2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

C.S.M. Ernest William Fereday
Army Service No. 5334942

ERNEST WILLIAM FEREDAY
28TH MARCH 1916 - 24TH OCTOBER 1995

[LS18-1] On the left I was dressed in Blue Patrol, that was the name of the uniform. It was a walking-out dress. Much more pleasant and comfortable to wear than the Khaki Serge and putties! Under my arm I am carrying a swagger cane. That was taken in the back garden of... St. German Street, Huntingdon. I think my foster mother is in the background putting the washing on the line. I had cycled there from Oxford, quite an achievement for me I think!

The photograph middle top [LS18-4] is a Carden Lloyd Platoon of No. 4 Platoon. Well that is Carden Lloyd. A machine gun carrier and it is called a ~Thomas Carden Lloyd~ to give it full name as he was the inventor. It was driven by a T Ford Engine which was quite popular then in vans and cars. Track driven obviously! The driving sprockets were at the front. The driving mechanism itself to drive is exactly the same as the old model ~T~ Ford. It was a machine gun carrier vehicle; it's very slow but gave an incredible performance across country.

Lower middle shows a Carden Lloyd again with a group of the crew. I took this photograph so am not in it! I cannot remember their names, it is too far back, but they were the lads who formed a particular section at that time.

I myself, 3 of us actually, went to Lyde not very far from Folkestone. We were on a course with the Royal Tank Regiment. We were given a good grounding knowledge, theory and practical of vehicles. I did very well on that and remained on the mechanical side ever afterwards.

Bottom right, [LS18-5] is me in ~fatigue~ dress (working dress), I was in camp at the time. I had got into a spot of trouble and given ~C.B. ~ which is confined to barracks. Seeing as we were in camp at the time it was a bit silly but it meant loss of privileges. As soon as you had finished the days duties you would have to report to the Guard Room at certain times, (a tent when we were at camp), they blew a bugle and we would have to form up and be inspected. Then be sent on fatigues, cleaning, sweeping and washing up in the cookhouse. You name it; they had a job for you. That is what I was on - punishment duties. As usual I was a bit late, dashed into the tent to was my hands as they would be inspected to, put my hand into my kit bag to get the soap and there was a loose razorblade in there and I gashed my fingers on my left hand, right across. With blood gushing out all over the place I went to the First Aid Tent and had 5 stitches put in, no aesthetic in those days no local at all. The Medical Officer was away, it was just the Orderly there, and he used a curved needle, threaded it, and washed the wounds with some cauterising stuff that hurt like hell. Now I am on light duties and apart from the pain and discomfort I am very lucky.

Top left photograph is Ralph Storey, he is an Irishman and in civilians there. The oval photograph is Willy Cavanagh also Irish, the chap standing in the tent flap is McCleen and also Irish. That was the funny part about the Royal Berkshire Regiment at that particular time because it comprised of mainly Irishmen, Scotsman, Welshman and Londoners. There were very few Berkshire men in it. A real cosmopolitan crowd!

On the right [LS20-4] that is me leaning on the wing, looking tired and pretending to be asleep, in the centre that is little Titch Shilton, tiny little chap. I will tell you a story about that in a moment. Next to him is a chap called Verwood a Cockney. Photograph middle left, [LS20-5] this is a general view of the camp taken on manoeuvres (training exercise) in Saxmundham, Suffolk. The bell tents, that was what they were called, in use since the South African War (same design) were designed to hold 21 men. For each panel in the tent one man had to sleep. At least that is what was supposed to happen during the 1914-18 war. Around the centre pole was what they called 'The Spider' made of very strong webbing. All the rifles were grouped together in that webbing - all 21 of them. With 21 bodies sleeping in that tent you can imagine what it was like. But in our time we had about 12 chaps in there, which made life a little more acceptable.
When we went to camp, an advanced party would go and put all the pegs in and lay all the tents out and on the bugle call the tents would be raised and all the guide ropes tightened. In a matter of two or three minutes the whole camp, which could take 700 soldiers, was raised.

In the centre is the west end of the dining hall and the cookhouse and if you look closely you can see the field kitchens that we used to use when we went out on manoeuvres. They were horse drawn at that time; we were only just beginning with our mechanical transport. A lot of horses had been sold or put down. Eventually the cookers were modified or scrapped and we were issued with petrol pressure cookers and carried them in the trucks.

Next to that is my first effort of a close up, that was Coacker, I shall always remember his name as it's so unusual. Bottom row on the left there is a group of us, again the old M.T. Section, the original section. Two of these chaps there on the far left, Joe Slater and on the far right Fred Brown. All of them there were trained by me because myself and O'Mara were, I think I've mentioned before, were the only two private soldiers that could drive in the whole battalion. This is rather incredible in this day and age. We were sent on courses and became instructors, eventually, and were responsible for training these men. The two chaps I've just mentioned are still alive today - 1982 - and at the last Old Comrades Association Meeting I met them both, I think all in all I met 6 of the originals from the 1st Battalion that was all that was left. Bottom centre, looking out of the window one of our chaps, he was the M.T. clerical staff and that office was the MT office. We were in there one day and the M.T.O. and T. Sergeant and myself, a Lance Corporal at the time, discussing something or other and one of us glanced out of the window and said 'Good God, that truck is running back on it's own'. We all dashed outside to stop it but it wasn't running back at all, it was driven by Little Titch who I spoke about just now. He was so small that when he was inside the truck driving, you couldn't see him!

[LS24-2] These photographs are of the Aldershot Tattoo, but there are gaps where no photographs were available. These deal with a later period when our Battalion was chosen to take part in the Aldershot Tattoo which took place at Rushmore Arena and there has never been a Tattoo held since to match it. It was a magnificent job. Alright for the people watching but not much fun for the people taking part! It was very hard work but we enjoyed it. I feature in most of these photographs but I cannot easily be identified. I know where I am as I can remember who was in front and behind me. The whole of these pages are from that Tattoo. On page 12, top right there is a picture of me in a Tattoo uniform and another Irishman whose name was McAllister. These pictures of the Aldershot Tattoo cannot be dismissed too lightly because it involves many weeks training beforehand about eight weeks drilling with one old fashioned musket. They did things properly, those muskets were used in those years of warfare and we used the proper drill, in fact, for loading one of those muskets there is 32 different drill movements and we had to learn all those before we went to Aldershot and fixing bayonets. All very different to our, then what was the modern rifle 303 Lee Enfield rifle and we practiced day after day.
[LS26-1] The plumes on the hats, feathery sort of thing on wire but looked very effective from a distance, were different colours for each company - blue, red, white and blue etc. When we got into position for firing, we actually fired blank cartridges, there was quite a blast and the front rank was told to Kneel, Present and Fire, second rank - Present and fire, third rank - Present and Fire. Of course there was always the chap with a sense of mischief and would aim at the plume on the helmet of the chap in front of him. The blast from the blank cartridge would blow the entire plume off of the piece of wire. This caused trouble of course and the R.S.M. and Sergeant would say 'Any man found blasting plumes would be put on a charge'. It still went on under cover of darkness, so they wouldn't be seen anyway.
[LS26-2] This is another story - When we stormed the stockades you can see them in these photographs, you would have to climb ladders with rifle in one hand, fixed bayonets mind sharp pointed ones too. There were quite a few stories about N.C.O.'s that weren't very well liked, under the cover of darkness of course, that would get a sharp jab in the backside from the bayonet!
The Aldershot Tattoo would go on until after midnight and then we would have to go about three miles back to our camp. We usually had a bagpipe band to help us on our way from Rushmore Arena back to the camp. When we arrived we would get a mug of hot cocoa and a couple of biscuits and then we would turn in. On some occasions when things had gone wrong and they hadn't got the cocoa ready, we would be hanging about there, sometimes it was raining and we were wet, cold and miserable. We would start singing 'Why are we waiting' much to Cook Sergeants disgust. We would eventually get our cocoa and biscuits.
The uniforms had to be cleaned before every performance first thing in the morning after roll-call parades, even the muskets had to be cleaned too. They inspected right down to the last nut and bolt. You were put on a charge if they found any fault.
The uniforms were made of cheap cotton materials of the time (mid 1930's) yet stronger and more durable than many of those bought to-day (1983).
The design was the exact replica of the original uniform worn by my regiment's ancestral unit (49th FT Regiment) at the time of the actual battles shown.
Every effort was made to get correct factual detail. The 'dead' 'dying' and wounded were detailed off before every show. The Platoon Sergeants would see to it that the numbers were not exceeded otherwise too many troops would decide to 'die' and lay in comfort on the ground and watch the show go on.
Twice my Battalion was detailed to take part in the Tattoo; I took only in the first one as after that I was on several courses. There has never been anything to touch those Tattoos since. The 'Edinburgh Tattoo' is just a side show in comparison in my opinion. The next Tattoo that was anything worth while was the 'The Tidworth Tattoo'. Even that was nothing compared to the original Aldershot Tattoo. It was a great pity that wasn't revived.

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