5821 Lieutenant-General Brian Gwynne HORROCKS, KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, MiD**, Middlesex Regiment

Stu,

I am not a lawyer, that aside now. The government has no responsibility for this. It would be his family's. As they did not know that is a valid explanation and if anyone avoided responsibility it would the funeral directors and the crematorium. RIP Sir.

 

Well if he wanted his ashes scattered it stands to reason he thought he'd do without a headstone.

All the best

Andreas

 

Dont worry I will pop back later in the year and update the thread
Looks like his ashes are buried in the plot

The Middx reg war memorial is just across the road from the church

 

Reply from the parish office. I have asked if they could let me know when the headstone is in situ

At present I am unable to suggest a proposed date for the erection of the headstone for Lieutenant Horrocks. Usually headstones take quite a long time to be placed as allowance is made for the ground to settle after disturbance. The church itself is not responsible for the headstone's erection. This is usually initiated by the family.

 

Just thought I would write a post about Horrocks' big escape attempt as a POW in WW1. He tried numerous times and describes what turned out to be a final unsuccessful attempt sometime in late 1918. He and a friend, Hervey, disguised themselves as officers' orderlies and exited the camp that way. An alarm was raised - Horrocks knocked down the guard and escaped, while Hervey tripped and fell, and was recaptured.

Horrocks was on the move for 10 days heading towards the neutral Netherlands, walking by night and sleeping by day. He had what he called "a home-made body-belt with huge pockets" containing all the food for his journey (apparently 213 miles). After a couple of days of avoiding villages he decided to head through them to avoid wasting time.

When he was close to the border he rested in a barn and was captured. He mentions that he had developed a cough which the hay he was in had aggravated, so it seems like he was heard although he doesn't exactly say it - some men came into the barn, left (to get the others?) then came back in and started shouting and sticking bayonets in the hay. Sadly, it turned out he had been just 500 yards from the Dutch border.

 

Returned today and nothing there. The marker has now gone