The Canadian Cavalry Brigade raised by Brigadier General Jack Edward Bernard Seely in December 1914. The 2nd King Edward’s Horse (The King’s Overseas Dominions Regiment) later replaced by The Fort Gary Horse in February 1916, with the other original units being the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), and the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery battery.
Victoria Cross
The force commanded by Brigadier-General Robert Walter Paterson from May 1918. The brigade had no less than three Victoria Crosses awarded in the Great War (Lieutenant Harcus Strachan VC, MC; Lieutenant Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey VC, CBE, MC; and Lieutenant Gordon Muriel Flowerdew VC, of “The Last Great Cavalry Charge“).
Brigadier General Jack Seely
John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone. Secretary of State for War for the two years prior to the Great War. But, forced to resign as a result of the The Curragh incident of 20 March 1914. Also known as the Curragh mutiny.
As General Jack, he led one of the last great cavalry charges in history. The Battle of Moreuil Wood aboard his war horse Warrior in March 1918.
Winston Churchill
Seely a great friend of Sir Winston Churchill.
Seely only former cabinet minister to go to the front in 1914 and still be there four years later.
Boer War
For his services during the Boer War, Brigadier General Jack Seely awarded a medal with four clasps, the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and Mentioned in Despatches.
Curragh Mutiny
The issue of Irish Home rule dominated affairs and a bill to legislate on the issue due to be enacted in 1914. Seely, as Secretary of State for War, associated with the idea of using military action against Ulster volunteers who were threatening to rebel against it. Then, in what became known as the Curragh Incident, Seely forced to resign along with the professional head of the army, Sir John French.
The only way to get ammunition to the forward batteries was to carry it up in panniers slung on the horses. Often these poor beasts, who were led forward in long strings with three shells on each side of them, would sink deep into the mud. Sometimes, in spite of all their struggles, they could not extricate themselves and died where they fell.
J.E.B. Seely (1868-1947)
France
First Battle of Ypres
Brigadier General Jack Seely’s first action came at the First Battle of Ypres. He went on to describe the significance of the battle in preventing German troops’ access to the Channel ports. The horrors of trench warfare quickly became evident, with troops who “fought for weeks on end in blood, and mud, and misery.
On a liaison mission between the French Fifth Army and Haig’s I Corps (31 August 1914 – during the period when Sir John French‘s retreat had opened up a gap in the Allied line), he claimed to have been almost captured in the fog, but to have bluffed his way past a German cavalry patrol by calling out (in German) that he as a member of the Great General Staff.
Canadian Cavalry Brigade
Organized on Salisbury Plain on 2 February 1915 under the command of Colonel J. E. B. Seely. Authorization published in Salisbury Plain Order of 30 January 1915.
Composed of Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, Royal Canadian Dragoons, Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) and 2nd King Edward’s Horse. Concentrated at Mansfield Park, Mansfield, Sussex.
Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery placed on active service on 6 August 1914 for instructional and camp administration duties, and later on 26 August 1914 it mobilized the ‘Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Brigade, CEF’, which embarked for England on 30 September 1914.
Royal Canadian Dragoons
Mobilized at Valcartier on 14 August 1914 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles M Nelles and later left Quebec on 26 September 1914 aboard LAURENTIC and LACONIA. Then, arrived in England on 17 October 1914, and formed part of Canadian Cavalry Brigade on its formation on 2 February 1915 with a strength of 34 officers, 541 other ranks.
![R.C.D. Guard at Cavalry Brigade H.Q. [Royal Canadian Dragoons]. 3 March 1919. MIKAN No. 3405863 Private Roy Edward Henley](https://i0.wp.com/cefrg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/3405863-a004140-v8.jpg?resize=1000%2C797&ssl=1)
Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians)
Mobilized at Valcartier on 14 August 1914 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Cameron MacDonnell and later left Quebec 29 September 1914 aboard BERMUDIAN and MONMOUTH. Then, arrived in England 18 October 1914 and formed part of Canadian Cavalry Brigade on its formation on 2 February 1915 with a strength of 32 officers, 532 other ranks.
2nd King Edward’s Horse
The regiment was raised in 1914 by John (later Sir John) Norton-Griffiths, at his own expense. The original regiment was subsequently known as 1st King Edward’s Horse.
Dismounted
Arrived in France (less the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery) on 6 May 1915 as a dismounted unit: known as Seely’s Detachment. Became Canadian Cavalry Brigade on 22 July 1915.
Mounted
Restored to horses on formation of Canadian Corps in September 1915. Seely’s Force formed on 3 October 1915, composed of Canadian Cavalry Brigade and 1st CMR Brigade. Seely’s Force disbanded on 9 October 1915.
Re-formed on 22 November 1915, composed of Canadian Cavalry Brigade, 1st and 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles Brigades, ceased to exist on 10 December 1915.
Seely’s cavalry unit incredibly vulnerable to enemy fire and often had to be held in reserve. In the Battle of the Somme, his troops practised and planned manoeuvres of attack but could see no feasible way through German lines. Eventually forced to retreat after assembling twelve hundreds behind the front line.
Intense bombardment
Seely described the conditions of intense bombardment: a shell dropped in the middle of us and killed one of the orderlies’ horses just behind me. They also had to be alert to machine gun fire from above, as German planes attempted to capitalise on this new form of warfare.
1st Indian Cavalry Division
Canadian Cavalry Brigade transferred to 1st Indian Cavalry Division on 26 January 1916. Fort Garry Horse replaced 2nd King Edward’s Horse in Canadian Cavalry Brigade on 25 February 1916.
Seely eventually won several medals and merited mention in dispatches five times, enhancing his reputation for bravery in battle, and became commander of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade.
During the advance to the Hindenburg Line in Spring 1917 Seely, whose Canadian Cavalry Brigade attached to Fourth Army, commandeered infantry from XV Corps to form an ad hoc combat group to capture Equancourt Village. General du Cane’s anger assuaged – Seely later claimed – by the arrival of congratulations from Field Marshal Haig.
Battle of Cambrai
Brigadier General Jack Seely and his troops deployed in the Battle of Cambrai (1917) to support the first large-scale use of tanks in the Great War. Whilst this strategy of mechanised mobile units to be the template for future wars, still largely ineffective and prone to mishap.
Seely’s cavalry unit ordered to proceed behind the tanks as they moved into battle. However, disaster stuck as they crossed a canal.
The bridge collapsed, unable to support the weight of the tanks. Seely and his horse Warrior lucky to escape but the fighting largely restricted to a few little attacks on foot; the bridging of the canal for artillery and cavalry impossible owning to close-range rifle-fire. Not all misfortune: his brigade involved in successful battles most notably the advance on the Hindenburg Line in 1917 helping to capture Equancourt Village and Guyencourt.
Final Spring Offensive
During the German Spring Offensive Seely, back from London, called on the Fifth Army Chief of Staff Edward Beddington at around 2 am on 24 March 1918, to inform him of the gossip in London that Fifth Army had been routed. Beddington, who had only managed to get to sleep an hour previously, for the first time since the morning of 21 March, on a camp bed in his office, recorded that he lost (his) temper, cursed him up hill and down dale for daring to wake (him) with such drivel.
Seely himself later admitted that it suddenly seemed unimportant a few days later when commanding the Canadian Cavalry Brigade in action, but it mattered a great deal in the next few days when Gough sacked from command of the Army as a scapegoat.
He eventually became a Major-General. After being gassed in 1918, returned to England as the only member of the new Cabinet, besides Churchill, to see active service in the war. Appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions and Deputy Minister of Munitions in 1918, and Under-Secretary of State for Air and President of the Air Council in 1919. However, he resigned both posts at the end of 1919 after the Government refused to create a Secretary of State for Air (as it later did).
Moreuil Wood
Seely most famous for leading a counter-attack on German forces at Bois de Moreuil, on the banks of the river Avre in France (30 March 1918). The Germans had launched a huge offensive, progressing almost 45 kilometres into Allied positions. Seely and his troops tasked with protecting the village of Moreuil and re-seizing control of the wood close by.
Hand to hand fighting
The battle involved cavalry units attacking the German forces from different directions in order to stretch enemy positions. It quickly became a series of separate engagements with troops being forced to dismount because of machine-gun fire. Many troops had no alternative but to charge with fixed bayonets and engaged in hand to hand fighting in an attempt to take German positions. The troops supported by artillery fire and raids by the Royal Flying Corps in order to try and weaken enemy lines.
“Neither side would surrender. Again and again these brave Bavarians and Saxons too, and men from every part of Germany, surrounded and wounded, would continue to fire, but, on either side, not one man would hold up his hands and surrender. One determined Bavarian, with a sword thrust right through his neck, raised his rifle just level with Warrior’s near shoulder, and had a last shot before he died.”
Not until August 1918 with the help of French troops that Moreuil Wood finally taken from the Germans. The battle to prove decisive in halting the wider German offensive and a key turning point for a war very much in the balance.
Brigadier General Jack Seely’s Return to England
After being gassed in 1918, Seely returned to England, and was relieved of command of the brigade on 20 May 1918. He was angry about the move, but it was revealed in later correspondence by James H. Elmsley to Canadian Corps commander Arthur Currie that [t]hose who served under him, I know had an exceptionally hard time and I am glad for the sake of the fellows of the 3rd Division that he is going.
Seely finally returned to England suffering the effects of poison gas. Mentioned five times in dispatches for his efforts during the Great War. Seely also earned a Distinguished Service Order during the war. Returned to England on 16 April 1919.
During the Great War, Seely appointed a Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (CB) (1918), appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) (1918), and Mentioned in Despatches five times; Belgium appointed him a Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), and France both appointed Seely a Commander of the Légion d’honneur and awarded him the Croix de guerre. Seely granted the Freedom of the City of Portsmouth in 1927 (UK) and awarded the Territorial Decoration (TD).
Second Lieutenant Frank Reginald Seely
In 1895, Seely married Emily Florence, daughter of Colonel Honourable Sir Henry George Louis Crichton, KCB. After her death in August 1913, he married Hon. Evelyn Izme Murray, JP (d. 11 Aug 1976) on 31 July 1917. She was the widow of George Crosfield Norris Nicholson and daughter of Montolieu Oliphant-Murray, 1st Viscount Elibank. Jack’s first son, 2Lt Frank Reginald Seely killed in action with the Hampshires on 13 April 1917. His heir John Seely (1899–1963) was an architect whose work included the interior of Eltham Palace in the Art Deco style. His grandson Brough Scott who presented horseracing television programmes, wrote a biography of Seely, Galloper Jack.
Jack Seely featured in the HBO film Warrior the Real War Horse (2008). At the end of the film Churchill reads a sympathetic post-election note from his old friend Jack Seely: “I feel our world slipping away.” Churchill thinks back: “I met him in South Africa, riding across the veldt. He was Colonel Seely then. I saw him at the head of a column of British cavalry, riding twenty yards in front, on a black horse. I thought of him as the very symbol of British Imperial power.”
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2 Responses to “Brigadier General Jack Seely DSO in the Great War”
Just an amazing account of a commanding officer’s career. Seely was certainly a great professional soldier. This mention of the Fort Garry Horse reminds me of reading a few War Diaries of the Cambrai engagement of my grandfather’s first cousins, identical twin surgeons from Dublin, serving in the British 40th Div. RAMC 137th Field Ambulance, in which they were engaged in a successive week of night marches of the 119th Btn. to relieve the 69th Div. pinned down in Bourlon Wood beginning Nov. 20th, 1917. (Defeated, until 1918, when Bourlon Wood was finally relieved by the CEF!)
24 year old surgeon James O’Shaughnessy Beveridge was gravely wounded on Nov. 22nd by shellfire as they marched, in the freezing dark, just as the Fort Garry Horse was being driven out of nearby Flesquieres by the occupying Germans. I have deduced that this battle with the FG Horse was the source of the shellfire which felled Jim.
According to the 137th FA War Diary of that night, Jim was carried “back towards CCS by stretcher bearers” (Bantams, whom he had personally trained in England) for a number of hours, with no wheeled transport possible because the Bapaume Road was knee deep in mud churned up by thousands of British, Canadian, Indian, and Australian troops marching to the Wood. He died “hours later” on the stretcher, short of the CCS, and was buried in the newly-won graveyard of Lebucquiere village, which had just that day been liberated by Canadians, which is another comfort to me, who is an immigrant from Ireland to this beloved Canada.
Visiting Jim’s newer grave in 2012, in that tiny CWWGC extension cemetery, I was pleased to find it overlooking a pasture of grazing sheep, right along the fence, and buried my Canadian Vimy 95th Anniversary pin in the soil under his gravestone, which has now been continued for 9 years by the family of Jim’s grief-stricken twin, who went on to continue his RAMC career as a Brigadier General, and died just after his retirement in the late 50s, on a holiday in Venice.
Wonderful to know more. Thank you!