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Remembered Today:

Captain John Edwards Rhodes, 2/KRRC


seaforth78

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Hello,

This officer left the Regiment in 1901 and went to the 5th KRRC on retired pay. Did he come back for the Great War? As far as I could check, I see that unusually did not go to South Africa for 1899-02.

Many thanks

S78

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According to the Gazette, Rhodes was made Lieutenant Colonel of 8th (Isle of Wight Rifles) Hampshire Regiment in July 1913 and has an MIC (here); went to Gallipoli in 1915.

C

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Thank you kindly HarryBrook and Woolamc, I was looking Hart's and didn't note his time in the Boer War.

I see that elsewhere he's mentioned as taking his battalion to Gallipoli and landing on the first day in Sulva Bay. He stayed with them until handing over command in 1917 when they were back in Egypt.

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J. E. Rhodes' career between retiring and transferring to 5th Bn. K.R.R.C. in 1901 and taking command of 8th Bn. Hampshire Regt. in 1913 may be useful.

20.6.1903 appointed Instructor of Musketry

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27566/page/3853

Relinquished appointment as Instructor of Musketry, promoted Major and to command the Bn. 22.2.1906

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27900/page/2332

Granted hon. rank of Lt.-Col. 25.1.1908

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28109/page/1051

Lt.-Col. 31.5.1908

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28193/page/8030

Relinquished his commission 22.2.1913

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28696/page/1637

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His War Service from the Q4 1914 Army List ...

post-20192-0-68839600-1459202716_thumb.j

The 1919 Army List has exactly the same text - no mention of Gallipoli.

The 1915 Harts Army List has him as CO of the Isle of Wight Rifles and marked as "qualified for appointment as Instructor of Musketry" and "qualified as Instructor in Arms [sic, presumably for 'Army'] Signalling."

The 1905 Harts Army List lists him under Captains on Retired Pay with seniority as follows:

2/Lt - 30 Oct 1889;

Lt - 21 Oct 1891;

Capt - 03 Jan 1898.

He also appears in 1916 Q4 Army List under Lt.-Cols Retired from the Special Reserve (with retirement date of 31 May 1908) ...

[Edit 13 Apr 2016: WRONG! This 31 May 1908 date is not his retirement, but the date of his promotion to Lt.-Col. and his appointment as CO of 5/KRRC - see further down]

post-20192-0-70971800-1459205440_thumb.j

I'm away from home at the moment. When I get back to my books, I'll see what more I can find. Don't think I have the 1947 KRRC Chronicle yet, so unlikely to have an obituary I'm afraid.

Mark

Edited by MBrockway
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Hi Mark and Harry,

Very good and thank you very much to both of you on this. I knew good ole Mark would chime in once he saw the KRRC logo.

My interest in Gallipoli lies in this anecdote I read: it looks plausible though I couldn't confirm it.

Very interesting account of their time in Gallipoli with Rhodes serving with them at least from the start. If he served at Gallipoli, I find it odd that it's not mentioned in the AL.

http://isleofwightrifles.org.uk/thegreatwar.php

S78

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Found this lovely photo online which came out of the Hampshire Regimental Journal 1915. Poor Rhodes looks a lot older than 45 years old!

It's pre Gallipoli as it shows the Ratsey brothers together who were both to die on the penisula later that year.

post-88538-0-95667900-1459223302_thumb.j

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Thank you very much Gareth for your PM and kind details on Rhodes and on the battalion. I see from your notes that Rhodes indeed went on to lead the battalion till landing at Sulva Bay but was shortly invalided out. I shall later on today for the members highlight the names against their fates outlined above.

I'm sure the memorials to the battalion in your native isle must be moving.

Thank you.

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Don't think I have the 1947 KRRC Chronicle yet, so unlikely to have an obituary I'm afraid.

Mark

Yep - sorry, I have 1946 and 1949, but not 1947.

Will do some further digging tomorrow.

Mark

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Thank you Mark. Looking forward to it.

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Rhodes appears in the 1904 KRRC Chronicle in the List of Past Officers with an address of Wootton, Ryde, Isle of Wight.

I've also spotted him in the 1914 and 1915 KRRC Chronicle in the Roll of Members, "Celer et Audax" Club, Employed [Celer et Audax Club is the Officers' Club] as "Rhodes, Lieut.-Colonel J.E. ... Commanding 8th (Territorial) Bn. Hampshire Regiment."

Those same volumes give Officers on the Active List on Half Pay or Extra Regimentally Employed, the 1915 version of which includes "Major (temp Lt.-Col.) B. Majendie ... Commanding 12th Bn., Hants. Regt.", but Rhodes does not appear in either list.

I've found no other mention, but I don't yet have the Boer War volumes, where he'd most likely appear.

That's probably as far as I can get you. Apologies.

Mark

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That's fine Mark. Many thanks for your efforts till now. Much appreciate it.

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He also appears in 1916 Q4 Army List under Lt.-Cols Retired from the Special Reserve (with retirement date of 31 May 1908 [Edit: WRONG! this is the date of his promotion to Lt.-Col. & CO of 5/KRRC]) ...

Rhodes, JE - Lt Col SR Retired List 1916 Q4 Army List.jpg

Mark

I should have added to the above, that 5/KRRC is one of the 60th's two Reserve battalions.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I put together these biographical notes for Lt. Col. Rhodes's granddaughter some years back. Interesting to note that he was an Olympic Gold Medalist.

Bart

John Edward Rhodes was the eldest of three sons of Mr. J.W. Rhodes D.L., J.P. and was born at Bear Place, Twyford, Berkshire, on February 13th 1870. His early years were spent at Hennerton, his father’s estate at Henley-on-Thames. He was educated at Winchester and commissioned in the 60th Rifles (King’s Royal Rifle Corps), who were subsequently stationed at Parkhurst, when he formed his first association with the Isle of Wight. He served in the South African War, participating in operations in Natal between March and June 1900, including the action at Laing’s Nek (6th to 9th June) and received the Queen’s South Africa Medal with two clasps. Afterwards he went to Ceylon and India in charge of prisoners of war. Captain Rhodes retired in 1901 and transferred to the Militia (later renamed the Special Reserve) in which he served with the 5th Battalion K.R.R.C. until 1913. As its commanding officer, he received King George V’s Coronation Medal in 1911.

In May 1913, shortly after retiring from the Special Reserve, Rhodes was appointed to succeed Lt. Col. C.V.C. Hobart, DSO, in command of the Isle of Wight Rifles.

In the period before the First World War, though ordinarily resident on the Isle of Wight, Lt. Col. Rhodes acted as agent for the Little Marlow Estate, Buckinghamshire. At the time the estate was owned by the executors of the late Lt. Col. W. Bradish-Ellames, whose widow still lived in the Manor House. The estate owned most of the farms in the vicinity and was the main employer. When war broke out and the Isle of Wight Rifles set about the business of recruiting, Rhodes is said to have offered a pound to each man from the district who enlisted. This would have been more than a week’s wages to many, and not surprisingly a considerable number of Buckinghamshire men were persuaded to join up – probably over 100. By no means all were estate workers – as word got about, they were soon outnumbered by men from the local paper mills, furniture factories and other businesses.

On mobilisation the I.W. Rifles were employed in coastal defence duties at various locations around the Island, and Colonel Rhodes was additionally appointed to command the troops responsible for the defence of the eastern end of the Isle of Wight. In mid-April 1915 he took 1/8th Bn. to Bury St. Edmunds, to join 54th East Anglian Division. On April 29th he had a narrow escape when at about 12.45 a.m., a Zeppelin appeared over Bury St. Edmunds and dropped a total of 42 bombs, two falling on the adjacent house to the Suffolk Hotel, where he, Major Lewis and Major Veasey were billeted.

The Battalion moved to Watford on May 20th. During June Lt. Col. Rhodes was injured when his horse fell and rolled on him, Major Lewis taking command of the Battalion during his absence.

On July 29th the Battalion proceeded to Liverpool and embarked on H.M.T. Aquitania. Colonel Rhodes had by no means recovered from his riding injury, but hoped that the expected voyage to Gallipoli of a couple of weeks would allow sufficient healing time. The fast passage achieved by the modern liner prevented this - the Battalion arrived at Lemnos Harbour on August 6th - with the result that when the Colonel landed his leg was very swollen and painful. His enforced activity in superintending the landing of his men made matters worse and he was rendered very lame.

On August 12th it was Colonel Rhodes’ misfortune to lead his battalion in the disastrous and costly attack on the foothills of the Tekke Tepe ridge. During the advance Lt. Col. Rhodes went to the left of the line with A Company and the machine guns. Before going very far the troops came under heavy machine-gun fire, from the left, and artillery fire. Survivors described it as “murderous”, “a perfect hail of bullets and shrapnel the whole way”. Bugler Peachey, the Colonel’s bugler, was one of those wounded, struck in the leg by a bullet. By about 1500 yards from the start line casualties had become so heavy that units lost all cohesion, the pace began to flag and the advance died away. As dusk fell a thin line had been established in the dip provided by an old cart track, and this was maintained for the next two days under heavy sniping fire and one quite heavy counter-attack.

This brief and brutal baptism of fire - in which the I.W. Rifles’ casualties represented about 40% of the Battalion’s strength on going into action - was the sum of Colonel Rhodes’ experience of the Gallipoli Peninsula, and indeed of his active service during the Great War. At about four o’clock in the afternoon the day after the attack, he went back to brigade headquarters from the final position to see the Brigadier-General for further orders. After having gone about two miles on the journey, in very strong sun, he was overcome by the terrific heat and passed out. Sergeant A.C. Early, who was in the accompanying party, recorded in a letter home how they had just brought the Colonel round when a sniper’s bullet went through the sole of his boot, which was lying beside him (they had removed his boots and puttees ‘to give him a rest’.) After this narrow escape Rhodes recovered sufficiently to reach headquarters and make his report, but was too unwell to resume duty and was sent by the General to the clearing hospital on the beach. He had to be carried there by stretcher, a distance of about two miles. The next day he embarked on the hospital ship Ascania and went to Malta, and after four days in hospital there returned to England on another hospital ship, the Oxfordshire. He immediately went to the Officers’ Convalescent Home at Osborne House, arriving on September 5th, the first of the I.W. Rifles to return to the Island from Gallipoli. Having heard dark rumours of heavy losses, not surprisingly the Island was desperate for news of its regiment and the I.W. County Press lost no time in interviewing its Colonel. The strain he was under must have been considerable – the paper noted how unwell Rhodes looked in addition to his lameness, and his distress at having to leave the battalion.

On recovering from his experiences at Gallipoli, Rhodes took command of the I.W. Rifles ‘second line’ unit, 2/8th Battalion Hampshire Regiment, which was based at Nunwell. The unit trained new recruits and sent reinforcement drafts to the 1/8th Battalion in Egypt. By the summer of 1916 manpower shortages were such that many individual units could not justify the existence of a second line unit, and so in July 1916 2/8th Battalion was disbanded and its men sent overseas or merged with other reserve units. Colonel Rhodes himself took command of 4th (Reserve) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment at Romsey until released from the Army in 1917. He spent the rest of the war as a member of the food control organisation for the Island and the Channel Islands.

Post war, Rhodes took a keen interest in the work of the British Legion from its inception. For about 15 years he was president of the Ryde Branch, only relinquishing the position a few months before his death. In recognition of his valued leadership he was appointed a life patron, and was also a vice-president of the county organisation. He was also a governor of the Royal I.W. County Hospital and a vice-president of Ryde District Nursing Association. During the Second World War he organised the fire-guard arrangements in the St. John’s area of Ryde.

Rhodes was a keen sportsman, his chief interests being sailing, angling and shooting. As a yachtsman he did a good deal of cruising and was a first class racing helmsman. In the Olympic Games held in Britain in 1908 he won a gold medal in the Solent with his brother-in-law, Mr. Blair Cochrane, in the 3-metre Cobweb. He was an original member of the Redwing Club, owning Red Mullet, and also owned several small cruising boats. He joined the Island Sailing Club in 1892 and was elected a member of Bembridge Sailing Club the following year (and served as commodore in 1909). At the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Ryde, he was chairman of the managing and sailing committees for many years, and was the principal race officer at their regattas. He also belonged to the Solent Yacht Club and Royal Lymington Yacht Club. For several years until 1939 he was one of the Island’s two representatives on the Solent Classes Racing Association Council. An enthusiastic angler, and in particular a deep-sea fisherman, he went out all year round and had a record of every fish he had landed. He also spent a considerable period each year salmon fishing in Scotland. A fine shot, he was a prominent member of the I.W. Gun Club; and having been an enthusiastic oarsman as a young man he took a great interest in Ryde Rowing Club, of which he was president for many years and a former captain. Yet another recreation was horticulture, and he cultivated many rare and exotic plants.

On the death of his father in 1910, Rhodes inherited Hennerton jointly with his brothers, though it would seem none of the three chose to live there. For seven years until 1909 Rhodes had lived at Fishbourne, thereafter moving to Apley Rise, Ryde.

He married in 1897 Beatrice Zoe, youngest daughter of Sir Richard Sutton, 4th Baronet, who died in 1921. They had two daughters, Winifred Marie, who married Lt. Col. A.P. Browne, son of General Sir Sam Browne, V.C., and Miss Phyllis Mary Rhodes.

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes died at his home, Apley Rise, on February 6th 1947, after three month’s serious illness. He was aged 76. The funeral service was held at St. John’s Church, Ryde, followed by interment in the family grave at Ryde Cemetery.

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I put together these biographical notes for Lt. Col. Rhodes's granddaughter some years back. Interesting to note that he was an Olympic Gold Medalist.

Bart

<snip>

Rhodes was a keen sportsman, his chief interests being sailing, angling and shooting. As a yachtsman he did a good deal of cruising and was a first class racing helmsman. In the Olympic Games held in Britain in 1908 he won a gold medal in the Solent with his brother-in-law, Mr. Blair Cochrane, in the 3-metre Cobweb.

Firstly, what excellent information. All this additional material on an important rifleman is most appreciated!

Here's some supplementary from the 1908 Olympics Official Report.

Cobweb in fact won gold in the 8-Metre Class

post-20192-0-21728200-1460539619_thumb.j

A summary of the racing ...

post-20192-0-73659700-1460539632_thumb.j

The Official Report also gives detailed reports of each individual race, but this spreads across several pages so is too large to include here.

There's a nice group photo of the skipper Blair Onslow Cochrane, with crew of Col Rhodes, H.C. Sutton, A. N. L. Wood and C. R. Campbell.

post-20192-0-73656500-1460539653_thumb.j

... and a nice view of Cobweb herself.

post-20192-0-29875300-1460539645_thumb.j

Mark

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I put together these biographical notes for Lt. Col. Rhodes's granddaughter some years back. Interesting to note that he was an Olympic Gold Medalist.

Bart

John Edward Rhodes was the eldest of three sons of Mr. J.W. Rhodes D.L., J.P. and was born at Bear Place, Twyford, Berkshire, on February 13th 1870. His early years were spent at Hennerton, his father’s estate at Henley-on-Thames. He was educated at Winchester and commissioned in the 60th Rifles (King’s Royal Rifle Corps), who were subsequently stationed at Parkhurst, when he formed his first association with the Isle of Wight. He served in the South African War, participating in operations in Natal between March and June 1900, including the action at Laing’s Nek (6th to 9th June) and received the Queen’s South Africa Medal with two clasps. Afterwards he went to Ceylon and India in charge of prisoners of war. Captain Rhodes retired in 1901 and transferred to the Militia (later renamed the Special Reserve) in which he served with the 5th Battalion K.R.R.C. until 1913. As its commanding officer, he received King George V’s Coronation Medal in 1911.

In May 1913, shortly after retiring from the Special Reserve, Rhodes was appointed to succeed Lt. Col. C.V.C. Hobart, DSO, in command of the Isle of Wight Rifles.

With these extra clues, I've been able to flesh out some exact dates for Rhodes's career in the 60th.

30 Oct 1889 - Commissioned 2/Lt and posted to 2/KRRC

21 Oct 1891 - Lieutenant

03 Jan 1898 - Captain

1899 - Appears to be attached to the Rifles Depot

1900 - Appears to be back with 2/KRRC

20 Jul 1901 - Retires to Militia/Special Reserve

22 Jul 1901 - posted to 5/KRRC

1905 - Has become Instructor of Musketry with 5/KRRC (in 1905 Army List)

31 May 1908 - Promoted Lt.-Col. and CO 5/KRRC

22 Feb 1913 - retires as CO 5/KRRC

23 May 1913 - Appointed CO of 8th (Isle of Wight Rifles "Princess Beatrice's") Battalion, Hampshire Regiment

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Thank you very very much both of you guys in taking the extraordinary time in really breathing life into my Rhodes query. What an extraordinary man and a silver medalist at that! Thank you Bartimeus!

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Thank you very very much both of you guys in taking the extraordinary time in really breathing life into my Rhodes query. What an extraordinary man and a silver medalist at that! Thank you Bartimeus!

No problem.

Do you have his sword?

We'd love to see pictures. :thumbsup:

Mark

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Alas, for once no, I sadly decided not to get it for I couldn't acquire the above information at the time of bidding, it could've been mine if I had been acquire the above. Let's hope it went to good home and the new owner could see the labours of you gentlemen.

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Thank you very very much both of you guys in taking the extraordinary time in really breathing life into my Rhodes query. What an extraordinary man and a silver medalist at that! Thank you Bartimeus!

You're welcome, happy to help. Interesting to see in the prize list Rhodes received a silver medal, even though he was a member of the crew in the winning yacht.

The Olympic medal (together with his group of five service medals) was still with the family when I put the notes together. I never had it in my hand, but a friend did and he photographed them all together. My recollection was that it was quite a small thing, nothing like the medals that modern athletes wear around the neck, and gold in colour (presumably gilt). I'll ask him to look the photo out.

Bart

Edited by Bartimeus
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