Description
Object description
A ts account (18pp) entitled 'Nine Lives' giving details of the close shaves and injuries received during his Indian Army Cavalry career, including: nearly falling off a cliff as a 2nd Lieutenant in 3rd Bengal Cavalry in India on the Tibetan border; being attacked by Tibetan tribesmen and the sword blow being cushioned by his turban, his Bhootia coolies carrying him back; serving in China on detachment with 1st Bengal Lancers during the Boxer Rebellion (1900) and rescuing an American cavalryman, Corporal Rasmussen, whose had been unhorsed from a horde of Chinese; shooting bears in Chumba; his horse falling on him during a fox hunt; sliding down a mountain while shooting Ibex in Lahoul; felling a boar while 'pigsticking' in Rajputana; serious chest injuries from falling from his horse while racing at Merrut; a cobra in his bedroom at Nasirabad; acting as a Marshal of the King's Procession during Lord Hardinge's entry into Delhi and seeing at close range the bomb attack that almost killed Lord and Lady Hardinge (1912); the many close calls during the First World War where bullets and shells almost got him; the attack on Fort Gumbaz on the Baluchistan-Afghan border by Marri tribesmen and the defence by Major Gaussen and 80 men of 3rd Skinner's Horse; a Chinese rifle being empty when the trigger was pulled at him point blank; breaking his knee while prawn fishing in the sea near Bideford which ended his cavalry career; and other occasions. Together with: a photocopy of a small Officer's Service Kit booklet with notes in the back from his time as Lieutenant Colonel of 11th (2nd Gwent) Battalion South Wales Borderers giving details of the officers in the Battalion in August 1916 and January 1917 and those killed and wounded under his command (1916 – 1917); a copy of a ms account (14pp) of a time at Ypres Salient with 3rd Skinner's Horse (7th (Meerut) Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Indian Cavalry Division), and holding the line after the German gas attack had caused severe casualties, being on alert, finding accommodation at Le Tom Farm and having to placate the Belgian civilians, details of the family he stayed with, and incidents that happened at the time; a copy of a very detailed ts transcription of a letter (7pp), with ms corrections, written to his daughters from Fort Gumbaz just days after the attack on the Fort in February 1918, giving details of the political situation and the threat from the Marris, descriptions and a sketch of the fort, details of the officers and men, his tactics for the defence, the close hand to hand night fighting, his casualties, and the dead and dying Marri, learning the enemy's plans from prisoners, the days after the battle and reinforcements arriving, his bitterness that his victory will be taken over by senior men, and ending with an epilogue detailing his meeting with the Marri Nawab at the Assistant Governor General's residency at Quetta a month after the attack and the enforced pleasantries; photocopies of three photographs of Gaussen in Indian Army uniform in 1900 and 1919, and leading Bengal Lancers; and a photocopy of a painting by H Charles McBarron showing Lieutenant Gaussen rescuing Corporal Rasmussen from the Chinese.
Content description
A ts account (18pp) entitled 'Nine Lives' giving details of the close shaves and injuries received during his Indian Army Cavalry career, including: nearly falling off a cliff as a 2nd Lieutenant in 3rd Bengal Cavalry in India on the Tibetan border; being attacked by Tibetan tribesmen and the sword blow being cushioned by his turban, his Bhootia coolies carrying him back; serving in China on detachment with 1st Bengal Lancers during the Boxer Rebellion (1900) and rescuing an American cavalryman, Corporal Rasmussen, whose had been unhorsed from a horde of Chinese; shooting bears in Chumba; his horse falling on him during a fox hunt; sliding down a mountain while shooting Ibex in Lahoul; felling a boar while 'pigsticking' in Rajputana; serious chest injuries from falling from his horse while racing at Merrut; a cobra in his bedroom at Nasirabad; acting as a Marshal of the King's Procession during Lord Hardinge's entry into Delhi and seeing at close range the bomb attack that almost killed Lord and Lady Hardinge (1912); the many close calls during the First World War where bullets and shells almost got him; the attack on Fort Gumbaz on the Baluchistan-Afghan border by Marri tribesmen and the defence by Major Gaussen and 80 men of 3rd Skinner's Horse; a Chinese rifle being empty when the trigger was pulled at him point blank; breaking his knee while prawn fishing in the sea near Bideford which ended his cavalry career; and other occasions. Together with: a photocopy of a small Officer's Service Kit booklet with notes in the back from his time as Lieutenant Colonel of 11th (2nd Gwent) Battalion South Wales Borderers giving details of the officers in the Battalion in August 1916 and January 1917 and those killed and wounded under his command (1916 – 1917); a copy of a ms account (14pp) of a time at Ypres Salient with 3rd Skinner's Horse (7th (Meerut) Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Indian Cavalry Division), and holding the line after the German gas attack had caused severe casualties, being on alert, finding accommodation at Le Tom Farm and having to placate the Belgian civilians, details of the family he stayed with, and incidents that happened at the time; a copy of a very detailed ts transcription of a letter (7pp), with ms corrections, written to his daughters from Fort Gumbaz just days after the attack on the Fort in February 1918, giving details of the political situation and the threat from the Marris, descriptions and a sketch of the fort, details of the officers and men, his tactics for the defence, the close hand to hand night fighting, his casualties, and the dead and dying Marri, learning the enemy's plans from prisoners, the days after the battle and reinforcements arriving, his bitterness that his victory will be taken over by senior men, and ending with an epilogue detailing his meeting with the Marri Nawab at the Assistant Governor General's residency at Quetta a month after the attack and the enforced pleasantries; photocopies of three photographs of Gaussen in Indian Army uniform in 1900 and 1919, and leading Bengal Lancers; and a photocopy of a painting by H Charles McBarron showing Lieutenant Gaussen rescuing Corporal Rasmussen from the Chinese.
History note
Cataloguer SJO