The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals 18 Family group:
Four: Sergeant T. C. Owen, 18th (Queen Mary’s Own) Hussars, who served with his regiment during the Great War from the Battle of Mons and subsequent rearguard actions in August 1914 through to his death from wounds on the Western Front on 16 April 1918
1914 Star, with copy clasp (6585 Tptr: T. C. Owen. 18/Hrs.); British War and Victory Medals (6585 Sjt. T. C. Owen. 18- Hrs.); Belgium, Kingdom, Croix de Guerre, A.I.R, bronze; Memorial Plaque (Thomas Charles Owen) in card envelope and outer OHMS envelope (torn) addressed to ‘Mrs C. Ray, 130 Southam St., N. Kensington, London.’ together with a ‘crossed bugles’ cloth arm badge, nearly extremely fine
Three: Private A. Ray, 1st Battalion, Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), who was discharged in 1917 due to shell shock and contusions caused by active service on the Western Front in September 1916
1914-15 Star (11780 Pte. A. Ray. W. York: R.); British War and Victory Medals (11780 Pte. A. Ray. W. York. R.) together with Silver War Badge, numbered ‘B239569’, edge bruise to second, otherwise nearly extremely fine (9) £300-£400
Belgian Croix de Guerre London Gazette 15 April 1918
Thomas Charles Owen served with the 18th Hussars during the Great War on the Western Front from 15 August 1914, initially in the rank of Trumpeter. During the retreat from Mons on the 24th August 1914, on the extreme left of the British line, the 14th and 15th Brigades of the 5th Division were threatened by a German outflanking move and were forced to call for help from the cavalry. The 2nd Cavalry Brigade (including 18th Hussars), along with the 119th Battery RFA and L Battery RHA, were sent to their aid. Dismounting, the cavalry and the two artillery batteries, screened the withdrawal of the 14th and 15th Brigades during four hours of intense fighting.
At Audregnies/Elouges, the cavalry charge of the 4th Dragoon Guards and the 9th Lancers and the heroic stand of 1st Cheshires and the 1st Norfolks are well documented, but the 18th Hussars were also also heavily involved and bore the brunt of the early German attacks and made a charge of their own. The Commanding Officer’s (Lieutenant-Colonel Burnett) report of the action makes apparent that the 18th Hussars were still in position along the mineral railway line between the sugar refinery and Elouges Railway Station until after the cavalry charge of the 4th D.G. and 9th Lancers had been broken up: ‘On the left 2 troops A Sqn in a sugar refinery, the centre 2 troops A Sqn on a mound about 300 yards S of the level crossing which lay about half a mile W of Elouges, the right B Sqn a little retired in a large cutting on a mineral line which led from the sugar refinery to Elouges station. C Sqn and machine gun in support near the western end of the same line. The whole position lay just S of the word Elouges. The Regiment was shelled a little during its retirement. We waited here for some time and then received orders to retire through Audregnies on Angres with the Regiment acting as rear guard to the Brigade. Two Sqns A and B were kept at the top of the rise above Audregnies, while C Sqn was sent to the ridge beyond that village. The two rear Sqns were preparing to follow C when all the Brigade was ordered back to the 2nd Position we had taken up during the retirement. The Sqns were sent to the same positions they had occupied before but B Sqn advanced too far beyond their original position and for a time lost touch. I went to find them but could see nothing of them and as rifle fire had broken out on the left and part of C and A Sqns were in action I came back to C Sqn and found a hostile attack developing in front of them and in front of A. The enemy’s guns opened on both these Sqns from the direction of Quievrechain and from north of the main Mons-Valenciennes Road. At that moment the remainder of the Brigade came over the skyline immediately in rear of us and the 9th Lancers in column of troops galloped across our front from left to right passing round the sugar refinery and the mound where A Sqn were on. They were quickly followed by the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in a similar formation. Both Regiments were heavily shelled and fired on from their left flank, as they executed this manoeuvre. Their ranks were broken and they sought refuge in ever increasing numbers behind these two localities, and in the cutting further to our right rear where B Sqn ought to have been. The enemy kept up an intense shell fire, concentrating it chiefly on the factory and on the mount, and their rifle fire was also very severe. Many more horses than the ground could accommodate were now massed together, and the fierce fire they were subjected to caused a good number to stampede. I went to the factory where A Sqn were and ordered Maj Stewart to retire when he could do so in safety, I then went to the mound and gave the same orders to Lt Lawrence and Lt Gorelangton’s troops who were holding that position. I then again went to try to find B Sqn but could see nothing of them. I rode almost up to the Mons- Valenciennes Road. I then rode back to see if A Sqn had retired and found they had gone back to a colliery close to Elouges Station where the majority of the Sqn rallied. C Sqn in the meantime had retired along the mineral line to the S of Elouges. The Regiment was now very much broken up, owing to the stampede of led horses and the mixture of units caused by the rallying of the remnants of the 9th Lancers and the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in rear of our line. We succeeded in rallying a good proportion of the Regiment at Elouges close to Elouges Station and just S of the town.’
Known correspondence from one member of the 18th Hussars confirms that his regiment had also charged the enemy at Elouges on 24 August 1914: ‘We had a fight last Sunday and Monday with the Germans. After we charged them, the regiment got split up into two parties one went one way, and the other the other. I went with one of them and stayed until Tuesday afternoon, when we had orders to go and join the other party, and take a message to them, so that we could reform the regiment as strong as possible. A Sergeant and eight of us had a tough job to get through to the remainder, but managed to join up at six o’clock Saturday morning. It is now Sunday morning, and we have just had a depatch rider landed to tell us that the party I left lost nearly all the men in a skirmish, so I think I am extremely lucky.’ (Private Archie Stephenson, 18th Hussars, letter written on 30 August 1914 to his father, published in the Hull Daily Mail, 11 September 1914)
The 18th Hussars fought with the 1st Cavalry Division in both a mounted and dismounted role throughout the remainder of the Great War, winning many more battle honours, including Le Cateau, the Marne and First Ypres in 1914, Second Ypres in 1915, the Somme in 1916, Arras and Cambrai in 1917, and Amiens and Albert in 1918.
Owen was promoted Sergeant and awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre prior to dying of wounds in France on 16 April 1918. He was the husband of Charlotte Ray (formerly Owen) and is buried in St. Server Cemetery Extension, Rouen.
Alfred Ray was born in Walworth, Surrey in 1888 and attested for the West Yorkshire Regiment at St. Pancras on 31 August 1914. He served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 July 1915 and was discharged on 3 July 1917 due to shell-shock and contusions caused by active service overseas in France and was awarded a Silver War Badge. He was the second husband of Charlotte Ray (widow of the above).
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