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Dunhill: Difference between revisions
→Alfred Henry Dunhill
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In 1912 Alfred H. Dunhill joined the business and began his journey in the company as an apprentice (then at the age of 16) but, in 1914 the First World War began and Alfred Henry Dunhill leaves the business and joins the war effort. in 1918 Alfred Henry Dunhill won the Military Cross (MC at Frégicourt 1 Sep 1918 - 31158/1 Feb 1919) during the Battle of the Somme. He entered as a private and was discharged at the end of the war with the rank of captain. He was decorated with Military Cross, a third-level military award awarded to officers and squares of the British armed forces. He resumes its position in the company in 1919. | In 1912 Alfred H. Dunhill joined the business and began his journey in the company as an apprentice (then at the age of 16) but, in 1914 the First World War began and Alfred Henry Dunhill leaves the business and joins the war effort. in 1918 Alfred Henry Dunhill won the Military Cross (MC at Frégicourt 1 Sep 1918 - 31158/1 Feb 1919) during the Battle of the Somme. He entered as a private and was discharged at the end of the war with the rank of captain. He was decorated with Military Cross, a third-level military award awarded to officers and squares of the British armed forces. He resumes its position in the company in 1919. | ||
<blockquote><q>Alfred Henry, who was just over eighteen when war was declared, came home one day in the summer of 1914 in the uniform of a Private in the Queen's Royal Regiment. I remember that the tunic was much too short for his lanky body and that, before he kissed me goodbye, he showed me how he wound on his puttees. We didn’t see him again until he returned on leave after several weeks in the front-line trenches without once having the chance of taking his boots off. I screamed when he showed us the lice wriggling in the seams of that tunic with its short sleeves. Mother, I remember, made him strip in the garden, taking the uniform into the kitchen where she baked it in the oven.<br> | |||
On his next leave Alfred Henry returned with a Sam Browne belt and the shoulder badges of a Captain who, apparently, for such was the death toll, had already had to act as Colonel. According to the hilarious story he made of it, he had had to parade on a spritely horse during a marchpast of his battalion after spending no more than a couple of hours in the saddle. Never a word about the mud, the rats, the deprivations, the terrifying bombardments and the unimaginable butchery of the Western Front. Like thousands of other boys who had gone to the front, Alfred Henry was one of those who returned with the face of a man who never spoke of what he had seen and felt.</q> Dunhill, Mary. Our Family Business (The Bodley Head - Great Britain, 1979).</blockquote> | |||
His bravery was mentioned in a column of The London Gazette: | His bravery was mentioned in a column of The London Gazette: | ||
<blockquote> | <blockquote>"'''2nd Lt. Alfred Henry Dunhill, R*. W. Surr. R. (Spec. Res.), attd. 7th Bn.''' | ||
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to ' duty on 1st September, 1918, in the attack on Fregicourt. After encountering considerable opposition, he maneuvered his company skilfully in a flank attack, which, | For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to ' duty on 1st September, 1918, in the attack on Fregicourt. After encountering considerable opposition, he maneuvered his company skilfully in a flank attack, which, | ||
though harassed by heavy machine-gun fire resulted in the capture of over 200 prisoners. This success was largely the outcome of his coolness and daring. | though harassed by heavy machine-gun fire resulted in the capture of over 200 prisoners. This success was largely the outcome of his coolness and daring." London Gazette, 1 February, 1919.</blockquote> | ||
<blockquote><q>During World War J. Mr. Dunhill entered the army as a private and ended as a captain with the Military Cross. Once, in the Second World War when a bomb wrecked the company's offices in 1941, the chairman sat among the debris selling the remnants of the pipe stock to passers‐by.</q> The New York Times - July 9, 1971, Page 34. See more about it here [[WWII Phase]].</blockquote> | <blockquote><q>During World War J. Mr. Dunhill entered the army as a private and ended as a captain with the Military Cross. Once, in the Second World War when a bomb wrecked the company's offices in 1941, the chairman sat among the debris selling the remnants of the pipe stock to passers‐by.</q> The New York Times - July 9, 1971, Page 34. See more about it here [[WWII Phase]].</blockquote> | ||