THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 ERNEST CARROLL MOORE
 
 FRANCIS AND RIVY, AUGUST 1914.
 
 Francis and 
 Riversdale Grenfell 
 
 ^Memoir 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN BUCHAN 
 
 THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD. 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, PARIS, AND NEW YORK
 
 First Published October 1920
 
 College 
 Library 
 
 D/J 
 69.3 
 
 I SHOULD like to dedicate this little book to the 
 Twins' brothers and sisters : especially to their sister 
 Dolores, who was rarely absent from their thoughts 
 or they from hers. J. B. 
 
 11 1 1 1 1
 
 Degno I che dov'e I'un I'atro s'induce 
 Si, cht com' elli ad una militaro, 
 Cost la gloria loro insieme luca. 
 
 DANTE, Paradiso, xii., 34-36. 
 
 Ah, that Sir Humphry Gilbert should be dead : 
 Ah, that Sir Philip Sidney should be dead : 
 Ah, that Sir William Sackeuill should be dead : 
 Ah, that Sir Richard Grenuile should be dead : 
 Ah, that brave Walter Deuoreux should be dead : 
 Ah, that the Flowre of Knighthood should be dead, 
 Which, maugre deadly est Deathes, and stony est Stones, 
 That coouer worthiest worth, shall neuer dy. 
 
 GABRIEL HARVEY, 1592.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. 1880-1889 i 
 
 II. 1900-1904 20 
 
 III. 1904-1905 53 
 
 IV. 1906-1907 81 
 
 V. 1907-1909 102 
 
 VI. 1910-1914 153 
 
 VII. 1914 . . . . . . . . 186 
 
 VIII. 1914-1915 207
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Francis and Rivy, August 1914 . . Frontispiece 
 The Twins at the Age of Eight . . to face page 7 
 The Twins with the Eton Beagles . 14 
 
 The Twins with Lord Grenfell at Malta, 
 
 April 1901 ...... 24 
 
 The Twins after the Kadir Cup . ,, ,, 62 
 
 Francis at Polo ,, 94 
 
 Rivy on " Cinderella " .... 104 
 
 Francis on " Michael " and Rivy on 
 
 " Cinderella " 161
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 BY FIELD-MARSHAL LORD GRENFELL, G.C.B., G.C.M.G. 
 
 THE Twins wrote to each other almost daily, and 
 when Francis went to the Boer War they settled 
 to keep each other's letters. A large collection 
 was found after their death, and when examined 
 it seemed to their family worthy of some form of 
 publication. Mr. John Buchan, who was one of 
 the Twins' greatest friends, most kindly undertook 
 to prepare a memoir. It is intended that any 
 profits derived from the sale of the book should 
 go to benefit the finances of the Invalid Children's 
 Aid Association, a branch of which was founded 
 in Islington by Rivy in 1912, and in which both 
 brothers were greatly interested. 
 
 On September 5, 1880, when quartered at 
 ShornclifTe, I received a telegram from my brother 
 announcing the birth of the Twins. Thus the 
 family of seven sons and four daughters had 
 increased to a total of thirteen. Of these, eight 
 went to Eton, four of them being in the Eleven ;
 
 x PREFACE. 
 
 one entered the Royal Navy, and five of them 
 died in the service of their country Pascoe, the 
 eldest, killed in the Matabele rising ; Robert, 
 I2th Lancers, my A.D.C. in Cairo, in the charge 
 of the 2ist Lancers at Omdurman ; Reginald, 
 1 7th Lancers, of illness caused by service in 
 India ; Francis and Rivy in the Great War. All 
 the surviving brothers served in the war, one 
 as Brigadier-General, and three as Lieutenant- 
 Colonels. 
 
 My various military appointments and duties 
 kept me out of England most of the time the 
 Twins were children and boys at school ; but on 
 the death of their father, when they were sixteen, 
 I became their guardian, and our friendly rela- 
 tions of uncle and nephew became much more 
 intimate and more like those of father and son. 
 I was known to them as " The Uncle," and was 
 accustomed frequently to hear the phrase, " Go 
 it, Uncle." 
 
 I remember arriving on a visit to them at 
 Eton and finding their room strewn with answers 
 to their appeal for help to build new kennels 
 for the beagles, of which Francis was master. 
 They were then at the zenith of their popularity 
 and success : Francis in the Eleven and Master of 
 the Beagles, Rivy Whip, and both members of Pop ; 
 and I felt my position as Sirdar of the Egyptian
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 army to be a far inferior one to that of my 
 nephews at Eton. 
 
 Later, at a review of a large number of Public 
 School Cadets by the Queen, I, in my official 
 capacity, was standing close to Her Majesty to 
 announce the names of the various schools, when 
 the leading company of Eton Cadets marched 
 past, and I was alarmed to hear the usual signal 
 whistle of the Twins to me, with the exclamation 
 " Hullo, Uncle ! " 
 
 Francis was my godson, and began his military 
 career in my regiment. When staying with me 
 as extra A.D.C. at Malta he received his com- 
 mission in the King's Royal Rifles in 1901. 
 
 The visit of the Twins to Malta had a decided 
 effect on their future. They met interesting men 
 of the army and navy, and began to realize the 
 vast extent of the British Empire, and also their 
 own ignorance of its history and geography. 
 They had never even heard of Napoleon III. and 
 the last French Empire ! Our daily readings, 
 especially the History of Our Own Times, en- 
 larged their understandings and made them 
 eager for further instruction and more knowledge. 
 From that time dates the remarkable assiduity 
 with which they pursued their studies, both in 
 languages and history, especially military history, 
 and laid themselves out to meet men of culture
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 and distinction, whose acquaintanceship they felt 
 would be useful in the future. 
 
 Each was invariably in the other's mind, and 
 they sometimes had premonitions of harm. When 
 Francis fell ill at Inverness with what seemed 
 at first only a chill, Rivy, who was staying 
 with me, said he must go to Francis. Oddly 
 enough he was quite right, as when he arrived 
 in Scotland he found him very ill with typhoid 
 fever, no telegram or warning having arrived. 
 
 Rivy settled down to a financial career, and 
 when travelling in America he studied the man- 
 agement of railways and methods of business. 
 While there he astonished a friend of his father's 
 by asking him if, as a favour, he might work in his 
 office next to one of his clerks. " Why, certainly 
 you may," was Mr. Morton's answer. " I am 
 an old man, and have often been asked for a 
 holiday, but this is the first time any man enjoying 
 a holiday has asked me for leave to work." 
 
 While taking their occupations seriously, as 
 companions they were most cheerful and humor- 
 ous, original and quaint in their points of view, 
 and very amusing in the simplicity of their ob- 
 servations. Many were the instances of their 
 sympathy and kindness to others. Francis on 
 one occasion sat up all night with a porter at 
 the Bath Club who had smashed his hand in an
 
 . PREFACE. xiii 
 
 accident, and this was at a time when he was 
 preparing for an important examination. Happy 
 days were spent at Butler's Court, which was open 
 to them and their ponies whenever they cared to 
 stay, and I was much struck by the efficient 
 management of their stud. Their affection for 
 my children, shown in so many ways, was a 
 delight to me and to their mother, and the atten- 
 tion shown to the villagers and old employees of 
 Wilton Park made them very popular. 
 
 As children they had adopted Lord Burnham, 
 who lived close by at Hall Barn, as a most 
 intimate friend. He was much amused on one 
 occasion when they stayed with him during the 
 holidays for a ball, and appeared wearing large 
 pairs of white gloves borrowed from the footmen, 
 whose billycock hats they also wore in church 
 the next day. After Francis's death Lord Burn- 
 ham wrote a most beautiful and touching lead- 
 ing article in the Daily Telegraph. They were 
 devoted to him and his family, and their affection 
 was reciprocated. 
 
 The Twins sympathized with all in sickness 
 or sorrow ; and in the greatest affliction that can 
 happen to any man, they arrived to stay with 
 me and made themselves most useful and helpful. 
 
 In 1901 Francis began his military career in 
 the King's Royal Rifles. The strong wish to
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 
 join the cavalry, which I think had always been 
 in his mind (three of his brothers having been 
 in cavalry regiments and two in the yeomanry), 
 could not be carried out at that time for financial 
 reasons ; but this was an abiding desire, which 
 the attractions of so good a regiment as the King's 
 Royal Rifles did not quite eradicate. He did 
 well in the regiment, and on his death the colour- 
 sergeant of his company wrote to me to say 
 what an efficient company officer he had been, 
 and what care he had taken in the instruction ot 
 the men. One reason why he desired to transfer 
 from the infantry to the cavalry was that the effects 
 of enteric still clung to him, and he found the long 
 route marches of the infantry almost unbearable. 
 But he always acknowledged that his short service 
 in the King's Royal Rifles had greatly assisted him 
 in his career, and that he acquired there the 
 soldier-like qualities of training and discipline. 
 
 On his return to England in 1907 we saw a 
 good deal more of each other, and it was delightful 
 to see his happiness in the cavalry, and his deter- 
 mination to master all obstacles which would 
 prevent him from joining the Staff College. I had 
 the opportunity then of reading his criticisms and 
 notes on manoeuvres, which were excellent and 
 commended in the regiment. In my opinion he 
 would have eventually taken a high place in the
 
 PREFACE. rv 
 
 army as a cavalry leader. He loved his squadron 
 and his regiment, and he left no stone unturned 
 to fit himself for eventual promotion and command. 
 
 A course at the Cavalry School at Netheravon, 
 and several visits to his friend Colonel Felines 
 at the French Cavalry Establishment at Saumur, 
 together with his attendance both at French and 
 German manoeuvres, show by his voluminous 
 notebooks that he had taken the greatest trouble 
 thoroughly to study cavalry training, tactics, and 
 command. 
 
 He possessed the highest ideals of discipline in 
 the conduct of war, tempered by a happy power 
 of commanding the affection and obedience of 
 men, especially of his own squadron. His desire 
 for knowledge was insatiable, and he used every 
 endeavour to achieve his objects. I remember, 
 quite in the early days, finding Rivy and Francis 
 in their small room at the Bath Club, notebooks 
 in hand, and Dr. Miller Maguire lecturing to 
 them on military history with all the care which 
 he would have bestowed on an audience in the 
 United Service Institution. 
 
 On the 3oth August, after the first month of 
 war, I found Francis at No. 17 Belgrave Square, 
 the temporary and well-appointed hospital of 
 Mr. Pandeli Ralli, where I told him that he had 
 been recommended for the Victoria Cross. He
 
 xvi PREFACE. 
 
 received my news with surprise and said, " This 
 honour is not for me my squadron gained it " ; 
 but he was greatly pleased when Lord Roberts 
 and Lord Grey came to congratulate him. 
 
 When able to move he came down to me at 
 Overstone, and there I had the sad task of break- 
 ing to him the news of Rivy's death. His brother 
 Harold, whose brigade was being inspected by 
 the King that morning, was taken aside by his 
 Majesty and told that Rivy's name was mentioned 
 among the casualties, and he came right away to 
 Overstone to tell me. Francis received the news 
 quite calmly, but from that moment he was a 
 changed man in everything but his enthusiasm for 
 his regiment and his desire to get back to the 
 fighting line. 
 
 His Majesty showed gracious and kindly in- 
 terest in both, and gave Francis a special interview, 
 the account of which I quote from his diary : 
 
 " On Monday, February 22, 1915, I was 
 ordered to go to Buckingham Palace to receive 
 my Victoria Cross, driving there in khaki with 
 my sister. Was shown into Clive Wigram's room, 
 who told me of the heavy loss of the i6th Lancers. 
 A few minutes before eleven we went into the 
 equerry's room, and he took me upstairs to the 
 King's room, which I entered. He was alone in 
 the room, which looked like a study, with many 
 
 (2,187)
 
 PREFACE. xvii 
 
 Indian ornaments about. The King came for- 
 ward and shook hands with me. As my right 
 hand was wounded, I was only able to use my 
 left. Both remained standing and talked for 
 some time about the war. He had heard of the 
 heavy loss of the i6th Lancers, and that we had 
 been sending out some 1 5-inch howitzer guns 
 which would greatly strengthen us, and every 
 day we were getting stronger. I asked the King 
 if he had visited the prisoners who had come 
 from Germany. He said he had, and described 
 how badly some of them had been treated, and 
 spoke strongly against the Germans. He then 
 stepped back and took my Victoria Cross out of 
 a small box and pinned it on to me, congratulating 
 me on getting it. He said how sorry he was for 
 the loss of my twin brother. I said I had not 
 deserved the Victoria Cross, and hoped he would 
 allow me to convey to the men who really deserved 
 it his kind congratulations and good wishes. I 
 said I hoped in the future the decoration would 
 urge me to go forward and do a great deal more for 
 him and for England, as the army thought only of 
 him and loved both. My interview then ended." 
 Early in April, having recovered from his 
 second wound, he returned to France. The last 
 letter received from him was to his sister. It is 
 dated the i8th of May : 
 
 (2,187) B
 
 xviii PREFACE. 
 
 " On the 1 4th we remained in pouring rain 
 in trenches, bitterly cold, and then reached the 
 camp at 3 a.m. very tired, and my feet a little 
 frost-bitten. On the I5th and i6th we rested, 
 and are moving back again. I am writing to 
 you from a trench. We are up to our knees in 
 mud, and it has rained since yesterday when we 
 came here, but we are all hale and hearty. My 
 boots and puttees are soaked, but must remain 
 so for three more nights. I never felt fitter, 
 though tired of this sort of warfare. I hope I 
 never get shelled again like the other day. It is 
 a very high trial sitting still and enormous shells 
 bursting, blowing all the ground up, able to do 
 nothing, and just waiting for your turn." 
 
 His turn came the day after this letter was 
 received. On the 2 8th of May I received a letter 
 from Lord Charles Beresford, who had just arrived 
 from France. He announced the death of Francis, 
 shot through the heart, dying in a quarter of an 
 hour. He had come over with an officer who had 
 attended his burial. It was better to have got the 
 news in a sympathetic letter from an old friend, 
 rather than a curt telegram from the War Office. 
 
 By his last letter to me, after the fifteen hours' 
 bombardment on the i3th, when the Ninth stuck it 
 out, I gathered that whatever happened he would 
 never retire, but meant to do or die. He had great
 
 PREFACE. xix 
 
 charm, good looks, strength and purpose in 
 important things ; was utterly careless in the con- 
 ventionalities of life, too much being crowded into 
 the same day ; but in greater questions he had a 
 strong will, great determination, and would not be 
 denied. No loss was more genuinely felt than 
 Francis's and Rivy's death. 
 
 I received a large number of letters and 
 telegrams. 
 
 " ROYAL PAVILION, ALDERSHOT. 
 
 "To FIELD-MARSHAL LORD GRENFELL, 
 
 "OvERSTONE PARK, NORTHAMPTON. 
 
 "The Queen and I are grieved beyond words that your 
 gallant nephew has fallen in battle. I was proud to give him 
 his nobly-earned Victoria Cross, and trusted he might live to 
 wear it for many years. Our heartfelt sympathy with you. 
 
 "GEORGE R.I." 
 
 "May 1915. 
 
 " Deeply grieved by sad news. Please accept and convey 
 to his sisters my heartfelt sympathy in your great sorrow. 
 
 "ALFONSO R." 
 
 "G.H.Q. May 28th. 
 
 "To FIELD-MARSHAL LORD GRENFELL, 
 
 " OVERSTONE PARK, NORTHAMPTON. 
 
 "Will you let me condole with you on the loss of your 
 gallant and distinguished nephew in the gth Lancers after 
 having been twice wounded. His record of gallantry is 
 unsurpassed. 
 
 "FIELD-MARSHAL SIR JOHN FRENCH."
 
 xx PREFACE. 
 
 From COLONEL HON. C. WILLOUGHBY, gth 
 Lancers. 
 
 " Francis joined the Ninth just about the time I got com- 
 mand when we were stationed at Rawal Pindi. I was very 
 pleased to get him as a subaltern. He was one of the hardest 
 working officers I ever knew, always doing his best whether 
 at work or play, thereby setting a high example to others. 
 His good horsemanship and quick eye soon made him a very 
 valuable cavalry officer ; this combination also brought him 
 to the fore in the polo world, where he did such good work 
 for the regiment in after years. The Ninth have lost a good 
 officer, a high-principled gentleman, and a real good sportsman. 
 
 " As you probably know, Francis was a dear friend of ours ; 
 I was very, very fond of him." 
 
 From COLONEL DESMOND BEALE-BROWNE. 
 
 " Francis has left a memory and example that will never fail. 
 A braver soul never stepped. His high ideals, and boundless 
 enthusiasm for the regiment and the cause in which we are 
 fighting, was an example we shall never forget, and the regi- 
 ment is indeed proud to think that it had Francis Grenfell in 
 its ranks. I only so regret he did not live to hear the praise 
 bestowed on the regiment which he loved so dearly, and 
 whose honour he had done so much to maintain." 
 
 From MAJOR-GENERAL VESEY DAWSON. 
 
 " I must send you a line of sympathy in your great sorrow. 
 I know how much you will feel the loss of your two nephews, 
 and I do indeed feel for you. I feel that the loss is really the 
 country's, for we do not produce too many gallant, brilliant 
 soldiers such as the one who is just gone. He would, I think, 
 have gone far in the profession if he had lived, and it seems 
 indeed sad that he should have been taken."
 
 PREFACE. xxi 
 
 From MAJOR-GENERAL HON. JOHN LINDLEY. 
 ******* 
 
 " He was a right gallant soul, and the very embodiment 
 of all the manly virtues that go to make a cavalry leader, 
 and the cavalry have sustained a loss well-nigh irreparable. 
 Modest, bold, and as cool as a cucumber, it will be many a day 
 before the men of his squadron and the gth Lancers get 
 another leader like him. 
 
 " Well, he has gone to join his twin soul, and a more gallant 
 pair never entered this world together." 
 
 From LiEUT.-CoLONEL EDGAR BRASSEY. 
 
 " I feel I must write to you to express my deepest sympathy 
 in the sad news about poor Francis. Whatever else this war 
 may bring about, the absence of the Twins can never fail to 
 be noticed and lamented. I have known them for over 
 twenty years, have played cricket with them, hunted with 
 them, and played polo with them ; and for myself, I can say 
 that there is nobody, even in the long list of friends who have 
 gone in this last nine months, who will be missed more than 
 Francis and Rivy. We may be sure that neither would have 
 wished to be separated or to die a more glorious death, and 
 the example of the Grenfell family, not forgetting poor Robert, 
 who was also a friend of mine, will stand for ever in the annals 
 of the British army." 
 
 From MR. CHARLES MURRAY of Loch Carron. 
 
 " I must send one word to say with what sorrow I read of 
 dear Francis's death. He is almost the last of Alasdair's 
 close friends who has remained to us, and he always kept up 
 his friendship. Only the other day he came in to cheer me 
 up when I was ill in London, and, as with Rivy, it is a great 
 break with the past. I ever hoped that Francis and Rivy 
 would live to distinguish themselves, and that Francis, a keen
 
 xxii PREFACE. 
 
 and good soldier, would follow in your footsteps and some day 
 lead British forces in the field. It could not be, and, with 
 others of the best, the boys have gone from us, and I know 
 how deeply you will feel the blow." 
 
 From WALDORF ASTOR. 
 
 "The deaths of Francis and Rivy mean an irreplaceable 
 loss to their friends, and bring grief to all who knew them 
 intimately. We are all forced to bear trouble, anxiety, and 
 bereavement, but apart from this there is perhaps the greatest 
 tragedy in the real loss inflicted on the country. Never will 
 two persons like them be found. 
 
 " Kipling asks in a poem, ' Who dies if England lives ? ' 
 One feels inclined to say, ' How can England live as one has 
 known her if such as these die one after the other ? ' 
 
 "None of the blows caused by the war have been so hard, 
 and have even by comparison tended to diminish this one, or 
 to lessen the grief I and many others feel." 
 
 From the DUKE OF TECK (MARQUESS OF 
 CAMBRIDGE). 
 
 " I have just heard the sad news about the death of poor 
 Francis. I am so deeply sorry for you in the loss of your other 
 nephew. What a blank the death of the ' Grenfell Twins ' 
 will cause to a good many people, my wife and I amongst 
 them ; but to you it means much more, and I ask you 
 to accept my deep and heartfelt sympathy in your great 
 sorrow." 
 
 From SIR HEREWARD WAKE, King's Royal 
 Rifles. 
 
 " I am so grieved about Francis. I would like to send you 
 a word of sympathy. Francis compelled the love of every 
 one who knew him, and there are hundreds of people who will
 
 PREFACE. xxiii 
 
 mourn his death. I think there never was a more gallant pair 
 of soldiers or Englishmen than those two." 
 
 From DR. MILLER MAGUIRE. 
 
 " I esteem it an honour to testify to the great merits of 
 your brave nephews, Francis and Rivy Grenfell. I had 
 intimate knowledge of their zeal for their noble profession, 
 and all connected with its study, almost to the date of their 
 death. They excelled in cavalry exercises and in the ardent 
 devotion to that particular branch. 
 
 " Francis was making himself well versed in European and 
 American campaigns, and no doubt would have been placed 
 high in any Staff College tests had he been spared ; but almost 
 from the desk of study 
 
 He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell.' " 
 
 It was on April 14, 1915, that I said good- 
 bye to Francis. He walked home with me round 
 Portman Square, after dining with his sister. He 
 was cheerful at the idea of rejoining his squadron, 
 but no doubt the knowledge that Rivy would not 
 be with him was in his mind. He spoke with 
 enthusiasm of his squadron and regiment, and the 
 chances of war, and was very hopeful as to the 
 future. He was happy in the belief that the most 
 distinguished regiment in the army was the Qth 
 Lancers, and that he commanded the best squadron 
 in the best regiment of the best fighting army in 
 the world. He mentioned that he had refused a 
 Staff appointment after being twice wounded, being 
 so greatly impressed by the unanimous response
 
 xxiv PREFACE. 
 
 which was made for his call for volunteers to 
 save the guns at Audregnies. This touched him 
 deeply, and he said that no offer of Staff service 
 would ever induce him to leave his squadron. 
 
 We said good-bye, and I think both felt that 
 we should not meet again. Of that, personally, 
 I had a strong presentiment. 
 
 The Twins, so happy in their generation, are 
 now together ; freed from the feverish anxieties 
 they suffered ere they went to war, they are 
 linked in a new and better life, surely for them 
 one full of activity and high service. 
 
 " Time takes them home that we loved, fair names and famous, 
 
 To the soft long sleep, to the broad sweet bosom of death ; 
 
 But the flower of their souls he shall not take away to shame 
 
 us, 
 
 Nor the lips lack song for ever that now lack breath. 
 For with us shall the music and perfume that die not dwell, 
 Though the dead to our dead bid welcome, and we farewell."
 
 FRANCIS AND 
 RIVERSDALE GRENFELL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1880-1899. 
 
 CE when Rivy had had a bad smash at 
 olo he spent some time in hospital. " It 
 seems odd to say so," he wrote to Francis, " but 
 I enjoyed it immensely. What lucky people we 
 are, taking an interest in so many things ! This 
 was another side that I had not yet seen." I set 
 down these words at the beginning of this short 
 record, for they sum up the attitude of the two 
 brothers to life. Few people can have had a larger 
 share of the happiness of youth, for not only had 
 they ample opportunity of action and experience, 
 but they bore within themselves the secret of 
 joy. . They never ceased to wonder at the mag- 
 nificence of the world, and they carried a divine 
 innocence into soldiering and travel and sport 
 and business, and not least into the shadows of 
 
 (2,187)
 
 2 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 the Great War. In the comfortable age before 
 1914 they were among the best known and most 
 popular young men of their day, and some picture 
 of their doings may be of interest as a memorial 
 of a vanished world. The coming of war upon 
 their eager life is a type of the experience of 
 all their countrymen, and a revelation of the 
 inner quality of that land which has so often 
 puzzled herself and her neighbours. But I write 
 especially, as the friend of Francis and Rivy, 
 for their many friends : who, before memory 
 dies, may wish some record of two of the most 
 endearing and generous spirits that ever " before 
 their time into the dust went down." 
 
 I. 
 
 Francis Octavius Grenfell and Riversdale 
 Nonus Grenfell were born at Hatchlands, Guild- 
 ford, on September 4, 1880, the twin sons of 
 Pascoe Du Pre Grenfell and Sofia Grenfell his 
 wife. Family history would be out of place in 
 such a narrative as this, and I do not propose 
 to discuss the intricate question of the Grenfell 
 pedigree, and whether kin can be counted with 
 the great figures of Sir Richard Grenville of the 
 Revenge, or Sir Bevil, the Cavalier, of Lansdown 
 Heath. It is sufficient to say that they came of
 
 A MEMOIR. 3 
 
 an old Cornish strain, which in their case was 
 double-distilled, for their parents were cousins. 
 A Grenfell fought at Waterloo and lost a leg ; 
 their mother's father, Admiral John Grenfell of 
 the Brazilian Navy, was Lord Cochrane's second 
 in command, and performed many famous ex- 
 ploits, notably the cutting out and destruction of 
 the Spanish flagship Esmeralda, in the midst of 
 an armed squadron. His brother, Sydney, was 
 a British admiral, distinguished in the China 
 War. Their father's brother is Field-Marshal 
 Lord Grenfell. Of their own brothers, Pascoe 
 served and died in the Matabele War ; Robert 
 fell gloriously in the charge of the 2ist Lancers 
 at Omdurman ; Harold did brilliantly as a column 
 commander in South Africa ; and Arthur won 
 the D.S.O. at the Battle of the Somme. A 
 cousin, Claude Grenfell, was killed at Spion Kop ; 
 and all the world knows of their other cousins, 
 Lord Desborough's sons, who will live because 
 of Julian's poetry and their mother's exquisite 
 memoir in the literature as well as in the history 
 of England. There are many famous fighting 
 stocks among our people, but there can be few 
 with a more stirring record than this. 
 
 A word should be said of their uncle, their 
 mother's brother, because he was a hero of 
 romance to the boys in their youth, and they
 
 4 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 loved to dwell upon his amazing doings. Francis 
 and Rivy were always gentle in their ways, and 
 for this very reason they had a weakness for a 
 stout swashbuckler. Admiral Sir Harry Grenfell 
 was a British sailor after the eighteenth-century 
 pattern. His gallantry was proverbial in the 
 navy of his day, and he had. various medals for 
 saving life at sea. There must have been much 
 of Julian's spirit in him, for he had an insatiable 
 zest for adventure and fighting, and when he 
 could not get it in the way of duty he went out 
 to look for it. Among other things he was middle- 
 weight champion of the navy. There is a story 
 of him with which Rivy once delighted an Amer- 
 ican public dinner. He went ashore with some 
 brother officers at Constantinople, and drifted to 
 a music hall, where he found an immense Turk 
 offering fifty dollars to any one in the audience 
 who could knock him out in five rounds. Harry 
 Grenfell promptly accepted the challenge. He 
 put on the gloves wrongly, and stood awkwardly, 
 so that the challenger thought him a novice and 
 gave him some easy openings. Taking advantage 
 of one of them, he stretched his antagonist on 
 the floor. On recovering his senses, the Turk 
 advanced to the footlights and announced in the 
 pure accents of Limehouse, " GenTmen, the 
 hexibition is closed." Then, going over to Gren-
 
 A MEMOIR. 5 
 
 fell's corner, he shook him warmly by the hand, 
 whispering, " You're no bloody lamb." There 
 is another tale which may be apocryphal, but 
 which the Twins cherished as an example of 
 how their uncle looked at things. Once Admiral 
 Grenfell was dispatched in his ship to some Pacific 
 isle to arrest and bring to Sydney a chief who had 
 eaten a missionary. The chief was duly arrested, 
 but during the long voyage back the British 
 admiral came to entertain the highest respect 
 for his qualities as a man. The upshot was that 
 he dumped him down on some desert island and 
 returned to report to his superiors that, having 
 gone most carefully into the case, he had come 
 to the conclusion that the missionary had been 
 entirely in the wrong. 
 
 II. 
 
 The first seven years of their life were spent 
 at Hatchlands. As the youngest members of a 
 large family they were a perpetual delight to 
 their sisters, and their brothers vied with each 
 other in directing their small feet in the paths 
 of sport. They were solemn, self-possessed chil- 
 dren, quiet in their ways, and as inseparable as 
 the two sides of a coin. They would lurk peace- 
 fully for hours in corners, and once a short- 
 sighted visitor sat down on them on a drawing-
 
 6 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 room sofa and nearly smothered them. As babies 
 they were not so much alike, but as they grew 
 older they became perfect doubles, puzzling every- 
 body, including their mother, who often gave 
 the wrong one medicine. At Hatchlands they 
 acquired two red fox-terriers, known as the 
 Gingers, who were as much alike as their masters. 
 Only the Twins knew the Gingers apart, and 
 only the Gingers could tell which twin was 
 which. They had an air of serious cheerfulness, 
 especially in their misdeeds, which was so en- 
 dearing that it disarmed wrath ; and they played 
 their confusing twinship for all it was worth. 
 Once, when they had been quarrelling for, in 
 the immortal phrase of the Irish R.M., they 
 " fought bitter and regular, like man and wife " 
 their mother caught up one (she did not know 
 which), set him on her knee, and scolded him 
 heartily. When she stopped, the culprit said in 
 a calm, meditative voice, <: You certainly do look 
 very jolly when you are angry, 'cos your eyes 
 shine so." They were very unpunctual, and 
 had always convincing excuses. " Why are you 
 late this time ? ' their father once asked de- 
 spairingly. " Well, it's all the fault of the house- 
 maid," was the answer. " She's so selfish. She 
 won't lend me her stud, and mine has gone down 
 a rabbit-hole ' One of their traits was a genius

 
 THE TWINS AT THE AGE OF EIGHT.
 
 A MEMOIR. 7 
 
 for getting hold of the wrong word. They used 
 to give sixpence to the Christmas " waits," till 
 their father reduced the bounty because of the 
 growing number of the applicants. " Only pen- 
 nies this year,'* the Twins announced to the 
 waiting mob, " 'cos there's a chrysalis in the 
 City." This habit long remained to them. At 
 school they invited their parents to come down 
 and see the new chapel " disinfected ' by the 
 Bishop. 
 
 Having seven brothers adepts at every form 
 of sport, Francis and Rivy were early " entered " 
 to most games. They played a kind of polo, 
 mounted on walking-sticks, at the age of four. 
 They soon learned to ride, and when hounds 
 met anywhere in the neighbourhood they invari- 
 ably contrived to be run away with by their 
 ponies, and avoided lessons for that day. Their 
 first pony was a communal possession with the 
 name of Kitty, an aged family pet, which they 
 took charge of and groomed themselves. Pres- 
 ently Kitty grew so infirm that she had to dis- 
 appear from the world. They were told that 
 Kitty had gone to stay with her mother, and 
 complained that it was cool of her to go off with- 
 out consulting them. A little later the coachman, 
 in a moment of forgetfulness, presented them 
 with one of Kitty's hoofs. Said one twin to an-
 
 8 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 other in bewilderment, " What an extraordinary 
 mother poor Kitty must have ! * At that time 
 they took a very solemn and matter-of-fact view 
 of life. At their first pantomime they saw a 
 rustic ballet of beautiful " farm workers," and 
 for some time afterwards perplexed the occupants 
 of every farm they visited by asking where the 
 pretty girls lived. At their second pantomime 
 they were with their uncle in the stage-box, and 
 argued so vigorously with the clown that he 
 climbed up beside them, to their mingled joy 
 and embarrassment. Their engaging gravity had 
 no self-consciousness ; they talked to their elders 
 as they talked to each other. A relation who 
 pronounced certain words in a bygone fashion, 
 once at breakfast busied himself at the sideboard. 
 " Who says tea and who says corfee ? " he asked. 
 The serious voice of Rivy replied, " Personally 
 I always say coffee, but I'm too small to have 
 any." 
 
 In 1887 the family moved to Wilton Park, 
 near Beaconsfield, where their father had spent 
 most of his childhood. It had belonged to Mr. 
 George Du Pre, his uncle, who for nearly forty 
 years had been M.P. for Bucks and a colleague 
 of Disraeli. There the Twins were in clover, 
 and could indulge to the full their love of games 
 and passion for animals. In the park they raced
 
 A MEMOIR. 9 
 
 their ponies and hunted rabbits with the Gingers ; 
 they acquired several ferrets, and the favourite 
 home of the ferret bag was the best armchair in 
 the drawing-room. The worst poacher in the 
 village was their habitual ally, and became so 
 much attached to them and the family that he 
 had to be made under-keeper. They had a 
 cricket ground where they practised assiduously, 
 and were bowled to by the sons and grandsons of 
 the boys who had bowled to their father. They 
 organized boys' matches, arranging everything 
 themselves. Their mother once asked them to 
 let her know what they wanted for tea after the 
 match. " Don't trouble, mother," was the an- 
 swer. " We have ordered two hundred buns." 
 
 ill. 
 
 In 1887 they went to Mr. Edgar's school at 
 Temple Grove, East Sheen, where their seven 
 brothers had been before them. At that time 
 they were bent on learning every game, but had 
 no ambition to excel in lessons. They both 
 played cricket and football for the school, and 
 occasionally brought home a prize, the wrong 
 twin being invariably congratulated on the 
 achievement. In their schooldays their spelling 
 was original and ingenious. To one who was
 
 io FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 about to become their brother-in-law they wrote : 
 " I can gratcherlate you, she is a niece girl." 
 Apropos of a wet day they achieved this memo- 
 rable sentence : "It pordanpord." The word 
 deserves admission to the weather vocabulary 
 of the English tongue. 
 
 In 1894 they went to Eton, where their grand- 
 father, father, six brothers, and many cousins 
 had been before them. They began in Mr. 
 Arthur Benson's house, but next year went to 
 that of Mr. Walter Durnford, who was one of 
 the chief family friends. Their name was suffi- 
 cient passport in that home of long traditions, 
 for three of their brothers had played in the 
 Eleven, and they rapidly became very popular 
 and dominant figures in the school. In 1898 
 Francis was Master of the Beagles, and Rivy 
 Whip. At the time the pack was most indif- 
 ferently housed, so the Twins raised a fund to 
 build, on the piece of land known as Agar's 
 Plough, the kennels which are now in use. They 
 wrote letters generally wrongly addressed to a 
 multitude of old Etonians, including the late Lord 
 Salisbury, and received subscriptions and letters 
 notably one from Lord Rosebery which they 
 cherished as heirlooms. " The Head Master," 
 Mr. Durnford writes, " was never safe from 
 having his majestic progress through the playing
 
 A MEMOIR. ii 
 
 fields arrested by one of the Twins conveying 
 some petition concerned with the great project, 
 and the Bursar not renowned for his acceptance 
 of new ideas capitulated before the unceasing 
 attack." In 1899 Francis was in the Eleven, 
 and in the match against Harrow at Lord's, at 
 a critical point in the game, he and Mr. H. K. 
 Longman, of Mr. Radcliffe's house, made 170 
 runs for_no wickets. That year he established 
 a bold innovation. Formerly the two Elevens 
 kept apart at lunch ; Francis, though it was his 
 first appearance in the historic match, decreed 
 that they should sit together, and ever since this 
 excellent practice has been followed. 
 
 At Eton they showed little interest in books, 
 and later were wont to lament to each other 
 that they had left school wholly uneducated. 
 But they learned other things the gift of leader- 
 ship, for instance, and the power of getting along- 
 side all varieties of human nature. They dis- 
 covered, too, an uncommon knack of obtaining 
 what they wanted by their gentle persistence 
 and radiant charm of manner. They had a way 
 of taking things for granted, and giving large 
 orders which were generally fulfilled. Being de- 
 sirous to have flowers on their small window-sill, 
 they wrote to the gardener at Wilton to send them 
 some " rowderdendrons." It appeared afterwards
 
 12 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 that they meant geraniums, but an under-gar- 
 dener was discovered faithfully digging up an 
 enormous bush, which would have filled their 
 little room, let alone the window. They always 
 worked in couples, and used their similarity in 
 looks shamelessly for various unconstitutional 
 purposes. During the winter one would answer 
 for both, so that the other could get off to hunt. 
 Once the trick was badly given away by the 
 huntsman appearing at supper with blood trick- 
 ling down his sleeve. Taken unawares, he ex- 
 plained that he had had a fall on a heap of stones. 
 Hunting had now become a passion with both, 
 and during one exeat they settled to go to Melton, 
 hired horses to meet them at a very early train, 
 and ordered a hansom to be at the door at 6 a.m. 
 The cab never appeared, and they missed the 
 train. They managed to get half-way to the meet 
 in a slow train, and then took a special and had a 
 first-class day. Coming back in the evening they 
 told Frankie Rhodes the trouble they had had, 
 and he insisted on paying for the special. 
 
 Both of them had an astonishing gift of getting 
 on friendly terms with every sort of dignitary. 
 The complete simplicity and candour of the two 
 slim, dark boys was not to be resisted. There is a 
 legend, probably untrue, that Francis once bor- 
 rowed a sovereign from the Head to tip a hunt-
 
 A MEMOIR. 13 
 
 servant, and got it ! Another tale can be vouched 
 for. After one of the many consultations about 
 the new kennels, Dr. Warre walked down the 
 street with his arm in Francis's. He stopped to 
 speak to some one, and at the same moment 
 Francis met a friend, upon which the Head over- 
 heard the following conversation. Said the friend, 
 1 Fancy you walking arm-in-arm with the Head ! 
 Why, he terrifies me ! ' Said Francis, " I don't 
 see why the poor man shouldn't have pals among 
 us. It's bad enough to be Head, without having 
 to go without pals." And here is an adventure 
 of Rivy's. He was asked by Miss Bulteel, who 
 was then in waiting on Princess Beatrice, to tea 
 at Windsor Castle. He marched in, and ascended 
 the first staircase he saw. There he found a 
 kind old lady, who asked him whom he wanted 
 to see, and on Rivy's explaining told him he had 
 come in by the wrong entrance. She sum- 
 moned a liveried giant, and bade him show 
 the way to Miss Bulteel 's room. The giant 
 bowed low to Rivy and walked backward before 
 him along several passages and up and down 
 staircases. Finally the crab-like progress halted 
 before a door, and with another low bow Rivy 
 was asked what name. When he gave it the giant 
 drew himself up, flushed and said, " Oh, is that 
 all ? You can go in." Afterwards Rivy found
 
 i 4 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 out that he had wandered up the Queen's private 
 staircase, that the old lady was the Empress- 
 Dowager of Germany, and that the footman had 
 taken him for a foreign royalty. This was not the 
 last of Rivy's odd experiences in court circles. 
 
 Mr. Walter Durnford has been so kind as to 
 set down his recollections of the Twins. 
 
 " I have been asked to contribute to the memoir of Francis 
 and Riversdale Grenfell something bearing on their life as 
 boys at Eton. It is not a very easy task, for though their 
 memory is still fresh and strong in the mind of the writer, life 
 at school, with its regularity, its ordered course of work and 
 play, does not present, as a rule, startling features or occasions 
 which lend themselves to description. Month succeeds month, 
 and year follows year, with such quiet regularity that almost 
 before one realizes the change the small boy has grown into 
 the big boy, and the big boy is preparing to take his place 
 in the great world. 
 
 " The ' Twins ' for so we always called them, and it is 
 indeed impossible to dissociate them in our memory came to 
 Eton in 1894, and a year later entered my house, where their 
 brothers Harold, Arthur, and Robert had preceded them 
 a funny little pair, so like one another that they were the 
 despair of masters who only saw them occasionally ; and even 
 their tutor, who saw them perpetually, never really knew them 
 apart till the last year they were at Eton. Francis, writing 
 to him after Rivy's death, says : ' Rivy used to like you best, 
 I think, when some one gave him a yellow ticket and you 
 used, when you came round, to pretend to be furious and 
 curse me instead of him.' 
 
 " Like most brothers, they fought. In the same letter 
 Francis writes : ' You, who used with difficulty to part us 
 after fighting in old days, know what we were to each other ' ; 
 and, indeed, they had at bottom that love for each other which,

 
 A MEMOIR. 15 
 
 it seems to me, only twin brothers have ; nor do I believe that 
 they were ever happy if for many hours they were separated. 
 
 " To say that they were diligent would be absurd. They 
 vexed the souls of masters in whose forms they found them- 
 selves, and on whom they sometimes played off their wonderful 
 likeness \\ith diabolical ingenuity ; they vexed the soul of 
 their tutor, who had to see that, somehow or other, they scraped 
 through their talc of work. But it was impossible to be angry 
 with them for long, for their invincible cheerfulness blunted 
 the wrath of justly indignant teachers ; and all the time they 
 were learning, unconsciously perhaps, but still learning, the 
 lessons which were to make them so greatly beloved in after 
 life lessons of kindness, of thoughtfulness, of perseverance, 
 of straight and honourable conduct the fruit of which will 
 be seen in the later pages of this book. So the years slipped 
 by happy years for both of them until they found themselves 
 in that position which is perhaps the most delightful that the 
 English boy can attain to ' swells,' with troops of admiring 
 friends, and a recognized position as people of mark in the 
 school. Such a position is not free from danger, and boys' 
 heads are easily turned by it ; but the Twins never lost the 
 simplicity which was one of their most engaging characteristics, 
 and they retained, as all boys do not, the heart of a boy to 
 the end of their schooldays." 
 
 Mr. Durnford notes how little they changed 
 during their school life. It is the testimony of 
 all their friends at all their stages. They possessed 
 a certain childlikeness, the ardour and innocence 
 and unworldliness of the dawn of life, the charm 
 of which was never rubbed off by experience. 
 The one change during the Eton years was that 
 Rivy began unconsciously to charge himself with 
 Francis's future. A list of their school friends
 
 16 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 even of their intimate friends would be so large 
 as to be meaningless, but I fancy, looking back, 
 that their closest friendships were with Waldorf 
 Astor, Lord Esme Gordon-Lennox, Lord Francis 
 Scott, and Paul Phipps. From a letter of the 
 last-named I quote a sentence : " Even in those 
 days Rivy had begun to adopt the protecting, 
 almost paternal, interest in Francis's career which 
 he preserved all his life. In the summer in which 
 Francis got into the Eleven it was Rivy who took 
 out his twin and sternly made him practise field- 
 ing, just as in later life he would conscientiously 
 read some book which he had heard recommended, 
 not for his own instruction or amusement, but 
 in order that he might pass it on, if found suitable, 
 to Francis." 
 
 IV. 
 
 The summer of 1899 was their last term at 
 Eton. The time was coming very near when their 
 paths must diverge. Their father had died in 
 1896, and they lost their mother in 1898. Wilton 
 Park had been given up some time before, and the 
 family was scattering, their many brothers being 
 already settled in various professions. Their 
 uncle, Lord Grenfell, was their guardian, and few 
 guardians can ever have fulfilled more devotedly 
 and successfully their trust, as this narrative will
 
 A MEMOIR. 17 
 
 bear witness. I quote from a letter written by 
 him in September 1898 from Cairo : 
 
 " MY DEAR TWINS, By the death of your mother I become 
 your guardian, and shall have to settle with Cecil as to your 
 future careers. . . . You may rely upon me to do all I can to 
 help you. But you are getting on now, and soon you will 
 have to depend on your own energy for your success in life. 
 You will not be rich, and you will have to work for your living, 
 as your father and I have had to do before you. Though you 
 have both been good boys, and have all the feelings of gentle- 
 men, and have never caused your father or mother any anxiety, 
 you have neither of you (as far as I can learn) taken any great 
 interest in your studies. You must remember that in your 
 future life you will not be able to do nothing but amuse 
 yourselves, and I do trust that for this next year, whether 
 you remain at Eton or not, you will work hard and try to 
 learn all you can to improve your minds and fit yourselves 
 for the future. 
 
 " I always received so much kindness from your father 
 and mother when I was young, that you may depend on my 
 helping you as much as I can ; and when I am in England 
 my house will always produce a corner for you and a bottle 
 of the best. You have your brothers also to advise and help 
 you. But to be successful in life you must depend on your 
 own exertions, and therefore I hope you will work hard and 
 learn to be punctual and support your masters. 
 
 " Read your Bibles, and shoot well ahead of the cock 
 pheasants ; and if you are ever in any difficulty that your 
 brothers can't help you in, come to your very affectionate 
 
 " UNCLE FRANCIS." 
 
 " P.S. Since writing this, I have heard of dear Robert's 
 death.* He died a gallant death for his Queen and country. 
 . . . Well ! he is with God and your mother and there 
 we can afford to leave him." 
 
 * At the Battle of Omdurman. 
 
 (2,187) 2
 
 i8 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Both would fain have followed the main 
 Grenfell tradition and become soldiers, but their 
 means forbade. One of them must choose a 
 more lucrative calling, and the duty fell to Rivy, 
 as having entered the world a few minutes later 
 than his Twin. In any case he would have given 
 first choice to Francis, to whom he had come to 
 regard himself as in loco parentis. In this assign- 
 ment Francis was the luckier, for he was born 
 for the army. Indeed, both were, for it is hard 
 to believe that Rivy had any aptitude for high 
 finance, and he had beyond doubt the makings 
 of a fine soldier. There was a very real differ- 
 ence between their minds : for Rivy, as we shall 
 see, discovered later a restless interest in politics 
 and a good deal of ambition for that career, while 
 Francis never wavered in his devotion to his 
 profession ; but the aptitudes of both might well 
 have been satisfied by the multifarious require- 
 ments of modern soldiering. 
 
 When they left Eton the Twins seemed exact 
 replicas in tastes and interests, and they were as 
 like as two peas in person. That summer Francis 
 went to Inverness to join the Seaforth Militia, 
 with a view to a commission later in the 6oth. 
 He stayed at Loch Carron with his friend Alasdair 
 Murray, who a few months later was to fall with 
 the Grenadier Guards in South Africa. While he
 
 A MEMOIR. 19 
 
 was out stalking one day, Rivy arrived, was shown 
 to his room, and changed into a suit of Francis's 
 country clothes. When he rang the bell a foot- 
 man appeared, who looked once at him and fled. 
 " Something terrible has happened to Mr. Gren- 
 fell on the hill," he told his fellows in the servants' 
 hall. " His ghost is sitting in his room ! ): 
 
 Francis caught typhoid that autumn in Inver- 
 ness, and for several months was seriously ill. 
 In December 1899 he was sent off to the Cape for 
 a sea voyage, and so began those wanderings 
 which were to fill the rest of his life. Meantime 
 Rivy had become a decorous clerk in the Bank of 
 England. The Twins had left boyhood behind 
 them.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 1900-1904. 
 
 To pass from the proud position of a leader at 
 school or college to the blank insignificance of 
 the outer world is a trying experience for most 
 people, but the Twins were not conscious of any 
 difficulty . They were too utterly unsentimental 
 to moon over the past ; they had always been 
 very modest about themselves and their accom- 
 plishments, and they were profoundly excited 
 about the new life which lay before them. Rivy 
 was soon absorbed in the City (after making a 
 fruitless attempt to enlist when war broke out), 
 learning a strange jargon, puzzling over un- 
 familiar standards of value, and beginning to 
 lament a defective education. Francis had a 
 harder fate. Typhoid checked him on the 
 threshold of soldiering, and he had the unpleasant 
 duty of spending a year in trying to get well. 
 
 He sailed for South Africa in December 1899, 
 for the sake of the voyage, intending to return 
 by the next boat. At the Cape, however, he fell
 
 A MEMOIR. 21 
 
 in with his brother John, who was acting as war 
 correspondent, and was fired with the wish to see 
 another brother, Harold, who was then in com- 
 mand of Brabant's Horse. During the voyage 
 out he had suffered much from what he thought 
 was lumbago, but which was really an affection 
 of the spine due to the fever, and his time in 
 South Africa was one long bout of pain. He 
 went by sea to East London, and then up country 
 to join Harold. He trekked for some days in a 
 springless wagon, which did his back no good, 
 and finally collapsed in a Dutch farm eighteen 
 miles from Cradock, and had to finish his journey 
 lying in a chair on a cart. After some days in 
 Cape Town he went to the baths at Caledon, 
 where his health improved ; but the return voy- 
 age in March 1900 knocked him out again, and 
 he came home worse than when he had started. 
 
 But an English summer and a Scots autumn 
 cured him. The Duke and Duchess of Somerset 
 took him yachting with them in the Hebrides, 
 and those windy seas restored him to health. 
 One of the party was the Gaekwar of Baroda, of 
 whom Francis reported : "I have made pals 
 with the Maharajah, and am going to dine with 
 him in London, and he is going to show me all 
 his jewels and Indian costumes. I believe his 
 pearls are like eggs. He asked me to stay with
 
 22 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 him in India he has got over 300 horses, very 
 good tiger-shooting and pig-sticking. He said, 
 1 Your visit won't be official, so you need bring 
 no suite.' He pronounced it like * suit,' so I said, 
 * All right, only my old blue one.' Lady Anne 
 Murray allowed him to camp at Loch Carron, 
 where he killed his first stag and his first salmon. 
 Here is his record of two days, in a letter to Miss 
 Sybil Murray : "I left Loch Carron yesterday ; 
 beastly day pouring and blowing. However, I 
 fished hard at Balgey, got bored and soaked, and 
 at 4 just as Donald said it was hopeless whack ! 
 a salmon. In the end we got five trout and one 
 salmon. This morning I got up at 6.30, went 
 on the hill, and after a good stalk got up to four 
 beasts. One rose, then another, and flukily and 
 luckily I got both one a fair beast, the other a 
 good one. By this time it was 12.30. I ran 
 home to Loch Carron, ordered a cart, had a glass 
 of the best port, and set out in torrents of rain 
 for Balgey. Met Donald, who said I was luny. 
 Fished in a fearful storm, and at 6.30, very dark, 
 misty, and wet, whack ! a salmon. Up at 6.30, 
 two stags ; four miles' run home, fourteen miles' 
 drive, salmon ; three miles on here not a bad 
 day ! If that is not sport, what is ? Did you 
 ever hear such luck as two salmon in two days to 
 a novice ? "
 
 A MEMOIR. 23 
 
 In October he was back in London, where he 
 was passed fit by a medical board, and ordered 
 to Cairo to join the militia battalion of the Sea- 
 torth Highlanders. He had himself measured for 
 a kilt, which, as he says, made him very shy. 
 After some hunting with Rivy at Melton, and 
 various shooting parties at one of which he was 
 shot in the leg by a neighbouring gun on two 
 successive days ! he sailed in November for Egypt. 
 
 There he spent the better part of four months, 
 working for his army examination, playing a good 
 deal of polo, and occasionally riding steeple- 
 chases. He found the life boring, for he was 
 eager to get into regimental work, and Egypt, 
 while the war was going on in South Africa, was 
 too much of a backwater for a soldier. Lord 
 Cromer greatly impressed him, and he saw a 
 good deal of him as a friend of Windham Baring's. 
 ' To hear him talk is worth hearing," he wrote 
 to Rivy, " as he is quite the biggest man we have 
 in fact, in his place, bigger than Chamberlain. 
 He has told me not to chuck polo, and that work 
 five hours a day is ample." He got his commis- 
 sion in the 6oth in May 1901, when he was at 
 Malta, whither he had gone in the end of March. 
 There he acted as an extra A.D.C. to his uncle, 
 Lord Grenfell, who was then Governor, and 
 laboured to cope with the intricacies of Maltese
 
 24 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 etiquette. On one occasion the Archbishop of 
 Malta attended a large reception at the Palace, 
 and his devout flock wished to kiss his hand as 
 soon as he appeared in the doorway. Francis 
 attempted to move him on, and was haughtily 
 told, " You do not know who I am. I am the 
 Archbishop." The extra A.D.C., knowing only 
 one brand of archbishop, sought another member 
 of the Staff in despair, saying, " The door is quite 
 blocked, because that old gentleman has gone 
 luny and thinks himself the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury." At Malta Rivy joined him for a little, 
 and the Twins rode many races on their uncle's 
 ponies. There used to be an irritating bell rung 
 in a chapel close to the Palace, and one day to 
 the joy of the household it suddenly stopped. 
 Lord Grenfell, anxious to discover the reason, 
 found that the Twins had driven the bell-ringer 
 from his post by pelting him with coal ! 
 
 On their way home it is recorded that in 
 Paris, in some cafe or other public place, they 
 forgathered with a French soldier. In their 
 zeal for information they asked him in their best 
 Ollendorff, " Qu'est-ce que vous pensez de 1'affaire 
 Dreyfus ? ' The question, delivered in a clear, 
 boyish voice at a moment when French feeling 
 on the matter was hectic, secured an embarrassing 
 attention for the travellers.
 
 I 
 s 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 fa 
 
 Id 
 
 O 
 
 Q
 
 A MEMOIR. 25 
 
 In the autumn of 1901 Francis was with the 
 6oth at Cork, whence he sailed in December for 
 South Africa. He indited a farewell letter to 
 Rivy, " the final time I will write you about my 
 affairs before we meet again, you a wealthy City 
 man, and I a poor subaltern with a V.C." There 
 are some characteristic messages. " Send me 
 cuttings out of papers sometimes, such as very 
 good speeches, debates or leading articles in 
 the Times [he had always a craze for leading 
 articles]. You might send me a few big races 
 and some hunts, also any of our pals* weddings, 
 big cricket matches, or any divorce of some pal 
 of ours, or anything startling in the papers. . . . 
 Work hard at the City, keep fit, teetotal, and mind 
 the girls " [his sisters]. A month later he was 
 planted on a hilltop near Harrismith. 
 
 The last months of the South African War 
 were not an enlivening moment to start on the 
 profession of arms. The great hours of the 
 campaign were over, and the war had become a 
 thing of barbed wire and blockhouses, varied by 
 more or less futile " drives ' when the Boer 
 commandos evaded the snares ingeniously set 
 in their sight. Francis would have been very 
 happy in the " drives," and did his best to get 
 his old friend Harry Rawlinson * to take him 
 
 * Now General Lord Rawlinson.
 
 26 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 with him ; but the discipline of the army confined 
 him to garrison work, and, instead of being with 
 the hunt, he had to content himself with the 
 duties of earth-stopper. His letters chiefly tell of 
 meetings with other bored friends, such as Francis 
 Scott, in casual blockhouses, and of the amassing 
 of live stock. " I have no right to any horses ; 
 however, I have two good riding ones, including 
 a polo pony and three cart ponies." . ..." I 
 have bought a Cape cart of a Dutchman, newly 
 done up, for 10. I really gave him 10 as a tip, 
 and he went and stole the Cape cart." . / . . " I 
 have now got four ponies, two good ones. Rather 
 an odd thing happened about one of the ponies we 
 commandeered. First time I used him was to 
 send him to get some milk. Funnily enough, it 
 seemed he belonged to the milkman." He started 
 polo under difficulties, and complained that no 
 shooting was possible at Harrismith, as " all the 
 buck lay the same way as the Boers." He dis- 
 covered that he had been meant by Providence 
 for cavalry rather than infantry a discovery 
 hastened by the arrival of the i4th Hussars. 
 " By Jove," he writes, " there is a difference 
 between cavalry and infantry. I mess with them. 
 At mess the sergeant-major says, ' What will you 
 drink, sir ? I have only whisky, lime-juice, and 
 champagne.* ' It is difficult to see how this re-
 
 A MEMOIR. 27 
 
 sou reef ulness in drinks can have mattered much 
 to Francis, who, like Rivy, was a consistent tee- 
 totaller ; but he liked a lordly way of doing 
 things. " The only way I can make you feel 
 what this life is," he wrote, " is to compare it 
 to your being asked to stay at Melton for five 
 or six months, being offered mounts every day, 
 hearing of the best of sport, and seeing every 
 one going out and not being allowed by your 
 taskmaster to go. That describes this job ex- 
 actly ; only with hunting, you know, you can 
 hunt next year or a year to come, but here I know 
 I shall never get another job of Boer pursuing." 
 He deeply sympathized with the view of an Eton 
 friend who turned up one day with the words, 
 " O Lord ! Twin, which is the way to England ? 
 I'll not be a soldier a week after I get home ! " 
 
 The tedium of those Harrismith days was not 
 improved by Rivy's letters for from now onward 
 the Twins maintained a methodical correspond- 
 ence. Rivy was enjoying that golden time which 
 comes only once in life a popular young man's 
 first entrance into the great world. He was by 
 way of learning the ropes in the City, and'engaged 
 in small but complex transactions on Francis's 
 account, since he had the management of the 
 latter 's slender patrimony. The letters are full 
 of City gossip, which greatly perplexed the lone
 
 28 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 soldier at Harrismith. " Love to all, including 
 the Jew man who helped to make 27 for me. 
 Southern Pacifies sound good, and are in the 
 papers. I can't find Leopoldinas anywhere under 
 City, Stock Exchange, or Markets. What does 
 Yankees mean ? Yankee what ? I can't find that 
 either." 
 
 In January 1902, Rivy was given a post in the 
 office of the Charter Trust, of which his brother 
 Arthur was a director and Lord Grey chairman. 
 But he had plenty of time to spare for amuse- 
 ments, and his letters were full of tantalizing 
 accounts of runs with the Quorn and the Belvoir 
 and the Windsor drag, dances, week-ends at 
 Cliveden, Ascot, and Westonbirt, parties in Lon- 
 don, endless bachelor dinners. Rivy was always 
 an excellent letter writer, and at this stage had 
 not the acute educational interest which ap- 
 peared later, though I find him advising Francis 
 to learn the Times leaders by heart to improve 
 his style, " because they are very good English." 
 Usually his epistles are vivid diaries of his doings. 
 The record of old runs is apt to be " like mouldy 
 wedding cake," but here is a description of a 
 day with Waldorf As tor's drag. 
 
 " I rode Jim Mackenzie's runaway ; they put an india- 
 rubber bit in his mouth which was useless. We started over 
 the rails at Hall Barn, and then went right-handed up the
 
 A MEMOIR. 29 
 
 hill to the farm at the top. Near the farm my quad took 
 charge, so I sat back and rode at one of those large white 
 gates, hit it very hard, pecked very badly, and was shot off. 
 I was soon up. We then checked in Slough road. We started 
 off again down that ride where I once fell over a hurdle with 
 the drag. The grey * ran away and took full charge ; first 
 down a steep hill over some rails ; then across the road into 
 a plough, where I got a little pull ; then over about four 
 fences, and then in jumping a small one he landed on his head 
 and lay there for about five minutes. I took the saddle off 
 and let him get his wind ; then I hacked to the check, which 
 was at the Gerrard's Cross gate of Wilton Park. We started 
 again up the park over the stile in the corner, then right- 
 handed over those two wire fences between the farm and 
 Pitland ; then bore a little to the left you know where 1 
 mean through the fence between the larches and that steep 
 lane. I remembered there was a pit somewhere there, but 
 couldn't remember where. To my horror I found myself 
 unable to stop about five yards from it. So I sat like a mouse, 
 and the brute slithered half-way down, then jumped about 
 ten feet, and away again, as it was open at the bottom. Dal- 
 meny thought I was dead, when to his surprise he looked down 
 and saw me half-way across the next field." 
 
 Rivy's letters contain lists of the friends he 
 ran across, the ladies he danced with, and occa- 
 sional gobbets of political news like this : " Rose- 
 bery wrote to the Times yesterday to cut off all 
 relations with C.-Bannerman ; which has made 
 rather an excitement." Or bibliographic notes 
 such as : 'I will send you out next mail a very 
 good book, Science and Education, by Professor 
 
 * It turned out afterwards that this grey had at some time or 
 other had its jaw broken on both sides, with the result that it got the 
 bit against the jaw bone and could not feel it.
 
 30 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Huxley, which I have marked in several places 
 a sort of book you can read over again. I have 
 often noticed lately, in the leading articles in the 
 Times, * as Professor Huxley says/ Printing- 
 house Square has rarely had a more faithful 
 adherent. But here is a record of a startling 
 adventure. 
 
 " I got a wire from Horace Farquhar [Lord Farquhar] 
 asking me to go and dance at 10.30, so I dined at home and 
 went round. On taking off my coat I asked if there were 
 many people. ' Yes, my lord the King and Queen.' I 
 walked upstairs where a lot of people were standing, and I 
 ought to have stayed there. But like an ass I barged into 
 the drawing-room, where every one was standing at attention. 
 The King walked up and shook me warmly by the hand. I 
 didn't know whether to kiss it or kneel down or what, so I 
 just calmly said, ' How do you do, sir ? ' At that he started 
 off in the most fluent French. ' What, sir ? ' More fluent 
 French. ' I beg your pardon, sir ? ' I didn't understand one 
 word he said, so he repeated the French, in which I caught the 
 words ' tante ' and ' malade.' ' I beg your pardon, sir ? ' I 
 said, standing on one leg. Then he said in English, ' And how 
 is your aunt ? ' ' Very well indeed, sir.' ' Oh no, the one who 
 has been so ill. I am so glad she is much better.' ' Thank 
 you, sir, she is very well.' I simply didn't know what to 
 do or say. ' Are you going to stay here long ? ' (I thought 
 he meant stay dancing.) ' No, sir ; I am going away early.' 
 ' I hope you will stay here some time, as you are such a great 
 traveller. How do you propose to go home ? ' (He meant 
 home to France.) ' I thought of going by the Underground, 
 sir/ That put an end to it. I gave a sort of bow, and went 
 over and shook hands with Lady Farquhar. I then sneaked 
 into the corridor, where we stood about for some time. After- 
 wards I saw Horace Farquhar, and he said the King had
 
 A MEMOIR. 31 
 
 taken me for a Frenchman called Paul de Jaucourt, nephew 
 of Mrs. Hartmann, who has had bronchitis. Princess Pless 
 heard my conversation with the King, so I asked her if I had 
 made a blazing fool of myself. She said I had got out of it 
 very well, and never noticed anything except she could not 
 make out why he spoke French. After I had gone out he 
 asked, ' Who was that ? ' ' Grenfell ! ' ' Good gracious, I 
 have been talking French to him and asking about his aunt ! 
 Why didn't they tell me ? ' He was rather sick, I believe, 
 as he hates making mistakes. . . . Everybody has heard the 
 story, and roars with laughter." 
 
 In March Francis was allowed to join his 
 brother Harold's column in the Western Trans- 
 vaal, and for the next three months had all the 
 movement he wanted. It was just after Lord 
 Methuen's contretemps, and the Boer general op- 
 posed to them was the redoubtable Delarey. He 
 found himself among old friends, such as Jack 
 Stuart- Wortley and Freddy Guest, and the details 
 of the life approximated to the cavalry standard. 
 "Old H. is splendid. Catch him roughing it! 
 He has got an Ai tent he bought at home with 
 every sort of thing inside. We halt, and in 
 about five minutes it looks as if we had been 
 there for ever. . . . On trek his bridles, buckles, 
 boots, breeches, etc., look as if he was at Melton 
 hunting, they are so clean. I have got three 
 niggers now, and hope to be the same." On 
 ist April they just missed rounding up a Boer 
 convoy, and Francis was speedily disillusioned
 
 32 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 as to what galloping meant in that kind of war. 
 " Your opinion is and mine used to be that 
 you saw Boers and galloped at the charge, same 
 speed as the Derby ; but it is very different. 
 Here you have a horse with a kettle hung on 
 him, coat, mackintosh, water bottle, cap, man, 
 200 rounds ammunition, and into the bargain a 
 great crock. You can imagine the pace we go." 
 He was pessimistic, too, about the war and its 
 progress. " How they can say we have conquered 
 this country Heaven knows. If you leave your 
 blockhouse you get sniped, and if you go out 
 with 500 men you get jolly well kicked back 
 into camp. The Boer roams about the whole 
 country as he likes, and yet it is ours." On the 
 nth, however, he obtained his desire, and was 
 for the first time in a serious action at Moedwil, 
 where his column had six killed and fifty-three 
 wounded. " Up to now I had no time to notice 
 wounded, or even to feel in a funk. But the 
 moment the show stopped I felt as if I had had 
 a good shaking and hated it." He was mentioned 
 in dispatches, to his intense annoyance. " Let 
 those that deserve it be mentioned. My job was 
 only a sort of head-waiter's." 
 
 On the 6th of June peace was signed. Harold 
 started for home, and Francis found himself in 
 Johannesburg. There, as the army broke up,
 
 A MEMOIR. 33 
 
 he met a host of friends, and sampled also the 
 local society. He played polo, raced, sold horses, 
 speculated a little like every junior officer at the 
 time, and was lucky enough, through good advice, 
 to make in diamond mines a considerable sum 
 of money, which enabled him to think seriously 
 of going into the cavalry. Spurred on by Rivy's 
 entreaties, he did his best to learn something 
 about gold-mining, and became terribly confused 
 in his earnest study of the markets. He gives 
 amusing pictures of the queer, cosmopolitan life 
 of the place amusing because they are the work 
 of a shrewd and yet most ingenuous observer. 
 Every one who remembers those days on the 
 Rand will appreciate such a note as this : " Old 
 B. has made a lot of money here. The other day 
 he found in the card-room a Jew learning poker. 
 He gave 10 for another Jew's seat, and then 
 took 300 off the learning Jew. He wasn't born 
 yesterday." 
 
 Presently he returned to his regiment at Har- 
 rismith, and stayed with it till the end of the year. 
 He had outstayed his leave on the Rand, and when 
 he arrived at Harrismith was put under arrest. 
 The man who preceded him in his interview with 
 the commanding officer was overcome by the 
 heat, and was carried out in a dead faint. When 
 Francis was led into the presence he observed 
 
 (2,187) 3
 
 34 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 cheerfully to the colonel, " I hope, sir, you are 
 not going to be so hard on me as you've been on 
 that poor chap." Risu solvitur curia. 
 
 Sir Hereward Wake, who was with him during 
 those months, writes : * I played with Francis, 
 Geoffrey Shakerley, and Roddy Brownlow in 
 what was, I think, the first polo tournament 
 Francis played in. It was at Harrismith. There 
 were thirteen teams in, and we (i.e. the 6oth) 
 won. We used to have the most awful rags in 
 the mess in those days, and I will never forget 
 Francis. He was by far the worst of us, though 
 he was a teetotaller." He made strenuous efforts 
 to get away from South Africa, and an A.D.C.- 
 ship to Lord Dudley in Ireland and the chance of 
 service in Somaliland were discussed in turn in 
 the brothers' letters. But nothing happened till 
 the battalion was ordered to India, and Francis 
 returned to England in February 1903. 
 
 At this period Rivy's letters are the better 
 reading. New horizons were opening up for him 
 everywhere, and he gave Francis the benefit of 
 his enlightenment. That summer and winter, in 
 the intervals of dancing, polo, and hunting, he 
 reflected profoundly, and his own and Francis's 
 careers were the object of his thoughts. He had 
 discovered that he was very badly educated, and 
 was determined to remedy the defect. " It don't
 
 A MEMOIR. 35 
 
 matter a damn, I do believe, not having learned 
 at Eton as long as one does so now." So he set 
 to work at a queer assortment of books, and sent 
 the results of his cogitations to Francis. Here are 
 some extracts : 
 
 " Any one can improve his memory. The best way is 
 learning by heart, no matter what, and then, when you think 
 you know it, say it or write it. After two or three days you 
 are sure to forget it again, and then, instead of looking at 
 the book, strain your mind and try to remember it. Above 
 all things, always keep your mind employed. One great man 
 (1 forget which) used to see a number on a door, say 69, and 
 try to remember what had happened in all the years ending 
 in 69. Or see a horse, and try to recall how many you have 
 seen that day. When riding or walking, try to recollect the 
 sayings or events in the last book you have read, or the daily 
 paper. Asquith always learns things by heart. He never 
 wastes a minute ; as soon as he has nothing to do he picks 
 up some book. He reads till 1.30 every night ; when driving 
 to the Temple next morning he thinks over what he has read. 
 Result : he has a marvellous memory, and knows every- 
 thing." 
 
 " I am reading Rose's Napoleon, and will send it to you. 
 What a wonder he was ! Never spent a moment of his life 
 without learning something. ... I went and saw the Corona- 
 tion from Montagu House. The usual show, but I had a good 
 yarn with Francis Scott." 
 
 " I enclose a copy of an essay from Bacon's book. Learn 
 it by heart if you can. I have, and think it a clinker." 
 
 " Since ist June I've read Macaulay's essays on Chatham, 
 Clive, and Warren Hastings. Then an excellent book, Map 
 of Life, by Lecky ; Bacon's Essays ; Life of Napoleon, by
 
 36 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Rose, and Last Phase, by Rosebery. I have also finished Life of 
 Macanlay, most interesting. I've always wondered how our 
 great politicians and literary chaps lived. ... I also send 
 you a Shakespeare. I learned Antony's harangue to the 
 Romans after Caesar's death by heart. I am also trying to 
 learn a little about electricity and railroad organization, so 
 have my time filled up. I tried to buy Moltke's Life, but it 
 is 253. ! Pickwick Papers I also send you. I have always 
 avoided these sort of books, but Dickens's works are miles 
 funnier than the rotten novels one now sees. We shall have 
 to start a correspondence comparing the books we read. 
 Probably you will hate the ones I like, and vice versa, but I'm 
 sure you will love Give." 
 
 " I have learned one thing by my reading and conversation 
 with professors. You and I go at a subject all wrong. Don't 
 read Life of Wellington and the history of his wars, but take 
 a period and study it as a whole." 
 
 There are pages of explanation of City matters, 
 which Francis cannot have read unmoved, as 
 Rivy during the summer contrived by injudicious 
 investment to lose a considerable sum of money 
 for him. It is curious to find Rivy with his 
 ambitions herding among the rastaquouere crowd 
 of minor speculators, intent on little gambles in 
 matters where he had no serious knowledge. 
 Sometimes the wave made by some big vessel 
 carried forward his small cockle-shell, but more 
 often it submerged it, and there was a sad ex- 
 planatory letter to his partner at Harrismith. 
 
 About this time when such explanations were 
 over Rivy took to lecturing Francis on his duties,
 
 A MEMOIR. 37 
 
 and tried to inspire him with his own aims. 
 " H. writes to Arthur that you have the wildest 
 ideas want to return at once, get into a cavalry 
 regiment and play polo and that the sooner you 
 chuck polo and look at the serious side of life 
 the better. I am awfully disappointed, as I 
 hoped to plug at the City and get to the top of 
 the tree, and you at the top of soldiering, instead 
 of a loafer who only plays polo. England would 
 have finished the war sooner if we had had more 
 Kitcheners and fewer polo pros." That was all 
 very well, but in nearly every letter of Rivy's 
 there were lyrical accounts of his own games at 
 Ranelagh and Roehampton, and a good deal 
 more about horse-coping and bachelor dinners 
 than about books. Francis, in his Harrismith 
 solitude, may well have considered that his phy- 
 sician himself needed a little healing. And when 
 at Christmas the same earnest apostle of self- 
 culture went to Paris on education intent, the 
 exile in South Africa may have reflected that he 
 too would be ready to follow a path of duty 
 which led through dinners at the Embassy, Les 
 Folies Dramatiques, Maxim's, and the Cafe" de 
 Paris. 
 
 One pleasant trait of Rivy's was that he felt 
 bound to pass on to Francis any good talk he 
 heard, and faithfully to describe his week-ends.
 
 38 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 He was at Terling when the news came of the 
 signature of peace in South Africa. 
 
 " Lord Rayleigh is a very scientific fellow ; in fact, he is 
 about a generation in front of his time. I don't think I have 
 ever enjoyed a Sunday so much. Lady Rayleigh is Arthur 
 Balfour's sister. The party included Arthur Balfour, Lord 
 and Lady Ribblesdale, Lord and Lady Cobham, Miss Lyttelton, 
 Lord and Lady Cranborne, and Mr. Haldane, K.C., who is 
 supposed to be the cleverest lawyer and philosopher. It was 
 ripping to hear those fellows talk. 
 
 " On Saturday Balfour got a cable from Kitchener to say 
 the voting was going very close, which sent me to bed with 
 rather a headache. However, they kept the telegraph office 
 open all night, and at ten o'clock Sunday morning he got a 
 telegram to say, ' Delegates have signed peace ; Secretary for 
 War is consulting Prime Minister about publishing news.' In 
 the afternoon he got another telegram to say that they would 
 publish the news at four o'clock. I was rather in hopes that 
 they would keep it till Parliament met on Monday, and then 
 one would have got it about five hours in front of everybody 
 else. After dinner on Saturday they discussed peace. Balfour 
 said he did not like the telegram at all, but what made him 
 hopeful was that the City was so confident. In all probability 
 the City knew more about it than he did, as he only heard 
 the news from Kitchener and Milner, against telegrams from 
 all over Africa. This came as rather an eye-opener to me 
 when one considered that fellows in the City were looking to 
 Arthur Balfour as knowing about ten thousand tunes more 
 than they did. . . . 
 
 " I had a good talk to Haldane late in the evening about 
 America, the Shipping Combine, etc. He said that the great 
 difference between the American and the Englishman was 
 that the American boy was always thinking how soon he 
 could get on in business, while the latter was always thinking 
 how long he could keep out of it. . . . 
 
 " Ribblesdale is the best fellow you ever met. For five
 
 A MEMOIR. 39 
 
 minutes he talks about Shakespeare, and for ten minutes 
 about fox-hunting." 
 
 It was on this visit that Rivy heard Mr. Balfour 
 and Lord Rayleigh praising Alice in Wonderland. 
 Deeply impressed, he bought the book as soon 
 as he returned to London and read it earnestly. 
 To his horror he saw no sense in it. Then it 
 struck him that it might be meant as nonsense, 
 and he had another try, when he concluded that 
 it was rather funny. But he remained disap- 
 pointed. He had hoped for something that would 
 afford political enlightenment. 
 
 In February 1903 Francis came home, under 
 orders for India. I think it was on this occasion 
 that Rivy met him at Southampton and found 
 that he had omitted to bring any money. Francis, 
 having spent all his during the voyage, was in the 
 same position. Both happened to be wearing 
 suits of an identical brown. Stewards and other 
 people expecting tips, pursuing Francis, were sud- 
 denly and awfully faced by the apparent duplica- 
 tion of their quarry. They gave up the quest and 
 retired to reflect on their sins. 
 
 The brothers were together for the better part 
 of seven months, so their faithful correspondence 
 ceased. They lived with their sister Dolores at 17 
 Hans Row, and had a pleasant summer of balls and
 
 40 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 polo-playing. Their likeness was a great amuse- 
 ment to them, and often at dances they would 
 change partners, who were quite unconscious of the 
 difference. Rivy used to breakfast at eight and 
 leave for the City, while Francis got up at a more 
 leisurely hour, to the confusion of a new parlour- 
 maid. " This is a funny place/' she declared. 
 " One of the gentlemen has had two breakfasts, and 
 the other has disappeared without having any." 
 
 In September Rivy departed for America " to 
 learn business," taking with him a case of his 
 brother's champagne as provender for the road. 
 He visited many cities, both in the United States 
 and in Canada, acquired a mass of miscellaneous 
 information, and made the acquaintance of Mr. 
 Bonb right, in whose London house he afterwards 
 became a partner. The diary which he kept on 
 his tour showed that he would have made a 
 good commercial journalist, for he had the live- 
 liest interest in all new business organizations 
 and mechanical processes, and considerable power 
 of describing them. He met a variety of people, 
 from Mr. Chauncey Depew and Mr. Hill, the 
 railway magnate, to some of the American polo 
 players whom he was afterwards to know better. 
 The trip was an admirable bit of education, for 
 it gave him a host of new friends, and the weeks 
 of solid work which he put in in a Trust office in
 
 A MEMOIR. 41 
 
 New York were an excellent apprenticeship. The 
 diary is as serious as the works of Mr. Samuel 
 Smiles, but now and then he deals with other 
 things than business. In Denver he went to 
 church. 
 
 " As I was approaching it a nice-looking man accosted 
 me. ' Guess we're late. My name is James ; what's yours ? ' 
 ' Grenfell,' says I, wondering what he wanted with me. As we 
 entered the church my new friend told me I might sit in his 
 pew. I never enjoyed a service so much. It was high church. 
 They had women in the choir and cheery hymns. Just 
 before the sermon the Rector, instead of announcing banns of 
 marriage as I expected, said, ' Friends, Christmas is nearing. 
 I'm going to have a rare old Christmas. These last three 
 years I've been starving myself, but I'm going to alter all 
 that. Everybody, I hope, will join in making Christmas 
 happy. Why, in old times they used to carry the parson 
 out on a stretcher.' I thought this the most outspoken, first- 
 class parson I had yet struck." 
 
 To his delight he found Waldorf Astor in New 
 York, and the two returned home together in 
 December. 
 
 Meantime Francis had left for India, and 
 early in November was with the 6oth at Rawal 
 Pindi. There his soul was at once torn with 
 longings. The sight of racing studs and much 
 polo inflamed his ambition, and the proximity 
 of the Qth Lancers awoke all his hankerings for 
 the cavalry. He had wanted to join the iyth 
 Lancers, but now transferred his affections to the
 
 42 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Ninth, which contained many old friends. At 
 first he did his best to be patient, aided by a wise 
 letter from Harry Rawlinson and some trenchant 
 remarks from Rivy. But the longing could not be 
 repressed, and the cri de cceur breaks out in every 
 letter. " I dined with the Qth last week. By Jove, 
 Mate, a cavalry regiment is different . . . ten old 
 Etonians . . . nicest chaps on earth . . . Colonel 
 won the National ... a fizzer," and so on. His 
 chief argument was his great keenness on polo, 
 about which he could rouse little enthusiasm in 
 his own regiment. He argued thence to military 
 superiority. " David Campbell * is adjutant, and 
 fairly puts in ginger. You can imagine a show 
 run by David Campbell, who is very good at 
 polo, mad keen soldier, won the Grand National 
 and Grand Military." In December it was : 
 " By Jove, Mate, I do hate this walking. It 
 does make one's mouth water to see those chaps 
 riding. " He did not much approve either of 
 the way the foot-slogging manoeuvres were con- 
 ducted. ' The one idea of the umpire is to see 
 who has the most men. If you have a battalion 
 very strongly entrenched and are fought by one 
 and a half battalions, you are said to be beaten. 
 Yet in South Africa fifty Boers delayed and made 
 
 * Major-General Sir David Campbell, who commanded the 2ist 
 Division in the Great War.
 
 A MEMOIR. 43 
 
 it dashed uncomfortable for Buller's whole army." 
 He finished off with the novel plea : " Infantry 
 soldiering is dashed rot and dashed expensive. 
 I have worn out all my walking boots, and now 
 my calf has grown so I cannot get on my polo 
 boots ! ' In despair he besought Rivy to see if 
 the Daily Telegraph would send him as corre- 
 spondent with the Tibet Expedition. 
 
 So the first part of 1904 was passed by Francis 
 in a state of considerable disgruntlement. Not 
 that he was unhappy. He had fallen in love with 
 India and the modest pleasures of a soldier's 
 life there ; but the vision of the joys of cavalry 
 was always at hand to tantalize him. The Qth 
 Lancers warmly urged him to transfer, and he 
 wanted it done at once, that he might have the 
 summer for polo practice and then, as he said, 
 " win everything next year." But the War Office 
 does not move in such torrential fashion, and, more- 
 over, his uncle and his relations generally were 
 doubtful of the wisdom of the step ; so for months 
 there was a complicated correspondence in which 
 Francis filled the part of the moth desiring a 
 star. He did his best to work for his examination 
 in Hindustani, a language which he reprobated 
 on the ground that it was without " literature 
 and fairy tales." But he very often broke loose, 
 and went off to polo matches and steeplechases
 
 44 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 up and down India, excusing himself to the cen- 
 sorious Rivy thus : " While working I thought 
 to myself, ' Why make life a burden, and chuck 
 everything, and then probably fail ? By not buying 
 ponies now I cannot get a chance for next year/ 
 
 So I got leave and started off " The result 
 
 appeared in the next letter. " Yesterday I rode 
 in a steeplechase. Arrived on the course full of 
 dash and no end of a swell. Left it like the chap 
 who last fought Pedlar Palmer black eye, stupid, 
 hand like an apple, and lame ! ' Then he would 
 return penitently to his books. " The munshi 
 says I haven't a chance of passing. By Jove, 
 Mate, I am beginning to feel the effects of never 
 learning Latin Prose at Eton." 
 
 About this time the correspondence between 
 the brothers was remarkably candid. Rivy had 
 a typist to dictate to, Francis scribed with his 
 own (usually damaged) hand ; so when Rivy's 
 epistles were scrappy Francis had something to 
 say. " I have a tremendous lot to tell you, but 
 I am so angry with your letter this mail that I 
 won't write more. It is too bad, Mate. I sweat 
 like blazes to write to you, and I receive a type- 
 written letter from you signed by an infernal 
 clerk." Each gives advice to the other with the 
 utmost frankness. For example, Francis : 'Take 
 a tip from me, old boy : go gingerly with the
 
 A MEMOIR. 45 
 
 reforms in your office. Don't rush in and say, 
 1 This is dashed badly done. In America it is done 
 like this.' We are all so apt to do this, as our family 
 is enthusiastic and impatient. It only gets chaps' 
 backs up and makes everything more awkward." 
 And Rivy : " You say the races are awful rot. 
 Why the deuce do you attend them then ? 
 Oughtn't you to be spending your time much 
 better ? If you spent the time with a book in 
 your hand instead of at some silly race meeting, 
 where you loaf the whole day, it would do you 
 more good." And again on the cavalry question : 
 * I would like to see all your ponies break down 
 and draw your nose to the millstone [sic]. At 
 this moment you look on the Ninth as everything. 
 In a few years you will probably be looking on 
 them as the greatest rotters. Remember that 
 the majority of men who have become great 
 have done so through the necessity of having to 
 work to get their bread and butter." But Francis 
 occasionally got back on his mentor. " Yours 
 of 29th February to hand rather a rotter. It 
 does seem funny you starting polo again. Here 
 am I in the home of polo a ground half a mile 
 off and I haven't played at all, and don't seem 
 to want to. Your letter saying I was so out in 
 S. D. made me put up all my ponies for sale." 
 Francis had considerably outrun the constable
 
 46 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 in his expenditure, and Rivy had taken him 
 gravely to task, adding morosely that things were 
 so bad in the City that stockbrokers were begin- 
 ning to pick up cigarette ends in the street. 
 
 His wrestlings with Hindustani had soured 
 Francis on the intellectual life, towards which 
 Rivy sought to goad him. His letters contain 
 some sensible remarks on the Tariff Reform 
 controversy then raging, but that is all, save for 
 the flickering interest in art revealed by one 
 postscript : " What is the name of the chap who 
 did the pictures of naked ladies at Hertford 
 House, and those things in the Duchess's room 
 at Blenheim ? Not Boucher, was it ? " Rivy, on 
 the other hand, was grappling manfully with his 
 education. In January he was reading Creevey, 
 and much struck by his resemblance to Sir Henry 
 Campbell-Bannerman. " It shows that the times 
 of Pitt, which I have always looked on as beyond 
 reproach, differed very little from our own." At 
 Terling he met Raymond Asquith " whom I 
 have always heard of as the cleverest person of 
 the day " and was much impressed by Raymond's 
 habits. " When I arrived at the Rayleighs' there 
 were a whole lot of fellows talking in the smoke- 
 room and blinking at the fire, except one. Of 
 course you can guess who it was Asquith reading 
 in a corner. In the train coming up, while I read
 
 A MEMOIR. 47 
 
 four pages of my book he read twenty of his." 
 He was desperately afraid of getting the reputa- 
 tion of a flaneur. " Harry Longman said to me 
 quite seriously, * I congratulate you, Rivy.' * What 
 for ? ' says I. 'I hear you and Francis are mil- 
 lionaires/ . . . What a curse it is the way our 
 family, especially you and I, seem to get talked 
 about ! Serious people look on people who are 
 always talked about with suspicion. I hate being 
 a sort of Jubilee Juggins of the gossip world." 
 
 He procured a coach, with whom he read 
 history several hours in the week, and he strove 
 to move in intellectual society. ' I had a topping 
 evening. I had written to ask two professor 
 chaps to dinner, one of them von Halle, head 
 professor in Berlin, the other Mackinder. You 
 would have laughed if you had seen them. They 
 came and dined at the Bath Club at 8.15. About 
 7.30 I got into such a funk at what the devil I 
 should say to them that I got Cecil to come as 
 well. However, as always happens with that 
 sort of chap, they were most easy to talk to and 
 most entertaining." He attended political meet- 
 ings, notably Mr. Chamberlain's in the City ; 
 he dined with Lord Rosebery the evening before 
 the opening of Parliament, and he treasured 
 every fragment of good talk he heard to send to 
 Francis. At Easter he went again to Paris, and
 
 48 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 wrote an amusing account of a stag hunt at Fon- 
 tainebleau. What with one thing and another he 
 had a most varied spring and summer, and his 
 diary is filled with polo matches, City gossip, 
 and the record of dinner-table conversation in 
 about equal proportions. Here are some speci- 
 mens of the last : 
 
 " Met Jack Morgan,* who told me this anecdote. His 
 mother went to see an ostrich farm in California. The keeper, 
 pointing to two fine ostriches, said, ' Those are Lord and Lady 
 Bobs. Bobs is a very docile animal, and very nice to Lady 
 Bobs. Those two are Mr. and Mrs. Morgan. Old Morgan 
 is a crusty brute, and will have nothing to say to his wife.' ' 
 
 " Met Harry Rawlinson in the Park. Talked of Stonewall 
 Jackson, his power as a leader of men and judge of character. 
 Lee was the thinker and Jackson the actor. Harry R. poked 
 my pony in the ribs and said, ' What sort of thing is that ? ' 
 whereat my beast promptly landed his a kick in the stomach." 
 
 " After dinner went to an ' At Home ' of Mrs. Sidney Webb. 
 Met some rum-looking coves there. Had a talk with Mrs. 
 Webb about fiscal policy. A Free Trader joined in, and I 
 argued disgracefully, proved nothing, expressed myself badly, 
 and was rather trodden on by the Free Trader, who knew his 
 points." 
 
 " Dined with Lady Salisbury in Arlington Street a jolly 
 party, composed of Lord Hugh Cecil, Winston Churchill, 
 Lady Mabel Palmer, Neil Primrose, Lady Crewe, Lady Aldra 
 Acheson, and Sir Edgar Vincent. Sat next and bucked to 
 I-ady Aldra. W. Churchill held forth at dinner to the whole 
 
 * Mr. Pierpont Morgan, the younger.
 
 A MEMOIR. 49 
 
 table, discussing invasion. Salisbury said he thought that 
 if one was going to make a speech one ought to do nothing 
 else the whole day." 
 
 " Dined with Lord Rosebery. Party included Dowager 
 Duchess of Manchester, Revelstoke, Crewe, Lady Sibyl Grant, 
 Dalmeny, Mr. and Lady E. Guinness, Brodrick, Haldane, 
 Lady Gerard, etc. After dinner Lord Rosebery and Brodrick 
 chaffed each other. Rosebery quoted some speech of Glad- 
 stone's. ' Yes,' says Brodrick, ' but he continued to say ' 
 and quoted some more of the same speech. How on earth 
 do these chaps get their memories ? . . . Rosebery came and 
 talked to me. I do look up to that man. ... He told a 
 story of Lord Robert Cecil, who is noted, like all Cecils, for 
 his ignorance of horses. A case came up in the courts at 
 which reference was made to a horse's knees. ' Which knee 
 fore or hind ? ' asks Cecil." 
 
 During that summer Rivy had a somewhat 
 serious love affair. He was not what is commonly 
 called susceptible, and made ready friendships 
 with women as he made them with men. His 
 letters are full of the " jolly little ladies '" and 
 
 ' capital girls ' that he was always meeting. 
 But now he stumbled on something rather like a 
 
 ' grand passion,'' and he sighed in vain. The 
 experience made him for the rest of his life curi- 
 ously tender and sympathetic towards others in a 
 like case. I never heard Rivy laugh at even the 
 crudest romance. For a little he was very miser- 
 able, and in the orthodox way he thought of 
 travel. There was another reason why he should 
 
 (2,187) 4
 
 50 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 go abroad. The South African market was in a 
 bad state, and since his work on the Charter 
 Trust was concerned with South Africa, he thought 
 it right that he should go out there and judge 
 things for himself. At the back of his head was 
 a plan to join Francis in India. Sir Clinton 
 Dawkins encouraged the project, so on 23rd July 
 he sailed for the Cape. 
 
 Meantime in India the unwilling rifleman was 
 hovering about the candle of the 9th Lancers. 
 He applied for a transfer, and then, on the advice 
 of his relations, withdrew his application. He 
 was much encouraged by a letter from Sir Douglas 
 Haig, who was then Inspector- General of Cavalry 
 in India. 
 
 " DEAR FRANCIS GRENFELL, I shall be delighted to assist 
 you in any way I can. First, I think you wise to join the 
 Cavalry, because you will have greater opportunities of acting 
 on your own, and more independence than in the Infantry. 
 
 " Next, as to the regiment. You can't do better than join 
 the gth. 
 
 " Lastly, as to working it. Don't fret about two or three 
 years' seniority. You must risk something, especially in the 
 Cavalry. . Officers seem to play leap-frog over one another in 
 the most surprising manner nowadays. So my advice is to 
 take the first chance you can of joining the Qth, either by 
 transfer or exchange. . . . Arrange to come and stay with 
 me here for two or three weeks, and we will do our best to 
 push the matter through." 
 
 For the rest Francis's letters are filled mainly
 
 A MEMOIR. 51 
 
 with obscure details about a buggy to be bought 
 at home, notes about matches and race meetings, 
 and boisterous complaints about the aridness of 
 Rivy's epistles. " A very moderate letter from you. 
 . . . You say nothing of the National, nothing 
 of Cecil, Harold, Arthur, the girls or the uncle. 
 Buck up, old boy, and make that typewriter 
 move. Are you so busy you can only spare 
 time to write * Yours, Rivy ' (badly written), and 
 even have to hand the envelope to be addressed 
 by a chap whose writing made me think it was a 
 bill ? " To which Rivy retorts : " The last two 
 pages of your letter are occupied with telling me 
 of a pony of yours that was gelded. Cannot you 
 find something more interesting and instructive 
 than this to tell me ? I don't care a blow whether 
 every pony in India is gelded to-morrow morning." 
 But the gelding, judging by his exploits, was 
 worthy of a letter. Says Francis later : " My 
 pony Snipe that was gelded has recovered wonder- 
 fully, and laid out two syces. One he kicked in 
 the kidneys. The next day he boxed the new 
 syce, got free, and caught him on the eye with 
 his hind-leg ; so he also lies for dead." 
 
 In spite of his anxieties about his future, 
 Francis had a pleasant year. He played in polo 
 teams which won the championships at Poona 
 and Umballa, and at the latter place he met
 
 52 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Lord Kitchener, who, to his surprise, knew all 
 about his cavalry ambitions and approved them. 
 The news that Rivy was to visit him stirred him 
 to immense exertions, for he was determined 
 that the traveller should have the best that India 
 could offer. He was now genuinely in love with 
 the country. 
 
 " It is the best I've struck, once you've forgotten England. 
 It is not that it is so much cheaper (which it is), but the great 
 thing I find is that every one is so much poorer. No bachelor 
 seems to have more than about 600 a year, and many 100, and 
 the married about 2,000. I am looked on as a Hoggenheimer, 
 whereas in England you contrast with fellows like Harold 
 Brassey. I live like a king servants, carts, horses galore. 
 What more can one want except a wife but on that point 
 there's a famine in the land."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 1904-1905. 
 
 I AM inclined to take the autumn of 1904 as the 
 end of the first clearly marked stage in the Twins' 
 lives after leaving Eton. It was a transition period 
 in which both were trying to decide what they 
 wanted. Francis had not yet found the military 
 groove best suited to him, but he now knew what 
 it was, and he was on the eve of acquiring a true 
 scientific interest in his profession. Rivy, having 
 played about in the City for several years, had 
 acquired a good deal of miscellaneous knowledge, 
 which fell far short, unfortunately, of a rigorous 
 business training. But he had learned one thing 
 the value of education and he was very busy 
 making up leeway. Indeed, he was educating 
 himself apparently rather for Parliament than 
 for business, for all his models were orators and 
 statesmen. Both, too, after experimenting in many 
 sports, had reached the conclusion that polo was 
 the game for them, and were laboriously studying 
 to excel.
 
 54 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Francis in India was wildly excited at the 
 news of Rivy's visit, and sketched the most far- 
 reaching programme. The whole sporting and 
 educational wealth of Hindustan must be at his 
 brother's disposal. Rivy hoped to arrive before 
 Christmas and stay several months, and this was 
 Francis's scheme : 
 
 " Go to Calcutta. Stay with Curzon as Viceroy's guest. 
 Deuce of a dog ! Just like going to England and staying 
 with the King. In mornings see Calcutta trade. Afternoon, 
 racing; see hundreds of pals. Get a little pig-sticking (too 
 early). Then go to Cawnpore biggest trade centre in India. 
 Then do Agra, Delhi, and on to Pindi ; see F. G. ; on to 
 Peshawur and Khyber Pass. Across to Quetta and see other 
 end of frontier. Back, play a little polo, perhaps Sialkote 
 tournament. Go to Lucknow ; play in open tournament in 
 Civil Service Cup race week. Pig stick ; arrange tiger shoot. 
 If possible (doubtful), you have time to go to Mysore for an 
 elephant. This tiger-shooting and pig-sticking will take you 
 into March. Come to Patiala. If I play for gth I shall be 
 there practising for Inter-Regimental. Come to Meerut 
 Inter-Regimental week. End of March, compete in Kadir 
 Cup pig-sticking, best sport in the world. If you only let 
 me know in time, can buy you three good horses. Train to 
 Bombay ; arrange to see trade and town. Tip F. G., get on 
 steamer, and leave about ist April, having had best time in 
 the world." 
 
 This delirious programme was not to be 
 fulfilled. Rivy travelled through Natal and the 
 Transvaal, disliked Johannesburg, visited his 
 brother John's copper mine at Messina, north
 
 A MEMOIR. 55 
 
 of Ptetersburg, and finally reached Rhodesia, 
 where he had a little shooting and began to enjoy 
 himself. " Its crab is that it is full of English 
 gentlemen instead of Jew boys ; consequently 
 everything is run very much a la amateur instead 
 of professional." But on 24th November he sat 
 down in Buluwayo to write Francis a melancholy 
 letter, which is worth quoting for the light it 
 casts on Rivy's mind. 
 
 " I have to write a very sad letter to tell you that I cannot 
 come to India after all. The cursed City seems to have turned 
 round, and a small boom to be in progress. The result is 
 that the Charter Trust want me home. ... I have thoroughly 
 thought the position over the last five days, and, greatly 
 against my will, decided to return. 
 
 " These are the arguments : 
 
 " In favour of staying my full time in Rhodesia and then 
 going to India : 
 
 " (i.) I am comfortably off, and at present don't want 
 more money. I am far more anxious to be a clever and common- 
 sense man with sufficient money than an ordinary rich ' City 
 man ' ; and so it is far better for me to travel and see the 
 world and return to England in four months, which, after 
 all, is not much time to lose, when one has the remainder of 
 one's life to spend in business. 
 
 " (2.) It is far easier when you are away from home to 
 stay away, than it is when you are at home to get leave to 
 go away. 
 
 " (3.) I went straight into the City from Eton, with the 
 intention of travelling when I was twenty-three or twenty- 
 four. 
 
 " (4.) I urgently want to see you and talk with you, Mate. 
 
 " (5.) You have taken enormous trouble and expense on
 
 56 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 my behalf, and bought ponies, and I have bought a dashed 
 rifle for 60 from John which I don't want. 
 
 " (6.) Clinton Dawkins has sent me letters which I sup- 
 pose would help me to go anywhere. 
 
 " Arguments in favour of curtailing my stay here and 
 abandoning India : 
 
 " (i.) I have worked hard for five years in the City with 
 the idea of making business my career ; and to miss ' good 
 times ' when you have been through the ' bad times ' and 
 learned fairly thoroughly your trade is the same thing as a 
 soldier studying soldiering during a long peace and then not 
 going to the war when the chance comes. 
 
 " (2.) The idea of my travelling in America and Africa 
 has been, besides getting a good education, to learn the oppor- 
 tunities that offer in the countries, to turn them to some good. 
 I have already lost a good chance by Americans having done 
 well (and especially the railways I saw) since I have been in 
 Africa. 
 
 " (3.) It has been dashed good of the Charter Trust to 
 let me go away two years running (though without a salary) 
 and see the world. 
 
 " (4.) In India I should be enjoying myself, and should 
 learn nothing of business. 
 
 " (5.) There is a possibility of John and Arthur floating a 
 Copper Co. within the next six months. Having learned all 
 about the copper, I should look an uncommon fool if it was 
 brought out and everybody made money except you and me, 
 who were playing polo in India. 
 
 " With these opinions, I think it is my duty to chuck my 
 pleasure and great desire and return at once to business. 
 O my God, Mate, I am sick about it though, and fear you will 
 be greatly disappointed." 
 
 So by the end of the year Rivy was back in 
 London, full of large schemes of reading. In 
 South Africa he had ploughed his way through
 
 A MEMOIR. 57 
 
 Lecky's History, and Morley's Burke liad whetted 
 his interest in that great writer. So as soon as he 
 got home he purchased Burke in twelve volumes, 
 and Butler's Sermons, this latter on the ground 
 that it was a book " that Chatham, Pitt, and Glad- 
 stone studied." He was very grateful for any 
 advice which gave him a clue to help him through 
 the labyrinth of his education. " Hugh Cecil 
 told some one that every day of his life he reads a 
 good speech and tries to reason out all the original 
 ideas which must have brought the thoughts into 
 the speaker's mind, and studies how they begin 
 and end their speeches." Lord Hugh was now by 
 way of becoming his exemplar in many things 
 " an absolute clinker and brilliant in every way ; 
 he makes one roar with laughter, quotes Shake- 
 speare, etc., and makes most clever jokes." 
 
 In January 1905 he stayed at Hatfield, and 
 wrote to Francis a long account of his visit. The 
 Lyttons, Lady Mabel Palmer (Countess Grey), 
 Miss Maud Lyttelton (Mrs. Hugh Wyndham), 
 the Harry Whites, Lady Edward Cecil, Lord 
 Hugh, and George Peel were there. 
 
 " After dinner acted charades. They chose most difficult 
 words in fact, names of people that my education had never 
 reached yet Hugh Cecil guessed every one. . . . They have 
 a most magnificent library, and a chapel bang in the centre 
 of the house ; indeed, to go from one end of the house to the
 
 58 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 other you have to pass through the chapel, only the altar 
 being consecrated. ... In a quarter of an hour one learns 
 history by simply walking through these rooms. ... It 
 seems to me that people like the Cecils simply cannot help 
 being clever ; in each room are pictures of Prime Ministers, 
 etc. Four of their ancestors have been Prime Ministers 1 ... 
 They fairly do teach their children. The Salisbury boy, aged 
 eleven, has read nearly all the family papers. They have a 
 little boy three years old, and I assure you he knows far 
 more English poetry than me." 
 
 Francis, too, was not without his taste of 
 society. He went to Calcutta for the Viceroy 's 
 Cup, saw the races from the Cooch Behar box, 
 and dined with Lord Kitchener. " Bachelor din- 
 ner," he wrote, " and played pool afterwards. Met 
 Hood,* who is in command of a battleship here. 
 He's a proper good chap. Didn't care a damn 
 for Lord K. ; bellowed at him as if he was Jones. 
 Such a change after frightened soldiers." 
 
 Rivy's devotion to duty was to be rewarded. 
 On his return to the City he found that he could 
 be spared for a couple of months, and on 3rd 
 February he was in the Dover train on his way 
 to India, " studying Burke on American Taxa- 
 tion." 
 
 Rivy's Indian trip was one of the most success- 
 ful expeditions that ever fell to a young man's 
 
 * Rear-Admiral Hon. H. L. A. Hood, who went down in the 
 Invincible at the Battle of Jutland.
 
 A MEMOIR. 59 
 
 lot. Nothing happened to mar its perfection, 
 and he returned in three months, having had his 
 fill of every form of Indian sport, and having won 
 the blue ribbon of a game which he had never 
 tried before. He picked up Waldorf Astor at 
 Brindisi, and the two of them were deathly sea- 
 sick on the voyage to Port Said. " Went to 
 dinner, found the captain and one other out of 
 forty passengers, ate three courses, and was sick 
 between each," is an entry in his diary. He 
 arrived at Bombay on lyth February, and on 
 the i Qth found Francis at Bareilly. Francis had 
 grown a moustache, which just made the Twins 
 distinguishable. 
 
 For the next month Rivy was the intelligent 
 tourist bent on seeing as many of the sights as 
 were consistent with polo, pig-sticking, and the 
 persevering study of Burke. He went first to 
 Agra ; then to Meerut, where he played a good 
 deal of polo and had his first experience of pig- 
 sticking, riding Francis's horse " Barmaid " ; then 
 to Umballa to stay with Eustace Crawley ; then 
 to Patiala, w r here the Settlement Commissioner, 
 Major Young, instructed him in Indian problems, 
 and he had a little pig-sticking ; then to Peshawur 
 by way of Umballa and Lahore. He was back 
 in Lucknow by i7th March, staying with Henry 
 Guest, and then on to Benares. At Bareilly he
 
 60 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 went to a " pig-sticking week >: with Francis, 
 Henry Guest, and Lord Charles Fitzmaurice, and 
 had four days of it. His diary records his dis- 
 appointment : " Most of us came to the con- 
 clusion that even if the pig were there it could 
 not be compared to fox-hunting. One wants to 
 find pig every fifteen minutes to make it really 
 amusing. Another drawback to my mind is that 
 when a party goes out, if one part enjoys it the 
 other members have probably had no rides, and 
 so been bored to death. Charlie Fitzmaurice was 
 very fed up." After that he returned to Agra 
 to see the Pearl Mosque again, and then to Delhi, 
 where he studied the battlefield of the Ridge. 
 On a6th March he and Francis started for the 
 ground of the Kadir Cup meeting, which that 
 year was held in the Sherpur country. 
 
 The Kadir Cup is the Derby of the sport of 
 pig-sticking, and is run off each spring in a selected 
 area of jungle. Rivy had been first introduced 
 to that noble game exactly twenty-three days 
 previously, so his boldness in competing may be 
 likened to that of a man who takes on the master- 
 ship of a famous pack of hounds after a few 
 weeks in the hunting field, or a novice who 
 leaves the jumps of a riding school to ride in 
 the Grand National. I quote the tale of his ex- 
 ploit exactly as he wrote it in his diary. The field
 
 A MEMOIR. 61 
 
 was enormous, there being over a hundred com- 
 petitors. 
 
 " 26th March, Sunday. 
 
 " Got to camp about 12.30. Most delightful situation. 
 Generals Mahon * and Douglas Haig there, and we made 
 many pals. At 5 p.m. F. G. and I went out riding and schooled 
 the horses, nearly slaying two wretched cattle in the attempt. 
 Found a sow and galloped after her. A jolly evening, and 
 to bed early. 
 
 " 2jth March, Monday. 
 
 " Breakfast at 6.45. The first round of the Kadir was run 
 off. I drew General Mahon and Douglas Haig, and rode 
 'Cocos' first. We were in the third heat, and got away after 
 being one hour on the line. I was first on to the pig, being 
 some way in front ; but my horse slipped up on the flat, and 
 so General Haig got the spear. Francis made all the running 
 in his heat, and won. We then rode on an elephant and 
 watched the remaining heats. 
 
 " F. G. was beaten on position in his second heat by 
 Barrett. He was first on the pig, and did most of the riding; 
 but it jinked, and Barrett got the spear. I was on the line 
 for nearly three hours in my second heat. We had three 
 false starts, and lost our pig in some very heavy goul after a 
 short ride. At last we got away, with every one shouting 
 at different pig from the elephants. Haig (again drawing the 
 same heat) and I got on to a very fast sow, and had a heavy 
 gallop ; and I speared her, only to find we had gone after the 
 wrong one, and the heat was declared off ! 
 
 " 2&th March, Tuesday. 
 
 " The line started at 8. Our heat was first run off. We 
 were slipped up to an old pig, and I, getting up to him first, 
 soon speared. Two hours after I had to run off the next 
 round, in rather a hot heat of Last and Kennard. We got a 
 good start to a fast pig. ' Barmaid ' went like a gun, and 
 
 * General Mahon had won the Kadir Cup in 1888.
 
 62 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 soon got a long lead, and I got first spear. F. G. drew White 
 and Learmouth. He rode ' Recluse ' and cut out most of the 
 work ; but the pig jinked right back, and let in White, who 
 got the spear. 
 
 " 2gth March, Wednesday. 
 
 " A red-letter day for me. The line started at 8.30 for the 
 semi-finals. Three heats were left in two threes and a four. 
 I was in the four heat, composed of Barratt (i5th Hussars), Last, 
 Neilson (4th Hussars), and myself. We were quite two and a 
 half hours on the line, and had three false starts. At last we 
 got away to a jinking pig. Last and I did most of the riding, 
 with Barrett some way behind. Last nearly got a spear once, 
 and we bumped unavoidably. The pig then jinked right 
 back to Barrett, who was about to spear him, when I came up 
 with a rush. The pig jinked across my front ; he speared him 
 very lightly behind, while I ran him through and broke my 
 spear. The umpire said he would give it to Barrett if he 
 could show blood, but luckily for me he couldn't. It would 
 have been bad luck for me if I had lost this spear, as I did 
 most of the riding. So I qualified for the final. ' Barmaid ' 
 went wonderfully, but got rather beat, as it was a severe heat. 
 
 " On returning to the line I was met by F. G. and General 
 Mahon. F. G. then became stud groom. We took ' Barmaid ' 
 and let her stand in the river, and then she had three good 
 rolls in the sand. After an hour's rest we started for the 
 final Pritchard (2nd Lancers) (on 'Toffee,' the horse which 
 F. G. tried to get me for 100, but Pritchard would only sell 
 'Barmaid' f 01^^40), Ritchie of the I5th, and myself. We 
 soon got a good start on a pig, and I was on him first and 
 drew some way to the front, and just got a spear as he jumped 
 into a nullah. The mare jumped right over him and knocked 
 the spear, which was smashed, out of my hand. The pig 
 carried my spear some yards. It was a grand feeling as the 
 spear ran into him to think I'd won the Kadir. Pritchard 
 naturally appealed, as I'd dropped the spear, but the com- 
 mittee upheld the umpire's decision. 
 
 " In the afternoon the Hog-hunter's Cup, a point-to-point
 
 ^Sk. ' V-: 
 
 4. J
 
 A MEMOIR. 63 
 
 over three and a half miles, was run, and F. G. won easily on 
 ' Cocos,' going a line of his own the whole way. This rather 
 made people stare, our carrying off the two chief events of 
 the day. F. G. and I then went out and found the pig killed 
 in the final which had been lost, and hacked thirteen miles to 
 Gujraula and caught the train for Calcutta. ... I went 
 round to the Viceregal Lodge, and found Nipper Poynter as 
 A D.C. there. I shall never forget the look of astonishment 
 on his face when I told him I'd won the Kadir." 
 
 So much for the interloping Rivy's perform- 
 ance in a " game he did not understand." The 
 history of the Kadir Cup, and indeed of Indian 
 sport, hardly contains a parallel. It was the 
 first time that the Cup had left India. He spent 
 the next few weeks shooting at Cooch Behar 
 with the Maharajah and his sons, and had a 
 variety of sport tiger, rhino, and leopard. On 
 the whole he thought Indian shooting overrated. 
 !< It is too civilized. * To have been tiger-shoot- 
 ing ' always sounded in my ears the same as to 
 have 'gone through a battle and run great risks 
 of one's life. It is not so. The meanest, most 
 diminutive person might as easily shoot twenty 
 tigers as the boldest and the fittest. Yet it is worth 
 a very long journey to see the immense jungle, 
 the elephants, and all the wild and delightful 
 surroundings of the Indian forests." He also 
 reflected a good deal on the difficult question 
 of the education of Indian princes in England,
 
 64 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 and came to the conclusion that Lord Curzon's 
 policy of discouragement was right. On 22nd 
 April he bade a sad farewell to Francis at Bombay, 
 and on 5th May he was dining with Harry Raw- 
 linson, Lord Lovat, and his brother Arthur in 
 London. 
 
 Rivy spent most of May in his annual training 
 with the Bucks Yeomanry. In that month of 
 gorgeous weather he greatly enjoyed himself, and 
 in his spare hours he started a polo club in the 
 regiment. For the rest his main interest that 
 summer was polo, and he and his brothers Cecil 
 and Arthur played steadily all the season at Hurl- 
 ingham and Roehampton. To tell the story of 
 those matches would weary the reader, for of all 
 games polo is the worst subject for the resurrec- 
 tionist. An arid chronicle of strokes and goals 
 achieved or missed cannot reproduce the glamour 
 of those delectable days. A young man living in 
 London and regularly playing polo recaptures the 
 delights of school time. He is in the pink of 
 bodily health, and, as a background to his work 
 in office or chambers or barracks, has that happy 
 world of greensward arid glossy ponies, where of 
 an afternoon and a Saturday he pursues a sport 
 which combines the delicate expertness of the 
 tennis court and the swift excitement of the
 
 A MEMOIR. 65 
 
 hunting field. Rivy had a most successful season. 
 ' My record," he wrote in September, " is cer- 
 tainly not bad, considering I have only played 
 for three years. I have won the Novice's Cup, 
 the Junior Championship (besides being in the 
 final. twice), the Roehampton Cup twice, and the 
 Rugby Open Cup, besides most of the London 
 Handicap Tournaments." 
 
 In May Francis attained the desire of his 
 heart and joined the Qth Lancers. Just before 
 leaving he had become very keen on his work 
 with the 6oth, and was busy lecturing to his 
 company. * By Jove," he wrote, " soldiering 
 is interesting when you train the men yourself. 
 ... I think I know Clive nearly by heart, and 
 if only I could get hold of a picture of him, I 
 could imagine him walking about. I lectured the 
 men on him, which they liked very much." At 
 last came the moment of parting. 
 
 " I left the regiment on Wednesday, and dined on Tuesday 
 as a guest at a small farewell dinner. I am bound to say when 
 the time came I was most awfully sorry to go. It seemed so 
 funny to think that with the morrow I would be no more a 
 Rifleman, and I fear for a while I became like Amelia and could 
 not restrain the bitter tear. I think they were all sorry I 
 left. It is a consolation to think I leave behind me no regrets, 
 as I have never had words with any one." 
 
 A few days later : 
 
 (2,187) ft
 
 66 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 " Here I am, R. G., at last a cavalry soldier, and as happy 
 as any millionaire or cheery bankrupt (whichever of the two 
 is the happiest). I am already attaining the cavalry air 
 slap my leg, wear spurs with no end of a rattle, and discuss 
 the infantry rather like we Etonians used to talk of the boys 
 at Westminster ! ... Of course, R. G., I know that I join 
 on most favourable conditions, as all the men and N.C.O.'s 
 have heard about the polo, and about the second day after 
 my arrival every London paper contained an enormous picture 
 of R. G. This has been a great topic here, as all the regiment 
 think it is me I 
 
 " To-day the farrier-corporal of my troop, who has been 
 shoeing my ponies, said they were the finest lot of cattle he 
 had seen. Then says he, ' You've got a terrible wonderful 
 name for polo in the regiment, sir.' So you see I have joined 
 with trumpets sounding and drums beating, and already I 
 find that my chief difficulty is not from want of feeling at 
 home, but from being too much at home to keep a back seat. 
 However, I mean to keep a back seat until I know my job 
 and have got the measure of all officers." 
 
 The Ninth at the time were commanded by 
 Claude Willoughby, who had married Francis's 
 old friend, Miss Sybil Murray of Loch Carron. 
 Francis's squadron leader was Lord Frederick 
 Blackwood. The change woke all his military 
 ambitions. " I am going to try, now I am settled 
 down, for two stages (i) to be adjutant of this 
 regiment ; (2) to go to the Staff College. ... I 
 find my four years with the 6oth have been an 
 invaluable experience, as I have that confidence 
 which all possess who think they have been 
 taught in a better school. Though I have been
 
 A MEMOIR. 67 
 
 here only a fortnight, I find there are several, 
 who are supposed to be teaching me, that I 
 could teach. But I am doing my utmost to 
 keep my mouth shut and learn all I can. The 
 N.C.O.'s and men are first class a much better 
 class than the infantry. Of course I find the 
 riding chaps superior in the same way as we 
 fox-hunters think the huntsman superior to the 
 gamekeeper. If you can't grasp my meaning, it 
 would take me so much time to explain that you 
 would become weary, so I will leave you in dark- 
 ness. The difference between the cavalry and 
 the infantry soldier is the same as the difference 
 between Tom Firr or Thatcher and the leading 
 gamekeeper, or between the huntsman of the 
 O.B.H. and Tom Boon. Both, of course, do their 
 work equally well, but one is the nicer to deal 
 with." And at the end he becomes humbler. 
 " By Jove, R. G., I have never appreciated before 
 the good fortune and kindness we receive from 
 the Almighty. Here am I, a good rider and very 
 fond of it, yet I ride only the best horses. But 
 some of the men ! A man is given a horse known 
 to be next door to impossible. Some cannot ride, 
 and are frightened to death. Yet they must ride 
 over the jumps horses that cannot jump, pull and 
 probably run away." 
 
 Francis shared a house at Rawal Pindi with
 
 68 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Lord F. Blackwood, and boasted of its comfort, 
 its quiet, and the opulence of its chintzes. He 
 compared it to its advantage with the Bath Club, 
 where Rivy had now gone to live. But in July 
 he found a crumpled leaf in his bed of roses. 
 " R. G., you made * in theory 'to me, some years 
 ago, the observation that it was in the end better 
 to live by oneself and not share a house with a 
 pal. What you said in theory I have been through 
 in practice. Old Freddie has just returned. The 
 first thing I spied among his kit was a gramophone. 
 He turns it on morning, noon, and night. It is 
 quite comical. Old Freddie is one of the best, 
 but he sits, at the age of thirty, the whole day 
 listening to the same old tune, the same old story, 
 the same old ' Bull and Bush.' ... I am trying 
 to work in spite of the heat, Freddie and his 
 gramophone." 
 
 He worked to some purpose. ' I must say," 
 he wrote in August, " I like working far more 
 than anything else when I am at it." He stuck 
 steadily to his books, and I find him offering to 
 send Rivy " a clinking book of notes on strategy 
 of Jap. War, stolen from Lord K" He was de- 
 voted to the Commander-in- Chief, from whom 
 he purloined books. Reggie Barnes * told him of 
 
 * Now Major-General Sir R. Barnes ; commanded the West Lanc3 
 (Territorial) Division in France.
 
 A MEMOIR. 69 
 
 Lord Kitchener's methods of work information 
 which he passed on to Rivy. " He is up at 6 
 every day, and writes till 8.30 ; then on after 
 breakfast till 2, and then two hours in afternoon. 
 All his correspondence is done by his A.D.C.'s, 
 who typewrite for him either Fitzgerald, Victor 
 (Brooke), or Reggie ; he never gives anything to 
 a clerk, so that nothing leaks out." In October 
 Lord Kitchener lunched with the Ninth. " I 
 think he likes us awfully. His first remark is 
 always, * Hullo ! how are the Ninth ? Been 
 killing any more black men ? * In the Curzon- 
 Kitchener controversy Francis, of course, took 
 the soldier's side and upheld the military against 
 the civil arm ; but he had a great regard for the 
 new Viceroy, Lord Minto " a sporting fellow 
 who has ridden three times in the Grand 
 National, and one of the few living who has 
 broken his neck steeplechasing." At the end of 
 October he had the pleasure of informing Rivy 
 that he had come out top in the first part of 
 his examination, and had won a certificate of 
 distinction. 
 
 Upon this Francis, who had suffered a good 
 deal from Rivy's scathing comments on his lec- 
 tures, especially the celebrated one on Clive, 
 thought it was time for him to adopt the role of 
 mentor. So he thus addresses his brother :
 
 70 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 " Now for business. What good are you doing in the 
 City? 
 
 " I have been thinking about you and your future pros- 
 pects for some time, and I have quite come to the opinion 
 that you are wasted hunting for money. In England people 
 are very narrow-minded, and the ruling idea (especially in 
 our family) is that one must be rich. 
 
 " I am beginning to think otherwise. To be rich is very 
 nice, but you are no happier, and you do your country no 
 good. Both C. and A. have been successful, but beyond 
 buying extra hunters, deer forests, and houses, to me they 
 have not attained a very high position. I would rather you 
 chucked the City. I think you should enter Parliament and 
 work your way to the Cabinet ; I would far rather you suc- 
 ceeded in politics than in the City. 
 
 " You know Hugh Cecil, Milner, and Co. They should 
 all give you advice. I hope you will think this over, and that 
 your thoughts will be guided rather by the amount you will 
 help the nation than by the amount with which you will fill 
 your pocket. 
 
 " As we stand at present we have not done badly : 
 
 " The Uncle .... General 
 
 " Uncle Harry . . . Admiral. 
 
 " First Cousin Jack Maxwell General. 
 
 " Harold .... Colonel. 
 
 " R. G Winner of Kadir. 
 
 " F. G Championship. 
 
 " Cecil and in National. 
 
 " It is about time the City chaps gingered up ! Chuck the 
 City and become Minister of War, and I will get on the Army 
 Council to help you." 
 
 To this flattering injunction Rivy replied : 
 " You discuss in your letter my future. I, oddly enough,
 
 A MEMOIR. 71 
 
 have been thinking this over for some months. In fact, ever 
 since I've travelled and read I have more and more seen that 
 money is not everything, and my feeling has been politics 
 and not business. But I am convinced of one thing that 
 the greatest mistake one can make is to go into politics without 
 being exceedingly well furnished, having determined absolutely 
 on your principles, and feeling that you are prepared to back 
 them up with all earnestness, and, so to speak, with your life. 
 Now, many people enter Parliament as Tories because their 
 fathers were Tories, and then find, after some years, that they 
 did not know what Tories and Liberals were, and that their 
 whole sentiments are really Liberal ; just as you entered the 
 infantry because your uncle was there, and found later you 
 were born for cavalry. 
 
 " I really inwardly don't know whether I am Tory or 
 Liberal, Free Trader or Protectionist, and so I have decided 
 to stay on in the City and earn a good living, but shall not 
 do more work than I find necessary there. I have been fear- 
 fully slack about business in the last six weeks, and read history 
 whenever I got a chance. In this way I hope in about five 
 years to have thoroughly mastered the various opinions and 
 principles of our political leaders, and traced through history 
 how those opinions came to be formed, and discovered whether 
 I agree with them. At the same time I shall have my busi- 
 ness, which will, therefore, make my reading a hobby, and I 
 shall be building up some capital, and shall, if I want to, 
 enter politics well furnished and keen and prepared to join 
 in the contest ; whereas so many people who start politics at 
 twenty-five are bored with them at thirty-three. Chamberlain 
 never entered till he was forty. ... I shall gradually try to get 
 to know fellows of the Hugh Cecil class, but I want them to see 
 me as an earnest, hard-working chap, not as a stupid stay-at- 
 country-houses-go-to-balls sort of idiot." 
 
 Rivy certainly read all that year with praise- 
 worthy persistence. He seems to have found
 
 72 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 novels a toughish proposition, and generally notes 
 in his diary how he set his teeth and plugged 
 away till he finished one. For example : " I have 
 finished Vanity Fair. Read like a Trojan for four 
 days. It is a good book. I never thought Rebecca 
 would turn out such a hot 'un." Burke, on the 
 other hand, had power to make him forget time 
 and place, as witness this entry : " Wednesday I 
 was to have gone to a ball, but after dinner began 
 reading my Burke, and am ashamed to say that 
 I read till 2.45 a.m." In a letter to Francis, in 
 which he made hay of the prose style of that 
 laborious soldier, he bids him have recourse to 
 Burke, " who, though elaborate, is the finest 
 example of the English language." Rivy, indeed, 
 about this time had a curious passion for serious 
 writers, and does not seem to have needed the 
 work on " Concentration " with w r hich Mrs. Corn- 
 wallis-West presented him. At Eaton, " where 
 there is a fine but ugly library that no one uses 
 but me," he read Venus and Adonis, which he 
 considered " delightful, and fine English." He 
 studied the Iliad in Pope's translation, largely 
 during working hours in his City office. "It is 
 a first-class book, full of descriptions of battles, 
 great orations of generals, both before and dur- 
 ing a battle, and wonderful deeds of the heroes 
 interested, who slay everybody." He copied
 
 A MEMOIR. 73 
 
 extracts from Bacon's Essays to send to Francis to 
 point his lectures to his troops. He considered 
 Morley's Life of Gladstone " a delightful book " 
 (an epithet almost as unexpected as Raymond 
 Asquith's answer to the stock question as to 
 whether he had read that formidable work ; his 
 reply was, " Often "). At the end of December 
 he mentions that in the previous three months 
 he had got through " history up to 1860 ; Vanity 
 Fair ; Homer's Iliad (five volumes) ; Grenville 
 Papers (three volumes) ; Life of Macaulay ; a 
 fair sprinkling of Burke 's speeches and his Life 
 by Morley ; Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice 
 (twice) ; S.'s Julius Ctesar ; Europe and Asia, by 
 Townsend ; Oliver Twist ; a little of Childe 
 Harold ; a book on Napoleon's strategy." 
 
 In addition to this miscellaneous reading, he 
 discovered a restless interest in military history, 
 and worked as if he had had the Staff College in 
 prospect. All during the autumn and winter he 
 was coached by Dr. Miller Maguire in the strategy 
 and tactics of famous campaigns an arrangement 
 in which Francis joined later, and which continued 
 right up to the outbreak of the Great War. 
 
 But the " earnest, hard-working chap " was not 
 averse to the country-house visits and balls from 
 which we have seen that he desired his name to 
 be dissociated. On 7th June he writes :
 
 74 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 " Went to a first-class show at Londonderry House. Talk 
 about the Patiala jewels ! One would not have noticed them. 
 The King and Queen and King Alfonso of Spain were there. 
 I got hold of Sybil Grey, who is just back from Canada, and 
 we pushed our way through the people ; stared at kings and 
 queens, elbowed princes, jostled dukes, stepped on mar- 
 quises, ignored earls and generals, and as for commoners we 
 treated them like dirt. It really was capital fun. I found 
 innumerable pals, and had a lot of chaff. The King amused 
 me very much. He is a grand old John Bull, and had a 
 broad grin on his face from beginning to end. The King of 
 Spain is a nice-looking young man of nineteen. I met Miss 
 Whitelaw Reid. Her father has just come over as American 
 Ambassador. He has taken Dorchester House, and I fancy 
 pays about 8,000 a year for it. She said, ' I have not yet 
 explored the whole house, but I guess you could just slide 
 grandly down those stairs on a tea-tray.' ' 
 
 On Qth June : 
 
 " I met Harry Dalmeny, who amused me very much. 
 What an extraordinary chap he is ! Everybody who plays 
 county cricket sweats blood and goes to bed about 10. Not 
 so Harry. He went to a ball on Friday night and stayed till 
 3 in the morning. Next day he played against Essex, 
 and knocked up sixty-five runs in about an hour." 
 
 On 1 5th July he was staying at Buckhurst 
 with the Robin Bensons. 
 
 " We had a jolly party Sybil Grey, Miss Brodrick, 
 Paul Phipps, Geoffrey Howard, Douglas Loch and his new 
 wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Asquith, the latter a most charming 
 lady. I asked her how Asquith spent his time, to which she 
 replied by going into the minutest details. She told me he 
 earned 5,000 a year at the Bar (I always thought he earned
 
 A MEMOIR. 75 
 
 about 14,000), but he is prohibited by his Parliamentary 
 duties from undertaking certain cases. She told me he lived 
 entirely by rules. He gets up at 8.45, and is at his chambers 
 or in the Courts by 10.30, and works there till 5. He then 
 goes to the House of Commons and stays till 8, when he 
 returns for dinner ; he then goes back to the House till 12. 
 After that, regularly for every day of his life, he reads for two 
 hours. Supposing he goes to a party and does not return till 
 2, he still sits up and reads for two hours, either his briefs 
 or some serious book, and finishes up with a .novel in bed. In 
 discussing certain people she told me that Arthur Balfour 
 was not very well educated in the ordinary sense. I wonder 
 what she would say about you and me, F. G. She would 
 probably compare our brains with an Irishman's whisky 
 bottle empty." 
 
 In August he went to the Westminsters at 
 Eaton for a polo week. The house he thought 
 * the most enormous place I was ever in, but 
 dreadfully ugly, just like the Natural History 
 Museum with two wings added to it." " G. 
 Wyndham (War Minister) came over every day 
 and brought Hugh Cecil. The latter was much 
 interested, and said he * admired the bravery of 
 the players, while he sat like a miserable weed in 
 a tent/ ' In the beginning of September he was 
 in Ireland, staying with Lord Grenfell at the Royal 
 Hospital, and playing a good deal of polo. After 
 that he went to Ashby St. Ledgers to stay with 
 Ivor Guest, where the conversation must have 
 been curious. " Ivor started an argument after 
 dinner which continued for about three and a half
 
 76 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 hours on : * Granted that one's time is limited, is 
 it better to read all the masterpieces once and 
 then read them through again, rather than read 
 the masterpieces and then the sidelights referring 
 to them ? ' Ivor argued that a man would do 
 best to read the masterpieces only, whereas 
 Winston and Lytton said it was better to read 
 other books as well, so as to check the master- 
 pieces, for many people learned far more from 
 outside books than from the very highest au- 
 thorities." There is also this note : " Winston 
 Churchill is undoubtedly exceedingly able, but 
 if you mention a subject to him he instantly must 
 go into an oration. We talked of the Curzon- 
 Kitchener methods. He went into an oration 
 about the Commander-in- Chief being an autocrat, 
 and its danger, etc. By-and-by I discovered that 
 neither Winston nor Ivor had read a word of any 
 of the Blue Books on the subject." From Ashby 
 St. Ledgers he went to Polesden Lacey to stay 
 with Sir Clinton Dawkins, and there he met Lord 
 Milner, who was gradually taking place along with 
 Lord Hugh Cecil as the chief object of his ad- 
 miration in public life. 
 
 In pursuance of the political training which 
 he had laid down for himself, Rivy began that 
 autumn to practise speaking. There was then a 
 great revival of interest in politics in England.
 
 A MEMOIR. 77 
 
 Mr. Balfour's Government was known to be on 
 the eve of resignation, and everywhere caucuses 
 were girding their loins and getting ready for a 
 general election. In spite of his cross-bench 
 professions, Rivy found himself ranging with the 
 Unionists. Most of his friends were of that 
 persuasion ; he was an ardent Imperialist ; he 
 seems to have been a convinced, though imper- 
 fectly informed, Tariff Reformer ; and he had 
 strong views on that question of Chinese Labour 
 in South Africa which was to play so sinister a 
 part at the polls. His first adventure in oratory 
 was not very successful. On i8th October he 
 writes in his diary : * Went to a debate at the 
 London School of Economics, and spoke for ten 
 minutes on * Unpopularity of Railways ' ; was 
 called to order for straying from the subject ; had 
 to read most of my speech." His next attempt 
 was more fortunate. " Attended meeting at Brix- 
 ton, and spoke for thirty-five minutes on Imperial 
 Responsibilities in South Africa. Biggest attempt 
 I have yet made. Knew the speech so well I 
 hardly had to look at my notes. George Bowles 
 in the chair. Capital fun. A band, and a very 
 jolly evening." He also lectured somewhere on 
 Conscription, and sent his MS. to Francis, who 
 replied thus : ' I have read your lecture. What 
 must have struck all who heard it, and what
 
 7 8 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 struck me most when I read it, was, how you 
 could have said so much and touched m so little 
 on the real subject." 
 
 On 5th December, during that uneasy time 
 when Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was form- 
 ing his new Ministry, Rivy went to stay at Hat- 
 fie^d. His account of his visit deserves quotation. 
 
 " Tuesday. 
 
 " A large party, including Asquith and Mrs., Mrs. Laurence 
 Drummond, Etty Grenfell [Lady Desborough], Revelstoke, 
 Lord and Lady Kenmare and Lady Dorothy Browne, General 
 Broadwood, Arthur Strutt, Lady Airlie and Lady Kitty 
 Ogilvie, Dick Cavendish and Lady Moira, Miss Claire Stop- 
 ford, Edward Packe, Micky Hicks-Beach, Hugh Cecil, and a 
 very nice Miss Asquith. After dinner the older ones played 
 bridge, and we played stupid games like ' snap.' My God I 
 Hugh Cecil did make me laugh ; he is the most amusing fellow 
 you ever saw. 
 
 " Wednesday. 
 
 " Most of the party went up to London, except four of us 
 who shot partridges. I should have done better if I had 
 thrown my gun at the birds instead of shooting at them. At 
 dinner I took in Miss Asquith. Afterwards I had a long yarn 
 with Hugh Cecil about politics. We discussed elections and 
 arguing with the working man. He told me that what gen- 
 erally happened was that you visited the working man and 
 employed the finest arguments for about half an hour, and 
 the only reply you got was, ' Oh yes, I quite understand. 
 You have been very well educated, and I don't believe a 
 word you say.' After dinner we did a sort of dumb crambo 
 acting, and I talked politics with Miss Asquith, who is ex- 
 tremely clever and, of course, full of politics. 
 
 " In the smoking-room Asquith and H. Cecil discussed 
 the various bishops 1
 
 A MEMOIR. 79 
 
 " Thursday. 
 
 " We went pheasant-shooting. I shot very badly. There 
 were a lot of birds ; we got 300. After tea I played 
 bridge against the future Chancellor of the Exchequer. We 
 dressed up for dinner in fancy dress, and had a cotillon after- 
 wards. I went as a toreador. 
 
 " I made great pals with Mrs. Asquith. I do not know 
 if you know her, but she is an absolute clinker. She dressed 
 up as a Spanish dancer, and did a pas seul before us all. What 
 will people say in about twenty years when they hear this ! 
 The leading lady of the Government dancing a pas seul, while 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer looked on ! Hugh Cecil 
 said he thought he had dislocated the inner organs of his 
 body from laughter. 
 
 " And now for secrets. . . . [Here follow certain matters 
 which have long ago been made public.] Read to-day's 
 Times, F. G. There is about half a column on the political 
 situation, which gives you much of what I have written 
 above. Asquith was fearfully perturbed about how they 
 got hold of it, for only six people knew the situation himself, 
 Grey, Haldane, C.-B., Morley, Tweedmouth, and (proclaim 
 it to your ancestors !) R. G. 
 
 " Mrs. Asquith told me that Asquith had had a terrible 
 two days. The Liberals, having been out for ten years, of 
 course owe honours to a great number of people. Innumer- 
 able people had called on him and implored him to give them 
 something men whose whole lives have been given up to 
 working for the party, and now there is nothing for them. 
 This to some of them meant a career finished. So you see 
 that even being Chancellor of the Exchequer and having the 
 making of a Government isn't altogether honey. 
 
 " Here is an amusing story of Lady Curzon. The day 
 after Curzon arrived there was a bad accident at Charing 
 Cross. Half the roof fell in, owing to a girder snapping. Lady 
 Curzon said wittily that ' Brodrick must have cut that girder 
 on purpose, but so like him was a day late ! ' 
 
 " Had there not been this crisis, the party at Hatfield was
 
 8o FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 to have included Austen Chamberlain and Balfour ; but they 
 had to stay in London to pack up their belongings. We had 
 great chaff, as Austen C. was packing up to let the Asquiths 
 in. They told me an amusing story that happened last 
 summer. Hugh Cecil and Austen Chamberlain had a race 
 on trays along a gallery. Cecil slipped off his tray and won 
 without it. The judge at the end of the room said, ' The Free 
 Trader has won.' ' Yes,' says Cecil, ' but he has lost his seat 
 in doing it ! ' " 
 
 In the same letter Rivy gives Francis a piece 
 of advice most characteristic of the attitude of 
 both the Twins to life. They were devotees of 
 the " grand manner," which appears to do things 
 easily and without effort, however much laborious 
 spade-work may be done in secret. Francis is 
 adjured to study the hill tribes against a possible 
 frontier campaign in the next two years. " Do 
 not tell anybody what you are about. For some 
 reason or other people are always inclined to 
 think a person who does anything from instinct 
 more wonderful than if he has practised at it 
 first ; just as you hear, ' Isn't it wonderful how 
 So-and-so plays polo so well, and never practises 
 at all ? ' whereas, as a matter of fact, the said 
 person has been years practising. Demosthenes 
 was renowned for his impromptu speeches. In 
 reality, he had an underground chamber full of 
 looking-glasses, where he used to rehearse every 
 single speech that he made for weeks, and some- 
 times years."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 1906-1907. 
 
 To Rivy, as to most people in England, the ab- 
 sorbing question in the first months of 1906 was 
 politics. Seeing a fight approaching, he conceived 
 it his duty to hurl himself into the thick of it. 
 He had lessons in elocution, and discovered 
 that he breathed badly ; so he promptly had his 
 adenoids removed, and, a little later, a broken 
 bone taken from his nose. When convalescent 
 he went to stay at Eaton with the Duke of West- 
 minster, who had returned that morning from 
 South Africa. There he found a large party, and 
 had some good shooting and hunting. " Imagine 
 the change of times. The meet was twenty-six 
 miles away, and formerly they had to catch the 
 8.50 train, and did not get back until 9 at night. 
 Yesterday Bend Or and I and John Fowler, with 
 Bend Or driving, went in a new motor car he had 
 just bought of 100 horse-power that could go 
 ninety miles an hour. It certainly frightened the 
 life out of me. We were supposed to start at 
 
 (2,187) 81 6
 
 82 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 10, but started at 10.25, and arrived first at the 
 meet at 10.55. . . . Wilfred Ricardo was in fine 
 form. He made me roar at breakfast one morning, 
 when, owing to his not having a horse, he was 
 going out snipe-shooting. ' To think ah that 
 I ah am forty years old and have never shot a 
 snipe ! I feel the same sort of sensation that 
 these big-game shooters must know when they 
 are approaching the tracks of a rhino/ 
 
 After that, in Rivy's phrase, " everything was 
 elections." 
 
 " I thought it a rare chance, so have been hard at it. On 
 Monday I went to a meeting of 1,500 beybnd King's Cross. 
 The Conservative candidate spoke, but they booed and 
 shouted and yelled to such an extent that he had to give it 
 up, and I did not speak. Five were chucked out. Such 
 remarks as these : ' Hold your jaw ! ' ' Shut your mouth ! ' 
 ' Chuck him out ! ' ' Where's Joey ? ' ' Pigtails ! ' amused 
 me much. Tuesday another meeting at Bow, in the East 
 End. Much more quiet. The candidate spoke so long and 
 was asked so many questions that I only spoke about six 
 minutes. Wednesday went down to Enfield, in Essex, and 
 found a huge meeting of 2,000. Felt in the deuce of a funk 
 for a minute. There was a perpetual uproar of ' No Chinese ! ' 
 ' Pigtail ! ' etc. The candidate spoke for three-quarters of an 
 hour, and then they howled him down. Then R. G. spoke 
 for twenty minutes amid a continual roar. I had to wait 
 half this time while they yelled at me. Rare good fun. On 
 such occasions one is not a bit nervous, only pining for them to 
 stop and then give them hell. The speaker after me began : 
 ' Ladies and gentlemen ' (roars) ' Gentlemen' (roars) 'Gentle- 
 men and others ' (laughter and uproar). After interruption
 
 A MEMOIR. 83 
 
 ' One thing is very sure : if they tax brains you'll get rich.' 
 Thursday evening went down to Aylesbury, and motored 
 seven miles from there to a village and spoke on Chinese 
 Labour for thirty-five minutes. They were perfectly quiet ; 
 only two interruptions., both of which I sat on." 
 
 The next week he went to Woolwich, where he 
 had a rough time with Chinese Labour. " They 
 kept interrupting me and yelling that they con- 
 sidered the black man to be every bit as good as 
 the white man. To which I replied : ' Would 
 you allow your daughters to marry black men ? ' 
 ' Of course we would/ they all shouted. That 
 pretty well knocked me out." Two days later he 
 went to Loughton, in Essex, where he had a real 
 success. ' Just as the meeting began they gave 
 me a few points that had been raised, and asked 
 me to deal with them. I got in the deuce of a 
 funk and thought I was certain to make a mess 
 of it. Luckily, the points that were raised were 
 such as I knew pretty well and could fit into my 
 speech without very much altering the trend of 
 my arguments. I spoke for three-quarters of an 
 hour without faltering, and was never interrupted. 
 Afterwards there were some Radicals there who 
 asked me questions, and I had to answer them on 
 the spur of the moment. Luckily again, I knew 
 their points, and was able to score off them, 
 which made things even better. " The result of
 
 84 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 the elections Rivy took in a philosophical spirit. 
 His chief grievance was that so many of his " pals 
 have been chucked ; on the other hand, Helms- 
 ley, Dalmeny, and Thomas Robartes got in." 
 
 Meantime Francis was happy and busy in his 
 new regiment. He changed to David Camp- 
 bell's squadron, and was hoping soon to be pro- 
 moted Captain. His letters show that he was 
 very satisfied with life his friends, his work, 
 his house, and his prospects. It was the time of 
 the Prince of Wales 's tour, and at Christmas he 
 was engaged in the special manoeuvres arranged 
 in honour of the visit, his division being com- 
 manded by Douglas Haig. There he met in- 
 numerable old friends, and his letters home are 
 chiefly lists of names. He kept open house at 
 Rawal Pindi, and entertained the officers of the 
 6oth and various German attaches, besides an 
 occasional English lady. He described the ma- 
 noeuvres in a long letter to his uncle, Lord 
 Grenfell, which Rivy was good enough to admit 
 was written in better English than usual. 
 
 " To all soldiers the organization was wonderful. Lord K. 
 refused any rehearsal of any sort. On Wednesday night the 
 Northern Army was thirty-five miles away marching and 
 fighting from 8 p.m. to 2.30 a.m. On Thursday at 10, 60,000 
 troops were fighting hard twenty-three miles from Pindi. 
 At 7 on Friday morning the whole, having slept in their 
 various camps round Pindi, and having cast their khaki, were
 
 A. MEMOIR. 85 
 
 paraded in tunics, with spotless clothes and with shining 
 buttons. By 3.30 p.m. on that day the great review was over 
 without a hitch of any sort or kind. And yet they say the 
 British officer is a fool and knows nothing ! One squadron 
 only of the 3rd Hussars appeared in khaki, some of their 
 transport having been delayed. This, to my mind, is wonder- 
 ful, and no one who has seen the transport out here, with 
 the thousands of camels, mules, carts, ponies that 60,000 
 troops require, can but be amazed. It must be remembered 
 that individually not one native servant or driver knows who 
 he is or where he is going, and yet 60,000 troops were concen- 
 trated that night without difficulty." 
 
 Francis gave up his r61e of host with regret. 
 * I quite miss them," he wrote. " The chances 
 a soldier gets of living under the same roof as a 
 woman are few and far between in this country. 
 I felt quite homely with ladies under my roof and 
 larky maids picketed in the garden." 
 
 When it was all over he went off to Calcutta 
 to a polo tournament, where Francis Scott, who 
 was on the Viceroy's staff, introduced him to the 
 Mintos. There he met Harry Rawlinson and 
 consulted him about his next step. He had been 
 offered a post on Lord Kitchener's staff, and was 
 for some days in a state of indecision. Finally 
 he refused it. " It is a question of chucking the 
 regiment now and going on the staff, or becoming 
 an adjutant and then going to the Staff College. 
 The latter is far soundest." He, however, settled 
 with Victor Brooke that if serious war broke out
 
 86 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 on the frontier he would be allowed to go there, 
 and he arranged with Lord Burnham that if the 
 affair were only a small campaign he would go 
 as Daily Telegraph correspondent. In the inter- 
 vals between polo and discussions about his 
 career he found time to go over a jute mill and 
 send Rivy a lengthy description of the process ; 
 to pump a German officer, Count Krage of the 
 Headquarters Staff, on the German Army system ; 
 and to take his full share in the gaieties of Cal- 
 cutta. " In the evening I went to a State ball, 
 and enjoyed it very much indeed. Danced in 
 a circle set apart for P. Wales, and so found no 
 crush ! What a nice girl Harry Crichton's is I 
 By Jove ! R. G., these ladies do look different 
 to the old trouts out here. We had quite a 
 family supper party Francis Scott, Lady Eileen 
 [Elliot], Harry and his lady, and Mrs. Derek 
 Keppel." 
 
 At the end of January he was back at Rawal 
 Pindi, where he became the hero of a celebrated 
 adventure. I quote his laconic narrative. 
 
 " I went to a domino dance. Douglas Compton, Freddie 
 [Blackwood], and I dined alone with a bottle of pop. I went 
 dressed up by Lady Blood as a woman. Capital fun, especially 
 as Freddie defied me to go into the ladies' dressing-room. 
 When the ' Take off masks ' sounded, with about sixty women 
 I went into the dressing-room, where they were all powdering 
 their noses. All went well until the time arrived when I was
 
 A MEMOIR. 87 
 
 the only one left masked. Some girl came up and said, ' Who 
 is it ? I believe it's a man.' She then started out to find 
 her mamma, and I started out to find the door. For days 
 afterwards all Pindi rang with this scandal. A man in the 
 ladies' dressing-room ! The story I heard, as told in our mess, 
 was this : ' A man went into the ladies' dressing-room, and 
 found all the ladies undressing. One lady saw it was a man, 
 gave a yell, and fainted. All the ladies then dashed at the 
 man to tear his clothes off ; he, however, flew for the door, 
 pursued by furious women, and just escaped. All the hus- 
 bands are now looking for the man, and everybody is saying 
 what they would do with him if they caught him.' I agreed 
 with everybody that it was dashed bad form, and could not 
 think who it could be." 
 
 But he was busy with other things than such 
 escapades. He employed a coach to come to him 
 twice a week for military history, and he enter- 
 tained a German cavalry officer, Count Konigs- 
 marck, from whom he learned much that was 
 faithfully recorded in his diary. He was also 
 working hard at Hindustani for his examination. 
 In March his polo team won the Inter- Regi- 
 mental Cup in the Subalterns' Tournament, and 
 in April he went on leave on a trip to the frontier. 
 " A capital chap, Howell of the Intelligence, is 
 arranging my show," he told Rivy. " Remember 
 Howell's name. One day you will see him Gen- 
 eral, Sir or Lord a mighty clever varmint." * 
 
 * Brigadier-General Philip Howell was killed in Aveluy Wood 
 during the Battle of the Somme.
 
 88 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 I have before me Francis's journal of his fron- 
 tier tour. He started from Peshawur on the nth 
 of April, and travelled by Kohat and Bannu, 
 followed the Afghan border line, and penetrated 
 some distance into Waziristan. The diary is a 
 vigorous narrative, but most of the reflections on 
 frontier policy are now out of date. The writer 
 was especially uneasy about Russia, and has much 
 to say about the Muscovite strategic railways. 
 After his fashion he intersperses many good 
 stories. One is of a certain border chief who 
 possessed a small cannon and only one bullet. 
 Whenever he saw his enemy from the top of a 
 tower he used to let the cannon go. The enemy, 
 having to pass the tower most days to go to 
 work, used to pick up the bullet, and every now 
 and then an intermediary was sent to buy it back 
 for two shillings ! The document was sent to 
 Rivy, who remonstrated on Francis's carelessness. 
 " You must really send your letters in stronger 
 envelopes. You say, ' Treat these papers as most 
 confidential,' and yet they appear to have come 
 to pieces and to have been put into an envelope 
 by the Post Office." 
 
 In May Francis was back at Murree, very 
 anxious about his English leave, since the 9th 
 Lancers were under orders for South Africa. He 
 hoped to get it in October before sailing, and
 
 A MEMOIR. 89 
 
 be in England for the winter. At home he pro- 
 posed to do three things to learn German and 
 study Germany, to go over the Franco-German 
 battle-fields, and to do a course of topography at 
 Chatham. A long letter from Harry Rawlinson 
 in June advised France instead of Germany, and 
 comforted Francis on the sore subject of the 
 transfer to South Africa on the ground that the 
 dangerous state of affairs among the Natal natives 
 would probably soon lead to a native rebellion. 
 A letter from Francis to Rivy about this time is 
 typical of the writer, who was passionately gener- 
 ous provided his virtues could escape notice. * I 
 am so grateful to you for making me some cash, 
 and I have been able to put it to good use. Our 
 riding master, K. such a good chap could not 
 afford to bring his wife and two children to the 
 hills for the summer, so I have taken a house 
 for him. It cost about 50, but it was well 
 worth it. You have no idea how awful it is for 
 women, and especially children, in Pindi in the 
 hot weather. Please treat this as entre nous and 
 tell no one else. K.'s letter of gratitude is really 
 due to you, for if it was not for you I would be 
 begging myself." 
 
 In June Francis went in for his examination 
 in Hindustani, which he passed with honour, 
 and then departed for a short trip in Kashmir.
 
 90 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 The rest of the summer was rather poisoned for 
 him by a row which he had in July with a native 
 pleader, who ventured to race him on a dusty 
 road in a tonga, and was summarily called over 
 the coals for his pains. The pleader brought 
 an action against Francis for assault, and was 
 emboldened by the behaviour of the military 
 authorities, who foolishly tried to persuade him 
 to keep it out of court. For a few weeks Francis 
 was a prominent figure in the native press 
 " this brutal lieutenant, who is a son of a lord 
 and a friend of the King's," etc. The situation 
 was a delicate one, for the Qth Lancers had once 
 before got into similar trouble. Francis, know- 
 ing that Lord Kitchener wished the thing not 
 to come to trial, and desirous to obey his chief, 
 was yet most unwilling to climb down when 
 he believed he had a good case, and in the end 
 managed to effect a satisfactory settlement to 
 the credit of both parties. This gave him an 
 occasion to expound to Rivy his philosophy of 
 life. " I have been guided by a few principles : 
 (i.) Form your own opinions and never mind 
 other people's. (2.) Keep to the truth and have 
 it out. It has always beaten lies and liars. (3.) 
 What is done is done, and no amount of regrets 
 and groanings can undo it ; so make the best of a 
 bad job. (4.) Make sound dispositions, and leave
 
 A MEMOIR. 91 
 
 the rest to fortune. (5.) Deal with natives by 
 deeds rather than by entreaties." 
 
 Rivy, when his electioneering was over, went 
 to hospital for a slight operation, and two days 
 later rose from his couch to go to the House of 
 Lords to hear Lord Milner on Chinese Labour. 
 He was busy with discursive reading, princi- 
 pally Pope's Odyssey and Disraeli's Lord George 
 Bentinck " also a topping book entitled The 
 Education of an Orator, by Quintilian, which is 
 a translation. It discusses the whole of one's 
 education from the age of about four, and tells 
 you the best books to read, how to learn to 
 discuss and argue, etc. What made me get it 
 was that in Gladstone's Life I found continual 
 allusions to it, and also in Macaulay." A little 
 later we find that earnest politician in the 
 House of Commons under the Gallery. * In 
 the evening Joe and Balfour had a rare crack 
 at the Government. A fellow called Smith * 
 made what is said to be one of the best maiden 
 speeches for the past twenty years. He spoke 
 for an hour, and kept the whole place in roars 
 of laughter. Even in the report in the Times 
 it appears amusing. You must imagine a very 
 sarcastic voice, and each time the Ministers 
 cheered he gave them a whack in the mouth 
 
 * Now Lord Birkenhead, Lord Chancellor of England.
 
 92 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 with some snub. I never enjoyed anything 
 better." 
 
 Rivy felt the shades of the prison house 
 beginning to close about him. A proof was that 
 he was more amused by politics than by racing. 
 Here is his vreflection upon the Grand Military : 
 " I can remember thinking the fellows who rode 
 at Sandown most wonderful heroes, whereas on 
 Saturday it struck me that there were some rather 
 moderate jockeys flogging round on very moderate 
 horses." But youth revived in May when, after 
 doing a Yeomanry course at Netheravon under 
 Reggie Barnes, he began his polo season. He 
 generally played with his brother Cecil, and the 
 combination was highly successful. This kind of 
 sentence occurs constantly in his letters : " R. G. 
 has never been in such form since he played polo. 
 He got five goals two runs down half the length 
 of the field and one down the whole length, and a 
 goal at the end of each." But his letters did not 
 please the exile in India. " You never mention 
 the family doings," Francis expostulated, " or the 
 gossip or scandal of the town. I see in a paper 
 Lady Warwick is a Socialist. You never told 
 me. Write news, R. G. not Times articles, as 
 I take in the Mail. I always understood the 
 advantage of a shorthand typist was the amount 
 they could write and their powers against fatigue.
 
 A MEMOIR. 93 
 
 I recommend the sack of yours, as he seems to 
 own neither of these qualities." 
 
 In June Rivy changed his business. He had 
 met Mr. Bonbright in America, and he now went 
 into partnership in an English branch of his 
 house, of which the directors were Lord Fairfax, 
 Mr. Fisher, and himself. His agreement entitled 
 him to twenty-five per cent, of the profits, and at 
 the moment the prospects seemed rosy. Francis 
 received the news gravely. " Well done, R. G. 
 It does seem funny : you a ^4,ooo-a-year Johnnie 
 and F. G. a 4OO-a-year-in-debt chap. You de- 
 serve all you have got. But don't become a 
 miser, or selfish, and think it necessary that you 
 should spend it all on yourself. You can help 
 our pals royally." 
 
 The letters of the brothers that summer are 
 amusing reading. Francis, busy with work for 
 examinations and doleful about his leave, took up 
 a critical attitude to life. He saw faults in his 
 colleagues which he had not noticed before ; one 
 he described with startling insight as " the sort of 
 chap who gets up things on board ship." But 
 he was also slightly critical of Rivy. " Thanks 
 awfully for the evening waistcoats," he wrote. 
 * Did you see them before they started ? I 
 asked you for the latest fashion ! The ones you 
 have sent I know when I left England were begin-
 
 94 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 ning to get out of date in Putney ! " Rivy, indeed, 
 that summer was in a somewhat schoolmasterly 
 mood. Francis, a little bored with slogging at 
 Hindustani, asked for an occasional novel some- 
 thing that would be " a relief at night and would 
 ginger one up for the history books." He mildly 
 suggested some book like Mademoiselle de Maupin. 
 Rivy replied by sending him that gloomy work, The 
 Jungle, and advising him if he wanted anything 
 more to read Pickwick again. " Windham Baring 
 told me his father [Lord Cromer] always rereads 
 these old books, and so what you hear him quote 
 is only some joke he has read a hundred times." 
 He added the recommendation that Boswell's 
 Johnson and Macaulay's Life were books that 
 Francis should always be reading in his spare 
 moments. A week later he gave him his philos- 
 ophy of reading. 
 
 " Do please give up reading rubbishy novels. There are 
 books that have survived the criticism of centuries ; surely 
 these must be more worth reading than worthless stuff that 
 lasts about three weeks. Such books as Walpote's Letters, 
 Shakespeare's Plays, Boswell's Johnson, Macaulay's Life, 
 Lecky's History, Morley's Miscellanies, and even Morley's 
 Gladstone are all things that are easy to read and will profit 
 you ten thousand times more than what you call ' light read- 
 ing.' I advise you to send a telegram to Calcutta and ask 
 them to send you a cheap copy of Shakespeare or Walpole's 
 Memoirs, and read them. If on the receipt of this you wish 
 me to pick out ten or twelve books of the above sort, well
 
 A MEMOIR. 95 
 
 bound, and send them out, let me have a cable reading ' Good 
 books.' Or if you still want me to send rubbishy novels, 
 send a cable reading ' Novels.' ' 
 
 As Rivy then proceeded to give a long account 
 of a dinner with Leonard Brassey, a ball at the 
 Ritz, and the final of the Handicap Tournament 
 at Hurlingham, Francis may have felt that his 
 mentor scarcely did justice to his innocent desire 
 for a little variety in life. " I am honestly 
 played out in this country," he wrote, " and now 
 hate everything. We are existing, not living. I 
 long for a dart in England or France. . . . You 
 see, R. G., out here one is rather run down and 
 sometimes depressed. The hot weather and all 
 its discomforts are raging. Last year I slept in 
 the day, but this year I am fighting it. One can 
 read a stiff book for a certain time every day, but 
 a punkah swinging backwards and forwards and 
 creaking and squeaking, together with a tempera- 
 ture of over 100 degrees, drives one either to 
 sleeping or to an exciting book in an armchair." 
 And he went on to explain that he was satiated 
 with the History of Cavalry by Denison, and 
 wanted " such books as the Life of Madame de 
 Pompadour, or Napoleon as a man, naming the 
 women as well as the countries he captured." 
 
 With his departure in prospect he wished to 
 give presents to his friends, and especially to the
 
 96 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Blqods. For Sir Bindon he suggested a good 
 sporting book with pictures of " lions seizing 
 goats, lions springing on donkeys, etc." But 
 Rivy would have none of it. He was deter- 
 mined that Sir Bindon should have a " really 
 well- written book," and suggested " The Life of 
 Chatham, Walpole's Letters, or, still better, Plato's 
 Republic." Small wonder that Francis began to 
 fear that his brother's culture was becoming too 
 much for him. 
 
 In September everything changed. Francis 
 Scott invited him to Simla to stay with the Mintos, 
 and life w r as once again rosy. " By Jove, R. G., 
 this is a holiday. Here I am in a house with 
 stairs, and built like an English country house. 
 I could only gasp for two days. One is simply 
 taken aback by the niceness of these people. 
 Lord Minto is the best, after the Uncle, I ever met. 
 He is full of stories, and loves talking of racing 
 and forgetting he is Viceroy. The other day he 
 said, ' I always wish I had been a trainer.' Can 
 you picture any other Viceroy saying that ? . . . 
 It is a great business getting the Ameer to come 
 here. Formerly he had always flatly refused. 
 But the Viceroy wrote him such a kind, friendly 
 letter that he said he felt it his duty to please so 
 great a gentleman." 
 
 He spent a happy week at Simla in the com-
 
 A MEMOIR. 97 
 
 pany of the Viceroy and Lady Minto and the 
 daughters, who were reverentially known through- 
 out India as " the Destroying Angels." " After 
 tea we all rode His Ex., Lady M., Francis, and I. 
 The two girls, Lady Ruby and Lady Violet, ride 
 astride. We galloped like blazes down the roads. 
 The girls made me, as they go like hello. I went 
 for a long ride with Lady Violet. She is a master 
 on her horse ; drives a coach, etc. ; at the same 
 time loves music, art, etc., and hates men. There 
 is a cup here for gymkhanas, held weekly, for the 
 lady who wins most events. She was second ; 
 Lady Eileen third. She said, * Father was simply 
 beaming all over last night after you talked to him ; 
 he came home and said, " I must put our boy in 
 that regiment." . . . His Ex. told Us stories 
 of Indians, his trips in the wilds, cock-fighting, 
 prize-fighting, etc. how he took Jem Mace to 
 Harrow and backed him against ' Bottles.' Lady 
 M. begged me to try and find her some chaps for 
 their staff. It is a pretty difficult job, for every 
 one falls in love with the girls. ... I rode home 
 with Francis, and we bucked of old days. We are 
 determined to have you out, and your books in the 
 fire. I hear you have become a sort of heavy- 
 handed old man. You had better drop that when 
 I return. WV11 go back three years then, give 
 the books a holiday, and enjoy life." That visit 
 
 (2,187)
 
 98 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 to Simla was the beginning for Francis of a close 
 friendship with Lady Minto, who had given him 
 a new insight into the problems of British rule 
 in India. He continued to correspond with her 
 and to expound his views on administration. " I 
 have just written a long letter to Lady Minto, 
 begging her not to worry what India thought of 
 their rule, for it was so difficult to judge a ruler. 
 Time always alters opinions." And he gave as 
 an example the somewhat disparate cases of 
 Warren Hastings, the Duke of Wellington, and 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert ! The life of the last-named lady 
 was one of the few lighter books which Rivy had 
 allowed him. 
 
 Francis arrived in South Africa towards the 
 end of October, and was presently settled with the 
 regiment at Potchefstroom. The immediate result 
 was a fit of profound depression. Potchefstroom 
 is a pleasant little town in a green, well- watered 
 valley, but after India it appeared comfortless and 
 the life dull. South Africa seemed the home of 
 senseless extravagance. As he wrote to Lord Grey : 
 " You cannot realize the terrible expenses incurred 
 here for merely living. We spend four times what 
 we spent in India, and get no return whatever." 
 The country, too, at the moment was suffering 
 frjom severe financial depression, which intensi- 
 fied the gloom. There were other drawbacks.
 
 A MEMOIR. 99 
 
 " We have been given some terrible horses for 
 this regiment," Francis wrote. " They hardly 
 represent what the richest nation should give its 
 best regiment. We are quite ashamed, as we own 
 all sorts except cavalry horses." On the last day 
 of the year, in a letter to Rivy, he summarized his 
 annual record with some melancholy. " I fear I 
 have done little to advance myself and improve my 
 brain powers. A visit to the frontier, a language, 
 one big polo tournament, a first-class row, and the 
 departure from India are the main things I have 
 done." He cheered up a little after beating the 
 4th Hussars at polo by six goals to two when the 
 Ninth had only nine ponies and their six best 
 polo players on leave. But the bright spot on 
 his horizon was his leave, which was due in the 
 beginning of the new year. 
 
 Meantime Rivy had been living a strenuous 
 life. He rushed out to South Africa in August 
 for a short visit, and was back again in October. 
 In November he was at Hatfield, learning wisdom 
 from Hugh Cecil, which he duly recorded for his 
 brother's advantage, and making a speech at the 
 United Service Institution which earned him a letter 
 of thanks from Sir Robert Baden-Powell. On the 
 1 6th of that month he started with his brother 
 Arthur for Mexico, the party including Arthur's 
 wife, Lady Victoria, and his sister, Mrs. Bulteel.
 
 ioo FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 An assiduous study of Prescott's Conquest of 
 Mexico on the voyage was his preparation for the 
 country, and in the few weeks there he certainly 
 managed to achieve a considerable variety of 
 experiences. His cousin, Mr. Max-Muller, was 
 at the Embassy, and through his agency the 
 party had an interview with President Diaz. His 
 reading during his stay is characteristic in its 
 catholicity " Kim, the Travels of St. Paul in the 
 Bible, and some of Paradise Lost" Early in Jan- 
 uary the party were with the Greys at Government 
 House, Ottawa, where Lady Victoria was sud- 
 denly taken ill with typhoid, contracted in Mexico. 
 Rivy was eager to be home to meet Francis on his 
 arrival in England, but felt bound to stay in 
 Ottawa. " Without me old Arthur is practically 
 alone. Besides this, the Greys have no relations 
 here except strange A.D.C.'s, and it is a relief, I 
 think, to them to feel they have some one on 
 Arthur's side to keep him company and cheer 
 him up. Mate, I would give a thousand pounds 
 to have met you on your arrival and gone with 
 you and shown you all the changes since you left. 
 I feel fearfully sick at the idea of any one meeting 
 you before me. . . . Ernest is to be your valet 
 until we get another good one ; I can get the 
 Bath Club valet to look after me when you take 
 him anywhere. I have told him to get your room
 
 A MEMOIR. 101 
 
 ready and put flowers there and make it comfort- 
 able. Tell him to put some of my pictures there 
 also, and to get my sitting-room straight for you. 
 Remember it is to be your home. . . . Don't 
 go and see my office or partners till I get back. 
 In fact, F. G., I feel terribly sick at your seeing 
 any one or being told anything about the family 
 doings except by R. G." 
 
 Francis arrived on February 9, 1907, but.Rivy 
 was not there to meet him. Arthur's young wife 
 did not rally from her fever, and died on 3rd 
 February. It was the first time for long that 
 death had entered the family, and it was a sober 
 and saddened Rivy that returned to rejoin his 
 brother in that communal London life to which 
 they had so joyfully looked forward.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 1907-1909. 
 
 THE Twins were now twenty-six years old, and, as 
 they had grown more easily distinguishable in 
 person, so they had developed idiosyncrasies in 
 character. Francis remained of the two the 
 younger in mind. He took his soldiering very 
 seriously, but for him the Service was a kind of 
 enlarged Eton a thing with its own standards 
 and taboos, offering certain definite ambitions in 
 work and sport, which enabled him to lead a full 
 and satisfying life without questionings. He was 
 never in doubt about the values of things he 
 took them for granted ; whereas Rivy was for 
 ever at the business of stock-taking. Francis had 
 sometimes an uncanny power of going to the heart 
 of a matter, but usually he accepted life as it 
 came. Rivy was a more perplexed soul. His 
 vision was wider than his brother's, but more 
 often confused. Both had immense high spirits, 
 but Rivy had moments of real bewilderment and 
 depression. He was apt to feel himself on the 
 
 102
 
 A MEMOIR. 103 
 
 fringes of life when he longed to be at the centre, 
 and since his thirst was habitually deeper than 
 his brother's, it was less readily quenched. 
 
 On another side the two were like the scrip- 
 tural Martha and Mary. Long ago Rivy had 
 made up his mind that he was Francis's protector 
 and guardian, and he laboured to make money, 
 not for himself, but that his brother might never 
 be stinted. That brother, as careless of cash as 
 the lilies in the field, went whistling on his cavalier 
 course, while Rivy knit his brows and laboured to 
 increase their joint resources. In every circum- 
 stance he thought first of Francis his comfort, 
 his education, his career ; and, without a touch of 
 priggishness, subordinated every plan to this end. 
 He never dreamed that he was doing anything 
 unusual, so great was his fraternal pride. He had 
 chosen for himself what seemed to him the natural 
 and inevitable rdle of the prosaic brother of a 
 phoenix. He was teaching himself, a civilian in a 
 sedentary business, the first lesson of the soldier 
 subordination ; and he learned it, I think, more 
 perfectly than Francis. The difference appeared 
 in their polo. Rivy was one of the steadiest 
 players in England, never working for individual 
 show but only for the game a sober exponent 
 of team-work. Francis was always incalculable, 
 and sometimes fantastically bad ; but on his day
 
 104 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 he could be marvellous a thunderbolt, a tornado, 
 a darting flame. 
 
 The year 1907 is a lean one for the Twins' 
 biographer. They were both at home, and so 
 free from the necessity of correspondence. Rivy 
 came back from Canada on i6th February to find 
 Francis in London, and the two set themselves to 
 console their brother Arthur in his bereavement. 
 They collected an excellent lot of ponies, and 
 the whole summer was devoted to polo, except 
 for a course which Francis went through at the 
 Cavalry School at Netheravon, where he began to 
 work seriously for the Staff College. Rivy took 
 enormous pains with his grooms and stablemen. 
 He got beds from Heal for them to sleep in, and 
 used to provide sumptuous teas for them after a 
 successful match. 
 
 The brothers got together a polo team known 
 as the Freebooters, in which Rivy was No. 2, 
 Francis No. 3, and the Duke of Roxburghe back. 
 Originally Cecil Grenfell was No. i, but his place 
 was afterwards taken by Captain Jenner, the 
 joint polo manager at Ranelagh. This team won 
 the Hurlingham Championship Cup, beating Roe- 
 hampton (a team mainly composed of the brothers 
 Nickalls) by four goals to two. That season estab- 
 lished the fame of the Grenfell family on the polo 
 field. I do not propose to describe the details of
 
 
 RIVY ON "CINDERELLA."
 
 A MEMOIR. 105 
 
 those old contests, but room must be found for a 
 letter of Rivy's telling of the greatest match of the 
 season, England against Ireland, played at Dublin 
 in Phoenix Park. The Irish team was : Major 
 Rotherham, the Hon. Aubrey Hastings, Captain 
 Hardress Lloyd, and Mr. P. P. O'Reilly. For 
 England there played Rivy, Captain H. Wilson, 
 Mr. Pat Nickalls, and Captain Matthew-Lannowe. 
 England won by six goals to five, and Rivy had the 
 satisfaction of hitting the winning goal. Here is 
 his account : 
 
 " There was a strong wind blowing down the ground which 
 I think much spoilt the game. At times it was very slow and 
 sticky I think partly from the polo being so high class and 
 each fellow stopping the other one hitting out. The ball con- 
 tinually hit a pony in the hock and bounded out, and we were 
 several times stopped for accidents. 
 
 " I rode ' Cinderella ' the first ten, and the dodger ' Despair ' 
 the second. Got away on the latter about mid-field, and, evading 
 all opposition, got the first goal on the near side amid applause 
 from the Saxons. Shortly afterwards Rotherham did a char- 
 acteristic run down and scored amid yells from the Irish. The 
 third ten I rode Roxburghe's pony, which played fairly well, 
 though he wants to be taught to jump off quicker. The fourth 
 ten ' Cinderella,' who played magnificently : I got another goal 
 on her at a difficult angle, and made two or three good runs. 
 Pat (Nickalls) got two goals, and gave us a lead of four to two. 
 Hardress then got a very good goal ; the Irish threw their hats 
 in the air all round the ground. Rotherham then got away 
 and got another goal ; you never heard such cheering in your 
 life ! In the fifth ten I got away on ' Despair ' and went all down 
 the ground, but somehow missed an absolute sitter. I think 
 the wind affected the flight of the ball, as it only missed by
 
 io6 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 inches. We then got a fifth and sixth : the latter was not 
 allowed, as Bertie Wilson fell as the ball was hit and hurt his 
 knee. The other side then got a fifth, and three minutes 
 before time in the last chukker, in which I rode ' Cinderella,' 
 I got a sixth, and so won the match. It was a pretty uncom- 
 fortable moment. Bertie Wilson cantered into the middle of 
 the ground ; ' Cinderella ' turned like lightning, and I found my- 
 self forty yards in front of everybody. If I hit the goal, there 
 was no glory ; if I missed it, probably fearful abuse. Luckily 
 I just snicked it through. I enjoyed the match very much 
 indeed ; it was such fun hearing those Irish chaps yelling the 
 whole time." 
 
 In August and September Arthur was at 
 Howick with his children, and the Twins stayed 
 there. Lord Hugh Cecil was among the visitors, 
 and Rivy had the felicity of bringing Francis to 
 sit at his feet. The City that year can have seen 
 little of Rivy, and politics knew him not ; indeed, 
 I gravely doubt whether his books left their 
 shelves. He had his brother beside him, and was 
 bent on enjoying life. As soon as the season 
 began they hunted together, and early in December 
 Francis had a smash and broke his collar bone. 
 The two went to the Duke of Westminster at 
 Eaton for Christmas, and while there took part 
 in an escapade which enjoyed for a day or two 
 a wide notoriety. One evening after dinner 
 the Duke suggested motoring, as the weather 
 was clear and cold, and proposed going over to 
 Cholmondeley Castle, where there had been some
 
 A MEMOIR. 107 
 
 talk of a dance. Arrived at the Castle, they could 
 get no reply to their ringing of the bell. The 
 place stood silent and apparently untenanted, 
 except that on the ground floor a window had 
 been left open through which came the reflection 
 of a bright fire. It was like a scene in a play, and 
 the spirit of melodrama entered into the party. 
 They crawled through the window, groped their 
 way down a passage, and found themselves in 
 the dining-room. It was empty, but all the 
 lights were still burning, the sideboards gleamed 
 with plate, and in the centre of the table stood 
 a massive race cup which Lord Cholmondeley had 
 won and which he valued highly. As they had 
 come a long way to find no dancing or any other 
 entertainment, the devil of mischief possessed 
 them, and they resolved to carry off the cup as 
 a token of the visit, and return it next day. So 
 they put a bit of coal in the cup's place, and de- 
 parted as silently as they had come. In leaving 
 the lodge gates the car swerved against a pillar, 
 thereby leaving a clue to the fugitives. 
 
 There had been many burglaries about that 
 time, and when the owner discovered that the 
 cup had gone he was naturally excited, and tele- 
 phoned at once to Scotland Yard. As bad luck 
 would have it, the party turned up late next 
 morning at the meet, and the Duke did not get
 
 io8 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 an opportunity of speaking to Lord Cholmondeley. 
 But from the rest of the field they heard high- 
 coloured accounts of the outrage how Scotland 
 Yard was hot on the trail of the motor-car gang, 
 who had fortunately damaged their car on the 
 Castle gate-post. Somewhat later in the day the 
 Duke found a chance of explaining the thing 
 to Lord Cholmondeley, who took it in excellent 
 part and was much relieved to know that the 
 cup was safe. But the wheels of the law, once 
 set in motion, could not easily be stayed. For 
 days detectives were scouring Cheshire, examining 
 every garage for traces of a maimed car, and 
 the popular press in startling headlines told the 
 tale of the great burglary. It was a sad blow 
 to lovers of sensation when the matter was sud- 
 denly dropped and only a scanty explanation was 
 forthcoming. 
 
 In April 1908 Francis returned to South Africa 
 after winning the United Hunts Point-to-Point 
 Race at Melton. He took with him a French 
 tutor to assist him in acquiring the French tongue, 
 for he was by way of working steadily for the 
 Staff College. To show his linguistic progress 
 he occasionally sent Rivy letters written in a very 
 tolerable imitation of the language of Moliere. 
 The year in England had enormously refreshed
 
 A MEMOIR. 109 
 
 him and prepared him to make the best of South 
 Africa, and his first letters from Potchefstroom 
 were very contented. 
 
 " Everything here has improved beyond recognition. I 
 never saw a place so much improved in a year. Every one 
 seems pleased to see me again. In fact, R. G., the regiment is 
 AT, not a single stiff here at present. I quite forgot how happy 
 I am with the regiment. I have so many interests, I love the 
 soldiering, like polo, and love my books. I never knew I had 
 so many I have had to have two new bookcases made." 
 
 His first trouble on his return was with a batch 
 of ponies which Rivy had bought in Canada the 
 previous year, and which by some blunder had 
 been sent straight to South Africa instead of to 
 England, where the Twins could have seen them 
 and judged them. They proved perfectly useless, 
 and most of them were sent home for Rivy to 
 sell. Francis resumed his polo with great energy, 
 and complained to his brother that he was an in- 
 different member of a very fine team. He found 
 it hard to work with his tutor, however, princi- 
 pally from lack of time. * Some days I do five 
 hours and the next one. To-day, for instance, 7 to 
 12 at the range in the hot sun ; 12 to 1.30 in 
 stables. I tried to do one hour with him after 
 lunch, but felt so knocked out I had to stop." 
 Both brothers had compiled elaborate note-books 
 of polo tips in England ; both had irretrievably
 
 no FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 lost them, and each accused the other. Francis 
 records an Eton dinner on the 5th June with Lord 
 Methuen in the chair, after a football match in 
 which Mr. D. O. Malcolm, Lord Selborne's 
 private secretary, distinguished himself. He was 
 shown by his colonel his confidential report, 
 which he paraphrased as follows : ' This officer 
 is fit to be an adjutant. He is a very hard-working 
 officer and has very great application. He is 
 anxious to work for the Staff College, for which 
 he is well suited. He is not fit at present, as he 
 has been away from his regiment at Netheravon 
 for about a year. He is not brilliant, but very 
 ambitious. He has tact and a Good Temper. 
 (What Ho !) He lacks ballast at present, but this 
 will come, and then I expect great things of him." 
 At the end of June he went to Bloemfontein 
 for a polo tournament, and the Qth Lancers, who 
 for the last six years had either won or been in 
 the final of every tournament they played in, were 
 soundly beaten by the 4th Dragoon Guards. The 
 disaster sent Francis with renewed zest to his 
 books. " I have been working like an absolute 
 tiger this week. It is wonderful the amount one 
 can do when one can live for it and has got 
 nothing else to think of. I cannot stop thinking 
 about what I have been reading. The result is 
 that it affects my sleep a good deal, and I take a
 
 A MEMOIR. in 
 
 long time to go to sleep. I am certain if I worked 
 like this for six months I should either get into 
 Hanwell or into the Staff College, and not merely 
 qualify. I sometimes feel worn out and long to 
 chuck it, but in my heart of hearts I really love 
 it." About this time, too, he began to acquire 
 a restless interest in Germany. He was always 
 asking his twin about German finances, and 
 whether she could afford the expense of a big war. 
 Meantime Rivy had been the target of fortune. 
 His disasters began almost as soon as Francis left. 
 On 1 6th April, while cantering his pony "Despair," 
 she suddenly reared and fell back on him, and 
 the pommel of the saddle caught him in the pelvis. 
 He was taken to St. Thomas's Hospital, where 
 his pelvis proved to be intact, but a muscle was 
 badly lacerated. In the hospital he seems to have 
 enjoyed himself. 
 
 " On Sunday morning we have Communion at 6.45 a.m. 
 1 could not help being vastly amused. The old chaplain read 
 the prayers very quietly so as not to be too noisy, whereas in 
 every cubicle were fellows, some with no insides, some with 
 insides that had just been sewn up, and about five groaning and 
 gasping for breath. Throughout the service the parson walked 
 from bed to bed on tiptoe ; quite unnecessary, considering the 
 noise the patients were making. . . . There were about ten 
 dashed pretty nurses, who told me about the patients they had 
 had in the theatre. One of them told me that they had abso- 
 lute proof that three hours' sleep before midnight was worth 
 four after. The man who goes to bed at 9 and gets up at 4.30
 
 ii2 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 can work tremendously hard without any ill effects for years, 
 whereas late-hour workers must knock off after a while. She 
 gave as an example Society people, who always have to go to 
 watering-places after the season, also M.P.'s ; whereas nurses, 
 surgeons, and lawyers can go plodding on. 1 shall try to go 
 to bed early before big polo matches." 
 
 He also made friends with an eminent Lam- 
 beth burglar who had two broken legs from 
 having been pitched out of a house by an athletic 
 curate. As Rivy felt almost a professional after 
 his experience at Cholmondeley Castle, the two 
 became confidential and exchanged reminiscences. 
 
 The next piece of bad luck was the sale of 
 Francis's ponies at Tattersall's, which fetched very 
 poor prices. For several weeks Rivy's thigh was 
 weak, and the appalling weather in early May 
 made polo nearly impossible. He then went for 
 his Yeomanry training at Stowe Park. He found 
 great difficulties in getting together a good polo 
 team that summer, and was persistently unlucky 
 with his horse-coping. On the last Saturday in 
 May he was playing in the match of the Roe- 
 hampton team against the Rest of England, when 
 he had a really bad accident. 
 
 " In the fourth ten I got clean away, but did not get my drive 
 quite straight. I therefore had to make a hook drive, which 
 went straight in front of goal. Lloyd and I were each going at 
 somewhat of an angle. In stretching out to make a near-side 
 stroke I think he just tipped my pony's quarters ; anyhow I
 
 A MEMOIR. 113 
 
 lost my balance and fell in front of ' Sweetbriar,' who seemed 
 to peck over. She also seemed to have eight legs, and all legs 
 struck various parts of my body, two of them on the head. 
 I am not sure whether she stepped on my ankle or twisted the 
 spur. Anyhow, it at once hurt like blazes." 
 
 At first the accident was diagnosed as merely 
 a sprained dnd bruised ankle, and treated with 
 massage. Rivy was well enough to dine out. 
 
 " In the evening I dined with Mrs. Ivor Guest a tremendous 
 dinner party of about fifty people. I hobbled in on crutches. 
 The party was composed chiefly of pals of ours. I sat next to 
 Lady Castlereagh and Walter Guinness. After dinner there 
 was a small dance, which, of course, I could not take part in. 
 However, I had a good yarn with Mrs. Asquith, who is a capital 
 lady and always most interesting. 1 wish very much you had 
 met her when you were here. I told her that I intended going 
 to see her with you, and she told me she had been ill for the 
 last ten months. She got on to the Education question, which 
 was rather Greek to me, and I could only reply ' Yes ' and 
 ' No.' " 
 
 The ankle did not get better in spite of the 
 most drastic massage, and when Rivy got on a 
 pony he found that he could put no weight at all 
 on his left stirrup. It kept him awake at night, 
 and since his doctor told him to jump on it and 
 use it as much as possible, he suffered a good deal 
 of agony during the day. Nevertheless he went 
 down to Hatfield for Whitsuntide, going up to 
 London daily for treatment. On the Tuesday 
 
 (2,187) ft
 
 ii4 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 after Whitsuntide he came up to play in the 
 Champion Cup at Hurlingham. 
 
 " I was unable to put a boot on, and so played in a large 
 shooting boot and puttee. 1 also had my stirrup all padded 
 up. In the first five minutes Ted Miller caught me an awful 
 bump on the ankle, soon followed by another from George 
 Miller. However, I stood it all right that ten, and played pretty 
 well, considering that I could not hit the ball at all on the near 
 side. I got one fairly good goal, having gone half-way down 
 the ground. I thought that my leg would get better as I 
 warmed up. However, this was not the case. The second ten 
 I again played pretty well, but found it difficult to stop the 
 ponies, as my grip was getting weaker. The third ten the pain 
 began to be awful, and every bump that I got seemed to be on 
 my bad ankle. By the fourth ten it felt rather like pulp, and 
 to keep on at all I had to catch hold of the breastplate. We 
 were having a tremendous match. At half-time the scores 
 were 3 2. Gill, Jenner, and Roxburghe were playing like 
 trumps. The Millers were a little off, and kept giving us open- 
 ings ; but I felt myself getting weaker and weaker, and could 
 never turn my ponies in time to make use of them. The 
 fourth ten we bombarded their goal, but in the fifth and sixth 
 ten I was an absolute passenger and did not hit the ball at 
 all. My ankle hurt fearfully. ... I never was so glad of any- 
 thing as when that game ended, and limped back very sore 
 to the pavilion, where I had a very hot bath." 
 
 He went down to Hatfield that evening and 
 got no sleep. Two days later he returned to 
 London to have his ankle X-rayed. " Now comes 
 the Waterloo part, for I found that instead of a 
 sprained ankle I had a sprain on the outside and 
 had broken the ankle bone on the inside. No 
 wonder that I went through such pain. I went
 
 A MEMOIR. 115 
 
 straight to Fripp, who told me that all the previous 
 treatment had been entirely wrong. The worst 
 thing I could do, of course, was twisting the ankle 
 round, as the two bones were grating against 
 each other. It seems a dream to me that I could 
 have played in the Champion Cup with a broken 
 ankle. Every time that any one bumped me in the 
 polo match they were pushing these broken bones 
 apart. No wonder towards the end of the match I 
 squirmed when I saw anybody about to bump me." 
 
 That was the end of the polo season for Rivy, 
 and there was nothing for it but to sell his ponies.* 
 The episode was properly commented on by 
 Francis. " It sounds a terrible experience, but 
 I am glad you have been through it, as it shows 
 we are made of the right stuff, though Heaven 
 forbid me skipping on a bust ankle ! ' 
 
 All that summer Francis was hard at work, for 
 he proposed to take the qualifying examination 
 for the Staff College, in order to gain experience. 
 He was constantly deploring that he was so thick- 
 headed about matters of military science, al- 
 though his whole heart was in soldiering. On 
 26th July he writes : 
 
 " Our drill this week has been the greatest fun in the world. 
 Last Monday I commanded the squadron on a regimental 
 
 * He sold them most profitably. Mr. August Belmont, for example, 
 bought " Cinderella " for ^500.
 
 n6 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 parade the first time in my life. It was rather a high trial, 
 as, though we had been drilling slowly up to the present, the 
 Colonel sounded the gallop at the start and drilled at the gallop 
 for the rest of the day. I got on first-class. It is grand fun, 
 as you are moving too quick to think, and if you make a mis- 
 take you cannot alter it. I was pleased, as I thought I knew 
 no drill, but find I know a good deal more than many who 
 have had a squadron some time." 
 
 He meditated much about the art of war in 
 those days, and confided the results to Rivy, and 
 he was perpetually harassed by the conviction 
 that a fight with Germany was imminent. He 
 used to plague his brother with questions about 
 German politics and finance, and got but scrappy 
 answers. One of his conclusions was that polo 
 was an essential part of a soldier's education. 
 
 " I cannot understand why the infantry generals should be 
 anxious to abolish polo unless it be through ignorance. Has 
 polo stopped John Vaughan, De Lisle, Haig, Hubert Gough, 
 or any keen soldier ? " 
 
 Rivy had told him that Hugh Cecil's view was 
 that it was more important for a country to have 
 a good financial position than to have a good army 
 when war broke out. This view Francis elab- 
 orately controverted, and was rather nonplussed 
 to find that his uncle shared it. 
 
 He took the Staff College qualifying examina- 
 tion in the first week of August, and was very 
 pleased with himself. The papers were far easier
 
 A MEMOIR. 117 
 
 than he expected, and he thought hopefully of his 
 future chances. As it turned out, it would have 
 been impossible for him to qualify unless he 
 bettered his languages, and it was this fact which 
 made him so eager to spend his next leave in 
 Germany. Immediately afterwards he started for 
 manoeuvres in the country north of Pretoria, along 
 the Pietersburg line. He enjoyed himself im- 
 mensely, and was especially proud of his hard 
 physical condition. 
 
 " I find I stick hardships and discomforts far better than 
 most. I have found my way about in this country by day 
 and by night no easy matter. I can outstay most of the 
 others as regards fatigue. I seem to have got great confi- 
 dence far more than before and I look on myself as as good 
 a player as anybody else. Several chaps whom I used to look 
 on as good I now look on as very bad." 
 
 His keenness was so great that in every letter he 
 enlarged upon the danger from Germany. 
 
 " I think every serious person out here is awakened by 
 Herr Dernburg's visit to this country. He is the Joe Cham- 
 berlain of Germany. I believe that the Dutch luckily hate 
 the Germans, and will always support us against them." 
 
 Early in October Francis thought that he 
 deserved a rest, and went on a short visit to 
 Johannesburg. 
 
 " I wrote and asked a charming French chantcuse to come 
 to lunch. She is the leading lady at the ' Empire,' at 200 a
 
 n8 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 month. They are extraordinary, those French women. We 
 were, besides her, five men, two of whom could not understand 
 a word of French. She kept the whole table in fits of laughter, 
 talking French all the time. I never met any one who said 
 such things as she did. She fairly cleared the Carlton. Luck- 
 ily, no one knew us. ... In the evening we went to a dance at 
 the County Club. You never saw such people the elite of 
 Jo'burg. The French lady turned up, much to the disgust of 
 the Jo'burg society. She arrived very late, and only stayed 
 half an hour. In that time she cleared out the room all 
 right." 
 
 The autumn witnessed the annexation of Bosnia 
 and Herzegovina by Austria, and Francis thought 
 he saw a chance of a European war. He cabled 
 to Rivy begging him to arrange with Harry Lawson 
 to have him sent to Bulgaria as the correspondent 
 of the Daily Telegraph. His brother John arrived 
 in South Africa early in October, and Francis ac- 
 companied him on a visit to the Messina Mine. 
 Most of his letters at this period are filled with 
 uncommon good sense on the subject of the mine. 
 He was convinced of its value, and anxious that 
 his brother should give up all his time to it instead 
 of going home to hunt. " Up here John seems 
 to be lord of all he surveys, and yet he won't 
 survey it." 
 
 The visit to Messina thoroughly unsettled him, 
 and he found it hard to return to his books. " I 
 am afraid you and I are very stupid," he wrote to 
 Rivy. " I do not seem to get on at all like others
 
 A MEMOIR. 119 
 
 seem to at these books, and I work three times as 
 hard." He was inclined to be captious about his 
 brother's attainments. " Not a very good letter 
 from you this time. You are relapsing into your 
 old tricks. I don't know how you discuss good 
 and bad French when you don't know French 
 at all. I am not quite clear what you are learning. 
 Is it the French language or French literature ? 
 The language, of course, is most useful, but I 
 honestly think French literature is a waste of 
 time to you. You know very little history, no 
 geography both subjects which arouse interests, 
 form characters, and are essential for everyday 
 life in London, and also for politics." Early in 
 November he wrote : " I am determined, R. G., to 
 take my work a little easier in future, and then 
 work like fury for the 1910 August examination, 
 and then take a year's holiday. Go a real bust 
 buy the best horse available, so as to win the 
 National and Grand Military. Play polo seriously 
 in 1911, and then go up for the exam, again the 
 following year. So make a bit of cash, R. G., as 
 my National horse will cost 2,000." But R. G. 
 did not make a bit of cash that year. He lost the 
 better part of 5,000 on their joint account, 
 though he got most of it back later. 
 
 Francis paid a short visit in the early winter 
 to the Duke of Westminster's estate in the Orange
 
 120 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 River Colony, and then was seriously occupied 
 with polo at Potchefstroom. At Christmas he 
 had his usual solemn thoughts, which in this case 
 dealt with love and the conduct of life. 
 
 " I think in marriage no half-way contracts ever are success- 
 ful. You should either be damnably in love, so that there can 
 be no doubt, or not propose at all. I expect our name is 
 down against some lady whom we are to many. . . . Some 
 are married with the same speed that John tried to rush the 
 Government out here. They then spend their lives wishing 
 they had been refused. Every one wants a pal. I strongly 
 recommend you to make greater pals with the Uncle. Try to 
 live with him ; his company will improve your character, if 
 you try to copy him, in every way. No man has more suc- 
 cessfully worked in with other people, or gained more, by his 
 generosity and bonhomie. Don't bury yourself with a book, 
 or you become inhuman, despondent, and narrow. Mix your 
 books with the Uncle and become a cheery, cultivated English 
 gentleman." 
 
 But Rivy scarcely needed the advice, for he had 
 not been troubling his books very much that year. 
 He records that he tried in vain to read David 
 Copperfield, always getting drowsy over it, so that 
 he did not know whether it put him to sleep or 
 he read it in his sleep. After his accident he 
 became more or less of a butterfly, and his letters 
 deal chiefly with country-house parties. 
 
 " Monday night I dined with Lady Alice Shaw-Stewart a 
 capital dinner party. I sat next to Lady Manners, and on her 
 other side was Lord Cromer, and he talked most of the time
 
 A MEMOIR. 121 
 
 to Lady Manners and me. He seemed a dear old boy. He 
 has just gone on the committee of the Vivisection and Re- 
 search League, and showed us a letter he had received from 
 some woman, which abused him for about two pages and ended 
 up, ' I had always looked on you as one of our greatest dic- 
 tators, but now I see you are nothing but an inhuman brute.' 
 Lady Manners asked him if he received many letters of this 
 sort, and he said that in Egypt he got letters all the time 
 saying that he was to be murdered next morning ; and then 
 he added in a kind of undertone, ' Such damned rot, isn't it ? ' 
 Last week he went down to stay near Winchester. The party 
 consisted of Lord and Lady Cromer, Lord Elcho, and Lord 
 Curzon. They went over to see Winchester on Sunday, when 
 Lord Cromer overheard this from a Winchester boy, pointing 
 at his party : ' There are some regular 'Anies and 'Arriets 
 come nosing round here on a Sunday.' ... I told him the 
 story about Windham when Teddy Wood did his Latin prose 
 and he failed. It made Lord Cromer roar with laughter. 
 Lady Manners asked him if Windham was very clever. ' Well,' 
 said he, ' he throws an extremely good salmon fly ' which 
 I thought was rather characteristic." 
 
 Rivy's letters were full, too, of politics. He dis- 
 cussed France with Miss Muriel White, and learned 
 to his horror that that country was " honeycombed 
 with republicanism." Apparently he was not 
 aware of the nature of the French constitution. 
 He met the McKennas at Nuneham, and con- 
 sidered the then First Lord of the Admiralty a 
 " capital chap of the hail and hearty sort." He 
 had frequent talks with Mrs. Asquith " a mag- 
 nificent lady, as you never have to say a word." 
 From Mr. Asquith he heard something which
 
 122 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 confirmed his growing unfavourable opinion of 
 the City. " He told me that in talking with 
 financiers and asking their opinion he always 
 found that they based their argument on no 
 foundation in fact, had no logic. I think this is 
 very true. There is a famous Jew who, when 
 asked about his partner's capacity for making 
 money, said he had a wonderful nose for it. I 
 think that is the only way to put it." He spent a 
 week with Lord Ridley at Blagdon, Northumber- 
 land, assisting him to defend a case in the police 
 courts, where he was accused of furious driving. 
 " Mat is a landlord of the right old English sort 
 works very hard, and has the right notion of 
 helping everybody." On that occasion he was 
 taken to see the Roman Wall, of which he then 
 heard for the first time. 
 
 In August he went with a company of the 
 Scots Greys on manoeuvres, and had the time of 
 his life. They were very celebrated manoeuvres, 
 and led to furious disputes in military circles. 
 Rivy was present at all the pow-wows, and re- 
 corded them with such gusto for the benefit of 
 Francis that that exile was moved to remark, " It 
 is an extraordinary thing, but the only two chaps 
 who seem to enjoy manoeuvres are F. G. and R. G. 
 the banker." But the manoeuvre letters contain 
 other things than the tactics of General Scobell.
 
 A MEMOIR. 123 
 
 ' On Thursday I dined with Cis Bingham at 
 the Brigade Headquarters. Molly Crichton and 
 Muriel Herbert came over from Wilton ; the 
 Duchess of Westminster, who was staying in a 
 village two miles off, was to have come but didn't. 
 We had some capital chaff. Afterwards Hugh 
 Grosvenor and I mounted horses and went across 
 the Plain to draw the Duchess. We nearly got 
 lost, but ultimately found her house. She had 
 gone to bed (Lady Shaftesbury was staying there 
 also), so we yelled at her window till finally the 
 owner of the house, an old farmer, let us in. We 
 soon had her down in a glorious silk dressing- 
 gown, and made her dig out some supper for us. 
 I did not get back until about i a.m. ... On 
 Friday afternoon I hacked over to tea with Malise 
 Graham, and dined with the ist Life Guards. 
 After dinner we suddenly heard a band approach- 
 ing could not think what it was, so went outside, 
 when it sounded ' Charge,' and about sixty fellows 
 from the ist Brigade fell on the old Households, 
 and we had a desperate conflict. I kept out as 
 much as I could. Brother John was dining with 
 the 2 ist, so he accompanied them. Suddenly 
 some one called out, ' It's that Rivy ! ' and fell 
 on him, at which about four fellows sat on his 
 head. I returned to my camp about n, to 
 find Allenby's Brigade were attacking Fanshawe's.
 
 124 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 They broke everything in the Greys' and Bays' 
 tents. It amused me awfully ; but how young 
 those fellows are to like a sort of * rouge scrim- 
 mage ' still ! " 
 
 In the autumn Rivy's mind turned to more 
 serious matters, and he took to himself a French 
 tutor. Francis had advised him to spend his 
 week-ends in Oxford and study there ; but he 
 found that impossible. Rivy's letters about this 
 time are little more than a medley of City gossip, 
 mingled with notes of his engagements. On the 
 Eton Memorial he wrote : "I do not think it 
 necessary for us to spend more money on this. I 
 sent this summer six boys and two girls from the 
 Eton Mission to Juanita's cottage for a fortnight 
 each. I think this is a much better way of spend- 
 ing one's money than by subscribing to bricks and 
 mortar for rich Eton boys not to go into." He 
 went to Hatfield, where he made friends with 
 Lord Althorp (now Lord Spencer) ; to the play 
 with David Beatty, and discussed war in the East ; 
 to a dinner where Sir Hugh Bell instructed him 
 in economics ; and occasionally to the House of 
 Commons. He went shooting with Mr. Pierpont 
 Morgan. " Jack made me laugh very much. 
 The Old Berkeley comes to his place twice a year. 
 He made a remark to me which I thought would 
 amuse you : ' I do not mind boarding two or
 
 A MEMOIR. 125 
 
 three foxes for them, but ten's too many.' In 
 December at North Mimms he met Mr. Spender 
 of the Westminster Gazette and Lord Harcourt, 
 and heard much political talk. "X. was sure 
 that Lloyd George was a Protectionist and would 
 one day be found on the Protectionist side. If 
 the Liberal Government were defeated at the 
 next election, the Tories would bring in Tariff 
 Reform at once ; this would split both parties, 
 and new parties would be formed. Probably 
 Lloyd George, and possibly Winston, would take 
 the attitude that they had fought for Free Trade, 
 but that, now the country had accepted Protection, 
 unwillingly they must follow and form a Protection 
 Radical Party. The Government most certainly 
 would not go out this winter, but might after the 
 Budget." So much for the prophets ! 
 
 The year 1909 was for Francis a period of 
 intense activity, both of body and mind. He was 
 in exuberant health, and something in the diamond 
 air of South Africa so enlarged his vitality that 
 in everything he undertook he rejoiced 'as a 
 young man about to run a race." He began on the 
 first day of the new year by winning the lemon- 
 cutting prize at the South African Military Tourna- 
 ment. " Every one was very surprised, as hon- 
 estly I had never tried it before. I never dreamed
 
 126 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 I could cut a lemon, but I proved to be the only 
 one who could cut both twice." He nearly won 
 the tent-pegging too, and got into the final of the 
 jumping. " I wish," he laments, " Staff College 
 work came as easy as sports." That week he 
 made the acquaintance of Lady Selborne. * I 
 never liked a lady more. She is Linkie [Lord 
 Hugh Cecil] in a comic mood in petticoats." He 
 returned to Potchefstroom, but found his study 
 much interfered with by the conditions of life 
 there, so at the end of January he went back 
 to Johannesburg, hired a room, and sat down to 
 his books. " Here I have read from 6 to 8.30 
 geography ; 10 to i, the Times and organization ; 
 2.45 to 4.15 I have done French lessons ; 4.30 to 7, 
 mathematics ; dinner 7.15 ; then I read till about 
 10. You cannot imagine what a difference it 
 makes to my work to work undisturbed. At 
 Potch. I never sit down without being inter- 
 rupted." In February he was back at Potchef- 
 stroom, where he now took a room in the town. 
 This was his programme : " About 10.30 I drive 
 at full speed to my room and work till 2.15. I 
 gallop back to a late lunch at 2.30 ; then practise 
 or play polo. Commence work again at 5 in the 
 town, and do not move till 9 ; then home, small 
 supper, read a little, and go to bed. I thus, in 
 addition to polo and three hours riding, do eight
 
 A MEMOIR. 127 
 
 hours' work. Every one thinks I am mad, but I 
 know I am all right. Four hours at a sitting make 
 the whole difference." 
 
 Francis's letters are full of the results of his 
 new studiousness. For one thing he had come 
 round to a belief in novels as an adjunct to the 
 study of history. 
 
 " Few stolid history books tell you where Napoleon was 
 wounded, or how Lannes died, or how Napoleon gained in- 
 formation of the Austrian position. Nor do they tell you that 
 one of the chief causes of the failure of Massena in Spain 
 was because he had Mile. X. with him. He failed to pursue 
 Wellington because Mile. X. was tired. Ney refused to obey 
 his orders since they had quarrelled because Ney found him- 
 self sitting next Mile. X. at dinner. Junot quarrelled with 
 Massena because his wife, a princess, refused to speak to 
 Mile. X. or to stay under the same roof. Such information 
 is gained from novels in conjunction with history." 
 
 Sometimes there is military criticism : 
 
 " I am thinking of writing to Colonel Repington to wake 
 up our army about the use of machine guns. The nation 
 wliich first studies them and employs them scientifically hi 
 the next war will gain an immense advantage over a nation 
 which neglects their use. At present, I fear, we will be in 
 the same position as the Austrians in 1866." 
 
 From March onward, plans for 1910 and 1911 
 began to be Francis's chief solace in his arduous 
 labours. He implored Rivy not to sell his ponies, 
 for in 1911 he meant to play polo hard, as well as
 
 128 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 ride in the Grand National. In March he was 
 again in Johannesburg, recovering from a slight 
 attack of fever, where he solaced his convalescence 
 with Queen Victoria's Letters, dined with the 
 Selbornes, and had lengthy talks with Mr. Walter 
 Long about army reform. ' I prayed him never 
 to forget that an army without discipline was worth 
 nothing. The American army had drilled in 
 drill halls, wore fine uniforms, could shoulder a 
 musket ; they also knew all the theory of marching. 
 In practice they failed to march five miles, because 
 streams, blackberry bushes, and tight boots took 
 more hold of them than discipline and instinctive 
 obedience, which is not obtained in a few hours' 
 training." He was enthusiastic about the Union 
 of South Africa, then in process of formation. 
 " 1 am bound to say, R. G., that though we damned 
 the Radicals for giving back this country, it seems 
 to have been most beneficial. Of course things 
 have turned out far better than they had any right 
 to expect, but the result is the great thing." 
 
 For the next month his letters are more full 
 of polo than of his studies. * I school my ponies 
 every afternoon myself. It has made a surprising 
 difference. My thoroughbred Argentine is very 
 handy, kind, and speedy. Two months ago she 
 was unmanageable, so I have ridden her two 
 hours in the ranks every morning when there was
 
 A MEMOIR. 129 
 
 no parade. She does two hours' steady trotting 
 early, and at n she goes to the riding school 
 for one hour. Every afternoon I school her or 
 play her. The great mass of work at first had 
 no effect, but by continuing it I wore her down, 
 and now she is like a dog, so quiet and so kind." 
 His future plans were sorting themselves out. He 
 saw before him a chance of qualifying for the 
 Staff College, but he was aware that he could not 
 enter it until he improved in his languages ; so a 
 long spell on the Continent in 1911 or 1912 was 
 decided upon. But before that there was to be 
 a sporting annus mirabilis. " You will be kept 
 pretty busy when F. G. comes home. I intend 
 having the best stud of ponies ; six hunters 
 at Melton ; the smartest charger that will win 
 at Olympia, and a GRAND NATIONAL WINNER 
 and a TUTOR. We will kick off in September 
 1910." 
 
 In April the 9th Lancers won the South African 
 Polo Championship, beating the 3rd Hussars by 
 eighteen goals to nil (of which eighteen Francis 
 scored twelve), and the 4th Hussars by nine 
 goals to three. To celebrate the result Francis 
 took a few days off in Johannesburg, staying with 
 Hugh Wyndham. In April he had a fortnight's 
 machine-gun course at Bloemfontein, and was 
 suddenly struck with the diversity of his accom- 
 
 (2,187)
 
 130 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 plishments. " It often amuses me when I sum 
 up the number of things an officer is supposed 
 to know. Yet every civilian says he does nothing. 
 Here am I working at ten subjects for Staff Col- 
 lege, and supposed to be (and believe I am) an 
 expert at riding. I am qualified for the Intelli- 
 gence Department, having done a month's course ; 
 know my regimental duties ; and am now going 
 very technically into machine guns ; in addition 
 to being a qualified veterinary and engineering 
 instructor. Yet this is only about a quarter of 
 what most chaps can do." 
 
 In May he suddenly grew sleepless, and for a 
 week or two was worried about his health. He 
 finally cured himself by drinking hot milk before 
 going to bed. Towards the end of the month he 
 was busy with squadron training, and was in- 
 spected by Lord Methuen. " Providence smiled 
 on us, and everything went off so well that the 
 General almost fell off his horse with joy. His 
 address at the end was as follows : * I congratulate 
 the squadron leader on the way you have drilled 
 and fought to-day. I think it is the best squadron 
 I have ever seen in my life.' I never saw a chap 
 so pleased." He proposed to take his examination 
 in August, and then in September either to go on 
 a big-game expedition or to visit Madagascar to* 
 learn French. The second alternative was soon
 
 A MEMOIR. 131 
 
 dismissed, for he discovered that it would take 
 as long to get to Madagascar as to get to England ; 
 but he did his best to persuade Rivy to join him 
 in the big-game hunt. In June he was elected 
 Secretary of the South African Polo Association, 
 and at a polo dinner made one of his infrequent 
 public speeches. * Every one said it was good. 
 It was certainly a great deal the longest." He 
 was very pleased, too, with the result of the Brigade 
 parades, where he was congratulated by the in- 
 specting General. " The Colonel showed me my 
 confidential report. It seemed rather flattering : 
 * This officer is a candidate for the Staff College, 
 and should make an excellent Staff officer (What 
 Ho !). His most notable qualities are his ex- 
 cessive keenness and capacity for working ; a very 
 good officer, a fine horseman, and a most thorough 
 sportsman ' (! !)." 
 
 There was certainly no doubt about the ex- 
 cessive keenness of this very good officer. In the 
 same letter he informed Rivy that in 1911 he 
 intended to compete in the following events : 
 
 1 . Army Point-to-Point. 
 
 2. Grand Military. 
 
 3. Grand National. 
 
 4. Champion Polo Cup. 
 
 5. Inter- Regimental Cup. 
 
 6. Staff College.
 
 i 3 2 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 " It would, of course, be a record to win the lot," 
 he adds modestly ; " still, I hope to. I have 
 written to Marcus Beresford (talk to him at the 
 Turf, if you see him) and asked him for the best 
 trainer." A little later he sketches the following 
 brilliant programme : 
 
 " Tableau. 
 
 " 1911. F. G. winning Grand Military, Grand National, 
 High Jump at Olympia, Champion Cup, Inter-Regimental, 
 Army P.-to-P., Staff Nomination for having beaten all previous 
 records ! Cheers from R. G. in the stands ! Cheers from 
 Bonbright, who seizes the stakes ! 
 
 " I mean to have the best polo team and to improve polo, 
 and if possible play for England and challenge the Yanks. I 
 mean to have two shots at the Grand National and Gold 
 Cup. I mean to get into the Staff College. I mean to wake 
 myself up and remember Sir Richard Grenville's dying words 
 when his one ship took on fifty-four Spaniards, ' Fight on 
 fight on ! '" 
 
 These ambitions did not interfere with his 
 laborious habits. On ist August he notes that he 
 had done over ten hours a day for six weeks ! 
 Then came the examination. " The flag dropped 
 on Wednesday," he wrote to Rivy, " since when 
 I have been up and over. I think I am still 
 going round, lying about third. We have a big, 
 broad fence on strategy, six hours' writing, and 
 then a nasty strong one in geography and French." 
 On the 1 6th he wrote : " It has been a great ex-' 
 perience to me. It is a hard examination, and
 
 A MEMOIR. 133 
 
 requires numerous qualities to be successful. I 
 got a little stale about the middle. I jumped some 
 fences too big, others too low, and consequently 
 pecked a good deal. I never came right off, and 
 finished the course anxious to start again." The 
 result was that in his papers Francis did well 
 enough to qualify for the Staff College. It was 
 a remarkable performance, for he did it entirely 
 to gain experience, since he was not actually 
 competing that year ; and to undergo so drastic a 
 discipline merely for training argued a real power 
 of self-command. 
 
 For Rivy the first half of 1909 was clouded by 
 misfortunes. His Christmas visit to Eaton had 
 fallen through, and he spent the last week of 1908 
 alone in London, reading Queen Victoria's Letters 
 and Gladstone's Life. He was glad of the soli- 
 tude, for he had been rather depressed of late, 
 reflecting upon the number of ragged ends in 
 his life. " Still, I think if one plugs," so he con- 
 soled himself, " the horizon suddenly clears and 
 you find you have ' arrived ' quite unconsciously. 
 It is like polo : one plays (one thinks) badly 
 against Buckmaster, but then go against a weaker 
 team and you find you are in a class by yourself. 
 When you feel downhearted, think of Lord 
 Beaconsfield. He stood for Wycombe four times 
 between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-four,
 
 t34 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 and was beaten each time by an enormous majority. 
 At last he got in somewhere ; then made his first 
 speech in the House, and every one roared at him, 
 he made such a mess of it. But he didn't care 
 a hang." 
 
 The depression was presently explained. Early 
 in January he was threatened with appendicitis, 
 but seemed to recover. He went down to stay 
 with his uncle, Lord Grenfell, at Butler's Court,* 
 where his reading combined the Life of Jack 
 Sheppard with the Life of Queen Victoria. " He 
 was a notorious criminal of the eighteenth century, 
 who did about twenty-four murders, and escaped 
 from the condemned cell on four occasions. I 
 described some of the details to Aline [Lady 
 Grenfell], who hates horrors; so the Uncle goes 
 into the next room and takes out an old scrap- 
 book in which there was a picture of him in 1876 
 superintending the execution of three niggers in 
 Kaffirland, which nearly made Aline sick." Next 
 week-end he went to Lillieshall, to the Duchess of 
 Sutherland, where there was a cheerful party, 
 and on the following Monday met Lord Haldane 
 at dinner and discussed with him the Battle of 
 Jena and the character of the Kaiser. " Haldane 
 seems to me a wonderful cove." On the Wed- 
 nesday, while at dinner, he suddenly got ill ; 
 the doctors pronounced it acute appendicitis, and
 
 A MEMOIR. 135 
 
 he was carried off to a nursing home. He was 
 operated on at nine in the morning of 6th Feb- 
 ruary by Sir Alfred Fripp. Not having acquired 
 the operations habit, he took the matter very 
 seriously, made a new will leaving everything to 
 Francis, and composed a letter to his brother, 
 only to be sent if he should not recover. In 
 that letter he wrote : 
 
 " I do not mind the idea of the thing at all. I feel that 
 even if it goes wrong it cannot be helped. I have had a mighty 
 good life, and have left nothing behind to be ashamed of, and 
 can face the next world with a clear conscience. . . . Work 
 hard at your books. You have a good reputation in the army, 
 and only books and seeing plenty of the world can get you on ; 
 so whenever you feel lazy think that R. G. would like you to 
 be working. Best love, F. G. You have been a good friend 
 to me." 
 
 The operation was successful, and Rivy, though 
 he had an uncomfortable fortnight, was intensely 
 interested in his sensations. 
 
 " I can remember talking a great deal of rot for the next 
 hour, and having a long discussion with the nurse as to what 
 sort of cable should be sent you. She was awfully amused. 
 I knew I was talking rot, and yet I could not help it. I said 
 such things as this : ' Please cable to my brother at once that 
 I have done the operation, and that I found it rather difficult 
 to jab the appendix out, but that it was all done successfully.' 
 I said I particularly wanted to see Angus McDonnell, but that 
 if he came up they must show him on to the roof. This went 
 on till about one, when I got more sane and more uncomfort- 
 able. ... I have been very surprised at the way they feed
 
 136 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 you up. I have something every two hours, and since Tuesday 
 have been on solid food and having brandy three times a day. 
 It is on occasions like this that being a teetotaller pays. I am 
 quite sure the brandy benefits me three times as much as it 
 would the ordinary invalid." 
 
 Rivy's convalescence was slow, and horses were 
 out of the question for a month or two. He spent 
 a good deal of his time at Cliveden with Waldorf 
 Astor, and at the end of March was back at 
 business. About this time he wrote to Francis : 
 
 " You say you are getting unsociable. I don't think this 
 matters a hang. In fact, it is a good thing to want to be alone 
 it shows you have other interests ; but then you must counter- 
 act this by making yourself pleasant when you happen to be 
 with your brother officers, and live up or down to the person 
 you happen to be with. You used to curse me for liking to be 
 alone ; yet I never seem to be alone. How much better it is 
 to be talking to Rose or Marbot about Napoleon than to X. 
 about a girl in Jo'burg. You and I always tend to be too 
 much in Society. In fact, we are thick-headed because we 
 never have been alone, and so never read the ordinary books 
 that most boys know by heart." 
 
 By a diligent regime and much dumb-bell 
 exercise Rivy hoped to be able to play polo in 
 May. Meantime he was much perturbed by 
 Francis's wild schemes for 1911, for Francis, in 
 almost every letter, urged the wholesale purchase 
 of ponies. " You forget that to have fifty ponies 
 you will want 20,000 a year. Unfortunately, 
 some of us have a way of spending about three
 
 A MEMOIR. 137 
 
 times as much as we have, and so it becomes 
 necessary now and again to sell a pony. You 
 write very foolish remarks about * you City chaps 
 always wanting to sell ponies.* If a mug happens 
 to bid me 300 for ' Sweetbriar ' I shall certainly 
 sell her." Early in April he had a touch of influ- 
 enza, and his letters show it. "I have bought you 
 the Empire typewriter that you asked for. Miss 
 Friston says that it will take you some time prob- 
 ably to learn how to work it at any speed, but I 
 say it will take you an eternity. I would suggest 
 your writing some of your letters to your friends 
 (except me) by it. I cannot think what you have 
 bought it for, as the time you will be spending 
 learning this you might have spent in learning 
 how to outwit Wilhelm in the next Anglo- German 
 war." Again : " You always laugh at me over 
 money, but it is time you realized that I only 
 save because I know far more about it than you. . . . 
 You have about 16,000 in the world, and get on 
 it about 1,000 a year. How can you buy Na- 
 tional horses, hunters, and the best polo ponies 
 on that ? You will, by spending more capital on 
 horses, have less to invest, and so will have far 
 less income. The only soldiers who ride steeple- 
 chases now are people like McCalmont, who has 
 about a million, and George Paynter, who has 
 10,000 a year. These are facts, and cannot be
 
 138 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 got away from ; so be content to be the best polo 
 player in the best regiment, not a sort of mug 
 steeplechase rider whom no one hears of, and who 
 goes bust." In letter after letter Rivy laboured 
 to win Francis from his grandiose schemes and 
 confine his ambitions to polo. He wanted to 
 make up a first-class team in which he should 
 play No. i and Francis No. 2 ; but Francis was 
 obdurate. " I am going for the National,'* he 
 wrote, "the Grand Military, the Army P.-to-P., 
 and our own Regimental cups. I will not hunt." 
 In May came the famous 1909 Budget, on 
 which Rivy's comments show commendable mod- 
 eration. " They have hit the rich from every 
 corner, and so every one is crying out. Personally 
 I think there is a great deal to be said in favour of 
 these socialistic Budgets. Old Rothschild will not 
 eat any less foie gras because he has to pay a little 
 more for his motor cars." But books and politics 
 and everything else were presently submerged by 
 the challenge of the American team. For the 
 rest of the summer Rivy's letters contained little 
 besides polo, and even the student at Potchef- 
 stroom was stirred to enthusiasm. Rivy was tried 
 for the English team, but did not ultimately get 
 a place in it, for the committee thought that his 
 operation had left him too weak. He accepted 
 the decision loyally, and constituted himself the
 
 A MEMOIR. 139 
 
 whole-hearted champion of the team ultimately 
 chosen. The Americans greatly impressed him. 
 1 They have taken the place by storm. Money is 
 absolutely no object at all. They have twenty- . 
 five ponies all English except one, and all costing 
 about 500 each. Instead of being bad players, 
 as everybody expected, they are remarkably good, 
 and their ponies are really wonderful. They not 
 only have their own, but all the ponies that other 
 millionaires have been buying during the last three 
 years." 
 
 In May he went for a week to Holland with 
 Lord Grenfell and his sister-in-law. " He and I 
 went out one morning early, and were looking at 
 some rather nice biblical pictures in a shop win- 
 dow when we suddenly heard a terrific squealing. 
 * By Jove/ said the Uncle, ' they are killing a pig.* 
 So off we went at top speed, to find some wretched 
 pigs not being killed, as he had hoped, but being 
 dragged from a high cart and being weighed for 
 market. * Most instructive/ said the Uncle. ' I 
 should never have known how to catch a pig/ 
 We went also to a diamond-cutting place, and saw 
 where the Cullinan diamond was cut. It was 
 difficult to get into, so I made the Uncle tell the 
 Jew boy at the door that he was * Gold Stick in 
 Waiting ' to the King. You never saw such a 
 wonderful effect as it had on the nosy brigade.
 
 140 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 They showed us a cup given by the King, on 
 which were inscribed the words : ' To Benjamin, 
 Joseph, and Moses Asscher, for services to the 
 King of England ' which amused us very much 
 indeed." 
 
 After that there is nothing but polo. Rivy 
 records how at one match he heard a lady in a 
 stand saying, " Why do we not breed such ponies 
 as that in this country ? The Americans under- 
 stand everything so much better than we do." 
 1 Whose was the pony ? None but the famous 
 ' Cinderella/ sold by R. G. to the Americans at 
 the end of last year. There is a good deal of rot 
 like this being talked." Rivy played very well 
 in some of the trial matches, and for long it was 
 a nice question whether he would not be chosen 
 for England. He watched the performances of his 
 old " Cinderella " with intense interest. " They 
 play her in plain double bridle, but she does not 
 seem quite so handy as when I had her. She has 
 her near fore all wrapped up in cotton wool. I 
 would laugh if she broke down, for, as a Jew once 
 said, ' Ze Christians have ze shares and ve ze 
 cash * the Yankees have the pony and I the cash, 
 with which I bought two others." 
 
 His letters about this time are so technical 
 that they scarcely bear reprinting, but they seem 
 to me to contain the complete philosophy of polo,
 
 A MEMOIR. 141 
 
 and I have no doubt that Francis greatly benefited 
 by them. Rivy had made up his mind that if 
 the cup were lost he and Francis would make up 
 a team which would recover it, and he studied 
 every detail of every game, and especially the 
 American method of pony management, with an 
 acumen which might have made his fortune on 
 the Stock Exchange. When the disastrous final 
 match was played and the cup was lost, Francis 
 wrote : 
 
 " A very good letter from you full of how we are going to 
 beat the Yanks, but a telegram has appeared announcing 
 England's defeat by 18 to 7. ... I await your explanations. 
 We must now put our backs to it and go to America and get the 
 cup back. It will give us a dashed good goal to work up for, 
 and all England will give us a cheer. We must lie doggo for 
 two or three years and practise, practise, practise. Will you 
 take it on ? I have never really laid myself out for polo as 
 I am going to do now. Every yokel here is discussing our 
 defeat. I don't suppose in any colony there is a European 
 who has not heard of it. So up, ye men, and at 'em ! " 
 
 Rivy's comments on the final match seem to 
 me very sound. " The American ponies are un- 
 doubtedly better than ours : they jump off quicker 
 and go in quicker. As for the striking of the 
 Americans, they hit the polo ball as if it were a 
 racquet ball. They are truly wonderful. When- 
 ever they get away they get a goal. This, as you 
 know, is exceedingly rare on English ground.
 
 142 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Freake and Pat Nickalls, whom I have always 
 admired as fine hitters, are children compared 
 with the Yankees. The extraordinary part is 
 that * Cinderella ' has proved by far the best pony 
 on the American side. I do not know what they 
 have done with her, or whether the English ponies 
 are worse than they were last year, but on all sides 
 yesterday I kept hearing, ' What a wonderful pony 
 that is that Grenfell sold ! ' All the papers seem 
 to rub it in, and it seems funny to think that this 
 pony was hawking round London last year for 
 six weeks and advertised in the papers before the 
 Yankees bought it. I am now perpetually asked, 
 * Why on earth did you sell her ? ' My only 
 answer is, ' Why on earth did I break my leg ? ' 
 He was very rightly furious at the attacks in the 
 papers on the English team, especially before the 
 final " I thought it very unsportsmanlike of a 
 decent paper to cut off the heads of the English 
 players before they had gone on the field," and he 
 wrote an excellent letter in the Times on this point. 
 He summed up the situation thus to Francis : 
 
 " Whitney determined to try to win this cup four years 
 ago. For four years he has been collecting all the ponies he 
 could, and all his team has been trained to play together. 
 The Waterburys are two magnificent players. Larry is the 
 champion racquet player of America. They have played polo 
 since they were ten, and always together. To get the cup 
 back we must do likewise."
 
 A MEMOIR. 143 
 
 Among the many entertainments given to the 
 American team was a luncheon at the Pilgrims' 
 Club, with Lord Grenfell in the chair. In the 
 course of his speech he expounded the habits of 
 his nephews. " I do not know if there is anybody 
 present who is an uncle. If so I hope he has not 
 been blessed with such nephews as the two that 
 I have. One of them sits there ; the other, thank 
 Heaven, is engaged in South Africa. I have a 
 small estate in the country where I hoped to 
 feed and fatten some cattle and sheep. On my 
 return from abroad I found some very thin cattle, 
 some thinner sheep, and some extremely fat polo 
 ponies. On making inquiries, my bailiff told me 
 that he had received instructions that these ponies 
 (sent down without my permission) were to be 
 kept * in the field where the Uncle grows his hay.' 
 The result was that I had no grass ; all the bark 
 was torn from my trees ; there was an enormous 
 hole in my hayrick which I think * Cinderella' used 
 as a bedroom ; and in addition one day ' Cinderella ' 
 got loose and made a fine meal off my geraniums." 
 
 I think it may fairly be said that of all polo 
 players in England Rivy was the first to divine 
 the secret of the American success, and to begin, 
 laboriously and scientifically, to lay plans to win 
 back the cup. He was very clear that it was no 
 use attempting the thing in 1910, and that England
 
 144 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 must lie low until she had trained a team adequate 
 for the purpose. His own dream was that that 
 team should consist of himself as No. i, Francis 
 No. 2, Hardress Lloyd back, and either Bertie 
 Wilson or Noel Edwards as No. 3. He estimated 
 that it would take 15,000 to collect ponies. " If 
 you and I practise hard together," he wrote to 
 Francis, " and discuss the thing every evening, we 
 could, I am sure, become as good as the Water- 
 burys. The whole American combination was 
 due to them. They used to work out problems 
 on the polo ground and then practise them. 
 ... It would be a big thing to do, and one 
 worth concentrating on ; but if you are going 
 to work for the Staff College and play this sort 
 of polo, you must chuck all your other foolish 
 ideas of steeplechasing." 
 
 On 28th July he went to America for his firm, 
 and stayed on his arrival with Mr. Devereux 
 Milburn. With his host and the Waterburys he 
 went down to Newport to see a match for the 
 American Champion Cup. He was much struck by 
 the hardness and fastness of the grounds, which 
 reminded him more of India than of England. 
 His conclusion was that the average American 
 player was not good, and that the Meadowbrook 
 team who had won the cup in England were in 
 a class by themselves. He spent eome pleasant
 
 A MEMOIR. 145 
 
 weeks in America, busy in his American office and 
 occasionally spending a Sunday with Jack Morgan. 
 On their joint birthday he wrote to Francis : " I 
 hope this is the last birthday for some years that 
 we shall be separated. Twenty-nine seems dashed 
 old to me ; twenty-seven and twenty-eight always 
 sounded young, but at twenty-nine we should 
 start and be up and doing. I am getting on very 
 well in my firm, and have really a great chance in 
 the future. I made 1,500 this year, but, like an 
 idiot, speculated last Christmas and lost some 
 money and also spent about 2,000. Why do we 
 spend such an infernal amount ? ' He varied 
 his business with reading a good deal of Shake- 
 speare, and Bryce's American Commonwealth. One 
 day he met an old Eton friend. " He amused 
 me enormously, for he had, of course, got in- 
 terested in a wonderful invention. Most people 
 here are interested in large development schemes, 
 but, just like a thin-headed Englishman, he has 
 got a patent for closing whisky bottles. I did 
 not like to suggest to him that the majority of 
 people I met were searching for patents to open 
 them." 
 
 About the middle of September he came back 
 to England to dispose of a new business which 
 his firm had acquired, where he found his groom 
 in despair over Francis's African ponies, which 
 
 (2,187) 10
 
 146 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 had just arrived. " He wants to know what 
 language they understand, as they don't seem to 
 answer to English." At home he got the news of 
 Francis's success in his examination. " I never 
 was so surprised in my life as to find that you had 
 qualified in everything. You must have become 
 a sort of encyclopaedia, for there was not one 
 word in any paper that I could have answered. 
 It seems astounding what one can learn by hard 
 work, for I have always felt that you would never 
 pass anything except possibly the entry exam, 
 into Eton ! " 
 
 On 1 6th October he left again for America, 
 and in the first week of November attended a 
 dinner given to the American polo team. There 
 he made a speech which was a huge success. 
 
 " These fellows have a pleasant way of suddenly calling 
 upon you for a speech ; so, as I was anxious to do it properly, 
 I worked hard, not only at the words but at the delivery. At 
 the dinner there were two hundred people collected from all 
 parts of the U.S.A. army officers from Wyoming, Canadian 
 officers, Mr. Root (a member of the Cabinet), Mr. Bacon (Sec- 
 retary of State), Mr. Milburn (head of the Bar), etc. I was not 
 down to speak, and luckily the speeches were all very bad, 
 with no jokes. I sat on the dais and was several times referred 
 to, so that I felt I ought to say something. At the beginning 
 of dinner I had told the chap next to me that Englishmen were 
 very poor speakers. He said that it came quite natural to 
 most Americans ; so I said that nothing in the world scared me 
 so much, and that I could not do it. Just before the end of 
 the last speech I told him I felt I ought to say something, but
 
 A MEMOIR. 147 
 
 did not know what to say. He thought it a capital joke, and 
 sent a message to Whitney to call on me. I got up and, funnily 
 enough, did not feel a bit nervous. It is an extraordinary 
 feeling when you get hold of an audience. They roared at my 
 jokes, much appreciated my references to Whitney and the 
 way we admired him, and finally, when I sat down after fifteen 
 minutes without a check, they all stood up and sang, ' For he's a 
 jolly good fellow.' Mr. Root congratulated me, and Mr. Bacon 
 said he had rarely heard a speech better delivered. I had to 
 shake hands with everybody there. The Canadians were de- 
 lighted that a Britisher should make a far better speech than any 
 Yankee. My pal who sat next me told every one I had said 
 I could not speak at all, and that 1 was quite unprepared. He 
 thought me a sort of Demosthenes. Wasn't it luck ? Francis 
 Fitzgibbon was told on the Cotton Exchange next day ' that an 
 Englishman had made the best speech that was ever heard of.' ' 
 
 Altogether Rivy had a very pleasant time in 
 America, getting through a great deal of business 
 and making innumerable friends. Among his 
 recreations he rated high the privilege of roaming 
 through Mr. Pierpont Morgan's private library. 
 * Some of the things simply took one's breath 
 away, and I am surprised that the British Museum 
 allowed them to get out of the country. He has 
 all Macaulay's original letters and manuscripts, 
 also Walpole's, Thackeray's, and Dickens 's, etc., 
 with scratchings out and alterations made with 
 their own pens. Mr. Morgan, senior, is a jolly 
 old boy with a very determined look. He has 
 told me to go and see his library whenever I like." 
 
 Meantime Francis, having finished his labours,
 
 148 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 thought of relaxation. He departed in the end 
 of August for Barotseland in company with M. 
 Chevally, the French Consul at Johannesburg. 
 When they got into the lion country on the Kafue 
 his companion grew restless. ' I sleep in his 
 tent. He got up three times in one night and 
 asked my hunter if that was a lion, as he thought 
 he heard a moan. Last night I said, ' It is so hot ; 
 let us have the tent open/ ' All right,' he said, 
 but the moment he thought I was asleep he got 
 up and laced the tent down." M. Chevally, who 
 had not come out to hunt, presently returned home, 
 and Francis went northward into the thick bush 
 of the Kafue region. His letters to Rivy are filled 
 with the usual details of African hunting, and in 
 deference to his brother's profession he intercalates 
 observations on trade. " The few traders I have 
 seen are remarkable for their lack of organization. 
 I have met four. All are broke, and yet at times 
 make 5,000 a year." He greatly admired his 
 hunter, " an old filibuster who used to trade in 
 poached ivory. He has had over 30,000 to his 
 credit, but is now, like most, broke. He is a sort 
 of Starlight in Robbery under Arms, and has twice 
 been tried for murder. He began, as in novels, 
 by being shipwrecked off Quilimane in 1869 or 
 thereabouts, the Portuguese being then at war 
 with the natives. A Jew in Quilimane supplied
 
 A MEMOIR. 149 
 
 the natives with powder, which my chap carried 
 through to them and was paid 1,000." 
 
 After leaving the Kafue Flats he rejoined the 
 railway and went on to Broken Hill, whence he 
 intended to trek towards Lake Nyassa. So far 
 he had done fairly well with buck, having got 
 eland, lech we, roan, reedbuck, oribi, and wilde- 
 beest. At Broken Hill he was entertained by 
 Charles Grey,* and had much trouble with his 
 hunter, who was drunk for two days. " I have 
 been in the most awful places after him. He 
 broke into my chest and got rid of four bottles of 
 brandy." 
 
 In the beginning of October he was on the 
 Loangwa River. " Charming country, big rivers, 
 high hills, good trees ; but Providence (Whose 
 doings we cannot understand) has provided a 
 Tsetse Fly that worries you all day." There he 
 got a charging rhino at about twenty yards, and 
 had a stiff hunt after that most dangerous of 
 quarries, the African buffalo. " I led the attack, 
 cleared for action, with a nigger behind me to 
 keep me on the spoor. We went through very 
 high thick grass, like that stuff we got tiger out of 
 in India. The niggers at first refused to go in. 
 After seven hours' pursuit we passed a tree up 
 which, luckily, we put a nigger, and so spied the 
 
 * Younger brother of Lord Grey of Failed on.
 
 150 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 buffalo lying down fifty yards ahead. I climbed 
 the tree like a monkey and killed him. The whole 
 hunt lasted eight hours : we started just before 
 daylight on the spoor, and killed the buffalo at 
 1.30 walking all the time in the middle of a 
 Central African summer." A little later he tried 
 for an elephant, but had no luck, though he 
 had four separate hunts, each taking about four 
 days* hard walking. Presently he came to the 
 conclusion that he had had enough of it. * It 
 made my mouth water," wrote Rivy, " to hear 
 that you were surrounded by about 6,000 big 
 game, while I am surrounded by about 6,000 big 
 noses of the Jewish fraternity." But hunting, as 
 Francis found it, was too monotonous a pursuit to 
 satisfy him indefinitely. " It is extraordinary what 
 regular walking does. I look on fifteen miles as 
 nothing. Last week I did twenty miles and shot a 
 hippo after it before sundown. That means a walk 
 from Wilton Park to Ascot." This is the young 
 gentleman who in India had decided that Provi- 
 dence did not mean him to use his legs otherwise 
 than on horseback ! On his journey down country 
 he did 150 miles on foot in six and a half days. On 
 the 8th of November he was back in Potchefstroom. 
 " I am exceedingly glad I have done the trip, but 
 somehow I do not feel very anxious to do it again. 
 But it has been a most thorough mental rest."
 
 A MEMOIR. 151 
 
 The effects of the mental rest and the hard 
 training which Francis had enjoyed were speedily 
 apparen't in his letters home. He discovered in 
 himself a strong disinclination to turn his attention 
 to books. His thoughts were all now on physical 
 culture, on polo, and on his approaching return 
 to England. He pled with Rivy to buy ponies, 
 all of the best and as many as possible. " If you 
 will not spend the money yourself, for Heaven's 
 sake spend mine." He repudiated with scorn the 
 suggestion that he should write of his Central 
 African experiences in a magazine. " Don't you 
 become a Jew boy," he told his brother, " because 
 you live among them. I will never, never write 
 to a magazine. Nothing does a soldier more 
 harm. Every person has his own job, and the 
 successful man is he who knows what is his and 
 sticks to it. Literature and money-making are 
 not mine, and I intend to interfere in neither. I 
 think you are very ill-advised to be always looking 
 for cheap advertisement." The great sporting 
 events for which he intended to enter monopolized 
 his mind. At a boxing match, observing that one 
 of the combatants sipped champagne between 
 rounds, he came to the conclusion that even a 
 teetotaller like himself might benefit by a little 
 dope before a big match, so he implored Rivy to 
 get the best medical opinion on the subject. He
 
 152 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 was not prepared to abate one jot of his ambitions. 
 " You will be miserable," he wrote in his Christ- 
 mas letter, " to hear that I have definitely decided 
 to try to win the National in 1911 and 1912. So 
 my next few years will be busy to become (i) best 
 polo player at No. 2 ; (2) to win the National ; 
 (3) to become a p.s.c. Best love, old boy ; don't 
 become too studious, or you will become too old 
 too soon. . . . Please stop going to theatres until 
 I arrive, as it is miserable to come home full of 
 cheer to find a blase brother whose method of 
 entertainment is to give you a dinner at the Bath 
 Club ! We are going to have none of that. We 
 will kick off at the Ritz, and laugh at the Gaiety." 
 In this mood of vaulting ambition and ecstatic 
 vitality Francis's period of soldiering abroad 
 reached its close.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 1910-1914. 
 
 THE next four years saw the Twins together in 
 England Francis with his regiment at various 
 stations, and Rivy immersed in City business, yet 
 not so immersed that he could not spare time 
 for partnership in many sports. It was a happy 
 period, for neither had ever been quite at ease out 
 of the other's sight. They had now passed their 
 thirtieth year, and, so far as Providence would 
 permit, had grown up. This maturity was not 
 marked by any decline of the high spirits of youth, 
 but by a growth in placidity and a modest con- 
 tentment with life. Rivy, in especial, was now 
 less of an anxious pilgrim, less habitually tor- 
 mented by a desire for the moon. He seemed to 
 be on the road to great business prosperity, for in 
 January 1910 he joined his brother Arthur's firm, 
 then at the height of its success ; his reputation 
 in sport was solidly established, and he was in- 
 clined to acquiesce in that shrinking of horizons 
 which is the tragedy of the transition from youth. 
 
 158
 
 154 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Francis, in whom ambition woke more spasmod- 
 ically, had his hands full with his Staff College 
 and regimental work, and his mind preoccupied 
 with the endless interests of the returned traveller. 
 Merely to be at home again was to him a perpetual 
 wonder and delight. 
 
 I had known the Twins off and on for some 
 years, but at this period we became intimate 
 friends. London is a place of many casual ac- 
 quaintances, much blurred in the memory, but I 
 think that no one who was brought into contact 
 with Francis and Rivy was likely to forget them. 
 They had that complete detachment from the 
 atmosphere which we call distinction. If it was 
 not always easy to tell one from the other, it was 
 impossible to confuse them with anybody else. 
 Just over six feet in height, beautifully propor- 
 tioned, and always in hard training, they were 
 most satisfactory to behold. Once Rivy, hasten- 
 ing away from a ball, asked what he took to be the 
 butler to call him a hansom. " Indeed, I call 
 you handsome, my boy," said the " butler," who 
 was Mr. Choate. Their clear, pale complexions, 
 derived from a Spanish strain, their dark hair and 
 eyes, and something soft and gracious in their 
 manner gave them a slightly foreign air ; but 
 their deep explosive voices were very English. 
 Both had a trick of finishing a sentence with a
 
 A MEMOIR. 155 
 
 kind of gust of deep-breathed emphasis. The 
 predominant impression, I think, that they made 
 on the world was of a great gentleness and an 
 inexhaustible vitality. Neither could be angry 
 for long, and neither was capable of harshness 
 or rancour. Their endearing grace of manner 
 made a pleasant warmth in any society which they 
 entered ; and since this gentleness was joined to 
 a perpetual glow of enthusiasm the effect was 
 triumphant. One's recollection was of something 
 lithe, alert, eager, like a finely-bred greyhound. 
 Most people are apt to be two-dimensional in 
 the remembrance even of their friends, like the 
 flat figures in a tapestry ; but Francis and Rivy 
 stood out with a startling vividness. Even death 
 has not made them sink into the background of 
 memory. When I think of either it is as of youth 
 incarnate, with all the colour and speed of life, 
 like some Greek runner straining at the start of 
 a race. 
 
 . Francis arrived in January 1910, and was at 
 once laid hold of by politics. The Twins hunted 
 in couples through that unsavoury Budget election 
 when the spirit of Limehouse was abroad, and 
 spoke at many meetings, chiefly of railwaymen 
 and workmen. It is not recorded what Francis 
 said, though he can have known as much about 
 English politics as about the Ptolemaic system ; but
 
 156 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 he was reputed an effective canvasser, and it is 
 on record that on one occasion he looked after a 
 labourer's baby while the father went to vote, and 
 afterwards had supper with the family. He went 
 to the depot at Woolwich for some weeks, and 
 then joined his regiment at Canterbury. He took 
 great pains with his lectures to his men, and such 
 specimens as I have read are admirable, both for 
 their clear statement and for the enthusiasm with 
 which he managed to invest his treatment. He 
 was a slow worker, and took a long time to under- 
 stand a thing, but once he had grasped it he 
 could impart it vigorously to others. He laboured 
 always to inspire in his hearers a passion for the 
 9th Lancers, dwelling on the great episodes of 
 their past, and usually at the end compelling his 
 audience to stand up and cheer for the regiment. 
 
 That summer was devoted to polo, and for the 
 moment Francis's steeplechasing ambitions seem 
 to have been at rest. The Old Etonian team 
 in which the Twins played carried everything 
 before it, and was invited by the Hurlingham 
 Committee to go to America to try for the cup. 
 They decided to be entirely independent of the 
 America Cup Recovery Fund, which was to 
 remain intact and provide the sinews of war for 
 the great effort of the following year. That 
 summer, I think, may be taken as the height of
 
 A MEMOIR. 157 
 
 the Twins' fame in the polo world. It may not 
 be out of place to quote some notes written by 
 Lieutenant-Colonel E. D. Miller after their death. 
 
 " The polo world mourns many fine players and good 
 sportsmen killed in the war, but for none is more sorrow and 
 regret expressed ttyan for the gallant Twins. I knew Rivy 
 intimately for a considerable time before I met Francis. I 
 think it was in 1902 that his older brother Cecil asked me to 
 take him to Spring Hill and teach him the rudiments of polo. 
 He came and spent a happy month, working like a stable lad 
 and putting his whole heart and soul into his work. 
 
 " My first meeting with Francis was at Tattersall's a year 
 or two later, when, mistaking him for Rivy, I warned him not 
 to buy a good-looking pony that he was inspecting. It was 
 typical of the Twins' liking to be mistaken for one another 
 that he merely thanked me for my information, and did not 
 divulge the fact that he was not Rivy, although he spent some 
 time in my company looking at other ponies in the yard. 
 Rivy was undoubtedly the better and stronger player of the 
 pair, but when they were playing together it was extraordinarily 
 difficult to tell them apart, their horsemanship and style being 
 very similar. They were both brilliant players, and were much 
 better when playing together than separately. They studied 
 every detail of the game and took the most enormous trouble 
 in the purchase and training of their ponies. They were great 
 advocates for speed, and were the only players I knew who 
 kept a trial pony and raced him against anything they were 
 likely to purchase. They were as hard as iron, and always 
 kept themselves very fit, and were (especially Rivy) very fine 
 horsemen. Rivy used to ride the stronger and more difficult 
 ponies. His pluck was phenomenal. 
 
 " Rivy played No. i with Francis No. 2, and their combina- 
 tion and tactics were more perfect and highly developed than 
 any pair in England. Had they been spared they would 
 probably now be chosen to represent their country in the next
 
 158 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 International match. They modelled their play on that of 
 the Waterbury brothers, and though they were not quite as 
 brilliant performers as the Americans, their tactics and under- 
 standing were just as perfect. The Twins, as at everything 
 else in life, played polo with one mind. Francis held a record 
 in that he played in the winning team of the Champion Cup in 
 England, India, Africa, and America. No one else has done this. 
 " Good players and fine sportsmen as they were in first- 
 class polo, where they will be most missed will be on the social 
 side, for they were always the life and soul of country-house 
 polo tournaments. As a polo manager no one knew better 
 than I did what a wonderful help they were in making a 
 success of the kind of tournament that used to take place at 
 Eaton and Madrid. They would always pull out and play 
 on any side with any one, in order to make a success of the 
 entertainment from the host's point of view, and neither of 
 them cared two farthings if they won or lost so long as they 
 could help the show and make every one happy. . . . The 
 Twins have left behind them a reputation quite unsurpassed 
 for pluck, clean living, unselfishness, and charm." 
 
 The Old Etonian team as originally fixed was 
 made up of Francis and Rivy, Lord Rocksavage 
 and Lord Wodehouse. Lord Wodehouse found 
 himself unable to go, so on 6th August Francis 
 and Rivy started with Lord Hugh Grosvenor 
 Lord Rocksavage and Mr. F. A. Gill being already 
 in America. The Twins took for their reading 
 the following odd assortment : A Constitutional 
 History of the United States, Life of Stonewall 
 Jackson, Vanity Fair, Jorrocks, Pickwick Papers, 
 Les Miserables, a primer of geography, The Life 
 of Nelson, and The Confessions of a Princess.
 
 A MEMOIR. 159 
 
 Francis had a bad arm when they left, and when 
 they reached America it was found that he could 
 not play. The side accordingly called itself Ran- 
 elagh, and was made up of Rivy, Mr. F. A. Gill, 
 Lord Rocksavage, and Lord Hugh Grosvenor. 
 Later Francis resumed his place, and they be- 
 came once again the Old Etonians. The team 
 had a brilliant career at Narragansett and in 
 Canada, winning nearly every match they played, 
 though, as they were not official challengers, they 
 could not compete for the cup. It was essentially 
 a trial trip, and the players learned a vast deal 
 which was of value to later challengers. I find 
 a paper of Rivy's in which he summarized the 
 result of his experience, expounding in the most 
 minute detail what he had learned in America on 
 the transport and training of ponies. He went 
 into everything, including the price of oats, but the 
 most valuable lesson is contained in this passage : 
 
 " In America the game, owing to the better grounds and 
 the ' no off-side ' rule, is very much faster than it is in England, 
 and the pony requires to have his lungs quite clear. The player 
 gets away much more often than at home. The game is not 
 nearly such a rough-and-tumble one, and so players do not 
 require such staying power as in England. What they re- 
 quire is to be able to go with these tremendous bursts. A pony 
 should be trained to play its utmost speed. A point that we 
 learned, which improved our play enormously in this somewhat 
 scrambling game, was that instead of stopping a pony on its 
 hocks after a run, it is far quicker to turn it on a circle. This
 
 160 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 does not tire the pony nearly so much, nor the rider, and by 
 being able to pass the ball forward the player can often, even 
 if unable to hold his pony properly, do a lot of work. At 
 Newport my grey pony, owing to its being wrongly bitted, 
 was quite out of hand ; but by turning it on a circle and the 
 others passing the ball to me, I played very well, and no one 
 noticed that I did not have proper control." * 
 
 While Rivy was busy with polo Francis thought 
 that he might employ his leisure in visiting the 
 battlefields of Virginia. He went first to Bull 
 Run and Manassas Junction. At Winchester he 
 met Dr. Graham, a Presbyterian minister who 
 had known Stonewall Jackson, and who told 
 Francis many details of his hero. He then visited 
 Kernstown, and at Richmond met Dr. Jeremy 
 Smith, who had been Jackson's A.D.C. after 
 Second Manassas, from whom he picked up 
 much information about his singular kinsman, 
 Colonel St. Leger Grenfell, who had served on 
 the Confederate side in the war. He spent much 
 time studying the field of Gaines Mill, and met 
 the eponymous Mr. Gaines, who had been absent 
 through a fever from the fight. He returned to 
 Newport with a Confederate flag as a relic, and a 
 
 * England challenged America the following year (1911), when the 
 team consisted of Hardress Lloyd, Noel Edwards, Bertie Wilson, and 
 Leslie Cheape, the last three of whom fell in the Great War. It 
 failed, after a most brilliant effort, to defeat the American team, 
 which was composed of the Waterburys, Mr. Whitney, and Mr. 
 Milburn. In 1914 a team organized by Lord Wimborne, composed of 
 F. W. Barrett, Leslie Cheape, Vivian Lockett, and H. A. Tomkinson, 
 recovered the cup for England.
 
 FRANCIS ON " MICHAEL" AND RIVY ON "CINDERELLA."
 
 A MEMOIR. 161 
 
 new appreciation of the great campaign and the 
 great leader, who for years had filled the first 
 place in his affections. 
 
 There is little to record for the rest of 1910. 
 At Christmas the Twins went with a tutor to 
 Brussels and made an elaborate study of the field 
 of Waterloo. Throughout the early months of 
 1911 Francis was busy with his work for the 
 Staff College, and embarked on authorship with 
 a letter in the Times on the Sydney Street affair, in 
 which he stoutly defended Mr. Churchill's action 
 in employing soldiers and machine guns. 
 
 In April, on the invitation of King Alfonso, 
 the two brothers went to Madrid to play polo. 
 On their way they paid a visit to their favourite 
 statue, that of Hercules and the Wild Boar in the 
 Louvre, which Rivy had had copied as a memento 
 of his Kadir Cup victory. They arrived at Madrid 
 on 9th April, and stayed with the Duke of Alba, 
 where Francis was so much impressed with the 
 pictures and tapestry that his diary reads like an 
 auction catalogue. Next day they left for Moratalla, 
 the Marquis of Viana's house, where the polo 
 party was assembled, which included the King, 
 the Duke and Duchess of Santonia, the Marquis 
 Villarieja, and the two Millers. That fortnight in 
 Spain was one of the best holidays in the Twins' 
 
 (2.187) 11
 
 162 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 experience. Francis records at length his con- 
 versations with the King, which covered every 
 subject from polo to high politics. ; * He told me 
 that one of the ambitions of his life was to play 
 with his regiment, the i6th Lancers, in the Inter- 
 Regimental. He would undertake to provide them 
 with the best ponies. He understood they were 
 going to India for eight years. By that time he 
 would be thirty-two and at his prime, and hoped 
 by then to be good enough. He had great diffi- 
 culty in playing polo in England, as King Edward 
 said it was too dangerous ; so he thought it best 
 to ask nobody's advice, and just went and played 
 at Rugby. He could not understand why a king 
 should be brought up like a hothouse plant. 
 The only occasions on which he had been nearly 
 killed were (i) when he was driving in a carriage 
 where the horses were led by men on foot, and 
 (2) when driving very slowly in Paris. X. re- 
 marked that he had had a letter from the Crown 
 Prince of Germany to say he wanted to play polo 
 when he came over this summer. * Good,' said 
 the King ; ' then that will make it easier for me 
 when I go over.' We suggested JSL match against 
 the Crown Prince ; at which he said, ' Ah yes, I 
 think I will win. The Germans are very slow.' ' 
 
 The polo consisted of matches between the 
 King's side and Alba's side, Rivy playing with
 
 A MEMOIR. 163 
 
 the first and Francis with the second. The 
 weather was abominable, and the Twins seem to 
 have had more walking about in wet gardens than 
 polo. On I3th April the party returned to Madrid, 
 where Francis and Rivy stayed again with Alba, 
 and found there the Duchess of Westminster and 
 Lady Helen Grosvenor. That day being Maundy 
 Thursday, they went to the Palace to see the 
 function of the Lavatorio, when the King and 
 Queen wash the feet of twelve beggars. Francis's 
 diary contains a spirited description of this curious 
 function, and pages and pages about the pictures 
 in the Prado Museum, which impressed him more 
 than anything else in Spain. In Madrid they 
 played polo on the King's private ground, but 
 the weather was unpropitious and the games poor. 
 The King gave instructions that Francis should 
 be shown all over the cavalry and infantry bar- 
 racks, and when he expressed a desire to see the 
 tapestries, ordered every one in the Palace to be 
 specially hung up for him. Various bull fights 
 and a short visit to Seville, where they saw part 
 of the Easter Feria, brought to an end a trip which 
 both regarded as one of the most crowded and 
 delightful experiences of their lives. 
 
 In June Rivy attended the Coronation with his 
 uncle's children, who were much excited to see 
 the Field-Marshal in the procession. He wrote
 
 164 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 an account of it to Lady Grenfell, and, knowing 
 her dislike of horrors, wickedly described at some 
 length an hour he passed in the Scotland Yard 
 Museum. " I wish you had been with us. I 
 am sure you would have loved seeing the finger 
 of a burglar that was pulled off as he tried to get 
 over a gate and was caught up. It is preserved 
 in spirits of wine." In July the King of Spain 
 came to England and lunched at their brother 
 Arthur's house at Roehampton, going with the 
 Twins afterwards to a polo match. 
 
 That summer saw the Agadir crisis, and Francis 
 naturally decided to be present at the French 
 manoeuvres. It does not appear that he ever 
 received the permission of the French Staff, but 
 a small thing of that kind was not likely to stop 
 him. He attended the manoeuvres of the VI. 
 Corps in the Verdun area during September, 
 living with the 6th Cuirassiers, and sent an ex- 
 cellent report to the War Office. He was much 
 struck by the horses of the cavalry. ' They are 
 bought from three and a half years old and sent 
 to the Remounts until four and a half. They 
 are then sent to a regiment and trained for two 
 years before being put into the ranks. This 
 system of teaching the horse to carry the man is 
 a great improvement on ours of teaching the man 
 to ride a partly-trained horse." He thought that
 
 A MEMOIR. 165 
 
 the cavalry did not realize the value of the rifle and 
 had no notion of mounted infantry work. This 
 was not unnatural in the case of the Cuirassiers, 
 who, owing to their cuirasses, could not, of 
 course, aim with a carbine. " I put on a cuirass 
 myself and made certain of this," adds Francis. 
 He was not greatly impressed by the system 
 of reconnaissance. " The men returning from 
 patrols deliver their messages very clearly, but 
 invariably get the names of the villages mixed up, 
 and it seems to me that by far the best, simplest, 
 and quickest method of sending in reports is for 
 each man to have a map and to mark on it all he 
 sees." The French horsemastership he thought 
 poor. ' The saddles, weighing when loaded up 
 about eight or nine stone, are never taken off. 
 They are put on sometimes an hour before start- 
 ing, and often left on an hour or so after the troops 
 have got in. One night the cavalry division I 
 was with marched at 10 p.m., halted from 2 a.m. 
 to 6.30 a.m., during which time the horses were 
 not fed or the girths even loosened, and the horses 
 received no food or water until 3 o'clock the follow- 
 ing afternoon." He thought, however, highly of 
 the French infantry, and loved their habit of 
 singing on the march. He was impressed by the 
 mechanical- transport arrangements, and most pro- 
 foundly by the use of airplanes. He went up
 
 166 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 his first attempt of the kind in a Farman bi- 
 plane, and became a whole-hearted convert to 
 the value of air reconnaissance. Most of the 
 officers he thought too old for their jobs. " Regi- 
 mental commanders vary from fifty-five to sixty, 
 squadron leaders from forty to fifty, and brigadiers 
 from sixty onward." 
 
 These are quotations from his official report. 
 His diary contains more interesting matter. He 
 found that the French Army expected war, and 
 awaited it with calm and confidence. Even if it 
 did not come that year, they considered that it 
 was certain to come within three years. He gives 
 amusing descriptions of cavalry charging cavalry 
 and pulling up facing each other. " Imagine two 
 divisions charging in England, stopping head to 
 head and no accident." He declares that he 
 never saw a single horse out of hand. On the 
 other hand, the cavalry seemed to him to have a 
 passion for charging and little else to know 
 nothing about reconnaissance or dismounted 
 action. " I spoke to a Staff officer, who said that 
 the French would lose heavily in war. He gave as 
 an instance a cavalry division passing in front 
 of an infantry battalion in column of route, when 
 it ought to have dismounted two squadrons and 
 made a detour." Francis's general comments are, 
 as usual, very shrewd. He saw that the danger of
 
 A MEMOIR. 167 
 
 the French Army was its passion for persistent 
 and often unconsidered offensives, and that it had 
 no adequate training in defensive warfare. An 
 almost mystical belief in the attack at all times 
 and in all circumstances was being preached in 
 the schools of war and practised on manoeuvres. 
 For the rest, he received great kindness and made 
 many friends. Among these was General Joffre, 
 and on one occasion, being stranded far from his 
 quarters, he cadged a lift in a car from a gentle- 
 man who turned out to be M. Humbert. 
 
 In October we hear of Rivy staying at Glamis 
 Castle, where he laboured earnestly to discover 
 the celebrated mystery. " Old Beardy has so far 
 eluded us, but we are on his track. I found that 
 my room was next door to the Hangman's room, 
 where no one has slept for fifty years. Last night 
 when all was quiet, with the assistance of my next- 
 door neighbour, I moved my mattress and blankets 
 into the Hangman's, and slept there happily on 
 the floor till 6 a.m., when I woke up and found 
 my door ajar, though it was shut last night. We 
 may not have banged it enough, so we are going 
 to experiment again to-night. It is great fun 
 here ; all the ladies and some of the men are in 
 a blue funk." This is not quite the whole of 
 that story. Rivy woke at midnight to find the 
 door open, and to his consternation it refused to
 
 168 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 close. He prepared his soul for horrors, when 
 he discovered that the reason of the door's refrac- 
 toriness was the presence of one of his slippers. 
 After that he fell asleep, and awoke, as he says, at 
 6 a.m. to find the door again open. 
 
 Some time that year he became interested in 
 the Invalid Children's Aid Association, and the 
 following year became Treasurer and Chairman. 
 He enabled Islington, St. Pancras, and Holloway 
 to become a separate branch by guaranteeing 
 expenses. Early in the morning before going to 
 the City, or after a long day full of engagements, 
 he would go and see some of the " cases " in their 
 homes. Both the Twins kept up this interest to 
 the end ; the Islington branch now bears their 
 name ; and it is in aid of a memorial fund to 
 carry on their work that this little memoir has 
 been written. 
 
 After returning from the French manoeuvres 
 Francis went through a musketry course at Hythe, 
 and presently took up racing on a modest scale. 
 A bad fall in November in a steeplechase at 
 Sandown gave him concussion, the effects of 
 which lasted for nearly six months. At Christmas 
 he was in bed, and early in the New Year he went 
 to Dr. Crouch's open-air cure. Meantime, at the 
 end of January, Rivy departed for Mexico on 
 business. The great event of his trip was that
 
 A MEMOIR. 169 
 
 he got mixed up in a battle about sixty miles from 
 Mexico City, where the Zapatistas were giving 
 trouble. It was a small affair, but it was his first 
 experience under fire, and he wrote a lengthy 
 account to Francis. The Twins liked to have all 
 their experiences in common, and it had always 
 been a regret to Rivy that Francis had been in 
 action and he had not. " Everybody in this 
 country appears to have a predisposition to let 
 the enemy know their exact movements. The 
 operations of the following day were discussed all 
 Sunday in Cuernavaca, and I suppose the Zapa- 
 tistas were told exactly what our general proposed 
 to do with the result that we went to the battle 
 and the Zapatistas didn't." 
 
 Francis was far from well all summer, still 
 suffering from the effects of his accident ; so he 
 went to Berlin in June, partly for the change and 
 partly to learn the German language, without 
 which he could not hope to qualify for the Staff 
 College. He stayed with a retired German officer 
 called Hamann, a friend of Mr. Austen Chamber- 
 lain, and a godson of Professor Max-Muller, who 
 had married a Grenfell cousin. His first letter 
 to Rivy is worthy of full quotation, for it shows 
 the eagerness with which he plunged into a 
 new life.
 
 170 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 " I have fallen on my feet better than any cat, however low 
 you dropped him. I went to stay with the Plesses, who are 
 most kind. Princess Daisy has gone to London to Sunderland 
 House, and you must go and see her. I said you would go and 
 see her and help in anything she wanted. She is full of foreign 
 politics, Anglo-German feeling, etc., and she is going to enter- 
 tain and help Baron Marschall. She is a sort of Mrs. Astor 
 over here, and makes me roar the way she gingers up the 
 Deutschers. I stayed several days at Fiirstenstein, a fine schloss 
 with few valuable things in it, but an enormous place with 
 lovely scenery. They are very rich, and everything is done 
 in great style outriders, postillions, etc. They have fifty 
 carriage horses, sixty riding Corses, forty mares, three stallions, 
 a lot of yearlings at Fiirstenstein, and another stud at Pless. 
 
 " Unfortunately I did not see very much of Princess Daisy, 
 as some Germans were there the Governor of Silesia, a 
 future Chancellor, they say. He talked French to me, and 
 neither his French nor his looks impressed me very much. Then 
 we all came back to Berlin to the Esplanade Hotel, where I 
 have become a great swell through being of the Pless party. 
 Here I have met two or three princes, the Foreign Minister 
 under Bethmann-Hollweg, and many others. 
 
 " Pless, who ranks here as a sort of Duke of Devonshire, 
 put me up at this Club [the Union], which is the best in Berlin. 
 It is exactly like the Turf, except that every one talks to you, 
 and at dinner every one dines at one table and there is a 
 general conversation, all in German. To-night I sat next to 
 Count von Billow, the general in command of the Guard 
 Cuirassiers. He asked me to go and see his cavalry brigade, 
 and said he would show me everything. ' Such a pity I did 
 not meet you yesterday, as my brigade was inspected, and 
 you would have seen a good show.' The servants, food, and 
 customs are the same as at the Turf, except that all the Eng- 
 lish papers are on the table, though I am the only English- 
 man here. 
 
 " From the above you will think I am living only in high 
 life, but I am not. I found that the best university in Ger-
 
 A MEMOIR. 171 
 
 many is here, so, though it was not allowed, I plunged into 
 it. I do everything by myself, and have some amusing expe- 
 riences through going to the wrong place at the wrong time. 
 I found there were lectures on every subject in the world, 
 and determined to attend. There are 5,000 undergraduates. 
 First I attended a lecture on the Saxon Invasion ol England. 
 I heard a lot of German, but did not understand anything. 
 I then thought to myself, ' Well, as I do not understand a 
 word, it doesn't much matter what the subject is ; so, instead 
 of taking much trouble to find certain lecture rooms, I will go 
 into the first I come to.' 1 then followed about fifty students 
 into a room. The lecturer seemed to talk a bit different, and 
 on looking over the notes of the fellow next to me I found he 
 was talking Modern Greek ! To-day I went to a geography 
 lecture, arrived very late, plunged in and found a dead silence 
 and every one drawing. A professor came and spoke to me, 
 but neither could understand a word the other said. I went 
 to another lecture, but could not find out what it was about 
 from any source. In one hour I only caught the meaning of 
 one word, ' Pope Innocent.' Yesterday I stopped a student 
 in the passage and asked him to lunch with me, and begged 
 him to spout German, which he did. I said, ' I would like 
 to lunch where you usually go.' I found he was a vegetarian, 
 and we could only get carrots, etc. My bill, which I am going 
 to frame, was : 
 
 Soup . . . .id. 
 Carrots and green peas 3d. 
 Sour Bulgarian milk . 2d. 
 Soda water . . . d. 
 
 I could not eat half the amount of carrots I was offered for 3d. 
 Students don't look half as smart as Porter [his servant], so I 
 now take him with me to the lectures. . . . 
 
 " Unfortunately I fall a little between two stools here, as 
 (i) if I am to learn the language, I must talk German ; if I talk
 
 172 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 German, 1 can neither make myself understood nor understand 
 anything the people say. (2) I can learn a good deal about 
 Germany and go everywhere by talking English, as every one 
 speaks English, and the few that don't, speak French. I 
 cannot, therefore, learn the language and learn about Germany 
 at the same time, so I am going to work hard at the language 
 (I have every incentive to, as it is maddening not to understand 
 a single, word) and then go out again and mix in society, of 
 which T am beginning to know the ropes. Every one has been 
 extraordinarily kind and nice. The students, to whom I am 
 an absolute stranger, go out of their way to show me what to 
 do and where to go, and they do not even know my name." 
 
 From later letters I take some comments on 
 German life and character. 
 
 " The opinion one gets of the Germans in England is a 
 very wrong one. I expected to see a nation of magnificent 
 physique, the Army superbly turned out, big soldiers and 
 mighty clever men. The opposite is the case. These people 
 are very ordinary, very much like us in character, with a 
 great many good qualities and a large proportion of bad. The 
 Guards I see are neither as smart nor as well turned out, nor 
 to be compared physically with our Guards. Forty-five per 
 cent, of the nation are rejected as soldiers through being too 
 narrow or too blind. The shops give no credit to any one. 
 They are unmethodically run, and are open for six and a 
 half days without doing as much business as we do in five. 
 The upper classes are narrow-minded and despotic ; the lower 
 inclined to be boorish. They are by nature a rather sus- 
 picious people, but awful rot is talked about them in England. 
 You travel just as easily as you do at home, and can see any- 
 thing except inside a fort. They seem to be exactly opposed 
 to the French, who appear excited but act coolly. These 
 people appear very stolid, but get desperately excited the 
 moment anything occurs. A row in the street and ten police
 
 A MEMOIR. 173 
 
 will yell without any leadership ; a row in a train and every 
 one starts screaming. . . . 
 
 " I am living fairly comfortably here, but getting rather 
 sick of cold pork and sausage. The table-cloth, too, is becom- 
 ing a very intimate friend it turns up so often. . . . 
 
 " I am not going to form any opinion until October, when 
 I will have had time for reflection. The Germans certainly 
 beat us, even our private soldiers, at drinking beer. I sat 
 next to a gentleman yesterday who drank five pints before I 
 drank one glass of water. He would have had a sixth, but 
 when the sixth was brought his wife took the glass and downed 
 it before him. The result is that a great many men and most 
 women are as fat as cattle. . . . 
 
 " I am enjoying every minute, as I rarely waste one. I 
 talk with tramcar drivers and conductors, taxi men, officers, 
 tennis pros, students, demi-mondaines, Berlitz teachers and 
 professors. Of course I lose a lot of what is said, but I have 
 picked up a good deal, and have as yet never received any- 
 thing but the utmost courtesy and hospitality. I find I get 
 most out of taxi-drivers. They are either old soldiers, sailors, 
 invalids, or Socialists. I met one who had been in the German 
 South- West African war. He told me 400 men died in his 
 regiment, and the loss in the army was terrific through bad 
 water arrangements. Another was in the navy. He told me 
 many of the men are not half trained ; they bring men from 
 Wiirtemberg as conscripts who have never heard of or seen 
 the sea, and have in three years to be taught everything. I 
 personally cannot see how three years' service can make sol- 
 diers or sailors. . . . 
 
 ' These people are very methodical but terribly slow. 
 They take ten hours to do what we do in six. I have not yet 
 seen much of the wonderful education of which we hear, and 
 have met a good many thick heads. Several officers have told 
 me they have not read a book for ten years. Germany, to 
 my mind, is not half what we think it is in England. Some 
 things are done very well, but I have seen a great many done 
 far better, and I am not half as impressed as I was with
 
 174 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 America. Nevertheless, I like these people. The women 
 Heaven save us from ever copying them I They are not 
 beautiful. . . . 
 
 " Berlin is one mass of demi-mondaines, caf6s, restaurants 
 one mass. The great entertainment place is the Palais de 
 Dance. It is most luxurious, and you might, if you did not 
 look at the women, think you were at a London ball. The 
 women are most respectable-looking, but you can see that if 
 you want to dance you will get plenty of exercise, as once 
 round any of the dancers is equal to about twice round 
 Liverpool." 
 
 Germany revived Francis's interest in politics 
 and soldiering. In July he wrote a long letter to 
 Mr. Churchill congratulating him on a speech 
 he had made. 
 
 " All the people I have seen appreciated very much its 
 straightforwardness. The German character seems both to 
 understand and prefer plain speech to diplomacy. They are 
 a very suspicious people. They openly say that though they 
 understand that you spoke earnestly, they think you are un- 
 friendly. They want to be very friendly, but on equal and 
 not on inferior terms as at present. They openly talk of 
 going to war in the near future with France, partly from arro- 
 gance and partly from a craze so to weaken France that they 
 can diminish their military forces and increase their naval. 
 It does not look as if they would take on both France and 
 England together, and therein lies the hope of peace. They 
 want to crush France on land and to be strong enough on the 
 sea to detain or delay a British army from landing on the Con- 
 tinent, so as to discourage British participation in a war be- 
 tween France and Germany. My opinion of the Germans has 
 greatly declined since I came out here. They are not as good 
 in quantity or quality as they represent themselves. Their 
 character is to shake hands warmly and openly, but to keep
 
 A MEMOIR. 175 
 
 the other fist doubled in their pocket. . . . I am as certain 
 that the Germans are riding for a fall as I am that you are 
 riding to win." 
 
 In September came the Imperial manoeuvres, 
 that year held in Saxony, and Francis was deter- 
 mined to be present. The English representa- 
 tives had already been appointed, so he was unable 
 to go officially. Accordingly he hired a motor car 
 and went as a spectator, giving a lift to a journalistic 
 friend. When he arrived at the Bellevue Hotel 
 in Dresden, he had a bad sick headache and went 
 straight to bed ; so his friend filled up the police 
 paper in which Francis's name was entered without 
 his military rank. Unaware of this Francis sent 
 a note to the cavalry barracks, saying he had a car 
 and asking if any officer would like to go with 
 him. This discovered to the police the fact that 
 he was an English officer, and they promptly 
 decided that he was a spy. The result was that 
 a few days later, when he came back from watching 
 the manoeuvres, he found a police inspector in 
 his room, who presented him with a letter saying 
 that he must leave Dresden in twelve hours and 
 Saxony in twenty-four. Francis was in a sad 
 quandary, and, as was his practice on such occa- 
 sions, he appealed straight to Caesar. He re- 
 membered that he and Rivy the year before in 
 London had shown some kindness to a son of
 
 176 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 the Saxon Chancellor, Baron Metzsch. Off went 
 Francis to the Chancellor's house. The great 
 man was not at home, but the Baroness received 
 him warmly and asked him to breakfast the next 
 morning. The matter was immediately straight- 
 ened out. The police authorities laughed and 
 shook hands, and Francis roamed throughout the 
 rest of the manoeuvres at his own sweet will. 
 
 In October he returned to England and put 
 the result of his German experiences into a little 
 pamphlet, which he printed privately and circu- 
 lated to a number of friends. He returned to 
 Germany for a short visit in December, and real- 
 ized that his pamphlet, if it got about, might do 
 him serious harm. On Mr. Churchill's advice he 
 accordingly recalled all the copies. Its contents 
 were simply an elaboration of what he had written 
 in his letters. As it turned out, he had rightly 
 diagnosed the trend of German feeling. " They 
 are conscious of having attained such a position 
 in the world that they resent being second to any, 
 and they feel that the English block their way ; 
 consequently they are not only jealous at heart, 
 but can scarcely conceal their jealousy. No 
 amount of pacific and philanthropic talk either 
 in England or in Germany will prevent the latter 
 from trying to get stronger and stronger, with a 
 hope of some day being the foremost Power of
 
 A MEMOIR. 177 
 
 the world. Even the Socialists would favour a 
 war against France, because once France is 
 crushed there is a chance of military service being 
 less rigorous in Germany. . . . Careful observa- 
 tions convince me that if we wish to preserve 
 peace it is necessary for us to be so strong that 
 it will be impossible for the Germans to make 
 war, as they would jump at any opportunity 
 should they find us weak and isolated." 
 
 While Francis was in Berlin Rivy had been 
 deep in polo, and had got badly bitten with 
 ballooning. The year before he had made an 
 airplane reconnaissance with Loraine during his 
 yeomanry training, and in June Captain Mait- 
 land* took him up at Hurlingham in one of the 
 new military balloons. They passed over Middle- 
 sex, Hertfordshire, Huntingdon, and Lincoln- 
 shire, and made an exciting landing six miles 
 from Hull at 11.35 tnat night. A little later I 
 find him writing to Francis suggesting that they 
 should enter with Maitland for the long-distance 
 ballooning record, at that moment held by the 
 French. The year before Maitland had travelled 
 1,1 1 8 miles into the middle of Russia, and he 
 now wanted to break the French record of 1,200 
 miles, starting in November when the westerly 
 gales began. Nothing came of the scheme. 
 
 * Now Brig. -General Maitland, C.M.G., D.S.O. 
 
 (2,187) 12
 
 178 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Business took Rivy to Canada with his brother 
 Arthur on i6th August. They travelled in a 
 large party, and made a stately progress through 
 the Dominion. I can only find one letter from 
 Rivy during the tour, describing Sir Arthur 
 Lawley's speech. " Joe Lawley made a speech 
 on the responsibilities of Canada at Ottawa 
 which brought tears to people's eyes, and made a 
 very great impression. I will bring back a copy 
 of it. It was by far the best speech that any of 
 us had ever heard in our lives. I never realized 
 he could do such a thing, and it made us very 
 proud to think that we had an Englishman who 
 could make such a speech, especially after Sir 
 Wilfrid Laurier's very moderate effort." 
 
 In December of 1912 Arthur Grenfell had a 
 bad horse accident, and Rivy found himself in 
 consequence more closely tied to his office. In 
 January 1913 the 9th Lancers went to Tidworth 
 on Salisbury Plain, and in order that the brothers 
 might spend their week-ends together, Rivy took 
 the Red House in the neighbourhood, where he 
 marked out a training ground for his polo ponies. 
 In September 1912 Francis had been gazetted 
 captain, and a little later was appointed adjutant. 
 In the summer of 1913 he was working for the 
 Staff College examination, and finally entered for 
 it in great pain from a sprained ankle, w r hich,
 
 A MEMOIR. 179 
 
 taken in conjunction with the variety of his 
 recent pursuits, made his success in qualifying the 
 more remarkable. I find Francis writing to the 
 King of Spain in January begging him to visit 
 the Qth Lancers at Tidworth, and in any case 
 to let his Military Attache come and stay with 
 them. " I can always give him horses or ponies 
 to ride and introduce him to other officers of the 
 garrison, including general officers, of which there 
 are almost as many here as private soldiers. . . . 
 Should you manage to come over to England for 
 Cowes, my regiment is stationed only about forty 
 miles from Southampton, and we could give you 
 a good game of polo every day. You could motor 
 over quietly and privately, and no one need know 
 anything about it. Please keep this in mind, as 
 a match between the i6th Lancers, with your 
 Majesty playing, and the 9th Lancers, would 
 make a fine combat. We have read with great 
 interest about the reforms you have introduced 
 in Spain, and the courage you have shown. It 
 might well be said of Spain what Frederick the 
 Great once said of England about Pitt, ' England, 
 at any rate, has now a man at the head of affairs.' 
 I am afraid it will not be possible for me to come 
 over to Spain in the spring and enjoy the good 
 sport we had two years ago. I am now adjutant, 
 and find it hard to get away. We are very busy
 
 i8o FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 in case of a war, which we are quite ready for 
 and looking forward to. If we go to war, as 
 many Spanish officers as want to see it should 
 join the Qth Lancers, for our one hope is to be 
 in the advanced guard.'* 
 
 The year 1913 was passed pleasantly by both 
 Twins in London and Tidworth, with such breaks 
 as a trip to Paris with the Duke of Westminster 
 at Christmas. Their real home was at Roe- 
 hampton with their brother Arthur, for whom 
 they had a deep affection. There among his 
 children they seemed to be children themselves 
 again. It was a period of that close companion- 
 ship which for both was the main secret of hap- 
 piness. I have never seen anything like their 
 fidelity to each other. They had their own 
 secret whistles and calls, and if either heard the 
 other's summons it was his duty at once to leave 
 whatever he was doing and obey it. In ordinary 
 company they were just like two dogs. Francis 
 would rise and leave the room, and Rivy would be 
 apparently unconscious for some minutes of his 
 departure. Then he would grow restless, and 
 presently get up and saunter out to find his twin. 
 
 At this time they were most conspicuous 
 figures in English society. They knew every one 
 and went everywhere ; and I fear that Rivy's 
 devotion to letters must have declined, for with
 
 A MEMOIR. 181 
 
 his quicksilver brother at home he had small 
 opportunity for the studious life. But he did a 
 remarkable thing, which I think must be almost 
 unprecedented. To help Francis in his Staff 
 College work he took many of his classes with 
 him, read the same text-books, and went through 
 the same coaching. This must have been a real 
 effort, since at the time he was deeply engaged in 
 his brother Arthur's business and carrying many 
 new responsibilities. For the rest, both led the 
 varied and comfortable life which used to be the 
 perquisite of well-credentialled, reasonably rich, 
 and socially agreeable young men in England. 
 Each had the gift of oxygenating the atmosphere 
 in which he moved and waking a sense of life 
 in the flattest place. This was partly due, I 
 think, to the curious charm of their appearance : 
 they seemed always to be moving, or poised for 
 movement ; the ardour in their eyes was an anti- 
 dote for ennui; they gave the impression of 
 never in their lives having been bored or idle. 
 Partly it sprang from their real ingenuousness. 
 They were acutely interested in everything in 
 the world, and refused to hide their interest after 
 the conventional English fashion. Often the 
 results were comic. They had vast stores of 
 ignorance, and would ask questions of an un- 
 believable naivete. But comic or not it was a
 
 182 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 most endearing trait, for it was perfectly natural, 
 without pose or premeditation. It was this habit 
 that especially attracted older men. Francis and 
 Rivy were at their best with their seniors. Al- 
 ways respectful, they yet managed to treat an 
 elder as if he were only a much wiser contempo- 
 rary one in whom the fires of youth were by no 
 means dead. Their attitude was deferential in that 
 it recognized superior wisdom, familiar since it 
 assumed a comradeship in everything else. Also 
 they revelled in " shop," and welcomed anybody 
 who would tell them anything new. I have seen 
 Rivy, with bright eyes, hanging on the words of 
 an aged general, or banker, or professor, or 
 quondam master of hounds, cross-examining him 
 in an earnest quest for knowledge ; and the 
 flattered face of the examinee showed how he 
 relished the compliment. 
 
 To most of us the dividing line between the 
 old and the new world was drawn in the first 
 week of August 1914. But for the Twins it 
 came earlier. Three months before the cataclysm 
 of the nations they felt their own foundations 
 crumbling. . . . Their brother Arthur's firm, 
 in which Rivy was a partner, had had a career of 
 meteoric brilliance, and had naturally aroused 
 much jealousy among others who had entered for
 
 A MEMOIR. 183 
 
 the same stakes. From 1912 onward it had been 
 riding high speculative tides, where the hand of a 
 skilled helmsman was badlv needed. But Arthur 's 
 
 / 
 
 accident in the winter of that year kept him away 
 from business for a considerable time, and when 
 
 4 
 
 he returned it seemed to many of his friends that 
 he was not the man he had been. Rivy had to 
 deal on his own initiative with intricate matters 
 which he probably never understood, for his 
 business training had always been sketchy and 
 inadequate. The affairs of the firm grew more 
 and more involved, with the result that in the 
 early months of 1914 a crash was imminent. In 
 May the blow fell. The downfall of their brother 's 
 business involved every penny of the Twins' 
 fortune. 
 
 This was the true tragedy of their lives, for 
 the war brought no such bitterness. It meant 
 that Rivy was a broken man in his profession, 
 and that Francis must give up most of his am- 
 bitions. It made one's heart ache to see 
 them, stunned, puzzled, yet struggling to keep 
 a brave front, and clamouring to take other 
 people's loads on their backs. Uncomplainingly 
 they played what they decided was their last 
 game of polo, and sold their ponies. Rivy was 
 like one in a dream, trying to make out landmarks 
 in an unfamiliar universe. Some terrible thing
 
 184 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 had happened, and by his fault for his quixotic 
 loyalty made him ready to shoulder all the blame 
 but he could not understand how or why. 
 He was full of schemes to restore their fortunes, 
 and I have rarely known anything so tragic as 
 to listen to his schemes and endeavour to ex- 
 plain their bottomless futility. ... It was a time 
 when a man's friends are tested, and nobly 
 most of their friends stood the trial. But there 
 were others who, in the noonday of prosperity, 
 had been ready to lick their boots, and who now 
 invented slanders and gloated over the downfall. 
 In my haste I considered that a public thrash- 
 ing would have best met such cases ; but the 
 brothers seemed to be incapable of anger. It was 
 their gentleness that was so difficult to watch 
 unmoved. They neither broke nor bent under 
 calamity, but simply stood still and wondered. 
 All that for fourteen years they had planned to- 
 gether had gone by the board, but they grieved 
 about everybody's loss more than their own. It 
 was the same with both : in that bad time they 
 spoke and felt and thought with one spirit. 
 
 In the late summer of 1914 those of us who 
 were trying against heavy odds to reach a settle- 
 ment of the brothers* affairs were aware of a 
 mysterious current moving throughout the world's
 
 A MEMOIR. 185 
 
 finance, which thwarted all our efforts. Though 
 we did not know it at the time, it was the first 
 muttering of the great storm. By the middle of 
 July it was clear that nothing could be done, and 
 then suddenly that happened which submerged 
 all personal disasters in a universal downfall. On 
 Tuesday, 4th August, Britain sent an ultimatum 
 to Germany, and at midnight entered upon war. 
 What to most people was like the drawing in of 
 a dark curtain was to the Twins an opening of 
 barred doors into the daylight. For Francis the 
 career which seemed at an end was to be resumed 
 upon an august stage, and for Rivy the chance 
 had come to redeem private failure in public 
 service.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 1914. 
 
 IN 1909, when Francis went hunting north of 
 the Zambezi, he travelled to the Victoria Falls 
 with Colonel Marling, V.C., then Brigadier- Gen- 
 eral commanding the Potchefstroom district. He 
 used to stare across the veld for hours at a time 
 out of the window of the observation car, and 
 once Colonel Marling asked what he was think- 
 ing about. " I was thinking how beautiful all 
 this is," was the answer. " It makes me long to 
 do something great. " What makes the hero? 
 Emerson asks, and replies, 
 
 " He must be musical, 
 Tremulous, impressional." 
 
 I never heard that Francis was musical, and he was 
 about as tremulous as a brick wall. But he was 
 always most sensitive to impressions, and in both 
 the Twins a vein lay hidden of unspoken poetry. 
 They now entered upon the struggle with a kind 
 of awed and hushed expectation. It had long been 
 at the back of their minds, and consciously and 
 
 186
 
 A MEMOIR. 187 
 
 unconsciously they had been preparing for it. 
 This little book is not a war memoir,, for only a 
 fraction of the Twins' lives fell under the great 
 shadow for Rivy about five weeks, and for 
 Francis less than ten months. But, looking back, 
 the war seems to have been always a part of their 
 outlook. Both had the standpoint of the regular 
 soldier ; neither suffered the hesitations and 
 divided impulses of the less fortunate civilian. 
 But their outlook in one sense was not the common 
 professional one of the man who looks forward 
 to the practice of an art in which he has been 
 trained. Coming, as it did, to relieve them from 
 their perplexities, the crisis seemed to them to 
 carry with it a solemn trust, which they undertook 
 with willingness, indeed, but with something of 
 the gravity of those who feel themselves in the 
 hands of destiny. 
 
 The declaration of war found them together 
 at Tidworth. Rivy was determined to go out 
 with Francis, so he managed to get himself trans- 
 ferred from his proper unit, the Bucks Hussars, 
 as a reserve officer of the 9th Lancers. Every 
 moment of his time was devoted to sitting at 
 his brother's feet and learning what he could 
 teach him of the art of war, and to buying his 
 equipment with feverish haste. The Twins de- 
 cided to take six horses between them, and they
 
 i88 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 borrowed an additional groom from the Duke of 
 Westminster. " I am to take command of a 
 squadron," wrote Francis in glee to Lord Grenfell. 
 " My regiment was never better or more prepared 
 in its history. . . . My dear old Uncle, you 
 have been so kind to us that words to thank you 
 fail me. If we survive you, we will look after 
 your children and see that they get jolly well 
 swished at Eton." On Thursday, I3th August, 
 I find this note in his diary : 
 
 " The Colonel [David Campbell] had dismounted parade 
 at two o'clock. He made a splendid speech in which he 
 recalled all the great deeds of the past which had been per- 
 formed by the gth : how in the Mutiny the regiment had 
 carried out its duties and several officers obtained V.C.'s, 
 with such distinction that when it left India the Viceroy gave 
 orders that it should be saluted by forty-one guns. This 
 had never been done before, and has never been done since. 
 In Afghanistan it had been greatly praised by Lord Roberts ; 
 in South Africa it fought for two years with the greatest 
 distinction, and received the highest compliments from all its 
 commanders. He also reminded us that Lieutenant Mac- 
 donald had on one occasion fought till every man and himself 
 had been killed. He told us that we were going forth to the 
 war with the greatest traditions to uphold. Nothing could be 
 finer than his speech, or could possibly have appealed more 
 to the officers and men." 
 
 The regiment embarked on the i5th. That 
 morning Francis wrote to Lord Grenfell : 
 
 " You will receive this when we have gone forth to war. 
 We entrain to-day at i p.m., and hope to reach France to-
 
 A MEMOIR. 189 
 
 night. We leave very quietly as if marching to manoeuvres, 
 but a more magnificent regiment never moved out of barracks 
 for war. Every one is full of enthusiasm. Rivy goes with 
 me, and it is a great thing having him. Good-bye, my dear 
 Uncle. You have all my affection, and no one has ever been 
 kinder than you have been to me during my lifetime. So far 
 I have been the luckiest man alive.. I have had the happiest 
 possible life, and have always been working for war, and have 
 now got into the biggest in the prime of life for a soldier. 
 We will tell you some fine tales when we return with a bottle 
 of the best from the Rhine." 
 
 That same day Rivy wrote to me the last 
 letter I had from him. " I cannot leave the 
 country without writing to thank you, my dear 
 John, for all you have done for me in our troubles. 
 . . . Thank God, we are off in an hour. Such 
 a magnificent regiment ! Such men, such horses ! 
 Within ten days I hope Francis and I will be 
 riding side by side straight at the Germans. We 
 will think of you, old boy." 
 
 They got to Boulogne late on the evening of 
 the 1 6th, and, passing through Amiens and Mau- 
 beuge, detrained at Jeunot in the afternoon of the 
 17th. The letters home from both during those 
 days were very scrappy, consisting chiefly of 
 references to the hard game of polo which they 
 expected to play at any moment, and the close 
 touch which they had established with the other 
 players. Francis, however, kept a careful diary,
 
 190 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 and it is curious, considering what was to happen, 
 that his main object seems to have been to record 
 every moment which he spent with Rivy, and all 
 that Rivy said or did. He was in command of 
 " B " Squadron, and was determined to keep it up 
 to the mark. Take, for example, this entry on 
 1 8th August : "I had reason to find fault with 
 the turn-out of the men, boots and spurs having 
 been allowed to get rusty ; so I formed up the 
 squadron and told them I insisted on the turn-out 
 being good throughout the campaign, as it was 
 proverbial that the best turned-out troop was 
 nine times out of ten the best fighting one. I 
 said that because the men were on active service 
 there was no reason why they should imagine 
 that they had ceased to be the Ninth and become 
 colonials. I ordered the few men whose turn-out 
 was very bad to march two miles on foot on the 
 way home, and I told them in future that any 
 man who was reported to me badly turned out 
 would have his horse taken away from him and 
 be made to tramp. I am certain that this had a 
 great effect on the squadron." 
 
 From Jeunot the Ninth moved to Obrechies. 
 " B ' Squadron was the first cavalry unit to 
 arrive, and naturally had a great reception from 
 both French and Belgians. On the iQth and 2Oth 
 it did a reconnaissance into Belgian territory,
 
 A MEMOIR. 191 
 
 and on Friday the 2ist marched to Harmignies. 
 There Sir John French, it will be remembered, 
 was taking up position in advance of the left flank 
 of the French Fifth Army, preparatory to a move 
 against the German flank in Belgium. The pres- 
 ence of von Billow's Second Army was fairly well 
 known, but there was more or less a mystery 
 about the whereabouts of von Kluck. He was 
 believed to be somewhere in the neighbourhood 
 of Waterloo, but neither the French nor the British 
 Staff had any guess at the strength of his forces, 
 or the great wheel which he was to undertake. 
 That Friday night the Twins were billeted in 
 Harmignies, and on Saturday the 22nd they 
 remained there till the evening, when the Ninth 
 were sent out to Thulin, where they arrived early 
 in the morning of the 23rd. They were now 
 behind the left flank of the British 3rd Division. 
 
 Francis and Rivy were much perplexed by 
 this strange kind of battlefield. As cavalrymen 
 they had hoped for the wide rolling downs which 
 had been predicted as the terrain of any con- 
 tinental war. Instead they found themselves in 
 a land full of little smoky villages, coal mines, 
 railway embankments, endless wire, and a popu- 
 lation that seemed as dense as that of a London 
 suburb. They were puzzled to know how cavalry 
 could operate, and they were still more puzzled
 
 192 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 to understand what was the plan of campaign 
 an uncertainty they shared with a million or so 
 other soldiers. On that hot Sunday morning 
 firing began early to the north-east and grew 
 heavier as the day advanced. In the afternoon 
 the Colonel sent for the squadron leaders and 
 told them that six German cavalry and three 
 infantry divisions were advancing, and that their 
 business was to retire slowly, fighting a rearguard 
 action. The rest of the day was spent in deep 
 mystification, with no knowledge of the fall of 
 Namur, or of Lanrezac's defeat at Charleroi, or 
 the other calamities which were to compel Sir 
 John French to retreat. But at 1 1 .30 came definite 
 orders. They were instructed to entrench at the 
 railway station south of Thulin for an attack at 
 dawn. Spades were procured with difficulty, and 
 they were about to begin when another order 
 came not to entrench but to barricade, and to 
 hold Thulin station and the road to the south of 
 it. This was done, and the position was occupied 
 during the darkness, while the wretched inhabit- 
 ants straggled down the south road, and the guns 
 in the north grew steadily nearer. 
 
 Monday the 24th saw the beginning of the 
 retreat from Mons. This is not the place to 
 repeat an oft-told tale. Our concern is only with 
 one cavalry unit engaged in acting as a rear-
 
 A MEMOIR. 193 
 
 guard. At four o'clock that morning Francis, 
 who had retired from Thulin at 10.30 the night 
 before, was ordered to reconnoitre the town at 
 dawn. He had gone only a little way through its 
 streets when he came under heavy fire at short 
 range, and in withdrawing had his horse " Ginger " 
 shot down. Presently from his position at the 
 railway station he saw a mass of German troops 
 advancing. A sharp fight ensued of which he 
 records, ' Rivy and I found ourselves for the 
 first time standing together under fire, and not 
 much disconcerted." He had a bullet through 
 his boot, and as the enemy was advancing in 
 considerable numbers and outflanking the little 
 post, " B " Squadron fell back upon the regiment, 
 and was sent into reserve. The Qth Lancers 
 then retired to a ridge more to the south, where 
 they came under a heavy shell-fire. 
 
 It was now about midday. The 2nd Cavalry 
 Brigade was south of Audregnies, with the excep- 
 tion of the 1 8th Hussars holding the high ground 
 north of that village. The 5th Division was mov- 
 ing along the Eloges- Audregnies road. General 
 De Lisle ordered the Qth Lancers to a position 
 on the north-west of Audregnies, in order to 
 support the i8th Hussars. There they assembled 
 on a low hill where some shelter was obtained 
 from buildings. The men were dismounted, and 
 
 (2,187) 13
 
 194 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 firing at 1,200 yards against the German infantry, 
 who were advancing deployed. Presently the 
 retiring 5th Division, which had now been in 
 action for some twenty-four hours, was threatened 
 with an enemy envelopment, and Sir Charles 
 Fergusson asked for protection from the cavalry 
 for his western flank. De Lisle decided to charge 
 the flank of the advancing masses, the 4th Dragoon 
 Guards on the left and the Qth Lancers on the 
 right. 
 
 That charge was as futile and as, gallant as 
 any other like attempt in history on unbroken 
 infantry and guns in position. But it proved to 
 the world that the spirit which inspired the Light 
 Brigade at Balaclava and von Bredow's Todtenritl 
 at Mars-la-Tour was still alive in the cavalry of 
 to-day. . . . Francis formed his squadron in 
 line of troops column, and they galloped into a 
 tornado of rifle and machine-gun fire and the 
 artillery fire of at least three batteries. No ob- 
 jective could be discerned, for the Germans at 
 once took cover among the corn stocks. The 
 ground had not been reconnoitred, and long 
 before they came near the enemy the Lancers 
 found themselves brought up by double lines 
 of wire. In that nightmare place Francis's first 
 job was to get his squadron in hand. He could 
 not find his trumpeter, so he blew his whistle
 
 A MEMOIR. 195 
 
 and cursed with vehemence anybody he found 
 out of place. The charge had swung somewhat to 
 the right. Captain Lucas-Tooth, commanding 
 " A " Squadron, reached a high mound of cinders, 
 and behind it and in a donga running eastward 
 found shelter, and was presently joined by some 
 of the 4th Dragoon Guards. Meantime Francis 
 found a certain amount of cover behind a house. 
 " We had simply galloped about like rabbits in 
 front of a line of guns," he wrote, " men and 
 horses falling in all directions. Most of one's 
 time was spent in dodging the horses." 
 
 Very soon the house was blown to pieces, so 
 the squadron moved off to the shelter of a railway 
 embankment. Francis remembered that on one 
 occasion the regiment had been ordered to trot 
 in South Africa under a heavy fire, and he now 
 adopted this method of keeping his men together. 
 Under the embankment he collected the remnant. 
 He found a number of odd Qth Lancers besides 
 his own squadron, and as senior officer he took 
 command and attempted to sort the troops out. 
 
 South of the embankment was the iiQth 
 Battery, R.F.A., under Major G. H. Alexander, 
 who for this day's work was to receive the Vic- 
 toria Cross. It was under a desperate fire from 
 three of the enemy's batteries, one of which 
 completely enfiladed it, and most of its gunners
 
 196 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 had been killed. Seeing the position, Francis 
 offered his services. At that moment he was hit 
 by shrapnel. " It felt as if a whip had hit me in 
 the leg and hand. I think an artery was affected, 
 as the blood spurted out, and my observer, Stead- 
 man, and young Whitehead very kindly bound me 
 up. We also had to put on a tourniquet, and 
 referred to the Field Service Regulations to find 
 out how it had to be put on. This would have 
 amused you. Of course, we found out how to 
 stop blood in every other part of one's body except 
 one's hand, but eventually came upon this useful 
 information. Things began to go round and 
 round, and I luckily remembered that in the wallets 
 of the horse I had borrowed I had noticed a 
 flask. This proved to contain a bottle of the best 
 old brandy, and my observer and I at once drank 
 the lot. I now felt like Jack Johnson, instead of 
 an old cripple." 
 
 Major Alexander asked Francis to find if 
 there was an exit for his guns. The diary con- 
 tinues the story. 
 
 " It was not a very nice job, I am bound to say, and I was 
 relieved when it was finished. It meant leaving my regiment 
 under the embankment and riding out alone through the guns, 
 which were now out of action and being heavily shelled all 
 the time, to some distance behind, where I found myself out 
 of range of the shells. It was necessary to go back through 
 the inferno as slowly as possible, so as to pretend to the men
 
 A MEMOIR. 197 
 
 that there was no danger and that the shells were more noisy 
 than effective. I reported to the Battery Commander that 
 there was an exit ; he then told me that the only way to save 
 his guns was to man-handle them out to some cover. My 
 experience a few minutes before filled me with confidence, 
 so I ordered the regiment to dismount in front of their horses, 
 and then called for volunteers. I reminded them that the 
 9th Lancers had saved the guns at Maiwand, and had gained 
 the eternal friendship of the gunners by always standing by 
 the guns in South Africa ; and that we had great traditions 
 to live up to, as the Colonel had reminded us before we started. 
 Every single man and officer declared they were ready to go 
 to what looked like certain destruction. We ran forward and 
 started pushing the guns out. Providence intervened, for 
 although this was carried out under a very heavy fire and the 
 guns had to be slowly turned round before we could guide 
 them, we accomplished our task. We pushed out one over 
 dead gunners. I do not think we lost more than three or 
 four men, though it required more than one journey to get 
 everything out. It is on occasions like this that good dis- 
 cipline tells. The men were so wonderful and so steady that 
 words fail me to say what I think of them, and how much is 
 due to my Colonel for the high standard to which he had raised 
 this magnificent regiment." 
 
 According to Major Alexander, the enemy 
 infantry were within 500 yards before the last 
 gun was got out of shell range. Meantime Cap- 
 tain Lucas-Tooth had arrived, and being the 
 senior officer took command of the regiment. 
 " B ' Squadron waited till all the battery had 
 gone, and then, wrote Francis, " wandered about 
 for some time looking for some one to give us 
 orders." Eventually they halted by a main road
 
 198 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 along which an infantry column was marching. 
 Here Francis was overcome by his wounds, and 
 was forced to leave the squadron. It was now 
 about seven o'clock. " The N.C.O.'s and the 
 men came and shook me by the hand and gave 
 me water from their water-bottles. I cannot tell 
 you how much this day has increased the feeling 
 of confidence and comradeship between me and 
 my squadron. My fingers were nastily gashed, 
 but the bone was not damaged ; a bit of shrapnel 
 had taken a piece out of my thigh ; I had a bullet 
 through my boot and another through my sleeve, 
 and had been knocked down by a shell ; my horse 
 had also been shot, so no one can say I had an 
 idle day." 
 
 Room could not be found in any ambulance, 
 so he was left by the roadside. Luckily a French 
 Staff officer came by in a motor car and took him 
 to Bavai. There he fell in with the Duke of 
 Westminster, who took charge of him ; and he 
 also found Rivy, who had been doing galloper to 
 De Lisle. I quote again from the diary. 
 
 " They took me to a French convent, which was under the 
 Red Cross and was full of wounded. A civilian doctor and 
 six nurses attended me, each lady trying to outdo the others 
 in kindness, which was rather alarming. There was a chorus 
 of ' Pauvre garfon I Comme il est brave I Comme il est beau ! ' 
 The difficulty arose as to how my leg should be treated. I 
 suggested my breeches should be taken off, but the senior
 
 A MEMOIR. 199 
 
 Red Cross lady said that that was impossible ' Car il y a trap 
 de jeunes filles.' So my breeches were cut down the leg. The 
 doctor took me to his house and put me to bed. I am bound 
 to say 1 felt rather done. I got into bed at ten o'clock. At 
 midnight Rivy told me to get up, as the town was to be evacu- 
 ated. The doctor gave me some raw eggs and coffee, and I 
 left Bavai at 1.15 a.m. in Bend Or's motor. I cannot say how 
 nice it was to find such a friend at such a time. It is wonderful 
 what Bend Or has done for Rivy and me. He took me to Le 
 Cateau, which we reached about four in the morning, where 
 I slept that day heavily in his bed. Next morning I heard of 
 the arrival of the 4th Division, and I also met Hugh Dawnay. 
 I left Le Cateau at 9 a.m. on the 26th in a cattle truck with 
 five other wounded. A very amusing thing happened in the 
 railway station. About 500 refugees were there, all in a great 
 state of distress and alarm, and a few gendarmes and soldiers. 
 Suddenly a German aeroplane came over. You would have 
 roared with laughter as all the refugees started yelling and 
 rushing about the station. Every gendarme or stray soldier 
 who possessed any sort of firearm loosed it off into the air, 
 which made the women yell all the more. A very fat officer 
 seized a rifle and rushed forward to shoot the aeroplane, which 
 was about five miles away. The bolt jammed, so he put it on 
 the ground, gave it a kick, and it went off through the roof." 
 
 He reached Amiens safely that day, whence 
 he was transferred by way of Rouen to hospital 
 in England. He arrived very chastely dressed 
 in his regimental tunic and a pair of pyjamas, 
 his breeches having been sacrificed to the modesty 
 of the French nuns. I well remember how, out 
 of the confused gossip of those first weeks of war, 
 the exploit of the Qth Lancers emerged as a clear 
 achievement on which the mind of the nation
 
 200 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 could seize and so comfort itself. For his work 
 on that grim day Francis was recommended by 
 Sir Charles Fergusson, the General commanding 
 the 5th Division, for the Victoria Cross. The 
 award was gazetted early in November, and so 
 to Francis fell the distinction of being the first 
 man in the campaign to win the highest honour 
 which can fall to a subject of the King. 
 
 He was taken to Sister Agnes 's hospital, and 
 then to Mr. Pandeli Ralli's house in Belgrave 
 Square. There he stayed a week, and after- 
 wards went down to Lord Grenfell at Overstone. 
 On 8th September he wrote to Rivy that he 
 hoped to start back in a week for the front, 
 though the doctors pretended that it might be a 
 fortnight. He was desperately restless. " I am 
 wondering what has happened to you in the mean- 
 while, and also to my squadron, as I am afraid 
 you will have been having incessant fighting ever 
 since I departed, and the strain must be very 
 great. Even the little I went through practically 
 knocked me up, and I have been in bed ever since." 
 He was greatly embarrassed by his sudden fame, 
 and he could not believe that he had done any- 
 thing worth speaking about. " What a muddle 
 it all was ! How I should have liked to see some- 
 body who knew what was going on ! I have not 
 yet discovered what we charged. All I saw was
 
 A MEMOIR. 201 
 
 some infantry nearly a mile off." He had for the 
 moment no pride in his exploit, only vexation at 
 the fuss made about it. " Some infernal corre- 
 spondents from France have written a lot of rot 
 which makes me feel very uncomfortable. I have 
 been bombarded with letters and telegrams from 
 all over the place, and every sort of person has 
 called to see me in hospital. I never felt such a 
 fool in my life. After all, I only did what every 
 other man and officer did who was with me. . . . 
 The King came to see me in hospital, and was 
 extraordinarily nice ; also Prince Arthur, who 
 stayed an hour with me. Lord Roberts came and 
 asked rather direct questions as to why we charged 
 and whom we charged, and who gave the order 
 to charge. . . . Mrs. Asquith came too, and 
 asked after you. There is every sort of wild 
 story about us, and a poem was even written in 
 the Times on how we captured the guns. . . . Tell 
 the officers to write on receipt of this, and I will 
 bring out anything they want to them. Cable if 
 you are all right." 
 
 That brief meeting in Bavai was the last time 
 Francis saw his brother. During the afternoon 
 of 24th August, when Francis and his squadron 
 were charging the remote German infantry, Rivy 
 had been acting as galloper for De Lisle. " A
 
 202 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 rather heavy job on a weary horse," he wrote. 
 " He sent me to find General Gough, which I 
 did ; and the latter told me he had received no 
 orders, and could not find Allenby, but since he 
 had heard heavy guns in the direction of Eloges 
 he intended to stay where he was. . . . We 
 found Allenby about 11.30. He told De Lisle 
 to go back and take the ridge from which we had 
 been firing in the morning, but not to get too 
 heavily engaged. De Lisle took his brigade back 
 and sent the i8th Hussars about a mile north to 
 a sugar factory, and followed himself, with me. 
 Then I was sent to tell the Qth to wait north of 
 Audregnies. As I gave the message an awful fire 
 burst out from Quiveran. The Colonel told 
 Abadie to hold the ridge. I had to gallop back 
 across the line of fire to De Lisle, but when I had 
 got there he had gone. The guns took up a 
 hurried position behind the railway, but as they 
 galloped to position a very heavy enemy fire was 
 opened on them, the Germans soon finding the 
 range. I went to the railway to look for De Lisle, 
 and on approaching the ridge saw four artillerymen 
 destroyed by shell. I then went round by the 
 south bridge to find the Qth ; but they, I was 
 informed, had just charged. Meanwhile riderless 
 and wounded horses were galloping everywhere, 
 and bullets and shells were falling like hailstones.
 
 A MEMOIR. 203 
 
 ... At last I found Colonel Campbell looking 
 for the Brigadier to try and get some reinforce- 
 ments. We found the Brigadier, but he had no 
 troops with him. Colonel Campbell told me to 
 stay with him. He had been ordered to charge 
 towards Quiveran. Why, he did not know, as 
 there was an open space for about a mile, and 
 he had lost nearly all his regiment. ... I was 
 told to rally what force I could at Wiheries. I 
 found some 4th Dragoon Guards, and then retired 
 towards Athis with the Colonel. Afterwards we 
 fell back, a very dejected force, to Bavai. I 
 wondered how the devil I could get news of 
 Francis." 
 
 Rivy's day's work, though he was the last man 
 to admit it, was a very remarkable and courageous 
 performance. Francis used to say that that soli- 
 tary bit of reconnaissance, all alone, was braver 
 than anything he ever did a raw civilian riding 
 for hours under heavy fire on a tired horse on 
 missions of vital importance. That day estab- 
 lished Rivy's reputation with the regiment. For 
 the next ten days he was busy with the great 
 retreat, and had very little time for letter- writing. 
 On 2Qth August there was a short note to Francis 
 telling him that both had lost all their belongings 
 and begging him to bring out a new outfit. " An 
 infernal trooper has bagged my horse with all my
 
 204 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 kit on it, and has got lost himself." There was 
 a letter to one of his sisters, dated 2nd September, 
 and a postcard to Francis the next day, and after 
 that the next news was his death. In that feverish 
 fortnight David Campbell wrote : " Rivy was with 
 me as galloper and general utility officer up to the 
 time I left. He was of the very greatest help, and 
 carried out a very good reconnaissance with two 
 scouts the day before I was hit. He was always 
 splendid, and I shall miss him fearfully." On 
 5th September came the turn of the tide on the 
 Marne, and the Cavalry Corps moved northward 
 again. On the yth the 2nd Brigade was acting 
 as flank guard to the division, with the Qth 
 Lancers as the advance guard ; and at Moncel 
 the Ninth, a troop and a half strong, led by David 
 Campbell himself, brilliantly charged with the 
 lance and dispersed a German squadron. 
 
 On nth September the 2nd Brigade was on 
 the left bank of the Vesle river, and on the i3th 
 began the crossing of the Aisne by the British 
 infantry. The Qth Lancers, with the 4th Dragoon 
 Guards and the i8th Hussars, crossed the river 
 in advance near Bourg, and pushed up the heights 
 towards Vendresse. There they were relieved by 
 a battalion of the infantry advance guard, the 
 6oth Rifles, and retired for the night to Pargnan. 
 On the morning of the I4th the Ninth again
 
 A MEMOIR. 205 
 
 formed the advance guard, and leaving at 3 aon. 
 marched north by Vendresse and Troy on. They 
 had been given an objective which turned out to 
 be about a mile behind the German trenches. 
 Pushing fast through the dark up a winding road 
 towards the Chemin des Dames, they passed the 
 pickets of the 6oth, and presently ran into a 
 German picket. The regiment dismounted, while 
 Rivy, with a section, dashed forward to a position 
 near a haystack. He engaged the enemy picket, 
 and enabled the regiment to regain its direction. 
 
 He seems to have been in wild spirits, and to 
 have encouraged his little band with jokes, and 
 with that peculiarly cheery hallo of which he had 
 the secret. But, in his anxiety to see the effects 
 of the shots, he exposed himself, and a German 
 bullet cut his revolver in two and passed through 
 the roof of his mouth. He died instantaneously. 
 The last words which his men remember were 
 his shout, " Steady your firing, boys. We have 
 got them beaten." 
 
 The Ninth fell back, leaving his body in the 
 enemy hands, but that afternoon the 6oth ad- 
 vanced and recovered it. Rivy had been in the 
 field twenty-five days days of such crowded 
 endeavour and endurance as few campaigns in 
 history can show. From the first hour he had 
 been supremely happy, for he had found his
 
 2 o6 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 true calling. He had seen his brother safe out 
 of danger and covered with glory, and with the 
 removal of any anxiety about Francis had gone 
 the one thing which could dim his cheerfulness. 
 From what I have been told by his men and his 
 brother officers, I am certain that that last fort- 
 night of his life had washed clean from his mind 
 all the weary sense of reproach and futility which 
 had been clouding it, and that he went to death 
 as one who " finds again his twentieth year."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 1914-1915. 
 
 " Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk ! 
 My soul shall thine keep company to heaven ; 
 Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast, 
 As in this glorious and well-foughten field 
 We kept together in our chivalry 1 " 
 
 IT took Francis a long time to realize that Rivy 
 was dead. He was about to return to the battle 
 line ; death was everywhere ; already many of 
 his friends had fallen ; he himself might follow at 
 any moment ; his mind was a little dulled to the 
 meaning of mortality. He did not think of the 
 blankness of his future without Rivy, for there 
 was no reason to expect that it would be long. 
 His predominant thought was how splendid his 
 brother had been in life and how glorious in 
 death, and he wanted every one to realize this. 
 But the acute personal loss had not yet come home 
 to him. Of the many letters which he received, 
 I think he was most touched by that of the King 
 of Spain :
 
 208 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 " DEAR FRANCIS, I never knew that Rivy had joined the 
 Ninth. I thought he belonged to the Yeomanry. You can- 
 not imagine what a blow it has been to me, and I can guess 
 what you must feel. We followed all the fine work you did, 
 and Bend Or's coming to your rescue, and I was sure that I 
 would be able to drink with you both on your V.C. I never 
 would have believed that Rivy would have died before me, 
 and he a civilian. Do write when you can, old man, and 
 tell me everything. Please give your brothers and sisters 
 all my sympathies. I have lost a friend, and I can only 
 tell you that he has found the finest of deaths : he died for 
 his country on the battlefield. You are a soldier, and know 
 what I mean. You know that I am no good at making 
 phrases, so good-bye, old man. I hope you will recover soon. 
 Believe me always your devoted friend, ALFONSO." 
 
 To Lord Grey Francis wrote : 
 
 " I wired to you on Saturday when I heard the news, for 
 you were one of his best friends. Rivy died for old England, 
 and no Englishman could do more. We won the Champion 
 Cup together, and I bought him the horse on which he won 
 the Kadir, and we have been through good times and bad, 
 and on the 24th of August we went into action together and 
 faced the bullets side by side. We have worked, played, 
 and fought together, and always shared everything. After 
 thirty-four years of inseparableness it was on the battlefield 
 that we parted, and only death the most glorious death of 
 all has now compelled us to separate for ever, at any rate 
 in this world. 
 
 " My dear Lord Grey, you were a very, very good friend 
 to Rivy, and you and your family have done all you could to 
 enrich and ennoble his life. He dearly loved you all, and 
 valued nothing more in the world than your friendship, and 
 admired nothing more than your character. I hope that since 
 we can no more talk of the ' Twins ' you will always remember 
 Rivy and accept the gratitude of your broken-hearted friend."
 
 A MEMOIR. 209 
 
 And to me : 
 
 " Rivy's death will hit you as hard as it has hit me. He 
 was so very fond of you. You were his most loyal friend, my 
 dear John, and I hope you will accept the great gratitude of 
 his twin, and whenever you think of Rivy I hope you will say 
 to yourself, ' He knew I always stood by him through thick 
 and thin.' " 
 
 Rivy for him was still a living personality, sepa- 
 rated only by the exigencies of warfare ; and he 
 wanted all their friends to think of him and talk 
 about him, and not merely hold him in pious 
 memory, as if by some such affectionate concen- 
 tration of thought he could be recaptured from 
 the pale shades. 
 
 Meantime he was on tenterhooks to be back 
 at the front, and on the evening of 8th October 
 he left England to rejoin his regiment. At the 
 moment the British army was moving to the 
 extreme left of the Allied line, in the hope of 
 turning the German northern flank. He travelled 
 with his Colonel, David Campbell, who had now 
 recovered from his wound got on the Marne. 
 On the 1 2th he found the regiment at Strazeele, 
 and to his delight discovered that it was on the 
 verge of going into action. To be among his old 
 friends again both soothed and cheered him. 
 " Several still call me Rivy," he wrote to his 
 uncle. " I am so glad it goes on." 
 
 (2,187) U
 
 2io FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 The ist Cavalry Division, now under De 
 Lisle, to which the 2nd Brigade belonged, was 
 engaged in reconnoitring the ground in front of 
 General Pulteney's 3rd Corps. Pulteney's busi- 
 ness was to get east of Armentieres, astride the 
 Lys, and to link up Smith-Dorrien at La Bassee 
 and Haig at Ypres. The enemy was in Merris 
 and Meteren, and the Qth Lancers were drawn 
 up at Strazeele, while the 4th and 6th Infantry 
 Divisions attacked. It was a day of heavy rain 
 and thick steamy fog, the fields were water- 
 logged, aircraft were useless, and the countryside 
 was too much enclosed for cavalry. The infantry 
 succeeded in their task, and by the morning of 
 the 1 4th Pulteney held the line Bailleul-St. Jans 
 Cappelle. Francis notes in his diary : * I could 
 not help observing on my return that the war was 
 affecting the spirits of all a little : there was much 
 more seriousness than when I left." 
 
 The stage was now set for that First Battle of 
 Ypres which was to last for three weeks between 
 Dixmude and La Bassee, which will live in his- 
 tory as one of the greatest military achievements 
 of Britain, and which was at once the end and 
 the apotheosis of the old British regular army. 
 On the 1 5th Francis took over " B " Squadron 
 again, and told the men how glad he was to get 
 back to them, and how proud he v/as to hear of
 
 A MEMOIR. 211 
 
 the way in which they had behaved since he last 
 saw them. He told them that the war would be 
 long, and that this was not the time for any man 
 to count his losses. That day he marched through 
 a steady rain to Locre. The next day, starting 
 very early, he marched through Ploegsteert village 
 and Ploegsteert Wood ; and at Le Gheir was in- 
 structed to attack and carry the Lys crossing at the 
 bend of Pont Rouge. The squadron took the vil- 
 lage, but found the bridge strongly barricaded, and 
 the enemy entrenched on the far side of the stream. 
 Francis asked permission to swim the river, and 
 when this was refused he begged for reinforce- 
 ments so as to carry the barricade. To his dis- 
 gust, however, he received orders to retire. " Be- 
 fore leaving we buried Private Lake at a farm 800 
 yards south of the Pont Rouge. Owing to our 
 nearness to the enemy we had to carry on the 
 burial service in the dark, which was not nice. 
 At the service I said, * Here lies a brave British 
 soldier who has died for England and the Qth 
 Lancers, and no man could do more.' Then I 
 said the Lord's Prayer, and afterwards thought 
 of the poem to Sir John Moore." 
 
 Next day " B " Squadron was in reserve, and 
 was consistently shelled all day ; very disquieting 
 for cavalry, who had to think of their horses. 
 On the 1 8th Francis was at Le Gheir again,
 
 212 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 and ' ' B ' Squadron was once more instructed 
 to attack Pont Rouge with infantry support. 
 The aim was to clear the right bank of the Lys, 
 for Pulteney was still doubtful about the strength 
 of the enemy, and had some ground for assum- 
 ing that the only Germans there were the mixed 
 cavalry and infantry he had been pressing back 
 for a week. As a matter of fact the 3rd Corps 
 was now approaching the main German position, 
 and in spite of the brilliant work of the cavalry 
 could not win the right bank of the river. Pul- 
 teney was firmly held at all points from Le Gheir 
 to Radinghem, and his position on the night of the 
 1 8th represented the furthest line held during the 
 battle by this section of our front. Francis's fight 
 on the 1 8th was much the same as that on the 
 1 6th. " B ' Squadron could not get near its 
 objective because of the machine-gun fire, and 
 was only extricated by the aid of two companies 
 *of Inniskilling Fusiliers. 
 
 It was now necessary to connect Pulteney with 
 the infantry further north, and a link was provided 
 by the whole Cavalry Corps under Allenby. On 
 the night of the iQth Allenby was generally east 
 of Messines on a line drawn from Le Gheir to 
 Hollebeke. On the 2Oth Francis found himself 
 on the Messines Ridge supporting the 4th 
 Dragoon Guards, who were holding St. Ives.
 
 A MEMOIR. 213 
 
 Here they had another ugly scrap, and late in the 
 evening had to support the Household Cavalry 
 at Warneton. The day before he had written 
 to his uncle : " This war is damnable. We have 
 such nasty jobs to do, and are always under fire ; 
 but the spirit of the men is splendid. Our in- 
 fantry and cavalry outclass the German, but their 
 artillery is excellent. Our present job is pretty 
 disheartening. We go forward and capture posi- 
 tions for the infantry, who are entrenched four 
 miles behind and move terribly slow. We are 
 then withdrawn, and have again to recapture the 
 same position next day. Eventually the infantry 
 come up and take the place, assisted by divisional 
 artillery the same place we took three days before 
 with a squadron." 
 
 The Qth Lancers were gradually being trans- 
 formed from cavalry to infantry, and a passage in 
 Francis's diary shows how severe were the duties. 
 ' We have started the same old game as at the 
 Aisne, and we have had five of the hardest days 
 of the war in trenches repelling German attacks. 
 It has become such a recognized idea to use us 
 for this work as soon as we get in touch with the 
 enemy that I am afraid all the cavalry traditions 
 are for ever ended, and we have become mounted 
 infantry pure and simple, with very little of the 
 mounted about it. Our men look funny sights
 
 214 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 trudging along with spades and things on their 
 backs, and when they are mounted they look 
 funnier still : if you see a man carrying lance, 
 sword, rifle, spade and pick, he looks just like a 
 hedgehog. But it is a jolly hard life for them to 
 have to fight their way up to the line, then make 
 the line, then hold it, and all the time cleaning 
 and trying to look after their horses." ' Do you 
 know any one who would send me an armoured 
 motor car with a Maxim ? " he wrote to his uncle. 
 " I have written to Winston that the thing would 
 be invaluable now." 
 
 On the 2ist and 22nd the regiment was en- 
 gaged on the Messines Ridge in support of the 
 5th Cavalry Brigade. On the 23rd they were 
 actually at Messines, then still the semblance of 
 a village, with its church still a church and not 
 yet a ragged tooth of masonry. The cavalry 
 were holding a trench line to the east of the place, 
 where they were most completely and continu- 
 ously shelled. On the 26th they were sent south 
 to support Smith-Dorrien's 2nd Corps in the 
 fighting around Neuve Chapelle. It was a critical 
 moment, for the yth Infantry Brigade, which had 
 been in action for eighteen days, had been forced 
 back west of Neuve Chapelle and had almost 
 ceased to exist as a fighting force. That day an 
 attempt was made to recapture the village. The
 
 A MEMOIR. 215 
 
 attack was too weak to succeed, and the most that 
 could be done with the assistance of the cavalry 
 was to take up a good defensive position on the 
 west. On the 2Qth the Qth Lancers were back 
 at Neuve Eglise, behind the Messines position. 
 That experience gave Francis his first notion of 
 the real seriousness of the German attack. Before, 
 he had been confident, and had credited every 
 optimistic rumour ; now he saw that the enemy 
 was indeed flinging the dice for victory, and that 
 the scanty British forces were faced with pre- 
 posterous odds. 
 
 On aQth October, as we know, began the criti- 
 cal stage of the First Battle of Ypres. The chief 
 danger points were at the apex of the salient 
 around Gheluvelt and on its southern flank about 
 Zillebeke. But there was also an attack at the 
 southern re-entrant, and heavy fighting along the 
 whole Messines Ridge. On the 3oth the ist 
 Cavalry Brigade was holding the line before 
 Messines, and the Qth Lancers were sent up in 
 support. Francis's squadron, however, was de- 
 tached to assist the 4th Cavalry Brigade at Wyt- 
 schaete. Allenby, it must be remembered, at the 
 time was holding the whole line from Klein Zille- 
 beke to the south of Messines, and he had no rein- 
 forcements except two much-exhausted battalions 
 of an Indian brigade from the and Corps. The
 
 2i6 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 British public, who compared a cavalry regiment 
 to an infantry battalion and a cavalry squadron 
 to an infantry company, forgot the disparity in 
 numbers. A cavalry regiment was only 300 strong 
 as against 1,000 men of an infantry battalion, and 
 a squadron only 46 as against 200 of an infantry 
 company. 
 
 That day Francis's work lay in entrenching a 
 position in the Wytschaete neighbourhood. In 
 the evening he was sent for to report to his Colonel 
 at Messines. He arrived there to find the situation 
 growing desperate. The front north of the vil- 
 lage was becoming untenable. He took his squad- 
 ron to the old trenches east of Messines which it 
 had occupied two days before. It was now only 
 40 men strong far too few to hold the ground. 
 All the night of the 3oth he was heavily fired on, 
 and the enemy could be seen moving about on his 
 left flank. He found his Colonel, and showed him 
 the danger of the position. The most that could 
 be done, however, was to throw back a trench on 
 the left at a sharp angle to prevent outflanking. 
 
 Saturday, 3ist October, was the crisis of the 
 battle. It saw the menace to the Salient itself 
 repelled by one of the most heroic exploits in our 
 record, but it also saw the end of Messines. The 
 events of that day are best told in an extract from 
 Francis's diary.
 
 A MEMOIR. 217 
 
 " After an anxious night, in which I did not sleep at all, we 
 stood to arms, and were ready for the attack which came in 
 due course at daybreak. At about five a.m., quite close to us, 
 I heard horns blowing and German words of command and 
 cheering, and I knew that the Germans had attacked the 
 Indians on our right. Basil Blackwood came and told me 
 the Colonel wished me to send two troops to support the right 
 at once, and I sent Mather Jackson and Sergeant Davids. The 
 latter I consider to be one of the bravest men in the British 
 army, and regarded him as the backbone of my squadron. I 
 regret to say that was the last time I saw him, as during the 
 attack he was badly wounded and captured by the Germans. 
 During the night, when I felt anxious, he was so calm that I 
 went and consoled myself by a talk with him. We discussed 
 the principles of fighting, and he said that the principles on 
 which he acted were that if you were killed by a shell it was 
 just bad luck, but that in an attack he considered himself 
 as good as any German, and it was only a question who got 
 the first shot in. He was very quiet throughout the night 
 in fact at one moment I had to do a lot of kicking at him to 
 wake him when I thought the position serious. 
 
 " I was now left with two very weak troops that is, from 15 
 to 20 men and a machine gun. Suddenly, about twenty yards 
 to our rear at daybreak there was a rush of men from some 
 houses. To my utter astonishment they appeared to be 
 Germans. Apparently the enemy had done what we thought 
 he would do during the night : he had got round my extreme 
 left, and unfortunately, instead of attacking me he had attacked 
 the troops on my left, who had given way. The Germans 
 were therefore round us at a distance of 100 yards. They took 
 a house, ran up to the top storeys and fired straight into my 
 trench. Poor Payne-Gallwey, who had only joined two nights 
 before and was in action for the first time, was shot in the head 
 from behind and killed. Reynolds was shot through the head, 
 and several more were wounded. I was on the extreme right 
 of the trench when this was reported to me. I had decided 
 to hang on when I became aware that ' C ' Squadron, who were
 
 2i8 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 in front and could protect my front, had received orders to 
 withdraw. At this moment heavy fire was directed on our 
 trench, not only from the rear but also from the left flank, 
 where the Germans had brought up a machine gun. Luckily 
 the bullets went a bit high. I ordered the men to retire from 
 the right and crawl out of the trench to the houses that were 
 on their right in the brickfield. When I got there I met Major 
 Abadie, who said to me, ' Well, Francis, what do you think of 
 the situation ? ' I cannot remember exactly what I said, but 
 I think I told him that I thought the Germans were attacking 
 from front and left, and that I had no trench facing that way 
 to meet the attack, the troops on my left having gone away. 
 This was the last I saw of him. He looked exactly the same 
 as usual and was in the same cheery mood, taking everything 
 light-heartedly, as was his custom. 
 
 " I now waited in a ruined house in the rear of the first 
 barricade, and am bound to say I felt in a quandary as to 
 what to do. I felt very guilty at leaving my trench, but at 
 the same time I felt it was useless to hold it. ... Suddenly 
 I heard a machine gun still firing at the extreme end of our 
 old trench. It had been left behind, so I left the squadron 
 at the house and went back along the trench until I reached 
 the gun, where I found Corporal Seaton with another man in 
 action, the Germans being from 20 to 40 yards off. I told 
 him I thought he had better retire, and that I would help 
 him out with his gun ; but he said that as the man with 
 him was wounded, and something had gone wrong with the 
 gun, he thought it best to leave it behind and completely 
 disable it. He retired along the trench. I remained there 
 awhile, firing at Germans with my revolver. My firing was 
 not very steady, and although I could see Germans lying down 
 quite close I could not take careful aim, as I was being shot 
 at from front, flank, and rear. I picked up one or two rifles 
 to fire with, but they jammed. I then realized that this was 
 no place for the squadron leader, so crawled along the trench 
 and rejoined my squadron near the mined house. 
 
 " Here I received orders to hang on, and was told that
 
 A MEMOIR. 219 
 
 ' C ' Squadron, under Major Abadie, had been ordered to 
 attack the house in our rear with the bayonet. I was again 
 in a dilemma what to do, but pulled myself together, hoping 
 I should be inspired to do the right thing. The only inspira- 
 tion I got was a sort of feeling within me to go back and hold 
 my trench, so I assembled the squadron and told Mather 
 Jackson and Frank Crossley that I proposed to reoccupy the 
 trench. They thought this might be difficult, as the Germans 
 seemed to have got into the end of it. However, feeling that 
 it was the right thing to do, and confident that we should get 
 from traverse to traverse as quickly as the Germans, and that 
 I could fire in front quicker with my revolver than they could 
 with their rifles, we went back to the trench and reached the 
 extreme end of it. After being there a few moments the 
 officers reported that we were being shot at from front and 
 rear. I ordered them to tell the odd numbers to fire to the 
 front and the even numbers to fire to the rear and to hang on. 
 I went to the extreme left of the trench, where I could see the 
 left flank. There I could see some Germans running back, 
 but about a thousand yards off one or two German companies 
 advancing, covered by skirmishers in excellent order. We 
 picked up at least six rifles to fire at them, but they all 
 jammed. 
 
 " I again felt uncertain what to do. Our position seemed 
 really ridiculous most of our rifles having jammed, and the 
 Germans all round. I sent word back to ' C ' Squadron to 
 advance as quickly as they could against the house, saying 
 we should cover their advance from where I was; but they 
 replied that it was impossible for them to move. As the only 
 use I could be at this time in my trench was to cover the 
 advance of ' C ' Squadron, I decided to leave it again, and 
 assembled the squadron under heavy artillery and machine- 
 gun fire near the ruined house. I found the Colonel, and told 
 him the situation. He told me we were to hold on at all 
 costs. He said that infantry were advancing to support us, 
 but could not be up for some time I think he said two 
 o'clock. He told me to hold the small ridge facing north,
 
 220 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 and reinforced me with two troops of the 5th Dragoon Guards. 
 I went back, and on the way spoke to Lennie Harvey, who 
 was standing with his troop in the road. I also passed Ray- 
 mond Greene, I told Lennie Harvey I had had orders to 
 hold the ridge, which I pointed out to him, and told him to 
 hold the ridge on my left. This, I believe, is the last that was 
 seen of that officer. . . . We were now being very heavily 
 shelled by coal-boxes, and it really seemed as hot as any one 
 could wish for. There seemed to be nothing in the air but 
 shells, and the bursting of the coal-boxes made a most terrific 
 noise. Personally, I had the feeling which I have had before, 
 the same as one gets at the start of a steeplechase, when the 
 starter says ' Off.' 
 
 " At this moment a shell pitched right into the middle of 
 my squadron and blew it to the winds. Several of the men 
 were very badly wounded especially Corporal Newman, to 
 whom I gave some morphia. I myself was hit through the leg, 
 and felt I could not move. Luckily for me Mather Jackson 
 and another man took "hold of me and carried me back. On 
 the way we passed Beale Brown and told him what had hap- 
 pened that the front of the town was untenable owing to 
 the shells, and that all that could be done was to attack the 
 Germans on our left. I was then carried back to the second 
 barricade, where I met Charles Mulholland and also General 
 Briggs, to whom I explained the situation. Mulholland took 
 me to a house where the nth Hussars' doctor was, and I was 
 taken down to the cellar, where there were a lot of wounded. 
 After I had had some rum and my wound dressed I was 
 sent through the town to an ambulance, which took me to 
 Bailleul. 
 
 " On arrival at Bailleul a terrible fire suddenly opened in 
 the streets, which was very alarming to us caged in the ambu- 
 lance. Luckily it proved only to be firing at an aeroplane. 
 We were taken to a convent, and my stretcher was put down, 
 curiously enough, alongside Basil Blackwood and JackWode- 
 house. Basil Blackwood and I, I have since heard, were the 
 only two to escape that day from Messines."
 
 A MEMOIR. 221 
 
 Francis's second wound was a serious one in 
 the thigh. He was sent to Dublin, and complained 
 that after a journey of two nights he was farther 
 from England than when he started. * I am in a 
 home," he told his uncle ; " very comfortable, 
 indeed, in a room with two others. The nurses 
 are quite splendid. The surgeon has done our 
 dressings much better than anything before and 
 made us all comfortable. In addition to this 
 every one in Ireland has been to see us. Our 
 room is so thick with flowers it is hard to 
 breathe. Ivor Wimborne has fitted us all out 
 with glorious pillows, razors, brushes, etc. I could 
 not possibly be more comfortable or in better 
 hands." 
 
 On the i yth he read in the Gazette the news 
 of his Victoria Cross. " I have been through so 
 much since June," he wrote to his uncle, " that 
 what would and should have made me yell with 
 joy nearly causes tears. It gave me no great 
 feeling of having achieved anything. I feel that 
 I know so many who have done and are doing 
 so much more than I have been able to do for 
 England. I also feel very strongly that any 
 honour belongs to my regiment and not to me. 
 They have paid the toll, and will go on paying 
 until the road is clear. . . . My dear uncle, 
 without the help of Providence how futile our
 
 222 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 efforts are ; but with it even humbugs like myself 
 can masquerade as brave. It will be a lifelong 
 pleasure and honour to your nephew to know that 
 you, one of the greatest soldiers of our time, who 
 have done so much for our name and have been 
 so kind to Rivy and me, should have lived to see 
 this day. Indeed, the greatest joy of all is that 
 it will please you." 
 
 For five months he remained in England, and 
 the first three were, I think, the hardest trial of 
 his life. He was slow to get well, and limped 
 about London with a thin face and haggard eyes, 
 looking like a man searching for something which 
 he could not find. Now he realized what his 
 brother's death meant to him. The alliance of 
 thirty years was broken for ever, and he had lost 
 half of himself. His looks at that time used to 
 frighten me : he had the air which in Scotland 
 we call " fey," as if the " waft of death " had gone 
 out against him. He forced himself to be cheer- 
 ful, but his gaiety was feverish and his old alacrity 
 had died. I remember that he tried to interest 
 himself in the general conduct of the war and 
 would argue eagerly for a little and then sud- 
 denly fall silent. For things more poignant than 
 tactics and strategy crowded his mind. He never 
 doubted our ultimate victory, but meantime Rivy 
 was dead and every day his friends were dying,
 
 A MEMOIR. 223 
 
 and it seemed as if the price of victory would be 
 the loss of all that he had loved. 
 
 He was miserable, too, at being away from his 
 regiment and his squadron. No man who has 
 not served in a unit in the field can understand 
 the intimate ties which bind together its members. 
 It is so small and so forlorn a little clan islanded 
 amid great seas of pain and death. The regi- 
 mental tradition becomes a living thing like a 
 personal memory. Old comradeships in sport 
 and play and the easy friendliness of peace-time 
 are transformed into something closer even than 
 friendship. Every communal success becomes an 
 individual triumph, every loss an individual sor- 
 row. More than most regular officers Francis had 
 this aching affection for his regiment the devo- 
 tion of " a lover or a child." At Christmas he 
 sent this message to his squadron : 
 
 " I wish you all the very best of luck and good wishes for 
 Christmas and the New Year. I am always thinking of you, 
 and hope very soon to return. Sir John French said the 
 regiment had exceeded the greatest traditions of the army, 
 and in this ' B ' Squadron has played the leading part. You 
 were the first squadron of the regiment in action at the begin- 
 ning on 24th August, and have since always given the lead. 
 Remember the brave that have fallen, and be determined to 
 serve England as faithfully as they. 
 
 " You have all my very, very best wishes and thoughts. God 
 bless you and keep you, and help you to remain the finest 
 squadron in the world the only squadron that has got for
 
 224 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 itself already a D.C.M., a Legion d'Honneur, a commission, 
 and a V.C., for what is won by the leaders belongs to the men. 
 God bless you all." 
 
 Slowly, very slowly, his wound mended, and 
 he began to look more steadily upon the world. 
 Old friends, such as Mrs. Asquith and Lord Hugh 
 Cecil, did much to restore his balance ; and when 
 he went to spend Christmas with his brother 
 Arthur, who was training with the Bucks Yeo- 
 manry in Norfolk, he was beginning to be himself 
 again. In January 1915 he. took up shooting, 
 for which he had never greatly cared, and dis- 
 covered that on occasion he could be a brilliant 
 shot. Then he advanced to hunting at Oakham 
 on Harry Whitney's horses, and in March he 
 reported to his uncle that he was " a fighting 
 man once more." * It is glorious to feel strong 
 and well, but I am bound to say the stronger 
 and better I get the more I seem to realize what 
 it means to have lost Rivy." And he adds a 
 characteristic note : " I am glad to say my nerve 
 has gone in the right direction. Fences are 
 not as frightening as bullets. It is a joke to be 
 afraid of things that are there to shelter cattle 
 and not to kill you." He had been suffering 
 from too clear a perspective, seeing human effort 
 too constantly against the cold background of 
 eternity. Now he could look upon life in parti-
 
 A MEMOIR. 225 
 
 tions, and accept the kindly conventions which 
 humanity has devised to shelter it from the outer 
 winds. Therefore, as he put it, he became 
 " keen " again ; for keenness means that the mind 
 is fixed on the various stadia of the game of life, 
 and not on the horizon. 
 
 When he was passed fit for foreign service he 
 made a new will, appointing the late Lord Grey 
 and myself his executors and trustees. His affairs 
 were very complicated, and it was by no means 
 certain that he had much or anything to leave ; 
 but with characteristic optimism he made elaborate 
 dispositions among various members of his family. 
 He left his medals to his regiment, " to whom the 
 honour of my gaining the Victoria Cross was en- 
 tirely due, thanks to its splendid discipline and 
 traditions." I quote the last two clauses. 
 
 " I wish to express my regret that my financial position 
 does not permit me to leave anything to the children of my 
 uncle, Francis, Lord Grenfell, as I had hoped to do, but I 
 should like to express to him my deep gratitude for his kindness 
 to me during my lifetime. Ever since the day when he decided 
 that I should go into the army at his expense I have endeav- 
 oured to base my career on his example. He has, since the 
 death of my father, done everything that a father could do 
 for me. I should also like to thank all my brothers and sisters 
 for their kindness, generosity, and hospitality to me. No 
 junior member of a family could have been blessed with more 
 happy relations. 
 
 " I should like everything possible done at all times for mine 
 and Rivy's friends, notably the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Crichton, 
 
 (2,187) 15
 
 226 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Mrs. Duggan, the Countess of Erne, the Countess of Dudley, 
 Lord Francis Scott, Lord Grey, the Hon. Angus McDonnell, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Waldorf Astor, Mrs. Brooks, the officers of my 
 regiment, including Brig.-General Campbell (who has stood 
 by me in peace and war on every single occasion), Mr. and 
 Mrs. Strawbridge, Captain Clowes, the Earl of Rocksavage, 
 and the many others who have on all occasions stood by me 
 and to whom I am deeply grateful. My special thanks are 
 due to the Duke of Westminster for his great generosity and 
 kindness to me on many occasions. No man ever had a 
 better friend. I owe a great deal of gratitude to my servants, 
 who have served both my brother and myself most loyally 
 for a long time. Without making any legal obligations, I 
 would like my family to do what they can to assist the Invalid 
 Children's Aid Association, as my brother Rivy asked me." 
 
 On 7th April he gave a farewell dinner at 
 Claridge's. It is an occasion I can never forget, 
 for it was the last time I saw him, and it seemed to 
 me that he had recovered and more than recovered 
 all his old ardour and youthfulness. The party 
 were his brother Arthur, Lord Grenfell, Reggie 
 Barnes, Mr. Arthur Balfour, Mr. Winston 
 Churchill, Mr. Andrew Weir (now Lord Inver- 
 forth), and myself. It was on that occasion, I 
 remember, that Mr. Churchill first expounded 
 his views about those instruments of war which 
 were to develop into the Tanks. The discussion 
 roamed over the whole field of military and naval 
 policy, and I have rarely heard better talk. Some 
 of the best of it came from Francis, and I realized 
 how immensely his mind had ripened and broad-
 
 A MEMOIR. 227 
 
 ened in the past months. I began to think that 
 if he were spared he would be not merely a gallant 
 leader of troops but a great soldier. 
 
 Francis rejoined his regiment on Wednesday, 
 2ist April. He found the Qth Lancers in billets 
 at Meteren, where they had been training on and 
 off for several months. " I must say," he wrote, 
 " I am mighty glad to get back here, for this life 
 is made for me. ... I find pals everywhere. I 
 somehow never seem to go anywhere out here 
 without finding friends." Next evening orders 
 suddenly came to saddle up and support the 
 French north-east of Ypres. In the April twi- 
 light a strange green vapour had appeared, mov- 
 ing over the French trenches. It was the first 
 German gas attack, and with it the Second Battle 
 of Ypres began. 
 
 The ist Cavalry Division marched through 
 Poperinghe to the canal, and for two days sup- 
 ported the French on the extreme left of the 
 battlefield. The Ninth were lucky enough to 
 have no casualties, and on the Sunday they re- 
 turned to their quarters at Meteren. A week 
 later, on 2nd May, when the second great German 
 attack was delivered, they were moved into reserve 
 behind the Salient. On the 6th they were in 
 Ypres itself, and on the 7th they were back in
 
 228 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 Meteren, under the impression that their share 
 in the fight was over. 
 
 Those who remember the Salient only in the 
 last years of the campaign, when it had become 
 a sodden and corrugated brickyard, can scarcely 
 conceive what the place was like during the throes 
 of the Second Battle. The city of Ypres was 
 dying, but not yet dead, and its solemn towers 
 still stood, mute protestants against the outrage 
 of war. To the east of it the meadows were still 
 lush and green, and every hedgerow and garden 
 bright with lilac, laburnum, and guelder-rose. It 
 was a place of terror, but also a place of blossom. 
 The sickly smell of gas struggled with the scent of 
 hawthorn ; great riven limbs of flowering chest- 
 nuts lay athwart the roads ; the cuckoo called 
 continually from the thickets. The horror of war 
 seemed increased a thousandfold when shells 
 burst among flowers, and men died in torture 
 amid the sounds and odours of spring. 
 
 On 3rd May the British line had been short- 
 ened, and on the iath it was possible to relieve 
 the 28th Division, which had been fighting con- 
 tinuously for twenty days. Its place was taken 
 by a cavalry detachment the ist and 3rd Cavalry 
 Divisions under De Lisle. Their front ran from 
 the Frezenberg ridge southward across the Roulers 
 railway to the Bellewaarde Lake north of Hooge.
 
 A MEMOIR. 229 
 
 Francis, who had been uneasy waiting behind 
 the line, welcomed the change. " Here we are," 
 he had written, " sitting peacefully behind like 
 the next man to go in to a fast bowler. You don't 
 want to go in, and yet you would like to be knock- 
 ing about the bowling." His brigade took up 
 position in the front line late on the evening of 
 the 1 2th. The trenches had been much damaged, 
 and it was necessary to reconstruct the parapets 
 and traverses. 
 
 Thursday, i3th May, a day of biting north 
 winds and drenching rains, saw one of the severest 
 actions of the battle. The German bombardment 
 began at three a.m., and in half an hour parapets 
 were blown to pieces, and the whole front was a 
 morass of blood and mire. The heaviest blow 
 fell on the 3rd Cavalry Division south of the 
 Roulers railway, but the ist Division did not 
 escape. Its two brigades in line, the ist and 2nd, 
 were able to maintain their ground, but it was by 
 the skin of their teeth. The Qth Lancers' front 
 was held by ' C ' Squadron, under Captain 
 Graham, on the left, and " B " Squadron, under 
 Francis, on the right. On the left were the i8th 
 Hussars, whose trenches were utterly blown to 
 pieces. A gap presently appeared there, but the 
 advancing enemy was stopped by machine-gun 
 fire from a fortified post which Captain Graham
 
 230 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 managed to create in the nick of time. All day 
 the battle lasted, and by the evening the right 
 of the cavalry front towards the Bellewaarde 
 Lake sagged backward. During the early night 
 the bombardment revived, and it was the turn 
 of " B " squadron to have their right flank exposed. 
 The situation, however, was saved by the oppor- 
 tune arrival of the nth Hussars. At one a.m. 
 on the morning of the i4th the Ninth were relieved, 
 and went back to water-logged trenches in front 
 of Ypres, whence late that evening they were 
 withdrawn to Vlamertinghe. They had lost 17 
 killed and 65 wounded, and " B " Squadron 16 
 killed and 30 wounded, including all troop leaders 
 and sergeants. 
 
 Francis's part in the great fight is only hinted 
 at in his diary. " The most fearful bombardment 
 lasted for fifteen hours. It is wonderful how one 
 escapes. These cursed coal-boxes burst all down 
 the trench, but often missed us, often only by two 
 or three yards, but that makes all the difference. 
 Whatever is in store for the future, I shall never 
 be nearer death than I was on the i3th. The 
 spirit of the men was simply splendid. No one 
 dreamed of retiring, and when some Huns began 
 advancing there was a cheer of ' Hurrah ! at last we 
 shall get our own back ! ' Unfortunately one of 
 our own shells pitched near them, and they ran like
 
 A MEMOIR. 231 
 
 hares. Oh, dear ! What a lot of friends I have 
 lost." He mentions casually that during the whole 
 battle he " felt keen and never lost confidence." 
 Indeed he seems to have behaved throughout as 
 if he were having a good day in the Shires. Francis 
 in war had much of Lord Falkland's quality, as 
 recorded by Clarendon. " He had a courage of the 
 most cleere and keene temper y and soe farre from feare 
 that he was not without appetite of daunger y and 
 therfore upon any occasyon of action he alwayess en- 
 gaged his person in those troopes which he thought 
 by the forwardnesse of the Commanders to be most 
 like to be farthest engaged, and in all such encounters 
 he had aboute him a strange cheer efulnesse and com- 
 paniablenesse" These last words are most apt 
 to his case. During the I3th, when generals and 
 staffs were in utter perplexity as to where the 
 line stood, and were receiving scarcely varying 
 messages of disaster, the report which Francis 
 sent back to General Greenly was a welcome 
 relief. He concluded thus : " What a bloody 
 day ! Hounds are fairly running ! ' 
 
 On the 1 6th General De Lisle addressed 
 the regiment. " I have to congratulate your 
 squadron as usual," he told Francis. " I hope 
 you will tell the men how very grateful and 
 proud I am of the way they helped me to hold 
 the line." The Ninth were given two days' rest,
 
 232 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 and on i8th May moved again into the Salient. 
 There they remained in support till the night of 
 Sunday the 23rd, when they took over the front 
 line from the i5th and iQth Hussars at Hooge. 
 Colonel Beale-Browne had under his command, 
 in addition to the Ninth, 400 of the Yorkshire 
 Regiment and 120 of the Durham Light Infantry. 
 His front was divided into two sections the right 
 being held by " A *' Squadron under Captain 
 Noel Edwards, with 120 Yorkshires and 120 
 Durhams ; the left by " B ' Squadron under 
 Francis, with the two regimental machine guns 
 and about 200 Yorkshires. ' C " Squadron, under 
 Rex Benson, was in support. Raymond Greene, 
 acting as second-in-command, was in general 
 charge of the left section. 
 
 On the morning of Sunday the 23rd Francis, 
 along with his Colonel, attended early Communion. 
 I have said little of that religion which was so 
 strong a feature of his character, for it was of the 
 simple and vital type which is revealed more in 
 deeds than in phrases. He was never at ease in 
 Sion, and shunned the professions of facile piety. 
 But he did not lose his childlike trust in God, and 
 drew strong and abiding comfort from a creed 
 which was as forthright and unquestioning as a 
 mediaeval crusader's. He and Rivy during their 
 brief campaign together read the I2ist Psalm
 
 A MEMOIR. 233 
 
 every morning. Francis never went into a match, 
 much less a battle, without prayer. For men like 
 Bishop Furse he had a profound regard, and 
 whenever he got the chance would bring him to 
 talk to his squadron. His Colonel, who knew 
 him in those last hours when men's hearts are 
 bared, has borne witness how much his religion 
 meant to him. 
 
 The dawn of Monday, 24th May, promised a 
 perfect summer day with cloudless skies and a 
 light north-easterly breeze. About three a.m. 
 the cavalry in the trenches saw a thick yellow 
 haze, thirty feet high, rolling down from the 
 ridge a hundred yards before them, and the air 
 was filled with a curious pungent smell. They 
 had had no previous experience of gas, and in 
 twenty seconds the cloud was upon them. Then 
 came the German guns, making a barrage behind 
 to keep back reinforcements. Though our res- 
 pirators at the time were elementary the cavalry 
 managed to weather the gas, and held their 
 ground through the seventeen long hours of 
 daylight that followed. It was the last phase of 
 the battle, and the German assault broke for 
 good on that splendid steadfastness. 
 
 But a high price was paid for victory. In the 
 small hours of the 25th a little party of some forty 
 men stumbled in the half light along the Menin
 
 234 FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL. 
 
 road, through the crumbling streets of Ypres, 
 and out into the open country towards Vlamer- 
 tinghe. Those who passed them saw figures like 
 spectres, clothes caked with dirt, faces yellow 
 from the poison gas. They were all that re- 
 mained of the Qth Lancers. Their Brigadier, 
 General Mullens, met them on the road, but 
 dared not trust himself to speak to them. " Tell 
 them," he told the Colonel, " that no words of 
 mine can express my reverence for the Ninth." 
 Next day General Byng, who commanded the 
 Cavalry Corps, visited the remnant. " Put any- 
 thing in orders you like," he said. " Nothing 
 you can say will be adequate to my feelings for 
 the old Ninth. Of course I knew you would 
 stick it, but that doesn't lessen my unbounded 
 admiration of you all." 
 
 With them they brought the body of Francis 
 Grenfell. When the attack opened and the in- 
 fantry on the left fell back, he was busy converting 
 a communication trench into a fire trench, and 
 shouting out in his old cheery way, ' Who's 
 afraid of a few dashed Huns ? ' He stood on 
 rising ground behind the trench when he was 
 shot through the back. He managed to send a 
 message to his squadron, the true testament of 
 the regimental officer : " Tell them I died happy, 
 loving them all." Then he who had once lived
 
 A MEMOIR. 235 
 
 cheerfully in the sun, but for months had been 
 among the fogs and shadows, went back to the 
 sunlight. 
 
 He was buried in the churchyard of Vlamer- 
 tinghe, and beside him was laid Sergeant Hussey, 
 one of the most gallant N.C.O.'s in the Ninth. 
 Some one said at the graveside, " How happy 
 old Hussey would have been to know he died 
 with Francis." 
 
 I have quoted already from Clarendon's char- 
 acter of Falkland, and if it be permitted to construe 
 knowledge in terms not of academic learning but 
 of self-understanding and self-mastery, the closing 
 words of the tribute to the young Marcellus of the 
 Civil War may be Francis's epitaph : " Thus jell 
 that incomparable younge man in the jowre-and- 
 thirtieth yeere of his Age, havinge so much dispatched 
 the businesse of life that the oldest rarely attayne to 
 that immense knowledge, and the youngest enter not 
 into the world with more innocence. Whosoever 
 leads such a life neede not care upon how shorte a 
 warninge it be taken from him"
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ABADIE, Major, 218, 219. 
 Alba, Duke of, 161, 162, 163. 
 Alexander, Major G. H., 195, 196, 
 
 197. 
 Alfonso, His Majesty King, xix, 74, 
 
 161, 162, 163, 164, 179, 208. 
 Allenby, General Lord, 202, 212, 
 
 215- 
 
 American Polo Team, The, 138, 
 139, 140-144. 
 
 Ascot, 28. 
 
 Ashby St. Ledgers, 75. 
 
 Asquith, Mr. H. H., 35, 74, 78-79, 
 121 ; Mrs., 74, 78-79, 113, 121, 
 201, 224 ; Miss Violet (Lady 
 Bonham-Carter), 78 ; Ray- 
 mond, 46, 73. 
 
 Astor, Waldorf (Lord Astor), 16, 
 28, 41, 58, 136, 226. 
 
 Audregnies, 193, 202. 
 
 BADEN-POWELL, Sir Robert, 99. 
 
 Balfour, Mr. Arthur, 38, 39, 75, 
 80, 226. 
 
 Baring, Hon. Windham, 23, 121. 
 
 Barnes, Major-General Sir Regi- 
 nald, 68, 69, 92, 226. 
 
 Beale-Browne, Colonel, xx, 232. 
 
 Beatty, Admiral Lord, 124. 
 
 Bell, Sir Hugh, 124. 
 
 Benson, Mr. Arthur, 10. 
 
 Benson, Captain Rex, 232. 
 
 Beresford, Lord Marcus, 132. 
 
 Bingham, Major-General Hon. Sir 
 Cecil, 123. 
 
 Birkenhead, Lord. See Smith, F. E. 
 
 Blackwood, Lord Basil, 217, 220 ; 
 Lord Frederick (Marquis of 
 Dufferin), 66, 69, 86. 
 
 Blagdon, 122. 
 
 230 
 
 Blood, General Sir Bindon, 96 ; 
 Lady, 86. 
 
 Bonbright, Mr., 40, 93, 132. 
 
 Books read by the Twins : Hux- 
 ley's Science and Education, 
 29 ; Rose's Napoleon, 35 ; 
 Macaulay's Essays, 35, Life, 
 3 6 > 73. 94 I Lecky's Map of 
 Life, 35, History, 57 ; Bacon's 
 Essays, 35, 73 ; Rosebery's 
 The Last Phase, 36; Shakes- 
 peare's Plays, 36, 73, 96, 
 Venus and Adonis, 72; Moltke's 
 Life, 36 ; Pickwick Papers, 
 36, 94, 158 ; Oliver Twist, 73 ; 
 David Copperfield, 120; Alice 
 in Wonderland, 39 ; Creevey 
 Papers, 46 ; Burke, 72 ; Mor- 
 ley's Burke, 57, 73, Life of 
 Gladstone, 73, 91, 133 ; Butler's 
 Sermons, 57 ; Vanity Fair, 
 
 72, 73, 158 ; Pope's Iliad, 72, 
 
 73, Odyssey, 91 ; Grenville 
 Papers, 73 ; Townsend's Eu- 
 rope and Asia, 73 ; Childe 
 Harold, 73 ; Disraeli's Lord 
 George Bentinck, 91 ; Quin- 
 tilian's Education of an Orator, 
 91 ; Mile, de Maupin, 94 ; 
 The Jungle, 94 ; Bos well's 
 Life of Johnson, 94 ; Walpole's 
 Letters, 94, 96 ; Plato's Re- 
 public, 96 ; Denison's History 
 of Cavalry, 95 ; Prescott's 
 Conquest of Mexico, 100 ; Kim, 
 100 ; Paradise Lost, 100 ; 
 Queen Victoria's Letters, 133, 
 134 ; Jack Sheppard, 134 ; 
 Bryce's A merican Common- 
 wealth, 145; Henderson's Stone-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 237 
 
 wall Jackson, 158 ; Jorrocks, 
 
 158 ; Les Miserable*, 158 ; 
 
 Life of Nehon, 158. 
 Brassey, Leonard, 95. 
 Broken Hill, 149. 
 Brooke, Victor, 69, 85. 
 Buckhurst, 74. 
 Bucks Hussars, The, 64, 187, 
 
 224. 
 
 Biilow, Count von, 170. 
 Bulteel, Miss, 13 ; Mrs. Lionel, 
 
 see Grenfell, juanita. 
 Burnham, Lord, xiii, 86. 
 Butler's Court, 134. 
 Byng, General Lord, 234. 
 
 CAIRO, 23. 
 
 Campbell, Major-General Sir Da- 
 vid, 42, 84, 202, 203, 204, 209, 
 226. 
 
 Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 
 29, 46. 
 
 Cecil, Lord Hugh, 48, 57, 70, 71, 
 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 99, 106, 126, 
 224 ; Lord Robert, 49. 
 
 Chamberlain, Mr. Austen, 80, 169; 
 Joseph, 23, 47, 71. 
 
 Charter Trust, The, 28, 55, 56. 
 
 Cholmondeley, Lord, 107, 108. 
 
 Churchill, Mr. Winston, 48, 76, 
 161, 174, 176, 214, 226. 
 
 Cliveden, 28, 136. 
 
 Compton, Lord Douglas, 86. 
 
 Cooch Behar, 58, 63. 
 
 Crawley, Eustace, 59. 
 
 Cromer, Lord, 23, 120, 121. 
 
 Curzon, Lord, 54, 69, 121. 
 
 DALMENY, Lord, 29, 49, 74, 84. 
 Davids, Sergeant, 217. 
 Davvnay, Hugh, 199. 
 Dawkins, Sir Clinton, 50, 56, 76. 
 De Lisle, Lieutenant-General Sir 
 B., 1 1 6, 194, 198, 201, 202, 
 
 2IO, 228, 231. 
 
 Desborough, Lord, 3. 
 
 Disraeli, 8, 133. 
 
 Dragoon Guards, The 4th, no, 
 
 I 94. 195. 204, 212. 
 Dudley, Lord, 34 ; Lady, 226. 
 Dufferin, Lord. See Blackwood, 
 
 Lord Frederick. 
 
 Du Pre, George, 8. 
 
 Durnford, Mr. Walter, 10, 14, 15. 
 
 EATON HALL, 72, 75, 81, 106, 133. 
 
 Edward VII., His Majesty King, 
 30-31, 74. 
 
 Edwards, Noel, 144, 232. 
 
 Elliot, Lady Eileen (Lady Francis 
 Scott), 86, 97 ; Lady Ruby 
 (Lady Cromer), 97 ; Lady 
 Violet (Lady V. Astor), 97. 
 
 Eton, x-xi, 10-16, 18, 35, 44, 53, 
 55, 66, 102, 145 ; Eton Beagles, 
 10 ; Eton Eleven, n. 
 
 FARQUHAR, Lord, 30. 
 
 Fergusson, Lieutenant-General Sir 
 
 Charles, 194, 200. 
 Fitzmaurice, Lord Charles, 60. 
 Fripp, Sir Alfred, 115, 135. 
 Furse, Bishop, 233. 
 Fiirstenstein, 170. 
 
 GAEKWAR OF BARODA, The, 21 
 
 George V., His Majesty King, xiv- 
 xvii, xix, 201. 
 
 Germany, in, 116, 117, 169-177 ; 
 the Crown Prince of, 162 ; the 
 Empress-Dowager of, 14. 
 
 Glamis Castle, 167-168. 
 
 Gordon-Lennox, Lord Esm6, 16. 
 
 Gough, General Sir Hubert, 116, 
 202. 
 
 Graham, Captain, 229 ; Lord 
 Malise, 123. 
 
 Grand Military, The, 42, 92, 119, 
 131, 132, 138. 
 
 Grand National, The, 42, 51, 60, 
 119, 128, 129, 131, 132, 138, 152. 
 
 Greene, Lieu tenant -Colonel Ray- 
 mond, 220, 232. 
 
 Greenly, Major-General W. H., 231. 
 
 Grenfell, Aline, Lady, 134, 164 ; 
 Arthur, 3, 14, 28, 37, 51, 56, 
 64, 99, 100, 101, 104, 106, 153, 
 164, 178, 180, 181, 182, 224, 
 226 ; Cecil, 17, 51, 70, 92, 104, 
 157 ; Claude, 3 ; Dolores, 39. 
 
 Field-Marshal Francis, Lord, 
 
 3, 16, 17, 23, 24, 70, 75, 84, 
 120, 134, 139, 143, 188, 200, 
 
 221, 225, 226.
 
 238 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Grenfell, Francis Octavius, birth, 
 2 ; childhood, 5-9 ; at Temple 
 Grove School, 9-10 ; at Eton, 
 10-16 ; Master of Beagles, 10 ; 
 Eton Eleven, n ; joins Sea- 
 forth Militia, 18 ; in Cape 
 Colony, 20-21 ; at Loch Car- 
 ron, 22 ; in Egypt, 23 ; joins 
 6oth Rifles, 23 ; with Lord 
 Grenfell at Malta, 23-24 ; at 
 Harrismith, 25-28, 33, 34 ; 
 with column in W. Transvaal, 
 31-32 ; with 6oth in India, 
 41-46, 50-52, 58-65 ; wins 
 Hog-hunter's Cup, 63 ; joins 
 9th Lancers, 65 ; at special 
 manoeuvres, 84-85 ; visit to 
 frontier, 87-88 ; in Kashmir, 
 89 ; stays with the Mintos, 
 96-98 ; goes to Potchefstroom, 
 98 ; return to England, 101 ; 
 ' at Cavalry School, Netheravon, 
 104 ; life in South Africa, 108 
 in, 115-120, 105-133 ; big- 
 game hunting, 148-150 ; in 
 America, 158-161 ; visit to 
 King Alfonso, 161-163 ' a ^ 
 French manoeuvres, 164-167 ; 
 in Germany, 169-177 ; at Ger- 
 man manoeuvres, 175-176 ; 
 goes to Tidworth, 178 ; to the 
 front with gth Lancers, 189 ; 
 wins V.C., 194-198 ; return to 
 Flanders, 209 ; in action at 
 Messines, 215-220 ; invalided 
 home, 223-225 ; his will, 225 
 226 ; his farewell dinner, 236 ; 
 return to front, 227 ; his part 
 in Second Battle of Ypres, 
 229-234 ; his death, 234-235. 
 
 Harold, 3, 14, 21, 31, 32, 51, 
 
 70 ; Admiral Sir Harry, 4, 5 ; 
 Admiral John, 3 ; John, 21, 
 56, 118, 1 20 ; Julian, 3, 4 ; 
 Juanita (Mrs. Lionel Bulteel), 
 99, 124 ; Pascoe, x, 3 ; Pascoe 
 Du Pre, 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17. 
 
 Riversdale Nonus, birth, 2 ; 
 
 childhood, 5-9 ; at Temple 
 Grove, 9-10 ; Eton, 10-16 ; 
 whip of Eton Beagles, 10 ; 
 clerk in Bank of England, 19 ; 
 
 at Malta, 24 ; in Charter 
 Trust, 28 ; at Terling, 38 ; in 
 America, 40-4"! ; in South 
 Africa, 54-56 ; at Hatfield, 
 57-58 ; visit to India, 59-64 ; 
 wins Kadir Cup, 61-63 ' nrs ^ 
 attempt at public speaking, 
 77 ; visit to Hatfield, 78-80 ; 
 in 1906 election, 82-84 ; joins 
 Bonbrights, 93 ; in South 
 Africa, 99 ; in Mexico and 
 Canada, 99-101 ; character 
 compared with Francis, 102- 
 103 ; plays polo for England 
 against Ireland, 105-106 ; bad 
 accident, 111-115 ; at 1908 
 manoeuvres, 122-124 ; oper- 
 ated on for appendicitis, 134- 
 136; in Holland, 139-140; 
 visit of American polo team, 
 140-144 ; in America, 144- 
 147 ; joins his brother Arthur's 
 firm, 153 ; with Old Etonian 
 team in America, 158-160 ; 
 visit to King Alfonso, 161- 
 163 ; at Glamis, 167-168 ; 
 ballooning, 177 ; in Canada, 
 178 ; goes to front with gth 
 Lancers, 187 ; last sight of 
 Francis, 198 ; galloper for De 
 Lisle, 201-203 I m retreat from 
 Mons, 203-204 ; at First Battle 
 of the Aisne, 204-205 ; his 
 death, 205-206. 
 
 Grenfell, Robert, x, 3, 14, 17; 
 Admiral Sidney, 3 ; Sofia, 2, 
 6, 9, 1 6, 17 ; Lady Victoria, 
 99, 100, 101. 
 
 Grenville, Sir Richard, 2, 132. 
 
 Grey, Lord (Albert), 28, 98, 100, 
 208, 225 ; Charles, 149 ; Lady 
 Sibyl, 74. 
 
 Grosvenor, Lady Helen (Lady 
 Helen Seymour), 163 ; Lord 
 Hugh, 123, 158, 159. 
 
 Guest, Hon. Frederick, 31 ; Henry, 
 59, 60 ; Ivor, see Wimborne, 
 Lord. 
 
 HAIG, Field-Marshal Lord, 50, 61, 
 
 84. 
 Haldane, Lord, 38, 79, 134.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 239 
 
 Halle, Professor von, 47. 
 Harrismith, 25, 26, 27, 33, 34, 36. 
 Hatchlands, 2, 5, 6. 
 Hatfield, 57, 78-79, 99, 113, 114, 
 
 124. 
 
 Hog-hunter's Cup, The, 62-63. 
 Hood, Rear-Admiral H. L. A., 
 
 58. 
 Howell, Brigadier-General Philip, 
 
 87. 
 
 Howick, 1 06. 
 Humbert, M., 167. 
 Hurlingham, 64, 95, 104, 114, 177. 
 Hussars, The 4th, 99; fhe nth, 
 
 230 ; the I4th, 26 ; the i5th, 
 
 232 ; the i8th, 193, 202, 204, 
 
 229 ; the I9th, 232. 
 Hussey, Sergeant, 235. 
 Hythe Musketry School, 235. 
 
 INVALID CHILDREN'S AID ASSO- 
 CIATION, The, 168, 226. 
 
 JOFFRE, Marshal, 167. 
 Johannesburg, 32, 117, 118. 
 
 KADIR CUP, The, 60-63, 161, 208. 
 Kafue Flats, The, 148, 149. 
 Kitchener, Lord, 37, 38, 52, 58, 
 
 68, 69, 84, 85, 90. 
 
 LANCERS, The gth, 43, 45, 50, 65, 
 
 69, 88, 90, 99, 156, 179, 1 80, 
 187, 188, 190198, 199, 204, 
 205, 209-220, 223, 227, 228- 
 235 ; the i6th, 162, 179 ; the 
 1 7th, 41. 
 
 Lawley, Hon. Sir Arthur, 178. 
 Lloyd, Brigadier-General Har- 
 
 dress, 144, 160. 
 Loangwa River, The, 149. 
 Loch Carron, 18, 22, 66. 
 Long, Mr. Walter, 128. 
 Longman, Lieutenant-Colonel H. 
 
 K., ii, 47. 
 Lucas-Tooth, Captain, 195, 197. 
 
 MCDONNELL, Hon. Angus, 135, 
 
 226. 
 
 McKenna, Mr. Reginald, 121. 
 Mackinder, Sir H. J., 47. 
 Maguire, Dr. Miller, 73. 
 
 Mahon, Lieu tenant-General Sir B., 
 
 61, 62. 
 
 Maitland, Brigadier-General, 177. 
 Malcolm, Mr. D. O., no. 
 Manoeuvres, British, 122 ; French, 
 
 164167 ; German, 175-176. 
 Marling, Colonel P. S., 186. 
 Maxwell, General Sir John, 70. 
 Melton, 12, 23, 24, 27, 31. 
 Messina, 54, 118. 
 Messines, 214-220. 
 Methuen, Field-Marshal Lord, 31, 
 
 no, 130. 
 
 Metzsch, Baron, 176. 
 Mexico, 99, 100, 168-169. 
 Midleton, Lord (Mr. St. John 
 
 Brodrick), 49, 79. 
 
 Milburn, Mr. Devereux, 144, 160 n. 
 Miller, Lieutenant-Colonel E. D., 
 
 "4. 157- 
 
 Milner, Lord, 38, 70, 76, 91. 
 Minto, Lord, 69, 85, 96, 97 ; Lady, 
 
 97. 98. 
 Moedwil, 32. 
 Moratalla, 161. 
 Morgan, Mr. J. Pierpont (senior), 
 
 147 ; (junior), 48, 124, 145. 
 Mullens, Major-General R. L., 234. 
 Murray, of Loch Carron, Alasdair, 
 
 1 8 ; Mr. Charles, xxi ; Lady 
 
 Anne, 22 ; Miss Sybil (Hon. 
 
 Mrs. C. Willoughby), 22, 26. 
 
 NETHERAVON, 92, 104. 
 North Mimms, 125. 
 Nuneham. 121. 
 
 OAKHAM, 224. 
 Overstone, 200. 
 
 PALMER, Lady Mabel (Lady Grey), 
 
 48, 57- 
 Paris, 37, 47. 
 Phipps, Mr. Paul, 16, 74. 
 Pless, Princess, 31, 170. 
 Polesden Lacey, 76. 
 Politics, The Twins in, 71, 76-77, 
 
 81, 82-84, 115, 138, 155-156. 
 Polo matches, 65, 92, 104-106, 
 
 112, 114, 156-159, 162-163. 
 Ponies: " Kitty," 7, 8; "Snipe," 
 
 51 ; " Barmaid," 59, 61, 62 ;
 
 240 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 " Cocos," 61, 63 ; " Recluse," 
 62 ; " Despair," in ; " Sweet- 
 briar," 113, 137 ; " Cinder- 
 ella," 115, 140, 142, 143. 
 
 RANELAGH, 37, 104, 105. 
 Rawlinson, General Lord, 25, 42, 
 
 48, 64, 85, 89. 
 Rayleigh, Lord, 38, 39. 
 Repington, Colonel, 127. 
 Rhodes, Colonel Frank, 12. 
 Rhodesia, 55. 
 Ribblesdale, Lord, 38. 
 Ricardo, Wilfred, 82. 
 Ridley, Lord, 122. 
 Roberts, Lord, 201. 
 Rocksavage, Lord, 158, 159, 226. 
 Roehampton, 37, 64, 104, 164, 
 
 1 80. 
 
 Rosebery, Lord, 29, 47, 49. 
 Roxburghe, Duke of, 104, 114. 
 
 SALISBURY, Lord, 48, 49, 58. 
 
 Santonia, Duke of, 161. 
 
 Scots Greys, The, 122. 
 
 Scott, Lord Francis, 16, 26, 35, 
 
 85, 86, 96, 97, 226. 
 Seaforth Militia, The, 18, 23. 
 Seaton, Corporal, 218. 
 Selborne, Lord, no, 128 ; Lady, 
 
 126. 
 Smith, Mr. F. E. (Lord Birken- 
 
 head), 91. 
 
 Somerset, Duke of, 21. 
 Spencer, Lord, 124. 
 Stonewall Jackson, 48, 160. 
 Stuart-Wortley, Jack, 31. 
 Sutherland, Millicent, Duchess of, 
 
 134- 
 
 TEMPLE GROVE, 9. 
 
 Terling, 38, 46. 
 
 Thulin, 192, 193. 
 
 Tibet Expedition, The, 43. 
 
 Tidworth, 178, 179, 180, 187. 
 
 VIANA, Marquis of, 161. 
 Virginia, 160. 
 
 WAKE, Sir Hereward, 34. 
 
 Warre, Dr., 13. 
 
 Webb, Mrs. Sidney, 48. 
 
 Weir, Mr. Andrew (Lord Inver- 
 
 forth), 226. 
 
 West, Mrs. Cornwallis, 72. 
 Westminster, Duke of (" Bend 
 
 Or")* 75> 81, 106, 107, 108, 
 
 119, 180, 188, 198, 199, 226; 
 
 Duchess of, 123, 163. 
 Westonbirt, 28. 
 White, Miss Muriel, 121. 
 Whitelaw Reid, Miss (Hon. Mrs. 
 
 John Ward), 74. 
 Whitney, Mr. Harry, 147, 160 n., 
 
 224. 
 Willoughby, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 
 Hon. Claude, xx, 66. 
 Wilson, Captain H., 105, 106, 144, 
 
 1 60. 
 
 Wilton Park, 8, n, 29. 
 Wimborne, Lord (Ivor Guest), 75, 
 
 76, 160 n., 221 ; Lady, 113. 
 Wodehouse, Lord, 158, 220. 
 Wyndham, George, 75 ; Hon 
 
 Hugh, 129 ; Mrs. (Miss Mauc. 
 
 Lyttelton), 38, 57. 
 
 YPRES, First Battle of, 210-220 ; 
 Second, 227-235. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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