At the outbreak of the First World War Dorking and the surrounding villages supplied two companies of foot territorials to the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment. They were sent to India to relieve regular army troops who were stationed there to keep the colony under control. They were later deployed in the Middle East. Losses were high, with many men succumbing in the area around Basra and Baghdad in Iraq.
Fewer Dorking men served with the Surrey Yeomanry and losses were considerably fewer; cavalry regiments were not generally on the front line but employed escorting infantry and moving ammunition and supplies. Many of those from Dorking’s wealthy estates who served with the Yeomanry returned to take up the leading roles in the community that they had traditionally held before the war.
After the war the various Surrey Yeomanry units were reformed in Clapham but it never again had so strong a connection with Dorking and its landed estates and stables.
Panel 4 – Featured Personnel (Individual Biography Boxes)
Norman Sadler
Thomas Hubert Barclay
The Barclays made their money in banking and brewing and owned the Bury Hill estate of 1,000 acres. Thomas was educated at Harrow and Cambridge and married to Elsa Bray whose family were lords of the manor of Shere. Her brother Jocelyn also served in the Yeomanry. Barclay was returning from leave when his ship was torpedoed off Italy in May 1917. He died of exhaustion saving the lives of men who could not swim. His brother George Eric Barclay had been killed four months earlier.
Robert Wyvill Barclay
Thomas Barclay’s brother transferred to the Surrey Yeomanry from the Hampshire Carabiniers when the regiment was formed but spent most of the war with the Life Guards. After the war he became High Sherriff of Surrey and gave the Nower to Dorking in 1931. His chauffeur was Private Charles Tupper.
Private Charles Tupper
Tupper worked for the Barclays at Bury Hill before the war and returned to work for the family afterwards as Robert Barclay’s chauffeur. He served with the Yeomanry in Salonika and is pictured on horseback at Old Bury Hill stables in pre-war Surrey Imperial Yeomanry uniform and in wartime khaki.
Leopold Cuthbert Heath
Leopold Heath’s father was the insurance magnate Cuthbert Heath, of Anstie Grange between Coldharbour and Holmwood. He was billeted at Bury Hill while serving with the Yeomanry in 1914 and when he fell ill he was allowed to return to his family at Anstie. He married in August 1915 before setting off for Gallipoli. After the war he wrote a detailed account of his time with the Yeomanry in Egypt and France.
Captain Arthur O’Neil Cubitt Chichester
Arthur Chichester was Lord Ashcombe’s grandson. His father was Canon Chichester of St Martin’s and his mother was the sister of Henry Cubitt. His brother William and three of his Cubitt cousins were killed in the conflict. Arthur served in C Squadron throughout the war and was awarded the Military Cross. While encamped at Gallipoli in 1915 he painted scenes of the camp. After the war he served as Lieutenant Colonel Clerk of the Parliaments of Northern Ireland.
Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Charles Archibald Calvert
Calvert’s family owned the estate at Ockley Court and his sister Maud Marianne Calvert was married to Henry Cubitt of Denbies. He commanded A Squadron before transferring to the South Nottinghamshire Hussars. He was awarded the DSO in 1915 and after the war he became commanding officer of the Surrey Yeomanry.
Major Herbert Fisher-Rowe
Fisher-Rowe was from Bramley near Guildford. He lost his older brother to the war and was awarded a CBE in 1919 for ‘valuable services in connection with the war’. At the end of the war he was serving as deputy Lieutenant for Surrey.
Henry Herbert Gordon-Clark
From Mickleham Hall, Henry Gordon-Clark commanded C Squadron of the Surrey Yeomanry.
Private Richard W Sollars
Motor engineer Richard Sollars served with the Surrey Yeomanry in France. Many motor mechanics started life working with horses and when their wealthy employers swapped carriages for cars in the early 20th century their stable and coachmen became mechanics and chauffeurs. After the war Sollars lived in Deepdene Avenue Road and volunteered with Dorking auxiliary fire brigade.
Frederick Donald Merrielees
Merrielees was the second in command of B squadron. He was the son of Sir Frederick James Merrielees of Pasture Wood in Abinger Common. His father had Goddards converted for him by Lutyens from a Home of Rest for ladies of small means.
