Taken from the Regimental Journal of June 1921. Also want to thank David Lock who sent pictures
On the 17th of May, X company the 2nd Hampshire Regiment and the Band, under Capt C.H. Fowler, M.C., went to Youghal for Musketry. Their arrival there was greeted with pleasure by the people of Youghal, for the men of the Battalion created a most favorable impression by their exemplary behavior in the town last year, and they succeeded our friends the 2nd Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. During the following fortnight there is no doubt but that the Detachment heightened the impression of last year, and the playing of the Band was unquestionably a most popular feature with the townspeople; too popular alas, for the crime was deliberately aimed at the Bandsmen and bandboys of the Battalion.
On the 31st May the Detachment paraded at 8.a.m. To march to the range for practice with the Lewis Guns. As only one team of the band had been trained in this weapon, the Band carried no arms, but was to play the Company down to the range by the road behind the town, which was generally used when marching out, owing to its more convenient gradients for horse transport. It need hardly be said that the usual tactical precautions were taken, and the party was preceded by a strong advanced guard with flankers thrown back on either side and followed by a strong rear guard with flankers thrown forward.
About half a mile from the range the road passes through a glen. On the left hand side the ground rises immediately above the road for about fifty feet, while on the right the road is bounded by a low but solidly-built stone and mortar wall, beyond which there is boggy ground through which flows a small stream: beyond this again the ground rises steeply to about the same height as on the left side of the road.
At the point where the land mine was placed an overgrown bank runs from the road across the boggy ground and up the hill. It was along this bank the the wire connecting the mine and the battery was laid, and it was amongst the brambles and bracken that the murderers hide themselves and the battery. The mine apparently was a large calibre shell filled with high explosive and was placed against the masonry wall and tamped or covered with loose stones. The position was chosen with such cunning that, as soon as the right flankers of the advance guard had passed, a fold in the ground prevented them from seeing anyone running up the hill, while the bank prevented the rear guard flankers from seeing the escaping attackers.
As far as can be ascertained from subsequent investigation, what happened was that the right flankers passed quite close to the battery, which was some sixty yards from the road, but beyond it, unfortunately, and so missed the connecting wire. As soon as they passed they lost sight of the bank, and almost immediately afterwards the column, with the Band Leading, arrived opposite the mine. The commanding Officer was with the Detachment and was immediately in the rear of the Band.
The Band could not only be heard, but the whole column could be seen from the point where the mine was electrically exploded, when the fourth or fifth section of fours of the Band was opposite it. For one sickening moment it was not possible to realize what had happened or even who was hurt, but as the clouds of dust settled some twenty men and boys of the Band were seen stretched on the ground and pitiful groans and cries for help were heard.
Almost at the same moment shots rang out, and it is seemed if we were ambushed as well as mined, but almost instantly the men of X, led by Captain Fowler, were out of the road, across the stream and running up hill as fast as they could, intent on avenging the Band. But it was impossible for them to do this. The stunning effect of the mine and those sixty yards up the hill had given the two perpetrators just the start they wanted, and they escaped, seen only by two flankers on the left, who opened immediate fire on them but they got clean away.
The scenes on the road flowing the explosion were pitiful beyond description. To a curtain extent the masonry wall had driven the force of the explosion backwards, but even so the damage had been hideous. Three of the Band were killed instantaneously, and three were so desperately wounded that from the first little hope of their recovery was entertained. Although the majority of the troops which formed the Band were young solder's, who had never been under fire before, their behavior on this occasion was magnificent. One Corporal, although seriously wounded, threw himself on top of one of the Band boys immediately after the first explosion in order to protect the boy from fire. This same Corporal although bleeding profusely, tore off his own shirt and passed it along to in order to bandage other wounded. A Band boy during the firing was discovered breaking sticks for splints. Another bandsman, although the mine utterly unexpected, continued to play his instrument after the catastrophe. Three or four bandsmen, all wounded, without hesitation charged up the slope with X Company.
In an hour and a half the removal of the wounded to the Workhouse Hospital began, and in about three hours all had been moved. Those who witnessed it will never forget the tender and gentle care with which the wounded were lifted by their comrades. In the hospital they were tended with greatest possible skill until the arrival of the Hospital Train with a Surgeon-Specailist and Nursing Sisters from the military Hospital, Cork, but by that time three more had died of their wounds.
The investigation made on the spot by the Commanding Officer convinced him that this horrible business was planned and carried out by ruffians who came from places other than Youghal, and this was explained to the men of the Detachment, who were told at the same time that they would not be confined to barracks but were free to visit the town as heretofore.
How completely the C.O's confidence in their discipline was justified is evinced by the local report that their behavior was wholly admirable, while a letter received from the Court off Petty Sessions stated that a resolution of abhorrence at the crime had been passed and begged the the condolence and sympathy of the court might be conveyed to the relatives and comrades "of the murdered men and boys" and to the wounded, and further express appreciation of the high restraint shown by the Hampshire Regiment under the circumstances. The Court adjourned as a mark of respect to the died. A military funeral was held in Cork on the afternoon of the June 3rd, when the bodies of those seven, three having been killed instantaneously and four having died of wounds, were escorted to a boat for England by W Company, together with a Company of of police from the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Band of the 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment.
Every sympathy is felt with the Bandmaster, whose own escape is a miracle, in that he was walking on the flank, nearest to the mine, of that section of fours of whom all where killed. It is thought his efforts that the Band was as fine as it was, and it is unutterably cruel that the work of six years should be practically annihilated in as many seconds.
Every instrument but four has been irretrievably damaged, and the strength of the Band in personnel has been practically Halved.
| Killed and Died of Wounds |
Wounded |
| Bdm |
Burke |
Winchester |
Bdm |
Benham |
Bdm |
Fuller |
| Boy |
Evens |
Winchester |
Boy |
Bennett |
L/cpl |
Hill |
| Boy |
Hesterman |
Southampton |
Cpl |
Beavis |
Pte |
Hoskins |
| L/cpl |
McCall |
Winchester |
Pte |
Cobb |
Pte |
Manuel |
| Boy |
Simmons |
Portsmouth |
Sgt. |
Charlton |
Pte |
Musselwhite |
| Bdm |
Washington |
Alton |
Pte |
Connelly |
Bdm |
Thurgood |
| Cpl |
Whichelow |
Portsmouth |
Bdm |
Couling |
Pte |
Whitear |
| |
|
|
L/cpl |
Cousins |
Pte |
Watts |
| |
|
|
Boy |
Cousins |
Boy |
Vider |
| |
|
|
Pte |
Cripps |
|
|
| Instruments George Lock on the Right below |
Lcpl McCall Killed in bombing |
|
|
|
Believed to be August 1st 1920 ( Minden Day note the roses in the headdress and Drums)
