A career Army Officer, he was commissioned into the Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1899. He was a Captain by the start of the First World War and on 1 Sep 1915 was promoted Major and from 22 May 1917 became an Acting Lieutenant Colonel to command a battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. From 19 Mar 1918 as Temporary Lieutenant Colonel he commanded the 10th (Territorial) Battalion, East Yorkshire regiment.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order three times, including for gallantry when personally leading an attack on 29-30 Sep 1918 after all his Company commanders became casualties. He also received the Panamanian award "La Solidaridad" 3rd Class.
He married Clara Benita Douglas in 1922 after they met during his posting to Dundalk in Ireland. They married quickly as he was about to go to India. Clara's sister was already in India as the wife of an Indian Army officer. Initially they went to Ambala, then Ferozepur and finally Peshawar. Their son was born there in 1925. The boy became seriously ill and the family returned to the UK, living in Pevensey, having been advised by the doctors to provide "sea air" for his health. They moved to Setley once he had recovered.
In 1939 he was an ARP Warden and a church warden at Boldre Church.
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setley Suboutstation | Operator | Unknown | 03 Dec 1944 |
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Retired Army Officer
His involvement in the Special Duties branch was recorded by Hugo Du Plessis, at the time in the Home Guard at Boldre, in an interview for the New Forest Remembers project, though at the time he was not identified,
"There was one Colonel who was a most interesting man. Actually he used to be in charge of the ARP, but discovered years later – his son actually was a great friend of mine – that he had in the First War, he gained three DSO’s, which is really quite something. Nobody quite knows how or why, but he had. But then again, when he died it came out that he’d been a something called the – in the Second War – something called the Special Services.
Well, he lived over in the house quite close to the main Brockenhurst to Lymington road and it transpired that he’d been given a secret radio that was hidden in the henhouse and usually ready to report on enemy troop movements in the case of invasion, because his house was in quite a good position for spotting those. It was a very secret organisation called I think Special Services, and so secret that they reported by radio directly to General – forget his name - in any case he’s the General in command of the entire southern section of the army.
More or less the whole of the south of England. I had this sort of body of guard colonels who, imagine, who would be able to give accurate reports of any troop movements. But they were never actually called into service, but apparently used to have secret regular meetings or exercises. His son told me that they’d sort of wake up in the night and hear father talking on the radio."
While his family were aware of the nocturnal visits to the henhouse, he spoke little about it. When asked to relate anything about the period, his response was simply "war is hell" which prevented any further discussion. Like all Special Duties personnel, he had been sworn to secrecy and signed the Official Secrets Act.
