The Fine Fighting of the Dorsets

[Black Maria]

This booklet by Maj-Gen A.L Ransome was published in 1958 and is an account of three of the battles fought by the 1st battalion of the Dorsetshire regiment

in the first two years of the war . The three battles being Mons in August 1914 , Pont Fixe in October 1914 and Hill 60 in May 1915. It contains an introduction

by G.N Wood ( Colonel of the Devon and Dorset Regiment ) a Foreword by C.H Woodhouse ( M.G officer at Mons) and a note from the author as well as two

folding maps (Mons), two sketch maps ( Pont Fixe and Hill 60 ) and four photographs . It was originally produced with card covers ( my copy has been rebound

in Green cloth ) and two of the accounts had previously appeared in the Dorset regimental journal ( Pont Fixe and Hill 60 ).

 

My own interest in the booklet is that it mentions Lieutenant Robert Vaughan Kestell-Cornish a relative of whom I once worked with . She showed me some

family photographs of Robert as a child dressed up as a soldier ( quite prophetic as it would turn out ) and the bullet that had wounded him on the first day

of the battle of the Somme, which he had had mounted on a wooden plinth with a metal label attached to it. His actions at Hill 60 in May 1915 earned him

the Military Cross ( he would win a bar to it later in the war ) but Maj-Gen Ransome writes in the booklet " Surely , seldom can the Victoria Cross have been

more richly deserved, and what a sad disappointment it was to all survivors that it was not awarded ". Kestell -Cornish also features in the classic memoir

' The Weary Road' by Charles Douie who was full of praise for him , unfortunately Robert did not survive the war and was killed in June 1918 when by that

time he was G.S.O 3 of the 32nd Division .

 

 

[illustrator]

Hi.

I am a bit disappointed that you cannot buy this book as my Grandfather Walter and his brother were in the BEF (Walter was killed at Pont Fix Oct 1914).

[Black Maria]

31 minutes ago, illustrator said:

Hi.

I am a bit disappointed that you cannot buy this book as my Grandfather Walter and his brother were in the BEF (Walter was killed at Pont Fix Oct 1914).

There are copies available on ABE , softcover at £28 plus p&p and hardback from the U.S at £32 ( incl p&p )