Photograph - B Company, Royal Military College, September 1914

[mrfrank]

Found this photo on Etsy last month. As can be seen, the image is in superb condition. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the ‘name strip’ as it has lost a good section of the lettering. I’ve spent a number of hours going through the London Gazette and the most relevant Quarterly Army List to identify those present. I think I’ve managed to identify 60 of the cadets, but there are still a number I’m not completely sure of and some that I can’t identify at all (either because the fragments of letters remaining are insufficient or completely missing in some cases). 

The majority of these cadets would have entered Sandhurst in the earlier part of 1914 and I expect would have been looking forward to learning the art of soldiering as a junior subaltern with Regimental battalions often in Imperial garrisons. However, fate ensured they wouldn’t have that luxury. The average age of the sixty cadets identified at the time of the photo (probably end of Sept 14) is 18 years and 5 months, and of those, fourteen would be dead within 12 months (the first being Maurice Aden Ley, Buffs Attd 1st Lincs, who would be killed at Ypres on 1st November 1914, a little over one month later). Thirty two in total died (31 in WW1 and one on the NW frontier in India in 1920).

The cadets featured include a VC winner (Wm Leefe Robinson), a cadet who had a very inauspicious start to his military career, but went on to win an MC before being killed at Passchaendaele in Dec 1917 (Henry Rawson Forde, KOYLI) as well as those who survived the war and went on to achieve high rank in the British Army and retiring post-WW2.

One would die in hospital in Boulogne in April 1915 (Arthur Cyril Brickwood). However, his body was transferred home for burial in the UK.

To aid future searches I shall first list those identified and if anyone would like a crop of any individual then feel free to PM me.

I will then put up images of those I am either unsure about or totally stumped. Someone on here may be able to come up with an answer! If so, I’d be very grateful!

I did contact the curator at Sandhurst and he confirmed that they don’t possess individual Company Rolls for the time in question. However, I did provide him with a copy of the photo as they didn’t possess this particular image. 
 

Mike

 

Edited 31 January , 2022 by mrfrank

[mrfrank]

Hugh Alexander Fordham, 2nd NF

Ian Patrick Campbell, 1st Cameron Highlanders - 09May15 aged 18.

Douglas William Hammond, 2nd Buff - 24May15 aged 18

Arthur Augustus Raymond, 2nd Royal Irish Rifles - 01Aug15 aged 19

Patrick Keane Fitz-Gerald, King's Royal Rifle Corps

Charles Francis Woodward, 1st RWF - 20May15 aged 20

Edward Henry Innes, Middlesex Regiment

Charles Hubert Hordern, Cameronians

Anthony Bean Tracy Simpson, 2nd West Riding - 06May15 ages 19

John Leslie Rowan Thomson, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

William Pat Arthur Bradshaw, Scots Guards

Thomas Vicars Hunter, Rifle Brigade and RFC - 05Dec17 age 20

Stephen Henry Deschamps Chamier, West Riding Regiment

Ian Henry David Henderson, A&SH and RAF - 21Jun18 age 21

Colin Alexander John MacKinnon, 1st Middlesex - 25Sep15 age 18

Arthur Cyril Brickwood, 1st York and Lancaster - 15Apr15 age 18

Charles Raymond Buckworth, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders - 01Jul16 age 19

Croxton Sillery Vale, ASC

John Henry Deshon Faithfull, ASC

Claude Alexander Huskisson, 6th Hampshire Attd 1st - 15Jun17 age 22

George Alexander Maconchy, 2nd Bn 5th Gurkha Rifles - 14Jan20 age 23

George Frederick Francis Corbet, 1st Welsh Regiment - 25Jan16 age 19

William Leefe Robinson, Worcestershire Regiment & RAF - 31Dec18 age 23

Geoffrey Herbert James Mercer, DCLI

Edward Maurice Sidebotham, Cheshire Regiment

Henry Richard Waterman, 3rd Middlesex - 28Aug16 age 19

Robert Andrew Ferguson Smyly King, 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers - 23May15 age 19

Anthony Joseph Jermy Gwyn, Norfolk Regiment

Tristram Hugh Massy-Beresford, Rifle Brigade

Harry Ross Skinner, HLI

Reginald Murray Watson, Buffs

Anthony Sapte, 4th Middlesex - 01Jul16 age 19

Arthur Oswald James Hope, Coldstream Guards

 

 

Edited 31 January , 2022 by mrfrank

[FROGSMILE]

Thank you for always posting such excellent photos here mrfrank and also for contributing to historical records that might otherwise be lost.  I think it’s extremely creditable that you have donated a copy of the print to RMS Sandhurst.

NB.  It’s almost unbearably poignant looking into the earnest faces of those young men and knowing that so many of them would be losing their lives within the year.

Edited 16 January , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[mrfrank]

Frank Milburn McCausland, Royal Scots

Charles George Dixon, Royal Irish Regiment - 09May15 age 19

Gerald Ralph Hayes-Sadler, 2nd Warwickshire Regt - 03Sep16 age 19

Geoffrey Hugh Austen-Cartmell, 2nd HLI - 13Nov16 age 21

Archibald William Buchanan Miller, KOSB & RAF - 13Jul17 age 21

Geoffrey Charles Patrick Randal O'Donoghue, Connaught Rangers

John Wilmot Maynard, 3rd KRRC - 24Apr15 age 18

James Francis Hare, KRRC

Michael Wallace Blencowe Deane, Lancashire Fusiliers

Richard de Beauvoir De Lisle, 97th Deccan Infantry - 21Jan16 age 19

Walter Harry Corfield Bucknall, 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers - 03May17 age 20

Spencer Milne Clarence Theyre, Wiltshire Regiment

Arthur Stewart Parkin, ASC

Thomas Andrew Greville Rouse-Boughton-Knight, 1st Rifle Brigade - 18Oct16 age 19

Jasper Searle Lloyd, 2nd KEO Gurkha Rifles

Gerald Alexander Leith Farwell, 122nd Rajputana Infantry

George Geoffrey Needham, 1st Lancashire Fusiliers - 22Aug15 age 20

Geoffrey Raymond Clark, unattached

Lewis Alexander Gascoyne Dalziel, Royal Scots Fusiliers

George Geoffrey Voelcker, unattached

Maurice Aden Ley, Buffs attd 1st Lincs - 01Nov14 age 19

Herbrand Alfred Collman Williams, KRRC

Richard Clive Strachey, Somerset Light Infantry

Hubert Lawrence Grogan, 4th Worcestershire Regiment - 05May18 age 21

John Torrington Morris, 1st RWF - 16May15 age 19

Roy Pierson, 2nd Essex Regiment - 30Apr15 age 19

Henry Martin Whitty, ASC

John Windham Meade, Ox & Bucks LI

Henry Rawson Forde, 2nd KOYLI - 02Dec17 age 22

[mrfrank]

RMC Staff/instructors:

Capt Leonard Lane Wheatley DSO , A&SH

Capt Arthur William Sibbald Paterson, Somerset Light Infantry

Maj Edward D'Albret Le Mottee DSO, Gloucestershire Regiment - 25-27Sep15 age 41

Capt Edward Pius Arthur Riddell, Rifle Brigade

Staff Sgt A Worrall, KOSB

Sgt Paton

 

 

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, mrfrank said:

RMC Staff/instructors:

Capt Leonard Lane Wheatley DSO , A&SH

Capt Arthur William Sibbald Paterson, Somerset Light Infantry

Maj Edward D'Albret Le Mottee DSO, Gloucestershire Regiment - 25-27Sep15 age 41

Capt Edward Pius Arthur Riddell, Rifle Brigade

Staff Sgt A Worrall, KOSB

Sgt Paton

 

 

It will be interesting to try and learn their fates.  I can imagine @PRCand @ss002d6252 getting stuck into these names.

Edited 16 January , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[mrfrank]

Pleased you like the photo Bob. This is the latest of a number of RMC Company photographs I now have dating to 1910-1917 and it’s a shame this one has the damage to the name strip. 
I’ll start posting crops of certain individuals that I’ve not definitively identified tomorrow with clues (if any!).

All the best,
Mike

[FROGSMILE]

15 hours ago, mrfrank said:

Pleased you like the photo Bob. This is the latest of a number of RMC Company photographs I now have dating to 1910-1917 and it’s a shame this one has the damage to the name strip. 
I’ll start posting crops of certain individuals that I’ve not definitively identified tomorrow with clues (if any!).

All the best,
Mike

That will be excellent, I can only help with insignia but there are others here who will I’m sure help with researching identities and perhaps you can then create a replacement name strip.

[stiletto_33853]

Great picture Mike, thanks for sharing.

Only picture I have seen of Riddell, D.S.O. and 2 bars with cracking citations for all 3 awards, knighted 1945.

 

Andy

[Colin W Taylor]

Walter Harry Corfield Bucknall, 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers - 03May17 

I have his service file; he had been wounded twice and returned to the front (1915 and 1916) before his death. He was missing at Monchy le Preux and apparently died of his wounds in a German hospital the same day (see below).

He was the brother of Gerald Bucknall (sacked as a Corps Commander in Normandy).  

Kind regards

Colin

[mrfrank]

Thanks for posting that Colin. Very useful, as once I’ve got everyone identified that I can, I’ll be digging deeper on their careers/fates. I hadn’t identified him at first from the photo as the name strip only has the ‘H’ initial present. But, he’s a very good match for an image I found on-line. 

[FROGSMILE]

I am quite intrigued by the young cadet top right with his buttons in pairs.  Try paired buttons imply the Coldstream Guards but all the Foot Guard regiments wore the same pattern SD apart from the grouping of their buttons and a common feature of their design was no pleats on the chest pockets and no bellowed arrangement of the skirt pockets.  It needs comparison with other Foot Guards cadets.

[mrfrank]

1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said:

I am quite intrigued by the young cadet top right with his buttons in pairs.  Try paired buttons imply the Coldstream Guards but all the Foot Guard regiments wore the same pattern SD apart from the grouping of their buttons and a common feature of their design was no pleats on the chest pockets and no bellowed arrangement of the skirt pockets.  It needs comparison with other Foot Guards cadets.

Well spotted Bob! Due to the way the name strip is arranged, he’s included far right of the third line down. Arthur Oswald James Hope who was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 11th November 1914. 

[FROGSMILE]

10 hours ago, mrfrank said:

Well spotted Bob! Due to the way the name strip is arranged, he’s included far right of the third line down. Arthur Oswald James Hope who was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 11th November 1914. 

It implies that the Foot Guards cadets had to wear the same basic pattern of SD as all the other cadets, but were permitted the single distinction of their regiment’s button arrangement.  It would have been a considerable extra expense for their parents, but then they were by default from wealthy families anyway.

Edited 19 January , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[mrfrank]

1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said:

It implies that the Foot Guards cadets had to wear the same basic pattern of SD as all the other cadets, but were permitted the single distinction of their regiment’s button arrangement.  It would have been a considerable extra expense for their parents, but then they were by default from wealthy families anyway.

Seems you’re right there….on the other side of the group is William Pat Arthur Bradshaw commissioned into the Scots Guards on 16th December 1914. However, this arrangement doesn’t seem to appear on earlier similar group photographs I have.

Edited 19 January , 2022 by mrfrank

[mrfrank]

On 18/01/2022 at 09:10, stiletto_33853 said:

Great picture Mike, thanks for sharing.

Only picture I have seen of Riddell, D.S.O. and 2 bars with cracking citations for all 3 awards, knighted 1945.

 

Andy

He looks quite a character in the photo Andy. ‘Purposeful’ shall we say. 

Edited 19 January , 2022 by mrfrank

[stiletto_33853]

Thanks Mike,

Hope this all helps you!

 

Andy

1. Obit from 1957 Rifle Brigade Chronicles

2. The Rifle Brigade Appendix, volume III The Great War, Honours and Awards

3. A Rifle Brigade Who's Who 1905-1963

 

Just working on the Rouse-Broughton-Knight profile for you.

Edited 19 January , 2022 by stiletto_33853

[FROGSMILE]

4 hours ago, mrfrank said:

Seems you’re right there….on the other side of the group is William Pat Arthur Bradshaw commissioned into the Scots Guards on 16th December 1914. However, this arrangement doesn’t seem to appear on earlier similar group photographs I have.

Yes that confirms matters nicely.  Two groups of three buttons (as appropriate for original 3rd Foot Guards) with a seventh, flat button at the bottom, that is normally under a belt.

[stiletto_33853]

Mike

Thomas Andrew Greville Rouse-Broughton-Knight

Born 4/3/1897, Educated Emsworth House 1906-10, & Eton 1910-12.

Family home Wormesley Grange, Hereford also a residence in Eaton Place, London.

3rd RB embarked 26/5/15, joined 3rd in Field 4/6/15 left the 3rd 15/11/15 on leave, unable to rejoin due to medical problems (Debility & Flu)

Medical boards 12/11/15, 3/12/15, 3/2/16 & 22/3/16 to Sheerness fit for duty

1st RB embarked 11/5/16, joined 1st in Field 21/5/16, wounded and missing 18/10/16 in an attack by Les Boeufs on Frosty & Hazy trenches.

He was in "C" Company who lost all of its officers and 57 other ranks, not being able to get within 20 yards of the German position due to a machine gun opening opening fire at zero, continuing firing through the barrage and held up the attack by "C" Company.

I have his officers file if you need it. I would be grateful if you could post a picture of him here as I am missing a picture in my records.

 

Andy

1. Witness report

2. Officers roll for 3rd RB

3. Officers roll from 1st

4. Rifle Brigade Who's Who 1905-1963

5. Brief narrative of attack for "C" Coy from War Diary

[mrfrank]

Thanks for all that information Andy. A great help and much appreciated. Here’s a closer image of Rouse-Boughton-Knight. 

Mike

[mrfrank]

Now onto the ones I’ve got some problems with due to the damage on the name strip.

The first initial for this cadet was missing and I had initially identified him as Douglas William Hammond (Buffs) and had found an image on-line that’s a reasonable match. However, there is also a Frederick William Hammond (KOSB) and both were commissioned on the same date 11th November 1914. Can anyone confirm or give me their thoughts either way as to my initial ID of this being DW Hammond?

 

[stiletto_33853]

Mike,

 

One more of The Rifle Brigade men in the picture:-

 

Thomas Vicars Hunter, died serving with the R.F.C. in Italy. Suffered a bad motor bike accident in Sheerness which led to his leg being amputated above the knee. Refused to resign his commission despite several requests. The trail of paperwork goes right up to the A.G. with most of his officers file containing this paperwork.

Educated at Seaford and Eton, the same schools as his brother who served with the 1st and 7th RB being wounded in action in 1915, seconded to the R.F.C. in 1916, retiring as an Air Commodore in 1946.

Commissioned into the Rifle Brigade as his brother was serving with the Regiment from 1912. He took one draft over to France and fully realised that he could not carry on as an Infantry Officer going on to join the R.F.C.

He has an entry in Du Ruvigny's

Find attached

1. Du Ruvigny's entry

2. Carmarthen Journal obit 21/12/17

3. R.F.C. Card

4. Aero club picture

5. 1917 Rifle Brigade Chronicle Obit

6. An AIR 76 précis, kindly supplied to me by someone who was researching the squadron he served with

7. Rifle Brigade Who's Who 1905-63 entry for the 2 brothers.

 

Hope it helps

 

Andy

 

Edited 22 January , 2022 by stiletto_33853

[Mark1959]

To muddy the waters. Frederick William Hammond had a brother killed at Le Cateau 27/8/14. Gilbert Philip Hammond. They were from Newmarket. FWH born 19/7/1894. A pic of GPH is

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205300598

He has some resemblance to the pic. I cannot find a pic of FWH even in later life. He died in 1967.

Edited 22 January , 2022 by Mark1959

[mrfrank]

Sorry for the delay in coming back to this. Thanks again Andy for all that information regarding Thomas Vicars Hunter. What character & determination to have overcome such a misfortune losing his leg in those circumstances. Here’s a closer shot of him from the photo: 

[mrfrank]

On 22/01/2022 at 11:13, Mark1959 said:

To muddy the waters. Frederick William Hammond had a brother killed at Le Cateau 27/8/14. Gilbert Philip Hammond. They were from Newmarket. FWH born 19/7/1894. A pic of GPH is

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205300598

He has some resemblance to the pic. I cannot find a pic of FWH even in later life. He died in 1967.

Thank you Mark1959 - The only image I can find is that of Douglas William Hammond in Vol 2 of the ‘Bond of Sacrifice’ that does bear something of a resemblance to the cadet in the photo. Without anything further, it’s difficult to confirm.