GERM OF AN ARMY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 249, 20 October 1924, Page 9

GERM OF AN ARMY.

I TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. j i FIRST N.Z. MOUNTED RIFLES. j SOUTH AFFRICA ISOO, 1000, 1001. j I Nelson Day if the day we all celebrate j because it is the beginning of everything ! us far as the modern British Navy is i A navy must have a nucleus, and 3" ' mii=t an army. As far a? the New Zealand army i* concerned Kelson Day . is (lie beginning, for it was on October: 21. tw.-ntv-Kvo years ago, that the' Hmt N'« '/calami soldiers ever scut out of lhi> country were dispatched ] from Wellington in the Waiwera for j active service in South Africa. The j New Zealand First Contingent and the : Wv South Wales Lancers, who had been lying in London lor training, were ' the first colonial troops to reach South j Africa, the Australians, however, pro- i ceding the Xew Ze.ilanders by a few I day*. Both corps had their baptism j of fire on the same day, December 7, ! lßfin. N.S.W. Lancers shortly after ! their arrival were deprived of their j lances and swords and became mounted riflen. a« later did all cavalry corps fpr the sake of the horses. A Small Unit. The little corps, which was mobilised at Karori, Wellington, was selected from already trained cavalry or mounted riflemen, and all others were rejected. The total strength was 214 officers, non-coma, and men. although as the years go by and more of the original strength die those who claim to have belou'ji grow in numbers. An author l> computes that of the 214 in tin original corps (of which 62 are dead) several thousands still remain, if one acccptß the claims of those who declare themselves part of "the smallest regiment in British history. The corps was equipped in about a fortnight, and had some strenuous training at Karori. The men were magnificently mounted and commanded by Major A. \Y. Robin, then of the Otago Hussars, now Major-General Sir A. W. Robin. C.8., who commanded the forces in New Zealand for so many years, and who has now retired. The corpe was trained by the late j Captain C P. Rogers, formerly of the , Sixteenth Lancers, who was the regimental sergeant-major. He accompanied the corps to Africa and had the reputation of being one of the finest cavalry instructors in the Empire's service. The Fecond in command was Captain RHutton Davics, afterwards for many years of the British Army and general commanding a 'brigade in the retirement from Mone. General Davies in civil life had been a surveyor, practising for some years in Hawera. Hβ was the son of a well-known English journalist. (Jeneral Davies died in England of pneumonia supervening on his cxV periences in France. Other officers were Captain W. N. R. Madocks, then in Jμ ew Zealand from the Royal Artillery He it was who behaved with singular ard gallant devotion at New Zealand Hill, personally killing the Boer commandant and commanding the Yorkshires and the New Zcalanders who repulsed one of the bravest attacks ever made by the enemy. | \nother officer of especial Interest is | Colonel J. Gethin Hughes C.M.G., DSO who greatly distinguished himself He joined as a trooper, and was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant in the field. He, with a small body of V Z.M.R-, saved a section of guns in the vicin : ty of Colesberg when a squadron of the Eleventh Hussars were forced to abandon them. He commanded the Canterbury Regiment in the Great War. Lieutenant M. E. Lindsay, quite a young man, was especially esteemed for his capacity and coolness. He was exchanged late in the South African War into the Seventh Dragoon Guards, and | has since served in many theatres of] war. He was adjutant of h : s regiment j and a very notable spoTtsman, the j crack polo "player of the corps and a terror among tho tigers in Jfidia. Colonel Lindsay married a Miss Riddiford, daughter of the well-known Wairarupa landowner. I Of the men in the ranks, many have ! sinco achieved field , rank. Colonel George Mitchell, D.5.0., formerly a Wellington M.P., was a trooper. He won his distinctions .in the GTeat War. and wae permanently injured. Major, Edwin Harrowell. who was second in j command of the Auckland Infantry Regiment in Egypt, and who was very severely wounded, was a sergeant of the First N.Z.M-K. What of the Men? Colonel H. Wbytc, D.5.0., D.C.M.. General Staff firet grade, of j I'almerston North, was the youngest recruit to join. He wa3 a. Post Office ( cadet in Auckland at the time. Major ; H. W. Smith, who commanded the com-1 bi'ned Australian and New Zealand j Anzac Transport in Egypt, and who distinguished himself on (JSalHpolr, was a trooper in the First. He also fought !n the Natal Rebellion, and has had i in all seven years' war service. ' Another trooper was the late Lieut, i Tivy Emmerson, who was killed on j Crtillipoli, a very gallant" gentleman,' incapable of fear. He battled in the breakers at Napier for thirty-five ■ minutes to save a drowning woman, but, was unable to save her life. He brought' her ashore dead. His fellow officers on Gallipoli declared that the task he was sent to do on Gallipoli was impossible,; and lie was as surely sent to his death as man could be. Of the remnant of the First. Contingent 110 became officers. A trooper. A. Le Costs Bartrop, is major ot police on the Rand. He was : n charge of the police in the miningriots. A trooper, C. Enderby, wsw detailed as stationmaster in Pretoria during the last military occupation. The j late J. Thorpe, also a trooper n th« corps, greatly distinguished himself as a civ'l engineer in South Africa after hia war service finished. He solved the problem of a difficult railway devia-. tion from Watervaal Onder to Boven, j after other distinguished engineers had oiven it up. The late Mr. Thorpe (who died :n Xew Zealand during the great epidemic) had remarkable subsequent success us a railway engineer in China, ami often had to orsanise his gangs to tight bands nf raider.-. An officer of the corps was Mr. Neavc, who had joined tho First Contingent to give him experi-, enee. it ben" his intention to join the j Imperial Army. He was early trans-, ferred and wae extremely popular with the "Tommies" of his regiment, for he was fearless and a splendid eporteman. He was kMled at Paardeburg while standing up in a trench to observe the enemy's line. Auckland men who belonged to the First include M. Kirkbride, son of the late Mr. Matthew Kirkbride, M.P. Mr. John Montgomerie, also of Mangere, JJ. F. Butler, ot Belief A^Newdiek

'and T. Taylor, both of Tonsonby. A. < ■ ! I'awson (publisher of the "Auckland (Star"), <:. Mann (formerly proprietor :of Mansion House. Knwau). I- N°P*--1 St. Helier's Bay. ■!. Xcwburn of the riii - Iwavs, and K.J. R. Smith, of I'arneU. j I Nat Curtain, of Messrs. A. W. w n-dn land Co., and W. Harris, of Mount Iwleii. : who was a saddler sergeant. lhe late j Keith Gorric and Tom liaudin, ot this I corps, were Auckland men. i Major Alexander Wilkie. of the Tnka- ; puna Boroup-li Council, and who has in. all eight years' active war service to his credit." serving lhe whole duration | lof both the South African and fireut I Wars, wrote lhe official history of tlie | ! Wellington Mounted Kifles Keginient in Kjrypt, Palestine, and (iallipuli. it was i acclaimed by Uie literary critic of tho j i "Auckland Star" a- "lhe best we have Iconic across." Major Wilkie was a| '"private in the First lontinjjfiit, although he received liis captaincy in the tit-lil ; before lhe end of lhe South African i war, as ii|s:> did Major Wood. M.C an.l ; for many years of the New Zealand : Staff Corps." Major Wood was a private j in the First Contingent. As adjutant. lof the Auckland Mounted KifiVs in i Egypt, Palestine, and Callipoli. he did ivory fine work indeed. He was very severely wnundod on (iallipoli. • ■! I refused to have an arm ampul 'is still clomp him pood sen j first man of the Xew Zeali; ces | j killed in the South African was Oeorge K. Bradford, of Pae.roH. lack Connoll, of Auckland, was killed on New Zealand Hill, the bullet penetrating a soldier's Testament and a packet of letter 3he carried in liis jacket pocket. Wellington men of the First include 1 Captain .1. F. Kockstrow. of Defence Headquarters, son of the late Dr. Rock- ; strow. Captain Rockstrow was quar- i termaster-sergeant of tho First. T. Watson Brown, now of the Agricultural Department, was the first man into Kimberley. Mr. Brown also served with the N.Z.E.F. in the Great War. The farrier-major of the First was A. Cromie, now an artificer in the Wellington tramways; and another First who is now also a tramway official, iss A. Butters. John Cooke, a wool expert, employed by the Agricultural Department, now of Island Bay; A. A. C. Wiffcn, of Wadcstown; Jlalcolm McAllum, of Ngahauranga; and A. Hastie, of Ngaoi were all troopers in the little corps. R. Witheford, of the Treasury joined the corps in the lield. A trooper of the First who was heard a good deal of was C. Blenkhorn. now a solicitor of J Levin, and for many years the Mayor iof that town. He served in later contingents as an officer, distinguishing himself for his ready resource and intrepidity. On the troopship returning from South Africa an assoc.iatnon was formed and has been in existence ever since. Survivors meet every year in Wellington on October 21, or on the nearest suitable date. During the wholo of the time sinco the return of the First Contingent a paper has been periodically published containing matters of interest to the members of the association.