Mr. Egerton Clarke, Kezil, and the Popular Kerry Blue Terrier

By the end of September 1918 Egerton Arthur Crossman Clarke found himself demobilised from the military. The armistice would not be signed until 11 November of that year.

On 29 September 1918, the Kaiser had been advised that Germany's situation was hopeless. General Erich Ludendorff, according to Wikipedia, "could not guarantee that the front would hold for another 24 hours." Negotiations began in earnest in October.

To enlisted men around the camps in England, all of this must have been a secret, or just a part of an ever-grinding rumour mill at best.

Egerton Clarke, despite his weak heart and health issues, would have been anticipating staying in the service for a bit longer, and hitting the streets as a civilian during that month of October 1918 must have caught him a bit off guard, even if it was liberating. It's unlikely he had any knowledge that the hostile nations had entered into entente, and it's unlikely that he had been in the midst of preparing himself and planning for an armistice, and peace [above, left].

Egerton's 61 year old mother, Emma Anna Clarke, was ensconced at Thorley Wash, Hertfordshire, with her widowed and wealthy elder sister, Hannah Patten, so there was no immediate need to begin taking responsibility for her.

In fact, having been a scholar at St Edmund's School in Canterbury up until joining the ranks, Clarke probably knew little, if anything, about caring for himself in the world outside of academia. What would he do? Where would he go?

When one knows nothing but school, it's likely one would attempt a return to the safety, order, and stability of an educational institution. That was the case with young Egerton.

During our study of George Mills, Egerton's friend form the Army Pay Corps, we learned of an opportunity presented to veterans of the war to attend university. It was described here by Anabel Peacock, an archivist at Oxford:

[A veteran] was exempted from taking Responsions (preliminary examinations for entry) and the examinations of the First Public Examination, under a decree of 9 March 1920. This decree stipulated that until the end of Trinity Term 1923 any member of the University who had been engaged in military service for twelve months or more before his matriculation, was permitted to offer himself for examination in any Final Honours School, despite not having met the statutory conditions for admission to that School. This was on condition that he had obtained permission from the Vice Chancellor and the proctors; that he had entered upon the third term and had not exceeded the twelfth term following his matriculation; and that he had paid the fee for admission to the examinations the decree excused him from.


This was the situation of which Mills had taken advantage when he matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 19 October 1919, following his service under the Colours. It was probably under the auspices of the same decree that Clarke entered.

From Nicola Hilton, Archives Assistant at Oxford, we learn this about Egerton:

Egerton Arthur Crossman Clarke was born on the 20 September 1899 in Canterbury, Kent. He was the second son of Percy Carmichael Clarke, Clerk in the Holy Orders, deceased. Before coming to Oxford, Egerton attended St Edmund's School, Canterbury, Kent. He matriculated (ie was admitted to the University) from Keble College on 14 October 1918. I cannot find any record of a degree being conferred (ie at a ceremony) on Mr Clarke.


[Note: Thanks to Janine La Forestier, Clarke's granddaughter, we can identify Egerton's brother: "In front of me now is a letter in which he is answering a question my mother must have asked concerning his brother. The letter dated December 1, 1942 refers to his brother as John (Jack) Percy Dalzell Clarke born in 1892 and died 21/02/1915." (08-17-11)]


Considering the above information, we once again find a connection between Egerton and George Mills. It may only be circumstantial, but with both gentlemen, formerly mates in the armed forces, matriculating during the same week—Egerton on Monday and George on Saturday—it seems strange to think that they had not been in contact and that they had not been sharing, at the very least, loose plans to further their educations at Oxford.

And it may not be far-fetched to believe that Oxford may have been George's idea—and if not his idea, then a very practical decision. His father, the Revd Barton R. V. Mills, was a graduate, as had been his grandfather, Arthur Mills, M.P., and Barton still was alive—he was serving as a "Chaplain to the Forces"—and able to take the boys, advise them, and show them around a bit. Egerton's father, the Revd Percy Carmichael Clarke, had attended Cambridge, but unfortunately had passed away on 1902. There could have been no similar connection there.

It would have been comforting, one imagines, for both boys to know that they were heading off to university assured there would be at least one familiar and friendly face among the Oxon crowd.


By 1919, Egerton had become editor of Clock Tower at Keble, presumably a literary magazine of some sort, and his name appears in the 1919 calendar. He, however, actually was busily working on another literary project—and a somewhat surprising one.

In 1920, Clarke would publish his first book, with this lengthy title: The Popular Kerry Blue Terrier: Its History, Strains, Standard, Points, Breeding, Rearing, Management, Preparation for Show, and Sporting Attributes.

A new edition of this seemingly immortal book is still in print today. The original 1920 first edition is described thusly:

By Egerton Clarke. With a foreword by The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Kenmare. Line drawings by Hay Hutchison. Illustrated. London: Popular Dogs Publishing Co. [1920]. 12mo., 78p., blue cloth with gilt lettering, and endpapers, illustrated with photographs and drawings.


This project may only be a surprise to those who aren't aware of George Mills and his family's great affinity for dogs. From his father's early church-going days in Cornwall to reminiscences from his last years in Budleigh Salterton, an overall fondness for dogs pervades his story. One could even make the argument that a dog was the most popular character of a pair of his children's books.


Contrasting with the publication of The Popular Kerry Blue Terrier, Clarke also published a book of poems entitled Kezil and Other Poems [London : A.H. Stockwell, 1920]. Kezil is available today as a scanned reproduction of the original text, as well as on-line.

Clarke's dedication is quite interesting:


Dear ———

To whom one should dedicate a first book is often, I am told, a difficult question to decide.

For my part I can but feel that to offer this, my first to any one particular person would be both ungenerous and unfair, and it is for this reason I am persuaded to offer it, small though its value may be, to all those who have been good to me through-out my life.

So my offering is to you, friends, and among you :

Firstly, my Mother because you are also the mother of these poems ;

Nan, because without you these poems would not have been written by my hand, and because of your care for a stranger-child :

Madeleine, for the sake of your gentleness ;

Dorothy Sayers, in recognition of your kindness, and in appreciation of "Op" ;

Ernest Duggan, because of the door you opened for me ;

Gerald Crow, because you opened my eyes once and for all ; and last but not least

" Kezil," mysterious inspirer of so much.


EGERTON A. C. CLARKE.


THE GRANGE,

FOLKESTONE, June, 1920.



First of all, we find Egerton residing in Folkestone, near Dover, on the southeast coast, while writing at least this dedication.

We can determine some of his influences: Poet and biographer Gerald Henry Crow (we hopefully will hear more about him soon) and Oxford's own Dorothy L. Sayers, novelist, playwright, essayist, translator and poet. Here he specifically mentions the latter's interesting 1915 collection of poetry, Op. I.

Ernest Duggan and Madeleine are two unknown characters in the life of Egerton Clarke, circa 1920. Duggan did not attend Oxford, and Egerton has left us no clues with which to determine his identity—there are more than a few Ernest Duggans in the Empire, circa 1920. And Madeleine will remain a mystery, at least until she gains a surname.

Nan, however, is essentially nameless, but quite interesting nonetheless. She is appreciated in this dedication "because without you these poems would not have been written by my hand, and because of your care for a stranger-child."

These touching words imply not just the binding and careful treatment of a youth's injured hand, but that Egerton was treated with an overall care and tenderness that would not necessarily have been expected from a stranger. Heart-wrenching tales of orphans such as Oliver Twist and Jane Eyre were well-known, and while they had been around for many decades by the passing of Clarke's father in 1902, the more modern world at the turn of the 20th century still would not have been an orphan's proverbial oyster.

The presence of Nan caring for a "stranger-child" also gives us insight into the lack of mothering suffered by Egerton during his youth. Where he experienced the tenderness of Nan's care is unknown at this point. Perhaps early in France she had been his nurse. Perhaps she was a matron at St Edmund's School in Canterbury who took a liking to the boy—or he to her. Perhaps she was simply someone who watched after him when school was out, someone who allowed him to leave St Edmunds occasionally.

Apparently, at whatever time Nan bestowed her kindness, Clarke had had no mother to provide it for him. Knowing that our best guess right now is that his mother was in the workhouse at Watford in 1911, that would go a long way toward explaining why Egerton so very much needed a "Nan."

By contrast, Egerton's mother essentially is thanked for having given birth, and so, indirectly, having enabled him eventually to write the poems found within the text. There are certainly no immediate thanks for her, just an overall fondness, and a gratitude born of a worrisome life that finally seemed to have turned out well.

Missing from the dedication would be George Mills: A friend but not a powerful influence on Clarke's words and imagery.


"Kezil: A Fantasy" is a languidly alluring, Eastern erubescence of a poem, and well worth reading. Within the brief text, Clarke explains: "'KEZIL' a Persian word meaning 'red,' or sometimes, I believe 'the red one.' — E.C."

But for our purposes here, I've selected a different poem from this volume to share:


IN HOSPITAL.

SEMI-CONSCIOUS.


PALE shadows round my head.
In whispering conference,
Nurses moved, and one said,
"B. one-seven-five ref'rence,
A. F. discharge," like ghosts,
They swayed unreal about
The room, The Red Cross hosts.
I wished someone would shout —
I wanted so to sleep.
A cruel "Hush !" "Be quiet."
Was all I heard and "creep
Like mice ;" and " Special diet."
Now and then a single word,
A phrase, against my brain,
Insistent beat and stirred
The quietude to pain,
Then somewhere slammed a door.
One moment echoed deep
Along the empty corridor,
Outside, I turned and heard no more,
And turned again and fell asleep.


Winchester,
1918.


When last time we read of Egerton's hospital stays in Winchester, it appeared to have been so easy for him: Resting in bed, recuperating, enjoying some time away from duty. In the poem above, written in that bed, we can see that clearly was not the case as Clarke, reconstructing his lack of lucidity, expresses the semi-consciousness of his condition and does his best to capture fleeting and fragmented scraps of his environment.

His volume ends tenderly with this poem:


FINIS.

To M. C.


NOT so much pity, what better an end
Than a night of shadow and quiet sleep,
When there's nothing of love that's left to spend,
Why should we linger to fidget and weep ?

O little's the pity of such a kind,
Let us light our candle and go upstairs
As children do, and dropping down the blind
A comfort make wherein to say our prayers ;

Not so tenderly now, no endless kiss,
Nor hold my hand so long, now love is pain,
But say "sleep well, sweet dreams," and things like this—
"Good-night," laugh too, lest Love find fault again,

Pity can go the way of love, and now,
As though we had nothing of that to mend,
Politely unkissed let us nod and bow,
With a "God bless you, dear," and "Good-night, friend."


Quite a contrast, I think, to The Popular Kerry Blue Terrier ("Teeth set right ensure a strong grip on the terrier's natural foe—vermin"). Perhaps these final verses are dedicated to Madeleine—M. C.—who was probably not his lover, ascending the figurative stairs with him 'as children do.'

Egerton Clarke would go on to write texts, poems, and a play. Here is as complete a bibliography as I can manage for his works after 1920:


• The Ear-ring: A comedy in one-act. [London: Egerton, 1922]

• The Death of Glass and Other Poems. [London: Egerton, 1923]

• Nature Poems. [Amersharm: Morland, 1923]

• The Death of England. [London: C. Palmer, 1930]

• The Seven Niches: A Legend in Verse. [London: C. Palmer, 1931]

• St Peter, the First Pope. [London: Burns, Oates, & Washbourne, 1936]

• Our Lady of Flowers. [London: Burns, Oates, & Washbourne, 1937]

• Alcazar and Other Poems. [London: Burns, Oates, & Washbourne,1937]


Editions of Who's Who in Literature in 1928 described Clarke in this way:

CLARKE, Egerton A. C. b. 1899. Ed. Clock Tower (KebleColl.,Oxford), 1919. Au. Of Kezil and Other Poems (Stockwell), 1920; The Earring (one-act comedy); (Hugh Egerton), 1922. Sub.-Ed. National Opinion, 1922. C. Morn. Post, West. Gaz., Colour, Even. News, Dy. Mirror, Poetry Rev., Oxford Poetry, Oxford Fort. Rev., Nat. Opinion. 73, EGERTON GARDENS. S.W.3.


So, by 1928 Clarke, who had published with a publisher called Egerton, was living in London, interestingly in Egerton Gardens, situated just across Brompton Road and less than 1,000 feet from the Holy Trinity Church in which George Mills wed Vera Louise Beauclerk in 1925.

Egerton did not attend.

Clarke did follow George into the world of wedded bliss when he returned to Winchester and married Teresa Kelly in the spring of 1926.


[Note: Janine also reports that "Therese received her nurses training from Guys Hopital in 1922." Note the spelling of Mrs. Clarke's name. A photograph depicting her nurse's uniform can be found at Rediscovering Egerton Clarke. (08-17-11)]


We can see from the bibliography and the brief biography above that 1926 was in the middle of a 6 year period during which Clarke did not publish a book, although another edition of The Popular Kerry Blue Terrier would be published in 1927 or 1928.

An on-line reference to this new edition describes it thusly:

Clarke, Egerton.
The Popular Kerry Blue Terrier
Popular Dogs Publishing Company, Ltd, c1928
65b, Long Achre, London, W.C.2.

Egerton Clarke of Narcunda Kennels wrote the “Popular Kerry Blue Terrier”, with a forward by the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Kenmare. Illustrations by Hay Hutchison. Published by Popular Dogs Publishing Company Ltd. in England in the 1920's. There is no publishing date in the book, but advertising for The Bog Kennels on page 71 makes reference to the dates 1925 and 1926. This is the first book published on Kerry Blue Terriers. Addresses breed history, Standard, Points, Breeding, Rearing, Management, Preparation for show, and Sporting attributes. A very scarce book. Hardcover, 78 pages.


All we really know of Egerton at this time is that, after his marriage, he is associated with a place called "Narcunda Kennels," presumably in England. By 1930, however, his wife crops up in the Cruft's Dog Show Catalogue in the category [below, left]: "Class 806—FOX TERRIERS—MINOR LIMIT BITCHES." It reads: "2071 Mrs. England. Colonnade Credit. b. Born 24 Oct. 27. Breeder, Mrs. Egerton Clarke. By Earlington Goldfinder—Selecta Merit."

[Just an aside: In this 1930 catalogue, the first person listed in the "Index to Exhibitors" is "Abbey, Lady Ursula, Woldhurst manor, Crawley, Sussex. 770." Lady Ursula Abbey, a well-known breeder of show dogs, played croquet with and against George Mills and his sisters during the 1950s and 1960s.]

Clarke, if nothing else, obviously shared a love of dogs, and of breeding dogs, with his bride. It's an odd interest for a child, Egerton, ostensibly raised in an orphan school, to have picked up. One wonders what sort of life that "Nan" was able to share with him before he went off to war, or if the school itself had a Kerry Blue Terrier that became a love of Egerton's life.

In fact, could some of Egerton's dog tales (no pun intended) have made their way into the stories of George Mills?


Let's look at an excerpt from an even more informative biography of Egerton Clarke, this time from The Catholic Who's Who & Yearbook: Volume 34, edited by Sir Francis Cowley Burnand in 1941:

Clarke, Egerton — b. 1899, s. of Rev. Percy Carmichael Clarke, some time Anglican Chaplain of Dinard, Brittany; educ. St Edmund's Schl Canterbury and Keble Coll. Oxford; received into the Church 1922; served 5 Devon Regt 1917-8; a Vice-Presdt of the Catholic Poetry Soc.; Sec. St Hugh's Soc. for Cath. Boys of the Professional classes; m. (1926) Teresa, dau. of Joseph Wm Kelly and Clara Kelly (nee Sheil), of Dublin (2 sons, 1 dau.). Publications: The Death of Glass and Other Poems (1923) — The Ear-ring (1923) — The Popular Kerry Blue Terrier '(1927)— The Death of England and Other Poems (1930) — The Seven Niches: a Legend in Verse (1932)— Alcazar (1937).


By 1941 Egerton and Teresa Clarke had two sons and a daughter. But what's really interesting here, along with the title of the text [right], is that he was "received into the Church 1922." During the mid- to late-1920s, Egerton had become involved in a new religion: Roman Catholicism.

Dogs. The Army Pay Corps. Oxford. Writing. Neither staying at Oxford to earn a degree. Fathers who were Anglican clergymen. And their own conversions to Catholicism.

Yes, there was a great deal that George Mills had in common with his friend, Egerton Clarke.


Next time we'll look at the children's books of Clarke and the final published text of George Mills, as well as reviewing Egerton's contributions to George's own literary work.

See you then…

Profile: Rev. Canon Ralph Creed Meredith

It's a busy week here in the sunny South as I am expecting company this week in the form of my beautiful daughters. Hence, I'm pulling out some items here that don't require a lot of writing, and for which much of the research already has been done.

Following up on an earlier post, the Mills siblings—George, Agnes, and Violet—played croquet with and against a plethora of interesting players. One of them, the Ven. Ralph Creed Meredith [left] was, among his other accomplishments, chaplain to George VI and Elizabeth II.

More information about Meredith has come to light since I first wrote about him, and that knowledge led me to create his own Wikipedia profile. After all, he seemed to be virtually the only one in his family without one!

Here's my contribution:

The Ven. Ralph Creed Meredith, M.A., (10 July 1887 – 10 January 1970) was an Anglican Cleric who, according to the 1932 Crockford's Clerical Directory, in succession became a curate at Caverswall, Meir, Staffordshire (1912–1914), curate at St. Bartholomew's Church, Armley, Leeds (1914–1917), served the Diocese of Lichfield (1917–1918), was curate of St. Peter's Church, Harborne, Birmingham (1919–1920), and eventually took charge of the Conventional District of Bournville, a village south of Birmingham diocese from 1920-1924. His success at Bournville led the Bishop of Wellington to appoint Meredith Vicar of Whanganui, New Zealand in 1924, where he remained until 1932. He eventually became Archdeacon of Waitotara (1925–1932) as well, despite using addresses in both New Zealand and Hertfordshire, England during that time.

Meredith was a Freemason and an athlete of some note. After arriving in New Zealand in 1924, he was the winner of several New Zealand National Badminton Championships in 1927 and 1928, and was a world class croquet player, having performed for the New Zealand team competing for the 1930 MacRobertson International Croquet Shield, which fell to Australia, 3-0. Meredith also competed in numerous croquet tournaments in southern England and Ireland after relocating from The Vicarage in Windsor to Parkstone, Dorset. Meredith is credited with being the "prime mover" in the 1927 formation of Badminton New Zealand (then known as the New Zealand Badminton Association), of which he was president for two years. He was also president of the New Zealand Croquet Association and the Manawatu Association.

Meredith required surgery in April 1931 and had travelled to England for the procedure. On his return voyage, emergency surgery was required during a stopover in Port Said, Egypt. Subsequently in poor health, he accepted an offer from the Marquess of Salisbury to take over the Parish of Cheshunt, St. Albans, in Hertfordshire in 1932. According to Kelly's 1933 and 1937 Directories of Hertfordshire, Meredith served as Vicar at St. Mary the Virgin and was Rural Dean of Ware, Hertfordshire, residing at The Vicarage, Churchgate. He also served as Vicar of Windsor, 1940-1958. In 1946, Meredith was appointed Chaplain to His Majesty, King George VI, and maintained a place in the College of Chaplains of the Ecclesiastical Household of Elizabeth II on 5 August 1952.

Meredith was born in Dublin, Ireland, where he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Dublin University, receiving his B.A. in Ethics & Logic with Honors after the Michaelmas Term in 1909. Meredith earned his M.A. at Trinity in 1912. He had earlier been educated at Rhos College in North Wales. He married Sylvia Aynsley (sometimes Ainsley) of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on 21 April 1915, and died in Poole, Dorset, England, where he had served as Rural Dean since 1962.


Ironically, just hours after posting the article to Wikipedia, it was happened upon by Meredith's grandson, Jules, who believed he could identify his grandfather and grandmother in the 1957 Devonshire Park photograph [left] from the website of the Bowdon Croquet Club.

Here's what Jules had to say:

"Although not 100% sure (image resolution/quality) - My grandfather is on the back row (2nd from right) and I believe that the lady (front row - 3rd from left) is my grandmother Sylvia Meredith (nee Aynsley 1894-1987). She was also a keen croquet player and, along with grandfather, was a member of the East Dorset Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club."

In addition, Bowdon's Ken Cooper passed along this bit of information from croquet legend Dr. W. P. Ormerod regarding Meredith's identification of his grandparents corresponding to the numbered Devonshire Park image [right]:

"Canon and Mrs.Creed-Meredith I knew also quite well from the 1950's. I am not convinced that No.14 is him; the height is about right but he invariably… played in his dog-collar—he also had a club foot and surgical boot which of course we can't see. I am also not certain that No.52 is Sylvia C-M, but I knew them both much better at Parkstone from 1965. However I'm sure Jules has contemporary photos of 1957."

A higher resolution photograph would certainly resolve this identity crisis, and Jules Meredith informs us that he will be talking to an uncle who can perhaps provide more detail as well as a clearer image or two!

Nevertheless, I hope this gives the reader even more insight into one of the cast of fascinating characters who populated the croquet lawns, circa 1947 – 1971, along with the Mills.

You can see Creed Meredith's Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Creed_Meredith.

Profile: Miss I. M. Roe

There's not much time to write today. I have a wedding to attend at the St. George Anglican Cathedral here in Ocala—Miss Pearce, a colleague from my school, will become our new Ms. Welfel—and I have a number of things to attend to before I leave.

Today, we'll look at a croquet player of the same era as the Mills siblings, George, Agnes, and Violet, whose name, as it appears within The Times croquet results, is written "Miss I. M. Roe." Searching for her on the internet was frustrating until I came upon the fact that "Isabel" Roe had won the 1960 CA women's championship. My search stalled there, at least until I received information from the ubiquitous Chris Williams of The Croquet Association containing the correct spelling of her given name: "Isobel."

Isobel Marion Roe turned out to be a world-class athlete with several references on Wikipedia, but with no page there for herself. That seemed like something that needed to be corrected, so my profile of Roe debuted there last week.

To help me get on my way, here's the Wikipedia entry I created for Miss Roe, an infrequent but interesting opponent of the Mills:

Isobel Marion Roe (24 June 1916 – January 1988) was a world class alpine skier, athletic administrator, and Advanced level croquet player.

Roe gained notoriety in Alpine Skiing in the years prior to the World War II. She participated in the 1937 Skiing World Championships at Chamonix, France, on 13 February. She finished 10th at 6.47.8. [1] In 1938, she was ranked Great Britain's Women's Ski Champion, a position she would hold throughout the lull during the Second World War, until 1949. In 1939, she again competed in the World Championships, this time in Zakopane, Poland. Roe skied in the Slalom on 15 February, finishing 19th with a time of 375.9, and placed 17th in the Alpine Combined on the same day with a total time of 531.4. [2]

At the height of her career, Roe lost years of competition and training to WWII. Following the conflict, Roe became the Ladies' Lowlander Champion and performed on Great Britain's Winter Olympic Team, both in 1948. She was 31 years of age when she competed in the Alpine Slalom (23rd overall, 2:49.6), Alpine Downhill (27th, 2:47.3), and Alpine Combined (23rd, 34.91) at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games, and the first held since the 1936 Winter Olympics in Bavaria, Germany. [3]

Following her career as a competitor, Roe served as the President of Great Britain's Ladies' Ski Club from 1957–1960. She founded the Ski Club Reps Course, Junior Championships, and the Schoolgirl Races. The Schoolgirl Races were founded in conjunction with Liz Fulton, and were originally organized for girls in finishing schools in Gstaad, Switzerland. [4] In 1974, Roe was awarded the prestigious Pery Medal by the Ski Club of Great Britain, a prize instututed in 1929 and named after Edmond Pery, 5th Earl of Limerick, President of the Ski Club, 1925-1927. [5]

Another noteworthy achievement, achieved far later in her career as an athlete, came when she won the Women's Championship of The Croquet Association in 1961, defeating Joan Warwick in the final, - 18, +2, +6. [6] Today, players at the Cheltenham Croquet Club still compete for tournament award called the Isobel Roe Trophy. [7]

Just before her death, Roe appeared in the 1986 edition of The Guinness Book of Records in the category of Most Tiles Held, Women's Skiing, Great Britain. Roe passed away in 1988 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Great Britain.

In addition, on 1 March I received an e-mail from the generous Ken Cooper of the Bowden Croquet Club who passed along this recollection of Roe from legendary croquet great Dr. W. P. Ormerod: "When I knew her first from about 1959 onwards she was a P/E teacher in Cheltenham and looked after her father Commander Roe. My father was a country member at Cheltenham then, and she was a very promising player later winning the Ladies Championship in the 1960's."

Commander R. C. T. Roe [pictured, right] was a longtime secretary of the PGA and manager of Great Britain's Ryder Cup squads from 1935 through 1955.

In the grand scheme of things, Roe losing the peak of her skiing career to the Second World War wasn't among the greatest tragedies of that conflict. Still, one wonders what she might have been able to accomplish had there been Winter Olympic Games in 1940 and 1944, and access to the Alps to continue to hone her skills.

You can now find Isobel Roe on Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isobel_Roe

1916: For the Duration of the War, with the Colours, and in the Army Reserve

Still sifting through "piles" of documents and messages on my computer, I think that I'll post this one today: The "Short Service" enlistment form of George Mills, dated 15 January 1916 [the duplicate copy is pictured, left; click to enlarge]. It notes that the service would be "For the Duration of the War, with the Colours, and in the Army Reserve."

Mills, a self-proclaimed student—although he hadn't attended a school at this point since 1912—entered the Rifle Depot as a private. Fast-forwarding three years, Mills would leave the service in 1919 as a lance corporal. After "The War to End All Wars," it must have seemed as if his days 'with the Colours' were behind him.

I wasn't exactly sure what this 1916 enlistment and the term "Army Reserve" might've entailed entirely, so I checked the British Army's website and found this: "When a member of the Regular Army leaves the service, he or she remains liable to be recalled in times of need, and this group of ex-Regular personnel is known as the Regular Reserve," and "All male (but not female) soldiers who enlisted before 1 Apr 97 have a statutory liability for service in the Long Term Reserve until their 45th birthday."

Perhaps Mills wasn't quite as patriotic as I might have thought when, on 13 October 1940, George was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Pay Corps. George had just turned 44 years of age and had less than one year to go until, at 45, the army would seem to have been unable to recall him as a "regular reserve." But diud they actually recall him to duty.

Now, in 1941, my father [pictured, right, circa 1942] joined the Navy at the age of 24 because he knew the government was drafting every young man in sight into the army. The whole idea of marching through mud and sleeping on the ground wasn't all that appealing to him. "How far can they march you on a boat?" he said. Certainly not the ten miles or more he'd been hearing about! And he never heard of any sailors sleeping outside on the deck, so he dashed to the enlistment office to sign up for the United States Navy before he could have been drafted.

Is it possible George Mills was simply recalled as a regular reserve and plopped into a position as a lieutenant in the RAPC? Or is it more likely that, after clearly seeing that the Second World War wasn't going to be just a skirmish, he volunteered to return to the military in a more self-selected position he might've been able to negotitate as a "volunteer," much like my Dad?

Perhaps it's simpy a coincidence, but I went into George's enlistment papers with Adobe Photoshop and pulled out something interesting. Amid all of the scrawling, cross-outs and number changes, and remnants of departmental stamps on this duplicate copy, the ghost of one bit of writing became easier to see as I tweaked the brightness and contrast of the document.

You can see it, reading "MY PAY CORPS" in block letters above the handwritten assignment to the "Rifle Depot Res" on the "Corps" [pictured, left]. Presumably, those typed block letters in their entirety would have spelled out "Army Pay Corps."

Maybe it's unrelated to the fact that Mills later became a paymaster in that very same corps. Harrow School's archivist, Luke Meadows, has already told us that according to the school's records, after leaving Harrow, "we know that he was in the Rifle Brigade and then transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps (R.A.S.C.) during the First World War between 1916-1919." Oxford's Anabel Peacock affirms George's rank in the RASC as having begun as a private and concluded as lance corporal.

That's the only documentation of George's WW I service that I can find short of spending the £30 or more to acquire his entire service record, and, as a schoolteacher, that would be a frill I simply can't afford. Since there's only a 40% chance George's military record wasn't at least partially destroyed by bombing, it simply doesn't seem a good financial risk for me right now.

Might George, during the First World War, have transferred into the R.A.P.C. instead of the R.A.S.C.? It certainly wouldn't have been the first typographical error we've run into in our study of George Mills and family—RAPC possibly having been misinterpreted as RASC!

The skimpy Wikipedia article [just 3 sentences] on the RAPC isn't much help, but includes one useful sentence, a sentence that would be even more useful if its reference wasn't unrelated to its content. It reads: "Before the Second World War, the RAPC did not accept recruits directly from civilian life, but only transfers from serving soldiers who had been in the Army for at least six months."

What's difficult to determine is the meaning of "before the Second World War." Mills, still a regular reserve in 1940, indeed may have been able to transfer into the RAPC [the Reading barracks from 1942 is pictured, right] without having been serving currently. Rules, at the time, seemed to changing quickly as the conflict escalated.

More information about the situation at the time is be found in the following memory of a WW II paymaster archived by the BBC and dated 21 October 2004:

"I was born into the Army and, when young, lived in married quarters. Therefore when war was declared in 1939, I enlisted in the Army Territorial Service (A.T.S.). Before Christmas I received orders to join the Royal Army Pay Corps at Leicester.

"Factories, some two or three storeys high, had been taken over by the army to store all the pay records. Regular soldiers of the Royal Army Pay Corps were training both newly enlisted men and women and we were all housed in guesthouses or the homes of local people. We worked from 9 a.m. until 7p.m every day except Sunday, when we were allowed to finish at 4 p.m. It was a few months before we were able to have a half-day on Sunday, and, later, we did appreciate having the full day off. As more people enlisted, in addition to some local people being employed as civil servants, we were able to work normal office hours.

Gradually, the regular soldiers were transferred overseas. Then, when women were called up to register for war work, the enlisted men, except for a few on special work, were also sent abroad. When I joined up in 1939, there was one woman to about 30 men. By 1941-42, the position had gradually changed to the women outnumbering the men."

It's likely the gentleman who wrote this memoir was somewhat younger than George Mills, but he also had apparently returned to the service at the onset on World War II, much like Mills himself.

Perhaps George was trained by this fellow. Perhaps George had previous experience in the RAPC that I can't verify and quickly became a fellow trainer.

One thing is for sure: This part of the military experience of George Mills has been kept under wraps. Both Harrow and Oxford have records of Mills' WW I service, but I can't find any authorities boasting of George's WW II service.

Did George Mills spend time overseas during the Second World War? Or was he involved in some "special work" that kept him from being deployed abroad? How did the death of his wife, Vera, in Exmoor in January of 1942 affect George and his military career? Did the "ill-health" that forced Mills to relinquish his commission in 1943, retaining an honorary rank of lieutenant, occur in Great Britain, or had he been assigned overseas when his health declined at age 46?

I invite you to weigh in on these questions with any information, ideas, or informed speculation you may have—and many thanks!

Gone, and Now Only Somewhat Forgotten

It's a hot, humid day here in central Florida and I'm tired of pulling weeds this afternoon. Not everything I've been working on has been here on Who Is George Mills? I've also been trying to build Wikipedia and Shelfari pages for George Mills and his seemingly forgotten clan.

Here are some links:

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mills_(writer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_F._H._Mills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Mills_(MP)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Dorothy_Mills

Shelfari

George Mills
http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1002544068/George-Mills/summary

Arthur F. H. Mills
http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1002557081/Arthur-(F-H-)-Mills/summary

Arthur Mills
http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1002553494/Arthur-Mills/summary

Lady Dorothy Mills [left]
http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1002539814/Lady-Dorothy-Mills/summary

Two months ago there wasn't anything at any of those locations. It may not all be perfect, but it's better than the alternative, which was absolutely nothing.

So here's to the Mills family: Gone, and now only somewhat forgotten!

And may someone always be there to remember the rest of us when we're all gone…