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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Brigadier Thomas Ward, 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) 1866-1949


(Taken  from the diary of Lt. Colonel J E Dewar)
"
30th October 1901
The Queen’s Bays received orders to hold themselves in readiness to proceed to South Africa on Active Service. They left Aldershot where the regiment was stationed on the morning of the 16th November and sailed in the HMS ‘Orotava’ from Southampton the same afternoon. Not a man was late for parade or the least the worst for liquor. Brevet Lt Colonel Fanshawe, 3 Officers, and 100 NCO’s and men in charge of all the horses viz:- 36 chargers and 445 Troop Horses sailed in the SS ‘Fortunas’ the previous day, and a few chargers and servants left on other ships the same week. The following old Bays were at Southampton to see the Regiment off; General Seymour, Majors Clarke, and Dawson, Captains Tattersall, Craigie, and Dr Chappel. Also Mr Marshall. Mr Johnson, and Mr Percival. The following Officers embarked with the regiment; Lt Col J R Dewar in command. Brevet Lt Col H D Fanshawe 2/1c. Major J C Walker Sqn Leader ‘B’ Sqn. Captain R D Herron Sqn Leader ‘A’ Sqn. Captain T Ward Sqn Leader ‘C’ Sqn. Captains' Thompson, Bradshaw, Leschalles, Browning. Lieutenants Allfrey, Hall, Oppenheim, Rumbold, Ing, Be??lton, Pinching. 2nd Lieutenants Hill, Cowan, Wilkin. Captain and QM Hopkins. Captain and Adjutant R L Mullens. 2nd Lieutenants Fernie, and O’Brien joined on the arrival of the regiment in SA. Strength of the regiment 23 Officers 513 Nco’s and Men. 43 Chargers and 445 Troop Horses. Strength of the Squadrons: ‘A’ Squadron 170 Nco’s and men. ‘B’ Squadron 167 Nco’s and men. ‘C’ Squadron 176 NCO’s and Men.


(Captain Ward is sitting on the front row far right.)

"As dawn broke it became clear that the Boers were in great force, and that they were working around both flanks of the Bays’ position.  Colonel Fanshawe decided to retire to a dominant crag some three miles back, called the Leeuwkop, or Lion’s Head, which was close to the Pretoria-Standerton road.  ‘B’ Squadron fell back about a mile to a ridge from where it could cover the withdrawal, followed by ‘A’ Squadron, leaving ‘C’ Squadron as rearguard.  ‘C’ Squadron’s retreat was conducted by Lieutenant Allfrey, as the squadron leader, Captain Ward, and Lieutenant Hill had both been wounded, and twenty-three killed and wounded Bays were left on the ground."

1821 Heavy Cavalry Pattern Officers' Sword by SJ Pillin to Brigadier Thomas Ward, 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays)


This sword was ordered in 1890 by Lieutenant T. Ward, who as a Serjeant, 14th Hussars, had won a commission into the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays). This sword is shown worn by him in the frontspiece section of this blog. It is a sword made by SJ Pillin and has the Regimental device of the Regiment adorned with the proud Battle Honour"Lucknow" which was richly earned in routing the muntineers in 1857. His initials 'TW' are on the blade as well. T. Ward was a remarkable man for he was a genuine gentleman ranker who, despite coming from a well to do background, decided to enlist into the ranks of the 14th Hussars in 1883 and only after seven years became Serjeant which was rapid promotion indeed and a testimony to his hard drive and ambition. 

Thomas Ward rose rapidly and commanded 'C' Squadron in South Africa, an outstanding record considering he had just been gazetted to Lieutenant from Serjeant nine years before. As the anecdote states in the action, he was badly wounded and mentioned in despatches by Lord Kitchener. He later left the Regiment on retirement in 1904 and was seconded to the Denbigh Hussars where he ended his Great War service as a Brigadier. His father, Joseph Ward was a JP. Interestingly, while serving in the ranks of the 14th Hussars, he had married a Jeanette Octavia Cliff, with whom he fathered two daughters. Sometime after 1895 he seems to have divorced her later married a daughter of the Earl of Belmore. His children from his former marriage has been supressed and in subsequent gentry records shows he had a futher two children one of which his only son, Captain Richard Thomas Ward MC was killed with the Regiment in the Second World War earning an MC for his gallantry.