SOLDIER KNIGHT-ERRANT.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16710, 28 January 1926, Page 6

SOLDIER KNIGHT-ERRANT.

TRIBUTE TO DESPATCH RIDER. Sir Charles Harington, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Division, in a letter to the vicar of St. Cuthbeth's, York, England, paid a warm tribute to the memory of a despatch rider, William Illingworth, 27, who was buried with military honours at York. Illingworth was invalided out of the Royal Corps of Signals in 1922 after serving under Sir Charles in Constantinople. Sir Charles Harington wrote: — "I had the greatest admiration for the lad. He performed an act in Constantinople which will not only make his memory dear to me for all time, but also will, 1 am sure, always make his relatives proud of him.

"He found himself in a steamer crossing from Anatolia to Constantinthe only other English-speaking person being an American named Miss Gunther. He saw some Turks insulting and threatening this lady, who naturally was frightened. "He protected her, gave her hia only blanket, and brought her safely to Constantinople. She at once reported his gallant conduct to the American High Commissioner, who reported it to me.

"I sent for the lad and thanked him. It was an act such as this which makes us so proud of the British soldier, which stamps him as the finest type of British gentleman.

"We owe much of our prestige in foreign parts to the generosity and unselfishness of our soldiers and sailors. We have much to learn from the example set (o us by young Illingworth—a right good lad."