TOPIC:

Gordon Highlanders Regiment / H H Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein Memorial Cottage Home. 56 Kingsfield Road, Kintore, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire AB51 0UD.
Mentioned in Gildea (p150).
Cottage purchased by the Gordon Highlanders Regiment in 1902 and sold in 1967. 1901, an appeal fund was set up by Lady Forbes to collect for an endowment of a cottage home in Aberdeenshire for disabled men of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment, in memory of H H Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein.
Cottage purchased by the regiment in 1902, comprising six rooms, a front garden and outhouse accommodation at the rear. The cottage home was the gift of friends of the regiment, assisted by a grant of £126 1s 2d from the Central Prince Christian Victor Memorial Fund.
The property was selected and purchased by Col. Mathias C B on behalf of the regiment and was intended to be held in perpetuity for housing injured soldiers. The occupants were selected by the regiment. The first occupant was Thomas Dunlop, who died in 1903. Between 1913-1916 the cottage was occupied by Private John Petrie, his wife and an unmarried soldier. In 1921, the cottage was occupied by Gordon Lorimer and his family.
The regiment disposed of the cottage in 1967. (Sales particulars refer to a rateable value of £14.) Cottage purchased in 1967 by Mr Gordon J Beattie building contractor. He described the building at that time as a "bit dilapidated". A 1980 newspaper report refers to a brass plaque that was affixed to the building and in memory of H H Prince Christian Victor South Africa 1899-1902. Presented to the museum. In 1991, the cottage was sold again and by which time, it had been substantially enlarged.
Unlike the other memorial cottage homes above, as this building was already in existence when it was purchased by the regiment, it is unclear to me if it comprises a war memorial. Any thoughts?

Four more Cottage Homes for you to add to your list – The Buffs Cottages, Rumsfield Road, Broadstairs, Kent.

This article appeared in the East Kent Times & Mail of 6 June 1906:



These photographs I found on the “Thanet Hidden History” Facebook page where they were posted by an S Foad on 22 May 2015.





This is the link to the Facebook page – based on the newspaper article the information given on the Facebook page is not entirely accurate but still of interest.

www.facebook.com/thanethiddenhistory/pos...nd/1588943118060645/

A private Facebook page featured the homes in January 2022 and the grandson of a man who lived in one of them from 1952 made a comment and added a photo of copy of a letter sent to his grandfather asking him to complete and return the enclosed application form.

This is the link to the second Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/groups/436081820298097/posts/1057541954818744/

The 1902 homes receive a mention on the IWM website as a War Memorial, link below:

www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/54612

The original 1902 inhabitants named in the 1906 newspaper article can be identified from the 2nd Battalion, the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) medal rolls as 2521 Private E Savin and 1902 Private D Benton. Savin was “severely” wounded on 19 November 1900 and Benton was “severely” wounded on 30 October 1901 – the newspaper article has the locations correct except Brakenlaagte was mis-spelt.

The attestation papers and service record for Savin appear to have gone awol but those for David Benton have survived.

Using the address finding facility on FMyP I have retrieved the 1911 & 1921 Census returns for all four cottages. Both Savin and Benton had moved on by 1911.

A well-researched public family tree on Ancestry tells me that David Benton died in 1956 at the age of 89. He went to war in south Africa as a married man and father of two. His wife died young in late 1911 aged only 38, thus he spent the last 44 years of his life as a widower. He also outlived his son and the 1939 Register found him living with his daughter who had become Mrs Cutbush.

I have forwarded all this material to David Olusoga for a future TV series but if you would like copies send me your email address by private message.

Thanks again Smethwick, much appreciated.
I was aware of these, but not in the detail that you have kindly provided.
Good photographs and much better than what I could see on street view images.
I believe some (two?) are now owned by Haig Housing. They are mentioned on page 170 of the 2014 book 'Coming Home Haig Housing Trust A Hundred Years of Housing Heroes' by Anna MacLeod. (The photograph in the book purporting to be of a pair of these memorial cottage homes is of the properties in Out Risbygate in Bury St. Edmunds.)
If anybody could assist please, I am struggling to locate a Bedfordshire Regiment memorial cottage home at Cheshunt, Herts. I have found a Henry Goodwin, b.1867 in Ipswich, army pensioner (2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment), living at Bedford Regiment Cottage, Appleby Street, Cheshunt in the 1911 Census but, to date, have been unable to locate this cottage.

Also in Appleby Street in Cheshunt was the 18th Hussars Cottage. I think it may have been next door to the Bedfordshire Regiment Cottage. As you can see the occupant in 1911, John George William Hanks, was too old to have served in the ABW but his paperwork has survived and he spent 21 years in the 18th Hussars over half of which was in India. He and his wife were still living there in 1921. He died in 1933 aged 89. I think there were several 18th Hussars Cottages scattered across the country including one in the grounds of Langton Hall, Yorkshire which appears to pre-date the ABW.

Very helpful, thank-you.
I was aware that the 18th Hussars had two cottage homes at Tidenham, near Chepstow (still to locate them) but not a cottage home(s) at Cheshunt. I wonder if this was one half of a semi-detached cottage with the other belonging to the Bedfordshire Regiment? I'll keep digging.

Two press clippings regarding 18th Hussars Cottage Homes::

Lloyds Weekly Newspaper 20 November 1904:



Waltham Abbey and Cheshunt Weekly 17 July 1903



I have found the military paperwork for both Private Leonard & Lance-Corporal Holloway but will hold off from further comment until I have completed further research. Private Leonard is proving very interesting and has already appeared in a post on this site thanks to the camera of Steve Davies/Moranthorse1 as his name appears on panel 1 of the Boer War Memorial to be found in the Chapter House of Gloucester Cathedral - his premature 1903 death, quite possibly in the Cheshunt 18th Hussars Cottage, was down to his service in SA.

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/2-introductio...emorial-panels#86305

Regards, David.

PS The estate of Colonel Sir Percival Scrope Marling VC, presumably including the 18th Hussars Cottages at Tidenham, was auctioned off in 1920. For some strange reason all the paperwork (34 items) to do with the sale has ended up in the Glamorgan Archives. It includes some photos but these may only be of the main house. It might also be worth seeing what's in the Gloucestershire archives.