Showing posts with label Remounts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Remounts. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

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.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

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