Estate remembers cavalry action

The 90th anniversary of a famous cavalry action during World War I is being commemorated at a Remembrance Day Service at Stourhead House, Wiltshire.

The Charge of El Mughar, Egypt, on 13 November, 1917, cost the life of the 29-year-old heir to Stourhead Estate, Captain Henry Colt Arthur Hoare.

His father Sir Henry never recovered from the loss and later gave Stourhead to the National Trust in 1946.

Forty-five men were also wounded and 80 horses died in the incident.

Medals earned

The 1917 action by the 6th Mounted Brigade - of which the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry formed a part - was ordered by British Commander-in-Chief Sir Edmund Allenby.

He wanted to remove Turkish troops from a key ridge from Katrah to El Mughar as a vital part of his aim to take Jerusalem.

The Dorsets' role was to attack one of the ridge's prominent spurs, which involved covering 4,000 yards (3.7km) of open ground while under fire before dismounting, fixing bayonets and charging up the hill.

Eight machine guns were captured and many prisoners taken. The Adjutant, Capt Robertson, was among the wounded but turned one of the captured weapons on the retreating enemy, earning the Military Cross.

In addition to Capt Hoare, other men who lost their lives were Sgt H J J Guppy, a Weymouth man who had already won a Distinguished Conduct Medal, Lt Cpls W Curtis, W Pike and R Rowe and Troopers S Bowerman, J Chaldecott, W Crabb and W Hannam.