Description
Object description
A ms account (69pp) based on diary notes and memories by a Trooper in 2nd Troop, 'C' Squadron, 9th Queen's Royal Lancers (August - December 1914 and July 1916 - April 1919), with details of being called to rejoin at Woolwich from the reserves on the outbreak of the war (August 1914), joining the Regiment at Conde le Bas, near Mons, Belgium, hearing gun fire, covering the infantry retreat, taking part in a cavalry charge against Germans advancing on a British gun, retreating, rations, taking livestock to deny them to the enemy, sleeping in the saddle, heading for Le Mans by train (September 1914), the chaos and conditions in the barrack town, accompanying a Leutenant Lloyd as a servant, seeing a Casualty Clearing Station and German prisoners near Braine, moving to Fismes and joining 'B' Squadron, advancing through the Compienge Forest to Amiens, holding the line at Ploegsteert (Plug Street) Woods, taking a shot at an enemy, moving through Neuve Eglise to Messines, Belgium, his officer being wounded, watching the infantry attacking Messines but losing it to the Germans, taking wounded horses back to Neuve Eglise, shooting horses and cutting steaks from them, moving to Bailleul, France, passing through Ypres while it was still undamaged, returning to 'C' Squadron, seeing a Royal Navy gun being fired near Hooge Chateau, his first experiences of trench warfare near Hooge, seeing corpses, losing friends with details of casualties, parading in front of Field Marshal Sir John French and King George V (November 1914), moving to the front at Kemmel, being buried by a shell and evacuated to Boulogne then England (December 1914), treatment at 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge, and a convalescent home, returning to France in July 1916 based at Rouen, joining a Service Squadron of 21st Lancers, and then a Traffic Control Unit made up of cavalry and yeomanry near Arras, his job as a Troop Cook to 2nd Troop, moving to Messines, keeping the road clear for the ANZACs to attack Messines Ridge (1917), moving to Poperinge (September 1917), home leave to Taunton, Somerset, and seeing his son for the first time, moving to the Somme Front, patrols while acting as Mounted Military Police (Traffic Control) near Etricourt, the push on Cambrai (November 1917), holding a German counter attack at Gouzeaucourt (December 1917), joining the Fifth Army, being on the St Quentin Front when the German Spring Offensive opened (March 1918), retreating to Roye with orders to burn any equipment or buildings he passed, shooting German spies, his horse being killed and retreating to Moreuil, then Amiens, losing most of their horses, picked for detachment to the Fifth Army (March - June 1918), rejoining his Squadron (September 1918) and the big march towards the armistice, the attack on the Hindenburg Line, the armistice and moving to Avenesnes, his promotion coming through and transfer to the Second Army, trouble finding the HQ, joining 3rd Squadron Traffic Control with the 9th Scottish Division at Verviers, advancing into Germany, seeing German prisoners of war at Duren, and entering Cologne, and his return home in April 1919.
Content description
A ms account (69pp) based on diary notes and memories by a Trooper in 2nd Troop, 'C' Squadron, 9th Queen's Royal Lancers (August - December 1914 and July 1916 - April 1919), with details of being called to rejoin at Woolwich from the reserves on the outbreak of the war (August 1914), joining the Regiment at Conde le Bas, near Mons, Belgium, hearing gun fire, covering the infantry retreat, taking part in a cavalry charge against Germans advancing on a British gun, retreating, rations, taking livestock to deny them to the enemy, sleeping in the saddle, heading for Le Mans by train (September 1914), the chaos and conditions in the barrack town, accompanying a Leutenant Lloyd as a servant, seeing a Casualty Clearing Station and German prisoners near Braine, moving to Fismes and joining 'B' Squadron, advancing through the Compienge Forest to Amiens, holding the line at Ploegsteert (Plug Street) Woods, taking a shot at an enemy, moving through Neuve Eglise to Messines, Belgium, his officer being wounded, watching the infantry attacking Messines but losing it to the Germans, taking wounded horses back to Neuve Eglise, shooting horses and cutting steaks from them, moving to Bailleul, France, passing through Ypres while it was still undamaged, returning to 'C' Squadron, seeing a Royal Navy gun being fired near Hooge Chateau, his first experiences of trench warfare near Hooge, seeing corpses, losing friends with details of casualties, parading in front of Field Marshal Sir John French and King George V (November 1914), moving to the front at Kemmel, being buried by a shell and evacuated to Boulogne then England (December 1914), treatment at 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge, and a convalescent home, returning to France in July 1916 based at Rouen, joining a Service Squadron of 21st Lancers, and then a Traffic Control Unit made up of cavalry and yeomanry near Arras, his job as a Troop Cook to 2nd Troop, moving to Messines, keeping the road clear for the ANZACs to attack Messines Ridge (1917), moving to Poperinge (September 1917), home leave to Taunton, Somerset, and seeing his son for the first time, moving to the Somme Front, patrols while acting as Mounted Military Police (Traffic Control) near Etricourt, the push on Cambrai (November 1917), holding a German counter attack at Gouzeaucourt (December 1917), joining the Fifth Army, being on the St Quentin Front when the German Spring Offensive opened (March 1918), retreating to Roye with orders to burn any equipment or buildings he passed, shooting German spies, his horse being killed and retreating to Moreuil, then Amiens, losing most of their horses, picked for detachment to the Fifth Army (March - June 1918), rejoining his Squadron (September 1918) and the big march towards the armistice, the attack on the Hindenburg Line, the armistice and moving to Avenesnes, his promotion coming through and transfer to the Second Army, trouble finding the HQ, joining 3rd Squadron Traffic Control with the 9th Scottish Division at Verviers, advancing into Germany, seeing German prisoners of war at Duren, and entering Cologne, and his return home in April 1919.
History note
Cataloguer SJO
