The mettle of the Ironsides

Lionel Edwards’ painting of the match played by the determined 2nd Batallion Durham Light Infantry on the Western Front in 1915 masterfully captures the complexities of war. By Nigel à Brassard

It seemed perfectly natural to British Army officers at the beginning of World War I to continue their sporting activities at the Front during their ‘rest’ periods from fighting. So the officers took with them to France and Belgium their polo sticks, foxhounds and beagles. The Polo Monthly noted that clubs called the Battle Hunt Foxhounds and Beagles had been formed with fields of French, British and Belgian officers. The magazine was delighted that Sir John French, the British commander-in-chief, had given permission for 26 couples of hounds to be exported to France for pursuit of ‘the thief of the world’ in preparation for gladly changing the quarry from fox to ‘“kultured” Teuton’. It was also noted that a Mr Robinson of Leighton Buzzard had loaned 10 couples from his pack.

In the spring of 1915, The Polo Monthly recorded, ‘Our soldiers in France have been enjoying a certain amount of hunting in their spare time since the war broke out and it is now evident that a few games of polo are to be got up... In modern warfare, any sport or game that tends to enliven the weariness of inaction and at the same time keeps them fit is of the greatest service to all concerned.’ There were already polo ponies at the Front because, after the issue of mobilisation orders and requests from the War Office, many had handed over their hunters and studs of polo ponies for army purposes.

The painting, opposite, of polo at Peselhoek Aerodrome, near Ypres, is by the celebrated equestrian artist Lionel Edwards. Edwards had written about and illustrated ‘Front Line Polo’ in his book Sport in War, published in 1936. He remarked that the sport afforded relaxation and ‘a great moral fillip to war-weary troops’.

Edwards worked from the memories and sketches provided by Lieutenant-Colonel Hubert Morant and Captain Robert Turner – who had both played in the match – and photographs of the landscape from the Imperial War Museum collection. The painting had been commissioned in 1938 to celebrate the centenary in 1939 of the 2nd Batallion Durham Light Infantry (DLI). The DLI had achieved amazing success at polo in India during the 1890s and before the outbreak of World War I. The secret of its success was put down to the ‘directing mind and the roving spirit’ of Captain Beauvoir de Lisle. De Lisle had been put in charge of DLI polo and realised he needed to work out how, with cheap ponies and indifferent players, the DLI could compete against regiments with well mounted and better players. He studied the successful DLI football team and adapted their tactics for polo.

The three principles that de Lisle introduced were accurate passing to keep possession, playing at pace and accurate shooting at goal. he also instituted a rigorous training regime that required explanation, demonstration, execution and repetition. He wrote a series of essays on his innovative approach that were incorporated into a book called Hints to Polo Players in India, first published in 1897.

The DLI team were known as the ‘Ironsides’ of Indian polo history and lived up to their motto ‘Thorough’. They are remembered for raising the standard of garrison polo all over India and doing so on a comparatively small expenditure in contrast to some of the richer cavalry regiments.

‘Polo Match, Ypres, 1915’, by Lionel Edwards, depicting a game by the 2nd Batallion Durham Light Infantry

painting reproduced by kind permission of durham count y record office Among the many and splendid victories of the DLI were the Indian Inter-Regimental Tournament from 1896 to 1898 and the Indian Infantry Tournament from 1894 to 1897 and again in 1906, 1910 and 1912.

Hubert Morant recorded in his July 1915 diary that he arranged for polo to be played between the 2nd and 10th Battalions of the DLI. The 10th Battalion had arrived at the Front in late May, 1915. Of the match, Morant wrote, ‘We went on playing indefinitely and stopped when the score was 4–3 against us – so I don’t consider that we were fairly beaten. Bowers and Turner came to dine with us and dined so well that they had to sleep where they dined. Unthank had been in Boulogne the day before and brought back salmon and champagne, which came in well for our dinner party. Unthank and I dined with the 2nd Battalion the next night and a big programme of inter-regimental competitions was arranged – however, owing to the exigencies of the services, the sports never took place.’ On 18 July 1915, the DLI moved up to the Front and saw action at Hooge, where it suffered enormous loss of life. Within a month of the polo match, two of the players were dead and many of the others wounded. The suffixes (W) and (K) after the players’ names above chillingly indicate whether, by the end of the war, the player had been wounded or killed.

Lionel Edwards would paint the DLI playing polo on another occasion – fortunately, in happier times, at Toulston in 1955.