Royal Wiltshire Imperial Yeomanry summer camps 1910, 1912

[Moonraker]

Recently I acquired items from a collection relating mainly to George Peak-Garland, who was a sergeant in the RWIY and later joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, to be killed in action in 1917.

 

Several postcards show the RWIY in summer camp, I would say between 1908 and 1914. I have identified some of the locations, usually with the relevant years, but in two cases the cards have been published by a Brighton photographer, suggesting that one year the RWIY went further afield, possibly to the Lewes area,

 

It'll be a while before I can check the relevant histories, so can anyone help with the Sussex location and year, please?

 

Other dates and locations that I have: Burderop Park 1904; Uffington 1905; Wantage,1906; Warminster 1907 & 1911; Beckhampton Downs 1908; Perham Down 1909; Malmesbury 1913, Semley 1914. Which leave 1910 and 1912.

 

I don't seek any information about George Peak-Garland's wartime service.

 

(I sometimes wince about a collection being broken up, but it was offered in a number of diverse lots and I don't think there would have been much interest in it as a whole. There are various modern Peak-Garlands and it may be that one of these disposed of the accumulation.)

 

Moonraker

 

 

[kenf48]

It was reported in local newspapers, that 500 officers and men of the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry arrived in Lewes on 30 October 1915 and were billeted in the old workhouse, the Grammar School and empty houses. The YMCA opened a recreation centre.

 

A press release apparently. it appeared in all the local newspapers which are available free from the Keep (e.g.page 4 of Hastings Observer 30 October 1915 just under the picture of the sailor)

http://media.thekeep.info/gb179/HASTINGS OBSERVER_19151030.pdf

 

They also participated in a recruiting rally at the beginning of October in Eastbourne and a cricket match at the Saffrons Eastbourne  the previous month.  They also attended an aeroplane crash at Arundel.

 

So seem to have been very active in Sussex that year. No doubt we can dig out other references.

 

Ken

 

 

[Moonraker]

That's interesting, Ken, and serves to bring the topic firmly into the Great War period! And thanks for steering me to the exact location of the reference.

 

However the two postcards by the Brighton photographer show the men and their mounts in rural settings and one depicts about 20 bell tents, with an escarpment in the background - of course, this does not preclude them being under canvas locally before moving into billets.

 

Moonraker

[Phil Evans]

I'm sorry the image quality is low, but the 1/1 Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry were at Willingdon Camp, Eastbourne by the 1st September 1915. The 1/1 Hampshire Yeomanry moved there on the 25th July. Although there was a lot of moving around the South East for various training, the 1/1 South West Mounted Brigade had been based in the Forest Row area since October 1914.

Phil

 

[clk]

Hi Moonraker,

 

4 hours ago, Moonraker said:

Which leave 1910 and 1912.

 

I hope that this may help.

Image sourced from Findmypast

 

The war diary for the 1/1RWY (National Archives WO 95/930/1) only starts in September 1915. It shows:

 

Images sourced from the National Archives

 

Unfortunately, the diary then skips forward to May 1916.

 

Regards

Chris

[Moonraker]

Hey Chris, that's fantastic, thanks. The locations shown in the Statement of Service are compatible with those I give in my first post: Uffington is close to Wantage, Beckhampton to Shepherds Shore and Semley to Tisbury. Thanks too to Phil, for the War Diary extract. Guess I'll have to revise my theories about the locations shown in the cards.

 

Moonraker

[kenf48]

They left Lewes in November.  

 

However the Sergeants Mess organised a ball at the village hall Forest Row in January 1915, bit far from Brighton but the WW1 camp on the Royal Ashdown Golf Club was a tented camp originally.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1441756

 

see also post 8 of this thread

Ken

 

 

 

[Guest]

My Grandfather Ernest Burchell Army number 971 was in B Squadron of the Royal Wilts Yeomanry.

He enlisted on the 5/9/1914 and Trained in England prior to going over to France on the 5/5/1916.

He sailed on the SS Rissotti from Southampton Docks  arriving in Le Havre the following day.

He trained in West and East Sussex Downs area, training in the Ashdown Forest, River crossings at Lewes

Bomb training at Wrotham and firing ranges at Westerham and Willingden (Kent).He was a dispatch rider for the Wilts until 25/09/1917

He and some of his fellow soldiers joined the 6th Wilts, he won the DCM at Spanbroekmolen on 14/04/1918.

The survivors of his regiment then joined the 2nd Wilts in May 1918. Grandad was wounded by a German Sniper on the 3/9/1918

He survived.

I would be pleased to share info/photos with anyone who may be doing research on the Wilts, I am writing a book on Ernerst.

Quote

 arriving in Le Havre

 

[Guest]

Hi,

 

This is my great grandfather, let me know if i can help at all.

 

Many Thanks

James

[Moonraker]

Hullo, James, and welcome to the Forum. As well as acquiring some of the RWIY summer camp postcards, I also bought a couple of cards sent by POWs to a member of your family at Winterbourne Monkton expressing thanks for food parcels.

 

I'll  marshal some thoughts and possibly think up some questions and post them here in the next couple of days.

 

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

Hullo, again, James

 

I was pleased to win several of the items that, presumably, one of your family accumulated, though I was sorry to miss out on two of the better prewar cards of the RWIY camp at Shepherds Shore on the Beckhampton-Devizes road. (They went for a very good price, IIRC.) I ended up with a not-so-good card of the camp, showing the buildings in the background. In early May I visited the site, and despite the Lansdowne Monument being visible in the photograph I had some trouble working out where the photographer had stood - and I couldn't reconcile the building with any of those there today. Still, some 110 years have passed ...

 

You've probably also seen my other thread

 

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/270412-villagers-food-parcels-to-pows/

 

relating to James Peak-Garland. I did wonder about his apparent move from Heddington to Winterbourne Monkton. If you do happen to know anything about his role with PoW food parcels, perhaps you could add to that thread, please?

 

I enjoyed doing a little research into the cards, aided by other members of the GWF.

 

Moonraker

[Yeomanrydoc]

Good Morning

 

Some invaluable information here on the early WW1 period applicable to the RWY.

Primus in Armis will be published in the next few weeks by Fonthill Media which includes new WW1 material.

I am still keen to continue my research  into this early WW1 period and would love to touch base with other researchers.

 

Stephen

 

Edited 29 April , 2020 by Yeomanrydoc