HMS Hyderabad up river 1919

[Howard Weinert]

This cover has no markings on the back, and only RECEIVED FROM H. M. SHIP etc. on the front with a date of 8 July 1919.
Without the enclosed letter, it would be impossible to determine where it originated or who sent it.

Sent by Surgeon Commander William Wallace Keir, C.M.G. [1876-1949] on board the HMS Hyderabad on the Northern Dvina River in Russia.

H.M.S. Hyderabad(1)
23 June 1919 [Monday]
Up River

My dear Dorothy,

We have got up at last. The day after I wrote to you, we were bundled off to coal and sent straight up. We had a very interesting journey up river in spite of mosquitoes and horrible wasp-like flies. The banks of the river are beautifully green, and clover and buttercups and blue fritillary butterflies make them look like stretches of English land. We passed boats carrying troops and hospital barges along the banks but there was little other traffic. We reached our station at about 2:50 am on Saturday 21st and could see a battle going on ashore about eight miles away. The sweepers(2) seemed to be surrounded by splashes but none of them were hit. We heard that a scrap was also going on ashore and we had evidence of this later when a military officer(3) was brought in with a wound in the abdomen. The poor fellow had been lying out since early on Friday morning and was very bad. The case was pretty hopeless but we got him on to the table and cleaned and dressed him; he improved a good deal but died of exhaustion on the following day. I hope we shall have more luck with the next case. There are very few casualties in these actions as a rule and wounded are difficult to find as nearly all the fighting is among woods. The Bolshies cleared out of their positions and we moved up yesterday morning. We are here now connected by cable with G.H.Q. and likely to remain for some little time. There are two lagoons ashore with duck and snipe all over them. The river is beautifully cool and one can bathe in it but dressing is a hurried process because of the mosquitoes. It is beautifully warm and we get a breeze every night that improves things as it keeps mosquitoes off the ship. If all goes well we should finish this job by the end of next month(4). Au revoir with best love from William W. Keir(5).

(1)HMS Hyderabad, the depot ship for the Dvina River flotilla, was at Kurgomen, the British base on the east bank of the Northern Dvina River. A field hospital was on board with 40 beds and an operating room. (2)Mine sweepers. (3)The officer was Capt. Donald Thomas Gorman of the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment. He was born in 1892 in Australia. After a stint in the Australian army he joined the British army and served in France where he was twice wounded and awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry. In 1919 he joined the North Russian Relief Force and arrived there in late May. On 20 June he was wounded in the stomach during an offensive south of Kurgomen. He lay where he was shot until sometime on the 21st when he was found and brought to the Hyderabad. He died on the 22nd and was buried in Topsa churchyard. (4)The British evacuated in September. (5)Born in India, Keir graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1898 and was appointed Surgeon in the Royal Navy. In 1918, Keir was made Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, and Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. After the war, Keir was medical officer of the First Battle Squadron and the Battle Cruiser Squadron. He later oversaw the Hong Kong Naval Hospital. In 1932 he was transferred to the Haslar Royal Naval Hospital in England. In 1934 he was appointed honorary surgeon to King George V. In 1935 he received the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal and retired with the rank of Surgeon Rear-Admiral.

[Frank Schofield]

Howard
For the second time in two weeks, I have come across another familiar name, that of Fleet Surgeon Willian Keir.
I have in my HMS Warspite collection, 7 letters from him to Dorothy, he was appointed to the battleship, HMS Warspite on 10th March 1915, he must have been busy during the Battle of Jutland, when Warspite turned a complete circle in front of the German Fleet, after her steering gear failed. She suffered casualties, 14 dead and 16 wounded.
On 20th December 1916 he was appointed Fleet Surgeon to HM Hospital Ship Rewa.
On 26th December 1918 appointed as Surgeon Commander (the rank was changed from Fleet Surgeon) to HM Hospital Ship China.
In the July 1919 Navy List, he is shown in the index as Special Service.
Also, I cannot find HMS Hyderabad (ex Q ship), parent ship to CMB's in Russia, listed anywhere in the July 1919 Navy List, very strange.

Frank Schofield

[Howard Weinert]

Thanks for the extra information, Frank.

Who was Dorothy??

[Graham Mark]

Hello Howard and Frank
Somewhere I have a file of copies of letters from WWK when he was up-river in N Russia.
I will dig them out and let you have some further comments.
I had borrowed the correspondence from a dealer some years ago for the sole purpose of recording it before it was sold off one-by-one.
Graham

[Graham Mark]

Hello again
My filing system is better than I expected.  I found the bundle in the fist place I looked !!!
WWK (1876-1949) was SurgRAd at RN Hospital Haslar wef 4May32, retired during 1935 but I do not have the actual date. 
I transcribed 35 letters dated between May1919 when he was on his way to N Russia, and October 1919 when he got back to Bergen after a hazardous journey from Archangel, towing a reluctant barge.  I have the 3½" disc with the transcripts which I will see if the pc will open OK.  If they open OK I will be happy to convert to pdf and send them to you both.
Besides the letters my file includes the Government Report "The Evacuation of North Russia 1919" Cmd 818, articles "River War, North Russia 1919" by Roger Perkins, "The British Missions to Russia 1918-20, Part II The North Russia Campaign and Canadian Involvement" by David Whiteley, and copies of four Supplements to London Gazettes - Awards 30Jan20, Despatches 2Apr20 (Army), 6Apr and 18May (Naval).  I am happy to lend or sell these as they are well outside my normal interest areas.
Graham

[Howard Weinert]

Graham,

I would appreciate getting copies of Keir's other letters. Thanks. (hweinert@gmail.com)

Footnote to my original post: The identity of the officer who died on board was confirmed by a letter his step-father wrote to Australian military authorities in which he names Keir as his step-sons surgeon. (on Ancestry)

Howard

[Tony Walker]

I do have some Kier items, but also another interesting HMS Hyderabad PPC addressed to Lady McLeod, Adelphi Hotel, Harrogate and cancelled by the London mc dated 9 November 1918 with integral RFHMS/NCTBR and sent by Lt. Cdr. McLeod.  It has the pointed oval censor mark of Gould 7C80 of HMS Hyderabad, the only Q ship purpose-built, the others were all conversions.  I'm fairly sure he has initialled the censor mark, but it is underneath the machine cancel.  A simple message says 'Your letter of 4 Nov. received, am writing 7/II/18'.  The picture side is of  The Ancient Priory Church (1216 cent.), Caldey Island.

McLeod had an eventful war : 

The PPC was sent by Lt. Cdr. Mcleod a time served navy man, trained on Britannia in the 1890's.  He served first on HMS Pathfinder in WWI, then commanded TB 10 which was sunk by mine in the English Channel.  Following this he commanded Q ship HMS Zilpha II badly damaged in a successful fight with a U Boat, but he was saved from drowning when found clinging to a small part of the ships bridge.  Lastly as commander of HMS Hyderabad he survived the war and brought back 1000 troops from Russia which ties in to Howards post.  These experiences probably contributed to his early death from pneumonia in 1920.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hi Howard

A great item which has generated interest which is always good to see.

Tony

How about a scan of the item you mention. 

Cheers

Chris