1/1st Northumberland Hussars 1914

[Nick1914]

Dear members any info on the below Yeomanry officers - all 1914 casualties(including invalided/sick category) most appreciated.  With at least a forename I might have more success in London Gazette searches. School/DofB info also usually rewarding lead:

 

1) major L Johnston - wounded 22 Oct

2) 2nd lt C M Laing - commissioned 1912 - wounded as above date

3) 2nd Lt W Macqueen - invalided/sick date unknown?

4) Capt Henry G Sidney - ex Stonyhurst, ex-Regular, late Royal Fusiliers , psc - wounded 25th Oct, DSO in 1917

 

Many thanks for any ideas.  Nick

[jonbem]

hi Nick

here is your first one - Major Lawrence Waterbury Johnston (1871–1958)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Johnston

http://www.serredelamadone.com/major.htm

regards

Jon

Edited 30 April , 2017 by jonbem
add 2nd link

[jonbem]

2nd lt C M Laing

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29993/page/2761/data.pdf

2nd Lt. (temp. Capt.) C. M. Laing to be Lt. (temp. Capt.) and remain seconded. 27th Feb. 1915

First Name:	C M
Surname:	Laing
Rank:	2nd Lieutenant
Gallantry Awards:	Mentioned in Despatches

Gazette Info:	Gazette No. 29072. Mentioned in Dispatches. The Following Despatch has been received by the Secretary of State for War from the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, British Forces in the Field. I have the honour to bring to notice names of those whom I recommend for gallant and distinguished service in the Field.
Gazette Date:	17/02/1915
Gazette Page:	1653

 

and

Initials:	C M
Surname:	Laing
Nationality:	British
Incident Details:	Enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge
Incident Date:	1904
Information:	Aide-de-Camp. Wounded twice.
Rank:	Captain
Gallantry Awards:	Military Cross Instituted on 28th December 1914 the Military Cross (M.C.) is the third level military decoration awarded to Officers. This decoration was awarded to C M Laing for an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy. The Military Cross (M.C.) is awarded for gallantry during active operations against the enemy. C M Laing,as an owner of the Military Cross, is entitled to use the letters M.C. after his name. Citations for the M.C. were published in the London Gazette during the Great War. However if the M.C. was a King’s Birthday or New Year award, details were not published and in most cases will not be available.   Mentioned twice in dispatches   Belgian Croix de Guerre

 

[jonbem]

this I don't have access http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/issue/21st-november-1914/22/47091

ET CETERA - from the Tablet Archive

archive.thetablet.co.uk/issue/21st-november-1914/22/47091

13 Jan 2017 - Captain Rupert Ommanney, R.E., who has fallen in action, was a son of ... Lieutenant W. Macqueen, attached to the Northumberland Hussars, ...

[jonbem]

Capt Henry G Sidney

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28999/supplement/10432/data.pdf

10432 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 7 DECEMBEK, 1914

Northumberland (Hussars'). Captain Henry Sidney to be Major. Dated 29th September, 1914.

 

http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/herald-war-report-1-7127264

A DISTINGUISHED LOCAL OFFICERCaptain Henry Sidney, of Cowpen Hall, who has been mentioned in despatches by Sir John French for distinguished conduct at the Front, is the eldest son of the late Mr Henry Sidney, of Cowpen Hall. Mr Sidney has a brother, Philip, who is an officer in the Northumberlands, and is also fighting at the Front, having come from India recently.Captain Henry Sidney is expected home for a brief visit during the next fortnight.

medals on page 8 of

https://www.dnw.co.uk/media/auction_catalogues/Medals 1 Dec 10.pdf

 

 

 

[jonbem]

and finally

http://www.bailiffgatemuseum.co.uk/world-war-1/northumberland-hussars/

 

Regards

Jon

[Nick1914]

Dear Jonbem, many thanks for all your efforts over this Bank Holiday weekend.  Much appreciated.  The Johnston story is really interesting.  I was however disappointed that Captain's Sidney's impressive Northumberland famly home is now the site of all things a MacDonalds according to the reports!

 

With regard to the Tablet archive this has only recently become subscription & I think where I picked up MacQueens name originally as a casualty.

 

As for Laing I still can't cross-reference him back to Trinity Cambridge so help from other members on identifying his forenames key as also with McQueen.

 

Again many thanks.......data already in spreadsheet!

 

Nick

[David Filsell]

I rather think the average young soldier would have rather liked a MacDonalds'. Once Surrey branch of the AFA was asked to joining  a campaign to prevent one in a small urban shopping square which contained a war memorial. Struck me that the objectors took daft point of view and we said so. The memorial and the MacDonalds have both survived unscathed.

[jonbem]

40 minutes ago, Nick1914 said:

Captain's Sidney's impressive Northumberland famly home

http://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses/lh_northumberland_cowpenhall_info_gallery.html

[David Filsell]

Quite the best looking burger bar I 've ever seen. On a more serious note when/why was it demolished?

[INW]

Please find attached an extract from the Lost house of Newcastle and Northumberland by Thomas Faulkner and Phoebe Lowery. This book documents no less than 45 of the counties lost houses. The page has some detail of the family.

 

[HarryBrook]

C. M. Laing was Colin Moncrieff Laing, gazetted 2nd Lt., Northumberland Yeomanry 15 March 1912

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28606/page/3372

[HarryBrook]

There was no 2nd Lt. W. MacQueen listed in the August 1914 and June 1915 Army Lists in the Northumberland Hussars. There was a William MacQueen listed as an interpreter in the 1915 list. He was gazetted 2nd Lt. on 21 September 1914 as "W. MacQueen" https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28916/supplement/7661

His medal index card gives his unit as Interpreter and Intelligence, landed France October 1914.

Could this be the 2nd Lt. W. MacQueen of interest, temporarily attached to the Northumberland Hussars?

 

Edit to add - jonbem's post #4 refers to 2nd Lt. W. MacQueen being "attached to the Northumberland Hussars".

 

Edit to add: On findmypast there are two references to W. McQueen in the Oxford University Roll of Service 1914-18 for Wadham College, first as above, and also as 2nd Lt. in the Royal Field Artillery. There is no M.I.C. for an officer William MacQueen, R.F.A. There is also this reference to William MacQueen - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NyudR_ePn8sC&pg=PA319&lpg=PA319&dq=William+MacQueen+Wadham+College+Oxford&source=bl&ots=OVgxeaTNHj&sig=_gjK6LK8UrzdeLMdySG0h-LRTIQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz1Zn10dDTAhUnDsAKHXcTDJMQ6AEINjAE#v=onepage&q=William MacQueen Wadham College Oxford&f=false

Edited 2 May , 2017 by HarryBrook

[HarryBrook]

There appear to be no official records, birth, marriage, death, or probate for (then) Capt. Henry Sidney with a second Christian name beginning with "G".

His obituary in The Times of Monday 22 March 1954 also refers to him as Henry Sidney.

 

[INW]

Stonyhurst College is in Lancashire. I visited not so long ago for an architectural tour. They had a lot on display about the many V.C.'s their Alumni have won. I think it would be worth contacting them to find out what is in their records.  www.stonyhurst.ac.uk

[Nick1914]

Dear INW and Harry, just back in the Forum after a few days away. Many thanks for your most interesting and useful inputs.  My last few months researching have involved many days spent using the London Gazette online to try and fill in gaps in various officer commission pathways.  Valuable but also not the most enjoyable pursuit after a while.

 

Your posts were, in contrast, most stimulating and really helped pull together more on my understanding of the Northumberland Hussars officer casualties.  The Cowpen Hall profile indicates a coal-mining ownership of the family, and I believe another officer 2nd Lt Richard Arthur Pease also a casualty in the same action of 25th October came from a similar mine-owning heritage.  With regard to Stonyhurst the school magazine of 1914 has already provided me with most useful background on a number of officers.  As a proud Lancastrian I live not far away. Interestingly Colonel Henry seemed to marry very young for one of his class(20-21 years) if the obituary dates are correct.  I also revisited Henry Sidney's Army List entry and saw that he was pvc not psc as I had misread.......actually attended an Army Veterinary course not Staff College!

 

Harry, your input as always is very insightful and conclusions on W MacQueen are totally logical.  D H Lawrence as you probably know resided in Oxford and attended Jesus College so the links with the "Garsington Poetry Circle" make sense and also that such an individual might have been gazetted into the Intelligence Corps and speak French.  There also appears to be other strong Oxbridge links within the Northumberland Hussars including the following officer casualties: M W Ridley - oxford(balliol), L W Johnston - cambridge(trinity), R A Pease - cambridge(trinity).  I also see C M Laing(see above) was at cambridge(trinity).

 

Any further info on yet another N. Hussars officer casualty 2nd Lt S Clayton again wounded on 25th Oct most appreciated.

 

Best regards, Nick

[HarryBrook]

Nick,

I think the officer 2nd Lt. S. Clayton you are seeking may be Lt. G. S. Clayton. There is a medal index card originally in the name of S. Clayton to which, in different coloured ink, has been added a G. in front of the S. He was Lt., 1/1 Northumberland Hussars, attached R.G.A., disembarkation date on roll - 6 October 1914. There is no residential correspondence address.

 

G. S. Clayton was George Savile Clayton of The Chesters, Humshaugh, Northumberland. He was born in quarter 4 of 1869 and died 8 December 1922. He attended University College, Oxford.

He was gazetted 2nd Lt. in the Northumberland Hussars 27 August 1892 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26320/page/4892

He rose to the rank of Major but reverted to the rank of Capt. and resigned his commission on 16 April 1913 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28710/page/2725

He returned to active service as a Lt. on 8 October 1914 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28928/supplement/8005

Further promotions and retirement not researched.

Harry

 

 

 

Edit to add - The notice of his death is from The Times of Thursday 14 December 1922

Edited 6 May , 2017 by HarryBrook

[INW]

What a family.... what a house!

I can add a little about the Clayton Family of Chesters, Humshaugh, Northumberland.

 

From Wikipedia I copy: The estate was acquired by Nathaniel Clayton^[2] (Town Clerk of Newcastle upon Tyne 1785–1822) in 1796. His son John Clayton who succeeded him as Town Clerk in 1822 was a keen antiquarian and excavated the ruins of the Roman fort of Cilurnam adjacent to the house. He made a large collection of Roman artefacts, which is now displayed at Chesters Museum. House much improved and extended by architect Norman Shaw in 1891.

 

I think the above is something of an understatement:

 

John Clayton owned considerable sections of Hadrian's wall and preserved them in the way we see them today. Many archaeologists would say he 'over preserved it' but without him it might have been lost. Chester's is possibly architect Norman Shaw's finest work. It was a hospital in WW1. It was recently sold by Graham Wylie who set up Sage Software.

 

http://www.4thbnnf.com/wordpress/home/links-with-home/voluntary-aid-hospitals/

[Nick1914]

Dear Harry, most rude of me as I appear to have missed this most helpful post back in May.  Great info and filled in some interesting facts about GSC.  His disembarkation dates in France also seem to fit well with other Northumberland Hussars but I note he was attached to the RGA?

 

Best, Nick