Issue 2 includes GREEN HOWARDS in the TIRAH CAMPAIGN, 1897 - 1898 PAGES FROM HISTORY, 50 YEARS ON - HONG KONG 1957 PAGES FROM HISTORY, 25 YEARS ON - THE FALKLANDS 1982 SIR THOMAS LONGMORE, SURGEON TO QUEEN VICTORIA

EDITORIAL COMMENT

The Regiment is very proud of the three Green Howard officers who, since the Second World War, have become the head of the British Army - General Sir Nigel Bagnall in the 1980s, Field Marshal The Rt Hon Lord Inge in the 1990s and now General Sir Richard Dannatt.

After only two months in the role, with his Army stretched in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Northern Ireland, General Dannatt had the moral courage to announce, in a measured article in The Daily Mail that the army had to be withdrawn soon from Iraq if there was to be an effective British Army in five or ten years time. It was overstretched and under resourced. The army had served the nation well during the last ten years and it was now time that the nation and its politicians supported the army in its most difficult task of fighting terrorism.

Not since 1918 has such a senior officer in the army made a public statement to the press. General Dannatt had put into the public domain all the thoughts that senior officers and soldiers on operations around the world had spoken in private. His statement in the press, on radio and television created a furore. Many thought he may be forced to resign. Yet such was the support he received from many influential people who knew him personally, and countless soldiers in the Middle East who appreciated that he was ‘putting his head above the parapet’ on their behalf, that he continues in his present role in a far stronger position than any of his predecessors.

Those members of the Green Howards who have served with him, and Friends of the Museum who have met him when he was Chairman of the Museum Trustees, realise that the British Army is indeed fortunate to have an intelligent CGS with such physical and moral courage. We wish him well with his mammoth task of leading the British Army.

With the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan so much in the news, it was felt appropriate to recall for our readers a similar occasion when, in 1897-98, the British Army in Imperial India was put in similar straits on the North-West Frontier.

The local Pathan tribes - all of Afghan stock - revolted against the British. Led by warlike mullahs in the name of Islam, they attacked British garrisons in the Khyber Pass. Soon the whole frontier between Afghanistan and British India was ablaze.

The 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards), stationed in Rankit, was despatched to Kohat to join the 35,000 strong Tirah Field Force and so enter the mountainous tribal territory in an act of retribution. It was to prove an arduous and close run campaign.

We are grateful to John Sly, a Friend of the Museum who is a respected historian of the Tirah Campaign and an internationally known numismatologist, for providing such a stimulating and apt article for the magazine.
I hope you enjoy reading this packed second issue of The Green Howard.

Roger Chapman
March 2007

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PORTRAIT FOR THE COLONEL

The timbered rooms of St William’s College in York was a splendid setting for the unveiling of the portrait of the last Colonel of the Green Howards before amalgamation: Brigadier John Powell OBE.

It has been a tradition in the Green Howards that an oil painting of the retiring Colonel of the Regiment is presented to him as a gift of thanks for his own use, on the understanding that it is given back to the Regimental Museum on his death to hang in the Normanby Room alongside portraits of former Colonels of the Regiment.

Brigadier John Powell had chosen Alistair Adams for the task, which took over four months to complete. When the artist unveiled the portrait in front of 70 serving and past members of the Regiment at the annual officers’ dinner, there was a gasp of appreciation. He had captured the identical likeness and, at the same time, had portrayed Brigadier John’s sense of occasion, academic turn of mind, sense of humour and his love of light and colour. It is a refreshing and charming portrait, which we hope will be appreciated and approved by his family and friends in Surrey.

After the presentation, Major General Andrew Farquhar CBE, the Deputy Colonel of the Yorkshire Regiment who has succeeded Brigadier Powell in looking after Green Howard matters, thanked him for all he had done over his most difficult three-year period as Colonel of the Regiment. He had successfully run a ‘Save The Green Howards’ campaign – few will realise how close the Regiment came to disbandment during the infantry cuts – his fight against the concept of a five battalion ‘Northern Regiment’, and his good liaison with the other two regiments to create a smooth transition into a three battalion Yorkshire Regiment; the only remaining county regiment in the British Army. The long applause showed the real affection the officers had for the man portrayed in the oil painting.

All Green Howards and Friends of the Museum will wish to pay tribute to Brigadier John Powell for his untiring work and leadership during the most traumatic period of our Regiment’s history. We were indeed fortunate to have had a Colonel who was tenacious in his resolve, positive in thought, fluent on paper and inspiring in speech. As the son of a famous Green Howard military historian, steeped in regimental history and with a proven love of the Regiment, he was able to convince all Green Howards that the course he had chosen was the best in the circumstances and all that was fine in the old Regiment would be transferred into the new.

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A MESSAGE FROM MAJOR-GENERAL A P FARQUHAR, C B E

I have now been the ‘Colonel’ for six months and write once more to update you on Green Howards’ business. I start by commending this second edition of The Green Howard magazine, which I hope you will all agree is an excellent production edited by Major Roger Chapman.

The headline for the Green Howards is, ‘Business as Usual’. Regimental Headquarters at Richmond is operating effectively under the watchful eyes of Captain Dennis Appleyard, with Major Brian Metcalfe overseeing the accounts. The Association is working as well as ever with Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Smeeton continuing as the Chairman. We still have not yet managed to recruit the permanent retired officer at Richmond, known these days as an MSF C1, but by the time you read this I am optimistic that we will indeed have one selected, if not in place. The Museum Curator, Mr David Tetlow is very much in place, ably supported by Mr Paul Cooper as the Museum Assistant. The Friends of the Green Howards Museum are as vibrant as ever and continue under the leadership of Major David Nicholson, who seeks to enlarge the membership at every opportunity.

Turning to the Museum, which is currently a bit like a building site due to the building works. But all is on time, budget and standard and we hope to formally re-open on 18th May 2007. We also plan to open before that date if possible, perhaps as early as immediately before Easter. The completely redesigned ground floor is going to be a real attractor for visitors, both those that have been before and those who have not. It has an impressive display of a Land-Rover charging over rocks in Afghanistan, right by the front entrance and I am sure it will be a huge success. This work has been made possible by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and it has been money well spent. I hope that you will all visit and encourage your friends to do so as well.

The transition to the Yorkshire Regiment has been a great success and I have visited the 2nd Battalion (Green Howards) on several occasions and you will be delighted to hear that all value enormously the strong links to the antecedent Green Howards. They will attend functions as often as they can, their availability being driven by operational commitments.

Planning for our usual annual events is well advanced and I hope to see you all there whenever possible.
So to conclude, we continue to proclaim the best traditions and qualities of the Green Howards and to cement them into the Yorkshire Regiment. It is very much ‘Business as Usual’ and I am delighted to report that it will continue to be so for many years to come.

See you all in Richmond on 20th May!

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GREEN HOWARD NOTES

Major-General Andrew Farquhar assumed the post of General Officer Commanding 5th Division in March 2005 on his return from Baghdad, Iraq, where he had been the Deputy Commanding General of the American-led, Multi-National Corps. Many may have read about some of his impressions and exploits in the December Issue 2005 of The Green Howards Gazette.

Major-General Farquhar assumed the role of Deputy Colonel of the Yorkshire Regiment on 6th June 2006, with special responsibilities for the former Green Howard element of the new Regiment. He also chairs the Museum, GHA and Financial Meetings on the retirement of Brigadier John Powell as the Colonel of the Regiment.

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10th ANNIVERSARY LUNCHEON, - KENSINGTON PALACE

General Sir Richard and Lady Dannatt kindly invited past members of the Committee of the Friends of the Green Howards Museum to a special 10th Anniversary celebratory luncheon in Kensington Palace, London on the 2nd November 2006.

As a result, 14 patrons and committee members passed the police checkpoint at noon to join their hosts in the new apartments of the Chief of the General Staff in Kensington Gardens. Richard Leake, the former Secretary of the Friends, had flown in from Bergerac in France and several had braved the timetable of GNER from York Station to be there on time. There was a wonderful Green Howard reunion in the sunlit courtyard to the rear of the Palace before being met in the residence hall by Sergeant Crighton and the CGS’s staff with glasses of champagne before being guided by Captain Rupert Thomas, the ADC, to the drawing room overlooking the former apartments of Princess Diana and Princess Margaret.

The Chairman, Major David Nicholson, spoke a few words outlining the achievements of the committee over the past ten years before presenting Lady Dannatt with a beautiful bouquet of flowers in token of our appreciation. The CGS then invited the guests to dine. It was a very happy occasion and one which will be long remembered by all those who attended:
General Sir Richard and Lady Dannatt, Lieutenant-General Nick Houghton, Major-General Andrew Farquhar, Brigadier Bill Marchant Smith, Brigadier John Powell, Major David Nicholson, Mrs Vicky Houghton, Major Miles Garnett, Major Roger Chapman, Major Brian Metcalfe, Major Philip Banbury, Major Bill Laws, Major John Edgar, Captain Richard Inman and Richard Leake Esq.

Lady Dannatt had arranged for a guided tour of the Royal Palace to follow the luncheon as the General and Lieutenant-General Nick Houghton had to return to the Ministry of Defence to cope with the many problems of Iraq and Afghanistan.

London and Kensington Gardens was looking at its very best in the autumn sunshine so the whole afternoon ended with a stroll past the lakes in front of the Palace followed by tea and scones in the Orangery.

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PROGRESS WITH THE "NEW LOOK" MUSEUM

Since the museum closed at the end of September it has been a very busy time for the museum staff. As soon as the doors were closed to the public, they removed all the ground floor displays, cleared the offices and emptied the downstairs picture store, as well as dismantling the museum shop. All the glass cases that held the uniforms of the local militia were recycled and taken away for use at the Police Museum in Manchester, because in the new ground floor ‘Beyond Four Walls’ project there was no place for them. Every other item that was on the ground floor was then placed around the museum in temporary homes to await re-housing once the new offices and shop were completed.

The beginning of November brought the arrival of the contractors. They cleared out the remains of the old shop, knocked down the office walls and cleared the whole floor ready for builders, plumbers and electricians to start to recreate the design so well thought out by Will Dakin of BLUE, The Design Company.

In mid-November, it was the turn of members of a REME territorial unit based in Coventry to do a reconnaissance of the entrance to the museum, as they have seized the training opportunity to create a Land Rover ‘action scene in Afghanistan’ just within the main entrance. After initial shock and panic, AQMS Freeman, and Sergeant Coleman of 126 Workshop Company of 101 Battalion REME, who were to carry out this mammoth task, started to come up with some great ideas and their confidence grew as the task moved from the impossible to a challenge. After a few measurements and calculations, the REME Sergeant exclaimed, “We can do this!”

Three months later, on a snowy Saturday, the doctored Land Rover was delivered to the entrance of the museum and nine men carefully manoeuvred the chassis onto a metal frame and welded it into position opposite the main entrance into the museum. The Regiment are greatly indebted to the REME territorials for their magnificent effort.

Now we are into 2007 and the basic framework of the new improved ground floor can clearly be seen, all the staff are looking forward to the museum being reopened on 2nd April 2007 in time for the Easter holidays and the ‘official’ opening on 18th May.

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ISSUE 2, "THE GREEN HOWARD", - CONTENT

GREEN HOWARDS IN THE TIRAH CAMPAIGN 1897 - 1898, by John Sly

In an 11-page article, profusely illustrated, John Sly describes the actions of the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment (the Green Howards) in the Tirah Campaign of 1897 - 1898.

The campaign in the Tirah was probably the most important of all the campaigns on the old North-West Frontier of India (now Pakistan) in the whole of the 19th century. Later, it was the subject of several books on military history, strategy and tactics. Indeed, it was considered for many years to be a prime example of the difficulties encountered by regular troops facing a guerrilla force in mountainous country.

John Sly provides a history of the campaign, describing the various actions which took place from start to end. He also details the part played by individual soldiers of the Yorkshire Regiment, - including Regimental Sergeant-Major Sheridan and Private Henry Dangerfield, DCM.

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PAGES FROM HISTORY - 50 YEARS ON, HONG KONG

In an illustrated article, the service of the Green Howards in Hong Kong in 1957 is remembered.
The names of the Officers serving with the regiment at Fort Stanley are provided.

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PAGES FROM HISTORY - 25 YEARS ON, THE FALKLANDS 1982

A description of the action in which Captain John Gavin Hamilton, Green Howards, serving with the special forces displayed incredible bravery in an action in which he won a posthumous Military Cross.

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SIR THOMAS LONGMORE, SURGEON TO QUEEN VICTORIA

The outline of a talk given to the Friends of the Green Howards about a little known Green Howard who rose to become one of the most eminent surgeons in Queen Victoria’s reign.