Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 13 27 Nov 2017
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Military Orders and Medals, Campaign Groups and Pairs, A 1916 Montauban/Dantzig Alley Officer Casualty, 8th Battalion Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), awarded to 2nd Lieutenant T. R. Castle, a pre-war poet and associate of the Bloomsbury Group, comprising: 1914-1920 British War and Victory Medals (2.Lieut T. R. Castle); Memorial Plaque (Tudor Ralph Castle), War Medal lightly toned, Victory Medal as issued, Plaque very fine, housed in velvet mount (2)
To Mrs Castle – Sandy Cross, Seale, Farnham, Surrey. 'Deeply regret to inform you that 2/Lt T.R. Castle West Surreys killed in action – August 31st – The Army Council express their sympathy'
Tudor Ralph Castle was born on 28th December 1882 at 'Woodlands Villa', Brentford, London. He was the second son of Eleanor Wilhelmina (Sadleir) and William Henry Castle. The family later moved to Kensington, London
Tudor was admitted to Harrow School in September 1896 and resided in Mr Moss's House, Church Hill. He went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1901 and graduated with a B.A. Hons in Part II of the Historical Tripos in 1904. As an undergraduate Tudor joined two Trinity poetry societies, the X Society and the Shakespeare Society, serving successively as Secretary and President of the X Society.
Following graduation, Tudor travelled to India, Spain and Germany. In 1910 he was associated with Toynbee Hall, a resettlement house in Whitechapel, East London. Tudor was engaged in secretarial and literary work and was the author of a volume of poems entitled 'The Gentle Shepherd', published in 1908 (a photocopy of this book is included with the lot.)
During these years Tudor became involved with a set of writers, artists and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group, that had its origins at Cambridge University. This group included among its members Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster, Duncan Grant, John Maynard Keyes, Dora Carrington and Clive Bell. In 1910 he was associated with the Dreadnought Hoax.
The Dreadnought Hoax was a practical joke pulled by Horace de Vere Cole. Cole tricked the Royal Navy into showing their flagship, the battleship HMS Dreadnought, to a fake delegation of Abyssinian royals. The hoax drew attention in Britain to the emergence of the Bloomsbury Group, among whom some of Cole's collaborators numbered. The hoax was a repeat of a similar impersonation which Cole and Adrian Stephen had organised while they were students at Cambridge in 1905 when he posed as the Sultan of Zanzibar.
The Dreadnought Hoax was a similar impersonation which was suggested to Cole by a friend who was an officer on HMS Hawke to hoax their rivals on HMS Dreadnought, including Commander Willie Fisher - Stephens' cousin - who was on the staff of the Admiral. As Virginia Woolf later recounted 'In those days the young officers had a gay time. They were always up to some lark; and one of their chief occupations it seemed was to play jokes on each other. There were a great many rivalries and intrigues in the navy. The officers like scoring off each other. And the officers of the Hawke and the Dreadnought had a feud. ... And Cole's friend who was on the Hawke had come to Cole, and said to him, 'You're a great hand at hoaxing people; couldn't you do something to pull the leg of the Dreadnought
This involved Cole and five friends - writer Virginia Stephen (later Virginia Woolf), her brother Adrian Stephen, Guy Ridley, Anthony Buxton and artist Duncan Grant - who had themselves disguised 'by the theatrical costumier Willy Clarkson with skin darkeners and turbans to resemble members of the Abyssinian royal family.' The main limitation of the disguises was that the 'royals' could not eat anything or their make-up would be ruined. Adrian Stephen took the role of 'interpreter'.
On 7 February 1910 the hoax was set in motion. Cole organised for an accomplice to send a telegram to HMS Dreadnought which was then moored in Portland Harbour, Dorset. The message said that the ship must be prepared for the visit of a group of princes from Abyssinia and was purportedly signed by Foreign Office Under-secretary Sir Charles Hardinge. Cole with his entourage went to London's Paddington station where Cole claimed that he was 'Herbert Cholmondeley' of the Foreign Office and demanded a special train to Weymouth; the stationmaster arranged a VIP coach.
In Weymouth, the navy welcomed the princes with an honour guard. An Abyssinian flag was not found, so the navy proceeded to use that of Zanzibar and to play Zanzibar's national anthem.The group inspected the fleet. To show their appreciation, they communicated in a gibberish of words drawn from Latin and Greek; they asked for prayer mats and attempted to bestow fake military honours on some of the officers. Commander Fisher failed to recognise either of his cousins. When the prank was uncovered in London, the ringleader Horace de Vere Cole contacted the press and sent a photo of the 'princes' to the Daily Mirror. The group's pacifist views were considered a source of embarrassment, and the Royal Navy briefly became an object of ridicule. The Navy later demanded that Cole be arrested. However, Cole and his compatriots had not broken any law.
During the visit to Dreadnought, the visitors had repeatedly shown amazement or appreciation by exclaiming 'Bunga Bunga!' In 1915 during the First World War, HMS Dreadnought rammed and sank a German submarine - the only battleship ever to do so. Among the telegrams of congratulation was one that read 'BUNGA BUNGA'.
For his role in this affair, Tudor was threatened with possible arrest, he was never formally charged but for this, or other reasons he left England shortly after to work on a Government survey of Australia.
On October the 24th 1912 Tudor married Muriel Isabel Catherine Howard. Tudor was then employed as a Land Agent on his father-in-law's Hampton House Lodge Estate, in Seale, West Surrey.
With the outbreak of the Great War, Tudor enlisted in the 19th (Service) Battalion (2nd Public Schools) Royal Fusiliers on the 15th September 1914, being given Service Number 175. He served 152 days in the ranks before being discharged to Commission on the 13th February 1915, being granted a Regular Temporary Commission in the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He was posted to the 8th Battalion on the 2nd July 1916, joining the battalion at Morlancourt sand pit where the Battalion was in tents training for its move to Guillemont on the 8th July. He took part in the unsuccessful attack by his Battalion on the Quarry near Guillemont, the Battalion losing 7 Officers and 89 Other Ranks, they moved out of the line after this attack returning to the Front area on the 31st August 1916 at Fricourt, moving up through Mametz to the village of Montauban and Danzig Alley Trench in preparation for their attack on Delville Wood on the 1st September. Whilst in this reserve position on the 31st August 1916 the Battalion was bombarded all day by the enemy, and it was during this bombardment that 2/Lt Castle was killed by a gas shell. He was 34 years old. He is buried in Plot 1, Row B, Grave 36 of Danzig Alley, British Cemetery, Mametz, France.
His name is on the Harrow School War Memorial, the Memorial was built on the site of Mr. Moss's House, Tudor's House whilst he was at the school
The lot is sold with copy service papers, copy of the 8th Battalion War Diary, a photocopy of his book 'The Gentle Shepherd', a letter from the archivist of Trinity College Cambridge and five copy photographs of Tudor, Muriel, a Battalion Officers' photograph and an original photograph of his headstone in Dantzig Alley.
(600-750 GBP)
To Mrs Castle – Sandy Cross, Seale, Farnham, Surrey. 'Deeply regret to inform you that 2/Lt T.R. Castle West Surreys killed in action – August 31st – The Army Council express their sympathy'
Tudor Ralph Castle was born on 28th December 1882 at 'Woodlands Villa', Brentford, London. He was the second son of Eleanor Wilhelmina (Sadleir) and William Henry Castle. The family later moved to Kensington, London
Tudor was admitted to Harrow School in September 1896 and resided in Mr Moss's House, Church Hill. He went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1901 and graduated with a B.A. Hons in Part II of the Historical Tripos in 1904. As an undergraduate Tudor joined two Trinity poetry societies, the X Society and the Shakespeare Society, serving successively as Secretary and President of the X Society.
Following graduation, Tudor travelled to India, Spain and Germany. In 1910 he was associated with Toynbee Hall, a resettlement house in Whitechapel, East London. Tudor was engaged in secretarial and literary work and was the author of a volume of poems entitled 'The Gentle Shepherd', published in 1908 (a photocopy of this book is included with the lot.)
During these years Tudor became involved with a set of writers, artists and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group, that had its origins at Cambridge University. This group included among its members Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster, Duncan Grant, John Maynard Keyes, Dora Carrington and Clive Bell. In 1910 he was associated with the Dreadnought Hoax.
The Dreadnought Hoax was a practical joke pulled by Horace de Vere Cole. Cole tricked the Royal Navy into showing their flagship, the battleship HMS Dreadnought, to a fake delegation of Abyssinian royals. The hoax drew attention in Britain to the emergence of the Bloomsbury Group, among whom some of Cole's collaborators numbered. The hoax was a repeat of a similar impersonation which Cole and Adrian Stephen had organised while they were students at Cambridge in 1905 when he posed as the Sultan of Zanzibar.
The Dreadnought Hoax was a similar impersonation which was suggested to Cole by a friend who was an officer on HMS Hawke to hoax their rivals on HMS Dreadnought, including Commander Willie Fisher - Stephens' cousin - who was on the staff of the Admiral. As Virginia Woolf later recounted 'In those days the young officers had a gay time. They were always up to some lark; and one of their chief occupations it seemed was to play jokes on each other. There were a great many rivalries and intrigues in the navy. The officers like scoring off each other. And the officers of the Hawke and the Dreadnought had a feud. ... And Cole's friend who was on the Hawke had come to Cole, and said to him, 'You're a great hand at hoaxing people; couldn't you do something to pull the leg of the Dreadnought
This involved Cole and five friends - writer Virginia Stephen (later Virginia Woolf), her brother Adrian Stephen, Guy Ridley, Anthony Buxton and artist Duncan Grant - who had themselves disguised 'by the theatrical costumier Willy Clarkson with skin darkeners and turbans to resemble members of the Abyssinian royal family.' The main limitation of the disguises was that the 'royals' could not eat anything or their make-up would be ruined. Adrian Stephen took the role of 'interpreter'.
On 7 February 1910 the hoax was set in motion. Cole organised for an accomplice to send a telegram to HMS Dreadnought which was then moored in Portland Harbour, Dorset. The message said that the ship must be prepared for the visit of a group of princes from Abyssinia and was purportedly signed by Foreign Office Under-secretary Sir Charles Hardinge. Cole with his entourage went to London's Paddington station where Cole claimed that he was 'Herbert Cholmondeley' of the Foreign Office and demanded a special train to Weymouth; the stationmaster arranged a VIP coach.
In Weymouth, the navy welcomed the princes with an honour guard. An Abyssinian flag was not found, so the navy proceeded to use that of Zanzibar and to play Zanzibar's national anthem.The group inspected the fleet. To show their appreciation, they communicated in a gibberish of words drawn from Latin and Greek; they asked for prayer mats and attempted to bestow fake military honours on some of the officers. Commander Fisher failed to recognise either of his cousins. When the prank was uncovered in London, the ringleader Horace de Vere Cole contacted the press and sent a photo of the 'princes' to the Daily Mirror. The group's pacifist views were considered a source of embarrassment, and the Royal Navy briefly became an object of ridicule. The Navy later demanded that Cole be arrested. However, Cole and his compatriots had not broken any law.
During the visit to Dreadnought, the visitors had repeatedly shown amazement or appreciation by exclaiming 'Bunga Bunga!' In 1915 during the First World War, HMS Dreadnought rammed and sank a German submarine - the only battleship ever to do so. Among the telegrams of congratulation was one that read 'BUNGA BUNGA'.
For his role in this affair, Tudor was threatened with possible arrest, he was never formally charged but for this, or other reasons he left England shortly after to work on a Government survey of Australia.
On October the 24th 1912 Tudor married Muriel Isabel Catherine Howard. Tudor was then employed as a Land Agent on his father-in-law's Hampton House Lodge Estate, in Seale, West Surrey.
With the outbreak of the Great War, Tudor enlisted in the 19th (Service) Battalion (2nd Public Schools) Royal Fusiliers on the 15th September 1914, being given Service Number 175. He served 152 days in the ranks before being discharged to Commission on the 13th February 1915, being granted a Regular Temporary Commission in the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He was posted to the 8th Battalion on the 2nd July 1916, joining the battalion at Morlancourt sand pit where the Battalion was in tents training for its move to Guillemont on the 8th July. He took part in the unsuccessful attack by his Battalion on the Quarry near Guillemont, the Battalion losing 7 Officers and 89 Other Ranks, they moved out of the line after this attack returning to the Front area on the 31st August 1916 at Fricourt, moving up through Mametz to the village of Montauban and Danzig Alley Trench in preparation for their attack on Delville Wood on the 1st September. Whilst in this reserve position on the 31st August 1916 the Battalion was bombarded all day by the enemy, and it was during this bombardment that 2/Lt Castle was killed by a gas shell. He was 34 years old. He is buried in Plot 1, Row B, Grave 36 of Danzig Alley, British Cemetery, Mametz, France.
His name is on the Harrow School War Memorial, the Memorial was built on the site of Mr. Moss's House, Tudor's House whilst he was at the school
The lot is sold with copy service papers, copy of the 8th Battalion War Diary, a photocopy of his book 'The Gentle Shepherd', a letter from the archivist of Trinity College Cambridge and five copy photographs of Tudor, Muriel, a Battalion Officers' photograph and an original photograph of his headstone in Dantzig Alley.
(600-750 GBP)