1946 Autumn

7
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

For Scale of Charges for other advertisements
application should be made to the Editor.
Editorial Notes
Readers can materially assist us in our advertisements. Remember to deal with firms who advertise
in the Journal and always mention the Journal in any
correspondence with our advertisers.
EDITOR:
Lieut.-Colonel A. L. DUNNILL, O.B.E.
The Royal Army Pay Corps Journal is published

quarterly, viz., Spring (in March), SU"!lmer (~
June), Autumn (in September), and Chrzstmas (m
December).
Local Representatives have been appointed in
each Pay Office, to whom all Corps News and Notes
should be sent for transmission to the Editor. Other
articles intended for publication may be sent either
to the Local Representative or direct to the Editor.
STORYTJM
All letters, articles, etc., should be clearly written

in ink or typed on one side of the paper only and
should be signed. If the signature is not intended for
publication, but as a guarantee of good faith, a nom
de plume should be given.
Stories, Features, Verse and

Competitions to
entertain
Young Folk.
Delightfully illustrated
throughout.
THE CHILDREN'S QUARTERLY
Articles, photographs, etc., should be forwarded

to the Editor to ensure receipt by the 20th of
February, May, August or November, if intended
for publication in the issue of the following month .
All articles printed in this Journal are copyright,

and application for reproduction should be made to
the Editor.
CHRISTMAS STORYTIME
on
~ale
December 2nd
The Editor will always be pleased to receive constructive criticism for the improvement of the
Journal, including suggestions of particular features
which could be included or omitted.
Price ONE SHILLING
Subscribers are requested to notify at once any

change of address. The Editor cannot be responsible
for delivery of copies unless this is done.
Order Now . from your N ewsagent

or direct from the Publishers:-
THE MERLIN PRESS
All correspondence should be addressed to :
LIMITED
THE EDITOR,
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL,
ARMY PAY OFFICE,
STOCKPORT ROAD,
MANCHESTER 13.
6 Brooklands
FILEY
YORKSHIRE
Tel.: ARDwick 4104: Ext. 2.
The rates of subscription to The R.A.P .C. Journal

are as follows : For 12 Single
months Copies
Through Office Representative
4/1/If sent by post
1/3
5/-
Readers are reminded that in due course it

is intended to produce covers in which copies
of each volume of the Journal can be bound.
Further details will be published towards the
end of 1947, but in the meantime copies of
each issue should be preserved.
Small advertisements in connection with articles

for sale, accommodation, etc., will be inserted at a
charge of 2d. per word.
21 5
The Royal Army ,Pay Corps Journal

Vol. V.
Autumn, 1946
No. 37
Office, Indian Troops in Poona and had the

distinction of being the first member of the
Corps to visit, in the course of duty, nearly
every military station in India in which Indian
Troops had been quartered during the first
Great War.
He returned to England and in August 1926
received his commission as Assistant Paymaster
with the rank of Lieutenant.
After serving for two years on the Rhine
he was sent to Shanghai in 1928 and returning
to U.K. in 1930 was posted to Woolwich.
Two years afterwards he went to the War
Office where he was destined to terminate his
career fourteen years later.
In 1938 he was promoted Major (Assistant
Paymaster) and s40rtly after the outbreak of
war in September 1939 he received further
promotion to Lieut.-Colonel and S.P.I.
The enormous task thrown on the Corps by
the advent of war gave John Feehally the
opportunity of utilising his long experience to
the benefit of the Corps.
Enthusiastic to a degree he was never afraid
of hard work and long hours and in the months
that followed he was largely responsible for
working out the details of the machinery that
enabled the Corps in all parts of the world to
fulfil its wartime tasks. His services were
recognised by the award, in 1940, of the O.B.E.
lt was no easy job that fell to his lot during
the dark days of the London blitzes yet John
Feehally never gave in or spared himself.
He was promoted Acting Colonel and Chief
Paymaster in 1940 and on reaching the age
for retirement in July 1941 he continued to
serve.
In addition to his official duties he found
time to undertake the duties of Chairman of
the Old Comrades' Association on the death
of Captain Browne in 1941 and has continued
to guide its destinies ever since.
After fifty years of service in the Army
Colonel Feehally retires with the well-merited
award of the C.B.E.
We know that during his' retirement he will
continue to maintain that deep interest and
affection in all matters relating to the Corps
that he has so ungrudgingly shown since he
joined its ranks forty-four years ago.
EDITORIAL NOTES
Army Pay Office,
StoGkport Road, Manchester 13.
September 1946.
lt is only recently that the full story of the
war's biggest bluff has been released. We feel
the story will be of exceptional interest to our
readers on account of the fact that the principal
character was an officer serving in the Royal
Army Pay Corps, and we are therefore reproducing it in all its details. Further instalments
will appear in subsequent issues.
In our initial issue we appealed for suggestions from readers as to what type of
feature they would like to be included in the
Journal. That appeal met with no response
but even now we should like some guidance
from individuals as to what subjects are of
particular interest to them. Without any
indication as to whether Chess, Philately or
Bridge (to mention only three possible subjects)
would be popular it is difficult to cater for the
wishes of the majority.
So tell us what you want.
Our Frontispiece
COLONEL J. FEEHALLY, C.B.E.
COLONEL
J. FEEHALLY, C.B.E.
Colonel John Feehally was born in July 1881,

and his military career commenced fourteen
years later when he enlisted in the 2nd Bn.
Rifle Brigade. He went overseas in 1897 and
served with the Battalion in Malta and in
Egypt during the Nile Campaign. He went
to Crete during the International occupation
(1898-99) when the Turkish forces were
compelled to evacuate the island.
From Crete he went to South Africa in
September 1899 and served with his battalion
throughout the whole period of the South
African War.
He returned to Egypt in
November 1902 and three months later transferred to the Army Pay Corps.
Returning home in 1904 he served in
Aldershot, London and Nottingham until in
1921 ,. with the rank of S.S.M., he was posted
to India. He served with the Regimental Pay
The Editor regrets that owing to difficulties in obtaining the necessary supplies of paper the publication has been delay ed
217
DELHI-THE CITY OF EIGHT INCARNATIONS

By F. H. A. KEMPE
ELHI, India's Imperial Capital on the
a posthumous eulogy to a king by the name of
banks of the J umna, is a Phoenix city
Chandra, who conquered Bengal and crossed
of the East.. Six times was it built and
the seven tributaries of the Indus to vanquish
each time it passed away. Then a seventh
the Vahlikas.
Chandra was probably the
Delhi, greater than all its predecessors, grew
Gupta emperor who ruled about 400 A.D. and
up, and now, whilst that city still flourishes,
the pillar is believed to have been brought to
an eighth has come to challenge its supremacy.
Lal-Kot from outside a Vishnu. Temple.
Delhi is not the only city to live through
The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, behind the
several incarnations but it is unique in one
Pillar, was built by Qtab out of the materials
respect. The eight cities of Delhi have sprung
of twenty-seven desecrated Hindu temples and
up on separate sites, each a few miles distant
even in ruin the grace of its long line of gigantic
from the other, so that now, as of old, each one
arches may still be appreciated. The tomb of
retains its individuality and appears as an
Altmarsh, who succeeded Qtab, also stands
entity, rather than an historical relic within the
near this mosque, and beside it is the Alai
the boundary of a successor.
Darwaza, the great red sandstone gate, shaped
. A tour of the eight cities can afford infinite
as a square, with lofty pointed archways,
interest to one whose imagination is strong
which was built by Ala-Ad-Din.
enough to allow him to live, in the space of
Ala-Ad-Din began the construction of a
one day, the long and chequered story of
second city, Siri, a couple of miles to the north
India's most famous bastion.
of ~al-Kot, and under his guidance the c;lpital
The first city, Lal-Kot, is situated about
became the metropolis and commercial centre
twelve miles to the south of the present centre.
of the empire. Only part of Siri's walls now
It was the Hindu city of King Prithvi Raj.
stand, and there is nothing left of the almost
There are reasQns to believe that an earlier
legendry Hall-of-a-Thousand Pillars, which
Delhi existed in the time of the Indus Valley
was his Imperial Palace. The great pleasure
civilisation. Indrapastha, capital of the Pantank Haus Kas, the city's swimming bath, may
davas in the days of the Mahabbarata, may well
still be seen.
have stood within the area of the eight cities,
When Ala-Ad-Din's successor, the" Sweeper
but only circumstantial evidence of this so
King" Kasrau was overthrown by Tuglak in
far exists.
1321, a new capital, Tuglakabad, was built,
Lal-Kot was the last capital of Hindufive miles to the east. Its formidable walls,
governed India. In 1193 it fell to Mohammed
built to meet the assault of the Moguls still
of Ghor, to become the administrative centre
stand, and the tomb of its creator is also here.
of the vast empire of Muslim India, and
Tuglakabad had a short reign. Tradition
Qutb-ad-Din Aibek ruled here as Sultan. It
ascribes its abandonment after only six years to
was he who built the famous Tower of Victory,
the curse of Saint Nizam-ad-Din, who crossed
the Qtab Minar, which stands at Lal-Kot and
swords with the emperor when he was refused
is one of the most widely visited buildings in
permission to build a pleasure tank there, but
all India. The Qtab is 238 ft. high, with a
more probably, like Fatepur Sikri, it was
base diameter of 47 feet and a top diameter of
found to have a faulty water supply. In any
nine feet. It rises in five successive storeys of
event, Tuglak's successor, Mahommed Tuglak,
ribbed sandstone and can be climbed (in total
moved the seat of government seven hundred
darkness) by means of a progressively narrowing
miles away to Daulatabad in the Deccan. The
spiral staircase. As the stone steps are irregular
citizens of Delhi protested against the move,
and of varying measurements, this is a somewhich destroyed their prosperity, and for their
what arduous experience, but the view from
impudence
in
criticising
his
decision,
the top makes it well worth while.
Mahommed Tuglak ordered that the whole
Beside the Qtab stands one of the most
population be marched the seven hundred
mysterious and intriguing of all India's monumiles to Daulatabad. In this terrible exodus, ments, the Iron Pillar. Rustless, though the
thousand upon thousand perished.
It is
method of preserving iron from rust is a
recorded that one old man refused to make the
discovery of our own age, it records in Sanskrit
Journey. He was bound and tied by a chain to
218

the back of a cart and dragged the whole
distance. When the cart arrived at Daulatabad,
only the foot to which the chain was attached
remained. Strategic reasons caused Mahommed
Tuglak to return to Delhi and he soon undertook the building of Jahanpanah (World
Refuge), the fourth city, as his new capital.
J ahanpanah stands in the area between
Lal-Kot and Siri. Its defences and the many
domed Beganpur Mosque are still to be seen.
After Mahommed Tuglak's death in battle,
his successor, the progr..essive and moderate
Firoz Shah built the fifth city, Firozabad, some
five miles farther to the north. From here,
India's first canal was planned and the orders
given for the two Asoka Pillars, discovered at
Meerut and Ambala, to be brought to Delhi.
These pillars, still preserved in good condition,
record the edicts of the Buddhist-converted
Emperor Asoka, greatest ruler India has ev 7r
known, who lived in B.C. 257. They remam
among the oldest and most interesting of
India's monuments.
In 1398, Delhi received a tremendous setback. The Mogul hordes captured the capital
and it was relegated to the status of a provincial
city. Once again, however, the strategic importance of its geographical position provided
a sure guarantee against it remaining in
obscurity for long and it soon blossomed out
as never before as the pride of the Mogul
Empire. Humayun made it his capital and in
a mood of self-glorification built the sixth city,
Purana Quila, to the south of Firozabad. The
lofty walls of Humayun's city, with its fine
gateways, may still be seen. The mosque of
Sher Shah, who temporarily usurped the
empire, is also situated here and the red sandstone tomb of Humayun, exquisitely relieved
in marble, and . shaped as an octagon, with
giant gates in each corner, is regarded as a
wonder second only to the Taj Mahal.
Delhi underwent a further period of obscurity during the reign of Akbar the Great,
but a dispute between Shah J ehan and the
citizens of the new capital, Agra, in 1638,
brought the seat of government once more to
its traditional home. The Agra traders protested against J ehan's schemes of widening the
streets of the city, with result that he decided
to return to Delhi and take the prosperity of
the Agra merchants with him. The return of
J ehan's court saw the creation of the seventh
city, Shajahanabad, which is still one of the
greatest commercial centres of Northern India.
He constructed the vast Red Fort, scene of last
year's I.N.A. trials, as his palace and the

glories of his court there became sources of
infinite legend the world over. European
travellers who passed through the city brought
back almost unbelievable tales of the magnificence of the court of the Great Mogul, and
the proceedings over which he, seated on his
gem-studded Peacock Throne, would preside.
I t would take too long here to describe the
magnificence of the fort as it was. in Jehan's
time or the perfection of the archItecture, . as
it is today. It is, however, a place w~l~h
anyone who has the opportunity should VISIt.
The Elephant Gate, the ~earle M~sque, and
the Halls of Public and Pnvate AudIences, are
among the world's architectural gems and in
r --..
Lakshmi Narain Temple, New Delhi.
the style and tradition of J ehan's wonderful

building at Agra.
., .
Shajahanabad, or Old DelhI, as It IS ofte~
called today, contains the famous Chandm
Chauk reputedly the richest street in the world
and th'e scene of the massacre by Nadir Shah
on 11th March, 1739, when a vast multitude of
the population were put to the sword as the
result of an attack on his garrison troops. The
street reputedly ran with blood for eight hours
during these fearful reprisals. The th:ee
domed J ama Masjid, India's most attra~t1ve
mosque, 201 feet high and flank~d by mm~rs
of 130 feet, towers over the CIty, from ItS
position opposite the Red Fort. It houses
hairs from the beard of the Prophet and an
imprint of his foot.
There was bloody fighting in Delhi at the
time of the Indian Mutiny and bloodier
(Continued on page 243)
219
B.A.P.C. Old
Comrades~
At a General Committee Meeting of the

O.C.A., held in London on 17th July 1946,
Major P. A. Norris reported that he felt he
could no longer carry on the duties of Hon.
Secretary and wished to resign. His resignation was accepted with regret and MajorGeneral Sir Guy Riley, proposed, and Lieut.Colonel H. H. Malpass seconded, that a very
hearty vote of thanks be accorded to Major
Norris, both on behalf of the Committee and
O.e.A. generally for his very excellent work
during his period of office. The proposal was
carried with acclamation. Captain T. R. G.
Cooke then proposed and S.S.M. H. Leader
seconded, that Captain H. Hoptrough be
appointed Hon . Secretary vice Major Norris.
This was duly carried.
Colonel J. Feehally, O.B.E., offered, in view
of his retirement and impending departure
from London, to resign the office of Chairman.
I t was unanimously decided that he be asked
to continue in office and Colonel Feehally
readily agreed. It was then proposed by
Major-General Riley and seconded by Mr.
Wiggins, that Major Norris be appointed
Deputy Chairman. This was duly carried.
Area Branches.-The following are the
present Hon. Secretaries of Area Branches so
far notified, as outlined in the Summer 1946
issue of the Corps Journal.
N.W. AREA: Major R E. Roberts, A.P.O.,
Radcliffe.
N . E. AREA: Lieut. H. Forse, D.P.O.,
Northumbrian District, Allerton Manor,
Chapel Allerton, Leeds 7.
WALES and WEST MIDLANDS: Mr. W. F.
McNamara, A.P.O., Kidderminster.
S.E. AREA:
EASTERN (North London): Mr. G. E.
Wiggins, 41 Oxford Drive, Ruislip,
Middlesex.
SOUTH EASTERN (South London): Mr. T.
Po?d, 94 Dawlish Drive, Ruislip Manor,
MIddlesex.
It is hoped that a separate Branch will be
set up for Wales as a whole in the near future .
It would be appreciated if all members of
the O.C . A.~ whether serving or otherwise, who
have occaSIOn to call on the Association for
assistance or advice, will write to the Hon.
Secretary, Captain H. Hoptrough, R.A.P.C.,
Regimental Pay Office, RA.O.C., Darley
House, West Street, Leeds 1, or to any of the
Branch Secretaries enumerated above , and
Association
when doing so it would be of great assistance

if they would quote their O.C.A. Membership
Numbers.
WALES AND WEST MIDLAND AREA

Following the decisions made in London on
25th April, we at Kidderminster have broken
the ice and made the first moves in our new
capacity as organisers of the Wales and West
Midlands Area of the O.e.A.
The area covers the whole of Wales,
Worcestershire, Monmouthshire, Shropshire,
Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.
It is
possible that Staffordshire may be included,
but this has yet to be settled.
As our Area Representative, we are fortunate
in securing the services of Mr. W. F.
McNamara, whose associations with the Corps
cover a good many years, and whose enthusiasm
for the O.C.A. is unbounded. He is a member
of our staff, and communications should be
addressed to him at the Army Pay Office,
Kidderminster.
A Committee has been formed and it is
hoped to call a meeting shortly.
In the meantime, our Area Representative
would welcome any suggestions that members
have concerning future activities, and he would
be glad to receive names and addresses of
members who are willing to form small subcommittees throughout the area to assist in
organising social functions, which it is hoped
to arrange in various towns from time to time.
One of the important tasks of the Committee
will be the administration of the Civil Appointments Bureau, and in this connection, all
members can help appreciably by notifying the
Area Representative of any vacancies they may
hear of in their civil occupations, and which
could be suitably filled by thei r comrades from
the Corps.
Any member who finds himself without a
job should notify the Area Representative,
giving full particulars of age, type of occupation
When
required, qualifications, salary, etc.
submitting applications, it would be helpful if
particulars of the local newspaper with the
largest circulation, and its office address, were
given, so that, if necessary, a suitable advertisement could be inserted.
NORTH-EAST AREA
Lieut. H. Forse, RA.P.e. Branch Secretary,
North Eastern Region, RA.P.C. O.C.A.,
would like all ex-R.A.P.C. Officers and Other
(Continued on page 225)
220
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURN AL
I was
MODty~S~~
Double
By Lieut. M. E. C. JAMES, late RA.P.C.

PART I
The writer, who before joining the Royal Army Pay Corps was an actor,
explains how he was selected to impersonate Field-Marshal Montgomery,
just before the invasion of France in the summer of 1944 : h.ow he was sen.t
to an invasion rehearsal on the South Coast to study hzm and of hzs
subsequent meeting with him in the North of Scotl~nd.
It is the story of the planning of one of the blggest bluffs of the war.
" If y~u would like me to go on," said the
NE night, when I was making up at the
colonel, pushing across a typed sheet of paper
Comedy Theatre, London, for a troop
and handing me a fountain pen, " would you
show, a photographer came to my
please sign this ? "
dressing room and said he had heard I was like
I glanced through the paper and signed. It
General Montgomery and wanted to take a
was an extract from the Official Secrets Act.
picture.
.
" Now, James," he said, "you are a proWe borrowed a beret and a " British Warm,"
fessional actor, and you happen to look like
I adopted one of the general's characteristic
poses, a few photographs were taken , and in
five minutes the whole thing was over.
Returning to Leicester, I was met at the
station by excited friends who thrust a newspaper into my hands.
There was one of the photographs, with the
caption, " No, you're wrong, it's not General
Montgomery, but Clifton James, etc. etc ... . "
A few days later came a call from the War
Office.
Lieut.-Colonel David Niven, the
screen actor, wanted to know if I was interested
in the production of Army films.
Soon after a letter arrived, instructing me to
go to a Leicester hotel to meet a " Colonel
Lester." Slightly mystified, I went.
" Colonel Lester " was in mufti. His manner
was non-committal.
He explained that in
peacetime he had some connection with the
" theatre," and was now doing "talentspotting" for David Niven.
A day or two later I received a second letter
from Colonel Niven, asking me to go to London
for a film test.
. My appointment with Colonel Niven was at
Curzon Street House. He appeared friendly.
After talking about Army shows he passed me
into -another room and left me.
Then into the room walked . . . " Colonel
Lester."
" J ames," he said, " tell me, are you a patriot
(Graphic Photo UlIiOIl)
and willing to do anything you can to help to
The Author as General Montgomery.
win the war ? "
" Of course, sir."
General Montgomery. Would you be willing
.
..
."
to' double' the general m certam CIrcumstances!
"And do you think you can keep your
mouth shut when necessary? "
I hesitated, hardly believing my ears.
" Yes, sir."
" I should warn you," he went on, " the job
" Good !" He leaned back in his chair.
may not always be comfortable or pleasant. It
221

may even entail considerable risk for you
personally. Well? .. "
" I'll do it, sir," I replied.
" Good! Then report tomorrow mormng
at the War Office."
Next morning at the War Office I was shown
into a ro:)m where" Colonel Lester," with two
of his officers, Major X and Captain Y, were
waiting . .
I was to get to know X and Y well. They
were a cheerful, efficient couple.
We got down to business. The plan was
simple. General Montgomery was due to be
commander-in-chief of the invasion of Europe,
and the Germans were straining every effort to
find out where and when the blow would fall.
The whereabouts of the general, therefore,
would be an important clue. We were to try
to mislead the enemy as to the general's
whereabouts.
Merely to find someone who looked like the
general was not enough. Someone who could
play the part was essential; the" play" itself
must be carefully written, rehearsed and produced in the right theatre.
Major X had spotted my photograph in a
newspaper.
" Colonel Lester " assured me that General
Montgomery knew of the plan and approved.
He had discussed it with the colonel and had
given him details of the clothes he wore and
some of his more pertinent characteristics.
" Shortly you will be going to headquarters,"
I was told, " so that you can study the general
closely-his voice, his walk, his habits, etc."
" I understand, sir."
" The general often travels by plane, therefore you may have to travel by plane. We will
have a test flight soon-to see if you can take
it. We can't have an airsick general! "
" Very good, sir."
I went out into Whitehall. I confess to feeling
a little scared.
Four days passed. On the fifth I was again
called to the War Office and given a railway
warrant and authority to go to a banned area.
My orders were to report to " Government
House," Portsmouth. There, when I arrived,
the door ~as opened by a sergeant.
I told hlm my name, showed him my identity
card, and was taken upstairs. A captain led
me into a second room. There was" Colonel
Lester." He introduced me to a second colonel
and proceeded to give me my orders.
'
Next morning, at a point on the South Coast
there was to be a full dress rehearsal of th~
invasion. General Montgomery would watch

the exercise and I was to be near him.
Obviously it would be a little difficult to
explain why a lieutenant in the Pay Corps was
following the general about, so it had been
decided that I should be a sergeant of the
Intelligence Corps.
A serge~nt's battledress and equipment,
together wlth a fake pay book and other
documents, were on a chair in the corner.
By 8 o'clock at night I was back at Government House. I washed, shaved, changed-and
became a sergeant. I think I looked the partbut the boots hurt like hell !
A jeep arrived with a captain at the wheel, a
pleasant-faced youngster who had the Desert
Ribbon up. A few minutes later we were driving
out of Portsmouth. It was cold, wet and, sitting
in that open jeep, with no overcoat, I was
frozen.
After we had travelled about eight miles, we
made a sudden detour into a wood. Here was
the camp. The captain pulled up and led me
to a tent, furnished with a palliasse and three
blankets.
" Here's your sleeping quarters," he grinned.
At 4-30 next morning a private rapped on
the tent and placed a bowl of cold water and a
mug of equally cold tea outside. Fifteen minutes
later my captain reappeared with his jeep!
Off we went again. Within half an hour we
turned into a drive leading to a country house.
"The general's headquarters," said the
captain.
Colonel Dawnay, of the Coldstream Guards,
an important figure on " Monty's " staff, was
waiting. We shook hands.
" You know what you are to do ? "
" I think so, sir."
" The main point is that wherever the general
goes you are to follow , keeping about 20 paces
away from him."
" Very good, sir."
" Study him all the time and note every
mannerism. "
" I understand, sir."
" Fine ! You will go in one of the cars, an d
if there's trouble at any time, come straight to
me.
I looked about me-a little apprehensively.
Away to the right were some huts, two jeeps
and three large cars. A door opened and someone came out of a hut. It was scarcely light, and
difficult to distinguish clearly.
" Are you the photographer ? "
" I beg your pardon," I asked.
222

" Say , sir' when you speak to an officer,
and get into that car."
I obeyed hastily.
From my seat I had a grandstand view of the
scene to be played before me. Wherever we
were, whoever was about-even if no one was
about-I was to learn that this was always the
routine when General Montgomery came out
to his car.
The cars were drawn up with six yards
between them. Colonel Dawnay, or a brigadier,
and a captain, would come out, walk up to the
cars, walk back and go inside. A pause. Then
out they would come again, this time followed
by a second captain. Another pause-and then
General Montgomery himself would appear.
This morning the general was accompanied
by Sir J ames Grigg. Everyone jumped to
attention and saluted. A smile all round and a
salute in return, a word with Colonel Dawnay,
and then, together with the Secretary of State
for War, he got into his car.
This was the procedure, never varied, the
only difference being the presence of Sir J ames
Grigg. If, at any time, there were curious
on lookers, they were included in the salute and,
as the car skimmed along, the general waved
continuously to the civilian population, whether
or not they waved first.
He waved until they did-and they loved it.
All this I was to learn within the next few weeks.
By 7 o'clock we had arrived at a long stretch
of open beach.
The sea was full of ships and landing craft
came pouring in. Tanks splashed ashore and
men began to unload and assemble equipment.
Soon the tanks came up the beach, crashed
through the wire and, with the infantry and
gu ns, began moving inland. Overhead the
planes looked grim and relentless.
General Montgomery and Sir James Grigg
went to the beach. I followed some 20 paces
behind.
" Monty" was everywhere, always cheerful,
always helpful, asking questions, making
suggestions and pointing out mistakes. Private
soldier or officer were treated to the same
. friendly word and confident smile, and ew.ry
face lit up as soon as they saw" Monty."
I watched him go up to one private and
adjust the position of his pack with the remark ,
" There you are, sonny, that's better, isn't it ? "
At 10-30 there was a confer.::nce-on the
beach and very informal. I noticed how the
general listened to every point. There was no
suggestion of his own being the only opinion.
The rest of the morning was spent visiting

various divisional headquarters. All the time
" Monty" was introducing a never-ending
stream of colonels, majors and captains to
Sir J ames Grigg.
Lunch, served in one of the divisional headquarters, came as a break.
The drivers and I managed to get some stew
in the men's mess, and here I was in the
limelight of suspicion.
My presence was quite obviously resented.
Who was I , and what was I doing down here ?
There were five of these drivers, all of whom
had been in the desert with" Monty," and each
one of them knew that he was an important
man.
This applied especially to " Monty's" personal driver. A fine fellow, permanently armed
with a revolve r and passionately fond of his
" charge," he regarded me as though, at an y
moment, he expected me to whisk the general
away.
So embarrassing did the questioning become
that, in the end, I made up a marvellous story
about "threatening letters from a certain
quarter" and threw in a word or two about
" Scotland Yard." This quietened them.
The following morning when I ' reported to
" Colonel Lester," he smiled cheerfully. " Well
you're doing fine! "
" But I haven't done anything yet," I said.
" You kept you r nerve yesterday, which was
something," the colonel explained, and then
added, "The general saw you and was very
pleased with the likeness."
" Now for the next part of the programme,"
he announced. " You are to have your trial
flight tomorrow."
So next day my pilot squadron leader took
me to Heston.
At the airfield we went to the control tower.
I t had been arranged that we should have a
certain plane, but this had just arrived from
Aberdeen and there was something the matter
with it.
"\Ve'll take that one," said the pilot
suddenly, pointing to a machine on our left.
My heart sank. It was the smallest and most
decrepit-looking airplane on the field.
The weather, bad before we took off,
The clouds
deteriorated as we fl ew off.
blackened and it beg<J.n to rain . Now and then
the plane would drop with a lurch.
After we had been flying for about 75
minutes I picked out a piece of land that was
obviously an airfield, although it looked in223

credibly tiny! One wing dipped, and, with a
" Here we go ! " the pilot started to go down.
It was a perfect landing.
I reported to " Colonel Lester" next
morning. "So you weren't airsick? " he said.
" Excellent! "
vVe then discussed various problems which
might arise when the actual impersonation
began. One rather important point struck me.
" I know the general is a teetotaller and
doesn't smoke," I said, "but what does he
eat ? "
" I'm glad you've raised that," the colonel
answered. "The same thought had crossed
my IT)ind, so I asked him. His meals are nothing
out of the ordinary except that he doesn't eat
eggs or any product of the pig! "
The colonel added that he thought a strict
and teetotal diet would probably do me all the
good in the world.
The next few days were spent in numerous
conferences checking up the minutest details
so that nothing could go wrong when the great
moment came.
On May 9 the colonel announced that I was
going to Scotland that night, accompanied by
Captain Y.
" The general," he explained, " is having a
fishing holiday and it will be an excellent
opportunity for further study. And this time
he wants to meet you."
" Yes, sir."
" You are to leave from Euston and a car
will pick you up at Inverness."
" What am I going as ? " I asked.
" Why-a sergeant in the Intelligence Corps,
of course."
My face fell. "Never mind," he laughed.
" On the next occasion you may be travelling
under very different conditions."
How right he was!
At Inverness next morning a small open
Austin car was waiting for us.
Y suggested that when we were clear of the
city we should pull up for a drink.
Wh~t ~ hope! . Mile after mile went by with
no bUlldmg or vlllage of any kind, let alone a
pub!
It was cold and windy, and any moment I
expected to.losemy absurdly obstinate forage cap.
At last,. Just as we had decided that, despite
other behefs, the Scotsman was in reality a
~eetot~ller ':'le drove into a small village with an
lmposmg mn.
We had our drink and timidly asked if we
might have something to eat.
"Lunch will be in about 15 minutes."

proclaimed a large, pleasant-faced woman.
And what a lunch!
Feeling infinitely happier, we resumed our
journey, and, passing through some of the most
beautiful scenery I have ever seen, eventually
reached our destination.
Dalwhinnie is a small village caterin a principally for tourists. As we drove to the station
we could see the general's train standing in its
siding. Y went off to report, and a few minutes
later returned with the joyful news that Colonel
Dawnay agreed that it would be better if I put
up at one of the hotels.
We chose the Loch Ericht, and had an
enormous tea of boiled eggs and home-made
cakes.
I slept like a log.
The following morning, after a breakfast of
porridge and cream, a couple of eggs and bacon ,
toast, butter and marmalade, I reported to the
train. This consisted of a sleeper, dining car
and office for the general, and the same for the
clerks and Signals.
Each night a small engine would appear and
heat the train with steam.
" You are to join the general's party in the
morning walk," announced Colonel Dawnay,
appearing from one of the coaches. My spirits
sank. Walking is not one of my accomplishments.
The cars were being loaded with picnic
baskets.
A minute or so later the general appeared.
Overlooking the scene were two cottages and
the hotel, and the occupants of each were
standing ready to wave him off.
All the staff were in semi-mufti-berets,
corduroy slacks and cardigans. It seemed as
though they tried to simulate their chief as
near as they dared.
For about an hour we drove along narrow
roads, passing through some of the most
majestic and awe-inspiring scenery imaginable.
A further short drive and we halted again,
it being arranged that the general and a
brigadier who owned the estate should carry
on walking while younger members of the staff
should cut up the side of the mountain and all
meet at a selected spot for lunch.
I thought the staff didn't look too enthusiastic. There was no doubt, however, that the
youngsters simply worshipped the general, and
on occasions would refer to him as "The
Master." This highly amused the drivers, who
had other names for all of them.
224

Instructions were given for the cars to follow
within reasonable distance of the walkers, and
much to my relief my orders were not to walk,
but to remain in the jeep.
Eventually the walkers reached the meeting
place, a rough bridge over a stream.
The head keeper led the way to an empty
house and the picnic baskets were unloaded.
To get out of the cold wind Monty and his staff
'went to the leeward side of the house where,
sitting against the brick wall, they had their
lunch.
After lunch Monty went off to the loch to
fish.
An hour later we drove back to the train.
I felt that I had completed the first part of
my study.
"What I want now," I explained to my
captain, " is a short interview with the general
so that I can' get' his voice."
Y agreed and went along to see Colonel
Dawnay. He reappeared with the news that
I was to meet General Montgomery at seven
o'clock the following evening.
Interminably the time dragged on.
Y
accompanied me to the train and spoke to a
Red Cap, who immediately fetched Colonel
Dawnay. The colonel indicated a door.
" Just knock and go in," he whispered.
Feeling my heart pumping as though out of
control, I knocked on the door.
" Come in ! " cried a voice.
The general was seated reading at his desk.
The room was plainly furnished and I noticed
two or three copies of a magazine bearing a
coloured portrait of him lying on a chair. He

looked up and smiled.
. Any fears I may have had as to my likeness
to him were swept away. The resemblance
was uncanny.
All I had to do was to broaden my moustache,
slightly whiten my greying hair-and I was
General Montgomery.
The eyes were the only real difference. He
has the most piercing blue eyes I have ever
seen.
" What are you in ?" he asked, motioning
me to a chair.
" R.A.P.C., sir."
He asked me if it were true that I was an
actor, and I told him I had been on the stage
practically all my life.
" How dreary it must be, acting the same
show night after night," he remarked.
"We don't look at it like that, sir," I
explained. "It is our job, and, even if a show
runs for a year, we try to give as good a performance at the end of the run as we do on
the first night."
He seemed genuinely interested, and
questioned me about my early life. Then he
brought up the subject of my coming job.
" You have a great responsibility, you know.
Do you feel confident? "
I assured him that I did, and he said he was
certain that everything would go off all right.
Standing up so that I could examine his profile,
he then shook my hand and wished me the very
best of luck.
Full of confidence I left the train, definitely
a hero-worshipper of " Monty."
" Monty's " train steamed out of Dalwhinnie
on the Saturday morning. The same evening
I left for London, reaching Euston at ten o'clock
the following morning.
I reported to the War Office as a sergeant in
the Intelligence Corps and, half an hour later,
left by another door again a lieutenant in the
R.A.P.C.
To be continued.
WORLD COPYRIGHT.
(Continued f r om page 220)
Ranks (now resident in counties of Yorkshire,

Northumberland and Durham) to send a
post card giving name and address to him at : District Pay Office, Northumbrian District,
Allerton Manor, Chapel Allerton, Leeds 7.
He will then keep them posted in all matters
affecting the Corps and Old Comrades
Association.
225
R.A.P .C. GOLFING SOCIETY

The Summer Meeting took place on
27th June at the Calcot Golf Club, Reading.
Entries well up to pre-war numbers were
received. The weather remained kind and only
the late starters in the afternoon round were
caught in a sharp shower. The staff of the
Calcot Club has obviously been at p ains to get
the course in good order after a difficult period
of shortage of labour, and the lunch provided
was an indication of their goodwill.
Major-General Sir Guy Riley, K.B.E., C.B.,
Colonel Commandant of the Corps, although
not a competitor, came early in the day and
remained until the end . His presence at the
meeting was greatly appreciated by all taking
part.
The following were the winners of the
Competitions.
THE RILEY CLEEK (Best gross score) :
Major B. Overend (Leeds R.E.M.E.), 76.
THE TOLLER CUP (Best net score) :
Lieut. W. H. Sims (Leeds R.A.O .C .),
88-15-73.
CAPTAIN'S PRIZE (Bogey Foursome) :
Lieut. Walsh (Shrewsbury) and Lieut.
Francis (Aldershot), 2 down.
Runners-up:
Lieut.-Colonel Burne
(Aldershot) and Major Overend, 5 down .
The Annual General Meeting of the Society
was held after tea.
Major-General R. G .
Stanham, e.B., presided.
The retiring President, Brigadier G . A . C.
Ormsby-Johnson, C.B.E., M.C., was unanimously re-elected .
The following officials for the ensuing year
were elected :Captain : Brig. e. N . Bednall, O.B .E ., M .C.
Hon. Secretary: Colonel L. E. James, M .C.
Committee: Brig. F. e. Williams, e.B.E., M.C.
Lieut.-Colonel R. e. Thompson.
Lieut.-Colonel J. R. Burne.
Major A. N . Evers.
The question of an Autumn meeting was left
for consideration by the Committee.
It was hoped that a Corps team could be
entered for the Army Championship Meeting
in the Autumn.
I t was decided to hold next year's Summer
meeting at the Wentworth Club in late June.
The Chairman paid a tribute to the memory
of Colonel T. A. Meek, M .e., who had done
so much to form the Society in 1928 and whose
time and thought were given so wholeheartedly

to its interests.
Votes of thanks were carried to MajorGeneral Stanham for donating the Captain's
prizes and to the Hon. Secretary for organising
the meeting. The Colonel Commandant spoke
of the p leasure he had in seeing so many new
competitors present and at seeing new names
about to be inscribed on the trophies. The
meeting closed after a vote of thanks had been
unanimously passed to General Riley for
presenting the prizes.
.
MATCH
A match was p layed at the North Hants
Golf Club, Fleet, on 3rd July, versus the Royal
Army Service Corps. Difficulties in raising a
really representative side were rather more than
usual owing to postings coupled with events
closely connected with the ominous date of
1st J uly. The recommencement of matches is
a sign that there is a desire to return to some
of the pre-war normalities and all who took
part were unanimous in the satisfaction it gave
and the severity of our defeat in no way
detracted from that pleasure. In the appended
detailed results some very fami liar names will
be noticed-in itself a cause of great satisfaction after a long break.
SINGLES
R.A.P.C.
R.A.S.C.
M aj . Gardiner
C apt. Ellis
Maj . Schofield
Maj.- G en. Clover
Col. Williarr.s .. .
L t. -Col. Walch
Lt.- Col. Rush
Brig. Hinde
(6 & 5)
(6 & 5)
(4 & 2)
...
( 3 & 2)
(7 & 6)
1
1
1
~.
11
Lt.- Col. Thompson

Maj .-Gen . Stanham
Lt.- Col. Burne
Brig. Bednall (4 & 3)
Lt .- C ol. Hollings wo rth
Capt. Morgan
C apt. Francis .
Co l. l am es
(7
(5
(1
(3
FOURSOMES
& 6)
& 4)
up)
& 2)
1
1
1
1
~.
0
0
6~
Ellis & G ardiner

S chofield & Rush
C lover & Walch
Hind e & William s
0
0
0
Bednall & Thompson

Fran cis & Burne ...
Stanham & James .:. ...
Hollingsworth & Morgan
0
0
0
0
l Ot
LAWN TENNIS
A most successfu l and interesting Tennis day
was held at the Aldershot Officers' Club on
9th August, 1946.
Players and spectators
turned up in force, and the weather was kind
to us up to the final set of the Singles Championship. We congratulate the winners and
the runners-up, and extend our thanks to
Lady Riley for presenting the prizes; to those
who made the long journey to Aldershot and
participated in the events ; to Lieut.- Colonel
Burne, R.A.P .e., District Paymaster, Aldershot
226
District, and the staff of the Officers' Club

whose arrangements contributed so largely to
our enjoyment; and to Mr. Holt, the Club
groundsman, for having the courts in such
first-class condition.
The results are ~iven below : -
before stumps were drawn and continuing their

innings next morning had lost 3 wickets for
59 runs when rain stopped play. Further play
seemed improbable but as soon as the clouds
lifted the skippers decided to have another
pitch prepared off the table as the original
ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS OFFICERS TENNIS SI N GLES CHAMPIONSHIP

FOR THE MUSSON CHALLENGE CUP
F inal
Semi-Final
2nd Round
1st Round
Lt. Boanas (W.O. )
I
Capt. Stephens (6) }
v
v
Lt. H yde (scratched)
Lt. Boanas . . (4)
Capt. ~tephens (3) }
(2)
Lt. Drake
v
Lt. Davies . . (6)
(6)
Maj. Shepherd
Maj . S~epherd (2) }
(4)
Lt. Lenton
Lt. Davies .. (2)
Lt. D avies .. (6)
v
R.P .O ., Ilfracombe.
(6)
Lt. Davies
v
Capt. D yer. . (6)
(0)
Lt. Triggs
R.P .O., London .
Capt. Mallock (4)
v
v
(6)
C apt. Mallock
Gen. Stanham (6)
Gen. Stanham (1)
(6)
Gen. Stanham
v
v
Capt. D yer . . (6)
(2)
Lt. Giles . .
Capt. D yer . . (6)
v
(0) I
Lt. Fullock
(1)
Lt. Woods
v
(6)
Capt. D yer
}
}
}
}
J
DOUBLES FINAL
Capt. D yer, R.P.O ., London
(6)
Capt. Stephens, R.P .O., Kidderminster
and
v
and
Sgt. Reid, R.P .O., London
(6)
Lt. Giles, R.P .O ., Kidderrninster
Representing " South "
Rep'resenting " North"
In the 1st , 2nd and Semi-Final rounds on ly one vantage set was played.
In the Finals the best of 3 sets was played.
(4)
(4)
wicket was under water at one end and soon

after 3 p.m. the R.A.O.e. were batting again .
The new wicket played easily at first and
attractive batting by Colonel Parnaby and CpI.
Wildsmith took the score to 129. The wicket
was now becoming difficult and when Captain
Forster was introduced into the attack he
caused a collapse by taking 6 wickets for 35 runs
in 13 overs, a fine bowling performance.
T he game appeared certain to end in a draw
but the Corps side fared so badly in the second
innings that they were only able to total 51 runs.
The bowling of Cpls. Hampshire and Wildsmith during this innings was of a high class
as they were able to take advantage of the
condition of t he wicket.
The R.A.O.C. were left with seven minutes
in which to score t he 25 runs required for
victory and amidst great excitement just
managed to succeed in the last over of the
match.
ATHLETICS
Captain L. R. Spooner is to be congratulated
upon winning the Army Walking Championship
held at Aldershot on 3rd Ju ly, 1946.
CRICKET
Our first post-war game, versus R.A.O.C.,
was played at Didcot on 19th and 20th June.
The R.A.O.e. made certain that it would be a
success, and their arrangements for our entertainment both on and off the ~round were
first-class. The weather was unkind as it rained
hard on both days and it was only the enthusiasm of the two skippers that produced such a
thrilling finish. The score card does not tell
the whole story of the game which commenced
on a dead wicket at 3 p.m. on 19th June. Runs
were not easy to get and became more difficult
as the wicket dried out, in the circumstances
Cpl. Cooper's 49 was a very creditable effort.
The R.A.O.e. scored 12 runs without loss
227
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS

1st Innings
Lt. R. O. Haywood, lbw, b Morris. .
5
1
L /Cpl. H. Hubble, b Morris
Lt. J . Green , c Martin-Jenkins, b Wildsmith
10
Cpl. E. Cooper, st Martin-Jenkins, b Wildsmith
49
L /Cpl. L. B. Donnithorne, c Mitchell, b Morris
9
Pte. I. W. Robinson, st Martin-Jenkins, b Parnaby
13
Capt. E . B. Forster, lbw, b Hampshire
..
..
8
Pte. G. C. Simmonds, b H ampshire
15
S /Sgt. F. North . not out
13
Lt.-Col. H. H. Malpass, c Richard, b Wildsmith . .
2
..
..
9
L /Cpl. G. E. Pounds, b Hampshire
Extras (Byes 10, L-Byes 3) ..
13
2nd Innings
lbw, b H ampshire
..
b Hampshire ..
-lbw, b H ampshire
b H ampshire ..
c sub., b Wildsmith
b Wildsmith ..
c Mitchell, b Wildsmith
c and b H ampsh ire
lbw, b Hampshire
run out
not out
14
1
o
10
o
3
9
2
3
6
147
BOWLING ANAL YSISMorris
Wildsmith
Hampshire
Parnaby
Seaton
1st Innings
o.
16
19
17.3
4
3
51
2nd Innings
M.
6
5
1
1
W.
3
3
3
1
R.
33
33
53
11
4
O.
18
17. 5
M.
2
7
R.
30
21
w.
3
6
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS

2nd Innings
Isi Innings
7
lbw, b Pound ..
Maj. Saddler, c Green, b Pound
..
c and b Forster,
38
Maj . Patterson, c Cooper, b Pound ..
b Smith
0
Sgt. Chadwick, b Malpass ..
..
b Smith
3
Brig. Bright-Holmes, c Clowes, b Pound
c Malpass, b Forster ..
7
Capt. Willis, c North, b Smith
c
Tatton, b Cooper
43
Maj. Chambers, b Forster
c Briggs, b Forster
8
Capt. Wildey, b Tatton
not out
0
D vr. Bigger, b Tatton
b Pound
5
Maj. Marrison, c Smith, b Cooper ..
lbw, b Smith . .
7
Maj. Harmer, lbw, b Forster
0
b Smith
Lt.-Col. Montcrieff, not out
(Byes 4, L-Byes 5, N.B. 1)
1
Extras (Byes 1)
174
For 9 wkts (dec)

BOWLING ANAL YSISP ound
Cooper
Malpass
Hubble
Robinson ..
Forster ..
1st Innings
o.
11
20
4
3
5
13
12
10
o
3
For 3 wkts
26
2nd Innings
M.
4
7
1
1
2
R.
W.
40
53
11
13
18
35
O.
M.
R.
W.
2
2
12
1.2
14
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
M.
18
6
9
Pound
Malpass
Smith
Cooper
T atton
Forster
2nd Innings
1 ~t lnnings
o.
ROYAL ARMY ORD N ANCE CORPS

1st Innings
2nd Innings
Lt.-Col. Mitchell, lbw, b Pound
26
c Donnithorne, b Forster
Capt. Wakeford, b Malpass . .
..
2
Lt.-Col. Parnaby, st Simmonds, b Forster ..
70
run out
Lt.-Col. Jobson-Scott. lbw, b Pound
o
not out
L /Cpl. Wildsmith, c Robinson, b Forster
31
b Forster
Maj .-Gen. Palmer, b Forster
11
Maj . Martin-Jenkins, b Forster
..
17
Cpl. Hampshire, c North, b Forster
4
not out
Maj.-Gen. Richards, b Forster
2
Pte. Morris, not ou t ..
7
Sgt. Seaton, not out ..
o
Extras (Byes) ..
4
5
4
1.4
1
1
R.
w.
o.
15
38
30
18
22
10
M.
1
1
18
2
13
19
2
:2

1st Innings
4
Lt.-Col. J. H. Clowes, b Saddler ..
3
Lt. R. O. Haywood , lbw, b Saddler
3
S.S.M . R. H. Briggs, b Saddler
87
Lt. J. Green , c Biggins, b Marrison
71
Cpl. E. Cooper, c Willis, b Marrison
32
Capt. E. B. Forster, b Saddler
o
L /Cpl. F. Tatton, st Chambers, b Willis
7
S /Sgt. F . North, lbw, b Saddler
9
L /Cpl. G. Smith, st Chambers, b Marrison
24
L /Cpl. E. G. Pound , b Marrison
Q
Lt.-Col. H . H. Malpass, not out
Extras ..
5
5
R.
43
18
33
8
14
44
w.
2
4
1
3
2nd Innings
b Saddler
st Chambers, b Willis
lbw, b Willis
not out
not out
12
23
14
2
38
89
244
6
Result : R.A.O.C. WON BY 7 WICKETS IN THE LAST OVER OF PLAY
In a match played at the Officers' Club,

Aldershot, on 8th and 9th July, the R.A.S.C.
who were not fully represented agreed to
replace R. A.CH.D., who were unable to raise
a side.
.
Winning the toss R.A.S.C. elected to bat on
a fast wicket and fared none too well against
accurate bo\\> ling, supported by good fielding.
Majors Patterson and Chambers batted well for
38 and 43 respectively, but the innings closed
at 119.
The Corps first innings started badly against
the bowling of Major Saddler who took the
first 3 wickets for 4 runs, but a splendid stand
by Lieut. Green and CpI. Cooper took the

score to 159. Captain Forster and CpI. Pound
helped to swell the total to 244, giving us a
useful lead of 125.
The main feature of the R.A.S.C. second
innings was a sound knock by Major Chambers,
who scored 55 valuable runs. He received able
support from Captain Willis who scored 20
before he hit a snorter to Colonel Malpass, who
accepted the gift with his left hand. CpI. Smith,
Captain Forster and CpI. Pound bowled well
for the Corps and the fielding both in the air
and on the ground was very good.
Set to get 45 runs to win, the opening bats
228
11
10
15
15
20
55
2
11
7
7
6
10
169
119
BOWLING ANAL YSIS-
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Lieut.-Colonel Clowes won the toss and

elected to bat on a fast good wicket of which
the Corps batsmen made excellent use.,
The main feature of the innings was a grand
century by CpI. Cooper, whose form in the
looked as though they would pass that score

but both were dismissed before we won the
game by 8 wickets. To entertain the spectators
the Corps side went on batting and when stumps
were drawn had made 89 for 3 wickets.
BOWLING ANAL YSISMarrison . .

Saddler
Wildey
Willis
1st Innings
o.
33
34
2
9
2nd Innngs
M.
8
9
W.
4
5
R.
104
7'2
24
40
1
Bigger
Result:
M.
1
2
R.
23
20
16
21
9
w.
1
2
R.A.P .C. WON BY 8 WICKETS
Corps matches makes us regret that he will not

be available for future seasons. The Corps
batting was good, eight players reached double
figures and we totalled 277. Before stumps
were drawn the Corps bowlers had struck a
blow from which our opponents never recovered and 7 wickets were down with only
63 runs on the board.
The afternoon's enjoyment was enhanced

by the music of the Band of the School of
Music, who were playing by kind permission
of the Commandant.
O.
7
9
1
4
1
*.
At the Officers' Club , Aldershot, on 10th and

11th July the Corps team met an A.E .C. team.
229

The next morning the A.E.C. first innings
closed at 64, the last 3 wickets falling for 1 run.
Following on, 214 runs in arrear, the A.E.C.
found the task too difficult and were dismissed
a second time for 98 runs, leaving us victors
by an innings and 115 runs.
Sgt. Sutc1iffe batted well in the A.E.C.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
THE ROYA L ARMY PAY CO RPS JOU RNAL
second innings and CpI. Pound bowled

accurately with much fire.
The weather was perfect, we enjoyed four
days' cricket under ideal conditions, and all
members of the team are most grateful to the
Aldershot Detachment for its hospitality
extended to all ranks.

1st Innings
Lt.-Col. J. H. Clowes, c Ronald, b Gilbert
S.S .M. R. H. Briggs, b Hudson
..
..
Lt. J. Green, st Morris, b Smailes ..
Cpl. E. Cooper, c Gilbert, b H udson
Lt. R . O. Haywood, c Wolley , b Smith
Capt. E. B. Forster, c Morris, b Smith
L jCpl. H. Hubble, c Morris, b Smith
L jCpl. G . Smith, c Hudson, b Gilbert
L jCpl. G . E . Pound, c Sutcliffe, b Smith
Pte. G. C. Simmonds, b Smith
..
L jCpl. F. Tatton not ou t
Extras (Byes 3, L-Byes,2, N.B.I)
il
5
17
119
12
36
27
17
15
8
4
6
277
BOWLING A NALYSISHudson
Gilbert
Burley . .
l.
:l.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11 .
o.
16
17
7
M.
R.
2
I
I
53
65
26
(Gaie &1 Polden Lld.)
The Royal Army Pay Corps Cricket Team, 1946.
1st Inning s
w.
2
Smith
2
Smailes
McLau ghlin
o.
2 1.1
14
2
ARMY EDUCATION CORPS

1st Innings
Lt.-Col. Ronald, b Hubble ..
..
8
Maj. Smailes, b Smith
5
S. I. Sutcliffe, lbw, b Pound. .
8
S .1. Burley, c Cooper, b Forster
6
S .1. Morris, lbw, b Smith
6
Capt. Wolley, c Cooper, b Smith
6
Lt. McLaughlin , run out
4
Lt. - Col. Hudson , c Smith, b Pound
7
Capt. Smith, c Simmonds, b Pound
0
Lt. Sanderson, b Smith
0
Lt. Gilbert, not out ..
0
Extras (Byes 12, L-Byes I , Wides I)
14
R.
M.
W.
;')
82
28
2nd Innings
c Tatton, b Pound
b Pound
c Pound, b Smith
c Green , b Pound
c Simmonds, b Cooper
not out
b Tatton
b Pound
c and b Pound
b Smith
b Clowes
(Byes 6, L-B yes I )
5
7
31
4
9
15
4
14
o
2
o
7
64
BOWLING A NALYSISPound
Smith
Forster
T atton
Hubble
98
1st Innings
o.
7
4
2nd Innings
M.
13
12.2
6
7
5
I
R.
18
16
3
10
4
W.
3
4
o.
M.
13
llA
3
1
I
Cooper
Clowes
R e sult :
"The Wild Men from Borneo ~~
IS
3
3
G
3
I
I
R.
26
21
6
6
11
13
w.
;)
R.A.P.C. W ON BY AN INNINGS AND 115 RUNS

OUR CONTEMPORARIES
Readers whose subscriptions expire with this

issue will find a reminder in their copy. T he
Editor hopes that such readers will decide to
renew their subscriPtions and requests that they
will return the form to him as early as possible.
The Editor acknowledges with many

receipt of t he fo llowing J ourna ls :The Covenan ter.
The R .A.O .C. Gazette.
The Manchester R egiment Gazette.
The Accountant.
The Certified Accou n tants Journal.
230
thanks
From Captain H.
y little outfit- No. 62 Area Cash
Office-has certainly travelled since
that day in August 1945 when we set
out from Meerut into the big world ; a newlyraised unit of two officers and two sergeants,
untried and little knowing where their destination lay or what was before them. Imagine ! a
complete Area Cash Office, four" bods" and
less than 100 lb. of office equipment and
stationery, emplaning in a Dakota at D elhi. We
had breakfast at Allahabad, dinner in Calcutta,
and next day had a non-stop hop to Rangoon,
with a third successive hop to Bangkok, Siam,
which was to be our home for t he next three
months.
Bangkok will be memorable for work and
play. Did we work, and did we play? Our
main function was R.A.P.W .I. payments, and
it was no mean feat putting money in the
pockets of 26,000 released P.O.W.s in the first
five days. Pay Services would have gone hairless
if they had seen the ruses we got up to. Imagine
it! 26,000 payments and only two pads of
1513 C.s in our lOO-lb. kit ! Still, we got
through, and if the absence of " rockets" is
anything to go by, my lads and the dozens of
cashiers we trained overnight-British, Australian and Dutch-must have made a good
job of it.
231
S. SMITH
All good things come to an end and so did
Bangkok. It was undoubtedly the gayest city
of the East and its people were most hospitable
and gave u s a wonderful time.
Next came a month in Saigon in transit for
another destination unknown. We ki lled time
here helping to count Japanese loot, and then
on Christmas Day came our movementBorneo, of all places on this e(jrth! What have
we done to deserve this?
Seen from a troopship , Borneo looks the very
" bottom," and L abu an, a small 35 square mile
island six miles off the Borneo coast, looks even
worse than that. H ere is desolation personified,
and as you look at the fl at jungle covered island
you know you 've " had it."
But isn't it surprising how t hese things often
turn out better than you imagine? Labuan
certainly has done. We live rough, we have to
do to some extent, and we are completely devoid
of entertainment apart from an occasional
mobile cinema. One thing, we save a lot of
money as there isn't a shop on the island; the
one and only town was completely" rubbed
out " when the Australians re-took the island
in June last year.
We find compensations for being exiled in.
Labuan ; the climate is quite pleasant and we(Continued on page 238)
THE ROYAL Al{MY PAY CORPS JOURNAL
THE R.A.P.C. IN FRENCH INDO-CHINA

By Lieut.-Colonel T. H. SWEENY, R.A.P.C.
HEN the Japanese surrendered unopposite
number,
Field-Marshal
Count
conditionally in August 1945, after the
Terauchi, had his own Supreme H.Q.s for all
atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
JaI?anese. Southern Armies, 850,000 strong, at
SaIgon, III French Indo-China. The Japanese
Nagasaki, the end came so suddenly that we
XV Army was in F.I.C., the XVI Army in
were as unprepared for it as their own troops
in South-East Asia. The surrender was shortly
Java, the XXV Army in Sumatra and other
Armies, each with its own H.Q.s, were in
followed bv the sudden decision of the
Burma, Siam, Malaya, the Andaman Ishinds
Americans to leave the occupation of F.I.C.
and N.E.I. to us to solve, as well as those of
Borneo, New Guinea and the Outer Islands of
Burma, Malaya and Siam, whilst they dealt
N.E .I. (Celebes, Bali, Lambok, etc.), but all
with Japan and the Pacific, and we found
came under Field-Marshal Terauchi's orders.
S .A.C. decided that the distances between
ourselves with a host of problems and a packet
of troubles in different countries of S.E.A.C.
himself and Terauchi were so great that he
on our hands, with the certainty that we should
must have a Commission to give orders to
get more kicks than ha'pence even if we should
Japanese Southern Armies H.Q. in his name on
solve them !
the spot.
This was the raison d' etre for
The Japanese General Staff had realised
S.A.C.S.E.A. Commission No. 1, under
that they had lost the war as early as February,
General Gnicey, being set up in late September
if not earlier, though outside Burma their
at Saigon. A mixed force of R.N., strong
R.A.F. Squadrons and Army principally
armies in S.E. Asia would not at first believe
there had ever been a surrender, and plans
20 Ind. Div.-about 30,000 strong was sent to
Saigon to enforce his orders. General Gracey
were laid by them to leave as much trouble
behind for the victorious Allies to cope with as
had commanded 20 Ind. Div. throughout
could be stirred up in the various countries
Burma, where they had a grand record,
especially in the fighting in the River Sittang
occupied by Japanese armies. The necessity
Bend, and he knew his men and they knew him.
for making fresh plans for our own occupation
of these, combined with a shortage of shipping
. Saigon lies 100 miles up a narrow twisting
not already loaded for the Zipper invasion of
nver, blocked by mines and wrecked ships'
Malaya and Singapore, meant that five precious
its food supplies . have to come 200 miles b;
weeks had to elapse before our first troops
water, not by road, and it was occupied almost
equally by Republican Annamite Armies
could arrive in Si~m or F.I.C. and another
and by Japanese troops, both ef whom were
ten days before they could reach N.E.I., and
the Japanese General Staff made good use of
terrorising and robbing the French inhabitants
the time. Although one of the terms of the
and the Chinese, when our troops flew in from
surrender which they had siened agreed that
Burma. No. 38 Staff Paymaster, under Major
they would enforce law and order until we took
MacDonald, arrived with the advance brigade,
and the present writer flew in shortly after in
over from them, they inflated all currencies to
the maximum, set up Autonomous Governearly October with 9th M.G. Jats and a staff
ments of local inhabitants pledged to resist
consisting of Captain M. Davis, S/Sgt. H. F.
Hardy and Sgt. Grimsley, to act as Pay Adviser
re-incorporation in the French and Dutch
to S.A.C.S.E.A. Commission No. 1 and to
Empires, and gave them arms and a few
hundred Japanese officers and men specialists
General Gracey. A couple of ships forced
their way up the river before long, though one
to train them in guerrilla warfare. The soil of
French Indo-China and the Netherlands East
struck a mine, but it was six weeks before the
river was really of value to shipping, and all
Indies was ripe for revolt and the Japanese aid
lit the flames of insurrection and gave the
troops, P.O.L. and supplies had to come in by
air. There was only one airfield at Saigon, and
hooligan element, as well as the patriotic, the
its possession was disputed almost daily by the
chance of their lives.
The Supreme Allied Commander (S.A.C. to
Annamites and the R.A.F. Regt. during the
us in S.E.A.C.), Lord Louis Mountbatten
early days. On three occasions our aircraft
were completely grounded for a week at a time
was in Ceylon with his H.Q.s Staffs of
through the Insurgents burning all our supplies
of P.O.L.
S.A.C.S.E.A. and A.L.F.S.E.A., whilst his
232
least of our troubles in S.A.C.S.E.A. Commission No. 1 !

38 Staff Paymaster was assisted by 125 Field
Cash Office (Captain Cairns and Sgt.
Mitchener) and 555 Sub Area had a Cashier,
and these bore the brunt of the cash duties and
of matters normally dealt with in our Corps,
though the idiosyncracies arising from supplementation, and the troubles inherent on
having one rate of exchange for our troops and
another for the rest of the world (which would
fill an article by themselves), caused many
headaches to the already overworked " Finance
Adviser," as well as extra work for 38 Staff
Paymaster's Office. It is enough to say here
that the purchasing value of the piastre was
about 3d. when we flew in, but the French
would not agree to devaluing it from its prewar rate of one shilling. They did not wish our
troops to suffer hardship, however, so they
offered us a free gift of three piastres in
October for every one piastre we drew as Pay
and Allowances, but no free gift piastres for
other purposes. These" free gift" piastres
were called" supplementary piastres " and the
rate was to be fixed monthly, so each month a
hearty tussle arose between ourselves and the
French Treasury over the rate for the ensuing
month. Having given it the French found our
purchasing power too much for them, and we
cleared the shops and helped prices rise
upwards, so they wishtd to reduce it month
by month until it could disappear altogether
after December 1945. Our fellows of course
said " prices are higher now than in October,
so you ought to raise, and not lower the rate."
. Battle was joined royally each month on this
issue, albeit in a most friendly way, and we
were able to fight a delaying action that kept a
gradually reducing rate of supplementation
alive until the end of April 1946, by which time
the writer was in N.E.I., and we had only a
handful of troops left in F.I.C.
When asked by General Gracey how it had
been achieved without an appeal to London and
Paris, he replied sadly "by pouring 300
Aperitifs down the right throats at the right
moments, but it has turned my moustache
grey." The monthly agreement had to be
ratified at S.A.C.S.E.A., and the resulting
exchange rate for the fresh month was sometimes only received a few hours before, and on
one horrible occasion only ten minutes before,
our Cashiers opened for business on the first
day of the month. The fun really started
however, when we tried to agree with the
The excitement commenced early for us, as

fighting was going on around the airfield, and
the Annamites were within 60 yards of the
control tower when we landed. There were
over three hundred casualties, principally
Annamite, that afternoon, and they took a
nasty knock, but were attacking again after dark.
To end a crowded day, which started in Burma,
Captain Davis was hav.ing. a beer by the win~ow
of his room in the Majestic Hotel that evenmg,
and had just replaced the bottle on a table
beside him when it was shattered by a sniper's
hullet. Fortunately it was then empty. It was
a little surprising to find one's Mess guarded
by armed Japanese sentries, and to have other
Japanese, also armed, for chauffeur an~ b~tmen
during the first months, but the maJonty of
Japanese were helping us, while a minority
helped the opposition. Everyone had to carry
arms, even in the heart of Saigon, and all
traffic moving over a mile away from H.Q.
had to do so in convoy under tank and
armoured car escort.
The writer reported to the Commander and
was told in effect" I don't want a Pay Adviser,
I want a Finance Adviser or economic expert.
There are half a million people nearly starving
in Saigon, which is closely besieged on all sides
by 30,000 Annamites, and there are probably
about 100,000 more armed Annamites guarding
the river and canal approaches to the place.
The currency is in a chaotic state, inflation is
rampant, the French have now recaptured their
Treasury but they have not yet formed a
Government or got any financial staff together;
no one will sell them anything or deal with
them; there are 80,000 Japanese troops and
the Japanese have a stranglehold on all trade.
You are the only fellow here with any knowledge
of finance, so you are henceforward my Finance
Adviser. Now get on with it and don't let me
have any more of that Pay nonsense. You can
lump that in as an aside, but it will only be a
small part of your job." The protest that the
Financial Adviser's Branch would get anyone
signing as " F.A." who was not one, hung for a
certainty, and that the last orders from the
D.P.I.C. A.L.F.S.E.A. were" don't let them
make you take on any job outside normal Pay
Matters," brought the answer, "As they
haven't given me an F.A., your name will be in
orders today as Finance Adviser, and you've
got to run the whole gamut of Finance here
until the French can take it on." So it was
ordained, and sure enough anything we look
upon as normal Pay matters were a long way the
233

the J apanes~ civilians. This involved analysing,
and reportmg on, the Japanese financial
structure, the methods and rules for Pay in
their Armed Forces, the audit of their Bank
balance sheets and Military and Civil accounts,
and . the physical extraction of their r;noney,
bullIon, valuables and loot, and accountmg for
it all. In the course of this we discovered that
many hundred million piastres more than
normal had been expended by the Army after
its surrender, and the potential value of this
wealth for use on subversive activities, or
laying on the foundations of another war, made
it necessary to find out what had been done with
it all, and who was hoping to use it.
Our investigations might have been badly
held up when the " F .A." was caught by an
Annamite ambush one night and had his nose
and his best pipe broken by a crowbar before
he could fight his way clear, but he was able
to keep out of hospital. A Frenchman who was
also ambushed a few minutes later, was left
in the road in pieces, few of which exceeded
six inches. The favourite trick locally was to
slice off one foot at the ankle first, and so bring
the victim to ground, after which the other
foot, lJ.ands, nose, ears, .etc." c(mld be taken off
at leisure. Everyone soon learnt to save his
last bullet for himself in F .I.C., if he had the
chance to use it.
There is no space here to describe the
Japanese Pay System, the methods and results
of their financial disarmament, or the" Hunt
for the Hidden Millions "-which reads like a
Crime Club story-but they are worthy of
articles to themselves. It is not often the duty
of the R.A.P.C. to emulate" Ali Baba and his
40 Thieves," and we not only had to do so
legally, but we only had four, and not 40
thieves to do it with, though Captain (now
Major) Furmadge and his 44 A.e.O . were flown
in during January in time to be of great
assistance in the last stages of the hunt. The
story of how we got hold of over 100 million
piastres, half a ton of gold bars, a pocketful
of diamonds and 260 crates of loot; found out
where the bulk of the missing money had got
to, and put some 60 people who thought they
were going to use it " behind the bars," and
got the full gen. on who were the supporters
of I.N.A. (Chundra Bose's " Indian National
Army") must be told some other time.
Unfortunately the R.A.P.C. came out of this
El Dorado none the richer but it is the proud
boast of the R.A.P.C. that, like Caesar's wife,
they are " above suspicion " !
French how many piastres in our closing

balance were" free gift" ones, and so returnable to them free, and how many they must
re-purchase from us. This was worked out by
38 Staff Paymaster, by the bogus F.A., by
Officer-in-command Central Clearing House,
and by almost every Senior R.A.P.C. officer
in A.L.F.S.E.A. and India, and by three
French Financial Departments and no two of
the lot reached the same answer. The final
solution is believed to have differed again from
ALL previous ones !
Other excitements that caused much labour
and sorrow were when the French suddenly
declared all 500-piastre notes illegal on
17th November (and the writer got an Imperial
Rocket from our Commander for doing it !) and
when they at last devalued the piastre from
1/- to 8i-d., instead of to the 5d. it was worth
by then, on Christmas Day-of all days to
choose!
These were more or less real Pay matters,
as was the struggle to prevent too many
fortunes being made at the French expense out
of the varying rates for Supplementation, and
this was complicated by the indignation of
those ,twops ' leaving F.I.e. during . any month.
in which the rate of Supplementation had not
been reduced and of those remaining in F.I.C.
each time it was reduced! The former saw
the capital appreciation from outgoing exchanges of money in their pockets either
reduced or actually disappear, while the latter
realised they would receive fewer piastres to
spend for their rupee rate of pay. It was
impossible to please everybody!
One of our troubles also was how to pay
bills to people who would at once have had
their throats cut if it was known that they
were supplying us, and to purchase food, etc.,
for starving Saigon through " stooges" and by
sub-rosa methods which would not give away
the fact that the French were the real buyers.
20 Div. set up an organisation to do this which
bamboozled the Annamites in a really masterly
fashion.
The heaviest work by far, however, for the
small staff of R.A.P.C. at H .Q. S.A.e.S.E.A.
Commission No. 1 arose from S.A.C.s orders
that no Japanese-Military or Civilian-was to
be left in a position 0 handle money having any
exchange value and we had to organise and
carry out the financial disarmament of the
Japanese Military and Naval Units (80,000
strong) and to assist the French Authorities,
now beginning to function, to do the same for
234

" Gogarth," 64 Grange Garth, Fulford Road,
York, or at business, The White Cross Motor
Co., Hull Road, York (,phone 3997 York),
where he is a partner and secretary.
The Editor would welcome news from

individuals for inclusion on this page. Subscribers wishing to get in touch with ot~ers
should give their addresses, as the Ed1tor
cannot undertake to forward correspondence.
Lieut. N. F. Jinman is now with Scientific

Publicity Ltd., Cliffords Inn, London, E.CA,
and will always be glad to hear from old
Leicester friends.
Telephone number 1S
Holborn 2317.
loan Rendall Davies (Jack)-A.P.O., Bournemouth, 1940-42-Rygga to India, Meerut ~nd

Jubbulpore 1943-45-then French Indo-Chma
-now again with London and Manchester
Assurance Co. Ltd. Home: 266 Caerleon
Road, Newport, Mon.-at present in London
(Royal 4417, Ext. 76), would be delighted to
hear from old friends.
W. T. Coxhill, who served in the Corps

during the first World War, has recently been
awarded the Degree of Bachelor of Letters
(B .Litt.) which he took as a member of Brasenose
College, Oxford, in whose service he has been
for the past 46 years.
He has now retired from the office of Clerk
of Accounts and has been appointed Keeper
of the Muniments.
Friends of Major W. Birnie will be delighted

to learn that he has been appointed City
Accountant of his native city of Londonderry
in succession to the retiring Town Clerk.
Major Birnie, who is a qualified accounta~t,
received his first commission in the Corps m
1939 but left N. 1. D. for wider fields and theatres
of war in 1942.
A. V. Wareing, who is back in practice with

Messrs. Balshaws, solicitors, 22 Acresfield,
Bolton, would be pleased to hear from any
old friends from M.E.F.
Ex-S /Sgt. Maurice Dawes will be pleased to

contact old friends from Leicester, Oldham or
Reading Offices, at his home address,
--
I .
STAFF PRYMl-\S
lie
..: CRQUP-
---. NE\lER
235
\o4E~RO
OF
)QU~TTERS OLD
COCK?

~
OUR CHESS PAGE

wins for the White pawn must queen.
delightful example of forceful play.
Answers to Chess Quizz

1. "Philidor's Legacy" denotes a particular
Smother Mate with the Knight. Put up the
following :White:
Q at QB4. B at QKt3. Kt at KKt5.
Black:
Kat KKt1. R at KB1. P's at KR2 & KKt2.
The position may be filled in with other
pieces in normal grouping. Black is in check
and plays: (1) KR1, (2) QKt8ch RxQ,
(3) KtB7 Mate.
There are many variants of this theme
which is more often effective as a threat
than in actual execution. It is very doubtful,
however, whether Philidor was its original
perpetrator.
2. The" Orang-Outang" is the unusual openIt was adopted by
ing of (1) PQ~t4.
Dr. Tartakower m a New York Tournament
some years ago and the story goes that the
genial Polish master visited the New York
Zoo and after an earnest discussion with an
Orang-Outang, the latter insisted that the
move was quite playable !
3. The term" Zugswang " describes a position
of apra~ent equality where the player whose
turn 1t 1S to move is unable to do so without
opening up a fatal weakness.
4. When ~his question was posed, the British
ChamplOn was C. H. O'D. Alexander, who
has held the title without competition
throughout the war. As I write these notes
however, the Nottingham Congress is i~
progress and Alexander has begun so
disastrously that we shall probably have a
?ew ~hampion before this number appears
1T). pnnt.
5. "F.LD .E." stands for the "Federation
Internationale d'Echecs," a body set up to
control the game internationally.
6. Correct pairing is : Opening
Variation
Queen's Pawn
Colle System
Ruy Lopez
Riga Defence
Two Knight's Defence Fegatello
Sicilian Defence
The Dragon
Here is a game played aboard ship between

Ceylon and S.E.A.C. in a match, Officers v.
Other Ranks, the player of the Black pieces
being S/Sgt. R. B. Royston, R.A.P.C. It
carries no pretensions to a high standard, but
I am grateful to the sender who invites me to
be rude about it :Sicilian Defence.
1. PK4
PQB4
2. KtKB3
KtQB3
3. KtB3
PQ3
4. BKt5ch
KtB3
5 . PQ3
PQ4 is preferable, attacking Black's centre.
PK3
Here a better Pawn skeleton is obtained by PKKt3
followed by BKt2 and Castl~s.
6. BKt5
BK2
7. Castles
BQ2
S. BQB4
The Bishop has taken two moves to get here. It
only needed one.
Castles
PQR3
9. RKl
QB2
10. PQR4
11. PQ4
Same remark as for move S. Time is the essence
of the chess contract.
PKR3
KtQ5
12. PQ 5
BxP
13. BR4
PQKt4
14. RxB
PxKt
15. KtxKt
RxR
16. RxR
PxP
17. BxP
PK4 appears preferable.
QB 4
I S. QxP
PxQ
19. QxQ
PKt4
20. PxP
21. BKt3
Here RxB would have disorganised black as the
check on QRS leads to nothing. Black is compelled
to take the Bishop on the rooks file leaving very
weak pawns.
KtxP
22 . BB6
RQl
Time was called a~d the game adjudicated a draw .
White cannot now, of course, win a piece b y
23 BxKtRxB 24 RxB because of RQSch with mate to
follow.
Answers to Correspondents
RB.R.-Thanks for letter and game. I am
sorry I cannot follow the end-game position
quoted by you. Mr. Forsyth has not quite
come up to scratch.
B.C.-Am gratified by note of appreciation,
but what about some ammunition for me ?
Solution to End Game No. 1

White: Kat QBl. Bat QKt8. Pat KR6.
Black: Kat Ql.
Bat Q5.
Pat K4.
(1) BR7, BR8. (2) KKtl, BB 6. (3) KB2,
BR8. (4) BQ4, B(or P)xB. (5) KQ3 and
236
Lt. and Paymr. L. W. Cook.

Lt. and Paymr. R. Clarke-HaliflLx
Lt. and Paymr. C. E. Goddard.
Lt. and Paymr. T. A. Cole.
To be Captains
. Lt. and Paymr. (W/S. Capt.) F. T. B.
Step hens-8th July, 1946.
Lt. and Paymr. H. M. Robson-14th July,
1946.
Lt. and Paymr. (WjS. Capt.) L. G.
Hinchliffe-lst August, 1946.
Lt. and Paymr. G. J. Kilb-1 5th August,
1946.
Lt. and Paymr. J. M. Murrell-20th August,
1946.
Lt. and Paymr. (W/S. Capt.) J. C. Gould22nd August, 1946.
Lt. and Paymr. (W/S. Capt.) E. C. Harrison
- 24th August, 1946.
To be Majors (Asst. Paymrs.)
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) B. J. B. Temple3rd JWle, 1946.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) W. F. Oram, M .B:E.1st July, 1946.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) E. O. Cooper, M.B .E.1st July, 1946.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) C. Pearce-1st July,
1946.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) T. Whelan-lst July,
1946.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) S. J. J. Flux-15th
July, 1946.
Capt. (Asst. Paymr.) A. E. Littler-24th
August, 1946.
To be Capt. (Asst. Paymr).
From Emergency Commission.
Lt.(Asst.Paymr.) (W/S. Capt.) (Asst. Paymr.)
T. Hall-7th July, 1946.
To be Lieut. and Paymr.
From Emergency Commissions 14th
December, 1945.
W IS. Lt. M. C. Burgess, with precedence
next below Lt. and Paymr. D. H. Evans.
W IS. Lt. T. A Cole, with precedence next
below Lt. and Paymr. M. C. Burgess.
Retirements
Lieut.-Co!. (S.P.l) A. S. R Hughes, 18th
June, 1946, and is granted the hon. rank of
Colonel.
Captain (Asst. Paymr.) C. W. Newell, 10th
August, 1946, and is granted the hon. rank
of Major.
Extracts from "The London Gazette."

The King has been graciously pleased to
approve that the following be mentioned in
reco~nition of gallant and distinguished
serVlces.
Royal Army Pay Corps
Major H. P. Park (Malaya, 1942).
Lieut.-Co!. T. H. Sweeney (Far East).
Captain (acting) W. W. Davies (Far East).
Lieut.-C )lonel J. R. Burne (while P.O.W. ).
Major J. E. V. Hunter (Burma)
To be Colonel and Chief Paymaster
Lieut.-Colonel and Staff Paymr. (1st Cl.)
R. H. Smyth, O.B.E., M.C., 25th May, 1946.
To be Lieut.-Col. and StaffPaymr. (1st Cl.)
Major and S.P.2 E. D. Edinger-25th May,
1946.
Major and S.P.2 (W/S. Lieut.-Co!. and
S.P.l) R. C. de V. Askin, M.B.E., M .C.18th June, 1946.
To be Major and StaffPaymr. (2nd Cl.)
Major and Paymr. (W/S. S.P.2) E. G. Jonas,
O.B.E.-25th May, 1946.
Major and Paymr. (W/S. S.P.2) C. C.
Blackwell, M.B.E.-1 8th June, 1946.
. Major and Paymr. (W IS. S.P.2) A. L.
Dunnill, O.B .E.-18th June, 1946.
To be Majors- 1st July, 1946
Capt. and Paymr. (W /S. Major and S.P.2)
.
P. F. C. Bloxam, O.B .E.
Lt. and Paymr. E. T. Taylor.
Lt. and Paymr. L. Cook.
Lt. and Paymr. (W/S. Capt.) \\T. A. Potter,
M.B.E.
Lt. and Paymr. W. B. Westcott, M.B.E.
Lt. and Paymr. (W/S. Capt.) C. Endacott.
Lt. and Paymr. P. M. Miller.
To be Captains- 1st July, 1946
Lt. and Paymr. (W/S. Capt.) J. C. Cowley.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Capt.) V. E. Finn.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Capt.) N. Caterham.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Capt.) C. Erlund,
M.B.E.
Lt. and Paymr. (W/S. Capt.) A. E. Burden.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Capt.) R H. Page.
Lt. and Paymr. E. Deeley.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Capt.) E. G. Grave.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Capt.) H. C. Lambert.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Capt.) M. H. Cuthbert,
M.B.E.
Lt. and Paymr. (W IS. Major) J. S. Rees.
237
DEATHS
Major and Paymr. W. C. Mitchell, h.p. list,

16th August, 1946.
Major (S.P.2) H. J. Hollingsworth, ret. is
restored to the sub. rank and appt. of Lieut.Col. (Hon. Col.) and Staff Paymr. 1st CL, on
ceasing to be re-employed-27th July, 1946.
STAIT.-On 16th July, 1946, suddenly,

Florence May (nee Lilley), dearly loved wife
of Major C. J. Stait, RA.P.C., 37 Glenlyon
Road, Eltham, London, S.E.9, and mother of
Harold and Arthur, aged 6l.
BRouGH.-On 12th August, 1946, in Burma,
M~jor H. R. Brough, RA.P.C.
The King has been graciously pleased to

confer the " Efficiency Decoration" upon the
following officer of the Territorial Army:Lieut. V. G. Rowe, RA.P.C.
ENGAGEMENT
The engagement is announced between
Leonard, only child of Mrs. A. Beckman, of
North Cray, Kent, and Eileen, only child df the
late Colonel William Albert Britten, O.B.E., and
of Mrs. Caroline Britten, of North Cray, Kent.
BIRTHS
BATEs.-On 9th August, 1946, at Gorlestonon-Sea, to Margaret Rosemary (nee Miles),
wife of Sidney (late R.A.P.C. and South
Staffordshire Regiment), a son (James).
CORBALLY.-On 20th July, 1946, at Southtown, Lympstone, Devon, to Diana (nee
Tudsbery), wife of Major Patrick Corbally,
The Royal Ulster Rifles, Meadow Cottage,
Ebford, Devon-a son (Marcus).
DAvIDsoN.-On 19th June, 1946, at Stella
Maris Maternity Home, Cambridge, to
" Georgie" (nee Hamilton), wife of Captain
H. W. Davidson, RA.P.C., a daughter (Fiona
Georgina).
GOuLD.-On 19th June, 1946, at Hove, to
Mollie (nee Bannister), wife of Captain J. C.
Gould, R.A.P.C., a daughter (stillborn).
RowLANDs.-On the 3rd July, 1946, at
Aberdeen, to Helen, wife of A. Wyn Rowlands
(formerly of O.O.A., Alexandria) a son, Brian
MacLean.
MILLER.-On 27th June, 1946, at The
Ridges Maternity Home, Farnborough, to
Marj:)rie, wife of Major P. M. Miller, R.A.P.C.,
a daughter (Gwelda Elizabeth).
(Continued from page 231)
lead a very healthy life. At close of business

the" pay wallahs" pile into the jeep and down
to the beach for a swim. And what beaches !
A recent article in " S.E.A.C." said" Labuan
is Lamourish "-we couldn't stand the shock
of seeing anything like Dorothy Lamour, but
if the writer meant to convey that the beaches
were the kind you see in South Sea Island
pictures where the coconut groves come down
to the sea, he wasn't far wrong.
Cas hie ring in Borneo is the Field Cashier's
dream. If I tell you we go up rivers in native
boats made from logs, trek over mountains
with pack mules, and march for days on end
across country, you wouldn't believe me, and
we don't! We certainly cover the ground,
British North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, but
we travel de-Iuxe by Sunderland Flying Boatjust the job.
Soon our job will be finished and we shall
say good-bye to this" lovely" island of Labuan ,
but we shall always consider ourselves privileged
to have engraved the words Fide et Fiducia
on the sands of British Borneo.
MARRIAGES
CooKE-MussoN.-On 28th June, 1946, in
London, Commander Godfrey Cooke, R.N.,
son of the late A. G. Cooke and of Mrs. Cooke,
The Dene, Shelford, to Rosemary, younger
daughter of Major-General and Mrs. A.
Ingram Musson, The Manor, Little Chishill,
Cambridgeshire.
GORDoN-MEEK.-On 16th August, 1946, at
St. George's West Church, Edinburgh, by the
Rev. Kenneth Maclennan, William Grieve,
younger son of the late Mr. and Mrs. William
G. Gordon, Ravenscraig, Auchterarder, to
Daphne Maureen, daughter of the late Colonel
T. Alexander Meek, M.C., and of Mrs. Meek,
Fairgreen, Glemsford, Suffolk.
"
238
and this, Sir, js our expert

on Indian cases."

I
I'
THE WEHRMACHT IN ECLIPSE

By CAPTAIN P. J. STEAD, R.A.P.C.
working units and prisoners -of-war was that
the working unit was not under guard, that it
functioned, under British supervision, as a
unit with its own administration, quartering
and transport and that its personnel were
granted the status of disarmed personnel. They
were paid, according to their rank, a monthly
amount known as "Wehrsold "-a kind of
active service pocket money. In First Corps
we also had about a hundred and twenty
hospitals in which military patients were being
treated. It was decided that both patients and
staff, provided they did not f~ll into any of the
" undesirable" security categories, could be
granted disarmed status, and would therefore
require to be paid. The maintenance expenses
of the Hospitals were a charge to the W.ehrmacht, and had therefore to be provided and
accounted for by A.P.LC . .
It was found that the answer to both these
problems, that of finding and supplying funds
for discharge, and that of providing for the pay
of undischarged troops and for the expenses
of the hospitals, could be met by setting up
German equivalents of the British Field Cash
Office. German paymasters were therefore
dispatched to each divisional headquarters,
and, under the supervision of the R.A.P.C.
staff officer, a German cash office was established. Funds were transferred as required
from a central bank account operated at Corps
H.Q. Cash requisitions were sent in once a
month, well in advance of the date on which
money was required, and the system worked
well. Instructions in English and German were
sent to each imprest holder explaining the
whole process. .
The business was not of course completed
when the money was handed over to the
imprest holder. The accounting organisation
was also a matter for British supervision.
It had to be set up from scratch. One of the
divisional staff officers found (while he was
inspecting a camp) a man wh~ had bee.n a
German S.P. 11 during the RUSSian campaigns
and he was pulled in to Corps H.Q . and briefed
in what was required. Round him gre~ up a
miniature Command Pay Office, controllmg the
issue of funds from the central bank account,
with sections for audit of hospital accounts,
unit imp rest accounts, and acquittance rolls.
Out of the statistics and vouchers collected
MONG the factors to be considered by

our higher command in the days of
German capitulation, when the Wehrmacht ceased to he a fighting force, was that of
the disbandment of the German forces. They
were all over the place, these German soldiers
and airmen-some of them still chafing in their
wartime formations and commands, some in
isolated units, lost for want of orders, some
wandering in bands or alone, many in prisonerof-war cages in the liberated countries or on the
Allied lines of communication in Germany
itself. The German Army had to go; but its
departure was governed by the needs of
security first, and of manpower, second.
Once the priorities had been settled, the great
discharge operations began.
British Pay
Services had already been concerned with the
Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe through the
Prisoners-:of-War organization.
Now they
were called upon to organise the finances of the
German Army.
Rhine Army appointed an Assistant Paymaster-in-Chief to each Corps District, to
function as part of the " A" German Staff at
Corps Headquarters. In First Corps it was
found convenient, at the busiest periods, to
work with A.P.LC., as Corps soon christened
him and one staff-captain at Corps H.O. and to
have an R.A.P.C. staff officer, a major or a
captain, at each divisional H.Q. The job was
two-fold.
Funds had to be provided for discharge
payments to be made to the German troops
who were being released to agriculture or
industry. These discharge payments, by the
way, were not on a gratuity basis-they merely
supplied the man with a little money to tide
him over until he reached his place of work.
Other ranks received 40 reichsmarks, and
officers 80 reichsmarks. Getting the funds was
easy enough; it merely meant an order to
the Reichsbank, through Military Government, but getting them to the people who
wanted them, the Disbandment Control Units,
which were all over an area about as bi?" as
England, was another story.
That was one problem. The other arose
from the fact that out of the undischarged part
of the Wehrmacht, working units had been
formed and every individual in these rarties
had to be paid~
The difference between
239

problems. On paper it doesn't look difficl'lt.
Translate the problems into distances, linguistic difficulties, accommodation, transport,
stationery, shortage of staff, liaison with other
Branches of the Corps and Divisional Staffs
and the realities et the situation begin to take
shape. One day there may be a call to attend
the arrival of a trainful of dischargees from the
Russian Zone : another may bring a summons
to see what has gone wrong with the pay
arrangements of a company of German workers
\\- ho are building a bridge across the Rhine.
Pay is as important to a defeated army as it is
to a victorious one. Solicitude for one's familv
is increased rather than diminished in the rank~
of a working unit composed of disarmed
soldiers, and the \\-ork of reconstruction is
held up if men desert or slack through discontent which intelligent administration can
avoid. The transport companies, the men \\-ho
are still busy on the dangerous \\-ork of minelifting, the re ad repair men, the forestry companies and the engineer and signal sections
~ ho are patching up the de ,rastation in the
Ruhr valley and generally getting this part of
Germany fit for civilisation again, are as important to the Allied plan as they are to the
future of their own country. It is the feeling
of those who have had to control and direct the
organisation of the finances of the German
Army in eclipse, that the job was worth doing.
and collated by this office a General State

(German) was compiled, with a 1,527 of
German imprest accounts. To those who
had spent their war years among the British
pay organisation, there was something very
quaint about serious-looking German ex-officers
discussing" Booking," " The General State,"
and other familiar R.A.P.C. phenomena, as if
they had been doing it all their life. All funds
drawn upon were, of course, German funds:
German disarmed personnel have never touched
a penny from British sources.
Discharge procedure went on. The hospitals
were handed over to Military Government for
administration and finance, but though the
work eased in this respect, there came another
major problem. When it was decided to make
life in the working units a more attractive
proposition for the Germans who had to
remain in them, or who elected to do so, Pay
Services were called upon to set up machinery
whereby increased rates of pay came into force,
and family remittances could be sent to the
families of men whose homes were in the
British zone. A German R.P. office came into
being and 27,000 account cards were opened,
more or less overnight. The Reichsbank
arranged to remit money to individual families
on advice from the German Pay Office.
That, briefly, is the way in which Pay
Services in First Corps solved the three major
B.N.A.F. and .M.F.

Re-union
By the kind permission of Lieut.-Colonel
L. E. James, M.e., Regimental Paymaster,
Knightsbridge, a gathering of Paymasters, who
.s erved in B.N.A.F. and C.M.F ., was held in
the Detachment Mess on Friday, 19th July.
Colonel O. P. J. Rooney, O.B.E., Lieut.Colonel G. B. A. Brayden and some 40 others
were present. It is hoped to hold another
" Re-union Supper" at the end of November
or beginning of December and notices of this
second meeting will be sent out to all who have
submitted their addresses for inclusion on the
Register.
The object of this Register, in
addition to sending out notices of these
gatherings, is to enable those officers who
se.rved with the Corps in these theatres to keep
in touch. Will any officer reading this paragraph, who has not registered his name, please
de so? Details should be sent to R. B. T.
Castle, Esq., 5 Chancery Lane, London, W.C. 2.
i0bituarp
litis is I"{J NCO /{- Skekfol1 Slaff ~aiH19 "

240
The Corps were represented at the Victory

Parade in London on 8th June, 1946, by a
detachment of 25 composed of all ranks selected
from different offices at Home.
Those who were privileged to witness the
parade must have been struck by the soldierly
bearing displayed by the detachment during the
march through the London streets.
The undermentioned took part in the parade:
Ex-S.Q.M.S. D . Smith (No . 528) died very

suddenly on the 18th January, 1944.
The deceased transferred from the Gordon
Highlanders to the Army Pay Corps in 1894,
and was on his way out to South Africa \\-hen
the Boer War broke out. He sa\\- service in
Capetown and Victoria, and returned home in
November, 1904.
He was discharged on pensie n in December,
1913. During the Great War he rejoined in
July, 1915, and was gazetted Lieut. and
Quartermaster of the 18th Battalion Royal
Scots. He went to Germany with the Army
of Occu~ aticn, and was demobilized with the
rank of CaItain in November, 1919.
The deceased was 72 years of age.
Unit
Lieut.-Col.
Captain
"
W .O.1
" .2
W.O
S /Sgt.
"
Samuel Holmes Walker (7733259) died at

his home in Derby on 19th August, 1946, aged
72 years.
The deceased enlisted in April, 1918, and
almost immediately transferred tc the R.A.P.e.
After completing 18 years' service he was
discharged in the rank of S.Q.M.S.
"
CpL
"
"
"
"
Pte.
Lieut.-Colonel James Philp Hodge, Liberal

M.P. for Preston, 1922-24, died on July 12th,
aged 67. He ~as born in 1879, son of Archibald
Hodge, of Chester, and was educated at
Chester Cathedral School. After practising as
a chartered accountant he decided to change
his profession, and being called to the Bar by
the Inner Temple in 1917 joined the Northern
Circuit. Before the 1914-18 war he was a
member of the Inns of Court O.T.C. In 1914
he received a commission in the Army Pay
Department and went to France. Later he
served in Salonika and in Egypt, subsequently
being appointed Inspector of Pay Offices with
the rank of lieut.-colonel.
*
'- ... '-.
The Victory Parade
R . C. Thompson, O.B.E.
N. F . Lee
E . F. Stevens
A . Broadbent
R. E. Jones
A . S . Harman
J . Wilson . .
R. Cullen
R. McDermaid
A. C. Power
J . Patterson
J. W. Taylor
..
H. H . Williams . .
D. Hollingworth
F . Horrocks
P. McDade
C. Morrison
Andrews
T . E. Griffiths
G. R. N . Jamieson
P . J . C. Scott
, G. Buckley
S. T. Carter
A. K. Dallimore ..
A. Peeling
33 Bn.
34 Bn.
66 Det.
46 Coy.
39 Bn.
31 Bn.
15 Bn.
33 Bn.
34 Bn.
60 Det.
28 Bn.
44 Bn.
36 Coy.
15 Bn.
35 COY.
35 Coy .
32 CO Y.
43 Coy.
47 Coy.
29 Coy.
41 Bn.
44 Bn.
33 Bn.
45 Bn .
The 76th Detachment, R.A.P.C. (West

Africa) was represented by R.S.M. E. A.
Kyerematen and C.S.M. E. M. Engmann.
Both these \Varrant Officers travelled to
England specially for the Parade. While in
London they visited several of the London Pay
Offices, who were very pleased to be able to
entertain them during their stay in this country.
HOME FOR BLIND CHILDREN

Mr. C. R. Clothier, 158A Braemar Avenue,
Neasden, London, N.W.10, informs us that
the following donations have been received as
a result of his letter which appeared on
page 172 of our last issue.
Staff, R. P., Knightsbridge, 2 10s. Od.
Lieut.-Colonel S. Hands, 1 Os. Od.
Colonel Alfred Fothergill Cooke, C.M.G.,

who died on the 5th May, 1946, joined the
Yorkshire Light Infantry on the 21st January,
1893. Five years later he transferred to the
Army Pay Department, and in January, 1910,
was promoted Major and Staff Paymaster.
During the Great War he became Colonel
and Chief Paymaster, and held this appointment until March, 1920. H e retired in July
of the same year.
Further donations would be gratefully

received by Mr. Clothier at the address given
for onward transmission.
241
A DIVISIONAL FIELD CASHIER

WITH THE XIVth ARMY
divisional representatives were able to visit
forward divisional H.Q.
The Field Cashier landed on the afternoon
of that day with a small amount of money
(Rs. 300,000) in new one rupee notes. Imprest
holders were visited on foot. The money was
carried in Field treasure chests by African
porters. The party consisted of the ~ield
Cashier and batman, an escort of one Mncan
corporal and three private soldiers, and the
three porters. Rivers were crossed in canoes,
and one slept at night at one's base, which was
at Divisional or Brigade H.Q.
Personal kit was limited to 40 lb. and consisted of a mosquito net, a blanket and groundsheet, mess tins, personal arms and a change
of clothing.
From any H.Q. it was possible to speak to
any unit by radio over the small radi.o transmitting sets. This simplified arrangmg rendezvous and preparing money for issue. .
Where the Division was likely to stay In an
area for some time, supplies of cloth, needles,
spades, drugs, etc., were flown in for sale to
the Burmese. The Burmese bought from a
Civil Affairs shop with the money earned for
making airstrips, sale of cano~s, etc.
The Civil Affairs Officer In turn refunded
cash to the Field Cashier, this refund being
credited to the C.A.S. Imprest Account.
This life was pleasanter than anyone could
hope for in any base Pay Office. AI!hough one
was occasionally under fire, partIcularly ?y
night from shelling and mortars, casualtIes
were practically nil. Every r:na~ slept 0!l the
ground with a slit trench at hIS SIde, and It was
a matter of seconds to roll from one's bed into
the trench.
There were many diversions and the most
thrilling was to witness an air strike. If J ap
guns became troublesome, a. squadron of
Vengeance dive-bombers asslg~ed to the
Division, or a squadron of Hurncanes arr:n ed
with cannon and M.G., or a squadron of lIght
bombers, would be ca 11e d up to " prang " a
certain map reference at a given time. The
Vengeances used to flyover at about 4,000 ft.
and then fly back and one at a time turn to
dive. The reassuring explosion that followed
stopped the Nip, although once or twice he
downed an aircraft with A.A. fire.
LTHOUGH it is past history perhaps

the duties of a Field Cashie.r serving with
a Division in the Arakan m the 1943-4
Campaign may be of interest.
The Division was West African and arrived
in the Arakan in the autumn of 1943. Its role
was to travel south from Chittagong in the
direction of Akyab and then to cut across the
three mountain ranges to the valley of the
Kaladan at the village of Daletme. After
entering the valley the Division's objective was
Akyab where the river Kaladan enters the
Bay of Bengal.
The R.E. Field Companies completed a
track some 200 miles long, across the hills
through thick bamboo and along precipitous
paths in some three months. The division
started to move up this track in mid-December
1943. Mter the third day all supplies, ammunition, equipment and money was supplied by
air by parachute dropping.
The Division
moved on foot with some 80 jeeps for reconnaissance purposes, and for drawing three
batteries of 37 Howitzers.
Money and cash were required tOlpay Burmese
Guides and to buy local meat, rice and vegetables and to pay ~oolies who cleared the track
and, later on, airstrips. Money was dropped
by request at given map references on demands
received by signal. The Field Cashier had the
task of flying in the aircraft from the air supply
base and acting as a member of the dropping
crew. The containers of ammunition, supplies,
etc., were dropped by parachute from about
500 feet. Diflerent coloured para~hutes were
used for each type of cargo. A white parachute
with a gold flash was used for money. The
receipt was given by signal and the imprest
account would arrive at C.C.H., Meerut, some
weeks later according to flying conditions.
For the first ten weeks until mid-March,
the Division fought its way down the Kaladan
encounterinp but light opposition in the dense
bamboo. Fighting was on a patrol level and
consisted of laying and springing ambushes.
On about 10th March the leading battalion
emerged into the open valley at a place called
Kyautaw, and the first landing strip was made.
Casualties were then cleared to base hospitals
after having been carried on rafts on the river.
On the first day, Dakotas could land and rear
242
Occasionally bathing in the rive.rs was permitted. Illicit fishing for the pot wIth grenades
was another relaxation.
Another African division had the distinction
of capturing a J aI-anese Field Cashier, or at
least his skeleton in the KabaV\ valley. One
wondered how this Cashier managed his
accounts in view of the fact he had dies,
printing 'inks and paper with which to turn out
new notes as required!
.
This Cashiering interlude came to an end
after some two months, 'When Divisional H.Q.
decided they had sufficient ready money.
Sadly one morning the Cashier entered a
Dakota and took off to return to Rear
Divisional H.Q.
The many friends of ex-S jSgt. G. L. Terry,
especially those who served in Cairo, Exeter,
B.A.O.R., Shrewsbury and Hong Kong will be
interested to hear that his younger son, Lieut.
Frederick C. Terry, R.N., has recently been
awarded the M.B.E. (Military Division).
Lieut. Terry, who is 29 years of age, entered
the Royal Navy as a boy and was commissioned
during the war.
Having served throughout the war on a
destroyer, latterly performing the duties Of
STAMPS
FOR COLLECTORS
VICTORY ISSUES
All Dominions and Colonies sets issued
to date in stock . Crown Colonies complete
at 25 /-.
Prices for Dominions on
application.
CORONATIONS
I
f
All Mint sets in stock. Price list, Id .
KING GEORGE VI
I can supply any current set either
complete or to 1/- value at 2d. in the 1/on face value.
OBSOLETE KING GEORGE VI

A wide selection held and offered on my
price lists.
FOREIGN
As far as Import regulations permit I am
receiving most of the Commemoratives
when issued . French and German War
Issues and U.S.A. Commems. a speciality.
PRICE LISTS
A subscription of 1/- only will bring you
the next 12 copies of m y price list.
M. T. ROWE
S9 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ST.
BRISTOL 1
Tel. Bristol 22 168
British Naval Liaison Officer on Leyte Island,

he has recently returned from the Pacific and
Hong Kong, proceeded to the U.S.A. and is
now back in the U.K. on leave.
His wife is Mayoress of Shrewsbury.
Mr. and Mrs. Terry are now residing In
Leicester.
11"1411'011-<
1-\,,,
:roe ~A.S
R~THE~ GI\OWN ON
"
1'I\,\lATE. S-\l"I.I.WORlI-\Y SIR
(Continuedfrompage 219)
reprisals after it. Kashmir Gate w~s. the scene

of an heroic and epic stand by Bntlsh tro?ps
and all over the city will be found memonals
of incidents which occurred during this tragic
episode. As a punishment for insurrection,
. over a thousand of Delhi's inhabitants were
executed, many of the commercial bazaars a~d
religious buildings were confiscated and laId
waste and once again the seat of government
was removed. Delhi underwent another long
period of obscurity but at the Durbar of 1911,
the capital was returned there from Calcutta.
The eighth city was thus created an.d. now,
known as New Delhi, it stands eqUldlstant
between Shajahanabad and Lal-Ko~. The Viceregal Palace, the Circular CouncIl Chamber,
Connaught Circus and Kingsway. are the
architectural glories of the new CIty. The
Lakshmi N arain Temple, built in 1938 for the
use of Buddhists, Hindus and J ains of all
castes-even the untouchables-may be emblematic of the new spirit abroad in the land.
India is now on the threshold of yet another
chapter of her history. The next few years,
it is certain will see her once more as a great
independen~ and self-governing nation. It
remains to be seen if the rulers of the New
India will seek to establish their capital in
Delhi and if yet a ninth city will ri~e ~p as a
visible monument to the new constltutlOn.
243
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOUR_ TAL
."
NoTes
Command Pay Offices
EASTERN COMMAND
In this issue we bid farewell to Pte. A. D . Smith,
A.T.S ., who was married on 26th July, and IS now
leaving us to settle down to domestic life. She
became the wife of an ex-soldier, Mr. A. Daw, and
we wish them a long and happy married life.
The G.O.C.-in-C. Eastern Command, has
awarded Certificates of Good Service to three
members of this office, Lieut.-Colonel R. S. Ellicott,
Captain W . M. Atherton and S.S.M. E. M. Bullous.
Two members continue to give valuable assistance
to Eastern Command Headquarters Cricket. They
are S.S.M. E. M. Bullous and L jCpl. R. G.
Blackwell.
We were entertained to an outing to Lingfield Races
on 16th August ~ and a good day's sport was enjoyed
by all. Although our idea was to make a few shillings,
needless to say, we returned with our pockets almost
empty.
No. 1 Command School of Instruction in Pay
Duties.-No. 1 Command School of Instruction in
Pay Duties saw important changes during August,
when its Commandant, Major J. R. Williams . and
the Chief Instructor, Captain E. E . Taylor-Smith,
returned to civilian status consequent upon release.
The School owes much to these two officers, whose
boundless energy and enthusiasm for the work of
the School did much to enhance the good name of
the Corps.
They are succeeded by Major F.
McDermott, from London (R.A.S.C.) Regimental
Pay Offi.ce, and Lieut. C. F. Smith from the instructional staff of the R.A.P.C. O .C.T.V ., who
together with S.Q.M.S.s W. G. J. Hart, P. J.
Pyefinch and W. E. Stokes and Sgt. C. A. Varnon
comprise the present staff of the School.
A farewell party was held on the 9th August, when
all the above attended the London Palladium to see
"High Time," adjourning afterwards to the
Athenaeum Restaurant to partake of an excellent
dinner. Also present were Messrs. W . J. Harrison
(former Captain and Chief Instructor), L. Shaw and
R. A . Leggett (former Warrant Officer instructors).
During the past three months, apart from qualifying courses in pay duties held at the School, visits
have ~een paid to Infantry Training Centres, holding
battahons and other selected venues within Eastern
Command, lectures being given to troops on the
" Post-War Code of Pay and Allowances " and to
unit pay clerks on the changeover procedure. London
District was specially catered for, lectures being given
at the Kingsway Theatre to Commanding Officers
and Imprest Holders, with a separate seSSlOn for

troops stationed within the district.
I t is of interest to note that during the past twelve
months 204 Officers and 683 Other Ranks students
have passed through the portals of the School, and
outside lectures to Military and A.T.S. Units have
been attended by 23,900.
NORTHERN COMMAND
Once again we have to report that hardly anything
worthy of note has happened since the last publication of the Journal. It is true that one or two strange
things happened on 1st July, 1946, such as the
closing down of the District Pay Office, East and
West Riding District, and the move of the Northumbrian District Pay Office from Newcastle to
Leeds, but who in the R.A.P.C. wishes to be reminded
of that date. We had great hopes that the Costing
Section would produce a regular cricket eleven, but
changes and losses in staff have doomed all attempts
to get organised. It is unlikely that we will be able
to raise an R.A.P.C. football or hockey team during
the forthcoming season, but will combine with the
Command Headquarters staff.
To date we have said cheerio to S jSgt. Bowran
and Cpl. Ham, who have left u s for civil life, Pte.
Francis now on probation for the A.E.C., and to
Pte. Noakes, who having sampled one Yorkshire
summer, has caught a boat for India. The heartiest
welcome is extended to Ptes. Raine, Freeman and
Custance on joining the Costing Section, and to
Pte. Dalton who has returned to the fold after
sampling the trials and tribulations of civvy street.
Costing Section have once again produced a crop
of promotions and congratulations are due to Sgt.
Allan, Cpl. Starke, L jCpls. Pearson, Freeman and
Raine.
SCOTTISH COMMAND
After six years at 29 Walker Street our office has
moved to 65 Cockburn Street, Edinburgh. It was
not just as simple as that, however, but with the aid
of a score or so Prisoners of War and two heavy
lorries we succeeded in transferring the inevitable
accumulation of vouchers, files, papers and pens and
personal oddments of the staff to our new abode .
Our new premises are not what one would describe
as palatial, but the A.T.S. members of the office
have succeeded in making our accommodation at least
habitable and slowly, as the dust subsides, we are
settling down. Our present office was formerly a
recruiting office and prior to that a shop but we are
244
f:
to get to the head of the" small office" table and still

have hopes of doing so.
happy to report that as the shop has been forgotten

years ago the S.S.M. has . not yet ha~ occasion to
disperse any queues of anxlOUS houseWIves from our
doorstep. We have, however, had a few inquiries
as to how one enlists in the Army.
Since the last issue of the Journal we have bid
good-bye and wished luck to our Assistant Chief
Clerk, S jSgt. E. Wilson, who has accepted a post in
a civilian capacity with the Control ServIce for
Germany and Austria. We have warmly welcomed
his successor, S jSgt. E. Harmer, and hope his stay
with us will prove to be a pleasant one.
In conclusion, we would like to record our
appreciation of the fine J ournal the Corps is now
fort unate enough to possess. Long may it continue!
WESTERN COMMAND
Since writing the last notes for the Journal we
have been moved from Inverdee House into a hut
not far away. Our view now consists of the paraphernalia of the G.E. Work Yard, and is, it must
be confessed, not so attractive as the river on one
side and garden on the other which gladdened our
eyes whilst we were in the former office. As, however,
we have had a rather worse than " typical" Chester
summer, and as opportunities to gaze at the view
have been anything but numerous, we have accepted
our altered lot with comparative equanimity.
Some two months prior to this move we said
good-bye to Brigadier Charlton, who had been
posted to India, and sorry we were to lose him. Our
new chief, Brigadier Brickman, is equally a man after
our own hearts, and the office continues to run as
smoothly and happily under his direction as it did
under that of his predecessor.
On the anniversary of V.E. Day, Brigadier
Brickman realised a long-delayed ambition, and
became the owner of a fine fat pig.
It is no
exaggeration to say that every member of the office
is as interested in the well -being of " Victorine " as
is her rightful owner.
On the 25 th June a farewell dinner was held at
Bollands for Sgt. Stokes, Cpl. Hughes and Mrs.
Kesterton, the two former having resumed their
banking activities, whi lst the latter, who was our
shorthand typist, has left to join her recently
demobbed husband. We were very sorry to say
good-bye to them, and wish them all the best of
luck, and hope they w ill continue to pay us an
occasiona l visit when opportunity offers. In their
places we have Ptes. Carr and L averty, and Miss
Curtis, to all three of whom we extend a warm
welcome.
The slight pessimism regarding the future of our
place on the National Savings roster which was felt
when writing the last notes has proved to be unfounded, and we still lead the field b y a fairl y
comfortable margin. We hope this statement is not
the pride which precedes a fall.
SOUTHERN COMMAND
We have now completed our move to Headquarters,
and are comfortably installed. Some departures and
arrivals have to be recorded. Lieut.-Colonel Howell
is on sick leave and we wish him a speedy recovery
and a pleasant holiday. Captain Briault has gone to
Bournemouth and Mrs. Marchant, our typist, has
now reverted to the comparative leisure of keeping
house. They have our good wishes for the future.
Arrivals are Mesdames Palmer and Fry who joined
the branch as typists, and a warm welcome is
extended to them.
The number of social eve nts has increased since
the last issue . On Monday, 27 th May, the staff
attended a farewell luncheon to Brigadier Orm sbyJohnson, who has left us on retirement.
On Friday, 24th May, 1946, in conjunction with
22 Detachment, we sent a team for a shooting match
with the local Home Guard. Darts, Snooker and so
on were played. We lost, largely owing to the lack of
practi.ce, but hop e that we may improve by the next
occaSlOn.
The Command Knock-out Tennis Tournament
was played here on 22nd July . Ilfracombe supplied
the winning pair after some very good games played
in hot sultry weather.
Cp1. L ye attended the Garden Party at Buckingham
Palace on 6th June, held for the National Savings
Movement, and in this connection we are still trying
District Pay Offices

Hockey.-The Sports' Officer, Lieut. P. Kent
has prospects of a good team for the ensuing season,
and is hard at work preparing fixtures.
Rifle Club.-After a spell of inactivity the Rifle
Club re-commenced with a shoulder-to-shoulder
shoot against the Aldershot Branch of the Hants
Constabulary. A very close match resulted-the
office leading by a small margin to the last detail
when the "Bobbies" brought the final score to a
draw. At the close the senior members of the office
team entertained the visitors in the Sergeants' Mess .
Sergeants' Mess.-Activity in the Mess has been
on the increase of late and several official and
unofficial functions have been held. On 4th July a
tea was given in honour of Lieut.-Colonel and Mrs .
W. H. Thies on the former's retirement from the
Corps. A farewell speech was made by Lieut.-Colonel
J. R. Burne while S.S .M. A. Broadbent thanked
ALDERSHOT AND HANTS DISTRICT (66 DET).

Greetings to all from Aldershot. News from this
centre of military activity is still showing " further
releases" on the headlines. Apart from this fact
we have enjoyed an energetic summer of sport and
work.
Cricket.-The Detachment Cricket eleven has
been prospering during latter weeks and despite the
meagre number of personnel to select from, have
gained surprise victories over the R.A.M.C., A .C.C.
and R.E.M.E. An excellent tean, spirit laid the
foundation of success agai nst these much stronger
units. With several attractive fixtures still remaining
one may say that cricket-mindedness is on a high
level throughout the office. A tower of strength has
been lost from the eleven by the departure of
L jCpl. Muggridge to " civvy street." All the good
wishes of the office go with him.
245
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOUR NAL
l.
Lieut.-Colonel Thies on behalf of the Mess members

for his untiring service as O.C. Mess during the past
few years. All good wishes go with Lieut.-Colonel
and Mrs. Thies in their retirement.
Old friendships were renewed during the Corps'
Cricket Week w hen members were pleased to meet
the familiar personalities of S.S.M.s Bullous and
Briggs and S /Sgt. North. Several jovial evenings
were passed during their stay here.
I t will be of interest to older readers to know that
ex-S.Q.M .S . F. Gatley called here whilst on holiday
and asked to be remembered to all his Corps friends.
with much pleasure by all and may we here wish it

all the very best in the future.
We send greetings also to Lieut.-Colonel K. r. D.
Stewart, O.B.E., and to Major P. E. Matthews who
have "re.cently . left us, . and we wish them "all the
best
m theIr new Jobs. We understand Major
Matthews can now also swear in Polish'
To Lieut.-Colonel Dyer M.B.E., we s'ay " We are
~appy to see yo~ her~, sir, and hope that yo ur stav
In London Dlstnc~ WIll be a long and happy one.;'
Sports and SOCial Club.-Our Sports and Social
Club h~s opened once again and is going strong on
the SOCIal sIde; the sports' side is hampered at the
moment by lack of numbers.
Credit is due. in no small manner to Lieut.Colonel Dye.r, for his great interest and support,
also to Captam Pannell who has worked untiringly to
make the club a success.
T~e Committee also deserve a vote of thanks.
.Bnef.-Congratulations are due to Lieut. W. G.
Vlckers and S /Sgt. Hunt on their recent awards of
the Military Cross and British Empire Medal
respectively, and to Major Simmons on his recent
promotion.
.
We had much pleasure in welcoming RS.M.
Kyerematen and C.S.M. Engmann from the Command Pay Office, Accra, who visited this country
for the Victory Parade as members of the Gold Coast
Contingent.
As the Victory Contingents were
quartered in Kensington Gardens close to the office
we saw quite a lot of these two African soldiers both
of whom e.njoy~d themselves hugely, although ~aking
a rather dim vIew of the weather. We were able to
introduce them to some of the joys of life in the
England of these days, such as queues, watery beer
and so forth . Both of them visited the Sergeants'
Messes at Marylebone Road and Knightsbridge
(we are not accusing them of watery beer, though !)
where they were able to meet several Corps members
who had served in the Accra Office.
C.S.M. E~gmann gave a most interesting lecture
on West Afnca shortly before returning home, w hich
was thoroughly enjoyed b y those who heard it.
I t may be of interest to the older members of the
Corps to hear that Messrs. Charlie Ireland and Jock
Lees are both going strong in this office. We also
h~ve the following J?re-war regulars with u s : Major
Simmonds, Captam Pannell, S.S.M. Kincaid,
S.Q.M.S. Norrell, S.Q.M.S . Simm, Sgt. Mitchener.
EAST ANGLIAN DISTRICT (13 DETACHMENT)

The disbandment 'of the East Central District
Office and the absorption of their remaining staff
(and work) from 1st July has widened the scope of
the East Anglian District Office, and has introduced
new friends from Luton whom we have been glad to
welcome. Some unfortunately have merely spoken .
in passing and have gone their various ways as
ordered, or as chosen. The old order changeth and
so~e . of the familiar faces of the early East Anglian
Dlstnct Office are no longer with us. In particular
the gaps left by the departure of Captain C. F.
Browrte, S /Sgts. Gibson and White will be difficult to
fill, as their efforts to further the corporate doings
of our comparatively small and isolated detachment
far exceeded what could be expected in the actual
course of duty.
Socially the Detachment maintains its standard ,
the monthly dances and other events being appreciated as welcome interludes.
Lieut. A. E. Triggs and L / Cpl. Casey have
bro.u~~t lustre t<? our necessarily restricted sporting
actIVItIes by theIr progress in the Command Lawn
~ennis event~. The other Tennis (the Table variety)
gIves entertaInment to most and our teams are of a
standard that can view challenges from all and sundrv
without apprehension.
E .A.D .P.O. HIGHLAND DISTRICT (63 DETACHMENT)
May we offer our congrats. to the Editor who
m~naged to complete the Summer issue of the Journal
WIthout our small piece, which was omitted. To tell
the truth it was not dispatched .
.The old faithfu.ls are gradually passing from our
mIdst, but we stIll have our pre-war stalwarts in
Major O'Leary, Our Chief, and Mr. Grant, A.A.O.
(Old GeneratIOn), S.S.M. Baptie and S /Sgt. A .
Thomson (New Generation) .
Our sporting activities in Inverness have been
varied during the past months-from football and
~ockey t<? cricket, tennis, golf (we don' t play golf
In the wInt~r, too, too much snow), swimming in
lovely ScottIsh lochs and now grouse shooting. The
Camp Sports' Meeting was the main event of the
season and although we had stiff opposition from
R.~I\.S.C::., R.~ .s, etc., we" scooped" the board. The
<:hlef pnze WInnus for the Corps were S.S.M. Baptie,
:Sgt. McDonald, Ptes. Lee and Wilsdon, and Sgt.
Stewart and Pte. H. Thomson, A.T.S.
~ID-WEST
DISTRICT (26 DETACHMENT)

SInce our last notes were written we, in Shrewsbury, have seen many changes.
Lieut.-Colonel
Bairsto has left us on posting to Salisbury,5 Officers,
9 Other Ranks and 20 A.T.S . have left on release
and five of our civilian staff have been discharged.
As the Editor rightly objects to long lists of names
we refrain from giving them but nevertheless wish
one and all of our" Blithe Spirits" au revoir and the
best of luck .
We have moved our office out of reach of future
floods and are now occupying Rhadley House on
Kingsland.
We are cramped for room but the
pleasant surroundings mitigate our feelings of being
sardines and now that the five hot d ays of the year
have passed are grateful for the warmth engendered
by many bodies in small rooms.
On 20th July, ] 946 we all set off for New Brighton.
The arrangements made by Captain Ratcliff were
excellent. We left Salop about 8-45 a.m. in two
L<?NDON DISTRIC'I.' (8 DETACHMENT)

FIrst of all we would hke to send greetings to all
RA.P.C. Detachments in the U.K. and abroad.
It is a gre~t pl~asure once again to be able to
make ,,?ontact,,In thIS manner instead of resorting to
such
lmks
as A.F.C.348. The Journal is read
246
on 2nd Jul y and trust thev will enJoy their stay in

Nottingham.
Military-Captain H. V. W. Woodman, Lieut.

J. A. Soady, Sgt. J. Patterson , Ptes. I. Fisher,
G. Goldberg, R . Hall , C. Howson, W. H. Hughes,
R Martin and T. W. Tillev.
A. T .S.-Cpl. J. Carr, L jCpl. M. Morrison. Ptes.
B. Snowdon, D. Snowdon, H. Jones, E. Hanna
M. Nicol, A. Braithwaite, J. Beardow, M. Waldie'
M. O'Grady, G. Armour, D Hawkins, A. H all and
J. Perry.
To S.S.M. J . L. James who recently joined us from.
22 Detachment we also offer our congratulations on
his marriage to Miss Hilda Wooliscroft on 31st Jul y.
Farewells.-To the following who are no longer
interested in the intricacies and m ysteries of army
accounting, we say " cheerio" and the best of luck
in civil life : Lieut. G. H. Bridge, S.S.M. G.
Mulford, Sgt. F. Harvey, Cpl. F. Pesani, Ptes. W. H.
Hughes, E. C. Miller and E. Milgate .
To the first named we extend our heartiest congratulations on the award of the G.O.C.-in-C.'s
Certificate for Good Service.
Cricket.-From the small number of military
pe.rsonnel at our disposal :ve recentl y managed to
raIse a moderate team agamst 42 Battalion for an
evening match of 20 overs each.
Having dismissed the opposing team with the
score at 73 we failed to make the " Grade " in the
prescribed number of overs w ith a deficit in the
region of 20 runs, but nevertheless a good game was
enjoyed by all.
Entertainments.-A very successful visit was
p~id b y the Det~chment to Billing Aquadrome,
Northampton. dunng July. A mixed entertainment
was provided including swimming, boating, cricket
and a dmner dance .
buses and in fine weather and our hopes were high.

Before we reached Chester however, it was po.uring
and it continued to blow and rain till about 3 p.m.
We reached New Brighton about 11-1 5 a.m. and
met for a very excellent lunch at the Riverside
Restaurant at 12-30 p.m. After lunch the majority
embarked for a trip on the Mersey, enticed by the
promise-which was fulfilled-of some beer and
some dancing . Then a very good tea for all again
at the Riverside Restaurant followed. We called at
Chester on the return journey before closing time
and again were lucky . Shrewsbury was reached
safely and all should have been tucked in bed b y
midnight after a really good day of it. This was our
first effort at a full d ay's outing and was such a
success that we are hoping to plan another before
the real winter sets in.
NORTHERN IRELAND DISTRICT (3 DET.)
Once more it is time for your scribe to. pen a few
notes for inclusion in the Journal, which all
"regular" personnel of this office are reading with
pleasure , the mention of "old comrades" in the
articles' submitted by other offices being of special
interest.
Since the last issue of the Journal was received,
we have been kept "on our toes" by the Bank
Strike over here, which started on " the 12th " (I
don't think I need mention the month!!) and
finished on the 17th August, 1946. During this
period the usual business of our Cashier, Lieut.
H . Risk , was rudely interrupted and he was kept very
busy by the arrival of Imprest Holders every week
for hard cash. The " filthy lucre," which according
to the popular song hit is " the root of all evil," as
far as the Corps is concerned anyway, was brought
to the Isle of Eternal Sunshine (it never rains, but,
boy, does it pour!!) b y various members of the
District Pay Office, Preston, including Captain
James, Lieuts. Cooper and Robinson and S.S.M.
H. Vincent.
Our Sports activities since last I wrote have been
exactly nil. Staff shortages preclude us from participating in football, etc., but I understand we will
shortly have an influx of Edinburgh personnel, and
I hope that some of their good sportsmen will be
transferred to enable u s to turn out a football team,
at least. The Sports Club have arranged an outing
to Warrenpoint for Sunday, 25th August. If it is
as good as the outing run to the same place by the
Garrison Sergeants' Mess a week earlier "no
complaints" will be the order of the day.
FInally, let me say that any of the following
personnel would certainly be pleased to hear from
" old pals" in the Corps-S.S.M. Warwick, S /Sgts.
Matthews and Miller, Sgts. White, Carroll and
Kennedy: and now, until the next issue, all the
best to all members of the Corps from N.I.D .
HAGGIS
NORTHUMBRIAN DISTRICT (60 DET.)

(Formerly Newcastle)
In the Summer number we greeted you from
Newcastle . In this, alas. we bid yo u farewell as the
District Pay Office, Northumbrian District ceased to
exist as such in Newcastle on 1st July.
All those who passed through the Newcastle Office
will regret the demise of such a pleasant and happy
offi<:e, and those who were left to finally wind up
affairs felt that they were committing an act of
vandalism in being party to such a proceeding.
However, now that it is a fait accompli .we must
reconcile ourselves to a " beautiful memory " which
in Pay Office circles, is a rarity and occurs only onc~
in a lifetime.
The majority of the staff are now sojournin a in
the North Midlands making themselves acquai~ted
with Robin Hood's country.
Captain H. V. W. Woodman and Lieut. J . A. Soadv
find the surroundings in Nottingham rather austere
especially as there are two dry days per week (nQ~
speaking meteorologically ! ! I).
Of the Old School, Messrs. Counsell and Cleary
are also at Nottingham. They have already become
experts in the art of travelling to York with the least
possible delay and discomfort.
The enclosed photograph taken at Newcastle may
be of interest to readers. It is unique in one sense,
as the total of service (Civilian and Military) of the
group aggregates 193 years, consisting of:Lieut.-Colonel Temple, 35 years;
Captain
Woodman, 35 years; Mr. H. A. Counsell, 44 years;
Mr. W. Cleary, 40 yea rs; Mr. B. Shaw, 39 years.
~ORTH MIDLAND DISTRICT (62 DET.)

SInce the publication of the Summer edition of
the Journal we have had a change in command.
On the 1st July Lieut.-Colonel A. G. W.
Broadhurst joined us from 42 Battalion in succession
to Major G . E. Pearson who made a sim.ilar crosscity journey to take over as Second-in-Command of
the office who administer to the needs of the A.T.S.
Arrivals.-We extend a welcome to the following
on posting from District Pay Office at Newcastle
247

" I!l the opinio.n ~! many this presages a move by
higher authonty, but In the mterim we consider
ourselves fortunate in workina in such idvllic
surroundings.
t>
~
Cric.=:ket.-Our hearty congratulations to No. 38
Battahon, Leeds, for their impressive win in the final
of the No~thun:brian D!strict Cricket Cup.
We await their final vIctory against the winners of
the North Midland District for the Northern
Command Cricket Trophy with confidence.
SALISBURY PLAIN DISTRICT (22 DET.)
I.n c<?njunction with the Central Clearing House,
whIch IS now located in the same buildino we have
started a Cricket team and have managed "'to arrange
a .few friendly matches. S /Sgt. North, who keeps
wIcket for the Corps, has offered his services as
coach, and we have great hopes of getting together
a fairly good side.
We have also entered a team in the local soccer
league, but due to the lack of a ground, we shall have
to play all our matches away during the coming
season. In spite of this all are very keen and the'
have visions of a successful season .
.
Major H. E. Worts, M.B.E., has now left us on
po~ting to Exeter, his place as District Paymaster
being takep by Major F. J. Bairsto from Shrewsbury .
Sgt. Rlcketts has been posted to the D.P.O.,
Aldershot, and Cpls. Moran and Goodridge to
Taunton.
Since the last issue of the Journal we have been
joined by Captain Booth, Lieut. Thomas, S /Sgt.
Coles and Ptes. Cazaley and Cox from the now
defunct Oxford Office.
Mr. H. A. Counsell, Mr. W. Cleary, Mr. B. Shaw,

Lt.-Col. B. J. B. Temple, Capt. H. V. W. Woodman
We were sorry to lose Lieut.-Colonel B. J. B.
T~mple so soon but hope that he is once again
enJoYing a Southern Summer among his fruit trees

a nd flowers, etc.
In conclusion, we send best wishes to all those
who served in Gosforth and Fenham Barracks
remembering especially Lieut.-Colonel's E. J. W:
Shand-Tully, A. T. Barnes, and A. J. Rutter.
NORTHUMBRIAN DISTRICT (61 DET.)
(Formerly East and West Riding District)
Considerable changes have taken place in the
constitution of the District Pay Offices, Northern
Command.
The Newcastle Pay Office has disappeared, and
the East and.\Vest Riding District, as such, has also
ceased to eXist.
Until such time as we can find accommodation
with our. J?istrict Headquarters at Darlington, we
are remaining at Allerton Manor Leeds which is
actually in the territory of North 'Midland District.
We have recently said good-bye to Major A. G.
Burdett on posting to Knightsbridge, and to Lieut.
Hughes, Lieut. Bone and S .Q.M.S. Micklethwait to
civil life-our best wishes go with them.
We extend our welcome to Lieut.-Colonel H.
Gough who Was District Paymaster of North Midland
District before his last appointment as A /Regimental
Paymaster at the Regimental Pav Office York so he
will be au fait with our work.'
,
,
We also welcome Lieut. S. Marchant-Williams
ex-Leicest~r Pay Office, and Mr. Crompton, M/
Brown, MISS Gl~son, Sgt. Glass and Ptes. Goodwin,
Lathan and Rame, A.T.S., who joined us from
Newcastle on the disintegration of the Newcastle
Office-the remainder going to our sister office at
Nottingham.
.
We extend our congratulations to Captain R .
Plowman and Capt.ain P. Cammidge on being granted
Regular short service commissions in the Corps, and
to S.Q.M.S. Plnkney on promotion to W .O.I.
Allerton Manor lies off the main roads in extensive
leafy grounds, described on the now dilapidated
" For Sale" notice board as "Pleasure Grounds."
It has housed many units, but we appear to be the
first to tackle the H\!rculean task of restoring the
paths and borders to their former glory.
SOUTH WALES DISTRICT (27 DET.)

Releases have robbed us of our sports teams, and
the clOSing of the Sergeants' Mess. due to ever
falling numbers, has struck us off the visiting li st
of the local darts teams. A week before that sad
event took place the Mess managed to beat a team
from" B " Division, Cardiff City Police.
After years of threat of invasion we, in Wales,
have at last been invaded. There are Poles to the
right of us, Poles to the left of us, and by the time
these notes are printed there will probably be Poles
in front of us-in the form of the Polish Paymaster,
South Wales District and his staff of three.
Savings.-To our intense astonishment, but due
to the great efforts of our Savings ' Officer, Lieut.
Ward, we have received a congratulatory telegram
informing us that we have won the flag for July.
This proves that we have very little on which to
spend our money.
Departures.-The following have left us for
civilian life, and we wish them the best of luck:
Captain D . C. Stokes, Lieuts. J. G. C. Denner and
R. W. L. Price, S /Sgts. (local S.Q.M.S.) Bamford
and Bean, Sgts. Drew and Pitchford, Cpl. Emanuel,
L /Cpl. Fawkes, Ptes. Rixon and Burrows.
Arrivals.-We welcome Lieut. (now Captain)
Nevitt from Shrewsbury, and Sgt. Hallwood from
25 Detachment, Preston.
Our O.C., Major A. E. Bishop, left us on 1st Jul y,
and we welcomed Major H. Finlinson in his stead.
Births.-We offer oU'r congratulations to S.S.M.
Woodthorpe and Sgt. Page on the birth of a son and
daughter respectively.
N.I.M.
248
Regimental Pay Offices

BOURNEMOUTH (28 BATTALION)
Except for the saying of many farewells and a few
welcomes there has been little happening in the
Bournemouth Office worthy of special comment since
the last issue of the Journal. The opening of a
Sergeants' Mess led many to forecast a move of the
office in the near future but up to date no move has
been ordered.
Major W. G. Coli ins has left for the Far East, and
among those who have joined us are Major E. C.
Brewer (as Assistant Regimental Paymaster) and
Captain Briault.
Sergeants' Mess.-Many old friends of Bournemouth will be surprised to note that at last we have
succeeded where others failed, in opening the
Sergeants' Mess, mainly due to the efforts of R.S.M.
Reedman, Royal Fusiliers (our" Q " branch).
Lieut.-Colonel G. S. Bates, our Commanding
Officer, kindly performed the opening ceremony,
supported by senior officers of the battalion.
Our first function was appropriately, an indoor
games tournament against the officers, who swept
the board, particularly at table tennis, Major H. W.
Douse being our chief bogey.
Our old friends, the 6 Bn. Hampshire Home
Guard, challenged us to a small bore shooting match,
which we lost by 1,111 points to 1,180. S.Q.M.S.
Winn was in form, scoring a possible at the reversed
target. Considering the aids used by our opponents
who looked like strap hangers, our performance was
very creditable. The dart games that followed, well !
we can't play darts. We are, at any rate, practising
for the return match, so, look out Dan Vince.
Arrivals.-S.Q.M.S. T. Coleman, S.S.M. J.
Roan and Sgt. Bemrose.
Departures.-S.S .M. J. Morris to a sunny
climate, lucky Jim. S.S.M. R . Bayley has dried his
pen after a long session and we wish you a happy
retirement, Bill.
Sport.-The sporting activities of the battalion
during the summer months have been mainly confined to Cricket, Tennis and Bowls: though there
has been a certain amount of enthusiasm shown for
Golf and Squash Rackets.
Cricket.-The season opened with little prospect
of the high standard of previous years being maintained, as only two of last year's team remained. But
we had a surprise. Ably led by Lieut. K. Baylis, the
team made a Hying start winning two out of the first
three matches and gaining top place in the local
league. However, as was to be expected, " Release"
took its toll, and later on our position was not so
good. The experience and strength of the opposing
teams told. The younger players showed excellent
spirit and enthusiasm, but could hardly be expected
to stand up against some of the" stars."
Since the departure of Lieut. Baylis, the team has
been captained b y L /Cpl. G. Pound. The new
captain was selected to play for the Corps at Didcot
and Aldershot earlier in the season and acquitted
himself right well.
Mention must be made, too, of S /Sgt. North, now
posted to Salisbury-who played a great part in the
team's successes last year b y his brilliant wicketkeeping. He was only able to play one match this
season.
On the 17th August we play a return m atch at
Whitchurch against the District Pay Office. The

elements were all against us when this team visited
Bournemouth earlier in the season, in fact it was a
wash-out.
Golf.-Golf has been indulged in by a few of the
officers, privately, but there have been no competitions owing to lack of numbers . However, there
was one interesting event which took place at the
North Hants Golf Club, Fleet, on 3rd July, when
the Corps played the R.A.S.C. Captain B. Morgan,
represented the office, and halved his match in the
singles. In the foursomes, partnered by Colonel
Hollingsworth, they took their opponents to 15th
hole and went down by 3 and 2.
Football and Hockey.-Efforts are being made
to fi..x up games with several of the local clubs, but
this will be on a friendly basis, as we have not
entered the Bournemouth League for the coming
season. Most of the stalwarts of the past have been
released, but we hope for some good games
nevertheless.
Billiards.-Billiards are as popular as ever and
the four tables reserved for our use at The Central
Billiards Hall have been well patronised on the four
nights a week allocated to us.
Tennis, Squash and Bowls.-The Tennis section
has been badly depleted this season by the release
of all last year's team. Captain Ingle and Lieut.
Townsend went at the beginning of the summer,
and Cpl. Dix and Pte. Lawrence a few weeks later.
Captain Simmonds was also released in June, and
his departure was a great loss. His organising ability
is greatly missed, and one recalls the terrific amount
of hard work he put in to make the Inter-House
tennis matches the success that they were "!ast season.
A doubles pair was entered for the Southern
Command section of the R.A.P.C. championship,
and the Battalion, represented by Lieut. A. A. Hind
and Sgt. V. P. Raggett was beaten in the final at
Salisbury by Ilfracombe Det. after beating Reading
in the semi-final.
A small number of Bowls' enthusiasts have been
making use of the facilities available, i.e., free
admission to any of the Bournemouth rinks, and
they have challenged several of the local players to
friendly games with considerable success.
BRADFORD (41 BATTALION)
Once again our notes must consist largely of
regrets at the departure of old friends. Lieut.-Colonel
R. W. K. Randall, O.B.E., and Captain B. C .
Crowther have our good wishes on their departure
to join the new Anglo-PoIish Office at Witley. Also
gone to the same office are Sgt. F. Branchett, missed
as a live member of the Sergeants' Mess, Pte. Heming,
whose departure was a blow to the Cricket team,
and Pte. Rose.
\;Yhilst individual releases are too numerous to
detail , mention must be made of our late Adjutant,
Captain G. W . Spofforth, remembered by all past
and present Bradfordians as the " leading light" of
military training days. What would he say if he knew
that Dewsbury Camp, which once resounded to the
marching feet of the legions of the 41st, has been
capturec;:l by the squatters? \;Ye have also suffered
irreparable loss by the release of L /Cpl. "Vic"
Jordan whose untiring efforts ensured that however
249

often the layout of Wings and Sections was changed
appropriate lighting arrangements followed suit,
wireless sets always worked , door-bells always rang
and lighting effects in truly professional style always
improved our theatrical efforts in the Canteen
Theatre. We are interested to know that he is
embarking on electrical recording in civil life and
wish every success to his venture.
The pioneer spirit is apparent in our late comrades
and we are interested in the intentions of ex-Cpl.
Muff and L /Cpl. Archer, A.T.S., to embark in the
near future on a Secretarial and T ypewriting Agency
in Bradford. An innovation in the city, we hope
the business will be a big success. .
Rumour follows rumour as to moving to a permanent peace-time location-Canterbury, Barnet,
Catterick, Bovington-who knows? For the first
time, however, I am empowered to deny emphatically
that there is any foundation for the recently expressed
opinion that the office would find a permanent home
in the Leeward Islands! We watch the movements
of other offices and wonder when our turn will come,
and it's rather surprising to find that the general
wish is to enjoy the comradeship of barrack life
rather than remain in the greater comfort and
freedom of " civvy billets."
In spite of a certain amount of pessimism at the
beginning of the season as to the prospects of getting
a decent cricket team together we are encouraged
by the results so far and find ourselves occupying
the leading place in the Bradford Amateur League.
Much of the credit for this achievement must go to
Pte. Stone (Captain), whose infectious enthusiasm
is as useful as his own prowess at batting. Pte. Carter
has acquired fame in both batting and bowling,
whilst Sgt. Lott continues to get the wickets down
in a way that makes it look too easy. Other notables
in the team are Ptes. Ackroyd and Firth, who can be
depended upon to take advantage of every oppor. tunity to lash out for four, Cpl. Savage as wicketkeeper and Sgt. "Geoff" Harper, who will be
missed on his release in the near future.
Is it the inability .to obtain refreshment outside
which makes the Officers.' and Sergeants' Mes,es
increasingly popular week by week? Whatever
it is, the increased popularity in recent months is
encouraging and pleasant. Unfortunately supplies
are the difficulty and it has become necessary
to curtail the numbers of visitors to the Sergeants'
Mess to ensure that the weekly supply lasts out.
S /Sgt. Beanland, A.T.S., and Sgt. Grace Brooksbank,
A.T.S., who always enjoy the good wishes of the
members, were even more popular after a recent
evening when they celebrated birthdays by providing
satisfying "eats" for a goodly crowd of hungry
revellers. A forthcoming attraction is Bertram Mills '
circus to which Mess members are going en masse
prior to a social evening in the Mess. We were
pleased to have a recent visit from ex-S /Sgt. " Dick"
Dyer, and were glad to see that the cares of civilian
life ~ad left his old cheerfulness unimpaired.
We are sorry that redundancy has already caused
us to lose the services and the company of so many
?f our civilian friends and that more will be leaving
m the future. We wish them the best of luck in their
new undertakings and remember with pleasure their
co-operation and comradeship during the war years.
To Mr. Challis who will be remembered by many
of the older readers, and who is at present indisposed, we send our best wishes for a quick return,
whilst any mention of our civilian friends must

conjure up the name of Mr. McNally, who left some
months ago to well-earned retirement. He carries
with him our good wishes. During the past few
years we have been able to congratulate Mr. Turnbull
on promotion to A.A.O. and Mr. Merle, Mr. Challis,
Mr. Percy Wills, Mr. Hambrook and Mr. Brett to
D.C.O.
For the benefit of ex~Bradford readers who wonder
" what the old place is like now," we conclude by
saying that we have evacuated Union Street, Canal
Road, Woods, and all but one floor of Unna Casson's
-Yes! We're getting smaller but the old spirit
still carries on !
C.M.
DROITWICH (48 BATTALION)
Our notes for the Autumn issue are opened with a
reference to Agricultural Assistance to farmers. A
party of some thirty members of this Battalion and
" G " Company A.T.S. have assisted local farmers
at week-ends and during the evenings. Notable
" records" in this sphere are 2t tons of peas, picked
in two evenings, and over 2 tons of potatoes bagged
in two hours during another evening.
Cricket.-Of 9 matches played during July and
August, 5 were won and 4 lost.
An exciting and enjoyable match was arranged
between all ranks of " G " Company A.T.S. and
all ranks 48 Battalion R.A.P.C. for the evening of
15th August.
Our C.O. , Lieut.-Colonel E. G.
Jonas, O.B.E., umpired, assisted by Senior Commander J. H. Stewart, A .T.S., and Major E. C.
Etherington. The umpiring was quite unique.
The ladies batted first and in spite of some terrific
-in more ways than one-fielding, the ladies were
all out for 91 runs. The R.A.P.C. innings was
opened by two "Stayers" and even though they
batted left handed and the umpires appeared to be
on the side of the ladies it was only by a tremendous
piece of umpiring that they were finally run out.
The match continued with some verv hectic
batting and ended b y the ladies appealing against
bad light when R.A.P.C. score was 92.
Notable efforts by the ladies were two superb
overs b y Sub. Buckley, A.T.S., when she clean
bowled two of our men and a wonderful catch b y
L iCp!. Brown, A.T.S.
I t was afterwards suggested that several new rules
be introduced into the game. A return match has
been arranged.
Football.-The Football Club will not participate
in the Worcester and District Amateur League,
mainly because of the uncertainty of fulfilling I~ague
commitments towards the end of the season. However, we are endeavouring to arrange a series of
friendl y matches, and it is hoped that we shall enjoy
a full fixture list and the continued support of our
numerous enthusiastic supporters.
Other Items.-Some very interesting works'
visits have been arranged during the past quarter
and those who attended have all expressed their
appreciation.
Stratford-on-Avon trips had to be
suspended during the Summer.
It is hoped to
recommence these visits during September.
Due to releases and postings it has not been
possible to keep our Dramatic Society going and the
few remaining members have joined forces with a
local Society which enables us to continue to see
some good shows. The first of these combined
efforts was " Quiet Week-end." This show was a
250
leave, releases, etc.) under the able Captaincy of

Pte. Jack Lloyd, the team has played some very good
matches. One of the latter was against Mr. " Gerry "
Roberts' XI, comprised of old colleagues of this
Company which resulted in a three-wicket win for
our side, highlights being extremely good fielding on
both sides, Mr. Roberts valuable 31 and our Pte.
Fred Handley's bowling (of veteran type), 5 for 25.
An equally enjoyable game was against our friends
(now possibly our strongest rivals) from R.P.,
Ilfracombe. We batted first and made a comfortable
score of 155 after losing the first three wickets for
30 runs, Ptes. Syd Beckett and Fred Handley staging
a truly great recovery and so putting us on the way
again. I1fracombe were soon in difficulties, losing
five wickets for 18 runs, but owing to the magnificent
though perhaps unorthodox performance of their
Bob Brice who made 49 not out (and who incidentally
took five of our best wiCkets for 57), the game
finished with a 54-run win for us .
Although, so far the majority of our matches have
resulted in defeat, we have had an extremely enjoyable and interesting season, mainly due to the wholehearted enthusiasm of our many supporters.
Inter Wing rivalry is very strong and Thursday
evenings have been set aside for the battle (still
going on) for the champion wing in a " knock out"
contest.
Our grateful thanks are due to our many willing
helpers at home matches and in particular to Mrs.
M. E. Booth and her Canteen staff who have
provided so many enjoyable teas for the teams and
supporters. We are also indebted to the Sergeants'
Mess for their hospitality in assisting in the entertainment of our guests.
Angling.-Yes, strange as it may seem we in
Exeter even run to an Angling Club.
A few members have had good catches in local
waters but membership is now sadly depleted.
However, we still have sufficient enthusiasts
possessing rods and tackle to accept a challenge from
the Exeter Angling Association.
Soccer.-At the moment the Unit team is in the
making and enthusiasm is already evident. If it is
found possible to raise a strong enough side we
intend to join the Exeter District League so that our
matches will not be limited to "Friendlies" as
hitherto.
Sergeants' Mess.-Membership is still sadly on
the decline, though an odd promotion or two
occasionally brings in a new face, which together
with one or two " joinings," helps to keep the Mess
reasonably strong. Of the 34 members appearing
in the photograph published in the last issue, 10 only
remain-an appreciable decrease during the intervening four months .
Amongst recent Releases were S.S.M. Goldthorpe,
S /Sgts. Dawe and Stewart, Sgts. Guest, Johns and
Kimpton, the latter to Class" B." "Good luc~ ! "
to you all in your new environment-and espe.cIally
to "Charlie" Goldthorpe, for whom a sertes of
" farewells" were so successfully held during the
early part of his release leave (spent locally) as to
warrant a suggestion for monthly deferments to
enable the "farewells" to be continued.
Our best wishes also go to S .Q.M.S. "Bob"
Chellingsworth (to 45 Bn.), S /Sgt. "Ran" Smith
and Sgt. " Ted " Ainscow (to 106 Det.) and to Sgt.
" Jack" Chapman (to Depot) all of whom have left
us since 1st July.
great success and it i~ int~resting to note that part

of the profits-28-1S bemg donated to the ArmyBenevolent Fund.
EDINBURGH (31 BATTALION)
This has been a quarter of important changes.
First Colonel E. C . Overton has left us for Nottingham 'and has been replaced b y Colonel F. Spilsbury,
and although there was widespread genuine regret
at Colonel Overton's departure, we must remember
-le 1'Oi est mort-viv e le roi !
And, of course, the period would not have been
complete without a change of Second-in-Command.
Since the Journal restarted, there has always been
a change of S.P.s 1 in the interval between these
notes being written and their appearance in print, so
Lieut.-Colonel L. I. F. Barton, who replaced Lieut.Colonel Finlinson recently, is now watching the
War Office mail with an apprehensive eye.
The" New Code" and the weather have between
them, somewhat curtailed out-of-office activities so
perhaps the most outstanding event was the farewell
party for Colonel Overton. The singing of the
Warrant Officers Choir, led by S.S.M.s Weatherall
and Shooter and conducted by Lieut. Neville, with
a curious obligato by Captain Townsend, must be
heard to be believed.
A one-day tennis match was played against the
Glasgow Office and we took advantage of playing
on our home ground.
At last we have been forced to give up " Staunch
Buildings" and so "Hawkhill" now has its own
overcrowding problem, although it looks as though
even that will be solved in the near future. How?
Well, it's very much in the" Committee Stage" just
now, so we won't say more.
EL TAWIL
EXETER (32 COMPANY)

Local opinion is firm that the standard of the
Journal is maintained in its second post-war issue
and is second to none among Army periodicals.
Great credit is due, not only to the Editor and his
staff, but also to the local representatives and contributors who have made the Journal so readable.
This Company is accommodated in a Camp on the
outskirts of the City. I believe it is true to say that
it set the "camp fashion" as it moved from its
war-time home soon after V.J. Day last year. Very
few of the military are left on the lodging list, and
so a very definite military atmosphere surrounds the
staff during the performance of its technical duties.
Post-war training has started under Major M. J. P. M.
Corbally, who has been appointed Military Training
Officer.
Arrivals.-Lieut.
A.
H . Matthews
(from
12 C.P.O.), Lieut. D. R. Moffatt (overseas), Lieut.
E. B. T. Jones (No. 4, C.R.U.), Lieut. W. R. Rook
(overseas), Lieut. L. W. Hall (208 O.C.T.U.), Major
O. D. Garratt, M.C. (retirement), Major H . E.
Warts (D.P.O., S.P.), Lieut. F. P. Sims (M.D.U .,
Aldershot), Lieut. C. E . C. Shipton (M.D.U.,
Aldershot), and Captain A. T. Knevett (Leeds).
Departures.-Captain E. M. Sykes to Depot, for
overseas, and Lieut. E. B. T. Jones to Leeds.
Lieuts. R. C. Boddie, P. Caulfield-Browne, L. R.
Church and H. C. Gooding, Capts. W. W. Coleman
and E. J. Robinson for release.
Cricket.-Enthusiasm for cricket has been keen
this season and despite the fact that it has not always
been possible to field our best team (mainly due to
251

A welcome is extended to Sgts. Kirkham and
Spry-Phare from overseas, Sgt. H. R. Hughes from
Class "B" Reserve to S.Q.M:S. Rogerson from
45 Bn. and to S /Sgt. Holl on his return to Exeter.
To S.S.M. Kirke, who arrived on 19th July (from
West Africa) we wish a long and happy stay.
Congratulations to Sgts. Butt, Cobley and Phillips
on their promotion to that rank and to S.Q.M.S.
Tanner on " relinquishment" of his bachelorhood
(all the best of everything to both of you, Bob).
and S /Sgt. Saunders, and we hope that their stay

.with us will prove enjoyable.
Departures.-S /Sgts. Cooper and Galbraith,
Sgt. Frank Thomas, Sgts. Harding, Smith, Arculus ,
Ferguson and Cackett have all been released while
S.S.M. R. Kerry, S /Sgts. Bonnell, Cummins and
Knight, and Sgt. Tolfree have left for overseas.
S /Sgt. Thompson and Sgt. Matthews have been
posted to 106 Det. and L /Sgt. Grimshaw to the staff
of the O.C.T.V.
We offer congratulations to Sgt. Starkey (exP.O.W., Japan) on his marriage on the 29th June.
May he and Mrs. Starkey enjoy a long and happy
tour of duty in the wedded state.
" Come Back."-We have pleasure in welcoming
ex-members to our mess functions and would like
to mention the following unusual item.
Freddie Spicer, one of our" old faithfuls," visited
us on 14th June to watch a darts contest between the
Mess and Bermondsey Motor Cycle Club. As one
of our players was missing, Freddie deputised.
We wanted 117 for the" Leg "-Freddie's 3 darts
registered, treble 19, double 20 and 20- Total 11 7.
Smart work-we must admit!
The reputation of our Mess, both for hospitality
and quality of beer, is second to none, and Tuesdays
and Sundays, being" Ladies' Nights," we extend a
hearty welcome to our ex-members and their families.
This also goes for members of other messes who may
be on leave or passing through the district.
GLASGOW (35 COMPANY)
Once again the time has arrived to send our
greetings far and wide ; to renew the bonds between
comrades, old and new; to reaffirm friendships
made and tested during the years gone by.
There is little need to mention the overwhelming
burden of work which has been the lot of this, and
all other Pay Offices during the last few months.
Scarcely had the impact of the new pay code been
resisted than the growing pressure of the "Corps'
Nightmare "-Main Issue-began to make itself felt .
But under the able and paternal guidance of the
Regimental Paymaster, and the unstinted and wholehearted co-operation of the staff, we have once more
emerged, bruised, but alive. These factors, additional
to the steady trickle of" old hands" through dispersal
centre to civilian life, have combined to reduce
sporting activities to an absolute minimum.
Our able and " go-ahead" Sports Officer, Lieut.
D. Hughes, has left us to resume his duties with the
Midland Bank, and we wish him the best of luck.
One outstanding football match was played
against the permanent staff of a nearby Mental
Institution on 17th July . The result was 4-2, bu t
the defeat was leavened by the kleptomaniacal
tendencies of some of the more manageable inmates
who were allowed on the field as spectators. Play
was suspended several times, when referees' whistle,
corner flags, or the ball, all objects of interest to these
gentlemen, were seen disappearing into the middle
distance.
Bridge Club.-The Bridge Club, which meets at
Yorkhill every Wednesday, held its first competition
on 14th August.
Amongst the playe rs who received prizes at the
end of the evening were a number of beginners for
whom this was their first competition.
The evening proved so successful that the committee hope to arrange seve'ral similar Drives durin g
the coming months .
FOOTS CRAY (34 BATTALION)

The Quarter seems to have passed along remarkably rapidly, and it is a shock to receive the editorial
reminder that notes and news are due.
Here at Foots Cray we have been working under
many difficulties which are hardly comparable with
those experienced at the outset in 1939-40.
Then, the increased work brought a corresponding
increase in staff, much of it, of course, extremely
raw material, but in the main they settled in quickly
and with such enthusiasm that work was a pleasure
and the burden laid upon the shoulders of the regular
pay office staff was considerably eased.
Now, however, the reverse is the case, we have
surmounted the peak of demobilisation, with a
corresponding decrease of our own staff, whilst we
have the aftermath, horrible thought, still to deal
with.
In addition, what with redundancy amongst the
civilian staff, new pay codes, main issue of allowance
books and mechanisation of accounts, our troubles
are, like the old man of the sea, still with us.
We are looking forward, however, to the halcyon
days of peace, when cricket and football are burning
topics of the day, and when one can safely book
seaside " digs " for the missus and kids well beforehand, but, meanwhile, hard work is undoubtedly
the order of the day. "Go to it, slaves-."
Football.-A general meeting held on 28th May
saw the close of a highly successful season for the
Football team .
The meeting was called mainly to decide upon
some form of social event to celebrate the team's
success, and in his opening remarks the Chairman,
Lieut. J. Peter, spoke of the occasion being at once
a happy and an unhappy one. Happy because it was
to discuss the means of celebrating the team's
success and unhappy because so few of the team still
remained with the unit, releases and posting having
deprived it of its principal players.
The report on the season's performance was very
gratifying. In the Woolwich and District League
20 games were played, and all were won. Goals
scored " for" totalled 103 and " against" only 13.
For this performance the team won the Cup and
a set of Medals.
Two Cup competitions were entered. In the
competition for the Woolwich Challenge Cup we
were undefeated and in a finel y contested final
against the R.A.O.C., gained this handsome
trophy w ith a 6-3 victory.
In the competition for the Kent Amateur Cupa much more ambitious venture-the team did
exceedingly well to reach the final where they were
defeated by 5 goals to l.
Sergeants' Mess.-As with all other units our
notes seem to consist of details of departures far in
excess of arrivals, and this time we can only offer
n welcome to two new members, i.e., S.Q.M.S. Breen
252
THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOUR -AL

Two former members, now demobbed, Mr. Dick
and Mr. Eaglesham, were amongst the visitors. The
Club was pleased to welcome them, and is glad to
see that the donning of " civvies " has not meant the
severing of connections.
We regret the loss of Lieut. McAulay, one of the
original members. He was one of the founders of the
Club and one of its most enthusiastic promoters.
Entertainments.-As previously forecast, organised wing outings, by bus have o~ce again proved
immensely popular. Loch Lomond-Side , Glen Devon
and Aberfoyle have echoed to the sound of well
lubricated vocal chords. rendering the evergreen
favourites ad nauseam.
The entire unit is expected to move to Hamilton
Barracks in the near future, and it will be with
considerable regret that we shall leave our premises
in Glasgow, w hich have been our war-time home for
five long years. Many, and diverse will be the
memories of Trinity, St. Andrews and McLellans.
Whatever Hamilton and the future holds in store,
we shall, as always, carry on Fide et Fiducia.
Command.-Colonel Nelson has left us on

posting to Radcliffe, being succeeded by Lieut.Colonel Rutter.
Departures.-Among the several members posted
to other offices we would mention Major Troops
(overseas), Sgts. Ashman, Campbell and Searle
(overseas) and Sgt. Worsdall (Witley). We trust you
are all happy in your new surroundings.
ILFRACOMBE (36 COMPANy)
The Summer Quarter has seen little change in the
composition of the Regimental Office, Ilfracombe,
which is the only remaining unit of a one-time
Garrison containing among other formations ,
17 Company, 19 Company and 26 Company R.A.P .C.
It was with deep regret that we said" good-bye"
to Captain G. H. Smith, Garrison Adjutant and
Administration Officer, in July and to Major S. F.
Terry on their release, and to Sub. Rogers , A.T.S.,
and Lieuts. K. A. Girling and T. Stillwell. They have
all returned to civil appointments and we wish them
the best of good fortune.
Space forbids comment upon all the O .R .s who
have left for Civvy Street but as a token of our goodwill to all and our appreciation of the work they have
done and the spirit they have maintained throughout
all the trials and tribulations in which a Regimenta l
Office is so constantly bathed, we acknowledge with
gratitude the unselfish service rendered by S /Sgt.
J . L. Jeffries, Sgt. J. A. Borrows, Cpl. S. C. Oldfield,
L /Cpl. C. Margrie, A.T.S.
It is hoped that those who are not named will not
think they are forgotten, our goodwill is given to all.
We welcome Captain P. B. Cockburn, Ro yal
Signals, and Lieut. E. M. Hayes on joining the Corps,
and Lieut. B. T . Phillips whose support in the " early
days" was not forgotten .
Mrs. G. Stebbings (T.J.A.) joins the Reading
Office with our good wishes for a comfortable post.
HOLLINWOOD, OLDHAM (49 , COMPANY)

Notes for this issue are short, owing to the loss
of so many of the old staff, coupled with the need
of our normal subscribers to such notes to devote
practiqlly all their attention to " graft" in order to
keep work up to date.
Rumour is strong that this office is shortly closing
down, part of the staff going to the Sidcup Office
and the remainder to the Droitwich Office. If this
rumour materialises it is probable that these notes
will be the last from Hollinwood.
Releases.-Best wishes and good luck to all those
who have been released during these last three
months and we hope everyone of you have got a job.
Arrivals.-Greetings to all arrivals in this last
quarter among whom are S.S.M. Patman and
Sgt. Booth.
"I" Coy. A.T.S. Football Team in the Victory Day Match versus W.R.N.S.
253

Cricket.-I t will make sad reading for the old
timers of Ilfracombe to read that we have had little
success in the Cricket field this season.
The
youngsters are doing their best and are' full of
promise. Wins were recorded against the R.M.
lnstow in June and the Holsworthy C.C. in July.
On 20th July a grand fixture was' played at Exeter.
As usual our only Corps opponents supplied the
fixture of the season, for which we are truly grateful.
It is to be hoped that the return game in September
will provide as much fun-and frolics .
Ex-members will be pleased to read that Sgt.
Kemmett and Pte. Doran are still on parade in
white and, like true stalwarts, keep plugging away
against heavy odds.
Dances.-During the past year, under the expert
guidance of Captain R J. Woods, a very popular
bi-weekly Company dance was held in one of the
mess huts to the music of Glyn Rees and his boys.
Unfortunately owing to expansion of " Release" the
hut had to be taken over for office accommodation
and dancing has, for the time being, ceased. It is
hoped that in the near future this popular function
will re-commence in much more appropriate
accommodation and although we have now lost
Glyn Rees, we still have Syd Jones to carry on the
good work of supplying the necessary music.
A.T.S.-Since our last article" I " Company has
been considerably reduced by the return of P.O.S.B.
to London, but we have been delighted to see S.S.M.
Browne, Sgt. Stevens and others who have managed
to spend part of their leaves with us.
Our numbers have also been sadly depleted by
more "Happy" releases, etc., Sgt. Puis ford and
12 others having gone to B.A.O.R., Sgt. Cook, Pte.
Roberts and Pte. Billson having obtained Class" B "
Releases, but we are glad to have with us still several
members of the original 1/ 14 Warwickshire amongst
whom is Cpl. Adkins whose musical evenings still
go strong and Cpl. J ackson whom we congratulate
on being awarded the Territorial Efficiency Medal.
The highlight of the summer was a Victory Day
Football Match-W.RN.S. v. A .T.S.-watched and
encouraged by large numbers of supporters. They
were enthusiastically coached by S.S.M. Lewis,
R.A.P.C., and others, but unfortunately owing to the
length of time played, Captain H. Shore Barrass
evidently mistaking both teams for the Original
Amaz(ms the W.R.N.S. emerged victorious.
A very successful dance was held at the Cliffe
Hotel recently, when thanks to the hard work of
S/Sgt. Stokes, RA.P.C., Sgts. Taylor and Richardson
R.A.P.C., and the Dance Committee under Cpl.
Carney the evening proved to be very enjoyable.
Since the commencement we have lost Lieut.Colonel Clowes-a tower of strength in batting and
a good change bowler. Demob. has claimed Lieuts.
Hooper and Mortimer-both good all-roundersS /Sgt. Longmore, our captain for several years, and
our genial secretary, Cpl. Northern.
We played our colleagues from Shrewsbury whom
we beat by 128 to 49, Kelly sparkling with 64 and
4 wickets, Longmore getting the rest for 18 runs.
The bowling honours have been shared by L /Cp!.
Smith, Pte. Kelly and S /Sgt. Longmore, the best
batting performances were by Kelly, Lieut. Mortimer,
Pte. Sheveling and Pte. Hewitt. Mention must be
made of the evergreen Cp!. "Paddy" Evans who
can still give a good example to men half his age
at both cricket and hockey.
We had the honour of dual representations in the
two Corps matches against RA.S.C. and A.E.C.Lieut.-Colonel Clowes and L /ep!. Smith being
picked. The latter player took 7 wickets in the
two matches.
We have just heard that Kelly and Smith have
been picked to play for the Corps at Lords.
General Functions.-Being within reasonable
striking distance of Stratford-on-Avon, we have
again been able to arrange several trips to the
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, where the Shakespeare Festival is in full swing. Under the excellent
organisation of L/Cp!. L. Hooper, the Shakespeare
fans amongst us have thoroughly enjoyed three
plays there this year-" Henry V," re As You Like
It" and "The Tempest."
In addition to the
pleasure of seeing these plays under the best possible
conditions, the splendidly smooth catering arrangements of L /Cp!. Hooper have made these trips very
bright spots in our summer entertainment.
At the end of July, our Central Group was able
to have a grand river trip from Stourport-on-Severn
down to a little riverside viUage which rejoices in the
name of Holtfleet. Here again, L jCpl. Hooper was
the organiser-in-chief, and his efforts resulted in an
extremely successful gathering. So successful, that a
repeat performance has been demanded by the
Release Wing, and under the title of "Operation
Joyful ," we intend to sally forth on the evening of
3rd September" cruising down the river."
Lieut. E. G. A. Daniels, our Entertainments'
Officer, has requested that mention be made of the
efforts of the RAP CATS Dance Band (now, alas
defunct) which did much to make the battalion
dances successful. The band also did some stalwart
work in raising over 100 for St. Dunstans a little
while ago, this last charitable work being a sort of
grand finale to a long record.
The news that S /Sgt. Ken Goodhew had been
awarded the B.E.M. in the King's Birthday Honours
came too late for inclusion in our notes for the last
issue of the Journal, but we do, none the less offer
him our congratulations.
KIDDERMINSTER (37 BATTALION)

At the Old Mill by the Stream, we pause for a few
moments during the familiar turmoil of another
Main Issue to take stock of recent activities of
interest to Journal readers.
Since the last issue of the Journal, we have said
good-bye to Lieut.-Colonel Clowes (our second in
command for a considerable time) on his posting to
Reading; also to Captain Cutler our Admin.
Officer, together with Lieuts. Hooper and Mortimer,
now relea8ed .
Cricket.-This season has been greatly hampered
by weather but we have had some very good matches
in spite of the calls of " Civvy Street" which have
gradually weakened the team.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE (29 COMPANY)

29 Company calling-to all Royal Army Pay Corps
at home and overseas greetings and felicitations.
Weather.-Deep depression settling over Release
Wing-further outlook unsettled.
Fresh to strong wind throughout Posting Group,
bright intervals Saturday-Sunday.
Main Issue clearer.
Arrivals and Departures.-Our departures
naturally far exceed arrivals, and are far too numerous
254

------------------------to detail. To our old friends who have left us either
on release or to another station we wish God speed
and pleasant memories of Knightsbridge.
We welcome recent arrivals and it is hoped that
their stay with us will be a happy one.
It is impossible to close this section without
reference to the departlire of our R.P., Lieut.-Colonel
O. P. J. Rooney, O .B.E., to Reading, his stay with us
was short, but" he was a grand man for a'that," we
wish him the very best of lUCK in the future and
welcome his successor Lieut.-Colonel L. E. James,
M.C ., from Reading.
Cricket.-To old Bromptonites our cricket news
will be startling.
Firstly, Saturday and Sunday
matches are being played and secondly only two
matches have been lost.
Most notable performances were : Cpl. Nursaw against the Westminster Garrison
Battalion, 78 retired.
128 for 2 against the Wood Green Labour Club.
(Pte. Beaumont 79 not out. L ICpl. I'anson 48.)
204 for 5 against St. Mary's Hospital.
(Pte.
Beaumont 90. L ICpl. Green 47.)
Finally, against No. 5 M.D .U. in an all day match
at Guildford on 11th August, we won by 116 runs.
Pte. Beaumont got the last batsman with consecutive
balls which gave him an average of 3 runs per wicket
-22 runs for 7 wickets (Wicket Quick the demon
bowler), this effort was supported by Sgt. Reynolds
who got the remaining wickets for 10 runs.
Tenrus.-AIthough tennis is not a 'flourishing
concern quite a number of our members go to
Battersea Park where we are able to hire courts.
Ice Skating.-This is a very popular sport with
our members as shown by last winter's attendance
at the Arosa Rink, Richmond.
This rink has been closed for a short period and
members are "straining at the leash" to use up
their stored energies once again.
Sergeants' Mess.-In these days of bread
rationing we are unable to hold any function, we do
however manage one Mess night each week on
Thursday evening when a good time is invariably
had by all.
" 29" Club.-This Club is open to all members
and ex-members of the Sergeants' Mess of 29
Company, RA.P .C. (both Military and A.T.S .) .
. It is hoped to hold the first Re-union Dinner in
London on Saturday, 12th October.
Most members have been notified by letter, but
will those who have been inadvertently overlooked
please accept this as a cordial invitation to attend
and communicate with S.S.M. Bartlett, 29 Company,
RA.P.C., who will send all necessary details.
In the final we met the Mob and Holding Bn.

R.E.M.E. from Otley, who before the match thought
the,y had a very good chance of winning as their
team included several good batsmen who are at
present playing for teams in the Bradford League
which is semi-professional.
We should have played an all day match on the
Yorkshire County Ground at Headingley , but owing
to the inclement weather we were unable f.oJ play
there, such decision being given at 3-30 on the
afternoon of the match.
Rather than have the game postponed our Captain,
Lieut. Green, with some of our team went to our
home ground and prepared a wicket. Play commenced at 4-20 p.m . and finished at 8-20 p .m. with
a conclusive result in our favour.
Our opponents on winning the toss put us in to
bat. A fine opening stand of 51 between Lieut. Gre'e n
and Sgt. Wall was followed by a collapse. After
a useful 20 runs from S.Q.M.S. Olson and with our
tail batsmen doing their stuff we finished with a
total of III runs .
On commencing their innings our opponents
batted as if they meant to win easily and runs came
at the rate of two a minute. However, with a change
of bowlers S.Q.M.S. Olson broke the partnership
at 47 and after that he was nearly unplayable and
came out with the fine figure of 5 wickets for
24 runs.
The Holding Battalion finished with
62 runs on the board.
We now have to play in the semi-final of the
Command Championship and this game will take
place at Sheffield on 29th August.
Our congratulations are extended to Lieut. Green
on !:"~ing selected to play for the Corps and on his
fine innings of 87 versus the RA.S.C.
Lieut. Green and S.Q.M.S. Olson have also played
for the Northern Command in representative
matches.
Athletics.-A combined team from the 51st and
this Battalion succeeded in winning the East and
West Riding District Championship. Our team was
first in the 100 yards, 220 yards and the Mile, second
in the 440 yards, 880 yards and the long jump,
third in the high jump and were the winners of the
tug-of-war contest.
Cpl. Lambert represented the Battalion in the
Northern Command and Army Championships. We
offer him our congratulations on being a member of
the winning relay team in the latter.
Tennis.-Captain H. Clarke was selected to
represent the North Midland District in the Northern
Command Tennis Championship and was defeated
by the ultimate winner in the semi-final.
Football.-A team has been entered in the Leeds
and District Old Boys League.
Departures.-It was with many regrets on
1st July that we said farewell to our popular Secondin-Command, Lieut.-Colonel J. Moulding, on his
appointment as District Paymaster, Preston. We
wish him the best of luck in his new station.
Arrivals.-One of the old brigade in Major
Stanford recently joined this Battalion and we hope
he will enjoy his stay here.
Several ex-members of the Battalion have recently
called upon us, and we were very pleased to see them
all and hope they will continue to keep in touch with
us.
LEEDS (R.A.O.C.) (38 BATTALION)

At the close of a very successful cricket and
athletic season comes the realisation that notes for
the Autumn issue of the Journal are due.
Cricket.-Although throughout the season the
weather has been very tmkind we have had a successful season with many sporting games. The results
have mainly been in our favour, and at this point it
is felt that due credit must be given to the 41 Bn.
for lowering our colours in one of our very few
defeats.
Our outstanding achievement was to win the
West Riding Sub-District Unit Knockout Championship.
255

LEEDS (R.E.M.E.) (51 BATTALION)
Since the last issue of the Journal we have lost
some of our sta lwarts through release or posting. We
have said good-bye to a number of officers and other
ranks including ' Captain "Alec " Carslaw whose
,u ntiring efforts for the Battalion at Soc~er and
Athletics were well rewarded by the successes
achieved and Captain J . C. G. Howes, our ve ry
energetic Adjutant. S.S.M.s A. E. V. Adams and
E. J. McCrostie have departed, the former, after
26 years' service in the Corps, has taken over the
management of a cafe" somewhere in Wales," and
t he latter has returned to his native Scotland.
S.Q.M.S.s J. J. Rose and G. Yarker have also
left us after rendering yeoman service in Central
and the Q.M. Stores respectively .
Major G. M. Booth has proceeded abroad after
being with us for 2-4- yea rs.
We wish all w ho have left us during the past
three months the best of luck in the future.
Cricket.-Our team this year has not been as
strong as in previo us seaso~s but some keen and
interesting matches have taken place. The wea ther
has not been too kind but eleven matches have been
played of which four have been wo n, two drawn
and five lost.
Pte. Ashworth is our leading batsman with an
average of 20 and L jCpl. Stephenson and Pte.
Ashworth have shared the bowling honours with
11 wickets for 219 runs and 23 wickets for 138 runs
respectively .
We were beaten i;i the first round of the East and
West Riding District Cricket Cup b y 38 Bn. R.A.P.C.
w ho eventually won the Cup. This is particularly
gratifying in view of 51 Bn . winnincr the East and
West Riding District Football Cup i; January 1946.
The Cricket <;up was presented to 38 Bn. by Colonel
H. O. Brownmg, M.C., on behalf of the Sub-District
Commander.
Tennis.-Our tennis teams have been sadly
depleted through "releases" but it is hoped to
stage an office competition very soon.
Lieut. Woods competed in the R.A .P.C. Officers'
Open Singles held at Aldershot on 9th August and
reached the quarter finals, being beaten by Captain
D yer w ho eventually won the trophy.
Athletics.-The athletic season has been a very
successful one. We combined with 38 Bn. to form
an R.A.P .C. (Leeds) team which carried all before
th~m at the East and West Riding District Champion~hlPS held at Leeds on 12th June, winning the
Team Championship, Tug-of-War Championship
and the One-Mile Medley Relay Race.
Further successes were gained at the Northern
Command Championships held at Catterick on
19 June when four of our competitors did extremelv
well. L ZCpl. B. Shenton won the 220 yards and was
second . In the 100 yards and Pte. Hartridge was
second In the one mile race, whilst Pte . J . D. Edwards
(A.T.S .) won the ladies' high jump.
The sam e trio together with Pte. S. Jackson were
chosen to represent the Northern Command in the
Army Championships held at Aldershot on the 3rd
and 4th Jul y and all gave a good account of themselves, L jCpl. Shenton being second 'in the" B "
final of the 220 ya rds and Pte. H artridge being third
in the "A" final of the one mile. Pte. Edwards was
third in the A.T.S. high jump.
In addition to individual events L jCpl. Shenton
an d Pte . Hartridge were members of the Northern
Command winning team in the one mile medley relay

Northern Command were second at thi's
race.
meeting .
. Pte. Hartridge ~as chosen to represent the Army
In the Inter-Services Championships at Aldershot
on the 30t~ July ~hen the A.rmy won the mile relay,
Pte. Hartndge beIng second In the race. Notification
has been recei ved that he may be required to represent the Inter-Services Team for the contest with
the B .A.O.R. at Dusseldorf, on 29th September.
Football.-Preparations for the forthcoming
season are well in hand and one team has been
entered in the Leeds and District Combination
League.
Swimming.-The swimming club is still flouri sh~ng and the weekly" Club Night" at Armley Baths
is well supported. We have a number of beginners
whose keenness to become proficient is being
encouraged b y the instruction given bv the more
experienced members.
Golf.-Congratulations to Major B. Overend on

w inning the" Riley " Cleek at the R.A.P.C. Officers '
Golf Tournament held at Reading in June. He is
leaving us in September on " Release" and our good
wishes go with him.
Entertainments.-The enthusiasm for organised
coach tours and outings has not diminished, the
greatest diff.culty has been the booking of motor
coaches.
Release and N .E. Group went to the Lake District
on 21st July in force, three coaches being filled to
capacity. A most enjoyable day was spent a'm idst the
majestic scenery of the Lake ~. The party had just
started for home w hen rain came but it did not spoil
the trip.
Officers' Club.-The social amenities offered b y
the Officers' Club continue to be enjoyed.
Another Snooker H andicap has been held and
attracted good support from players and spectators.
Some of the entrants developed an uncann y knack
of defeating" h ot favourites." A Tote was run cm
the H andicap and the winner, Lieut. J . K. Gilchrist,
was a "da rk horse," who, backing himself, won
handsomely.
W.O.s and Sergeants' Club.-Activities have
been limited during the past three months and the
blame h as been put on the beer famine.
An open Social Evening was held in Jun e, when we
h ad members of the Officers' Mess and of local
Sergeants' Messes as our guests. L ater in the month
we were entertained at Bradford b y the 4 1 Bn.
to w,h om we were indebted for a most enjo ya ble
evenIng.
A Members' Night was held in July in honour of
S.S.M. E. J. McCrostie and S.Q.M.S. G. Yarker
who have returned to " Civilian Life. "
General.-Congratulations to Lieut.-Colonel C.
T. Brend and Captain H. G. Schofield on their
recent promotion to these ranks. Lieut.-Colond
Brend is one of the remai nin g "veterans" of the
office and succeed s Lieut.- Colonel Biden as ou;
S.P.I.
Captain J. c. G. Howes, S.S.M. A. D. Dickinson,
S.Q.M.S. J. J. Rose and S jSgt. J. Clarke, A.T.S .,
were awarded Certificates of Good Service b y the
G.O.C.-in-C. in June, and we offer them our congratulations on being so honoured.
Soon the winter will be upon us and speculat ion
is rife a" to w here the office will settle in the post-'<va r
256

whole of the United Kingdom , he achieved second
place in both parts of the written and oral examination.
Many old members of the Battalion will be sorry
to hear that our " Far Eastern Station" in Shoreditch, at Clifton Street to be precise, is no longer
inhabited by Group V and it has been handed back
with a full establishment of mice, ants and other wild
animals. It is difficult these days to keep pace with
the movement of Groups, Wings and Sections
between the buildings but at the moment we have,
broadly speaking, Central, the Posting Wings,
Booking, etc., in the Marylebone Area, Clearing
Group and Non-Effective in Classic House, Old
Street and Release Group are still preserving our
link with Finsbury Circus in the P .O. Building. The
many moves were not without incident and the staff
of Posting Wing 2 nearly spent a night with their
binders in a reluctant truck in the middle of Great
Portland Street!
Social and sporting events are still few and far
between owing to the location of the buildings and
the, difficulty in obtaining a hall somewhere between
N.W.l, E.C.l, and E.C .2 ! The Officers' Dance at
the Victoria Hall on 30th May was a great success
and it is hoped it will be repeated in the Autumn.
Many old friends visit us, particularly on Friday
evenings in the Officers' and Sergeants' l\1esses
which are now located at 129-137 Marylebone Road.
Our one bright spot on the Sports Front is our
Tennis team. This season the Battalion have been
lucky enough to secure the services of Mr. H. E.
Skeet, the well-known All-England Club, Wimbledon , Dulwich and Surrey County Coach. The results
of his coaching have very quickly materialised, the
Doubles representatives from this office in the Corps'
North and South Championship having reached the
semi-finals, which are being played at Aldershot on
9th August.
In the Army Championships at Aldershot Captain
S. E. D yer , our Tennis Officer, entered for the
Singles and was successful until meeting the eventual
winner, Captain F. J. Piercey, A.D.C. It is noted
that though beaten b y Captain Piercey he obtained
the best score against him in this tournament, for
even the previous holder of the title Captain Bocquet,
East Surreys, only managed to win four games in
the finals.
A match has been arranged against Hazlewood,
L.T.C., Winchmore Hill on 12th August.
Victory Day Parade.-We were represented by
Captain N. F. Lee, S jSgt. McDearmid and Pte.
Gallimore.
Found.-A credit slip to the account of the
District Paymaster with the Woolwich Branch of the
Capital and Counties Bank for the sum of 85 I s. 9d.
dated 28th February, 1884. Surely the last word in
" No Trace" items, or can any other office beat this
record.
Errata.-My apologies are due to Captain L. V.
Carter, M.B.E., for an error in the Summer Number,
when I referred to his award in the New Year's
Honours List which should have read M.B.E.
We congratulate Sgt. C. Simons, " D " Company,
A.T.S., on being awarded the British Empire Medal,
and were very pleased to see that the following A.T.S.
personnel had received G .O.C.s Certificates of Good
Service, in the recent Birthday Honours List.
C.S.M. N. Beecham, " B " Company, C.S.M.
O. E. Smith, "L" Company, C.S.l\1. E. Major,
planning of the Corps. Some members of the office

staff are hoping that the " Squatters" will beat u s
to it in tenanting certain place~.
In conclusion mention must be made of the A .T .S .
who have done such a grand and cheerful job for u s.
Very few of the" Old Brigade" are now left and
Junior Commander A. Hurburgh sends her best
wishes to all those who served in this office. F.W.G.
LEICESTER (L.A.A.) (50 BATTALION)
These will be the last notes from the L.A.A. Pay
Office, Leicester, and b y the time they appear in
print, we, and the H.A.A. Office w ill have amalgamated and become one entity. This is really
re-marriage after having been divorced for five years
and your many readers w ill remember it was in 1941
the original C.D. and A.A. Pay Office Royal Artillery
was split into four separate offices of which, two
(L.A.A. and H .A .A.) have remained in Leicester
until the present time . The anticipated move to
Salisbury Plain of these two offices was cancelled in
June last and as our tenure in Leicester is now of a
temporary nature, there is much speculation and
cogitation as to which town is to have the honour now
taken away from Salisbury Plain. Although the call
of " Release" has died down a bit, we continue to
say good-bye to old friends and colleagues and our
ranks are now considerably thinned .
The weather has been anything but summerlike
and not at all kind to our tennis enthusiasts, but
they continue at every possible opportunity to get
as much out of the game as they possibly can. The
new combined L.A.A. and H .A.A. Office will be
commanded b y Lieut.-Colonel E. F. Cox as Regimental P aymaster with Major F. V. Mundy, M.B.E.,
as second-in-command.
'
LONDON (R.A.S.C. OFFICE)
(33 BATTALION)
The chief news from 33 Battalion is still of
departures to the" peace and quiet" of civilian life.
Our Adjutant and his assistant, Captain A. Hutchin
and Lieut. H. T. Fishenden very appropriately
chose 4th July (Independence Day) to leave the
hurly burly and bustle of Central Administration.
Captain N. F. Lee, who joined us from C.M.F., h as
been appointed Adjutant. Major N. H . Leighton
finally forsook us in July for his foreign stamps and
now that Lieut. L. Cantor has gone, who knows
where we will find those" certainties." We were also
very sorry to lose Major McDermott but must
c<:mgratulate him on his appointment as Commandant
No. 1 Command School of Instruction in Pay Duties.
This office has always been proud of the fact that
we had a complete A.T.S . Group attached to the
Battalion, but unfortunately we have lost Senior
C?mmander E . D . W. Spedding to the A .T .S.
Signals School and No. 2 London District Group
h~s now been amalgamated with No. 4 London Distnct Group. We are very pleased to welcome Chief
Commander E. O'Leary as Commander of the new
Group and as we hear that the latter Group covers
the Footscray Office, they are still m embers of the
family, so to speak, and we feel sure that it will be
a happy arrangement.
Mr. C. P. Wilson, Departmental Civilian Officer,
~ho joined u s from Footscray in September 1944,
I S to be cong ratulated on his outstanding success in
the Reconstruction Examination for Junior Executive
Officers. Although this examination was open to the
257

--------------------------" M " Company, S /Sgt. G. Humphries, "D"
Company, S /Sgt. L. C . Mackie, "L" Compan y,
and Sgt. I. B . Dav ies, "L" Company .
Engagement.--Congratulations to Sgt. Woollerson, A.T.S., of "L" Company , now on Release
leave and Captain Dyer, R.A.P.C ., on their engagement which took place on 2nd July.
We all wish them every happiness in their future
life together.
In Hospital.--W/202598 L /Cpl. Camp, who has
been in hospital for the past eleven months and is
now in Eversfield Chest Hospital Annexe,
St. Leonards-on-Sea, .has written a letter to her
Company Commander requesting that her thanks
and appreciation be passed on to her many friends
and colleagues in this Group, also to the Wing Officer
and Staff of Acquittance Roll Wing, R.A.P.C., for
their kindness to her, and for the flowers, books, etc.,
that she has received.
Hehir, Morrell and Poulton ; W.O.s 2 Williams

Lowther, Loughe and Howick;
S /Sgts. Baxter;
Brown, Corke, Husler, Kennedy, Limb, Rigden
and T aylor.
" Bill" Rapple has recently departed on a pleasant
Summer Tour of the country with the Army
Demonstration Column, (sack cloth and ashes are
now being worn by one of our Central typists !) and
" Les" Morrell leaves us for Oldham on the
20th August, after a long reign as Chief Clerk. We
have recently w elcomed back Sgt. "Bob" Connaughton who departed as W .0.2 on release, but
found Civvy Life not all that it is cracked up to bethe pluck of the Irish! S.Q.M.S . (Gordon) Williams
is shortly departing for a sunnier clime-w e wish
him Bon Voyage.
Social Activities.-Of these, not a great deal
may be said at present, as with Releases, Sewlrom
and Renleave taking many of our leading lights
either permanently, or for long periods at a time ,
and full advantage of the summer evenings being
taken, we cannot get down to organised entertainment
on a big scale, though Sec.-Lieut. P . D. Arrowsmith,
our Entertainments Offi.cer, seems always to wear a
frown.
However, the various Companies manage to
arrange their own occasional outings, which are
always very popular and well attended.
H.Q.
Company recently enjoyed an evening coach tour
of the Derbyshire Hills, which would have been the
more pleasant had the weather been brighter.
No. 1 Posting Wing decided to go nautical, and
betook themselves off, "cruising down the river."
I understand that on arrival of the boat at the landing
place, the stalwarts of the wing were lead ashore by
means of Commando tactics under the able leadership
of Major W. B. Tatlow. There is rumour of a
Company outing on a grand scale to the delights of
Belle Vue, Manchester, in the near future-this
should surely produce 'some excellent news for the
next issue. Clearing Wing also embarked on a river
trip to Radcliffe-on-Trent but were most disappointed to find on arrival, that all the " locals"
were closed-but in spite of this calamity, it proved'
to be a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
42 Club.-In April of this year the" 42" Club
(then simply the "Dramatic Society") presented
" Flare Path." The producer, cast and" backroom
boys" must be heartily congratulated on excellent
production.
It would be difficult to single out
individuals for special mention-all concerned did a
very fine job.
.
Captain Cyril Lanxon has now been released, and
whilst he is no doubt carrying on the good work
around "Lands End," his duties of Business
Manager and General Factotum are being capabl y
dealt with by Lieut. E. H. H. Jones. S.S.M. Poulton
is still with us, and is once again struggling with an
American accent for the current production. We
hope to follow up with "Blithe Spirit" to be
produced by Lieut. F. Bestwick (Oldham, please
note)-and another play (as yet undecided) with a
revue to close the year.
S.Q.M.S. George Howick is straining at the leash
for a chance to " get cracking" on some really good
" effects "-and though we have not yet satisfied his
appetite for the" weird and wonderful" we hope to
do so in due course.
Table Tennis.-The loss of Lieut. Noakes and
Sgt. Warshawsky has been a severe blow to our
NOTTINGHAM (44 BATTALION)

The calm serenity of this office, hitherto undisturbed except for the internal flap to secure a top
place in the list of office efficiency, was rudely
shattered in May last when we received instructions
to move, lock, stock and barrel, to the sunny South.
The news was received with very mixed feelings, as
after six years at this station valuable contacts had
been made; very much so (judging b y the tearstained faces of the A.T.S. and the look of "a
hopeless dawn " on the faces of the heroes of the
Battalion) for to most of us, Nottingham had proved
a very pleasant place, and a home from home.
However, a gradual feeling of excitement began
to be evident as preparations for the move were put
into operation. Prisoners of war on fatigue duties ;
huge lorries rolling up empty and departing loaded
to the plimsoll line, the unearthing of long forgotten
treasures, and glowing accounts of the new location
all tended to mitigate the initial despondency. The
younger generation had visions of fresh fields to
conquer, and the older hands were thrilled b y
reports of unrationed beer! Alas! for the well-laid
plans of mice and men! With four hundred tons of
stores, etc., out of the way, the move was cancelled,
and for a hectic fortnight we were in the throes of a
" Move in Reverse."
The ~xcitement has now died down ; though there
are whispers-whispers-and more whispers.
M y notes so far, have not made any reference to
the pre-war Regulars-of whom at one time we
w ere considered by other offices to have had more
than our fair share. We regret the move of Colonel
F. Spilsb~ry ~o the rugged scenery of Scotland, and
welcome 10 hIS place Lieut.-Colonel E. C. Overton.
Major G . E. Pearson has stepped into Second-in
Command vice Lieut.-Colonel A. G. W. Broadhurst,
who departed for the local D.P. Office. He took
;;it~ h~ his '.' system" together with copies of his
wIres.
Major F . G. Holt walks about breathing
fire and vengeance on all who stand in the way of his
Releases, and Captain R . Mackreth, our Technical
expert, expounds at length on the marvels of the
n~w . Pay Code.
Captain F. Cottam upholds the
~iIgmty of the Non-Effectives, and Captain L. Tripp
IS now wrestling with the intricacies of Admin .
(He visibly wilts if he hears the word "Move "
men!ioned.)
Lieut. G . R. Spence, of Specialist
SectIOn, takes a dim view of the A.T.S. serving
abroad (we can't think why !) Our W.O.s 1 are
258

Sgt. Byrne another member of the Concert Party,
was posted to the PolIsh Re-settlement 'Unit and
Release Wing is much quieter these days .
Of the A.T.S. members of this office I am afraid
I have not much new s. M y source of information,
Sub. Rhodes, left us for service overseas and a new
Welfare Officer has not been appointed.
Sub.
Donnel!y is still with us and has been joined b y
Subs. Pollard and Thomas from O.C.T.U.
I do not know many of the A.T.S. w ho have been
released during the past quarter, but to mention a
few names I can recall Sgts. Robb and Dawber,
Pte. Downes, the telephonist in Majestic, L /Cpls.
Dewhurst and Geddes, of India Wing.
Pte. Hessian has been showing her paces at the
Western Command SP9rtS where she won the
89 yards' event and at the Inter-Command Sports in
Aldershot she came in second to win a Bronze Medal.
Entertainments have been confined to an evening
outing to Blackpool and the Opera House, organised
by Lieut. Watkinson, and a Sunday trip to Windermere and Morecambe under the guidance of Sgt.
Cartwright and Pte. Kenyon . Both trips were well
attended and I understand greatly appreciated and
enjoyed by all who partook in them.
In my previous notes I omitted to mention that
Paddy Nolan (ex-R.A.P.C. of many years) is employed in this office as a civilian clerk and he wishes
to be remembered to all his friends.
F .A.A.A.
team. We hope however, to re-foster the enthusiasm

of former days, during the coming winter months.
Rifle Shooting.-The departure of Captain
Lanxon, Lieut. Neale and Pte. Baxter for civvy
street, has again made quite a hole in our team.
Lieut. Neale's position as Officer-in-Command Rifle
Club has been taken over by Sec.-Lieut. P. D.
Arrowsmith, who has great hopes of carrying on the
good work in the forthcoming season. Mention must,
however, be made of one member of the team , who
has put up a remarkably good show-Sgt. Ivy Lav is
(A.T.S.) who, in a sport not usually familiar with her
sex, has literally taken the " Bull" by the dozen!
And that is about all for the present-you will be
hearing more from us in the next issue of the Journal.
J.V.P.
PRESTON (43 COMPANY)
On 31st May Lieut.-Colonel C. G.Moore from
Scottish Command reported to this office in his new
capacity of Regimental Paymaster, and L ieut.Colonel R. S. H. Townshend was in turn po,ncd to
the District Pay Qffice here in Derby Street. To
each of them we wish Good Luck in their new
appointments.
The past three months has seen many changes in
staff, particularly as regards the officers and civilians.
Amongst the officers Lieuts. Briggs, Brown, Leach,
Manby, Howell, C. J. Price, Beedell, Lawrenson and
Large have left us for civvy street and it is hoped that
civv.y street came up to their expectations.
Captain Titchener, Lieut. Sherlock and Lieut.
Humphrey have left us for the Depot and Overseas
and Lieuts. Watkinson and Frere have been posted
to Army Pay Office, Manchester. Captain Lee and
Sec.-Lieut. Smith have left for Droitwich, Lieut.
Brookes to Radcliffe and Lieuts. Davies and Perkins
to Oldham.
Our offi.cer intake this quarter has been very small
compared with our losses. Lieut. Ellis has rejoined
us from B.A.O.R. and Sec.-Lieut. Perkins from the
O.C.T.U. Lieut. Renton (ex-R.A.) has transferred
to the Corps and is settling down in the Machine
Posting Wing.
Congratulations are due to Captain Pilkington on
the regrant of temporary rank and to Lieut. Castellain
who received a G .O.C.s Certificate of Good Service.
Amongst the other ranks we congratulate Sgts.
Talbot, Burns, Ramsdale and Tregellis, Cpls. Bolton,
Harrison, Fairclough, Molyneux, Billington and
Perrin on their promotion to respective ranks. Sgt.
Ramsdale in R.P. Central lives in a constant state of
dread wondering how long he will retain his third
stripe. The ever diminishing entitlement of N.C.O .s
etc. within establishment is the cause of his anxiety .
Amongst the releases we have seen the departurc
of S.Q.M.S. Plant, S /Sgt. Bury, Sgts. R awstron ,
Yarnell, Lyon and Swarbrick and of the junior ranks
maybe L /Cpl. Marsden of M.I. Room and Stationery
Stores will be most well known. We wish them all
a prosperous return to civil life.
S /Sgt. Leach obtained a cross posting to A.P.O.,
Manchester, and S /Sgt. Alton who replaced him,
returned to the office in which he commenced
probation in 1920.
S.Q.M.S. Bull, who joined us from O.C.T.U. on
June 28, found that the life of an A .O.4 on a Machine
Posting Wing was no picnic. However , he has been
~elected to attend a course on M achine Accounting
10 the near future and no doubt his experience as an
A .O.4 w ill serve a useful purpose.
RADCLIFFE (44 BATTALION)

The first two post-war issues of the Journal have
now appeared and once again it becomes necessary
to prepare notes for the Auturrm issue. . .
We .::ongratulate the producer on the quality,
type and photography of the two previous issues and
for the co-ordination of the various notes fro~ all
stations at home and abroad which has enabled those
who are interested to see "Who's Who" and
" What's What" with the Corps.
And now for Radcliffe notes.
Firstly, therefore, a humble apology to Major E . O.
Cooper, M.B.E., Captains T. Thomson, Pat
Thornton, T. Aylin, whose names were inadvertently
omitted from the list of old " regulars " still serving
with this Battalion.
Since the last issue of the Journal, Colonel S. F.
Barratt, M.C., has departed for London and we have
welcomed Colonel G. W. Nelson.
Almost irnrn.e diately following his departure,
Colonel Barratt was struck with a severe illness
necessitating an irn;nediate operation and these notes
will convey to him the sincere gratification of all
ranks on receiving the news of his being on the road
to recovery.
Our friends in other stations who at some time
of their war service were on duty at " Stalag 44 "
will be pleased to learn that Captains A. W. P.
Henfrey , E. W. Coe, L. T. G. Jefferson, P. W. Davies ,
A. Musto, G. C. Kellet, C. Hutchence, A. Durand,
J. J. Morris, A. Wakefield, A. J. Rutland, J. E.
Smellie, S. A. Leathers, W. A . Kemp, G. Cowan,
A. B. Pickering, and C .A . L. Holden, are still with
us whilst amongst the " Elders" of our LieutenaRts
we number Lieuts. L. C . Sweeney, C. B. Cann,
F. C. Donner, J. Gallienne, J. M. Martin, H. Allan,
Subalterns Leach and Vose. For the benefit of many
who may feel the omission, we are only mentioning
those who have done " fi ve" years on the stretch!
Entertainments and Social.-The Sergeants'
259

An informal party in the Officers' Mess bade farewell
Mess recently decided it was high time to relieve

the monotony of the everyday run of events. A
" ramsammy" evening was arranged whereby a
" flutter" here and a " flutter" there became the
highlight of the evening. Under the management of
S.Q.M.S. H. Adams and S.Q.M.S. J. Lindsay, the
18th July was fixed as the date and about 50 members
and guests were present, and, this being made the
occasion of introducing the new O.C., to the
Sergeants' Mess, Colonel G. W. Nelson, was the
honoured guest of the evening.
A.T.S.-Mention must be made here of the excellent co-operation in all phases of service life that
has been rendered by our" female soldiers." Whether
in the sphere of sport, drama, football, cricket,
entertainment and /or "-work" we admit and
acknowledge with sincere thanks the excellent
co-operative spirit that has guided one and all of the
members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
Our congratulations are extended in particular to
Vv /325706 Pte. N. Taylor, who was recently awarded
the Certificate of Good Service as a reward for
gallantry and specially commendable conduct. Pte.
Taylor worked untiringly in rendering first-aid at
the recent Bolton F.C. Athletic Ground disaster,
when so many people lost their lives and so many
more were injured .
.
Correspondence.-A very informative and interesting letter has been received from Sgt. Tommy
Waine now serving in Meerut, and previously a
notable member of our famous" Pen Nibs" Concert
Party. We understand that Tommy is getting ready
to " do his stuff" in India when the pressure of duty
permits and the Monsoon clears up . He will be
pleased to learn that the" Pen Nibs" of which only
four members remained, before becoming defunct
after six years of excellent service, gave their" swan
song" at the Southport Casino on Wednesday,
24th July, the proceeds being in aid of the S.S. and
A.F.A., Lancs . County.
Will all past members of 44 Bn. please note that
"Off Parade," our souvenir brochure containing
photographs and informative details of all of the
social and "other than work" activities of "the
Mill" is really a masterpiece of production. There
are a few copies still available at 2/6 per copy and
applications should be forwarded as early as possible.
An Apology.-In our Spring issue, under the
impression that we were letting a friend overseas
know that in spirit he was still with us, we reported
the receipt of a letter from Major C. G. Mockler,
now serving in Khartoum, and we stated that he had
reported that he had had an excellent journey, etc.
We desire to apologise to Major Mockler for any
distress or inconvenience that our notes conveyed or
implied and we acknowledge that, in fact, his letter
had not given the impression conveyed and was not
written either to the compiler of the notes for the
Spring issue or for publication therein.
P.T.60
to the departing members. The best wishes of all

who knew them at Reading go with Colonel James to
London and Lieut.-Colonel Shand-Tully to Ceylon.
To their successors a very warm welcome is
extended on behalf of the office staff, together with
the hope that their stay with us may be long and
enjoyable.
Other old friends continue to leave us for varying

reasons and amongst the latest departures are Captain
W. H. Brown (to Durban), Captain G. Home and
Lieut. J. Cotterill (to B.A.O.R.), Captain D. Moore
(to Salisbury), and Captains Hooton and Couch and
Lieut. Light (to Release). We wish them good luck
in their new spheres.
New faces welcomed to the office are Major Cubitt
and Lieut. Temple.
Of the civilians many will remember Mr. Jack
" Taz " Yates, one of the old brigade, who passed
away on the 7th March, 1946. He began his Pay
Office career in August 1919 at Warwick and joined
this office from Ilfracombe on promotion to D.C.O.
in March 1944.
D.C.O. J. Van Tromp, a pre-war member of the
office , is still with us.
Midst all the excitement of new Pay Codes, Main
Issue, rumours of a move-and all the etceteras-we
still manage to find time for a little relaxation and
cricket has not been entirely forgotten. Two matches
-home and away-were played against the Whitchurch Office resulting in a draw at Whitchurch,
where rain stopped play, and a fairly easy win at
Reading.
Phew! ! !! Wait till I meet that Newshound ! ! !
cc Locum"
Cricket.-A remarkable match was played on
22nd July between Posting Wings and Clearing
Group. The occasion was the semi-final of the
Battalion Knockout Competition.
The Posting Wings batted first and were all out
for 53 in their final over (18 overs each side). Clearing
Group's only two bowlers (one of them the Battalion
wicket-keeper) bowled unchanged and would have
had even better analysis if catches had not been
dropped .
Clearing Group's opening batsmen walked to the
wicket with great confidence-one of them even
wearing batting-gloves-but in ten minutes 6 wickets
had fallen for no runs. A roar of applause greeted
the opening score which was a bye, but the resultant
change of ends appeared to unnerve the batsmen who
were soon replaced. A good stand followed, no less
than 3 runs being added before the ninth wicket
fell. No further runs were scored, the final total
being 4 runs (including the bye).
One's chief recollection of the game is the monotonous clicking sound of falling wickets and the
frantic scramble of the next-but-one man in to get
his pads on in time for his lightning visit to the
crease.
It is perhaps comforting to see recorded in
" Wisden " that two Boy Scout teams once played a
match in which neither side scored a single run!
A. R. de H :M.
READING (45 BATTALION)

In the absence of the regular Office Newshound
on a spot of " Sewirom " I hope I may be excused
for not making a lengthy contribution out of the
scrappy notes he left behind for my edification.
Foremost in the news I have to record two changes
in the directing staff-Colonel L. E. James, M.C.,
and Lieut.-Colonel Shand-Tully have left us and
have been succeeded by Colonel O. P. J. Rooney,
O.B.E., and Lieut.-Colonel J. N. Clowes respectively.
SHREWSBURY (46 COMPANY)

Cricket.-The company team has enjoyed much
local success, having held the record of being practically undefeated throughout the season.
A
weakened team, however, travelled to Kidderminster
260

Although no records were broken, the afternoon
provided a pleasant change with a good display of
athletics. The amusing features were the obstacle
race (the winner of which is reported to have
mortgaged his next two issues of soap coupons to
remove grease and distemper from himself), and a
scratch tug-of-war between the Officers' and
Sergeants' Mess.
In early July we were visited for a fortnight b y
fifteen Polish Officers, to whom was imparted the
m ysteries of the Pay Corps and its work. We hope
their efforts to assimilate in so short a time the whys
and wherefores of pay accounting (how many of us
are still struggling ?) will help to produce an efficient
Pav Office for the Polish Resettlement Corps .
The leisure activities of the Battalion continue to
flourish. The cinema shows and dances which are
regular features have been interspersed with outside
shows. Particularly well received was a revue by
our old friends from the R.N.A.S. from Worthy
Down. Our own Revue Section also gave an excellent
show-" This is the Life." The fact that its production coincided with office overtime on Pay Forms
Eighty Fo- (it had to crop up again), did not deter
the energetic members of the cast or the enthusiastic
audiences.
The show was produced b y Pte.
" Tubby " Fuge, who has ably stepped into the
shoes of Pte. Sid Millman, now released.
On 30th and 31st July, the Battalion Dramatic
Society presented "Night Must Fall," by Emlyn
Williams. This was our first experience of Junior
Commander Davey, A.T.S ., as producer and
actress; and she is to be congratulated upon her
great success. Special mention must also be made
of Pte. Audrey Stone, A.T.S., and S /Sgt. Joe Wilson
who gave outstanding performances in the parts of
Mrs. Bramson and Dan. Our new C.P., Brigadier
F. C. Williams, C.B.E., M.C., and Mrs. Williams
attended the performance, together with no less
than four Chief Commanders A.T.S. Also in the
audience were twenty Land Girls invited from
surrounding farms and twenty nurses from the
hospital at Winchester. The Colonel congratulated
Junior Commander Davey and members of the
Dramatic Society on their excellent performance and
thanked them for a really fine show. At the same
time he expressed a hearty welcome to the visitors,
particularly to the C.P. and Mrs. Williams. Mrs.
vVarr presented the ladies of the cast with bouquets.
The Rifle Club has had an unfortunate setback
due to the closing down of the R.A.F. ranges at
Chilbolton. However, it is hoped that by the winter
we shall have provided ourselves with an indoor
rang~ to enable the Club members to keep their
eye ill.
Although release has accounted for many of our
outstanding players, we have been fortunate in being
able to maintain a regular team throughout the
Cricket season. Not meeting with great successes,
we have nevertheless, enjoyed playing against some
very go~d clubs. Our most notable success was in
holding RA.F. Maintenance Command to a draw
after they had scored 200 for 4 wickets declared.
,.".Te shall be sorry to lose our inspiring Captain,
. ..
L /Cpl. Donnithorne, due for early relea~e.
The Cvcling Section has contihued Its actIVItIeS,
albeit on ;omewhat restricted lines, individual efforts
being the order of the day. Several members have
competed in local time trials with very good results.
The enthusiast upon whom my predecessor reported
and suffered defeat, but the loss did not seem so

grievous when the team were afterwards ro yal1 y
entertained by the home team-we belt eve we won
the " Indoor Games."
The unit has been represented on the Corps side
by S.S.M. R H. Briggs on two occasions. A few
of the regular team have been " Guest" players to
other local sides in the Shrewsbury area .
So far the best batting average is held b y S .S .M.
Briggs with 18.35 with Pte. Powell second at 13.5.
The bowling honours are split between Pte. Abel
and Lieut. Newbury, both with an average of 5.~.
Lieut. Marshall follows on with 5.5. and Pte. Powel!
with 6.6.
We had one pleasant evening, more of fun than
cricket, when the Officers beat the Rest by 5 runs
in a very thrilling finish. Unfortunately, the wicket
was so bad that only slow bowling was permittedsome say this is how the officers managed to win.
Bowls.-Although we have not an office club, a
few of the staff represent local clubs. S.Q.M .S. Page
has done exceptionally well at this game winning the
Shropshire Amateur County Handicap Cup from
amongst 150 entries. He was also a semi-finalist in the
Shropshire Individual Merit Competition for which
there were 287 entrants. He was beaten by the
Lancashire Champion in the All England Crown
Green Amateur Championships at Irlam, Manchester.
Entertainrnents.-Two very successful dances
have been held in the local Music Hall, the proceeds
from which have helped considerably towards our
donation of 100 to the Army Benevolent Fund. We
are hoping to enjoy an office trip to Blackpool towards
the end of the month.
WHITCHURCH (40 COMPANY)
In attempting to bring to mind and put on paper
the events of the past quarter, it is difficult to push
aside that haunting vision of a piece of paper
labelled" Pav Form 84 " and its brothers" 87 " and
"88." Ho';ever, as we have suffered in con1ffion
with others, the matter is perhaps best left without
comment and relegated to the past.
High amongst our losses is that of Lieut.-Colonel
L. I. F. Barton to R.P.O. Edinburgh, where we wish
him every success. The release (by no means
premature) of Captain H. T. Eldred, Lieuts. W. F.
Dyball, J. D. Thomson, H. Dickens and H . R .
Haggis has left a large gap in the ranks of the officers.
To these must be added Captain D. E. Chaundy,
and to all of them, together with the now diminishing
stream of released N.C.O.s and Privates, we renew
our heartiest good wishes for their future .
The office layout has undergone a radical change
due to the installation of the Machine Operators '
School. Admin. building has been relieved of NonEffective and its sundry appendages, leaving only
Admin. proper, Central Tech. and the offices of the
RP., Second-in-Command and Adjutant in possession. The remainder of the floor space is now
occupied by a battery of 230 Burroughs' machines,
several miles of electric cable and a team of some
hundred enthusiasts already mastering the intricacies
of the machines. Admin. has retired to a corner of
the building, and partitioned itself off, wl-iich is just
as well, as the clacking of 230 machines is calculated
to upset the most hardened soul-even Admin.
A successful Sports Meeting, capably organised
by Lieut. C. G. Tennuci, was held on 5th July.
261

in the previous issue of the Journal, still continues
to work up an appetite for dinner by chasing buses
to and from Basingstoke.
Despite opposition by the Weather Clerk, a fair
amount of Tennis has been played this season. The
Battalion tournament has been well supported with
a good number of entrants and is progressing well
towards the semi-finals. Lieuts . T. J . Lenton and
G. Fulluck represented the unit in the Corps Doubles
Championship, losing to Ilfracombe. The same two
officers took part in the Corps Singles Championship
at Aldershot on 9th August.
The Sergeants' Mess makes it first bow to the
Journal.
Since the re-opening of the Mess at
Whitchurch in July 1945 there have been many
changes-too numerous to record here-but we
would like to mention recent arrivals from overseas,
nan1ely S.S.M. J. Pratt and S.Q.M.S . G. HamiltonPaxon from East Africa and Sgt. Howard from West
Africa. There is a definite West African influence in
the Mess inspired by S.Q.M.S. Gibbons, S /Sgts.
McConnell and Hulbert, Sgts. Hindle, Tanner,
Hockin, Mears, Harrington, and Christmas. We
were sorry to lose S.S.M. H. Hilary to civvy street.
He was one of the main pillars of the Mess.
the Corps will join with us in wishing him a speedy

recovery of his motive powers!
It was with regret that we lost Lieut.-Colonel
Gough on his transfer to Leeds as District Paymaster.
Another recent return of a lost sheep from the
fold has been the posting back to York of Sgt. " Lew "
Kirby, who has suffered 18 months' service at Accra
Gold Coast. "Lew" was first seen in a York street
in June, by the writer, wrapped up as though winter
had come.
We must apologise to Lieut. W. Low for having
omitted his name from the list of pre-war regulars,
published in our notes in the last issue. Lieut. Low
has been with us since his commissioning from
Warrant rank last year, and is one of the few men
with two " Rooty Gongs" for 36 years" undetected
crime. "
A new branch of the social life of this office is the
running of Sunday motor coach trips to the Yorkshire
Coast. The epidemic of this form of leisure was
started by S /Sgt. " Johnny ' ~ Warren, who organised
a trip within his own wing. Since the news of that
expedition leaked out, all the other wings and sections
have lost no time in following suit, with the result
that some part of the office will be having a jaunt on
each Sunday in September.
The office is running an athletic team with some
success. The team, trained by Lieut. T. Mabon,
almost "cleaned ' up" the recent sports meeting
held by the Bradford Office, gaining first, second and
third places in the mens' 100 yards, and first place
in each of the longer distance events-440, 880 and
mile. Our affiliated A.T.S. Company, also gained
several successes, with third place in the Ladies'
100 yards, and winning the 220, High Jump and
Relay. Lieut. Mabon and his team are to be heartily
congratulated on this result. We hope to further
enhance the reputation gained at Bradford at the
York Garrison Athletic Meeting in York on
25th September, of which more anon.
We noted with interest the news in the last edition
of this Journal that Mrs. G. V. Kite is now employed
at the Command Pay Office, Jamaica . Many of us
were fortunate enough to gain Mrs. Kite's friendship
during her long war service here, and we wish her
" All the best" in her native land. "Eboracum."
YORK (47 COMPANY)

The Sununer 1946 edition of this Journal was
magnificent. Thanks Mr. Editor and Staff for an
outstanding effort. That it was possible to dispatch
the copies to the various offices on 8th July, after
the hectic month of June during which the Post-War
Pay Code was introduced, was a wonderful achievement.
The most notable thing at York these days is the
rate at which old faces leave us. Those two processes,
release and redundancy, certainly effect changes
quickly . It is, however, with pleasure that we mention the return of an old face-that of Major R. G.
Turrant. He was with us during the early part of the
late war, before being transferred to Kidderminster.
About a year ago, he had a serious accident, and has
recently been posted to us on his return from
prolonged sick leave.
Although he is not fully
recovered, we are sure that all his many friends in
Miscellaneous Offices
RAILWAYS BRANCH, ALDERSHOT
Although the Military and A .T.S. Staff are rapidly

reaching vanishing point, we still have the genial
services of Captain J. A. Davis and Lieut. C. H.
Stuart.
The permanent civilian staff does not change
greatly. Three D.C.O.s-Messrs. A. Herd, F. J.
Barnes, and M. F. McNamara have been here many
years and will be well remembered by many who
have passed through the Branch. Also still here are
such familiar figures as Messrs. G. A. Massie,
F. Abbott, A. Caddington, and Reg. Potter our
popular messenger.
In sports, entertainment, etc., we go fifty-fifty with
the District Pay Office, with whom we also mess,
and a very happy relationship is maintained.
Among the many changes which have taken place

in Railways Branch since hostilities ceased, none
will affect us so much as the retirement of Lieut.Colonel W. H . Thies, M.B.E., D.C.M., who has
commanded this Branch for many years.
His
popularity throughout the Corps is well evidenced
by the esteem in which he was held here, where he
maintained a personal contact with all members of
the staff. A farewell party to Colonel and Mrs.
Thies was held in the Sergeants' Mess, when Lieut.Colonel J. R Burne, on behalf of the Officers of
D~strict Pay Office, Aldershot, and Railways Branch,
Wished them a happy retirement in their new home
at Shanklin. On behalf of the Sergeants' Mess
S.S.M. Broadbent performed a similar function.
This party gave us an opportunity of meeting and
welcoming our new Chief-Lieut.-Colonel C. R.
Haddock, M.B.E., who comes to us from 18 D.P.O.
B.A.O.R., and who bids fair to carry on the happy
traditions of the Branch.
CENTRAL CLEARING HOVSE

Hearty congratulations to the Editor and his
staff on the excellent Sununer issue of the Journal.
C.C.H. continues to function in all its varied and
devious aspects, despite the many depletions in
staff-due to releases, etc.
262

ing: that rank and to Lieut. Harsant who is now back
with us from the O.C.T.V.
Congratulations to S.S.M. Browne, one of the
very few A.T.S. holding W.O.l RA.P.C. rank on
her Certificate of Good Service. As she was one of
the original staff who took over the job from the
P.O.S.B., the honour is not undeserved.
Lieut. Rencher (known as Reccy to a select few)
has handed over the Admin. job and has received our
congratulations on emerging on technical duties with
the rank of Captain.
A Re-union Dance has been suggested in the
autumn, and any ex-P.O.S.B.ites now in London who
would like to come along are invited to communicate
with Lieut. Harsant, 90 Brompton Road, London ,
S.W.3, who will inform them when a date has been
settled.
One of our recent losses was the departure of

S .S.M. James to Distp~y, NO,ttingham, but I think
it is true to add that ~IS postmg was not on~y concerned with Pay Duties. W,e s,:,spect h~ IS n?w
" coughing up " the cash to hiS WIfe, as a little bIrd
whispered t~e fact th~t he ~as joined the happy band
of pilgrims m ,a matrm:tomal sense-at Nottmgham,
of course! HIS stay WIth us was short but pleasant,
and we wish him the very best of luck for the future.
His successor is S.S.M. (" Ted ") Lewis, who has
come to us from Trinidad-previously at Preston,
which he left in 1944. We sincerely trust his stay
with us will be long.
As I pen these notes, we have just said" cheerio"
to one of our popular "India-wallahs "-namely,
Sgt. (Harry) Cole, who leaves us for" C,ivvy Street"
and, again, matrimony . The lucky girl IS an exmember of P.O.S.B.-Joyce Charity. Good luck to
them both for the future-Charity begins at home,
anywav!
We ' are also losing two other members of the
"India Gang" in a few week,' time-namely,
L1Cpls. Packer and Turner. S jSgt. East will then
b~ the sole survivor.
Captain Spooner-~?o has also left ~s fo~ his
" Devonshire Gardens -was successful m gammg
first place in the 10 miles' walking race at the Army
Championships held at Aldershot recently.
C.R.O.C.C.H.S.-As announced in the first re-issue
of the Journal, we have established a Central
Registry of C.C.H. staff-past and present, ThiS
venture has met with complete success, and to date,
membership is nearing the 200 mark. Our first news
letter went out to all members recently, and from
various reports to hand, the publication was appreciated in the highest degree by all Crocchs. The
second issue will be published in the immediate
future.
The Hon. Sec. is Mr. H. I. Warren, 44 Leith
Mansions, Grantully Road, London, W.B, who will
forward complete details of the scheme If requested
hy any ex-C.C.H. personnel not at present enrolled
in this ancient order.
Special Note.-All Crocchs must inform the
Secretary of any permanent change of address. This
is very important and necessary, to ensure the
successful functioning of the Card Index.
Finally, may we wish the Journal every succ,e ss ,
and sincerely trust this literary effort WIll achIeve
great things in the future.
" SAHIB"
MANCHESTER (15 BATTALION)

Group 9 at Ashton is now the last outpost of
Officers' Accounts, the remaining outside Groups
having been moved into the main building in
Stockport Road.
Congratulations to Major B. H. F. Buckrnaster
on being awarded the M.B.E., and also to Major
H. Cook, Lieut. W. Draper, S /Sgt. G . L. Firth,
Cpl. W. Critchley and Pte. H. Whitehouse on being
awarded Certificates of Good Service by the G.O.C.in-C. Western Command.
Our Savings' Officer, Captain E. H. Harvey, had
the honour of being invited to the Palace Garden
Party where he was received by Their Majesties.
This honour was in recognition of his magnificent
drive which collected 187,000 between the years
1941 and 1945. It is understood that Captain Harvey
was the first Army Savings' Officer to reach a target
of 100,000.
The Detachment was represented at the London
Victory Parade by S /Sgt. R Cullen and Cpl. F. R. H.
Horrocks,
Lieut.-Colonel C. J. Day has recently joined the
office from Nottingham and our depleted commissioned ranks have been filled by the return from
O.C.T.V . of Lieuts. J . H. Nutter, J. O. Kayler and
J. J. Coffey . In addition, we have welcomed the
arrival of Sec.-Lieuts. L. J. Mirsky and F. Taylor
from the R.A. and Infantry respectively, both via
the R.A.P.C. O.C.T.U.
Pressure of work is still restricting our sporting
and social activities. It was with regret that the
Athletic team had to decline the invitations of various
surrounding Pay Offices to represent Manchester at
their Annual Sports Meetings. The team has lost
the services of that fine half-miler, Pte. C. T. White,
who was recently released. White sprang to the
limelight in the Middle East, where, for four years,
he remained the unbeaten champion half-miler of
Palestine and Egypt. Since he returned to the U.K.
he has captured the Northern Counties Half-Mile
title. We understand that on present form he stands
a good chance of being selected to represent Great
Britain at the next Olympic Games. At the time of
writing White is on his way to Oslo with the British
team to take part in the European Championships.
Our best wishes go with him.
Major H . H. Rowland has left Manchester for a
Pay Office situated in the Sunny South, a welcome
change from the drab surroundings with which he
has been associated so long. His homely face and
daily jest, as one of his typists puts it, will be missed
but not forgotten.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE (P.O.S.B.) (19 DET.)

This is the third time our notes have appeared
in the Journal and one wonders how many more
times we shall have the pleasure of seeing them before
our O.C., Major W. G. Howell, hands the Branch
back to the Post Office Savings Bank. It's amazing
the way the job has been carried on with the staff
changes, 80 per cent. of the personnel we had when
we moved to London have been replaced, but still
the job ticks over. Office hours have been reduced,
and now it seems like a part-time job after the amount
of overtime performed at Ilfracombe.
A Tennis Club has been formed under the
direction of Lieut. Smythe, assisted by S /Sgt. Taylor,
and privileges have been obtained at Reg~nts Park,
S/Sgt. Taylor will have left us by the tI:ne , these
notes appear, but we will no doubt see him m hiS
civvy suit sometime.
Congratulations to S,S.M. Turberville on obtain-
263

With the posting to York of S.S.M. B. C. Horton,
Dramatic Club has lost its guiding inspiration.
Our Cricket team under the management of
Lieut. J. Slater has played several enjoyable friendly
matches with district teams. We have lost Lieut.
(Skipper) Moon to Release . In his last game against
Chorlton, he had the satisfaction of taking eight
wickets for 57 runs. Sec.-Lieut. F. Taylor should
prove a welcome addition to the team. I t is rumoured
he took seven wickets for 27 in a recent Army v.
R.A.F. match.
Since the Release programme commenced we have
said farewell to nearly nine hundred R.A.P.C., and
seven hundred A.T.S., and to mention all by name
would be an impossible task.
S.S.M . E . J. Monks and S.Q.M.S. J. F. Taylor
would like to hear of the present whereabouts of
former members of the Singapore Pay Office. S /Sgt.
A W. A. Gimbert and Cpl. R . O. Thomas, who
escaped the Japanese occupation of Singapore, have
. recently been released.
These notes would not be complete without some
mention of our worthy comrades in the A .T.S.
Junior Commander Dowek has left for Release 'and
Subaltern ' E. M. Lamberton has been posted to
Radcliffe. Second Subalterns K. Stubbs, B.E.M.,
M. Henshall, J. Bailey, S . McKechnie and K. F. C.
Kirton arrived here at the latter end of June for
technical duties. K. Stubbs and M. Henshall were
previously in the office as Other Ranks .
Manchester Group Headquarters have moved in,
and "X " and " C " Companies have amalgamated.
Several auxiliaries have been chosen to represent
Manchester Group at Rounders in the North-West
District League.
A friendly game of Netball was arranged with the
N.F.S. On pain of death or worse I have been
forbidden to mention the score, but it is sufficient to
say that the enjoyable tea that followed was ample
compensation for our girls' defeat. Who said " the
sweets of victory ? "
Owing to redundancy we have recently had to bid
farewell to a large number of our Civilian Clerks.
We were sorry to see them go and would like to
record our thanks for the services they have so
willingly rendered to us in the strenuous times of
recent months.
V.N.W.
R.A.P.C., O.C.T.U.
The first thing to be recorded in these notes is the
change in the title of the unit, a change, in the
opinion of the writer, that is very much for the
better. The old title was impersonal in the fact of
its number and apologetic in the position of the title
letters of this Corps.
However, both titles are
preferable to one that is being used in official
correspondence occasionally (but not, let it be said
at once, b y any unit in the R.A.P.C.)-208 (Pay)
O.C.T.U.
In our notes in the Spring issue we said that the
future was obscure. It still is although new commitments have come along,
The five-week cadet courses have finished and the
first two of the standard twelve-week courses are
now under training. These cadets have first been
through theBasicO.C.T.U. before coming to this unit.
Vole have survived-somewhat to our surprisetwo courses of A.T.S. Cadets. It is a fact that the'
opening sentence of visiting officers during the first
course, and one said with a sinister smile, was
always-" how do you like teaching women?" We
are still a little in doubt as to whether we taught
them or they taught us.
The fifth course in Army Administration is now

in the unit. This was a new departure for us in
training and caused some alarm and despondencyalarm because there seemed to be a fearful amount of
preparation to get through and despondency because
some aspects of the unit's own administration were
not quite as clever as they should have been. As
we have not the least idea who did say it we will
ascribe to Napoleon, the source of most military
truisms, the remark" he who teaches, learns." We
agree with Napoleon. We hope with great sincerity
that some benefit will be obtained by other units
from these administration courses.
The shadow of another move lies over us. We
have reconnoitred Wolverley Camp, outside Kidderminster, but there is no certainty about this being our
ultimate destination even supposing that local
" squatters" have not got there first.
Was it
Napoleon who said "To move is a complicated
manoeuvre, but to rest is to be content?" We agree
with Napoleon again.
We would like to record the visit of the G.O.C.-inC. Western Command to the unit on 4th June, 1946,
during the course of which he spoke very briefly to
the N.C.O. students on the Administration Course.
His object in speaking was to pay the most unqualified
tribute to the work of this Corps and to the effect
that that work had had on the morale of the rest of
the Army.
oUI
THE WAR OFFICE (F.9)

Life for" Ephniners" continues much the same
despite the tea-less week which hit them during the
London gasworkers' strike recently.
There have, however, been two good results of the
drought. First, it disproved the notion that vVar
Office personnel are unable to do their work without
at least two cups of tea daily, and secondly, stocks
of tea are now higher than ever before in some
sections and this has meant a stronger brew.
One of the visitors during this thirsty period was
ex-Staff-Sgt. E. C. Russell (F.9B) who has no w
been a civilian for four months. He called in soon
afte r his transfer from the North to the London
Office of the Yorkshire Post. Also checking up on
the F .9B scene was J. Mansfield, another ex-staffsgt., who is soon to become an L.C.C. pupil teacher.
Captain Perrett's offers of courses in bookkeeping,
English, shorthand, French . .. are receiving a big
boost from Sgt. Les Audus (formerly of Foots Cray),
who now spends many happy lunch-hours pinning
up wall maps and bulletins on the Education notice
board.
As well as looking after the F.9 library (" Did you
buy that book or borrow it ? " is a stock question),
Sgt. Audus now tries to interest us in a radio set
fitted up in his headquarters, Room 114. This room
is also used for private study periods, conferences
and the weekly pay parade. Sgt. Audus denies an
allegation b y a member of the "Investigations"
staff that efforts are being made to broadcast
" Money is the root of all evil" to brighten up the
proceedings of some future pay parade. He points
out that the radio has been installed to further
education in F.9.
It is with deep regret that we record the death of
Cpl. E. E. Sheppard on 18th August, 1946. He
joined F.9(C) in February, 1943, and was discharged
from the service in May of this year after a long
period of sickness. We feel sure that all will join
with us in our expressions of sympathy to
Mrs. Sheppard.
264
- - -- _._- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - --
Commands Abroad
BRITISH ARMY OF THE RHINE
(H.Q., B.A.O.R.)
Sgt. B. A. H. Johns, Sgt. T. Whitehead, Ptes.

W. Elston, R Stone, J. K. Clarke, and C. F. T .
Gauntlett.
Looking back on the past three months one can

recall but little other than B .A. F.S.V. and Operation
"Union." The former being the introduction of the
new currency has taken up so much of our time that
only here and there do we realise that other things
have also happened. The latter, Operation" Union,"
has affected us rather more personally in that we are
now eagerly awaiting the arrival of families from the
U.K. The first to arrive very early in September
should be the family of Major T. G. A. Williams,
and to them and to all others who will be out in the
ensuing weeks, we offer not only a happy welcome
but an assurance that life here can be most pleasant
in spite of the drawbacks which the state of Germany
entails.
We had not thought to record very much under
the heading of sport, ye t quite recently we had a
most successful afternoon in the field when "A"
Services of this Headquarters held its sports meeting.
The Tug-of-War, as ever, was a main feature , and
with seven teams entered we record with pride that
the RA.P.C. literally" pulled it off." The team was
intended as a combination of Pay and Provost but
the latter will acknowledge that they had but one
policeman in the side. We may not have had the
weight but we certainly had the enthusiasm that
day and amongst those due to receive their medal
for their effort is the D .P.I.C. who came very near
to being anchor man. That, however, was not all,
for in the veteran's race the D .P.I.C. ran second in
a field of some 30 entrants with Major C. W.
Langham coming in very fast at the tape. Had the
course been a little longer he was prepared to back
himself for a place.
Changes' in staff do not often come our way but
this month (August) we are to say goodbye to Lieut.Colonel P. F. C. Bloxham. His posting has been
notified and he goes home on completion of a Python
tour which started in North Africa.
HEADQUARTERS, 30 CORPS DISTRICT

The R.A .P.C. staff at this Headquarters is quite
small, and as activities of any kind are arranged on a
Corps or Mess basis, very little has taken place
which would be of interest to readers.
The dissolution of 8 Corps, whose H.Q. were on
the banks of a beautiful lake at PIon in Schleswig
Holstein, and the merging of that area with 30 Corps
District has been completed.
There has been a great deal of activity on the
" British" side concerning the issue of the new
" token " currency (British Armed Forces Special
Vouchers-already popularly known as " Baffs ")
and the date of w riting these notes is the final day
on which " Reichsmarks " will be accepted. There
is now a certain amount of conjecture as to whether
"black market" activities which should consequently be killed , will be resuscitated b y any
particularly clever individuals.
Sealed boxes containing the first delivery of this
new currency, which it is whispered reached a
fabulous sum, were convoyed to B.A.O.R. in charge
of Captain E. J . Allan, who has now joined this
H.Q., and will replace Captain R. H. Wilson, who
is shortly to be " released" to civil life .
19 DISTRICT PAY OFFICE, (BLANKENESE)

Lots of new faces have appeared and, regrettably,
many old friends h ave departed since the last issue.
To all our friends who have left us, we tender a
very hearty greeting again.
The Prisoner of \Var Accounts Office (under the
command of Major E. M. Jenkins) has recentl y
moved up from Brussels to join us and, whilst they
work apart, they live w ith us and have quickly
established themselves as social and sporting assets.
The Sergeants' Mess, under the guidance of
S.S.M. K. Hornsey, has held a number of enjoyable
functions.
Two dances have been organised (a
difficult undertaking in this country) and literally
went with a swing. The entertainment of messes of
neighbouring units is a regular feature of mess life,
and our N.C.O.s have acquired an enviable reputation
for hospitality .
Whenever the sun shines on Sundays the entire
O.Rs Mess hies itself off to the Baltic by truck.
Timmendorf and Travemunde are usually the spots
selected, and the delights of the blue sea and lovely
sands are spoken of glowingly.
. There are a number of keen swimmers among our
A.T.S. personnel and a team which included Pte.
Gow and Pte. Brydon competed in the recent
B .A.O.R Championships.
Golf has acquired a strong following of enthusiasts
who spend most of their spare time on the lovely
Falkenstein course nearby. Lieut.-Colonel GrovesRaines, Major Jenkins, and Pte. Barraffati lead the
field at the moment, but their superiority is severely
tested on practically every evening. Incidentally,
we would be pleased to hear from any readers who
know where golf balls may be purchased!
The unit tennis court is proving a popular attraction, and the number of people who seem to enjoy
themselves while perspiring freely is surprising.
9 DISTRICT PAY OFFICE, BRUSSELS

I think it can be said that this is one of the best
stations in the B.A.O.R., as there is practically every
kind of distraction to be found here when off duty,
such as cinemas in abundance (with all the latest
films), theatres, variety and opera, swimming pools,
horse racing, whippet racing and a hundred-and-one
types of entertainment.
Of course, there is the one big drawback and that
is the Rate of Exchange here which, in general, hits
the soldier very hard as prices are still very high.
Sport.-We are not a big office and it is, therefore,
not possible to have an office representative team for
cricket or football, but the personnel manage to find
their sport individually by participating with other
units . At the moment swimming has taken priority
in off-duty moments.
I should liJ,e to mention that since the departure
of P.O.W. Accounts to the (late) Faderland the many
good social evenings held in the Sergeants' Mess
are missed b y those who remain.
We see constant changes in the personnel of the
office and recent departures on release have been
Captain T. W. H arding, Captain R. W. L. Lewis,
Lieut. J. Neale, Lieut. J. Wells, S /Sgt. S. Lloyd,
265

A number of keen (but not very efficient !) yachtsmen have arisen in the unit, and Captains Hay and
Doodson may be seen on most fair and breezy weekends scantily clad, lounging on a boat, and trying to
master nautical terms from a German who speaks
little English. Major Caterham, on the other hand,
prefers rowing and canvasses all and sundry to
entrust themselves to him and the mercies of the
River Elbe in the tiniest of rowing boats.
The arrival of families in this theatre is eagerly
awaited by most of the static personnel and, when
this does come about, we shall be back almost
completely to .the days of pre-war stations and then
we hope to extend our social life considerably.
We congratulate Major N. Caterham on his
Mention in Dispatches, and S /Sgt. R Buchanan
and Pte. J. Harper on their Commander's Certificates
of Merit : these awards are richly deserved.
Compensation for the grim and shattered drabness

of the cities in Westphalia is provided by beautifully
wooded uplands and valleys with many charming
lakes. The majority of the latter are artificial in
origin, but are now so old that the stone work of the
barrages has become weatherbeaten and it now
merges into the natural background. Most popular
of all the lakes is the great Moehne See-the dam
which received the attentions of Wing Commander
Guy Gibson, V.C., and his gallant band. The face
of the dam was rent by the attack and masses of
turbulent water swept down the valley to inundate
towns and villages, and bring untold dislocation to
Ruhr industry. We have made many trips to the
dam this spring and summer. A combined partv
of all ranks made one of the first expeditions from
18 D.P.O. in April. We found that the dam had been
completely restored, but were intrigued to note that
it was possible to discern from the outline of the
new masonry, the extent of the enormous breach
which was torn in its face by the R.A.F. raiders.
Once one has passed up the valley beyond the
barrage one becomes enthralled by the beauty of the
great lake.
Sportsmen from 18 D.P.O. were tempted in the
late spring and early summer by the game in the
surrounding woods and forests, but, of course, their
activities were curtailed by seasonal restrictions . One
concerted effort was in pursuit of wild boar which is
a great annoyance to farmers who are unable to
combat the pest, as they are no longer permitted
the use of firearms. The boar is a tricky customer
and the only effective weapon against him 'is a service
rifle . The discharge of a shot gun will rarely produce
a kill unless from extremely close quarters. Even a
round from the .303 may do nothing more than
puncture his well larded carcase. The 18 D.P.O.
expedition did not produce any exciting results, but
one or two people did manage to get a shot at the
beast. The signs of his activities were numerous,
however, and one field set down to root crops looked
almost as though it had received the attentions of a
bull-dozer so voracious had been his digging.
The Detachment had three interesting cricket
matches up to the beginning of July.
Considering the size of the unit the Detachment
side is quite good. The three matches played were
against 1/7 Bn. Middlesex Regt. (two matches) and
H.Q. 1 Corps. Time and weather prevented a result
in two of the matches, while the third was lost b y
eight wickets.
Sergeants' Mess.-The main social functions of
the mess of late have been farewell dinners for
members going on release.
'Among the recent" dearly departed" were Sgts.
Griffith, McTaggart, Whitley, Parsons and Austin ,
all of whom were invested into the "18 D.P.O.
Ancient Order of nowler Hats" by the C .O.
Efforts have been made to ascertain the Mess
champions in the two main forms of internal
recreation-darts and table tennis.
At the last
function S /Sgt. Brightwell won the latter " knockout."
Taking everything into account the mess IS
flourishing strongly.
New members recently
welcomed are S /Sgt. Lansdell (9 D.P.O.), Sgt.
Camp bell (Meerut and Oldham), Sgt. Fountain
(Jerusalem and Whitchurch), Sgt. Dennis (RP ..
Radcliffe).
1 CORPS DISTRICT AND 18 DISTRICT

PAY OFFICE
Comings and goings due to postings and release
have been even more numerous than usual during the
past three months. Colonel R L. L. Ingpen has left
for 30 Corps and we hope that he is now enjoying
life at Luneburg. Colonel Ingpen's successor at
Iserlohn is Lieut.-Colonel J. B. Cooper.
The big change of the quarter has been the
departure of Lieut.-Colonel C. R Haddock, who was
one of those who formed up the original 21 A.G.
team. His name will always remain closely associated
with the original No. 9 C.P.O. (Base) which landed
on the Normandy Beaches, and later with No. 18
c.P.O. (Base)-the original Command Pay Office
for Germany.
During his association, which
extended over three years, Colonel Haddock made a
great many friends, not only in Pay Services but
among the many Arms with which he had contact.
We all extend our best wishes in his new appointment. His successor at 18 D.P.O. is Lieut.-Colonel
J. C. L. Thomas who was formerly Staff Paymaster
at H.Q., L. of C., in Brussels.
Yet another of the B.L.A. team to leave us was
Major Turpin, who was released in June. Major
Turpin was latterly Staff Paymaster (British) at
1 Corps, but due to the numerous appointments
which he had held, was well-known throughout Pay
Services, B.A.O.R.
Space will not permit mention of all those who have
left 18 D.P.O. but it will be of interest to Pay Services,
C.M.F. to note that two of those to be returned to
" civvy street" were Captain J. Stead and Captain
C. A. MacMahon who joined No. 2 B.C.H. over a
year ago with the "Goldflake" increment from
Italy.
The introduction of B.A.F.S.V. in B.A.O.R has
caused a considerable general increase in pay work,
particularly among the cashiers. Consequently we
have had the unmual experience in these days of
ever-increasing run-down, of extending a welcome
to substantial reinforcements from the U.K. Not
only have they arrived most opportunely from the
point of view of technical labours but their added
presence has given a fillip to the recreational side.
We have been very fortunate in the posting of Pte ..
Clissold, who, in civilian life, is an organist with one
of the principal British cinema circuits. Equally
talented as a pianist he has already given many hours
of enjoyment to all ranks at 18 D.P.O.
266

achieve their childhood ambitions of seeing such
places as the Colosseum, the Vatican City, St. Peter's
and the Pantheon. Others who are less historicallyminded can roast themselves on the beach b y day
and wallow in the sultry glamour of Rome's nightlife. And on the debit side? Well, perhaps mostly
thev will dislike the squalor of the town, the blackma;keteers, the suicide motorists, the oppressive
heat and the shortage of water. Most of us have
gro~n to love the coast areas and the mountain
retreats of the Appenines where we can relax and
enjoy the natural beauties of Sunny Italy instead
of the dark-eyed beauties of artificial Rome.
We have been unfortunate, as all offices, in losing
our most experienced staff, either on release or
Python, but as usual there has always been someone
to fill the breech, and with the aid of our Italian
clerical staff we are continuing to acquit ourselves
with the usual adaptability of the Corps, under the
able and popular leadership of Colonel R H. Sayer,
O.B.E., assisted by Lieut. Colonel C. E. Naylor who,
at the time of writing has the alluring prospect of a
L.I.A.P. in the near future. Other vertibrae of the
C.P.O. backbone are Captain Jimmy Lomax, Captain
K. McKenzie and until recently Sgt.-Major Eynon,
who has since left us for Cairo. In addition Major
" Vic " Finn has been alternating between this office
and Brigadier Bilderbeck's staff at G.H.Q.
As a last word we send greetings to those of our
friends who have left us and who are maintaining a
link with the Corps through the medium of the
Journal. May their rehabilitation to civilian life be
an easy and happy one.
SJEMEFF
8 B.C.P.O. (C.M.F.)
To those of this unit who have known the hardships, the thrills and intensity of the hectic months
following the initial landings in North Africa, life
has resolved itself into a routine and uneventful
existence.
What was once an operational body
following hard on the heels of a victorious army and
in many cases well up with the forward elements,
has now become very much a static office. We have
been in Rome for little short of two years, a longer
period than we have spent in any other part of the
theatre. True, we have had rumours-multitudes of
them-promising, or threatening, impending moves
North, perhaps to Austria, perhaps just to another
part of Italy, but none of them have materialised.
And of necessity we have resigned ourselves to an
indefinite stay in Rome, having as consolation the
knowledge that, however interesting such a move
might be, Rome is still the best station in Italy.
We can console ourselves too that circumstances
now obtaining are infinitely better than of recent
months. In July the office moved from the dIrty
little slum suburb of Centocelle, where we had been
working in the local school and living in the none-toopalatial houses of the Italian inhabitants, and set itself
up in the Villa Torlonia, the former residence of
Mussolini. Our supercession of 11 Duce in this place
presumably conclusively proves the proverb that the
pen is mightier than the sword. The Other Ranks
have settled comfortably into the town transit camp
and the officers, not to be outdone, now hold court
in one of the many requisitioned hotels.
The constant strain on the staff due to release
has not eased the situation from the work point-ofview, but as we know many offices at home have been
even more badly hit we do not grumble, and many
a word of sympathy is heard for the unfortunate
Regimental Offices in their task of transferring to the
new Code under such trying conditions. In May
we welcomed to the fold a new draft from homethe largest we have had for a very long time. To
many of them, in view of early release prospects,
this trip is little more than a Cook's tour and they are
enjoying to the full this opportunity which has come
to them thus late in their service.
On the sporting side there has been a marked and
not unnatural disinclination on the part of all ranks
to indulge in anything unduly energetic.
With
temperatures regularly touching the 100 degrees
mark, this is not to be wondered at. However, the
unit continues to find its affinity in swimming circles,
having for the second year gained first place in the
gala open to troops in Rome. In our former home
we did have a cricket pitch of sorts-a bit
rough, we admit, but easily recognisable as such.
Into this land of strife and black-market have
recently come the wives and families of some of the
officers and N.C.O.s whose stay in Italy is likely to
be more prolonged than most of ours. We trust that
their visit will be a happy one and a relief from the
trials and tribulations of a housewife at home. They
will find Italy different in many ways. They will
see shops crammed with every conceivable t ype of
goods, unrationed and couponless, and in this
connection our deepest sympathy is extended to their
husbands who will now have to solve the problem of
how to make a few thousand lire per week do the
work of three times that amount. They will have the
opportunity of a season of opera of such quality as
only the Italians can produce. Some of them will
BRITISH ARMY PAY OFFICE,

NORTH AMERICA
The sands are probably running out as far as this
office is concerned, so taking time by the forelock it
is desirable to record here a brief history of an unusual
organisation and to pay tribute to those to whom it
is due.
We suppose people wonder what on earth a Pay
Office is doing over here. Well, for one thing it is
surprising to hear of the number of volunteers from
the U.S.A. who served in our Army (and whose
dependents had to be looked after). The melancholy
duty involved in the payment of " Effects" testifies
to the numbers who gave their lives. In recent
months the repatriation of the lucky ones has placed
heavy burdens upon us.
It can be no secret now that considerable numbers
of officers and other ranks served both here and in
Canada employed on the procurement and shipment
of war materilll and in the exchange of technical
information. This is not to mention those who
worked so closely with the Americans in the Combined Chiefs of Staff. The accounts of all these
people were maintained here, and the heavy movement of personnel through the continent taxed our
travelling claims expert to the limit.
.
.
When the writer arrived he found a lIttle bIt of
Stockport Road, a little of the F.C.P., and a lot of
Command Services (not to mention the Railways
Branch) all knit into one office and working in the
approved RA.P.C. manner.
All of this grew from an Imprest Account
administered by Lieut. J. E. de la Motte, RA.P.C. ,
and Sgt. E. R. Buxton, R.A.P.C. Possibly no office
covers as much territory as does this, with Canada
and the U.S.A. combined, so it soon became obvious
267

that a cc pukka " R.A.P.C. organisation was the
essence. Accordingly, Lieut. H. Strachan, S jSgt.
A. Cameron and Sgts. L. Harman and J . Scannel
were sent out, and with a mixed staff of Caribbean
A.T.S. and American and Canadian civilians the
office came into being.
It must be recorded here that the Caribbean A.T.S.
fitted into our organisation with the same alacrity as
did their sisters in the U.K, and much of the smooth
running of the office 'is due to them and to the
American and Canadian civilians who served us so
faithfull y. We wish the best to Sgt. Grace Groom,
our Booking" wallah," and to Ruby and cc Wattie "
on their new life in the U.K. Our best wishes go also
to Regina O'Donnell on her marriage. This opportunity should also be taken to record our thanks to
Mrs. Virginia Flick for many a happy office party
held in her home. Nor shall we forget Mr. William
mainstay.
Soldiers at present serving here include Lieut.Colonel R . D. Ogilvie, Captain G. J. Kilb, S.S.M.
F. Rice, S jSgt. H. T. Champion and Sgts. R. J.
Parsons, S. Jackson and H. Wombwell.
Being such a small office organised sports are out
of the question but Sgt. Parsons keeps our end up
in the British Army Staff soccer team which plays
with notable success in a limited league. (Yes, they
do play soccer in this land of the Ball Game.)
We cannot end what may be the epitaph of this
office without a tribute to our American hosts.
British servicemen have been accepted everywhere ,
and admitted to all benefits and welfare facilities as
if wearing olive drab and gaiters.
We close with greetings to all-replacements will

be needed in the near future so "Bon Voyage"
may not be out of place for some of you!
GIBRALTAR
Firstly may we in Gibraltar offer our somewhat
belated congratulations to the Editor and his Staff
on a first-cl ass Journal, a magazine which has also
aroused fa vourable comment from the other Corps
here who h ave seen it.
Unfortunately we had a long wait for our first
edition, t~e ship ca.rrying our copies went sailing b y
and on via ItalY-Just one of those things!
Perhaps the greatest item of interest here just now
is the changing " face" or should I say " faces" of
the office. One however cannot be replaced. Those
who remember " Bobby" Happle will be sorry to
learn of his sudden death after a quarter of a century
in the office.
" Ben" (Mr. Benyunes, Head Messenger) remains
the oldest inhabitant after 30 vears' service. Ben
has a terrific memory of some of the distinguished
members who have served in Gibraltar during those
yea rs, and can tell many anecdotes of better days.
A revival of the Shooting Club has taken place
under the leadership of S.S.M. Clarke, and we hope
to put up a team for competition shooting in the
near future .
Here we should add our congratulations to
S.S.M. C!arke on his promotion to W.O.I following
the departure of S .S.M. J. Foley.
The Junior Club (all ranks below that of Sergeant)
have held several social evenings, and as usual
included "The Quiz," a popular feature, always
a great success.
Great interest was shown in the Victorv Parade
held here before the Governor and Commander-inChief, Lieut.-General Sir T. Ralph Eastwood,
C.C.B., D .S.O., M.C., and the whole population
turned out.
The R.A.P.C. Detachment were well led bv
Lieut. P. E. R. Bai!ey. How well they marched wa~
shown b y the great ovation they received from 'the
crowds.
The hot weather has driven most people to the
sea, so just now yachting, water polo and swimming
are the most popular sports: Meanwhile on land,
cricket at Alameda, and tennis are in full swing.
To keep in touch, the following officers are at
present serving here :-Lieut.-Colonel J . B : Jardine
(Sierra Leone, Mickleham, C.C.H. Ilfracombe,)
Captain A. R. ElIiot (Warley, Eastern, Mickleham),
Captain D. Urquhart (Foots Cray), Lieut. P. E. R.
Bailey (Droitwich), Lieut. D. Maxey (Manchester).
Sergeants' Mess.-Gibraltar, as elsewhere, has
seen some changes in Mess strength. S /Sgts.
Boswell-Phillips and Hamilton, Sgts. Brown, G. c.,
and Brown, G. F. , have all caught their trooper
home for release. In their stead we have S jSgt.
" Joe" Elliott (promoted) and Sgts. Cox and
Crowe.
Our stalwart President (S.S.M. Foley) and S jSgt.
Wilson are still searching the Straits for a sign of
that trooper which will bring their relief and then
for a boat bound for U.K. They are overdue for
cc Python"
but, with luck, should see dear old
Blighty before Christmas, they hope.
On the occasion of a farewell " do" on the
departure of the Officer-in-command-Mess (Major
CEYLON
Hullo from Ceylon! This is the first full length
publicity we've given ourselves; as our numbers
are quite small we can cover everyone.
Big news is that we are now a family station.
Captain Troke and S.S.M. Newby now have their
wives and families with them. S jSgt. Walley Allen
hears that his is on the way.
Quarters are good,
right on the sea front.
The C.P., Lieut.-Colonel Barlow, together with
Major Morris, will be home b y the time this is in
print having completed their tour in August. We
hope to welcome his relief-Lieut. Colonel ShandTull y~in the near future . Sgt. J ackson posted here
from Andamans early this year, also completed his
tour in August.
.
The R.A.P.C. having no Mess of their own, are
" guests" of the R.E.s, as grand a lot of lads as one
cou:ld :vish for We have a fine Sergeants' Mess,
wh~c~ .IS reall y alive. Although due to repatriation,
activities have been curtailed of late we have had
dances, concerts, cc race meetings ,: and "crazy
nights," all of which have met with huge success.
We have seen great changes in the last few months.
The Regimental side, dealing with Ceylonese
accounts, is rapidly diminishing.
Most of our
Regulars will be due for repatriation shortly either
for Py thon or transfer to the reserve. The New Pay
Code seems to have stopped re-engagements completely;
the only wartime Regulars who have
extended for 12 or 21 years being S jSgt. Revis (due
back from L.I.A .P. any da y now, together with
Sgt. Flynn), S jSgt. Bra yce and S jSgt. O'Doherty.
S jSgt. Eshelby is on his way back to England on
compassionate repatriation.
268
VICTORY PARADE, GIBRALTAR, JUNE 1946.

R.A.P.C. Detachment Marching Past the Governor and C.-in-C.
JAMAICA (71 DETACHMENT)
Greetings, fellow Slaves of the Pen! Once more
we greet you from this so-called" Island Paradise."
Since the last issue of the Journal the Pay Office
has moved up into the hills at the Newcastle
" Change of Air" Station, 4,000 feet above sea-level,
and is still here at the time of writing. The weather
at Newcastle is considerably cooler and makes a very
welcome change from the heat of Kingston. Social
activities are, however, somewhat curbed but one
can enjoy walks and perhaps some mountaineering
and exploring in a small way without being bothered
with the heat . The view from the barrack square is
expansive and you can look straight down on to
Kingston, which at night looks like a collection of
twinkling fairy lights, with the blue glow of the
" Carib " Cinema standing out very prominently.
Beyond Kingston can be seen the Harbour which is
watched very closely b y those "Group Happy"
personnel who are expecting reliefs. Talking of
reliefs we take this opportunity of welcoming Lieut.
K. A. Fuller, Pte. Roberts and Pte. Powell, who
recently arrived and hope they enjoy their stay in
the land of all-the-year-round sunshine. Also we
take this opportunity of saying farewell to Pte.
" Jack '.' Tymn, who, after a stay of 3-& years , will be
leaving us within the next few days. Not only is
he due for release but your correspondent understands that Wedding Bells will be ringing very shortly
after disembarkation in "Blighty." Good luck, Jack.
The members of the local A .T .S. who form part
of the Office Staff are also with us at Newcastle and
are very welcome when any social activities are in
the offing, especially when the Soft ball team take the
neld (or I should say the barrack square).
The Command Paymaster (Major Purcell) , S jSgt.
Nixon and Sgt. Erne are fortunate enough to have
their families with them and we wish them a pleasant
stay-it looks as if No. 71 Detachment is becoming a
peacetime " Married Patch."
D. Y. Cubitt) the Mess turned out at hockeySgts. Mess v. Officers. A good twenty minutes
(twenty hours it seemed to the old hands whose
bellows, etc., aren't what they used to be), resulted
in a win for the Mess b y 8 goals to 3. We are now
thinking of challenging all and sundry.
Normal social life in the Mess continues as usual
but the Rock h as not yet got back to its pre-war
social activities so no organised inter-mess tennis or
other games have yet been possible. Still, we hope
to get something moving in that direction during
the summer months, especially as each trooper from
the U.K. brings just a few more of the cc better
halves "-the Corps is still confined to two Married
Families but we are living in hopes to improve on
that ' ere long.
HOPLEAF.
(Sorry, Mr. Editor-owing to late postal delivery
and the above notes not being received in time for
inclusion in the Sununer Journal-please accept
them as they are, as our Sergeants' Mess does not
possess a cc Revision" Section.)
Since submitting the above, S.S.M. Foley and
S jSgt. Wilson have been struck off charge at last.
A " farewell" party was held in June but it was not
until 12th July that they finally left us. Sgt. Cox
has also departed for U.K. for release.
In the place of the departures, we extend welcomes
to Sgts. Barnard and Best and hope their sojourn on
the Rock will be a happy one.
One more family has now joined our small flock
and settling in to Gibraltar life-the wife of S.S.M.
Clarke. We are still hoping that more will follow
and, as the strength on the female side increases, we
should soon get into our stride on social activities
with other Messes.
The weather at present is rather "siesta-ish"
and not conducive to writing of notes. Coupled
with the lack of anything further to report this time.
I'll sign off.
" Adios Messmates," HOPLEAF.
269

On this lighter note we say farewell until the next
issue of the Journal when yours truly hopes to bring
you some more highlights on life in Jamaica, that
Island of Rum, tropical nights and perpetual
Summer.
The highlight in recent weeks has been the arrival

of families from home, Mrs. Smyth, Mrs. Cross
and Mrs. Archer having joined their respective
husbands, while Mrs. and Miss Brewer are at present
at Mombasa awaiting passage to Mauritius, but
should arrive before the end of this month .
The office is an exceedingly happy one. It is a
peacetime station where married quarters are available and in excellent condition, notwithstanding that
little has been done to them during the war years,
but arrears of work are being overtaken rapidly. The
Garrison Sergeants' Mess is first-rate, while the
same applies to the Garrison Officers' Mess.
Sport is available in plenty-cricket, soccer,
rugby and tennis-and there is also an excellent
nine-hole golf course, though the supply of golf
balls is at present rather a problem. The office,
situated at Vacoas, some 13 miles from Port Louis,
is at an elevation of approximately 1,000 feet, and is
not troubled unduly by mosquitoes. Transport is
easily available at week-ends to get everybody down
to the sea, and full advantage is taken of this.
The office is some 1,800 miles from Nairobi, and
at times we find it more easy to get mail from
England than from East Africa . European mail
arrives by air every Monday, and so we do not feel
cut off from civilisation altogether.
At present we are exceedingly busy, for although
demobilisation is proceeding apace, on the other
hand, companies are being recruited for service in
the Middle East, and if anything, the work of the
office grows rather than tends to diminish.
We are now in the depths of winter-but drill is
still the order of the day, though battle dress is
welcome at night. By the end of August however,
the climate will start to warm up again, and in a few
months time we can look forward to the commencement of the cyclone season. So far, the writer has
not experienced one of these tropical stormsearthquakes yes, but cyclones, not yet. But the
experience is quite likely to be obtained.
JAPAN
For the benefit of all who think of Japan as
"somewhere on the map east of Greenwich," the
British Commonwealth Occupation Force is at
present located in the central portion of the southern
coast of the main island of Honshu, and the smaller
islands which lie south of the main island.
The Staff Paymaster, Japan, is operating with the
British and Indian Division of the Occupation Force.
Our headquarters are at Okayama and detached
Field Cashiers are at present operating at Kure and
Shikoku.
We have had many changes, both of personnel
and location in the past three months. Lieut. Pretty
arrived during the middle of June, having taken
three and a half weeks to fly from Singapore.
At the end of June came the move ofthe Divisional
H.Q. from Hiro to Okavama and in the middle of
packing stores into freight wagons came Captain
Hayes, freshly arrived from Borneo by way of
Singapore.
Soon after our arrival in Okayama and installation
in the adequate premises of the Yasuda Bank an
urgent signal called for the hurried departure of
Major Smith for Singapore and on the same boat
out of Kure went Sgt. Dow, who was being evacuated
to U.K. on medical grounds.
Captain Brazendale (General List), Office Cashier,
was the next to leave for U.K. on P ython.
The appearance of Major Collins from U.K. to
fill the gap left by Major Smith has done much to
stabilize the office.
As a result of the move from Hiro, Captain
Halliday and Sgt. Purves were detached to Kure to
operate an Embarkation Cashier's Office.
. Captain Hayes is now operating a Cash Office on
the island of Shikoku.
S /Sgt. McKillop, who was in hospital from early
in June, has now been discharged and at the time
of writing is basking by the seaside at Shimotsui
under "Brindiv's" latest innovation, "Operation
Lollipop " -Lots of Local Leave in Place of Python.
" Sa-yo-nara" for the time being from the
representatives of " Fide et Fiducia," in the land of
the Rising Sun.
BRITISH ARMY PAY OFFICE,

MEERUT
The above title covers a multitude of offices.
Today, approaching the autumn of existence, the
British Army Pay Office has in its embrace The
Officer's Accounts Branch; The Regimental Pay
Office, India; and the Central Clearing House,
S.E.A.C.
On 6th June, 1942, three Officers and 26 Other
Ranks, all very travel stained and weary, arrived at
Jhansi, a spot in the middle of the Plains of India .
They were the first of the Corps to arrive in the
country. Their arrival was unexpected, and what
was available for them was impressive in its simplicity! Thus came into being the Regimental P ay
Office, Burma and Ceylon.
In September 1942, the Corps moved to Meerut,
and, to the present day, this historic and long
established station has been home to us in India. The
Office then included the R egimental Pay Office,
India, and the Officers' Accounts Branch. The
months passed, and the office increased in size, but
it was still confined to Meerut. During this time
'the Corps prepared 'l0 handle the military finances of
Burma and of S.E.A., through the office situated at
Allahabad. Necessity made India its base.
In April 1945 came reorganisation. The Other
Ranks' Accounts went back to Blighty (a literal
MAURITIUS
It was with great pleasure that members of the
Detachment on this lost island received copies of the
Spring number of the Journal a week ago. . Communication-mail-with this . gem of the Indian
Ocean is difficult, an English newspaper does not
exist, and consequently, the arrival of the Journal
was one of the highlights.
And now, who constitutes the Pay Office in this
outpost of Empire. Here is the list.
Major S. R. Brewer (Base Paymaster), Captain
F. J. Lowery, Lieuts. H. C. Griffith, W. T. Davies,
R. Spence, P . L. Rey and J. Gaud (the two latter
are Mauritian officers of K.A.R. attached), S.S.M.
A. G. Smyth, S.Q.M.S. L. H. Cross, S/Sgt. E. P.
Archer, Sgts. P . G. A. Hume and D. Wrigley.
And 44 clerks civilians and attached members of
the Mauritian pioneers.
270

audiences, representing the whole of. the Garris~)fl.
Concert parties, revues, pantom1ll1es, mUSical
comedy, the Paymates tried everything. "Starlig?t
Inn," a home production right down to the mUSIC,
was graced by the presence of H.E. I:~dy Wavell.
On what is generally termed the leglt1ll1ate stage
many farces comedies and tragedies were produced.
One of the'latest productions was "Othello," the
sheer merit of which caused its being summoned to
the Capital, New Delhi, to 'give performances there.
They were very well received.
.
This article can only hope to outline Meerut. It
has been sought to show the Corps here, at work and
at play. There has been much C?f both, an? the
Corp" traditions have been worthily upheld m all
spheres.
To colleagues and comrades ev~rywhere we s.end
greetings, and the earnest hope Is-that reuruons
may be many, and often.
pronunciation of the Hindustani word which means

" Home Village "). The British Army Pay Office
became a mixed bag indeed. There was the Officers'
Accounts Branch; the Regimental Pay Office
S.E.A.C./India;
the Central Clearing House
S.E.A.C./India; the East African Pay Branch;
the West African Pay Branch; the Havildars'
School of Pay Instruction and, a little later, the
11 C.P.O., now at Singapore. Members of the
Corps left Meerut and reached places as far afield as
Mauripur (near Karachi), Calcutta, Bombay and, yes,
once more, Jhansi. The British Army Pay Office
supplied many, who, in little bands, went with the
14th Army into forward areas.
Time passed, and establishments closed down,
and now, today, the British Army Pay Office is as
set down in the opening paragraph of this article.
Smaller it may be, but it is as much alive as ever,
and is doing sterling service. Colonel M. Blair,
O.B.E., is O.C. R.A.P.C. in Meerut and Lieut.Colonel J. S. Rees commands the 83rd Battalion,
which covers all the offices in Meerut.
During the four years the Corps have been in
India many have come and gone. Characters and
personalities there have been in plenty. There were
R.y'G.G.A. Just a draft, a collection of individuals
drawn from many offices in the U.K. That draft
had a character all its own. They made Corps
history in that they were the first to complete a full
tour of duty in India. The draft arrived in June
1943, after a three months' stay in South Africa.
Say the word" R.Y.G.G.A." to any old Meerutonian
and a flood of anecdotes and reminiscences will
follow. That draft will always be remembered.
For those who have never had the pleasure of
servin'g in India, the Central Plains mean a land of
extremes, in heat and cold, wet and dry. From
October to March the climate is pleasant but can be
very cold indeed; the rest of the year, has little to
commend it . It cannot be said to be the best of
climates by a long way, but, on the whole, Meerut
is a healthy station. There is no sewerage and little
plumbing. The Corps in Meerut has never had an
easy passage at any time, but play there had to be,
and the 83rd Battalion played hard and w ell. Life
to a very large extent in Indian Stations is what the
Unit makes it.
All kinds of sport came into the picture: cricket,
football, hockey, tennis, golf, basket-ball, to mention
only a few. The Corps football team was a power
to be reckoned with in these parts. Creating a
precedent, in 1946, the team entered a hot weather
football tournament in July, and won it. This, in a
temperature which was rarely below the lOOs.
There were other pastimes, less strenuous , but no
less enthusiastically supported photography,
debating societies, gramophone clubs, chess and
excursions to, places of interest, as far as could be
reached. The trips were often tests of endurance,
for Indian roads, and motor coaches of the charcoal
burning variety, have a reputation peculiar to themselves. The 83rd Battalion had one of the first, and
one of the best Education Schemes in the whole of
India. One of the latest enterprises is a Unit
Magazine -Monsoon.
Contributions from Old.
Meerutonians would be very welcome. They may
be sent to the Editor, lV!onsoon-at the addr'ess those
concerned remember so well.
The stage deserves s pecial mention. Shows of all
kinds were produced , and performed to appreciative
MIDDLE EAST LAND FORCES-G.H.Q.

To those of you who are interested in the affairs
of "Pay" Branch, G.H .Q., M .E .L.F., .1 must
apologise for having been too late to get mto the
June news.
We have been joined by Major P. Plowman,
M.B.E ., lately of F.9. Lieut. A . J. Doherty and
S.S.M. Hitchcock have returned from" L.I.A.P. "
and for the moment we are at full strength, but
Captain H. Barnshaw is joyfully preparing to lea~e
us on posting to Home EstablIshment, an.d will
doubtless be basking in the English sunshme (?)
before this appears in print.
The most important event since I last wrote has
been the arrival of families. Brigadier R. W. Hackett,
Lieut.-Colonel A. H. Jones, Major P. Plowman and
Major E. J . Burnet have now given up their temporarv batchelor habits.
6ur staff is too small for us to take part as a branch
in team games, but we join forces with Air Formation
Signals to field a tennis team in the G.H.Q . InterBranch League.
.
I t is no longer a secret that we shall be leavmg
Cairo in the near future to go into Camp with our
families in the Canal area. The family camps now
being erected are said to rival the holiday camps ~f
" Butlin " fame. I will leave further comment untIl
we get there.
E.J .B .
12 F.B.P.O., ASMARA
The highest Pay Corps Office in the world is the
proud title of the 12 Forward Base Pay Office,
Asmara, Eritrea M .E. F.5. The sea is 8,000 feet
lower! Working in such rarified atmosphere produces strange mental phenomena particularly when
it comes to balancing the day's cash or the month 's
General State.
Asmara is about the same latitude as KhartowTI,
approximately 15 degrees north of the equator. yet
three weeks ago we were wearing B.D._ fro:n chOICe,
while at Khartoum (and at Massawa 70 mIles away)
they sweltered, day in and day out, in the mid-July
sun.
The town of Asmara is fairl y modern with large
native quarters. Two cinemas provide Ameri.can
films in plenty if not in quality. T~ere are s~lttle
alleys and cabarets. Football and cncket fto~nshes
despite the aforesaid rarified atmosphere WIth the
Corps well to the front. For the intelligentsia and
the county types there are discussion g roups,
271

libraries (small) and a gramophone record libraryand horses.
Our office accommodation in H.Q. Eritrea District
verges on the palatial when one compares it with
say-Radcliffe. The H.Q. was the Comando Truppe
of the Italians in Eritrea. Most of our office equipment, typewriters, adding machines, furniture and
cash books is, or rather was, Italian. The currency
is, however, East African, which fact seems to please
the local Italians when thev consider the devaluation
of the lira.
.
LATE 15 c.P.O. (BASE) BEIRUT

These will be the last notes under the heading of
15 C.P.O. as the office no longer exists. Towards
the end of June, the main part of the office departed
from The Lebanon in accordance with the agreement for the evacuation of all troops between the
British, French, Lebanese and Syrian Governments,
and proceeded to Jerusalem to be merged into
5 C.P.O. A small staff was left in Beirut as part of
the H.Q. British Liquidation Staff to ~arry on the
work connected with the British interests that
remain. So we left the friendliness of the North
Levant for grim realities of the Palestinian troubles.
Prior to our move, there were many departures
of the staff to various places. To U.K. went Major
A. J. Donaldson, M.C., Captain H. H. Cooper,
Lieuts. R. E. J. Pyne, R. D. Wilson, E. A. C.
Keyworth (since returned and with us at Jerusalem,
wearing three" pips "), R S. Weeks, S jSgt. G. H.
Carter, Sgts. M. 'Irving, W. G. Gregson, L. C.
Gosling and Ptes. E. L. Herbert, E. W. Lloyd,
W. W. Jackson, not forgetting our beloved RA.S.C.
driver, "Taffy" Heath, a true Welshman, if ever
there was one. Lieut. W. G. Mavhew left for the
office in Cyprus.
.
During the last few months of our stay .i n Beirut
we enjoyed the extremes of the Mediterranean
climate by ski-ing on the rugged mountain slopes of
the Lebanese hinterland followed, as the temperature
rose, by fun and games on the sandy beaches.
Frequent farewell parties were the order of the
day as the office prepared for its departure. On one
of these occasions Lieut. H. F. Everett made his
final farewell speech, prior to his departure on
release, the day before the office moved. We all wish
him the very best of luck on the termination of his
army career and the commencement of his new life.
H.S.U.
No. 4 C.P.O. (BASE) CAIRO, AND
R.A.P.C. BASE DEPOT M.E.
Best wishes from Cairo to RA.P.e. personnel at
Home and Overseas, with our special greetings to
ex-members of this office.
Our apologies for failing to contribute to earlier
editions of the Journal-can we write off the
omission to "exigencies of the Service? "
News from this end is mostly of moves, beginning
during the local disturbances of last February when
circumstances necessitated the closing of the
Sergeants' and Men's Messes, new accommodation
being found at Kasr El Nil Barracks, where the lads
soon settled in and let all and sundry know that the
Pay Corps had indeed arrived. K.E.N. Sergeants'
Mess was left in no doubt of our presence at the
conclusion of a Mess Meeting which lasted some
five hours-is this a record? (By the way, Dave the
G.S.M. did not get his posting !)
At present "evacuation" is the watchword. It
is whispered in the bazaars that 4 C.P.O. will be
moved to a selected desert area-once in our new
position perhaps we shall be able to sing after 2, 200
hours!
During recent months we have welcomed the
arrival of many Corps families all of whom seem to
find Egypt a pleasant relaxation from rationed,
queueing England.
Our congratulations go to Captain J. Parker on
being awarded the G.O.C.'s Certificate of Merit, and
also to Lieuts. Prior, Wood and Greenwood, who
were recently successful at M.E.O.S.B.
Staff 12 F.B.P.O. Asmara.

Back. Row-Sgt. Chalcroft, Lt. French, Major
Snowdon, S jSgt. Prior.
Kneeling-Pte . Ashby, L jCpl. Parkinson, L jCpl.
Lawson and " J ackson. "
The younge.r elemf>nt, conscious of wing and
sectIon dances In the U.K.; find that the non-fratting
ban hampers such social activities here. The older
element counsel that the y stick to "pontoon"
which act.ivity will certainly be cheaper in the end.
FolloWIng the closing down of the Station Pay
Office, Aden, we now administer on the Corps side,
a s tatIOn separated from lIS by a few hundred miles
of land and sea.
' The staff at present serving here are Major
W. Snowdon, late of Finsbury and Nairobi; Lieut.
W. H. French, Base Cashier from R .E., D.P.L.D.
and C.P.E.C.; S jSgt. L. Prior, Chief Clerk, of
R,E.M.E: and Exeter; Sgt. Chalcroft, Finsbury,
Klddermmster and Folkestone; L jCpl. Parkinson,
York; L jCp1. Lawson, Preston and L.A.A. and
Pte. Ashby, late of Shrewsbury.
We would all be pleased to hear from old friends
and from our predecessors in 12 F.B.P.O.
W .H.
272
STAFF OF No. 4 BASE COMMAND PAY OFFICE, CAIRO.

Sports.-Sporting activities have been seriously
curtailed by the departure on release and L.I.A.P.
etc., and our summer activities have been confined to
swimming, tennis and cricket.
The cricket team has a very lengthy fixture list,
and after a rather indifferent start-which did not
however damp the enthusiasm of the players-the
team has now settled down to a series of well-earned
victories. The last four matches were won in fine
style, one game against 512 Survey Company being
decided by a margin of only two runs, thanks largely
to a good performance both in batting and bowling
by Pte. Jack Lawlor.
The team will miss S.Q.M.S. Prior who has left
us on being commissioned, also Captain Dawes and
Lieut. Whitehead who have returned to U.K. for
release, but several of our latest arrivals, including
S jSgt. Palmer are adding considerable strength to
our efforts.
V.J.L.
CYPRUS (97 DETACHMENT)
Since the last office notes 11 F.B.P.O. joined
Cyprus Group of R.P.O., M.E.F., forming one
Detachment No. 97 under Major L. Pateman in
Camp 8j 61, St. Antony's School, or as more popularly known, Tony's Joint."
The personnel of 11 F.B.P.O. may be excused for
regarding " joint" as the correct word after having
enjoyed the office and barrack accommodation and
excellent R.A.P.C. Sergeants' Mess in Wolseley
Barracks.
Much hard work was necessary, handing over at
Wolseley, moving 11 F .B.P.O., stores and stationery,
and preparing for the arrival of the families, coming
as it did at the time when Cyprus Forces' discharges
were reaching the peak period, but it was achieved
without any major difficulties arising and the
combined detachment soon settled down.
Four married quarters were provided on the
hospital hill overlooking Nicosia and the families of
S.S.M. T. Sowerby and S /Sgt, H . E. Plume arrived
on 18th April, followed by the families of S.Q.M.S.
F. A. Bolt, S /Sgt. A. ElIor, and Major L. Pateman
to complete the RA.P.C. Colony.
,The football team had a good season, winding up
WIth Lieut. Watson, L /Cpl. Haslam and Pte. Pitcher
playing in the representative small unit's sid'e in the

winning match of 4 goals to 1 against 11 Bn. S. Staffs.
No hockey league was formed, but the team did
very well in a number of friendlies the most popular
opponents being the enthusiastic English school team.
Ski-ing at Troodos was also popular at week-ends.
Lieut. (Bud) Fishet: worked hard to get a Detachment
team into shape, but they failed to win any of the
events at the Ski Club Annual Competitions.
Two rifle teams have shot well, and were well
placed in the Island league tables, but rapid moves
and replacement of units and posting of personnel
caused the leagues to disband,
To turn to cricket, after a good win at Larnaca
over R.E.M.E. by 181 for 4 dec. (L jCpl. Haslam
120 not out) a match, Officers and Sergeants versus
the Rest, was arranged, resulting in a win for
the latter by 13 runs after a good game. The warm
work of the afternoon was followed by a dance held
in the Sergeants' Mess during the evening. These
now frequent Mess Dances are most enjoyable and
are very well attended .
The most popular feature of this station are the
recreational trips to the interesting and beautiful
parts of the Island.
Kyrenia (16 miles away) with its glorious swimming
beaches, and occasional calls at lovely St. Hilarion
Castle and Bellapais Abbey are the venue every
week-end. The families, especially the children, :vote
this just the job." Later it is hoped to extend the
recreational trips to more distant parts, especially
Troodos, Platres, and other beauty spots.
Joinings and leavings are still too numerous to
mention, but still serve as the medium for frequent
" Hail and farewell" parties in the Officers' and
Sergeants' 'M esses or at times in the more brightly-lit
spots of Nicosia.
An impressive Victory Parade was staged in the
Moat on 8th June by Royal Navy, Royal Marines
and Band, S.W.B. and Band, RA.F., Iraq Levies,
Cyprus Regt., A.T.S. and Cyprus Police Band, the
Salute being taken by His Excellency the Governor
of Cyprus. Small units were not called upon to
take part and we enjoyed the proceedings from
the enclosure. During the evening, a successful
273

Unit Dance organised by Lieut. R. S. Fisher, Lieut.
A. A. Mudie and the Canteen Committee was held
on the office veranda.
Rumour is again whispering that we must leave
Camp 8/61 and move back again to Wolseley
Barracks, so we hope the next notes will come from
that more desirable address.
To see the Journal again after all these years was
most welcome, and congratulations to the Editor and
his staff are unanimous from the recipients of the
June issue in Cyprus.
It excelled our highest
expectations.
T.S.
A successful attack was made on the island of

Piscopi, the noise of which could be plainly heard in
the office, and all were eagerly awaiting the fall of
Leros and Rhodes. On 8th May, 1945, we witnessed
the arrival of the German Commander to sign the
surrender of the Dodecanese. Field Cashier No. 47
left with the Navy for the northern islands to be
based on Leros. No. 45 Fwd. moved off in a twelveton sailing vessel known as a Caique, which nearly
came to grief in the wash of a destroyer determined
to be the first to arrive at Rhodes.
At Rhodes we were quickly settled in a very
imposing building named the Castello, an old
Crusader castle modernised by the Italians, and are
still located there today. The luxury of running
water, electric light and road transport was enjoyed
by all as we discarded our skins and proceeded to
explore the locality. F.C.47 closed his cash box and
was disbanded in late 1945. So much for our history.
Today we continue under the command of Captain
C. Keith-Thomas who relieved Captain R. R. Bedford
bound for civvy street and the only member of the
original staff still with us is the Chief Clerk, S (Sgt.
D. J. Baker, who at the moment is busy sorting out
his kit for Python in August.
Cheerio for now from the Dodecanese.
4S F.B.P.O., RHODES, DODECANESE

Congratulations to all concerned on the reappearance of the Journal. We take this opportunity
of sending greetings from the island of Rhodes,
Dodecanese. It is grand to have news of our comrades and their activities and in particular that good
news of our now repatriated P.O.W.
'
As this is our initial introduction I will give a
brief record of our history before turning to current
events.
No. 45 Fwd. is a war-baby office and maybe we
lack the stability of the old stalwarts but variety is
high in our records. Born in the early Autumn of
1944, under the command of Major L. A . Leggett,
tents were pitched in true Bedouin style from the
olive groves of northern Palestine to the sands of
Egypt. In October of that year one of us left as a lone
Pay representative with an occupation force for the
island of Scarpanto and survived to rejoin us later.
We finally crept away from the shadows of the
Pyramids and embarked for our destination on
Christmas Day, 1944.
JERUSALEM (90 BATTALION)

Up to the present time the Journal has had no
word from 90 Bn., but perhaps this can be attributed to the state of unrest which is prevalent most
of the time in Palestine nowadays.
Curfews and the inevitable confinement to barracks
depress us all at times, but on the whole we can boast
of a happy unit which has functioned efficiently in
spite of the restrictions placed upon it at ever
recurrent intervals.
Sports.-Under the direction of Lieut. Dean,
the sporting activities of the Battalion have recently
been very successful.
The Battalion Soccer team had a good season
despite the exodus at regular intervals of players
proceeding to U.K. on release. We did well in the
small Units Cup Competition, and managed to reach
the semi-finals. Unfortunately our opponents, the
Royal Corps of Signals, proved too strong and scored
two goals in the closing 10 minutes to run out victors
by three goals to one.
We have fared more successfully on the cricket
field and so far have defeated all corners.
Inter Camp Sports have been flourishing and some
surprisingly good tennis players have been discovered. A series of Tennis Tournaments have been
arranged and at the time of writing the finals of
Doubles and Singles are being played off.
Athletics.-Athletics also are coming on well and
we are holding our Battalion Sports Day at the end
of August. The Battalion Relay Team recently won
the Royal Ulster Rifles Medley Relay Invitation
Race.
Entertainments.-Of late entertainments have
been many and varied, cinema shows on the tennis
court, "Free for All" concerts, tombola, horse
racing, ping-pong and the like, have all helped to
relieve the boredom of the past few weeks.
Major T. Cork has been directing the Middle
East Pay Duties School for some time, while Major
P. Thompson is in charge of 5 C.P.O. Base and the
late 15 C.P.O. Beirut who have now joined forces
here with us in Jerusalem.
The Castello, Rhodes.

A few days later the entire staff, numbering well
under ten, complete with Cash, Compo, and the rest
were dumped repeat dumped on a barren rock off
the Turkish coast known as Symi. The comforts of
civilisation were soon driven from mind and a really
spartan life commenced. We quickly discovered
the unorthodox methods of making things move
smoothly and scrounged, borrowed and acquired
in a first-class manner. The construction of an oil
and water cooker, christened the "Infernal Machine,"
was one of our main achievements and maintenance
of same was a major occupation. The monster on
which we depended for the staff of life was rarely
regarded with affection but received a continuous and
flowery flow of abuse from all concerned.
274

was on the job. During that night, apart from
organising the move, our O.C., Major M. Anderson,
carried more than his. fair share of binders, files and
stores, etc., and the Job was completed to schedule
even to dismantling the telephone system and taking
the exchange with us.
There was much heavy
furniture which had to be left, but that was collected
on subsequent nights between the hours of midnight
and 05.00 and it was Thursday night, 7-8 March,
before we were able to rescue the billet platoon
who had been on continuous duty night and day
during all that time. We re-commenced work in our
new quarters in Mustapha Barracks on the following
Monday, 11th March, and let it be recorded that not
one pending pad was missing, not even one (must
have been lack of staff-work here), and through sheer
slogging the month's payments were out on the dot.
Later at a Commanding Officers' Conference, our
O.C. was commended by the O.C. Troops and
Intelligence Staff on the manner in which this unit
had conducted itself, and for having kept them
posted with the best telephone record of events
which' they received from any unit during the day
and night of 4-5th March.
We are delighted with our present location, and
thoroughly enjoy the amenities of living a peaceful
barrack life. There is always something to do or see,
plenty of sport and in a matter of one minute we can
be swimming in the blue Mediterranean, or sunning
on the beach. This is a very popular resort, and I'm
sorry to say that we have no vacancies for you fellows
who are clamouring to get here, because our waiting
list of applicants has had to be closed down owing
to the large numbers who are constantly writing from
home and asking us to pull the strings to get them
out here.
Our own Officers' Mess, Sergeants' Mess and
O.R.s Canteen have, of course, ceased to 'function as
we are accommodated by 154 Transit Camp, and
are well looked after. We have had several outings
recently, one to El Alamein to visit the Allies
Cemetery and the forward H.Q. of F.M. Montgomery
before the big push, and found that the plaques
which had been erected to denote the forward
British a~d German minefields were not a quarter
of a mile apart. It is just too bad for any driver who
decides to pull off the road for a smoke, because it'll
be his last one. If anyone is interested there is a
good opening for a scrap metal merchant who'll be
able to stock himself out well from the wrecks still
left on the desert.
We have recently said cheerio to Majors Anderson
and Richards, Captain ,Adlam and Lieut. Dawe to
U.K., Lieut. Muldoon to Cairo, Lieut. Nicholson to
A.C.O.2, Lieut. Sullivan to 128 T .C.O., and have
had great pleasure in welcoming our new O.C. and
Second-in-Command, Majors A. J. L. Hopkins and
E. Pease, and also Lieuts. Root, Mockler, Sharp and
Langdon from U .K. and Lieut. Gemson from
Jerusalem, S /Sgt. Eldridge from Khartoum and
Sgt. Barnes, together with several drafts of stalwarts
from U.K.
Sergeants'Mess.-Wednesday, 17th July, was an
auspicious day for the Sergeants' Mess, for a dinner
had been arranged in the W.O.s and Sergeants' Club,
Alexandria. Now there is nothing unusual about a
Mess dinner but this one proved so unusual that it
is worthy of inclusion in our annals.
We set off from the barracks with the expectation
of an enjoyable evening and as our taxis rolled
Major C. Partridge, the A. (C.P., has recently left

for the U.K., for a well-earned L.I.A.P., and during
his absence Major T.' A. W. Boggis is carrying on.
Our Chief Clerk, S.S.M. King has just returned
from L.I.A.P. to resume his duties assisted by S (Sgt.
Wallace. Lieut.-Colonel A. J. S . Tuke who joined
this station direct from Bermuda left us in June
having completed his Python tour and Lieut.-Colonel
Noel-Clarke has joined us from Baghdad.
Sergeants' Mess.-The Mess is still flourishing.
Many changes, however, have taken place and from
the R.A.P.C . membership of nearly 150, we have
now become more or less cosmopolitan having only
45 R.A.P.C. members, the remainder being made
up of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Black
Watch and representatives of many units in the
M.E.L.F.
Since the departure last November of S.S.M.
Homer, S.S.M. Hirt has been Mess Chairman, ably
assisted at various times by S.S.M. G. Haigh and
W.O.s2 Mears, Gorman, G. Wiggerham and Wilmot
as P.M.C.s.
Finally all of us here would like to tender our
heartiest congratulations on the first and second issues
of the Jomnal, both of which have proved to be
most interesting reading.
W.B.
O.O.A. M.E.L.F. (91 COMPANY)
Congratulations to the Journal on its welcome
return after !pany years of enforced retirement.
As we are one of the wartime mushrooms of the
R.A.P.C., we cannot delve into ancient history as
can some of you, though we could tell you many
tales of mystery and adventure. We regret that we
were unable to appear in the first issue but hope to
make up for it in the future.
Until quite recently the office was situated in the
charming environment of La Rue Des Soeurs and
the billet in Salah-el-Din also quite a charming spot.
Although the distance between the two was only
about half a mile, the local feeling necessitated our
moving in bunches of four or six, marching of course
being prohibited, and on a number of occasions there
were tense moments when it looked rather sticky,
but luckily through the exercise of great tact and
forbearance, there were no serious incidents. But
events came to a head on 4th March when, with one
platoon left to guard the billet and two at the office,
we spent the day standing-to, prepared for action.
Several times the murmur passed around, both at
the billet and at the office, " get ready boys, this is
ours"; but apart from the usual stone throwing
and an unsuccessful attempt at arson, the day passed
without any actual clashes. During this time we were
fortunate in having the assistance of C.S.M. M.
Newnes, a veteran of Pops Private Army and Sgt.
~utton, both of the Mercury Theatre (which was
sltuated in the same building as ourselves) who in
th.e guise of civilians were able to appear on the roof
wlthout comment and so keep us posted with
information as to the movement of the rioters in
the vicinity. Sentries had been posted and the
remainder had chosen their own particular bit of
floor on which to rest and had just got down to it
when at about 23.30 hours a message was received
from O.C. Troops that we were to evacuate the office
and that transport would arrive at 01.30 hours and
that we had to load and be on our way by 05.00 hours.
Then followed a night of furious packing, carrying
and loading, and when the transport arrived, guards
were posted to keep the street clear and everyone
275

towards the appointed place our thoughts dwelt in
pleasant channels, mainly of food.
After dinner, we discovered that a dance was in
progress on the open-air dance floor in the gardens.
The band struck up a waltz but not one of us
ventured on to the floor.
The dance ended, and once again everything was
quiet.
Unfortunately the quietness did not last
long for four or five explosions reverberated throughout the night. Our first impression was that a firework
display had been laid on in our honour but we were
quickly disillusioned when it was found that blood
was spurting from various portions of our anatomy.
Second thoughts decided us that our Egyptian allies
had left a few visiting cards suitably inscribed " get
out, or else" or words to that effect. Discretion
being the better part of valour it was with one accord
that we all nosedived to the ground and consequently
were forced to swallow a quantity of sand which the
manager later assured us had not originally been
included in the menu. The dance floor was in a bit
of a mess and several of the guests were rather badly
cut up, although fortunately no one was seriously
injured. The outrage happened very unexpectedly
but there wasn't eVfn the hint of a panic and all the
injured guests were quickly taken inside where their
wounds received emergency treatment. Ambulances
. quickly arrived, and all those who received injuries
were removed to the barracks for further treatment.
Only a few minutes had elapsed between the actual
throwing of the bombs and the arrival of a number
of police both military and Egyptian. It was then
discovered that the grenades had been of Italian
origin and had apparently been thrown over a high
hedge which separated the garden from the road.
It was generally agreed by one and all that our
evening had gone with a bang. So far there have been
no suggestions that the dinner be repeated, but
perhaps we will get round to it before long-perhaps.
Sports.-In spite of the smallness of the staff,
91 Company R.A.P.C. has been able to enter most
of the local sporting activities.
At the Inter-Services Sports Meeting, held on
Bewsher Park on 13th June, 1946, in honour of
H.M. The King's Birthday, the unit was represented
in most events. Lieut. R. F. Mockler was the
outstanding performer being first in the High Jump
and second in the 220 yards.
The cricket team, under the Captaincy of Major
E. Pease, has put up a steady fight. The outstanding
players are Cpl. A. Stevens with 98 wickets and
Pte. G. Parsons 82 wickets to date, and the highest
individual scores are Major Pease 57 and Sgt. Drake
121 not out. On two separate occasions Sgt. Weller
has been successful in securing 5 wickets for 5 runs.
Sgt. Weller, Cpl. Stevens and Ptes. Parsons and
Stubbs have also represented Alex. United Services
and Army Teams.
Our Hon. Sec., Sgt. Weller, is our representative
on the Alexandria District Cricket Control Board
and he is also a member of the Army Selectio~
Committee and United Services Selection Committee
and has been appointed team manager of the United
Services team.
NAIROBI (87 COY.)
This year has seen a constant change among the
faces in the office. Lieut.-Colonel E. J. Sharland,
O.B.E., who has been A /C.P. in Nairobi throughout
the war years, left us for England in March, and in
June, Lieut.-Colonel" Teddy" Baxter, the Regi-
mental Paymaster, took his release locally, but is

still seen about town.
The loss of Lieut.-Colonel Sharland marked the
beginning of a landslide during which many of the
old hands left us including Lieut. Clarke-Halifax '
with an overseas tour of 10 years.
"'
We have said goodbye to Groups up to 36 with an
all-time record for the office of 70 men in Group 27.
All we~e " seen off" to Mombasa on the first stage
of theIr voyage home to the accompaniment of
African Bands of the K.A.R.
Lieut.-Colonel K. H. MacFarlane, M.B.E., has
been welcomed from the European theatre and he is
now a familiar figure as C.P. (Regimental). Three
large reinforcement drafts have been welcomed
though some are already on their way home after a
brief" Cooks Tour."
A "number of families were re-united when wives
and children reached the Command from U.K. and
more are expected shortly as shipping improves.
Meanwhile work ploughs ahead and the end of
African Demobilisation is in sight. With 183,526
already released it is due for completion by October.
Football.-Following the 1945 League Competitions, in which, due to inconsistency, the Unit
finished two points behind the runners-up we
pla~ed nearly forty games a gainst Muslims, Goans,
Italtans and other Military Units . Out of those
games the Corps lost only two matches, each by
the odd goal.
.
The first XI made history by being the first Army
side to win the Services Cup by beating E.A.A.O.C.
by 2-0 in the final, and in having the noisiest
supporters ever heard in Nairobi. Challenges were
immediately received from the Champion Italian
side, who were beaten 3-2 before a great crowd ,
and the Unit has yet to meet the best civilian side
on the Services Sports Ground in the near future.
Captain Rapson, Sgt. Morris, Cpl. King and Sgt.
Riley were picked for representative games during
the past few months.
The second XI has also done well although
defeated in the second roun.d of the Cup after a
replay.
.
Many players have left us for "Civvy Street,"
including Sgt. N. Spittles (former Captain of the
first XI), S jSgt. McCall, Sgt. W. F. Davies and
Sgt. D. Alderton, but despite the loss of these
valuable players the standard of the Corps football
did not go down their places being filled by younger
pJayers.
Hockey.-Although most of the Hockey enthusiasts had left the Unit on Release, the Unit
managed to scrape a team together sufficiently
strong to win the Hockey Cup for the third year in
succession. The final was against the R.A.F., who
were eventually beaten 3-2 after two periods of
extra time.
During the war years a high standard of cricket
has been played in the Command and many notable
players have been seen here, amongst them N. S.
Mitchell-Innes, H . D. Burroughs, L. T . Bird and
W. R. Hammond himself, who scored a century
against the Pay Corps XI in 1941.
The Pay Corps sides have done very well against
strong opposition especially in matches with the
Gymkhana and Park lands Sports Clubs. The Corps
has been very fortunate in being able to use the
Park lands Club Grounds throughout the war, an
opportunity which was highly appreciated.
276

of health. The latter gave us quite a shock by being
admitted to hospital, placed successively on the
seriously ill and dangerously ill lists, taken off both
and discharged from hospital within approximatel y
ten days-quite a hustler.
As promised in last month's notes, the following
is a list of the only old stagers remaining in Durban
(qualification, I year).
Lieut.-Colonel E. D. Edinger, Major W . Pink,
Lieuts. F. H. Judge, T. E. Linter and J. McClafferty,
S.S.M. W. Ward, S jSgts. H. N. H. Smith and J. E.
Taylor, Sgts. E. Jones and W. O. Motson, Cpl. S . K.
Adams, L jCpl. J. L. C. Hampshire, Ptes. K. F . Facer,
R. S. Green, D. A. Harding, G. G . Harris, S. O.
Smith, D. C. Starks, E. Thornton and G. Tyler.
Not a very lengthy list and some of these onlv
scrape in by a month or so. Some also are due foor
early boats home.
Sport.-Consequent upon the transfer of the
H.C.T. Accounts Wing to Clairwood Camp and
reduced numbers of personnel, the sporting activities
of the Detachment have not been so prominent as
previously.
The Tennis Section has disbanded, and our weekly
Snooker Tournaments .have ceased, but towards the
end of last season we indulged in a few inter-unit
Cricket matches and were highly successful thanks
mainly to the efforts of Ptes. Davies, Longh~rst and
Wilkinson, all of whom have now returned to U.K.
Whilst our home readers have been enjoying the
glorious English summer, we have been enduring
the rigours of the South African winter and football
season. Again, owing to the shortage of players and
the return to normal civilian league football in the
Union the Detachment has played only four matches
this season, these against other Imperial teams.
Our stalwarts were Cpls. Adams and Cox and
Ptes. Thornton and Wilkinson, not forgetting our
nimble left wing of Ptes. Towers and " Bomber"
Harris. We have met with a fair measure of success,
although the referee of the first match, "no names
no pack drill," is still being blamed for the defeat.
Tot siens.
W.P.
SINGAPORE
To readers may I apologise for the lack of news
from the . Command Pay Office, Malaya, in the
Summer edition of the Journal-you are assured that
an article left Singapore for your entertainment and
doubtless like the G.P.O. the Army Post Office will
effect delivery in the future. Life has now settled
down to normal Pay Office routine, including plenty
of arrears, but a little bird has whispered that soon
shorter hours are to be the order of the day.
Since writing last we have seen several changes of
faces and scenery, Lieut.-Colonel Shaw-Hamilton
has left to join the D.P.I.C.s staff and the Command
Paymaster is now Lieut.-Colonel!. S. Hogge, O.B.E.
No doubt the biggest change in our life is the removal
of the other rank's messes from our comfortable
billets in the centre of the town to tented accommodation in Tyersall Camp, some four to five miles
away from the office. We now have a private bus
service of two converted three tonners to carry us
backwards and forwards four times daily, with the
office fifteen-hundredweight doing gallant service in
bringing along the stragglers who have literally
" missed the bus." Fortunately since moving there
has been a long dry spell of weather, in fact local
papers describe it as the longest drought for years,
perhaps this is as well as life under canvas in
Singapore's rainy season is viewed with a heavy
heart even by seasoned veterans of the Meerut
campaign. That" Boat" has arrived and left for
many old friends who were with us from September
last year and as I write this article about eight more
are busily engaged packing tin trunks for repatriation,
so the Home Offices will shortly be blessed with a
few more bush hats and brilliant ideas on Pay Office
procedure from S.E.A.C.
SOUTH AFRICA (85 DETACHMENT)
The Detachment here is shrinking so rapidly that
social activities are very limited and gatherings have
been confined to the usual" going away" parties for
those departing.
Lieut. J. Hair, who many will remember was
responsible for the collection, packing and dispatch
of thousands of used tennis balls to the U.K. for
the use of English schoolchildren, has now left us
but the good work is being carried on by the local
b:a~ch of Toc H. Judging by the letters of appreCIatIOn received by Lieut. Hair, his self-imposed task
~"as very worthwhile and brought hours of happiness
1Oto the lives of hundreds of kiddies at Home.
Miss Sneedon (now Mrs. Hutchenson) fell into
the local habit of marriage by proxy and now expects.
her 'proxy husband any day-this is a popular local
habIt anyhow, as it involves two reception parties
at the price of one wedding present.
Major R. T . Flack and L jCpl. A. J. Fellows have
now. left us and are busy qualifying as Union
NatIOnals and by the time these notes are in print
~gt. Muggeridge will also have gone to his new home
m Maseru, Basutoland.
We have only one new arrival to report-Captain
W. H. Brown, ex Reading and Ceylon. We wish him
a pl~asant time here and a speedy passage out for his
f~Ily . Ex Pte. R. (Bob) Gardiner and his wife have
arm~ed back and are settled in Durban again .
Lleut.~Colonel E . D. Edinger and L jCpl. L. C.
HampshIre are now back at dutv from their spells in
hospital and both appear fully recovered and the
Detachment now presents a 100 per cent. clean bill
TRINIDAD
Life in Trinidad goes on day after day with very
little to upset its even tenor_ We had a mino~
upheaval in the office when, after obtaining" missing
groups" and sorting out "corrupt groups" we
implemented (lovely word) the new Pay Code, but
we are now back on routine work. This leaves a little
time for the favourite pastime of the U.K. troopsspeculation whether their release will be delayed or
just the usual month or so late.
The Army team is again playing in the First
Division of the Soccer League and Pte. Inman of
this Unit appears assured of his place in the team.
S .S.M. C. J. A. Day, after a spell in the U.K.,
has rejoined this office which has expanded considerably since he left. Pte. Edwards, ex-Manchester
arrived at the same tin1e. Mrs. and Miss Wilson:
and Mrs . Wotherspoon, have joined the station and
appear to have settled down, while Mrs. Milne is
expected shortly.
Whether this influx of wives
affected his decision or not is still unknown but on
II th July Sgt. Wakefield "took the plunge" and
provided extra work in the Family Allowance
Section. We all wish him the best of luck. ExTrinidadians will, no doubt, be interested in the
following impressions of a member of the Detachment.
ELSIE
277
IT

Distance
. If you should ask someone who has never visited

Trinidad what he knows of the place, he would reply
" Ah, Yes, that is the Island with the Pitch Lake, is
it not? "
Well, almost everyone who comes to Trinidad
sees the Pitch Lake, a drab wonder of the world,
reminiscent of a Coal Pit in its activity.
A strange place is Trinidad, colourful and yet
disappointing, where the most amazing contrasts go
hand in hand.
You gaze on vast sugar estates (cane is burnt
before milling) where with even all the industry the
scene is tropical: then over the hill is a vast oil
compound stretching southwards to San Fernando
and beyond, elaborately and accurately controlled.
There are orange and grapefruit groves, and
banana estates with all the attendant tropical
vegetation.
There are strange perpetual odours; there are
colourful exotic flowers and haunting scents,
picturesque bathing coves and rich tropical countryside easily accessible as roads are good.
Trinidad is a vital stop between North and South
America, the old world and the new, in the marked
advance of aviation in the past decade .
People are keenly sport minded, there being great
enthusiasm over horse racing, cricket, football,
boxing and hockey.
American influence is noticeable in ' Trinidad,
partly due to its proximity to the U .S.A. together
with the fact that there are Americans in the Colony
in the leased bases.
The Command Pay Office, South Caribbean Area,
is pleasantly situated on. the outskirts of Port of
Spain, surely the finest city in the British West
Indies. Here, there is a fine harbour, trolley buses ,
cinemas with up-to-date films and shopping centres
where almost anything can be purchased including
Nylons. Sanitation is sound. There is electricity
in many homes, with oil cooking, but no gas and
therefore no smoke and no chimney pots.
There is almost every conceivable mixture of
races in Trinidad. They have their customs, their
Calypso and Carnival, a pageant colourful, but noisy
with strange catching rhythm beaten out "all day
all night" on any old tin can. It is not advisable to
leave bins around unless insured or anchored.
West Trinidad facing Venezuela is, in 'the main,
industrial but in the east with Balandra and Manzanilla Beaches, you have the tropics, the scene of
coconut palms and surf and blue azure sky. This is
the Trinidad one thinks about, and pleasantly
remembers.
tn
Miles
Comparative
distance
LONDON to:
LENGTH OF W.A. COMMAND
Maiduguri-Bathurst
2,000
Stalingrad
G.H.Q. TO AREA H.Q.S
Accra-Lagos ..
270
Luxemburg or
Newcastle/Tyn e
Accra-Freetown
907
Rome
Accra-Bathurst
1,210
Tunis
For the benefit of those who at some time may
have to serve in West Africa it can be truthfully
stated that this part of the world, whilst perhaps, not
exactly a health resort, is no longer the "White man's
Grave." Not that the original dangers no longer exist
but with the improvement in Anti-malarial Precautions and Medical Science these dangers have
very largely been overcome. If Medical instructions
and advice are strictly adhered to, there is no reason
why anyone should not complete his 18 months' tour
of duty in as good a state of health as when he
disembarked in West Africa, if not better.
At the present time the Pay Offices in this
Command are extremely busy with the release of
the R .W.A.F.F. returning from S.E.A.C.
This
extra work, together with shortage of staff, has caused
office hours to be increased . In more normal times,
however, there is plenty of time and opportunity for
sport. 'Pennis, golf and squash are cheap. In
addition races are held periodically and riding, sailing
and polo are available for those who are interested.
Bathing or rather surfing is very good and there are
some excellent beaches. In the evening there are
open-air pictures and the European club in the case
of officers. In short, one can have a very enjoyable
18 months' tour in West Africa and anyone ordered
to this part of the Empire has every reason to look
forward to his tour of duty.
Now a brief word on the technical side, the
accounts of African soldiers are maintained on
broadly speaking, the same lines as accounts at home.
The accounts for the wives, however, present
problems not met with by a home Pay Office. The
illiteracy of vast numbers of the population together
with their nomadic tendencies and the slowness of
communications over the vast distances involved are
some of the difficulties which have to be ' faced.
Thanks to the co-operation of the Colonial officials
the Corps out here, under Colonel W. Vero, the
Ch.P. and F.A., have been able to live up to the high
standard of the Pay Office at Home by ensuring that
the African soldier's wife (note the singular-we
only pay for one !) is paid her allowance and allotment promptly. Instead of the allowance book
issued at home, advice of payment is made to varIOUS
Government officials who payout the allowances
due when on trek to various villages in the bush.
It is hoped that the brief information given abo,:,e
concerning the life of R.A.P.C. personnel Will
alleviate any misgivings which may be felt ~y anyone
who in future finds himself posted to thiS part of
the world. Most Europeans in civil life out here
have their wives with them for the greater part of
their tour of 18 months so that the Coast cannot be
...
so bad as it is sometimes painted.
Owing to constantly changing staff, personalities.
have been omitted deLiberately. It is intended that ID
the next issue, separate notes will be published .from .
each Colony so that anyone who has not yet s~rv~d
in West Africa will obtain some idea of the hfe ID
each individual Colony.
But Trinidad has its rum often disguised in the

mixture of pleasant cocktails and with the usual after
eR:ects, an excellent hangover. You feel after a while
that rum is in your blood stream, perhaps you have
no blood stream. Such is life. Rum costs approximately 5/- a bottle. Ab, yes! Is there someone
who would not live in the West Indies.
WEST AFRICA COMMAND

The West Africa Command now consists of three
Areas-Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and
Gambia. The Ga.mbia until f(:cently was a separate
Area. The followmg comparatIve distances will give
some idea of the area covered b y the Command :_
278

1946 Autumn

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

1946 Autumn

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

7

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

Lieut.-Colonel A. L. DUNNILL, O.B.E.

The Royal Army Pay Corps Journal is published

All letters, articles, etc., should be clearly written

Stories, Features, Verse and

THE CHILDREN'S QUARTERLY

Articles, photographs, etc., should be forwarded

All articles printed in this Journal are copyright,

Price ONE SHILLING

Subscribers are requested to notify at once any

Order Now . from your N ewsagent

THE MERLIN PRESS

All correspondence should be addressed to :

Tel.: ARDwick 4104: Ext. 2.

The rates of subscription to The R.A.P .C. Journal

Readers are reminded that in due course it

Small advertisements in connection with articles

The Royal Army ,Pay Corps Journal

Office, Indian Troops in Poona and had the

Colonel John Feehally was born in July 1881,

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

DELHI-THE CITY OF EIGHT INCARNATIONS

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

year's I.N.A. trials, as his palace and the

Lakshmi Narain Temple, New Delhi.

the style and tradition of J ehan's wonderful

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

At a General Committee Meeting of the

when doing so it would be of great assistance

WALES AND WEST MIDLAND AREA

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURN AL

By Lieut. M. E. C. JAMES, late RA.P.C.

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

invasion. General Montgomery would watch

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

The rest of the morning was spent visiting

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

"Lunch will be in about 15 minutes."

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

coloured portrait of him lying on a chair. He

(Continued f r om page 220)

Ranks (now resident in counties of Yorkshire,

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

R.A.P .C. GOLFING SOCIETY

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

time and thought were given so wholeheartedly

Lt.- Col. Thompson

Ellis & G ardiner

Bednall & Thompson

District, and the staff of the Officers' Club

before stumps were drawn and continuing their

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS OFFICERS TENNIS SI N GLES CHAMPIONSHIP

wicket was under water at one end and soon

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS

THE ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS JOURNAL

ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS

For 9 wkts (dec)

ROYAL ARMY ORD N ANCE CORPS

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS

Result : R.A.O.C. WON BY 7 WICKETS IN THE LAST OVER OF PLAY

In a match played at the Officers' Club,

by Lieut. Green and CpI. Cooper took the