Were their exceptional skills ever of use?

Topic December 2023 / January 2024.  We often have said that Frontiersmen training during their first half century was more to be training for the previous war and not for any future conflict. In the early years Frontiersmen were convinced that their special mounted skills would be of use to the army as scouts and guides. When the world tumbled into the First War it soon became apparent that Frontiersmen mounted training was suited to wide open spaces, such as in Africa and throughout North and South America. Driscoll did offer to take his men behind German lines to harry and disrupt the German lines of communication while living by their wits and off the land. The areas they wanted to attack were highly populated and mounted Frontiersmen would soon have been destroyed. When they did go to East Africa as the 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen), the disease carried by the local flies meant that horses lived for only a brief period of time and so the Frontiersmen became mainly foot soldiers.

The early Frontiersmen reckoned that they could exist and survive for some time with everything they needed packed on a man’s horse. There was considerable debate in the first couple of years of the Frontiersmen as to which was the best method – the “Queensland” method from Australia, or the “Diamond Hitch” method used throughout Western America and Western Canada. Roger Pocock was, as could be expected, an ardent supporter of the Canadian method. The “Queensland” system was based on government pack saddles from the 1840s-60s onward and it consisted of an iron and timber saddle tree, a complicated leather harness system, pads and whatever the load was (which was hung from iron hooks on the saddle tree and then secured with straps).

The “Diamond Hitch” saddle used by the Roger Pocock team during the ride was a hybrid system which was basically an improvised “sawbuck” style saddle tree with a diamond hitch replacing the leather harness. The “tree” of this system can be improvised out in the bush by cutting saplings and lashing them together to form the two parts of the “tree” from which the cargo is slung. Padding is provided by the team’s own camp blankets (usually with a strip of oilskin or canvas underneath or on top) and no leather harness is required as the rope and the Diamond Hitch itself secure the load. With the above in mind it’s clear why the “Queensland” pack saddle was quickest to adjust due to straps and buckles allowing more fine adjustment, while the “Canadian” pack needed to be at least partially untied and the hitch re-tensioned periodically. However the Canadian pack saddle can be completely improvised out field from bush timber and greenhide cordage, while the “Queensland” style was often factory-made and had the associated purchase costs. ¹

The result of the dispute was a challenge between the Legion’s Captain Best who advocated the “Queensland” method and Founder Roger Pocock who strongly believed in the “Diamond Hitch” American method. There was to be a ride from London to Brighton and back in early September 1906 to discover which method was best for horse and man. Unfortunately, September that year was hot and the daytime temperatures that weekend were over 34º centigrade in the shade and far hotter than that in the burning sun – surely not the start of global warming! In spite of the fact that he was nearly forty years older than Pocock and claimed to have fought in the army in the Indian Mutiny, Best survived the intense heat better that Pocock, who soon was suffering badly from the heat.

The much advertised ride of the Legion of Frontiersmen to Brighton and back which was to test the relative merits of the Canadian “diamond hitch” and the Queensland “quick surcingle” methods of packing a horse proved a failure owing to the heat, which prostrated the leader of the Western team, and the relative value of the two fashions of packing remains undecided. Capt. Best led the Queensland team and Mr. Roger Pocock the other contingent. The march of 106 miles was accomplished in forty-three hours. ²

Shortly after nine o’clock on Saturday morning the competing teams set out. The horses had been carefully selected by Lieut.-Colonel Commandant de Hora. They were inspected by a veterinary surgeon representing the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Lieut. Skelton and insured to full value in case of accidents. Commandant de Hora, as judge, followed the Canadian team in a motor car…

A possible [total] of 150 points could be made by each team. Both lost a third of the points for different reasons: Mr. Pocock’s for taking a wrong turning on the route, Captain Best’s because the pack sacking burst, and had to be repaired en route.³

The horses, a carefully selected lot, had been passed as fit by an examiner of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and an inspector for that Society accompanied the march in a motor car.

All the tricks of horsemanship were employed to keep them fresh. Alcohol was rubbed in their backs. Mr. Pocock gave his charges sugar to make them happy. They were permitted to walk down all hills.

Inspector Green was highly pleased with the state of the horses throughout. “They are fit enough to go another twenty miles”, he said. They had done the journey on chocolate, eggs and milk, shandy goff [this is probably shandygaff, a mixture of beer and ginger beer] and a high tea. ⁴

Certainly, in the forthcoming war, Frontiersmen would not be able to have a following car, nor would they be able to have refreshment breaks at hotels and hostelries.

In June 1907 the Hampshire Command of the Legion carried out a dispatch ride along the south coast of England from Portsmouth to Southampton and Bournemouth, which brought considerable publicity and interest. The rider, Lieutenant Corke, was greeted by the three Mayors on his route. There were several changes of horses to fresh ones along the way and numerous problems encountered:

“Considerable delays were experienced en route, in consequence of level crossings, tramways, bridges and traffic throughout a. large portion of the 54 miles traversed on the high road. The day chosen was a Saturday, and many children were at large, early closing caused the streets to be crowded in the vicinity of Southampton, Millbrook, Totton, and from Mudeford to Christ Church and Bournemouth. ⁵

In addition, Corke was accompanied by a Trooper on a bicycle. What was learned which could be of possible use to mounted Frontiersmen in a forthcoming European War is debatable.

Frontiersmen magazines contained advice to Frontiersmen about scouting in wars, but again they seemed to be preparing for the previous war and not looking ahead to what might be needed in a future conflict:

Duties of the Scout.

His first duty is to find the enemy. Having found the enemy, he will proceed with his actual work, using the fully developed faculties of a Sherlock Holmes. He will discover what the enemy is doing and his strength, remembering that a skilful leader can make a very large display with very few men. To calculate by the ground occupied is to be misled. The scout will note carefully the nature of the enemy’s position; its front, flank and rear; how each part is approached, whether under cover or in the open, over easy ground or broken. All obstacles will he stored in his mind, and how each obstacle is commanded from the enemy’s position, and at what distance. He should find out if the position is a natural fortification or how protected with permanent or temporary works. He should find out if any guns or men have been pushed out from the front or flanks of the main position, and whether the ground held is rock or soil. It may he remembered that in capture of Prinsloo the rock splinters caused more casualties than our direct fire. All small and advanced parties should he watched and noted. but avoided like the plague, for scout‘ duty is information, not fighting.

If the scout cannot see the enemy’s force, he should dismount, hide or lead his horse, and read the ground round the position. He should try the roads first. If the troops are fresh he finds the gun wheels clear and well defined, the hoof prints clear cut. with occasionally the near side hoof marks irregular for a pace or two, due to the urging of the driver’s spur causing the horse to slur or make a false step. The number of wheel and hoof marks denotes the number of the guns. ⁶

After the First War the Frontiersmen concentrated displaying their skills at gymkhanas and similar events. Probably the last cross-country ride of any distance by a group of Frontiersmen was in 1948. At that time petrol was on ration and in short supply. Many businesses were still delivering locally by horse and cart, therefor a cross-country ride was not likely to be greatly impeded by heavy motorised traffic on roads that had either to be used or crossed. Petrol came off ration in 1950 and from then on it became totally impractical to carry out a mounted ride of distance by any group.

Log of Performance to Annual Camp at Bushy Park, Hampton Court, London, 1948. ⁷

Eight members of the above troop took part in a trek from Great Barr Stables [Birmingham] to ride to camp and return in a similar manner. Five riding and one driving the truck, carrying fodder, rations, kit and necessary equipment, together with two members as brakemen.

The party assembled at Great Barr on Friday evening 16th, July and camped at the stables in readiness to move off on Saturday morning, 17th, July.

Those taking part were :-

Lieut. E.J.McCarty riding Flack.

Sgt. J.Birch riding Flick.

Cp1. W.E.Frid riding Bobby.

L/cpl. E.J.Smith riding Pedro.

F/man. L.W.Gelley riding Peter.

F/man. H.E.Ho1der driving Bonny.

Cpl.A.J.Thornywork,relief rider and brakeman.

F/man. L.D.Mutton i/c kit and brakeman.

– and Rusty the dog.

We can assume that the “truck” was also horse-drawn because obtaining sufficient fuel for a non-commercial trip from Birmingham to London, would have been almost impossible Also, a motor vehicle would have had difficulty keeping to the slow speeds of the horses – and surely they did not always keep to the roads. The truck was painted with the squadron colours of red and yellow.

First Day 17th July, Saturday.

Breakfast – Fried Bully sandwiches and tea. Load equipment etc. on truck harness horses.

Press arrive, interviews and photos taken. Weather sunny and fine. Move off via Walsall Road, Perry Barr, Five Ways, New Town Row past the central Fire Station where more press photoswere taken. Moor Street, past the Corner P.H. our meeting place to the Bull Ring [Birmingham],where the brakemen had their first task. Digbeth, Camp Hill to Stratford Road. Temporary halt at F/man Weitzman’s house, Hall Green, to take on some rations for the road, kindly supplied by this F/man, who followed us by car as far as Hickley Heath where we had a short break for refreshments for 20 minutes. On preparing to move off it was discovered that Paddy had developed a girth gall and needed first aid treatment and padding to the girth with cotton wool. In the meantime Flick, Pedro, Peter and Bonny decided to ‘take a walk’. F/man Galley set off after them on a borrowed ladies bicycle and was able to round them up and bring them back. After these delays we moved off through Henley in Arden. A member of the Air Photographic Society asked permission to take a snap about two miles past Henley in Arden. Rest at wayside cafe for tea, sandwiches and home-made raspberry tart (what a tart), On approaching Stratford on Avon it was necessary to halt to remove the offside rear tyre from the truck which came adrift. Passed through Stratford-on-Avon in style — weather coming in cloudy and rain clouds threatening. Having passed through Stratford-on-Avon it was necessary to halt as it had started to rain and raincoats and macks were ordered to be worn. From now on we rode in the rain. Reached Tredington, about two miles from Shipston on Stour, and decided to camp for the night. Still raining. The O.C. contacted Rev. F. Ridley who courteously placed an enclosed field at our disposal. We turned the horses out to graze and drew up the truck under a large tree, made a shelter by stretching the tarpaulin sheet from the truck over a large branch. Placed the fodder on the horse rugs and made up our beds on these, plus two under the wagon and another under the tail of the wagon, protected by a ground sheet. The local being a short distance we proceeded there and enjoyed a game of dominoes and game of darts with the locals until 1950 hours when we caught a bus to Shipston on Stour where we would be able to have a good supper of poached eggs and saw a copy of the Birmingham Mail with a picture on the back page of the column passing the Central Fire Station. As the only bus back was at 2300 hours we decided to walk back to our camp through the rain. This ended the first day after covering approx. 41 miles.

The next day began wet, but the sun soon came out and it started to get hot. They came to a steep hill called Compton Hill which needed man-handling with drag ropes to get the loaded truck (or muck cart as they occasionally called it) both up the hill and down. It is frustrating that they reported that numerous photographs were taken on the way by various local newspapers, but we have been unable to trace any other than the photograph taken by the Birmingham Evening Despatch when they started. There were many hills on the route which caused them difficulty. On the third day they halted at a cafe at Stokenchurch Hill owned by a Mr. F. Blount and enjoyed tea, buns and sandwiches and were able to water the horses. Struggling up another hill, the well known White Hill near West Wycombe, a car suddenly pulled up in front of them causing some problems with horses and particularly the cart. The car turned out to be driven by Police Constable Webster of the local constabulary, who was making enquiries about two buckets missing from Swilby Cafe. Much to the embarrassment of the Frontiersmen, the buckets were found in the cart and passed to P.C. Webster with many apologies and the promise of an official letter of apology to Mr. Blount from their commanding officer when they returned to Birmingham.

It is another example of a different world then, because there is no way nowadays that a Constable with a police car would be sent out in search of two missing buckets!

That was the last of the problematical hills and the ride went through Slough, Windsor, passing the Castle, and through Runnymede with interested spectators “in flannels and summer dresses” beside the river. They were met by a member of Windsor Castle Troop (a possibly intriguing troop of which we have never heard mentioned before). Several attempts were made to contact the Frontiersmen camp at Hampton Court (landline in those days and with limited telephones) but no answers were obtained. Riding past the wall of Hampton Court they were hailed by a Frontiersman inside who showed them a short cut to come in where they were met by Frontiersmen from all round the country who had joined the summer camp. After the war in the late 1940s the Frontiersmen’s national annual camp was held in the grounds of Hampton Court. Although photographs were taken in 1948 we have not seen any, but we do have some from 1945 of the formal parade, including the inspection of some of the Frontiersmen by Field Marshal Lord Birdwood.

This was probably the last true cross-country mounted exercise by Frontiersmen using roads but, although those taking part enjoyed a very good time, there can have been little of advantage to Frontiersmen training. Once petrol came off ration and the country began to recover from the war, the roads soon became full of petrol vehicles and the horse drawn carts were replaced. All across Britain the open spaces for mounted Frontiersmen to use became less and less. The world was changing, and at a pace, although Frontiersmen have continued to have their mounted units.

¹ Information from Craig Brown of History and Archives, Australia

² “The Graphic” September 8th 1906

³ “Daily Mail” September 3rd 1906

⁴ “Daily Express” September 3rd 1906

⁵ “Frontiersman” magazine, Northern Command, August 1907 (courtesy Newcastle City Library)

⁶ “Frontiersman” magazine, Northern Command, Sept/Oct 1907 (courtesy Newcastle City Library)

⁷ The original source of this is unknown. It was discovered by the late Ray Howard, then of U.K. Command, Canadian Division and reproduced in one of his newsletters some 30 years ago. That newsletter is now in the Legion of Frontiersmen Archives, Bruce Peel Collection, University of Alberta.

© Copyright Geoffrey A. Pocock. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced in any form, in part or in full, without prior permission.