NOTABLE MEN IN THE ARMY.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3125, 4 May 1915, Page 7

NOTABLE MEN IN THE ARMY.

WHICH REGIMENT HAS HAD THE MOST FAMOUS MEN IN IT?

This is a very interesting and attractive subject just now, when Britain's troops, Regular and Territorial, are doing so splendidly to uphold the honour of Britain and to continue the glory of the Empire. So we may be pardoned tor putting the question here. About the personal bravery of the men in every British regiment there can be no doubt. There is no jealousy— to pick or choose would be foolish and invidious. Also most of our regiments have, at one time or another, had notable soldiers and Royalties connected with them in some honorary capacity or other. But that is not what we mean by the question above. Let us leave out honorary members and onlj deal with famous who have been ordinary and actual members ot the regiments; who have fought and marched with them in times of war or when on real duty, rather than merely at a " show'' parade. Regarded from this point of view there cannot be the least doubt, by those who know, that the Honourable Artillery Company, of London, carries-' off the palm in this way. For one may find more famous names in its list of past and present real soldiers than are to be found on any other similar regimental roll. Of course, since the H.A.C. was incorporated as far back as 1537, and has always been regarded as the "crack" corps outiide the Regulars, one would naturally expect to see some such result a 4 this.

Though now counted as a "Territorial,'' the H.A.C. has long had an intimate experience of war and fighting, far exceeding that of several in what we -.all the "Regular"' regiments. For! instance, it did noble service at the time cf the Armada; during the Civil War in the reign of King Charles; and in the Cordon Riot period. Then it took a prominent part in the Boer War, and everybody knows how splendidly it has upheld its ancient renown during the recent fighting in Flanders' and France. ihe H.A.C. is indeed n very famous regiment, and to >t have probably belonged more really celebrated men of all spheres and ranks' than to any other British regiment. For instance, perhaps there is no othe rregiment which can boast that it has had four kings as its colonels, each of whom in due course actually himself fought with some of its' members on the field of battle! These monarchs who thus belonged to the Honourable Artillery Company, were Charles 11., James 11., W illiani 111., and George IT. The last of the four led his troops at Dettingen 147 years ago, after which no English king ever went personally into war till our own King George \ . did so the other day in France! Think of such magnificent soldiers as John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough: George Monk. Earl of Albermarle: and [ Prinze Rupert. All three were fighting members of the Honourable Artillery Company in their day! And what fighters and generals they were, too! In the brave days of the Civil War, when most of the London train-bands and City's soldiers—amongst whom the H.A.C. were very prominent —went to the aid of the Parliamentary troops, the famous corps could reckon in its list .such men as the Marquis oi Worcester, the Duke of Norfolk, and the Duke of Somerset, all names wellknown to every student of English history for tihe leading parts they played in more than one great drama of the times when they lived. In the H.A.C.'s ranks, too, when King James 11. raised the anger of London and the opposition of the Provinces by bis ill-fated "Declaration of Indulgence" was Uie unfortunate Duke of Monmouth, who later tried to turn the lessons of war he had learned in its ranks to some purpose at Sedgemoor, but failed so signally. And, hardly had the daslung and daring Prince Rupert left tlie H.A.C. to act as one of the generals of King Charles 1., than there came into the corps a Londoner whose name you today would certainly never have expected to find there, one John Milt-on, afterwards secretary to Cromwell, and author of "Paradise Lost." Fancy John Milton as a soldier, and a good one too! And one of the still-verdant H.A.C. Almost at the same time, there marched in the ranks- of this regiment one Christopher Wren, who was to immortalise himself afterwards by his architectural skill, and to rebuild St. Paul's as it stands to-day! And his close friend Samuel Pepys—the "man who wrote the 'dairy'" 1 as a schoolboy once said —was also a very active member of the H.A.C. in those days. Th?se are but some of the celebrated men whose names to-dav are famous far and wide for this or that notable work in later life, men who at one time or another donned the uniform ot this old and renowned corps. But they surely make it unique in this respect.