"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
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Hyacinth's death notice - according to the Bank of England inflation calculator that legacy is worth about £6.5M in todays currency.. 😮 |
I have managed to get down to Highland Road cemetery (where he is buried) but before I get to that, I've also been doing a little digging about to find out more about the man himself..
Apparently, he was the son of one Christopher Lynch of Dublin (so he was born in Ireland) and was the only son - he had three sisters:
- Teresa (who married George Liston, Solicitor in 1885),
- Minnie (married James Sproule in 1879)
- Lizzie (married Dr Godfrey Sproule also in 1879 - brother of the one Minnie married I think).
In 1898, when he retired from the army, Hyacinth married Augusta Eliza Royds (nee Lemonius); she was the widow of Edmund A.N. Royds.
Augusta predeceased him dying in 1911. She would have been 9 years older than him, and although they had no children, she had 5 from her previous marriage to Edmund Royds who, according to my digging around, was the favoured son of a banking family based in Lancashire (his father owned the bank and cut out the eldest son from the will due to a falling out, leaving it all to him).
Hyacinth then married again in 1920, to one Jane Evelyn Seton Miller (nee Stewart). She was also a widow - this time of of J.J.W. Miller, a successful land agent - but she also predeceased him, dying in 1928. Not much on Jane to be found, though she did live in Hove for a time - a local connection - and there is one reference to a court case indicating she had received £50K from a trust set up by her father. Interestingly, when she was married to Miller and living in Hove, the census of 1911 showed they had 12 servants - they were not short of money.. 🤔
I'm beginning to wonder if Hyacinth married himself rich.. 😁
The only question in my mind now is why he was buried in Portsmouth - the death notice above indicates he was living in London (either at his residence or the club!) and that address is in Knightsbridge... we know that following his decline with dementia he spent the rest of his days in a care home after one of his sisters took care of him - I wonder if the care home was in Portsmouth, so as to be near the sister??
Anyway - here's his location in Highland Road Cemetery
...but despite a good hour and a half poking and digging around I have not yet found the specific grave - it's in this area somewhere - more than likely under one of those bushes - I've not given up on Hyacinth yet, though... a return visit is planned.. 😊
A rabbit hole has also been investigated and a fascinating rabbit hole indeed....
The island is the red dotted one, and at the time in question was under Vichy control. By February '42 both Singapore (at the end of the Malaysia peninsula), and Malaysia had already fallen to the Japanese, giving them easy access to the Indian Ocean from major sea ports those conquests had provided. They had already launched operations with submarines (Penang was a submarine base) and aircraft carriers (probably based in Singapore) into the Bay of Bengal, and in the north and east of the Indian Ocean, so much so, that the British fleet protecting that area had had to withdraw to Kenya (south of Somalia in the map).
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| No, not that one.. 😏 |
You may remember my interest was also piqued in the recent regimental museum visit
by a reference to the invasion of Madagascar.. why piqued? Well one, I'd
never heard of this action, but second, I was once best man for a guy who was
absolutely fascinated by the island (specifically the ring tailed lemurs, which you can only find on Madagascar! 😏), he
even went on honeymoon there... even when the Seychelles and Mauritius was only
just across the way from it! 😁
For all the fact that the Dieppe raid later in the year was posited as giving
invaluable experience for the later landings in NW Europe, 'Operation Ironclad' (the code name for the first phase of the campaign to capture Madagascar), which took place in May 1942, was the first major
amphibious operation by the Allies that involved all three armed forces and was probably a much better learning experience... add to that it was also successful!
So why did the Allies invade?? We love a map, and one look at this one will show you why it was considered SO
important..
The island is the red dotted one, and at the time in question was under Vichy control. By February '42 both Singapore (at the end of the Malaysia peninsula), and Malaysia had already fallen to the Japanese, giving them easy access to the Indian Ocean from major sea ports those conquests had provided. They had already launched operations with submarines (Penang was a submarine base) and aircraft carriers (probably based in Singapore) into the Bay of Bengal, and in the north and east of the Indian Ocean, so much so, that the British fleet protecting that area had had to withdraw to Kenya (south of Somalia in the map).
The Allied main concerns then were that Vichy would come to an arrangement
with Japan to allow use of the island's port facilities for the Japanese
navy (and they had submarines with the range to get their and operate from
it). Should that happen the convoy routes to the 8th Army in North Africa
(green line) and India would be threatened, and control of the island and the port facilities would also allow increased
activity against India (yellow) where Burma was now effectively the front line. Denying the island to the Japanese would also provide protection for the British fleet now based in Kenya and go some way to restoring parity over control of the Indian Ocean.
Clearly a "no brainer"..
'Operation Ironclad', was aimed at seizing Madagascar's main port, Diego-Suarez, located near the northern tip of the island, on 5 May 1942. To do this a naval and army task force was assembled and known as Force 121, it was under the command of Major-General Robert Sturgess (interestingly, a Royal Marine)
It comprised
- multiple Royal Naval vessels usually part of the Mediterranean fleet, including the battleship HMS Ramillies, the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and Indomitable, two cruisers, eleven destroyers, and other auxiliary and support ships.
- an invasion force around 10,000 strong, including No.5 (Army) Commandos, the 29th Independent Infantry Brigade, and two brigades of the 5th Infantry Division (which was where the Wiltshire's come in). It also included troops from the Indian army, and the armies of South and North Rhodesia, and South Africa. All arms were represented - infantry, engineers, artillery, and tanks (only a dozen - six each of Valentines and Tetrarchs)
- Air cover was Fairey Albacore and Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers supplied by the RAF and Fleet Air Arm and flying from the aircraft carriers. There were also Grumman Martlets as well as planes from the Royal South African Air Force (who provided the air recon).
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| Liked this - piccie courtesy Wikipedia |
Facing Force 121 were around 8,000 troops commanded by Governor-General Armand Léon Annet. Most of these were conscripted Malagasy (Madagascan) or Senegalese soldiers, and only a quarter of these were concentrated round Diego-Suarez. Vichy naval and air defences were light just a few fighter planes and bombers, but it was defended by eight coastal batteries. The naval contingent comprised just two armed merchant cruisers and three French submarines.
So how did it go?
- the beach landings met with virtually no resistance and these troops seized the Vichy coastal batteries and barracks.
- a landing in Courier Bay by the British 17th Infantry Brigade took the town of Diego-Suarez and captured a hundred prisoners.
- a landing in Ambararata Bay by 29th Independent Brigade supported by the tanks was tasked with capturing the port - initial light resistance was overcome but the port itself was defended with trenches, redoubts, pillboxes, and flanked on both sides by impenetrable swamps.
- Arrachart airfield nearby was attacked, and fighters and bombers were destroyed or damaged.
- a frontal assault on the port area again failed with the loss of three Valentines and two Tetrarchs
- in the air a Vichy attempt to bomb the beach area was intercepted by Martlets and two of the three bombers were shot down.
- Albacores bombed the French defences and a Swordfish managed to sink the submarine Le Héros.
An assault by the South Lancashire's (the 2nd Battalion) round the flanks of the defences, through the swamps, succeeded (barracks and radio station were captured, and prisoners taken) but they had to withdraw due to radio failure.
The deadlock was broken in the end when the destroyer HMS Anthony sailed past the harbour defences and landed 50 Royal Marines behind the defences. The Marines (who were the regular Marine contingent from HMS Ramillies rather than the better known commando branch) created "disturbance in the town out of all proportion to their numbers" - shock and awe indeed! The bootnecks captured the French artillery command post along with its barracks and the naval depot - well done the Royals!
The 17th Infantry Brigade had also broken through the defence and the port area surrendered that evening - fighting continued into 7 May, but by the end of that day, Operation Ironclad had concluded.
In three days of fighting, the British had 109 men killed and 283 wounded, with the French suffering 700 casualties.
Operations Stream, Line and Jane were then launched to capture the rest of the island but not until several months later in September - the port had always been the prime target. Once these were complete (November) the island was handed over to the Free French to govern.
Excellent! That would make a really nice wargame campaign [clicky]... told you..😁
Further reading:
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Laters, as the young people are want to say...
