Before my grandfather, Thomas Haley, joined the Hampshire Regiment in 1914 he drove a baker’s van for local bakery, Lowman’s. In those days, the vans were pulled by horses and the baker’s man and his horse were a team. When the war came, the men weren’t the only ones called up. Thousands of horses were requisitioned too. They were needed, not only for the cavalry, but to move supplies, equipment, guns and ammunition. When the war broke out, the army had just twenty five thousand horses. By the time the armistice was signed in 1918, four hundred and sixty thousand horses and mules had been purchased and shipped to France. The owners had little say in the matter, unless they could prove they needed their animals for essential transport or agriculture, they had to surrender them.
Like the soldiers, many of the war horses were shipped into battle through Southampton Docks. They were gathered together in military remount depots throughout Hampshire to be trained for war. About one hundred and twenty thousand horses and mules passed through the Remount Camp on Pauncefoot Hill just outside Romsey. Sadly, only one in ten of the horses survived the battlefields. After the war the camp was demolished but there is still one war horse in the town and, in September 2020, Commando and I drove out to Romsey to have a look at it.
Romsey is not a place either of us know well and, on a different day, we might have spent more time there exploring. Unfortunately, new COVID restrictions had just been announced so our visit was, by necessity, a short one. We walked through the deserted square and headed straight for the Memorial Park. This was where we hoped to find our war horse.
When the Great War ended the people of Romsey were keen to honour the dead. They had long been clamouring for a park in the town and now they suggested a memorial park. The town council agreed to provide a field, called Street Mead. It was not an ideal site. The field, nestled between two strands of the River Test, had been used in the summer for grazing but was often flooded during the winter months. The solution was to use hardcore from the demolished Remount Camp to raise the ground level.
A war memorial was designed by two local men, C.W.P. Dyson and S.C. Greenwood. It was carved and erected by Grace and Sons of Romsey and unveiled by Major General Jack Seely on 22 June 1921. It has been used for Remembrance Day services ever since.
We found the park without too much difficulty and, in no time at all, we’d also found the horse, standing in the dappled sunlight, surrounded by summer greenery. In 2013, the people of Romsey decided they should honour the men and horses of the Remount Camp. They raised £80,000 to commission a statue by local sculptor, Amy Goodman. The life sized sculpture of a warhorse and soldier was cast in bronze resin and was completed in time for the centenary of the opening of the Romsey Remount Depot.
The beautiful statue, probably one of the only ones in the world commemorating the warhorses, was unveiled on 3 July 2015 by HRH the Princess Royal. Understandably, it has become a focus for people visiting the park. The expression on the faces of both horse and soldier tell a compelling story. I have to admit, it brought a tear to my eye to think of all those men, mules and horses. I’m sure my grandfather would have approved.
As walks go, this was a very short one. It might have been a little longer if I’d been able to tear myself away from the horse sooner. It felt good to be outside again though and it showed us both that there is more to be explored in Romsey when the chance arises.
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hi Marie your piece about warhorses was very interesting, did you know that the airport was a remount centre. Some years ago when I was a ranger at itchen valley country park an old friend of mine now sadly departed told me about it. He said that when it was disbanded the gates etc. were sold off to a local farmer/s and some could still be seen in field gateways around old durley He showed me one or two along greenwood lane. I expect with all the proposed development in that area they will soon disappear and no one will realise what they were.
He also told me about a famous (locally) incident when a lot of the horses escaped and got as far as Southampton common before they were rounded up, (maybe a local myth but he was sure it happened)
When we were working in the water meadows alongside the airport we now and then found old horse bones.
Regards Dave
Thank you for the information. I knew there was a remount depot at the Swaythling, North Stoneham Park and others in the area but not their exact locations. It does seem a shame that so much information has been lost, along with the old gates. I’ve heard tales of horses escaping myself and have written about them here. If you search Frontiersmen’s tales you will find the stories.
I love the war horse and soldier in Romsey – it brought a tear to my eye too when I first saw it. I am always so saddened by the thought of all the beautiful horses that were killed in the war (the soldiers too of course), they had no choice and must have been terrified by the noise and slaughter all around them.
I do like your view point for your photo of the square. I don’t know Romsey particularly well but the Abbey is well worth a look, and St. John’s house, both within five minutes of the town centre.
We passed the Abbey on our walk that day but the restrictions meant we didn’t have time to visit. I hope we get the chance to go back at some point. I know my grandfather was fond of horses and I’ve read that many of the soldiers during the war were more upset by the sight of the dead horses than the dead men, because the men had some say in being there, unlike the horses.
A letter from my grandfather, an RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) despatch rider in France, to his son, my Dad, told of an order they received from senior Army command to destroy the horses, apparently because they were to be replaced by omnibuses! My grandfather and a senior officer were assigned the awful task. I recall my Dad showing me this letter and reading his own father’s words to me which were: “With tears in our eyes we took our pistols & shot several of our horses, leaving them in the mud”. That letter is sadly long gone but for me the sad memory of what my grand father & his officer had to be done remains. The decision was absolute folly as the buses proved to be totally useless and ineffective as transport in the mud of the battlefield.
Steve Davis, Toronto.
Sadly, of the horses who did survive, most were never repatriated. Many were shot for horse meat in France. It is heartbreaking to think of and I’m sure the men tasked with shooting them, who had no choice but to follow orders, hated what they were forced to do. You’re right about the motor vehicles too. In certain conditions, they were much less use than the horses.
That’s a bit of Romsey that I don’t know, but it definitely looks like it’s worth a visit.
It really is. The horse sculpture is stunning and the park is interesting too. I wish we’d had more time to explore.