Correspondence.
THE YPRES TIMES
157
Captain R. Henderson-Bland has very kindly
allowed us to reprint the following two personal
letters, which we consider of great interest.
October 22nd, 1932
My Dear Bland,
I was particularly interested to hear of your
activities in connection with the Ypres League
in the United States and to see for the first
time The Ypres Times containing your descrip
tion of the burial of Lord Plumer in Westminster
Abbey, and your excellent and dignified sonnet.
As an experienced journalist and editor, I con
sider The Ypres Times a remarkable journal,
well edited and produced, and it is inspiring and
touching to find such a vital reminder of the past
existing in these days.
Yours sincerely,
A. E. Manning Foster.
October 30th, 1932.
My Dear Mr. Henderson-Bland,
You were most thoughtful and gracious in
sending me a copy of your brilliant and moving
description of Lord Plumer's funeral. Being in
London, and having an engagement in the
neighbourhood of the Abbey about the time of
that service, I had the privilege of seeing that
impressive cortege enter that holy place. After
keeping my engagement, again I found myself
near the entrance to the nave of the Abbey, just
as the service ended. You may be sure I looked
with deep interest at those who had taken official
part.
I was perhaps more deeply interested because
of having been a guest of the General Staff on
the British front in September, 1918, stopping
at Tramecourt. It was my privilege to see
something of the British operations from Bailleul
along to a point opposite Cambrai, and I was at
Vimy Ridge the day our 27th and 30th Divisions
went in against the Hindenburg Line, where in
an hour or two we gave the fives of nine of my
young parishioners of St. Thomas's Church, New-
York, who were members of the 107th Regiment
of the Old New York Seventh.
All this will simply tell you how sympathetic
and how deep is my appreciation of your
thoughtfulness. It does not begin to tell you
of my admiration for your truly noble picture
of Lord Plumer's funeral in the Abbey.
With heartiest good wishes,
I am, ever most faithfully,
Yours,
Ernest Milmore Stires.
Bishop of Long Island,
Bulawayo.
October 28th, 1932.
Secretary, Ypres League,
Dear Sir,
It will be of considerable interest to you to
learn that while the remains of the late Field-
Marshal Lord Plumer were being laid to rest.
a memorial service was held at the Church of
S. John the Baptist, Bulawayo. Seeing that
the late Lord Plumer first came into prominence
during the Matabele Rebellion in 1896, and there
are still a number of Pioneers alive who served
under him then and later during the Boer War,
it was most fitting that this service should have
been held at Bulawayo. the town nearest the
scenes of his operations against the Matabele.
The service was conducted by the Ven. Arch
deacon A. M. Mylne, Archdeacon of Matabele-
land, Rector of Bulawayo, and ex-Chaplain to
the Forces. The officers of the British South
Africa Police and the officers of the Southern
Rhodesia Defence Force attended, while the
church was crowded out. Among those who
attended were a number of ex-service men, many
of whom had served in the Second Army, while
among the Pioneers who attended were several
who took part in the Matabele Rebellion and
Boer War under Plumer. The Pipers of the
2nd Battalion Rhodesia Regiment (Defence
Force) played a lament. The Chief Justice, the
Hon. Mr. Justice Russell, representing the
Government of the Colony, gave the address.
The service ended up with the Last Post
and Réveillésounded by Cadet buglers.
The congregation included the Mayor of Bula
wayo, in robes of office, and the Town Clerk,
while there were special places reserved for the
ex-service men who wore medals and decorations.
Yours sincerely,
A. N. Cranswick.
Brisbane,
October 12 th, 1932.
Dear Captain de Trafford,
Both the undersigned are in receipt of your
personal letter referring to the unparalleled loss
to the Ypres League in the death of our late
beloved President, Field-Marshal Viscount
Plumer, and urging the members of the Ypres
League to strive harder to mantain the maximum
membership of our organization. There you can
rest assured that we will do our best to comply
with your request as we appreciate the splendid
work the Ypres League is doing, and furthermore
anything associated with Ypres is worthy of the
very best that any loyal citizen of the Empire
can render.
We should like to take this opportunity of
congratulating you personally on your efforts to
maintain the League at its very apex, and as far
as members in the Dominions are concerned your
correspondence helps very much to perpetuate
those ties of Empire which are so very necessary
to maintain the true spirit of loyalty and co
operation between His Majesty's Dominions."
Again expressing our appreciation of the
splendid service the Ypres League is rendering
to the Empire,
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) C. H. Green.
G. Lawson.
