History of the Aldershot Branch, Rsa
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HISTORY OF THE ALDERSHOT BRANCH, RSA Edition 2, June 2020 The author acknowledges with grateful thanks the considerable help received in compiling the military history content of this update. Paul Vickers, Chairman, Friends of the Aldershot Military Museum, generously provided much detailed information on Aldershot Garrison aspects. The story of the formation of C Troop was drawn from the research work of branch member, David Mullineaux, written up in the Royal Signals Institution Journal of Spring 2010. Branch Committee Member, Neville Lyons not only provided the lists of events and talks but also proof read the whole document and made valued suggestions on presentation. Historical Background There has been a strong link between Aldershot and the evolution of modern Army signalling ever since the establishment of the first Royal Engineers Telegraph Troop there in 1871. As the technology developed, so did the number of units both in Aldershot and worldwide with the result that at the end of the Great War there were 70,000 men serving in the Royal Engineers Signal Service. This led in 1920 to the formation of the Royal Corps of Signals which has maintained a continuous link with the Town and Garrison of Aldershot to this day. The full story of this evolutionary process is set out in a further new paper entitled “Aldershot: the Cradle of Army Signalling.” The technical and organisational details given there are separate from the history of the Association branch but there is a connection between the two stories which was particularly close in the early years of Royal Signals because of the units and individuals involved. For that reason a brief summary of the paper is given in Annex A to this document. Preamble Very shortly after the establishment of Royal Signals the Royal Signals Association was formed, based on the example and structure of the Royal Engineers Old Comrades Association. The Wire magazine of March 1921 lists the branches up and running at that time as follows: Aldershot, Birmingham, Exeter, Liverpool, Derby, Glasgow, Bulford, Belfast, Taunton, Rhine Army, London, Maresfield and Crowborough. Thus Aldershot was in the very first wave of branches to be formed, with RSM HE Mallows at the Aldershot Command Headquarters, Stanhope Lines as the local representative. At the time of this History only 6 of those original branches remain in existence. The Early Years of the Branch 1920 - 1940 By August 1921 Aldershot Branch had 15 members and by September 1922 the Secretary had become CQMS AL Winter of 1st Divisional Signal Company. The Association continued to grow and by 1926 there were 39 branches including no less than three in Aldershot: Aldershot Command Signals with Capt AC Sykes DSO OBE as Secretary 1st Divisional Signals with CSM R Keevil as Secretary 2nd Divisional Signals with Sgt N Grant as Secretary 1 Those individuals and units would have been well aware of changes occurring in the Garrison in the later 1920s. At that time there were many other Signals units in the area, spread throughout the Garrison and as far afield as Bordon and Church Crookham. This made technical administration difficult and so a new barracks was built to bring them together. This was Mons Barracks, completed in 1927 and which remained in use until 1972. The officers mess is still standing and in use in a re-built Mons Barracks. The advent of the new barracks appears to have caused some rationalisation within the local Association for in March 1930 just the one branch existed, described as the Aldershot, Farnborough and District Branch, with RSM J Wigglesworth as the Secretary. It seems to have been a thriving th organisation for on 18 and 19th July 1931 its first Officers Mess, Mons Barracks official reunion was held in the Barracks. Aldershot Reunions. There is a good account of the subsequent 1938 Aldershot Reunion in the August edition of The Wire of that year, together with a picture of the 143 Old Comrades taking part. These included representative contingents from Birmingham, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Southampton and Salisbury. The gathering “taxed accommodation to the limit”. Nothing changes! A picture of the event shows two officers in uniform, Brigadier RH Willan DSO MC ADC, Representative Colonel Commandant, and Colonel Fladgate, Chief Signal Officer, Aldershot Command. It appears that these Reunions took place on the Sports Ground of Mons Barracks and took much the same form as the later Reunions at Catterick and Blandford. They included sports, a smoking concert and church parade on the Sunday morning. As part of the march past after church, a detour was made through the Wagon Sheds while the band played “Boys of the Old Brigade” in honour of Association members. There is then something of a mystery for, in March 1939, the Wire records that “a new branch” of the Royal Signals Old Comrades’ Association has been formed under the patronage of Maj Gen Sir Michael Bowman Manifold KBE CB CMG DSO and the chairmanship of Colonel RM Powell DSO”. This retained the name Aldershot, Farnborough and District Branch and held its inaugural meeting on 25th January 1939 at the Imperial Hotel, Aldershot. This is the only occasion that the Branch had a patron and it is fitting to summarise the outstanding career of General Bowman – Manifold. Commissioned into the RE, he joined the Telegraph Battalion in Aldershot in 1885 from which he was seconded as the Staff Officer Telegraphs in Kitchener’s force tasked with the re- conquest of the Sudan in 1896. His next period of active service was in the Boer War where he was awarded the DSO. At the outbreak of WW 1 he was in command of A Signal Company in Aldershot, deployed with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and took part in the battles at Mons and Ypres before being moved to the Mediterranean region, He was Mentioned in despatches 8 times and awarded the CB and CMG before being knighted in 1919. He retired in 1921 and worked for Marconi and Cable and Wireless before his death in 1940. In 1940 the country was again at war and there was little Association activity for the next five years. After the Second World War Straight away in 1945, new or resurrected branches began to form. The so-called “inaugural” meeting of the Aldershot Branch was held on 9th April 1949 at the Alexandra Hotel which for a time became the regular meeting place. Maj Gen Fladgate was elected President, Mr WJ Abbott Chairman and Mr AH Green, known to his many friends as “Dodger” for reasons unknown, as Secretary. He had been largely responsible for getting this event off the ground and, having been a noted sportsman himself, had invited some notable personalities to attend including Joe Cotterell, Jimmy Emblem and “Dolly” Grey, the former Indian middleweight champion. 2 Joe Cotterell was an outstanding athlete whose achievements were fully written up in the October 1949 Wire along with photographs. He was an English, AAA, Southern Counties, Army and Corps champion in middle distance running and had a similar record for cross country. This led to his “famous” collection of 30 cups and over 200 medals, 60 of them gold. Two more meetings were held in quick succession in May and June 1949. At the latter the forthcoming trip to the Catterick Reunion was discussed, cost per head, including free beer, £1.18. Also in this post-war period it is believed that a dinner was held in one of the Signals messes in the Garrison as pictured. By 1956 the branch was “still giving a good account of itself”. The AGM that year was held The inaugural meeting after the Second World War. in the Royal Standard with Maj Gen Fladgate General Fladgate is seated in the centre of the front row remaining as President. Mr LV Goodman was with Mr Green in the light suit on his left. re-elected as Chairman, Mr R Fairclough as Hon Secretary and Mr AV Ient as, Hon Treasurer. Other members of the committee for the coming year included Mr Jim Cadwell who instituted a collecting box for welfare to be used at meetings. The Cadwell Box, which is still in existence, was well used at one time and became known as the Pice Box, using a name from the Indian Army. At the annual dinner of the branch, which took place at the Royal Standard Hotel with 41 present, the principal guest was the Representative Colonel Commandant, Maj Gen Sir Hubert E Rance GCMG GBE CB. The General Secretary of the Association was also present. Mr EA (Ted) Mayne, Telephone Manager at Guildford, was congratulated on the award of Post-war Dinner Night the Emergency Reserve Decoration. Maj Gen Fladgate who had clearly played a major part in the life of the branch died at home in Fleet in June 1958 aged 67. He had a distinguished career commencing with RMC Sandhurst in 1910 and commissioning into 60th Rifles. He was severely wounded in action in France in 1915 and later transferred to the RE Signal Service. In 1916 he returned to France in command of the 2nd Army Signal Company. He transferred to the newly formed Corps in 1922 and held a number of appointments in the next ten years including command of 2nd Divisional Signals in Aldershot. In 1940 he went to France with the BEF and eventually became Director of Signals in 1941 as a Major General. In 1943 he became Chief Signal Officer Middle East Land Forces in Egypt, which appointment he held until his retirement in 1946. He was Colonel Commandant from 1947 to 1955 and Chairman of the Royal Signals Association 1949-1954.