Download - 1932 Christmas
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Vol. 1
No 8
TH
Royal Army Pay Corps
ournal
CHRISTMAS 1932
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T H E RO
YA
L ARMY P AY
CO
R PS JOURNAL
,LICHFIELD
T HE
GEORGE
HOTEL
T elephone
6970
T H
SWAN
H
OT
EL
T elephone 93
lit
either.
0/
the abo lle Hotels
IIi3i/or3
may be assured
0/
the
utmost comfort
convenience,
0/ the best
0/
catering and 0/
attentive willing courteous
seroice.
B
AL
L
RO
OM .
BILLIARDS
.
GA
RA
GE
O LD W
OJU
.V
COMFORT
H
OSPITALITY
By Official Appointment
T o the R.A.P.C. O fficers' Club
Regimental Colour s
Our spec
ial Pure
Dye
Reppe Silk
Ties . . . .
. . . .
.. ..
. ....
..
. . . . . . . . .
..
5 / 6
Our Uncreasable Weave
Si
lk Ties
6 / 6
Pure Dye Reppe Silk Squares,
32
inch
. . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 21 / -
Best Hand Framed Sweaters (Trimmed)
Medium Weight .... .. .. . .. . . . . . . . . . .33 / 6
Light Weights
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . from 19
/ 6
Be st Hand Framed
Wool
Scarves
Medium
Weight
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 16 / 6
Light Weight .. .
. .
..
.
..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
/ 6
R.A
.P .C.
Officer
s
Club Blazers (mad
e
to
m easure) .
. . . . . . . . .
..
. . . . .
.
57
/ 6
F ull P rice List on App lication.
All goods ~ r e subject to 10 per ce nt .
Discollnt to members of t he Officers'
Cluh .
~ T
39,
Panton
St . , Hay
I M.'
eWll market
, London s.w.
stabcl
1898 Olliy
Addr
ess
The
Royal Army Pay Corps
Journal
Vo l.
1.
No. 8.
Editorial Notes
Corps
Sports N
e\\ 's
The London Gazette
CONTE NTS
Old Comrades Association-Commit tee Notes
- Di
nner
111 Egypt
S
hort
Stor
y
The
Day of the
Sortie
Our Chess Pa lle
Ob
it
uar
y
Life on th e Rock
Promotions
and
A[)pointments
K otes on the History of AI-my Pay
(concluded) by
Lt.
-Col. E En ever T o
dd,
Cl.B.E.
Corps
Notes and Nell'S
Chri
s
tm
as.
19
32
28
9
29
0
-
2
9
1
29
1
29
1
-
2
9
2
29
2
293
2
97
29
8
299
3
00
0
7
308
3
0
9 3
1
4
3
1
5-
33.1
1
Advert
i
sements
- 312a- 312d, Cover pp
.
(ii),
(iii)
,
and
(iv) .
SUPPORT THOSE
FIRMS WHO
'SUPPORT US .
The Royal Army Pay Corps Journal
M NY liAPPY
R
UR S
80 , Pa ll l\1all , London,
S.W.I.
December,
1932.
W ith the p u
blication
of this issue \\ 'e
cOllclude our first volume, During these
two years of its exist
ence
Journal in
consequence of
the support It
has
receIved
from all ranks, has
estab
l
ished
itself as a
medium of communicat ion between the
many scattered stations of the Corps.
289
In om
next
issue
we hope
to
be
able
to
introduce certain changes which will make
the Journal more attractive
in
many ways
wbi
le
keeping its price
at
the same modest
figure. During the past two
years
we have
had to curb our desire to spend our full
income in order to obtain a
sma
ll
reserve
fund.
Having ach ieved this object our
policy for the
fu t
u re is to
enlarge
and
imp rove each issue. We hope th erefore
that
all
our
readers
wi
ll assist
us
in making our
Jou
rna
l second to none
among
Ollr
mi
l itary
con t
empo
rari es.
*
*
*
*
We would
draw the attention of all our
readers
t o t
he
ar
rangemen
ts
made
for
bind
ing their cop ies
cif
Volume
One,
wh ich
appear
elsewhere
in th is issue.
*
* * *
We take this
oppor
tu nity of wishing all
our readers--at home and abroad-a very
Merry Christmas and a
Happy
and Pros
perous New Year.
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
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THE
ROYAL AR iY PAY CORPS JOURNAL
---------------------
orps
ports
Notes
For the
first tim e in
the history
of
the
Corps ,,e entered a team to compete in th e
Ar11IY
Hockey Tournament. Hockey in
the
Corps
is
yet in its
infancy and \\'e ,,
ere
defeated
in
the
first round by the Mi litary
College of Science, by four goals to one.
Next year,
,,e hope, after further experi
ence, to be
ab
le
to
report better progress ill
th e T ournament, and
to
see
many
more
supporters at the game for there is nothing
'rhich gives more help to a team than a
crO\rd of hearty supporters.
A
report
of
this match
appears
below.
A revie\\ of
the
hockey season, \\ith
results
of other
matches
,,ill appear ill our next
Issue .
ARMY
HOCKEY TOURNAMENT.
On Wednesday, 16
th Tov
el11ber, we ,,"ere
draml
against
th
e
Militar
y College of
Science at Woo] 'ich, in
the
1st Rounel of
the Arm\' Hockev Tournament.
The ~ r p s
is ai]o,,ed
to
enter
one team
in th e
Tournament,
and
\\
hen \\
'e h
eard
,,hich team ,,'e had to play
\re
\rere in
some trepidation, for they h
ad
already
beaten
us 9-1
and
\\'e
ga t
h
ered
they had not
then turned
out
the best
team
against us.
However ou r ,fears were
not
justified, as
,,
ill
be
seen,. T
ext
year ,,e
hope
to dra
further afield for our
team
than ,,e did
t h ~
,
but
for
obvious reasons
,,e can on
l\
'
do this If \\'e can get a ~ ' e r s " 'ho a r ~
playing regularly. One must he in
tip-top
condition for a game of this
nature
and
ab le
to
go all out till
the bi
tter
end,
and
further it is only by constant
practice
that
one is
enabled
to control the ball at will.
The team
,,e fielded was Sgt. J . J . Hellir
(Hounslo,r), Capt. J. L OliveI' (Eastem
C011Imand) .
Capt. G.
H aggard (London),
Sgt.
E.
Burnet (.l astern Command),
L / Sgt. R. Sm
ith
(London), Sgt.
E, T.
Taylor (A ldershot
),
Capt. A. L. Dunnill
(Eastern Command), Capt .
R.
S. ElIicott
(Barn et) , Lieut.
H.
M.
T. Marden
(Wool
,,"ich) , Sg t . C. Endacott (Woking), r
ajor
A . A. Cockburn (Hounslo",,).
The
game
commenced briskly
and ,for
the first
ten
minutes
was mostly in the
area of the M.C. of S. twenty-five, but
\Ye
failed to score
and
presently the College
2
9
0
broke a,,
ay down
the left wing, p r imarily
due to the backs keeping too
far up
the
field.
They scored
and this
natur
a
ll
y
rallied them and they pressed us hard for
the
next
twenty minutes and added t,, o
more
go a
ls to their score. t ,,
as obvious
during
this
half that Endacott \ras playin
g
under difficulties o,ring
to his
not being
in his normal position. In the interval
three changes ,,ere
made-Haggar 1
to
inside
l
eft, Endacott to Tight
half and
Bur-
nett to
left
back. This alteration wo rk ed
,r ond ers Ifor it enab led the fOr\\ 'ard line to
get go
ing ,,
ithout in any
way
,,
'
eakenin
g
the
def
e
nce
and
the
l
atter
found its burden
considerab
ly
lightened.
Soon after th e
commencement of the second half, Ha gg ard
rushed
the ball up the
left
win g and ,,ith
a back
stick passed to
Marden
,,ho scored . nfortunatel v ,,e failed to
repeat the performance and our
opp
onent s
after a ding-dong scrap
succeeded
in
addin
g
another goal to their
score
.
So
ended our first attempt at the
Army
Hockey Tournament. A lth ough ,,e lost,
the standaTd of play au
gurs
,, 'ell ,for th e
future, for "
th
e
more
we play
togeth
er
the
better ,,'e sha ll
be,
R.A.P.C. GOLFING SOCIETY.
Autumn Meeting, 1932.
The Autumn
Meeting \\'as held at
Fukell Golf Club on October 4th and
,\"a
s
the
most
successful au tumn meeting so far
held.
There
was a
record
a
tt
endance of
twenty-one
and
the
,,eather cou ld
not
have
been better.
The
followin g meml ers competed:
Brigadier
A . I Ml1sson,
Lt
.-Colonels,
Ge
n
ge-Andrew
s, Roge rs a
nd Brickman,
Majors, Skinner, Cockburn, Holmes and
Pocock, Capts., Vint, J . C. Woods, Ingpen ,
Garratt,
Sayers, Jam.es,
Edinger,
Bm-lo\l,
Buck,
Haggard
a
nd Haynes, Lieuts., Thies
and Holman.
Bogey
Sing les und
er
handicap ,,'ere
played in
the
morning.
Winner of the Red Cross Trophy and
Sweep.
rst
2nd
31 (
1
Capt.
P.
H aynes
Capt.
A.
E.
Barlo\\'
Lt.-Col.
T.
L
Rogers
2
up
4
dO\\"ll
5 down
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL
Winner
of S,,eep for best
2nd nine
h oles
in sin gles
Cart.
P.
Ha
ynes, 5 up . Bogey
Fours
omes un
der
handicap ,,'
ere played in
the afternoon .
Winners of the
Young
Prizes
and
Sweep.
.
Brigadier
A. I. lVfusson and Cal t. R .
L.
L . Ingpen, 4 do\\n, Run ners -up-Capt.
Vint
and Lt
.Thies,
Capt.
Woods and Capt.
Sa,,
yers,
Co
l.
Rogers and Capt James
tied
,,ith 6 cl o
\\
n.
The
prizes being a,, arcled
to
Capt.
Vint and Lt. Thies, the longest
Handicaps.
Brigadier
Musson very
kindly
pr
ese
nt
ed
the prize.
Handicaps .
Th.e foll o\\"ing rev i
sions
of
Hand
icap s
are
notified:-
Major
Coc
kburn
Capt. .J\1i 11 i ng
Cal t. ln g pen
Capt.
HaYlles
Capt. Meek
Capt . Ca natt
Ca
pt
Edinger
Capt.
J. G.
Woods
Half Yearly
Spoon
Competition.
20
to
T
S
1.) to 10
8 to 16
30 to 22
8
16
3
6
to
6
to 14
to 32
10 to 12
Members abroad
aTe
aga in
remind
ed of
the
Competition
under Handicap
" 'hich is running throughout the yea r in
t,, o
p
riods ending
Jun
e 30th and
Decem
ber 31St. There is no limit
to
th e number
of
carc1:-;
" 'hi ch may be ent ered.
The
co
mpetition
is
open to
members at
home a
nd
abroad.
HOCKEY FIXTURES.
Th
e follo,,ing addit i
ons
and amendments
have been
made
to the fixture list which
was notified in the Autumn Is sue
30th November.
For
1st
Tng.
Bde. R .A. subst itute
Record and Pay
Office, H ounslo,,
7
th December.
Depot R.A.M.C.
at
Crookham.
14th
December.
St.
Mary's College at Strawberry
Hill.
4 h January,
2nd
Trn
g . Bde. R.A. at Wool\\'ich.
1st February.
St.
Mar
y's
Colle
ge
cancelled.
1st March .
Trng-. Bn. R.A.S.C.
at
Al
dershot.
29th
March.
Ist Trng
. Bde. R.A. at Woolwich.
5th
April.
War n f f i c
O\\'ls at
Ashford.
29
1
rom
'The London Gazette'
ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS.
Th e following promoti'ons
ar
e ma,le (Jul yl -
Maj
or (A ssl.
Pa
yml' .)
J. F.
Linds,\y to be
Br
eYet
Li e
llL.
-Co
l.
Ca
pt
. and
P ymr.
F. A. Woods to be
Br
evet
Maj'vr.
Ca
pt
. (A sst. Paymr. ) C. Grimshaw.
v.D.E.
. to ue
Brevet Maj o
l.
Maj or and
St
a
ff
P ay mr. A . W. M. C. Skinn er
to.
[,
3 Lieut. -Co lonel (O ctob er 1) .
Maj or and Sta
ff
P ay mr . J . G. MacC l'lndle to he
Li eut . -Colon el (O ctobel' 9).
. Iajor and Bt. Li
.e
ut. -Col. (Asst . Pa yn1l'. )
J.
F .
Lurd say haVlng attarned th e age limit for retirement
ret ires
:> 11
ret. pay (October 17 ) .
St
a
ff
Sergea nt' Maj o l G. Ross to be Ljeut. (A
sst
.
Pa
y mr.) (Cicto l,er17) .
C
pt.
J. L. OliveI fr om Somerset
L.T.
to be Cap
tmn and Pay mr . (Nol'emu
er
15) wi t h seni ori ly
Nuyember 15, 1930. .
Lt
. H.
p.
Co L ier fr om R.A. to be Lie
ut
. and
Payn1i'. (November 24, 1930) and la be temp. Cap
t.
a nd P avmr . (N
\)
l ember 24. 1931).
Lt. C"P. t.)
H,.
H . Co
Lti
er to he Capt. and
Pay mr. ( 'oye
ml1
er 24) with .e
ni
ol'ity Noveml' 61 '
24 , 1930.
Li eut . q. Hagga rd . Th e Qu een' s Regt . (Pavm r.
on
pr
ouatron) to be temp.
apt.
(K ovem bel' a
).
REGULAR ARMY RESERVE OF OFFICERS.
and.
Chief P aym aster R, E. Da uil en.v,
C. B.E. , ha\"lng
att
allle
cl
th e age limit of li'a hili
ty
to _ ec"
lI
, ceas es tV uelong tu th e Rf'serv e of Dill 'erS
U i 0 em bel 9).
OLD
COMRADES ASSOCIATION
COMMITTEE
NOTES.
T he Co
mmitt
ee of Manage me
nt
held the
ir
usual
monthly meetrn gs
at ao .
Pall M,r11. S.
W.I.
, and di s
po. eJ of fom' appli cati ons for as is
ta nce'
in t w
,).
case ,is istance wa
gr
ant-ed. aud the ot he l t wo
cases (non-menlbers) were refel'l'ed to other fund
s.
fo
l
fa vuum .J le consideration.
Lt
h ad
J
een lo plll
c
ha
se.
.ationa,l Sa vin i(
Ce
rt
rfic
ates
to
th
e n mln norary Tl'easm e r on posting lo Malta ,
th
e duties
\\"ere
tak en over by Lieut. Col. Dllesbury , who re
ported a
ll
c
Ol'r
ect 10 the Management Committee.
Th e hairman on behalf of the Committee
we
lcomed
Col. Duesuury, and expl'essed
their
pleasul'e at hav
ing hi$ servi
ce
s
on
th e Committee.
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
4/27
TH E R OYAL
AR
MY P
AY
CO
RP
S JODRN
AL
It was de
dded to
hold
the
ne
xt ann
ual general
meet ing
a
mi
-
di
nner
at
H a
lT
ods. K lu g
ht
sbl'idge,
U
n
28th
Apr
il, 1933, the meeting to be held at
Q
Hm.
and
th
e dinner
to
co
rn
mence
at
7.30 p .In. , the c
ost
to be
7/ -.
The quest ion of exten sion of memb ership to th e
R .A.P .C . Supplementaly Re serve was ordered to
be place
:
on t he agenda [0 1 t he Genera l Meeti ng.
Th e quest ion of empk lym ent was discu sed let
ter s from W ar Office, etc., were rea d and
di
'scussed,
a nd
it
\\'as decided to contin ue th e
c&
mpaign for
th e e mployment of ex-mem ber of th e Corp s in Army
P ay Offices .
-' The
Hon
y .
Tr
eas . repo
rt
ed
o n ~
of
50
from
Nortb
e
l'll
w mm and
per
Colonel Lang , and 10 f rom
Aldershot per Co lonel
1I
lackenzie. T he
CO
mm it tee
d esire to place on record th eir a
ppr
ecia ion to all
t ho e who helped to
obta
in such a handsome addi
t ion to U ur fund s.
Th
e
Co
m
mitt
ee re
port
with deep reg ret
the
de
ath
s
f Capt.
R.
J . HWllphries a t St roud , Gloucester,
a
nd
Mr.
V.
Thom e (ex-S.Q.M.Se
rgt
.)
at
W ad ey.
E.
J .
vV. BROW
E ,
H ono
ra
ry S ec1e{my .
O.C .A.
DINNER
IN EGYPT_
On the
18
t ll N
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
5/27
THE R OYAL ARMY PAY CORPS J
OU
RNAL
a ttacked ,
In
the
early
summer
he \\'
as
relieved,
and later
a
deta
chment ,of
his
\\ '
regiment erected a ca
im
to the memory of
Captain
Digb
y
Maitland
and the men \\ 'ho
fell with
him, In
the mes
s,
\\'here
he
Jlad
h een affectionately
knO\\'I1
as "Olc1 ,Dig ,
it
\\ 'as felt that his conduct
\\'
as in accord
a nce \\'ith the
tradition
of the Gurkha regi
ments , His son
eventually became
Colonel
of
the
father's
regiment, and
his most
valu ed possession \\'as a COl y-book, going
/ yello\\'
at
the edges,
* * * *
Th e Colonel sal\' to it that Old Dig
,, 'as not forgotten by his g randson , Wh en
yo
un g
Dig
\\ 'as six he
\\
'as \\'ell-versed
in
all the
details
of th e s tor y as the y
had
been
told him so
f r e q u
n t l ~
by his
fa
ther.
At
nig h t in bed he would croon N epa li
songs, epics full of exaggeration and em
bellishment, concernin
g the valoro us (leed
of his now almost lege ndal-y g randsire, He
'Cl , as much a Gurkha in speech and \\ '
ays
as he was English, and
when he
\\'as se
nt
home to school to h
ave every sh
red of wh
at
appeared un-English torn from
him, he
still
kept this legend as a priv.ate and
cherished
background,
On
his fo
urteenth birthday his father sent
hil11
a pocket-book with mic a fac in
g,
enclosin g a photograph of the ca irn
at
Jondola , Under it
he
had \\Titten one line
from
C
lifton Chapel :
The
f r o n ~ i r - g r a 7 J
is
fa? Q1I1ay-
This \\'as carried in hi s breast pocket a ll
th r
oug h the yea rs of
his public
school life
a
nd ne
ver
shown
to a so
ul; an
in
sp
iration
in
moments
of stress
and
a promise of
g lorious and exciting times to come,
When young Dig had been
a
yea r at th e
Royal l\'Iilitary College a relative
gave
him
as a t\\'enty-first birthday
present
th e firs t
premi 1111
Cif
a life insurance policy, It \\'as
very
h-ind
of him, and
he
supposed
that in
the
remote
future it \\'ould come in useful
hut at
present
it was a
bit
of a nui sance:
He
had to fill up some dreary form s, and
a s t e a morning of his all too
brief
holiday
Lond
on on a medica l
examination,
It w a ~ a bright April morning, and he
wondered how long this affair 'would take ,
Would
he
he in
time
to call for Ph yIlis
and tak.e
h:r oU,t
t9
1
?
He
was pusy
to-day , HIS 'tailor tfllS afternoon tea at :
R , o b s o , l ~ s , ill
t ~ e
eveniJig
\ ~ a s
\ i l ~ i n g "
I
,itl]
hiS fnend Gough,
and they \\
'ere going to
294
a show a:fter\\'
ards, He
found hi s way to
the
doctor's chambers,
Outside
th
ey
l o ~ k
e c l
dingy and repellent. -
Half an hour later he \\'as out aga in with
a
\\
'hite face,
There
,was somethillg \\'rong,
Insurance was ,011t of
the questi
on , Yes,
he had been ge tting thinner latel
y,
but
h
adn't
thought anything about it. He \\'as
on his \\'
ay
now to see a
distin
g uish ed
physician, The doctor had
run
g- u p and
made an appointment for him , H e had
dedined to tell h im \\ 'hat \\'as th e matter:
Go
and see Sir
Arthur
P e
rk s;
he's th e
best man in Lo
ndon at
thi s sort of thin g."
S ir Arthur received him " 'ith kin (11
olcl-\l'orlcl
courtesy
and examined
him
\I
'ith
meticulo
us care,
Are
yo
ur
people
her
e?" he
asked
at
las t.
" 1-0, Sir , My people are in, Ill dia; ancl,
in any case,
I don't
\\'ant th em to kn o\\'
about
this."
" But have yo u no rel ations jJl this
coulltr
y?
Excuse
me, sir , but I am going to keep
thi s to myse lf as far as possible, Ple ase
tell me th e truth.
After a pa use Sir Arthnr sa id slowly:
'-We ll, it' s about as serious as it conkl be."
Does that mean I am
go
ing to
die?
Yours
is an exc
eedIngly
rar e disease and
th ere is no recorded case of recovery."
" H o \\ ' long \\'i11 it take, m O J l t l ~ s or
years?
"lVlonths.'
Thank
yo u very
much,
sir. H o\\'
much
do I owe you ?"
The
physician
\\
'aved th e
question
aside,
alld th e rob es of office seemed to fall from
him,
Come an d let me introduce you to
my
wife, boy, Bring your traps rou nd here
allc1make
this your
home
for
as
long as yo u
like, Th en yo u can cable yo
ur
people and
mak e a r r a l l g e m e n ~ s . " He laid his
hand
on
young Di g 's shoulder, and looked toward s
the door so as not
t.o
face
him
Thanks a\\ 'fully, sir. You are very
kind, but I don't thi11k I will.
* * * *
T\\'
o
cl
ays later
he
\"as in a train, bonnd
for
COTnwa11. Everything \\
'as settled
up;
the
authoritie;; ,at S a l l d l U r ~ t
had
been nqti
fled that he \\'o\ i(i j not be , ret lHIl,illg
and
the necessary mec)ical certificates sen.t, I;Iis
great friend,
Gough,
:,
who
,,
'as also of a
THE RO YAL ARrvIV PAY CORPS JOURNAL
Gnrkha tr
adit
ion,
had
been let into
the
secre t and 'was go in g to
lend
hiJ?l R,M
,C;
,
stationery so that he could \\Tlte t?, hiS
people in India \\ 'ithout raising Sl1SPlCIOll,
N
\\1
he was
011 his
\\'ay to the \\'est
country to e
ke
out his month in the
little cottage where he had spent ,a happy
ho
lida
y \\'ith his parents the last tn ne th ey
\\
ere
ho
me
on leave,
A llV thought
of
L o
nd
on or
th
ea tres or
dances
\\'as repellent to
him
, He want ed
to be ou t in the ope n, alone,
The
cottage \\ 'as on a cliff, looki.n g O lt
over th e A
tl
antic, S teps, cut in th e rock,
l ed clo\\'n to the beach \\'bicb, at
this
tim e
of the yea r after the \I'esterly ga les, was
deep
in
seawee
d,
The
.village half a
mil e inlalld a
nd the
rat l\'ay statIOn five
mil
es beyond , "
A cranky old deposited
han
and h
lS
lu ggage
at
the g: te , and \\'e
l1t
rattling
a\l'a\', He \\ 'as al0ne at last, an d could
think, The ('ott a,ge had
bee
n got
ready
for
him,
It was
full
of happy memories,
but
l
ooked
rat her desolate,
He
go t his
kit
insid e and
opened
all
th
e
doors
and
\\'indo\\'s,
Th
en
he
str olled out
i n ~ o
th e garden, which ,, 'as a n ~ \ \ ' n
tangle
of
fl
owe rs and weed
s,
enclose d wIth
ill f
ou
r walls of loose
stone,
Suddenly and sp
lendidl
y it struck
him,
a lmost with the force af in sp ired revelation,
that thi s must be
like
th e
littl
e
fort
of
Jondola;
and
that he \I'as lik e O ld Dig
in this, at any ra
te
,
th
at he
\I
'as doomed
by
a rare stroke of misfortune ,
Th
e tho ug
ht cast
a g
lam
o
ur
ove r th e
whole sordid business, He
\\
'
alked
round
the
wa
ll
s whistling ,
He
looked over
the
sea, which lay like a mirror under the
se tting sun , and saw
only
the, sno\\'-covered
hills
and
v;lst
spaces bet\\
'een
them;
east
\\'ard, \\ '
here the
coast road clipped ~ l J l a n d ,
he pictured the valley and
go
rge wh,lch led
back
to the base and had pTQved mpene
tr ab le to
Old
Dig."
At the ga rden ga te a
mon
grel \\'ith
intelli
ge
nt eyes
and a lon g tail
,,
'as lookin g
at
him
through
the
wooden
bars,
He
ccJa'xed
him
in ancl
christened him Budri
Nar. Then he 'went in and prepared a meal ,
and Budri Nar's 'loyalty was
secured
for
eve r \\'ith
half
a -tin or bu'lly beef. ' h ,
A''fter\\''ards 'ill the t\\'ilig11t he
,\'ent round the defences with the Subadar ;
in th e
dusk
he co uld eas ily ima gille
the
crouching sent ry by the loop-I; ole , a nd crave
him a
friendly
\\'ord,
That
evening he
wrote
to
his
parents,
a
letter full of dances and theatres and gay
times
he should
have
had, He enclosed it
in a letter to Gough so that
he
could post
it in Lon don, In his
mind
thi s corres
ponded
to the heliograp h message: A
ll
\yell don't \\'orr y .
He
also started that
u r ~ a l \\ 'hich told
every
th ing, even about
his imag
iuin
gs and Budri Nar, \\
'ith o
ut
which
thi
s story could not have bee n 'ITit
ten,
The
old copy-book \\'as th e para llel.
Then started a
daily
rout ine , Each
morning
he
walked into the village for
stores
a
nd
a paper. He th ought of
it
as
reco
nn
o
itrin g,
La t
er
he
went
along th e
cliff pa th,
ima
gining the r arefied atmos
phere
of
IO,OOO
feet and the l\Iehal Valley ;
and \\'ithont effort he heard th e \\'h istle of
bullets a
nd
distant rifl e fire,
I t
was a o r d i n a for ho\\'
much
of
the day this dream possessed
him,
Often
he had to put it hurried ly as
ic1e- \ \
'hen
th
e
baker ca lled every other
afternoon,
or o
nce
\\ 'hen a small
bo
y sudd enly
appeared
and
sa id ,
I
\yant
my
dog, pointincr to
Budri
N ar. The m
ong
rel
changed
o\\'ue rs ,for a
half-crown ,
Sometimes hi s
brain
tired of
fantasy,
a
nd
he fo
und
him self
staring
at
nak
ed truth
a doomed man
playing
at soldiers, a boy
living in a \\'orld of ima g i.nation , a \\,o,rth
less fello\\ 'of no use a
nd
out of everything,
These fits of depression came in
th
e even
in
gs
, a
nd
to
counter
t ~ l e m ,
he
\\Tote in his
jour nal communing \,\,Ith hiS o\yn
fl
esh
and
b l o ~ d , '
295
One
lli
o'
ht
the
longin g to see
his
par
ents
nearly o ' ~ r c a m e him , He visualised them
in
the
room-hi
s
father
,
kindl
y a
nd
ra
ther
g
rim an d
his
mother, grey ~ n d \\'ist/htl ,
just as he had seen
them
leanlllg over
the
side of the dep ar tin g ship, He sa Il'
\\'ith sllch c
learne
ss th at l1e
put
Ollt hIS
hand to tOlch
them
,
He
started loo
kin
g
lip passage
routes in
the paper. He could
be \\'ith them in three \reeks if he \\'ent
by air. H l even b e g ~ l 1 to paSk,
~ l I t n
the night
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
6/27
,
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS J OURNAL
his people, it should be a
clean,
sudden
cut; not a laceration.
A fortnight passed.
The
spring air and
f l o \ r s , the
glorious
freshness, and the sea
calmed
him, and enhanced rather than
spoilt
his day
dreams
of the snow-clad hiI1s .
put
he
was getting very short of breath,
especially
go
ing
uphill.
His morning recon
noitre
into
the village had to
be done
with
subtlety.
He
dragged
himself
up
the small
hill , and lay dmm out a f sight just before
he reached the crest; then after a rest he
\\
a lk
ed jauntily do\vn the hill, and
did
his
shopping. Coming back he
strolled
very
siowly, pretending to read his paper.
Th i
s " 'a rned him that he ought to make
some final arrangements,
He
had an
uncle, a
retired
Civil
servant, who
lived
at
Cheltenham; an unexciting person
with
,\ h0111, as a boy, he had
always
done
his
best to a void staying.
He
sent him a
telegra m: "Dig
dangerous
ill. Come at
once to Sharkey Cove Station,
St
. Aubrey."
He
pnt
it on the
sideboard
in the cottage
sitting-room, with the
mone
y for sending
it, and put a notice in
large
l
etters
beside
it : " f
a l 1 y o n ~
finds me dead or very ill ,
please
send
thlS message."
Then
he wrote
an explanatory
letter,
to await his uncle's
arrival. It
particularl
y
asked th
at the
journal shou ld be forwarded to his people
unreacl and
registered
.
There was
a second
request:
"Look
after
my dog
, Budri
Nar."
* * * *
t " 'as the twenty-third day since his
coming.
With
"Old Dig"
that had been
the Day o.f the .
Sortie. .He
sat on the edge
of
the
chff \\'lth
Budn
Nar between his
knees, gazing out to sea.
He
wished he
could
go out and face a sudden
bullet.
TO-l11orrm\' he knew his
imaginings
would
be less real. There was ,no twenty-fourth
da"
i l
the o \ \ journal
of his
boyhood,
VOIces belllnd him startled the dog.
There "'ere Ifour boys
carrying
a
rope;
they were after
seabirds'
eggs 11 the cliffs
heyond. "Damn it , "'hy
can't
the y leave
the poor brutes al
one?"
he thought. Budri
Nar ran harking
after them
but
came back
at a n'histle, his tail \ \ ~ g g i n g low ill
apology.
The long westerly
swell,
hreakillg
on th e
rocks below, held his eyes, while his mind
\\a nc1ered. Yes, Old ,Dig
had
had the better
part.
,
Then a shout behind him. One
of the
boys,
red
in the face and scared, gasped:
"Bob's
fallen over the cliff,
mister."
Young
Dig followed him along the path, walking
slowly. The
boy
broke
into
a
trot,
but
turned back
saw
Dig not keeping
up.
"Couldn't
you
run? He
might be
dead,"
he whimpered.
He
was not
answered; breath
was
precious.
Arrived
at
the
spot,
young Dig looked
over and saw a small figure, about 30ft.
do\yn and resting
on
a providential ledge.
He was plainly unconscious, and the dang
ling rope
reached
down
to
within a foot of
him,
"You've
got to hold the rope ""hile I
go
down,"
he explained to
the boys . He made
them
dig
holes in the ground
to
put their
heels
in,
and then
wen
t
over the
edge.
As he
went down
the
rope
the
thoug
ht
struck him that
he had
been fit he wou
leT
have
been too heavy for the boys
to
hold .
Was it for this th
at he was
wasted?
He got to the
ledge
where the boy
was.
ly ing and touched him.
He
was just re
gaining
consciousness
and stirred. t
was.
clearly impossible
to
move
him and the
rope
was too short
to tie
him on. Young
DIg shouted to th e boys above, telling one
of
them to
lun
to the cqttage and
fetdl
a
coil of
clothes-line
which was lying in
the
porch,
and
th
e others to hang on. Then,
vvith one hcllc1 clinging to the rope and the
other holding the inj"ured l
ad,
he waited.
Suddenly the
thought
flashed on young
,Dig's mind: this was the Sortie-the
twenty-third day His who le being
swe
lled
with gratit ude and thanksgivin g. Aloud
he kept
saying,
"Oh, thank God fOl'
the
Sort ie, thank God for the
Sortie
"
Dimly the boy heard the words ,,hidl
he couldn't understand
but
r e m ~ m b e r e d
later.
Meanwhile,
in
his strained
position,
ever
y muscle in young Dig's body seemed
to cry aloud for mercy. t was as though
each
nerve
and
joint
an
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
7/27
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
8/27
GIBRALTAR-
Rock
seen from the
Bay
.
(Co pyright vested in Beanl and, Malin
&
Co .)
III t he f regr01llld is " R osalind , one of th e A Class yac
ht
s of the Gi
'b
raltar Yacht Clu b. sa il ed by
o fficers of
th
e R .E. To
th
e ri g
ht
of " R osalind" is H .E. The Governor ' s M L
.
" Eli ott. "
....
1
H R OUR
u...:==::;, ~ o o e
..
e
P
"
.:
1'1' (.
SKETCH
MAP OF
THE COLONY,
REFERE
C
ES
1. F011;
ress Headqu a
rt
el
.
2. Bri
stol Hotel.
3. Gal;rison Rowing Club .
4. Naval Recl'
ea
ti 'on
Ground
s.
5. Casemates Bal'l'acks.
6. Moorish Ca
st
le.
7. Yacht Club.
8. &lad to Spain.
gNo
rth Front
Ba rracks .
10.
Ca
ta
lan
Village .
11. Windmill Ri
ll Barr
ac ks.
12. Milita
ry
Hospital.
3
00
SULE: 1'/z
Nc EI
T
III
'J E.
1
.
13. South Ba
1'l'a
cks.
14. Buena Vi sta
Bal
Tack s.
15.
S a d p i t
Tenni s Club.
16
.
Alemeda G:1l'den s.
:t7. Windmill Hill Fl ats.
THE R
OYAL ARMY PAY CORPS
J
OURNA
L
ife
on
the
ock
t is a
common saying among the gar
rison of Gibraltar
th
at the Rock is tbe
best st
ation in
the world because it is easy
to
get
awa y from.
In Ma
lta and Bermuda
and
elsewhere one has to make
the
best
of a
confined area,
and it is a l
ongish
journey home on leave. But from
Gibral
tar YOll have
th
e
whole
of Spain
,yithin
your reach, and the most beautiful
part
of
Spain, Allda lu cia, at your dom' .
The
golf
course and
th e
po
lo
gro und
are
in Spain;
the
best bathing is in
Spain;
and all our
\\'orld goes picnicking in Spain. On
SU11
days
the
Garrison deserts
the place, so that
about sunset the
road
back into Gibraltar
resembles the Sunday even ing trek back
into London.
And
'
it
is easy , and reason
ably
cheap, to return to England
Qn
leave
three or four days on the finest liners,
by about half a
dozen
regular lin
es;
\\'hile,
overland, London is only 51 hours from
Gibra ltar.
But of
course
\I'e ra1 the Rock is good
because it
is easy -to get away from, on ly
because E nglish
peop
le the
world over
must have t h
eir
g rouse. Many
peop
le,
especially ,,,omen, after the y arrive, hate
the place : nobody quite kll0'VS why.
But
in about
three
months everybody begins
to love it: the reasons
are
easy
to guess.
The
scenery is magnificent; every spo rt is
avai
lable, atld not expensive; the town is
not - so
sma
ll that
everybody
is sitting
in
ever
y
body
else's
pocket
, and 'it is not too
large, as in a big city where individuals
are
isolated . Gi
braltar
is i
nd
eed a
sma
ll
coun t
ry town,
w ith many of
th
e
ame niti
es
of a city,
with
entertainments that are
enough without being luxurious, and ,,ith
rather a un iqu e social life of its o\\n.
For in
Gibralta
r their is no socia l Clu b .
In
that it must differ from any other
foreign
station.
There
is
no
point
at which one assemb
les for the sund
own
peg,
or at which
oue
enter t
ains friends
at a
dinn er-dance. We do not go to cafes or
restaurants in the town .
There
are
no
pub lic
dances
. There
are
da nces
almost
every night throug hout the ,,,,inter , but
they are p(ivate dances organised by the
301
Services. There
has
gro,Yn
up
a
tradition
of private entertaining In our private
quarters- the
newcomer is inundated with .
invitations to d'inner parties, which are
paid
off
in, say,
the first
year, after
which
people
more
or less sort themselves ou t .
The
garrison is a happy family.
The
tour
ist \yho comes to Gibralt ar probably finds
littl
e to do, unless
adopted into the
life of
the place. This sounds
exclusive,
but I
have been in many much more exclusive
stations, and so far as tbe Services are con
cerned, there
is no
stickiness
."
The
hotels
are moderate . There are
plenty of tbem-the Cecil,
Victoria,
Grand,
Bristol, and the new Rock Hotel ,,,ith its
wonderfu
l view over the
Bay,
(these
almost
I think in ascending order Of expense)
but
I am reminded of Baedeker's sarcastic
remark
(how
often
do \ye find humour in
Baedeker?): the
accommodat
ion is not
al
ways
in accordance \vith th e high prices
charged.
Yet the
Bristol
is only 15/- a
day
during th e season (from Janu
ar
y to
March
when
the F leets
are in
),
a d
th
e
Rock from
17/6
up. But tbey are dear,
relatively to what one gets, as compared
with the
best Spanish hote
ls.
rbe Reina
Cristin a, a pop ular resort for tea and dinner
and occasional dances, ill Algeciras across
the
Bay,
is of course Spanish,
but
catering
for the English , .
cha
rges much
more
than
the real Spanish hotels. But then we
are
spoi
lt
; for one of the of
the
Rock
is th at 'in
from three
to seven hours' run
by
ca;
yo
u
can spend th
e week-end
at
Cadiz
or
Sevill e, or Ronda
or
Granada or
Ma
laga, in tbe most lu x uri ous hotels
at
a
mere
fraction of
the
price
you
would pay'
in
England .
Gib ralt
ar
is
like
an exceptionally lively
county town in
En g
land , set , in .a v e ~ y
different setting, not at all l
ike
the
cathedral to\n1S in which so many of the
Pay
Corps find themselves planted . Never
thel
ess,
an
officer who came on a vis it from
IVIalta was " tak
en
(more, I think, that'
by anything else)
by
the quiet. Malta, r
am given to un d
ers
ta
nd,
is an is
land
of
never-ceasing discordant
church bells, an d '
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
9/27
THE- ROYAL ARMY PA Y CORPS
JOURNAL
i-;
a land \\here
natives do
not talk,
but
scream. We have bells
enough
in .
Gibral
tar;
and
the
Spaniards ai1d 11ati'ves do t h ~ i l ~
fair share of screaming; but the general
impression
to me also, is one of quiet,
though I
doubt
if anyone quartered in
.Main Street would agree. Other visitors
from
Malta, who
had spent a year or two
there,
seemed
to
be spell-bound
bv the
greenness
of the country,
both
of Gibraltar
and of Spain . And that is true for about
eight months
in
t,he
year;
\\'hile'during the
other four
months,
the
country presents
a kaleidoscope of
warm
bro\\'ns and reds
most attractive in their variety. There a r ~
artists
who,
tired of the greenness of
Eng
land, prefer
.
the
infinite
reds and browns
the incessant sunlight and the bright p e a k ~
and shadows of the mountains of Anda
lucia;
and the Rock for this purpose is
Andalucia
. Whether
you
-come
into Spain
from the south of Portugal, or come dO\\"ll
from the north from the vast flat expanses
of
Castile, or
come
from the
east
from
Barcelona and. Valencia ,
immediatei
y
you
enter
Andalucla
you are
captivated
by the
wanntl? a n ~
colour
of the mountains and by
the
dIVerSIty and magni ficence of the
scenery
. The vien: an l colours seen from
the Rock are the same
ge
r
e
When the
Fleets
are in,
in the first quarter of the
year
'snotties' and 'sub-loots'
race
up
Iecllterranean
Steps (a
staircase cut out of
a precipice)
to
what
at
different times has
been called Sugar Loaf Hill,
St.
George's
T.o\\'er
or O'Hara's
Tower (136r feet) the
hIghest
of the
three
main outstanding
peaks
the R o c ~ , though not quite actually the
hIghest p01l1t. I doubt if the naval
lads
go up purely
for
the sake
of the view '
more
likely they go up to see
who
c a ~
do it the quickest without bursting an
a.rtery;
but
when they recover, they feel
hke Cortes
on
his famous peak. To
the
east,
along
the Mediterranean coast-line to
~ a l a g a and beyon.d, rise Sierras upon
S ~ e r r a s culminating in the
snows of
the
SIerra Nev.ada, over II ,OOO feet high; on
t ~ e _other SIde of t h ~ Mediterranean the eye
pIcks
up
the
Afncan coast-line, \\'
hich
comes nearer and nearer
till
the
port of
Ceuta and the other
Pillar
of Hercllles
seen: .only a .few miles away ; across the
StraIts,
TangIer
can
.just be descried l'ike
a
bunch
of \Vhite rocks cJimbing
the
hill
3
0
2
above
the \Vater; slewing round to the west,
you
look
over
the whole horse-shoe
of
th e
Bay
of Gibra'ltar, here
some four or
fi\'e
miles wide, that
QIl
many
days
resembles
a blue
Swiss
lake. Facing you is the
to\\"J1
of
Algeciras
and the 'farifa
heights,
from
t ~ e
top
.of \\'hi.ch the Straits,
here
onl y
eIght mIles WIde, make an
unrivall
ed
panorama.
To
the north, the
eye run
s
alon g
the
knife-like
ridge
of th e Ro
ck
with the
Dock
yard and the to\\'ll belo,,
the flat strip of neutral ground straig
ht
ahead, and, across the frontier,
the
to\\"n
of
La Liuea
'ij11
its bull-ring, the hill
called
the
Queen of Spain's Chair ever
since a
misguided Queen
vO\\'ed to sit th ere
til.l
the British
flag
should
cease
to flyover
G l b r a l t a ~ tl?e polo .ground and the golf
course WIth ItS conspicuous
"browns"
alld
above and beyond , the old NIoorish ~ i t a d e l
of Castellar rising up in the sea of moun
tains and \\"oods that stretch to the horizon .
About the town itself
one
cannot be
lyrical. t is a sorry sho\\". There are no
f i n ~ streets ~ n d no fine buildin gs. The
Mam
Street IS full Qf noisy cafes and
trip
per
y
shops
that sell
expensive
rubbish to
the
th
ousands of tourlsts \\"ho la
nd
dail y
for a few houTs
on
the historic Fortress .
For
the rather
mean
appearance
of
the
to\\"l1, history
is to blame. Gibraltar is
first and
foremost
a fortress, and
always
has been.
The
area is extremely
l i U 1 i t e d ~
he \ V h o l e l e l l ~ t h
of
the British possession
IS onl y
ITIlles, and the popul
a tion has
to. be
restricted
to some 20,000, visitors
bemg. allowed to "
settle" onl
y special
p ~ r U 1 l t . A Berber
from
Ceuta establislied
~ l 1 m s e l f .on the
Rock
in A. D .
7II
and held
It .as Viceroy of the Caliph of Damascus.
HIS name ",as Tarik, and
the
Arabic for
1 ~ i l l
being "Gibel,"
Gibel
Tarik
or
Gibraltar,
"the hill of Tarik,"
replaced the
olel Roman name of Calpe .
The
Spaniards
ancl
moors
played battleclore and shuttle
cock with it, till on St. Bernard's
Day
2? th '--ug ust, 1462,
the Duke
of M e d i n ~
S.Idol1la
added
it
to
Castile . Followed ten
sIeges.; . then in 1704 Gibraltar " 'as
taken
b'y
Bntlsh
and Dutch marines; th
e eleventh
siege
took
place next year; the twel.fth
twenty-tw
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
10/27
THE ROYAL ARMY
PAY
CORPS
JOURNAL
however, forbidden to rock-climb on the
Rock, for the last candidate for Heaven had
to spen.d the night on a cliff-edge, and the
searchhghts
of
-a destroye r , plus naval gear
and
IJe rSonnel,
and
the personal
bravery
of
a
comrade
sold.ier .were involved in his
rescue .
As
to shopping facilities
little need
be
sa id. You
can
get anything
yo
u w ~ n t
within rea son at ordinary prices '; and if
'rOll Irant anything special from home , you
can ge t it out C.O.D. B
e fo
re I
left
Eng
land,
I
had not the slightest knowledge
of
the
place, and I foolishly had drill jacket
and breeches made by a West End tailor
so that if
necessary
the y might be a
p a t t e r J ~
to some local dhirzi as is
the
custom in
India. On arrival
here,
I
found
a
number
of tailors, o n ~ of whom made me another
suit of
drill
at ~ e s s than half the
price,
and
Irhen both
SUitS
had
been in
the
wash
I couldn't tell which was which. My
w i f ~
also purchased an inferior riding habit in
London, and afterwards
in
Gibraltar had a
really good habit
made
at
one-third
the
cost. I
give
these
instances
as typ ical.
A vis t to W o ~ l w o r t h s - - p r e f e r a b l one
of ~ h e
big
depots II London-is well worth
w ~ I l e before preparing to set up house in
Gt.braltar. T h ~ r e are a htilldred-and-one
thll1gs from
pots
and
pans to
,vine glasses
that can be
obtained there,
of the utmost
use here, and on which one is glad to save
expense
at
a very expensive time . Inci
d ~ n t a l l y
W o o l \ V ? r ~ h s
packing for export is
excellent; and
It
IS
worth
knowing if one
has to pay freight on packages, t h ~ t they
shoulc
be
handed
over
to the P. and O.
?ffice 111
Cockspur Street, after
which
there
IS no.
trouble
tlll
you
claim
them
in Gibral'
tar,
.111 preference
to paying all sorts of
lan,dmg
and other charges to
a
shipping
agency.
A.
certain
amount
of
furniture
ma y . be h ~ r e d locally from
Ordnance.
( ) ~ U l I O I 1 S differ as to the advisability of
dOlI1g
S o - ~ o m e
prefering to bring out their
oll" n-:-but It depends
entirely
on the
length
of time yo u expect to be
stationed here
and th
7
efore to pay the high
rates
of hire,
as agamst the cost of freightage .
There
seems to be always a good market for
household effects l;yhen an officer leaves.
One lVord of warning: it would conduce
largely to amity
in
the Army
if
the
in
comer does l1 i
take over the
outgoer's
effects by written agreement in advance.
There
are no auction
sales. .There is a
so-called Jews' Market at
which
res
pectable pieces inay occasionally be picked
up; but
the customary method of furnish
ing is
to begin with
just
enough
and later
collect extras
as
officers leave and things
come into the market. One thing
ever
y
bod
y finds essential-a picnic outfit .
Food
is
fairly
good
and
fairly cheap.
Spanish lamb
, veal and pork are
excellent.
Beef is bad. Chickens and turkeys
are
pl;enti.ful and a certain amount
Qf
game.
FIsh IS
good
and very
varied.
Vegetables.
and fruit are
plentiful,
varied
and gener
ally cheap, O r a n ~ e s , tangerines, grapes,
melons, figs, chernes and strawberries
are
The vegetable
market
is peripateti'c.
all local
products
and among the
best
in
the world. Tinned milk is used almost
exclusivel
y. Drinking water is collected
in
t ~ n k s
off t.
he
roof of your
own
quarter ,
and many
people
do not like the idea of
drinking it; others,
like
myself, drink
it
after boiling;
but
the
D
.A
.D.H.,
who
.
should know, drinks
it
in its pristine
con
dition.
The
only water laid
on
in
military quarters is the so-called
sanitarv
water
from brackish artesian wells
u s e ~ r
for
household purposes and
for
b a t h ~
In
this, as in Qther respects, all Gibraltar is,
lke Caesar's Gaul,
divided
into three parts:
naval, military
and civilian. Each
has
it s.
own telephone
sy'Srem,'
its own
electric
its
own
water supply, and
mtlItary
Wlves
fume because
their
naval
and
civilian sisters bath
in
fresh
instead
of
sanitary water. Alcoholic drinks
minerals
and tobacco are from half to two-thirds
the home price. Spanish
wines
are
ex
cellent
and
very
cheap
in Spain-not so-
cheap in Gibraltar. An ice-chest tS neces
sary.
Cooking is universally by old-.
.THE ROYAL ARMY
PAY
CORPS JOURNAL
fashioned
kitchen range-gas
is very
expensive and little used.
The climate,
humanly speaking, is ideal,
excep
t for one
drawback,
the
Levanter.
\hen the
east wind
blows,
moisture
is
swept
up
from the Mediterranean and
forms
dense clouds on
the mountains all
round
the
Bay and Straits
of
Gibraltar.
The air becomes
moist
and
sticky,
and
this
is as true of
Malaga
and
Cadiz
as it
is
of
Gibraltar,
But elsewhere
the Levanter
clouds
escape, whereas on the R ock
they
linger lon g and escape only ,ith difficulty.
Owing to the peculiar air currents (it is
not uncommon to see flags
on
ships
in the
harbour flying in opposite directions) the
clouds swifl round and round, and appear
to
be fastened
to
the
top
Qf
the
Rock.
All
Spain may be in brilliant sun,
but
the
black
Levanter sits
upon Gibraltar. Seen
from
a distance, the
Rock
resembles a
smoking volcano. More 'often than not,
it
is enough to go along
the
half
mile
to
the
frontier to
get
beyond its influences;
but
whi
le
you are beneath it,
it
is not
pleasant,
especially
in summer, for then no breath
stirs and the heat given off by the vertical
cliffs
has no
escape
and you are
in the
grips of an airless depression . Women
seem to suffer more than men,
but
with
men too tempers get short, and with both
the thing resolves itself
into
what is
euphemistically called Gibraltar tummy .
I have known Bagdad
tummy,
and I
believe there is a variety known as
Malta
tummy,
and probably
there
are countless
geogr.aphical
tummies.
Not being
troubled
with it much myself, I am in consequence
inclined to be sceptical;
and
frequently
suspect
that what is Gibraltar
tumm
y "
in
the morning was whisky the evening
before.
But
I
give you the traditional
account of
the
matter.
Apart from the
Levanter, \I'e
have
nothing to
complain
of.
The summers are not too hot-keeping up
an
average of perhaps
80
to
85
degrees,
seldom
ge
ttin
g up
to
go,
and only rarely
progressing to\l'
ards
100 degrees. From
October to May, pr ovided th ere is no
Le
van
ter
and
it
is
not
raiuing,
we
have
br illiant
sun
and champagne
air. We
have
30
to
40
inches
of
rain
a yea r. But
it
has
all
accommodating way of raining: when
it
do s
rain,
it
makes a downright
business
of it, and
though
half an
'
inch may
fall in
3
0
5
the comse of a
morning,
the
afternoon
will
probably be perfect. Hence few picnics are
ever postponed for rain, My mackintosh
was
stolen
from my car three y
ears ago,
since when I have
had
none
other,
and
I have never
been inconvenienced; and th
e
number of times I have
used
an umbrella
may be counted
on
the finge.rs of
one
hand.
The ,,,inter temperatme
never
falls below
42 degrees,
hence
fires are
required
only
in the evenings from the middle Novem
ber.
There
are
a few sand-flies and a few
mosquitoes, but beyo.nd an occasional
sna tch at a buzzing
mosquito
when half
asleep
in bed,
I rarely notice them. Some
people, on
the other hand,
sleep
under
mosquito nets.
Moth and silver fish and
ants have to be guarded against
but
they
are
not
such a pest as to make this diffi
cult. Snow or
ice is unknown, though I
have
been
in a
sleet
blizzard Qn the Tarifa
mountains, about
1 ,500
feet up.
To
sum
up,
the
climate
is
healthy and unusually
pleasant,
for
children
even more than for
adults.
Dress
follows climate. Winter clothing
is lighter
than in England;
summer
cloth
ing as
light,
of course,
as
is comm il
faut
We wear
sun-helmets
in uniform
but
not in mufti (only local civilians wear
\I'hite
helmets
and
white
suits). White
mess dress is usual
in summer.
Top hats
and morning coats are worn at garden
parties onl y by civilians,
while
for
women,
I
imagine one garde
n party creation per
annum
is enou
gh . For women the
usual
wear is sports clothes and evening dresses
-p lenty of
both-wi th
many washing
frocks in
the summer.
A
fur coat
is essen
tiaL
Most
things can be obtained locally ;
and there
are
Spanish
sewing-girls
who
are
clever and
good under direction.
The
Indian shops seem to stock
everything
of a
normal sort in the way of women's unde.r
clothing , and I am
told that in
La Linea
and in
nunneries
at lVIalaga
intimate gar
ments
are made
of a caressing daintiness
and beautitul workmanship. Spain is
famous
for
shoes-very good
and
very
cheap, not
suitable
for Englishmen, but
the
envy
of all those Englishwomen who
are un
ab
le to
walk
with comfort
on
their
stilt-like
heels. For men, by
the
way,
the
bowler is de rigueur at race
meetings
.
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
11/27
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL
Though
the Rock is so
small,
the dis
ances
seem on
fqot
very long or very
arduous.
The
main thoroughfares
go
either
longitudinally, or, i f
transversely,
up the
most
exhausting
hills
. Wherefore, in no
other
town is a
car more
essential. I f
you
have
a
car
at
home
I should think it advis
able
to
bring it out, especially if
you
can
get it taken
on
the "Baccbus. * \Vith the
_
s .nstant ebb
and flow of naval,
military
and civilian officers, there
are invariably
econd-hand cars to be had in Gibraltar;
and to give
an
example of
prices,
a 1929
Whippet
in
good
condition and
running
order
recently
changed
hands at 30 (in
cluding about 10 of unexpired tax and
insurance). Petrol consumptiou
is
heavy,
becanse of the hilly' nature of
the country.
The main
roads
in Spain
are now
among
the best in Europe, and secondary
roads
are being rapidly opened
up. There
is
no import duty on
cars
entering- Gibraltar
- indeed Gibraltar is a Free port apart
from a few moderate revenue duties
on
spirits, wines
and
tobacco, petrol
and scent
and
so forth.
Petrol
costs 1/
lot per 5
litres 5 litres
=
I 1/10
gallon
) . A car
is
essential
not only for getting about the
Rock
but also for all -
journeys
in Spain
to
golf, pqlo, the Hunt, bathing, picnics,
and tours in Spain. To be stationed
at
Gibraltar and to miss so easy an oppor-
s
.oCOJlllDOtllf
E ~ : J R
/p
A
N
l f C ' I f N ( 7 ~ 1 J
S VtLLIf 0.\. l If
JV
.
~ ; : ; ; ; ; ; - - . ' b O N D . . ,
~ - - - - . ~ d r t t l K I
,
7 -9 q
town s of'S.W .Andalucia.
*The Bacchls is a Royal Fle et Auxiliary vessel
ocnveys stores, et c., between Chathn.m and
Gibraltar and Malta.
Parti
culars of accommoda
ti 'on for cars and
charg
es for conveyance
may
be
ohlained from th e SUf.6rinten ling Nn.val
Store
Officer, Rl:>yal Dockyal'( , Chatlmm.
tunity of
seeing unique
places
like Granada
and Seville and others
whose names
are
household
words, is unthInkable. Large
motor
"Pullmans" run
on all the maiIl
roads
in
Spain,
but
connections are diffi
cult.
The train service
in
Anda1ucia is
slow, ,,,here
it
exists
at
all, for in Spain
road-building has entirely ousted
rail
way
construction. An increasing number of
officers
motor home and back on
leave.
The
Miche1in road maps are good, but
somewhat out of date; no map can keep
pace \\'
ith
Spanish road-building .
Driving requires
perhaps more than usual
care and skill: the coast and mountain
roads
are frequently a series of fantastic figure
eight bends, and there are some unique
climbs-such
as
the 18
kilometre
hill
out
of
Malaga,
or the 7,000 feet
climb
up
the
Sierra Nevada. Motor insurance is con
siderably dearer
than
in England. Quite
a number of
women drive both
in Gibral
tar and in
Spain.
In Spain two
or
three
years .ago a wqman driver seemed to strike
the average Spaniard as somewhat
incred
ibly funny,
. udging from
the oontortions
and excited though
friendly
hilarity to
which they gave rise;
but
now they are
part
of everyday life, and
one
occasionally
sees even a Spanish
woman driving.
Schools for English children are difficult,
at
least
above the age of ten or so. After
that
age
it
is usual to send them to
school
in England, and they
are
shipped
home
at
the beginning of term and shipped out
at the end of term by the "'School Boat"
run
by the P. and
O. for
children
from
Malta
and
Gibraltar. (Adults who
appre
ciate peace are advised to
give
the School
-Boat a
wide
berth, with its ISO children
romping over every deck
) The
children
look
after
themselves,
and
a
grown-up
'
person
of, say, IS years is generally
put
in
charge of
mere
kids of
I2.
During the
holidays, they become
almost surfeited
'with bathing and picnics and yachting and
parties of all kinds, so
that
the advent of
the
School
Boat to
England
is almost
hailed with relief
(probably by parents
also) .
There are
110 commendable boarding
houses; you
can't
live in furnished rooms;
there are few flats to be let furnished or
unfurnished;
and
if
you are
not
entitled
to
a quarter the 'best thing
you
can do is
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL
to rent a
R.E.
Letting. British and Span
ish currency,
plus
the Gibraltar
note, are
equally
received, and some tireless people
play the ring on the exchange, thereby
making a penny
or
so on the morning's
marketing,
I f
you
have an
accou}1t
at
the
Gibraltar Bank, don't
send
your Gibraltar
cheque home in payment for a home ac
count-the commission is iniquitous. We
are all on the military telephone,
which
is
connected ,yith the
civilian
system,
and it
has the ad vantage that you pay a lump
SU111
dO\l'll and make as man y calls as you
like
and talk for as long as you
l ike-which
of course
has the corresponding
di
sadvan
ta ge that s
ome
inveterate gossip
may
be
holding up the number
you
want.
The
Gibraltarian
is
mostly
of
very mixed
descent,
mainly Spanish and quite
a lot of
Italian, but Jews and all Mediterranean
nationalities as well as Moors have influ
enced this small
but
distinct
race
.
Their
habits
and houses
are
Victorian;
their
shops display old-fashioned courtesy, and
give credit more
than
is al\\'ays advisable;
they are intensely patriotic, and everyone
of
them, though he has never
seen Eng
land,
speaks
of England as "home .
The
couTtesy of the Spaniard,
from
the poorest
peasant upwards,
is
very
striking; he
has
natural good
manners, and
I verily believe
that were an Andalucian peasant
trans
lated from his mountain shack to a Londoll
drawing-room, he
would
not
be at a loss,
but
would
remain his simple
courteous
self. This
elemental
co urtesy belongs also
to the Gibraltarian.
Not that the
Spaniard
is
not readily roused
to anger:
far
from
it, but his \\-rath is speedily
quenched.
I
once collided with the gravel- laden pannier
of a donkev.
Most
of the gravel
poured
into my
car,
but it
was
the Spanish
"arriero" or
donkey-man who
flamed up
in anger, and the voice of his eloquence
was heard over the
land. SIO\dy
I
drew
a dollar (five peseta piece) from my
pocket
and
held it
towards
him:
immediately his
rage-riven countenance changed to the
SUJlny face of the Andalucian, and
he
pirol1etted
round holding the
dollar
on high
for all the
crowd to
see.
The
Spaniard
ah\ -ays passes the time of the day with
yOI1;
the
Civil
Guard and the Carabinero
salute
you; and
Republican demonstra
tions applaud you .
At
the frontier the
British are passed through without inspec
tion,
and the entire re lations of the
Gar
rison
with Spain
are
wonderfully
cordial.
vVoe to anyone who abuses the fact,
or
attempts to smuggle in or out of
Spain
.
You must salute the Carabinero and pass.
the time
of
the
day with the peasant;
you
must talk and laugh with the laughing
Anda1ucian, though neither you nor he-
understand the
other;
and you must
never
hurt Spanish
pride by
offering a t ip-a
cigarette,
yes, but not a
tip
.
You may go camping-no country is less
"enclosed" than the country near
Gibral
tar .
You
can
go
for cruises on a
destroyec
or
submarine.
Yon
can
go on shooting
expeditions with the
reasonable
expecta
tion of a fair
bag, You can
become a
botanical
expert, and
among
the fifty
botanists of man y nationalities
who
have
been attracted to ' this
district,
officers of
the British Army
have
taken
a foremost
place . The
bird
life attracts several en
thusiasts,
and
recently
a field officer made
most days
a field
day with butterflies.
Tumbers of scientists visit the
Rock.
r
even
had
to
endure
the scorn of one Pro
fessor of a
Scottish University
at the fact
that none
of the officers,
"with
all the time
at
their disposal,"
had
taken up what
I
think he
called
the submarine
biology of
the Bay. Some people spend their spare
time devising
111tra -short
wave-lengths
ill
an
attempt to
make
'ireless pleasant in
this the
1110St difficult of \\'ireless stations.
Naval Paymasters are
C i l 1 ' ~ 1 1 1 a
experts and
run for the services the
best "talkie"
on
the Rock
.
o which
all rQnks go at least
once weekly. But \vhen
your
time is up,
Y
Oll
will remember most the blue Bay
that
is
like
a
Swiss lake,
the amphitheatre of
su n
-
lit
hills,
the champagne winter
air,
.
floating in the summer sun
11
a crystal
Mediterranean, liners bound for all parts.
of the ,, orld,
the
ships of
war,
the
luxur
iant
gardens
,,here
scarlet
hibiscus flames
and geraniums
grow
tree-high, the b100d
red or turquoise sunsets over the Straits,
the
charcoal
burners'
fires on
the moun
tains, the
lights
of a
car
threading its way
among the distant hills like a smuggler's
ghost
train-and
(last
but
-
not
least) a
pleasant
office.
E .E.T-
(Plans and sketch by S.S .M. R. G. Smith ,
RA
.P .C.)
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
12/27
THE
ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL
BELFAST GARRISON STAFF Sep
te
mber 1890.
*Indicates member
s.
of Army
Pa
y
Co
rps.
x
(ST
A
NDING
,
BAOK ROW)
.
-Foran
, Lomax, McLagan,
Dry
er, Hall,
Ru
st . .
Ca
,ddy, Gordon Smith,
(C
ENTRE) .-Lynch
, Wallace, McCl eedy,
Wort
, McKenna, Fuller, Kirk,
Gibbs,
St
ewnrt, Beuuett,
Ki t
chen, Stevens.
(SITTING) .-Witkowski , Mayell, Payne, Pecknold, Carlisle, Hayes.
PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
To
be Warrant Officer
Cl
a
ss
I and appointe
d
S.S M
765T lJ5 S.Q.M.S. C
Pear
ce , 11 /4/
32
.
7657312
S.Q.M.S. J. J. Moss,
24/4/32.
iP be Staft Sergeant.
7733525
Sgt.
J . g
Asc
ott
, 11
/6 /32.
7658015
Sgt.
J .
H. Haskins, 28
/7/
32.
7733513
Sgt. E. T. Malloy, 30
/7/
32
.
7733236
Sgt..
J. J.
Warr
en,
15/8/ 32 .
7658021 Sgt. W.
C.
P . Elam , 23
/9/32.
To be SeF B eant .
1425280
L/ Sgt.
H.
Deveau,
8/5/32.
22JJ5196
L/Sgt. W. Lees,
3/9/
32.
5492522
L/ Sgt. E.
R.
Ransom,
1/9/
32.
6455450
L/Sgt. E. W. C,Ilappell,
1/9/32.
5666652
L/
Sgt
. W. G. Mo
od
y,
26 /8/32.
~ 3 8 2 1 2 9
L/Sgt.
P.
Lydon ,
1/7/
32.
1425155
L/ Sgt.
R.
Hudson,
17 /9 /32.
542514
L/Sgt. W. Hornby,
27 /9/32.
313902
L/
Sgt
.
B. J.
Wj nch,
3/ 11 /32.
2691998
L/Sgt.
F.
Webber,
4/11/32.
To be Corpor
al
.
1073530
P te.
C. G.
Tennu ci,
1 1 / 9
7260523 Pt
e. C. McLaughlin,
9/ 9/32.
1065660 Pt
e.
G. W . DaJ
e,
14 / 11 / 32. -
308
Probationers finally transferred.
7882013 Pt
e.
J. Sl
a
ter
,
24 / 2/32
(Winche
ster
).
5493894 Pt e. A.
F . Elgood , 24
/ 2/ 32
(Hilsea) .
3052635 Pt e.
G.
J.
Roan,
3/3/ 32
(Cha
th
a
m).
6844500 RIm
. E.
J .
Monk s, 29
/ 3/32
(York) .
7880432 Pt
e.
W. V.
Davies,
29 / 3/ 32
(W arwic
k).
Pro bationers Jo ined.
2873752
Pte
. E. Gordon,
21 /9/32
(Chatham).
404003 P te .
A. E. Black
we
ll
,
21
/9/ 32
(Pr
es
to
n)
.
3445258 Fu
s. P . Lee,
20 O ?f2:
(Preston).
DISCHARGES
.
7657243
S.Q.M.
S. C.
W.
P.
Pr
at t
,
22, /9/32.
7657026
S.S.
M.
E. J . W. Bl ow ne,
30/ 10 /32.
RETURNED
TO
UNIT
7881100 P te . E . E K.
Lowe,
7/9/ 32
(
Pr
eston).
MARR I
AGES
.
5333380 Pt
e.
C. H.
Davies, 20
/8/
32
.
4441439 Sgt
. G,
Fr
aser, 20
/8 /32.
7878034
L/ Sgt ,
R.
H. Baten
;a
n,
3/9/
32
.
7733561
Sgt.
R. J ..
Drummond, 10
/9 /
32
.
6907976
Sgt. F . J. R
os
ling,
25 / 9/32.
5609483
Sgt. E.
J . Burnet
,
16 /10/32.
7734327 Sgt
. E
T.
Taylor,
29 10 32
THE
ROYAL
ARMY
PAY
CORPS
JOURNAL
Notes on the
History
of
Army
Pay
By Lieut .-Col. E. ENEVER TO D
D,
O.B.E., R .
A.P.C.
Continued
from
page 25
3
CXXV.
I
have alread
y said that
after
the
Crimeall
War, seconded by the smashing victories of
Prussia over Austria and France, British
Army
administration
was put
into
a
boiling
cauldron.
That
this
is not an exaggerated
use
of
words,
is, I think, proved by the
fact
that, in
the
twelve years or thereabouts
after the war, no
less
than
89
inquiries were
he ld,
Roya
l Commissions, House of Com
mons
Committees,
War Office
Committees,
and Committees of Officers, to consider the
administration
of
the Army.
I
can here
give only
a bald
outline
of
the changes
that
took place, nor is Army adminstration the
subject of these notes; but, as I have found
frequentl
y before,
you cannot
follow
the
history
of
pa
y without grasping the Army
sy
stem as
a whole. Before the Crimean
War, there \\ as a Minister for War and the
Colonies,
each
,,\lith
his own Secretariat;
the Home Office
administered the Milit
i
a,
Yeomanry and Volunteers;
the
C. in-C. at
the Horseguards ru led over the Cavalry
and
Infantry ;
the Master-General
of
the
Ordnance
(\\ ith a
seat
in
Parliament)
over
the Engineers,
Artillery,
and the provision
of prearms and greatcoats; the Treasury
ruJed
over the Commissariat, i .e., supply
including treasure, and
t ransport; the
Secretary at War was
responsib
le for all
mi litary expenditure; the Board of General
Offi.cers
inspected
t
he clothing
of t
he
troops; the
Colonels
provide
d
the
cloth
ing;
\yhile there
were
other
func
tionaries, the
Paymaster-General, the Comptroller of
Ar,DlY Accounts,
t
he
Au
dit
Office, the
Governors
of Chelsea
Hospital, and
the
Army Medica l Department (still distinct
horn the regimental surgeons), who \\ ere
almost independent functionaries. As
early
as 1833 a Commission had
advocated
the
consolidation
of
some
of these. A
second Commission
in 1837 did
the same;
hut
all
that was d(me was
to abo
lish Army
Extraordinar ies,
which were
la r
ge sums
le
ft
to the discretion of the Army without
3
0
9
being
voted
in detail
by
Parliament.
Wellington gave his opinion against
the
findings of both
Commissions;
and
indeed
it was difficult to amalgamate the Engineers
and Artiller
y, in
\ hkh clothing
was
done
by a
Board
and
promotion
was by selection,
with the
Cavalry
and Infantry, in
which
clothing was done by the Colonels and pro
motion went by purchase.
CXXV
I.
The
authorities
might argue
on
the
princip les of administration;
but
events.
forestalled
them
. The disasters of the
Crimean
War roused
public
opinion to fever
heat,
set the
Cabinet
in a flurry, and
forced
the organisation of an Army which was no
longer
a congeries of
more or
less
privately
owned
regiments,
but a
centrally-controlled
united Force. A Treasury Mintite
was
enough to transfer the Commissariat to the
War Office. The militia was
transferred to
the War Office. The
Secretary
at War ,
who
had been
responsible
for the finance of
the army, was merged in the Secretary of
State for
War.
T)le sufferings of
the army
in the
Crimea
were largely put down
to
the
lack of transport and forage- both then
under the Treasury. Wherefore the
Com
mi.
ssariat, transport,
stores,
barracks
and
hospita
ls, with the supply of Treasure in
cluded,
were
all
put
under a single Con
troller. The
Controller had his
own Pay
Department, dis
t
inct
from the
regimental
Paymasters
.
But the Control System, as
it Was called, fail
ed;
the very name was
unfortunate; every junior rank thought he
was
in control
of
the entire
Army; all \vere
at l
oggerheads,
up to the
Controller
and
C. in-C. themselves. So the Commissariat
an.d Transport
were
formed
into
a
separate
Corps, known from 1880 as
the
Commis
sariat and Transport Staff, and this in 1888
was
re
f
ormed on
a
pure
ly mili tary
bas
is
as
the Army Service Corps. Th is left the
Contr0ller's Pay Depart ment rather in tJ1e
air , ready to be joi ned up with th e Regi
men ta1 P
ay
m
as
ters .
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8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
13/27
-
8/10/2019 1932 Christmas
14/27
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURN
AL
think
we
do
all we
can
to
prevent
it,
that
is
with the little
assistance
which the
ignorant boys and idiots above alluded to
can
give
us. Major-General Craig may
have
been somewhat
prejudiced by the ill
fate
of the Low Countries expedition;
but
in 1846 we find Lord Grey, an ex-Secretary
at
War, stating
of the
promotion
of Officers
that
it
depends
exclusively upon seniority
QC upon interest, and their having money
to purchase their successive steps.
There
is
not even
a
pretence