THE SIRMOOREE

Winter 2014/15 Number 74

Poppies at the Tower of London [JJB

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CONTENTS

EDITORIAL PRESIDENT’S NOTE CHAIRMAN’S LETTER HONORARY SECRETARY'S NOTES SIRMOOR CLUB NEWS SIRMOOR CLUB ACTIVITIES NEWS FROM MEMBERS BICENTENARY ______

SIRMOOR CLUB COMMITTEE

President: Lieutenant General Sir Peter Duffell

Vice-Presidents: Field Marshal Lord Bramall Field Marshal Sir John Chapple DR Wood Brigadier PA Little Chairman: Brigadier BC Jackman Honorary Secretary: Major NJD Wylie Carrick Honorary Treasurer: Captain EC Mackaness Editor The Sirmooree : Major JJ Burlison Editor Designate: Colonel NJ Hinton (wef 1 Jan 15) Elected Members: RJC Corfield, Esq JA Coulson, Esq Brigadier IA Rigden, late RGR Major DL Thomas

2 EDITORIAL This is my last edition after some two decades of producing Sirmooree. I am grateful to all who have contributed to the magazine over the years, and to those who have made comments or paid compliments. Nick Hinton now takes over and the standard is sure to rise. The coming year sees our bicentenary and the grand Durbar organised by David Thomas and his great team here and in . This magazine contains a short historical background to the event which I have cob- bled together and which I hope is not too controversial; the first part from John Cross certainly should not be! I have been asked what I am going to do to fill in time now spare from being editor: should I not record my memoirs? Well I could and I would call the work “My Life and Tim’s”, an exciting title for a bloke not married! Actually it would be an anthology of misprints!

November 2014 ______

All Rights Reserved Contents of The Sirmooree may not be reproduced without prior permission. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Sirmoor Club or of the Editor. Dates in square brackets [ ] after a name give the years of service in 2 nd Goorkhas. Copy for the next Edition of Sirmooree should be with the Editor by 20 May 2015 Editor wef 1 Jan 15: Colonel NJ Hinton MBE 24 Gilpin Avenue, London SW14 8QY. UK. Tel: 020 8876 3136. E-mail: [email protected]

Retiring Editor: Major JJ Burlison High Bank, South View Road, Wadhurst, East Sussex. TN5 6TW. UK Tel 01892 782013. E-Mail: [email protected]

3 A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT Last year our thoughts and focus turned very much on the centenary of the start of the Great War. For me the poignancy of that terrible conflict - the last fatal flourish of the crowned empires of Europe that left few families untouched - was most strongly illustrated by the installation in the great Moat at the Tower of London of nearly 900,000 ceramic pop- pies movingly commemorating the Fallen of the First World War (see frontispiece picture to this magazine). It caused me to think again about the Regiment’s contribution to the battles on the Western Front. Our Second Battalion reached France in November 1914 and for the next year were heavily engaged most notably at the great battle of Neuve Chapelle – the first time in the war that the German line had been broken.

‘Type de , Vieille Chap- pelle 19 March 1915’

(Contemporary print from a sketch by French artist Paul Sarrut. From the journal of the Indian Military Historical Society vol. 31 no. 3)

The Battalion’s casualties in the course of that year were severe and the numbers of gallant officers and men that were lost – 22 British and Gurkha Officers and 135 rank and file not to mention, additionally, some 400 wounded and missing spoke eloquently for the severity of the Regiment’s fighting.

4 On 2 November 1914, at the start of the Neuve Chapelle battle Lieuten- ant Harold Lucas and 38 of the Second Battalion were killed in fierce fighting. Exactly 100 years later on 2 nd November 2014, the de- scendants of Harold Lucas gathered in the War Cloisters at Winchester College where he was educated, to remember him and his men at a simple but moving service designed by his nephew Canon Paul Lucas. I, together with your Chairman and Secretary were present and con- tributed to the service and I laid a wreath on behalf of the Regiment. A further member of the family, Captain John Lucas also served with the Second Battalion in Singapore where he was captured and worked as a POW on the Burma Railway. The Regiment’s contribution shall not be forgotten. The strength of our Association was very much in evidence at the Ser- vice of Thanksgiving for Johnny Kaye’s life held near his home at Frox- field in early October. The large turnout of regimental, professional and family friends was indicative of the great respect and affection we all felt for Johnny together with our admiration for the steadfast man- ner that he fought his medical battles. William Shuttlewood gave a generous and eloquent address about Johnny and his three sons also paid moving tributes. This is the last edition of the Sirmooree under the distinguished editor- ship of John Burlison as he hangs up his boots and hands the mantle on to Nick Hinton. John has certainly earned an honourable retirement after close on 20 years as editor of our magazine. His sharp and imagi- native editing and his gentle wry humour have given us all great pleasure while keeping the Association abreast of regimental affairs and much else besides. We owe him a considerable debt and are most grateful to him for his labours on our behalf. 2015 will be very much a year of celebration for the Regiment both in Nepal and the UK as we mark the 200 th anniversary of our founding. I very much hope that everyone will manage to attend some aspect of our celebrations and I look forward to meeting up with you in Kath- mandu, Pokhara or London. PRD

5 CHAIRMAN’S LETTER This letter really follows on from my letter in the last Sirmooree and concentrates on the Durbar . There are now only about three months before so many of us will meet up in on the 25 of March for the start of a week's celebration; beginning with the Embassy Re- ception and Gurkha Brigade Bhela in Kathmandu, before moving down to Pokhara for our own anniversary programme, followed by the private après Durbar plans that so many have arranged to make the most of their time in Nepal. By now I hope all those with the slightest inkling of attending the Dur- bar have signed up with David Thomas, booked their flights and ac- commodation, and arranged any après Durbar activity. However there is still time for those whose circumstances may have changed to free them up for this once-in-a-lifetime event after all. If so, just do it! One of the spin-off benefits of this whole exercise has been the number of Members who have now 'discovered' the website. It really is a su- perb means of conducting Sirmoor business. Those who have yet to sign on should do so at www.2ndgoorkhas.com and complete the short and simple procedure under the Registration/Log-in tab. This will en- able access to a fund of information in the restricted 'Members Area'. Over the next few months the website will contain final details of the Durbar for those going to Nepal. In addition there will be important information for all Members, whether attending the Durbar or not. For instance the issue of the 200 th Anniversary Medal (Medallion for wid- ows) to all those who have served in the Regiment, including attached and seconded; the only criteria being that they are Members of the Sirmoor Club, Sirmoor Club Nepal or Sirmoor Sathis. There will also be details of the various pieces of Anniversary Memorabilia – some of which will be collectable items, and information on how to acquire such things as a copy the Durbar Programme, Souvenir Booklet, Bookmark, and other publications to mark the anniversary, as well as Durbar CDs, Sirmoor 200 polo shirts and jholas etc. 2015 will be a busy year. Please do keep yourself abreast of events. BCJ 6 HONORARY SECRETARY’S NOTES

MEMBERSHIP The Sirmoor Club membership now stands at 382 members. A break- down of the membership is shown below: Ser Category Totals 1 Full 178 2 Associate 121 3 Honorary 83 4 Total 382

New Members : Lt Col Paul Gilham Lt Col G Chadwick MBE (2 nd Bn UEO 1963 – 65) Mrs Rachel Magowan Hon Member (related to Frederick Young)

Resignations : Nil. Deaths : Major J W (Johnny) Kaye (1st & 2nd Bns 1968 - 1988) on 2 July 2014. Lt Col D R Large (RC & 1st Bn 1943 - 1947) on 27 Sep 14. Mrs Margaret Neill (widow of Colonel Nick Neill OBE MC 3 rd & 2 nd Bns 1941 – 1972), on the night 6/7 November 2014. Abbreviated Address List . The updated address list is available on www.2 nd Goorkhas.com webpage. Please note that the Sirmoor Ad- dress List has been made available to the GBA, GWT (UK) and Gurkha Museum for internal communication use only and is not made avail- able to outside organisations. Please contact the Hon Sec if you wish your details to be withdrawn from the Sirmoor Address List. Any member (without e-mail) requiring an updated address list or sum- mary of amendments, please contact the Hon Sec.

7 E-Mail Address . Please note the following e-mail addresses: • [email protected] • [email protected] • Member E-Mail Address Amendments. Please ensure any e-mail amendments are sent to the Hon Sec. WEBSITES . By now members should be more familiar with the key Gurkha websites. Both the GBA and Gurkha 200 websites have been significantly improved and updated in preparation for G200. Please visit these websites for G200 updates on a regular basis: • 2nd Goorkhas. www.2ndGoorkhas.com Note: You can reset your own password at any time, particularly when you have forgotten your password by entering your registered e-mail address and clicking on ‘reset password’ button. • GBA Website . www.GurkhaBde.com • Gurkha 200 . www.Gurkha200.co.uk • Gurkha Museum. www.TheGurkhaMuseum.co.uk DIARY OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS Sirmoor Programme 2015 . The Sirmoor Programme for 2015 is en- closed and on the website. You can download a copy from the website, and print using A5 paper to make a useful mantle shelf programme. Please make every effort to attend both the GBA and Sirmoor Events planned through Gurkha 200 in 2015. 26 February 2015. 2GR Trustees & Sirmoor Club Committee Meet- ings . Location: TBC. Trust Secretary - Mike Adler. Tel: 01276 855825. Email: [email protected] . Timings. 1045 for 2GR Trust & 1200 for Sirmoor Club Committee. 30 April 2015. Gurkha Statue Memorial Service . (See G200 SITREP No 3 for details). 1400 – 1500. Open to the Serving Brigade and GBA. Attendance by members of the GBA will be coordinated by the GBA Bde Sec. Details will follow in due course.

8 4 May to 29 May 2015 . Public Duties in London. Public Duties will be carried out in London during the following dates:

RGR 4-9 May QGE 11-16 May QGS 18-23 May QOGLR 25-29 May 9 May 2015. RGR Annual Reunion . (Return enclosed). The RGR An- nual Reunion at the Army v Navy Rugby at Twickenham is open to all Sirmoories. Tickets subject to confirmation are £40 (all inclusive). Please return the tear off slip to the RGR Regt Sec GurkhasBde- [email protected] by 31 March 2015. 06 June 15. GBA Memorial Service and Lunch at RMAS. (Return en- closed). The GBA Memorial Service and Reunion Lunch at RMAS is on 6 June 2015, cost at £30 per person. Could you please send your return direct to Mrs Elizabeth O’Neill by 22 May 2015. Families including children of an appropriate age are welcomed. 8 - 9 June 2015. G200 Gurkha Pageant at the Royal Hospital Chelsea . An hour long Pageant to cover 200 years of Brigade’s history, including enactments of major battles and VC winning actions as well as cultural and musical displays. 08 June 2015. Gurkha Night (Rehearsals) . Serving Brigade and families only. 09 June 2015. Gurkha Pageant . There is the opportunity to register your interest in tickets early at a discounted price of £70 by visiting the Gurkha 200 website www.gurkha200.co.uk and clicking on the Pageant page. Details on when tickets will be on sale will then be automatically emailed to you. 11 July 2015. GBA & Bhela . (Return Enclosed). The GBA and Brigade of Gurkhas Bhela is open to all ranks, serving and retired, and their families. No tickets are required for the Bhela, however advance tickets for a Bhela Curry Lunch, including one beer or soft drink at £7.50per head must be purchased before 27 June 2015,

9 or be purchased at £10 per head on the day. Applications to the Hon Sec at [email protected] by 27 June 2015.

12 September 2015. Sirmoor Club Reunion . Please note for the diary that the Sirmoor Club Reunion will take place at the Travellers Club, 106 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5EP on Saturday 12th September 2015. Further details will be published in the Summer Sirmooree.

SIRMOOR NOTICES Sirmoor Club AGM Minutes 2014 . The minutes of the Sirmoor Club AGM held on 27 February 2014 are on the website. Copies for mem- bers not on the internet will be forwarded on request. Sirmoor AGM 2015 . For 2015, the Sirmoor Club AGM will be con- ducted as an electronic and postal AGM during the month of May 2015. All Full Members will receive the AGM Agenda by e-mail, or for those not on e-mail, by post. Those on the internet will be encouraged to vote on the website. Details to follow. RGR Property Auction . The list of the 2GR Property returned by 2RGR with photographs has been on the website since July 2014. All members will have had an opportunity to view the items. The prop- erty will be auctioned on the 6 June 2015 during the 2GR AGM. Postal bids are to be with the Hon Sec by 1 June 2015. If you require further details on an individual item please contact the Hon Sec. Sirmoor Durbar 200 . Planning for the Sirmoor Durbar 2015 is well ad- vanced with 144 Sirmoories attending. Full details are on the website, http://www.2ndgoorkhas.com/durbar_2015.html but if you require further details by post, please request details from David Thomas at [email protected] . Key dates are: Tue 24 Mar ETD evening flight UK (LHR) to Kathmandu. Wed 25 Mar Eve Reception at British Embassy. Thu 26 Mar Day Nepal Bhela. Fri 27 Mar Day Fly to Pokhara. Registration. Eve - free. Sat 28 Mar Day - Commemoration Parade + Lunch. Eve - free.

10 Sun 29 Mar am – Hunt Breakfast at Pokhara Mountain Lodge. pm – Sirmoor Picnic, Activities and Cultural Day at the Pokhara Exhibition Ground. Eve – Sounding Retreat. Mon 30 Mar Day - Golf Tournament on the Himalayan Course. Eve - Reception for Sirmoor Club Nepal. Tue 31 Mar Early Returners depart for UK via Kathmandu. Après Durbar optional activities start. Thu 9 Apr Après Durbar optional activities end or as required. Fri 10 Apr Free day Kathmandu or as arranged. Sat 11 Apr Fly to UK (LHR) or as arranged.

Gurkha 200 – SITEP No 3 . Please read the Gurkha 200 SITREP No 3 enclosed, and also at http://www.2ndgoorkhas.com/20141030- FLAG_C_G200_SITREP_3-ColBG-O.pdf or the G200 website for up- dates. Key 2015 dates include :

14 Feb Launch of G200 Book ‘The Gurkha 200 Years’ Service and Sacrifice’. Brig Craig Lawrence 25 Mar GBA Reception at British Embassy Kathmandu 26 Mar Brigade Bhela Kathmandu, Nepal 28–29 Mar Sirmoor Durbar Pokhara 28 Mar 7GR Durbar in Dharan (tbc) 1 Apr Publication of Afghan Lahure – Brig Ian Rigden 30 Apr Gurkha Memorial Service, Gurkha Statue, White- hall May Everest 200 4 – 19 May Public Duties in London 28 May Queens Truncheon presented to HM The Queen 8 Jun Gurkha 200 Pageant (Brigade Night) at Royal Hospital Chelsea 9 Jun Gurkha 200 Pageant at Royal Hospital Chelsea 11 Jul Brigade Bhela UK. Queen’s Avenue Aldershot

11 SIRMOOR G200 FIVE TASKS

Trailwalker 2015 (25 – 26 July 2015) . Two Sirmoor Teams have regis- tered an interest. It is not too late to enjoy the 100km walk along the South Downs. Details can be found on the Trailwalker website. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/trailwalker/entry-information Support to the Gurkha Museum . If you are not already a Friend of the Gurkha Museum, please consider becoming a Friend of the Gurkha Museum at only £15 p.a. With the withdrawal of MOD funding this will become a major source of income. Fifty new Sirmoorie Friends of the Museum will provide £750 to the running costs. Support planned Battlefield Tours in 2016 . A Battlefield Tour to Neuve Chapelle is being considered. If interested please notify the Hon Sec. Support GWT Regional Events . Please support GWT (Regional) Events that are planning to be held in your local areas. Even better if you are able to assist please contact your local GWT Regional Chair- man. Details can be found on the GWT (UK) Website. Conduct a Fund Raising Event . Consideration is being given to a fundraising event in support of Gurkha 200 support to the GWT.

MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS Members will be interested to note the most recent reports which can be found on the GBA or 2ndGoorkhas websites on the following: • Gurkha Museum Annual Report • GWT Update – November 2014 . • Gurkha 200 – SITREP No 3 .

12 2nd GURKHA REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION (SIRMOOR SATHI) DELHI DAY REUNION 2014 As Delhi Day fell on the Sunday, the newly re-named 2 nd Gurkha Rifles Association (Sirmoor Sahi) held their Delhi Day Annual Reunion on Sunday 14 September 2014 at the at the Samuel Cody Specialist Sports College, Farnborough, Hants, GU14 8SS. Last year there were two celebrations, the main event being held in Farnborough with a smaller event in London, but this year there was a single event and such is the popularity of this Delhi Day reunion that some 1,200 attended. The largest ever to date! There is no doubt that over the years this event has become bigger than the current venue can comfortably hold and alternative venues are under investigation.

Haynes, Lalbahadur and FM Lord Bramall [Raju

Sadly due to distance and travel, the event is not particularly well at- tended by Sirmoor Club members, which is a shame as the Delhi Day committee under the Chairmanship of Major Lalbahadur Gurung and Major Narkaji Gurung lay on a huge bandobast.

13 The Nishani Mai together with the Truncheon Jemadar and escort were on parade and after welcome speeches and the reading of the Delhi Day Battle Honour all ranks were able to pay their respects. Field Mar- shals Lord Bramall and Sir John Chapple, Lieutenant General Sir Peter Duffell, Brigadiers Vernon Beauchamp and Nigel Haynes, Majors Geoff Ashley, David & Joanna Thomas, Nigel Wylie Carrick, Yamba- hadur Gurung, KK Ale, Bishnu Pun and Chinbahadur were pre- sent to enjoy ‘ mitho khana and gaffsaff’ with our respective numberies. Next year, the Delhi Day Reunion will be on 19 September 2015, venue to be confirmed. Please make every effort to attend.

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GURKHA CHAUTARA ‘OPENING CEREMONY’ AT THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM BY HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS ROYAL 23 SEPTEMBER 2014

The Gurkha Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum com- memorates all those past and present who served in Gurkha Regi- ments, over nearly two centuries, and complements the Gurkha Statue in Whitehall. The memorial takes the form of a traditional Nepalese ‘chautara’, built with North Derbyshire Sandstone using dry-stone wall techniques. The central large plaque is of all the badges of all the past and present Gurkha units engraved on a large ‘lake green’ slate on the front side, with two small plaques with crossed-, on each side of the chautara . Separate plaques are offset left and right to record the significance of the Gurkha chautara , acknowledge the generous sponsors, and the opening by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, on 23 September 2014. Initially conceived by Lt Col ‘Fairy’ Gopsill, the project was coordi- nated and funded by the Gurkha Brigade Association with the support of Headquarters Brigade of Gurkhas and the Queen’s Gurkha Signals 14 (the nearest Gurkha unit to the NMA). Funding was provided by the Gurkha Brigade Association, all Gurkha Regimental Associations, the Derbyshire Environmental Trust and Lafarge Tarmac, as well as indi- vidual member donors.

The day itself was a splendid occasion; formal but relaxed in true Sir- moor style. At 1130, the Guard of Honour found from all units of the Brigade, welcomed the Princess Royal with a Royal salute executed with great panache. The Opening Service itself was short, sharp and precise and even the Brigade flag, draped over the main engraving, fell away with graceful elegance. Throughout the day, there was an air of pride and confidence that con- tinued into the GBA Reception, attended by all 437 serving and retired members of the Brigade present. It was a great reunion and much en- joyed with The Princess Royal circulating and presented to some 80 members of the Regimental Associations, before receiving her farewell phul malla and leaving at 1400. Some 23 Sirmoories attended. Field Marshal Lord Bramall and Briga- dier Bruce Jackman were forced to send in their regrets, but Field Mar- 15 shal Sir John Chapple, Lt General Sir Peter Duffell, Brigadier Ian Rig- den, Colonels William Shuttlewood and John Swanston, Majors John Gardner, John Harrop, Bishnu Pun, Wylie Carrick, Captains Chris Clark and Rod Zalla, Lt Hombahadur Gurung together with their wives and guests attended.

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REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY – CENOTAPH CEREMONY 2014 Gurkha participation in the annual Cenotaph Ceremony was originally started back in c. 1996 by a small handful of British Officers from 6 GR. From that small seed, there has been a steady growth in Gurkha par- ticipation which over the past few years has now expanded into the Gurkha Brigade Association Contingent. Our numbers have been

16 dwarfed by the Gurkha Welfare Society that now marches with some 120 ex-Gurkha servicemen, all uniformly dressed in Gurkha Felt Hat, Regimental blazers and medals. Meanwhile our numbers have stead- ily increased from the 30 marchers to 60 places allocated in 2015, and we hope that for our Gurkha 200, we can march with 150 marchers. This is very feasible if each of the eight Regimental Associations pro- vided 20 marchers! For the first time, the Sirmoor contingent marched with 19 Sirmoories, including our Burma veteran, Captain W J (Bill) Smyly (3 rd Bn 1942-46), with Majors Mark Pettigrew & Nigel Wylie Carrick and Captain Ed Mackaness, together with a strong Sirmoor Sathi contingent of 16 un- der their Hon Sec Captain Raju Gurung. The crowd was supportive and as the Gurkha contingents passed their cheers of good will were uplifting. Following the march past of the Cenotaph, the GBA contin- gent was entertained with wine, beer and snacks at Dai Hitchcock’s (ex 6GR) house in Westminster. It was truly memorable occasion and one which will be repeated next year on 8 November 2015 for our 200 th an- niversary. Please be there!

NWC

17 SIRMOOR CLUB NEWS

HONOURS AND AWARDS

THE BRITISH EMPIRE MEDAL Major Yambahadur Gurung has been awarded the BEM for work with the Gurkha Memorial Museum, Pokhara.

Colonel John Cross, 7 GR, has been granted Nepalese citizenship.

DEATHS

KAYE Major Johnny Kaye [1968 – 88] died at home following a short period of hospitalisation on the 2 nd July 2014. He leaves his widow Cazzie and their three sons. Our condolences go to all the family. (See Obituary.)

LARGE Lieutenant Colonel Derek Large 1943- 47 died on 27 September 2014 aged 89. (See obituary.)

NEILL Margaret Neill, widow of Colonel DF Neill OBE MC [1941 – 72] , died in her sleep aged 91 at the Lakeside Nursing home, near Okehampton, on the night of 6/7 November 2014. (Obituary in the next edition.)

SCOBIE Captain William McMillan Scobie, Bill, [1943 – 46] died in Colchester on 25 May 2014 aged 90. (See obituary.)

OBITUARIES Major Johnny Kaye Johnny Kaye, who died after a long illness on 2 July 2014, served in the Regiment from 20 December 1967 to 31 December 1988. He followed a long and distinguished line of ancestors who had served with 2 nd

18 Goorkhas. He was a great nephew of General Sir Kenneth Wigram, who served in The Regiment from 1898 until 1945, and was Colonel of 2 GR from 1930 to 1945. Johnny was a kinsman of Sir John Kaye, KCSI, historian [ The War in Afghanistan , History of The Sepoy War , and Lives of Indian Officers ], and of his brother, Lieutenant General Edward Kaye, CB, who commanded No. 2 Battery on the right flank of the Sirmoor Battalion at the Siege of Delhi and is mentioned on p. 53 of Reid’s Diary . He was also a cousin of M.M. Kaye, author of Shadow of the Moon , The Far Pavilions and other novels about . Johnny was born on 15 Dec 1948 and educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire, and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He married Carolin (Cazzie) on 3 Dec 1983 at Boldre Church, Lymington, Hamp- shire and they had three sons James (Seb), Edward and Alexander. Johnny Kaye enlisted at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 30 December 1966 and was gazetted to the 2 nd Goorkhas. He joined the 1st Battalion in Singapore on 4 April 1969 and was initially C Company Officer. In November and December that year he assisted with recruit- ing at Paklihawa and pension paying in Nepal. Back in the battalion, now in Hong Kong, he had various appointments and in February 1972 he was in Brunei on the occasion of Her Majesty The Queen’s visit after which he returned to the 1 st Battalion in Hong Kong and in July 1973, commanded the first to the United Nations Korea Honour Guard. He was Adjutant of the 1 st Battalion in Brunei and Hong Kong from July 1974 to December 1976. After attending the Junior Division Staff College Course at Warminster, Johnny Kaye commanded Support Company 1 st Battalion in Hong Kong in 1977/1978. He was then ADC to General Sir Edwin Bramall, Colonel of the Regiment and VCDS at the MOD, London, from No- vember 1978 to June 1979 and later was the Regiment’s Equerry to the Colonel in Chief, HRH The Prince of Wales, on HRH’s inaugural visit to the Regiment in Hong Kong in March 1979. In 1979 Johnny was GSO3 ASD 2A in the MOD, Whitehall, where he qualified ‘sq’. Returning to the 1 st Battalion in Hong Kong, he com- manded A Company from December 1981 to September 1983 during which he was also Chief Instructor of the Junior Leaders’ Cadres and 19 took his company with elements of The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers to Fiji on Exercise Coconut Grove . In September 1982 he commanded the farewell Guard of Honour to Major General JL Chapple on his depar- ture from Hong Kong as CBF/MGBG. From October 1983 to May 1985 Johnny Kaye was Chief of Staff HQ 51 Highland Brigade in Perth and then he returned to the 2 nd Battalion in Church Crookham as 2IC. John Brewer, his Commandant for the UK tour, writes: “No one could have wished for a better 2IC and both I, and the whole battalion, can- not thank him enough for his quite excellent work in so many areas of battalion life. The battalion embarked on a very heavy training regime for the two year tour and Johnny got involved in everything, from the many training exercises that we had in the UK, the administration of a battalion constantly on the move, air mobility and air portability train- ing and deployments with 5 Airborne Brigade, Bisley, The Edinburgh Tattoo and Royal Tournament, the planning and training for a six month Falkland Island tour, many Royal and VIP visits and the quite excellent 2 nd Battalion Centenary celebrations in 1986 where he mas- terminded the many events, parade (which included the handover of Colonels of The Regiment) and several commemorative items. For the centenary he compiled a short regimental history, 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Goorkhas (The Sirmoor Rifles) 2 nd Battalion: 1886-1986 . Johnny was a most competent, reliable and trusted advisor to many ranks of the battalion and both of the Gurkha Majors and I really valued his advice, patience, dedication and understanding. He was highly respected by all ranks, nothing was too much trouble for him and he was always there when needed. We could not have achieved half of what we did without Johnny”. His final military appointment was as SO2 MO1 in the MOD, London, until he decided to retire in 1988. Johnny Kaye excelled at sports and he represented the 1 st Battalion in the Nepal Cup Football, the Brigade of Gurkhas at Polo, and gained his colours in the Army Cresta Team. It was the injuries that he acquired on the Cresta that led to him later contracting cancer and having to un- dergo a series of operations on his leg. 20 Since retiring from the Army, Johnny Kaye worked in Property and Facilities Management in Farnborough and London and the Finance Director of Ofcom, for whom he worked, gave a reading at Johnny’s Memorial Service on 4 October 2014. He was a member of The Sirmoor Club since joining the Regiment and became its Honorary Treasurer in 1996 which office he held for 16 years. He has also contributed several articles to The Journal . We send our most sincere condolences to Cazzie and the three sons. JSB/ DRW

Johnny Kaye – a Tribute By Colonel William Shuttlewood George MacKenzie rang me the other day. He will not be known out- side Brigade circles but he was something of an eccentric young officer in the 7 th Gurkhas in Hong Kong in the early 1970s. George now lives in Australia. From time to time he rings me, normally in the middle of his night to regal me with extended stories of his imaginary friend, ‘Sepoy Gupta’. But this most recent occasion was different. He had re- ceived notification from Nigel Wylie Carrick of Johnny’s death. George was alert and had clearly been thinking. All he said was: “I have just heard of Johnny Kaye’s death. I only met him once but thought he was a quiet, gentlemanly guy, much respected. I liked him and I am very sorry he has gone. Please give my con- dolences to his widow.” I have reflected on this conversation and it occurred to me that it summed up Johnny rather well: he had this rare gift of making people from all walks of life like him from first meeting. He was in every re- spect the nice guy, with impeccable manners, quiet and unassuming when it suited, but full of bonhomie and an explosive guffaw when required. With Johnny, what you saw was what you got. I rather sense his farming background gave him the robustness and pragmatism to succeed in later life, especially when confronted by dis- appointment. He was the younger of two sons, both of whom were 21 guided through their teenage years by their widowed mother. With farming duties to the fore during the school holidays Johnny’s love of the countryside and its various pursuits were finely honed, as was his ability to interact with all people, irrespective of their background and status. Johnny joined the Army because, with a brother called Giles, it was clear who was going to get the farm! But his credentials as a young of- ficer in the 2 nd Goorkhas were impeccable: • He was the Great Nephew of General Sir Kenneth Wigram, a former Colonel of the Regiment. • He was a Kinsman of Sir John Kaye, historian, and his brother Lieutenant General Edward Kaye who commanded a battery of guns on the right flank of the Sirmoor Battalion at the siege of Delhi in 1857. India, the Empire, the Profession of Arms was clearly in his blood. There was one added attraction. The Gurkhali for ‘What is it? ’ Is: ‘ Ke Ho ?’ Thus if you wanted to know someone’s name you would ask: ‘Nam ke ho ?’ Johnny’s reply was always “ ke ho ” or ‘what is it’ ! Thus the circular exchange would continue with increased mirth as each side enjoyed the joke time and time again. It was as a consequence of this that Johnny was known as ‘ What Saheb’ by the soldiers. It is no surprise that he made a significant impression on joining the Regiment in Singapore in 1969. Denis Wood, the then Commandant of the 1 st Battalion, and not the easiest of officers to impress, writes: “Johnny was bright, sensible, very personable – and he wanted to learn. Moreover – an impressive talent in the eyes of Gurkhas – he was good at football. We went up to Nepal together by air to India and then train and road to the Brigade’s western re- cruiting depot at Paklihawa on the north Indian Plain. This four day journey strengthened my view that Johnny was a good ac- quisition for the 2 nd Goorkhas.” The die was cast for a career in the Regiment. He undertook a number of appointments typical of a young officer of the day within both the Regiment’s Battalions - and wider Army. They included a short tour in 22 Nepal to assist with recruiting, command of an Honour Guard in Ko- rea, ADC to a General and, for a brief period, Equerry to the Regi- ment’s Colonel-in-Chief, the Prince of Wales, during a visit to the Far East. I first met him when I was a young officer in the Second Battalion in the early 1970s. We always regarded the First Battalion officers with some suspicion. The Regiment was known as ‘God’s Own’ but I had been advised early on that the Second Battalion officers were not al- lowed to talk to God direct, only the First Battalion officers had that privilege! Tall, striking and ridiculously good looking Johnny was therefore, ini- tially at least, an officer of some curiosity and suspicion when he was posted to the Second Battalion but we warmed to him immensely when we discovered he was prone to falling asleep at the most unlikely moments, but especially at dinner parties when sitting next to very pretty girls. This ability to act as unwitting procurer of attractive ladies for the remaining officers of the Regiment, whilst he was inadvertently distracted, was an enormous boost to his reputation and popularity. This remarkable talent extended even to the First Battalion’s Colonel, now a general, who today has Johnny to thank for heading off some unwelcome competition in his pursuit of his now wife. This was clearly an astute career move. Johnny was hugely generous, even lending me his beloved TR6 car one day in Hong Kong with the advice that I should take it for a spin! To this day he does not know how literally I would take it! He was somewhat vain and did not always wear spectacles when he should. I remember him knocking a Chinaman off his bicycle in Fan Ling one day in the rain, and my abiding memory from the passenger seat of the TR6 was of a pair of very cheap Chinese plimsolls going up the wind- screen at some speed. Johnny merely remarked that something seemed to be wrong with the windscreen wipers until I advised him we had better stop and pick up the unfortunate gentleman who, I am glad to report, was none the worse for wear. He was the perfect mentor for the Regiment’s young officers, generous with his time in providing them with both advice and guidance, whilst 23 giving them the room to make their mistakes as part of the learning process. As the First Battalion’s Adjutant he insisted on high standards of dress and behaviour and could be direct – very direct - when neces- sary. But these occasions were few and far between and normally sof- tened by the pervasive twinkle in the eye. He could be indecisive in matters of the heart. He first met Cazzie in the late ’70s in Hong Kong, but clearly he was either not wearing his spectacles or fell asleep – or both - because it was only five years later when they met for the second time the flame of love really took hold. They subsequently married in 1983. With his interest in the Regiment and its history there was no one better to arrange the Second Battal- ion’s centenary celebrations in England in 1988. It was a typical Kaye product, brimming with verve, dash and style - and serious attention to detail. It proved to be the high point of Johnny’s military career. The Regiment was entering a difficult time in its history and reductions in the Army were limiting career options. Along with many others Johnny chose to try his luck as a civilian. This was not an easy transition and I sense, like the Duke of Wellington when Prime Minister, Johnny may have had some difficulty in realis- ing that civilians do not always understand the concept of orders. It was some time before he settled and underwent a difficult period of being headhunted then outsourced, made redundant, became self- employed, worked at interim management and eventually settled on a career with Ofcom. Johnny made it plain to me how much he enjoyed his time with Ofcom, becoming Head of Facilities in 2004. His responsibilities included not just the management of Ofcom’s Headquarters at Riverside House in London but also the establishment of new offices across the UK and the attendant relocation of staff. He quickly established a reputation for his extraordinary dedication to the extent that, when congratulated by Alastair, his boss at Ofcom, for being out of contact during part of a holiday in Turkey, Johnny’s response was that it had been a very frus- trating break because he was on a boat in the Med with no signal and therefore unable to work from afar.

24 To his staff and the wider Ofcom community Johnny was clearly an inspirational leader and the organisation’s announcement of his death to Ofcom staff underscored not just his dedication but also his sheer decency which he reflected every day in the way he tackled his respon- sibilities and managed those in his care. Johnny led a full life with one exception: he was never tested on the field of battle. Instead he faced a much sterner and more demanding examination: that of having to confront directly the extent of his hu- man frailty. A silly fall at the Cresta in the ’70s resulted in an injury to his leg that eventually led to amputation in order to keep a life- threatening cancer in check. Over a period of seven years further am- putations followed until the inevitable happened and this terrible dis- ease spread to his lungs. Knowing he only had a limited time left he did what Johnny Kaye has always done: he set his house in order with immense attention to detail so that Cazzie and the boys would have minimal inconvenience when his time came. His courage and fortitude during this dark period were far greater than that required on the field of battle where there is hope of coming through alive. Johnny did not have that hope. Those of us who saw him and who talked to him can only marvel at and admire the stoicism with which he confronted the inevitable. At no time did his glass be- come half empty, at no time did the ‘Kaye bellowing guffaw’ fail to re- sound, at no time did he let slip the internal anguish he must have been feeling as his death very obviously closed in on him. That takes a level of courage that we can only admire. When Johnny asked me to speak on his behalf at this Tribute, he was at pains to insist I tell those attending how proud he was of Cazzie and the boys, of the home the family had made at Forge House, of the par- ties they had arranged and the meals cooked and the friends jointly enjoyed. He described you all collectively as the biggest blessings a man could ever have. James, Edward, Alexander: when you stand here to give your tribute take the time to look around the church at the people. They represent every aspect of your father’s life and have come to pay their respects

25 and pay homage to a great man. You can be very proud of what your father was and of what he achieved during his life. One of the pictures in the Regiment’s Officers’ Mess is a Snaffles Print. It depicts a young British officer of the Regiment circa 1880 resplendent in the rifle green No 1 Dress with spurs, medals, sword and a white pith helmet. Tall, elegant he is shown striding forward with obvious confidence, clearly intent on carrying out whatever duty or task has been given to him to the very best of his ability. This is how many of us will remember Johnny: husband, father, friend, colleague – and Major, 2nd Goorkhas.

Lieutenant Colonel Derek Reginald Large Derek Large, who died on 27 September 2014 aged 89, was among the last survivors of many officers who served our Regiment incredibly well during the Second World War and afterwards in the difficult and sometimes dangerous time in India before and just after Independence. He was a very kind friend to me, the youngest raw ‘sprog’ in the 1 st Battalion in Dehra Dun. Although, at that time, rather quiet and re- served, he was also a stalwart regimental officer: brave, unflappable, reliable and genuine; and he liked and admired his Gurkha soldiers. Derek was born on 5 October 1924 and went to The Lower School of John Lyon, Harrow, where he was a contemporary of David Purves who served in our 4 th Battalion and whose obituary appeared in The Sirmooree , No.41. In 1942 Derek joined The Royal Scots as an Indian Army Cadet and went to the Officers’ Training School in Bangalore. A year later, on 3 October 1943, he was gazetted to the 2 nd Goorkhas, and joined the Regimental Centre in Dehra Dun. In early 1944 he went to the 1 st Battalion in Italy and became the Mortar Officer. In June he caused eight German casualties near Ripa with his 3-in mortar fire, but shortly after that he fractured his spine when his Jeep overturned down a khud-side. He recovered in time to go with the battalion to Greece, and in January 1946 he returned with it to Dehra. In August 1947, having recently married in Bombay, Derek left the 1 st Battalion in Santa Cruz, to join The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) in which he now held a regular commission. In 1948 he was with the 2 nd 26 King’s in Cyprus and Palestine, before going to spend two years with the 1 st Battalion The Lancashire Fusiliers, at first while it was Demon- stration Battalion at the School of Infantry, Warminster, and later in Egypt and Jordan. In 1951 he worked in the Military Secretary’s Branch, HQ Middle East Land Forces in Egypt before being seconded to the 7 th Battalion The King’s African Rifles for three years during the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya. After that he joined 1 King’s in Germany until going to Camberley for the 1958 Staff Course. That earned him an appointment as Brigade Major of 162 [Territorial] Infantry Brigade in Bedford, after which he returned to 1 King’s as a company commander in Kenya, Kuwait and Berlin. His next staff appointment was GSO2 Operations HQ 4 th Division in Germany, after which, now a Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded the Lancastrian Brigade Training Centre at Preston, from 1966 to 1968. His last two military appointments were as GSO1 HQ Land Forces Gulf in Bahrain, followed by Assistant Adjutant General of The King’s Division at York. After retiring in 1973 from a career which had included lots of active service, Derek became Secretary of the Building Surveyors’ Division, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. In 1975 he changed to a London firm of Chartered Accountants as Partnership Secretary. But he missed his previous military life and in 1977 he rejoined the Army as a Retired Officer, first in Fortress HQ, Gibraltar, and latterly as RO 2 “Rest of the World” at the Directorate of Army Quartering, MOD, Chessington. In April 1990, after he had retired from the Army for the second time, Derek took on several voluntary jobs with enthusiasm. He became a Branch Secretary of SSAFA and Chairman of an RSPCA Branch until he moved to Somerset, where he became a keen fund-raising member of the Western Branch Committee of . He was a member of The Sirmoor Club. Derek’s wife, Jane, died in 2006. They are survived by their daughter, Mrs Yvonne Giles. DRW

27 Captain William McMillan Scobie Bill Scobie, who died in Colchester on 25 May 2014 aged 90, served in the Regiment on an Emergency Commission from 5 September 1943 to 23 August 1946. At first he was mortar officer in the Regimental Cen- tre in Dehra Dun and later commanded No. 5 Company there. In 1944 he joined the 5 th Battalion in Waziristan where, in February 1945, he did well in leading D Company during an attack on a Pathan road block near Damdil. Bill, who was born on 24 September 1923, enlisted in the Scots Guards in 1942 and the following year was sent to the Officers’ Training School, Bangalore. It was from there that he joined the 2 nd Goorkhas in Dehra. After his demobilization Bill Scobie began training as a Police Officer in Glasgow before he decided in February 1947 to rejoin the Army with a Short Service Commission in The Highland Light Infantry [HLI]. In 1950 he was Adjutant of the 1 st Battalion The Glasgow Highlanders, a Territorial Army battalion of his regiment. He then read Turkish at London University and qualified as an Army Interpreter. He served with the 1 st Battalion HLI in Cyprus until he decided to retire from the Army in early 1957. For many years after that he was a fruit farmer in Essex. He was also a member of the Regimental Association and The Sirmoor Club for some years. Bill’s wife, Joan, died in 2008. They had one son, Angus, and a daugh- ter, Fiona, who arranged a Thanksgiving Service at St Mary’s Church, Bures, Suffolk on 13 June 2014. DRW ~~~~~~~~~~ CLOSURE OF MAJIDEE CAMP, Malaya – 22 June 2014 JOHOR BARU: The Majidee army camp, one of the oldest in Malaysia, was officially closed today. The 132-hectare camp located between Jalan Bakar Batu and Tebrau Highway, had been operating for 74 years after it was set up in March 1940 . The Sun Daily, KL

28 UPDATE ON QUEEN ELIZABETH BARRACKS CHURCH CROOKHAM Kindly contributed by Jayne Hawkins - Parish Clerk Church Crookham Parish Council From 1970 until its closure in 2000 the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Church Crookham housed the Gurkha Regiments. We reported in 2013 that the barracks in Church Crookham are being redeveloped by Tay- lor Wimpey. The site has been renamed Crookham Park and there will eventually be 972 houses on the site.

New houses, roads and play areas on the Crookham Park site.

29 There are now over 250 houses occupied across the site and a small community is forming within the old Queen Elizabeth Barracks. It is an attractive and neighbourly area, however members of the Gurkha Regiments may find it difficult to recognise from the days when they were based on site. The Parish Council is about to embark on the building of a new Com- munity Centre. This will be on the edge of the sports ground just along from the Sirmoor Orchard. Construction was due to start in October 2014. The building has been designed to reflect some of the heritage of the site. The main hall will be clad with black weatherboarding to mimic the dark wood of the army huts.

Architects impression of the new Community Centre.

Some things do remain. The Parish Council are continuing to look after the Sirmoor Orchard which is situated on the edge of the playing fields. The Orchard was planted with 50 Cox and 50 Blenheim apple trees in March 1990 and was planted to remember all Gurkha soldiers who died whilst serving at the Barracks in all circumstances.

30

The Sirmoor Orchard September 2013 and Spring 2014 . A large allotment area has now been developed on part of the old Mo- tor Transport Park. There are 122 allotment plots and a large commu- nal shed for use by the allotment tenants. It is a lovely peaceful site and will be enjoyed by many residents of Church Crookham. The original short range target wall is still in place, for ball games, and can be seen from the allotment site. The Gurkha path still exists and is ex- pected to be a popular route down to the allotment site.

New allotment shed at the new vegetable allotments site in the old MT park 31 Tweseldown Infants School has recently relocated from Tweseldown Road to Crookham Park and a new school has been built on site. The school overlooks the old Sports Ground where eventually there will be an athletics track, tennis courts and a five a side football pitch.

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GURKHAS REIGN SUPREME AT BISLEY 2014

The Brigade of Gurkhas’ entrants to the Inter Unit Operational Shoot- ing Championships led the field with stunning results at the Bisley Championship this July. Notable results for the Brigade included win- ning both the individual Queen’s Medal and the team championship trophies, along with over half the top 100 Army shooters being from the Brigade. Parbate

GURKHA MUSEUM CURATOR’S REPORT TO THE SIRMOOR CLUB - 2014

Since last year there have been substantial changes in staff. Lt Col Miles Lemon (the Accounting Officer) and Mrs Arminel Tottle (typist) have both left and I am pleased to introduce the following staff who have joined us. Eli Dawson (Collections Officer), Mrs Tara Desforges (Ac- counting Officer) and Mrs Mary Brown (Admin Officer). I am also de- lighted to say that we have been able to employ both Cpl Hombahadur Pun and L/Cpl Mekhbahadur Rana upon their leaving the Army ear- 32 lier this year. I am also pleased to say that L/Cpl Mekh has joined the Reserves and currently serves with 7 Rifles. Added to these staff are a band of loyal and hardworking volunteers who give generously of their time to assist the Museum in its various activities. This year the Museum has hosted many Unit visits from across the Bri- gade including the recruits from Gurkha Company at ITC Catterick who now include the Museum as part of their annual programme of visits. There have been substantial visits from Nepalese Community and Veterans Groups. The most notable being that organised by former staff member Kamal Purja (ex-2GR) who brought 350 visitors to the Museum on 24 May. A comparison with 2013 of visitor numbers for the first half of this year shows a pleasing growth in visitor numbers of 4%. I am also always pleased to welcome and make the Museum avail- able for Regimental Association events. We have been fortunate to have had an increased lecture schedule this year with speakers including the Director of RUSI, Director of Sir Har- old Hillier’s Botanic Gardens, Major Gordon Corrigan and Brigadier Ian Rigden who gave the final lecture of the year when he spoke on “Gurkhas on Everest” and promoted the 2015 Gurkha Everest Expedi- tion. Educational visits are an important element of our activities and there have been both school visits to the Museum and visits to schools for outreach sessions. These have been supplemented by increased vis- its to and by PROBUS, U3A, National Trust, Rotary and other organisa- tions. The summer exhibition entitled “Across the Black Water” - Gurkhas on the Western Front 1914-15 was well received and enabled us to display many objects and archives not previously seen. Along with the other G200 events in 2015 our exhibition will be “Gurkha 200” and will run from 1 st August and 6 th September. G200 will also give the Museum and Gurkha Welfare Trust the chance to develop joint trading initia- tives with commemorative merchandise. The Friends have generously enabled us to replace the old medal and insignia display cases in the McDonald Gallery. This changeover will give us the opportunity to embark on a NADFAS (National Decorative and Fine Arts Society) Heritage Project to clean, conserve and remount 33 the insignia collection; the great majority of which came to the Mu- seum from the collection of Field Marshal Sir John Chapple. As part of the need to raise awareness and to develop and broaden the Museum’s audience, we now have a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheGurkhaMuseum ) which is already appreci- ated by many followers in this country and abroad. This enables us to promote Gurkha heritage to a much wider section of the community. Other community engagement is being developed and this year’s Armed Forces Sunday and Heritage Open Weekend were good oppor- tunities to encourage local residents to engage with the Museum. There have been some important gifts by Regimental Associations, the Friends and the public. Of particular contemporary significance has been the gift by L/Cpl Tuljung Gurung 1RGR of his combat helmet and worn and used by him in an action in Helmand Province early last year for which he was awarded the . The hel- met and kukri will form part of the Op Herrick displays in the antici- pated Museum upgrade. We have also been honoured by the donation of the CBE and other Gurkha related items of Rosa McDonald, the American benefactress, after whom with her husband Ellis, the McDonald Gallery is named. As always, the Museum is most grateful for the generous help and support given by the Sirmoor Club and Trust and its members. GE-H

Over heard in Glynbourne Garden On seeing a large statute at a distance. She: “That’s probably Henry Moore”. He: ”No dear; it’s a woman; it’s got boobs.”

34 SIRMOOR CLUB ACTIVITIES

SIRMOOR PISCATORIAL SOCIETY (SPS)

River Meon. 9-10 June 2014 The fishing party comprised – Rods: Tony Berry, Richard Bridges, Christopher Bullock, Bruce Jackman, and David Thomas. Support Group: Joanna Thomas, Sally Berry and Carol Jackman. At the end of two lovely early summer days on the river Meon, but with hardly a fish caught, Bruce said, “Well, it is a grand title but per- haps we ought to call it the Sirmoor Fish Preservation Society!” Indeed, only Bruce Jackman, and Christopher Bullock pulled out one each and Tony Berry caught two - a grand total of four small fish, none big enough to take home. This was for a combined total of five rods that fished the Meon for a total of 38 hours! There were certainly fish there, but we just happened to strike two of those days in a fisherman’s life when nothing takes! Tony also caught a 3lb Chubb and, being a true game fisherman, nobly returned it. On the loaves front we did rather better. We met for a good lunch at the Hurdles pub at Droxford, a precursor of even better things to come, before drawing for beats and setting off for the river. Although the A32 runs South to North through the Meon Valley, the river itself is a true delight and you do not even hear the traffic let alone see it. It is very English, a typical small trout stream winding its way through fields and woods. Although it is lightly manicured now, the fisherman is transported to a different less frenetic age with the river rippling and flashing through the shallows whilst maintaining the deep calm of the pools. For us, the Monday was a short afternoon with less excitement and more peace than we had hoped, before getting back to the real world and motoring to Parhazard – Joanna and David’s house in Bagnum. There, after baths and pre-dinner drinks, we were treated to a sumptu- ous three course dinner with delicious wines including pudding wine all from David's cellar, all on a table bedecked in silver (yes some ex- Regimental pieces), and followed by port & brandy with coffee in the 35 'withdrawing' room – 'Standards dear boy' one could almost hear Digby Willoughby's approval! It was a genial affair at the end of which we toasted the three helpers – Caryn, her daughter Hannah, Faye, and of course Lucy Cook (the appropriately named chef) from Barford. They had all made an excellent evening possible for us. It was as well we were all staying the night! The feature of Tuesday, the second day, might have been David's now signature 'Full English' breakfast, but this was surpassed by the four- course picnic put together by Joanna, helped by Carol and Sally, that we lingered over by a bend in the river on the Lower Hollywell beat. It was a style of al fresco entertainment that seems to have been almost lost in these days of instant technology. But we took our time as we were all fishing late that evening hoping for a spectacular evening rise. It never happened. We were ready, but the flies never came, the fish never rose, and even worse they took nothing on the bottom either.

Jackers, David Thomas, Sally Berry, Christopher Bullock, Joanna Thomas, Tony Berry (Photographer: Carol Jackman) Such is the Sirmoor fisherman’s life. Yet we take it in our stride, we en- joy our own company especially when combined with Joanna’s organi- sation and Lucy Cook’s cooking and we hope for greater things in the sure expectation that they can only get better next year! DLT

36 SIRMOOR YACHT SQUADRON (SYS) Cowes Regatta 29 June-1 July 2014 The now familiar programme got off to a great start as all the crews assembled at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club (RCYC) in the evening of the Sunday for drinks followed by a superb BBQ at which we enter- tained our guests (Racing Officials, RCYC Vice Commodore etc). It was good to see the return of 'Tamawera', Mike Robjohn's boat with his crew, Christopher Lacy and Rodney Buckton, who sailed over from Lymington. And also to see Nigel Haynes with his new boat 'Saphir' that he sailed over from Poole. It was a struggle to get enough crews together to man six boats, really the optimum number for good racing, but we managed it with two guests – one of whom (Sarah Finch) had sailed with us in Turkey in 2012 and at Cowes in 2013, so she was no stranger to the SYS. The final list of crews to boats (Sonars), with at least one Sirmoorie in each crew, were (skippers in bold): Miscreant: Richard Bridges , Julia Bridges, Bruce Jackman Pisces: Tony Collis , Harriet Davies (guest), Will Hacking Biscuit: Meryon Bridges , Marcia Vivian, Willie Bicket Hibiscus: Nigel Haynes , Rachael O'Meara, Gillie Renton Discovery: Sarah Finch (guest) , Nigel St George, Nick Cooke Periscope: Mike Robjohn , Christopher Lacy, Rodney Buckton The programme for racing has evolved over the years. We race on Monday afternoon, after a morning to refresh on the rules of racing, sort out ourselves and kit, grab pack lunches, and rig the boats; then race again on Tuesday morning, giving us different conditions of tide and wind from the previous afternoon. We managed four races on the Monday afternoon in near perfect con- ditions, but perhaps another five knots of wind would have made it more exciting. Nevertheless there were some close battles and chal- lenges at the marks, but we got through without any mishaps. After the four races only two points separated the first two boats and the third and fourth were tied but decided on count back.

37 The combined results, which won the first day's prizes for the winner and runner up, were: 1 – Biscuit (Meryon Bridges) – 7 pts 2 – Discovery (Sarah Finch) – 9 pts 3 – Pisces (Tony Collis) – 14 pts 4 – Miscreant (Richard Bridges) – 14 pts 5 – Periscope (Mike Robjohn) – 19 pts 6 – Hibiscus (Nigel Haynes) – 21 pts

Richard Bridges (foreground) and Tony Collis neck for neck - needing 5 knots more wind!

That evening we had the now famous Curry Supper produced by Lee the RCYC chef every time, who regards this meal as one of his most challenging in the year. He never fails! Tuesday morning opened to indifferent weather. It was clear but the wind had got up and it was marginal for sailing. The start time had to be delayed. So as to dispel any thoughts of some boats being faster than others, it was decided to change boats by reversing the order of march according to the results of the first day (i.e., Meryon Bridges's crew sailed Hibiscus and Nigel Haynes's crew sailed Biscuit etc.,). The planned four races were reduced to three to enable 'Tamawera' and 'Saphir' to catch the tide for their return journey to the mainland. 38 As it turned out the wind increased and the sea got up during the first race. Two boats suffered rigging failure and failed to finish. The other four boats fought their way to finish with soaked and rather relieved crews. Racing then had to be abandoned, which was a great shame – but the Island Sailing Club, from where we hire the boats, gave us a 50% refund on account of us only really having had one day's sailing. It obviously helped to invite the recently married ISC Manager and his wife to the BBQ on the Sunday! The result of the only race in changed boats was: 1 – Periscope (Sarah Finch) – 1pt 2 – Miscreant (Tony Collis) – 2 pts 3 – Hibiscus (Meryon Bridges) – 3 pts 4 – Pisces (Richard Bridges) – 4 pts Bisuit (Nigel Haynes) and Discovery (Mike Robjohn) failed to finish. The overall winning crew of the 2014 SYS Regatta over the two days was Meryon Bridges, with Sarah Finch runner up by just one point, and Tony Collis third. All in all a very close result. Once again RCYC hosted us brilliantly and all crews are keen to return again next year for this great event. Jai SYS! BCJ

SIRMOOR SHOOTING CLUB (SSC)

Simulated Game Shoot – Barbury 10 September 2104 This was a new Sirmoor activity. For the benefit of readers who are non-shooters this is a shoot which is run exactly like a game shoot but instead of pheasant or partridge being driven over the guns, clays are launched from hidden traps over the gun line in a similar manner to live birds – different angles, different heights; some singletons, pairs, clusters or flushes. All very realistic. The 16 guns occupied 8 pegs – two guns per peg – over six drives. Each drive, in a different setting, was done in two halves, with one gun shooting and the other acting as a loader. The two changed over for the second half of the drive. There

39 was little benefit in being the second gun because the flight pattern of the ‘birds’ was completely random. The shooting party assembled at the Bell Inn, Ramsbury, near Marl- borough, at 0900 on 10 September for a Full English breakfast during which the 16 guns were paired up and issued their shooting cards with initial peg numbers – moving up two pegs every drive, just as for a game shoot. After breakfast we departed for the first drive in beautiful Wiltshire countryside on a magnificent sunny day. There were two drives before a break for refreshments of coffee/tea, biscuits and Sloe Gin etc., then two more drives before a full Pub Lunch back at the Bell Inn. There were two more drives in the afternoon before we had tea & cakes, after which prizes were awarded for one particularly challeng- ing drive in which we shot in teams. The guns fired between 250-300 cartridges each at some 2,500 clays over six drives. It was terrific sport and we witnessed some very good shooting. The cost for the whole day, with meals and refreshments in- cluded (but cartridges had to be purchased), was £200 per gun. We all agreed this was extremely good value and made for a great mini- reunion – so much so that we immediately booked a repeat day at the same time next year. The Shooting Party comprised – Guns: John Nott, Peter Duffell & David Woodd (brother-in-law), Richard & Penny Firth, Bruce Jackman, Andrew Johnston, David Thomas, Tobyn Thomas, John & Val Urqu- hart, Charlie Ward, Michael Willis, and guests Nick Adams, Julia Bridges & her daughter Antonia Pusey. Supporters: Joanna Thomas and Hilly Adams. BCJ

SIRMOOR GOLF SOCIETY (SGS) The Sirmoor Dunes Trophy – 15/16 October 2014 We are extremely grateful to Steve Clifton for organising this compli- cated two days of back-to-back golf for the second year running - 18 holes at the Royal North Devon GC (RND) in the afternoon of the 15 th ,

40 followed by 18 holes at Saunton GC East Course (SGC) in the morning of the 16th . Richard Kemmis Betty came up with an interesting format this year – an Individual Stableford Competition within a Better Ball Team Competition. The team scores of the first day were carried over to the second day where the Team captains had the opportunity to chose their pairs to pit against the opposition – a la Ryder Cup. Richard also kindly produced a Team Trophy for this meeting, which is now to be a permanent fixture. There was a Supper party at the RND on the evening of the 15 th , and the 16 th ended with a Curry Lunch with prize- giving at SGC. Unfortunately, some regular Sirmoories were unable to play, but Steve recruited some willing local friends as replacements and he and Richard finally managed to put together two closely matched teams: Team A . Mike Roe (Captain), Anne Burton, Steve Clifton, Nick Cooke, Richard Kemmis Betty, Anita Morley, Glynn Aitken (guest). Team B . William Shuttlewood (Captain), Derek Burton, Rosie Harrop, Phil Murray, Jenny Roe, Jackie Aitken (guest), Alan Bennett-Brown (guest). The Team result was incredibly close. On Day One both teams scored 181 Individual Stableford points, but B Team scored 151 Better Ball Team points against A team's 142. So, B Team went into Day Two just 9 points ahead. On Day Two A Team scored 214 Stableford points and 145 Better Ball points to B Team's 199 and 142 respectively. So A Team won Day Two by 18 points. Thus with a total of 1,355 points over the two days (A Team 682 and B Team 673), A Team turned the match around and squeezed a victory by just 9 points to win the 'Sirmoor Dunes Trophy'. The individual winners were: Best Individual Scores: RND – Alan Ben- nett-Brown and SGC – Glynn Aitken. Nearest the Pins: RND – Richard Kemmis Betty, and SGC – Nick Cooke. Longest Drives: RND – Rosie Harrop and SGC – William Shuttlewood. The Aslett Prize (best score for over 18 Handicap players) – Steve Clifton. The winner of the Seve Prize (most audacious play in the character of Seve Ballesteros) – Rich- ard Kemmis Betty (a shot out of 3 ft high reeds, through some hoops, into a bunker, then out onto the green leaving a 10 ft putt). 41 All agreed that this was a marvellous competition and well worth re- peating. However, with the constant difficulty of getting enough Sir- moorie Golfers to make up suitable teams we are now considering opening up some of the Sirmoor Golf days as 'Invitation' or 'Open' meetings for others of the Brigade of Gurkhas, and friends, to join us.

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BORNEO CONFRONTATION

I have received the following notice from Mr. Lim Kian Hock of the Sarawak Tourism Federation:

“Time passes swiftly, next year 2015 will be the 50th Anniversary of the End of Indonesian Confrontation (1962 to 1965) whereby you and com- rades have helped to fight the intruders in the defence of birth of Ma- laysia. We are happy to be informed that the Malaya Borneo Veterans Associations of Australia is organising a Borneo Reunion in Kuching from 1st to 7th August 2015 with their Commemoration and Reunion Dinner (Kuching Hilton Hotel) on 3rd August 2015. Among their dig- nitaries will be the former Governor General of Australia, the right Hon'ble General Michael Jeffery.

Interestingly, 2015 is also the 70th Anniversary of WWII. We have firm indication from the only surviving Commando Jack Tredrea will be coming to Bario Highland on 25th March 2015 to commemorate the 70th Anniversary the parachute landing of the British/Australian commandos of 1945 led by Tom Harrisson. The children of Brigadier Sir Thomas Eastick who received Japanese Forces Surrender and the Liberation of Sarawak and Batu Lintang POW Camp, will be coming on 11th September 2015 (Sarawak 9/11). The children of the AIF Commander Major General Wootten too will be coming on that his- toric date.” JJB

42 NEWS FROM MEMBERS

From FM Sir John Chapple First Sikh War 1845-1846 I have recently been reading an account by a Private in the Norfolk Regiment of his experiences in the First Sikh War. It was a contempo- rary account written in March 1846 shortly after the end of the cam- paign. The author, J W Baldwin, came from Swaffham in Norfolk. He knew a number of local lads serving with him. His account was sent back to a cousin in UK. He wrote good English with the occasional muddled grammar. His battalion fought in three of the four battles which took place in a very short campaign between 18 December 1845 and 10 February 1846 - for all of which separate battle honours were awarded. Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal, Sobraon. Before the last two, two ‘irregular’ bat- talions of Gurkhas had arrived as part of the reinforcements. These were the Nurseeree Battalion and the Sirmoor Battalion. In the short history of the campaign published some time in the 1870s, it was noted that both the Governor-General and the Commander-in- Chief were impressed by the Gurkhas’ service. A quote is: “The Gurkhas, a regiment of which, the Sirmoor battalion, is now represented by the 2 nd Prince of Wales’s Own Goorkhas, distin- guished themselves particularly in the last two engagements, and were specially mentioned by Sir Hugh Gough at Sobraon.” As already noted they did not take part in the first two battles and only arrived in time for Aliwal and Sobraon. Turning back to Private Baldwin’s record, he notes on the eve of So- braon, that: “On February 9 th 1846, at night, we received orders to prepare for action next morning, which caused a general excitement among our troops, Artillery, Cavalry and Infantry were all in a 43 state of exhilaration, taking up the most advantageous posi- tions. Early in the morning, before the evening’s picket with- drew, a regiment of Ghoorkahs, in our service, took them by surprise, and destroyed the whole of them with their choorahs [footnoted as ‘large knives’] . It seems that they (the enemy’s picket) were not watching with vigilance as was their duty, but were sleeping, though probably not dreaming of their fearful end. These Ghoorkhas are a diminutive race of men, but decidedly the best ‘Day and Martin’ Soldiers in India*, boasting they are an arm’s length better soldiers than any other native tribes in the country, and that we are the same length better than they.” * ‘Day & Martin’ appears to refer to the best boot polish of the time!

From Colonel Christopher Lavender [1978 – 94] Our summer travels through Europe this year (fittingly in a Sirmoor red Audi TT) took us by design to Neuve Chapelle and Ypres and the Menin Gate. My first visit to either former battlefield. At the memorial to the Indian and Gurkha dead at Neuve Chapelle, which fittingly we visited in the pouring rain, I was struck by the twenty or so 2nd Battalion soldiers who were remembered as having died in captivity and being buried at Zehrensdorf, near Berlin. They were in good company with many men of the 1st, 3rd and 4th Gurkha Rifles and those of many exotic regiments such as Vaughan's Rifles and Jacob's Horse and the Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis. I wondered about the thoughts and bewilderment that went through the minds of these young men finding themselves in such an alien environment - and the circumstances of their deaths - presumably many died of their wounds. Continuing on the same theme I notice that a recently re- viewed book in the Spectator magazine - 'Another Man's War' ad- dresses the curious situation that African troops found themselves in when fighting in the 'Forgotten' 14th Army in Burma some 30 years later. My interest had first been fired by seeing graves remembering these African soldiers when some years ago I visited the Common-

44 wealth War Graves (CWG) at Comilla (now in Bangladesh) with Bill Smart when we visited his father's grave (he served in 4 GR), and later at the CWG outside Rangoon. What the mothers of these men thought about their sons going half way around the world to fight in a country they had never heard of before for the 'Mother Country' heaven knows - and then to never return. It was reviewed exceptionally well by the ‘Speccie’ - and might be a good choice as a Christmas present. We visited the Menin Gate on the eve of the 100th Anniversary of the declaration of war in 1914. The Gate was surrounded by wreaths in remembrance. I had not realised that Churchill had suggested that Ypres should not be rebuilt and should be left in its shattered state as a memorial to man's folly - but apparently the former residents of Ypres felt differently. The compromise is the inspiring Menin Gate with the names of over 70,000 Commonwealth dead engraved on their walls. Once again the dead of Gurkha Regiments are remembered along with Gurkhas from the Burma Military Police. We were thus in the right frame of mind when we arrived in England the next day to join the na- tionwide remembrance and dowse our lights accordingly - in sombre recollection of Sir Edward Grey's prescient word. Next year we intend to spend three or four days bicycling around the cemeteries of the Ypres Salient and remembering the huge sacrifices made in a war that could and should never have happened.

From Brigadier Peter Little [1965 -94] Dogs on Italian Ferries Penny and I recently spent a few days visiting the Italian Lakes. While waiting to catch a ferry, we spotted the following notice: General Rules Dogs can be boarded under the responsibility of their owners or hold- ers. The owner must make sure that the dog’s attitude is proper to the exi- gencies of coexistence with humans and animals regarding the envi- ronment he is living in. 45 The Captain, or one of his officer composing the crew, can ask to the owner or holder to muzzle the dog in case of safety risks for other pas- sengers, animals or objects. In case the owner or handler declares not to be able to comply with this order, he has to be unboarded at the first available dock without any right to be reimbursed. In case of refusal, the police services will be called for intervention, so that no delay or obstruction are created to the public service line. The animals must not occupy any sitting place anyway and must be accommodated so as they do not disturb any other passenger and at all events the owner must attend to the cleaning of any excrement, having therefore the proper tools. The owner or handler shall use a fixed leash of max 1.5 metres in length and shall bring with him a muzzle (rigid or flexible).

SIRMOOR CLUB ADDRESS LIST

Members are reminded that it is the Honorary Secretary who main- tains the up to date Sirmoor Club address list, not the Editor. Please send any change of address to the Honorary Secretary – Not to the Editor. Names on the envelopes for the magazine may have been shortened to fit the labels and post nominal letters may have been omitted. OVERSEAS MEMBERS The cost of postage of the last edition to Members overseas over £3.50 (within the UK it was £1.50p). If an Overseas Member changes his address, and then asks for a second copy to be sent to his new address, that is another £3.50p and you will have cost the Club £7! PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE KEPT THE HONORARY SEC- RETARY UP TO DATE WITH YOUR ADDRESS.

46 THE BICENTENARY

One: NEPAL: 1810-1812 By Colonel JP Cross Nepal, during these years, was not as homogeneous as books written by Nepalese authors tend to make out. During the last two decades of the 19th century, under Amarsingh Thapa and his next in line, , the Gorkhali army was making efforts to move west- wards towards Kashmir, taking over Kumaoñ, Garhwal and other ter- ritories to make ‘Naya Nepal’. The elite in Kathmandu were well aware of the East India Company’s expansion to their south and west: in 1778 the EIC was asked for help by the Raja of Palpa against the government in Kathmandu; in 1781 Benares was acquired by the Com- pany; in 1801 the Company captured Delhi from the Marathas; and in 1809 the Treaty of Amritsar was signed between the Company and the Sikhs while in that same year the Sikhs captured the Kangra fort from the Gorkhalis. In January 1812 Colonel Ochterlony made a tour south of Garhwal from Ludhiana. The Gorkhali government was ‘edgy’ and this was shown when the pioneer veterinary surgeon and Head of Stud at Poosa, William Moorcroft, with Hyder Hearsey, a half-caste mercenary officer, made an unauthorised journey to Tibet, through Kumaoñ. With all the Company movement being monitored by Kathmandu, Gorkha troops in that area were put on the alert and, finally, captured both men. Details below are taken from Chapter 12 of Garry Alder’s Be- yond Bokhara: The life of William Moorcroft, Asian Explorer and Pioneer Vet- erinary Surgeon, 1767-1825. Hearsey was furious. In his note book he called the Gorkhas ‘villains’, ‘treacherous scoundrels’, ‘barbarians’, ‘wretches’, cowardly shitten rascals’, ‘cussed deceitful race’ and other unfavourable epithets. There is no doubt that much hardship was caused by the Gork- hali depredations in Naya Muluk. Gorkhali soldiers had been taken from Lamjung, Kaki and Siangtan by forces, Gorkha soldiers burning

47 down houses of those families which refused to give the demanded one able-bodied man. Hearsey also wrote ‘…on every side desolation stares you in the face; the lands that were cultivated now forming into a Jungul, from when arises the sickness so prevalent among the re- maining inhabitants, fevers and agues…such is the miserable lot of these once happy people. This is all owing to the wretched Govt. un- der which they are now groaning. No one to hear them and the British Govt. did it know its own interests, even in the course of humanity ought to free them from this most horrible state of slavery they are sub- jects too [ sic ]…’ The two men were freed before the end of the year. Another book that relates conditions at that time is A Special Corps: The Beginnings of Gorkha Service with the British , by the late A P (Jimmy) Coleman. In Chapter 3, The North-West Quarter of Hindustan, 1807-12, Coleman writes about a treaty of friendship between the Company and Ranjit Singh of the Punjab. Colonel Ochterlony, who was Political Agent to the Governor-General, was occupied with the particular prob- lems of mountain warfare; how to sustain an aura of British invincibil- ity; and how to obtain intelligence about Sikh and Nepalese armies. He may have seen and been impressed by some of the ‘Gurkha’ hill- men enlisted by Ranjit Singh after the battle of Kangra in 1809. How- ever, in 1810 he described ‘Gorkhas’ of the Nepalese Army as ‘a body of ill-armed and undisciplined barbarians who affect a wretched imita- tion of the dress, accoutrements and constitution of a British native bat- talion and who might have been successfully resisted in such country [the plains of Sirhind] by less than a third of their number.’ Coleman goes on to write that this judgement owed more to their being poorly armed than to any knowledge of their fighting qualities, especially in the high hills. The soldiers’ life was primitive; they had both male and female slaves to help them. Pay would not be forthcoming and they lived off the land, each foraging for himself. Meanwhile William Fraser, a ro- bust political officer (one of whose direct descendants is William Dal- rymple’s wife), met Garhwali highlanders who may have been ‘asal’ 48 Gurkhas from mid Nepal, and was impressed with them, learning some of their language. It was after Kaji and his Gorkhali forces had withdrawn trans-Sutlej following his defeat by the Sikhs that he opened his campaign to subjugate the thirty hill states in the Cis-Sutlej region, so bringing the Nepalese army up to the northern borders of lowland states protected by the British. The third book to touch of matters of these years in John Pemble’s Brit- ain’s Gurkha War: The Invasion of Nepal, 1814-1816. Referring to the eastern provinces, he writes that Kiratis and Limbus were enlisted. They received no pay, but were allowed to keep all they might obtain, specie excepted, by plunder. These ragamuffin bands were very dif- ferent from the trim English-style soldiers who manoeuvred with clockwork precision on the Tundikhel in Kathmandu. Furthermore, The Gurkha officers, although they knew English words of command, boasted and flaunted around in English uniforms and had learnt the rudiments of English discipline, had very little grasp of the fundamen- tal principles of which all these were but the superficial expressions. The daily parades were little more than a decorative choreography in- spired by a love of ostentation and designed to give an air of martial circumstance to the capital. In the field, the strength of the army re- sided less in its collective discipline and in the training of its officers than in the powers of endurance and courage of its individual mem- bers, who were all natural guerrilla fighters. Tactics were elementary and seldom involved more than the Gurkhas’ favourite expedient of attacking simultaneously from two or three directions. So there you have a minute resume from three authors who properly researched their subject. From my own reading of Nepalese writing, I get the impression that officers were not concerned with looking after their men and bothered little about soldier casualties. And not only that: the officers felt that they were responsible for their successes but ‘fate’ was responsible for their failures. Those of you who read this can judge for yourselves if that situation has changed at all and, if so, but how much.

49 Two : PRISONER OF LEGEND Compiled by JJB [From various sources in the public domain; details available on request – although you know most of this!] The Prince Regent was dining in St James’s Square, London, on 21 June 1815 at what is now the East India Club. The occasion was disturbed by the arrival of a mounted messenger bringing the news of The Duke of Wellington’s victory at Waterloo. Two months earlier out in northern India at Sirmoor Lieutenant Frederick Young had been commanding some part of a force of 4,000 local hill men when they were attacked by Gurkha ‘warriors’. The story goes that many of Young’s force ran away leaving the young man to face the onslaught. "Why don't you run away like your men?" asked the Gurkhas. "I haven't come all the way here just to run away" was Young's reply. This answer pleased them. "We could serve under men like you." So saying they took in Young and his officers and began to teach them their language. Is the story! By the following year, 1815, Young had recruited some 3, 000 Gurkhas into his force which was later raised to be known as The Sirmoor Bat- talion. This was the first Gurkha unit in the service of the East India Company and saw action in 1817 in the 3 rd Mahratta War. Elsewhere 1 GR and 3 GR also came into being at Malaun and Kamaon. Young’s force, by now named the 8th (Sirmoor) Local Battalion, gained its first battle honour at Bhurtpore in 1825 and later fought at the battles of Sobraon and Aliwal, proving the success of the project to get Gurkhas to fight under British Command which was later strongly reconfirmed at the siege of Delhi in 1858. Who was Frederick Young and what was he doing to be in Sirmoor in 1815? Frederick Young went to India at the age of 15, joined the army and later became a general. He founded the first Gurkha Regiment as a lieutenant, shortly after an incident involving Sir Rollo Gillespie during an invasion of Nepal At least, that’s how the story goes. Indeed, the tale of Frederick Young’s episode with the Gorkhas is a deeply entrenched part of Brit-

50 ish military folklore. Depending on which history you read, you might find a Gorkha telling Young that the British are ‘ almost as brave as our- selves’ . Another version claims that, as they led Young off to captivity ‘the merry men of the Nepalese hills remarked ‘ Ah you are a brave man. We could serve under a brave man like you’ . The probable truth is rather less theatrical. Most of what we know of Frederick Young comes from his biography, written by his daughter, Louise Hadow Jenkins, and published over a century after the event. He was born on the Inishowen peninsula in the far north of Co Donegal in 1786. His Presbyterian ancestors arrived from Devonshire in the 1630s and in the 1780s his father was Rector variously of Coleraine and other parishes Frederick Young went to India as a cadet to take up a career in the Brit- ish Army. After seeing action in the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803- 05), he rose up the hierarchy to become ADC to a colourful buccaneer- ing Ulsterman, Major-General Sir Rollo Gillespie Born in Boston, Mas- sachusetts, the son of a Scottish gentleman who had settled in America. Sir Rollo had survived shipwrecks, yellow fever, frauds, courts martial, murder trials, mutinies, allegations of bigamy and a raid on his home in which he killed six of his eight assailants with a sword. He had con- quered the Dutch Javanese city of Batavia, deposed the Sultan of Suma- tra and killed a tiger in the open on Bangalore racecourse. There is still today a large column statue to Rollo Gillespie in the market place in Comber County Down (Northern Ireland). Frederick Young became his ADC in 1811. In 1814, Sir Rollo and Lieutenant Young were sent to defeat the Gork- has. A war between the British East India Company and the fledgling had been inevitable ever since the Gorkhas con- quered the Kathmandu Valley in 1769 and began threatening British interests in India. Seeking a quick and decisive campaign, the British committed 22,000 troops to the campaign. Sir Rollo was assigned the task of dislodging the enemy from a strategic fort at Khalunga . This was to be Sir Rollo’s last hurrah. As he led his men in a head-on charge at the fort, a Gorkha 51 sniper shot Sir Rollo through the heart. He died in Lieutenant Young’s arms just 25 yards from the palisade. Over the next six weeks, Young watched with mounting admiration as the 600 Gorkhas within the fortress steadfastly refused to submit. The British gradually managed to cut off their freshwater supply and killed 520 of the defenders but the Nepalese never surrendered and ulti- mately the survivors slipped out of Khalunga under the cover of dark- ness. In February 1815, the British forces attacked another prominent Nepal- ese fort at Jaithak. When they learned that a force of Gorkha soldiers was on their way to relieve the besieged fort, Lieutenant Young was dispatched at the head of a column of 2,000 native Indian troops to in- tercept. However, this was the moment when Young’s Irregulars were ambushed in the Sirmur Hills by a band of three hundred Gorkhas and, as one contemporary put it, the Irregulars ‘incontinently fled’ , leav- ing Lieutenant Young to face the enemy, who took him in. According to his daughter Mrs Jenkin’s account written and published many years later, when Lieutenant Young returned to his own lines he was summoned to explain his experiences to his superior officers. He described the Gorkha’s immense soldiering qualities and vouched for the hill men as hardy, brave, humorous and likeable people. His opin- ion, she said, proved instrumental in persuading the British to enlist the demobilized Gorkhas to serve under the Crown. However, this legend is questionable. Early histories of the Nepalese War refer to the defeat of Young’s Irregulars at Jaithak but there is no mention of his capture in any of the key sources. Of course to be cap- tured and detained by the opposite side for a short time was not un- heard of amongst the HEIC personalities [EG: William Moorcroft and Hyder Hearsey; see above]. Possibly Mrs Jenkins got the story from her father when he was an old General living back in Ballybrack, Co Donegal. Like any good soldier, he might have been inclined to embel- lish the tale. As an historian of India puts it: ‘ At the end of the day history is what survives for the record and, on that basis, the story of Young’s capture is only legend’. Another believes that Mrs Jenkin’s romantic account of her father’s captivity is pure mythology. ‘ But it is no less interesting for 52 that ’, he reasons. ‘It demonstrates just how powerfully the Gurkhas appealed to Western imagination’. Young certainly became captured by the legend ∗ which we all know. That said, Young is known to have frequently quoted his opinion of the Gorkhas in conversations. In 1829, for instance, he declared ‘the supe- riority of the Gorkha army over any other with which the British power has come into contact’. And he also admired their famous credo, ‘Kafar hunu bhanda marnu niko’ – ‘It is better to be dead than live as a cow- ard’ . The Gurkha regiment was not Young’s idea. That ingenuity belongs to his friend William Fraser , a Scottish cavalry officer and political agent. During the latter stages of the Nepalese War, Fraser proposed that the British East Indian Company assemble several thousand Gorkha pris- oners and deserters into an Irregular outfit that served for the com- pany. Most of those recruited were not ‘real’ Gorkhas as such but Ku- maonis, Garhwalis and other Himalayan hill men. At this time the Brit- ish forces were slowly pushing the Gorkha army higher and higher into the mountains. In April 1816, the Gorkha general Amar Singh was obliged to sue for peace. In recognition of the Gorkhas’ heroic defences of their various forts, Amar Singh was permitted to march out with honours, men and arms, and return home. After the defeat of Amar Singh, Fraser’s Irregulars became an official regiment, the ‘Nasiri Pulteen’ (‘friendly local force’), were eventually grouped together under the term ‘Gurkha’ to become the backbone of British Indian forces. Lieutenant Young became the first British officer to command a regi- ment of Gurkhas when he was sent to raise a regiment at Sirmoor in Northern India, some 150 miles beyond Nepal's western border. That much is fact. ‘ I came there one man’ he later said, ‘ And I came back three thousand ’. These 3,000 soldiers formed the Sirmoor battalion , later to become the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles. The hierarchy was assumed from the outset: the British to lead and the Gurkhas to be

∗ And, to be a legend it’s best to hold your biography within the family!

53 led. Young would serve as their commander for the next 28 years. The Sirmoor Rifles were the first Gurkha unit in the service of the East In- dia Company to see action, which was during the Third Mahratta War of 1817. Back in England at this time the first public railway was in the making, tarmac roads were being developed, and a police force was set up in London. In Rome Rossini's opera "Barber of Seville" had its premier, in New York the Stock Exchange was founded and the White House offi- cially reopened after being burnt down. In India the Sirmoor Rifles continued to prosper. Ten years after the 1848 civil unrest in Europe with revolutions in France, Austria and some German states, India too was in turmoil. The Sirmoor Battalion was one of the Indian regiments that remained loyal to Britain in 1857. It was during these troubles that the regiment took part in the defence of Hindu Rao's House, near Delhi. For their part in the action, the Sir- moor Battalion was presented with The Queen's Truncheon, which be- came a replacement for the colours that they relinquished when the regiment became a rifle regiment in 1858 and allied to the 60 th Rifles (now part of The Rifles) of the . With the decision to num- ber the Gurkha regiments in 1861, the Sirmoor Rifles became the 2nd Gurkha Regiment. Another high point of the regiment’s history was perhaps the Battle of Dargai 1897 when the Highlanders mustered such great support to the Gurkhas’ heroism and demonstrated again, after Delhi some forty year earlier, the personal affinity between Gurkha and British (Scottish) sol- diers. In World War One the First Battalion’s crossing of the river Ti- gris in February 1917 was probably another peak of achievement, showing the Gurkhas’ flexibility and adaptability to circumstances. And again, bonding with British soldiers, this time the Royal Hamp- shire Regiment. The regiment achieved great things in the Second World War but to have been part of the Battle of El Alamein seems paramount; the last set piece formal battle fought primarily by British forces alone. Over the years Frederick Young was promoted Captain in 1816 and Major in 1824. The following year he married Jeanette Bird, mother of 54 his eight children. By June 1833 he was a Lieutenant Colonel and serv- ing as Agent in the Himalayan city of Dehradun , near Sirmoor. He built a shooting lodge nearby and thus inadvertently founded the fa- mous tourist city of Mussoorie . He also apparently planted the first tea and potatoes grown in the Himalayas. In 1854, now a Major General, he concluded over fifty years of military service in India and retired to his Irish homeland where he lived at Fairy Hill, Bray, Co Wicklow. However, the old soldier lost all his money when his bank folded in the same year. He was advanced to Lieutenant General and then full Gen- eral in 1856 and 1865. Shortly afterwards he relocated to Ballybrack near his birthplace in Co Donegal. General Frederick Young died at his Dublin town house, The Albany, Dublin, on 22nd May 1874 aged 88 at the end of a successful military life and one for which we should all be grateful as we commemorate the bicentenary of his initiative. At home that year the G&S ‘Pirates of Penzance’ comic opera with its patter song about ‘The Modern Major General ’ had its premier, and Sher- lock Holmes was afoot in London.

Three: THE SIRMOOR 2015 DURBAR [For information contact David Thomas on [email protected] or the Regimental Web Site www.2ndgoorkhas.com ] The reason for the Durbar and indeed for G200 is of course to com- memorate the 200 th Anniversary of the year the Sirmoor Regiment was raised. The preceding articles cover this. Planning for our Durbar began in earnest in October 2012 with a re- quest to all Sirmoories to register interest. Now, with some five months to go, we have 150 Sirmoories with wives, sweethearts, families and friends who have confirmed that they will be there. In addition there will be a group of 27 from the CAIRN Trust that works in education in Nepal and another of nine from the Pahar Trust that has been mainly involved in the building of schools in both the East and the West. That

55 is a current total of over 185; a magnificent response to a momentous occasion. Yet there are still some who have not yet made up their minds. There is still time to book in for this momentous event that will not be repeated in our lifetimes on this scale or probably ever again; so do not hesitate to join us as those first Gorkhas did so many years ago! Indeed, the programme is a varied one and starts with a reception at the British Embassy on the evening of Wednesday 25 March 2015 al- though places are now limited. The next day, Thursday 26 March there is the Brigade of Gurkhas Bhela which is intended to be run on the lines of a Tattoo with 800 musicians from the Nepal Army and Police Bands and even our own Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas if they can find the funding to get out there. This is to take place on Tundikhel in the centre of Kathmandu in front of the officers club. It promises to be a grand spectacle. On Friday 27 March we fly to Kathmandu and our pensioners start to arrive in Pokhara and Register at the Hotel Gurkha Haven in Damside. We are expecting over 1,200 with their wives – probably 2,500 people in all, who will be allocated to hotels in and around Pokhara, by the Sirmoor Club Nepal. British officer volunteers will also be there to greet the pensioners and welcome them to the Durbar. Saturday 28 March is a holiday in Nepal and is the day of the Sirmoor Durbar. It will take place at the British Camp, Pokhara and everyone will need to be seated by 0915. As they arrive the first thing they will see at the side of the Gurkha Memorial Museum, is a replica of the cen- tral arch of the Lal Gate in Dehradun that has been specially built and paid for by the 2GR Trust as a lasting memorial and tribute to Gurkha service. The parade will gather at the football ground but before it ‘falls in’ by year groups there will be a presentation of medallions to widows by the wives of senior British and Gurkha officers. The Queens Truncheon will be marched on and our President Lt Gen Sir Peter Duffell will take the salute, but highlight of the parade will be presentation of the Sirmoor Medal to every pensioner on parade. These medals have been made in Nepal to our specifications and have 56 a lali ribbon on which they are hung. They are distinctive and will be presented by a team of senior Sirmoor officers who should be able to present three medals a minute so that the whole effort is over in quar- ter of an hour – we cannot keep pensioners standing to attention for much longer! Peter Duffell will give an address; then the parade marches off through the camp to the new Lal Gate where Field Marshal Sir John Chapple, who laid the foundation stone for the museum, will unveil the plaque of King Edward V11 that is at the apex of the memorial. We hope that the Brigade of Gurkhas Band will be with us as well, but the Nepal Police Band will be on parade anyway. After that it is back to the Camp for drinks and lunch and dispersal at will. There is nothing formal planned for the evening. The next day, Sunday 29 March is an informal barbeque, drinks and Nepali day put on at the Pokhara Exhibition Ground starting around 1100. There will be games, dancing, a tug of war is more than likely and of course the barbeque suitably adapted to Gurkha tastes if not British epicureans. There will be a break at around 1500 to allow some to return to hotels but bhat will be served early at around 1730 and then there will be a Beating of Retreat by the Nepal Police Band and the Band of Brigade of Gurkhas as well if they come. The finale at 1915 will be the final lower- ing of the Sirmoor flag that will be an evocative end to festivities. On Monday 30 March there is a golf tournament at Major Ramba- hadur’s Himalayan Golf Course and a thank you lunch for the organiz- ing Committee of the Sirmoor Club Nepal, who are doing so much to get the events ready for us all and to ensure that they are the success that they certainly will be. Of course, the Durbar is the centre piece, but many Sirmoories are us- ing the opportunity to visit India, go trekking, rafting or fishing or as part of some more exotic travel plan. Others with less time to spare are only coming to Pokhara but even so there are exciting things to do there now. Hang-gliding around Sarankot is very popular, wandering through the bazaars is fun up to a point, or just to relax over lunch at 57 the gardens of Fishtail Lodge in the Pewa Tal, or at Pokhara Lodge is good and unusual. If you want an idea of what everyone else is doing you will find it on the Regimental Web site. Finally, if you are still undecided – do come. You will be amongst friends at an event that will live in on in memory like no other. DLT

Four: SIRMOOR DURBAR SOUVENIR BOOKLET

It has been suggested that in addition to the Durbar programme, we should have a souvenir booklet of the event. This would be more eas- ily accessible and potentially more popular than a record using elec- tronic media, although we could consider doing both. Initial discussions have tentatively agreed the souvenir should be in a similar format to the Durbar programme so they look good together on a bookshelf or coffee table. As well as the programme of events and annotated photographs we can also include descriptions of what went on, transcriptions of any speeches, anecdotes (maybe in the form of a 'Durbar Diary') and perhaps some historical material e.g. about dur- bars and ceremonial events in which the Regiment was involved in the past. Written material of this sort will not only remind attendees of what went on but will also help non-Sirmoories and future generations to make better sense of what they are looking at. In 2004 I posted as much electronic media as I could obtain from that year’s Durbar on a website so people could look at it and download it if they wished. I suggest doing the same again in 2015, possibly on the 2GR website. People can then trawl through the material and vote for their favourite material, following which I can finalise the document and get it produced in time for Delhi Day 2015.

58 As a follow-on exercise we might also want to post a (selective) gallery of Durbar material on the 2GR website, possibly including videos, or simply post an electronic version of the souvenir document there. I’d welcome thoughts and suggestions on this. I’d particularly like to hear from anyone interested in helping with the reportage aspects (i.e. writing up descriptions of events, moonlighting as the Nigel Dempster of the Durbar &c). Please email me at [email protected] or write to me at 24 Gilpin Avenue, London SW14 8QY with any feedback or ideas. You are also most welcome to call my mobile (+44 (0)7808 247861) but as I work full time I may not be immediately available: if you can’t get through then please leave a voicemail and I’ll respond as soon as I can. NJH

59 A GURKHA’S STORY

The explosive true story of the first Gurkha in the SAS By ‘Johnny Gurkha’

This book was written by an Ex-Rifleman of the 2 nd Battal- ion 2 nd King Edwards’ Own Gurkha Rifles.

Based on my childhood time in Nepal and almost 25 years of service in the British Army (Gurkhas); I served with the 2nd Battalion the 2nd Gurkha Rifles (2/2 GR), the Pathfinders platoon, 5 Airborne Brigades, 22 Special Air Service Regiment (22 SAS), and my final ser- vice with the 1 st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles (1RGR). During my military career I served in many different countries including Hong Kong and Brunei. Operationally, I was privileged to be involved in op- erations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

“He talks freely of his time in the Brigade of Gurkhas, and how hard he found Pathfinders and SF selection. I enjoyed this book immensely. It was fascinating to hear a story about the Gurkhas from a Gurkha’s per- spective rather than that of their British officers or those that have fought alongside them. His honesty about the Brigades’ flaws as well as its strengths was refreshing, and he tells a cracking story. I recommend this book to everyone, even if they only have a passing interest in the Brigade of Gurkhas. It is an utterly absorbing read”.

Copies are available direct from the Gurkha Museum at £ 19.

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The Editor, indeed the Sirmoor Club, is grateful to Jane Spurr for the great help she gives proof reading this magazine.

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