Reginald Hands : Rugby Player

Thanks Carl - great SAHA pic with Hands, Fitzpatrick and Brydon. Would love to see anything else you've got.

Looks like the SAfricans are reclaiming the honour with plans for a plaque at Delville Wood at an advanced stage and the plaque on signal hill & the message is slowly getting out. The history of the silence was also read out at the Cape Town military tattoo at the castle which I hear was a great success.

Dave

 

Some more on the other brothers

These came from the London Gazette.

The second attachment is for the award of the Distinguished Service Order in the New Year Honours.

 

Thanks Carl.

 

Earlier photos of RHM Hands at Bishops Diocesan College.

 

Pictures of RHM Hands' fob watch bequeathed in his will (see earlier attachment) attached, together with photo of memorial plaque at Bishops.

 

Re: Some more on the other brothers

Photo of PAM Hands' (RHM Hands' brother) DSO and MC.

 

Exerpt on RHM Hands from "Bishops Record in the Great War".

 

RHM Hands Penny.

 

Dave

An amazing family and a truly remarkable collection.

I will sort out suitable maps and look for images.

Carl

 

"Lt PAM Hands was awarded the MC" - some context

Dave

By the end of 1916 the massive battles between the River Somme and the River Ancre were drawing to a close; the Germans had suffered about 1 million casualties and the British and French about 600000. During February and March 1917 the Germans withdrew to the strong new defensive position known to the British as the Hindenburg Line.

The then Lt RHM Hands who had been with the 73rd since the formation on 1st August 1915 was promoted on 21st February 1917 as Second-in-Command of the 173rd Siege Battery.

On 18th March 1917 the 73rd (SA) Siege Battery were withdrawn from Courcelette (with the objective being Bapaume) to Albert but were then ordered to Arras; joining the 64th Heavy Artillery Group on 21st March (and would remain with the 64th HAG until 29th June 1917). The new system of Heavy Artillery Groups had replaced the fixed Brigade system in April 1916. The HAGs were loosely structured tactical groupings formed for specific purposes.

After a long trek from Albert via Beauval, Doullens and Hautecôte (about 5 kms North of Frévent) the Battery reached Louez-les-Duisans on the River Scarpe on 25th March 1917 and took up positions near Maroeuil. 64th HAG (including the 73rd) as British First Army troops were attached to the Canadian Corps to support the 2nd Canadian Division in its attack on Thélus as part of the Battle of Vimy Ridge between the 9th and 12th April 1917. The preliminary bombardment had been designed to conceal the exact time and extent of the attack, began on 20th March and would be intensified from 2nd April with such ferocity that the enemy called this period "the week of suffering." The battles around Arras were part of the Northern Spring Offensive with the French undertaking the Nivelle Offensive in and around Verdun.

The following is an extract from the Statutory History.

“While waiting to open the barrage, the battery was harassed by high-velocity enemy shell fire. Lt PAM Hands and a party of six signallers were sent forward with the advancing infantry to report the progress and direct the artillery fire. On account of this excellent work Lt PAM Hands was awarded the MC.”

There is more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge (the usual caveats about wikipedia do not apply).

Carl

 

Great info & maps, thanks Carl!

 

Battle for Vimy Ridge

Dave

Suitable images are proving difficult to source.

Here are images of Farbus, Vimy and Willerval villages after the bombardment.

Carl

 

Great piece of family history and nice to see, thank you. Sorry my scanner is having problems but this is a digital photograph of him in the 1908 Oxford Fifteen, middle row (seated) far right.

Andy

 

Andy

Thanks

 

Thanks Andy, great pic
Dave

 

View attachment RHM Hands (SACL).pdf Interesting piece on RHM Hands from "South Africa's Cricketing Lawyers".

 

View attachment PAM Hands (SACL).pdf Another article on RHM's brother PAM Hands (also taken from "South Africa's Cricketing Lawyers")

 

RHM (& Harry Hands') family home Talana, Cape Town, 1915.

 

Ive just come back from visiting Northern France where we were visiting the graves of 3 young men from my husband's Anfield Bicycle club. One Edward Andrew Bentley is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery and as I was hurrying back to the car (to catch the ferry) i caught sight of R H M Hands grave. As we love SA and especially CT I took a quick photo and looked him up just now on this web site. So interesting to read all about him. 'They are not dead who fall in battle, giving their lives for honour, smiling at deaths dart; they are not dead whose memory still is living within a nations heart'

 

Interesting, thanks for the post!