Percheron Horses for the Light Artillery in WW1

Military

During the First World War my grandfather, Harry Finch Reynolds, of St Albans was a vet who went to Canada to purchase remounts to replace the horses that were needed to provide transport at the front. I posted details last year (Buying First World War Remounts - Pictures from Hammond, Indiana, USA) and have had several inquiries about the pictures. 

At Calumet Depot, 1916

William has just written to say, about this picture: The second horse probably is part Percheron, as is the dapple grey about to be loaded onto the train. It was this type of part bred Percheron that coped so well with the appalling conditions on the Western Front that led to the Government to  import purebred Percherons and establish a breeding base here, largely to breed part bred horses especially for the light artillery.

More Pictures

Jacob Reynolds & Family, Heath Farm, Sandridge, 1892

Jacob Reynolds & Family at Heath Farm, Bernards Heath in 1892

Sandridge

In connection with Sandridge900 I have just posted this picture and views of Heath Farm - which was in Sandridge at this date, but later became St Albans on my web site. The web page includes a short biography of all the people shown - and their main links with Sandridge/St Albans as adults - together with pictures of Heath Farm. (Jacob Reynolds was my Great Grandfather and Harry Reynolds (back row right) was my Grandfather. 

I would be very interested to hear memories of the Farm when it was still operating as a diary - and would be delighted (and very surprised) if anyone knows the name of the dog.

Buying First World War Remounts - Pictures from Hammond, Indiana, USA

At Calumet Depot, 1916

Military

When the First World War broke out my grandfather, Harry Finch Reynolds, of St Albans, joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corp. The only family record we have of his military activities are a series of 20 pictures of a very large number of horses purchased by the British Remount Commission (Canada) being loaded onto a train at the Calumet Park Depot, Hammond, Indiana, USA.

At Calumet Depot, 1916

Heath Farm Sandridge, the Aldenham Harriers, and hunting in general.

Huntsman of the Aldenham Harriers,  Harry Finch Reynolds, at Heath Farm

Sandridge

Hunting

In looking though some old family pictures  I found two cards, each with 6 photographs, showing the meet of the Aldenham Harriers at the Heath Farm, Bernards Heath, in March 1911. The hunt was reported in the Herts Advertiser, and the account reprinted in the book Hare and Hounds - which tell the history of the Aldenham Harriers. However the book has few pictures of this hunt as early as this - and it shows someone who is almost certainly the Master of the Hounds at the time, Mr Birkbeck Ravenscroft, and the Huntsman, my grandfather Harry Finch Reynolds. Several other people are identified, or possibly identifiable. I have therefore added some of the pictures to the Hare and Hounds page.

The Aldenham Harriers assemble at Heath Farm

Bernards Heath

The meet was at Heath Farm, Bernards Heath, which was farmed by my Great Grandfather, Jacob Reynolds, with the hunt assembling on the Home Meadow. There are a number of surviving pictures of Heath Farm house, but few of the extensive buildings.  Several of the pictures record the buildings, and the row of lime trees said to have been planted by Jacob Reynolds, in the background to the hunt activities. I have therefore created a page Heath Farm in 1911 to record the appearance of the farm from the Sandridge Road side.

The Entrance to the Farm Yard at Heath Farm

At the same time as inputting these photographs I took the opportunity to set up a page to cover hunting activities on this web site. An introductory text will follow but the relevant pages already online are:

The History of Hunting in Hertfordshire (Articles in the Hertfordshire Countryside)

Hertfordshire Hunting Notes (Newspaper account of hunt with Hertfordshire Hounds in 1885)

The Bever Pack of Harriers in 1890 (Newspaper account, master Jacob Reynolds of Heath Farm)

The Old Berkley Hunt at Shendish in 1890 (short newspaper cutting)

Aldenham Harriers (The book Hare & Hounds plus many pictures of 1911 meet)

The Puckeridge Foxhounds (Article in Hertfordshire Countryside)

Lays of the  Hertfordshire Hunt (Book of poetry by George Robins, 1912)

The Hertfordshire Hunt (Booklet by William Scarth-Dixon, 1933)

The Staghounds at Cuckman's in 1889 (Newspaper article)

Hunting Hares (Roman pottery)