“Lieut. General Pole-Carew” by Mortimer Menpes, R. I.

Lieut. General Pole-Carew

Mortimer Menpes

1901

Watercolor

Source: War Impressions, facing 42.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

There was General Pole-Carew. It is difficult to talk about him without feeling inclined to write a whole book. I camped and marched with the Guards Brigade for so many months that I had every chance of studying this brilliant man. General Pole- Carew is the handsomest man in the Army, and, I should think, one of the Generals with the greatest common-sense. He always wears a seraphic smile; Sir Henry Irving's is the only smile I know that can approach it. The Guards Brigade under General Pole-Carew has changed: his men simply worship him. [continued below].

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of Toronto and the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]

He is a middle-aged man with a complexion that any girl would covet, it is so fresh and clear; his hair is just beginning to turn grey; he is not tall, but well-preserved. He is a smart, dapper fellow, without a speck of dust on his boots. Even in the midst of battle, he is always smart. His tent was the picture of neatness; only, curiously enough, he never would sleep in it at night; he always pre- ferred an old Cape cart, where you might see him at night, uncomfortably bent up in a corner. No one in camp seemed to understand this eccentricity. General Pole-Carew was one of the few officers who shaved every day in camp. Every morning regularly he was to be seen outside his tent, carefully shaving and giving orders at the same time. He was always well- mounted; in fact, Lord Roberts and he were the best-mounted Generals in South Africa. Every one liked General Pole-Carew, he had such charming, lovable manners. Before he started for South Africa, his doctors told him that he was very delicate, and advised him to give up his work, as being physically unfit for it. He did not take his doctors' advice: with the result that he is now a strong man, and the head of his Division. Perhaps no officer is capable of doing more brilliant work than he is; for he possesses the qualities which are so essential to the making of a General power of gaining the affection of his men without losing their respect, of never losing his temper, and of being absolutely without affectation. The Guards Brigade seemed to become imbued with his spirit, and were cheerful amid the most trying circumstances. I have heard singing and laughter in the midst of a hailstorm in the evening, when the men were without tents and wet to the bone, with no hope of getting dry until the sun should shine next day. No men marched as well as the Guards during that now historic march to Bloemfontein. On one occasion they marched forty miles with a rest of only a few hours, and then fought a battle. I saw them at the end, dog-tired but cheerful, with never a word of complaint. One good point about the General is that he can always tell a funny story without being unnecessarily Rabelaisean rather a rarity with Generals in my experience. I once had tea with him and his staff in the garden of a Dutch farm, a perfect bower of roses; and it seemed so strange to see these men drinking out of delicate china cups in a rose garden after being on the veldt munching the hardest of hard tack. [116-17]

References

Menpes, Mortime. War Impressions Being A Record in Colour. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1901. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California Library. Web. 13 December 2014.

Last modified 14 December 2014