And to round off the year (1943)…

… a thoroughly researched and beautifully presented account of the life of Gran’s much loved brother, Tom Bruce, written by my cousin Sarah Baker.

 

TOM BRUCE 1885-1917

‘He was one of the noblest officers who ever served the king, and, young as he was, had a wide range of interest in matters military, political, social and sporting.’ (“Historical Record of the 14^th Hussars, 1900-1922” - Browne & Bridges p. 353).

My interest in Tom Bruce was sparked by Alice Lynch. When she was given the large box containing hundreds of family letters dating from the mid- nineteenth century, she sorted out all the letters from Tom to his sister (our grandmother) Polly. Until this point, Tom had always been a shadowy figure in the family history; we only knew that he had died in the First World War and that Polly had been very fond of him. Reading his letters revealed him to have been an exceptionally caring and brave brother, and a participant in one of the most difficult theatres of the War. I felt that he should have a wider recognition. In this exercise I have been greatly helped by Alice Lynch’s researches into family history, by David and Nicky Windeyer’s exploration of some fine family photographs and by Patrick O’Dwyer, researcher for the 14^th and 20^th Hussars, who has been a mine of information about Tom, his colleagues and the history of the regiment. I have also learned a lot (mostly via the internet and from a very low base) about the Mesopotamia campaign. I have enjoyed the whole exercise tremendously.

Early Life

Main Street, Blackrock in 1900

Thomas Robert Bruce was born at Rockford, Blackrock, Co. Dublin on 1^st July 1885, being the oldest son and fifth child of William Robert Bruce and Florence Helen Osborne. His father, William Robert, was Master of the Court of the Queen’s Bench in Dublin from 1880 until his death in 1902. The Bruces were a Protestant, Anglo-Irish family, originally from Scotland, and they had settled mainly in the north of the country. Tom’s grandfather, Samuel, at any rate, was born in Belfast and descendants of Tom’s cousins were still in Northern Ireland when I visited them in 1959. Tom’s sisters – Enid, Lilian, Louie Mary (always known as Polly) and Mabel were all older than him. He was born seven years after Mabel; Reginald was born the following year. There was also another son, Nigel, who was said to have died very young; I have not been able to find any dates for him.

I imagine that Florence was English, for she and William were married in London, at Marylebone, in 1870. I think, too, that this branch of the family looked to England rather than Ireland as “home” in spite of living at Blackrock at least until 1905 (as we can see from the letters of congratulation to Polly on her engagement). Polly and William Francis Hessey, for instance, were married in London – not at the bride’s place of residence – and remained in England although William was in an Irish regiment. Florence certainly retired to England some time after her husband died. and was joined by Enid, Lilian, Mabel and Reg. Tom joined an English regiment (the 14^th Hussars) and in a letter to Polly, dated 12.10.1916, complaining about the ten years he has spent on foreign service, he says that in the future England will be quite good enough for him for the rest of his life.

Tom went to Ludgrove Preparatory School in Wokingham and then to Eton from 1898 until 1903. He was in Mr CH Allcock’s house; Mr Allcock is described as a “fanatical games player” and particularly fond of Eton Fives. Perhaps Tom got his love of sports from him. His tutor was a Mr Ramsey. He then went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst until 1905 when he was commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant, 14^th (King’s) Hussars in January of that year. He was promoted to Lieutenant in April 1906.

The 14^th Hussars was a cavalry regiment and was stationed in India from 1906 until 1915. Before leaving for India they were at Shorncliffe in Kent; this was an army camp from where regiments regularly embarked for India. We know that in April 1905 (when he wrote to congratulate Polly on her engagement) that he was already at Shorncliffe. He went with his regiment to India in September 1906, being stationed first at Bangalore until 1911, the year he was promoted to Captain. In 1911 they moved to Mhow in Central India and in November 1914 to Meerut. They finally moved to Mesopotamia in November 1915. We know from a reference in his letters that he had periods of home leave between 1905 and 1914 and, indeed, he was in London, staying with his mother, at the outbreak of war. He mentions arranging to have his car sold before he returned to India so I infer that his home leaves were fairly extensive.

He evidently also had local leaves. In July 1907 he and his friend, the magnificently named James Dugald Forbes Woodhouse, went camping.

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Tom “with two coolies” (Comment on back of photograph)

Camp at Gund, Sindh Valley

Tom – on the left - on holiday in the Sindh valley in 1907, with James Dugald Forbes Woodhouse. (James survived the war and became an Anglican priest, working in Devon). Their tents appear fairly primitive but no concessions seem to have been made to informal holiday dress!

The letters 1914-17

Tom wrote regularly to “my dear Polly” from 8th August 1914, four days after Britain declared war on Germany, until a month before his death. We know from references in his letters that he probably wrote even more often to his mother, but his correspondence with Polly was not just because she seems to have been the sibling he was closest to, but because he gave her power of attorney over his finances from the outbreak of war. Several of his letters are devoted to giving her instructions and to thanking her for all the business she carries out for him. He appears to have had a private income in addition to his army pay, significant enough for him to want Polly to invest the surplus in, for the most part, War Loan “from selfish as well as patriotic motives”. He refers to the rent paid twice a year on “Thorndale” by “Uncle James” (this must be James Bruce, born 1835, William Robert’s younger brother) but his income seems to have been well in excess of the £200 or so in rents. (Although William, Florence and their children lived at Blackrock, both William and his father are described as being “of Thorndale” in a late Nineteenth Century family tree so I assume this was a family property, now owned by Tom, for which his uncle was paying rent).

Concern for the family

From the start of the war, however (he sent Polly the first cheque for £100 on 10^th August), he was giving her the responsibility not only for his investments but, evidently most important to him, for “relieving any suffering or want” within his family. On that date he was “especially anxious that some of it should be used for Lil if she is in difficulties during the war”. At a later date he refers to regular annuities to be paid to Lilian and to his mother. In February 1916, perhaps in reply to a prompt from Polly, he had not “stupidly, realised that Tom Stoker’s blindness would greatly affect their financial position” and asked her to send Enid £100 immediately and to add to this if necessary. (Tom Stoker was 25 years older that Enid and would have been 67 in 1916; I am not sure how blindness would have affected the income of a man past retirement age, unless, perhaps, he was a writer, like his brother – the more famous Bram) Later in the same year: “if by any reasonable help from me it is possible to keep Enid and Tom on at Egerton Crescent I hope you will realise that this is a thing I should like to do” Nor does he forget Polly’s children, sending each of the four girls £1 for Christmas 1916.

The concern he demonstrates is not only about money. He asks after and comments on the progress of his Hessey nieces. “Delighted to hear of Pippa and Betty being so happy at school” (19.12.1915) “I’m sure Pippa and Betty looked charming in their fancy balldresses” (16.2.1916). “Does Pippa still collect picture postcards; if so you must tell her I am not in a place where I can procure such a thing but shall remember when I can…I like Pippa’s little song ‘And you’ll get there in the morning’” (12.10.1916). He constantly enquires about Polly’s husband (who served in France in infantry brigades throughout the War). “(I hope) the weather in France is better; I’m afraid it must be awful there in the trenches in winter” (19.12.1915). In congratulation of a decoration Will received, “You know how interested and pleased I always am to hear how he is doing…life up at the front in France must be a very real strain..I wish he could be at home with you and the children at Christmas”.

This is in clear contrast to how he presents his own health and welfare. The phrase: “I am very fit and well/I have no complaints at all” occurs in practically every letter he writes, including one written in April 1916, while engaged in attempts to relieve Kut-al-Amara (see below), where he does admit that:” the flies and mosquitoes are beginning to make their presence felt…We are without tents at present and am living in a trench.” “I am enjoying it all and would change places with no man”, he writes again on 19.12.1915 and variations on this theme occur throughout. “With the exception of wishing to do something I am perfectly happy and contented and enjoy commanding my squadron and the life generally” (15.11.1916). He also comments from time to time on splendid weather. By all other accounts, however, conditions for the army in Mesopotamia were appalling, and it is interesting that by January 1917, when supplies to the regiment had improved significantly, Tom felt able to write more candidly: “The Supply and Transport is all very different to what it was this time last year and we have plenty of good rations and lots of stores. The men are well clothed with thick English Khaki waterproof capes and there is a good constant flow of clothing and equipment to replace deficiencies. January last year we had terrible weather and a great lack of everything”.

The historical context

Turkey’s entry into the war in October 1914 led to British and Indian troops being sent to the Persian Gulf to protect British oil interests, thus opening up a second front. The British army took Basra and Kurna and then marched north along the Tigris, taking the town of Kut-al-Amara, 120 miles south of Baghdad, under the leadership of General Charles Townshend in September 1915, The tide then turned, with the British losing the battle of Csetiphon; this was an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge Turkish forces 12 miles south east of Baghdad, with the loss of 4,500 lives. British troops then retreated to Kut where they were besieged for 147 days. There were several unsuccessful attempts to relieve the city before Townshend finally surrendered in April 1916. The Turkish treatment of the soldiers taken prisoner was atrocious although General Townshend lived out the rest of the war in comfortable house arrest. Kut was recaptured in February 1917, shortly after Tom died.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/battles/mesopotamia

“Flies and mosquitoes attacked the troops, many of whom became sick. Soldiers froze during the winter nights, and were overcome by heat during the summer. Dust turned to mud when the banks of the Tigris overflowed during the rainy season”. www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone

The campaign in Mesopotamia is generally agreed to have been a disaster, both politically and strategically. The determination to defeat the Ottoman Turks was a deviation from the defeat of the main enemy, Germany. The British seriously under-estimated the strength of the Turkish forces and the British army there was led by a series of less than competent generals who themselves were hampered by having their chain of command split between England and India. A commission of enquiry was set up in 1917, which found some of those involved to have been seriously at fault. The British public, however, considered that insufficient blame had been attached to those responsible for the huge loss of life. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “Mesopotamia” published in July 1917, captured the public mood. He spoke on behalf of the common soldier against:

“the men who edged their agonies and chid them in their pain”

and “the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died”

Tom on politics and military matters

Although generally very loyal to his regiment and to his country, Tom maintained a healthy and at times humorous scepticism about the organisational abilities of his superiors. While waiting to be shipped back to India in August 1914, he said that: “the number of officers to go on our ship has been variously estimated at from 800 to 1200, there are no stewards and hammocks suggested for our accommodation so it ought to be a voyage to remember!” Once in India he writes “I adhere to every word I wrote recently about the government of India (probably to his mother, since we do not have this letter; he often assumes Polly has read these) and their scandalous behaviour”.

He just missed the battle of Csetiphon and only joined the division as it was falling back, but “I think we did some useful work in assisting to cover the retirement”. They were heavily shelled during a rearguard action but “the men were splendidly sturdy as of course one expected”. Tom and his cavalry brigade were not allowed to remain in Kut and he approved of this, judging that they would be of more use outside the city to co-operate with the fresh troops coming north up the river (the Tigris, I assume). As usual (this is December 1915) he is “enjoying it all very much”.

The siege of Kut

In his next letter, in February 1916, he refers to the battle of Shaikh Sa’ad – a first attempt to relieve the besieged army in Kut. At the time he was writing the British had failed to turn the Turks out of their position and were evidently waiting for further supplies of troops and ammunition. (The Turks were eventually forced to withdraw but there were 4000 British casualties – Tom rarely mentions casualties). He is critical of the Indian troops: “not of the same fighting values as British; I wish we had two British divisions”. This comment is not unexpected from an army officer of his time and class, probably convinced of the innate superiority of the British and unaware of a possible lack of enthusiasm on the part of Indian troops, fighting a war on behalf of their rulers. However, it may also reflect the widely recognised poor administration of the Indian army. This was rectified to some extent by General Monro after he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Indian Army later that year, in October 1916. In a later letter Tom mentions a rumour from India that “Monro had brought out 40 generals disguised as stokers on his ship to try to reorganise India. On the other hand we hear he brought out hardly any staff!” Meanwhile, Tom describes General Townshend as a “stout hearted fellow who is holding out gamely… He is a great theatrical man and wired to George Grossmith for Xmas saying he was drinking his health in the wine of Mesopotamia (there is none) on the banks of the Tigris”.

By 22^nd April he further describes attempts to relieve Kut, although “it is a question of trench warfare and we have had ample demonstrations from France of what a slow business that is; also it is not a form of warfare that offers much chance for cavalry”.

Another attempt to relieve Kut

Tom knew that this was in the offing in February 1916: “Some interesting developments may be pending here now” and in April he wrote again. He did not go in to much detail about the fighting (evidently he had described this in a letter to his mother which he assumed Polly would have read) but he does confirm other accounts that the fighting remained close to both banks of the Tigris, it being impossible to operate far from the river. “The country is not an attractive one – nothing but bare plain all around and not a tree to be seen. At the same time the soil appears wonderfully fertile and with the irrigation schemes made by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers it should have a wonderfully rich future if we hold the country and run it properly – I believe it has greater possibilities than Egypt ever had.”

Four days before the final surrender at Kut, he wrote: “The military situation here is very difficult…I suppose on a small scale the problem of relieving Kut has been as difficult as any in the war – taking into account the number of troops available for the job and when it was possible to supply, lack of transport, the almost insuperable difficulty of operation for any length of time away from the river, the flat bare plain across which movements have to be made, the mirage which is generally with us and other difficulties which I need not go on enumerating. The last and most troublesome of all these difficulties which is with us now is the flooded state of the country greatly limiting the ground over which it is possible to advance and hindering all movements; and it is possible for the Turks by breaking the mud banks to flood parts of the country at will”

He was able to add a lighter touch in this letter (apart from his usual assurance that he was fit and well), however. “I suppose you know that our aeroplanes have been trying to drop supplies into Kut, amongst other things chocolate and sugar. (This was the first siege for which aircraft were used to drop supplies). They do not always make a good shot and a Turkish prisoner the other day said he quite liked our chocolate!”

Tom hardly mentions the surrender of Kut (he was never one to dwell on bad news), with the exception of a comment in November 1916. “I wonder if the Mesopotamia Commission will ever publish a report while the war is going on. (They did, in July 1917) Sir P Lake’s Dispatch was a very truthful account of events”. I have been unable to find Sir Percy Lake’s original Dispatch but Hansard for 4.7.1917 records a question asked of Austen Chamberlain:

“regarding a telegram …of January 1916 by General Cowper and others in which they stated that unless they got adequate shipping transport and personnel to man such transport, Sir Percy Lake, who had recently assumed command of that Force, would have to abandon the idea of relieving Kut….The reply (was) made by the Commander- in-Chief at Simla severely rebuking Sir Percy Lake and ordering him to inform General Cowper that if he sent any more petulant or querulous demands for shipping he would at once be removed from the force and refused any further employment of any kind”.

The final weeks

In November 1916 he wrote: “I am very fit and well; we are bored stiff with doing nothing. However I am very happy!” By 5th January 1917, after he had described the improvement in their conditions compared with the previous year and repeated his health and fitness, he says:” I am not in a writing mood so will stop”. Was he perhaps starting to feel unwell? If so, he was anxious to avoid giving that impression. He goes on: “I’m well off for everything and you can be very happy about me”.

His last letter, written on the following day, thanks Polly for sending him some leather footwear “useful for my feet are generally cold at this time of year out here”, and asks Polly to pay their mother the half-yearly allowance from him if he has not already sent it from Mesopotamia.– he cannot remember if he has done so.

He was admitted with pneumonia, which had affected his right lung, to No. 31 British Stationary Hospital, Shaikh Saad, on 6th February 1917, and was reported dangerously ill on 8th February. The hospital then reported that he had died on that day, at 5 a.m.

The regimental records state that he was buried in Shaikh Saad Cemetery, Grave No. 281. I think that his body must have been re-interred later because the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website makes no mention of Shaikh Saad and is clear that he was buried at Amara War Cemetery (in grave number XIV F23).

I leave the authors of the regimental history to have the last word.

‘The severest blow which the Regiment experienced, perhaps in the whole campaign, and felt most deeply by Officers and men alike, was received on the evening of February 8th when the death on that morning at Sheikh Saad of Captain T R Bruce was reported by wire to the 14th Hussars …. It had not occurred to anyone that there was anything seriously wrong and the news when it arrived was all the greater shock to the Regiment which he had served so loyally and so well. His untimely death, due as it was to exposure and hardship, cast a gloom over the Regiment which not even the excitement of the pursuit of the Turks to Baghdad was able to disperse. He was one of the noblest officers who ever served the king, and, young as he was, had a wide range of interest in matters military, political, social and sporting. He excelled as a friend and a companion and took the kindliest interest in the affairs of all who came under his influence’ (Browne & Bridges p. 353).

Sarah Baker

April 2009