With The Immortal Seventh Division | Page 3

been
hit,--some, as the manner of soldiers is, displayed the bullet or piece of shrapnel which
had laid them low.
Nearly all the troop trains going to the Front were decorated with flowers and evergreens,
whilst the stations and villages were alive with enthusiastic people assembled to cheer
their men onward to their glorious and dangerous task.
It was with thankful hearts and very travel-stained persons that we finally reached home,
heartily agreeing after our exciting experiences that a little goes a long way.
I had at the earliest moment possible volunteered my services to the Army Chaplains
Department, but was informed that there was no prospect at that time of my being called
upon; accordingly I joined my Territorial Battalion, under Colonel Park, and was
awaiting a summons to service, here, there, or anywhere, when, as I have described, the
call came. I have often wondered why the War Office always springs upon one with such
alarming suddenness; possibly it is the way of the Army; it is certainly disconcerting,
although it is educational, for it teaches one to be always ready and alert for any
emergency.

And now the order had come, and there was hurrying to and fro; a rapid dash home; a
putting together of kit which would be required in the unknown life about to be entered
upon. A last night at home; and then the reporting of oneself at the War Office; the
signing of a contract for twelve months' service; a medical examination as to physical
fitness; an hour or two's shopping at Harrods (where one developed a tendency to think of
everything not wanted, and to forget what was really useful); and finally Waterloo Station,
that scene of many farewells. 'Good-bye' has so many significations. It may be uttered at
the parting for a couple of hours; it may be uttered, and often is, in these days as the final
word on earth to much loved ones. Oh, these partings! how they pull a man's heart to
pieces; and yet, with that remarkable insularity which characterizes our race,--or should I
say races--it is one of the things seldom or never mentioned among men on service; and
yet I suppose it is always uppermost in a man's mind. Again and and again I have lit upon
men in out of the way corners, reading a well worn letter, or perchance gazing at a
photograph, every facial lineament of which was already well stamped upon the mind of
the gazer. It is one of the mental attitudes which go to form a spirit of comradeship; the
feeling that it is all part of the game, and we are most of us tarred with the same brush.
I had received my orders at the War Office, to join the Seventh Division then mobilizing
at Lyndhurst.
The Seventh Division! that meant very little to me, and indeed to the public generally at
that time, but what it signified to the nation will be more fully appreciated when the
history of this war is written.
It may be interesting to give particulars of the composition of that, which I believe is the
first Division ever to march out of an English camp fully equipped.
Under the command of Major-General T. Capper, C.B., D.S.O.,[1] now Sir Thomson
Capper, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O., it represented the very flower of our Army, possessing a
Staff of most capable officers.
It consisted of:--
Divisional Signal Company; Divisional Mounted troops; Northumberland Hussars; Cycle
Company; Four Brigades of Artillery (R.H.A., R.F.A., R.G.A.); Two Batteries R.G.A.;
Divisional Ammunition Column; Divisional Engineers, two Field Companies; 20th
Infantry Brigade,-- Brig.-General H.G. Ruggles Brise, M.V.O.; Brigade-Major A.B.E.
Cator.
2nd Scots Guards; 1st Grenadier Guards; 2nd Border Regiment; 2nd Gordon Highlanders;
21st Infantry Brigade,-- Brig. H.E. Watts, C.B.; Brigade-Major Captain W. Drysdale. 2nd
Bedford Regiment; 2nd Yorks; 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers; 2nd Wiltshire Regiment; 22nd
Infantry Brigade-- Brig. S.T.B. Lawford; Brigade-Major Captain G.M. James, The Buffs.
2nd The Queens; 2nd Royal Warwick Regiment; 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers; 1st South
Staffs Regiment.
Divisional Train; Four Companies Divisional Medical Units; 21st Field Ambulance; 22nd

" " 23rd " "
The mobilization of a Division for Active Service is a vast business; everything has to be
thought of and provided; there must be a thorough equipment for the men, horses, and
transport; medical stores, saddlery, farriery, etc., etc., not a thing must be forgotten, for in
those early days of the war there was no well-equipped Ordnance Department on the
other side. Each Field Ambulance is a dispensary on wheels, comprising the hundred and
one field comforts which warfare rightly provides for the lamentable wrecks that pass
through the hands of the R.A.M.C.
The question of horses is no slight undertaking, and certainly gives rise to no little
heartburning, as every mounted officer naturally