THE BUTLER WHO ENLISTED

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 November 1931, Page 10

THE BUTLER WHO ENLISTED

STORY OF HALF A CROWN. A humorous incident in connection with the early days of the Great War is mentioned in his book by Brigadiergeneral John Charteris, chief of Intelligence to Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. He writes: — “The butler at Government House was determined that he, too, would s~e war at close quarters. Sir Douglas Haig decided to take him as mess seivaut to the Corps Headquarters mess. The trouble was to get him into khaki. Regulations were not then relaxed. “To enlist., attest, and enroll takes time in normal circumstances. For all wo knew the war might be over before the butler’s training was finished. I appealed to my friends of the Royal Engineers at Aldershot for their benevolent assistance. All things are possible when a commander-in-chief wants things done. ■ “After breakfast one morning I took the butler, immaculate in morning coat and bowler, to the Royal Engineers officer, saw him enter the quartermaster’s stores, and waited in the car to take him back. “In an incredibly short time, less than half an hour, the new recruit emerged, in khaki, puttees neatly tied, r. full-fledged driver of his Majesty’s Royal Engineers. He gave a some-, what amateurish salute and then lapsed again into the butler, and said: “I beg your pardon, sir, but have you such a thing as half-a-crown on you?” “I asked him why ho wanted the half-crown, to which came the reply: ‘Well, sir, that quartermaster-sergeant has been very good to me, and I would like to give him something.’ “This was too good to be missed. 1 climbed out of my car and followed at a safe distance to see the driver recruit of 10 minutes’ seniority t ip a quartermaster-sergeant, grown grey in service, for civility. “And the quartermaster-sergeant, to his credit bo it related, did not hurt the recruit’s feelings by declining the solatium.”