CLIVE OF PERRYSTONE COURT

Now who is this fine military chap ? 

Lt-Gen Sir (George) Sidney Clive, GCVO, KCB CMG, DSO, DL, JP
of Perrystone Court, Herefordshire.

We'd better let his "Who's Who" entry summarise a distinguished career:

Lt-Gen Sir (George) Sidney CLIVE, GCVO., cr. 1937; KCB cr. 1933 (C.B. 1918); CMG 1919; DSO 1915; late Grenadier Guards; Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps, 1935 - 45; b. 16th July 1874; s. of late General Edward Henry Clive and Isabel, d. of  Daniel Hale Webb; m. 1901, Madeline, 2nd d. of late F.W. Huxton M.P.; two s, two d. Educ: Harrow; Sandhurst. Entered Army 1893; Captain, 1900; Major 1909; Maj-Gen 1924, Lt-Gen 1932; passed Staff College 1903 - 1904; General Staff War Office and London District 1905 - 1914; served Nile Expedition, 1898 (two medals, clasp); South Africa 1899 - 1902 (Queens Medal, 5 clasps); European War, 1914 - 1918 (DSO, Bt.-Col, C.B., CMG); Military Governor at Cologne, 1919; Commanding 1st Infantry Brigade, Aldershot 1920; British Military Representative, League of Nations, Geneva, 1920 - 1922; Military Attache to Paris, 1924 - 1927; Director of Personnel Services, War Office 1928 - 1930; Military Secretary to Secretary of State for War, 1930 - 1934; retired pay 1934; a Director of the Royal Academy of Music; President Union Jack Club and Hostel, 1944; Hon F.R.A.M. 1939; Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class (Russia); Grand Croix Legion of Honour; Order of the Crown Commander; Croix de Guerre, French and Belgian, J.P., D.L., Herefordshire, High Sheriff County of Herefordshire, 1939. Address: Perrystone Court, Ross, Herefordshire. Clubs: Guards' Brooks's.

Two generations of Grenadier Guardsmen - Sir Sidney with his son, Archer Clive

It appears that Sir Sidney spent much of the Great War as a liaison with French GHQ, which no doubt explains his subsequent quasi political appointments as the British Military Representative to the League of Nations and then Military Attache to Paris (as well as his Legion d'Honneur and Croix de Guerre). But it is his final appointment, as Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps, that brings him into our period of the late 1930s:

Introducing the new German Ambassador to the Court of St. James, 1936.
Behind the sinister figure of von Ribbentrop, a pillar of the British Establishment,
in monocle and ostrich plumed bicorne - Sir Sidney Clive (of Perrystone Court,
 Herefordshire) performing his duties as Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps.

Escape to the country - interior of Sir Clive's Perrystone Court.
Early 20th Century watercolour.

After one final public appointment within the County (as High Sheriff in 1939), Sir Sidney finally retired. It was a long retirement, cut short by tragedy - an appalling house fire on 7th October 1959 that destroyed Perrystone Court and cost "the old Grenadier" his life. From a retrospective piece in the "Hereford Times":

"Sir Sidney had, over the years, looked across from his country house towards the distant Church of St Mary at Ross. On an October day 46 years ago it was the setting for his memorial service. For three centuries the Grenadiers' March had been beaten to mark the return home after a campaign. At St Mary's that day two drummers of the Grenadier Guards, standing in full dress uniform in the north porch, beat out that march to the accompaniment of the organ. Music at the service included an anthem of Sir Sidney's composition, "Whither Thou Goest". All was carried out with pomp and ceremony and military precision - a far cry from the chaotic and grim scenes that had unfolded at Perrystone Court a few days earlier.

Jean Rundell, a nurse living in a flat at Perrystone, was awakened at 5.30 am by her mother who had heard a crackling sound. Looking through a window she could see a rosy glow of fire reflected on trees. Flames and sparks were coming from the morning room window. Perrystone housekeeper Gertrude Enseleit awoke other members of staff in the servants' wing and then ran to the neighbouring Bothy Cottage of air traffic controller Ronald Wilson, shouting `Fire!' and `the General is still in there!' He and his wife tried to enter the mansion but were driven back by dense smoke. But he was not to be defeated and later recalled: "The gardener got a ladder and I went up to the General's room. Down below the morning room was like a torch and the hall was beginning to blaze. I had to make two or three attempts to get across the room before I located General Clive. He was lying on the bed. I dragged him to the window and the people below had got a bigger ladder. Chauffeur Michael Cullum came up with a rope and between us we got it round the General's waist and got him out and down to the ground."

Jean Rundell carried out artificial respiration until the ambulance arrived. En route to hospital the grand old military man died. It was thought that the General's faithful old sheepdog Tony had perished but he was later found asleep on a rug in the housekeeper's room.

Many valuable paintings, including Gainsboroughs, and silver were taken to safety from the house by members of staff. Damage to Perrystone Court - bought by the Clive family in 1865 - was severe. A number of rooms were completely gutted and the roof of the main part of the house had collapsed as had a massive chimney stack which crashed into the middle of the building.

At the inquest later that month South Herefordshire coroner Cyril Shawcross heaped praise on Ronald Wilson for his courage in entering the blazing mansion. He also complimented chauffeur Cullum for his quick-thinking...."

St. Mary's Church, Ross-on-Wye.

Note : Sir Sidney's son, Archer Clive, continued the family tradition. Educated at Harrow and then Sandhurst, he fought with the Grenadier Guards during WW2, being awarded an MC in 1940 and then commanding the 6th Batt., Grenadiers, between 1941 and 1943. Retiring from the Army in 1947 with the rank of Brigadier, he became a Justice of the Peace in Herefordshire and served as Deputy Lieutenant of the County in 1960. He died in March 1995. See his WIKI entry here.

HEREFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD WW2 (2) - A REDOUBTABLE LADY

Following the previous post on the Home Guard in Herefordshire during WW2, a little more:

“One of the more unusual units of home defence in Herefordshire was known as the ‘Much Marcle Watchers’. Formed before Eden’s speech, the unit came about when Lady Helena Gleichen, a distinguished artist and relative of King George VI, walked into the Headquarters of the Shropshire Light Infantry at Ross-on-Wye and asked for 80 rifles together with ammunition. She added that she could do with some machine guns as well in order to form a defence force. Stunned by this outrageous request, the officers stuttered that no guns were available and even if this were not the case they would not let her have any. Undefeated, Lady Helena went ahead and gathered together a force of men armed with an armoury of shotguns including Austrian rifles and bayonets taken from her own collection of guns. That same night the ‘Much Marcle Watchers’ were on duty ready to defend their beloved Herefordshire, the forerunners of the yet to be formed Home Guard.” (note 1)

Lady Helena Gleichen in her WW1 Uniform.

Lady Helena, an aristocratic and clearly redoubtable lady (note 2) lived at Hellens Manor, an ancient house and estate situated close to Much Marcle, seven miles north east of Ross on Wye and some two miles south west of Ledbury (note 3). In VBCW terms, this clearly places the estate at the very limit of Anglican influence (centred, in the south, upon Ross on Wye in the charge of Captain "Teddy" Jermingham) yet, at the same time, vulnerable to the increasing BUF build up in Ledbury itself. Quite what position Lady Helena took upon Edward VIII's intended marriage to Wallis Simpson is unknown, but it is unlikely that such a strong County personality would have passively stood aside, even from civil conflict, should it have swept uninvited towards her estate....

Notes:

(1)  Source - Herefordshire & Worcestershire Airfields in the Second World War by Robin J. Brooks pub. Countryside Books, Newbury (2006) pps. 226

(2). See Lady Helena's WIKI entry HERE

(3). Hellens still stands, and is open to visitors on escorted tours. See HERE for the history of the house (going back to at least the 12th century) and HERE for the Manor's modern web page.

(4). Lady Helena's memoirs, "Contacts and Contrasts", going up only to the end of WW1 but containing such charming chapter titles as "Yachting with Princess Eugenie", "About Horses" and "Dogs" can be found on the Internet Archive HERE

HEREFORDSHIRE'S OWN CHIEF SCOUT

Everyone will know that Robert Baden-Powell founded and lead the Scouting Movement. Perhaps few, however, will remember that Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers, of Eastnor Castle in the County of Herefordshire, served as the Deputy Chief Scout from 1935 - and then the Chief Scout, upon Baden Powell's death, from March 1941 until his own death in 1944. Although not appointed Chief Scout until Baden Powell's death, Lord Somers must effectively have served in that position from Baden-Powell's retirement from public life at the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937.

Lord Somers in scouting uniform

In short, therefore (and as with so much else), Herefordshire must have been the epicentre of the Scouting Movement during the Very British Civil War of 1938....

Lord Somers in civvies, May 1936, Bassano

Lord Somers had a distinguished war record during the First World War, from serving with the Life Guards in 1914 to commanding the 6th Battalion of the Tank Corps in 1918. He was twice wounded, mentioned in despatches, and awarded both the MC and the DSO. Post war, he served as Governor of Victoria from 1926 - 1931.

Lord Somers, with inevitable dogs, Eastnor Castle May 1936

Goodness knows what Lord Somers would have done upon the outbreak of the Very British Civil War - and, in keeping with campaign tradition, it would be wrong to speculate. Perhaps it can be ventured, however, that he would have been most anxious to retain the integrity of the Scouting Movement and, on a more personal note, to defend the Eastnor estate against all aggressors. As Somers was a retired military man of considerable personal wealth, the Herefordshire Scouts could expect to be well equipped during the VBCW...

In that context, it must have come as a particular disappointment to Lord Somers that the first engagement of a local scout troop (Mortimers Troop at the Battle of Mortimers Cross) resulted only in the said scouts immediately defecting to Commissar Professor Colonel Winter's Communist Faction (there are some suggestions of outrageous bribery, viz. "free pop and buns"). Lord Somers must hope that other Scout troops are made of sterner stuff, for Eastnor Castle now lies in the path of the BUF advancing towards Ledbury along the A438. An engagement with Storm Leader Reckless' Recce Troop surely cannot be long delayed...

A modern day map of Eastnor Castle and its grounds. The terrain has not changed much from 1938.

Thankfully, the grounds of Eastnor Castle seem eminently defensible, protected to the east by an ornamental lake and generally swathed in woodland. And if Lord Somers has insufficient scouts at his disposal, he can surely call upon some of his old Australian friends and WW1 veterans from the State of Victoria to come to his aid....