An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir October 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 26 | The story of an ordinary family touched by extraordinary events. This Tumult, by Caroline Preston, was published in May 2017 and is available in bookshops, online and from www.lilliputpress.ie, priced €15. M y grandfather, harold W Loftus Tottenham, was born in 1889 and brought up in the family home, Tudenham, near Mullingar. When he left school he went to Malaya to prospect for rubber but when the great War broke out he returned to England to join the 9th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade ('The Prince Consort's Own'), the unit in which his own father and grandfather had also served. The original battal- ions of the brigade were formed to provide 'sharpshooters, scouts and skirmishers' and something of this mentality stayed with my grandfather throughout his life. After he landed in Boulogne in May 1915 his unit was subject to a German gas attack at Hooge and was part of the first division to be attacked by flamethrowers. He then saw action at the second attack on Bellewaarde. In 1916 he was on the Somme at the Battle of Delville Wood and Flers- Courclette. The following year his battalion fought in the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line; the first and third battles of the Scarpe at Arras; Langemar; and the first and second battles of Passchendaele. In 1918 the battalion returned to the Somme and Harold was wounded either at St Quentin or Avre, where the division took heavy losses, and he returned to England to the 5th Battal- ion (Reserve). From there he joined the newly formed RAF on 13th July 1918. His service records tell us that he was transferred to the unemployed list on 27th February 1919. Harold's younger brother, Desmond, joined the navy and was lost on HMS Invincible at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 at the age of 19. Shortly after the war Harold married my grandmother, Veronica Bowen Per- kins, a clever doctor's daughter from Wales who, unusually for those times, had a degree in mathematics. There are no photographs of the wedding. Perhaps Harold did not have his fa- ther's approval to marry Veronica; my great-grandfather was of a generation who might have thought her too 'blue stocking' with not enough 'blue blood'. With an infant daughter, Joan, they set sail for Malaya, where Harold was employed to prospect land for the Arghan Company. The photographs would suggest that they did not live a grand colonial life. Rather, their home was a simple shack in a kampong many days' oxen drive from the colo- nial outposts. Either a keen sense of adventure or hardship then led the new family to South Africa, where Harold grew oranges for a living. Once again, life apparently lacked luxury and home was a collection of thatched rondavels. Three more children, Nick, Tony, and my mother, Barbara, were born there. It was only when my great-grand- father died in 1929 that Harold and S for Sugar, celebrating her hundredth mission. Caroline's uncle, Tony, is on the balcony, extreme right, holding a glass high. L/R: Joan, Barbara and Veronica Tottenham, aunt, mother and grandmother 2/2 Pioneer Regiment (the Diggers), Caroline's uncle, Nick, is the second soldier from the front in the leftmost column

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