The Royal.

Army Pay Corps Journal

Vo!. IV.

No. 30

Summer, 193 8

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The prize for the current issue has been

awarded to a newcomer, "Stonehenge",
office representa ti ve of the Detachment scattered over Salisbury Plain.

Command Pay Office,

Aldershot, Hants.
June, 1938.

III the photograph of the Army Pay Office ,

Hamilton, 1912, published in the last issue,
the officer was mistakenly described as Lt.Col. Sir John MacClure, BarL Pressure of
space prevents the publication of a letter received from Lt .-Col. G . R. B. Patten, who is
the officer in the g roup, pointing out the
error and the Editors are extremely grateful
for his kindness in drawing attention to the
mistake.

The martial surroundings of Aldershot

have indeed .affected the "Journal" which,
with the current issue, makes its first
appearance in "Blues", a change \,vhich, it
is hoped, will meet with general approval.
The Corps must have seen with pleasure
that our Chief Paymaster, Major-General
H. G . Riley, has had the C.-B. conferred
upon him and the same Birthday Honours
besto'wed a K.C .B . on Sir Frederick Bovens,chen. Sir Frederick has ahvays taken a
great interest in our Corps and to both him
and our General we extend our heartiest
<congra tula tio11 s .
As the last issue was going to print, ne\ys
was received of the defeat of the Corps
Hockey team in the Army Hockey Championship, the match being described elsew here in this number. It was unfortunate,
to say the least of it, that "The House of
R othschild" -as onr opponents' touchline
supporters dubbed us- should have been
sent tottering to its ruin by a side which,
owing to the fact that they "V ere embarking
for overseas, had no hope of completing the
tournament and it is hoped that future years
will see leg islation introduced preventing
the repetition of such a state of affairs.
With the closing dOVii11 of the Army Pay
O ffice s at Lichfield and Warley comes the
end of many years ' association of those
p laces \Nith our Corps. O'mnia mutantur ..
Since the last issue our Corps has been
faced with the task of bringing into effect
the nev,' rates of pay and allowances recently
introduced by the Army Council. This has
left its mark upon our office representatives
w hose notes reflect the stress and strain of
the occasion in their tone and brevity. In
the circumstances, therefore, the Editors
have decided that their offer of a prize of
ten shillings and sixpence for the best notes
in this issue of the " J ournal" shall be repeated for the Autumn issue under the same
conditions as specified in the Spring Num b er .

OFFICERS' DINNER CLUB.

The Annual Dinner will be held this year at the

::'.Iayfair Hotel, B erkeley Square on Thursday, 30th
June. The usual notice will be sent to all members
in clu e course.
THE OFFICERS' CLUB.

The Honorary Genera l Secretary a nnounces the

following information for this year.
Corps ' Neek . 27th June-2nd July, 1938.
Golf Meeting. Wednesday, 29th June.
Club Meeting and Dinner, 30th Jun e.
T ennis }Ieehng, FricTay, 1st July .
I,

R.A.P.C. STAMP CLUB.

New members are required for t he Corps Stamp

Club. Entran ce F e-one shilling. Packets cannot be
circulat ed outsid e the United Kin gdom but members
a bl'D ad are eli gible to send sheet s for t.he pack~ts
which are circulated monthly. For full ll1fOrmatlOn
aHply to the Hon . Sec.-lVIajor C. J. Stait, 37, Glenlyon Road, Eltham, S.E.9.
ARMY OFFICERS ' ART SOCIETY.

Th e above Society exist s for the purpose of affordino' Officel's interested in A.l't the opportunity of
m ~etin g . a nd also provides facilities for the exhibition find dispOSed of thEir works.
}Iem ber ship is open t,o Officers holding , or ha,ving
h eld , permanent commissions in t he Regular Army
or Royal Marines.
The Societ,v is holding its Fourt eenth Annual
Exhibit ion at v t,he RB.A. Galleries. Suffolk Street,
Londo;1. S.Y17.1 from th e 26th September to the 8th
October', 1938 inclusive . H,eceiving day -wi ll be
Saturday, 17th September.
_-\I1V Officer int Erested is invited t.o comm unicate
with:' The Hon , Secretar~T , Colon el L. N. Ma lan,
10, Blenheim Road Lond'on , N .W,8 .

259

,<

/.

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

CO RPS

JOURNAL

THE

------------------------------------

Corps Sports News

~.A.P.C.

GOLFING SOCIETY.

R.A.P .C
Ca') t._. H . R. Beauchamp
(halved) 0
Lt.-Co l. C N . Bednall 0
Capt. R . C Thompson 8
Lt.-Col. R. G. Stanham 'j

13

RA .O.C
Capt. H . S. Mitchell
(halved)
Col. W . E. C. Pickthall
R. P . Bridge
T. G. G o re

MIDDLESEX REGT .
Major H . Phillips
(halved)
M a jor N . P. Proctor
C ap t. M . Crawford
Cap t. ]. R. B. W orton

0
2
2
0

R.A.P .C
Ca pt. H . R. Bea uch am p
(halved)
CaDt. R. C. Tho mpson
Lt. ,Co l. R. G . Stanham
Lt.-Co l. C N. Bednall

0
3
0
0

On handicap it \\'as to be expect ed that

the first two matches sh ould g o ag ainst u s
and Capt. Beauchamp is to be con gr a tu1ated
260

So ended a most enjoyable meetin g on a

o-rand co urse in a \\"onderfu l stretch of
~'olfin o' country where there are nine dift:>
fer entCo golf courses within abo ut a fi ve 1111'1e
radius.
Match v . ~.A,O.C . -Pla yed at North
Hants Golf C lub , Fleet, on 12th May, 1938 .
This m atch is a hardy annual and, as
everyone wh o has ever played in it will
ag ree , is the m ost enjoyab1e and friend.liest
of encounters. This year it \,vas especIally
so, as not only \Vas the result a cl ose thing
but seven of th e twel ve g ames p1ayed were
decided on the last g reen.
F oursomes were p layed in the 1110rl11n g
and we were ab le to go into lunch with the
<:omforting feeling of being on e match to the
good . This match proved to be th e deciding one as, in the aftern oon, fonr sing le
matches \yere won and four were lost.

0
0
0
3

Beauchamp kept up th e form he Ilad

sh own ag ainst Mitchell on the previous day
but was unable to shake off his oppon ent,
\I'hose p itching and putting we re absolutely
dead ly. _Iaj or Philli ps is one of th e few
r emaining golfers who plays in an ordina ry
coa t. This disg uise m ay be donned to mislead hi s op ponents bu t the d ecep tion is soon
d ispe lled by his first tee sh ot.
In :M ajor Proctor, Tho11lpson met an old
adversa ry \\'hom h e has probably defeated cL
dozen tim es in th e last six month s in
fr iend ly e nconnters, This tim e it was Proctor's turn! S tanha m played th e first two,
holes badly ag ainst Crawford and ,,'as n ever
able t o ge t them back aga in . Bednall stood
3 u p on the la st t ee aga inst th e International
Rug'by footb aller , Worton . They \\'ere the
las t couple t o come in and it was an exciting m om ent . If Bednall could win the
r 8th, the match \\ ould be a ti e and each
member of th e t ea m would th en ha ve had to
p1ay an ad diti onal h ole or holes, until a re-

ARMY

suIt was reached. From the 18th Tee Bedna11 and vVo rton both hit good drives, Bedna11' s bein o' the longest.
Worton then
played an il~n shot of about 170 ya rds, rig ht
into the heart of that very closely bunkered
la st g reen and all that Bednall could do "vas
to O'et a hard half. Worton deserves all
credit for p ullin g out a shot like that a~ a
critical moment when it was needed t o glVe
the victory to his side.
The Middlesex, in the semi-final round,
met and " 'ere slaug htered by the victorious
R.A. S .C . side who, \yith their Cambridg e
Blues, won the cup for the second year
runnin g.

on the g reat fig ht he put up aO'ainst

':\1itchel1. Beauchamp seen"1s to prefet flesh
a nd blood to a card and pencil as althouo-h
h e produced scores in the Individual co~
petitions of which most of u s would be
p roud, it requires an opponent vvorthv of
his stee1 to bring out his best.
Lt . -~ o 1. Bednall played good golf against.
C?l. Plckthall, a dour old hand at the g ame\ntl: a ,,'ell earned handicap of 5. ThompsJn
aga ll1 sho\yed flashe s of th e form he produced on th e first day and Lt .-Col. Stanham
having been ordered to g et 5 up ')11 bi ~
opponent, did as he was told .
Our next "o~'ponents we re the Middlesex
R egt ., \yho defeated us by th e narro west of
m argins. To be honest this was a disappointment, as on paper th e lVb:1 ct.h~sex
" -ere not such a good team as our h st
opponents, but Golf is like racing ---things
~1appen \\"hich confound the best judgE:s of
form.

The Army Golf Meeting \\'as h eld on 26th

ApTil and foll o \\'ing days at 1uirfield, over
the Links of the Honourable Company ('
Edinburg h Golfel:s and, for th e seventh Yf.:cU
in succession, the Corps entered a team t o
compete in the Arm y Golf Challenge Cup .
The first two days of this meeting a re
devoted to individual competitions and ill
these an outstanding succe!':s \\"as scored by
Capt. R . C. Thompson . He \\'on the
Na~iol1~l ~lay ing Fields Challenge Cup,
w hIch IS g Iven to the member of the Arm\'
Golfing Society who return s the 101l'est score
under handicap for 18 holes, on eith er ()f
these first t\vo days . Play ing off a handicap
of 5, Thompson h oled this ve ry l ong a nd
testing championship course in 75 strokes.
This 'w as on the first day of the meetin~
and he was one of th e earliest starters
finishing his round at about I I a.m. FrOl~
the monetary point of vie\\" this proved
rather unfortunate for him as many competitors, seeing a nett 70 on th e score-board
decided against entering for the Sweepstak e:
Neve rtheless , he \\'as ab le to pay all his expenses durin g the meetin g \\"hich included
satisfying the need s of man v oth er thirst v
but less successful competit~rs.
.
The Army Golf Challenge Cup, open to
teams of four officers fr om the same unit, is
played for by match play sing les and th e
teams sco re by holes. This is a m ost bloodthirsty method of scorin g- as it is th e dutv
of each I.Tlember of th e t'ea m, " 'hen h av ing
beaten hIS oppon en t by say 4 and, to continue to rub his n ose in th e dirt for th e remaining holes in th e h ope of fini shing 7 up
at the end of the r ound .
The Corps Team drew Cl bye in th e first
round and in th e second round met th e
Roya l Army Ordn an ce Corps, \\'ho we re led
by H. S. ]'vIitch ell , a former A rm y Champion, with the follo\\'in g result : -

R O YAL

SINGLES .
R .A. O.C
R .A .P .C
Capt. H. R . Beauchamp
(2 up) 1 Capt. H . S. Mitche ll
C ol. W . Picktha ll
(1 up)
Capt. R. C Th ompson 0
Lt.-Col. R. G . Stanham
(1 up) 1 Bridge
Lt.-Co l. C N. Bednall
(5 & 4) 1 Co ulthard
M aj or T. A. M eek
( 1 up) 1 Bri e . W . N. Sto kes
Mai o r S. F . Barra tt
0 Bransbury (1 up)
Maj or W. T a nn er
CaDt. A . R. H a milton
0
( 4 & 2)
Lt.-Cel. A. N. Hidden
Capt. ]. R. Burne
0
(6 & 5)

o
o

FOURSOMES .
R. Beaucham p and
H. S. Mitchell and
Th e> mpso n
-! W . Pickth a ll

0
1

0
1
1

H.

"2

PAY

CORPS

J OURNAL
-----------------

R. G. Stanham and
C N. Bednall (4 & 3)
T. A . Meek and
S. F. Barratt (3 & 2)
A . R. Hamilton and
]. R. Burne

1
1

Br.idge and
Co ulthard
A. N. Hidden a nd
W . T anner
W . N. Stc kes and
Bransbury (3 & 2)

o
o
1

?1.
-2

Match v. R.A.M .C.- Played at the Berkshire Golf Club, Ascot, on 26th May, 1938 .
vVe were n ot able to ra ise such a strong
side for thi s match and the R.A. lVLC., ha ving read of our victory over the R .A.O.C. ,
\\"ent into the hi g h ways and byways and
o'athered tog-ether
a most formidable side t o
t:>
,
oppose us.
F our ball foursom es \I' ere ' pla yed in the
rn orning ove r the " Blue" course and our
only victory \I'as that of Beauchamp and
Th om psoll, \\'ho had a better ball score of
6 5.
The Sing les, in the afternoon, ,yere played
on the "Red" course. Th e top match was
the only success , our tail being unable t o
compete against golfers of much lo wer
handicap.
SINGLES.

R .A .P.C
Capt. H. R. Beauchamp
(4 & 2) 1

Capt. R . C Tho mpson

Lt.-Col. R. G . Stanham 0-

Capt. A. R. Hamilton

Maj or S. F. Barratt

M a jc r O . D. G arratt

Maj or W . Ead ie

Capt.

R .A.M,C
Lt.-Col. D. C M onro
M a jo r F. A. Stephens
(1 up)
Lt.-Co l. R . G . Shaw
( 4 & 2)
Co l. F. S. Irvine
(3 & 1)
M a jo r B. J D au nt
(6 & 5)
Lt.-Co l. W. Campbell
( 5 & 3)
C ol. C M . Finny
( 7 & 5)
Lt.-Col. W. P . Croker
(6 & 5)

'.

R. Burne

0
1

FOURSOMES .
H. R, Bea uchamp and
D. C MUl'ro and
o R. C. Tho mpson (5 & 3) 1
F . A. Stephens
R . G . Stanllam a nd
R . G. Shaw a nd
1
-! S. F. Barratt
F. S. Irvine
T
O. D. G arra tt and
B. T. D au nt and
1 A. R. H amilton
o
W. Campbell (3 & 1)
W. Eadie a nd
C M. Finny a nd
o
W. P. Croker (6 & 4) 1 J R. Burn e

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

CORPS CRICKET.
Matches as follows are to be played this
year : 2nd July v. R.A.O.C. , at Didcot.
4th and 5th July v. A.E.C., at Office,'s'
Club, Aldershot. bth and 7th July v. R .A.Ch.D., at
Officers' Club, Aldershot.
Last yea r each match \\-as close and very
exciting and it ,4> hoped that the side, with
most of last year's players ag ain available,
will g ive a goo.d account of themselves.
Major Evers has gone to Egypt, his place
as Captain being filled by Major Barratt .
The latter proved, in a valuable innin gs
during Hle last Chaplains' match, that run s
still flow easily from his bat.
Of our opponents it may be expected that
the R.A.O.C . and A.E.C. will produce good
sides. The Chaplains claim that they will
be stronger than in the past and in this
connection it is \,vith considerable trepidation that one notes the doings of Padre
Steele in the Hampshire County side. At
his best he is a very fine fast bowler.

HOCKEY CLUB NOTES.

Our la st notes were written on the eve of
our Army Tournament match against the
1st Lig ht Tank Battalion, the finalists of
the Southern Command.
Once again we were unlucky in the dravil
and we' had ; therefore, t o travel to Tidworth. Accompanied by a strong contingent of supporters, we arrived there to
find the grouncl in excellent condition and
the weather almost t oo Vi/arm for a strenuous
game of hockev_
As briefly r~ported in the last issue, the
match ended in a heavy defeat for us, 1-6.
The reason for the defeat ,,,,as simply that
our opponents were an exceptionally fine
side and strong in every department. This
does not, however, explain or excuse the
st:;verity of our defeat, which was larg ely
due to our own fault. We played much below our normal form and, although our defence had a g ruelling time throughout in
trying to beat off a brilliant for ward line
several goals were conceded which should
have been saved.
Our forwards were
closely marked and were too slow to be
effective and the wing halves were too much
tied to the defensive to be able to assist in
{ittack. On the other hand, Nye, our centre,
half, played brilliantlv and had it not been
for his tireless efforts \,ve should have suffered an even heavier defeat.

PAY

CORPS

JOl RNAL

THE

Of the two remaining games on our prog ramme, one was dra wn and the other lost
and our final fi g ures for the season Vi1ere :Won IS, dra wn 2, lost 6.
To end the most successful season on
record , a match was arranged a t Aldershot
bet,;veen the Aldershot Office and the Rest
of the Corps-this provided an even and
enjoyable g ame and the score, 3-3, \\"as q.
very fair result. After the lllatch an e~cel
.lent tea was provided by the Staff oL the
COlllmand Pay Office and the Eastern Command Hockey Cup was then presented--by
Colonel G. A. C. O rmsby-Johnson, O.B.E.,
lVI.C., who in a short speech warmlY cong ratulated the team on th eir creditable
achievement.

LA WN TENNIS. '

Opportunity is taken t o remind all members of the R.A.P.C. Officers Club that the
Annual Law n Tennis Meeting \~; ill be held
at Roehampton as usual on Friday, the 1st
July, at 2.0 p.m. Although the final stages
of the level sing les (Musson Challenge
Bowl) \,vill be played and courts reserved for
Officers and their ladies to play other games
of la wn tennis during the afternoon, this
annu al meeting has of late years become less
of a serious la\;\"n tennis tournament and has
come to be reg arded as the annual Corps
"At Home"; the one day in the year on
which Officers and their families may renew
associations formed at other stations, h ome
and abroad, or meet other Officers of the
Corps, perhaps for th e first time
The attendance in 1937 although a larg e
one would no doubt have been g reater had
it been more widely understood that the
social aspect of this meeting is more important than the actual competitive lawn
tennis.
R.A.P.C. v. RA.S.C.
This match, played at Aldershot on Friday, the 20th May, 1938, resulted in a win
for the R.A.S.C . by six matches to twoone drawn. Scores:Capt. R . H. Beauchamp and Lt.-Col. R.
G. S tanham (R.A.P.C.) beat Capt. F.
L. Saunders and Capt. H . Leuty 6/ 3,
6/3; beat Major E . N. W. Birch and
Lt. H. D. Street 6/0 , 6/I; lost t o Lt.
H. St. J. Yates and Lt. S. H . A.
Scroope 4/6, 6/8.
Capt. V. W . Rees a'n d Col. G. A. C.
Ormsby Johnson (R.A.P.C .) lost to Lt.
H . St. J. Yates and Lt. S. \ H. A.
Scroope 2/6, 0/6; lost to Capt. F. L.

ROYAL

ARMY

Sat.lnders and Capt. H. Leuty 1/6, 0/ 6;

lost to Maj. E. N. W. Birch 'a nd Lt. H.
D.. S treet 6/3, 5/7, 5/7
"Lij. S. F. Barratt and Capt. 1. S. Hogge
(R .A.P.C.) lost to Lt. H . S t . J. Yates
and Lt . S. H. A. Scroope 0/6,2/6 ; lost
to Capt. F. L. Saunders and Capt. H .
Leuty 3/ 6, 4/ 6; drevv with Maj. E. N.
W. Birch and Lt. H. D . Street 4/6 , 8 / 6.

RECORD AND PAY OFFICES.

SMALL BORE RIFLE LEAGUE.
The first Annual General Meeting of the
Rifle League \\"as held at S laters H otel, Lond on, on the 29th April, 1938 , and was ,veIl
attended. A copy of the Minutes has been
forwarded to all Clubs.
A very important discussion took place
reg arding the position of some offices being
unable to complete their fixtures. Previous
t o the Meeting being held, it had been decided t o keep the closing date open until
the I5th May t o g ive the Clubs concerned
every chance of completing their remaining
matches, and these Clubs were notified that
if they could not fir e their matches. the
points would be aVi1arded to the opponents
where such opponents had fired their Cards;
but if neither side fired their matches these
vvould not be taken into consideration in
compiling the Final Leag ue T able . H ov,-. ever, awardin g points in such circumstances
is n ever satisfactory and does not convey the
true position of a Club in the L eague Table.
It was ag reed, on a motion by S.S.M. W. C.
Gear (Salisbury) , th at in future fixtures
must be fired strictly according to the programme and only when a st rong case can
be forwarded will the Committee be empowered to allow an extension of time .
It ,;vas also decided that Clubs shall be
fnrni sh ed with the results of matches fired,
weekly, thus maintaining the maximum
amount of interest . It "vi11 be remembered
that this procedure was carried out until
last year and had to be discontinued m;ving
to so many matches being delayed .
The strength of team s was also altered.
In future each team shall consist of five
members and all five scores shall be
counted. This may help offices with smaller staffs, who 'would like t o enter a team in
both Divisions.
The General Secretary suggested that an
Annual Match be inaug ura ted composed of
' te ~ ms of.~ix drawn from (I) Officers, (2)
Other Mlhtary Ranks, (3) Civilians and (4)

PAY

CORPS

JO "RNAL

Ladies. This \\'as carried unanimously .

Silver Medals\vill be a wa rded to the W 111ning team.
The Aldershot office submitted a proposal that the affairs of the L eague should
be vested in a Committee of three, all dra\\'n
from one office but not necessa rily fron1
A ldershot . This being put to the Meeting
and no other office volunteering to carry
out the duties Aldershot were asked and
accepted the position and the question of
su bsequent Committees \\'ill be discussed at
each General Meeting.
Captain H . H. 1\Ialpass \\-as elected Chairman, in place of Captain J. R . Burne
(Aldersh ot ), ,,-h o is shortly leaving Aldershot.
Mr. W. H. Self was re-elected Hon . Secretary. It was left to Aldershot to nominate
the Committee. (The meeting to decide the
members on this Committee has not yet been
held. )
It was unanim ously decided t o forwa rd a
letter of appreciation to Colonel W. J. H.
Bilderbeck, O. B .E ., R.A.P.C. , on the
occasiQn of his g ift of a Silver Challenge
Cup to be h eld each yea r by the \vimiing
team in Division II, also a similar letter to
the H on. Secretary of the L adies.' Rifle
Team on the oc~asion of their remarkable
performances and wishing them continued
achieve men ts .
Mr. W . H. Self was the recipient of the
S.M. R .C. 'Distinguished Service Award'.
This was g iven in recog nition of his work in
connection \Nith Small Bore Rifle Shooting
and embraced not only the R ecord and Pay
Offices Rifle L eague, but the Command Pay
Office Rifle Club and the Aldershot T own
Rifle Club, extending to a period of over
fi ve years .
The Leag ue has now finall y closed for
the Season 1937-1938 and there was a rernarkable finish in both Divisions , particularly in the 1st Division where ,Aldershot , Hilsea and Chatham tied with 26
points each.
Aldershot obtaining the
highest aggreg ate number of points thus
being awarded first position and win the
S hield for the third time . The aggregate
points obtained by these three teams were:
Aldersh ot 783 I, Hilsea 7808 and Cha tham
7727. Three teams to beat Aldershot \;vei-e ':
Hilsea, Chatham and Perth.
. ,,
The 2nd Division shows a similar state of
affairs, A ldershot and YOTk tied with -29
points each, - and ag ain A ldershot being
represented by their 'B' T eam wel:e awarded
.2 6 3
..
.

THE

ROYAL

ARlVIY

.t he first place having obtained 7711 points

. against 7565 of York. Aldershot are thus
to be congra tula ted upon being the first
Club to hold the 'Colonel Bilderbeck' Challenge Cup.
Mr. W. H. Self (Aldershot) won the
S. lVLR.C. League Silver Medal, having obtained an average of 99.16 points.
Mr. Bermingham (Hilsea) was next best
\yith an average of 98 .75.
According to a decision reached when it
was decided to have two Divisions, t\N O
Clubs will be promoted from the 2nd
Division and t\VO Clubs releg ated from the
1st Division. The Clubs which will be thus
promoted from the 2nd Division will be dis-cussed at the next Committee Meeting.
London and W. O . & E.C. will be the releg ated Clubs.
So until the next campaig n commences,
I must thank all Club Secretaries for their
able assistance in the past and trust we shall
have a large membership to fight for the
fine trophies which we possess. To the promoted Clubs, all success in their new
sphere and to the releg ated ones, better
luck . To the members of the Corps who
were selected to compete in the Regular
Army Team in the recent Inter-Services
small Bore Rifle Competition, we convey
our hearty congratulations, and to the ladies
who have done so remarkably well, I am
sure that everyone will wish them further
successes . Theirs has been a wonderful
a ttempt.
W.H.S.
LEAGUE T A BLES.
Final League Tables, 1937-1938.
DIVISION I.
Club

_lld el'sho t A
Hilsea A
Chatham
P erth
'Warwick A
E gypt* ... .. ....
Edinburgh . ..
London
W .O. & E. C.*
* 1 Jl{atch not
Clu b

.-Igg rcga tc
Fir ed 11 '0 1' D ra1un L os t P Oill t s Pa i1li s

16

0
3 26
7831
13
0
3 26
7808
16 13
0
3 26
7727
16 . 9
0
7 18
16
8
0
8 16
16
6
1
8 12
lE'
4
0
12
8
16
3
1
12
6
15
1
0
14
2
in cl ud ed. neit,h er Tea m fired .
Division H .
lfj

F il-e d

iVall Draw n

Aggregat e
L os t Pa i n is Pai lli s

Ald ershot B .. . 16 14
0
2 28
7711
York
2 28
16 14
0
7565
Hilsea Bt ..... . 14 10
1
3 20
Salisbury
16 10
0
6 20
Warwick B ...
16
8
2
6 16
. Sh anghait . ... . 14
5
1
8 10
Canterbury ...
15
0
4
11
8
Shrewsbury .. .
16
2
14
0
4
Malta
0
15
14
2
1
t 2 matches to come from Shangh ai.
::: 2 matches to be reported versus Hil sea .

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

Corps News-Officers
From "The London Gazette"
The 1938 Birt h day H onours.
Order of the Bath .
C.B. (Military
Division.)
Riley , Major-General Henry Guy, Roy al
Army Pay Corps, Chief Paymaster at th e
W ar Office and Inspector of Army P ay
Offices.
To be Lt.= Colonels.
l'IIajor and Staff Paymr. H. VV. Taylor ,
25 4 3 8 .
lVIaj or and Staff Pay mr. R. H. Smy th ,
M.C., 12. 5 .38 .
To be Majors a n d St aff Paymrs.
Major and Pay mr. R. H. Sayers, M. C. ,
3. 4.3 8 .
Capt. (Bt . .Major) and Paymr. E. T. C.
Smith, 25-4.3 8 .
To be Majo rs.
Capt . and Bt. Major (Asst. Paymr.) J.
Feehally, under prov. of Art . 177 R.W.,
1. 4 38 .
Capt. and Paymr. A. E. Barlow , r8-4. 38.
To be Paym rs. (on prob.).
Capt. S. Vickers, R . Fus., 1.I.38.
Capt. H. R. Beauchamp, Leicester R. ,
1.I.38 .
Lieut. S. C. Rog ers, N. Stafford R.,
1.1.38 .
To be Lieut. (Asst. Paymr.).
Staff Sg t. Major W. F . Oram, 8-4-38.
Ret irement s.
Lt.-Col. and Staff Paymr. R . VV. Kell y
retires on retired pay, 3.4.38 .
Major (Asst. Paymr. ) T. Hard, ha vin g
attained the age for retirement . 8-4 .38 .
Lt .-Col. and Staff Pay mr. R. W . P. Sands ,
O. B .E., having attained the age for retirement, 25-4.38 .
Major (Asst. Paymr.) W. Moran, O.B .E.,
lVLC., retires on retired pay, 1.6. 38 .
B I RT H .
D U NN ILL.-,-On April 23rd, 1938 , at a
nursing home, to Lilian, wife of Captain A.
L. Dunnill, of 12, Silverc1ale Avenue, Hove
-a brother for Anne.
DEAT H.
. G ODFREY.-on 2nd June, 1938 , at Long
View, Lime Reg is, after a long illness, Lt.Col. S. Arden Godfrey, R.A.P.C. (retcl.),
ag ed 61.

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

P AY

POSTINGS- OFF I CERS .

Barnes , Lieut. G. A., Chatham (R.E.) to
Exeter, 20 .5. 38 .
Barton, Major L. I. F., Lichfield to vV ool\\'ich, 20.5.38 .
Beauchamp, Captain H. R., Aldershot t o
Southern Command, 2.5.38 .
Bre\wr, Captain, E. C ., Leith to Aldershot, 20 .5.38 .
Burne, Captain J. R ., Aldershot to '\iVoking , 20 .5.38 .
Cockbmn, Lt .-Col. A . A., York to
Southern Command, 11. 5.38 .
Ela11l , Lieut. G. E., Canterbury to
S hrewsbury , 20 .5.38 .
Ellerby, Major H. F. St. G ., Hon g Kon g
to Perth, I7. 3.38 .
FleaI', Lieut. H . , \iVool\Vich to D eptford,
-S -4 38 .
Fryer, Ca pt. P. R., Lichfield to P erth,
20.5.38 .
Gedg e, Lt . Col. P. A . , Southern Command to L eith , 4.4.38 .
Holman, ' Lieut. S., Warley to Barnet,
20 .5.38 .
Horsford, Capt. R. T. O 'B . , Warley t o
C anterbury , 20.5 .38 .
Ing pen, Capt. R. L. L., Preston t o
Southern Command, 1.4 .38 .
Line , Capt. G. F .. Aldershot to Warwick ,
20 .5.38 .
Macnamara, Lt.-Col. J. M . , Northern
Command to York, 20.5.38 .
Nelson, Lt .-Col. G. W., Southern Command to York, 11. 5.38 .
Oliver Capt. L., West Yorks . Reg t . ,
joined Aldershot on prob ., 3.4.38 ; Alders hot to Barnet , 2.5.38.
Ora m , Li ~ ut. W . F., Commissioned
L eith, 8 .4. 38 .
R eid , Capt . N .. East Y orks . , Reg t.,
join ed London, now Aldershot, 25-4 .38.
Rog ers, Lieut. S. C., Ald ershot to Scottish Command, 2.5.38 .
Say ersj lVIajor R. H., M.C., Barnet to
S outhern Command, 4-4.3 8 .
Smith, Major E . T. C . , Woohyich to Hilsea, 25-4 .38.
Stl1bbs, Lieut. H., Eastern Command to
Woolwich , 20. 5.38 .
Sweeny, Capt. T. H., Woking to Leith,
20 5 .')8.
Tl1ke, Capt. A. J. S., York to Northern
C011111land , 20. 5.38 .
Vickers, Capt. S ., Aldershot to Shrewsb ury , 2.,::;.38.

C,) RP;:,

JOuRNAL

PROMOTIONS AND APPO I NTMENTS.

T he 1938 Bir thd ay Honours.
Order of the British Empire. }I.B.E. (Mili t.ary
Di vision ) ,
RowJ alld , No . 7657558, 'W arra nt Offi cer Class II
(Staff Quartermaster Sel'geant) H enry H er bert,
R oya l Army P ay Cor ps.
To be W arr ant Offi cer Class I and a ppointed S. S. M.
7658134 S.Q.M .S. H . ' V. Douse, 13/ 1/ 38.
1418868 S.(..\.lVL.S . F . V Jlun dy, 8/ 4(38
5610240 S. Q.l\I.S. F . R. E adE., 2(5/38.
T o be W arran t Officer Cl ass " and ap pOint ed
SQ. M.S.
6839-894 S / Sgt . S. G. Jlu dd, 17(2(38.
7657891 S / Sgt. A. E. ,~ . Acl ams, 9/ 3/ 38.
7657972 S/ Sgt. F . Bu tler , 1/ 4/ 38.
1416908 S/ Sg t. T. H . Dav ies, 13/ 4/ 38.
7657952' S/ Sgt. Vi! . H. Davis, 25/ 4/ 38.
7733348 S(Sgt. H. G. Ba rtlett, 27 / 3/ 38.
1415698 S / Sgt. J . Plun kett, 24 / 4/ 38.
7657946 S / Sgt. G. F . Bloss, 24 / 4 (38.
1408677 S/ Sgt. F. C. Ulph , 2/ 5(38.
7733717 S / Sgt. S. Jon es, 2,7 /4 / 38.
7657965 S j SgL V. J. K empton, 11 / 5/ 38.
T o be Staff-Sergeant.
5822555 Sel'g t.. H. C. E. Bftshftm , 21 / 1/ 38.
1047650 Sergt. 1. Bowen , 25 / 1/ 38.
644 3008 Servt. F. J. Ba rrett., 30/ 12/ 37.
6190218 Sergt. T. ' N . Mills , 9/ 1/ 38.
6838233 SErgt. ' N. Ji. H ewett., 5/ 3/ 38.
1413873 Sergt. G. R. Spence, 18/ 3/ 38.
5329855 Sergt . L . G. CulLom, 1/ 4/ 38.
1050687 Sergt. J. A . Bes ent , 8/ 4/ 38.
1417205 Se rgt. D. H. E. G. Cl'itchon, 15/ 4/ 38.
7249363 Sergt. T . F . Pond , 2/ 5/ 38.
To be Sergeant.
53'33380 L / Sgt. G. H . Davies , 12/ 1/ 38.
7260489 L / Sgt. H. A. F. Ri chal'd son , 29 /1/ 38.
5493894 L / Sgt . A . F . El good, 25/ 2/ 38.
518003'6 L / Sgt. J. Bindley, 29/ 1/38.
7880432 L / Sgt. VV. V . Davies, 30/ 3 / 38.
6844500 L /Sgt. E. J. Monks, 30/ 3/38.
4799362 L (Sgt. H. P ocldin gton, 17/ 5/ 38.
T o be Lan ce S.ergean t .
402557 Corporal G. A . GE.ddes, 7/ 2/ 38.
2694191 Cor poral \iV . T . Coles , 8/ 2/ 38.
4189815 Corporal B. Flear , 18/ 2/ 38.
824346 Cor poral G. H. Cave, 27 / 2/ 38.
7536290 Corporal C. J. Storey, 28 / 2/ 38.
822355 Corporal E. Vl . Till ey , 11 (3/ 38.
5249196 r.ol'poml A . Wi1li s. 2/ 4/ 38.
7882893 Corporal A . P. Gilb ert . 9/ 4/ 38.
4189961 Corporal A. Copestak e. 11 / 4/ 38.
2817648 Co rporal F. A . Cozen s, 1 / 4/38.
3384652 ( 011)Or al R. L. Ba rn es. 14 / 4/ 38.
819882 Corporal C. Beeves, 29 / 4 /38.
2655230 Corporal J. D. W eath erall, 3'0/ 4/ 38.
7012205 Co rporal G. H. McClu sk ey , 1/ 5 /'38.
2319314 Cor poral D . F. Bilnbury . 24 / 4/ 38.
5568745 Corporal R F. Mockl er , 7 / 5/ 38.
T o bll Corporal.
4745165 P t. G. Thi gh . 1/ 4/ 38.
5568693 P t.e. ' N . J. Bla t,ch. 1 / 4 /38.
406978 Pte. J. C. Gregson . 1/.4(38.
7261953 Pte. J. W. R eed . 1 /4 /38.
2323275 Pte. M. J . Churchill 1/ 4/ 38.
(Continu ed page 270)

265

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

THE

ROYAL

ARMy' PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

WAR IN SHANGHAI

Retirements

PART I
By Captain F. W. C. THOMAS.
Prior to the trouble, it was always interesting to see the Japanese sentries on
guard and to note how the children and
civilians all bowed Vi/hen passing them.
(The J apanese compel the Chinese to do
this too at the present time .)
These barracks command the quarters of
the Russian Regiment of the S.V.C., though
the Regiment has now obtained other
accommoda tion in the old P & 0 Bank
building on the Bund.
A number of Japanese refugees left for
J apan on this day "vhilst the Chinese City
Government of Greater Shanghai moved its
headquarters to the French Concession .
Large numbers of Chinese troops v,'ere to
be seen arriving by bus and train"and taking up positions behind sand bag barricades and emplacements in the Chapei Area.
They appeared smart and well equipped but
no artillery or A.A . guns appeared to be
with them.
The Whangpoo was blocked at a point
just above the Bund in the French Concession . The Chinese sank several sma ll
Japanese steamers, junks and barges for
this purpose.
Generally there was an air of suppressed
excitement and large numbers of Chinese
fla g s were to be seen displayed from the
windows of shops, offices and houses "'hilst
sporadic outbursts of fireworks served to
celebrate rumours of Chinese successes in
the North .
On ' Au oust 13th the Ministry of Finance
ordered a ll Chinese banks to close their
doors for two days. This- did nothing to
allay the fee ling of uncertainty in financial
and business circles and many Chinese
residents of Hongkew a'nd Chapei commenced to seek safer quarters in the French
Concession and International Settlement.
The stage \\' as fast being set for hostilities which were to prove disastrous in 10S3
of life and property, to ca use misery aud
homelessness to thousands and thousands
of Chinese and seriously to upset foreign
business interests and cloud their outlook
for many months.
A g lance at the map which accompanies
this portion of my article \\'ill SflO\" th~

T was hoped that "when, on July 7th ,

1937, troub~e broke .out ?etween Ch~na
and Japan 111 the Tlents111 and Pekmg
-areas, it would be prevented from flaring up
"in the region of Shanghai.
This "vas, however, not to be and"' t-he first
'incident of the undeclared war between the
two countries occurred on August Ioth
when a Japanese Officer and his driver ,I,i ere
shot whilst in the vicinity of the airport at
Hungjao .
On August nth, nine Japanese ships
fro111 the 1st Japanese Battle Fl.eet anchored
in the mouth of the Whangpoo. This
brought the number of their naval ships
there to twenty-seven. The new arrivals
were cleared for action and immediately
's ent landing parties ashore in Hongkew.
On August 12th additional parties of the
Japanese Naval Landing Party were landed
and great activity was noticed in the Naval
Landing Party Barracks.

"

LIEUT.-COLONEL R. W. P. SANDS , O.B.E. ,

who retired on 25th April, became an Acting Paymaster in September, 1914, and
served abroad in, amongst other places,
Chanak and North China. He formed and
was Secretary of the Officers ' Club, Kilia,
Turkey, and 'was the first Captain cf the
R.A.P.C. Golfing Society.

t
(Above)
MAJOR T. HARD retired on 8th April after
nearly forty years' service. He transferred
from the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1898,
thus following the footsteps of many other
members and Old Comrades of the Corps.
He served at stations where no longer a pay
office exists, such as D orchester and Cape
T own.

(Left)
lIEUT.-COL. R. W. KECLY joined the Army in October,
1896, transferred to the t:orps two years later and
retired in April whilst serving as RegltTlental Paymaster at Leith. In his younger days he played for
Hamilton Academicals " and last season won the
. Caledonian United Services Billiard Handicap.

: :;!{56

~ NANfiHI1J
/'fo r ...... :;~ .. , If

These barracks, incidentally, are very

:modern and are built of ferro-concrete. The
lower half consists of a parade square and
room is also available for use as garages for
the numerous motor cycles, sidecars, motor
.cars and lorries belonging to the Japanese
Navy. The ,yindows were fitted with steel
-shutters and all the entrances ,,-ere capable
)f being closed at short notice and were
:also proof ag ainst s111all arm fire. The roof
is nsed as a signal station and communication is ma1.nt'a:tll'ed . from t4ae,r,e with the
Japanese v,;arships in the riv~r. Durin o' the
~ghting , bombs were actllally dropp!ed on
[ts
any effect on the build-aug_roof but w.ithout
,

267

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

g eneral layout of Shanghai and the principal places and localities mentioned by me.
Aug ust 14th was destined to be the most
eventful of the Sino Japanese conflict, at
least in the vicinity of Shanghai.
By this day, British and American Troops
were in a state of readiness, the Shanghai
Volunteer Corps had been mobilized and the
gates to the outside of the city had been
closed at midliigh t.
Pinning their faith to the sanctity of the
settlement and French Conc2ssion, Shanghai business men and civilians generally
commenced the day as usua1.
At 10.15 the first incident of war, apart
from the slight skirmishes and one or two
burnings in Chapei the previous day, and
the first hint of dang er to the settlemen t
and concession residents appeared, "w hen
three Chinese planes endeavoured to bomb
the Japanese \yarships in the Whangpoo.
Amongst these ships ,,as the now famous
"Izzy", the flagship, which was later to be:
the object of many similar fruitless attempts
to destroy her. Three bombs also fell on the
HOl1~:rke\\ Wharf killing two British and
\\olll1ding many Chinese coolies.

The sudden explosion of the bombs and

the answering anti-aircraft fire came as a
great shock to both foreig n and Chinese
residents.
The Chinese residents of Hongkew,
Chapei, Yangtsepoo and even Kiangwan
streamed over the Soochovv Creek brido"es
into the settlement to the more secure
quarters South of that creek. The sight was
most impressive, and, from the top of the
bui.Iding from which I look:ed, it appeared
as lf an ant drive was in progress.
Immediately after this, the foreign banks
closed their doors and temporarily suspended business. Later these banks reopened in safer temporary quarters further
a\\"ay from the Bund and for a few days it

268

CORPS

JOURNAL

\':as a matter of great difficulty to obtain

cash except for most urg ent needs . The"
Chinese banks closed completely except for
"\\"ei-wah" cheque business, i.e., internal'
tra nsfers between custom ers' accounts.
Luckily it \\"as possible to make adequate
arrang ements for immediate and future requirements for the British g arrison .
It\\"as an unusual sig ht to see the foreign
staffs of the "banks armed \\"ith batons and
revolvers whilst other members "w ere on
duty with the S.V.C. Later, when the situation had eased OWil1 g to the arrival of
troops from Hong Kong , members of the
Volurt\ ee.r Corps \",ere g iven restricted leave
and it \\"as no uncommon sig ht to see bank
clerks \yorking in Khaki ,,"ith their arms
and equipment nearby .
To revert to the war.
At 1.30 p.m. an air raid \\"as made by the "
Japanese planes, this time on Hungjao airfield . The raid \'vas, however, driven off.
Then came the great drama, later to give
this day the title of "Bloody Saturday". At"
4.3 0 p .m., four Chinese planes appeared
from the \\"est of Shang hai and, flyin g down
the course of the Whang poo, ag ain
attempted to bomb the Japanese Consulate
and naval ships near there.
They were g reeted by such a hail of anti-"
aircraft fire that the planes turned tail and
proceeded
Westward
without
having"
properly reached their objective .
The Chinese planes, ho ,,"ever, released
their bombs, t vvo fallin g on, and outside the"
Palace Hotel, and the junction of Nanking
Road and the Bund, whilst t\\"O more fel1 on
a cro\ded road junction, a few y ards from
the Great World Music Hall (a Chinese"
place of amusement) on Avenue Edward"
VII .
The former two were evidently intended
to fall into the Whan g poo, a fev\l yards
away, and the latter t\\"O must have been intended to fall on the Race Course, for it:

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

appeared that the Chinese pilots \,vanted to

rid themselves of their heavy loads prior to
landing at their air field.
' Vhatever the reason for these bombings,
I could not think that they were other than
the result of g ross misjud g ment and "\Vindup" .

The scene \\"as almost indescribable. Outside the Palace Hotel were hundreds of dead
and wounded, whilst the fifth floor of the
hotel was a shambles. Portions of bodies
"vere biown into the loung e and entrance of
that hotel and all windows in the vicinity
were completely shattered.
Man y of the injuries were inflicted by flying glass and there is on record the case of
a forei g ner who, thou g h clad in a white suit
wh en decapitated by a piece of g lass,
sho wed n o spots of blood on his clothes! His
head was ne,"er found. This is mentioned
to illu strate the terrific force of the explosion .
At the other scene of bombing , the loss of
life was far w orse. Thi s road junction was
a!\\"ays very con g ested \\"i th pedestrian
traffic and, o\\"ing to the influx of refu gees,
was more cro\\ded than usual. The tvvo
bombs burst exactly at the intersection of
the roads and penetrated th e road into a
main sewer beneath. When the smoke and
dust had subsided, hundreds and hundreds
of bodies were to be seen lying in various
stages of disinteg ration.
The g utters
actu ally were runnin g with blood \\"hilst the
unfortunate occupants of motor cars involved in the disaster were being incinerated in their blazing cars . Th e force of the
explosion had rendered most bodies nude
and it was a horrible sig ht , late in the day,
to s~e lorry load after lorry load laden with
bodI es and fra g ments of bodies passin g out

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

towards the west of Shang hai to speedy

burial. The more intact bodies were laid in
ro\\"s along a nearby street, to a wait iden~
tifica tion and en coffin ing . La ter they be ~
came a potential menace to health and were
disposed of in cemeteries on the fringe of
the settlement.
I am submitting copies of photos taken
and \\hilst the less horrifyin g ones will
probabl y appear in this issue, those who see
the more g ruesome photos will fully realise
the terrible havoc wreaked in these two
bombings.
l\'[ention must be made here of the excel~
lent w ork performed by the Municipal
police-Fire Brigade-Boy Scouts and
Volunteer helpers 111 removin g and caring
for the \\"ounded survivors and also in clear~
ill g the dead from the scenes of the bomb~
ing s. Their work 'was invaluable and tire,
less. N early two thousand perished this
day: it \\"as one whichwi11live long in our
memories and served to illustrate what a
future \\"ar will mean to an unprepared
civilian population.
By this time reinfQrcements, American
and British, were rushin g to Shanghai and
the existing garrisons \\"ere at their posts
on the perimeter.

Reports from the Japanese in the north

admitted that they \\"ere encountering un.
expectedly stiff resistance by the Chinese
troops. The latter were to surprise the whole
world
later by their
resistance , even thouo-h

.
b
lacklllg modern A.A" g uns, heavy artillery
and adequate medical and supply services.
In my next article I hope to describe the
Sincere Store disaster and to show the prog ress of the Japanese offensive to the time
of the victory march throu g h Shanghai.
(To be continued")

THE

R OYAL ARMY

(continued from page 265)

4123153 Pte. S. Beattie, 1/ 4 / 38.

41231"78 Pte. C. B. Dola n, 1/ 4/ 38.
4388257 Pte. P . J. Stack, 1 / 4/ 38.
833146 Pte. C. K R Gidlo w, 1 / 4/ 38.
2612837 Pte. D . H. Moody , 1/4 j38.
6011212 Pte. K M. Hayes, 1/ 4/ 68.
4689432 Pte. L. J. W. Tipler, 1/ 4/ 38.
2695170 Pte. A . C. Ma.cfa rlan e, 1/ 4/ 38.
5725523 Pte. W. P . R aleigh , 1/ 4/ 38.
6913D88 Pte. H . D. Ciark. 6/ 4/ 38.
7885497 Pte. K J. Mund~y , 14/ 4/ 38.
ContinuantJe in the Service beyond 21 years.
7657270 S.S.M. A. Wills, until 12/ 5/ 39.
7733209 S.Q.M.S. H. G. Hancox, unt il 4/ 2/ 40.
7657559 S.Q.M.S. F. Ivlura.kami, until 16/ 7/ 39.
7733083 S.S.M. J . Elli s, unt il 6/ 8/ 42.
4065 S / Sgt. A . C. K ent, unt il 9/ 9/ 39.
7657505 S.Q.M.S. H. J. L ent, un til 31 / 3/ 39.
7657870 S.Q.M.S. J. K. C. Owen, until 11 / 4/ 39.
7040473 S / Sgt. v'r. tlnowden, until 17 / 9/ 39.
7657901 S.S.M. C. V. K Roohr, until 29 / 1/40.
7657:405 S.Q. M. S. W. G. vVhite, until 3/ 11 / 39.
7733234 S / Sgt. C. S. Swann, un t il 7/ 9/ 39.
7733251 S / Sgt. A. V'l . Wickes, until 19/ 2/ 40.
7733151 S.Q.M.S. F . C. Banttt, until 16/ 1/ 40.
3434645 S.Q.M.S. R Becco llsa ll, until 17/ 9 / 39.
7657617 S.Q.M.S. K C. Boswell , until 22/ 10/ 37.
7657770 Sergeant K G. H allett, until 4/ 1/ 40.
7733236 S.Q.M.S. J. J. Warren, un t il 20 / 1/ 40.
7576209 Sergt. F. Camp , un t il 2/ 5/ 39.
ReEn.g aged to Complete 21 years' Service.
5493894 Sergeant A. F. EI good .
2212092 Sergeant F. W. H arris .
7880521 Sergeant J. R. ' iVoan .
1865609 Sergeant C. P. 13arling .
4385265 Sergeant R A. Meadows .
7880432 Sergeant W . V. Dav ies .
Extension of Service to Complete 12 years.
6341297 Sergeant A. V. Phillips.
3907641 L / Sgt . L. R.. Spoo ner.
2693339 L / Sgt. A. S. Dun can.
Extension of Service to Complete 9 years .
2655230 Corporal J. ' iVeathel'all.
2322406 Private C. S. Topli ss.
6085791 Private J. D . Bush .
5383476 Private D . W. Fox.
833652 Private W. A. W alk er.
7262353 Private C. F. Bl'ophy.
281949q . Privat e D. G. Grahnm.
753632It ", Private C. B. W. Youn g.
841786 "Private H. Makin.
7885955 ' Private C. A. S. Hunter.
6086484 Private J. lVlaul e.
3054817 Private 1. F. Lyle.
850901 Private A. G . i iV a rd .
7262943 Private K W. Cooke.
3447729 Privat.e F. Davi es.
3855880 Pri vate W. R CUl'rie.
3854297 L / Sgt. F. A.. Astley .
5769731 L / Sgt. W. K Stel'rett.
4269034 Pri vate J. K . Gik hri st.
826879 Private A. E. MUl'l'ay.
2928276 Private J. M. Stewar't.
.2819282 Priv ate N. Brown.
4269664 Private R B. J ohn ston.
7884789 Private H . D . M:lin.
5436546 Pr! vate C. F . K. L~ n !.
7885115 PrIvate K. W. J. Ogi lvie.

PAY CORPS

JOURNAL

2695073 Priva t e A. McIntosh.

825116 Private H . H . Luckhurst.
7262913 Private C. Sutherland.
822355 L .Sgt. E. , /1,1 . Tilley.
5107450 L / Sgt. L. W. A. Hink s.
54894 Private C. Mitchell.
2655206 L / Sgt. M. L. Walton.
1869490 L / Sgt. J. K Black.
Probation ers.
Tra nsferred 31st Aug ust, 1937. S~rYice to count
from 1st Sep temb er, 1967:4269034 Eusili er J . K. Gilch rist, Royal Northumberland l'usiliers.
826879 Gunner A . E . MUlTay, Royal Artillery.
2928276 Pl'l'.'ate J . M. Stewart. Cameron Hdl's
5181453 Private F. Rice, Glouc~stershire R egt . .
2819282 Pnvate N . Brown, Seaforth Highlanders.
4269664 Fusilier R. B . Johnston Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. '
3384444 Pr~vate G. L . Impens, E ast L ancs Rgt.
7884789 Pnv ate H. D . Main , H,oyal Tank Corps.
5436546 Printe C. F . K . Long, Duke of Cornwall's Li ght Infa ntrv.
788115 Privat.e K. W. J. Ogih:iE , RT. C.
26950'73 Guardsman A . M cIntos h, Scots Guards.
825116 Pn vate H. H. Lu ckhurst" Royal Berkshire R egiment.
7262913 Private C. Sutherland , RA .lVl.C.
54894 Private C. Mitchell , ILLS.C.
The underment ioned r.ejoined at Canterb ury and
res umed probation, 20/ 4/ 68.
6398204 Private P. Gee-W illi am s, Royal Army
Medical Corps.
Restored' t o the Establishment.
2320788 L / Sgt. E. H . Halliday, ,,-.e.f. 1 / 4 / 38.
Re _transfer,r ed to former uni t .
54571 Corpora l J . Smith, Royal Army Serv ice
Corps in the rank of Private, 15/ 3 / 38.
Returned to Unit .
The undermentioned ceased to be attached to the
Royal Army Pay Corps on probation:407268 Private C. A . .d exte r.Stabbins, Royal
Army MEdical Co rps, 23 / 2/ 38.
6398204 Private P . GeeWilliallls, Royal Army
Medical Corps, 23 / 2/ 38.
7885308 Private R D . H owe, Royal Tank Corp-s,
2/ 3/38.
3054176 Private H . G. Gardner, The Royal Scots,
9 / 4/ 38.
317682 Trooper ' N. Moorcro ft, The Royal Scots
Greys , 19[21/ 38.
846032 Gunner H. W. Dun st,an , 6th Medium
Bdgade, R.A. , 26/ 4/ 38.
Discharges.
773S208 S.Q.i\L S. J. Bisset, 4/ 3 / 38.
3434366 Sergeant A. P. Hailston E, 7 / 3 / 38.
7657303 S.Q.M.S. H. S. Sanderso n, 31 / 3/ 38.
29251 Sergeant K. Ba~uley , 1/ 4/ 38.
7657621 S.Q ..l\f.S . W . E. Butler, 14/ 4/ 38.
7657266 S.S.M. H Brindley, 1 / 5/ 38.
7658035 S /Sgt. G. E. C. P entn ey, 1/5/ 38.
7733825 Sgt. W. H . Jones, 3/ 5/ 38.
5039866 S/Sgt. G. \V. Pa shley, 2/ 5/38.
Death.
7733181 S.Q.M.S. F. Y. Branson , 17/ 3 / 38.
Change of Name.
7657559 S.Q.M.S . F. Murakami . Name ch a nged
to Frederick Moss , by D eed Poll, at
Hong Kong on 8th March, 1938.

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JOURNAL

Our Chess Page

Now Black's Bishops are very strong.
10. KtQ 4
10. QB2
11. KtKt3
11. RQl
12. QK2
12. PQR4
13. BQ2
13. PR5!
He does not in the least mind ' the loss of a mere
rook.
14. BR5
14. QB3
15 . BxR
15 . BQR3
16. KtR5
16. QK3
17'- QQ 2
17. BxR
18. KtB3
18. BxP
19. KxB
19. RxB
20 . KRl
All forced .
20. PR6!
21. RQ1
21. PxP
22. KtxKt
22. RxKt
Res igns, fer the pawn at Kt7 cannot be stopped.

The Open,i ng.

CORRESPONDENT writes to know whether
. some parag raphs e n the idea~ behind the various
openings could be 1l1cluded 111 thiS column. He
says, for example, " It is all very well know1l1J'! that
1. PK4 PK 3 constitutes the French Defence, but
w hat is the aim of th e French D efence? " N ow it
is true that the names of the openings, apart perhaps
from their historical interest, have no importance at
all in themselves except as' a 'means of identificatio n
and cl assification, and it is a very pertinent chess enquiry to ask the why and wherefore of any oarticular
opening. The space available in these columns, of
course, precludes the possibility of a thorough treatment of this branch of the ga me, but a few general
notes may ne t be out of place.
We wo uld begin, however, not with the consideration of any particular opening, such as the French
D efence, but with a broad classification with regard
to all openings. Since White has the first move, i .e.,
an adva ntage in tempo (small, it is true, but apNeciabl e), he is said to have the attack, and as a corollary Black js conducting a " D efence" . Hence D efences
are usually associated with some scheme of pl ay from
the Bl ack standpoint, and Attacks usually, though
not always, associated with a White plan.
Secondly we must disting uish between what are
called i'Open" and " Cl ose" types of positions in the
earlier stages c.f the game. The former (mainl y aris
ing from 1. PK4 PK4) lead to quick development
on both sides, early clashes in the centre, looseness
and fluidit y of the pieces, battles of vivid movement,
fierce attack and parry. "Close" games (e.g., 1. PK4
PK3) avoid early clashes in the centre, development
proceeds more slowly behind the pawn skeleton, and
the war is one of manoeuvre for the accumulation of
minute tactical advantages .
In the next issue we hope to examine briefly one
example of each of these two types of e pening .

Game No. 50.

And here is an amusing skirmish from Berlin in
which the White player over reached himself. (T here
may be an international moral in this.)
White
Black.
Pal me .
Michel.
Reti 's Opening.
1. PQ4
1. KtKB 3
2. PQ5
2. PB4
A new .aod very strong line.
3. PB4
3. PK 3
4 . PKB3
4. PQKt4
5. PK4
5. PxBP
6. KtxKP
N ot sound.
6. PxKt
7. KK2
7. QR5ch
8. KB2
8. Q xPch
9. KtB3
9. QB4ch
10. PKKt4!
10. PxP
11. BxP!
11. QK 3
12. QxP
12 . QxP
13. RKtl
13. KtB3
14. QxBPch
14. QR6
15. RKt3
15. KQl
Resigns, for the Queen is lost.

Paul Keres.
Thi s you ng Esthonian-he is onl y twenty two- is
putting his country on the map of the chess world
and it is more than probab le that he will be knocking at the door of the world championship before
very long. H ere is an example of his forceful style of
play, a style which is mos t attractive as he is never
averse to sacrificing material for pos itio n.
Game No,. 49.
Black.
White.
P. Keres.
A. Dunkelblum.
Q.P (King's Indian Defence).
1. KtKB 3
1. PQ4
2. PB4
2. KtKB 3
3. PKKt 3
3. PK 3
4. BK2
Too tame for a player of the White pieces.
.
4. BKt2
5. Cas tl es
5. Castles
6. PQ4
6. PB4
7. KtxP
7. BPxP
8. KtR3
8. PxP
9. PxB
9. BxKt

End Game.

27I

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--------------------This position comes from a Kiev T ourney, Korchmar playing the Wh ite pieces. He continued:1. KtKt4 !
1. PxKt
If the Rook moves White still continues as in the
text.
2. QxKt!
2. QQ2
Of course if the Q is taken mate in three foll ows
by RK8ch .
3. KBI
3. QQ5!
RxPch was threatened, and if instead Black Dlays
, .. PK.Kt3, 4. R(Kt3)K 3 wins .
4. RxP!
4. QxQ
5. RKt8ch! !
Resigns, for if KxR, mate in two .
Perhaps as brilliant a series of five consecutive
moves as we have ever seen.
Solutions to End-Game from Play.

The response to the invitation given in our last

number to adjudicate two positicns from pl ay was
somewhat disappointing, and only one solver succeeded in furnishing the correct proof for both.
Position A. (White. K at KB3 ; p's at QR7,
QKt6 and K4. Black. K at QRI ;
p 's at K4 and KB5.)
This position was aband c ned as a draw by two
ma:sters many years ago, but White can win as follows: 1. KK2 KKt2 2. KQ3 KRI 3. KB4 KKt2 4. KB5!
Until now Bl ack's passed pawn could not advance as
the White King cc uld return and capture it. But
now White has burned his boats. H ence 4 .. . PB6 ;
5. KQ6 PB7 6. PRS(Q)ch KxQ 7. KB7 PBS(O)
B. PKt7ch KR 2 9. PKtS(Q)ch KR3 10. QKt6 Mate.
The Black Queen is helpless.
Position B. (White. K at QKtS P at QR4.
Black. K at QBo. P at KR2 .)
Thi ~ position proved more diffi.cult to our readers
who, with one exception, agreed as to the draw but
tripped up in the proof.
The onl y drawing move is 1. PR5 I Then follows
. . KKt4 (forced, otherwise the Dawn goes through)
2. KKt7 KxP (again forced for the same reason)
3: KB6 PR4 4. KQ5 and the White King is back in
lIme to stop and capture the pawn .
We w ill examine the line here w hich misl ed our
readers as it is in itself a most interesting play-study.
The line suggested was: -1. KR 7 PR4 2. PR5 KB2 ?
3. PR6 PR5 4. KRS PR6 5. PR7 PR7 sta lemate. But
instead at move 2 Black plays . . . KKt4 I Then
comes 3. PR6 PR5 4. KKt7 PR6 5. PR7 PR7
'6. PR8 (Q) PR8 (Q)ch and we diagram the position
now reached:

ROYAL ARMY
OLD COMRADES'
PRESENTATION OF
COLOUR

PAY CORPS
ASSOCIATION.
STANDARD AND
BELT.

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF ARCH.A NGEL

October, 1918 to May, 1919

An interesting ceremony took place after the

Annual Gen ~ ra l Vleetin g of the Old Comrades ' A sso ciation a nd just before the Annual Dinner \I' h en Sir
Herb ert J. Creedy , G.C.B. , l\:. .C .V.O ., P ermanent
U nder Sec retary of State for War , presentEd a
Standard to the A ssociation. Th e Standard was in
t he Corps Colours, double-sided, with th e Corps
cres t and motto embrOId ered a nd m easured 40 inchES
by 50 inches. The pol e was smmo unt ecJ by the
COl'PS badge of the crown a nd lion. A Yery hand _
some colour belt also 111 the Corps colours with the
badge and motto in gold embroid ery, t he <rift of the
Chief P aymasters wa s also presented .
"
Sir H erbert, in h a nding over th e bdt a nd Standard
to Colonel Armstrong, as Presid ent of the Association said " I wo uld lik e to say wh at an honour yo u

By Lt.-Col. A. W . COXON, R .A.P.C. (Retd.).

larger force \~/ as sent out .
We concen tra ted at Bordon Camp and
after several days' delay , entrained about I I
in the morning for an unkno wn destination .
We travelled by a circuitous route via Chertsey and Richmond, across the Thames at
Kew and then by Canonbury to Finsbury
Park on the Great Northern (L.:K.E.R.)
main line. vVe tried to get some food at
York but railway sandwiches \yere all we
could get. Then on t o Edinburgh, over
the Forth and Tay Bridges, finall y reaching
Dundee about 3 in the morning.
We found t wo la rge tran sports close to
the railway sidings. The second \\'as occupied mostly by French Troops.
O ur ship had a good number of American
troops on board. If we had n ot kno\\'n, we
should soon have g uessed \\'hen we found
pieces of chewing g um "parked" under the
edges of the saloo11 tables.
We sailed about 8 in the morning in com-

H E following does not profess to be

anything but a brief collection of incidents which r remember after a lapse
.<:>f nearly twenty years. It was a most interesting and, in many ways, amusing experience, thoug h at the time it was pretty
:strenuous as r was single handed from
October t o }\larch or April, when an
.assistant was sent out, and we wo rked seven
days a week.
The object of the expedition was, as far
.as r could ga ther, to assist the White Russians in the South under Denikin by withdrawin g some of the Red Russians or Bolsheviks to the North and, also, to prevent
Germany from establishing a sea base in the
.Dwina and White Sea.
r received very vague instructions from
the War Office. r do not think they had
very clear ideas as to what the duties would
be. There \\'as already an acting paymaster
there whom r \\'as to relieve, as a much

J llll strnted P ltoloc m/I

have done me in asking me to com e here and make

this prE-sentati.on and I hOp'e t his will Jlot be my
last cLppearance. It is most appropriate that you
should have a Standard for your Old Comrades'
Association, which yo u can ca rry on those occasions
when ex -Serv ice men h ave t heir gatherings and I
h ave the g reatest pl E-as ure in prese nting this on-e to
you ; I und erstan d that th is belt h as been given by
the Chief Payrnasters : it is a wort hy addition. " He
then spoke of va riou s events in t he hi story of the
Corps and ooncluded by sayin g " All my best wishes
go to yo u fo r your future h appin ess a nd success" .
Colonel Armstl'ong r eplying said " I a,m very proud
to w elcome t h e Perman Ent Under Secr etarv of State
for \ iVar here to-night. H e h as don e ma~1Y th in gs
for us , of which few of you can have any knowledge
and I am gla d he is to remain with us a little longer.
I can only say on your behalf a,n d my own how
grateful we are to him for comin g h er e t.o-night ."
E.J.W.B.

Headquarters Staff and Heads of Departments G.H.Q. Archangel-Stlptember, 1919.

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pany "w ith the other ship and escorted by a

destroyer. The voyage \" as calm and uneventful' except that a French soldier died
and was buried at sea , We stopped for a
few minutes for the burial and could see the'
body cove red with the French flag on the
other ship and then being slid into the
vYa ter ,
R ound the N orth Cape (our escort had
left us after passing the Shetlands) and so
into the White Sea and the river D wina to
Archangel. The approach to the town is
uninteresting , being flat and marshy ,
I soon found the Pay Office and the n ext
day I took over from my predecessor ,
I found that Serg t ,-Maj or Humphreys
had been in Petrograd for a time with a
Supply Mission before our people had to
clear out ,
He had acquired a good knowled o'e of
Russian , a difficult lang uage "w ith g hastly
look ing characters , which was a most useful asset, I suppose he can no ViI speak Persian as h e h as since been employed in that
country ,
, I found that my duties we re chiefl y in the
Issue of r ouble n otes to various imprest
holders in the t own and g etting it up to
the troops at the fr ont by various means,
This paper money \NaS a perfect nightmare, there being four or fi ve different sorts
of n otes, Th e old Czar n otes ; a larg e number of those issued b y the local Bank; a
kind of bond w hich increases in value at
reg ular intervals like a S avin ""o's Certificate ,
and the K erensky notes , These last were
for 40 and 80 roubles each and were printed
in sheets containin g , I think, ten notes
each,
These one cut off \Nith scissors as required
the result being a piece of paper about ~
inches by 2 , These n otes had no number
and we re evidently being printed asfa ~t as
the machines could work, and then
smuggled across ,
Aft er a tim e the local Bank evidently became anx ious as to their liabilities and
announced that they "would perforate all
notes for a certain period if the holders
would bring them to the bank, After this
period n o unperforated n otes w ould be
recognised ,
According ly I took a first instalment of
my supply in a suit case, and beheld an
official solemnly manipulating a small hand
machine and perforating about 6 or 10 notes
at a time, I imag ine he was the only one

CO RPS

JOURNAL

doing this , The perfora tion consisted of

the letters of the bank's initials ,
When th e cashie'r saw the amount I had "
broug ht he had quite a shock and told me(I had an interpreter with me) that it "vould
take a long time, I explained that I had
plenty m ore to come and eventually got
them all done,
Of course there ,vere still a larg e number
of unperforated n otes in circulation , Our
m en had an obvious method of o'ettino' over
this difficulty , If one tha t was"" not ;erfora te~ came into their possession th ey put i~
agam st one of the others and with a piu reproduced the m ystic letters, A close inspection would sho w tha t they were not
punched,
I n ever saw any coins ; kopeks, 100 to a
rouble , v,'ere nothing m ore th an postaO'e
stamps printed on stiff paper, Of cOU1;e
these soon became almost illeo'ible and
dirty ,
""
My princip le source for the supply of
roll;bles was the N ,A, A ,F ,I. \\'hich did a
roar ing business, there being practically no
sh ops wh ere any thing useful could be'
boug ht. H ow they k ept up their supplies
all through the winter I cannot ima o'ine the
n earest ice-free harbour bein 0 ' Mu; ma nsk
'"
400 miles away as the crow fli ""es,
The chief difficulty was t o get the money
t o the front, especiall y in the winter.
The rail way station \vas at Bakharitza on
the other side of the river, and a train left
daily (I believe) for a town about r oo miles,
a way , where \'vas one brigade , and then by
w heel or sleig h t o the other points in the
line ,
On on e occasion I lea rnt tha t the G, O ,C,
(now S ir E,dmond Ironside) was g oing to
pa rt of the hne by aeroplan e, so I asked him
if he vi' ould tak e a pa rcel of n otes which
were req uired at the place to w hich he was,
going , He ve ry kindly agreed and I still
h ave his receipt dated December r 8, r 9 r8,
for "a parcel said to contain r 50,000 roubles
for H ,Q, D wina Force",
By the beg inning of November the cold
weather set in and w e were issu ed with our
Arctic clothin g , most of which was suggested by S ir Ernest Shacklet on from experience g ained in his Arctic expeditions.
The ph ot ograph g ives a g eneral impression
of its appearance, I need scarcely say I
was not in the habit of sitting dovm in the
forest as depicted,
The cap was a very saucy looking one of
274

THE

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AR MY

P AY

T h e Auth Ocj.

, eal skin \\ ith flaps to tie over the ears and

under the chin \\'h en extra cold . The t op
,,'as of \\'hite cloth and in t h e fr on t the
R .A. P. C. badge on a blu e groun d . A sh eep
skin lined long k h aki coat , nndernea tL
\"hich one \\'ore a thick leather ,,'a istcoat .
Our legs \",ere en cased in long thick woollen
stockings an d lastly \\'h a t we re kno\yn as
"Sh ackleton " boots . T h ese \\'ere m ade of
white canvas , and very la rge, th e idea being,
t h at they sh ould have a certain sort of g rass
p ut inside to k eep the feet\\'a nn, I n ever
t ried the g rass dodge, as having very long
fee t I could on ly just get a pair large
en oug h, These boots h ad very t hick lea th er
soles a11CI ",ere fas ten ed round th e legs \\'ith
tape . Th e g loves \\'ere thick ,,' oollen . on e
division for thumb and rest of fin gers t ogether. T hese \\ere fasten ed together with
tape passin g ro un d the back of on e ' s n eck.
The Sh ac kletol1 boots \\'ere a ll right for
wa rmth, but th e thick soles made it diffi'cult t o k eep one's feet on th e slippery sidewa lks. I ,,'as g iven th e tip that this migh t
be overcome by n ailing p ieces of felt on th e

CO RPS

J OU R NAL

soles.
Sh acldet on, who cam e over from Murmansk to see h ow hjs ideas \\'ere wo rkin g
out , told the following stori es. I h ad 1<nO\\'n
the fa mons explorer as a boy , his father
being a docto r t wo h ouses a \\'ay fr om my
h ome , H e ,,'as coming to lunch ,vith me
and , ca lling for me at the office on the way ,
h e asked if I \\'ould mind \\'alkin g in the
road , as it \\'ouId n ot do for him to be seen
fa llin g in his o\\'n boots .
Goino int o al1 offic e on e d ay h e found a
soldier \\earing the Sh ackleton boots and
ask ed his opinion of th em, The soldi er rep lied, " T hey ' re alri ght ind oors but n o
b lin king use outside".
Out on th e road h e met another soldi er
no t \\'earing h is boots and ask ed him \\'hy,
onl y to be told , " \\Tell , you see , I'm g iving
my ruddy rud der a rest". It is n eedl ess to
add that th ey h ad n o idea " 'h o h e ,,'as.
Before leaving L ondon I boug ht a special
th ermometer for recording very low temperatures, This I hung outsid e m y bedroom
\,' i.ndo\\' at the Mess and from the b eginning
of J anuary t o end of Feb ruary I kept a chart
of th e temperatures " 'hich recorded a minimum on the 18th F ebru ary , \\'ith 32 below
zero or 64 degrees of fr ost.
T he h ouses \\'e re k ept \\'arm with double
\y indo\\'s an d dou ble outside doors , A larg e
st ove is built in at the corners of a dj oining
r00111S, stok ed \\'jth logs. The office ,,'as
war med by ce ntral h eating. One morning
\\'e fo und th is \\'as n ot workin g and , as it
was impossible to \york in th e cold, we
closed the offi ce for the day.
\l\Th en the thermom eter goes do\\'n to a
certain level a pa rt icul ar fl ag is fl o,Yn on the
flagstaff on the T O\\' n H all and th en n o
child ren go to school.
Of conrse th e river D\\'ina soon fr oze and
om hospital ship, th e P . & 0 , K aly an
and the French cruiser \yere fast for several
months , Yo u can im agine the appea ran ce
of t he ice round th ese ships aft e!' a fevil
\yeeks .
One saw a fe\\' m iserable reind eer with
sleighs in th e to\\'l1 , \\' hich look ed out of
place besid e the electric trams which ran
all th rou o'h the ",inter.
The 1\Iess I joined h ad been a h otel. There
\\'ere about six bedroom s, a bathroom and a
large dining room and ante-room.
There \yas an excellent g rand pian o in
th e dinin g room " 'hich \\'as ve ry useful

THE

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ARMY

wh en we had a g uest nig ht. O n one occasion

\'Ve had several Russian officers and a \\ellknown Russian actor, }\/[. Davidoff, who \yas
acting in the local theatre . He brought a
g uitar w ith him and insisted on sing ing
songs to it . Of course we h ad to applaud
him, which he took to mean that \Ye ,,'a nted
more and it ,vas with difficulty that h e
could be induced to stop .
. I vvas in charge of the musical arran gements and at the end, instead of playing the
Rl~ ssi an National Anthem (which n o lon ger
eXIsted after the Czar's death) , in th eir
-h onour, we sang "Auld Lang Syne" in the
usual way , holding hands all round the
table . What the Russian s though t it ,,-as I
don't know. Of course ,ye ended u p \yith
"The King ". The meal ,,'as quite simple as
there \NaS n ot much to be had. Whisky ,\'as
cheap at the N .A.A .F .I. and one of th e
Russian officers in the Mess had p resented
the Mess "vith some rare vodka . I don't
think anyone cared for it and I personall y
though t it ve ry nasty,
\}.Jh en the winter \\"as over we had th e
R .A. P.C. staff photog raphed. The photo
requires a little explanation to account for
th e apparent large number and the t\yO

PA Y

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J OU R NAL

ladi es .
Of t}l e t otal numbe r of m en sh O\\'11, I do
n ot thl11k m ore than fi ve altogether actualhd id pay duti es , Th e others were Ji1en \\'h~
had been invalided from the froIlt and ",ere
detailed for the Pay Offi ce. As far as I can
rem em ber they acted as orde rlies . Th e t,,'o
ladies ,,'ere Russia ns who had lost practically all their belongings. Sergt. Ma jor
Humphreys engaged them to do some of the
simple \\'ork, such as keeping the loose leaf
accounts of the locally raised Russian F orce .
They \\'ere not very much u se and, of
course , Humphreys \"as the on ly one of u~
,,'ho could t eac.h them in Russian .
Russian accounts, both a t sh ops and the'
cashier' s at the Bank , are kept by an abacus ,
a p rimiti ve form of cash reg ister . It consists of a frame containing wires , on which
a re beads of several colours,
On e colour represents so man y k opecs
(roo = I rouble), When the total reach es
one rouble, a rouble bead is moved up and
the kopec beads put back ; " 'h en ten rou bles
a re reach ed, a ten rouble bead is moved up ,
and so on , It is a lso u sed every ,,'h er e in
J apa n ,
The m ost s triking building in Arch anger

P ay Office St aff .

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Sea, which was still covered \yith large

blocks of ice, we passed Hammerfest, the>
most northern town in Europe. It is a
centre for the cod fi shing industry and even
at a distance the smell of the fish ,;vas very
n oticeable,
We then passed throug h some of the Nor\\'egian fiords vvith the midnig ht sun shining brilliantly, a g rand sight, and finall y
into the Atlantic by the Lofoter islands .
Luckily we were still in the Arctic Circle
for soon after, in the middle of the nig ht ,
the lookout Sai\' a fl oating mine dead ahead,
and our course was changed so as t o avoid
It. If it had been dark \'\Ie should probably
have hit it and I mig ht n ot have been writing this,
We passed S capa Flow almost exactly at
the time " 'hen the Germans we re scuttling
their ships and finall y sailed up the Forth,
uuder the Forth Bridge to Grangemouth,
\\'here I t ook train for London .
Altogether it had been a most interesting
eig ht months in the extreme North, ' of
\\'hich I h ave tried t o relate the things that
remain in m y memory and which I hope
" 'ill have been found interesting reading.

is the Cathedral w ith its ornate cupolas. All

the churches h ave smaller cupolas in \\"hich
h ang the bells. O n festi va l days, anyon e
wh o likes can climb to the belfry and jang le
the bells, Judg ing from the .continual noise,
it is a popula r form of amusement,
I attend ed on e evening se rvice at th e
Cathedral.
There is a lot of singing,
notable for the deep bass voices in the choir.
One has to stand all the tim e as there are
n o sea ts. The collecti on goes on con tinuously, th e official s passing in and out
among the congrega tion .
A curious ceremony takes place on Good
Friday. Each \yorshipper t ak es a candle,
which is lig hted at the Archbishop's candle,
These candles a re carefully kept alig ht even
in the open air , as the faithful by this act
symbolise the search for Our Lord's Body.
The priest s have a very unkemp t appearance, with a mass of black hair, an d shabby
clothes, One of them was popularly kno\\"n
as "Golli\yog" .
By the end of March the winter ,,'as p ractically over and great blocks of ice and larg e
pieces of land , often with a tree on them ,
came fl oating down the river. Soon the " 'ild
flowers appeared like mag ic and, a little
later, the mosquitoes,
These ,,'ere the
laro'est I have ever seen . Where they got
to in the winter I cannot think, but I sup pose they get into the houses and hibernate ,
It was a treat to see the sun for m ore
tha n two h ou rs a day, for in December it
r ose about I I and set about I p.m.
By the middle of May it \\"as possible t o
read at midnig ht, thoug h being just outside
the A rctic circle, the s un did set for an
hOllr or so .
About this tim e more troops arrived
under Genera l G roga n , V.C. H e and his
staff were received by the local big wig s \\"ith
the traditional Russian offe ring of bread and
salt. A mong them \\"as Lt . - Co~one l (then
Ma jor) Garratt, who, after a few da ys, took
over from me and a\\"eek later I sailed as
the only passenger on a smallish boat th at
had broug htmunitiol1 s from England
throug h the 'White Sea in th e " 'inter, 'w ith
the help of an icebreaker .
S he h ad to be docked for a long time
while the dama ge don e t o h er hull can sed
by the .ice pre~sure was repai red. Even
then it was n ot cou'sidered that she was safe
enough t o face the open sea for long'er than
was necessar:y. So after crossin o' th e Vl hite

( Co17tinu ed fro m page 272. )

Now despi te the drawish ap pearance Black wins,
the case being one of classic record. Play, takin g its
longest variation, may proceed : - 7. KR7 QQR8ch
8. KK t8 QK4ch 9. KR7 QB 4ch 10. KKt8 QQ3ch
11. KB8 QB1ch 12. KKt7 QK7ch 13. KB1 OK1ch
14. KKt7 QQ2ch 15 . KKt8 KKt3! The point. There
a re other variations but thi s position can be free d
in any case in a fe w moves. H oweve r White plays
now he is helpl ess to prevent the threatened mate .
P robl.e m No . 26 .

Author unknown.

White to play and draw.

Correspondents who sent a ttempts at soluti c ns to
th e End'games from play are co rdially thanked for
their interest. Al one W .E. ) (London) was correct
as to both ,
') - -

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THE

Royal Arnly Pay Corps

Old Comrades Association

I{ EPO RT OF TIiE PROCEEDINGS OF
TH E T EN TH ANNUAL GENE RAL
MEE TI NG.

The Cha irman in su b mitting th e annual

repo rt and stat em ent of acco unts fo r the
year 1937-38 st ated th at they r efl ected th e
g rea test credit on a 11 concerned and some
e xc ~11 e nt ~\ ' or k mu st have been d on e to
achleve yeh a sa tisfactory result . Colonel
Mack enzle proposed an d S ,S .1\I ajor H O\\'ar d
seconded the adopti on of t h e r eport a nd
sta tem ent of accou n ts . Ca rri ed un animou sly .

The Ten th An n ua l Gen era l Mee t in g \\'as

h eld a t the Baltic R estaurant, L ead ; nhall
S tree t , E.C.3 ., on F riday , 29th April, 1938 ,
a t 6 p. m .
T he Ch air ,,'as occu pied bv t he Presid ent
Colonel J . C. Armstron g , "C.B ., C.M .G.;
Colonel Commandant R .A .P .C., support ed
by lVI a jor Gene ral Ri ley, Brigadier T oIler !
Colonels Ma ckenzie, O r111 sby -J ohnst oll
T odd, Young , Cliff, Ch arlton, Du esbUl';
and M r. S h arp, Ch ai r man of t h e Committ ee.
T he Ch airm an c011. o r atu lated the m embers on such a larg e attenda n ce and called
u p~n the H onorary Secr etary to rea d th e
n otI ce convening the m eetin g .
. The m inutes of the N inth Annu al :Meetm g .\\'ere read, confirmed an d sig ned by t h e
ChaI rm an. There \\'ere 11 0 m atters arisin g'.

A P J~opositi o n t~ al?l end R ule .') . 1. to read

Mem ber.s su bscn ptlOns shall be 2/ 6 per
year. L lfe membership can be obtained
on paym en t of 2 2S. od. in on e sum " .vas
p roposed by Colon el D u esbm y 0 11 beh alf of
t he Committee , w h o said the si - fo r th e
fi rst y ear , vas a stu mb ling block to n ew
m em bers and if it was dropped we "'ould
g et m O.re of. th e youn g er ll1 e l11 b er~. Seconded
by Ma jor Lldst on e and ca rried u na nim ously.
cc

Colonel Cli ff p roposed a hea rtv vo te of

tha nks to the r etiring Offi cers ~nd Commi ttee for their good \\'or k during th e past

Chairman and Committee , D.C.A .

278

Ilb,st r ntcd Photocrnf t

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pressure of business. Ten yea rs ago, I \\'as

C hief P ay m aster E astern Comm and and
\Yen t to inspect th e Barn et P ay Office. In
the Central ection I sa I\' a big book on the
Serg eant Maj or' s ta ble and ask ed if it " as
the ledger. Mr. Brown replied , 'No . That
is th e O.C .A . R egist er', kno \\'ing that I was
No . 2. I sa id, 'I sup pose the Colonel ComTllandant is No . I', and h e r eplied, ' No , I
am No. I , but don ' t tell the Colon el Comm andant' (laug hter). Well , I h ave k ept
the secret t en yea rs and if an y man d eser ved
t o be No . I it is M r. BrO\\'ll e . H e is t h e
fa ther of the Associati on and h e h as.
\\'atc hed over its welfare \\'ith a fath er' s lovino care . . \Ve o \\'e him m ore t ha n \\'ords of
mine can expr ess and althou gh \\'e d eeply
r eg ret h is deci sion to g ive up the duties, ,.ve
cannot but acknowledge his lon g and faithf ul services and h ope th at for man y yea rs to
com e we sh all see his cheery face at these
m eetings. I prop ose that h e b e g iven an
h on orarium of 25 and that Serg t . P ond the
Assistant H onorary Secretary be g iven an
h onorarium of 5. " A ft er re marks by M aj .
Gen eral M usson, Cap t. Mills and Col.
Young , the Ch airman said " th e co rrect idea
of this is t o k eep it as an h on orarium and
decide th e am ount at th e ann u al m eetin g ,
other wise it is likely t o becom e a fix ed
charg e. On this occasion I am\\'illing to
p ropose its increase. It is to r em ain a ma tter t o be brou g ht np at th e annual meetin g
and I think we g et good valu e for our
m on ey. I sh all feel it an h on ou r to second
Colonel Mackenzie's p roposal. " The p rop osition \\'as then put to the m eeting andcarried unanim ou sly .
M r. B rO\\'lle th en sa id " I a m d eeply g ra teful to Col. Mack enzie and the Chairman for
t he very kind words they h ave spoken , I
h ave always don e all I coul d to ad va nce t he
interests of the Association. I am r eOTetfully r elin quishin g the duties of H on y .
Secre ta ry , b ut th er e comes a tim e \\'h en
A nn o Domini g ets h old of ever yon e and I
fee l that th e tim e h as arri ved ",h en I had
bette r g ive u p . It is a great p leasure t o me
to be su cceeded by m y old fr iend and com r arl e Ma jor Lid ston e, wh om I will assist in
eve r) way . It is n ot the h onora rium r
worry about , bn t the spirit in \,yhi ch it is
g iven to m e . " (Applau se .)
The Chairm a n then a!" ked th e m eeting t o
stand in silen ce as a tr ibu te t o the mem ory
of the ir departed comrades , especia lly th ose
\\'ho h ad passed on since the las t m eeting .

yea r, seconded by Ma jor Kin g h am and

carried u na nimously.
The Ch airman pr oposed t ha t th e fo11o\\'- ,
ing mem bers of the Old Committee be reelected :- Mr. Sha rp, as Chai rman , Ma jor
F eeh ally, Lieut . Thom pson , Mess rs . Thurgood, Down, S.S.Ma jors Mitchen er, Syme,
S .Q .lVr. Sergt. L ent and Colon el Duesbury as
H on orary T reasnrer. ' This was seconded by
Major Spilsb ury and carri ed u naniJl1 ou sly .
The Ch airman said it was with deep reg r et that he learn ed t ha t Mr. Browlle n o\\"
felt t ha t he m ust relin q uish th e positi on of
H on orary Secret ary , ,yhich h e h ad h eld and
carr ied on so ad m irably fo r th e past ten
yea rs, it was a person al loss to himself, but
he knew that pr essure of business left him
little tim e t o hi mself . H e was p leased t o
say th at Majo r Lidston e had ag reed t o act
and h e p roposed that h e be elect ed H on orar y
Secretar y . This was seconded by Colon el
Duesb ury and carried un a nim ou sly .
T he Chairm an said h e was p leased to say
they 'would h ave the services of M r. Browne,
who h ad ag reed to act on the Committee in
the place of S.S .Ma jor Mundy , \\1 h o h ad r esig ned , o \\'in g to ch ang es of st ation . This
was second ed by :Mr. S harp an d carri ed
unanim ously .
The Ch airman p roposed th at S taff Serg t.
P onel be elected Assistan t H on orary Secretary, the work h ad g rovvll ve ry mu ch and
h e had a lread y done g ood wo rk in h elping
Mr. Bro\\1n e d uring t h e past yea r. Second ed
by Colonel C rmsby -John ston and Ca rried
unanim ously .
Colonel Duesb ury sa id tha t as A ld ersh ot
,:v a~ n <?t rep resen ted on the Comm ittee, th ey
deslrecF to take advan tag e, this yea r , of the
second parag r ap h of Rule 10 and add an
add itional member t o th eir nu m ber. Alder shot was desirous th a t S.S.Ma jor P ott
sh on ld be their repr esentative and h e p roposed th at he be elected a me mber of the
Committee. Thi s was seconded by Colon el
Ormsby -J ohn ston a nd ca rried un anim ou sly.
M r. Thurg ood in proposing a vo te of
thank s to the retiring au d itors, Lt .-Col.
R obson an d M r. Bell, sa id : " Eve ryon e is
satisfi ed with the work d on e and as a
pll1~i shm en t for th eir misdeed s I propose
th e~r r e-election . "
Thi s was seconded by
Ma jor Booth and carried un a nirnou sly .
~ ? l o n e l . Macken zie said : "It has been m y
p n vllege 111 previou s yea rs to p ropose th e
g rant of !'Ul h on orarium to th e, H on . Secretary . A s yo u kn ow h e is retirinoowin bo ' to
0 '

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number being 363 :

The Chair was occupied by the President,
Colonel J. C. Armstrong, C.B., C.M.G.,
Colon~l Commandant of the Corps, who
had Su- Herbert Creedy on his right and
M~. Bovenchen on his left, the other guests
bemg Mr. WatherstQn and Mr. Ivimy. Supporting the Chairman were Major Generals
l\lusson, . Riley, Brigadier ToIler Colonels
MackenzIe,
Young,
Ormsby-J ohnston,
Todd, Bilderbeck, Charlton, Cliff, Oldham,
Dnesbury, Lt.-Col. Robotham, l\lajor Lidstone, Captain Beech, Messrs. Sharp, Thnrgood and Bro\\ne.
The tables H;ere tastefully d ecorated and
in addition to the "Roll of Honour" the

The Hony. Secretary called the "Roll" and

the meeting stood in silence for one minute.
Mr. Sharp proposed a hearty vote of
t~~nks to ~he Colonel Commandant for preSl?1l1g; thIs was seconded by Major General
Rlley and carried with acclamation.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 6-40 p.m.
E.J.W.B.

,~

TENTH ANNUAL DINNER.

The Tenth Annual Dinner of the Old
Com.rades' Association took place at the
Balttc Restaurant,
Leadenhall Street
E.C.3, on Friday, 29th April, 1938 . Ther~
was a record muster, all ranks, past and
present, being well represented, the actual

286

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- - _. - - -- - - - - - - - -

Eastern Command Hockey Cup, \\'on by the

Corps Hockey Team occupied a prominent
place in front of the Chairman. The Nimbus Orchestra of Ex-Service men played the
ga thering to dinner to the strains of the
Corps :March, "Primrose and Blue",
rendered in lively fashion and followed \vith
an excellent programme during dinner. The
Inenu was well chosen and thoroughly
appreciated by all present.
Tele a rams were despatched to His
Majesty the King and H.R.H. Prince
Arthur of Connaught, Colonel in Chief, and
the following replies were read out by the
Chairman and received \vith loud appreciation :-"The King sincerely thanks the Old

Comrades Association, Royal Army Pay

Corps, dining together this evening for their
loyal greetings and good wishes, which his
Majesty much appreciates." "Kindly COIJvey to all Old Comrades Royal Army Pay
Corps assembled at dinner my sincere
thanks for their g reetings, Arthur, Colonel
in Chief."
The toast of The King was proposed by
the Chairman and was received with the
usual display of loyalty and drunk with
rnusical bOllours.
Colonel Bilderbeck in proposing the toast
of the Old Comrades' Association, said: "I
have been asked by the President and Committee to propose the toast of the Old Com- 281

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rades' Association. This is the first occasion

I have had this thrust upon me, but I will do
my best. - I think there is one thing I would
like to say, and that is, the Dinner Co m ~
mittee deserve congratulations upon th 2 excellent arrangements here to-night, especLally the domestic t ouch, the flO'i.v ers
arranged with such taste, in the Corps
colours. The last time ,,-e \"ere at Harrods,
this year we are in the 'Baltic' and in a yea r
or t wo we shall probably be in the Arctic.
We are al'ways g lad to see old faces again
and to split the mainbrace as sailors have
it . Have you heard the story of the old lady
of 70 'Nho 'iVent to the beauty parlour to
ha ve her face lifted; when she sat do wn her
mouth opened, I hope that won 't be necessary for any of u s (laug hter) . I understand
there are now I,I83 members of the Association. There are, I am informed still I 7
Officers and I55 other ranks who do not belong to the Association. I think the latter
are mostly junior ranks recently joined,
who have not yet been approached by
Office Representati ves; the latter should
scout round a bit more and rope them in. I
have found in m y investigations a number
of fellows who are at out stations ha ve become backsliders and these are apt to be
overlooked; generally they have not paid
up their subscription s. I sha ll be g rateful
if the Office Representatives 'will show more
energy in roping them in. Some fellows
say,. 'I don't join for private reasons'
, and
agalll others say 'We have no chance at all
to come to the dinner.' S urely one does not
come in for that reason, but to help those
who are less fortunate, I a m afraid we
have, like any other body, a number of
cranks and grumblers; one cann ot cope \\-ith
these. H ovvever, I think more members
could be drawn in with the h elp of Office
Representatives. I refer chiefly to R.A.P.c'
se rving in Record and Pay Offices in a
civilian capacity, I ha ve a nother little st ory
for yo u here :-A fell ow who died found
himself wandering outside the o-ates of
heaven. He met Peter, who said, 'What do
you vva nt?'
'I am seeking admission
through the gates.' 'Well, I'm in charge
here-what have you done to deserve
admission?' 'Oh; I gave a penny to a blind
man and a penny t o a poor man.' 'What
were you in mortal life?' 'I was in the
R,A.P.C.'
'Were you in the O.C.A.? '
'N 0, I was not.' Peter turned to Paul and
said, 'Shall we let him in?' P au l said , 'No ,

CORPS

JOURNAL

g ive him back his t\\-opence and tell him to

?o to hell.' (Laug hter.) Gentlemen, there
IS a t\\ofold moral to that story and since I
heard It, I have become a life member.
"I must record our deep appreciation of
th e presence of the P .l .S. S ir Herbert
Creedy here to-night; also Mr. Bovenchen
his Deputy and our old Director and no\\~
our old comrade, 1\11', Watherston. Sir
H erb ert Creedy has been asked t o remain
another yea r at the War Offi ce for vvhich
the ~olonel Cornmand an t h as expressed his
g ratltude. I am going to ask him to come
here in future and join u s aS ,one of the real
old comrades.
"In conclusion, I ask yo u a ll to rise and
drink to the Old Comrades' Associa tion th e
Colonel Commandant and our Hondrary
Sec ret ary, ,Mr. Bro \\-ne wh o is not exact] "
leaving us, but is relinquishing his duties in
that capacity."
(Loud applause.)
The toast being h onoured enthusiastically
Mr.. Brow-ne in responding sa id : "Once
agam I have the honour to reply t o the toast
of the Old Comrades' Association, \\'hich
has been p roposed in such well chosen words
b~ Colonel Bilderbeck and received by you
WIth such hearty acclamation th at th e Committee are certain yo u are fu lly satisfied
\yith thei r effo rts, on your behalf durin othe past year. The Comm ittee o,fve th ei";.
services very willing ly and are Pl~ ud to be
J-:our elected representati ves; but they do
lIke to know that yo u app rove tl1eir work.
"Eacl~ yea r this toast is fluentl y proposed
by a semo r Office r of the Corp ~ , each in his
OW11 inimical way, and \\'e can !1.ot help being
st ru ck, as \\-e li ~ ten to these disti 11 gu ished
office rs, with the g reat intere t they ~take in
everything: cOl1nected with th e O.C.A. It
stands, to reason that th eir und oubted ly
g rea t l11fIuence permeates throu g h all ranks
a nd I g ive it to th e old warriors , who h ave
left, th a tit i:3 II P to th em to second the
eff ,rts of those ~e rving and use every
en d eavo ur to b rin g tho e ex-R .A.P.C. th ey
come in conta ct with into the fo ld .
"Last yea r Gene ral l\'fusson t old us that
h e p referred the \\lo rd friend to comrade
b ut there is a religio us smack abou t th~
\\'o rd friend and I h ave lately discovered
tha t there is nothing very reli g ious about
om co rps (laug hter). A g reat many have
had a go a t me abo ut this a nd I am no w
. pea kin g wit h a certain amount of trepidation. He said that Oxford \Vas unabje to
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rade than chambermate.vVell, I have no

objection t o the definition. I h3: ve no fault
t o find \\-ith Oxford or Cambndge, I believe they p roduce some very fine .athletes,
but to find out th e correct Iueamng of a
\\-ord you must go to \"here the best English is spoken and if the. General had gone
to Trinity College Dublm (loud laughter)
he would have found out that comrade ~v~s
derived from the wo rds 'Come to my aId,
and that is why it is so applicable to us , for
that is the basic p rinciple of the q ld Comrades' Association to come to the aId of our
members, as far as possible, whenever
necessary.
"This is our tenth birthday, \\-e are now
in double fig ures, and we h ave seen :emarkable proo-ress in that ten years. FIrst, we
had a Colonel Commandant, our own beloved President, whom we h ope to have
\,vith u s for many a long year to come
(applause) , then we go t ~ Ma jor General.at
the head of the Corps, thIS gave o-reat sa tisfaction to all ranks, both serving and retired (hea r , hear). We have also got a
Colonel in Chief; which is a g reat honour
to us and undoubtedly is a reward to the
corps for its yea rs of quiet , self effacin o', but
efficient service. Then \ye have the schools
at Aldershot, Pay and Costing; which are
steps in the ri oht direction. That we have
a corps march seems to fo reshadow that we
shall have a corps band, We I: ave the cor~s
journal, a really good p roductlOn. I read It
with the o-reatest pleasure fro m cover to
cover. ,ATe feel so strongly that the journal
should be supported that we had a r~minder
p rinted on the menu cards. I beheve the
corps is holdin o' its own in th~ \yodd of
sport, it always was ab le to O-lve. a o'ood
account of itself, and I \\'ill take thIS opportunity to con oTatulate the Corps Hockey
team on winnin o' the Eastern Command
T ournamen t . W~ h ave that beautiful cup
on the table to-nig ht. I believe it "va o'oing
to be filled with bottles of the best on ly for
the additiona l tax of twopence on tea. The
progr ess of the O .C .A . is well known to you
all. We have o'iven a si stance \\ henever
necessary, we have represented th~ corps at
all ex-Service parades and functlOns, employment ha been o-iven special consideration vve have helped in pension ca es and
in obtaining OTants for the education of our
orphan children. O ur funds have been well
looked after and they are in an extremely
flouri shino- conditio'n ; only our numbers
seem to n~ove ve ry slowly, and as I said be-

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fore I hope yo u \"ill all do your utmo t to

bring those eligible for membership into the
fold.
"We had a very interesting ceremony before dinner, the presentation of the tandard
and the colour belt by Sir Herbert Creedy.
It is emin ently fitting that the presentation
should have been made by someone so
closely identified \yith the corps as Sir
H erbert he has seen it from its formation
to the p~esent day and has been responsible
for it for many years and for many of these
improvements. The Standard is to us the
out\\'ard sio'n of the invisib le spirit of comradeship th at b inds u s together. The ColoyI'
belt so generously g iven to us by tl~e Ch Ief
Paymaster is a further proof of the1r OTeat
interest in us and something that \\"ill ever
remind us tha t\ye are proud to be led by
such officers. (Hear, hear.)
"We are ve ry pleased to see ir H erbert
here to-nig ht. I had better remove some
idea that seems prevalent.
H e is our
H onorary Member 'No. I, and I don't care
\;vhen he comes out of the War Office, he
'will ahyays be our H onorary Ielllber N 0_ I
(applau e). He has a \yar,m place in O~H
hearts and I hope that he WIll al\yay retam
his inte rest in us (hear, hear). VJe al 0
extend a hearty welcome to Mr. Bovenchen;
\vho has already becollle very popu lar \\'ith
us and \ye h ope he \\-ill also conti.nu e to take
an interest in us. 1\[1'. vVa therston is an
old fri end that we are al\\'ays plea ed to see,
and to 1\11'. Ivim y \Ye also extend a very
hearty \yelc0111e. vVe hope that the-e distin o- ui hed \ isitors ha\ e enj oyed th emselves and that they \\"ill continue to h onour
us with their presence, veal' after year. We
r or et that 1'11'. Eark \\'as unable to be present; h e h as had to und ergo a slig ht operation on his eye; but \\'e \\'ill send him our
oood \Vi hes for his speedy recovery.
"I thank you all for the plendid man n er
in \" hich you have received thi toast."
(Loud apI lau e.)
Cableoram ,,-ere read from :Kha rtoum ,
Malaya ,"'Malta , Hon o' Kong and Gibraltar.
The company then m oved round the
room, meeting old comrade , not seen since
last ann ua l, and in some cases after a la p~e
of rnan y years . A happy hour was spent 1ll
re-li ving the past , recallin 0' inciden t of l o~g
ao'o and lau o'hter and good fellowslup
r~igued until the hour of midnig ht brought
ano ther uccessful reunion to a close.
E.J .W.B.

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS , JOURNAL

OBITUARY
Lieut.-Colonel Sydney Arden Godfrey,
\,"hose death occurred on 2nd June, at Lyme
Regis, retired in March, 1937.
I have knov,,n the late Lieut.-Colonel
Godfrey since 1918, vv hen he 'Norked vvith
me in Accounts 2 War Office.
He was a man of exceptional charm and
certainly one of the most loyal people with
whom I have ever served. Before joining
the R oyal Army Pay Corps, he worked in
theatrical circles and was obviously beloved
by all he came across, as I have met several
of his friends from time to time. I also
knOl\" how popular he was with the Rifle
Depot at Winchester, as the 2nd Battalion
Rifle Brigade were with me at Malta and
often spoke about him.
One's g reat sympathy is extended to Mrs.
Goc1frey, who has lost a husband of a most
unselfish and kind hearted disposition.
G.O-J.

1430) at the age of 65. The deceased's first

enlistment "vas at Houn slow on 8th July
1890, and his last enlistment on 8th Auo'ust'
"'" ,
1914. He served altogether sixteen years in
the Army Service Corps and Royal, Army
Pay Corps before taking his discharge on
25th October, 1919, and during that time
sa,o\' service overseas in South Africa.

NEWS.

Home Stations

The death occurred at Leyton on 9th

April, 1938, of W . E. Bumberry (late
S .Q.M. S. No. 333) aged 75. The decea sed
enlisted in the East Yorkshire Regiment in
1893 serving vlith them for over ten years.
He transferred to the Army Pay Corps and
remained vvith our Corps for nearly eleven
years before his discharge in 1904. His serving abroad included about fi ve years in India
and nearly four yea rs in South Africa and
he had both the King's and Queen's South
African medals as ,;veIl as the Long Service
and Good Conduct Medal.

R egarding the death of S.Q.M.S. Frank

Young Brandson which occurred on 17th
March, 1938, at the British 'Military Hospital, Tientsin, our Tientsin Representative
writes : "The deceased enlisted on 1st April, 1908,
in the 3rd County of London Yeomanry. On
embodiment he served throughout the War
and attained the rank of Colour Sergeant.
In 1920 he joined the newly formed Corps
of Military Accountants as an Acc.ountant
Quartermaster Sergeant and shortly afterwards was promoted to the rank of Warrant
Officer, Class 1.
"On the amalgamation of the Corps in
1925, the late Warrant Officer continued to
serve in the rank he held at the time of his
death . The funeral took place at the Racecourse road Cemetery and was attended by
Brigadier A . H. Hopwood, C.B., D .S.O.,
and representatives of all units of the Tientsin British Municipal Emergency Corps.
The deceased is survived by an only son."

AND

ALDERSHOT.
CO MMAND PAY OFFICE.

Regarding the death of T.' F. Kempton

(late Sergeant No. 7657455) who died, aged
.65, at Exeter on 17th April, 1938, our
Exeter representative writes:"Mr. Kempton was a schoolmaster when
he joined the Army in December, 1914. He
served for nearly four years as an Army
Schoolmaster before transferring to the
Royal Army Pay Corps. He served for
seventeen years in our Corps and was believed ,to ha ve been the oldest serving soldier
in the Regular Army before he took his discharge in December, 1935. Following his
retirement Mr. Kempton was for twelve
months a civilian clerk in the Army Pay
Office at Salisbury, retiring about a year
ago .
"lVlr. Kempton saw service ill Irelalld, at
Aldershot, Chatham and Exeter, where }]e
completed his service. He was well-known
throughout the district as an accomplished
pianist and he had entertained at numerous
concerts. "

The death occurred at St. Pancras on 31st

March of W . J. \Vhite (late Corporal No.
284

I
I
A

Arrivals include Captain N. Reid (East Yorkshire

Rgt.) fm a Pay Co ul'se on 2nd N~ay and S.S.M. A..
'vV. Deacon and Sgt. S. Freeman Jomed from ~erV lce
overseas on 7th May, 1938.
Departures (on Lllld May) were Capts. Vickers and
Beauchamp for Shrewsbury and Sa,lisbury respectiyely and Lieut. RogE,rs for Edinburgh. .
Marriages are announced of L jSgt. L ewls at Bexley H eath on 26th March and L j Sgt. Beal at Gilli.ngham on 16th ABril.
.
Promotions: Cpl. G. H. Cave appointed L j Sgt.
on 27th February and S j Sgt. W. H. Davies, M.M.,
promoted Warrant Officer II and appointed S.Q .M.S.
on 25th April.
.
.
.
Cricket .-In typing t hese notes I th ink it would be
best to say 'th e least said the better' , for I am
afraid our activi.ties so far have not been very successful from a cricketing poiut of view. However,
for the bwefit of those who may be interested in
Aldershot news, we have played and lo st 5 matches
to date.
Our efforts at Fleet very nearly brought our
first victory but th is was denied us by 1 run.
On the 18th May we entertained our old friends
from Eastern Command a,nd were well ,and truly
'seen off'. Mr. Haddock was in such excellent form
with the ball that we only managed to scrape together 58 runs. In thirteen overs hi s seven wickets
cost less than three runs apiece, Major Barratt
taking the other three wickets for eleven runs. The
visitors soon made light of our atta,ck and passed
our meagre total with only four wickets down, going
on to make 85 for 5 wickets when stumps were
drawn . . Mr. Osborne batted very soundly for 32
and was und efeated at the close. Sergt,. Egan took
2 good wi.ckets for 5 runs. After a jolly evening in
tD.~ Mess the party 1 ft for London at about 9.15
p.m. We are looking forward to our return game
a,t Chiswick on the 13th July when we hope to put
up a better show.
Rifle Notes.-Once more we ca,n look back on a
sU9cessful season , although we B~~ on record straight
away that we consider oursel~Tes fortunate in being
able to find members stepping into the b.reach ca used
by postings, etc., and holding thei r own.

The L adies were particularly unfortunate in losing

thOS e three stahvarts, Mrs. FillX, Mrs. Plowman and
:l\lrs. Thompson, not to men,lOll our ' lucky" witness
~Irs. Jagot. However, the enthu siasm was maintained the other ladies gotting down to it with a
will. 'They succeeded if! ,VllU1il1g t heir Division of
the Ladies ' L eague and suffered only one defeatr---a,
splendid performance. Miss Pott can look back on
the season with justiti" ,ble pride. She returned the
best average of the Division-98.21. In addit ion ,
she was sdec(,ed to repr.esent Aldershot and District
in the competit ion for the "Hampshire Advertiser"
Shield and returned 199 ex 200. Sgt. Cooper was
also selected for this match and scored 197 ex 200.
His statemwt (when aSKt;ld how the two representatives had fired) t hat the C.P.O. had dropped only
4 points out of 400 was , of co urse, quite true!!
Ald.e rshot and District won t he shield (for the second
year in succession) by two points.
Once more AldHshot have won the 1st Division
of the R. & P.O. League, but what a finish it was .
Three Clubs level on points with only t h e aggregate
scores to decide t he issue. Hard lines Hilsea and
Chatha,m and bettt;lr luck ne:\.-t time. Congratulations
to Mr. Self on winning the medal for the best shot.
His average of 99.09 speaks for itself.
These notes seem to be full of self congratulation ,
but we simply must raise anot her round of applause,
this time for the B Team. Colonel BildE-rbeck's
cup, presented to the secon d di vision of the L eague,
h as been won for the first tim e by the B Teambut, like the A Team, only by aggregate score. We
really do wish York better luck in t.he fut ure.
I hope the Editor has t hi s next piece inserted in
very sma.ll print-invisible ink if he likes. Our
position in the 2nd Division of the Hampshire
L eague is well in t.he bottom half o f the table. The
final table hasn't been published yet. but we h aven 't
much doubt as to wher.e we shall be.
The ",-inners of t h e monthly spoo ns were:Jan. : Mrs. Peas]pv : Feb.: Miss Pott ; March:
Nfi ss Pott : April: Mrs. Peasley.
The leadin g a.verages for t h e year are shown
below.
The destination of the office shield for the best
perforinance of the season has not yet been decided.
The result will be notified in the neA-t issue of the
Journal.

THE

ROYAL ARMY

PAY

N u . uj
F ir c ,t

f l -ve -ro g e

CORPS

Oil Sa le'.
A ver y unfo rt unat e cas ualty , necessitat ed by th e
l'ecent stress of w ork in R .P.O ' s. , was the pO Stlllg of
:Ma jo r Mackenzie on t E-mpora ry du ty , from the school
t o Wad ey.
Th e otll er Officers ha ve a lready received t heir
postings wh~ ch ar e:Capt. Mard en, M .B .E. , t o E astern Command
Capt. H owell, iVl. B.E. , to Cant er bury.
Cap t . R eE-s to Pres ton.
Congratula tions
to
the
chi ef
inst r uctor,
A / S.Q .M.S, Peasley , on being a dmitted an A ssociate
,Memb er o [ t he London Association of Certified A l:countants .

P oss i.b l <" s

Mr. Self
.... . ..... ..
11
S9 .09
4
Sgt Cooper .... ........
41
93. 85
12
Miss P ott .. .. .... .. ..
18
98.39
1
Cpl. McDa id ..... . ...
11
98.27
1
lVlr. Salisbu ry... .... .
23
97.57
4
Capt. Malpass .. ....
22
97.41
1
M rs. P easley .. .. .. .. .
54
97.02
4
As a point of inter E-st t he aver age. .of som e of t he
member .:; who have left t he station ar e given :Capt. Cubitt
97.46
S.Q. M .S. J agot
97.30
Mrs. F lu x ...
96.88
Mrs. Thompso n
95.00
Elsewhere in t he J ournal will be fo und a r efer ence
to t he t ribute pa id t o M r . Self for his ser vices t o
Small Bore R ift.e Shooting.
Next seaso n p'l'omises t o be full of in te r est a nd we
are looking forw a rd to renewing t he t ussles with
othH" offices . Look out P er t h- we haven't fo r go tt en
t hat 494 .

BARN ET.

W it h t he post ing to t his offi ce of S.S.M. P earce

a nd S.Q.M .S. Rowlan d fro m Singapore, t he " P erm ane nt Ta nk Cl'ew" ca n now be considered as E-stablished an d our last two 'loans' from ot her offi ces
h ave now depar ted in evident relief.
Lieut. H olm a n has joined t hE- offi ce 'on the "br eak
u p " of Warley- t he posting of t hi s Offi cer is of
int er est as he is t h e ,nl'.:;t Assista nt P aym aster to
join t he 'T a nk s ' on t he rece nt increase in t he Offi Cers'
E stablishment 'for this office.
A not her of our seniors, Sta ff S3l'gea nt 'George'
P e,nt ney , after month s of uncertainty, at last decided
t o take t he plunge in to ' Ci vvy S t reet R iver ' and was
discharg ed to pension on 1st May , 1938. H e has not
altogether discard ed uniform havin g a ccepted a post
as Clerk (C.Q .M .S. ) wit h 19th A. C.C., R. T .C. (T.A . )
in Kirkcaldy, Scotla nd . Good luck, George!
InE-xor able 'Time' h as placed th e 1938 Dinner in
t he category of past events ; on-e mor e occasion to
r ecall wit h pleas ur e, in r emem be rin g t he m any old
fr ien ds it was possible t o meet .
The work ' bogey' is gradually fa ding, givin g place
to a qui etel' , more peaceful atmosph er e in th e offi ce
-on e hopes no ' fu rth er blows will fall unt il the
.l ea ve s,eason a t least is paSSE-d .
Cl'icket is no w about to take t he st age-our fi rst
m atch is to be held on 19th May, 1938 versus Londo n
Office.
McSPOH,RAN.

PAY SCHO OL .

Anot her Course ended, ano t her commen ced and so

it goes on.
At t he end of A pl~ l , 4 offi cers and 24 other rank s
were t urned loose Io n pay offices, whilst 2 other
ranks WE.r e returned to their respective units.
'On t he 2nd May, lOn e officer (Captain R eid of the
E ast Yorks Regt.) and 39 oth er r anks joined. The
lat ter are, as usual, fairly r epresen tative of all arms
of t he ser vice, but wc have got our fi r st Life Gu ards
man (wit hout hi s ho rse) . H e is a g reat asset at
th e moment as t he offi cial changer of lamps a nd
negot iato r of hi gh shelves.
I t was very gratifyin g to see so many 101d studm t s
at th e O. C.A. Dinner and t hey all stat ed t ha t they
had never r egr etted tr a nsfer ring to th e Corps and
th at despite t he fact t hat t hE-y came at a time when
press ure of work was at its worst. \N e were a ble
to rem ember t hem all by name but I am afraid t hat
at th e present rate of inta kE- we shall suffer a r everse
here a nd t here next year .
. By . t he wa,!, if an y offi ces are loo king fo r bud
dm g lI1tern at lOnals at games we a re not supplyin g
any on t hi s occasi,on.
'

BELFAST.

Posting.-S.Q.lVI.S. B. E. L . Tozel' and family arrived on 2nd May, 1938, and w e extend to t hem a
hear ty welcome.
Social Club.- A very enjoyable ou tin g too.k place
on 20t h May . 'Memb ers ,of t h e socia l cl ub and friend s
num ber in g 36, p roceeded by 'bus to Garron Tow er
via t he, Glens of An t rim , and returned via Coast R oa d
t hrough Lam e. The walk t hrough t he Glens was ,
most enjoyable, and t he sce nery was admirable,
especially to t hose wh o ha d not visited t his part
of N'o rt hf' rn Irelan d b efore. Th e w eather was very
kind to us a nd everyone t hor oughly ,enj oyed t hemsel ves .
Sport.- Cri.:ket.- Unfortunately t hro ugh lack of
a s ufficient number of playin g m embers, t.hE Staff
and Depa rtm enta l Crick et T eam will not fun ction
this seaso n , but it is hoped t hat a few games will
be an 'a n g;ed for t he not so g ood IOf t he detachment
dUl'in fS t hE- sea.so n .
GOIf.- The D .P . is again end eavourin g to r aise a
team to compete in t he N .r. Di strict int er-unit comp et ition , to be held at N ewcastle, Co. Down, ea rly
in Jun e. W e hope t o bE- a ble to tell you som ething
more about this in t he next iss ue.

COl-STING SCHOOL.

Wit h t he L\:amin ations of t he R oyal Society of

Arts a nd t h3 Londo n Chamb er of Comm er ce b ehind
the ~ , t he stude nts o f t he 18th course ar e b usily prep armg fo r t he vVar Office Army Costing examinat ion whi ch ta.kes place in JUIlE.
The ent h usias m of t he Oth er R anks ca n be ap pre ciated w hen 'o ne reali ses th at t hey have p repar ed
for t he a dva ncE-d subj ect s ent ir,e ly in t heir own time.
Th e r esults a re awai ~ed wi t h great interest (a nd
ho pes) by all.
On e . stud ent was heard t o r emark on t he morning
followm g t he exa min ation , t ha ~ h e " had solved onEof the rrob lems in a drea m ". On bein g shown th e
cornct solution he decided t hat t he dream ha d been
a ni ghtma re.
Two of th E. oth er rank stud ent s decided t,o ca pit alize t heir increase in pay and invested in a Motor Car
(AJ!eged) ., To date, the latter is the on ly designatwn WhlCh has not been appli ed t o it. W e wonder
how th ey will dispose of it on t h e co nclu sion of t he
course and how t hey will a djust t he ' (Dea d) L oss

286

THE

J OURNAL

I.I.

R OYAL ARMY

CATTERICK CAMP.

The Clerk of t h e vVeaLher has evid ent ly spotted

my last note~ in, which I referred to t he Corps persoull el at t hI S Sta tIon as bem g loca t ed on an Ice
fl oe. B elieve it '01' not , h,3 has gi\' en us all such a
shock in p rov id in g a most lovel:y brand of summ erlike weat her so m uch to our hklllg t hat w e ha\' e
.act ually got to t he sta ge of bea min g at ,each o~h er
yes, a nd t hro u gh ou r gas m,a sks, t,oo 1 .Ther e lS al so
a strong r umour gOll1g around ~ h at. :Ma.l 0r Bl'OW I~ lIl g
has decided to walk t o hI S Offi ce lIl stead of l'I chn g,
in f U ~ llr e. F urth er , has any Corps memb er wh o has
bE-en st.atio ned in Catterick Cam p e\'e l' hea rd 0 [ a
Corps outin g f ro111 th e Camp ? \i\lell , ,'u ch a p roceedin a i. \' ry lik ely to take place-always provided that t he' a foresaid W p;l t hel' Cle)'k co nt in ues
hi s e rfo r ~s . T he w l'i to- can vis uali e a roster beill g
kept by the Offi ceI' i / c R ecords of \'olynt eers for th is
Sta tion if \\' e carr y on as we a re do m g.
R,ain 'is bad ly 11zeded..i n t he York shire .v inages
accordin O" t o t he Press , out we ar e n ot feell1l g any
undu e sh'ain in t hi s di rection at t he momen t . III
fact, a member of OUI' fraterni ty defin it ely states
t hat he h as acL ually seen beer clouds eW e O\'E. r t h e
Camp- - so w hy wor ry too mu ch abo ut , t h e ram .
T he mo. t lJl1Po)' ta nt It em o f In terest to report,
was our trip to York ,on F ebru ary 25th l a s ~ to attend
a Corps Ba ll . Details of t he pr ocE ed lllgs ~I ll no
doub t be fUl'l1 ish ec1 by t he Command a nd R egJJ1lznta l
P ay Offi ce rep resentatives, but on beh ::lf of t he Catt el'ick D eta chm ent we mu st state t hat It was a grand
sh ow. \ Ne t ravell ed to Y ork by bus, arriving in
nice t ime to allow S.Q.M .S. Wl'ight to sh ow 11 S
where he k ept his parro t , m Onk f)TS and li.quid f~o d
b efore comm encin g hi s offi clal clutJes- cl u.r m g wh lch
tim e it cost half-a-crow n to spea k to hln1. R owever , w e all t horoughly enj oyed ourselves and arriVed back i.n Cat terick in t.h e ea rl y hours of t h e
followin g m ornin g- very t ir ed b ut h appy . .
The r et urn journ ey prod uced fl spot of excIt ement
wh en a lone horse, which h ad evid ent ly st r ayed on
to the main road . suddenly bEca,me full of t h e JOYs
of sprin O" a nd decided to lead u _ home in a " no",
. -yo u see 0 me, n ow you don ' t:' ma nn er. H e, must
have r un qui t e a few llllles In front of our busunable, presum ably , to brEak away fro m t h e beams
of OUl' h eadJi ght s. He would , n o dou h~ , feel t h e
effects of his ni ~h t out wh en h ~ fou nd 11lmSE-lf well
ad eift from his home next mormng .
Our So cial Club continues to r un along very
smoothl y a nd we look forward to. th ese m onthly
' get-t oget her ' mezt in l! . v'Ve had Vlslto rs a t one h el d
on t h e 23rd Mar ch. Maj or an d Mrs. M,eek .cam e to
ee us from York , and t h ey bro'u ght alon g wlt h t hem
S.S .M , P artrid ge a nd S.S.M. Chin ery . \ N e w ere ever
so pleased to eem t h em an d h ope th at next t lm e
t hey come, t h ev will b e able t? s ~ay l on ~er. 5.55 p.m.
(apar t from t h e fact t h.at It . 1S 5 l11111ut es b efore
openin g t im e) after all IS a li t t le . earl y to r etu rn
hom e frol11 an out in g-don ' t you t lunk so, Mr . P artridge ?
S.Q.M.S, Black is n ow very mu ch amon gst .us.
U nt il la t, week h e h as b een m or e or less a h ermIt-livin g by him self- and h oping for t h e b.es~ . H e l~ as
b een tr yin !l to nnd som eone to play blllwrd s WIt h
him , bl~t :llas , t h ey eit h er kn ow him better t h an l;e
kn ows himself . or else t h e p eople h e h as (l sk E.d can t
write t heir ow n names (in t he me!;:s 10 00k ) . H owever. (I S :Mr ~ , Bl ack has now ioin ed him . no doub t
h e will b Ecome mor e r econcil ed .

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

I spotted Sgt. Moo re inspectin g Sgt . Walton's

face t he other morning- t he latter has cOl1celVed
t he idea of g rowing a " Pilkin gto n B eaver" - and
whet her Sgt. Moore is t hinking of growm g one also
and was receivin g som e t,i ps as to cost, type, length
of tim e to ma,t ure, et c., 01' whet her he was .mer'31y
ma kin g sure th at Sgt. Walton's upp e:.l' h p' w as
was hec1-I don' t know , bu t t ll1, e wlll show .
Sgt. Gautier is very busy t he .e days- he h as
yisions of a sea voya ge and 15 ta kl.l1g m g ht ly tn ps
in to D a rlin gton by ' hus- st a nchn g up both waysto fin d his ea legs again- (and quiet ly) -he l~as
e'l'en p urchased a sailor's sea ki t -bag comp}et w ltl~
ha mmock- so t hat h e WIll not b e fount! wantm g
wh en t he great day com es along.
One marr ied m em bel' had a nasty experi E-nce whilst
it last ed t he other day. His wife had hea rd t h ro ug h
t he wi reless t hat t he fi rst iss ue of incr easE-d m ar riage
all owa nce h:ld actually b een made th at clay , and socomp let e wit h th e pro \' erbial clea n apr on sh e proceE-ded to lie in wait for t h e g reat mom ent wh en
h ubby t r iumpha ntly cli s g~:)l' ge.d ~l i wind fall . H ub by
- i n total ig nora nce of hlS WIfe s t hou gl"ts-pr.o udly
pro:luced his norm al a n:0 llJ'~ t an.d beca,me lmmech ately
conscious of a qu eer gllllt 111 hI S 'nfe eyes . U n able
to restrain her ftelings an y longer , _he p romp tly
req uested all in t roduct ion to llUbby's increa sed allowance , which sh e kn ew fo r a n absolute ~act-
straight fro m t h e h orse' s tail- he mu st h av e m hl s
po cket s . On top of t IllS, Mrs . N ext-Door. callEd m
t o enquir e whether Hubby h ad seen anythmg o~ t h e
Hubby of :Ml's. N ext-Door-as s he also wa s wa lt ll1 g
to r eceive her i"ew rat e of ma rl'l a gE-- allowa~1 ce . Total
ignora nce wa.s of no avail. " and our {~'l e~ d ,th en
adopted a n a ll' of brav ado- wh at he d l~ln ~, l~ n ow
about hi s pay accoun t was' nt wortl~ k no.wl11,g , etc.
et c .. and fi nally left both good la,ch es wIt h " foo d for
t h o{l O"h t ' ov er a last rem ark t,o hi s Wl fE., Anyway
w ho oRa.ys t h e r ud dv r ent- yo u or me,?"
CHATHA M- ROYAL ENGINEERS .

Sin ce t he las t issue of th e J ou rn al Sel' gt . .W. H.

Jon Es has l,eft u as a mili tary clerk and JOlll ed us
as a civili an an d con sequen tly J ha.\, en ' t th ~ .f?ggiest idea. what t o say.
" Good lu ck J11 el\, ll : a ~l
clot h es ?" or " H ea r ty wi sh es for success :11 Cl:"11
li fe 1 ". H owe\'er , w e ar e joll~ g;la d t o ha \',e ~1ll11 WJ t~1
u s still. No , t h at' s wrong- Stlll WIth us . I.S b ett-el.
\iVhat a word is 'stiU' , E-s pecially as apph e.d t o our
Corps . Bv t he w ay . t.his . i ~ .t he second tlm e S g t~
.Jones has ioined us as a, clvlh an. H e came h ere a::.
:Ml' . J ones 'from INoolw1Ch but he wa s fo nn d out an d
becam e Sg t . J ones a gain.
Li.fe in Ch ath am r ema in m uch t he am e aHhougb ,
in com m on with ot h er offi ces. t he Minist er fo r \ iVar
h as s ucceeded in ligh tin g 'beacons: her e III t h e alleged quiet of t h e Eve~in g. you w ~ll l: ave gat h ered
t hat w e h ave b een do m g a lit tle overtlm e.
T he d rought has been ca usin g mu ch con st ern abon
am on g our m any am a.teur ga l' d en e~'s . Th ere a.lways
ap-pears t,o b e som et hm g ~J" on g wl t h thI S s e~tlOn of
t h e f ra t erni ty. L ast year It wa.s t he ra~s eat m g t he
p eas, et c. A vi$ol'?us. campa lgn R:gam st rat s r esulted in a m ost m Slg11l nCa nt rat b ell1 g ca u g ht. l~ a
most, ostEn t at ious t ra,p. VIle have .been provlchn g
rations ::J n d a,coomm odation fo r a rat m t h ~ club ro om
Cl nd th e selfsam e ost enta t ioll s t rap wns ngn m br ought,
i,nto u se fl nc1 . b:l it ed with ha con. m ent nnd lot s of

,-

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

other doubtful delicacies, was placed mo st con veniently outside the ra,thole. The rat, stilllivE.s but has
vacated quarters. One presumes that this was on
account of t,he smell loutside the 'front door ',
'Yhen the drought broke we WEre treated to very
satIsfactory downpour- from a gardener's viewpoint
-and
throuO'h
the
. d two of our Q.M.S' s. were 0O'azinO'
0
0
WIn ows most happily aud smugly obvi,ously dreal11~ng .of the lettuce,. cabbages, potat,oes, etc., wallowll1g In the vrd, as It were, only to discover on a lTival
home at Rainham that not a drop of rain had fallen
there!
One of our Corporals has taken an allotmenthorticultural variety-and thanks to the rest, of the
jun.iol's a rmed with the gardening tools of the remaInl11g allotment hold.l's , the allotment is beginning
to bear a marked resemblance to a co urse of fieldworks a:t its vyorst.. One crop has been reaped so
far, spnng omons madyertently left behind by his
prE.decessor. As regards casualties onl v one r a ke
has.heen broken; strange to say i ~~'as broken gardemng!
As yet there are no cases of sabotage reported
from thE. machll1e room. It is obvious that the mut.
tered threats and curses uttered a month or so ago ,
are so much hot, all'. Mach1l1e accounting in conequence co ntInues Its h umorons course.
Football has faded into the pa,st with many cries
of, 'Now next year - - I! I' Towards the end >of the
season we got WE.ll into our stride and won several
matches against qui te strong sides.
One of our
rugger-cum-soccer players , a half back , rlaint.ively
as ked how one should tackle at this foolish O'am e as
every timE. he tackled so meon e he h ad to apoloO'ise:
B;e was strongly advised to co ntinu e witH his al~olo
~Ie~ on acco unt of the success of his original 'sweepm g methods. Vl7e have had a succession of O'oaL
keepE.rs~ everyone evading the job and each oman
suggestmg someone else for a variety ,of reasonsh eight , weight , speed, slo\l'ness , ad infinitum. Before
a m~tch t,hE potential victim is h eartily assured that
all that is asked of him i.s 'that he makes some show'
--.Q uite! On the field when h e apologises for havin g
m1.S ed a fi endlsh ball possessed of the devil that
sq uirms around his hands and darts into the net .
he i again assured 'quite all ri ght , old man!' BUT
WHAT A CIIILLY ATMOSPHERE. Th e job is so
unpop ulal' that Olll.' la t goa lie, after hi first match.
wa bEmoaning the fact that, as h e had been un :
lucky enough to save a pen alty , he would have to
play in goal again. But next year __ I 11
.'Ne have. commencE.d crick et with a win by 7
WIckets agaInst Chatham Po st Office. As we have
held quite a n influ x of cricketers the matcll was used
as a sort of freshmen's match. ,""le were without
S:S.~L NewEll, who was on the 'bleachers'. runnin g
hIS eye over our n ewco mers and other star s. so it
will be appreciated that the name of Chatham will be
a power in the land . L / CpJ. Murrav had a Yen'
fine innings of 44 nl11S when he was cauO'ht a"t
mid.off.
0
Tenni is now in full swin O' and much enthusiasm
is in evidence so far. A si~gles Tourn am ent is in
the process of being handicap ped .
The offi.ce ou.ting has been a rrangEd for H astings
after an ll1gE 111:0US pro cess of 'Reductio ad abStll'dl~m'.
The choice of venue , as our secreta ry admml,bly put it , is alway~ the result of much specuJ;1tIon and dEbate. I remember attending a meetin g

PAY

CORPS

J OURNAL

THE

R OYAL

AR n1Y

at, an Offi ce, the meeting being called to decide

bet ween the glol'les of thl:: tattoo and the charm of
-,-Clact~n, I believe, WE; aecided to go to Felixstowe !
'lh e logIC of the masculine mind!
va/l .edicto~y.

JOURNAL

"AINT IT 'AJW?"
h ope they enjoyed themselves . No doubt they will
be giving us some good tussles later on.

DEPTFORD.

De partures and Arrivals.-The most important

e,' ent of t he past quarter h as been thE retirement of
Majol' T. Hard on 8th \pril. ot which furthel' pal't.lC ula rs appeal' elsewhere in this iss ue. May he
lIve long to enJoy hi S well earnE. d re t.
Lieut. E. H. FleaI.' has joined in relief of Maj,or
H a rd a nd h ere's wishing him a happy stay.
Me mbe rs of the Corps who haye se ry ed in this
offic will no doubt, be interested to lea rn that Mr.
F. H . '7.,1 r~ght is no lon ger <l lllong ll S, baying resigned
on 20th March .
Cricket.-liVe han mad e a .tart with our Cricket
programJ:1e. th e . openin g. match being with the
MetropolItan PolIce on thel!' grou nd at The vVal'l'E.n.
Hayes. Our team has been strengthened by Dew
arrivals during the. clos e season a nd we manu'g ecl to
opEn the season With a. wm. Th e Police ground is
a beautIfully situated httle ,'pot a nd a Yery happy
aft,el'lloo n was spen t by all w ho accompanied the
t.eam. 'W hen stu1111~s were draw n the remaind er of
t,h e evenin g was givE.n over to dancing a nd . with
easy access to a well-stocked bar, the time passed
all too quickly .
. Table T~nnis. -Th e Supply Reserve Depot Sports
Club, hav1l1g made a .-ta,rt at TablE. T ennis tried
themselves out against some of our exp erts ~nd we

CORPS

gy

CHESTER.

V'-ie ~ll congratulated our popular

S.S.M. on Ins promotlOn to commissioned rank. Mr.
,-,.,7: Ora~n has our ver.y best wishes for a happy
?oJourn ~n Lelth. He WIll be mi ssed in m any places
It~ 9hester.
Someone once said that L eit,h has a
clIstlllery, if nothing else, to recommend it but times
and places change.
.
Adventum.-A hearty welcome is extended to
S.S.~1. Howarcl? who ~ s expected to join us on the
closmg down of the Llchfield office and it is hoped
that he WIll ,find the Chester cathedral chimes more
encha,nting than those of Lichfield.
. Exodus.-L j Sgt. Dawson. iiS again on the W aiting
LlsL for O,-erseas and awaits the next turn of the
whE..el of Fate with mixed feelingi.
Fmale:-Sergt. A. L . Brown was brought on the
M.Q.R: ll1 March, 1938; but his triumph (sic) was
short-lIved , as there "am't no ~1.Q . R. now " .
T~l e Army improves in parts and conditions appear
to f.ollow SUIt 1ll most units but one is compelled
~o ~hll1k that the R.A.P.C. is "Of the Army but not
111 It".
I wonder just how many Division III clerks
hav e beE.n homeward bound of late ex office. and
been und er the impression that the ;un.rise was t h e
moon-rise. One oE our wags has remarked that the
Navy used to be called thE. "Silent Service" but
thEY have aeroplanes now, whereas the R .A'.P.C.
h as
~o
ae] o])lanes a nd does quite a lot of
work m th e st Ill hours of the night when everyone
else is finished for day, so surely by now the R.A.P.C.
has earned the so ubriqu et of " The Silent Service"
01' if not that, then " Ships that steam in the Night":
Many glad hearts ar.e around us, civilian staff only,
at the foreshadowE.d ~mprov ed conditions of service
and increased pay for Grade IV Clerks. Now then
yo u "Rusty old Quart,erblokes" what abo ut it ?
LOUDEN.

PAY

EDINBURGH.

Once more the Annual Dinner has come and gone

and fo r a few all too short hours, many of u , in
the words of Omar "divorced old banen reason
fro m our bed a nd t~ok thE. daughter of the vi ne t o
spou e".
Incidentally the last quatrain of the
Rubaiyat is particularly appropria te to 0 .C. !\ .
Dinners.
Once morc Edinb urgh dIsplays pagea ntry on the
. annual occasion oE the Geneml Assembly of th e
Church of Scotl;:md and at the L eveE. at t he Palace
.of Holyroodhouse on the 24 th May, t h e COJllma nd
P aymaster, Colon el W. J. H. Bilderbeck , O.RE..
wa s presented to t h e Lord High CommlSSlOn el'
to the General \.ssembly by t.he General Offic-e r
Comma.ndin O'- in -Chi ef . Scottish Comma nd.
III t h.e w~st, at Gl~sgow, at t he Empire Exhibi.
tion, th e Se1'v~ces Display by the Royal ~avy . .Arm~
and Royal El' Force, is being produced 111 Jun e a,]1(l.
as advertised , will be a display as never before seen
in Scotland.
Lieutenant S. C. Ro gers, North Staffol'ch<hire
R egiment (on probation) , joined Ll so n 16tb May
and we hope his stay in Edinburgh win be success
ful and enjoyable.
Staff SergEant D. H. Crichton took hi s discharge

on 15th May and we wish him eyery success in

ci vilia n life.
To Mr. Mercer who ret.ired on 2nd May on reaching the age limi t. we all wish a long erijoyment of
retirement and " lang may his lum rE.ek".
Vl7e loffer our congratulations to ~Ir. " J oe" Garland on promotion to Grade III and reg ret hi;; de .
parture to th e Record Office, Leith.
Seargeant Brennan is at preSEnt in hospital and
we hop ~ hi s stay there will be of brief duriltion.
EXETER.

From th e disturbing elements of 're-orga nisation'

I 'hav e l'E lucta nt.ly (?) clragged myself to report the
a ci,ivities 01' ot her less excitin g events of the pa st
three months.
Vil e are hopefully expectin g help from tho e offices
now 'out of action' or r Elieved of ome of the burden which our broad shoulders have taken and,
pending their reporting I am in the dark as to their
identi ties .
. On t hr 26th April P te. Robel'ts joined u s from
the School and has now settled down to thE. practical
side of thing. Vil e hop e hi s st,a), in D evo n will prove
benefi cia,l on all count.s.
The introduction of the increment,s of pay gave
us the opportunity of meeting Sgts. Coles and ,\7.,1ilson from the Costing Side and their st ay of three
01' four weeks was much appreciated from the office

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

and social points of view. Th ey have now rejoined

th eir normal duty stations and we wish them luck in
pulling !JP arrears . We can fully appreciate this
ul1f or t,unate and all too frequ ent occurrence and hope
that they win sho rtly be wea ring t hat 'up-to-date'
look.
On ce aga in I am sorry to have to relate the pass ing of anex-R.A.P. C. comrade. On East,er Sunday
1:1'. Tom K empto ll, late of the Corps a nd this offi ce ,
passed away after endurin g over t hree weeks' painful s uffering. Expr-essions of regret and syml~at.hy
were extended to the widow by all the Staff. a nd
at the semi-Illili tarv funO'al h~ld on t he Thu~'sdav
followin g a be~rer" party from t,h e military staff
escorted t,he cortege to the cemetery. I t hink I a m
rig ht in stating that in addition to th e esteem with
which Tom was hEld by all who kn ew him , h e h eld
a nother enviable record-th at of bein g- the oldest
ser ving soldier. In 1935, wh en he wa s dIscharged t.o
pension aft er 21 yea rs' ser vice. h e was th En at th e
)'ipe age of 62 years. and I should im agin e that was
a record even for th e R.A .P .C. II'ho dabble in longevity in h arness.
Th e Detachm ent was represe nted at the O.C.A.
Dinner by ~ i[aior Spilsbury , S.Q.M.S. Adams and
S / Sgt. Ali en. The 're-union' was yoted a great success and memories were cast back to the remote ages
by meeting::; v.ith old facE;s . Undoubtedly a ' good
show ' revealin g excell ent 'staff work'.
Congratulations to Cpl. R aleigh on achi eving t he
~'ank on 1st April. 1938, and to Pte. 'Ma kin on pass mg th e Class I Test.
So , once more back to t he grind stone, fellow
suffErers. I will conclud e as always .
.
' BUKRA FER ' MISH ![ISH' I
LEITH.
Departures. -It is wit h sincere regret that we

llave said good-bye to our R egim ental Paymast er,

Li eut. -Col. R. W. Kelly , on his rEtirement. All our
good wishes go with him. A few notes on hi s
f;erv jce will be fo und on anot.her page.
INe have also , with regret said goo d-b ye to Ca ptain E. C. Brewer, who has been posted to Ald ershot-en route for Gibraltar. where he
find a
few old friends , fo rm erly of t], is office.
Arrivals.-INe givE. a hearty welcome to Li eut.
IN. F. Oram to 'o ur fold and' congratul ate him on
hi s promotion to Commi ssioned R a nk.
liVe also e xtend a h ea r ty welcome to P te. Groom ,
on his posting from the School at Aldershot.
Pro motions.-Sincere con gratul ation s to Staff Sgt .
BesD nt and Corpl. Clark on promotion to th eir res])ective ranks .
.
. General Upset.- Th e trilns fe r of t h e R ecords and
A ccounts 'of the Royal Scots and Th e Camel'onians
(,0 t he R egim ental P ay and R ecord Office . P erth has
just been carried out 'a nd t"yO b jg lorri es left o~ the
morning of t h e 20th en-route for th e Fillr Cit y. INe
now await with mu ch forebodin g t he nrriva f of th e
t hree 'R egiments' R ecord s and /\ ccounts from Preston and York.

CORPS

J OURNAL

spite of somewh at dull wEa ther, we spent a most

enjoyab le afternoon a nd renewed many old acquainta nces . Om players quickly struck their best for111
and as a result of som e excellent bowling by Mr . N.
Ha.ddo ck, who took 7 fo r 20. Aldershot were Soo n
disl~ i ssed for 58 runs. Our batsmen showed every
conndence wh en facll1g two of the Corps bowlers and
whell stumps were drawn had made 85 for the loss
o~ 5 wi ckets , Mt'. P. Osborn being 32 not out, aft!'
gl\llJ1 g a v.ery sound di spl ay.
A Smoking Concert was held on Friday. 22nd
April, wh en we were e ntertain ed by a M et.r~p,o lit an
Police Con cert P arty who, assisted by M.r . S. R an _
dell, gave a most entertainin g and- well-balanced
pro gramm e. Durill g t he interV<tl, Staff Sel'gt.-:MajrOr
H arry Bnndley was presented with a clock , subscribed for by m emb ers of the Offi ce Staff, as a mark
of their esteem on t h e occasion of hi s retireme nt.
Staff Sergt.-Major P. E. Matthews , in a few wellchose n word s, expre sed the feelin gs of us all when
he s'l id how happy we h ad been wit h S.S.M. Brindl ey
as Chief Clerk and how sorry we were that h e was
le3.vin g us. Mr. Brind ley , in ex pressin g his thank ,
was obyiously ll10 vetl by t he occa.sion a nd in a witty
li ttle sp eech said how ha ppy he had b een in the
Co rps antl what a wl'nch t Il e parting would be. All
who h ad t he p leasure of knowing Mr. Brind ley will
b e p leased to heal' he has sin ce obtain ed empl10yment
in the ViTal' Offi ce alld will, no doubt, join us in wishin g him E:very happiness in t he years to come, for
he was without doubt "A jolly good fellow " .
S.Q.M.S. H. S. Sand erson has .also recelltly taken
hi discha r ge and hi s ma ny friend s in t h e Co i'ps will
be pleased to bear that h e has obtai ned a good post
with t he v'iTarwickshire T.A. As ociation . INe wish
hi m every success in his new ve nture and many years
of good h ealth and h appiness.
LONDON, REGIMENTAL PAY OFFICE.

General.- Durin g t h e last qu arter we have had

t hree new a l'ri vab. S / Sgt. Pond has co me over from
C.P.E. C. a nd he h ad t he pleasure of hEa ring of his
promotion to t hat rank t h e day after hi s arrival. H e
r eceived the usual con gratulations but, as we have
no m ess h ere or, it should be said 'Sgts.' Mess'. it
is rumoured t hat h e did spend hi s arrears of l~ay
in a like mann er to hi s Sectio n L eader. S.O.:'\1.S.
[udd on hi s promot ion to liValTant ran l~ earli er in
the prior month. Some were fortun ate to be in t he
swim of con gratulations wh ich followed 'STICKY' S'
promot ion a,nd I , fo r one, can say i t tasted very nice.
Ptes . Goddard and Smitll have joined u s on prob ation from th e School, so with two more voung
bloods in t he offi ce, we migh t , aft. er all , work p er mit t in Q:, ma nage to scrape up enough talent to raise
a crickEt eleven .
Our co ngratulat.ions hav e a lso been extend ed to
Cpls. Blatch and Mun dev 011 th ir prom ot ions. a nd
to Cpl. Cra ig . on hi s ma rri age.
S / Sgt. P ashley severed his actiye ca reer with the
Co rps on May 2nd , h avin g found a very lucrative
position in t he city . V-le could no t find th e right
kin d ,o r silk hat, spats. a nd umbrell a tont in wit h
hi s j ob but we und erstand h e h as successfully
man aged tonnd sufficient di.sguise, for he h as not
b een seen sin ce We wish ed him everv su ccess in his
future wand erings.
.
It is with regret t hat we h ave to repo rt t,h e retirement of Mr. F. Gear on age limit,. It is somethin g of a record to ha ve ~ p ent practica ll y 45 ~rea rs

will

LONDON-EASTERN COMMAND PAY OFFICE.

vVe have recently welcomed to t he office Staff Sgt .Ma jor.F. R. Ead e from Salisbury , and Staff Sergt.
H. A. Fox , who h as returned after a spell at SingapOI'e and offer our congratula t ions to both upon
t heir recent promotions .
Our one and only Cricket match to date wa s pl ayed
:at Aldershot on INednesday , 18th :.\Iay, where, in
290

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

P AY

in the Government service both as a soldier and a

civilia n, and we wish him good digging on his allotment for many y ears to come.
Sports.-IIl th Ese days of stress we find th e popular maxim 'A ll work a nd no play', etc., is very true
indeed, but, as usual , the London Office has risen
galla ntly to the occasion. With almost all the hard
work behind us at last, we are looking forward to
a o-reat summ er season, during which we hOPe to lay
th~ foundations of a great tradit ion.
Our activities sin ce the last iss ue have been ostensib ly nil- but wait-the greatest crickEt and tennis
brain s in th e world have been working overtime
behind th e scenes a nd res ul ts will be forthcoming
at INool.wi ch , Barnet, Hounslow, Chatham , etc., so
look to yo ur laurds all y e who cas t stones? upon
the waters. L ondon Office is 011 th e 'W ar path.

CORPS

J OURKAL

pleasaot.-y.!l,.1.rss pecublti)lg on tIn probable date of

his 'hdini'ss i6n' to' the ~f. (~.H. , his favomit e. rCl:ea~~on
has sudd enly been taken from him. StiH, 's'uch lii'g lilydeveloped proph etic powers are bo un d to come in>
useful.
Havin g wintered well, Sgt. L ane is as sprightly
as Eo vel', a nd can be see n any day doing his bit on
the J orth In ch golf course, t hough he still has a
tendenpy to stand too nea r the ball-after hittingit.
Altho ugh born with;ll a. b rass ie shot of Cruden
Bay, Sgt. Bru ce does not seem to have benefited by
hi s youthful l1v}l'onment and, his recent effort in
the pond hazard having attracted the attention of a .
meand ering newsh a wk , t he follow in g account duly
appeared in the lo cal press. " H aving hooked his
ball into the pond , h e remained hopeful of pitching
his second on to the greell , but things did not quite
work out t hat \Tay. In fa ct all h e could do was'
to make th e ball t urn oYer, and so disgusted did he
becom e that he finally sw ung savagely at the pond
in genHal. Club head and shaft parted, and our'
golfer walk ed off a sa dder and wiser man , possibly
to drown his sorrows in Annie's VV ell " . We may
add that th e said well is now a drinking fountain
and the pri ncipal acto r of this tragedy has long since
given up the idea that t he liquid which it dispenses
(if taken inwardly) is of any use as a drown er of
sorrows. However the sorrow was well a nd truly
drowned at the 19th.
This station has long been famous for t h e ca ptivating powers of its fair maids, and this h as becn
furt h er demonstrated by l'ecent _events. L /Cpl. Fox,
though only six month s in P erth (is this a record?) ,
too k un to him self a wife on t he 16t h April. It was
also noticed that several ex-memb ers of the staff '
were in Perth during the Easter vacation; do forthco ming events, etc. ?
Ptes. Dodd s and J ones joined from Ald ershot on
1st April 1938, and while not wishjng to appeal'
facetio us we trust their stay in the Fair City will be
a ha ppy on e.
R eaders may b e interested to know that Capt.
P epper and S / Sgt. Daly took promin ent parts in the
play. "Storm in a T eacup" , l~resented. r ecently by the
P erth Amateur P layers; both eXCited favourable
co mment.
PIBROCH.

P.S. Theme Song.

On ce more on to t he field , dear clerks, once more,

Or strew the pitch with all our L ondon dead,
At work , thl'e's not hing so becom es a man ,
As modest stillness and humility,
But when the blas t of Sports blows in our ears,
'Well, we'll see.
A polo gies to Sh a kespeare.
"L."
PERTH.

There have been no sporting or social activities

in this station during th e past qu a rter , for reasons
wh ich need no repetition here, and perforce our
copy must co ncern itself with the indi viduals thel1lsehes.
L t. -Col. And ers-on h as return ed to harness. following a prolon ged and senO Ll S illness a nd , if possibly
not so fit as formerly , hi s ch eerfulneSS remains unimpaired , which has d.one mu ch to dispel t he otherwise prevailin g gloom. Our R.P. is a staunch b elieve r in th at famous ada ge, " It will be better n ext
month " .
Major E llerby has joined us from ov erseas and we
hope that h e will find "The Gateway to the Highland s" to hi s liking.
H aving now h ad over a YEa r of wielding the pen
in place of t he sword, Capt. P epper should have
formed hi s .opinions as to whi ch is t he easier weapon
to use; vel'v definite opinions, we should imagine.
Althou gh ' ap pearin g in t he Army List as retired,
Majo r H epburn is still wit.h us and with hi s boundless energy a nd vast experience, is ever ready to lend
.
a h elpiLlg hand to us young 'uns.
l iVe a re !SIa,d to r eport t hat Mrs. K eller , WIfe our
worthy S.S.M. , is restored to bealt h after a spell on
th e sick list.
The st atement that Scotland r esembles Yorkshire,
leaves S.Q.M.S. Alexander cold and Alec. is beginning to wond er if he shall ever' see his native heath
again ; never mind , Alec, t he first 7 years are the
worst.
Despite t h e sad fa t e of Ma nch ester City S.Q.M.S.
l iVilliams ca n still smile. and I am s ure th a t all the
fri ends of our genial Bill will b e glad to know that
his bea m is as expa nsive as ever.
S / Sgt. Daly is bu sy teachjng hi s colleagues the
p~'op er way to pronounce "Eire", and i::: still convlIlced th at the shamrock is the prettIest flo wer
(or is it vegetable?) that grows.
.
Sgt. P ountney h as a grouse; after spen ding many

PORTSMOUTH.

These are th e first not es appearing from th is

station , a nd 'th ey cover the costing a.ctiviti es of t he
Co rps at isolated but pleasant statIOns along the
coasts or H ampshire. Dorset and Devon. Th e staff
consists of Captain R. D . Bu ck , S.S.M. J . A. G.
Ash er . S.Q.M.S's. W. S. Morris , H . J. D ay, F. C.
Barrett and W . S. B arford , L j Sergts. W . T . C.
Coles. and T. McArthur in or aro und Portsmouth,
and Sergt. W. A . Smith at N etley. S.Q.M.S. W; E.
liVatkins and L /Sergt. L . A. Morrell are at BOVlngto n , Sergt. W. V . Davies at Weymouth . and
S.Q.M.S. W. H . Brown. S!S!!t. W . S. D art, Sergt.
IN. C. L . Mav ann CorpI. B. Wilson at Devonport .
To dispel an y illusions. it mu st be admitt.ed t~at
the Costing does not all tak e place t,o the lazv lappm g
of t he waves on sunlit Solent beadles . by dePp hlue
Dorset Coves. or sea-girt Cornish Castles steePf ? in
Arthurian leo-end hut . on the whole . eve ryone hkes
hi s station ::nd will be sorry when time is up . It
29 1

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

may be mEntioned that our surroundings are not

so entirely Elysian as to be imll1une from the arrival
of \1\ al' Office Letter No . --- (Troopin g SeaSOll
1938-39). S.Q.1I.S's. Watkins and Brown, 8ergt.
Davi es and L j ~ergt . .:\lolTell a re for abroad , whIle
S.Q.M.S. Badord is on the waiting list.
Birt h.-Congratulation s to Sergt. and Mrs. W. C.
L. May on thE. birth of a daughter at Devonport on
26th March , 1938. Sergt. ':\lny and his famIly sail
for Malta OIl 4th June and we wish them a good
voyage and a pleasant tom of duty there.
Promotion s.-Congratulations to Sergeant Davies
and L i Sgt. McAl'thul' who were recently promoted
and a ppointed.
Hospi t al .-Sergt. DayiE.s ha s been admitted to
Bovington military hospital for <L knee operation.
Reports to date are fayourable , and best wishes are
'Offered for a speedy and complete reCOVEry. L / Sergt.
Coles is having a s pell of temporary duty at vVeymouth as his relief. Th e latt,er, who with Corpl.
Wilson also spent a few weEks in the Regimental
Pay Office at Exeter, must feel that to join Portsmouth is to see the world.
S,ltooti ng.- l\'Jembers of the staff at Portsmouth
are very kindly in:vited by t.he HilsEa office t.o
belong to their Rifle Club and shoot with their team
in the Inter-office League. The privilege is mu ch
appre~iatE.d, a nd four members shoot fairly regularly 111 the A and B teams. L / Sergt. Coles was
selected to shoot jor the Army in the annual Inter"Services Comp'etition and is heartily congratulated
'on his distinction.
Outi ng .-On 21st 1\.Jay a very plea sa nt day was
-spE.nt at Salisbury on the occasion of a should er-to shouJder friendly rifle match with the Command
Pay Office. Seven members of our staff and fami lies set out with the Hilsea party at about one o'clock.
We were favoured with a warm sunny day, and the
'country was really lovely , looking gree n and fresh
in spite of the drought . Arriving at three o'clock
the party spent a pleasant hour seeing th E. Cathedral
awl other sights of Salisbury. after whi ch an excellent tea was served on the' ll1wn of the Comm:m:J
Pay Office. The Command Paym aster and Mrs.
Vidal and Limt.-Col. Cockburn were present, and
S.S.M. Dow was a splendid 1vJ.C. The Command
P aymaster gave a short and amusinll speech of wel'come, to which Ma,jor Smith (RP. , HiJ sea) repli ed.
Afterwards. friendly matches of tennis were arranged , and the shoo ting, which was the object of
(or perhaps the excuse for) the exped ition , took
place and resulted in a narrow win for Hilsea. Those
mp,mb ers of our staff who went are most gratefu l to
Salisbury for their delightful hospitality and to
Hilsea for let tin g us com e with them.
SALISBURY.
Offic ~

Notes.-We h ave a numb u of changes to

report 111 the D etachment. Both our A.C.P's. have
left us-Lt.-Colon el Telson to York and Lt.-Colonel
Gedge to Leith . the former being rdie ved bv Lt .-
'Col: Cockburn from the same station , t h e latter by
Major Sayers from Bm'net.
\ Ne wish all these
officers a very h appy tour in t heir new stations and
.extend our. hearti"es~ congratu lation s to Major
Sayers o.n hIS promotIOn t,o Staff Paymaster.
..CaptalO Beauchamp, Th e L eicester R egiment , has
.lomed from the School and has been initiated into
the mysteries of the Imprest Section. We wish him

PAY

CORPS

J OURNAL

a long a nd successful career in his new Corps.

OUI" l es ret at, losing S.S.M's. Mundy to \i\loolwich
and Ead e to the. Eastern COllln~a.nd is only .E.qualled
by our pleasure 111 thew promotlOns. COll grat.u lations
to thE.m both.
We give a hearty welcome to S.Q.M.S. Povser
a nd S j Sgt. SkilTOW from Malaya a nd to Gm . Cla;'ke
RA. , who has joined from Lichfi eld to complete hi ~
probationary period.
Congratuiations to S / Sergt. Cullom on hi s wellearned promotion to that rank and to Pte. Loner on
his final transfer to the Corps.
I:>
Birt hs . -Congratulations to S.Q.M.S. and Mrs_
Craddock on thE. biyth of a daughter on 4th ~March.
. Ob itu ary.-Fri end s in ot,h er stations will j,o in us
ltl our sympathy with Staff j Sergt. Skirrow 0\1 the
dea.t h of hi.s wife at Portslade, Sussex, during his
penod of d\sembarkation leave.
Sports and Social Club.-The Small Bore Rifle
Club ha s ceased to function for the summer months
but hop~ to res ume again in t he autumn with re~lewed VIgOur.
The departure of Lt. -Colon el Nelson
IS much regretted , he being one of our best shots
and a keen supporter of the Club.
The monthly spoon competitions for February and
March were won by S.S.M. Knevett and Mr. Bastable.
Vile have been b eaten in each of two most mo st
en)oyable shou lder to should er friendly matches with
HllsE.a. The first was at Hilsea and was combined
with a visit in t he aft.ernoon to the match between
Pompey and Brentford. After the shootin er the
party ad.ioined to the Depot RA .O.C. Serg~ants'
Mess a.nd spent a very happ'y time b efore leav ing
for Salisbury. A spoon presented by Salisbury for
the best score was won by L j Sgt. Coles.
Onthe OCC,IS10n of the l:eturn .match at Sali sbury,
a p.arLy abo u ~ 30 strong , Jl1cludmg Major and Mrs.
SmIth, Captam and Mrs. Buck, and Ca pta in Hopklns cam 3 from Hilsea.
vVe were. hon.oured by the presen ce of Colonel
and Mrs. "iTldal and nearly all the other officers of
the Detachment and thei'r wives .
The weather
treated u s yery kindly and we were able to haye tea
on the offi ce lawn. After tea Colon el Vidal and
S.S.M. Dow both spoke and said how deli ghted we
were to ~e3 the Hilsea contin gent and hoped th at
oth~r VISlts would be planned in the future. Major
SmIth responded for the visitors.
A.fter tea tennis was played on the Court at
TIarper Hoad, this being quite informal. ]] 0 set programme having been arranged .
'
'W hil e the tennis was in progress th e rifle teams
ad journed to the T.A. Drill Hall and fired the
match. Salisbury led for the first two details but
thereafter faded away an d were never in the pi ct ure
again. A spoon kindlv presented by Hil sea for the
best score in t he Salisbury Team was won by
S.S.M. Knevett with a score of 98.
During the progress of t he match the remainder
of the Hilsea party assembled at the Drill Hall for
the retl~rn :iourney. \Ne a.re 11appy to record that we
beat 1:111sea at Da rts. Perhaps next time we will
be able to take t.hEm on at skittles. ~T e saw some
of the ladies practising h ara.
Th e party brok.e up about 10 p.m ..and altho u gh
we know that Hllsea scored more POll1ts t.han us,
we are not sure about the pints I !' Anyway, h ere's to
our next mE.eting.

29 2

THE ROYAL ARMY

-------------------------------The Cricket Team has arranged seyera l fixtures
.and has already won their first match.
We al'e 100KiJlg forward to the annual outing
which i::; t,o ce h eld , according to cLlstom , on \iVhit
.S aturday.

PAY

CORPS

JO URNAL

his missis: "Jo lly good fellow that d e ll ti ~t and lie

must like ma a,s he wants me to go and see him
again "
"STOKEHEKGE" .
SHREWSBURY.

.:\100~R AKER

Greetillgs! 0' co rpite;:;-or ;;nould it, be co rpiues ?

S ALISBURY PLAIN.
There seems to hav E. iJeel, much uanci.Jlg ab.out
At the request of Lh e Editors WE. make Ollr bow,
during the past few weeks.
but with grave misgivings as to how we can raise
vV e dare not speak or it or write about it-but
new::; of "Corps" interest. Th e eighteen (on the
our dictionary describes "that that has been upper'r are occasions we are at full strEn gth) com pri sing
most in our minds for the past fE.w month s " as
the staff a re dotted all over thE. place at stations as
"exertion of energy (physi cal a nd mental) ", that' s
wide apart a Dld cot, Corsham and Portcil, so that
not how we have lleard it verba.lly describ ed-still
it is absolu tely impossible to do a nything as a
i,n spite of it all we can stili ,find smiling faces-so
'Corps. However, we m ake Ollr presencE. f.elt and 111
here ' s our news of who 's who: and what's \\"hat, etc.
any happenings on the Plain there is always a very
oepart ures.-S.Q.M..S. Tay lor left us for HOllg
strong smell of P a.y Corps. Tattoos , Hace 1eetings,
Kong per S.S. "Very nice too " -he was most unkind
.Boy Scouts, Social Clubs, nothing comes amiss and
to send us viE.wS of the state rooms. etc. There are
we take 'E.m all in our strid e, excepting that no one,
st]l many vivid m emories of a trip" to Hong 1(on er
as yet, will take over Girl Guide Captain. 011e
per H.T. "Herminius"-there were no state rool11s~
'brave member of the Corps took the local Company
L j Sgt. \ Veaire h as joined Houn slow office and we
'of Girl Guides to a pa,ntomime rather than they
wish him well with his hamm er and nails. Vile also
congraL ul atE. him 011 his recent malTiage ill Shrev;rsshould miss it but he ha.s never bE.en the same man
since.
bury. His smilin g face was observed afterwads
. At sport we don't shine. Storey played for the
looking out fom the lo cal paper windo\\'s; ~t has only
RA .O.C. XV last winter and has been invited to
recently been remo ved. The trooping li st h as been
play for their cri c~et XI during the p'resent SE.ason.
received a,nd Captain lVJoulcling , LiE.ut. Cork, L j Sgt.
-Spark, we ha ve reason to believe, goes out ea.ch
Briggs and Cpl. Stack are all looking fonvard to
"Sunday morning au d disturbs the sods of the local
sunny climes and sea trips.
'G olf Club and, it is whispered, we have one very
Ar riv a ls.-\iVe werE. very pleased to welcome
dark horse at D arts.
S.S.M. and Mrs. M. J . Doherty from Singapore on
Our heartiest congratulations to S.G. J"ones on
22nd February, 1933, and we hope that their stay
attai.ning Warrant rank (b ad lu ck comin g just behere will be pleasant and happy. Pte. \ N . St.ratford
fore the Corps dinner, so many people wanted to
joined us on 4th April , 1938 from the schoo l at
wet it) and to Storey and \Nillis in getting one step
Aldershot and we hope he is favourably impressed
nearer to that F.l\1.'s baton.
with t h e Corps. The move of the Li chfi eld office
has brought us a r eal old friend in S.Q.M.S. T. Aylin
Cowper (not strictly in these areas but we lik e
to think of him as "one of us " ), H azell, Spark,
(Tom)-he has unfortunately left hi s wife in Li ch.,Jon.es , Daly , Fowler and W atso n splashed foul' and a
field until h e can find suitab le accom lll odati on. and
'tanner on t he Corps dinner and had a thoroughly
his old friends here gathered round a.nd the re was
e njoyable t ime meeting old friends. By t.he way,
much chatter of Cairo and Sllanghai.
There
heartiest congmtul ation s to t he Comm ittee on a jolly
is no truth in the rumour that the local choral
good show.
society have app roached him just b~cause he still
Arrivals.-\Ne welcome to The Plain S.S.M. Brierretains his original signat.ure tune "Nobod.v noticed
1ey (Bulford) from Egypt and Sergt. F. H . Thomas
me". L j Sgt. S. F. Troke also joined from Li chfi eld,
. (Bulford) and Sergt. F. G. Thomas (Tidworth),
but unfortun at.ely si.nce arrival he has been sick . ~l e
both from Singaoore. (It ' s not so bad now we know
sincerely hope he will make a speedy recoyer:v and
F.H. is the tall-one. ) VIe hope to welcome Sergt.
v.. ill eventua lly obtain a good opinion of this station.
A. F. J . Brooks (Tidworth) from Ceylon on 7th
We are also happy to welcome Li eut,. G. E. Elam
,Tun e next. Vile trust their stay in t he wild s of
ancl family from Ca n terbury and Captain ::md l\Irs.
'S alisbury Plain will be a happy one and give them
S. V ick u from Aldershot, we trust t heir stay will
the usual assuran ce "t.hat the air h ere i.s lovely".
be a pleasant o ne.
L j Sergt. a nd Mrs. Palmer h ad a happy family
S.S.M. A . E. Lit.tler and S.Q.M.S. H. J. Jordan
'event recently (th at's a good get. out : I' ve forgotten
were sent for a fortnight on t,emporal'Y duty to
whether it's a boy or a girl) and to th em we wish
Preston , where owing t.o sickness the st,aff h ad been
the old, old wish that "all thE.ir troubles may be
sad ly hit-our stalwa r ts were happy to renew olel
little ones".
acquaintan cE.s with Lt.- Colon el C. J. K. Hill. Lieut.
O e p a rtu re s .-~7 e h ad a sad blow with the hurried
O. G. Plowman , S.S.1\1. T. Wh elan nnd St.aff Sgt.
rleparture of our Paymaster-Major J. G . 'WoodsH. Everett. Ev.eryone politely said how young and
~or Palestine. The many activities in whi.ch he was
well everyone else was lookin g. but that can't be
ll1ter~stE.d in Tidworth will nuss him sadly . Everyright surely in these days of leisure and pay in
one 111 the ar.e as wishes him a very pleasant tour
decimals. Vilhilst in PrE:sto n, they managed to
and good shootin g . Sergt. Sibley was wafted on a
make a trip to Blackpool where a peculiar advenfavourable breeze t.o the ~l ar House and likewise
ture occurred. They had left Pt'est.on by train and
we wi-sh him luck on his return to civilization.
j en minl1t,ps afte rwa.J~ds t,hey found the tl"ain dashing
The ovel'seas list brought "disturbing" news to
t,hrough Preston statio n-bot'l were am azE.d and
our oldest inhabitant (no prizes offered for correct
fearful. Had their senses failE.d? The places of resolution) and also to SE.rgts. Fowler, Carden and
freshments were not yet ol~ened , someone had blunL /Sergt. McQuade.
It's delightful to see them
dered . Eventually they anived at Bla ckpool and
tripping off to the dentist. As one bloke said to gingerly approached the guard for a n explanation of

293

THE

R OYAL ARMY

PAY

what sEemed to Le a hallucination. The guard carefully explained that to avoid changing the encrine
at Prest01l and getting it at the oth er end ofOthe
train they .ran t~e train nound a loop l~n e-tl"U ly
the , ways of r aIlways are, lIke our poilcemen , wondutul- whl ch proves that the "railway system" is
no. b e~t er tha n the " modified system", or is it? No
prIze IS.offe;:e d for the correct answer , but as N apoleon saId , dear comrades. work It out f,or yoursel ves".
'

CORPS

JOURNAL

WINCHESTER.
. The Editor has app ealed for "No tes" and "Notes"
It has got to b ~, but .the writing o f them is rather
Ilke makll1g bncks WIthout straw. Incidentally, is.
straw u~~ d for bnck-ma klllg ? One cannot m ake a
story out. of a 'Flu epid emic 01' a n epic out of
people bem g at work who should be in bed.
But here is a ll our n ews .
Since Winch estei: last appeared in t he Journ al we
ha ve l ost S; Sgt. Cain to Northern Ireland , on pro.
motlO~ ,. a nd Sgt. Johnson to Singapore. We have.
been Jomed by Sergt. Alexander from Sh a ngh ai and
Pte. 'I'opliss from the School, who sinc. joining us.
h.as emerged successfully from the trials of proba.
tlOn and has also ta ken Clerk Class 1 in his stride.
Also we now have with us Tpr. Crofts of theD r~goon .G uards, on probat ion-and r.ea lisin g, the
wnter thlllks, that a Bookmg Section is more uncomfortable than the sa ddle (or should it be the
motor car ?). ' ''le have also been join ed, if that is the
cor~'ect term. by ::\Iiss , iVillihecl A nn John son, who.
ar n ved on 11th F ebruary , 1938 and made s o much
fus s about it t hat her fat her had t.o miss two bo.ats
to Singa p'ol'e in co nsequ en ce. She and her mother '
are doing weH now and hop e to join fath er next
troo pin g SEason.
W e h ave h ad no opportunity of social entertainm ent due to t he exi gen cies of the service-a nd per_
h aps to the fact t hat the fund s aren ' t so goodbut w e hope to get in a co upl e of cri cket m atches
!n t h e sU.mmer. and t h e pOSSIbility of an "out in g'"
lS bell1g ll1 ves tIgat ed by certain intrEpid so uls.
.On e m emb er attend ed the O.C.A. Meetin g a nd
D~nn e r a nd .another managed to get into Slaters,
"n t h ou~ payll1g, .after clinllr.
Both h ad a very
good t m' e, espeCIally th e la tter an d both arrived
back here at 3 a. m . t h e followin g morning in good
order if not wit.h milita ry discipline, baving only
bem sto pp ed on ce by the police on t he way.
The B,.P., Col. H erbed, is leavin g us in Sf' ptember'
for E astern Command a nd his successor is not yet
know n to us but is, of course. t he subj ect of mo re
or less wild speculation. It will b e more appropri at e
besid es ensuring our appearance in the Autumn
journal i f we defer our farewell to Col. Herb er t t ill
then and know to whom w e can address a welcome
to ' i\7i nch ester in his stead.

The rifl e season md ed in a 'L' of a rush. One

uses t he initial beca use to judge by the L eague
table th e team should have 'L' on their rifles. Howev er
we ~ere not at the bottom-if th at is of any satisfactIOn to anybo dy-but very clo se. Still what
would you '! given more time a nd leisure, w~ might
make a name for ourselves. Vii it h the combination
of the new arrivals, perhaps next year 's effort will
be a brighter one.
PUGGLED.
WARW ICK.
Great actiyity h ere la tely with t he r eorganisatlOh
of the office, two Regiments beinO" transferrEd out
followed by the absorption of th e Warley office on
dlsbandn, ent.
IVLoreover, owing to expansion, it
ha been found necessary to occupy furth er accommodatIOn to take the Sta ff and the work
Unfortunately, tbe new' branch of th e' offi'ee is
situ ated som e distance from St. John ' s Hou se and
thIS has its difficulties, in more ways than one . It
wIll take a httl e tIme fo r us to become acqu ainted
Wit h our new fl'len ds and to give them a personal
welcome. However, we hope th ey will find Warwick
a Home from Hom E and qui,ckly settle down.
. "A,'o n H ouse", the overflow office, is situated in
ItS own gro un ds and 'portions of th e couple of acres
of la nd sUlToundmg It, have been allotted to m em _
?ers of. the Staff to keep. in som e decent order and,
If pOSSIble, to coach a httle vegetable to grow for
Mother.
Quite an in terest has been taken in this new
profes~ion by ener getic m embers of the Staff, and it
I.S notI?ed . t ha t .the Regimen tal P aymaster com bines
deep dl ~gll1.g WIth deep thiukin g, as id eas r egarding
reorgalllsat~on of t h e office crop up with t h e crops.
Th at do esn t look so good on paper after all .
Spor~~l as been very thin so far t hi s year, the only
compet itIve game an:anged bein g bowls and thi s
was cancelled a t t h e las t moment owing to RAIN
the first for weeks or is it years! This game wa~
f~ught out eventually on the dart board and w e
dl~n ' t do so bad, as it is b elieved that someone
paId for drinks.
..
Po~t i n gs .-Th e fol~owing join ed us in May:
S.Q.l\~.S. "'IV. G. White, Sergt. Barnshaw, Corpls.
B anrustel' <l:nd Whelan , Serl't. Moody from Chin a,
tW? probatIOners, Gm. G. Young , E.A . and Tpr.
~~l11g e. Scott, Th e Greys. Captain G. F . Lin e also
Jome d us. from Aldershot. ",.Te hope that they together . WIth our new civilian friends from W~rley
and LlChfi eld , will enjoy their stay h ere. Sergt.
~. Thor~ton h as left u s for Woolwich, h e will appre.
clat e bemg near his home town.
.

WOKING.
Here , There and Ever ywh e re. ~Once again we
reac h t he season wh en we can ex pect to h ear of
furlou gh bein g . gr anted to fortunate beings in oth er
p arts of t h e world w hile we view with som e trepid ation the imposin g fi xture list for the Summermonth s. I do not refer to crick et or even bowls
but to T .A. T ra ining Accounts.
'
In passin g, it is curious how in t he 'Win ter one is
forced to r~se in the cold and miserable morn to
complete the current week' s football forecas t wh il e
i n the Summ er when th e daw n is gold en (vid e aver age noveli st) there is no such abso rbing task to
undertak e.
Th e lure of football pools has been
known to seEP even into the mund a.ne work of a
Regim~ntal Offi c~ ! Fairly recently a Supplem entary
ReserVIst who WIshed to purchase his disch arge was
supplied with t he necessary data and A.F.0.1633 .
This form was in du e COUl's~ oompleted an d return ed
by the R eserv ist sh ewin g name and address of th e
p erson actually provi cling the money as "Little-

Promotion.-Ser\t H . Pocklin gton h as b een promoted to th at r ank, congratulations Po ck .

MIDLANDER.

2G4

THE

ROYAL ARMY

PAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

Cpl. F. Potts felt s o lonely when he di scovereu

that almost the whole of the military staff conten,plated a move a broad th at a rumour is on the rounds
to the effect t hat he is neg,o tiatin g an exchange Oh
the overseas roster.
" GHILLIE " .
Suppl.e mentary Rese,r ve No tes .- Cpl. A. W. Hills,
CpI. H . A. Carpenter, Cpl. C. v.,T. Osborne and Cpl.
H . A. Barnett 'haive! cOfI,\n,\enc,ed th,eir CUTI'ent year's
training. We are all very glad to see thEir happy
faces back again and we ar e all extremely envIOUS
of their obvious enthusiasm. Sergt. S. J. B athe
attended also since the last Notes an d we are happy
to have his pl'oinise to visit our Mess during the
Summer.
Quite a few have priOlnised to cO lr id er \\Titin g an
article for t he Journ al but no M.S. has been r eceived
to elate. Bu ck up lik e good fell ows a nd do your
best. You can send the m to "Ghillie" or your bete
noir- th ey ar e one and the same.
.
W UOLWICH.
Summer has returned an d, wit h it, anticipations
of outdoor games, of days at W~mbleclon , Lord s and
the Oval. " Shall we get the chance to reali ze all
thes e hopes?" we ar e a.s king ourselVES .
Altho u ah t h'e re is talk of separat ion. t he " Fi eld s"
and t he 'i\l\nti-Aircrafts " a re still l(ving to gether
so " fa miiy news " cont inues to be a dmissible.
Arriv3lIs .- H avin g duly arrived from Hong K on g
as Major, we wer e very soon cong ratulating Lieut.Colonel R. H. Smyth , l\J.C. , on hi s promotion. 1\1a jor
L . 1. F . Bar to n has joined us from Lichtield , whilst
Lieut. H . St ubbs h as been poste d to us from Ea stern
Comma nd Pa y Offi ce.
Th e t wo la st named are
making init ial acq u a~ntances. wit h t he offi~e. ' Ve
i.ncl uded co ngratulatlOlls WIth our greetmgs to
S.S.M. F. V. Munday from C. P.O. , Southern Comma,nd .
From MahLya, Sgt. D. 'vV. L awso l1 , after <1 few
days in Ro yal V icto ria Hospital, Ke tJ ey a nd a
period of sick leave, has now taken up duty at the
office, fully l'Esto red to h ealt h . Sgt. P . J . Th ol'l1ton
has arrived from ' ''larwick . S.Q.l\ . S. P. Moss is
posted toVl,loolwich from H ong lZ ong, but has not
yet co mpl eted his furlough .
S / Sgt. V. R ush , also fro m Hong K Oll g, is on ext ended furlou gh pending discharge.
Th e foll owing probationers ha ye joi ned, t o put
t heo ry into practise, fro m t he R.A.P. C. School,
Ald ersllot-Gnr . A . J. Gaunt , Pte. A . Hartley, Sgm.
R H erbert. Pte. N. Mer cer, pt,e. K. T . Pind er and
Gdsm. P. R at chford.
Departures.-'Ne we re all h appy to congratulat.e
Ma jor E. T . C. Smith on his promotio n to Staff
P aymaster. ' Ne sha.ll .1~li ss him- his promotion
meant th e in evitab le move-but H ilsea has now
high er cl aim s to his services . Li ellt.. E. H . Flear
did not stay long with us, but he is still " handy"
at D eptfol'd. Sgt. D. J. Adlam and his famil y h ave
left for Hon g Kon g <1 nd a lot of th e Tennis Sect i9n
enthusiasm has, we fear , gone with him .
Au re yoir and good lu ck to t hem all.
Ptes. H exter-St,abbins and Gee- ~ illi ams hav.e
r eturn ed to th eir former Corps (H,.A.M.C.).
Discharges.- S.O.M.S. ,.".,I. E. But.ler and Sgt. R.
J. Statham deci,ded to lea.ve t he se n ice. Sgt. A . P.
H a ilstone (from E gypt), "Iter a spell at A.V .T.C.
H ounslow, h ~ts aiso taken his di charge. Th ey take
with t hem our best wishes to est.ablish themselves

woods, Liverpool" .
It was pleasant to see a bumper attendance at
.the Oo rps Dinner t his )Tear apd as mu ~h will no doubt
be written elsewh er e m thiS \ssue lIttle remams to
be said in these N oles except to t hank the Dinner
CommittEe for their efforts. In accordance with
tra:dition w e held om' Annual Meetin g in t h e 'Gr een
_Man ' before tackling Putney Bridg.e . It is a compad , ple~s u rabl e -little pub just at t.he edge 0 ' be.yond where one can obtain that to llldu ce courage
before .enco un terin g t he dangers of the Smoke's
cro ssings. Some t im e ago a qUiOtation appeared in
Ithese Notes wherein it was laid clown that in Army
F in ance if yo u put do wn 26 / - ill D ecemb er it comes
up a dollar with th e first butter cups in May . ' i\7 ell,
.on t he r et urn jouru ey from t he Dinn er we made
acquainta nce with an establishment where cash deteriorates mu ch more r ap-idly , one simply put down
.a doll a r a,t 1 a. 111. and it cam e up a ham sa ndwich at
1.5 a.m.'!!
R egardin g t he Dinn er menu- " My
D eal', I was t he first to come away " - , i\lo kin g wives
reminded t heir lesser halves t hat this yarn had been
used before.
The O.C.A. Standard was t hought to be very impressi ve Cl nd we have wond er ed-did the fact t h at
the lion was pointin g east in st ead of west inspire
'one of t he sp eech es. Perhap s. on th e other hand ,
th e lion's tail h as now re c.e ~ ved such a violent twist
th at he has ck cid ed at last to fa ce his tormen tors!
Th e Ser geants' Mess ha s qui eten ed somewh at , it
'h avin g been decided to abandon whi st drives an d
dances du r in g the Summer. ' :"l.h do in tend , how ever ,
to have a coupl e of good outin gs- th e ,f irst to be of
the Stag variety just in case th e fund s r un low.
Captain T. H. Sweeny h ns left us flor t he mo re
'crisp climate of Scotland and t.her e ca n be no doubt
th at he will be sorely missed in Southern sporting
circles. So to Captain and Mrs. S"veeny we say 'la,ng
.m ay your lum r eek' and ' ware D anny H ayes and
:other old-timers at L eith Fort .
S.S . M. T. H. Godbe.hear has become so immersed
in 'o ur m achines th at h e is now almost an a uto m aton
but he do es not r equire to be wound up !
S.Q.M.S . S. T. St eel is still flourishing but w e
.(lare not ment.ion machines in hi s presen ce. N o
Tem arks r egarding rEvised overseas roster.
S.Q.M.S. B. Crowther has now parted brass rags
with his two pins and is, there fore, <1n asp'irant for
"Overseas orders.
. S/ Sgt. E. A. Wilson cannot, attain his desire. H e
knows! H e also knows that we know t hat he knows
that we know t hat whi ch h e dEsires.
Sergt . S. F. Pu nter is wond el'in g -whether h e will
r eq uire a topee or a fur co~t next t.rooping season.
'The M.O . iust looked at him an d said not too viciou sly"fit'''.
Sergt. W. A. Potter is only on t.he wait ing li st .
'Ot hEr r emarks as for S.Q.M.S. Crow t her .
Sergt. A. V. Phillips seems t.o t hink t hat h e w ill
get some embnrkahon. f\!.r1ough! Poor sa p!
L iSI1:t. T. G. A. W illiams is r eally in the BIG
NKWS. Mrs. \Nilli am, (lI ee Our Buritv) present ed
him with a nne son on 7th 1\1ay and ,ye h ",sten to
add O~l' co ng ratul a.tion s t.o t hose already showered
ll1~On t h em .
All t lll'ee eX1Ject. to pr o'ct'ed overseas
a.lso .
L / Sgt. G. Jenkinson is onlv 0 11 th? w a it in g lis\'
Jor ovprseas and is wondering wh at influ en ce ont>
n eeds for t h e r eal tliing.

295

THE ROYAL A:Kl'1Y PAY

--------------------------------------------and qui ckly rea p success in civil life.
Promotions. - Con gl'atula tioll s to S.Q.M .S s. T. H.
DaYies and F. C. Ulph and to L j Sgts. E. Vii. Tillev
and J. D. vVeatherall on a ttainment of the r ank"s
s tated.
Birth.-To Cpl. and Mrs. E. L ewis-dau a htel'.
Eliza beth Anll-Oll 27th F ebruary , 1938.
0
,
Marriage.- Cpl. S. J. Hirt , to :Margar et 1.
Bola nd , a t Coy e on 19th \.pril , 1938.
Invalids.-S.Q.M .S. H. Holt is ha vin g a long spell
of. Illn ess III tIle Royal Herbert Hospita l. His friend s
will be glad t o k n.ow that he is rE coverin g g radu ally.
though we fea r som etim e mu st y et elaps e befol'~
h e IS fi t for th e office again.
S.S.M. W .. EY E'~'ett and Cpl. J. Montgomel'Y h ave
ea ch had pE.l'lo ds m HospItal a nd on sick leave, but
we ~ r~ glad to say t hey a re now at duty aga in .
. B./I.ards.- _-Ut er a st rel}u.o~ season it gives considerable pl eas ure to report th at our Billiards t ea m
compl et ed th e ha t-trick by winning t he Military
Coll Ege .of SCIence " S~ield " Competit ion for th e
thll'd s U CC~SS l\' e year . It was a ding-dong stl'uggle
but good fort un e smiled on us durin g the final lap
and ena bl ed us to scrape hom e.
A .m ost wjoyable session end ed wi t h a social
evening gi ven by RS.M . Pyk e a nd memb ers of t he
M. C. S. Sergeant 's Mess, one of th e features bein a a
m atch bet ween t he WinnErS a nd Th e R est which
the lat.ter won 4-2. Our o ffi cer.;; wel'e r epresented
by Major Broadhul'st , Capta in P ark and Lieutenant
Flea I'.
Dming a H ry con vivial evening R S. IV1. P y kE. ,
pulled a s urpn se " out of th e ha t " . At the con clusion
of a ha ppy sp eEch whi ch was much apRreciated and
wluch refl ect ed the very sportin g manl1er in which
all th e m atches were contested, h e called upon :Ma jor
Broadhurst to present th e R.A .P. C. t eam with miniatu re cups.
Th e recipi ents wer e :S.Q.M.S. ' s
Chant, Needh a m and Ulph , S j S gt. Bocfi eld, Sat.
Can-er and L j Sg t s. Bentley a nd \iV eatherall.
0
S.S.M. Thol'l1hill , in his r eply , th ank ed RS.M.
P yke and m emb ers of the M. C. S .. Mess for t he enjoyahle eVE.l1Ings all ha d spent durmg t he competition .
Hockey. - Owlllg t o a " techni cal hi tc h " no re sults
we~'e publish ed in th e Spring issue. U nfortun a t ely
OUI. season end ed _.rather earl y d U3 to pressure of
work a nd th e clos1l1g of t he Ga rriso n g round s for
the m ont h of April.
However we m anaged t o end on a winnin g note
and a bl'lel r E.sume of our score sheet for t he year
reveals the following:.
Play ed 18, \~TOll 8, Drawn 4, Lo st 6.
, As was p r eviou sly pointed out two of th ese were
111 the form of practice ma t ches and be fore we ral1ied
OU I' forces. :\nothEr was. a defeat by th e Mi lit ary
College of SCIence 111 whI ch " th e system fail ed "
somewh at . As, however , it wn s our most ambitiou s
venture of th e season , we w ere not dishea rtEned and
LOok. fo rwa r d t o meeting t hem again n ext season.
~avlll g since de feated t he oth er th rEe t eams "we
dIe h appy" .
W e shoul d gr oa tl y apprecint,e som e int er-offi ce
~am es of v:hi ch th e past season has been sadly l<lckmg .
WIll H ochy Secr etari es please r eni ember
S.E.~8 wh en compili.ng fi x ture lists.
Cr,cket.-Th e song of our Spor t s Offi cer :" P our 01: us torrents of light, good Sun,
Sh, ne 111 t he hearts of mv cri cket ers shin e
Fill th em with gh\dn ess a n-d mi ght, go~ d Sun :

CORPS

JOURNAL

Touch th em with glory, 0 ' Broth er of min e.'"

This, a fter a talent star ching pl'act\ce game a nd.
prepar a tol'Y to the openin g of r eal bu siness at Houns-.
lo w, Oil th e 20th May against the Sta ff & D ep ts.
sid e. A . most exciting ma t ch r es ulted:Hounslow 85 (Pte. HartlEY 4 wkts. for 18) ;
Woolwich 81 (Cap t . H. P . P ark 22).
\ Ne hope tha t work a nd t he w E.at hel' wil1 allow
us to fulfil a n inLer estin g se ri es of fi xtures. \N.e
look f01'\..-a n l to m eetin g--and beatin g I- om ot hel"
,offi ce fl'l ends sp urred on by t he supp ort of som e of'
our fail' " En gine Room " (Th a nks, Chat ham) Staff.
Corps m E.mb ers who have served at \~I oolwich win
b~ .sorry to heal' of two death s rece nt ly a mon g th eCIvIlian s taff. Air. J. R. Lon gma n, civilia n clerk
collapsed a nd died in th e street on his way h o m ~,
from t he offi ce. MI'. L ongma n was for some years.
employed in th s R eserve a nd t hen t he Overseas sect ions o f th e offi ce prior to his r ecent transfer to .
R ecord s.
. Mr .. " Jo~ k " Hutchin so n , I-k ad Messenger , diea
III Ulll Vel'Slty College Hospital after an illn ess of'
sQJne w eeks. Hut chin son had bee n associated with
t he R. A .P. C. for man y veal's a nd cam e t o \Nool-.
wich on t he ruoYe of ' the old RG.A. Office from:
D over .
Our sympa thy is ext end ed to t heir r ela tives.
YORK, COMMAND PAY OFFICE
Arrivals and Departures.-A hearty welcome is:
extended t o PtE.. J eeves who ioill ed th e offi ce from
Ald er sho t, and we hope th at -h e h<1s a longer stay
than L j CpL Lu ckhurst, who left us for \Na d ey
shortly after b eing posted to York .
Annual Ball.-Sin ce th e las t issue o f th e J ourn al
t he P a,y Corps in Y ork co m bi nEd t o hold th eir Annu al
B all in th e D e Grey Room s , York , on Friday 25th.
F ebr uarv . ~938 . S.S.l\I 's . CheneJ'Y and D' Allenger, .
Q.M.S. Wn1;h t , S j Sg ts. Pl ed ger a nd Troops !ll1d Mr.
H. Co unsel! are t o be t hank ed and highly comm end ed on a l'l'an gln g su ch a deli a hLful E.ve nin a's
entertainm ent , whi'ch eve rybod y pr~sent openly ~x
pressed t hey ha d enjo yed.
Ma j.-Gen. E. C. GE.PP , C.B ., D .S.O .. accompa ni ed:
B y Mrs . GepD. Colon el and M rs. N . F ord e (C.P. ) ,
L t.-Col. a nd 1\Irs. A. A. Cockburn (RP.) and L t .Col. and Mrs . C. N. B edn all (A.C .P. ) . were presen t,
t ogeth er wi t h ot her offi cers of t he R LP. C., a ne}'
uni ts, et c. , sta tion ed in York a nd Cat teri ck .
T o swin g mu sic, a dmi rabl y rend er ed by th e Ri altonia ns Dan ce Band , da nces mod ern a nd old w ere
p erform ed by th e m ajority of gu est s throughout th e
course of t he evening a nd earlv morning. Th anks
mu st again be accord ed t o S:b.M.R. \~fright , our
M .C., whose "shining" person ality did no t allow us'
t o b e dull fo r one mom ent.
Bil/iards.-Th e Comm a nd P av Offi ce 'Warrant
Offi cers' and Ser gea nts' billia rd s tournament
(handi cap-knockou t) took place in t h e RA.l\I. C_
Ser gean ts' Mess on Frid ay , 11th Mar ch.
Prizes w er e to be award ed fo r th e winner , runner-up :ll1d high est break , a nd natmally from the st a rt
t o t he fin al ea ch ga me was k eenly contest ed.
The hcwdi caps w ere expertly a pportion ed (on th e'
s pot) and in ga mes of "50 un " on e could n ever
obtain more than "e vens " on eit her play er, be th ey
r abbits or champs . Li ~ ht r efreshmEn ts a nd pickl ed'
onion s were se lTee! durin g t he evening-free-toeve ryon e's a ppro\-aL R etuJ'l1in g t o billiards; t he' ,

29 6

THE

R OYAL ARMY

PAY

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JOURNAL

Departure.- Lt.- Colonel A. A . Cockburn ha s departed for Salisbury, a.nd left behind ma ny pleasant
memori ES of f.ve years at York.
Among other
interests he " fa th ered " the R ecord and P ay Office
Club and did much tow ard t he success of it' s.
yario'u s act.i viti es. W e wish him many bappy days
in his new surroundings .
Promotion.-Cou gr atula tions a re ext end ed to CpI..
Gidlow on hi s prom otion to that rank; t he usuaL
custom of "\iV etting " was dul y obser ved at a n earby
Inll.
Sports Club.- An outing to Preston took place on
26t h ]i ebrua ry to wit ness the soccer match between
Preston North End and Bol to n Wanderers. At the
time it was anticipat ( d that York Cit y F. C. wo~ld
meet Preston at. \iVembley bu t , of co urse, the CItywen t down fi ghting a,gain st Huddersfi eld in a replay ..
Th e game was very int er estin g from th e star~ to the
finish a nd a d raw of t wo goal s each was a Just reflection of the game.
Aftel: th e mat ch the part y proceeded to SUl1.\ners
Hotd wher e a deli ahtful t ea was provid ed. After
replenishil1 a t he i n~er man t.he pa rty mad e their
way to th e" Hippod rom3 to see t be. play "All I,nen
are Li a rs" wInch was a fan' ente rtall1l11ent , pOSSIbly
from a crit ic' s point of yiE.w. How ever , at 8.30 p .m.,
by t he kind invita tion of th e Offi cers and Staff of
t he R ecord a nd P av Offi ce, Preston, the par ty were
ta ken to th e Vict ~ ri a a nd Sta tion Hotel where a
spl endid entE.rtainm ent wa s bein g h eld on the occa-
s ion of t h e a nnu al dInner for that offi ce. \Ne met
several old fri end s and enjoyed t he con cert t og-ethe1'
wit h the liquid r efr:sh.ment provid ed. Our th anks
are ext end ed to om fn end s of t.h e R ecord a nd ~ay
Offi ce, Preston for t he excell ent tin~ e we spwt 'Ylth
th em that evenin g. Th e r eturn Journey ~o Yo~'k
comn1enced a bout 10.;:0 Rl11. in t he pourmg ram
and aftu sever al necessary stops, York was r eached
at 1.30 a .m., everyone haying had a good day lOut.
sports Club.-Th e halt-yearly m eetin g of t he C?lub
has been h eld and t h e pro gr amm e f01: t he vanous
activi ties has been a lT<ln ged for t he summer mO~lths,
so we sh all be lookin g for.ward t o some good times.
"It t hi s m eetUHr our Chairman, Colon el E . James,
D. S.O ., M. C., ::dlud ed to the early departme of Lt.Colonel \.. \. Cockhul'n, and paid t fi.but e ~o that
Offi cer 's gr eat inter est and m any acts of kllldn-ess
in t he affairs of th e Club.
Baseball.-Th is sport is r a pidl y ~ii inin g pop.u l.ar ity in th e North o f Engla nd and th,lS 1;; snrprl slll.g
wh en one con siders that t. hl S part o f. th e country I~
so cri cket conscious. Th e con trast is co nsiderable ,
however, as in baseball. th e spect <1 tol's ar e part of
t he gam e it, being t heir duty t o hurl r ema rk s at
th e plnyers, comphm entary 01' oth u wl se.
.
Sergt. Bown is again a n~e!11b e r of t he t:0rk ~CIty
'Maroon s, who pad ,icipn te 111 the L ancaslnre -Yorkshire Ma jor Leag ue. ThIS L eag \.l e IS composecl of
teams as fa r a nar t as Hull an d L1 YE rpool, and e~ch
tenlll consists of seyeral Can ad ian professionals, WIth
local amat.eurs t o ma ke th e number up.
Cp\. Gidlow is a lso <I keen baseball fan and plays
for th e York Nom ads. winn ers "1 St yeal: ?f th e York
Am at eur Lea i!ue <1 nd Kno ck-Ou t competltI?I1 . Sever.at
memb er s of the offi ce staff t,a ke a kee n ll1ter est III
t,he eXDloits of our t wo play ers and help t he rest
of York te llin~ Sc.rgt. BOWD to stand firm wh en the
"find blows , for r eason s best kn own to t hose who
a re famili ar' with " Bill" .

more skilful or some say lu cky con.tE.st ants, survived the prolonged barrackmg and ~ff ects o~ smoke
ha \'e, etc., t o play some as toundll1g shot s. The less
skilful have since lw rnt to play .eu chre, as It has
been said tha t you do h ave sO'm e 1d ea of wh a t yo~r
opponents a re going t,o do nex t when plaYlllg thIS
game.
.
Afte r a good " weed-out" the two fin ah st s were
Q.1\I.S. Wri gh t (las t year 's champ.) and L j Sgt .
Soper . F rom the commE.ncement of thell' game, the
feelin er amo [lO'st th e !'; pect a toI's was of t ensed excitem~n t sucl1 as is felt on awa iting to h ear th e
15t h res dl t on the P enny Points Eool , having already
mark E.d 14 co rrect. Bot h pl ayers soon reached. ,a
sco re ill th e regIOn of 40, a nd L j Sgt . Soper, w1tn
some brillia nt "cuemanship " , am assed th e total of
49 a nd bro ke down ;- even hi.s . oppon ent ha d recased his cue. Shiner vVright wit h 41 on th e hoa rd
and a look of a co nqu eror on hi s face, betr ayed no
sio'l1 s of emotion as h e addressed the cue balL
M~Yin g his cu,e back wai'ds and forw ards, as if sawin g
his t humb off-h e hi t. sudd enly to score a n effortl ess
"six shot" . After the balls -ha d bee n r epl ace d on
th e table, and th e spectators' eyes in ~h e ir socketsplay r es um eci a nd , needless t o. say , ShlllE.I' scored th e
necessary point s to carry hIm to victory for the
seconcl year in succession.
R S.M. E. F . Baggs , RA .M. C., who so kindly
placed t he R A .M. C. Sgt . ' s Mess at om disposal for
the eve ning . nresent ed th e priz es :- 1st , S.Q.M .S. E.
A. Wl'i gh t : 2, L j Sgt . R Soper and th e. H1g hest
Break prize t o L j Sgt. F. Cozens, also va rIOUS myst ery pri z,es.
Tennis.-All R A .P. C. p ersonn el in Y ork who hold
th e r a nk o f L j Sgt. or abov e are pl aying members
'of t he vV.O' s. a nd Sg t s' . Garri son R ecreation Club ,
and the refore h av3 access to th e Club 's t enni s
courts.
\~T e ho pe in th E. nea r future to be a.ble t,o chall enge
anv local te~ l11 ~ , e~ p ec i a ll y t,h e R,egim ent al P ay Offic e
St; ff to mi xe d doubl es. etc., which would include
th e i~ ev i table " P ow W ow " over the tea tabl e.
Staff Outing. It hi s b een decid ed t hat tbi s year
our Annu al Outin g t akes !Jlace in t wo form ati?l1s.
Firstly a masculin e stag par t y by '.bus t o ;rarIou s
r esort s on th e east coast s of YorkshIre-to mclud e
co untry inns, wh Ether of l:i storicaJ in te rest ?r no~.
S3co nd l v a chal'abanc tnp for all members famIlies to Sca'rbo l'ough. for the h enefit of th eir children.
Shooting. -Th ~~'e'i s little t o r eport und er t hi s h eadin g as, sin ce th e last issue of th e JournaJ , j'he shooting seil so n- a fairly su ccessful on e for York- has
bee n bro u ~ ht t o a close.
Major E. H. K ellv won t,he spoon fo r t he mont,h
of March a nd Sgt . Cla l'k e di.d likewi se fo r th e month
preyiou s.
. .
At th e t ime of goin g t o prin t we are a WaItll1g th e
fin al l'E.s ult of our placing in t he L eague- and are
at. t he same time ho ping t.o accompany Ald ershot
"B " int.o t he First Division to r emain th er e for
good, or a t least until l'iA es are a t,hin g of t he pas t.
" N URO " .
YORK. REGIMENTAL PAY OFFICE.
Arrivals. -Lt.-Colonel G. '\tV. Nelson. Ma ior E. R.
K elly a,nd P te. C. E. R Gidlow have join ed us from
Sali;; uur y Warwick and Ex eter respectIv ely . Vole
extend t~ t hem a hearty welcom e to thi s ancient
cit y . and hope th eiL' stay will b e a. happy on e.

297

THE

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ARMY

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JOURNAL

Stations Abroad
CEYLON.

conspired to put the brake on activities both social

and sporting. In common with most other offices
we daresay, t,he financial rehabilitation of the British
Army has called for strenuous effo rt and much overtime, which left very little time or inclination for
our usual relaxations. Judge how serious must h ave
been the situ ation when we say that the Area Com_
mander's Annual Inspection which everyone was so
looking forward to , was cancelled !
tlowever, in ' the earlier days ,of the period covered
by the present issue of the J oumal, eve11' before the
"News of the World" had enlightenEd us and the
Army Co uncil, we were h appy in our ignorance and
gave an hour or two to the lighter side of life.
The chief event was a cballtnge, duly delin red
and accepted, to defend " Th e Bi:scuit " at indoor
games against 6th Bn. Roy al Ta nk Corps. It would
appear that the Intelligence servi ce of our challw oers
was very good since th ey caught us on one leg ~U1d
although we mad e them go all the way for it. the
" Biscuit " had to come down from its accu::;tomed
position on the wall and a pair 0' reproachful lo oking
spiders had to seek more perm anent qu artErs.
The bitterness with whi ch we contested the fi O'ht
was eviden ced a t th e following monthly Mess l\l~et
ing When we ratified the conclusion of the battle by
voting the necessary amount ov erspent. We now
gaze at "the "Challenge" wh ere once we beheld the
" Biscuit ", but one is bound to say that in point
of looks, the former is the greater asset to the Mess.
The presentation of th e "Biscuit" by S.S.M. Rooker
to R.S.M. Stannard at the co nclusion of the co ntest
was an entertainment on its own . The spea kers on both
sides received so much help from their r espective supporters th a t we n early got the "Biscuit" presented
to us instead and Preston North End at 5 to 4 was
offered a,nd takol several times in th e ex citement of
th e moment .
OthEr entertainments in cluded an indoor ga mes
tournament aga in st
th e
R.A.F. , a
supper
and da nce to celebrate . our emancipation from t he
bond age of " overtim e" and th e monthly Mess Meetin gs . No apolo gy is mad e for including th e lastnam ed und er the h ea ding of entertainments, since
among weight ier" m atters on e or two oth er subj ects
have cropp Ed up which lightened the gravity of the
pJ'Ooceedin gs . An enquiry as to w beth er a proposed
moonli ght trip to th e Pyramid s was to be confined
to memb ers caJled forth a sca.nd ali"ed " What! t he
Pyramids, the moon , and a STAG party? " from t he
Chairm a n, whilst a di cussion a.bout fricl gidaires
nea rly produ ced a "frigid ail''' at th e Mess Meeting.

It may, 01' may not, be due to the refreshing S."\iV.

.monsoon, but anyhow "Ceylon calls once again".
Recent departures from the Command are tl.S.M.
Pi all to Gibraltar. on promotion, and Sergt. Brooks
,to U.K. , tour expirEd. "\iVit.h t,hem went our sincere
wishes ior their health and happiness in their new
stations. To the recent al'l'ivalS, S.Q.1'1.S's. Jones
.and J agot and Sergt. Hart, we extend our best wishEs
for a very happy stay in Ceylon.
Ceylon h as recently been very much in the limelight (or should I say searchlight!) ill a Naval and
Military SEns.e. The defences of Colombo were tested
by an enemy raiding force composed of H.M.S.
Norfolk together wit11 H.M.S. Emerald and a seap lane. The attack commenced a t 9.45 p.m. when
the ship s approached within bombarding range and
opwed fire: the searchlights quickly picked up the
raiders and their fire was answered by the shore
batteries. From behind a smoke screen the Emerald
dashEd towa rds CoLombo H arbo ur and opened rapid
fire which was effectively replied to. Another phase
of th e war included a combined attack from sea and
air on the Harbour and certain stratEgical pointsthis too was effectivtly dealt with. Both sides s uffered .casualties but th e Defences are proclaimed to
be quite adequate.
P eace h aving been decl a red, th e Navy gav e u s an
-excellent programme of display on the Galle Face
Green . The items included a very impressive Drill
display by t he Royal Marines.
Then came
-along the Royal Navy with a fine exhibition of
Ho witzer Drill. The Howitzer a nd Limber weigh
' a.p proxim ately It tons and it was a fine sight to see
the way in which the teams handled the Howitzer
at the 'Quick ' and ' Double' , fina.lly bringing it into
and out of a.ction with a breakdown necessitating thE>
changing of wheels. Th e ma sSf!d bands of the tWG
ships then treated us to some inspiring music and ,
the Display was conclud ed by an intensely impres,
.sive SUllset Ceremonial at th e hauling down of the
colours , featuring the firin g of a gun, bugles accom.panied by the massed band s, the hymn-"Abide with
me" and .f inally , "God save the King".
Being such a small Detachment, four other ranks in
all , we cannot of course enter any teams in the
various sport competition s, but severa l oth er Corps
bere being in a like position , the situation h as been
met by the formation of wha,t is lmown as th e "St.aff
and Depa rtm ental Sports Club ". Th e Corps is well
represent.ed by Sergt. H iLrt ~vho plays no mean part
both ::.t Cricket and F;ootball-tl1e l'Est of the Detachment give th eir moral support.
Althou gh the outside amenities of Colombo are not
so great a. ' cities lik e-shall we say , Cairo-we
manage to fill in our spare ( ?) time very well. "\iV e
have three very good pictUl'e palaces showing quite
up-to-date film s. DanCES are fr equently h eld <Lt the
R.A. and R.E. Sergea nts' Messes, also at the
B.S.S:L and Y.l\I. C ..A. "\iVeIJ , aft er all, three years
is a very small portion of a lifetime and h ere as elsEwhere-"Tempu s Fugit".

Arrivals.-S.Q .M.S' s, " Jock " Rob trts 'and "\iVaru,

Sergts. H erb el't, vVrai ght, Buxton a nd R apple an d
.
Master Ha.lle.
To tllose who recently left us in wonder a nd in
doubt, we ma ke known the arriva l of the last-named
-a son and h eir to Serg t. a nd Mrs. H all e. Only the
fact that the proud .:f-a;l:,b er w~s ca,ught in t.he vi.cinity
of th e Mes'; with his wee k's pay still on him very
soon after the event, pre vent.ed the n ews bEin g given
the fitting publ icity of the "Da.ily Mail" fro nt page.
It is safe to assume th.a t "Ginger" would mak e a
live publi city agEnt sin ce h e su cceeded in relegating
Prin cess Juli a na to the Third Di vis.ion as far as the

EGYPT.

Since the last issue of these notEs, a seaso nal ri se

i n th e t emperature, the end of the financial year
:and last but not l east, Army Orders 39 and 66, have

29 8

THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY CORPS

Detachment was con cerned. iNe ar!3 sorry to say

that he found him self quite UluLble t o accept the
~uggestion tha t b is " lad" s hould bE. christ ened
"Moha med H alle'.
Tailpiece.-Dul'ing a fire a t Imp erial Court
(N.A. A.F .I.) Abbassia, a soldi er from a nearby.barracks " happened to ,b e thel"e ", " pI cked up " a
camera and roll film which might o t herwise ha ve
been burnt and took some excellent photos of the
fire. His comrade;; regard him as a " bit of a N ero I "
Darts.-This has becom e all the rage amongst
Messes. A L eagu e has been formed a nd home and
away matches are. play ed every week. Tea ms con
sist of eight players and t he 111 em b el'S of th e select ion oomll1 ittee keep a. wary eye on potential players.
"Nifty Arrows " are now the rule rather than the
exception and of course spect at.ors as well as pl ayer s
are schooled in the da rt language . . . " Tou gh 01'
Rough , Tight 01' Ri ght. " .

R.A.P.C.

JOURNAL

has the matter ill hand and that th e maximum t,ran sfEl' fee has bee n fixed at a gallon. If thi s is co rrect
it is felt that ollr Supporters' Club will obviate any
lleed to consid er t he possibility of tran sferrin g any
of 'o ur players .
Two pi ctures of our hom e ma t ch yerSlI S R ,H ..:L
are a[!pended.
Tennis.-Thi s year Major r\, C. VV . H and s and
fiy e othEl' r a nk s of th e Det.achment entered ftOr the
Command Indi\i.dual Champion ships, h eld a t the
Gezira Sporting Club , Cairo. U nfortunately, owin g t o
pressure of work, two members were obliged to
s?ratch fro m the tournament aft er s uccessfully n ego t)atll1g th e earl;v rOllnds.
'N e have aga in entered the Senior Ranks' Tenni s
L eague and hal"" e great hop es of improying on our
position i.n t he table this year, hayin g bem third fo)'
the past two seaso ns. There is tremendous keen ness and consequently a great improvemE nt in all

v.

R.H.A.

round play.Cricket.- R..,co rding cricket news in the land of

perennial s unshin e is like t,hat old sayin g " All or
nothing". So far , I must admit that we have not
accomplished anythin g very startling but 011 the other
ha.nd , we have h ad some fine games. Cred itable
draws have been made with the Gezira a nd Heliopolis Sportin g Club s which, as old " Gyppos" know ,
is no mean feat.
This season we a.re again l'elyin'g 9I1 the stalwarts
of last. season 's fame??? Vole l'egl'\lt to announce
t h at Captain Ellicott, OLlI' able skipper of last season,
is unable to part.icipate in this season 's games owing
to th e in jmy he sLl sta.inEd on the fi eld last year.
Fort.ll11ately, we h !l;ve man aged to unearth Sergts.
H erbert and R apple , two l{een cricketers froin the
newly joinEd re'c l'uits of thi;; Detachment.

Sergt. Bux to n i: onE of out' STALVil AB.TS, in th e

playin g sense as well , and ca n usuall y be relied
upon to bring ho me t be bacon, or is i t beer th at rival
dart ca ptain s pl ay fo r after each month ?
The rules proyid e for a nin e foot th row and the
Bantams find it easier to keep th e old dart " downstairs", as to get' 'upst airs" is qui te an effor t .,
It is very enlig htening t o h ear the advice gIven
to players during a, match a nd th e special names
for the va,rious dOll bl es are rich and someti mes rare.
"Go on Bill. scrub the slate, two j E.WS wanted".
There is also 'a special name for the two fours but it
has slipped my memory for the moment.
\Ne h ave played two matches to date, havin g won
one and drawn the other. The season is very young
yet so nothin g has beeil. heard of any sensational
transfer s but. one hears that the Leagu e Committee

299

THE ROYAL ARMY . PAY CORPS JOURNAL

t he SergeaI?-ts ' Mess , R.A .M. C. on 22nd April, t he
occaSlOll belll g a l'etul'll of t he gamE:s evening for the
OIle h eld m our Mess on 9th February (as reported
lJ1 t he last Iss ue of t h ese notes).
Billia rd s, Snook er
and the usual card games were played ; and it, was
observed that our members k ept stl'ictly to the r ul es
of th e "Battle of Eu chre" as p'ublished SOllle tim e
ago 111 t he Corps Magazine. At its tl'mination all
a greed t ha t the evening was all too short.

GIBRALIA R.
P e r !ional. -~\'

"quick -change" turll \\'as effected

()] l
t he 2nd :\J.ay when S.S.1\11. Piall disembarked
from H.T . "-:Somerset ' hil'e" in relief of tom-expired
.S.:\1. Deacon, who emb a rk ed 011 the sam e good
ship an hour latEr fo r Ollward pa s age to U.K. The
10rmer came to us from t he steamy heat of Colombo:
we wonder ,cvhether he' ll lik e Oul: " L eYa nt,er" ? The
latter has gone to ,\ldershot, where WE have but
little doubt t ha t t he loca l ho ckey t eam s \\ill S0911 be
maki.ng hi s acq uainta nce.
' Ve ca lln ot let t his opportunity slip wi tho ut sayIng a few words abo ut t he part pl:lyed by S.S.M.
Deacoll ill the hockey and cr ickEt world of this Fort r ess. H e w ill be sad ly missed by eyery DeEart mental Corps here, not only for his until'ing e nergy
in th e organization of the S. & D . hockey an d
cricket tEams during the foul' years of hi s tour here,
b ut also for his keenness in the face of- at timesinsuperablE: difficul t ies: t l1!) r a isin g of a scratch
hockey side to play a Naval side at a moment' s
noti ce was just a matter of almost everyday occurr ence with him throughout the w inter mon t h s.
" 'i\' ell done , and thank yo u" from us all.
Our h eartiest co ngratulation s to S j Sgt. Ansell
upon his r ecent promotion to t hat rank.
Sport.-This has been a sort of . 'close' season so
far a sport gEnerally has been concern ed , and as a
consequence there is but li ttle to record under this
heading.
Golf . . . Out' Command P ayma ster, Lieut.-Col.
I. P. Brickman. has continu ed t h e success recorded
in our last n~te; by addin g yet more and moro8 Golf
Cups to hi s bag. Just. how many of these were due
to the combin ed effmts of Mrs. Bl'i ckm an and himself we are unabe to sav at the moment,.
' Ne must not, however ; lose sight of thE: " prow ess"
of the I-Ionoral'Y Treas urer of th e Golf Club-to wit,
Ca pt. Lamb er t-who h as also uph eld th e nam e of
t.he COll)S in t he go].fing w,orlel h er e by b eing a
membel' of tIle winning S. & D . team in t h e InterU ni t Champion ship , of \\'hich om C. P . was also a
member and also by winning the last monthly medal
comp etition .
Hockey . .. S.S.lH. D eaco n was chosen to represent
t h e Garr\son at ho ckey in the Garri son Other
R anks v. MeditE:rranean Fleet R,atings fix t ure which
took nl<1ce on 12th March last--the honours of whi ch
match r ested with t h e " m a,tlows " at 3- 2.
Te1111i s . . . Th e Calp e L eag ue games r.1ay eu
d uring the winter season came to <1n end in Ap ril matches bEing played on alternate Sunday mornings.
S.Q.M.S. Prowse and Sgt. HOl'nby played for "A"
Cour t in t h\s competition.
"A" Court ran th eir first an nu al club t ourn am ent
rece ntly . in which lVlrs. Ni ce r each ed the .fin als of
t he Lad ies ' Sin gles, but, after a good stru ggle W<1S
def.eatEd for the t roph y by hs. ThUl'sto n (R.E.)
and with h er Singles opponent as <1 partner the pair
went 011 to win th e L a dies ' Doubl es.
Th e Senior L eagu e (Sgts.' lVlesses) toul'l1 ament,
r lil'lD i.ng durin g the summ E:r , h as just comJll.encedin which we are able to r aise a team from our detachment , foul.' players being n ecessary for a sid e.
Stop Press . . . OUl' con gr atulations also to Ma.ior
Askin in winning the Men' s Handi cap Doubles in
t h e annual tourn am ent at Sandpits on th e day of
penn i.ng tIi ese notes .
Social.-A most enjoyable evening was spent at

HONG KONG.
,Hong Kong Calling.- Last month Lieutenant E.

'i\, . Lmes and Mrs. Lllles reaclwd t he silver anniver_

sa ry of t h eir marriagE: . Th e occasion was celeb ra ted
III style.
Lleutenant and Mrs. Lines in vited t)le
D etachmen t to a cocktail party at t heir fl at in
Kowloon ,which was a verita ble bower; many friends
having sent beautiful baskets of flOW ErS.
In a short but witty speech , the C.P .. Colonel
Rogers ,. co ngratul ated t he smiling host a nd hostes3
a nd VOIced the hope t hat t hey .would one day celE:brate t h en' gold en wedchll g; a wIsh that was h eartily
echoed by the remainder of .th e company . Following
tillS, t he Colonel, on behal~ ,of the D etachment; presented. to :[\1[1'. and :Mrs. Lmes a deli cately wrought
SlIver mkstand of Chmese desIgn.
A ck nowledging t h e gift, Li eutenant Lines expressed his dE:ep appreciation and said that the occasi.o n was doubly m emorable to t h e Lines ' fam ily,
Slllce on t,hat .day the ma rn age of his daughter. Miss
PhJ:lh E. Lll1 es to Mr. S. Cope of Li chfield , \\'as
takm g place in England. This n ews was recei YEd
with cLcclamation and the g uests drank a toast to th e
future h appinESS of t h e youn g couple, both of whom
h ave m a ny friends in the Corps.
Several newcomE:rs to the Station were present.
Sergeants Adlam, Gower, and Cemernic a nd their
families a nd Sergeant ' Natts , who h ad disembarked
from t he R awalpind i a few days prviou sly.
On th e 13t h of ARril, we welcomed our new Sergean Major; S.S.M. E. Spiel'S and S.Q.M .S. G . E.
Taylor a nd Mrs. Taylol' who arrived on t he S. S.
"Corfu " . Owing to th e Ta ck of acco mmodation due
to t.he i.nftux of refugeES, t hey are temporarily housed
in Hotels ; a by no means ideal reception but one
which we trust will n'ot undu ly pre judice their
opinion of H{)n g Kong.
A few davs later S /Sgt. Ru sh a nd Sgt. Moody
made the " Dilw a l'a " by t hE: skin of th eir t eeth ,
h av in g been put off-and~on the last trooper no less
Th eir departure and t hat of
t h an three times.
S.Q.M.S. Moss and fam i.ly, w as marked by an unfortunate incident.
In h auling the b aggage on
board, a g uy rope snap ped, several boxes crash ed
to t h e wharf, bounced off , and landed in t he sea.
Curios, lin en , and articles of clot hing were either
lost or ruin ed and both S.Q.M.S. Moss and S / Sgt.
Rush lost many a rticles of valu e they ha d coll ect.ed
during their tour. W e wish them a happier landin g.
The whole detachm ent will miss S j Sgt. Rush.
V ictor, as h e wa s popularly known , moth ered and
fath ered the staff for three years and his unfailin g
courtesy and joie de vivre end eared him to all ranks,
including the chHdren, who regarded him as <Ln
un iversal uncl e.
La,st t o leave us was S.S.M. T. Bla,ckett who ,
\\ith Mrs. Blackett and P atri cia, sailed for U . K.
on S.S. "Ranpura". A la,rge party gathered to wish
th em bon voyage, i nclu~in g many pupils of t h e
French Convent, who were saying goodbye to the

3 00

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURN'AL

captain of t heir ' chool. Aft er the hect i.c l. u ~ h of
Hong KOll g t he chi mes of Cante r bury will sou nd a ll
t he sweeter.
Si nce th E: Detachm ent finished halhvay clown la st
year ' s 'Tenni s Lea gu e, th e T enni s Secretar,)' has ne\' er
been seen to sm ile. Th e arri val of S.Q .:\(S, ' Taylor
c he ~ r ed him up no encl and h e now spe nds hours
workin g out un beatable combinations. This newround optimi sm is shared by most of us and, without
b eing cocky , we t hink we hav e a rea sonable prospect of fini shing at t he to p this year.
Th e war conti nu es b ut, at the mome nt of writing ,
dOES no t appear lJ.k ely to lllvade South China. Thou gh
most of t he European R,efugees h ave returned to
Shang hai, Chin ese fugit ives from t h ere a nd other
par ts, continue to pour into t he Colony. Most of
t.hem hav lo _t th e little they posse. sed :lnd al'l'iye

forms of " l \a nsport" had decid ed th<1t September,

1938 was t he only pos s~.ble month 11) WhICh th.ey
woul.cl go hom e, are sllgi1 t1y annoyed a nd busy invent1l1g all so rts of rEasons why the /Trooper should
be so late! !
Of co urse no Corps l\otES would be complete' with_
out a few J'emarks on: Sport a nd we may say with
pnde that our sm all det,: ch m ent can hold its own in
this direction.
Th e C.P. and Sgt. Drull1ll1ond are members o the
S. a nd C. T . H ockey sid e which , if not cO\'erin g
Itself WIth glory , 15 ha vm g some very enj oyable
games 111 the J amalCa Hockey L eague.
Capta m Bla ckwell and S.Q .M.t). v\lilson both
ado~'n t he Cri.cket fi eld! t he for'mer doing some lu sty
hlttmg a nd t:lcky bowling, the latk r givlllg decisions
as to L.B. W ., tc. , WIth Ill S usual sa ng-froid a nd
deadly accuracy.
Sin ce out last no tes t he Jamaica Ganison :\1inia t U~'e Hifl e Club sprang into life uncleI' t he Charma'nshIp of Capt. Blackw ell and is now goin g fa irly
strong. Several matches h ~ve ta ken place a lready
11.1 t he J am a1ca Mlllla,turE: RJfle I..ssociatio n CompetitlOn but results h ave yet to come to hand. Firing
t.akes place .on the open 30 yard s range, whi ch is
chstmctly dIfferent to an indoor range at h ome.
L arge numbers of insects, which t h e li O' hts at the
butts attra ct, nigh tly r isk heir lives crav\~ina alllo ng
th e "B ull s" but up to now no one has seen ~one hit
whi ch is clu e to agility on t h e p<Lrt of the ill sect~
a ncl not- la ck of skill at t h e :Dl'ing point.
Three of t he Deta chment plus our atta ched 'V .0. 1
of t he A .E .C. , Mr . lVIcLeay, too k part in thE Dalrymple-Hay Tennis League as members of t he '
R.A.S. C. Team , Sgts . Forse a nd DJ'nmmond. as a
pail' a nd S.Q.M.S. Wilsol1 , as 110n-pl<Lyin g C~pta in .
' Ne are pl eased to r ecord our victory over t he
R.A .O.C. , RE. , RA.M. C. a nd R. A. who fini shEd
in t h at orde r.

Refugee Children

dest itute. '\Velliare workers have their hands full

and judging by t he ha.ppy expressions in the en clos ed snap of J'efuo'ee childrEn are manaO'inO' t heir
d iffi cult t as k well. 0
..
,
0
0
VERY VERY J Ur TOR.
JAMAICA.

With one ey e on t he 10j 6d . and t he other on t h e

ou tgoin e; A ir :Mail , in addition t,o closing down
ancl tl'yll1g to master th e int ricacies of the variou s
Army Orders, which h aV E: broken out like a rash
recent ly, the lo t of the J amai ca Corr espond ent is far
from a hapI~Y one
~ow ever ; Fide et F idu cia, Nil Desperandum , Honi
SOI t , etc. , etc., a,nd off we go :Following t he weU-tl'odde n paths of aU correspondents we come fi rst to Arrivals and Departures
and. imm ed iately r~a c h a n impasse (FrE nch fo r
" Bnck ' i\lall ")-beca use no one arrived and no one
clep:lrted-at le<1st as far as t his Detachm ent was
concel'l1ed but we did go and say "cheer io" to our
~onfl'E:res in other uni ts both arriving and departm g. A photo of the bar on either occasion would
provid e suffi cient excu se fo r our presence. How ever ,
It 's one goo d way of spending an evening and we
look forward to the bO<1,ts arriving and dE:partin g,
as on e way of varying t he routine.
The "3-Yeu M.en " have r ecently been informed
t hat Janu ary . 1939 will see them bound for Hom e
so all thOSE:' who , by S lid e Rules Lo gs and othe;

The Shield

Th e Shield was presented at the ma.tch Th e Winners Y. The Hest by ,0 Ul' O. C. Troops Brigadier R .
Howl-ett, D.S.O. , lVI.C ., anl! wh at looked t,o' be a fin e
afternoon s t enni s was completely spo ilt by a rain
storm , t he like of whi ch only J a!!laica can boast.
However, we l'efused to be put dOv'iD by the weather
:md t h e large gath.ering: which includ ed nEarly all
t he Officers a nd t heIr lach es , spent the Lim e ill' enjo y _

3 01

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

able conve1'se waitiug for t.h e r a iu to cease sufficiently

for th~ presentation to be made .
.
For the benefit of those whose. ServIce goes ba ck
beyond 26th Octo ber , 1925, the third . hield from the
bottom to the riO'ht 011 the t.rophy 1ll the enclosed
snapsh~t, contaill~ tl;e name ,of S j SGT .. LA"\;VSON,
A.P.D. and t.he date IS 1917 he. was 111 the West
India Regt. Details T eam. Tillle MaTches On! !!
We promised to giye furt.her n ews of festIvItIes
during the visit of H.M .S. " Apollo" , but the q S.It
did not materialize owinO' to a broken fetlock 111
the. Aft Fo'c:astle or somethi.ng. The ship did oome
for one day but our 'friends did not come ashore,
so we cancelled our overdrafts and sank back ll1to
the usual routine of pictures, pictures and more pictures. Perhaps it was as well , as " early to bed and
e,arly to rise" seems to ~e t.he ideal in J amaicn.
although we ca n "GO IT WIth the best of them.
W e a re looking forward to further VISIts later Oll ,
by which time \\'e shall have fully recovered from the
la st one.
Despite t he fact that Jamaica has figure,d largely
in the Wireless ]'I; ews recently, tlllngs are not so bad
as they might. seem. The big riot lasted one night
only and we regn.t to say end ed tragIcally for som e.
How ever thiuO's are now more or less back to normal. and' t.he Island life goes on with littl e to disturb its even flow . Oh! we did han a slight earthquak e some time ago but no damage, wa~ d~))1e and
no one was hurt. so w e replaced our semol'lty rolls
in despair I I
'
It is a most sUl'l~rising thing aJJout this I sland
but we often hear items of Jamaica News on the
English News Bulleti.n , which ha ve ~ct u a ll y happene.d a few miles from Camp, but whIch we normally would not know. anything about ur~til we read
the pap er next mormng. A case III pomt was the
big fire some time ago which people .in Port Roy~l
h eard on th e wireless (and kn ew notlung about untIl
th en) but by simply lookin g out of thEir window!>
could have seen quite clea.r ly .
V,T e should say someth in g here about "th e wonders
of Modern Science" but we hay: become so blase
in this age of Miracles that it's b eyond us. We are
actually far more thrilled with the recent grant of
Colonial Allowance and m crease,d Ra,tion Allowanoe.
It is neary time we stopped. and. cau~bt ("Ye hope)
the Air Mail and Mr. EdItor If thIS a rrIves late
please "don't' be 'ard on u s" , but try and -slip it in.
as we have earmark ed the 10 j 6d. ftOr abo ut 20 diffe.rent items-it, will probably .finish as a f' Liquid
Asset" .
BULLDOG.
KHARTOUM.
The Fort ,
5 a.m. On the Ramparts.
One surprise has followed a noth er throughout t~lis
quaTter; and 'manna' from heaven, not to m entIOn
the t.hanks of a grateful country, seems to have fa.llen
on us from all , direction s.
Armv {jjrder 41 bnought " 'l'a ntalising Tit-bits" to
Lance S e~geant Rea, our only po st nineteen twen.tyfiver , but to the remaining seven of the firm nothmg
but agony and crimson sweat. An Urgent postal
telegram on March 12th was received with loud
applause, Colonial Allowance at last for all ranks
in the Sudan. Next to our ears came a new name
"Marded Establishment" and no more M. Q. R

CORPS

JOURNAL
-------------------------

North from Observation Tower

There must he a catch in it somewh ere was the only

comment the old hands could m a ke who had served
a life smtence on the waiting list. E ach Air-Mail
brought instruct.ion s ca ncelling Rreviou8 ones .which
all seem ed very hush hush, and for a tIme It was
yiewed with grave susp icion.
On March 5th we received oopy Ko. 29 of the
Corps Journal , and Lhe genHosity of the Vlar Offi ce
in so many direction s, was completely overshadowed
bv the overwhelming kindn ess of the Editors, in the
shape of a prize of ten shillings and si xpence for
the best office K oLes in t he Summer I ssue of the
J ou mal. L et me see , ten an d sixpence is abo ut 50
'akkas' accord ing to my conversion table but usua~ly
abo ut three mUhemes less by the Sergeant Ma]or s.
Still it is worth winning , and what can I tell you
about the doings of eight.
Sunday, March 19th , that was a day "ve shall all
r emember. Th e General lent us hi s motor launch
for the evening , a nd at 4.30 p.m. , along wi~h o~r
friends of the R.A.O.C ., we set off up the rIver m
the direction of Gordon's T ree, which IS about seven
miles fro~l Kharto um and is where the Imperial
.:\ irways Flying boats land.

THE

V.~\L

ARMY

the good t hings in life, a nd w e ? t e and drank fr~.ely

from 5 p .m. unt\! 9.30, as we glIded down the Nile.
From a ll of the Games SectIOns as generally
played in the Army I have received NIL re,turn ~ ,
lJut the ShOOtlllg Secretary can testIfy for th e accUl<Lcy .of Se!'geants F~rgusson and . Rea with a cata pult, and can truthfully say, t0at we had one hUl~
<hed per cent . first class shots 111 our annual claSSIfication (Empire Te ts)~ Sergt. Sowerby obtall1.lI1g
the top score. Sergt. Ba ckwell , our meteorologI ca l
expert marks up the temperat;U'e Chart each day at
8 a.m. , noon and 4.30 p.m. fhls IS most carefully
studie,d by all;- and acts as a gUIde to the quantIt y
of liquid we - sh.ould co nsume eYeJ'y day. A gra ph
of the daily temperature I hay e dIscovered bears a
strong similarit.y to the graph of t he caterer's takings for the same peri.od .
.
.
On Thursday, May 12t.h , we ent,Ert amed to dll1nel'
in the U ess the W.O's. and Sergts . of No. 47 "B "
Squadron, RA.F. and not only di(~ this party coincide with the oelebratIOn of the bll'th of the prophet "Mulid el Nabi" but so great was the occasion
that even the 7 a.m. parade the following morning
was abolished.
A slight earthqua,ke shock wa s experien ced in
Khart,oum. that evening which so me of the guests
felt, and some didn't. and oth ers thought it was
something ent.irely different.

Fort Gardener- Sgt. Fergusson

Detachement R.A . P.C. , Khartoum

S.Q.lVI.S. Roberts, ll lldo ub'tedly the greatest commi ssariat since MOSES, had provided us with most of

302

Before losing, I would like to {mpl'ess on my

read ers (if any). t.hat Khartoum is no t such an aw ful pla ce as it is sometimes report.eel to be. It
can be very hot during t.he day , but, the night,s are
~lsuall~' cool, a nd life ca n be yery pleasant here
If you have good health , a good elhobi, and good beer.

PAY

CORPS

JOuRNAL
-------------------

6 am. I must, take the Sergeant l\Iajor his cup of

tea-Good morning.
MALAYA.
Introductory.-One of the more fortunate reside nts
in Malaya who occasionally find s time to visit Singapore and Di strict (sounds like a member of the
Financial Adviser ' s r:3taff) has r eported to the effect
that city lif.e in the Straits Settlements has not
changed to any g rea.t, extent during the last three
months .
Na,tive bands still electrify daJlce audiences in the
lo cal cabar ets with all the l;ltest hot numbers, saxo -phonists play far .' in to- th e night, whil st at regUlar
interva ls ' the pian i.st, slowly ma sticating a. portion
of one of the more fashionable brands of chewillg
g um , cha nges into to p gear and , making his in strument reYerb erate , t ells the world that. " Everybody
loves hi s Baby". Talking pictures come a nd go,
men. women and children traverse the city by m eans
of c~r, taxi , rickshaw and 'b us, whilst some e\'en
walk; unfortun at.e individuals get married, the more
fortunate di e, but th e Detachm.ent RA .P.C., :Ma laya
persist in working -far into the night, ignorin g the
O'eneral hnrly-burly and cutting new plates co nsegueilt on t.he deletion of t.he word "Marriage" and
the snbstitution of the \\'ord "Family" not to mention a small item like Service P ay.
Thirteen is no longer re.garded as an unlu cky
number here, and ha s been replaced by numbers
thirty-nine and forty-one but, after all, " Labor ipse
"\"oluptas" and so, although making bricks wi.thout
straw is acknowledged a diffi cult task by the ma.jority, we will try and appease Ml'. Editor',s seem ingly
in satiable appetite for news with a very small POItion of "Inflo rmation Malaya" -not from choice,
but just sheer force of circumstance.
News Executive.- Colonel Golding has, we believe, during the la st three months spent a .certain
amount of his time successfully COplll g WIth the
ever-pr esent m ena ce the "Golf-ball " but we can
secure no official report on the matter. However,
we can assure r eaders that wh ilst he alwa ys enjoys
himself on the link s he nE.Yer has a "toppi ng' time
~but lots do!
}IajlOr Milling , the Garrison Cham!?, is a,t present
resting on his la urels, and we all hope that hI S techlIique will not be impaired, as we have always understood that only first class bOXErs take prolonged
periods of l'est 'between engagements.
:'Iiajor B. L. Burgess (A ssistant Command Payma ster) h a.vin g left "\iVoolw~ch and :Machine Accountin g behind , arrived as per schedul e, on H . T. Some~> set
shire in March a nd has travelled conSId erably SIn ce,
ha vi ng moved from t he Lodging Li st to Quarters.
The language question has already.loom.ed large
in hi s bfe here , as on the dny followmg hI S moye
enq uiries were instituted. as to where one c<?uld
purchase a, "Hoax". and It sub seq uently hanspn:ed
that .the aI'ticle reqUIred was an axe, and that :r"fa,Jor
Burgess 's hea.d boy was not, an Oxford Graduate .
'Ne nre all very plea.sed t? welcome Major ~urgess
h ere and nre sure th:'1t h e will have a really .en.loyable
t.hree years' tour in the colony.
Captain vVilliams has for t.he past few weeks been
submerged behilid piles of soldi e(s J acket,s (not 3:n
Ordnance ' is. ue) and 01l1v occaSIon all y vacates hIS

_ _ _ _ _ _THE

R OYAL

ARMY

PAY

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J OUR:NAL
- -- - - --

diving st a ti'on for a spot of nil' Ol' to enquire whet.her

anot h ~ r fresh rulIng h as bee n receive d regarding
rates of pay; but he really find.,; Singapore a very
pleasant place and , as h e IS now an "Old Colonial " .
has overcome the lang uage diffi cnlties so often en:
couutered when one f irst arri ves.
Th 2 office ex t.end s hea I't,iESt cO ll g ratulations t o
MaJol' Bal'll es, D .C.M. , Ion t.he. advent of his promotIOn to t h at rank ~1. nd regl'et hiS departure per H.T .
Somel'setsllJre on 7th Apri l, 1938 for NOl'thern IrEla nd-anoth er foreign sta tioll J? We hOl~ e 'M ajor
Bal'l1 eS find s B elfa st to Ill S hkll1o'
. Incidentally it should. be I'eport~d t h at Major MilL
In g has once agall1 Jlollled th e ranks of the oe nus
"Batch eior:', hi s fa mily havi n g sail ed for Enol ~nd
no report IS yet to h and as to just what tt's lik e
to be " sin gle again ".
Arrivals.-S.S.M. '[vlack (ex Bal'll 3t) , S.Q.M.S.
H ehll ' (ex Houn slow) and Sgt. Thomas (ex Perth )
all left th e sea behind them when t h e "s.omersetshire" be rth ed h,e r e on 14th l arc h, 1938 anci"are no'\\'
al.' safely ensconced at variou s points in FtOlt Canning . They h ave go ne all "eastern " a nd are fu lh co nv.ersant ~ith mo sq uit,02
(by types), bugs
(vanous). drinks (any amount) a ll d tIle life tropical.
S!i;t. . Thomas h as already distinguished' himself a s
a pla1lJS~ of exceptiona l ability and is t h e possessor
of a bantone vOIce of t he "encore" class. 'vVe sh all
be h Eal'in g lots more abo u t Tommay.
Sgt. Mo nks (ex York , Comm a nd ) a nd S.Q.M.S.
G Ol~mell (ex Edinburgh ) arrived h ere in style.
haVin g covered t.he grou ll d on the liners P. & 0.S .S. " R'Hvalpind i" .a nd "Corfu" respectively a nd
thev assHt that t h eir mode of tmvel is a t rifl e in
~dva~ce of th e usual " Trooper " . B.oth of them find
It a httle warmer h er e than in eith e l' York or Edinburgh-phew! I I
Returning Warriors.-A ve rv popu lar member of
ours , Sgt. (Tu g ) Wi lson . who left I,!st Kovo11ber
for tcmporary duty in Shanghai. r eturn ed io t h e fold
o n 14th March, 1938.afte.r settlin o: a spot of bother
t h ey h acl b een ex pErlen C1.ng up rh err a nd his onl\'
r.egret is t hat th e 8hallghai D et~c hm en t would in sist
on him ?rin~ine; back five PClY list.. togeth er wit,h
t~le relatn' e Jack ets ancl p lntes- t he price of a good
tIme.
D~partures. - Th e undermentioned left us on 7th
A?'ll. 1938 per H.T. S011lersetshire fo r t h E United
KlIl ~do m -o n e month's lu xurv cru ise with five mea l"
per day-all the comfort s tOf shin -llOilrd and h ome
- at the end of it- Iuckv Blokes! I ""N mi s~s them all
and wi h them wEll int.h eir new station.
S.S.M. P ea r ce, S .O.M.S . Povser . S.O.M.S. Ro\\,land , S ! Sgt. Fox, S / Se;t. L an fh a m . Sgt. Fre~man.
Th ey are all very distinguished p eople C1 nd we
r egl'et that Jack of space depriVES us of t.heoleasure
of rxtolling their v irtu es to r h e world at In r Q'e .
ViTe must . however . m enti on S.o..M.S. R owl<l nd.
who. e Joss is deplor.ed by t h e crickE tinQ' co mmuni ty
of Slne;aoore-h e end ear ed him self to nil ('rick etel:s
h ~re foJ.' th e r emarka bly able wa v in which h F U11lmred and hi s very effi cient int:erpretation of t,h o
L.B .'iV. R:ul e. "Ve hope h e continurs ilt Rom E.
Fan mall fqr the res t of th e drilft will be forwarded
in due co urse .
Promotions .- JtOy bells peal od in th e office on r eceint of the news that SQ't. H ewetJ. h ad beE n
':Crowned" and we conQ'ratu l:1te him 011 his nromot 10'1 to Staff Sergeant-Long m nv h e R eig n.

, Sport.-SleePing. -Co Il~e qu e l l t on the in cr ease in

work our ch a mn10n s at t hl s yery popular pa sti me are
a li ttle out of trallllng and we fEel tha t other units
are 111. muc.h better fettle , a they cert ainly have
more tIme !ll Wlllch to pra ctise an d practise mak es
p erfect. How ( yer, our best mell assert that 'they are
qUlte ca pa ble of makmg a come-ba ck at il lat I' date
-we hope so ! ! !
AIU n W fes-tling, s..wimmirrg'''an'd : Croquet: -Thi
appea rs to be the close seaso n Ior th Ese pastim es as
no n ews of allY sort can be obtained-see next issue.

Gardening.- Furthel t o ou)' last, iss ue we have

much pl u1 s l~l' e in reporting excellent g!'o~th of COl'poral Brett ' 5 mou st ac he and if this sort. of thing
goes on we Eoresee a llot,her fortunc bein g m nde out of
h alr -restorer.

THE

RCYAL

ARMY

MALTA.

Since the puiJlicatioll o t' the "Spring" Journal,

th e Office h as bee n "Home" to most of t he Staff .
and I am therefo re afraid t h at m y notes, t his ti m e,
will be 'just enough ' to keep Malta in th e lIews .
The chief item of in ter est was th e yisit of th e
Secretary of State for vVar to the I sland , which h e
made during the E a te!' vacation.
Spor'ts.-The l'uling "Ga me" recentlv in t rodu ced.
i .e. , "chas ing t he recurring t hreEpellli y bits " . has
certain1y taken most of our time , but , neverth eless .
we man aged to find teams to play off our fixtures in
the Malta Comm :1 nd ' i\T.O 's. and Sgts. ' T ennis
LeaguE.. Up to date we ha ve p layed 6 matl: hes, winning 1 and lo sing 5. Om' Ladi es have played 4,
winning 2 -;1nd losing 2. I hope to give et happier
report n ext tin~e.
As the RiHe Range is still und er rep-air, the not ES
on this pas tim e must necessarily be 'Nil'.
By the t ime these notes a ppea l', we s hall have lost
Staff Sgt. Paul and family. vVe al'e sorry to lose
'Peter ' -he w as one of th e remainin g T ennis stalwarts who will be most diffi cult to replace. ' Ne wish
hi.m 'all joy' ill his new station '
B ARRACCA .
MAURITIUS ,

The most in ter esting item of Il ews to r eco l'd is th e

marriage of Sergeant R. Smith , whi ch took place
on the 10t h Mnl'ch, 1938 . All o ld friends who kn ew
him whilst at Preston, L ondo n or Houn 'Iow will
doubtless wish him all the best. H e seems to h a l'e
known a thing or two , for not onl y has he a Yel'V
ch a rmin g, yo un g wife, but with in
few wee ks hns
fo und hims.elf oO n the Mal'l'ied E stablish m ent. whi ch.
in t.hese days ot "~n creases" (ratioll and 'colo ni al
allow ances, . work , etc.) came as an extremelv welcom e and useful gift. \nclno hom eward passa-ge to
pay for I Th e Army as' a career is ce rtain lv b eill g
made very much more att.racti ve nowadays bu t wlla t
a pity the~ didn't gi ve everyon e th e old ;'ates of p ay
(and p ensl'ons) ,tnd h ave done wit h i t , i f only for
th e sake of P ay Office staffs. "Vh at with t h e modifi ed
" London " and Power-Samas systems . new ra te of
IJay (n ot. t.o mention S.P:P.) , F ami ly A llowance.
more Terri ers and a 2% increase in est:1bli shm en t.
I should think that Home offi ces a r e just about
wondering wh ether t hey' r e goin g 00 1' comin g ba ck.
However', Fide et. Fiducia, and h ere's wishin g
t h a~ yo u soo n see dayli g ht. Thin gs are brightenin g:
up lIl 'M auritius . }\l'1'an gem ents hal'e been Jll:1 de for
an "English" pict ure to be ShEW ll once a. month.
and l:1st week we ha,cI t he good fortune to see and
h ea l' R.ich a l'd T aube r in " ]\fv H ea d's D e'i il'e" . Thi ~
was follow ed by t,he "Cat a ild Th e ('il na rv " . Cl pla:preSEnted by th e Mauritiu s Dran),lt ic Society at th e
Rosehill theatre . which provecl to b e a fii'st class
show.
A mi lit ar y co ncert partv. too. h ns bee n
formed r ecently, and h as alrea dy give n one ExcellEnt pel'formance. , iVe are now iook ing fOl'wilrd to
th e 14th May. wl' ell wr r ece iv e a ll oth er vi.sit from
H. M .S. "Norfolk " . wh ich is exP"'cted t,o last for
t\VO or three week::;. Th; s a.nnual Nal'v v i ~ i t is YE'rY
mu ch appreciatecl bv t h e garrison. Dl:o\'iding as it
does fr esh oDPosi.ti on on th e sports fi eld a ncl plent:,'
of soci[-l l fun ctions . R acin g I'ecomme nces her e at th e
end of lVfay. Abo ut twel ve m eEtin gs nr e helcl during
the season wh ich end s in October. vVhi ch reminds
me that T hone "Egypt " w ere well on Pigskin in
the "Cit~ rind S urbul'bml" . On tIle 30th Ap!'i l. of

Sgt. Ryan and Family

Con clusion.-R eade l's (if any) , if pe rcha nce your

pa l statiomd in Sin gapore is not n~eJlti oned in th ese
notes We apologise b ut would like to point out t. hat
we are a ve !'y big D etachment a nd we ca n' t all
featuJ'e in the n-ews- IJesid es the office rep. gets ti.red.
However, yo n mi g ht drop a lin e to YOUl' pal who h as
no t seen yo u for yea rs allcl is c1esen'iJl o of on e as h e is
h elping to k cep the fl ag Ayi ng und er 7t blazill g tropic
"ull-thanks I
DEBITS.

30-1-

RAY

CORPS

JOURNAL

course, we li st Ened in to the Cup Final which end ed

so sensatiowl ll.v. In cid entally , Sergeant Smith IJe lon gs to Preston , so it seems that he ca nn ot- go
\\Tong thi year .
Mauritiu s has enjoyed splell did weather durillg the
s ummEr wh ich has just end ed , and th e sugar ca ne
crop promi.ses to eq ual last season 's record on e, and
so t h e I sland '::; pr esent pl'osperity should co ntinu e
for at least ano th er year.
F.~I.

PALESTINE .

With the return of the Command P aymaster, :Major

S. N . Hill. hom leave in U .K ., t he offi ce ha s now
ret urned to ,norma l-a nd \I'ith all our newcomErS of
this Trooping ..:eaSO ll fil'ml y seWed in iheir new
sUlTollndings, wh o knows what the future may bring r
H a ppy d ay' , we hope.
Life fol' us in J erusalem cont inues at it s usual
'dizzy' pace. Each Jllo l'll ing seE min gly bring - its
new Army Ord er-each eyenin g its fresh office instruct'on-and wh 2n clay is clone. so a l'e we. 'Vea ry
a nd wom. we wend onr \I'ay bilck to th e billet
through th E cl e:;e rt ecl st reet s . .
Th e bright id eas of t he 'Powel's t hat Be' mu s t be
r nnnin ~ out howeve r a nd fl' ~sh ;\rm y Orders mu st
accordin gly become scarcE'!'. So. or course. office
houl'S will slow lv revert to norn'a l- in fact . t he bar
'takings' shoulcl ' ~oon I::e back to avel'ag~ ag:1in.
' Nit h more time to loo k round us ho wever,
tim = ca n I,E' gi,-en to l'eflection oyer the 'family'
question. The ll ope expr essed in our pr.\'ious not es,
that t.h e fam ilies might soon be h ere. ha not. up to
tim e of .go; ng to press, m ateriali secl.
Th e d elay
apparen tl y. h;]8 bEen due to lack of accom mod ation
on outvial'll bo und troop-ships. Can we ap peal then
to t h e ge nerosity of anybo dy at home, w ho h as his
vach t sta ndin Q' idle at t he moment ? NEed less to sa.v,
sam e yn ch t. i f loa llE'c1 , will be return ed intact, carriage p ,,~cl or by air mail- at owncr 's ow n ch oice.
Th p futur 2 a~ regard s sport. does n ot ,loo k too
bright. du e mn inl y to lack of fund s (b enevolently
in clin ed ofF cE's flt hom e plea se note) . " ' ith t h e
fOl'l1 ' ation of a Gll l'l'i 'o n Sergeant s' l\[es;; in t h e near
futu re. the neCEssarv funds fol' the formation of a'
cricket t eam nw\' h~ rai eel. On of two members
of the detachmel;t h aye milnagecl to find th eir way
into loca l t enni s clubs . h elpEd maybe. bv th eir tal ent .
a t t h e gll III e. The l'f'mainder. bein g m'ere 'rabbits ' .
co nten t th emselyes with table t enni s .
At the latter gam e. w e are. without dO[lht. good .
Of Cl. detachment of 24. we ca n field at l ea~t 16 ])lavers
of aboye th e a l"era ge. Two r ecent. to urn ;] m ent s-<l
singles Ame ri cn n to urn an'e nt won b,' Sgt . DayiES
and a doubl E''' tournam ent wo n by Sgt s. C'hfl nt lel'
a nd Bindlev-res ult ed in son'e r E'allv k een and close
!!:1mes. ~-\nv offices fan cyin g their ch ance. cn n tak e
th is as a cha ll enge-tea ms 01 a ny numb er trlken on
and stakes anyt hin g from a pint per man to a bal'l'eL
At t h e present moment. pla,ns a re well unc1El' ,,-ay
fo r t h e formation of n Det achm ent Entertilinment
C'lub. It i;:; h oped then to stage Ya riotl s ' cl o's' in
th e W:1)' (If ou't in gs to t he neigh bo urin 'Z !>'rlsid e
resorts. H OII'eyer. we'll be a.ble to report in full
on su ch fun ti ons i n the n ext i" sne. when i t. is hop ed
tha,t the club "will b e in fnll s win Q'.
Late News Flash!!!
F amili es emb ar kin g for
Palestin e on 21 st 1\lIay. 1938. Ma rl'i ecl m en rep.orted
eyeing; their cred it hn lances with di sJl1 8:'-.
F ea red
th at bar 'ta king;;' will ag;]in suffer I

THE

ROYAL

ARMY

PAY

CORPS

JO URNAL

TIENTS'IN.

AS OTHERS, SEE US.

Since .our last notes appeared in t.his jomnal, mally

c hanges and events haye occlll'l'ecl , that would take
far too much space to na,l'rat,e in detail.
Ho\yeyer we hope that the coming summer will be
quiet ellough to permit" without interruption, the
normal sporting activ ities of the station.
--I.. large percentage of the staff are due for rtlief
d urin g the com ing troOpiJlg season and are looking
forward to the arrival of the 'home' boat.
In this con nection. for the benefit of reliefs due
here, it might be a,d;'isable to mention that clothing
mllst be proyided to meet every variety of climate,
from EXtreme cold to tropical heat. Owing to the
heavy duty on Home imports, intending residents
are advised to bring out as many w.oollen undergarment.s as practicable, as such are particularly
xp'ensive here.
S. Q.IVI. S. E. Petus and Sergt.. _c\. F . Elgo.od have
left us for the Hom e Establishment and have been
replaced by S.Q.M.S. F. Y. Branson (now deceased)
and Sergt. F. W. N orrell.
It is with the deeptst sympathy that we have to
record the death , on th e 17th March , 1938, after a
short illness , of S.Q.M.S. Branson , whose obituary
appears on another page of this issne. During the
brief ti.l11e this warrant officer wa s w ith us, he bad
endeared himself to all.
The fun eral took place with full military honours
on t he 19th :'1arch , 1938, and was Cl tt-ended by the
Officers and Staff of Area Hea dqualters, a detachment
of the Tientsin British Municipal Emergency Corps,
members ,of t,he Garrison Staff Sergeants' Mess and
the Sergeant,s' Mess of the 1st Bn. , The La ncashire
Fusiliers, which unit also provid ed the escort.
Among the many loml tributes were wreaths from
the Area Comma nd er and Officers of Area Headquarttl's, Officers, warrant offi cers and se rgeants of
the L ancashire Fusili ers and t he _\ rea Payma ster
and Staff.

Reproduced by kind permission ,of the Editor of

. 'The Sapper" .

Vol. IV.

THE PAY OFFICE.

The pay-bloke sits thj3re in the pay -office chair,
A frown on his brow, streaks of grey in his hai.r.
Surrounded bv work. I s he loaded with care?
He lik es ."it !
His clients come in-they all want more pay.
He patient ly listens to all that they say
Then tells them to come back on some future day.
'Why hurry ?
He wades thl',o ugh the list with many re-counts,
Then sorts out the cheq ues and all petty amounts,
He must get an officer to check the amo unts.
No flurry!
He keeps friend ly watch on his office staff,
Giving his orders with good-humoured cha ff ;
"Vhen work is done t hEre is time to lau gh.
Quite cushy.
Reg D enny takes charge when Matt is a.way;
Just now h e giv.es Flem a few hints abo ut pay;
Bill Chapman carri,es Ion in his own pleasa.nt way.
It's easy!
).Tow don't go and think that they work all day long,
Just figures and writing, all graft and no song.
Let me explain so you don't get it wrongJust listen .
Each day , abo ut break-time, the tea cups appear,
Then down with all work-it's a rite they hold dear.
On v..-i.th the kettle, the smokes and the cheerRelax~ng.

For half-days and sports fi xtures they 're always free;

Bill Chapnian at s:occer is pretty to see;
And Matt never miSSES a game of hockeyNo hurry!
).Tow the pay-bloke, you see, h as to keep things exact,
).To need for friction if all done with tact;
It's not a bad job-some lik e it , in fact I
Believe it or not!

No. 30.

Summer, 1938

CONTENTS
Editorial Notes and N.otices
Corps Sports N ews
Corps News- 'Officers
Promotions and A ppoilltments
Retirements
vVar in Sh anghai-Part I
Our Chess Page
Presentation of O.C.A. Standard
Personal Recoll ections of Archangel
O.C.A. General Meeting and Dinner
Obituary
Corps NEWS and Notes- Home
.,
,.
, : -_-'l.broad

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