Proud Of Him

Of all the family photos I possess, I think this is the one I am most proud of.  In fact, Mike had it greatly enlarged for me and put in a beautiful elborate dark wood frame where it has pride of place in our hall.

Meet my paternal Grandfather

His name was William F - yes both my Grandfathers were named William.

This photograph was taken on the occasion of him attaining the rank of Sergeant and just prior to his marriage in 1888. He enlisted into the army at the age of fifteen as a bugler. He is described as being under five feet tall at the time with a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. He was born in Hampshire, the son of retired soldier.

He eventually became Company Sergeant Major and served in both Egypt and South Africa along with other places.  He took part in the Nile Expedition. There had been an Islamic revolt led by the Mahdi.  To cut a long story short and avoid a history lesson, Major-General Charles Gordon had been sent to Khartoum (Gordon of Khartoum) and was to oversee the evacuation of the Sudan.  He decided instead to stay and defend the Sudanese capital where he was besieged by the Mahdi's forces.  Britain was forced to organise a relief expedition to rescue Gordon and this was the Nile Expedition.

Grandfather was part of a desert column travelling overland rather than up the Nile in order to reach Gordon faster. This was a much more dangerous route and in 1885 this column was attacked by the Mahdists at Abu Klea.  Winston Churchill later stated that the battle of Abu Klea was "the most savage and bloody action ever fought in the Sudan by British Troops". The column reached Khartoum just two days too late as Gordon had been killed and Khartoum had fallen.

It was whilst returning that William's platoon got hopelessly lost in the desert for around ten days.  Due to the stress his hair turned pure white and from that time on he was known affectionaly as "Pop" by all the troops.

He was in the Boer War along with half-brothers John and Ernest A and his father-in-law, George H. It is believed his brother, Robert, was killed there or died of disease (disease actually carried off more men than battle) but this has yet to be proved.

He met Winston Churchill on more than one occasion. In fact Churchill once got him into a great deal of trouble.  Grandfather had overseen the grooming and preparing of all the horses as some "bigwigs" were visiting and there was going to be a grand parade.  The horses were all ready and tethered when, for a prank, Churchill decided to let them all loose. Horses went off in all directions and Grandfather got the blame until Churchill owned up!!!  I am assured that this story is true.

William also once had the job of escorting Lady  Randolph Churchill, the mother of Winston, when she went out to South Africa to watch over her son who was a War Correspondent at the time.  Grandfather said he was glad to see the back of her because she never stopped talking or complaining.  My Dad got this story directly from William.

He was also taken prisoner once whilst in South Africa along with quite a few of the men.  William was a Mason and by a stroke of luck, the Boer Commander was also a Mason.  As Masons help each other, instead of holding them, the Commander stripped them off their weapons, their horses and their boots and they had to walk barefoot back to their own lines.  War was conducted, it seems, in a more gentlemanly way in those times.

William received the following medals:-

Egyptian Medal with Clasp (Tel-El-Kebir), Egyptian Bronze Medal with clasps(Nile and Abu Klea), Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps (Ladysmith and Laing's Nek), King's South Africa Medal with clasps (Tegula Heights, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal) and the Long Service and Good Conduct medals.

He later took his family to Bermuda (where his Father, James, had been stationed ) where he took charge of the military stables there until the outbreak of the first World War.

He is a man I would so dearly loved to have met.  Unfortunately he died many years before I was born. How I would have loved to sit with him and listen to his tales, I would never have tired of it.  He was a strict man but popular with the men and always fair.

He retired to York where he died at the age of only 58. His death certificate states "suddenly in a fit of apoplexy and that his military service abroad contributed to his death."

He had apparently requested that, on his death, he was to be buried back in Hampshire near the grave of his parents. His wishes were carried out and he had a military funeral. 

P.S. Just as I finished writing this the biggest Red Admiral butterfly you ever saw suddenly appeared in the room. Very strange because all our doors and windows are shut due to the bad weather and there was no butterfly in here when I started. It landed directly on the computer screen out of nowhere.   I think Grandfather is pleased I did this entry - I can think of no other explanation.  Mike released it into the garden. I am always getting these strange things happening to me. You might think there is a "normal" explanation. But let me tell you that I put the cleaner around quite late last night because our dogs are moulting heavily and because the room needed it (I spend too long on here).  I did not only the floor but the corners and the curtains. No butterfly.  The room was closed up all night and no doors and windows to the outside were open today.  Also, it did not fly around the room, it was just there on my computer screen!!! I have never seen one the size of it.  So, I discount nothing.  I have seen butterflies before when writing about ancestors or doing my family tree and sometimes when I have been writing about my supernatural experiences. Also, although the photograph is Sepia, Grandfather's jacket was actually red.