Taken from the Regimental Journal of
June 1921. Also want to thank David Lock who sent pictures
On the 17th of May, X company the 2nd
Hampshire Regiment and the Band, under Capt C.H. Fowler,
M.C., went to Youghal for Musketry. Their arrival there
was greeted with pleasure by the people of Youghal, for
the men of the Battalion created a most favorable impression
by their exemplary behavior in the town last year, and
they succeeded our friends the 2nd Queen's Own Cameron
Highlanders. During the following fortnight there is no
doubt but that the Detachment heightened the impression
of last year, and the playing of the Band was unquestionably
a most popular feature with the townspeople; too popular
alas, for the crime was deliberately aimed at the Bandsmen
and bandboys of the Battalion.
On the 31st May the Detachment paraded
at 8.a.m. To march to the range for practice with the
Lewis Guns. As only one team of the band had been trained
in this weapon, the Band carried no arms, but was to play
the Company down to the range by the road behind the town,
which was generally used when marching out, owing to its
more convenient gradients for horse transport. It need
hardly be said that the usual tactical precautions were
taken, and the party was preceded by a strong advanced
guard with flankers thrown back on either side and followed
by a strong rear guard with flankers thrown forward.
About half a mile from the range the
road passes through a glen. On the left hand side the
ground rises immediately above the road for about fifty
feet, while on the right the road is bounded by a low
but solidly-built stone and mortar wall, beyond which
there is boggy ground through which flows a small stream:
beyond this again the ground rises steeply to about the
same height as on the left side of the road.
At the point where the land mine was
placed an overgrown bank runs from the road across the
boggy ground and up the hill. It was along this bank the
the wire connecting the mine and the battery was laid,
and it was amongst the brambles and bracken that the murderers
hide themselves and the battery. The mine apparently was
a large calibre shell filled with high explosive and was
placed against the masonry wall and tamped or covered
with loose stones. The position was chosen with such cunning
that, as soon as the right flankers of the advance guard
had passed, a fold in the ground prevented them from seeing
anyone running up the hill, while the bank prevented the
rear guard flankers from seeing the escaping attackers.
As far as can be ascertained from subsequent
investigation, what happened was that the right flankers
passed quite close to the battery, which was some sixty
yards from the road, but beyond it, unfortunately, and
so missed the connecting wire. As soon as they passed
they lost sight of the bank, and almost immediately afterwards
the column, with the Band Leading, arrived opposite the
mine. The commanding Officer was with the Detachment and
was immediately in the rear of the Band.
The Band could not only be heard, but
the whole column could be seen from the point where the
mine was electrically exploded, when the fourth or fifth
section of fours of the Band was opposite it. For one
sickening moment it was not possible to realize what had
happened or even who was hurt, but as the clouds of dust
settled some twenty men and boys of the Band were seen
stretched on the ground and pitiful groans and cries for
help were heard.
Almost at the same moment shots rang
out, and it is seemed if we were ambushed as well as mined,
but almost instantly the men of X, led by Captain Fowler,
were out of the road, across the stream and running up
hill as fast as they could, intent on avenging the Band.
But it was impossible for them to do this. The stunning
effect of the mine and those sixty yards up the hill had
given the two perpetrators just the start they wanted,
and they escaped, seen only by two flankers on the left,
whod immediate fire on them but they got clean away.
The scenes on the road flowing the explosion
were pitiful beyond description. To a curtain extent the
masonry wall had driven the force of the explosion backwards,
but even so the damage had been hideous. Three of the
Band were killed instantaneously, and three were so desperately
wounded that from the first little hope of their recovery
was entertained. Although the majority of the troops which
formed the Band were young solder's, who had never been
under fire before, their behavior on this occasion was
magnificent. One Corporal, although seriously wounded,
threw himself on top of one of the Band boys immediately
after the first explosion in order to protect the boy
from fire. This same Corporal although bleeding profusely,
tore off his own shirt and passed it along to in order
to bandage other wounded. A Band boy during the firing
was discovered breaking sticks for splints. Another bandsman,
although the mine utterly unexpected, continued to play
his instrument after the catastrophe. Three or four bandsmen,
all wounded, without hesitation charged up the slope with
X Company.
In an hour and a half the removal of
the wounded to the Workhouse Hospital began, and in about
three hours all had been moved. Those who witnessed it
will never forget the tender and gentle care with which
the wounded were lifted by their comrades. In the hospital
they were tended with greatest possible skill until the
arrival of the Hospital Train with a Surgeon-Specailist
and Nursing Sisters from the military Hospital, Cork,
but by that time three more had died of their wounds.
The investigation made on the spot by
the Commanding Officer convinced him that this horrible
business was planned and carried out by ruffians who came
from places other than Youghal, and this was explained
to the men of the Detachment, who were told at the same
time that they would not be confined to barracks but were
free to visit the town as heretofore.
How completely the C.O's confidence
in their discipline was justified is evinced by the local
report that their behavior was wholly admirable, while
a letter received from the Court off Petty Sessions stated
that a resolution of abhorrence at the crime had been
passed and begged the the condolence and sympathy of the
court might be conveyed to the relatives and comrades
"of the murdered men and boys" and to the wounded,
and further express appreciation of the high restraint
shown by the Hampshire Regiment under the circumstances.
The Court adjourned as a mark of respect to the died.
A military funeral was held in Cork on the afternoon of
the June 3rd, when the bodies of those seven, three having
been killed instantaneously and four having died of wounds,
were escorted to a boat for England by W Company, together
with a Company of of police from the Royal Irish Constabulary
and the Band of the 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire
Regiment.
Every sympathy is felt with the Bandmaster,
whose own escape is a miracle, in that he was walking
on the flank, nearest to the mine, of that section of
fours of whom all where killed. It is thought his efforts
that the Band was as fine as it was, and it is unutterably
cruel that the work of six years should be practically
annihilated in as many seconds.
Every instrument but four has been irretrievably
damaged, and the strength of the Band in personnel has
been practically Halved.
| Killed and Died of Wounds |
Wounded |
| Bdm |
Burke |
Winchester |
Bdm |
Benham |
Bdm |
Fuller |
| Boy |
Evens |
Winchester |
Boy |
Bennett |
L/cpl |
Hill |
| Boy |
Hesterman |
Southampton |
Cpl |
Beavis |
Pte |
Hoskins |
| L/cpl |
McCall |
Winchester |
Pte |
Cobb |
Pte |
Manuel |
| Boy |
Simmons |
Portsmouth |
Sgt. |
Charlton |
Pte |
Musselwhite |
| Bdm |
Washington |
Alton |
Pte |
Connelly |
Bdm |
Thurgood |
| Cpl |
Whichelow |
Portsmouth |
Bdm |
Couling |
Pte |
Whitear |
| |
|
|
L/cpl |
Cousins |
Pte |
Watts |
| |
|
|
Boy |
Cousins |
Boy |
Vider |
| |
|
|
Pte |
Cripps |
|
|
| Instruments George
Lock on the Right below |
Lcpl McCall Killed in bombing
|
|
|
|
Believed to be August 1st 1920 ( Minden
Day note the roses in the headdress and Drums)
