WW1 Newfoundland Regiment Lt-Col Hadows Tunic

[stuka f]

Ever thought of donating it or offering to sell it to the Canadian war Museum in Ottawa?

It is part of my collection now ...in Antwerp!

[Andrew Stewart]

Nice

[Phillip Robinson]

For the record you may want to note that Lt Col Hadow remained CO of the 1st Battalion the Newfoundland Regiment until 15 Dec 1917, with a short gap (period of battle at Monchy-Le-Preux in April 1917) when the 2I/C Major (later Lt Col & VC) Forbes-Robertson temporarily commanded.
Hadow was temorarily succeeded by Lt Col J R Meikelejohn DSO of the Border Regiment, and he in turn succeeded by Lt Col J S Woodruff of the Royal Sussex Regiment on 1 January 1918.
Woodruff remained CO of what in Feb 1918 became the 1st Battalion the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, until succeeded by Lt Col T C Mathias of the Welch Regiment in July 1918. He was replaced by Major (then Lt Col) A E Bernard on 23 December 1918, the first Newfoundlander to Command the Battalion.
Hadow, who was indeed an exceptional officer, remained in close contact with the Regiment for the rest of his life. There is somehwere a photograph of him at a re-union or commemorative reception in London in 1942 (if memory serves corrctly).
The losses on 1 July 1916 were indeed catastrophic. According to the Battalion War Diary, and allowing that all the missing listed were killed, in the course of the day 14 Officers and 296 OR were killed or DOW, 12 Officers and 362 OR wounded, a total of 684. Of the wounded 2 Officers and about 21 OR died subsequently. Most of these casualties were from the 758 or so men who went into the fateful advance at 09:15 on 1 July 1916, but some occurred later in the day. Battalion ration strength was 54 officers and 990 OR (total 1044) but actual bayonet strength (that is fighting strength after taking off administrative personnel and attachments) stated to be 929. It should be added that there is some confusion over exact casualties, in part because in the return rendered to Division the 26 officer casalties where added onto the total all ranks casualties.
Following the failed advance on the morning of 1 July the remnants of the Battalion remained in the line (manning St James Street) with an intial strength of 168 OR until relieved on 6 July. They returned to the line on 14 July at a strength of 11 officers and 260 OR.
As you say "nearly wiped out" but not quite. One of the many remarkable and admirable aspects of the Newfoundland Regiment was how 'phoenix like' they arose again to pay back the foe many times over.

Phillip

Hi guys,

I just thought i would ask if anyone here was interested in the 1st Newfoundland Regiment in WW1.

I have a WW1 Service Dress jacket which belonged to Lt-Col Arthur Lovell Hadow C.M.G. He served in the Norfolk Regiment from atleast 1904 (when he was MID for Tibet) up until 1926. In 1915 he was transferred from the Norfolk Regiment to the 1st Newfoundland Regiment. The most note worthy time in Hadows career was when he commanded the Battalion on the 1st July 1916 at Beaumont Hamel, this is the Regiments most famous action in history where nearly all the Battalion was wiped out. He continued to be thier CO until 1918 picking up the C.M.G. Mentioned In Despatches twice and being awared the Order Of The Nile along the way.

Hadow is probably the most famous CO the Regiment has ever had andit was always said that "He made the regiment". Anyone who has heard of the Newfoundland Regiment will have heard about the 1st July 1916 slaughter and i feel proud to own the tunic of such a great man and leader. And it is probably the rarest and most historic tunic i will ever own.

I will post photos in about a week maybe less if anyone is interested......i will leave you with a photo of Lt Col Hadow...he is standing on the Left.




Donnie

[stuka f]

I took the opportunity to take pic's of the project as it is at thise momment.
Not the best presentation, but someone asked me to see it, so i might shear it as well!

[milmuseum]

Fantastic bit of history you have there.

Thanks for showing this

Burt

[stuka f]

Thanks.
Pleasure is mine!
;-)
|<ris

[CBH]

Thanks for showing us that great item ,from the Great War.
Cheers Chris

[Jerry B]

Great tunic Kris and a really cool item to have. Is it named? It looks inter war years?

[stuka f]

It is not named.
But more details can be found on Norfolk Regiment Officer, Need Help&#33; - Soldiers - Great War Forum
I just listed it on ebay for sale.
cheers
|<ris

[Jerry B]

Found it. Good luck with the sale as its a bit rich for me.