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"This took first prize at our Sports. Colonel Goad was the judge." - William Alfred Sharpe

Captain Edward Somerset Charrington (1875-1955) commanded a squadron at the Remount Depot. He was appointed in March 1915. His daughter Eirene later married John B P Willis Fleming.

The photograph below was taken at the Remount Depot in 1915.

Major Fisher was a retired Territorial Major who commanded a squadron at the Remount Depot. The photograph below was taken at the Depot's K Squadron at North Camp.

Ida Willis Fleming recalled: "Major Fisher was a gallant old man who was used to spending his winters on the Riviera as he was far from fit, so his war effort cost him much. Several of them from the Remount Depot used to come to lunch on Sundays. ... Major Fisher was a good judge of a horse and he usually got a good pair to drive himself; two spanking bay mares I remember. He got a phaeton from Bert Andrews in Southampton. He took me to Southampton sometimes and let me drive. Dad did not know and it was fun, but seldom possible."

The photograph below shows Major Fisher (right) at North Stoneham House with John E A Willis Fleming (center) and Ida Willis Fleming (left).

James Gunn at Swaythling. Photo courtesy of Barry Carpenter.

James Gunn was a local man, born in South Stoneham in 1867. Aged eighteen, he enlisted in 11th Prince Albert's Own Hussars in 1884, and went on to serve overseas in Africa, India, and Egypt. He was discharged from service in 1905.

On 7 September 1914, he re-enlisted in the Special Reserve of his old regiment, the 11th Hussars. By this time he was 47, married, and had a young family. In May 1915, he was posted to Swaythling Remount Depot, where he remained for the rest of the war, rising to the rank of Squadron Sergeant Major.

When James was demobilized in 1919, he was commended for the "good control of his men and thorough knowledge of the care and management of horses".

Photos and information courtesy of Barry Carpenter.

'Tommy' Timson commanded a squadron at Swaythling at the beginning of the war, and later served as a remount officer in Egypt. He had a chronic fear of the sea, but still had to accompany conscripted horses on long voyages. The whisky he took to cope with these journeys earned him the nickname 'Cold Tea' Timson.

Timson came from a well-known Hampshire family, of Tatchbury Mount near Southampton. He was renowned as a fine horseman, and before the war bred horses and livestock, and was joint master of the New Forest Buckhounds. He had previously served with the Lincolnshire Regiment, being first commissioned in 1888.