In 1895, the 48-year-old Major Lancelot Rolleston of Watnall Hall had been in command of his late father's Watnall Troop of the South Notts Hussars for 20 years. It was time to make a change and, as we'll see, the young men who replaced him had amazing life stories of their own...
The Watnall Troop were horse cavalry and all volunteers, the Territorial Army of its day. Many local squires, farmers and their sons, due to their familiarity with horses, did their bit in the local volunteer or "Yeomanry" cavalry and for Watnall locals that meant the Watnall Troop. It had been a very successful time for the Watnall Troop and Major Rolleston was an active and popular commander¹, pioneering annual camps and Flying Column battle exercises, which were to prove useful in the impeding Boer War. However, it was high time to move on and clear the way for his younger officers. Captain F.E. Seely was chosen, son of Nottingham business man and philanthropist Sir Charles Seely. After attending Cambridge University he'd joined the family business, working at Babbington Colliery. His lieutenant would be the young Lord Burford (later to become the 11th Duke of St Albans) of Bestwood Hall. Rolleston was promoted to Commanding Officer of the entire South Notts Hussars and made a Lieutenant-Colonel.
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| Bestwood Lodge in its heyday - the location of the cricket match |
To mark the succession in commander, the troop organised a cricket match at Bestwood Lodge followed by an awards dinner in a marquee by the old White Hart pub down the road in Daybrook. Seely and Burford were the cricket captains that day but as we'll see their lives would take tragically different courses. The local paper takes up the story...
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| Lt. Col. Rolleston, the new Commanding Officer |
WITH THE WATNALL TROOP - The Nottingham Daily Express Tuesday May 28 1895
"Yesterday Captain Seely paid the customary honour which usually follows an officer's elevation in rank to the members of the Watnall or B Squadron of the South Notts. Hussars, consequent upon his taking command of the troop in succession to Major Rolleston, who is now attached to the permanent staff of the regiment as Lieutenant-Colonel.
The event was vested with especial interest from the fact that for the long period of twenty years the squadron has been under the same command. The devotion of Major Rolleston to the troop, which was almost proverbial, naturally made him very popular amongst the men. Major Rolleston's maste has evidently fallen in large measure upon his successor and there is every reason to believe that under Captain Seely [aged 31], with Lord Burford [aged 25] as his lieutenant, the efficiency, as well as the esprit de corps of the squadron will he thoroughly maintained."
Cricket Match
"The proceedings yesterday took place in Bestwood Park, and commenced with a cricket match early in the afternoon on the ground of the Bestwood Park Cricket Club. This club is extremely fortunate in possessing such a delightful spot for cricket ground, and, thanks to the generosity of the Duke of St. Albans, they have now enjoyed it for nearly 30 years, the club being formed in 1868.
The square is in excellent condition, although a little dry, and a good wicket was secured. Sides were chosen by Captain Seely and Lieutenant Lord Burford.
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| Bestwood Village Cricket Club as it is today |
Lord Burford's side first batted, Captain Starkey and Corporal Extell meeting the bowling of Crossland and Stocks. Extell was soon dismissed, and then Lord Burford joined Captain Starkey, and several runs were rapidly put on. A change of bowling was deemed nесеssary, Crossland replacing Stocks. Captain Starkey made a stand, and compiled his 13 with a good display of cricket. After Trooper Hollingworth left four wickets fell for nothing. When Captain Murray Smith became associated with Trooper Sturton matters were very lively, both players getting the bowlers to the boundary several times. The innings subsequently closed for 84. The scoring on Captain Seely's side was done mainly by Trooper Crossland, Corporal Acton, Captain Seely, and Sergeant Bradley. the others only making nine amongst them".
The cricket scores are shown below...
LORD BURFORD'S XII
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| A young Lord Burford (the Duke of St. Alban's son) a sad story² |
Captain Starkey c Birkin b Coope 13
Corporal Extell b Coope 2
Lord Burford b Coope 6
Trooper Hollingworth c and b Coope 6
Corporal Bradbury b Croartand 0
Sergeant Major Thompson b Crossland 0
Corporal Jervis c Arbon b Birkin 0
Sergeant Standeld b Birkin 0
Sergeant Smith c Seely b Crossland 8
Trooper Sturton c Seely b Crossland 11
Captain Murray Smith not out 14
Trooper Brecknock b Seely 0
Extras 24
Total 84
Corporal Extell b Coope 2
Lord Burford b Coope 6
Trooper Hollingworth c and b Coope 6
Corporal Bradbury b Croartand 0
Sergeant Major Thompson b Crossland 0
Corporal Jervis c Arbon b Birkin 0
Sergeant Standeld b Birkin 0
Sergeant Smith c Seely b Crossland 8
Trooper Sturton c Seely b Crossland 11
Captain Murray Smith not out 14
Trooper Brecknock b Seely 0
Extras 24
Total 84
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| 1903 at Aldershot camp 39-year-old Major F.E. Seely |
CAPTAIN SEELY'S XII
Captain C.W.Birkin c Brecknock b Hollingworth 5
Trooper Crossland b Hollingworth 25
Captain F. E. Seely c Burford b Hollingworth 19
Trooper Stocks e Thompson b Hollingworth 0
Sergeant Brumley c Hollingworth b Bradbury 0
Sergeant Bradley b Hollingworth 16
Corporal Acton b Hollingworth 1
W. Coope retired 21
Trooper Mee b Burford 0
Trooper Boamer b Thompson 1
Corporal Hogg b Extell 2
Trooper Abington not out 0
Extras 8
Total 98
Trooper Crossland b Hollingworth 25
Captain F. E. Seely c Burford b Hollingworth 19
Trooper Stocks e Thompson b Hollingworth 0
Sergeant Brumley c Hollingworth b Bradbury 0
Sergeant Bradley b Hollingworth 16
Corporal Acton b Hollingworth 1
W. Coope retired 21
Trooper Mee b Burford 0
Trooper Boamer b Thompson 1
Corporal Hogg b Extell 2
Trooper Abington not out 0
Extras 8
Total 98
Many of the cricket match players are shown in this group picture of the officers taken in 1888 at camp in Wollaton Park. What a fine array of Victorian moustaches is on display!
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| 7 years before the cricket match, a 24-year-old Seely is seated front left |
Regimental Band
"During the afternoon the regimental band, under the direction of Bandmaster Taylor, and the Arnold Albion Brass Band played alternately. At the conclusion of the match, which was over soon after five o'clock, Lord Burford invited the whole of the guests to walk round the ornamental gardens at the hall, which was readily taken advantage of."
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| The South Notts Hussars band in 1901 |
Marquee Speeches
"Later in the evening the members of the troop and a number of the tenants of the Duke of St. Albans and Colonel Seely were entertained to dinner in a large marquee adjoining the White Hart, from which the meal was served by Hist? Acton. Captain Seely presided, and was supported by Lieutenant Lord Burford, Captain G. Murray Smith, Captain J. R. Starkey, the non-commissioned officers of the troop, and the tenants. After dinner the Chairman submitted the loyal toast, which was duly honoured. Quartermaster Truman proposed the health of Captain Seely in felicitous terms, the toast being received with great enthusiasm and musical honours. The Chairman, in responding, said he begged to thank them very much for the kind way in which they had received the toast of his health. He was sure that the kind words of Quartermaster Truman about him he had done nothing to deserve. ("Yes.") When he came into command of the squadron he determined to do his best to do his duty.
He invited Colonel Rolleston to be present that evening, but he was not able to come, and had written him expressing his great appreciation of the kind feeling which prompted the present the squadron had recently made him".
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| The old White Hart in Daybrook where the dinner was held. |
"Captain Seely went on to say that he thought they had had a very successful training, and he would like to thank every man in the squadron for supporting him in the way they did. In following an officer like Colonel Rolleston he had a rather difficult task to perform, but it had been made much easier by the way every non-commissioned officer and trooper had conducted himself.
In conclusion, he should like to propose the health of Lord Burford (applause) who was one of the best of officers and the best of friends. (Applause.) It was owing to his kind thought that they were able to have the cricket match in the afternoon and be up at Bestwood afterwards, which he was surе everybody o thoroughly enjoyed. (Applause). Lieutenant Lord Burford suitably responded and proposed the toast of the B Squadron, to which Sergeant Bromley replied.
Captain Murray Smith proposed the toast of "The Visitors." He said farmers were not able to enter the Yeomanry because the times were not so bright, prices were bad, and the outlook generally was very depressing. If they could, however, spare their men to do so the Yeomanry would hold its own as in the past. The county was very proud of its other accomplishments cricket, football, and its industries so also were they proud of their Yeomanry and Volunteers. (Applause).
The toast was responded to by Messrs. J. Grammar and ex-Sergeant Slater. The speeches were pleasantly interrupted with songs by Mr. Bingley Shaw, and Messrs. Ernest, Mordecai Sherwin, and Trumpeter Cheetham. The whole of the arrangements were made by Mr. W. Coope, secretary of the Bestwood Park C.C., and carried out without a hitch, this fact contributing largely to the enjoyment of the holiday."
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| Kimberley cricking legend Mordecai Sherwin provided the entertainment. He was the first Kimberley cricketer to play for England. |
Mordecai Sherwin
Mentioned at the foot of the newspaper article is Kimberley football and cricket legend Mr. Mordecai Sherwin. This story about him gives you a flavour of his might...
"Although only 5ft. 9ins, and bordering on 17 stone, he was a kind of forerunner to the mighty Foulke... very nimble, as quick a custodian as he was a wicket-keeper. In one match, when the Blackburn Rovers were playing at the Trent Bridge ground, that sturdy and skilful outside right, Joseph Morris Lofthouse, thought he would have a tilt with Sherwin.
"He charged him, and rebounded. Sherwin said: "Young man, you'll hurt yourself if you do that again." Undeterred, Lofthouse returned to the attack, but Sherwin stepped aside with the alacrity of a dancer, and the Lancashire lad found out how hard was the goalpost and how sharp its edge.
"Sherwin was a wonder. It was the custom in those days for teams to entertain each other to dinner after a match... At one banquet Sherwin "obliged" with Oh, Dem Golden Slippers, and surprised the gathering with a jig and a somersault. At seventeen stones!"
As a cricketer, Sherwin captained Nottinghamshire in 1887 and 1888. He also played three Test matches for England on the tour to Australia in 1886/7. He was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1891.
After he retired as a cricketer, he umpired until 1901, and even stood in one Test in 1899. By trade, Sherwin was a publican. Sherwin had a wife, Emma, and at least six children, Mary, William, Emma, Ellen, Mordecai and Frederick.
The name of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous character, Sherlock Holmes, is said to have been inspired partially by Sherwin, and partially by Frank Shacklock.
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| 1895 - South Notts Hussars outside Theatre Royal |
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| Typical scenes from an Autumn camp |
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| 1900 - The Imperial Yeomanry - formed specifically for the Boer War, the local yeomanry's first overseas campaign. |
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| The real thing - leaving Cape Town camp at the start of the Yeomanry's Boer War campaign |
Sources - Newspaper archives, Lisa Fitzgerald; Watnall Hall and the Rolleston family TA Horton 2000; Muniment Room https://munimentroom.wordpress.com/; Autumn Manoeuvres by Richard Caton Woodville Junior. FE Seely https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L4HD-WYC
Notes
1 - Lancelot Rolleston - soldier
Whatever his interests, and there were many, hunting, bees, Magisterial duties, politics (he was unsuccessful Tory candidate for Mansfield in 1886) or public service, first and foremost he was a soldier, although as the eldest son his father probably left him with little in the way of options. One of his brothers served in the Royal Navy, and Lancelot himself had yachts all his adult life. He obviously enjoyed water, but his horsemanship must have inclined him towards the military.
He joined his late father's Watnall troop of the South Notts. Hussars, which were mounted infantry, on 15th September 1868 as a Cornet. On 30th April 1873 he was promoted to Lieutenant; two years later, 23rd June 1875 he was a Captain and Honorary Major.
To quote the History of the South Notts. Hussars, "Lieutenant Lancelot Rolleston, who, though not the senior subaltern of the Regiment, was specially promoted to Captain on the recommendation of Earl Manvers to command the Troop his father originally raised." With this early promotion he must have gone on increasing his military skills, but perhaps he did not want to leave his Troop, in which incidentally he had formed a trumpet band, because it was 20 years later when his next promotion came.
His list of achievements during that time is impressive. In April 1879 he was the first officer in the South Notts to obtain his certificate at the cavalry school of instruction in Aldershot and did so with distinction passing the certificate for a rank higher than his own. Other officers followed suit in subsequent years.
His Watnall Troop also won the South Notts's Challenge Cup a record 6 times between 1882 and 1888. "A handsome silver challenge cup was presented this year by Lieut.-Colonel Lord Belper, to be competed for by a section of four men from each Troop, the section adjudged to be best in general efficiency, smartness, cleanness, and best horsed to be the winners. The cup was to be held by the Captain of the Troop from which the winning section was drawn until the succeeding year, when it was to be replaced on the mess table, and each man in the section received a cup or other prize to be his own property. The cup was won by B (Watnall) Troop."
He also encouraged swordsmanship competition with rather impressive prizes for the winners.
His championing of the Flying Column practised on annual camps proved useful training for the Boer War when they were called to fight a very mobile force of well-equipped Boer fighters experts on horseback with an intimate knowledge of their countryside. A formidable foe indeed but one the English cavalrymen respected with their shared love of horses.
His training methods won him praise from on high... "Sir, In returning the accompanying reports and sketches, I am directed by the Major-General commanding to express his high appreciation of the ability, energy, and soldier-like aptitude evinced by all ranks of the Detach ment of the South Notts. Yeomanry Corps employed in Reconnaissance duties, from July 31st to August 4th, 1884. You will be good enough to communicate to Captain Rolleston the Major-General's approval of the manner in which the Detachment in question went through their course of instruction."
The experiment was a great success and other annual camps and exercises were held in subsequent years.
2 - The sad case of young Lord Burford of Bestwood Lodge
Charles was born in 1870. He was the son of William Beauclerk and Sybil Grey.was a godchild – uniquely – of both Queen Victoria and Edward VII and, like his father before him, Hereditary Grand Falconer of England. Burford, as he was called by his family (his courtesy title was Earl of Burford), had a privileged but cold upbringing. He was born at St. James’s Palace in London. His mother, Sybil Grey, was the daughter of Queen Victoria’s private secretary, Sir Charles Grey (younger son of the 2nd Earl Grey, the Prime Minister who ushered in the Great Reform Act of 1832 and gave his name to the famous tea). Descended from Charles II and Nell Gwyn in the male line, via his mother he was a direct descendant of the American Indian princess Pocahontas (also known as Rebecca Rolfe), who died in London in 1617.
Most of Burford’s childhood was spent on the family estate of Bestwood near Nottingham. His mother died when he was 18 months old and his father and stepmother were often away. His father completely rebuilt Bestwood and in 1872 founded the Bestwood Coal and Iron Company, turning the estate into a successful business. Burford left Eton in 1886 aged 16, after less than three years, because his tutor, who described him as ‘a very strange boy who could not be influenced’, said he was doing no good there. Shy and solitary, he was nevertheless a young man of exceptional vitality, who ranked ‘among the finest horsemen in the peerage.’ His friend Jack Seely [Captain FE Seely's young brother], soldier, politician and author of the book Adventure, described Burford as fearless.
On a trip they took to New Zealand together in 1892, Burford, whose daring horsemanship was admired by the Maoris, won a much publicized wager of £300 by riding 300 miles across the rugged, volcanic interior of the North Island from Hawke’s Bay to Waitemata in 61 hours.
On his return from Australia, he joined the 1st Regiment of Life Guards as a Second Lieutenant in 1893, joined the South Notts's Watnall Troop on 28th March 1894 under Captain Rolleston's command, becoming Captain in 1898 and later serving with the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment. But things had started to go wrong. He fell prey to strange attacks of fever and was plagued by a bad heel. Resigning his commission in the Life Guards, he grew to believe that his father and stepmother were conspiring against him, that the latter was trying to poison him, and that the family doctors and lawyers were in league with them. He spent hours each day writing incoherent letters to lawyers, setting in motion impossible lawsuits.
Now morose and lethargic, he lost his nerve in the saddle and became increasingly solitary. When he ran up debts and ended up in court, his father offered to pay them on condition that he went out to India as aide-de-camp to the Viceroy, Lord Elgin. While out there he contracted fever and dysentery in the jungle and returned after five months. On his arrival home in May 1897 he was bent on a lawsuit against his father for the loss of his hair.
No longer believing himself responsible for his actions, he boarded his father’s Yacht the Ceres at Southampton a couple of months after the latter’s death, armed to the gills. Having fired at the Captain with a revolver he urged the rest of the crew to take up arms against a gang of (invisible) conspirators. Having been apprehended, he was bound and taken into custody under an urgency order.
When his father died, he became the 11th Duke of St Albans. He spent the last 36 years of his life, from the age of 28, as a ‘Chancery lunatic’ at Ticehurst House private asylum in East Sussex (a considerable irony in view of the fact that he was inter alia Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery). He lived through a period of enormous upheaval and change, socially, politically, technologically, psychologically – epitomised by the First World War – yet he was shielded from much of it, living as he did in a private house on the grounds of an asylum that deliberately mimicked a Victorian country estate. There, attended by staff employed to look after him and prevent him escaping, he lived as a shadow king with a shrunken court, a forgotten man to all but his closest family. Indeed, years after he had been confined, the newspapers ran articles about him as an eligible, albeit reticent bachelor, who preferred ‘the deck of a rolling yacht to all the gaieties of town.’ It was widely assumed that he had gone on an extended cruise around the world.
During the First World War, the sale of Redbourne, his Lincolnshire estate, plus increases in taxation forced his Grace, who was the poorest duke in England, to make quite drastic economies. He had to dispense with his coach and horses in 1917 and from 1919 shared his house with another patient.
He was an obsessive letter writer who wrote constantly up to the time of his death to the Masters in Lunacy, the Board of Control, and the relevant Secretaries of State about his case. (Some of his letters were rather vaguely addressed, one going to ‘His Excellency the Ambassador and all the Foreign Powers.’) He also left some philosophical writings which are vivid testimony to his hatred of Empire and his belief that a fair society is only possible when no one takes more than he needs. One of his constant refrains is that man should not ‘overeat above the level of the plants.’ His message could have been written for our modern, neo-imperialist world.
A heavy cigarette smoker he died in 1934, aged 64. Even then his affliction remained a secret and the newspapers reported that the Duke had lived in retirement on one of his estates. A duke in name alone, he had spent his life wrestling with his demons – and ultimately those of society.
Many of the newspapers that reported his death and funeral were under the impression that he had been living in retirement on his Lincolnshire estate, Redbourne (which had been sold in 1917). None of them appeared to know the truth. His sister Louise was simply quoted as saying, ‘Details of the Duke’s death are not being disclosed. He had been a great invalid for some years, and that is all I can say.’ He was buried beside the mother who had died before he could speak, at Emmanuel Church, Bestwood, the little church in the woods.[1]
Sources
↑ https://munimentroom.wordpress.com/1884/05/13/charles-victor/
*Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2007.Volume:2b, Page:141
See Also
Wikipedia: Charles Beauclerk, 11th Duke of St Albans
Wikidata: Item Q5075497
Jack Seely https://archive.org/details/galloperjackrema0000scot/page/252/mode/2up?view=theater&q=burfor
Lord William Huddlestone Beauclerk (known as ‘Huddy’) was the youngest of the three sons of the 10th Duke of St Albans, and grew up at Bestwood. Not long after this picture was taken in Florence, Huddy was committed at the age of 18 as an inmate of the Priory Asylum where he spent over half a century until his death on Xmas Day, 1954. He'd been virtually forgotten by his family.
His other half-bother Obby was a restless, wandering soul. He was a Captain in the South Notts Hussars for a while but before WW1 went exploring overseas. With his American outdoorsman friend Warburton Pike he explored the backcountry of North America seeking mining opportunities including a trip down the Colorado River.
Despite differences in family background, Pike and Beauclerk were alike in a number of ways, especially the lack of fixed goals or purpose in their lives. Beauclerk, known as "Obby" to his friends, was a rambling gentleman in the manner of Pike, Phillipps-Wolley and Grainger. Restlessly travelling the globe, he lived for the day. He disliked continuity and involvement and was "something of a Bohemian, hating encumbrances." Thirteen years younger than Pike, Beauclerk was born into a titled Anglo-Irish family descended from the notorious Nell Gwyn, 17th-century actress and mistress of King Charles II. (The family name was Beauclerk, but Obby occasionally spelled it "Beauclerc.") From the age of 20, Beauclerk knew he would inherit the title of Duke of St. Albans from his brother Buford, who suffered from severe depression and was unable to carry out his family duties. Trustees looked after Buford's affairs until his death in 1934, when Obby took over the title and estate at the age of 59. Obby did not marry until he was 43- his wife's sister was the Duchess of Devonshire and by the end of his life was related to "most of the people who mattered" in England. Harold Macmillan, a future prime minister, was his nephew."
After graduating from Eton, Obby joined the 17th Lancers Regiment, rising to the rank of captain and fighting in the Boer War. He became a friend of Wilfrid Blunt, a homosexual poet, explorer and dandy whose wife was a granddaughter of Lord Byron. Blunt was a perceptive man who wrote of Obby: "Without being quite intellectual he is extremely intelligent, has seen much, and thought much, has every good impulse and desire, and is feeling his way how to live up toο them. He is hardly at all educated, but has a large experience of men and cities, or rather of wild places which are not cities. He has been at Eton and understands its snobbery; he has been in the Army and understands its futility; he is a landlord and understands its duties; he is without pretension and has a kindly heart.""
Video featuring interview with the current Duke of Beauclerk and son Charles talking about Burford and Huddy at 34:00 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81ryw3
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