‘Cuddle’, who died on 13th June 1985 at the age of 80, was commissioned into the 4th Hussars in January 1925.
He joined the Regiment at Lucknow, but most, unfortunately, met with a serious accident later the same year.
While schooling a horse over the fences at the racecourse he had a very severe fall on his head, and was in the hospital and out, of action for several months afterwards. He was unconscious for a whole month, though eventually making a complete recovery.
After returning to duty, he took over the machine gun troops, and while he was with them the Regiment received the order that the machine guns were no longer to be carried on horses, but in 15cwt trucks. ‘Cuddle’ embarked on this changeover with his usual enthusiasm.
He came back to England with the Regiment in November 1930 and was Adjutant from 1932 to 1936. In 1933 he married Rhona Coburn, and her death during his absence on active service was a severe blow to him.
He played polo for the Regiment and showed the greatest enthusiasm for everything he did, whether work or play.
In January 1937 he was appointed Adjutant of the Warwickshire Yeomanry, a post he still held at the outbreak of the war.
He returned to the Regiment in time to go with them overseas and commanded ‘HQ’ Squadron during the campaign in Greece. He managed to get most of the Squadron to Crete and thence back to Egypt.
