fortified position called ‘The Hindenburg Line’ this was the Spring Offensive. The Germans pushed forward with storm troopers for the first time. On August 8th Field Marshal Haig’s response began and eventually the Germans were defeated. Jack was killed in action during the final allied push.
On return home to Pevensey, the only survivors of the original group of five were Fred and Dan. The nice ending to the talk was to hear that, when the loyal war horse Dan was returned to his farm, the elderly farmer deemed that he had done his bit for victory, and the horse would not be worked any more but be looked after and given a good life for the remainder of its days.
The talk was appreciated by all those present. On a personal note it had an added poignancy, as my grandfather was killed in the trenches during the first world war. Chris Ring
Research since Hugh’s talk, came up with some other facts regarding the horse numbers:
A million horses were sent to fight in the Great War, and only 62 000 came back (Dan obviously being one of them).
Thousands were left lamed by nails and blades on the battlefield. Between the Somme in July 1916 and the Armistice in November 1918, the British Army recorded 58 090 horses killed and 77 410 wounded by gunfire; 211 were killed and 2 220 wounded by poison gas; while several hundred were killed by aeroplane bombs. When the war ended, few horses returned home; most were sold whilst still abroad. Chris Ring
Dec 13: after a brief Annual General Meeting, when the committee members were confirmed in office, the accounts noted and brief accounts given of our activities in the last year and plans for 2008, we were entertained by that well-known local group ‘The Debonnaires’, who were very grateful for a generous donation to the Sussex Air Ambulance. Mulled wine and mince pies concluded the evening, leaving everyone in a mellow frame of mind for the forthcoming Christmas celebrations!
Jan 10: Richard Pitcairn-Knowles: ‘Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles - Edwardian photojournalist’
Richard spoke about the life of his Scottish grandfather, (born Rotterdam 1871, died Hastings 1956), who was a pioneering photographic journalist. His grandfather published his work in the new illustrated magazines of the late 19th and early 20th century. With an eye for detail, timing and geometry, he accurately captured the leisure activities, sports and customs of the period.
Richard illustrated his talk with slides of Andrew’s work. Grandfather made gelatin-silver prints from gelatin dry plate glass negatives. These negatives, invented in 1871, were more convenient to use and more sensitive to light than the (earlier) wet plates. The quality of the photographs shown by Richard (transferred to slides) was remarkably good. From the turn of the 20th century Pitcairn-Knowles traveled around Europe as a photojournalist, living successively in Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Jersey. A capable sportsman, Pitcairn-Knowles saw the advent of growing public interest in sport. He launched his own magazine Sport im Bild (Sports Illustrated) in 1895. Photography, which he had earlier studied as a science, was benefiting from technological improvements (such as a faster shutter speed). He was equally interested in the activity of the people
around the sports grounds and tracks as in the sports themselves, although some of the so-called sporting activities would not be tolerated today, involving cruelty to animals.
At the seaside resort of Ostend, Pitcairn-Knowles combined his passion for sports and games with his interest in people and their customs. He recorded the motor races; dog races, shrimpers, and the sailing of the gaff- rigged sand yachts of the time. His photographs show, with considerable flair, the burgeoning leisure time in the Edwardian period.
At the age of 40 Pitcairn-Knowles moved to England and opened ‘Riposo’ a health resort in Hastings. Photography was a continuing interest and he maintained a dark room at his new home
Richard mentioned that after his grandfather’s death, his papers and plates were, by sheer luck, discovered by a photo journalist, and subsequently deposited with the V&A, (which is the only museum known to have vintage prints by Pitcairn-Knowles in its collection and held an exhibition of them last year). Alan Goddard
Feb 13: Chris McCooey: ‘Sussex Heroes - 32 men and women and 1 dog’
Chris McCooey came to the Society again, this time to tell us about some Sussex heroes. Speaking without notes and lacing his talk with several amusing anecdotes he gave us a very entertaining talk.
The first of the heroes Chris chose to tell us about was the dog - Nipper, a sheep dog who died in 1994. When younger, Nipper had alerted his owner to a night time fire in the barn where 300 sheep and their lambs, together with some cows and calves, were kept. The fire had taken hold, but nevertheless Nipper went several times into the barn to bring the animals out safely, and all but a few were saved. He received an award for heroism at the 1985 dog of the year show - and his owner had a slap-up dinner as well!
The second hero was an elderly lady, Joan, who lived in Worthing; she was an unsung hero and wished it to remain that way, but after her death her sister agreed to let the story out. Before the war, Joan helped to establish a refugee committee in Worthing to help Jews and others who wanted to leave Germany. After the war, Worthing adopted a displaced persons camp in Germany and Joan helped by distributing some of life’s essentials (and some luxuries) to those in the camp. This was the start of something and over the next decades, refugees from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Uganda and Viet Nam were all aided by Worthing. Chris defined heroism as “greatness of soul” and felt that Joan fully exemplified this greatness.
Sir Harry Johnston might have been unprepossessing in appearance, but he had a great career towards the end of the 19th Century. A fine painter and a natural linguist, who was fluent in several languages including Norwegian, Russian and Bantu, he had an influential career in the diplomatic service, latterly as vice-consul, bringing some 400 000 square miles in west Africa under the British flag. Whilst there he “discovered” the Okapi and the 5-horned giraffe. He returned to England at 49 and got married, but sadly had no children, although he would have been a fascinating and interesting father.
The next hero was Sir Archie McIndoe. A New Zealander by birth, he established the reconstructive surgery unit at Queen Victoria hospital in East Grinstead before the war. He had very delicate