the id ea
havin g reall y bee n b01"lle in the mind of Capt ai n
P ewsey.
T his de parture from the no rmal a cti vities of a
Sports Clu b has 110t bee n l\.llowed to die. a nd
alth oug h lI'v . uch dete rmined a tta ck as Ben 1.aw el'
was subjected to has been repeated on any other
Ben, min or operatious, organi ed an d led Ly Cap.
ta in and Mrs. P ewsey (a n indomita ble pa ir) h"" e
followed th e " piece de res is[all ce" p reviously re
ported.
Qui te half a dozen vcteran mountaineers are now
numbered in th e office, wh vse effo rts are innll"iubly
ti p to th e 3,OOO ft. mark in t.he mo untaills north of
P ert b.
F ro m ce rta ill of u tl r offt.ce wi:ldows a fin e ,iew of
t he di ta nt mOtlntains is oL ta inable, and for ome
weeks 'past t hese have been snow covered for sevel'al
days a t a t im e. Whet her from a spiri t 01 a h 'eulul'e
'v I' a des ire to go out an d meet dreaJ ed W inter on
his approach fro m t he Far K orth it would be di fh
cul t to determin e, but a party to ta ckle Beinn
a.G hlo was a rranged for t he 23rd October. Th is
P ea k is 3,671 ft. , one of th e se veraJ boulld ed about
t he base by t he Fo rest of Atholl, and i ~ ne, r th e
Caimgol"lll G rvup .
R ea lly bad weather preceded the .d ay fixe d . " lid
a ll but th e leaders consid er ed t he climb " off," unt il
t he mornin g da wned bri ght and ~ l el1 r-a glor ioll
Oct ober mornin g. A pa rty of IX rendez\"on ed
a nd set out for t he a dventure and by 11. 30 a.m.
had assem bled at the u;;ce:Jd in g poi.lI t-4 mil es fro rr.
Bla ir Atholl in a lone ly. widestretch ing ya ll ey.
Mi st ensh roud ed, t he Beinn, did I)ot appear a (ler.
fect cl imbing PI\lpositiolJ , bu t t he party et o ff a t
leas t to ma ke t he attemp t.
The go in g was com parati vely ea. y i ll compa ri son
w it,h Ben La we rs a nd t he path took 1I ~ past eve,'al
shooting Lu tts wh ere jud a in g by t he numeroll
pe nt c-a rtrid g~s ,\ bout: th e <'''g un s'' of n shooti ng

32 5

THE

ROYAl; ARMY

pnrty had tak en seYl!re t o!l of t!, e birds. Th e suryiyors. IKm'evel'. were bemg dl ~t urb ede.very few
yar::l . as with their peculi a r co mphtinj'n~ cry, th ey
hroke' co~()r sing ly or in groups t o fl y protestingly
to so fe cove rts . R abbits and hal'es, )',00, were
abu ndan t. as the party climbed higher, their bobI,ing g:tit 11 so urce of amu~el11ent to us as they
feye ri shly so ug ht their 'u wn, 01' a ny oth er, handy
bUI'l'Ow.

\Ve were now well up the mount ain si'd e. a!,d

rollin g mist creep ing up anJ aw ay reve:tled, qUI te
clo e patche of sno"' : we were a lmost on the
snoll! lin e I I t ,,'as abo ut thj s time tha t one or th e
P!trty spotted. some distan ce off a nd a, little high e]',
a hel'd of deer. slowly movin g a way at t he gUIdan ce
of !:pe herd-leader. The a l~ tl e red monarch co ~l::l be
seen clearly. sn iffin g the a ll', head erect, obVIously
nervous and vet curious. At last he movcd h, s
r'harem" of ahout a doze n hind s I)ver a ridge a nd
out of sight.
The weather had tumed bitterly co ld , and a ll i'c y
willd blew from the snow-pea ks by whi ch We " :el'e
Slll'I'o und ed: a lud t lI'as ca ll ed a nd und er pUlllsh menl from 'a p iercing ,y ind , lun ch was despntched .
The mi st th ickened a bove us, aDd at one tIme
enveloped the palt.V. a nd further climbing was voted
"off"-lhe mist an d treac herous loose sha le and
rocl<s bein g consi.J ered too mu ch of ~I. handI ca p. It
was a di sapp oihtment. as fl'olT! th~ rid ged summI t
of Belllll a'G hl . a glorIOUS ",ew IS obtal!lable . of
the ,,'hole of the Ca il'ng ~)l'11: Ridge. t he ch Ief PO ll1~
of which , Ben MacDhlll , IS a flare ,xtee n mil e,
distant.

PAY

CORPS J OURNAL

The return d'uwn th e mo untain side was enlivened

by a co uple o f icy show ers, th e slipl?ery sc ree and
heather slopes causing ma ny s li ps, WIth fortunat ely
only the d i ~col11fort of a wet co ntact with :Moth el'
Earth. Arri ved at th e starting po int, Captain and
lVII'S. P ell'sey's co mm issa ri at a rra ngements were ~et
in motion- th eir ca r-dic key p roving ,t veritab le
sto re house-eve n t o t he pl'oducti',)II of firew ood ,
suffi cient to keep a bonll y fire goi ng [01' a n houl' 01'
tw o.
The SIUl fal lill g rapid ly i'nto the westeI'D moun bin line tlm ught fit t o bless our picni c tea with
hi s prel5cnce. ancl a wond erful view gav e th e party
a mpl e co mpensation for the rigours faced. A loch
further down the valley refl ected t he sun 's setting
- the dark di stant mountains topped with sno\\' t he nearel' heights painted in all nature's a utumn
shaJes----.rolling mists blank eting several peaksancl a stilln ess o n l ~' possible in the mountam glens
o f Scotla nd.
With regret the pal'Ly prepared to lI1'uve-Cap .
t a in a nd Mrs. Pe,ysey, CO'l)ora l Morren a nd Mi 5
Rogers to k avel back to P erth by ca r-S. S.M .
M o~s an.:1 S.Q.M.S. Spooner decding to fini s h th e
day b." h iking th e seven mi'les from Bla il' Atho ll
to P itlochry, there to b-ua rd the H igh la nd trnin
Ht 7.30 p .m. Da rkn ess overtook the walkers as
they footed through t he hi storic P ass lof Ki ll icranki e-that ill omened spot where in 1689 Lord
Clave rb ouse with his Highlanders nmbushed and
s laught.ered a n ar'my of 6,000 En glish so ldiers. P erth :
a hot ba th ; s upPjlr. a nd so to bed. Anolher da~'
t o store in one's " Memol'ies of Scotland."

Southern Command
COMMAND

PAY

OFFICE

SALISBURY.

posting-s.-L/ Sgt. J. H. H anson fr0111 Costing

Schoo l Alde""lOt to P Ol'ton on 1/ 11/ 32 ; L /Sel'gt.
\V. Dono van fr'om' P orton t o Sll.lisbmy a nr1 L / Sergt.
'. Mand e1'. Salisbury to P ortsmouth I)n 14/ 11 / 32 ;
L / Sergt. Bed ford , TidwOI:th to P erth and L (Sergt.
E . A. Mell.do\\'s from T,dwol'th to W oo lwl ch on
11/11 /32.
Embarkations.-S.QJ"L S. L . .A. Thllrsby embarks
for J amai'ca on 2A / ll / 32: S.Q.M .'. G . Gal'rett f'ur
in g:'pol'e on 3/ 1/ 33 and Sergt. A. . Tribble to
lTolI g K on!!: on th e Sll.me date.
Congratulations.-To Sel'g L F . E. H artm a nn on
ha ying won the "W. E. , ;Va.llace Memori al Prize"
fo r the best paper on secl'etan'ial p!'acti c~ at the
examillatiQl1 held by th e Chartered In stltut~ of
,ecretaries la t J une. Thi ~ is no mall ach Ievement and we are verv 1)I'o ud to think t hat such
di'~ tinct i on has been won 'bv a member o f the Corps.
W e und el'st and that he is 'S OO Il relul'lling t o civilian
life and
best wishes for hi s, future prosperit.v
go lI'itb him. a long with the hl) pe that we shall
meet again on future Cup F inal eves.
Social.-On Thursdll.Y, October 14th . 'If held a
dance at the Cadena Ca fe, bu t owin g to !1t1m ero us
counter-attl'acti'o ns th e attendance was very small.
Those. however, wh o did attend had a thoroughl y
ellj ovabl!' time dancing until 1 a .m. t o mu sic supplied by Stainers Band.
On Kovember 18th we are ho lding a whi st drive
a.lld da nce at th e Morl'ison H al l for members of
th is o ffi ce st a ff , their wives a nd fri endll . Judging
frol11 th e sale of tickets it certa inl y looks as if we
sha ll have a big crowd. Th is is a new venture
an d it is hoped will be successful as many more
are lik ely to f'uli ow if th is o ne prove. popular.

our

Th e local branch of th e Royal Signa ls O.C. A. I'e cent.!y invi ted the loc<11 members of om O.C.A .
l o a Ga mes Tournnm ent at th e "Wh ite Horse"
Hotel. W e took alonO' a big narty and were
strengthened by ey-emY members of t he civili a n
sta ff IV 11'0 n re ex perts at cri b and darts. In ad -I i.
tion to these games, shove-ha' penny, w hi ~ t and
drau ghts we re played. It is not certain ",h eth!'I'
our sup!'ri or number 01' skill won th e t ourn 'lment.
hut we d o know th a l a yery enj oyable evenin g was
spent ,," d a return fixture is eagerl y awaited .
SARUM.
Outing.-An outin g in th e winter ? Wh y nol ?
People wlm can a fford i't go to Switzed and , South
elld or the Pict ures, a nd so we in thi s a ncient and
venerab le city dec ided to have a winter outing on
'o \'ember 5lh . No. denr rea.ders fr 0111 other otli ce .
it wa s purely a I achelor a ffail:. our ladi es, bless
'em, staying at home to watch th e ducks :In ,1
chec k ll . in on our return t o th e fold,. Tor ..l id we
di sa ppoint thei'r vigil, we were one hour late hnt
that was th e fault of tIl e licens in g laws.
Bul speaking o f our outing. Someth in g a lill le
different Vu that trip to the sea, the taking off of
shoes and hose and getting our feet accustomed to
the touch of wate r once again, that tea in an
a lready crowd ed cafe. that chil ly evening feeli'ng
coming over a body clad as for a summer dny, and
then that long tiring ride nome. Yes, sl)mething
differ ent to all this was required " and so we deci,led
to go 1,0 the place where people . (\Ihl palticll ll' ,ly
sailors, do not ca re. You've guessed it first t im e,
POMPEY. And so. duly primed with a hUl'ri ocl
lu nch, we emhu ssed (a term I don ' t, lik e. b.,' th e
way , bu L as it is cull ed frol11 th e F ieldl Sen'iC<?
P ucket Book. it m ust be all r ibht) a nd ga il y s~ i l e d

T HE

R OYAL

ARMY

away to. OUr goal. Our two goals I should say, we

were gOll1g to see a footb a ll match, and doing lh a t
first ly in case s01l1e- of our passenger~ would be
una ble t.u see a fter tea.
The only in cident of note on our outward journey
wa s th e sale of some myst erIous en velopes by one
of t he ].!1l1'ty , a cco mp'lnyi'ng wh ich was a brief staLement that one cuuld ha ve ~eve ll shi ll ings for threepence a nd so Bi ll to'u k t he t hree pences ancl we
too k t he envelopes.. But i.t was great fun whi ch
wa xed la t and fu l'l ous untIl we got back to Saljs.
hury, provldll1g us WI t h a g uessin O' game th at
sho uld l,e pop ul a r ab h o u ~e parti\'s Wlis Xm as. tu
Wit. wh o won th e seven s hi ll iil gs.
H owe\e r, Fratt'un being I'ea 'hed we join c l th e
queue for the g reat ga me, and what a game it was .
T wentytwo players, several officia ls, who played a
gooJ game, three goals ou t of a stock of old ones
th e.Y ~ epl at th e ground ,. and a Il)t of sail ors . .And
holl' SIl ent th e." were, both goals an cl 5~ i l o l's . But
lL was goo d an d impl'oved at th e nin eti eth minute
wh en we mad e [1'lIcks 01' OUI' bus a lld snlli ecl forth
t o the Hes h pots of th e town . All th is was good ,
loo . anJ two hours ena bled us to refres h the inn er
mall and to sat is fy ourse! ves that sai lors rea ll y did
no t (;al'l'. Seven 'u'clock and we left thjl to wn regrettlllg the eX Isten ce of the old t ag that thev also
wait who only stay a t home.

Bu t a li ttle halt a t Bot ley cO lllpensated us for

the earl~' departure from P ompey. Ta kin g a lit t le
lIg ht refres hm ent, sonnds of merrim ent drew us
toward a dance room , and a clwl'a banc full of
~' o un g lad ies soo n provided our dancers with pa rtners. :" . ni ce dance, too, fLcco mpan ied b'y fireworks
:1 n I c l'1~ le 1l1~ o f several kllld s from th e on lookers,
whi ch, h',) wever, deterred nobody .
OU.T' SfI I vage part ies ~ettill g busy . we w('re S('O])
bfLwhng llle l'l'l ly along ,nto t,le J' ight, birlel'lI1 f <rE' well by lhe stra ins of "Crazy P eo ple." A ll d th en
Int o R omsey. Th ere. not eve n a J ew's H a rD was
:lv<1i lahl e. t hose o f th e pa rty who own ed th em: hav !ng forgot ten to embus same, so thnt OUI' merry- mal,.
II1g was hort a l~d dul l. 1111-. Ja co hs ha ving been impressed as a Plill11St commenced to play " H earts
fi nd F lowers," but it was LOO mu ch for us and he
wa s duI." " written off." One more shQI-t swy :it
A l del'bln'~' to deb uss the loca l contingent a nc t o
fill up , ' nd Lhen I~ o m e. I und ersta nd a cons ig nm ent
of fi sh was I ~ ft In I he bus at Aldel'bury a nd t hat
t,he wh ole eflort s of .lhe loca l sanit<tl'y Cl:>mmjttee
are co nc-enl rated on Its capture before we use the
!'n ' "gain. U p to gOill g to pl'es it had not given
Itse l f up
But wp had such ~ good cln.v , that we are dulv
I'cpe"tin g the p e rfo l'lll a n c~ . "Vhat more co ul d b'e
said ?
BEET.
EXETER.
\ iV e al'e now th'ul'ough ly settleJ in our new offi ce

a,t Clifw n Hi ll , nnd a re far bettel' off in a " Hom e"

Th e da il.,- walks appear to be doin g th e d e Lnchme~ t
a \~'o rl d of good a nd slimming is now in vog ue.
The mel11bel'5 of th e Sp-orts Club with t heir
fa mili es held .their su mm el' outing on September
lO~h. 'l'he tl'lP was belated ow ing l'0 the office
h elll~ mo\'ed to new qoart ers. Th e party proceeded
to BO~l'I1el11o.uth b y 1110tOl' c,?ach a.nd aftel' a pl easa nl dl'l ve . WIth a halt at Brldport. :tr l.'lved Ht th eir
destin a ti on nbout 1 p.m.
Tea was J)rovided at th e Gerv is H a ll R estaura nt
and 'l .i o~' e ~l by all. The home jou1'Iley began at
6 p.l1l. A 'a ll was made a t ~he Dep'u t . Dorsetshi l'e
R eg iment , DO I'chest el' , where so me old ncqu;lintnnces were renewerl.

PAY

CORPS J OURNAL

An hour was spent i'n the partakiDg of refreshmen ts , games a nd mus ic after which the jo u1'll e,v
was resum ed, reaching Exeter at 11 p .m. It wa s
voted by all an enjoyable day ..
On.September 16th the Dcta,chment bilJiards team
was lI1vlted by the Member~ . of Depot, Devonsbire
Reglment to a mat ch. Our team co nsisted of'
S . ~.M.S. 's Pa in e, Biyth and Chant, Ex.S.Q.M.S.
Fl'Itz (Danny) , Sgt. P ea rce and Mr. Whitfi eld. Th e
res ul t was a win for t he RA.P. C.
. Our congratu]ations tu Cp!. CUlT on hj s promotlOll 25 /8/ 32.
Sgt . P jlarce embarks for Egypt on 30/ 11 / 32. W eare so rry to lose him but wi sh him a hap,py tour
of duty.
.
L / ~gt . L ee has been posted to -orth ern Com man ,l
( CO~tlDg) and L /Sgt. H umphreys ha s joined IlS
It'u nl York.
WARWICK.

Promotion.- Th e hea rti est congl'1ltulMi ons and

the good wishes of t he whol e office staff a re extende.-l
t o !:l.S.M. E. W. Lines upon his prumotion \'0 .
co mnllsslOned rank as LI eut. and Ass ista,nt P avmaste r, RA.P. C.
'
.
Departures.-Lieut. E . W. Lin es to Li chfi el ,~I:
S.q.,M.S . A . L . H . WiJson to Ca nterbury: S /Sgt.
J. 1. .Madley a.nd Sgb. W . M. Pm_ed to Egypt
Arrlv&ls.-We welcome S.Q.M.S. T. M cK ennn
fI'om Presl,on a nd Sgt. "V. M. H ewett from P erth
We trust that their tour of duty in Warwi ck wil i
be to their likin g. In reply to P erth nll tes in the
last ls~ ue of t he " J ou111 al ' we beg .to state that so
far we , have ~lIl ly . been ~b l e t;o test one of Sgt.
H ewett. s qu ahfi cntlOns-hl s fl a il' for arg'lment.
Mamage .-Sg t. R D . Tolley to Miss .1. Miles at
~ea mlll gto n SP:I On 11 /8/ 32. After a lengthy run
III the m nk s 'uf t he bachelors our one and onl"
" Tich" has ab la st fa ll en out and j oin ed th e ranl~ s
of the hen-ppcked.
.Congratulations:-:-:-We ar e pleased to congratulate
LIeut. \V. A. Wd hams on t he success of hi s SOil
who. obtain ed t hird place at the examin ation fnl'
speCial entry for Roya l Na.val qadet s. (Why di.1
he esc hew the Arm y III wl11 ch Ill S father shin es s,;
bri'g htly ? ) '
.
Sport.-During th e umm er good use was made .
o f OUt tennis co urt a ud bo,ding greeD . 'W e enJoyed l10m erO l.l 5 uowling and tennis matches ,,'ith
local clubs (al1.:1 pubs) both at home and awav. and
whilst our prowess le ft mu ch t o be desi red 'i n the
games. we ml) re th a n held 0111' Olyn in th e after.
math.
Monthly bowling handi caps were held on o llr
own green and the fo ll owing (who in the preliminary canters elu ded th e eyes of th e lw,nchcappel's)
we re th e \V ihn ers :Ju ne :-S.Q.M.S!!:t. A. L . H . W ilson.
Ju ly:-Capt.ain C. D. Yint.
August :-Major C. Holmes, M.C.
OUI' bowling and tennis tell.ms ha\'e been s[dl "
depleted by th e d epa.rture of Li eut. E. W. Lin es.
S9M . Sg t . Wil son and Sgt. Praed . but have rece Ived a notable additil)n in ;Major C. H olm e, .
}\f.C' .. \\'h o. a ftel' being " let in," promptly defeat e:f
all the a ll eged slars in ou r August bowlin g ha ndi cap
Lost!!!-S.O.S. (Save Olll- Swarm).- One Swarm
o f Bees ca rryill g th e unexp ir ed porti on of two davs "
rat ions. last seen Ay il1 g ovel' Ba d ord.
.,
An." infol'ln ntion a tl) t heil' present wh ereabou ts
olea se cOl11 mu ni cnte with C.E.C. or PHONE No ..
X1180 RA.P.C.
(H ilsea and Wes se." A rea No tes on page 322)

THE

ROYAL ARMY

P AY CORPS JOURl."\TAL

Western Command
Obituary .- It is with regret that we ann'vunce
the deatb o[ Mrs. Hewi'tt , wife of Cplt. Hewitt, on
28t h A ug ust. Th is bel'eave ment i~ particularly sad,
as Cpl. Hew itt was only married last Christmas.
vVe w is h to convey, our deep sympathy.
Office News.-l'here have been rather a number
o f changes in the sta ff since the last pub lication o f
the " J oul1l al," and to all who have left and joined
us we wish the best of lu ck . Th ose who have depalted a ;'e :-Captain Bu tler tIl Winchester, Pte.
Lowe, R.T. C., return ed to unit, S.Q.M,S . Score to
London, i~ 1 exchange with S.Q .M.S. Webster,
S.Q.M.S. McKenna to W arwick . Arrivals are Tpr.
Blackwell (1st K.D .G.), joined 22/ 9 / 32, Fusr. Lee
(Lancs F us. ), joined 2O/ lO j 32-bot,h on probatiOll .
Congratula~ion s to S / Sgt. Haskins on pI'l)motion to
Staff, to Pte. Bindley on passing trade tests for
C l a~s I , also Sgt. Robert s on be ing n,warded 1st
C.C. with " D " in geography, a nd Sgt. K ershaw
on q ualify ing in English and Geography at th e last
examin atIOn , 12 / 10/ 32. L / Sgt. H omer was married
on 28 / 5 / 32, and placed on the M.A .R. 29 / 10 /32, we
I)ffel' him o ur best wi sh es o n join in g t he ancient and
" noble" order of Benedicts. Cpl. Hewitt is du e for
Singapore and e mbarks abo ut 3d J anu ary neAi.;
we trust he wi.ll e nj oy hi tour Ea st. Miss Colbourn e (Adrem a ) left u s on 27th October iul.i on
29th O cto~er was m a rried to Sgt. God.:len , The
L oyal R egiment. W e wish her every h appin ess, an d
h'v pe she wil l have a pleasan t tim e during her forthco ming stay in IndI a. After hay ing spent some
45 years on pay work, Mr. A . D. W aIJace retire$
at the age of 65 on 12th D ecem ber. H e enli stecL on
12/ 1/ 87 and comm enced pay duti es as pay sergeant
of his unit in M arch of that year. On 2 / 8 / 90 he
j oined the A .P.D. as probationary staff clerk , and
carried on through A.P.C. until ~oin g to pensil)n
as a Q . M.~. ill February, 1920. Smce that date h e
h as carried on as a civili an clerk and a sta lwart
of the bookin g secti on. Whil ~t serving hi s number was 425, a nd so an'vther of the original " 1st
B attalion" passes fr om t he active li st . With hi s
retirement we -shall lose one with a geni al and
very Qbligiug p ersonality, and he takes wi'th him
our very best w i ~ h es and we hope th at th e future
will be very brig h t for him.
'
SHREWSBURY.
Greet ings.-A merry Xmas and Happy New Year
to a ll Coml'3des, and old Co'mrades at born e and
abroad .
Old Comrades.-Members of th e 1st Batta lion wi ll
be glad to know th at I had a lett er from a n I)ld
Comra de, viz. :-G. Gnmp rich, formerly No. 558,
A .P.C.
He has been. in Australia for 11 years, and we
send him greetl'ngs ac ro s~ the water, and wish him
t he very best of lu ck.
J am writing him p'erso nally as he wishes to
know the n ames of the "youngsters" appearin g in
a phoLograph reproduced i n the " J l) urn al ." and
also deSIres inform ation as to the "Syste~ " on
which we a re work ing.
Ou r. friend , Mr. Gumpr ich , has forgotten that
there lS such a thmg as the " Offi cial Secrets" Act.
At the sam e tim e, I do not think there would b e
any harm done if we send him a few "partworn "
"A d,rema" plates to start with.
PIIstings.-Captain H . A. A. H owell, M.B .E. ,
h as been posted to Chester and will proceed to join
the Command Paymaster's Staff in J an uary.

COMMAND PAY OFFICE , CHESTER.

Conti llU!pg our series o~ tennis matches, retmu
games have been pl3:yed With t he staff of the Local
AudItor and the Reg1menta,l Pay Office, Shrewsbury.
Our team h as al way~ put up a good fight in th ese
games and the matcb with the Shrewsbury Offi ce,
played at Chester, was most sati's factory from I)ur
point of view, the result bjling:Shrewsbury.
Chester.
3
3
Events
9
9
Sets
81
80
Game
E\'ents dra wn-3.
This was an improvement on our previous match
.at Shrewsbury and we hope to do ~Lter with more
matches and playing tl)~eth er in anothel' season.
An add it ion to OUI' office tenn is team will be Captaiu H. A .. A . Howell, due to join here from Shrewsbury in J an uary, 193'3.
Captain F. O' Drisco ll is du e to proceed t o Pre ton
on the 28th November, 1932, and we wish him
good lu ck ill hi ~ new I)ffice. H e will be much mi ssed
here.
We shou ld lik e to congratul a te tb e powers that
be 011 the turn out of the R.A .P.C. Diaries and the
Corp s Cbristmas Cards.
Somjlthin g attempted ,
omething done.
Captain H. O. Browniug, M .C., sa iled for Jamai'ca
on the 16th October, la t , with the best wishes of
0 d'vubt he will se l-tle very h appily in tU s
a ll.
new surrouudillgs.
Our office library is always open to gifts of books
if any kind donor feels like it.
Very ma ny and enjoyable Christmas Greetin gs are
extended all round.
PRESTON .
Socia l Club.- As hinted in the last notes, th e trip
t o Blackpool materi ali sed 'V n 1st October when a
party of about 30 went to the Blackpool v . Arsenal
match, and an e\ening wandering a round the
illuminations a nd oth er attraclions <It the seaside
resort. Our usual lu ck h eld regarding the weather
a rd so with a good game, ni ce eve nill g, an d li censes
extend e..i to 11.30 p .m. , the trip was voted pa rexcellen ce. W e eventually a rrived back about
1.30 a. m. and nobody wa s reported missi ng the
n ext morning. The Annual Di.nner was h eld on
October 29th, tbe venue being changed to Sumner's
Hotel. Agout 4(J members, t he President I)f tue
Clu b, Col. Blake, Offi cer i /c R eco rds, i\1..tJor Stallh am , Regimental Payma~ter, and L ieut. Kin g,
assembled about 7.30 p .m . We also had the
pleas ure of welcoming NIr.' Hol~ (ex-superin tending
cl erk) , Mr. Colbourne (our late S.S.M. ) and
" P add y" Nolan (ex-Sgt. of the Corps) during the
eve ning. Th e dinner was a success, but the concert
fo llowing was considered the best ever, thank~ to
t he splendid wholehearted etrv rts of the artists, one
of whom had won 4th }n-ize that aftern oo n at the
Blackpool Mus ical FestIva l.
At present we are in th e throes of the billi'a rd
handicap, results have so far Ijld to o ne or two
hot fa vourite$ "biting the dust." It is rujnl)ured
that some competitors are trying to hang out their
gam es so as to study form wh en Mr. Lindrum
vis its here vjlry ~ bortly, We hope, however, to
hold t.he final a bout the 13th December at Sumner's
Hotel.

328

T H E . ROYAL ARMY

PAY CORPS JOURNAL

A;nn istice Day , Lt.-Col. W. S. H ack and l:i.S.1\1.

Mclo'arlane represented the Detadiment on the
Armistice Day parade in Shrewsbury an d placed a
wreath 011 ('he War M emorial.
Social.-We ha ve acquired a " Ping Pong" table
and-well, I will tell you all <1bo ut It in the next
iss ue, as a t th e moment we 11a ve 000 many cha mpions, an d they. have not yet been sor,ted o ut ..
Th e .RP . and S.M. opened the t able by giv ing
a n exhll)ltlOn game-much to th e entertui nment o t
th" onloo kers .
lri~h Sweepstakes, and hors,es, have been blam ed
for breaking up hom es, but we ha ve a certain
Q.M.S. who looks like ureaking h is 0 a res ult of
"Ping P ong." l'ancy goi.ng nome and telli.ng a
wife witb Itl years' serVI ce, and a fam i'ly, thaL he
is sorry he is late but has been playing "Ping
Pong"-and the funny thing abQ ut it IS that it is
true.
D . M cF.

Commands Abroad

EGYPT.
Th e D.etachment alIC apprec iati.ng the cO'v ler
weaUwr though t he cold mornings and evenings
have ca used til e usual number of cou gh~ and chillS
and gUl.te a few ha ve figured in the sick parad es
a nci have eventua.ll y landed in !mspital at th e Citade!:
At present S.Q.M.S. Fren ch IS th e only
S~ 11 0 US case and he IS for lllvahdlllg to the United
I\'lIlgd om III t he Il eal' future. Tbo u ~h only i,l this
sta tIon for a Y6.1. r, he and hIS wile ha\'e made
many fri'end ~ 1IJ t he Garrison and they will be
11lI ssed.
Qui te a lot of entertainmen t is prom ised us this
season . On Friday, 18th Jovember, th e R.A .P.C.
O. C. A. (Egy pt) JS ho lding a dinner UI the Heli~
po Its Hotel, at wtUch Co lonef RIley has promi sed to
preSIde. An attendance of fifty or so is expected
and a most enj oya~ l jl evening is anticipated. I t
IS hoped. to hold t ill\; fun ctIOn annually in future.
Th en a tarewell smlOker IS belllg held in th e Sergeants' Mess o n 6th December to bi.:! farewe ll t o
th e homegoing draft an d a~ the beer is free , a
la rge attendance a nd chejlry evening is ass ured.
A l'l'augement& a l'e a lready bemg mad e for t he child.
ren's Chr istmas trjle a nd party, the Mess Chri stma
chnn el' and aNew Year Da,nce.
The draft embarking on 10th Decem ber is as
foll ows : S.Q.M.S. K eller for Warwick
S / Sergt. TalTan~ for Chatha:u'
Sergt. Kirby f'vr P erth:
'
Sergt. P unter for Wokin a;
L/S~rgt. Monahan for Warwick ;
L / Sergt. French for York;
L j Sergt. Moore for Ald ershot ;
L / Sgt. Chelling . worth for R egents P ark ,
London.
Cl) ngratu lations are du e lo Staff Sergeauts Dow,
l\J.a lloy , and Warren on t heil' elevation to- the 2nd
divisiun and to Sergeant Co ttam on tbe arriv al
of a danghter'- Ma ry . Vve mu st also congratulate
S.Q.M.S. K ell el', wb o we beh eve, IS belllg posted
to Warwick on pI'vbation for W.O.I.
We extend a hearty \\'e1come to the foliowillg new
arrtvals, Ml . L ane, S.'.M. Brierly, S.Q.M.S.
Cowpe r, ~ / S ergts. ll\J.adl ey ~1I1 d Payne andl Sergeants Argent. W . J one3, H. Jo rdan , P a rdy , Praed
and Walk er, and hope t bey enj oy thei r to ur.
L ie ut . -Colonel E . W. Hart- Cox. O.B.E . aCCvlllp a ni ed hy S.Q.M.S. Mitchell proceeded to Llle Sudan
~o ~ll eet th e ~a n c h este r R~gim e nt from India to
IIl ltlute them Il1to t he " London" syst em and t o
clear lip thei\' diffi culties with It new currency,
nll owa nces, etc.. S/ Sergt. Mason pI:oceeded to
Cypl'us on a sllndal' mIssIon an d IS to VISIt Mo a~car
on his return journey. Later in th e troop in g .seasl) n
I'ep resentatives wi ll be required in P alestin e a nd
aga in in the Sudan, so some of o ur Detachm ent
ee a bit of the world. A few of our members
ha ve spent their lea ve in Cypru s and Palestine.
the lattel' place be in g easi ly a.nd cheaplv reachel
from Ca,jro, but more 'Vf that anon .
. D.S.
Rifle Club.- S in ce om ac' iyi t ies were last reco rded in t he " J ou 1'lla l," alt hough on ly on e match
has beau fired, plenty of tim e ha s. been spent in
practice on both t he open and miniature ranges.
Th e - match agai.nst the 1st Battalion GI'enadier
Guards' Sergeants' Me~ before th eir d ep~rtllre tl)
th e Un ited Ki'ngd6m resu lted in a \"in for t he
G nards, one of th eil' members securing possib les in
each of th e three practi ces . Nevel,th eless, the

London District
LONDON (Regents Park Barracks).
C ricket.~in ce the last not es ,lppeared we llay e
brought ou r fir st season to a co nclu i'o n with the
fo ll owing matches :26/ '13 / 32. v . Hl) un slow. L ust 60 to 67 . Thi
match was fo ll o wed by all hour's
"brighter cricket movement," each
sid e baving a " ne* pr nothing"
half hou r. Runs scored In the holll'
totalled 144.
6, 9/ 32. v. Woking. Lost 41 lo 118.
9 / 9 / 32. v. W arley . Drawn 104 to 99 for 7.
21 / 9 / 32. v. Wool wich . Wl)n 88 to 84 .
A most enjoyable finish to the $eason. Our
record reads :-Played 18, Won 4, Dmwn 2, Lost 12.
The mo st su.:cess ful bat smell were Mr. Atkins and
S / Sergeant Bishop, the latter's 58 and t he former 's
63 a,ga inst Chatha m, together with Lieut. Ha ggard ' s 5L agaill ~ t Warley, Lt.-Colonel Charlto n's 45
against ClaRto n S'v rtil1g Offi ce, and L / Sergt. Sm it h '
42 against W oolwi ch, being wor-thy ui' note.
The ul'unt of t h e bow hn g was borne by L / Sgt.
F inn a nd L / Sgt. Smith, strength ened towards the
close o f the season by Lieut. Loftu s. The Jatler
took 8 fm' 13 against. H o un slow and F inn celebrateJ
the end of the sea$on with 9 for 23 aga inst W oo l\\-ich , Sm ith ' s best being 6 for 38 aga inst the Coldstl'eam G ua rd s. Finn a nd Smith t ook abo ut fift y
wi cket s each during the season .
Menti on shouU also be made of L / Sgt. H all e w lTV.
011 most occas ions had the raLher thank les$ jot, of
keepin g wicket, which he did well.
Social.-Th e L ond ou R eco rd ,1IId P ay Office
Sports and Socia l Club, in to which the Cri ck et Club
h"s nl)\\' blosso med, holds its fir t f!unction, a
da nce, ilL R egellts Park Ba r raci{s, 0 11 25th ovember. Thi s lub is endeavolll;ilg to enla rge our fi eld
01' ac ti vitie~, not an easy ta sk with our limit ed
pel'sonne1 a nd resources .
changes.-L/Sgt. R. J . Woods has joined us from
llilsea a nd L / l:i:;;t. Fin:! has departed 101' n Costing
tfourse at ,-\Irle rshot. W ~ shall miss Fi nn when
the crick et seaso n com es rOl1n .i a~ain.
It is unrlerstood th at S.S.M. Ora m will leave
us for th e fa!' E ,!st ea rlY ) 1, 1 th e N ew Yea l' and we
t a ke th e oppOl~ nity of wishing h im good Inck,
with our regrets at hi s departure, be t necessity
m3 kes birds of pass,lge of us a ll.
Tn co nclu sion we wish all 'O m' friends at all
stat ions a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New
Year, with a p a rti cular thought. to all t hose who
have sen 'ed in the London Offi ce.

329

'fHE

ROYAL

ARMY

P AY

visit was g reatl ~' enj oyed, a nd it i ~ to be regrett ed

th at t he Balta lio n 's_depart,~re precl ud ed our finn g
a return nla tch at h_a~r el 11 .
With a vi ew t o entering a, t eam for th e Egypt,
P fd est,in ~ ;Uld Sudan T ro phy , concentrated prac
li'c e was beld on th e open ra nge dunn g Sept ember ,
but as th e e xha usti ve practice took pl ace when con
d iti ons wer e far fr om favo uJ"able, Oill' t~mm co uld
not d o itse lf justi'ce. and it was d ecid ed not t o' enter
a t ea m t hi s year 1'01' t he T lO ph y . whI ch c~ll s for a
very hi'gh st a nd a rd .
.
.
Th e port s Clu b Rifle SectIOn opened Its season
on t he open ra nge O'n 6th November a nd ~ . 10 11'y,
load o f m em ber s spent t hree p leasa n t h'? urs' pr ac
t ice w il h t he ultim ate obj ect of sec.ul'l'ng spoons
kind ly p r esented to t he cl ub by Colonel H. G .
Ril ey. Staff ISgt . H o ptro.ug h and Ser gea nt Monk s
t ied fO I' best score, "'Julst S .Q.M.S'. Ash er an J
L / Ser g~. P o un ~ n ey ,,:ere a p oin t ;)eI1ind . Fu t ure
S und ,l Y mOl'llti ngs 'WIll be spe nt., a ltern a t ely I .o n
t he 'o p'en a nd mini a ture ra n ges , !'poon s hoot s bem g
1,e l.:1 once a month.
Two of our mem bers. S / Sergt. D ow and L / Ser g t .
C h ellin ~s w o rth , ent e red for t he i!, di vidu a,l co mpe
t,i,ti on 111 th e CO l1lmau d S hl)o l 111 October . an d
a lt houg li t hey did not calTY away a ny m ed a ls, a ll
must adm ire th eir s pirit.
.
T he i:1it ia l Ser gea nt ' M ess s poon . handl c!1P,
fired o n 2nd Novem be(, p roduced a n m ter estlllg
pos iti'on when S .Q .M. S . W oodford , L /Ser gt s. Chel
lin ~sworth an d P Qun t-ney se u red ' 'P.oss ibles.
'A.s
onl v two spO'on a l'e awarded mont hly , t he triO
had to fire aga in, w i' h t,he resul t t ha t S .Q.M. S .
Woodford a n d L / Ser gt. C hellin gswo rLh sco red 97
each , whil sl L /Ser gt. PO U t1t~ley prod.uced 90. It
ho uld be reco rd ed t ha t. w1t h h a,llclt cap, Sergts .
:Moll ks (15), V il.' cent (30)! a nd Ar gen t (4.0), ex
ceeded t he possl'ble a nd 1Il acC'ord a n ce WIt h th e
rul es the poin ts in exees's of 100 wel'e d edu cted from
t hat fi g u re in d ete rminin g t he scor es t o cou nL.
\Vith th e a l'l'iva l o f cooler weather we are n ow
able to enj oy two s hoots week ly, a nd despi te a su g
gest ion t ha t, firin g m ig ht cO.mmen re a t a la t er hl) lll'
o n t hese occas ions. the m aJol'l ty ha ve favoured an
early m Ol'l1i ng st a rt.
1\ext mont h wil1 see t he depa rt ure of L / Sergt.
l lellin gsworth on pos.ting to H ome e~t abli ~ hm ell t.
The cl ub will m iss hI S ent hU SIasm an d WIl! ha\'e
t o fin d a s uccessor t o perfl) rm th e n'any t as ks
\'o luntaril u ndertak en by him , bu t we ha ve th e
co nso lation I) f k~lo win g t hat h o will cease t o col
lect our ~ p oo n s. a,nd give others an op por t nnit y .
Th e Sergea nts' Mess Rifl e C lu b wi s hes him a con
ti ll uan ce 'o f hi s s uccess a t home .
B.J.B.T.
Lawn Tennis.- Tn th e Sen ior Rank s T enn is
L eag ue we fini sh ed th e 1932 season one point be
hinJ th e winn ers (th e 12th R oya l L a n ce rs) an d
occupi ed t he third pl ace in tI- e ta bl e. bein g de feat ed
fOl' ecolld place by t he 2nd B a Un . The South Staf
for dshire R egim ent.
Th e :l n n u :~1 tourn a ment went with a s win g, t he
.. es ult being :L eyel Sin gles :- Ca pt. B a n 'a t t bea t L /Sgt.
L . Moore.
H a ndi cap Sin gles :- S / Sgt. Tarran t b ~at
Mrs. Ed e.
11' II
L evel Doubles :-S / 8gt. T a n~ a nt and Sergt.
I
Kirbv beat S /8 gt . D ow :l,Il!:l Mrs. Ed e. '
Handi'cap Doubl es :- Se lgt. We~toll a nd
Mrs . Ede be.. t Ser gt . Ed e an d Mrs .
W ' :lOdford.

CORPS

J OU R~ AL

C ups, t hree o f whi ch wer e g iven ~y' Col ol~.el Riley.

L t .. Col. H fll-tCox and Lt.Co l. G I ,~n ~ v.ere pI e
sen ted t o the wi'l1ne rs by Mrs . Rtley, an d t he
a ncient ce\'emony of " filhn ' 'em " wa s later pe r
fo rm ed in t he Ser gelLn ts' M ess . r eedl e s to m en
ti o n, a melTY evening w as th e ~e qu e l. A ft~r Lhe
di stributi on, Ml'S. R,ll ey was prese nted With a
bouqu et o f fl o we l's ill Corns co lo urs I,y th e) :;ll1all est
Mi ss W est on .
. '
Our c limati'c co ndition s n ot bem g s ubject to
" d ep ressions over I celand" th e fi rs.t IlIt,e r'office
con test is sc hedul ed l O t a ke pl ace In the ne~ I '
fu t ure when SQm e o f t he t Ollrn nment ha', tles 'I'l ll
be reenacted.
E. O.K .
Football ,-The p r esent footba ll . sea . on com mencer!
in Novem be r, t he t her momete r reg l3t ered a cool
BO in \. he sh ade. H owever , ll'Vtw lth standll'lg a nno
domini an d t he great>. di'st a n ce t he m a rl'l ed folk al'e
away from Abl ass ia (ow ' hom e g ro und) a ~etac h .
m ent t eal1l h-'!s iJ een raised a nd , ,~' it h th e a id of a
coupl e o f " Io'cal ta nk s," we sa lh ed fo rt h full of
ellthu siu sm .
Our fir~t "ame was again st, th ~ ~. A .A.F .1. '~lI d,
ow in g t o a fitt le stiffn ess in th e JOll1ts a'nd van'o us
excuses we ma naged to 10sfJ t o t he tUll e o f 5-0.
. T h e 'seco nd venture was playecl agai nst t he
R .A.O. B.
P lio r t o the ga me " M r. McEwa n:'
k in dly ass isted our team ancl, with . t he md . o f h f ~
"d utch co urage" we " 'ere wo rth y wIn ner With the
score 2--1.
.I
I t i's earl y in the sea on a t .p resent. hut w il l. il,
li ttle mo re comb iuation an d WI th the expected :lId
of Captaill ROO ll ey (w ho has not .yet a r l'lvecl) \\'e
a re loo kin g for\\'a I'd t,,) a ve ry ell.l0Yllhle :tlld RU C
cessful eason .
. B. E.
Billiards. -W e opened our season thIS year by
competin g fo r Cu ps a nd Med a ls p u t u p hy the
Im pe ri a l Clu b ( ..A. A .F.I.) for com peti t i'o n amongst
Serge:w t s' M esses I) nly . Unfortuna tely! olll y se,' :n
t eams e n ~er ed. Vve receIved f1 I,ye 1ll the III t
l'O ulld . a nd p roceeded t'o th e sem i final whe re \'.'e
met o ur stro ngesL r ival s .o f l ast season, the 1 t
B r igad e R oyal H or e A I1.111ery.
W e aga ll'l beat
th em by 4 games t o 2, a lth ou&h we l ost on the
aggr egate by 97 . po ints . In th iS match we were
w ithou t t he ser vIces of S .S .M . B a rn es. who was
sufferin g from eye strain , a nd Sgt . 'Wil e~ in ho,;
pita \. Vile met 'th e 1st Bn . Kin g's Ow n Reg Iment
in ('he' fiJ1a l. Our t wo stal walts, S.Q .M . . L ent h
l ey and Sg t . :Monks, m et with ". ru n of \'el'y bad
lu ck . a nd we fini sh ed up b y 10sll1 g [Q UI' gal!'es to
two.
A lth on gh not m a ki ng excuse f ql.' 1.1Sln g, It
w ill g ive t he 'i'ead et' som e i'd ea of t he closeness of
th e ga m es when it is known th at onl y 31 pO lll11
sen" rated th e scores on th e a ggregate.
.
W e have acauired three r eall y e;oo d l)l ayc rs th iS
season. Sgt,. H. J ordan from U.K. , P te. C hw kc
recentl v tra ns ferred , a nd Pte. Stua t't 1)11 p robatIOn,
a nd who. w e h ope, wi]] be fin a lly t ra n '[ened when
th ese n o tes a ppea r in p'rint. T~ e re a re t hree OVe n
co m petili o n~ thj s ~eaRon. i'n v,.'hi ch we h ope to .10
well , espeCial ly WIth th e assIs t a nce of the til l ee
a for em enti oned players.
Th e St. George's Club h a ve put up cups . Hud
meda ls for co mpeti t ion t h is yea l'. a n ew cO l\, [J et ltl''?~,l
eJ1 tirely. At ~ la.t er d a t e we hope t1;~ Edl t~ r WI~!
be able to t ell th e world how we
\\' on t cup.
T he Sergeants' Mess Billiards Le.agu e 'c omme nces
on 21 /11 / 32. It j ~ vel'y- il1terestm g t o not e t he
number of " snooke~'ites" j '1h'v.' h :w~ trnn ferr d
t hejr a ffect ions t o billi a~dS\- Th e 11l1hard s (\:) \'11' .
mittee wi ll e videntl y h a v~ a vcry dlf~ c ult p ro
positi on in selectin g t ea,I11 S to represen t th e Mess.
E.A. W .

33 0

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

P AY

Entertainments.-Wi t h the ad \' ent of t he ('oo ler

weath er. en tertai'nme nt activiti es have r ever ted to
ind oo r {un ctions, a nd judgin g from t he inter es t dis'
played , a bnmper seaso n is in st or e.
A Bohemi /\n Co ncert helel in t he Mess on 1BLl,
October was well a tte nd ed by th e D et achm ent a nd
rami'l ies . Three h ours o f m ir th a nd melody (n ot
t'V m e ntion " ref, p.shm ellt") passed by all too
qui ck ly a nd t he wealth o f ta len t prov id ed m el wit h
d eser ved ell t hu "ia sm. As a res ult t he " Fat'e we ll
Smoker" to t he homego in g d ra ft is eage rly a nt ici.
pated.
Th e in a ug u ration o f a serie o f Wh ist Dri ves a nJ
T o mho la~ met with co nsidera bl e s uccess. ,1nd has
certainl y captUl'ed t he interest o f t he sin g le me mo
b el'. o f th e D etachm ent .
Th e Co rps' contri b u t ion t o t he soc i'a l side of life
in th e stat,ion is cl a imed as second to lI o ne. anr.!
t he fir t seasona l da nce held in t he Mess on 29t h
Octo her full y justifi es thi's claim .
11, ere was ce l't a in.!y .'\ s!?leudid rep "ese nta t i\'e
assembly, a nd to th e st rain s o f th e 14/ 20t h Hussa rs
D a nce Ra nd t he t erpsic hor ean art a nd co nvl vla b ty
continued until a n early ho ur .
P .E. M .

CORPS

JCUR NA L

Marriage.-'i'o q uot e :l loca l coulempol':lI'v, " The

fil:St o utsta nd ing socia l eve nt o f th e 1932 seasoll
,~ s t he "'eddin g yeste rdn.v of Thli ss Enit! E lli ol
h eyw oor! a nd Ca jJ tain F nlllc:s W . vYebIJ. B .A!"
Thi ti ce rem ony too k place at Sl. J'o'l n's Cuthed l':tl,
H ong K ong, '0 11 31s t ()cto l,er, 1932. ti,e bl'ide I,ei ng
t he onl v dau g h te r o r Capt ai n a nd M rs. C. iE .
Elliot.Hey ,,ood . Th e br id egr oo m . so n of Li eulen
HnlrColo nel and :\ l l's. ,'\ . h. VI e l,b 0 1 Sevenoaks .
K ent. "'''S A. D. '. lo I-I. E. . th Officer Ac\lIl illister
ing th e Go vernme n t.
A la l'gc ,,:Id d i3ti.ng uished gn,hrr:ng attellllecl. in
c lu d in g Hi ~ Excellen cy antr ~l rS. SQuth ;)I'I1. the
Genera l OHicel Comll1nndillg: , :\l ajor l;e"~1'a1 J . \~i .
Sa ndil a nds. C.B .. C.Al. O . D ., .0 .. a nd man\' other
"'ellkll own rn emlJers of the, en'ices :.n d re iclent"
or t he Colo n v.
T he 1:I'ic\e , ' who looked ve lY lo,el." in her bea ut i'
fill i vo ry I:r ida l 1'0\\,11, "as given away by her
fath er, Capta in C. E. E ll intIl eywood . " nd was
atle nd eJ hy ft li ss H ele. 1 B'oyd . .:lau g:lter of Co lonel
S. Boycl. D .S .O .. H.E .. 'Illd rO ll r li t tl e hrid esma ids.
T he (Ju t ie: o f h e~t Ilian we re ca ni ed (Jnt l,.I' Cap
ta in D. H.. M. Cameron , A.n .C. to MajorOenera l

Sa ndi'land s. T he Very R eve rend D ean S\\'an:1 officia ted , a sist er! uy th e R.everencl W . W. R oger s,
a nd th e ser vice was full y chora l. I he Cat hed ral
hav in g beeu hea uti rnll .v d eco ra ted by L ady P ollock.
A G mti'd o f H ono ur \\'aR fo rm eu 011 1 id e t he
Ca th ed ra l by O rfi re r 1) [ the R oya l R egi men t o[
Artill ery , an d th e brid a l c(JUple pa cd under the
arch of wo rds to t heil' car. wbich was dra wn by
men o f th e br idegroo m 's Batler.v of th e H ong K on g
a nd Sin gapo re Brig nd e R . A., who al ~o li nf'd the
I'v ule to' Gove rn l1le nt, B Oll. c, where the l'eceptfon
was held.
Th e gu ests were recei" eJ hy His Exce llency a lld
Mrs . Sou t hol'l1 1I11U Capta in " nel :\[rs. E,l\i ot, H ey
wood before pass ill g oil 10 offer th ei, cO I,gmwl:t .
t ions' l o th e brid e alld bri deg room . ' !\ her It" hud
been se l'ved in t he ba ll rooIT) , th e . lIF'QI,i: ., ent ( :1k tl
was cul by th e hl'~d e in th e tradili'.) na l mann er "" itlt
th e bl'ideg r,lv lIl 's ' 8"'0 "'.

HONG KONG.
Th e Hlllllll er co ntinu ed t he kindn ess r epl1l'Led in
th e las t issue, for , n,cco rcling t o informati on recei ve.!.
th e hot weath er of H132 was a poo r vintage. and
lacked "body . " N one th e less. th e cooler wea t he r
",e :1I'e no w en ioy in g is a g r eat r elief. an d th ere is
Ty ph oo ns
re ne wed activity in sporting circles.
ha ve a lso gi ve n us a miss, and lhe few th a t t here
ha ve been ha ve not com e ve ry nea r t he Colony.
Only two giving us a bi'/:' of a blow in pass in g.
Troopin g, a rra ngemell t s- or r a t he r th e lack th ereof
-are al so mu ch, ill ev id ence, as it see ms th a t th e
l'Ullloul' t.hat tlTe' 'N em 'ali a u wa ~ buil t wi t h c lasti c
sid es is 1.111trl1 e, 'ar.lcI m ~ I\Y ,(:ho' e')q~ecteu to ' ~
hOll1 e 01\' hel' Jli-st voyage wi ll be unlu cky.

33 T

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THE

was won by Mrs. H ard with Mrs. W a rner second.

Suitable gifts as a m emento o f the occasion were
then di str!buted by , Mrs. Elli ot-Heywood , wh o,
together WIth Mrs. Wlmberley, Look a great interest
in the proceedings. Th e apprecia ti on of the Detachment and familIes was sbown when th e call for
three chee rs was re~po nded to with great acclamat i'o n.
The play -off for the L ang Cup is now proceed in g, the final stage hav ing been reaclled. Those
sti11 left in are : -S .Q,.M.S. Oldfi eld (30) ancl Ser
gea llt Pledger (scratch).
The r esults I)f the semi-fin als were as foll ows:S.Q.M.S. OldJield (30) b e.1.t S.Q.M.S.
Matth ews (30) 6/ 4, 3 / 6, 7 / 5.
Sgt. Pledger (scratch) beat S / Sgt. H olt
(15 ) 6/ 3. 10 / 8.
The A rea Ten ni s L eague has now been completed
t he Detachinent. occupving sixth pl ace out of a
total o f twelve, some of our last year 's pa il'S being
sad ly missed .
We congratul ate the RA.O. C.
Detn chm ent in Witln.il1g thi s evenb.
'With th e IIPpro ach o f crick et, tennis is rapid ly
fa lli ng ill to
secondary p o~ iti o n , a nd al t hl)ugh thi s
yea r's result did no t co me up to expectations, It
is hopeel. with constant p'ractice, to improve our
leagu e position next ~rear.
Whi lst .on th e subject of cricket it might be as
well to mentil)n that the Detachment h as entered
t he Small Units' L eague, ancl Olll' suc ce~s, or otherwi'se, will be dul y -reco rd ed in the next issue. A ny.
h ow, we have purch ased a co uple of new bats to
be going 0 11 with , b:lt whether we can find ;tn yon e
capable o[ ma king th e best use of them remain s t o
be seen .
swimming.-Wh atever else can be said about us
in H ong K llng in m att ers of SpOlt it cann ot be
said that we are not triers . In swimmi11/j, no less
th a n in others forms of recreation , we are willill g
"to have a shot at it," and this i~ as it should be,
Th ere is every facility for swi'mming here, and anyone who fan cies his prowess in the water h as a mpl e
op nortunity for di spl aying it.
The great swimming event of the year fl)1' th e
Gal'l' ij!on , as all , \vho have bE'en station'P.i.:I here
know, i's the Mi litary "Cross H arbour Swim." This
t ;tkes pl ace usually in September, and , as its title
indi cates, is from one side of I.h e harbour to th e
oth er , a di ~ta n ce of approximately a mile. Aparl
from the exc itement of the ,'ace itself, there is
",reat keeness amongst thl)se swimmers who are nolo
exactly up to Olympic Games' ~tand a rd merely t.o
get across, because it i ~ con side red-a nd is-q ui te
a n achieve ment.. Ever:(one who comp let es th e s wim
i n a specified tim ~ ' receIves
certifi cate to th ;tt
effect signed by the General Officer Comm anding .
We had foul' competi'tors !Lmongst th e "Small
Units." ' Entrants :- S .Q,M .S. Chappel l. and Ser
gea llts McCullough , Preslin 'a nd Pledger-;tnd wi'th
th e exception of the first n amed (who was unlu cky
enl) ugh to be attack ed with cramp three-qu arters
nf the way across) t hey accomplished the swim.
Sergeant . McCullougb finish ed 59th . Sergeant
P ledger 67th and Sergeant Pre..lilt 91st , l'6sults
which are very comm endable when one rem embers
tha~ a total of 117 swimmers finished . These three
N .C. O.'s are to be heartily COll gratulated on their
sllccess.
.
Th e ~nme three Serge'a nts l'en l'esented US at the
" Small Units Aquatic Sports" ut th e Kowlo@ n
Y.M.C.A. Bat.hs ten day;.s after the Cross Harb0ur

His Excellency then join ed them t o propose the

health of the happy couple.
In reply Capta in Webb e-xpressed the deep gratitude of hi wife and him self [01' all the kindness
tha,t had ueen shol\' n to th em hy Hi s Excellen cy and
:Ur. Southol'n. H e then proposed the h ea lth of
t he brides mai ds, which was respondJld to 'O n their
b('haH by Captain Cameluo.
L ater, am i~s t showers of confetti and good
wishes, Capta m and Mrs. Webh le[t for Mountain
Lodge. t he sum mer resi,lence of th e Governor where
p art ' of the honeymoo;l is being spent.
It s hould Iw added that. thanks to th e kindness
of Hi E xcellencv and Mr . &vuthol'11. all the
\ -, rrant Officer anJ N.C.O. 's of .th e R oyal Army
Pay Corps. an d thell' WI ves, were mVlted to; attend
t he reception. and ma ny .of them were present
amo n ~st the large company of g ueRts assembled in
th e ballroom for th e weddin g "breakfast," and
a-fleI:"al'ds YI~\\' lllg th e num erous ;tnd ,rery beautifu l .g1 fts Whl C,1 J?l' e~en t e d a glittering a rray in th e
hIlhards room, nldl catlve of th e CTreat popUlarity
I) f the bl'ide ~nd bridegroom.
'"
.
. Lawn Tennls.-From a social point of view th e
ll1 t~rest t aken in tennis ha s co nsid erably in creased
dm'm g the la t three month s and . thanks to th e
genel'oRi't y of ~he C. P. and O~I' Offi cers. two very
enlOy;tblil tenms at hom~s were h eld at Sookunpoo.
Bot:h were run I)n Amencan Tournament lin es, but
ow mg to the large num bel' of entries, it was found
n~cess;tr ~' to run th e tournament in two hahes. the
\\'1n ners of E'ach pl ay ing off in ;t final.
In th e. first tournament, Colonel and Mrs. Wim herley did th e hon ours and yerv ki ndly entertained
t.he Det;tch mellt and thei't' f;tmilies . Th e afternoon
provE'cl ffi'vst enjoyahle nnd if. on occasion a high
standard o f tenms was not r eached , it could in
no way be blam ed to la ck of enthusiasm among
om petito rs. Tl,p fin al i~ts waved to he Mrs M atthews and Col. Vi~imberl ey; ' and S.S.M. Ros~ (:ho
filled the hl'each m place of an absent lad y) and
, :Q.M.!';. Matthews. Th e C.P.' s stage whisoer to
hiS partnel.' of "play I)n the Sergeant Mai or" wa s
followe.i to such good purpOSe thnt Mrs. M atth ews
and Col. Wimherley won t he fina l set bv 6 games
to. 4. The pI'i'l.-es \\'ere kindl y 11l'esentecl bv Mrs.
I\lmberle~' ancl a verv enjoyable a,ftettrloon wa s
wouncl un wh en the Misses Bosie Matthew s an il
Aud rey Wright presented Mrs . Wimbel'ley with a
haRket of fl owers.
Tn th e secon d tJvUl'11ament t he Offi cers of the
D.etachment. were the hosts, Mrs. Wimberley very
k mcll PUMlllg liP th e pl-izes. Thi s time the C 'P
did not (ake oart in th ~ tournament but was cont,~nt
to b e n spectator 1~nti1 the fi!l al CD l11 e along when
h e. took o ~ th e duties <1 Ul11lJ1re , Th e fin al i~ts , on
thiS occaSl.On. were Mrs. Matthew" and Captain
Williams; an~ :t.:rs. Ro"s an d S.Q.M.S. Matth'e ws,
t.he foml el- ,ymnllJg h" 7 l1:al11 es to 5, ;tn'd ' l'eceivinCT
fr,?m the h ands of Mrs. Wimberle" ;t set of silveTspoons and a s!1ver. ciga l'et te Case. respectively.
B.v way of diver IOn , and to a fford amusement
f0l' th~ children , a series o f ra ces were run off
immedi ately, m-ior to the \.ea in ter va l, and not to
he outdO!le the gro.wnups also .D'lrtici\:!a ted. Owin g
tQ the differen ces m ages, whle11 vnrle'J from t.wo
to ne.c1.r1 y si'x ty. th e ra ces h ad t o be run on handi~~ o liJle's .. On~e aga in: t!~ql.l.gh , .results pmved that
old sold iers never dte. '-t[OI' In the men 's race
S.O.M.S. Oldfield a,nd Col. Wimberlev were first
and se::ond respectively , wh ilst the 'ladies' race

,t

332

ROYAL

ARMY PAY

Sw im . Each of them were in different hea ts fl)l'

Lh e " 25 yard s Das h ."
And each finishe,l second
in his heat! This was rough lu ck, particularly a~
at least two of Lh em chd bette l' t ime t han t he
winner of another heat in the sa me event..
Sergeant McCullough a.]so entered for th e 150
yards race (50 y,trds each breast stroke, back strok e
a nd free sty le) and a lthough man ifest,ly off colour
won hi.~ heat wi'thout mu ch eff'v rt. The fin al of
this event wo uld easi.ly ha ve been wo n uy McCul
lough bad he. been fit. Un fortunately his indi spo.sitlO n chd not Improve" and as a r.esu lt he was only
a ble to get tblrd pnze. H e did extremely, well
under adverse con dition s. He was t oo ill to ent er
the water again , othE'rwise we had an entry in th e
" Relay Race fm' Teams of Six." We had to scratch
from th is at. the last m oment. Still it sho~"s our
I\'illillgnes "to have a shot" ,,,hen we can ra ise
a te~ m of six relay race sw imm ers out of strength
of a ll ra nks of only 2l.
. promoti~n ,~V,Te offer OUl hearti'est congratul atIOn to Lieut. Ross on Iu s promotIOn tJv cOlllmi ss i ol1e~ rank,. we are salTY that he is leavi ng -us
to reh eve ~<bJor Spen~e at Shanghai. We wish him
t he best of lu ck 111 hI's lI ew sphere and station .
Moves ,-Serge.1.nt H anis has joined us from
Shanghai in I'elief of Sergeant St~tham who glJes
11011.h on the "Neuralia ."
Birth,-In the last number we oiu itted to co 11gmtuln (e Sel'geant Wright--whose all was born
on 18th May, 1932.

m atches , S / Sgt. W est, Sgts, B own Deveau and

William s be in g regu lar members o f the t eam. On
July 31st \'. H.M.S. Whitshed, Sgt. \~7 illiam s takin g
advantage o f easy bowlIng alld sho lt hvundarie,
co mpi led 103 n o~ O~l t , 'LnCl a fel\' days lator ,.,
H.M.S. Witch , Sgts. Dow n 'tnd De"eau enjo,vE'rI
merry knocks o f 107' and 72 respect iyel~' ,
GIBRALTAR ,

IVith the close I)f t.he Wllmer period of port \\'0

can look back on a fai d " successfu l season .
Cricket ,-Th is ha bee'n excell ent I, cth frol1l "a
pl ay in g and social pain, of " iell'. and the fo llowing
results show t he hest record for ('I'eral seasons
p~st:-

SHA N GHAI.

At the time of wri'tin CT t hese n otes one of the yeM's

lll Ost eager ly a WfLited :vents is about t'O tal'e olace
the fir st of the season's troopers , H .T. "Nem;:l!ia.' i
h as nearly ~'eached Sh angh ai. After a series o f
false alarms It now seems assured th at M ajor Sp'ence
WIll I e l'etlll'l1l11g home on the
euralj a and :om'
best wishes ~o with him , we hope th at he finds
his. new stutl'o n (at present unkn own) congen ial.
()wlnCT. I'owever. tv a shorta ge o f accom modation
for th e hom ewa.rd journey tbl! other moves which
were ;tn tl clpate~l would take place, h ave now been
postponed . Sergeants Carver. Devea u and N ewton
who were ret.a ined owing to the " Emergency" will
~I a"e ~o await a later boa;t, and a~ they are n ow
~n th el I' 5th year of servIce 111 th iS oJ mm and, it
IS rumoured th at th ey are co nspiring to write a.
~ook describing th e a::l vantages of a "Short" tou'r
111 the Fa.r E ast as compared ' with a 5 veal' tour
111 a M editerran ean stati'on .
We hope to welcome Sergeant Statham a,nd
family. \In arrival from H ong K ong per H .T.
Neuraba, L / Sgt. H a nis having already proceeded
t() Hon g Kong on H .M .S. Suffolk.
Lawn Tennis.-Tn an American tourn ament consisting of pa,irs (1 Offi cer a nd 1 Sergeant or WO)
r~om each ~nit and D~pa rtm en t, our represe~t~
tlves" C;tptal'n ~a c k e n zl e a~d S / Sgti. West, performed very credItably to "fim sh 3rd of 11 entra nts
one p'oint b~hind the runners-lip .
'
'
Th e Gal:rl~oll Sergeants: T enni s L eague was W'Un
l'?ther eaSily by the Garl'lsou Mess. of t h e team of
IX three w~re membE'rs I) f t his Detachm ent
(S. Q.M .S . Staples, ~ / S gt. West a.nd ~ f Sgt. B ow n)
a nd th ey each I'ecelved a very nice sli ver bowl as
11 rewa,rd for th ei'!' efforts.
Cricket,-Th e Area Det ail s team ha,d a, ver y su,>
-cess flll season, winning th e majority of their

CORPS J OU RNAL

333

Played 17 ; W on 10 ; Lvst 6 and Drawn L

An excell ent team pil'it ha s prevailed throughout the seaSO ll "nd Olll' thanks are due la the ladies
for th eir r eg ular support.
W e arE' parL iculal'iy
plea ed at haV in g; lI'?n uoth of Olll' nwldles agaill st
t he Gi braltar Cinh an Cl'Icket Club th is season
E'speciall y as in I,oth matches the ci"i li ans fiE'lclprl
strong teams. S . . M. Smith, .S.l\:[ , _-\ ndel'So n and
SergL Gilbert have been respvnsibl e for gottinO'
m ost of the rUlls , ~nd Sergt. Gilberl. . ergt. Col~
Im s ;tncl S.S .M . Sm ith have share,l the howlillg.
Th e resu lts of the couclucl ll1g matches of the
eason are:Won : -RA.1\ L C'. (Sergt. GilbeIi, 33).
RA-S.C. (S.S.1!. And el'-Oll 50 not oul).
Lost :-Royal Engin ee rs .
Dock~ard S.C, ( Lo~t I"!, 2 run, Sergt..
G il bert 108-111cIuchllg 18 fl)ul's allc1
4 Ixes).
, The " isit of MI'. Leve onGower's XI mention ed
In our last notes was an e,'en t eagerly anticipaled ,
~ nt though hav1l1 g such wellknowll pl ayers a.s Lord
Tennyson,
. HaJg, B. H. Valentin e. H . J.
Enth\)ven, and J. H. :Ke vinson ill the ~ irl e t.I,ev
were , not able la rise abQn' local condi ti~ns (i, e:.
mattmg Wicket, strong ji'g ht and Gibraltar ho .
pita lity), a nd t;~ough 1I0ne of t he (hree matches
"'~re actually finished the hono1ll' decidedh' I'ested
With the local teams.
.
Lawn Te~nis .-Th e Comma nd In ter -n it. L eaCT ue
fi xtures hav1l1g been C'ilmpleted, (he following shows
'I)s ult of the efforts o f this Detaeh mellt uurln[; li,J
season :.
Pla.yed 16 : Won 3. Drawn 6. Lost 7- Poill(S 12.
liVe fim shed 6t,h in the leag ue out of 9 eni ries ancl
co nsld.erll1 g .th e sta nd ard of play on the Rock a nd
the ch ffi cultles ex perienced in getting a team tog.ethel', we mu st congratul n.te I)ul'selves on the positIOn we rJCCUpy. Th e incIu si'OI1 o f &.S.1\1. Smit.h in
the latter part of the sea on, helped cOl1 sidera hl,to strengthen ou r tea m. Co ngra tul ations to MI'S.
T albot and partner on winnin g the L adi e "O pen
Doub les." IVe 'I rti now about to COlJlmence lea"<l e
0x~~r~s for nex-t season which have been bl'Oug ht
tOl" a l d so as to take place m cool el' weather,
Sergeants ' Mess,-Two wrust dri ve~ and dances
have been held both of which p roved yety llcce sfu l, :md ,,:e are now co nsid ering arrange ments fat'
a ch ildren s Xmas ll'E'e and dinner .
Old friends will be S\ll'l'y to heal' that Messenger
B e l1 y u~l es has 11 ad to und erg9 a severe a bdomiua'l
op,emtlOn b~t wIll be pl eased to know t.hnt be is
gO lllg 011 :ve.l. In tlt& m ea,nbme hl ~ son . is carl'yi'ng
on IllS duties t hus dOllblUl g hi , quahfioatlOns [or o ur
cL'lcket tE'11m.

THE

R()Y AI.,

ARMY

PA Y CORPS

The G.O.C. wa' so i'mpressed by the play of th e

winllers that they \\'ere subsequently invited to
Fla gstaff H o u -e t.o play agaillt the General himself
a;ld hi s A D .C. Alth .:> uO'h not vic tOl-ious in this
further enco unter they d id not ciisgra ce themsehes .
H,umolll' has it th at Sergt. Cas hman IH's now bought
a ne w top i liS h i's old one woul d not fit any longe r .
Allyhow. it's a ca,e of well done 'fishy . "V e hay e
ente red ,\ team for the inter-unit
hampivns hip.
a nd are doe to meet the H..A.F. n 2nd November.
"Ve will not attempt to forecast a, I'e u lt as \\'e are
a modest lot of chaps, but to whisper a secret. we
hope to make things hum. If we win a full report
will appeal' in tIle n ext iss ue. If we lose, en uf ~ai'd,
but we shall die fighting.
FO Dtba ll.--I ha ve to apologise for the Inck of
ncw~ un ,le" I his heading, as the s port is Dot in dulged in e ri ously by m embers of thi~ d eta chment

MA LAYA.
W e t.ake this opportun ity of \\'ishing all members
of the Co rps a i\ l e l'l'Y Xma ~ "lid the IJest of wishes
fOOL' tlte Ne\\' Y eal'.
We h,,,-c taken th e libe rty
asking the Editor t o illselt a photograph of the
Detachnlent \\' ilh t.hese 1Iol e:'. il",t to ,how hall'
handsom e lI'e reall v are. TIl e 1st Bn. Gloucesterhin> Hegi'mellt held their annual rifi e )11eetillg from
the 1st to 4th Septemher; we \\'ere. fortun"tel .v fo r
those III ave lads in the iHlttS , unab le t'O enter :l
team.
the shoot coi ll irl e:1 wil h the arrival of the
mmand 1'" ' master, Ch ina Command. on his
'I nnu,,1 lOllr or'inspec ti on. which passed off without
mislrfljl. so far as we are aL le tll tell.
Arnvals.-Til 'aplain E. F. and Mrs. Cox. \\' ho
ru'l~\'ed ,frOI'll Winchester on '2;3 / 10/ 32 , we extend a
hearty welcome. a,ncl hope t.hat their stay with us
may he a plen~allt and hapHY one.

er

"s

THE

JOURNAL

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS JOURl'lAL

particular trio ha d fired for some years. so are to

be co ngratulated indi vidually on their good show.
Mav the team retain the cup next year.
Sport.- I al11 afraid that news is " e ry scarce at
the m oment. I-Jockey has not yet sta rted " but will
SOO Il d o 5'':> if the dil igence of apt. Askin i ~ r e\\'arded . As that officer is du e home this t roopi'ng
season , and as this. is [Jrob'1bly the last lelter from
this station he wi ll see ill print befOl'e he lea,es, I
would li.k e (0 say herCl how much hi efforts in th e
sport line have 'been appreciated. Nearly all tIe
work in c'o) nnection with cricket a nd hockey has
fall ~ n lIpOll his. houlders, and. in cidenta ll y. a good
deal of that enta iled in the formation of Lhe rifie
team mentioned above. yet he has a lwav s carri'e d
on un compla iningly. Running port bet'~een three
or foul' ullit s i~ a joL ca llin g for much patien ce
a nd tact, a nd the fact that there i a S. ancl D.
leam fool' nearly e\"ery kind of game testifies to Capt.
A kin ' s exer cise of those qual it ies in the pas t.
Thank yo u, Sir,. for having tha t. c ri cketbag in YOUI'
ca.!.' so m a n~ times.
It sa"ed many a grumble
usually ,1 socfated \.-ith "ca rry ing the bag."
~arri e d Quarters ROll.-. gt_ G ore was "brou ght
o n' on 28th October.
D epart ures .- S.Q.1\-I.S. ~foclder . after baying
spent onl y eleyen montbs here, left us for ,\lok in g
'0) 11 20th November to un,lel'go p'robation fol' pt'Omoti on to ' ;V .O.I. W e extend Olll' siJlcere congratulati ons. an.-I hope that hi "trial" period will encl
fully for him .
" BCTTON, ."

those delightful places where, ncco rdiJ1g to Kipling ,

lI1'tIi (;<111 raise a hundred-per-cent. thi'l 'st.
Regarciing that assertion, howevel', it can only be assu'med
that th e ma r vellous thirsts seen elsewhere were
issued to the lucky owuers a.t bi rth.
So far , ,,11 mi li tary passengers who hav e left
here fo1' home this trooping seas'.:>n ha ve either gone
on naval vessels or el~e by freightship. The latter
method is I1Il1ch appreciated by those with fami lies,
and who have been a.ctually a llotted pa sages, bu~
the abse ll ce o[ accornm ochttion on th e tl'vopships
gi ves 1 1 ~C to much anx.i ety amongst th ose who are
already ove rdue for home. One cal! unders.tand
their des ire to get honle again ,\[ter fiv e yeal
ubroad. IJut it may bring a c rumb 'ill cu mfo rt to
t hem if they a re rem in ded that fog, sleet, and
ra in are still the main features of Eng lanJ in
winter. On the othe!' hand. clim,ttic cond itions on
thi . island during the willter months a re rea lly
c1e li ghLftll.
must yield a point there LO our
civ ili an friend ' in the ffice.
Rifte-shooting.- I hav e much pleasme in record
ing the feat uf t.he Staff a nd Depa rtments ~eam in
winnin g the "Small Units" C up at Lhe Command
Rifle Meeting. Not so yery long before the adual
s h oC1t was to tnke place, Sgt. Potter ~et nbout
formin' n leanl , alld th an ks to his persistence and
hard wo rk (there was ome, too!) the ihitial diffic ul t ies were overcome. and enthu iasm raised
am'OlIgst the uuits l:oncerned , viz. , R.A.P.G .. A.E.C. ,
~l..I!' .P .. and R. Signals.
Practice was suatcheJ
whene" er poss ible, even though amm ulliti on was
obta in eJ on the system of " borrowing from Peter
to repay .P',IUl. " ,Some of the units ~o mp etillg for
the Cup \\ e l e.-24,h Coy. R.E. , 3211d oy. R.A.S.G ..
and th : detachme nt o f R.A.O . ., the latter bei11g a
l11uch stro nger team tl1<\n their llul11ber~ w'.:> uld s uggest. Ca l l. Askin. Sgt.. Row le,v . and Sgt. Pott er
w re in c lud ed ill the S. and D. team, which was
se lected without re gad t o Gorp. 1\olle of th at

"

' ' 'e

TO OLD COMRADES .
1\11-. G. Gump, l'ich (bte X o. 558) of 181 , Ke\\,castle Stl'eel. Pel'th , "Ve tern AlI stl'UliH, who has
I'ecently become n subscribeI' to t he " J olll'llaJ. " \\' ill
be g ln.d 10 hea l' from Old Comrad es of the CO l'ps.

WAS
Depart ures .-Ca ptain R. H. Smyth. after com
pleting hi s tOlll' of duty, is postl'd rlome. 'Ne wi sh
him and Mrs. S'mvth t.h e best of lu ck at their Bew
tat-ion (at presellt unknown). During the latter
ha lf of the tl'o'' 'pi ll g senso'l we sha ll be say ing good
bye to OUI' Command Payma~tel'. a lso S .Q. M.S.
Steele and Sergeants C l'aven a nd V,l l'ight. Our best
wisl~es lo them for n hHPP~' stay in their' new
station s.
Birth .-Our congml ulati(lJI s to Sergeant and Ml's .
C. R. Bone on the IJirth of a S\Jn, 26 / 9 / 32.
Promotions.-l t L r eg l'ettec1 that we have no
new~ to I'eeonl 1I11der thi s head illg. although it ma.\'
bl' a dde;1 that the "yellow pel'il" is perused and, if
nece sllry. I"rollght up to d'1te on the receipt of
~ach i sue '0) [ ca rp o 1'<.1 er5.
Hel'e's hoping!
Lawn Tennis. -Tl is with i!l'eat pride that we reOI'd the news tlF,t Sergt. Ca3hman. who, partnered
hy Sergeant Robe!'t on , R.A.M.C .. ca rried off the
Co mmand doub les chn.mpio nship (othe r I'an ks) de
feating B It ... Heath -,'nd i\'l olTis: It.A. , 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

(the reaso n is obvious). However. at the time of

writing s pecu lation is rife as to who will win the
"buster"; the writer is sweating on the top line.
Out' local rags have n\JW ~tartecl football compet itions on home matches , so we a re back to the
o ld 'lame of tryi'lg to beat the boo.k .
"re cannot c lose these notes w-ithout 'Offering our
congratulations to the Edit.ors upon the pt'Ogress
made in the "Jou1'l1al ," and the enlargement of the
Autumn number was much appl'eciated.
ENOB .
MALTA.
[t 'eel11s o nly a very shol't time back when T
a lllloull ced that we fel t settled dvw n for a while.
.v et we al'e already "011 the move" again . The
Troopers vel'Y in co llsidemtel,v get filled up before
t-hey re~('h here, so those stations east of Sue7. al'e
ill a favoured })os iti'o n rega.rding passages home.
This isn't qu it e a il' whell it is rel11emlJel'ed Ihat Ille~'
have just cmnp leteJ at least three years in one of

334

,. SHcL L - our"
~~J! ~ to .3',,U:'

,f " '-\
335

T HE

THE

P AY CORPS JOURN AL

ROY AL A RMY

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS J OURNA L

N.e.O'1I Blue Patrol Kit

IN BEST QUALITY RIBBED SERGES.
\.

PATROL JACKET
To Measure 27 / 6, 35 / 6, 38/ 6
TROUSERS To Measure 14/ 6, 18/ 6, 23 / CAPS
... ...... .... . ..... ............... 7/ -

~~LwanYoungerlt~
fJ

EDINBURGH

4.

* * *
Warrant Officers' Uniform
S.D . JACKET, WHIPCORD
To Measure 3/3 / 0
S.D. SLACKS, WHIPCORD
To Measure 1 / 9/ 6
S.D. BREECHES, WHIPCORD
To Measure 1 / 17 / 6
S.D . CAP , WHIPCORD
10/ 6

",'

* * *
Patterns, Price List and Selt-Measurement
Form on Request.
Military

FISHER'S Outfit ters

' Phone: Woolwich 1055.

OBTAINABLE IN CANTEENS &. MESSES AT

EVERY STATION A T HOME AND ABROACl

58 Wellington St., Woolwich

S.E.18.

SMALL NOTICES.
quicker

Contractor (wbo has called to hasten payment of

during the war. "
Pa:y:master: "That was su rely before our t ime."
Contracto r : "What? Tbll Great War?"
Paymaster: "Oh, pardon me! I thought you were referring to the Siege of J erusalem !"

"You don ' t think much of golf, -then?" saiJ the

Colonel to t he Corpora l wh-v haJ volunteered to act
.as caddie for him .
Corporal: " Seems a bit slow sir-a kind of
'ockey at t.be 'alt! "

Wife: "You say you are in debt, and yet ~'hen I

married you you said your affai'rs were a.s righ t as
dockwork."
, .
Hu sba nd (saaly): . "So they were, dear-tick- '~
"tick-tick- t.1Ck."

.'

1'"

'

A sdldier' who wa$ a bit; of a l11 a l inJ;~rel" l'epor~ed

sick, b,ut tbe doctor could find nothll1g am iss with
him .
"You wouldn't come to me with th is complail)t
in ciVil life," be s~id.
,
"Ob ,' no, sir,~' replied the pa t ient: " I should
send for you. "

There was a. ~;oung lady. nameJ B~ight,

Who tr(welled mu ch faste r than li ght,
SHe \tent out one day
,
In a relat ive way,
.
'
And came back on tb ll prevlOus mght.

EXPERIENCED COACH. All Armv Exams . from School Cert. t.o Staff COU.: 8 Pupils. Genuine indi
vidua l attention. 4 pupils took June' Army Entran ce and passed-R.N.; Woolwich , Sandhurst. -Major H.
A . Shaw. M.C ., R .A. (Charterhouse, Woo lwi ch), MilfcrdonSea, Hants .

The young lI ava1 officer w~s ~howi.llg "a p'l'ett~

gi'i'l round bis ship. "Amull.v 1l1lel'estl11g wns her
the portholes
vel'd'ct
1 . "And tell me ' do Lhey close
I
, when the t ide ri'ses?"

"WI, y d'v YO LL want your vacation in February ,

Sandy? Tbe wea.ther 's terl~bl e tb~ n .".
,
"Well, j'ts my.youngest bo)".. HI S bnt.hday s the
firs.t of MaFch, a.nd he'll be over tIl e ha lffare age
if don't go in F ebruary."

Small Notices will be inserted in this Column at a charge of 1d. per wo rd , minimum 1 /- , each in itial
and number to count as one word. Notices, together with Postal Order to cover cost, to reach the
Editor not later than the 25th of the month prior to the mOllth of publication.
Letters may be given a box number , and addressed cl o R.A . P.C . Journal , 80, Pall Mall , S.W.1.,
for Which a charge 01 6d . extra will be made.

,Journal Committee: Lt.Col. G. H . Charl to n, M .C. , Lt.Col. L . J . Lig htfoot, O.B .E., Lt.Col. A . B . Cliff,
Lt. Col. H . R. ' N. D'awson , Oapt. B. Sant, Capt. A. El. Barlo,,", Capt. A. L . Dunnj]] and
Lieut. J . Feehally.
Joint Editors: Lt. -Col. A. B . Cliff a nd Ca pt. A. L. Dunnill.
All co mmuni cations to he addressed t,o :THE EDITORS,
THE R OYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL,
80, PALL MALL, LONDON, S.W.l.
(Teleph olltl Whitehall 7728)
Local Representat ives have been agpointed in each Command and Regimental Pay Office, to wh om all
Corps News a nd Notes should Le sen t for t ransm iss ion to the Editors . Other articles intended for publication
may be sent either to the Local Representative or direct to the Editors. All com munications should bear
th e Rank and Name of the send er; these may , if desired , be mal'ked " Not for publication," in which caStl
oS nom de plume should be giv en.
TBE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS J OURNA L is published quarterly , viz ., Sprillg (in March), SIIJnmer (in
.June), A ILillmn (in September) , a nd Chri st ma s (in Decemberi. Th" pri ce of the J ourn al if ord ered
t hrough the Local Representative is 1 / a copy ; if sent by post, single copy 1/2 ; per annum (fou r i sues) 4/ 6,
,payable in ad\'an ce.
R eade l's are adv ised to keeg their co pies for binding. Special arrangements will be made ror the binding
.o f ea ch volume as compl et.e I. Pa rt iculars will be [ound Ise wh el'e ill thi ~ is. ue.

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

SERVICE SPORTS

NAAFI
has a S pecia list De partmental Srall dea ling wit h Spo rts
Requisites of every description and the Goods listed in
its Price Lists and Catalogues can be relied upon to be

THE BEST POSSIBLE VALUE

OBTAINABLE FOR THE VERY
MODERATE PRICES QUOTED
Remember, too, t hat the substanti;]1 D iscou nts which
a re a ll owed, a nd the Rebat~ which is the mai nstay of
t he Units' income, alike depend on the turnovpr
of a business strictly limited to the ServIces and
conducted for their sole benefit.

SO GET YOUR SPORTS GOODS AND

PRIZES AND EVERYTHING YOU CAN

FROM

Wavy ?lrmy &- 7tir Force Institutes

N.B. - N.A.A.F.l. Institutes and Establuh",e/s are a v!,j'ablejoT lh ~
al/ rou"d service of the Services ill every Britisl: Unit and c.ia,,;soa at
H ome and Overseas ex.;ep/.ing Indiit .. Ullits in lll-d ia ca:.. obtain Price
Lisls and CataJol!ueJ as well as special quotations /0' delivrri~3 1,om
4

Lu"don on application to tlJ: Sec'~laTY, Im peria l Cou,t Upper

K eu nil1glon Lau.t, Lendon, S.E.J 1. CaL'lu:" Naaji. Lall/b, ZondOIl."

Print"d by the Victoria Press (St. Albansl, Ltd. , for the Royal Army Pay Corps, and
published at 80, PaU Mall, S.W.l.
,

.)

I' '"