Five: Private B. Cook, 9th Lancers, who took part in the famous charge of the 9th Lancers...

Five: Private B. Cook, 9th Lancers, who took part in the famous charge of the 9th Lancers at Audregnies, Mons, on 24 August 1914, where he had three horses shot from under him, and was later twice wounded during the War 1914 Star, with clasp (3976 Pte. B. Cook. 9/Lrs.); British War and Victory Medals (L-3976 Pte. B. Cook. 9-Lrs.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted for wear, polished, light contact marks, nearly very fine and better (5) £240-£280 --- B. H. Cook attested for the 9th Lancers and served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from August 1914, taking part in the Regiment’s celebrated charge at Audregnies on 24 August 1914 where ‘he had three horses shot away from beneath him’ (Isle of Thanet Gazette newspaper account, published on the occasion of the recipient’s Golden Wedding Anniversary, refers). Consequently, he is one of the few other ranks who can definitely be confirmed as having taken part in the charge. The Charge of the 9th Lancers at Audregnies
‘When the war broke out, the 9th Lancers left Tidworth for the front, as one of the three regiments in the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, the one under General De Lisle. During the fighting around Mons on Sunday, August 23rd, they were in reserve, but not for long did they remain there. On the 24th our 5th Division was in a very tight place, and the cavalry was sent to its assistance, the 2nd Brigade reaching the scene of the action first. The Germans were advancing in great masses, so near the village of Audregnies, General De Lisle ordered his men to dismount and to open fire on them. They did so, but the enemy still came on in good order. The general then decided on a charge, and for this chose the 9th Lancers who, at the word of command, mounted their horses and rode steadily at the enemy. It was Balaclava over again. The squadrons rode to death, and the colonel, so we were told, said that he never expected a single lancer to return. In face of a torrent of shot and shell from guns and rifles, they dashed on until they found themselves against two lines of barbed wire, where men and horses fell over in all directions. This ended the charge. The survivors were ordered to return into shelter, and out of more than four hundred who had ridden out, only seventy two at first answered their names, Later some two hundred others turned up, but the regiment had lost heavily. Major V. R. Brooke D.S.O. was among the killed. However, the charge was not altogether fruitless. The Lancers had drawn the enemy’s fire and so had done something to help the harassed 5th Division. One trooper described the charge as “magnificent but horrible”, while a Frenchman who rode with them wrote: “My God! How they fell.” But the Lancers had not finished their days work. When the survivors arrived at a railway embankment near Doubon, they found themselves in the company of some gunners, who had been driven from their guns with heavy loss. Captain F. O. Grenfell, now the senior officer of the Lancers, who had been wounded in the charge, but had managed to keep his squadron together, went out into the open, and at the peril of his life, found a way of saving the guns. On his return, he asked the men to follow him. Leaving their horses, they rushed out, reached the abandoned guns, and trundled them into safety. For this heroic deed, Grenfell received the Victoria Cross, [one of the very first awarded during the Great War].’ (The War Illustrated, 9 October 1915 refers). A famous illustration of the charge, published in the Illustrated London News, was subsequently used as the cover illustration of Honours and Awards of the Old Contemptibles. Cook remained with the 9th Lancers for the rest of the Great War, ‘and was wounded twice, suffered trench fever and frostbite, ands general found conditions “pretty rough”’(Isle of Thanet Gazette newspaper cutting refers). He subsequently settled in Margate, and served as chef at the Queen’s Highcliffe Hotel; the Northumberland Hotel, and the Beresford Hotel. Sold with the aforementioned newspaper cutting, which contains a photograph of the recipient; and copied research.