It all started with the photograph you see above. This photograph was among a group of photographs in the possession of Alice Jane Howells (née Aris) at her death on March 12, 1973. On the back of this photograph was handwritten in ink "With every wish for a happy Christmas from Charles J. Aris" and in pencil in another's handwriting "Xmas 1910". Alice was not born until 1912, so this photo dated 1910 was probably given as a Christmas greeting to her parents. This photograph fascinated Mark Howells, one of Alice's grandsons, because of his interest in military history. He took the photograph with him to college and hung it in his dorm room as a decoration. Later, he hung the photo in his home with other family photographs.

The problem was, how to identify this Charles J. Aris? Alice's father, Albert Ernest Aris, had immigrated to the United States alone, leaving his family back in England. Albert had died young when Alice was in high school in 1931 and she was his only surviving child. Alice had kept in contact with some aunts in Norwich, England, but this connection was broken with her death. How was Charles J. Aris related to Alice? The family had very little genealogical information regarding the Aris family in England. Obviously, by sharing the last name Aris, Charles could have been a brother to Albert or perhaps a cousin to Albert if Charles was the son of one of Albert's uncles - that is, if he had any uncles. There was no information as to whether or not Albert's father, John Aris, had had any brothers. Or he could have been a more distant cousin. The question was where to start to tie Charles Aris back to the family?

Early on in his possession of this photograph, Mark Howells had identified two things from Charles Aris' uniform - the regiment he served in and his rank of office. From the collar badge, Mark determined that the regiment was the 16th (Queen's Own) Lancers, a cavalry unit of the British Army. Charles Aris wore the two pips on his shoulder boards of a Lieutenant in that regiment. The photo shows two medals on his chest. Both are round medals suspended from ribbons which appear to have bars on them. These were probably campaign medals - given to soldiers who participated in one of Britain's many colonial wars of the 19th and early 20th century. The photo does not show enough detail to identify these medals.

An officer in a British cavalry regiment from around the turn of the century was usually from a wealthy family of the upper classes of British society. An officer was expected to provide his own horses, which usually included polo ponies or hunters for fox hunting. The uniforms of the cavalry were elaborate, as shown by the photograph of Charles Aris on the front cover. This would have been only his dress uniform which he would have had to purchase himself. He would have had to buy several others, including formal dinner attire. An enlisted man in another Lancer regiment of the same period is shown on the next page. The British Army did not feed its officers - the bills for food, liquor, and entertainment for the Officer's Mess came out of their pay. Winston Churchill's father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had complained of the expense required to keep his son in style in the 4th Hussars, another cavalry regiment of the day. The 16th Lancers were considered an expensive regiment even for the cavalry. A Lieutenant was paid 6 shillings, 8 pence per day which was not much. A comfortable outside income was required to be a cavalry officer at this time. Did this mean that Charles came from an upper class family? Was there an aristocratic connection in the Aris family? Was there a stately manor house in the country somewhere?

A British cavalry officer from 1910! What heroic visions that conjured up: massed horsemen clattering over the cobblestoned streets of the day; brave charges with horses at the gallop and lances lowered against the enemy; a thin red line of British soldiers fighting in small colonial wars to defend the mighty British Empire from natives armed with spears. But that was all there was - heroic visions - no hard information to go on. Who was this guy?

In the Spring of 1990, Cyndi & Mark and others of the Howells family had the opportunity to go to the United Kingdom to celebrate Richard Albert Howells' 50th birthday. Richard is a son of Alice's. While in England, Mark pulled his patient wife Cyndi through as many military museums as he could find. At the National Army Museum in London, England, rather than follow Mark through the exhibits, Cyndi went upstairs and used the museum's library and archives to do some real research on Charles Aris. Cyndi had brought over what basic information there was on the Aris family in England and started from there. Cyndi found the first solid information about Charles Aris' life in the Army Lists. The Army Lists are a monthly who's who in the British Army. Every commissioned officer is listed along with what regiment they are serving in, their rank, any special awards they have won, and where they are posted if they are not with their regiment. By beginning at 1910 and working backwards and forwards, month by month, Cyndi was able to map out Charles Aris' career as an officer. The chronology of Charles Aris' career is in a separate section below.

Well, at least the Army Lists proved he wasn't just dressed up for a costume party! The Army Lists showed Aris was a Quartermaster - a staff position responsible for procurement, storage, care, and distribution of supplies & equipment. In a Lancer regiment, this would have meant supplies for both horses and men (the horses always came first in a cavalry regiment). So much for heroic visions - this guy sounded like a pencil pusher, not a line officer who would have actually fought against the King's foes. The one oddity from the Army Lists was that after October 1914, the initials D.S.O. followed Charles Aris' name. This meant that in the year the First World War started, Charles had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.). The D.S.O. is a gallantry award for officers who have performed "distinguished service under fire". It is the United Kingdom's second highest award for bravery in combat - second only to the famous Victoria Cross in prestige. The D.S.O. is awarded to officer's only, reflecting the class system in Britain which is amplified in the British Army. Only officers are awarded Orders - enlisted men are awarded Medals. The D.S.O. has a distinctive cross shape and is made with white enamel. Charles Aris is not wearing such a medal in the photograph so it may be assumed that the photo pre-dates 1914 which is consistent with the "Xmas 1910" inscription. That Charles Aris won a D.S.O. was an interesting tidbit of information. For an excellent description and picture of the award, see the Distinguished Service Order. What was a Quartermaster doing winning gallantry awards under enemy fire? Why wasn't he behind his own lines buying fodder or counting baguettes or something? The only place in the world where the British Army was actively engaged against an enemy in 1914 was in the opening months of the First World War in northern France and in Belgium against the Germans. The Army Lists did not include any details on why or how Aris earned this award. So this Quartermaster was some sort of war hero after all. But what did he do to win the D.S.O.?

Mark and Cyndi did try to find more information on Charles Aris in an unsuccessful and frustrating attempt to understand the record keeping system at the National Archives (formerly the Public Records Office) in Kew, England. This is the United Kingdom's main storehouse of official data but the indices are very arcane. As one helpful fellow researcher there noted: "Remember they do have over 1,000 years worth of records to try and keep track of!" Having only an afternoon to try and plumb the paper mysteries of British officialdom, Mark and Cyndi left with no new information on Charles Aris but not empty handed. The PRO prints up helpful information sheets to assist researchers in where records can be found which are not kept at Kew or by the government. On one of these sheets, it noted that citations for gallantry awards were published in a quasi-official magazine called The London Gazette. The sheet included an address to write to for more information. At this point, Mark and Cyndi returned home to the United States and the investigation into Charles Aris paused for a while.

In the Summer of 1993, after being inspired by Cyndi's library and National Archives researches into her mother's family, Mark decided to take up the chase once again on Charles Aris. He wrote to the address given for The London Gazette on the PRO information sheet. His letter requesting Charles Aris' D.S.O. citation be photocopied from the magazine came back with a Royal Mail sticker marked "Gone Away" - meaning undeliverable. Undaunted, the local library was consulted for a current correct address. The letter was resent to The London Gazette's new location in Her Majesty's Stationary Office - the official government printing office. Their kind reply informed him that they did not retain back issues, but if he wrote to the Guildhall Library, they could assist him since they had back issues. A letter was sent to the Library. The Guildhall Library, part of the City of London's public library system, wrote back asking for £1.58 to cover the cost of photocopies and postage. They were willing to help. Pay dirt! At the end of October 1993, an official request form and a £5 note were sent off to London.

No reply came back and by February 1994, a second letter was sent asking if the Guildhall had received the first one. Their reply was that they hadn't gotten the first one. It must have been lost in the mails. So much for the £5 note. (this re-enforced the lesson of never sending cash through the mails although the loss of the £5 note, the smallest denomination of paper currency, was still less than the fees for buying a draft denominated in sterling for £1.58!). In addition, the cost of photocopies had gone up two pence to £1.60. Another £5 was sent with instructions that the difference of £3.40 was to be donated to the Library for their troubles. Finally, the photocopies were sent and received. The Third Supplement (dated November 9, 1914) to The London Gazette of November 6, 1914 states:

"War Office, 9th November, 1914 - His Majesty The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the appointment of the undermentioned Officers to be Companions of the Distinguished Service Order, in recognition of their services with the Expeditionary Force, specified below:-

Second Lieutenant Charles John Aris, 16th (Queen's Own) Lancers. For gallantry and determination when on patrol at Katsberg on the 12th of October [1914], in charging and driving off a German Patrol, and, although twice wounded, persisting in sending in his report to his Squadron leader."




The Distinguished
Service Order

Charging! Wounded! Here was the heroic stuff! But every bit of information led to more questions. Where was Katsberg? France? Belgium? Sounds like a German name. What was a Quartermaster doing out on patrol? What were the 16th Lancers doing at the time this happened?

More important to the genealogical detective than the heroic stuff was the fact that the citation listed Charles Aris' middle name as John. Up to receiving the citation, only the middle initial "J" was known from the signature on the back of the photograph. This was tantalizing. Albert Aris' father's name had been John. Admittedly a common name, but the coincidence tended to support the idea of Albert and Charles being brothers rather than more distantly related.

Katsberg should have been easy to find on a map. A quick look at Mark's atlases didn't locate it. Checking the maps in Mark's books on the First World War didn't reveal Katsberg either. A quick trip to the library to consult their reference books followed. Maps of the Western Front (where the British were fighting in 1914) didn't show Katsberg. Then Mark tried a map store. Detailed French road maps of northern France and of Belgium showed no Katsberg. Maybe it was just a cross roads? Maybe it was destroyed in The War To End All Wars or even in the following war? Katsberg refused to be found.

To digress back to the Summer of 1993, Mark Howells had started a second line of inquiry into Charles Aris. The PRO's information sheet had said the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MOD) would search for and provide copies of service records of British soldiers to their next-of-kin. The information sheet warned that not all records were available since the German Luftwaffe of the Second World War had recycled some of the records with incendiary bombs during the Blitz of 1940.

Mark sent off a letter to the Army Records Office which requested any information on Charles Aris. Back came a reply which could only have occurred in the health-conscious 1990s. Genealogists are used to having to contend with the perishability of paper records. Floods, fires, termites, and natural decomposition of the paper commonly put gaps in the records. However, the Army Records Office's reply was perhaps unique in why they could not honor Mark's request for information.

They had found asbestos where the records were stored. Asbestos removal was being conducted, but in the meantime, no one was allowed to entry into the archives for fear of breathing the cancer-causing fibers in asbestos. The MOD suggested that Mark send his request again in several months. Another request was sent in November 1993 with the same reply returned, suggesting another attempt in five months. In April of 1994, a third request was sent. This time the reply was different. The request would be put in the Army Records Office's huge holding backlog of requests which had built up during their asbestos removal. Priority was being given to requests regarding welfare and medical needs of current servicemen and their dependents first over general interest inquiries such as the one on Charles Aris. More waiting!

In May 1994, the MOD sent the official forms to fill out to get Charles Aris' service records. The forms were completed and a £15 search fee was sent. Mark Howells identified his relationship to Charles Aris as being great grandnephew - assuming Charles was Albert's brother. This was Mark's best guess at his relationship to Charles but there was no solid evidence to prove this relationship.

Government officialdom is universally fastidious about following prescribed procedure. The civil servants in the United Kingdom appear from their letters to be very much like their counterparts in the United States, except perhaps more polite. Rules are rules, and the MOD returned a reply asking Mark to prove he was next-of-kin to Charles Aris. The request for proof stated that "upon perusal of the files I note that there is a wife and child recorded". Genealogical gold! So Charles had a wife and child! This was interesting news but a road block to getting Charles' records out of the MOD. The MOD wanted proof that Charles had no grandchildren (the generation most likely to be still living in 1994) and wanted a death certificate for his child.

Here was a moral dilemma for the genealogist. The MOD is charged with not allowing the invasion of a serviceman's privacy - even if that serviceman retired in 1929. Mark was not requesting the information for any untoward purposes but strictly for genealogical research with the potential now for contacting previously unimagined possible second or third cousins. With the best intentions of honoring the memory of Charles John Aris, Mark replied to the MOD that according to his genealogical records, there were no grandchildren of Charles Aris and that Mark could not provide a death certificate. While this was strictly true, it was so only because Mark's knowledge of the Aris family was so limited. Hopefully, Charles Aris would look kindly on this stretching of the facts by Albert's great grandson.

Finally, a polite reply came back from the MOD explaining that without proof of kinship, their Ministry can not release a serviceman's records based on hearsay. The £15 was refunded. The official governmental well of information had dried up.

Mark Howells' interest in military history has caused him to acquire a personal library of several hundred books on the subject. Mark specialized in the period between the end of American Civil War in 1865 and the beginning of the First World War in 1914. Since this period represented the zenith of the British Empire, much of Mark's interest in acquiring more military history books focused on the British Army of the time. Charles Aris' service in the 16th Lancers increased Mark's personal connection to the subject. A book catalog arrived from England one day which advertised a book called The Scarlet Lancers. This book was a specific history of the 16th Lancers from their founding as Light Dragoons in 1759 to their fighting in tanks in the Gulf War of 1992. Its title derives from the fact that the 16th were the only Lancers regiment of the British Army to were red tunics rather than the traditional blue tunics of Lancer regiments. A few pounds sterling later, this book was obtained and studied carefully. The section on the First World War was combed through, along with information on the regiment during the time Charles Aris was with them. Surely having done something very brave at Katsberg in 1914 would warrant his being mentioned in this book. But alas, there was no mention of Charles' charge, no mention of Katsberg, and very little description of the 16th Lancers' activities during the First World War. For information on Charles Aris, this resource was a red herring.

Having visited several local military museums in the United Kingdom, Mark remembered that they often serve as the final resting place of the mementos, war trophies, and archives of British regiments which had local ties to the area. Such a museum might exist for the memories of the 16th Lancers, long since amalgamated with other British cavalry regiments as a result of the shrinking of the British Empire and from the demise of the usefulness of the mounted soldier on the modern battlefield. But how to find out if such a store house of memories existed for the 16th Lancers? In March of 1994, Mark wrote to the National Army Museum where Cyndi had found the Army Lists which had been so helpful. While asking if the Museum had any information on Charles Aris' charge at Katsberg, Mark's letter also requested the address of the 16th Lancer's museum, if any. Back came a reply which said that no information about the Katsberg incident existed at the National Army Museum, but they did provide an address for the Queen's Royal Lancers' Regimental Museum! The Queen's Royal Lancers is the successor regiment to the various amalgamations of regiments which absorbed the 16th Lancers. A letter requesting information about Charles Aris was quickly sent off to the Regimental Museum. This letter contained a reprint copy of Charles Aris' picture as a gift to the Museum. Since the Regimental Museum's archives would probably contain pictures of the 16th Lancers, the Museum seemed like a logical place to deposit Charles Aris' photograph as an aid to any other researchers.

Sometimes, a genealogy researcher gets lucky and finds an individual who is genuinely interested in helping them with their own personal quest for information. Captain J. M. Holtby is one such individual. Captain Holtby is an actively serving officer in the Queen's Royal Lancers and is the Assistant Regimental Secretary. In this capacity, he was kind enough to reply to Mark's letter to the Regimental Museum. Captain Holtby was able to provide an amazing amount of information on Charles Aris. A donation of £40 was sent to the Queen's Royal Lancers Regimental Association - a charity which helps preserve the history of the Regiment - to help defray the expenses of research, photocopying, and postage.

The first exciting piece of information which Captain Holtby provided was the location of Katsberg. From a book on the regiment's history, Captain Holtby suggested that a patrol of 16th Lancers which included Charles Aris was engaged in an action at Mont des Cats, France on October 12, 1914. Captain Holtby suggested that Katsberg was the Flemish rendering of the name of the village of Mont Des Cats and that The London Gazette reported the Flemish name for the town in Charles Aris' D.S.O. citation. "Berg" means mountain in Flemish, so "Kats mountain" is equivalent to Mount of Cats. This made the location of Charles Aris' charge locatable! A Michelin road map of northern France showed Mont des Cats as a still existing village 5 kilometers inside the French border with Belgium. Mont des Cats is about 40 kilometers southeast of the city of Dunkirk which is on the English Channel and about 20 kilometers southwest of Ypres, the Belgian town around which so much later fighting occurred between the British and Germans in the First World War.

Map showing Mont des Cats indicated by the red cross in the center.
Shows Mont Des Cats' position relative to the Belgian border, Dunkirk, and Calais.
Source: MapBlast. Click on the above image to zoom in or out for more or less detail.

Mont des Cats is still famous for its Cistercian Abbey which produces some of the region's finest cheeses. The Abbey fared poorly during the Great War but has been rebuilt. As with many locations in this area of northern France, cemeteries from the Great War are located around and inside the Abbey grounds.

The greatest bombshell which Captain Holtby's reply dropped was that Charles Aris had been commissioned from the ranks. This means that he had been made an officer after he had already served as an enlisted man and as a non-commissioned officer. Any fantasies about aristocratic connections to the Aris family were laid to rest with this information. The rigid class structure of Britain was even more inflexible in the British Army of the time. While a man in civilian life could buy social status with acquired wealth, a soldier had no opportunities to make money. While inflexible, the Army's class structure of officers coming from the upper classes and enlisted men coming from the lower classes, was not completely impermeable. About 3% of all officers in the British Army around the turn of the century were "rankers" or non-commissioned officers who had been made officers. Being commissioned required that the soldier be a non-commissioned officer (one of the regiment's corporals or sergeants) and have the required educational attainments. Most of these were technical specialists such as Ridingmasters, Paymasters, or Quartermasters. Now there was a tie into Charles Aris - who was a Quartermaster. It was an impressive feat for Charles Aris to leave the world of the enlisted man and hob nob in the officer class.

Using written records, Captain Holtby was able to identify the medals that Charles Aris is wearing in his photograph as being the Queen's South Africa Medal and the King's South Africa Medal. These were campaign medals issued to soldiers on active service in the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 - see the section on the Boer War below. There were two medals given because Queen Victoria died in 1901 while the war was in progress, so both she and her successor, King Edward VII, issued medals to the troops. For excellent descriptions and pictures of these medals, see the Queen's South Africa Medal and the King's South Africa Medal. Both the 16th Lancers and Charles Aris served in this war. Bars were issued to be worn on the ribbons of the medals to denote the battles in which the wearer fought. The bars on the Queen's medal Charles is wearing (on the left) read Diamond Hill, Johannesburg, Relief of Kimberly, Paardeberg, and Wittebergen. The bars on the King's medal Charles is wearing (on the right) read South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902.

Captain Holtby found Charles Aris' name on a muster roll of those who served with the regiment in South Africa. Now here was military action worthy of Rudyard Kipling's pen! Charles had actually fought in Africa protecting King and country. This information also put Charles Aris' enlistment date much further back in time than his 1908 commission information which was the earliest known date shown in the Army Lists. Remember that the Army Lists only listed officers. Since Charles was not made an officer until 1908, having served in the Boer War as a non-commissioned officer, he would naturally have not appeared on the Army Lists until 1908. More about the Boer War follows below in the section "Chronology of Charles Aris' Military Career".

In an incredible bit of luck, Captain Holtby was able to unearth Charles Aris' service record! This was truly the Holy Grail of information on Charles Aris. The Record of Services states that Charles was 19 years, 10 months old on December 1, 1893 when he enlisted as a private in the 16th Lancers. His date of birth is given as February 1, 1874. Since Albert Aris was born August 22, 1879, only five years separated Charles and Albert in age. This left open the possibility that they were brothers. Charles is recorded as being 5' 10'' tall. Albert was known to be 5' 11'' tall. The two were similar in stature.

The name and address of his nearest relative is given as his father, J. Aris of 4 College Road, Norwich, England. J. Aris! Now why couldn't the clerk have taken the time to write out J. Aris' full first name? While not conclusive, Charles' father J. Aris could be the one and the same as John Aris, father of Albert Aris. The "J" may also stand for James or Joseph or another name, but the odds appeared better that Charles was Albert's older brother. The address given as Norwich for Charles' father also points to a close relationship between Charles and Albert. Alice Howells had been in correspondence with aunts living in Norwich, England. Again, this was only circumstantial evidence of the relationship.

Finally, Charles is shown as being married to Florence Adamson in Colchester, England on October 24, 1907. This is probably the wife that the Army Records Centre mentioned. She would have married Charles the year before he was made an officer. There is no listing of children on Charles' Record of Service, although space is provided for such. The last entry on this service record is dated 1911, so perhaps the marriage had no issue before that year since the MOD mentioned a child.

Having taken the military connections as far as he could, Mark turned to more general genealogical sources. The key to further research was Charles Aris' birthdate provided by his service record. The United Kingdom has required that all births, marriages, & deaths be registered with the government since 1837. Since Charles was born in 1874, his birth should have been registered. Mark went to his local Family History Center run by the L.D.S. church and ordered the indices to the birth registrations for the year Charles was born and the year Albert was born. The microfilm ordered from Salt Lake City had an index to all the births registered for each year. Mark was able to find both Charles in 1874 and Albert in 1879. Using the registration numbers from the index, Mark ordered copies of both Charles' and Albert's birth registrations from the General Register Office in the United Kingdom. In November 1994, Mark sent a polite letter requesting the certificates along with $19 for each certificate. Mark hoped that by comparing the two birth certificates, he could prove his suspicion that Charles and Albert were brothers.

On the last day of 1994, an official envelope marked "On Her Majesty's Service" arrived at the Howells house. It was opened slowly to savor the suspense. The information inside could end a 11/2 year long inquiry. It contained the requested certificates. These registrations showed that Charles and Albert were both the sons of John Aris and his wife Jane Aris (n‚e McCarthy). So Charles and Albert were brothers after all. Mark had found his great grand uncle Charles! The registrations showed that John Aris worked as a clerk for the Inland Revenue - Britain's Internal Revenue Service. Two interesting bits of new information also came from Charles' registration. The first was that his birthdate was actually January 29, 1874 - not February 1, 1874 as his service record had stated. The second was that while Albert had been born in Norwich in south east England, Charles had been born in Leicester, a town to the west of Norwich in central England. Obviously, the family must have moved between the births of the two boys. The search was over. Charles Aris had been reconnected to the American branch of the Aris family.

This story was originally written in 1995 and placed online in March 1996. In August of 1998, Charles Aris' only grandchild e-mailed the author and asked if they were related. Charles' grandchild had found the Family Group Sheet for John Aris - Charles Aris' Father by using an Internet search engine. Mark's second cousin, once removed was amazed to find any other Aris family members in the United States. As an globe-trotting English expatriate, Mark's cousin had vaguely heard of some part of the family moving to America. The author has been able to provide his newly found cousin with a photo of Charles Aris and additional information on the family. This is the first contact between the American and English branches of the Aris family since the 1960s.

The contact between these two distant cousins has opened up several new paths in the research into Charles Aris' life and career. Additions regarding the new information uncovered as a result will be added to this web page in due course.

Of course, in genealogy, you're never really finished with your research. Sometimes you just let it rest for a while. Using February of 1929 as the last known date of Charles' military career, I began searching the Death Registration Indexes from 1929 forward searching for the surname ARIS. It did not take me long to locate his death in the first quarter of 1931 in Northamptonshire. I ordered the death certificate and waited. When it arrived, it was interesting to note that his occupation was given as "Opera House Manager".

Armed with his death information, I turned to the Internet and visited the Northamptonshire Family History Society. Having died in Northampton, I thought it a fair bet that Charles was probably buried nearby. I wrote to the Society requesting a list of professional researchers in the Northampton area who could attempt to trace Charles Aris' burial location for me. After selecting a likely researcher from the Society's list, I made contact via snail mail and described the pertinant facts regarding Charles Aris and clearly stated that I hoped to determine where he was buried. After paying £6.50, the researcher was able to tell me that Charles was buried in the Weedon Bec cemetery and, unfortunately, there were no indexes to the monumental inscriptions of that cemetery.

I again turned to the Family History Library Catalog to determine what records might have been filmed for Weedon Bec. No cemetery records were available.

Map showing Weedon Bec indicated by the red cross marked "Weedon".
Note its proximity to Northampton.
Source: MapBlast. Click on the above image to zoom in or out for more or less detail.

The professional researcher had suggested that I try contacting the incumbent at Weedon Bec to ask for further assistance in locating Charles Aris' grave. But how to determine who to write to? I visited the Church of England web site and determined that there were some diocese which put contact information up on the web. I determined from a quick check of a map that the diocese which likely contained Weedon Bec was the Peterborough Diocese. The church of St. Peter & St. Paul was part of the Daventry Deanery. The snail mail address of the incumbent of the church at Weedon Bec was soon appearant.

I again sent off a snail mail request for information on Charles Aris' burial location. I enclosed International Reply Coupons to defray the cost of postage and settled in to wait for a reply. It didn't take long.

I had included my e-mail address in my snail mail request and received an e-mail reply from the incumbent in a week and a half after licking the stamp! He had received my request late one afternoon and, being in need of a walk, strolled over to the Weedon Bec cemetery. He had spent about an hour looking for Charles Aris and as the light was fading, he finally located Charles' grave. In his e-mail, the incumbent at Weedon Bec provided me with both the inscription on the tombstone as well as co-ordinates for locating the grave myself when I visit someday. I thanked this kind soul profusely and was amazed at my luck in being able to talk the vicar into walking the graveyard for me.

I soon found out that luck had nothing to do with it. Kind and generous souls seem to abound in that part of Northamptonshire. Although I had located Charles Aris' grave and now knew how his tombstone read, I was still curious about the School of Equitation at Weedon Bec. Charles spent his last years in the service there and I wondered what may have remained of an institution which taught riding to soldiers. I located and wrote to the Weedon Bec Historical Society asking about the School. Receiving a very gracious reply in return, I learned that while the military establishment had a long and interesting history, primarily as an arsenal, little remained or was known of the part of the military base which had housed the School of Equitation. I was refered to a past article about the School in Soldier Magazine which I was able to order and review. The article focused on the inter-War years of cavalry training in the British Army. I had collected as much information on the School of Equitation as I could and thus thought that my correspondence with the friendly folk at Weedon Bec was at an end. Someday, I hoped to visit Charles' grave for myself and perhaps see the remains of the base at Weedon Bec as well.

I was simply dumbfounded when yet another stranger e-mailed me some months later and offered to send scanned photographs of Charles Aris' grave at Weedon Bec to me. This wonderful human being was an amatuer historian and photographer who had been talking with his friend at the Weedon Bec Historical Society who mentioned my interest in Charles Aris. The photographer took it upon himself to take some pictures of Charles' grave, have them developed, scan them into electronic form, and sent them to me! The fruits of his labors are shown below:

Charles Aris' grave site in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire
Photo courtesy of Brian Cutler

Inscription on Charles Aris' tombstone.
Photo courtesy of Brian Cutler.
Inscription interpretation courtesy of Rev. David Jacks & Mike Rumbold

I hope that by placing this story on the Internet, I have helped fulfill the prophecy carved on Charles' tombstone:

The following is a time line of Charles Aris' military career as pieced together from a variety of sources. Information specifically about Charles Aris and information generic to the 16th Lancers appears in regular text like this. Comments, questions, and speculations by the authors appear in bracketed [text like this].

January 29, 1874

Charles John Aris is born in Leicester, England.

1890

The 16th Lancers leave England for a tour of duty in India - then a British colony.

April 11, 1891

Charles Aris is listed in the 1891 Census in Norwich. He is living with his father, mother, 2 sisters, 4 brothers (including Albert), and a maiden aunt at 64 Clarendon Road in Norwich. He is the oldest son, age 17, and his occupation is given as Dispenser of Medicine. [We assume this means he was a pharmacist's assistant.]

December 12, 1893

Charles Aris enlists in the 16th Lancers as a private. [It is probable that Charles enlisted at the Regiment's Depôt at Aldershot and then after some basic training, was sent out via steamship to join the Regiment in India. Life in the Army no doubt sounded more exciting than being a pharmacist's assistant. As Colonel John Russell, commander of the Cavalry depôt at Caterbury said in 1891: "Many men are attracted by the uniform and the swagger, and this acounts in a great measure for the better class of reciuits who join the Cavalry." In 1894, only 6.4% of the new recruits to the British Army gave their former profession as shopmen or clerks such as a pharmacist's assistant. Most families in England, expecially those aspiring to the middle or professional classes, thought it was a disgrace to have a member of the family 'gone for a soldier'.]

March 7, 1895

The first mention of Private Aris in regimental records occurs. The Sixteenth Queen's Lancer's Gazette [the Regimental magazine] of April, 1895 mentions a cricket match between squadrons in which Private Aris is a player. Private Aris is playing cricket for B Squadron in two matches against Squadrons C and D in Lucknow, India. Aris' two turns at bat against C Squadron rack up 16 runs. In the first inning, he is out due to Leg Before Wicket [The batsman may not defend his wicket by blocking the ball with his leg or any part of his body. He may only keep the ball from striking the wicket by using his bat.]. In the second inning, a ball hit by Aris is caught by the opposing team and he was out due to the catch.

Aris does much better in the match against D Squadron. The Regimental magazine say "...Aris in particular making some very pretty strokes." He scored 25 runs in the first inning - the highest of any on his team for that inning. In the second inning, he again scores 25 runs.

[This is almost too stereotypical - British soldiers playing cricket in India! It is interesting to note that Aris seems to have been somewhat of a sportsman.

Since Private Aris played for B Squadron, it may be safely assumed that this was the squadron he was assigned to. A cavalry regiment consisted of about 26 officers and 523 enlisted men. They were sub-divided into smaller units called squadrons which were designated alphabetically. The squadrons were further sub-divided into troops.

Lucknow is a city in northeast India steeped in the traditions of the British Raj, as colonial rule was called. A small group of British soldiers successfully resisted a siege at Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. The British Army was extremely proud of their success at Siege of Lucknow. So much so that when India was granted independence in 1947 and the British garrison at Lucknow lowered the Union Jack for the last time, the British cut down the flag pole and covered its stump with cement so that no other flag could ever fly there! Lucknow was probably the garrison in India for the 16th Lancers if they are playing cricket there.

Being posted to India was good duty when Charles Aris was there. Pay was higher for soldiers in India and most enlisted men could afford their own Indian servants. The daily activity was restricted to the early mornings when the weather was coolest. Plentiful servants to perform menial chores such as caring for the horses and limited activities encouraged lethargy and alcoholism amongst the soldiers. In the heat of the day during the warm season, there was no escape from either boredom or excessive thirst. Most regiments in India founded a branch of the Army Temperance Association and established activities - such as cricket teams - to provide alternatives to soldiers spending their days horizontal on a bunk with a bottle.]

Note: Visit the South African War Virtual Library for more information on the Boer War.

The Second Anglo-Boer War was essentially the British Army's version of the American Army's experience in the Vietnam War. Long accustomed to peace time soldiering only occasionally interrupted by some fighting against native tribesman, the British Army was over-confident in their prowess and still using tactics from their last major war almost forty years before.

The British Army's foe in the Boer War were the independent-minded, violently Protestant, white descendants of the Dutch, German, and French Huguenot farmers who had settled in South Africa since the 1600s. When the Cape of Good Hope was acquired by Britain from the Dutch in the early 1800s, the strong-willed Boers (boer means farmer in the Afrikaans language) became a headache for the British Empire. Many of the Boers simply moved away from the Cape and British administration, setting up their own independent republics north of the Cape. When gold was discovered in the republics' territories, the British Empire quickly expanded to swallow them up. The Boers resented British rule, and managed to defeat a British army in 1881 during the First Anglo-Boer war which resulted in the regaining of independence for the Boer republics. The sting of defeat did not sit well with the British Army.

Additional discoveries of diamonds in Boer territory brought an influx of British-born prospectors. The prospectors soon provided the excuse Britain needed to re-establish control over the Boer republics. Essentially, the British colonial administrator on the scene fabricated a pretext for war and the British Army was set on revenge in the Second Anglo-Boer war which began in 1898.

Things did not go at all well for the British Army. The Boers were superb horsemen who knew their own territory well and were in the position of defending their homes from the British invader. They were citizen volunteers in a loosely organized army much like the Minutemen of America's Revolutionary War. They were also armed with modern weapons from Europe and were excellent shots. They were not spear throwing natives of other British colonial wars. The Boers were blessed with the British having some rather dense and hide-bound commanding officers also. The Boers quickly began sieges of several important towns with British garrisons trapped inside. The Boers also managed to defeat the British in several battles early on in the war using their modern weapons against lines of tightly packed British infantry.

Time was not on the side of the Boers, however. The British took several defeats in stride and could not be dislodged from South Africa. Britain poured hundreds of thousands of troops into South Africa, changed commanders, raised the sieges of their garrison towns, and eventually took the capital cities of the Boer republics. The governments of the Boer republics surrendered but not all their citizen-soldiers had given up. By 1901, the Boers were still attacking the British garrisons in the towns of South Africa using guerrilla warfare tactics. The British responded with a system of concentration camps for Boer women and children whose menfolk continued to fight. Eventually, with no sustenance from their deserted farmsteads and with their women and children dying of diseases in the camps, Boer resistance ended in 1902.

The British Army did its best to learn the lessons the Boers had taught them. The importance of cavalry had been highlighted during this war of movement across the open veld (at the expense of 347,000 horses dead of disease, exhaustion, starvation, or wounds!). Unfortunately, this reliance on cavalry did not help prepare the British for the static trench warfare of the First World War. However, modern war technology such as rapid firing artillery and the use of machine guns were also emphasized. Organization and staff services were updated. The massing of infantry was eliminated and marksmanship training was improved. These lessons helped make Britain's small professional army a modern instrument of war just before the First World War began. The Boer War began the political career of Winston Churchill and made Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scout movement, a national hero. In South Africa, years of fighting didn't amount to much for the British Empire. South Africa's various British colonies, ex-Boer republics, and native states were combined to form the Union of South Africa. The Boers soon regained control of their political destiny and broke with Great Britain after the Second World War. Their control of South African politics lead to the system of Apartheid and whites-only suffrage which has only recently been changed in 1994.

Charles was the Orderly Room Sergeant for the 16th Lancers by the end of the Boer War. The position of Orderly Room Sergeant (ORS) is one of great trust, confidence, and responsibility. The ORS is solely under the orders of the Regiment's Commanding Officer. The ORS supervises the clerks of the Orderly Room. The Orderly Room is responsible for all documents and correspondence of the Regiment and these offices are still called Orderly Rooms today in the modern British Army. Being privy to all of the Regiment's documents, the position of Orderly Room Sergeant required discretion. [Clearly, Charles Aris had an education which allowed him to handle the paper work of the Regiment. This non-commissioned position was a good fit for Charles' promotion to Quartermaster since both jobs dealt with paper work and accountability for Regimental information. Promotion to an Orderly Room Sergeant may have allowed Charles to finally avoid the drugery of caring for his own mount. Sergeants with staff responsibilities such as Charles usually hired other enlisted men as grooms to look after their horses.]

Ogden cigarrette card circa 1909 showing a sergeant of the 16th Lancers in full dress uniform.
Source: The British Empire

Although an Orderly Room Sergeant by the time the war ended, it is not clear if Charles Aris served in this staff position through out the war. His Record of Service lists the Boer War campaigns in which he served as being: The Relief of Kimberly, the battle of Paardeberg, Johannesburg, the battle of Diamond Hill, and Wittebergen. For these campaigns to have been listed in his service record, he must have accompanied the Regiment at the time of the campaign or battle.

The 16th Lancers and Charles Aris did not arrive in South Africa from India until early in 1900. They immediately were involved in several major actions of the war.

Kimberly was one of the towns besieged by the Boers at the start of the war. It is an important diamond mining center. One of the most important people besieged in Kimberly was Cecil Rhodes, a robber baron of the gold and diamond fields (and founder of the Rhodes scholarships and Rhodesia). The Boers considered Rhodes to be one of the instigators of this war and his capture would have been a huge moral victory for the Boers. The 16th Lancers were part of the force sent to relieve Kimberly from the Boer siege. On February 15, 1900, 900 men of the 16th and 9th Lancer regiments charged through Boer positions at Klip Drift outside of Kimberly. This was the last charge involving the full regiment in the history of the 16th Lancers. Galloping through some curving hills at a speed of 14 miles an hour through heavy Boer rifle fire on both sides, the Lancers proceeded for about two miles towards Kimberly and broke an opening through the Boers' position. The large amount of dust kicked up by 900 galloping horsemen help screen the Lancers from the usually accurate Boer rifle fire and casualties were only 2 killed and 17 wounded. The Lancers proceeded into Kimberly that night and raised the siege which had lasted 124 days.

Immediately following the Relief of Kimberly, the British gained one of their first major victories over the Boers nearby at Paardeberg. The Boer army which had besieged Kimberly began to move away from the town at a slow pace after the British relieved the town. The Boers traveled in ox carts and covered wagons with their families on campaign. Their lack of haste allowed the British cavalry, including the 16th Lancers, to catch them and pinned them down along a river bank where Boers dug in. Surrounded, 4,250 Boers (about 10% of the Boers' fighting force) surrendered to the British on February 27, 1900.

The British marched on to capture the Boer capitals of Bloemfontein (March 13, 1900) and Pretoria (May 31, 1900). Outside Pretoria, on June 11, 1900, one of the last conventionally battles of the war was fought at Diamond Hill. The Boer army had retreated from Pretoria down the only railway line which connected them to the outside world via Portuguese East Africa. The Boer army was only a few miles outside of Pretoria down the railway at Diamond Hill. The British sent 16,000 men, including the 16th Lancers, to dislodge 8,000 Boers and drive them away from Pretoria. The battle was at best a draw, the Boers being pushed back from Pretoria but the British being exhausted and unable to chase and destroy them.

[We can find no information about the action at Wittebergen.]

The war officially ended May 30, 1902 with the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging. The 16th Lancers remained in South Africa as occupation forces after the war ended.

November 10, 1904

The 16th Lancers return to England from South Africa. They arrive at Southampton by steamer and then move by train to Colchester.

October 24, 1907

Charles Aris marries Florence Adamson in Colchester, England. [Colchester was the depôt for the 16th Lancers at this time.]

September 23, 1908

Charles Aris is commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 16th Lancers. The retirement of Major Hart, the former Quartermaster, makes this promotion possible for Aris.

November/December 1908

Charles Aris is listed in the Army Lists as being with his Regiment at Aldershot [the main depôt for cavalry regiments].

The colonel of the 16th Lancers at this time was Hubert Gough, a former officer in the regiment and future Great War Fifth Army commander. In his Memoirs, he has this to say about the Regiment's time at Aldershot: "The three regmients in the Cavalry brigade were all Lancers. A detachment from each attended church on Sundays. To motor down from London and elsewhere, just to see three Lancer regiments march out of church, with their different plumes, blowing in the breeze, and different coloured tunics and facings, was almost as popular a way of passing the tima as gazing through railings of Wellington Barracks, or sitting on the Victoria Memorial in the hopes of seeing the Queen emerge."¹

January/February 1910

Charles Aris is listed in the Army Lists as serving at Norwich, England. The 16th Lancers were posted at Norwich from September 22, 1909 to August 4, 1910. It must have been a great joy to the rest of the Aris family living at Norwich to have Charles posted there.

June 22, 1911

Charles Aris is noted on his Record of Service as being awarded the King George V Coronation Medal. [This medal was awarded to members of the armed services who participated in the Coronation Ceremonies in London for King George V in 1911.]

November/December 1913

Charles Aris is listed in the Army Lists as serving with the 16th Lancers at Curragh, Ireland.

Ireland has given the British consternation for centuries. As one of the early acquisitions in the forging of the British Empire, Ireland has had a long history of occupation and rebellion. Units of the British Army had been stationed in Ireland for centuries until Ireland's independence in 1922. An incident involving the 16th Lancers [and presumably Charles Aris] occurred in Ireland in 1914 which came to be known as the Curragh "Mutiny".

The Curragh was the primary cavalry depôt of the British Army in Ireland, outside of Dublin. The 16th Lancers were stationed there as part of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade in 1913. The Curragh means "racecourse" in Gaelic and has been horse country for centuries.

In March 1914, the British government had a Home Rule for Ireland bill in Parliament which was designed to grant a limited form of independence to Ireland. This bill would have established an independent Irish Parliament in which the entire Emerald Isle would be represented. The Catholic south of Ireland had long agitated for such independence. However, the Protestant north did not wish to be left to the tender mercies of the Catholic majority in the south. Fearing that they would be left without protection when Home Rule was granted and the British Army withdrew, the Protestants began arming themselves and organizing militia units.

Seeing the potential for civil disturbances in the north, the British government instructed its troops in Ireland to be prepared to be sent to the north to quell any trouble. The predominantly Protestant officer class of the British Army sympathized with the north's desire to remain a part of the British Empire. Knowing of these sympathies, General Paget, commander of the British Army in Ireland, summoned his subordinates and gave them and their officers a remarkable choice - prepare to engage in military operations in the north or resign their commissions and leave the Army. This inappropriate ultimatum was the cause of the Curragh Mutiny.

Up to this ultimatum, the officers of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade at The Curragh, being men of honor and considering the Home Rule issue a political quarrel, had been prepared to obey whatever orders the government gave them. They may not have liked the idea of suppressing loyal British subjects in the north for the benefit of the rebellious Catholic south, but they were willing to do what was required of them. The choice of resignation put the matter in a different light. Their loyalty was officially being questioned. When the commander of the 16th Lancers explained the situation to the officers of the Regiment, all the officers of the Regiment unanimously chose resignation! [Since Charles Aris was stationed at The Curragh with the 16th Lancers, it might be assumed that he was also faced with this choice of honor and, along with his brother officers, chose resignation and the end of a life-long career. However, since he was a "ranker" or an officer risen from the enlisted ranks and in a staff position, it is unclear whether or not he actually had to face this choice.] This was a black episode in the history of the Regiment.

The 16th Lancers' officers were not alone in their decision. The British government was facing a loss of the majority of its cavalry officers in Ireland due to General Paget's ultimatum. The government was quick to describe the incident as a misunderstanding and convinced the officers at The Curragh to withdraw their resignations. In any evident, the Home Rule bill died in Parliament and the British Army was not called upon to fight in the north of Ireland. This incident and its potential for ruining the careers of the officers involved was quickly forgotten when the First World War began.

The causes of The Great War (as it was called until it was eclipsed in magnitude by the Second World War) are too complex to be briefly explained. Political, economic, and social forces created a nationalistic pressure cooker in Europe which finally boiled over in August of 1914. A domino effect of alliances pulled non-belligerent nations into the war to support their allies once hostilities were touched off by the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne. In brief, the British Empire, France, and Russia (later joined by Italy and the United States) were fighting Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. Germany, although not having started the war, quickly became the prime aggressor. Surrounded east & west by Russia and France, Germany sent her troops into France via neutral Belgium attempting to deliver a quick knock out blow before redirecting them eastward against Russia. The German violation of Belgium's neutrality brought the British into the war.

The British declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914. The British plan for war mobilization was much less precise and exacting than Germany's or France's. However, on the third day after mobilization, officer's swords were sent to the amourer's shop for sharpening. Even though the swords were never used for anything but saluting on parade! This was indicative of the kind of war that all armies were expecting to fight - one of movement in which cavalry was to have played a key role.

August 10, 1914

On the first day of Mobilization, Lieutenant Rowland Auriol James Beech was at the Curragh Horse Depôt Grandstand most of the day procuring horses for the regiment. He has a humorous comment about the quality of Charles Aris' horse: "Terrible muddle there the first few days and the class of horse getting worse and worse, as all the good ones were taken and the bad ones left. Willie Wagtail, a chestnut horse of Parkinson's, was brought in one afternoon as a charger - in training and been winning races. Taken at once by a gunner - returned the next day and spent the next few days wandering loose about the depôt fields, looking absolutely miserable and getting nothing except some hay. The next time I saw him was at Lime (France), when he turned up as a charger for Aris, still looking miserable - and Aris more unhappy still as he couldn't get him to walk down the street without continually jibbing and backing into the ditch."² Obviously, Willie did not enjoy his outing in the French countryside and was giving Charles Aris a devil of a time about it!

The BEF was placed in line with the French Army in an attempt to stop the German steamroller which had swept through Belgium. On August 23rd, the BEF shocked the Germans with their rapid and accurate rifle fire at the Battle of Mons in Belgium but the BEF was still forced to retreat back towards Paris. The British and French forces were able to make a stand against the Germans outside of Paris at the Battle of the Marne on September 6th - 9th, 1914. It was the German's turn to retreat back the way they had come. They were pushed north to the Aisne river where the Germans stopped their retreat in a battle on September 13th - 15th.

The 16th Lancers on the march in France, September 1914.
Notice the French cavalry mounted on the right side of the road.
Picture by General Sir Hugh Gough, courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, Q 56309 - Used with permission.

At this point, the BEF was repositioned. They were moved off the Aisne and placed against the German troops in Flanders to the north. The Germans had made a south-westerly swing into northern France and down toward Paris. In their drive for the French capital, they had not established control over the areas to the west which they had bypassed. It was into this area of operations which the BEF was moved, close to the English Channel to protect the Channel ports - its source of resupply from England. Here in Flanders was where the BEF made its last stand against the Germans.

Up to this point, the war had been one of movement. The armies had advanced and retreated rapidly and the trench warfare which was to epitomize the later war had not yet begun. It was in this war of movement, while the BEF was establishing contact with the German right flank in Flanders, that Lt. Charles Aris won his D.S.O.

October 12, 1914

Lieutenant Charles Aris wins the Distinguished Service Order at Mont des Cats, France.

The History of the 16th The Queen's Light Dragoons (Lancers) 1912-1925 describes the situation in early October 1914:

"On the 11th of October 1914, the 16th Lancers were on outpost covering the line Morbeque-Hazeboruck. Early next morning, the Brigade moved forward to Borre, the 16th forming the Advanced Guard."

"The Brigade came into contact with the enemy shortly after leaving Hazebrouck, and the 16th had a rather busy day. On reaching Borre, two officers' patrols were sent out, one to Mont des Cats, the other to Godevwaers-Velt."

"The first of these, which was in the charge of Lieutenants Aris and MacNeil, was ambushed, and in the fight that followed, Lieut. MacNeil was shot by a German officer and knocked off his horse. Lieut. Aris drew his revolver and tried to shoot the German but his weapon mis-fired, and in the struggle that followed he was himself shot before the German was disposed of. MacNeil died shortly afterwards, but Aris recovered."⁴

Aris' D.S.O. citation notes that he was wounded twice - see the section The London Gazette And The D.S.O. above. Aris was the first officer in the 16th Lancers to win a decoration for gallantry in the First World War.

October 11, 1914 - 3 p.m.

3 p.m. were ordered to saddle up and march to billets at Hazebrouck.

October 12, 1914 - 4 a.m.

Captain Onslow with "D" squadron went as reconnoitering squadron to Caestre, from there sending one patrol under Lieutenants Aris and McNeil to Mont des Cattes and one under Lieutenant R.R. Davis to Godewaersvelde. Lieutenant McNeil and three were men killed. Lieutenant Aris and two men were wounded. Lieutenant Aris was award the D.S.O. The Regiment did advance and guard the Brigade. Captain Nave with "A" march to L'Bore at 6 a.m.

October 12, 1914 - 6 a.m.

"A" squadron were sent on to Fletre. "D" was then at Thieushauk and H.Q. and "C" at Caestre. The Regiment was ordered to attack the monastery. "A" Squadron on the right with the 19th Hussars machine gun advanced through Coq de Paille, "C" sqaudron with our machine gun was in the centre and "D" on the left through Kruystraete. The Royal Horse Artillery shelled the place first and then the Regiment advanced. The Germans which were there went and we only found three wounded there, one of whom was Prince Max of Hesse, who died in the night. "C" squadron were sent on east about a mile as outpost. "D" and the machine gun held the trenches round the monastery and the remainder billeted there with the 5th Lancers.

It appears that Aris and MacNeill's patrol was a scouting party prior to the actual attack on the monastery which held the highest ground in the region. Charles Aris' wounds would probably mean that he did not participate in the attack on the monastery itself. That Prince Maximilian of Hesse was found wounded in the monastery and died of his wounds is also mentioned in the history of the monastery describing Dom Bernard Richebe's tenure as Abbot. The monastery's history states that Dom Richebe tended Prince Maximilian throughout the British attack on the monastery and stayed with him until his end. Prince Maximilian of Hesse was the 20-year old second son of Friedrich Karl, Landgrave of Hesse. He was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

Lieutenant Trevor Horn of the 16th Lancers kept a diary during the early part of the war. Horn was in charge of the regiment's machine gun section. His diary mentions the action at Mont des Cats and its aftermath on Monday, October 12th:

"Marched at 6:30 a.m. Very foggy morning. Heard about ten o'clock that Aris and Willie MacNeill had been shot while patrolling on the Mont des Cats." By the time the monastary was taken with the aid of Horn's machine guns, Horn continued. "'C' Sqdn. reach the monastery first, and eventually we all arrived there just before dark. Found Monks busy carrying in wounded and dead. Poor Willie was dead, and Aris hit in two places, though quite cheerful..."⁵ Charles Aris appears to have been in good spirits regarding his actions that day in spite of his wounds. It is interesting to note that Charles Aris is refered to by Horn as "Aris" while his other brother officers are referred to by their given names. Perhaps this is due to him being a "ranker" originally rather than a true member of the officer class?

The 16th Lancers at the entrance to Hollebeke Chateau - October 30, 1914.
Picture by General Sir Hugh Gough, courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, Q 56314 - Used with permission.

November 22, 1914

Due to his service from the beginning of the war to this date, Charles Aris was entitled to the 1914 Star, often called the "Mons Star".

May 31, 1915

Lieutenant Charles Aris is "Mentioned in Despatches by the Commander in Chief of the Forces in the Field". [Being mentioned in dispatches is an honor and is usually a reward for some act of bravery or resourcefulness which is not sufficient to warrant the award of a medal.]

January 1916

Charles Aris is shown in the Army Lists as a full Lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp and Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General on the Personal Staff of Field Marshall Sir John French, the Commander in Chief of the BEF and/or Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Haig (French's successor as C-in-C).

November 16, 1916

Charles Aris is wounded. [No details of the circumstances of this incident can be found.]

December 1916

Charles Aris is shown on the Army Lists as a Temporary Captain. He is listed with the Staff Captains, still on the Personal Staff as listed above. [A note on Temporary and Brevet ranks. Temporary ranks are administrative promotions required to fill vacancies in the command structure. Temporary ranks are rescinded after the vacancy has been permanently filled. Brevet ranks are promotions, usually given in the field for outstanding service or gallantry. A Brevet rank is permanent but it only entitles the holder to wear the insignia of rank, the increase pay of the promotion is not given in a Brevet rank. This can give rise to the situation, as in Aris' case, of having more than one rank. As of this date his is both a full Lieutenant and a Temporary Captain.]

November 11, 1918

The First World War officially ends with Germany's capitulation. Total casualties for the officers of the 16th Lancers were 17 killed and 25 wounded. Charles Aris, along with other survivors of the Great War, are awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal to commemorate their victory. Combined with the 1914 Star, these three medals are affectionately known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.

An interesting side note to the history of the 16th Lancers is the fact that Oswald Mosley served in the 16th during the Great War. Mosley went on to become a politican and gain infamy as the leader of the British fascists prior to the Second World War.

December 1918

Charles Aris is shown in the Army Lists as a Temporary Major. He is still a Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General on the Personal Staff listed above.

March 16, 1919

Charles Aris is again "Mentioned in Despatches".

June 3, 1919

Lieutenant Charles Aris is promoted to the Brevet rank of Major on his promotion to Captain.

June 1919

The 16th Lancers are sent to Syria for occupation duty in this former province of the defeated Ottoman Empire.

June 16, 1919

Charles Aris is promoted to the permanent rank of Major.

December 1919

Charles Aris is listed in the Army Lists still as a Major but now his Regiment is listed as the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers). He is with his new Regiment at their Depôt in Dunbar, Ireland. [It is possible that Charles Aris changed regiments because he did not wish to be posted to Syria with the 16th Lancers. Another possible explanation is that the entire British Army was "downsizing" after the war. Perhaps Charles was avoiding early retirement in the 16th Lancers by switching over to the 6th Dragoon Guards.] The 6th Dragoon Guards are stationed in Ireland from 1919 to 1922 and engaged in counter insurgency operations against the Irish Republican Army. The IRA was fighting for an Ireland independent of Great Britain. After centuries of "troubles" in Ireland, Great Britain finally relented and in 1922 withdrew her troops and granted the Catholic south of Ireland independence.

Whereas Lancer regiments were light cavalry primarily used for scouting and reconnaissance against the enemy, Dragoon regiments were considered "mounted infantry". They arrived at the battlefield on horseback but then fought dismounted with muskets like infantry. Charles Aris' second regiment had been formed in 1685. Dragoon Guards regiments differed from normal Dragoon regiments only in name, they did not guard the King or have any special duties we now associate with the two remaining regiments of Horse Guards which still parade today in London. The 6th Dragoon Guards were granted the honorary title Carabiniers in 1692 in honor of their prowess with their carbines - short muskets with which they were armed.

Charles would have had to trade his scarlet full dress uniform of the 16th Lancers for the blue full dress uniform of the 6th Dragoon Guards. Although after the First World War, there weren't many occasions for full dress as there had been prior. Mostly, the British Army dressed in khaki colored uniforms from 1914 onwards.

The descendant regiment of the 6th Dragoon Guards is the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers & Greys) which is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. This modern regiment of tanks is the result of the combination of first the 3rd Dragoon Guards with the 6th Dragoon Guards and then with the Royal Scots Greys.

October 1922

The 6th Dragoon Guards posted to India and amalgamated with another regiment, the 3rd Dragoon Guards, to form the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards.

December 1922

Charles Aris is shown in the Army Lists under "Officers Not Shown In Any Regiment or Corps, Extra Regimentally Employed." He is listed as a Major and is now the Quarter Master of the School of Equitation in Weedon. Weedon was a major barracks & training center for the British Army. It is located southeast of Coventry in the County of Northamptonshire. A School of Equitation is a horse riding academy. This school trained new recruits on how to ride and care for their horses. The school served several of the cavalry regiments of the British Army.

1924

The 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards return to Colchester, England from India.

December 1926

Charles Aris is still shown to be the Quarter Master at the School of Equitation in the Army Lists but now as a Lieutenant Colonel.

1928

In one of its first steps toward modernization, the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards have their horse-drawn supply wagons replaced by eleven motorized trucks and six motorcycles (three of which had side cars). One of its three horse squadrons was eliminated and replaced with a machine gun squadron instead. This was the beginning of the end of the cavalry in the British Army. Charles Aris' regiment avoided complete mechanization until March 1939 when they traded the last of their horses for light tanks - only 6 months before the Second World War began. The last British cavalry regiments did not lose their horses (except for ceremonial duties) until February 1942.

February 1929

Last entry in the Army Lists for Lieutenant Colonel Charles Aris. [It can be assumed that he retired after 36 years of service.]

The defining feature of a Lancer regiment is their lance. Re-introduced to European warfare during the Napoleonic wars of the early 1800s, the lance gave its mounted user greater reach with its spear point compared to mounted opponents armed with swords or infantrymen armed with bayonets on their rifles. The increasing range and accuracy of rifles made this advantage in reach useless well before Charles Aris enlisted. The lance carried by Charles Aris was made either of male bamboo or of white ash. With a triangular pointed tip and heavy butt made out of forged steel, the lance was over 9 feet long. It carried below the tip a small white and red swallow-tailed pennons. The Sixteenth Lancers were said to have a regimetnal tradition of crimping their pennons when riding "on parade" - meaning for ceremonial occassions. This stemmed from their appearance after their famous participation Battle of Aliwal in India in the 1840s - when the lance was still an effective weapon. After that battle, they regrouped with their pennons so encrusted with blood that the little flags appeared to be starched and corrugated.

During Charles' time as an enlisted man, the uselessness of the lance on the modern battlefield had already been recognized. The British Army removed the lance (except for ceremonial duties) from the weaponry of the Lancer regiments in 1903. However, a conservative and powerful "lance lobby" of cavalry officers managed to get the lance re-instated as the primary weapon of the Lancer regiments in 1909. Thus it was that the 16th Lancers went into the First World War armed with their useless, steel-tipped cattle prods. The British Army was not alone in its reliance on the lance. Their French allies and German opponents armed their cavalry with lances also. To this day, the ceremonial guards and public shows of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carry the same weapon used by Charles Aris.

To say that the uniforms of the lancers were ornate is an understatement. Until the First World War changed all the British Army's service uniforms to khaki color, the cavalry was the best dressed arm of the Army. Unique to the Lancer regiments were their headgear - the czapska. This traditional Polish helmet was brought back with Napoleon after he conquered Poland and adopted their lancer regiments into his army. Charles Aris' czapska is obscured by its huge plume of swan feathers in his photograph. The czapska was made out of papier-mâché‚ - not very effective protection from bullets.

On active service, the Lancers wore a sun helmet in the tropics or a peaked cap in temperate climates. The familiar "soup plate" helmets of the British Army were not introduced until the second year of the First World War.

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