RGA Plymouth 1916 45th (Battle Axe) Company (all named)

[charlie962]

1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said:

ending up on the Permanent Staff of the Suffolk Artillery Militia at Ipswich.  Th

More than coincidence that Colonel AV StJ White, seated centre in the opening post photo, was a Captain in the Suffolk Artillery Militia in the late 1890s (when WHB senior was posted) and subsequently 2i/c of the same by the time WH Baker senior retired 1907!

Edited 13 December , 2022 by charlie962

[FROGSMILE]

1 minute ago, charlie962 said:

More than coincidence that Colonel AV StJ White, seated centre in the opening post photo, was a Captain in the Suffolk Artillery Militia in the late 1890s (when WHB was posted) and subsequently 2i/c of the same by the time WH Baker senior retired 1907!

Yes I imagine that he knew both men very well.

[charlie962]

Another earlier member of the Suffolk Artillery Militia, but before WHB's time, was this man. 

Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC 

"French joined the Suffolk Artillery Militia in November 1870 where he was expected to put in about two months a year with the regiment. He initially failed his exams (mathematics and foreign languages) for a regular commission and had to hire a new tutor losing the fees he had paid in advance to the previous one."

[FROGSMILE]

1 minute ago, charlie962 said:

Another earlier member of the Suffolk Artillery Militia, but before WHB's time, was this man. 

Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC 

"French joined the Suffolk Artillery Militia in November 1870 where he was expected to put in about two months a year with the regiment. He initially failed his exams (mathematics and foreign languages) for a regular commission and had to hire a new tutor losing the fees he had paid in advance to the previous one."

If I recall correctly French wasn’t considered particularly bright by his contemporaries when a general.  It’s good to see how the cream rose to the top! 

[BMB]

At the risk of repeating myself....wow... Thank you again Frogsmile. That is amazing! I am really really apreciative.

Also, it states in Captain Mills' obituary that he was in Gibraltar for 5 years (but doesn't give the dates) and that he was an active Wesleyan. WHB Sr.was in Gibraltar from 1886 to 1892 with the RA and was married to Anna Newton, daughter of the Barracks Sergeant, my Great grandmother, at the Wesleyan Chapel in Dover. So they may all have been old comrades. Perhaps Col. St. John White put his hand-picked team together. My G. Grandmother lived to be 98 (1874 - 1972). I was 14 when she passed away and knew her very well. We were her only remaining family and spent a lot of time with her. She was a remarkable, tough and spirited woman all the way through. She is the source of the original photo. After retiring the first time, they bought a farm on Exmoor. Historically we are for generations from West Somerset (close to Exmoor), agricultural labourers and soldiers. I think WHB Sr. was the first to do well enough to buy his own farm. The generation before WHB sr, had six sons in the British army at the same time in the 1850s.

[FROGSMILE]

21 minutes ago, BMB said:

At the risk of repeating myself....wow... Thank you again Frogsmile. That is amazing! I am really really apreciative.

Also, it states in Captain Mills' obituary that he was in Gibraltar for 5 years (but doesn't give the dates) and that he was an active Wesleyan. WHB Sr.was in Gibraltar from 1886 to 1892 with the RA and was married to Anna Newton, daughter of the Barracks Sergeant, my Great grandmother, at the Wesleyan Chapel in Dover. So they may all have been old comrades. Perhaps Col. St. John White put his hand-picked team together. My G. Grandmother lived to be 98 (1874 - 1972). I was 14 when she passed away and knew her very well. We were her only remaining family and spent a lot of time with her. She was a remarkable, tough and spirited woman all the way through. She is the source of the original photo. After retiring the first time, they bought a farm on Exmoor. Historically we are for generations from West Somerset (close to Exmoor), agricultural labourers and soldiers. I think WHB Sr. was the first to do well enough to buy his own farm. The generation before WHB sr, had six sons in the British army at the same time in the 1850s.

It’s a fascinating family story typical of the times when families like yours from across the length and breadth of Britain quietly beavered away to provide the infrastructure in garrisons across the then empire.  At that time garrison artillery was largely focused on coastal gunnery, not just at home, but in all the colonies.  They were highly specialised and, unlike ‘galloping gunners’ with their dash and foaming horseflesh, the garrison men engaged targets over the horizon, and so with such long ranges had to consider weather, temperature and barrel wear, all of which required careful calculation.  It wasn’t until WW1 that these skills were spread across the artillery as a whole.

For garrison artillery gunners there were really two especially plum postings after 1900 (there had been more before), Gibraltar and Malta.  There were also the Far East, but they were increasingly allocated to local auxiliaries, with just a core of British NCOs and Officers.  The Mediterranean was the place where men like those in your family spent tours of duty that were often the highlights of their lives at a time when a majority of ordinary working men barely left their home area.  No wonder your grandmother was a formidable woman.

Edited 13 December , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[BMB]

Here you go. More RGA Eastern Division army brats...

 

I posted the later picture before but it's interesting to compare them. All grown up by 1916. WHB Jr. enlisted with the Devons in 1913 so when war broke out he was in the thick of it from the very beginning. A Company, First Battalion. He had, I believe, been in several battles before being wounded and transferred to RGA in 1915. I also believe he witnessed the Christmas truce. I once found online a letter home from a corporal in the same company describing it.

I wonder whose son the other little boy is.

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, BMB said:

Here you go. More RGA Eastern Division army brats...

 

I posted the later picture before but it's interesting to compare them. All grown up by 1916. WHB Jr. enlisted with the Devons in 1913 so when war broke out he was in the thick of it from the very beginning. A Company, First Battalion. He had, I believe, been in several battles before being wounded and transferred to RGA in 1915. I also believe he witnessed the Christmas truce. I once found online a letter home from a corporal in the same company describing it.

I wonder whose son the other little boy is.

He is wearing the simplified jacket that was issued as an interim measure during the first 18-months or so of the war.  The unpleated breast pockets were made much deeper to ensure the same capacity as the standard pattern with its expanding pleats.

Edited 13 December , 2022 by FROGSMILE