With The Immortal Seventh Division | Page 3

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 tries to secure a good mount. To me it was a specially serious matter; when a man walks 15.8 and rides another two stone at least, considerable care has to be exercised in the selection of his equine friend, who has to bear with him the fatigues, trials and risks of a campaign. I shall ever feel the deepest obligation to Captain Kennedy Shaw, O.C., Remounts Department, Salisbury, for supplying me with one of the best horses I