FROM THE RANKS.

Shannon News, 2 June 1924, Page 1

FROM THE RANKS.

TO POSITION OF tTFLD-MAUSHAL

For tlie iirst time a British FieldMarshal lias told the story.* of his lil'e iu; tlie ranks from personal experience. The, story was told in a lecture at the ■ Wqrking Men’s College, by Sir William Roberstoir, recently.

•Standing- in mufti on the platform beside Sir Frederic Maurice, the President of the College, this big, grey, broadshouldered soldier y with -.one hand in his lounge coat packet an,d the other turning- the leaves of a few notes, kept his audience for all too brief an hour both greatly amused and deeplyinterested. He began by telling tihem about this bad luck> he had to start with.

“The Colonel ’’ he said, “a fat, bigeyed Crimean veteran, took an intense dislike to me, and I can’t say 1 cared much for him; but. I didn’t inind that at ail. Tlie adjutant, about the only officer in those days who did any work, was very strict and called me to order. lii the great war the tables were turned and he had to obey my orders!” When he enlisted iti was'thought he had disgraced his faniily, fob that was ho\V enlistment waws regarded in those days. The men were a very rough ■ hard-swearing, hard-drinking lot. treated with machines; of a vofy inferior type, they just lived for tihe day. About the only bright spot in their lives was the day, once a week, when they got 4/- or 5/-, or perhaps only 1/-. "It! so happened,” he remarked, “that l joined on pay day!” Blankets’ Yearly Wash. ,

In those times. married .women used to live in the; barracks,-.and laok after -the men’s rooms, wash their clothes, and get their meals. Blankets, got washed once a yea/-, and sheets once a moiith. There was no table-cloths, and thefcrockery consisted of a basin and •a plate—"if you were lucky enough to, have them.” The .basin'.was useful, to. begin the day with, as a shaving- mug, tor breakfast ft becahio a coffee mug, later in the morning a beer mug; in the evening it was a teacup, and later on it was used for mixing pipeclay to their belts with. ~The drill sergeant of those days used to cram as much drill as possible down men’s throatsi all men being treated as though they had no intelligence, anti,without prospect of having any.' .If a man made a mistake, and tried to explain; that he thought he ought to dQ.a thing a certain way, lie was.toldi,v “Toil have ho right to think, do as I tell you, and don’t think again.”

'lt required a robust- constitution: Sir'.William went on to say, to stand winter in the army/ Draughty stables and cold , barrack stairs sent many 'a mail to hospital. The hospitals, too, were rough places. It’ a man; l'elt ’sick lie had tlo get up in the morning, go to the* stables, and be marched out for medical inspection. And whether he wanted it or not, a man would then give him an aperient—half a pint of a vile-looking concoction called black strap. / , After that if the doctor thought he was ill, he would be marched to hospital, perhaps a mile away, and it Would be tilie next morning before the wtii'd doctor came round to sec him, and the afternoon before lie got his medicine, 36 hours after he had first been seen. Accidents were attended to. a little more quickly, but that wa-s tlic casual way patients wore treated, "often with great risk to their lives.”

There were no nurses in the army in ; those days. The nearest to a nurse was the hostpital orderly, who slept in the room, and'generally had beer at night. The attention he gave to the patients was regulated by tilie tips he received.

S ij' Dark,Guard Kcorn jin the guard room in which men were confined for their “crimes” no lights were permitted, and there were practically no sanitary arrrangements, nor was a man allowed any bedding until he had beep in seven days. "I managed to commit: some ‘crimes,’” Sir William said in liis dry way, and proceeded to tell the audience how first of all he let a deserter escape, and how lie let a horse go, and and was reprimanded. “My colonel,” he said, ‘‘looked at me pretty straight; he was not getting any fonder of me for all this, but he w°nt an leave soon after.”

It was whilst the colonel was on leave that he was made lance-eoporal. “When he uam e back,” he said,"’ he saw the stripe on my arm, and I don’t think he liked it. Not long after that the hegiment moved on to Brighton, and I committed my third crime.” It happened after a sham fight an’ the Downs with the Volunteers, and this time he lost both a man and a horse arid the colonel told him quite frankly lie was tired of hiln.

:Two or three years later the book containing his crimes disappeared, and he was given a clean sheet, which he kept for ever afterwards. Things now got better. Growing more experienced he became, a sergeant, took various, courses “and stood '..out,a- little hit from the rut.” Eventually lie got his commission though not without a good ' deal of difficulty. for lie had no money of his own and f3OO a.-year was 1 considered the'very least ail officer in the cavalry could do with -in addition to. his pay. A gratuity, however, came along, and lie.was posted ta a regiment .in India, where lie was quite happy, and'gained fairly rapid promotion.”