Yours very sincerely,
Jaspar Farmar.
Headquarters, 8th Division.
March 22nd, 1915.
Dear Mrs. Laurie,
About ten days ago I received a copy of Col. Laurie’s “History of the Royal Irish Rifles” which he had very kindly promised to send me. I was kept very busy on duty, so much so that I never had time to see him and thank him. And now, to my great grief, I have to write and tell you how very grateful I was for the book, and at the same time how very deeply I sympathize with you in your great loss. I need scarcely tell you how splendidly the Royal Irish Rifles did in the battle of Neuve Chapelle, and how grandly they were led by their Colonel.
My father had been in the 83rd many years ago, and I had written the history of my own regiment, so we had bonds of sympathy, and I had had several talks with your husband. So you must please accept my very deepest sympathy in his death, and in your very great loss.
Believe me,
Yours sincerely,
W. Hasturp Anderson.
Antrim Castle,
Ireland.
March 24th, 1915.
…I had the very greatest respect for George; he was an ideal soldier and comrade. May God in His mercy comfort you!…
Massereene.
Bayfordbury,
Hertford.
March 28th, 1915.
Writing of her son, she says: “Osbert feels his Colonel’s death deeply. When telling me of it, he said: ‘I could only write a short letter; I know you will have written to Mrs. Laurie to try to soften the blow.’—‘Ten young officers and 250 men have now been sent out from home.’”
22, Albany Villas,
Brighton.
March 29th, 1915.
…We have not written to tell you how deeply we sympathize with you in your great sorrow, as I know letters are of no comfort in times of sadness, but to-day, in a letter we received, such words of admiration were written of Colonel Laurie that I felt I should like to write and repeat them: “Colonel Laurie handled his battalion to perfection during the attack on Neuve Chapelle, and his death is an irreparable loss to the 1st Battalion.”
We have always heard what a splendid soldier Colonel Laurie was, and our country does so need such leaders now in the army to bring victory….
May 4th, 1915.
Dear Mrs. Laurie,
I have such a deep admiration and respect for your late husband, for Col. Laurie was, as you know, in command of the 28th M.I. in the column I commanded in S. Africa, where I learnt to appreciate his value as a soldier and his many other sterling qualities. After the campaign we used to hear from one another on occasions of mutual congratulation and the like. His loss to the Service is a very great one, but one cannot imagine a more glorious ending to a fine career, falling at the head of the regiment he loved so well, and which he led with such skill and bravery. His name remains one held in honour for all time.
Yours sincerely,
J.N. Keir.
War Office.
April 2nd, 1915.
My dear Mrs. Laurie,
Only yesterday I was aware of your address. I write only a line to ask you to accept my deep and sincere sympathy in the loss you have sustained. You indeed have given to the Country of your best, and if there is any consolation it may be in the fact that my old friend died as every soldier would wish to, at the head of his battalion in a successful action.
Trusting you and the children are well.
Yours ever sincerely,
C.N. Macready.
Ossington,
Newark, Notts.
July 18th, 1915.
Dear Mrs. Laurie,
Thank you so much for sending me that nice photograph of Colonel Laurie. I think the likeness is excellent. I am so glad to possess it, and shall value it greatly always. I do think of him so constantly, every time I go by Carlton and see all the things there in which he took so great an interest, and the fields where one went shooting, and he was so keen about it all. There is a recollection for me at almost every gateway. He was indeed a most kind and sympathetic neighbour to us and a real friend. Thank you again and again for the photograph; it is most kind of you to have sent it to me.
Yours very sincerely,
W.F.E. Denison.
Thoresby Park,
Ollerton, Notts.
September 15th, 1915.
Dear Mrs. Laurie,
…I have never had the opportunity till now of telling you how we all felt Colonel Laurie’s death, nor how much his unfailing cheery and cheering presence in the hunting field has been and will again be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him, and everybody who hunted with him will always retain the very pleasantest memories of his kindness….
“The brilliant success which the troops of the 4th Corps have achieved in the capture of Neuve Chapelle is of the first importance to the Allied cause, especially at this period of the war. The heroism and gallantry of the regimental Officers and men, and the assistance afforded them by the artillery units, is deserving of the highest praise, and the Corps Commander desires to congratulate them on the severe defeat they have inflicted on the enemy, whose losses amount to not less than 4,000 men in killed and prisoners alone. The magnificent behaviour of the infantry units is deserving of the highest commendation, and in deploring the loss of those gallant comrades who have given their lives for their King and Country, Sir Henry Rawlinson hopes that all Officers and men fully realize that what they have accomplished, in breaking through the German line, is an achievement of which they should all feel justly proud.”
THE LATE COLONEL LAURIE.
To the Editor of the “Irish Times.”
Sir,
I was moved even to tears, which I trust were not unmanly, at your touching reference to the glorious death, last Sunday, of my dear, lamented friend, Colonel Laurie, who would, I had hoped, in the course of nature, have survived me for many a year. It may, perhaps, be of interest to your readers to know that this gallant soldier, who—I can speak with some knowledge—proved himself excellent in every relation of life, and who, felix opportunitate mortis, died for us and for our liberties at the head of a renowned Irish regiment—the Royal Irish Rifles—had, though not himself an Irishman, connections and associations with this country of which he was justly proud. His wife is a great granddaughter of the Right Hon. John Foster (Lord Oriel), the last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He himself was the great-grandson of an illustrious Irishman, Dr. Inglis, the Bishop of Nova Scotia, who was the first Anglican Colonial Bishop ever consecrated—a Trinity College, Dublin, man, and the son of a rector of Ardara, in Donegal. Dr. Inglis emigrated to America, and was, on the eve of the War of the American Independence, Rector of Holy Trinity Church, New York, then (and I believe now) the principal Anglican Episcopal Church in that city. Dr. Inglis was a pronounced loyalist. He was warned not to read the State prayers for the King and the Parliament. He disregarded the warning. His reading of those prayers was interrupted by forced coughs and sneezings and other manifestations of disfavour. He was then the recipient of many threatening letters. On the next Sunday his voice, when reading the obnoxious prayers, was drowned by a clattering of arms. On the Sunday following guns were actually levelled at him as he read the prayers quite undismayed, having, like his great-grandson, the heart and courage of a hero. Yielding to the entreaties of friends, he left New York for Canada, and on his return, more than twenty years afterwards, to New York, when Bishop of Nova Scotia, he disinterred a magnificent silver coffee pot which he had buried on the eve of his hurried departure, and found in the place he had left it. That coffee pot is a precious heirloom in Colonel Laurie’s family. There is a brass tablet to the memory of Dr. Inglis in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, erected there by the enthusiasm of Chancellor H.V. White, Rector of St. Bartholomew’s, whose own ministry was for some years in the Colonies.
11
General Bird commanded the 2nd Bn. Royal Irish Rifles, and was through the severe fighting of the Battle of the Aisne and the Retreat from Mons, where he was terribly wounded and lost his leg.
12
Lieut. W.F.E. Denison (Sherwood Foresters) served in the Great War, and fell mortally wounded in the last German advance near Cambrai on March 24th, 1918.