All posts by Bill Guest

The Letters of Eric Standring

(Continued from previous post located HERE)…

TO REDEEM THE PAST:

Glimpses of the Great War based on the letters of Eric Standring

©2014 All Rights Reserved

Time came for the regiment to depart. Eric had now been appointed the regimental trumpeter and as such he left the Tahuna camp before the main body of men. They had a busy day loading the horses. There was a great crowd on the wharf at Port Chalmers but he managed to see his brother Vic before setting sail on the “Hawkes Bay”.

Hawkes Bay
Hawkes Bay (Photo provided by Sue and Bill Guest)

 

Eric wrote a touching letter to his sister Gladys.

Dear Gladys,

I am writing to you separately to say goodbye to you once more as you are my only sister and I am most proud of you.

Well goodbye till I see you next time and I will try to get a VC for you to wear for a brooch when you go for a spree on great occasions.

 Be a good girl and don’t forget me

 With greatest love

 Your Brother and playmate

 Eric

 If I should get killed don’t go into mourning for my sake Gladys

The “Hawkes Bay” was met at Wellington on 23 September with ships from other ports and they then sailed into Wellington Harbour one after another. The ship tied up at the wharf in the pouring rain. Only a “farmerly-looking man and his three daughters were on the wharf” and MP’s Thompson and Scott.

In Camp W-Horses in Miramar
In Camp with Horses in Miramar (Photo provided by Sue and Bill Guest)

When they disembarked they walked the horses to their camp in Miramar. Eric, as the trumpeter had no fatigue work or horse picket guard at night. He had an infected cut in his neck. He was pleased that there is not nearly so much drinking in this camp “as it is only the mounted chaps and they are a decent crowd”.

The Prime Minister, William Massey was concerned about the safety of the convoy and held them back for three weeks until extra naval protection arrived in the form of the armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur and the Japanese battleship IJN Ibuki.

HMS Minotaur
HMS Minotaur (Photo provided by Sue & Bill Guest)

 

IJN Ibuki
IJN Ibuki (Photo provided by Sue & Bill Guest)

The OMR struck camp on Tuesday but had a night bivouacking and left for the boat on Wednesday. They went on board about noon and pulled into the stream at 5.00 pm on 16 October 1914. The ships sailed out of Wellington Harbour. Eric wrote to his father “so I suppose I will not set foot on New Zealand for some time”. He was not yet 20 years old and he would never see New Zealand again.

Eric soon “tossed the trumpeter job” at the promise of the next Corporal’s vacancy which did not appear to come for some time.

The “Hawkes Bay” sailed to Hobart where they had twelve hours off the ship and did a route march. Then on to Albany in Western Australia where they met up with 28 ships carrying the Australian Imperial Force. They stopped at Colombo in what is now Sri Lanka where they stayed for two days and were allowed off for a few hours. Eric sent some postcards to his family.

The convoy reached the Red Sea.

We anchored about 3 miles off opposite the town and near the African Coast.  The place Aden is a very precipitous mountain, rising almost straight out from the sea in very steep buffs to about 3000 or 4000 feet high.  On the highest peak there is a little white signal station.  On the African side, there is nothing but red and yellow desert with sharp chains of mountains.  Some of them most curiously shaped.  A lot of tramps and merchant ships kept passing us here.  The Red Sea is called red, I reckon, on account of the very red sunsets they have here.  Everything is blood red at sunset.

The regiment was pleased that it lost less than 1% of the horses transported.

It was most intensely hot and you can imagine what it was like working between decks among 300 horses packed as tight as sardines; at least you can’t imagine.  We got so used to the smell that we hardly noticed it.  We just wore a pair of dungaree trousers and they were ringing with sweat in no time.  We were nearly blinded by the sweat running in our eyes.

The convoy arrived at Suez on 30 November. The “Hawkes Bay” went on to Suez overnight and entered the Suez Canal about 3.00 pm.  Streets along the canal were crowded with people cheering.

The Canal is only about two chains wide with a high banks on both sides in most places.  At other places the Canal is higher than the surrounding country.  It was full moon the night we went through and I happened to be on horse picket duty from 10.00 pm until 2.00 am so I had a good view.  The Canal just now is lined all the way by Indian troops, about 45,000 of them on account of the Turks.  Kennedy had to make an attack on the canal in one place for two days before we went through, but it came to nothing.  We passed several camel caravans going along the desert and saw a few Arabs in their picturesque rags watching the ships go past.  We all had two search lights fitted up in the bows although it was nearly as bright as day.

After halfway house a railway runs along the bank and also a fresh water canal.  It was a wonderful trip.  Once after 2:00 am I was awakened by my mate to see a big P and O boat which was tied up while we passed.  I could have jumped on board from where I was sleeping on the main deck.  Most of the passengers were asleep but a few flung books and papers on board as we passed.  We anchored at Port Said about 4:00 in the morning. We were near the end of the Canal so all the Australian boats passed us.  Some of them were real snorters for size.

Scenes from Egypt 1

Scenes from Egypt 2

Scenes from Egypt
Postcards of Egypt from Eric Standring (Images in series provided by Bill and Sue Guest)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life in Egypt

The ship stopped at Alexandria:

We unloaded the horses the first day and took them through the streets to some huge stables in the town.  It was an exciting job leading them three at a time, as they were mad to gallop on and stretch their legs after the long stand in the boat.  Also the strange sights and colours and camels and donkeys nearly scared them out of their wits.

The OMR camped at Zeitoun. It was about 3 minutes from the station and half hourly trains ran into Cairo. Eric was very impressed by the trains.

The first period class carriages are beautiful.  They have all fitted out with pictures, beveled mirrors, and cushions.  The gauge is half is wide again as New Zealand Railways.  It takes about half an hour to get to Cairo main station as there are about seven or eight stops between.

It is rather rotten camped in the desert.  We have just had a two day sand storm.  All you can do is to close out what your tent and to lie and suffocate.  It is deadly out in the storm.  The air is full of sand and the wind is awfully hot.

Eric was fascinated by Egypt; the heat, the sand, the fruit, the history and the diversity of people. He enthusiastically wrote about it to his father and sent a number of postcards of the sights.

The rest of Cairo is nearly all native quarter.  You can go through streets so narrow they are like tunnels.  They are full of natives of all races, Arabs, Bedouins, Negros, Greeks, Italians, Romanians and every kind.

 All along the streets are shops. Most of the goods are outside and all around the shop and only the owners are inside.  Every now and then there is an opening off the street.  These lead into bazaars.  They are good shows.  If you want to buy anything you have to haggle for it as they ask at least three or four times what they expect to get.  In a bazaar you can get nearly anything you want.  If the men you are on to, hasn’t it, he says his brother on or father has it and leads you to it if you will go.  The natives are pretty scared of soldiers, but it is not wise to go anywhere near the quarters by yourself. 

 The day after Egypt was proclaimed British, all the NZ troops had a march through the quarters, the very worst, to overawe the natives.  We Mounteds had a great squeeze to get through some of the streets four abreast. I believe trouble was anticipated as we all had rifles loaded and ammunition, but all was safely accomplished.

Egyptian Camel

Pyramidherd of camels-egypt

There are a very few English and Cairo.  All the Egyptians are French, French hotels, ships, and restaurants. I have not seen a dinkum English shop it all.  You can go into a shop and a man as dark as a Maori says, me English sure I come from ze England. You just say liar, and he confesses he is Greek, or something but says the English are good.  Every one of the hawkers who come around you in their hundreds calls the things goooooood.  They say oranges are very goooooood.

He comments in his letters several times about the little children in poverty with flies around their eyes.

  Meeting the Jessops

The Americans supported the YMCA in Cairo and it was headed by the Secretary William Jessop. The Jessops worked with British troops trying to provide activities that kept them away from the temptations of Cairo.

Shortly after his arrival in Egypt, Eric was approached by the Jessops:

He (Mr Jessop) invited me to his house and Cairo but I could not go at once, as we were the regiment on duty.  I got leave for 48 hours on New Year’s Eve to go and spend New Year with them.  I landed down at their flat as soon as I got off duty on New Year’s Eve at about 10:00 pm. They were having an evening and I go out in just in time for supper.  They were nearly all Americans, from the American mission and the Vacuum oil company, as Mrs Jessop is an American, and, I fancy, used to be in the American mission.  Anyway I had a jolly decent time and went to the church at mid night with Mr and Mrs Jessop.  And I stayed there all night.  It was lovely to sleep in a bed and have a decent bath.  They have a flat in a big building.  They have no children.  It was a funny coincidence while I was there are that Mr. Jessop got a letter from British Columbia telling him that Mr Standring had written to tell that his son Eric was away to the war. 

He would continue to catch up with the Jessops and as Mrs Jessop kept corresponding with him throughout the war.

Story continues on Next Post…

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To Redeem The Past: Glimpses of the Great War Based on the Letters of Eric Standring

To Redeem the Past:

(Glimpses of the Great War Based on the Letters of Eric Standring

©2014 All Rights Reserved

 

Hubert Eric Standring
Hubert Eric Standring

Written and Edited by Sue Guest

Dedicated to the late Gladys Hull,

Loved Gran to her Grandsons.

She helped to keep Eric’s memory alive.

©2014 All Rights Reserved-Do not copy or re-use any material from this article, including but not limited to, photos, quotations, descriptions, etc.,  without express written consent from the author of this article.
For more information, please contact the website administrator at:  Request@dextergenealogy.com.
Eric Standring Aged 2 Years
Eric Standring-Aged 2 Years
Rev James and Millie Standring Not Long After Their Marriage
Rev James and Millie Standring Not Long After Their Marriage
Rev James in front of his Moa bone collection
Rev James in front of his Moa bone collection

 

Introduction

Every year Gladys Hull (nee Standring) put another ANZAC poppy on the photograph of her brother, Lieutenant Eric Standring who died on active service in France in 1917. The photograph was mounted under glass in a brown oak frame, and there was just enough gap between glass and frame for the stems of the poppies to fit.  By the 1950’s there were nearly 30 of them, and the older ones were becoming faded and fragile, but she never removed any.

She kept a number of the letters and cards he wrote, filed in brown envelopes with the year marked on them. These provide a glimpse of Eric’s war as he reported it to his family.

Early Life

Hubert Eric Standring (always known as Eric) was born on 22 November 1894 in Invercargill. His father, the Rev. James Standring, was a minister in the Baptist church. Eric was the fourth of five sons – though his next oldest brother died, aged two, less than five months before Eric was born. There was one daughter, Gladys who was born two years after Eric.

James Standring was from Bury in Lancashire, England. He attended the East London Missionary Training Institute and came to New Zealand on the “Waipa” in 1882. In New Zealand he met Amelia Alice Stringer (known as Millie). She had been born in Staines in Middlesex, England and had arrived in New Zealand on the “Northumberland” in 1880.

Shortly after Eric was born his father transferred to the Presbyterian Church and in 1895 was called to be Minister of the Waiareka parish near Oamaru in North Otago. It was here that Eric spent his boyhood. The Standring children attended Teaneraki School (later called Enfield School).

Rev James clearly led a busy life. He was strongly involved in the community, church politics and was a great supporter of the temperance movement.

Eric got his secondary schooling at Waitaki Boys High School in Oamaru. He was successful at school and came 70th in New Zealand in the Junior Civil Service exam. In March 1912 he left for Wellington to take up a Civil Engineering cadetship with Public Works Department of the New Zealand Government.

Joining up

New Zealand received news of the outbreak of the war on 5 August, 1914. Three days later the Government began countrywide recruiting of volunteers for the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). Eric Standring signed up on 29 August. He was not yet 20, the minimum age for enlistment and his army records show he added a year to his birth date. He was in good health, quite tall at 5 foot 11 inches with dark hair and brown eyes.

Eric joined the 12th Otago Mounted Rifles (OMR) and went into Camp at Tahuna in Dunedin. Most of those who joined the regiment had some experience as a soldier or a territorial; Eric did not though he must have been used to riding horses from his boyhood in the country.

As the OMR was a mounted regiment, troopers were required to bring a horse and a saddle although they sold their horse to the Government and were allocated one.

Eric wrote to his parents about life in the OMR:

Saturday night

Dear Dad and Mother

I am writing now in reply to your letters.  I am very glad to get them I can tell you.  I am glad you all got home safely after coming down.  I felt very down-hearted after you all got away.  Things here are pointing to a move at last.  In the parade for inspection this morning, the Honorable James Allen said we would certainly go within a week from today.  I am going for sure unless sickness or accident intervenes.

My regimental number, as far as I know is 9/481.  We have been working very hard everyday at Mounted parades, riding tests etc.  I have got a jolly good horse but it is very hard in the mouth and is a terror to bolt, but I have got an enormous curb bit and can hold him in now, but he got away with me twice and ran into a rock yesterday and cut his leg but it is healing up nicely today.  We are going to the front and not to any other place, except England first so I will be the second of the family to see the old country. 

There is a hideous row in this tent just now and it takes ones thoughts off letter writing.  All this afternoon we went miles over cross country.  It came on to rain about 2:00 pm and we had a picnic riding home down some very steep grassy hills which were as slippery as glass. We got home without accident though.  Well they have been a good few accidents lately as we have to do more on the horses and they get very excited and restless.  This is one day’s work.

Get out 6.00 am

Stables at 6.15 Roll call before. Water and groom horses till 6.45. Mess orderlies go to the galley for the breakfast, which is back about 8.00. Have breakfast and wash up.

8.45 Have all gear on and cleaned up

8.55 Saddle up

9.00 Parade on parade ground mounted and go to the beach or country until 12 noon

12.00 noon till 12.45 groom, water and feed horses.

1.00 Go for day’s rations for tent and at 2.00 Parade mounted till 5.00pm. Stables again till 5.45 and then pickets, guards etc. are detailed off and leave granted and tea is got, which is generally a good feed.

If you are not on picket, which you are not nearly every alternate night out of you can go to bed to 9:00 pm and then turn out to stables and give your horse another feed and after that go to bed for the night and you generally sleep very soundly after that.  If you are on horse picket you go up and down the horse lines catching horses that break loose and generally looking after them. Lights out at 10.00pm. 

I am very well and healthy except for a bit of a cold which everyone has got here and am feeling a lot better than when I was working at the glass trade.

I ran into a Bill Battersby at the camp today and had a yarn with him.  He looks very altered and aged and wizened up.  I will write again before I go and say goodbye

Now with much love

Your son

Eric

C squadron No 2 troop
12th Otago Mounted Rifle Regiment
Tahuna Park
Dunedin

(Please continue with this article, next post, The Letters of Eric Standring).