TOPIC:

Harry Betteridge

Private, 39th Coy. 10th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry – Anglo Boer War
Orderly, British Royal Cross & St John Ambulance
Bosun, Mercantile Fleet Auxiliary – WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal (C.C./O.F.S./Transvaal) to 6015 PTE H. BETTERIDGE. 39TH COY. 10TH IMP. YEO.
- 1914-15 Star to H. BETHERIDGE. B.R.C. & ST J.J.
- British War Medal to H. BETTERIDGE. BOSN. M.F.A.
- Mercantile Marine Medal to HENRY BETTERIDGE
- Victory Medal to H. BETTERIDGE. BOSN. M.F.A.

Henry (or Harry as he was wont to be called) Betteridge was born on 2 April 1878 in Marsh Baldon, Oxfordshire the son of Elizabeth Betteridge (born Brazell) and her Labourer-husband Alfred. He was baptised in the parish church there on 12 May 1878.

At the time of the 1881 England census a 3 year old Harry was living with his parents in the home of Thomas Betteridge, his widowed paternal grandfather, at Baldon House, Baldon Marsh, Abingdon. His mother, at 36 years of age was eight years older than his father who was 28.



Ten years later, at the time of the 1891 England census, the family were living at 5 Baldon Lane, Marsh Baldon (the name was interchangeable with Baldon Marsh.) Harry was now 13 and still an only child whilst his father, now a Farm Bailiff, had taken over the running of the household with his father, Thomas, now retired after a lifetime of work and living on his own means, sharing the home.

As the 19th century sputtered to a close the spectre of war loomed large. Far away in the southernmost tip of Africa the two Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal were gearing up for a fight. They had been distrustful of Great Britain’s Imperialistic intentions since the debacle of the Jameson Raid a few years earlier and, having delivered an ultimatum to the British Government on 9 October 1899, went on the offensive by crossing their mutual borders with the Colonies of Natal and the Cape when, predictably, their ultimatum went unanswered.

Initially the Boer momentum carried the day and the towns of Kimberley, Mafeking and Ladysmith were invested. Having seriously underestimated the Boers strength and motivation, the Imperial Authorities were caught with their proverbial pants down – insufficient numbers of troops on the ground and inferior weaponry with which to counter the Boer threat. A series of reversals took place in late December 1899 which shook the Empire and sowed panic in the Government. An urgent call went out for volunteers among the citizenry and the Imperial Yeomanry was born out of expedience and necessity.

Numbering three contingents in all, the first, which was raised in January 1900, was of an infinitely better class of recruit – many of them from High Society and professional men from the Clubs of London. Betteridge was one of the members of the first contingent. His families fortunes had been on the rise for the past two decades and he now found himself, at the age of 22 years and 8 months, a prosperous Farmer. Completing the attestation forms for Short Service (One Year with the Colours) at Reading on 2 January 1900 he was single and, physically, 6 feet in height weighing 140 lbs with a medium complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. Having been checked by the Doctors he was passed as Fit and assigned no. 6105 and the rank of Private with the 39th Company (Berkshire) of the 10th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry. Having set sail for South Africa with the least possible delay, his outfit landed at Cape Town on 11 February 1900 and made their way up to the front.

Fortunately for the reader, a number of Betteridge’s comrades wrote home to their families regaling them with their exploits and it is thus possible to track what his movements were.

The first of these was a letter home from Trooper Fred W. Smith of the 39th I.Y. published in the Berkshire Chronicle of 14 April 1900. Writing from Queenstown in the Eastern Cape on 10 March 1900, he wrote, in part, as follows,

“We had an awful voyage across the Bay and we were nearly all very sick. The food aboard the “Norman” was very good and we slept like bees in a hive, swinging and bumping into one another in our hammocks when the weather was rough. When we disembarked at Cape Town we were regularly messed up – got all our baggage ashore and loaded up and actually got out of town to Maitland Camp (six miles), when we had fresh orders to return and re-embark on the “Dictator” at once for East London. The journey from East London to Camp was quite a treat, at every station we threw out a picket to prevent any desertion.

…Our camp lies here in a valley with tremendous hills each side. With powerful glasses we can see General Gatacre’s camp. General Gatacre has a bad name and we have heard their version of the Stormberg affair – they (the Berkshire Regiment) blame him. There is plenty of dust mixed with our food. We have all been closely cropped and are letting our beards grow, that is the order unless we can shave every day. We join Gatacre at once. Yours etc.”

A letter from Lieutenant Giles Ayres of the 39th appeared in the Berkshire Chronicle on 5 May 1900. Written from Wimbledon Camp on 31 March he wrote to his brother thus,

“When I wired you, we were on our way to Mafeking, within a few hours we had fresh orders to proceed to Smith’s Drift (Schmidt’s Drift), where it was understood a lot of rebels are located…. I shan’t have time to write much more as we have just received orders to strike camp and go off to Boshoff on the way to Bloemfontein, so I suppose we shall have another week or ten days on the move. The flies and insects of all kinds are a torment.”

Less than a week later, on 10 May 1900, the following letter appeared in the Newbury Weekly News. Written from Boshoff Camp on 6 April 1900, by Sergeant Frank Frampton of the 39th it read as follows,

“Yesterday about eleven o’ clock an order came to us for 300 men to saddle up at once. We then marched a distance of 12 miles in search of the enemy and came upon them about two o’ clock. They opened fire at 1200 yards, and the bullets began whizzing all around us, some coming within a foot. We captured 55 prisoners, killed 14 and wounded 13 and these were all brought into camp with all their horses and arms. By jingo they can shoot, and they are some rough customers, several of them having on them explosive bullets. Lord Methuen was in the fight and addressed us this morning saying how very pleased he was with the steady conduct of the men. We are now right up at the front, and under Lord Roberts, and are on his extreme left flank.”



But for the Yeomanry it wasn’t all plain sailing. The Lindley affair proved to be an embarrassment and Betteridge and his comrades in the 39th were part of the relieving force dispatched, post-haste, to extricate Colonel Colville and his men stranded just outside the town of Lindley in the Orange Free State. According to an article in the Newbury Weekly News of 14 June 1900, several men of the 39th were wounded “in the engagement fought by Lord Methuen on June 2, when attempting to overtake and liberate the Irish Yeomanry.”

As can be surmised, Betteridge was in the midst of the hustle and bustle of war with the Boers. At this stage of the conflict, having forsaken pitched battles, the Boers had broken up into small, highly mobile mounted units which plagued the ponderous British columns and lines of communication as they wound their way across the veld to try and hem the Boers in. His Military Service Sheet confirms that he was in action at Boshoff, Lindley, Heilbron, Rhenoster Kop, Oliphants Nek and Frederickstad.

Another comrade of Betteridge’s – Trooper Hawkins of the 39th – wrote home, his letter appearing in the Berkshire Chronicle of 14 July 1900. It referred to the aforementioned Lindley battle and read, in part, as follows,

“Lindley, O.F.S. 9th June – Since I last wrote to you we have had one or two rather desperate fights. We came to this place to relieve 400 of the Duke of Cambridge’s Own Yeomanry who, through a mistake were shut up here. I am very sorry to say we got here a day too late. We got here on the Friday morning and, and a very thick reception we had when we did arrive. The Boers were posted in some farmhouses and we rode up within 400 yards of their position and did not know it, and directly we dismounted they opened fire on us, and it was something fearful, the bullets were all round us and it was the greatest wonder to all of us that we came out alive.
However we mounted our horses again and rode over to a large kopje, where we took up a not too strong position, and it took us four hours of hard shooting with the bullets whizzing round us all the time, to drive them off, and then I am not so sure we should have done it so soon if the guns had not come up and put some shells into them; and then they did not go so far, as the next day we had another big fight, and succeeded in driving them further off.

That was last Thursday and Friday and they are here now, but we have nearly got them surrounded. We lost 2 killed and 3 wounded that day, but we had a rare lot of horses shot. It is getting rather monotonous; we are shelling them nearly all day long, and they are continually sniping at our outposts, so you may guess it’s not very lively, but I suppose it will not last for ever.”

The Windsor & Eton Express of 1 September 1900 continued the narrative of the 39th with this letter from Trooper Cooper who wrote from Orange Grove on 22 July 1900:

“Yesterday we had the biggest field day we have had. Commencing from the small village of Wellbank we had a running fight for six miles to Orange Grove, which is now in our hands, as also a ton of oranges. The ball commenced rolling in this way: The Boers had a pom-pom in position and when we were all in close order in a defile on the road they shelled us with them without success. Our howitzer then responded and smashed their pom-pom. The two troops of 39th Company were an escort to our pom-pom. Our pom-pom had orders from General Chesham to fire at a kopje in front, while some Yeomanry on the left flank were pushing on. You must look up our route, thirty miles east from Krugersdorp. This camp is a beautiful place, all surrounded with trees.”

Betteridge garnered a mention in The Newbury Weekly News which carried this short insert in their 15 November 1900 edition:

“Merry peals rang out from the church tower on Friday last in honour of the Prince of Wales’ birthday. Prior to his going out to South Africa, Trooper Betteridge of the Imperial Yeomanry was a ringer, also a member of the Oxford Guild of Bell Ringers. Arriving at a place called Hoopstad, which boasted of an English church with a peal of bells, he in company with others of his troop, also ringers, rang a right royal peal in honour of the event.”

The above overlapped with an article which was of greater significance – Betteridge wasn’t destined to see out a full year in the field – the Newbury Weekly News of 1 November 1900 carrying the tidings that,

“Thatcham lads are beginning to return from the front. Among recent arrivals are Private Smith, Berkshire Regiment, and Trooper Betteridge, of Midgham, of the Imperial Yeomanry. The latter is in good health with the exception of his eyes which caused him to be invalided home.”

The same publication, in their 13 December edition, wrote under the heading “Welcome to Trooper Betteridge” that, “A large meeting of members and their friends took place in the assembly room of the Fireside Club, on the evening of the 6th instant to welcome back Trooper Harry Betteridge to the Fireside Club on his return from the South African War. The President said they were all pleased to welcome Mr Harry Betteridge back again to the club after the trials and hardships he had passed through in South Africa.

Presented with a marble timepiece which bore the following inscription: - Presented to Trooper Harry Betteridge, 39th Imperial Yeomanry, on his return from the South African War, by fellow members of the Fireside Club, Bucklebury, 6th December 1900.” Trooper Betteridge expressed the pleasure it gave him to receive such a valuable and handsome a present from his fellow members. He attributed his return to the superior way in which he had been led by his commanding officers, while he had endeavoured to do his duty (loud cheers.)”

He received his Queens Medal after being treated to a luncheon in the Small Town Hall, Reading on Saturday, 28th December 1900.

The excitement of the war and his return gradually faded and, according to the 1901 England census, Betteridge had returned to Kings Farm, Midgham to help his now widowed mother on the farm. In 1903 he paid a visit to Canada, returning to England in July that year from Montreal aboard ‘Lake Champlain.’

All went quiet on the Betteridge front for the next twelve years and one can only assume that all was well in the Betteridge household. Dramatically, their peace and tranquillity and that of the wider world was rudely disturbed by the outbreak of World War I – the Great War, the war to end all wars - between Great Britain and her Allies and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and his Allies. This truly international conflict commenced on 4 August 1914 and dragged on with an enormous loss of life on both sides until 11 November 1918 when the Armistice was signed.



Although it is not known exactly when Betteridge entered the fray it soon became apparent that he was no longer a Farmer – in fact he had exchanged the land for a nautical life and was Bosun aboard the Hospital Ship, Grianaig, entering a theatre of war on 30 September 1914 whilst attached to the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance Brigade.

The Grianaig was the private yacht of none other than Lord Dunraven, the eccentric Irish peer. Betteridge wasn’t alone on the steam yacht – there was a small medical team including nurses who sailed from Malta to Syracuse, on the eastern side of Sicily in the early part of the war. Dunraven, aged over 70 years old, was an avid sailor, who twice tried to win the America's Cup in 1893 and 1895. He had donated his large yacht as a hospital ship, and his services as its captain which meant that he was onboard at all times. The Grianaig was painted white and had a large red strip all around - a Crosse Rossa - to ensure the safety of the medical staff and, with luck, deter the lurking German submarines. Narelle, an Australian Nurse, was quoted as saying that “The large seas made for a rough and slow journey that took almost nine hours,” in the book ‘Oceans of Love' by Melanie Oppenheimer.

Lord Dunraven had purchased Grianaig from the Duchess of Westminster and the steam yacht was initially used to transport voluntary medical staff from Southampton to France and then until the 27th November 1914 carried stores to such places as St Nazaire, St Malo, Havre, Rouen and Boulogne and carried wounded on the return journeys. From February 1915 she worked from Dover to Boulogne and was later deployed for use in the Mediterranean Sea.



Betteridge juggled his B.R.C. service with that of a Seaman in the Mercantile Fleet Auxiliary – wearing both hats. The M.F.A. records up until 1918 were destroyed making it difficult to relay a man’s service in the early war years – fortunately Betteridge decided to marry, the happy event taking place in the Parish Church of Eastleigh in Hampshire on 20 March 1916 when he wed 34 year old Rosina Stannard of 177 Cranbury Road, Eastleigh. Aged 35, it was conveniently mentioned that he was the 2nd Mate aboard the Hospital Ship Grianaig. The Registry of Shipping and Seamen also confirmed that he was serving aboard Grianaig in that capacity in 1915.

A history of the Grianaig further revealed that she had been offered to the Government as an Ambulance Ship for the Mediterranean but had been found unsuitable and returned. In March 1916, as the need for more vessels became more pressing, she was hired by the Admiralty as an auxiliary patrol yacht and converted to a hospital ship. Aside from Betteridge and Nurse Narelle, other personnel on the yacht were the Medical Officer, Frederick George Lloyd and Lady Superintendent Nesta Blennerhassett of the British Red Cross. The Grianaig carried mostly officers back from the front to England for treatment.

Betteridge was mentioned in the Daily Malta Chronicle of 22 December 1915 under the heading “The Wounded in Malta” that, “In reply to enquiry, through Messrs Joseph Borda & Son, local merchants, on behalf of Mr H. Betteridge, Hospital Ship “Grianaig,” we are informed that No. 627 Sergeant Major T.C. McCullagh, Royal Bucks Hussars, has been in St Ignatius Hospital since the 30th October.”

The war over, Betteridge was awarded the 1914-15 Star to the British Red Cross & St John Ambulance along with the British War and Victory Medals to the rank of Bosun. He was also awarded the Mercantile Marine Medal named to Henry Betteridge. Continuing on in the Merchant Navy he was a Mariner in the employ of the Camper and Nicholson Ship Builders working in Northam at the time of the 1921 England census. He and his wife were living at 163 St Mary’s Road, Southampton at the time.

In 1926 he was the Second Mate aboard the Iona and was still with that same vessel in 1934. According to the 1939 Register he was a Shipyard Rigger living at 60 Church Road, Eastleigh, Hampshire.

This interesting man passed away in Winchester in 1956 at the age of 78.

Acknowledgements:
- Various newspaper reports credited within the body of the work
- Contributions from the Great War Forum on this topic
- Ancestry/FMP for service papers, census data etc.