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This is the BBC: Entertaining the

Nation, Speaking for Britain, 1922-2022


Simon J. Potter
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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

THIS IS TH E BBC
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

THIS
IS TH E BBC
e n t e rta i n i ng t h e
nat ion, s p e a k i ng f or
br i ta i n ? 1922 –2 022

SI MON J. POT T E R
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 08/03/22, SPi

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp,


United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Simon J. Potter 2022
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First Edition published in 2022
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021952087
ISBN 978-0-19-289852-4
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192898524.001.0001
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

Dedicated to the memory of my grandparents,Tom and Grace Wallis


and Vi and Les Potter, children of the radio age.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

Preface

O ver the last hundred years the BBC has reflected and shaped
British life in innumerable ways. It has also had a much wider
global impact.This book is not intended as a celebration of that work.
Rather, it offers a critical, unofficial, and unauthorized analysis of the
BBC’s history. The chapters that follow draw out the patterns, con­
tinu­ities, and transformations that have marked the BBC’s century. In
doing so, they seek to shed light on the challenges the Corporation
faces today from new digital media and from growing opposition to
the basic idea of public service broadcasting.
Programmes—what people listened to and watched when they
tuned in to the BBC—need to be at the centre of any history of the
Corporation. In this book, I have highlighted some of the key pro-
grammes that have acted as recognized milestones. Rather than list
them in an exhaustive, encyclopaedic fashion, I have tried to show
how they illuminate broader themes in the Corporation’s history and
in British society, culture, and politics more generally. I have also
attempted to give a flavour of the more unremarkable content served
up by the BBC on a daily basis throughout its century. These pro-
grammes were sometimes pedestrian and banal, but nevertheless
deserve consideration. They did, after all, become part of the lives of
everyone, in Britain and around the world, who has helped constitute
the BBC’s global audience.
The chapters that follow also explain how the BBC has changed
and developed as an institution, how it has been managed, and how it
relates to the British government and the wider state. If we want to
understand whose voice the BBC represents, who it puts on-­air, and

Dictionary: NOSD
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

viii pr e face

who it excludes, these themes are crucial. They have shaped the
programmes made and commissioned by the BBC, the range of
­
­services it has created over the years, and the news it has broadcast.
Nevertheless, we also need to understand that, as in any institution,
many of the people who have worked at the BBC have ignored what
their would-­be political masters have told them and have instead gone
their own way. At key moments, programme makers and journalists
enjoyed unparalleled creative and investigative freedom. The policies
and as­pir­ations of senior managers, government ministers, and civil
servants have thus sometimes made less of a difference than we might
assume. This makes it even more important to pay full attention to
programmes and the people who made them if we want to get a
proper handle on the BBC’s history.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Cathryn Steele at OUP for approaching
me with the idea for this book, and for seeing it through to comple-
tion, and to Joan and David Potter, Maria Scott, Robert Bickers, and
David Prosser for all their advice and support during the writing
process.Thanks are also definitely due to Tommy and Ciara Potter, not
least for introducing me to the joys of Doctor Who.
SJP
Backwell, North Somerset, January 2022
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

Contents

Introduction: The BBC’s century 1


1. The Company, 1922–1926 9
2. The Corporation, 1927–1939  35
3. Propaganda and war, 1939–1945 71
4. Losing control, 1945–1959 111
5. Transformation and stagnation, 1960–1979 147
6. On the market, 1980–1999 193
7. At risk, 2000–2022 235
Prospect: The BBC after broadcasting 277

Endnotes285
Further reading 291
Index293
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

Introduction
The BBC’s century

I wrote much of this book during the COVID-­19 pandemic when,


like many other people, I spent a lot of time ‘locked down’ at home.
The everyday routines and social encounters I had taken for granted
all suddenly stopped. Radio, television, and the Internet became cru-
cial links with the world outside my home. More than any other
broadcaster, it was the BBC that I turned to during those strange days,
weeks, and months of social isolation. As a result, I witnessed the BBC
move into an operating mode that it is always ready, though seldom
required, to adopt: acting as the voice of the nation, and also of the
British state. I was not alone in this experience. On 23 March 2020,
28 million people turned to BBC One to watch the prime minister,
Boris Johnson, announce the imposition of lockdown. Almost two
months later, on 10 May, 18.8 million viewers watched BBC One
when Johnson explained plans for the easing of the initial restrictions.
Throughout the pandemic, the prime minister, alongside cabinet
ministers and civil servants, used the BBC to provide guidance, answer
questions, and address the nation.
During the pandemic, many people also turned to the BBC as a
source of trusted information, at a time when speculation and ‘fake
news’ were fuelling anxieties. On a national basis, BBC news reports,
on radio, television, and online, worked explicitly to illustrate the
consequences to individuals, communities, and the National Health
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

2 This is the BBC

Service of non-­ compliance with lockdown restrictions. On pro-


grammes like BBC One’s News at Ten, correspondents showed view-
ers the crisis developing in hospitals and interviewed doctors and
nurses, who warned what would happen if the healthcare system
became overwhelmed. BBC foreign correspondents explained how
other countries were dealing, or failing to deal, with the pandemic,
and detailed the human consequences.Yet journalists and editors also
tried to communicate a balanced view of the risks, avoiding scare-
mongering and quashing rumours. This approach may have helped
generate support for the UK’s COVID-­19 vaccination programme,
muting the hesitancy and anti-­vaxxer opposition that was expressed
much more forcefully in some comparable countries.
As lockdown eased at different rates and in varying ways across the
UK, the BBC’s formidable regional news operation played an im­port­
ant role in explaining which restrictions were still in force locally. Few
other media outlets were able to work at this level, as many commer-
cial operators had already shut down unprofitable local news outlets.
And throughout the crisis, BBC newsreaders and journalists exhorted
the nation to come together and endure. Every week during lock-
down they devoted attention to the ‘Clap for Our Carers’, encouraging
viewers to participate by standing outside their homes to applaud all
those working to care for others.This was a feel-­good story, but also a
way to help ease the anxiety and isolation that many were experiencing
during the pandemic. Crucially, it was also part of an overt drive to
build national unity, a role that has always been at the heart of the
BBC’s operations and remains central to its vision of public service
broadcasting.
The BBC’s digital offering also helped keep children occupied and
engaged during lockdown as schools closed for in-­person teaching. As
many schools and parents struggled to provide adequate home learn-
ing, the BBC presented educational resources for children in a national
online initiative fronted by one of the stars of its family programming,
Jodie Whitaker of Doctor Who. Within seven days of the closure of
schools, the BBC’s Bitesize website was attracting around 4.8 million
unique weekly visitors, double its usual traffic. By June 2020, it had
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

I n t roduct ion: T h e BBC ’s ce n tu ry 3

provided 150 new online lessons a week, for fourteen weeks. From
January 2020, the BBC also offered an expanded daily broadcast edu-
cational offering on CBBC and BBC Two.
The vast resources and reach of the BBC’s Internet presence and its
on-­demand streaming services, BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer, were
also brought to bear on the task of maintaining morale. Individuals
used the Corporation’s services to help curate their own bespoke
lockdown entertainment. Escapism gained new meaning and social
purpose. More subtly, the continuing supply of BBC radio and tele­vi­
sion programmes provided a sense of comforting normality, a glimpse
of a more familiar world. BBC newsreaders might be presenting tele­
vi­sion viewers with disturbing reports, but they were still there, occu-
pying the glass-­walled newsroom in London’s Broadcasting House.
Familiar faces provided a sense that somehow, at some point in the
future, normal life would resume. Above all else, BBC television, and
perhaps especially radio (where many presenters and guests were able
to broadcast from their own homes), provided a sense of spontaneous,
everyday contact with other people. It carried comforting faces and
voices to those isolated by lockdown.
To be sure, other broadcasters and streaming services also played an
important role in getting people through lockdown. But no other
media provider offered such a range of services, or the combination
of national focus and international and local perspectives, supplied by
the BBC throughout the pandemic. This reflected the BBC’s unique
commitment, enshrined in its royal charter since before the Second
World War—to inform, educate, and entertain. It was also a function
of the BBC’s integral place within the British state and its complex
relationship with government.This book seeks to explain how the BBC
came into existence, and how it has transformed itself over the last
century to play the role it does today. It also draws out the origins of
the multiple challenges that the BBC faces as it enters its second century,
which threaten to diminish its role in British politics, culture, and society,
and even to eliminate it entirely from the UK and global media landscape.
The BBC was Britain’s first public service broadcaster. Arguably,
today it is Britain’s only genuine public service broadcaster. Despite
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

4 This is the BBC

the outsourcing and commercialization of many of its activities,


ul­tim­ate­ly it does not exist to generate a profit, but to serve the public.
It does this by providing content that other broadcasters cannot or
will not produce, including huge amounts of journalism, local cover-
age, and educational programming. It also seeks to provide a universal
service, offering something for everyone and serving a wide range of
different communities, as well as working to bring together and
address a common national audience. All these activities are funded in
part through the television licence. If we want to watch broadcast
television in the UK, on any channel, or even just stream content
using iPlayer, we must pay for a television licence or face prosecution.
Few other countries maintain such a system.The licence fee is viewed
by some as the necessary foundation for everything the BBC does.
Others argue that it is an unfair, regressive tax that has no legitimate
place in a world of digital media, in which information is sim­ul­tan­
eous­ly ‘free’ and crucial to the profits generated by the global tech
industry.
One of the key arguments of this book is that there is nothing
inevitable about the BBC. Much of its history has been shaped by
haphazard experimentation and by decisions taken without any clear
understanding of their eventual, enduring consequences. The very
familiarity of the BBC, its pervasive presence in our lives, obscures just
how strange it is to have a vast, publicly run and publicly owned
media conglomerate at the heart of British political, social, and cul-
tural life.When the BBC was set up a hundred years ago, there was no
precedent for this. Most other countries did not establish a similar
system: the exceptions were generally set up in emulation of the BBC
model. If the creation of the BBC was neither natural nor inevitable,
then much the same can be said of the prospects for its continued
survival.
In studying the history of the BBC, this book argues that we should
not mistake endurance for continuity. To survive, and to expand and
consolidate its media empire, the BBC has subjected itself to wrench-
ing changes and profound transformations. Certainly, there are some
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I n t roduct ion: T h e BBC ’s ce n tu ry 5

important enduring themes. For most of the last century the BBC has
constituted the single most important patron for many different
aspects of creative life in Britain. It has also provided crucial support
for artists and performers from around the world. It has strengthened
and broadened popular engagement with sport. It has also often dis-
played a bias towards the national and the international aspects of
broadcasting, seeking to promote national unity and to project Britain
overseas. Only at certain moments has it put significant emphasis on
building local or regional communities. While it has been a promoter
of Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish cultures and identities, it has
almost never worked to support separatist political nationalisms. This
is ultimately because the BBC is an integral part of the state, with an
enormous stake in the continued existence of the Union of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland. It has almost always enjoyed a measure
of day-­to-­day autonomy from politicians and civil servants. Yet its
independence has always been circumscribed, sometimes to the point
of meaninglessness.
For much of its history the BBC has also faced charges, from those
on both the right and left of politics, of bias. This has taken the form
of objections to specific programmes, stories, or staff appointments,
and of claims about the general political predilections of the institu-
tion and its staff. Since the 1950s, when the BBC became more com-
mitted to critical political coverage and the airing of controversial
issues, accusations of political bias have intensified. Sometimes they
have erupted into damaging scandals and clashes with the political
parties at Westminster, sweeping away staff and even the occasional
BBC director general. Most recently, critics have charged the BBC
with repeatedly failing to adhere to its own editorial policies, and of
pursuing politicized and controversial ‘woke’ agendas.Thinking about
the BBC’s history can put its current political difficulties into per-
spective, but the overall effect is certainly not to diminish them. Over
the last two decades, the BBC has been in a state of perpetual crisis,
and many believe it has been fatally wounded by the attacks of its
enemies and the failings of its senior executives.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

6 This is the BBC

Over the last century, debates about how the BBC might be
reformed have generally come down to the question of how broad-
casting should be controlled and regulated by the state. If we skim off
the froth and drain the vitriol that often accompany these controver-
sies, we can see that two opposing currents of thought have continued
to flow largely unabated. On one hand, some believe it legitimate, and
indeed vital, that a large public body be empowered to shape British
culture, politics, and society, and to project Britain overseas. Conversely,
others argue that all this work can and should be the domain of
private enterprise, with the state playing only a very limited role. The
relative power of these two streams has ebbed and flowed over the last
century. Neither has entirely dominated nor disappeared at any point.
Today the ideal of a great public service broadcaster, promoting a
national culture and strengthening democracy, seems closer than ever
before to defeat.Yet it has still not been vanquished by the pervasive,
libertarian ideologies of free market competition.
These enduring theme and debates are important. Yet there have
also been very significant changes over the course of the BBC’s cen-
tury. The Corporation’s approach to making programmes, to its audi-
ences, and to organizing its many networks, channels, and platforms,
has been transformed beyond all recognition. Its policies about what
should be put on air, and what should be kept off, have also changed
dramatically. Less obviously for most viewers, listeners, and users, its
shape as an institution and its relationships with other elements of the
British state have also shifted radically. A creeping commercialization
has fundamentally altered how the BBC operates. It has increasingly
become a commissioner rather than a maker of content, with many of
its historic programme-­making and other activities hived off into
commercial subsidiaries. The BBC has also shrunk over the last two
decades, both absolutely and in relation to powerful new global
competitors.
Most people in the UK probably assume that they are members of
the principal target audience for the BBC, and think of that audience
as a domestic, national one. They do not often consume or even
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

I n t roduct ion: T h e BBC ’s ce n tu ry 7

consider what the BBC produces for listeners, viewers, and users in
other countries. If they do, they probably assume that this overseas
work is largely a by-­product of the BBC’s main, domestic role.Yet this
assumption is neither necessarily accurate nor very helpful. For much
of its century the BBC has been the key voice of Britain overseas and
the main way that the British state has sought to influence foreign
audiences. Its history is deeply rooted in themes of imperialism, war,
Cold War, and decolonization. Its protected position at home has
allowed it, and Britain, to exercise disproportionate cultural influence
on a global stage. Over the last century the BBC has probably been
the single most important institution generating British soft power
and overseas propaganda. The fact that the BBC also broadcasts to
domestic audiences has made that work easier, providing access to a
vast pool of professional broadcasting talent and programmes. BBC
staff and performers have worked as agents of British public diplo-
macy and persuasion, often without themselves knowing or thinking
much about it.The BBC’s domestic role and status also helps make its
presence more palatable to foreign audiences. It helps the BBC appear
to project Britain’s authentic voice, or more accurately Britain’s many
different voices, not just that of the British government.
Official histories of the BBC, and histories written by former BBC
employees, have played a crucial role in shaping our understanding of
the Corporation’s past. Unsurprisingly, such accounts tend to be
cele­bra­tory in tone, and sometimes insufficiently critical. Similarly
unremarkable is the fact that many independent academic historians
have tended to see the BBC as a good thing, a non-­commercial and
sometimes radical presence in the British media landscape that has
promoted social democracy and empowered programme makers,
individually and collectively, to produce astonishingly creative work.
There is certainly much to be said for this perspective. However,
another less obvious thread running through historical writing about
the BBC emphasizes its role as a bastion of the British Establishment,
promoting and sustaining the traditional social, cultural, and political
order, and thus contributing to the unequal, hierarchical nature of
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

8 This is the BBC

modern Britain.This view also needs to be taken seriously. In presenting


a centenary history, the chapters that follow argue that we should
adopt a critical rather than a celebratory approach. It is only by
approaching the Corporation’s past in this way that historians can
help inform debates about its uncertain future.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 01/03/22, SPi

1
The Company, 1922–1926

O n 14 November 1922, the British Broadcasting Company


transmitted its first radio programme. At 6 p.m. and again at
9 p.m. that evening, Arthur Burrows read out ‘news messages of about
1,000 words’, along with a weather report.This was neither a national
nor a sophisticated service. Burrows, who had been involved in some
of the earliest experimental broadcasts in the UK, spoke into an ordinary
telephone receiver. His words were broadcast from the Marconi
Company’s 2LO station, using a low-­power transmitter, and would
have reached only a small number of people living in and around
London who had purchased or (more likely) built their own receiving
sets. Broadcasting was still in its infancy. Burrows noted that ‘a new
sense will have to be acquired by those listening to news by ear’, but
nevertheless asked listeners to send him their feedback so that the
fledgling service could be improved.1 The following night he broadcast
the first results of the 1922 general election.
During the interwar years, the BBC became a pervasive presence in
the everyday lives of millions of people, in Britain and overseas.
Locally, nationally, and internationally, it subtly influenced and
reshaped culture, politics, and society.Those who created it were aware
of the revolutionary potential of broadcasting. However, they could
not foresee exactly how new technologies and applications would
develop in detail, and they therefore had to speculate about how
the medium would evolve over the coming years. Early decisions
Another random document with
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went, the members of the 3rd were simply handed altogether over to
the 1st.
This 1st Battalion had been, in January, 1919, at Vettweiss, in
Germany, about fifteen miles from Cologne, and demobilization was
in progress till the 15th March, on which date eighteen officers and
three hundred men, under Major Lord Teynham, the second in
command, were transferred in one body to the 6th Battalion Royal
West Kent Regiment. This left but a strength of forty-six men, but the
regular officers, of course, still remained, as these had cast in their
lot with the Buffs for the greater part of their professional lives, and
not for emergency times only, so every two private soldiers had an
officer to look after them. The ranks, however, were somewhat
swollen by the arrival of the band from England. The cadre was now
quartered at Sinzenich and remained there till the middle of May,
occupied in amusements and recreation and generally having a
happy time of relaxation after all that had been gone through.
On the 22nd May the 1st Battalion landed at Tilbury, having
travelled by Antwerp, and, on the 26th of the month, it was received,
welcomed and entertained by the mayor and officials of the good old
city of Canterbury. It was at last in very truth home again, but the
cadre now consisted of only about twenty men.
With these twenty Lt.-Colonel McDouall, accompanied by his own
adjutant and quartermaster, proceeded in September to Cork and, as
we have seen, took over there the 3rd Battalion in a body. In fact,
only the Permanent Staff of the latter remained to return to Kent.
Soon afterwards the 1st Battalion was again quartered at Fermoy,
the garrison it had left for war five years before. Of the nine hundred
soldiers or thereabouts who marched out of the little Irish town under
Colonel Hill in 1914, five officers and thirty-five other ranks returned;
but these, of course, had not been with their unit during the whole of
the interval.
The names of these forty soldiers are appended:—
Lt.-Colonel R. McDouall, C.B., C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O.
Major R. G. D. Groves-Raines, D.S.O.
Major and Brevet Lt.-Colonel L. W. Lucas, D.S.O., M.C.
Captain H C C Morley
Captain H. C. C. Morley.
Captain and Quarter-Master T. Cook.
R.Q.M.S. W. K. Martin.
C.S.M. G. Barrell, D.C.M.
„ J. R. MacWalter, D.C.M., M.M.
„ F. G. Verlander.
C.Q.M.S. G. Bridgland.
„ S. Croucher.
Clr.-Sgt. (O.R.S.) E. J. Evans.
Sgt. A. Burville.
„ J. Cross, M.M.
„ G. Dennis, D.C.M.
„ W. Denny, M.M.
„ E. B. Hills.
„ W. Holmes.
„ J. Mullen.
„ J. Morgan, M.M.
„ J. Stuart, M.M.
L.-Sgt. A. Larkin.
„ G. Russell.
„ C. Truby.
Corpl. W. Adams.
„ A. R. Amos.
„ C. Collier.
„ E. Hall, D.C.M.
„ F. Harvey.
L.-Corpl. S. Clover.
„ A. Forster.
„ W. Phelan.
Pte. H. Barker.
„ W. Bone.
„ E. Downes.
„ H. Staples.
„ F. Stroud.
„ F. Wanstall.
„ E. Wood.
Bdsm. W. Gammon.
The 2nd Battalion came home to England from the Bosphorus in
April, 1919, and was quartered in Connaught Barracks, Dover, where
it remained till November of the same year, when, under the
command of Lt.-Colonel Trevor, D.S.O., it embarked at Southampton
for India, where it had been when the war commenced. Multan, in
the Punjaub, was the new station into which the 2nd Battalion of the
Buffs settled down to take up the threads again of routine garrison
life in the East. The following are the names of officers and other
ranks who left India in 1914 and returned there in 1919:—
Officers.
Captain Peareth.
Captain Howe.

Other Ranks.
R.S.M. Andrews.
Band-Master Hewett.
R.Q.M.S. Edwards.
O.R. Sgt. Ings.
C.S.M. Cook.
C.Q.M.S. Austen.
„ Blackman.
„ Slender.
Sgt. Ambrose.
„ Coaster.
„ Deeks.
„ Freeman.
„ Hamblin.
„ Manering.
„ McMahon.
„ Potts.
„ Webb.
„ Wilkins.
Corpl. Cornwall.
„ Farr.
„ Robinson.
L.-Corpl. Stubbins.
Dr. Murdock.
„ Stevens.
Pte. Goldsmith.
„ Howland.
„ Levenson.
„ McGann.
„ Spooner.
„ Woodhams.

On the 21st June Canterbury Cathedral was once again, as it had


been many times before, the scene of an impressive military
ceremony in connection with the Buffs. It was a great memorial
service at which every battalion was represented, the grand old
church being crowded with soldiers and their relatives. On this
occasion the 2nd Battalion received back its Colours which had
during the long war been in the safe keeping of the Dean and
Chapter. The Colours of the 6th and 10th were solemnly placed in
the custody of the same Church dignitaries, to be hung upon the
walls together with those under which our sires and grandsires
fought. Captain J. C. Page, M.C., who had served so long as its
adjutant, was in charge of the party of the 6th, and Lt.-Colonel
Ponsonby of the brave Yeomen. It was an occasion that those
present will never forget.
The real conclusion of the Buffs’ great war history, however, was
another and still more solemn ceremony and service in the same
church: this was the unveiling of the memorial to our glorious dead,
whose names will be found not only in the Warriors’ Chapel, but in
an Appendix to this book, numbering nearly six thousand. Space will
not permit of a description of this touching service. The unveiling was
performed by Lord Horne, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief
Eastern Command, and a full description is to be found in the
regimental paper, The Dragon, for September, 1921.
We have merely to note that the celebrated general who unveiled
the memorial, after giving a short account of the doings of the
regiment in the war, made use of the words:—
“There is a record! one and all, Regulars, Territorials, and those
who fought with the Service battalions, all serving, all nobly
maintaining the discipline and traditions of their regiment, all inspired
by the spirit of the Buffs.”

Veteri frondescit honore.


APPENDIX I[35]
Nominal roll of Officers who were killed in action, or died of
wounds or disease in the Great War, 1914–1919:—
MAJOR-GENERAL
Edward Charles Ingouville Williams, C.B., D.S.O.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL
Julian Hasler.

COLONEL
Frederick Charles Romer, C.B., C.M.G.

LIEUTENANT-COLONELS
Donald Knox Anderson, M.C.
Charles Walter Blackall.
Harold Duke Collison-Morley.
Augustus David Geddes.
Herbert Walter Green, D.S.O.
Henry Denne Hirst.
Harry Fearnley Kirkpatrick, D.S.O.
Nathaniel Newnham-Davis.
Francis Cyril Rupert Studd, D.S.O.
Arthur Philip Hamilton Trueman, O.B.E.
Claude Arthur Worthington.

MAJORS
Cyril Francis Cattley, M.C.
Charles Meredith Bouverie Chapman, M.C., Chevalier de l’ordre
de Leopold, Croix de Guerre (with palms).
James Scholfield Fraser.
Bernard Edward Furley.
Roger Cecil Slacke.
Alfred Soames, D.S.O.
Bernard Lewis Strauss, M.C.
Robert Oscar Cyril Ward.

CAPTAINS
Alan Gordon Acheson Adam.
Hugh Lionel Allfrey.
Victor Arnold.
Maurice Asprey.

Wilfred Saxby Barham.


Stephen Spencer Beall.
Hugh William Brodie.
Theodore Anthony Brown, M.C.
Eustace Bruce Caldecott Burnside.
Benjamin Buss.

Arthur Edwin Cheesman.


Edmund Basil Chichester.
Alfred Sackville Cresswell.

Christopher Edmund Grant Davidson.


William Richard Davis.
Hubert Archibald Dyson.

Lenox Paton Figgis, M.C.


Lawrence Fort.
Edward William Lanchester Foxell.
George Burton Taddy Friend.

Percy Shene Bernard Hall.


Charles Eric Hatfield M C
Charles Eric Hatfield, M.C.
Anthony May Capron Hollist.
Ralph William Homan.
William Howard.
Herbert Hunter, M.C.

Arthur Keedwell Harvey James.


George Millais James.
George Alfred Prime Jones.

John Kekewich.
Pryce Atwood Clive Kelsey.
Thomas Herbert Kesby.
John Buchanan Kitchin.

John William Laurie.


John Charles Thomas Leigh.
John Herbert Lomax.
Alwyne Travers Loyd.

Harold Lisle Morley, M.C.

Gerald Tassel Neame.

Archibald Edward Osborne (Croix de guerre, with palm).

Dudley George Pearce.

James McBain Ronald.

Kenneth Shelton.
Arthur Oswald Sherren.
Thomas Robert Munro Shervinton.
John Sutton Sill.
Sydney Skelton.
Charles Cecil Stanfield.
Bernard Puckle Steinman.

John Ogilvie Taylor.


Walter Neave Wells.

Alexander Frederick Worster, M.C. and clasp.

LIEUTENANTS
Geoffrey Charles Allen.
John William Butts Archer.

Guy Talbot Baker.


Cyril James Price Tyson Sugar Baly.
Reginald Aubrey Richard Bayard.
Percy Harold Budds.
Geoffrey Walter Melvin Burton.
Edward Henry Underwood Buttanshaw.

Hugh Harry Carter.


Angelo Lycestre Lyne Chamberlain.
William Wetherall Chapman.
Anthony Alfred Cheesman.
Geoffrey William Church, M.C.
Eric Foster Clark.
Nigel Edwin FitzRoy Cole.

Robert James Docking.


Reginald William Durdle.
Laurence Charles Dyer.

Noel Vansittart Earle.

Kenneth Rowley Forde.

Richard Spencer Glyn.


Edouard Herbert Allan Goss.
James Gordon Hamilton Greig.
Charles Herbert Gribble.
Alexander Falkland Gulland.
Arthur Louis Gullick.
Philip Randall Hatch.
William Alexander Cosgrave Hedley.
Edward Francis Henderson.
Howard Dudley Hewett.
Robert Myles Heywood.
Douglas Agar Worsley Hill.
Victor William John Hobbs.
Charles Frederick Griffith Hollis, M.C.

Wilfred George Jackson.


Charles William Jemmett.

George William Ambrose Kingham.

Percy Lambe.
Leslie Arthur Lea-Smith.
Maurice Aden Ley.

Ronald McDougall.
Hugh Stephen Marchant.
Charles Walter Brockwell Marsh.
Ronald Walter Mitchell.
Leonard Morgan.

Fred Naylor.
Roy Nettleton.
Charles Stuart Newcomb.
Percy Wilmott Newington.
Philip Giesler Norbury.
Douglas Horace Gilbert Northcote.

Harry Alfred Oxley.

Reginald James Pavitt.


Joseph Douglas Philips.
Jasper Prescott Phillimore.

Arthur William Ramsey.


Thomas Ruddock.

Cecil Martin Sankey, M.C.


John Scrace.
Eric Sharp.
Lewis Victor Henry Shorter.
James Eliot Stephen.
Stephen Cormack Swayne.

Cedric Charles Okey Taylor.


Frederick George Taylor.
Stanley Waterman Taylor.
William Frederick Taylor.
John George Thorn-Drury.
George Robert Thornhill, M.C.

Joseph Thorp Waite.


Frederick George Wallis.
Arthur Norman Widdop.
Jack Douglas Wild.
Frank Dudley Wilkinson, M.C.

2nd LIEUTENANTS
Harold Norman Adcock.
Charles St. Vincent Allen.
William Hope Amos.
Edward Norman Andrews.
Albert Erskine Carson Archer.
Hugo Cholmondeley Arnold.

John Frederick Baddeley.


Carlyle Bainbridge.
Frank Bernard Baker.
Bertram Stacpoole Bambridge.
Leonard Henry Batson.
Leonard Josiah Baxter.
Frederick Parkman Beagley, M.C.
R b t G ld B
Robert Gerald Beer.
Lewis Edward Albert Samuel Bilton.
Basil Bernard Blackwell.
Ronald Walter Bone.
Frederick Atkins Booth.
Bernard Geoffrey Bowles.
Guy Bracher.
Horace Leslie Brown.
Thomas Eben Grainger Bullock.
Eric George Bungard.
Percy Charles Buss.
Thomas Weston Buss.
James William Butler.

Charles Caney, M.C.


Ernest Stafford Carlos.
Leslie Guy Carman.
John Metcalfe Chill.
Laurence Fraser Clark.
Stanley Harvey Coates.
Leslie Ernest Combridge.
Frederick William Harvey Cooper, M.M.
Edward Franklin Corner.
Donald Threlkeld Cousins.
Henry George Cox.
John Marr Craighead.
Edward Herbert Cramer-Roberts.
Reginald Crisp.
William Guy Cronk.

Wilfrid Stephen Dann.


Leslie James George Davis.
Percy Warren Theo Davis.
Leslie James Derrick.
John Hastings Dinsmore.
William Lawrence Donelan.
Paris Villiers Drake-Brockman.
Francis Herbert Dungey.
Arthur Edwards.
Spenser Ernest Edwards.
Hubert William Evans.

Thomas Firminger.
Ralph Louis Francis Forster.
Phineas Freedman.
Francis Conrade Shenstone Frost.

Horace John Gates.


George Joachim Goschen (the Hon.).
Norman Greiffenhagen.

Charles Hall.
Douglas William Hammond.
Alexander John Hanmer, M.C.
Harold Victor Hardey-Mason.
Donald Alfred Harnett.
Allan Sydney Hayfield.
Rycharde Mead Haythornthwaite.
Ivan Henry Hess.
Harold Sutton Hilder.
Malcolm Arthur Hills.
Herbert Josiah Hine, M.M.
Siegfried Thomas Hinkley.
Evelyn Melville Shovell Hoare.
Leslie Ebenezer Holyman.
Maurice Pinney Horrabin.
Adrian George Hubbard.
Harold Montague Hunt.
Ernest Stanley Patrick Hynes.

Douglas Peacock Jack.


Henry Croome Jackman.
Basil Lister James.
Kenneth Lister James.
Charles Gordon Jelf.
Howard Fife Johnson
Howard Fife Johnson.
Sinclair Beatty Johnston.

Athol Kirkpatrick.

Charles William Laing.


Douglas Lambert.
John Elston Lane.
Henry James Little.

William Lawrence McColl.


Stanley Major.
Michael Innes Malton.
John William Mann.
Charles Arthur Stirling Mathias, M.C.
Ralph Edward Culverhouse Mead.
John Barnard Millard.
George Stuart Moke-Norrie.
Roy Granville Kyrle Money.
Thomas Lewis Vyvyan Moody.
Vernon Leslie Morgan.
Frank William Morley.
Eyre Percival Morris.
Eric Victor Morse, M.C.
Reginald Barnes Newton Moss.
Allan Mount.

Henry George Nesbit.


Walter Gregory Neve.
William McDonald Noble.
Mervyn Noott.
Harold Milford Norsworthy.

Alfred Erasmus Stuart Ommanney.


Henry Douglas Osborne.

Jack Brian Paige.


George Alexander Palfreyman.
Leo Bernard Parsons.
Leo Bernard Parsons.
William James Leonard Peacock.
Thomas Penington.
Charles Frederick Peters.
Charles Walter Peters.
Reginald Gurwen Phillips.
Basil Horace Pickering.
Edward Crewdson Pitt.
Edgar George Porter.
Charles Ronald Prior.

Stanley Randall, D.C.M., M.M.


Walter Geoffrey Redshaw.
John Sleeman Reed.
George Robert Reid.
Arthur Gordon Richardson.
Frederick Ricketts.
Edgar Francis Robinson.
Hercules Edward Joseph Robinson (the Hon.).
Edward Henry Ronca.
Sidney Rothwell.
Ernest George Routley, M.C.
John Russell.
Cecil Harold Sowerby Ruston.

Edwin Richard Sansom.


George Bertram Saunder.
Harry Sayer.
William Thomas Score.
Millin Selby.
Geoffrey Edward Sewell.
John Stanley Horsfall Shafto.
Ernest Kennedy Smith.
Edward Thompson Smith.
Geoffrey Herbert Smith.
Francis Ingle Sowter.
Hugh Manning Spencer.
Filmer Blake Spicer.
Wallace Henry Squire
Wallace Henry Squire.
Arthur Renolds Stallworthy.
Douglas Harcourt Stevens.
Edward Alfred Murtagh
Stevens, M.C.
Edgcumbe Leopold Stiles.
Hubert Reginald Stock.

Douglas Mervyn Taylor.


Harold James Taylor.
Heber Thomas.
Harold Thompson.
John Dales Thornley.
Frederick Herbert Trowles.

Thomas William Underhill.

Charles Vincent.

Elton Cyril Wanstall.


Charles Warnington.
Arthur Henry Webb.
James Hoste Welldon.
John Leslie Wellesley-Miller.
Harry Lloyd Wheeler.
William Haffenden Winch.
Noel Ernest Wood.
Reginald Ewart Wood.
Geoffrey Wilfrid Penfold Wyatt.

Philip Harold Ziegler.


APPENDIX II
Nominal roll of Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and
Men who were killed in action, or died of wounds or disease in the
Great War, 1914–1919:—
QUARTERMASTER-SERGEANT
T/200013 Hutchens, G.
COMPANY SERGEANT-MAJORS
G/870 Aldridge, E.
L/8907 Alexander, D., M.M.

L/8781 Baker, F., D.C.M.


L/7809 Banks, W. W.
T/242778 Blackburn, C. S.
T/201 Brunger, T.

L/5726 Cooper, F. W.
S/562 Cornwell, F.

L/8385 Davis, W. S., M.M.


L/8112 Dumbleton, F.

S/410 Field, A. W.
L/6005 Freeman, G.

S/194 Glover, T.

G/206 Holman, E. W., M.M.

G/8798 Kite, T. W.
G/2319 Knight, C. J., M.M.

L/6271 Lond, J. T.

L/7741 McLean, A.

L/7621 Terrell, W.

L/4834 Walsh, J.
L/7619 White, E.
T/240012 Wickens, A. F.
T/240339 Wright, J.
COMPANY QUARTERMASTER-SERGEANTS
T/240440 Back, L.
T/200524 Barr, W. D.
G/3635 Burt, W., D.C.M.

L/9098 Read, S.
L/7817 Rosam, G. W.

T/3148 Screen, F.
T/156 Stone, H. O.

T/270505 Thorpe, C. H.

L/8058 Wilson, G. T.
T/270045 Wolsey, P.
SERGEANTS
T/722 Ades, J.
T/201075 Allwater, E.
S/718 Andrews, W. A.
T/242995 Arter, H.
S/9268 Asprey, W. S.
G/2529 Austen, H. G.
G/6884 Ayres, A. J., D.C.M., M.M.

G/12976 Barnes, R. J.
T/270898 Barnett, C. L.
G/340 Barrett, A. J., M.M.
T/200119 Batchelder, R. H.
G/1373 Batchelor, G., M.M.
L/8158 Beeching, A. J.
T/240242 Benfield, G. S.
G/4275 Betts, F. E.
G/707 Bing, L., M.M.
L/7812 Bishop, G.
L/8917 Bloomfield, J., M.M.
G/12871 Booth, P.
S/32 Brand, B.
T/337 Brazier, W. T.
G/1367 Briers, T.
T/240883 Broadbridge, L. A.
G/2158 Bromley, A.
G/3743 Buddle, J.

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