The Queens Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

           Two linked battalions – the 50^th (the Queen’s Own) and the 97^th (Earl of Ulster’s) form the above regiment. The 50^th was raised as the 52^nd of the line in 1755 or 1756, assuming its proper number after the reductions of 1757.  The title, “West Kent,” was given it in 1782, that of the “Duke of Clarence’s Regiment” in 1827, the “Queen’s Own” in 1831, and its present designation fifty years later.  There had been one other of the same number- Shirley’s American Provincials- formed in 1745; but this became the 50^th in 1754, and disappeared in 1757.  Apparently the present battalion was raised originally in Ireland, and in 1760 the flank companies, only, of the regiment were engaged at Corbach, Kirch-Denkern, and Wilhelmstahl, the rest of the regiment remaining in cantonments.  Returning home in 1763, it sailed for the West Indies in 1772, was broken up in 1776, but afterward recruited at Salisbury, to serve on board the fleet off Ushant.  In 1794 the 50^th did good service in the attack on the Martello towers on the coast of Corsica, at the assault of Conventional Redoubt, the blockade of Bastia, and the siege of Calva.

           The next campaign of the regiment was that of Egypt, 1801, when it fought at Aboukir, Rackmani, Cairo, and Alexandria.  It saw much service in the Peninsula, at Vimiera and Corunna, where it was commanded by Charles Napier, afterwards of Scinde; at Fuentes d’Onor, Fort Napoleon, Bejar, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, the Niville, Bayonne, Orthes, Aixe, Tarbes, and Toulouse.  During these operations it suffered heavy loss on several occasions, especially in officers; but this was almost equalled by the loss from yellow fever between 1819 and 1822, when the regiment was serving in Jamaica.  Its next active service was in the first Burmah War of 1814; but, though it proceeded to Moulmein, it soon returned to India, and shared in the hard fighting at Punniar in 1842.  Lieutenant Crow and thirty-five convalescents from Cawnpore  marched fifty-three miles in twenty-four hours to join the regiment for this battle. The 50^th had suffered severly from shipwreck during its existence, but of all the recorded instances that of 1844 is the most curious; for on this occasion the Runnymede, conveying a detachment, was thrown high and dry onshore.  The regiment next fought at Moodkee and Ferozeshah, capturing two Sikh colours; and at Sobraon, where the regiment having taken a battery of guns, had to retake it when it was re-manned in their rear. The 50^th saw service in the Crimea at the Alma, Inkerman, and Sevastopol; and the “Queen’s Own” was the last to leave, as it had been one of the first to land on, Russian soil.  Finally it took part in the New Zealand campaign of 1864, at Te Rori, Weretoa, Kamaramea, and Putahi Pah; in the Egyptian campaign at Kassassin  (a detachment only was present at Tel-el-Kebir); in the Gordon Relief Expedition, when both battalions furnished a force of mounted infantry, which fought at Abu Klea and Metemneh; and in the after operations in the Soudan at Ambigole Wells and Ginniss.  A 2^nd battalion of the 50^th, raised in 1804, was absorbed by the 1^st in 1814.

           The 2^nd battalion, raised in 1824 as the 97^th, was entitled the “Earl of Ulster’s in 1826.  It had five predecessors; the first from 1760-63; the second (which was at Gibraltar), 1780-83; the third (the Strathspey Highlanders), 1794-95; the fourth (Queen’s Germans), 1802-18, when it had become the 96^th; and the fifth, recruited as the 98^th in 1804, but disbanded as the 97^th in 1818.  The first active service of the 97^th was in the Crimea, where it did good work during the siege of Sevastopol; and in 1857 it embarked for India, seeing much hard fighting at Nusrutpore, Chanda, Sultanpore, Ameerapore, Lucknow, the Kaiser Bagh, etc.  In 1881 it shared in the disasters of the Transvaal campaign.  Finnaly in the Gordon Relief campaign it furnished part of the force of Mounted Infantry which marched across the Bayuda Desert from Korti, and fought as stated above. The original facings of the 50^th were black, altered in 1831 to blue; those of the 97^th were sky-blue, the only regiment so dressed.  Now the scarlet uniform has royal blue facings, which with the officers are, “by special authority,” of velvet.  The motto, “Quo fas et Gloria ducunt,” was granted to the 97^th; the White Horse and “Invicta” were the badges of the Kent Militia; the 50^th contributes the royal crest and the Sphinx over “Egypt.”  The buttons have the crest, as also has the collar and waist-plate (with the “Queen’s Own Regiment”).  The helmet-plate bears the White Horse, the two mottoes, and the territorial title.  The Horse, with “Invicta” and complete title, is worn on the forage-cap. The 3^rd and 4^th battalions are furnished by the West Kent Militia, which was raised in 1759, and divided into two battalions in 1876.  The Volunteer battalions are the 1^st Kent, Turnbridge (green and green); the 3^rd Kent, Blackheath (green and black); and the 4^th Kent, Woolwich Arsenal (green and scarlet). The nicknames of the 70^th have been “the Blind Half-Hundred,” from the men suffering from ophthalmia in Egypt; the “Dirty Half-Hundred,” from the men wiping their faces with their black facings-or, as others state, “from blackening their faces through biting the cartridges for Brown Bess;” the “Gallant Half-Hundred,” from their bravery at Vimiera in 1808; and the “Devil’s Royals.”  The 97^th was known as the “Celestials,” from the colour of their facings. The depot was at Maidstone.  Extracted from ‘Her Majesty’s Army’s’

How Private John Thomas Turnbull, Of The 1^st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment Won The D.C.M. At Ypres

In the second week in November 1914, the 1^st Royal West Kent’s, who had brilliantly distinguished themselves in the desperate fighting near La Bassee at the end of the previous month, were brought northwards, with other battalions of the 2^nd Corps, to replace the shattered 7^th Division, which now went into general reserve; and on November 12^th they took possession of a section of the first line trenches near the Gheluvelt cross roads. An unwonted tranquillity reigned at that moment along this part of our front; but, as this had too often been the prelude to some sudden attack by the enemy, our men did not relax their vigilance; and on the following day Private John Thomas Turnbull, a young Yorkshireman, who had already gained a great reputation for pluck and resourcefulness, volunteered to go out and reconnoitre. The ground in front of our trenches was quite open, and the only cover to be found was the shell holes with which it was interested. But, taking full advantage of these, Turnbull contrived to crawl quite close to the Germans, and it was fortunate that he did so, since he ascertained that the enemy were massing for a frontal, and, to all appearances, a flank attack as well, which, if delivered unexpectedly, would certainly result in his battalion being driven from their trenches with heavy loss. Making his way back to our lines as quickly as he could, Turnbull reported what he had seen, and preparations were at once made to meet the coming attack. The consequence was, that when, an hour later, the Germans advanced in great force, the West Kent’s were quite ready for them, while our artillery had got the range and shrapnel, rifle and machine gun wrought such terrible havoc amid their serried ranks that the attack was quickly broken up, and recoiled in disorder.

When things had quieted down, Turnbull went out again to ascertain the enemy’s position, and discovered that they were entrenching themselves. Having returned and reported accordingly, he went out a third time and found that they were digging themselves in another position, still closer to our lines. This information, when passed on to our artillery, enabled them to shell the enemy with great effect.

From that day until November 19^th, Turnbull repeatedly went backwards and forwards between our trenches and the German lines, though during most of the time the ground was being heavily shelled, and on several occasions obtained information of the highest value. Nor were his services confined to gathering information, for, finding that several German snipers had secreted themselves between the hostile lines, and were not only interfering with his reconnoitring expeditions, but had succeeded in picking off several of his comrades in the trenches, he volunteered to deal with them. One night, accordingly, he crept out, and so skilfully did he stalk these pests, and so deadly was his marksmanship, that in the course of a few hours, he had accounted for six of them, whose rifles he brought back with him as trophies. After this, Turnbull was able to continue his reconnoitring work undisturbed by the attentions of snipers, until on the 19^th, he unhappily received a bad wound in the foot, which incapacitated him for further service, and in the following spring he received his discharge papers from the Army.

Turnbull was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, "for conspicuous gallantry, coolness and resource between the 13^th and 19^th November 1914," and the Deputy-Mayor of Middlesbrough- his native twn-at presented his decoration to him a public meeting. That the country should have been deprived of the services of the most gallant young soldier at the early age of twenty-eight is indeed to be regretted, since his achievement at Ypres was but the climax to a series of brave deeds. At Mons, he carried a wounded lieutenant of his battalion to the nearest field hospital under a heavy fire, after a cyclist had given up the attempt as impossible. At Le Cateau, despite a heavy enfilading fire, he left his own trench and made his way into a trench from which a rain of shells had driven our men, in order to ensure that communication between two companies should be maintained. At the passage of the Aisne, he carried a mortally wounded officer to the shelter of a haystack and tended him until he died, and also assisted two wounded soldiers to the field hospital, all these acts being performed at great personal risk. Finally, at Neuve Chapelle, he, on more than one occasion, conveyed messages and ammunition over most dangerous ground.  Extracted from 'Deeds That Thrill The Empire'

JOHN COLEMAN  (Sergeant)  97^th The Earl of Ulster’s Regiment (amalgamated into the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment)            On August 30^th 1855 the enemy made an attack on a new sap, driving the working party in.  Coleman remained in the open, fully exposed to the enemy’s rifle fire, until all around him had been either killed or wounded, finally carrying one of his officers, who had been injured, to the rear.

Amboselli by Spencer Hodge