Turner Donovan Military Books - The world’s finest selection of rare and out-of-print books on British military history from 1800 to 1945
  Stock last updated on 16 January 2026
 
   

Royal Horse Guards   4 Books
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Charles Sackville Pelham, Lord Worsley. Born August 14th, 1887, Killed in Action October 30th, 1914. An Appreciation. By His Father. 1st Ed., 101pp., 22x17.5cm, portrait frontis., 24 photos., 4 maps. Privately published. 1924  #69314
[HLMainPic] Charles Sackville Pelham was a regular officer educated at Eton and Sandhurst. He was gazetted to the Royal Horse Guards in 1908, went overseas in October 1914 commanding the Machine Gun Section of the Blues, saw much action in the trenches with his guns during the First Battle of Ypres until killed in action in the German attack at Zandvoorde on 30th October 1914. He was twenty-seven years old and left a widow, Lady Alexandra. Memoir of his life and career with much detail on the 7th Cavalry Brigade in 1914, including the diary of the Adjutant of the Blues and considerable detail on Worsley's final fight, death and burial, including critical commentary on inaccuracies in the German official monograph on First Ypres. Lord Worsley was originally buried in an isolated grave at Zandvoorde, but reinterred in the Ypres Town Cemetery Extension in 1921. Lady Worsley purchased the original burial site and the Household Cavalry Memorial (unveiled by Earl Haig in 1924) now stands on the spot. Orig. light blue cloth, gilt to front & and spine, little rubbed, generally VG & very scarce.   £220
Colwyn Erasmus Arnold Phillips, Captain, Royal Horse Guards. Born Dec. 11, 1888, Killed in Action near Ypres, May 13, 1915. 1st Ed., xiii+128pp., 2 portraits. Smith, Elder. 1915  #69355
[HLMainPic] Colwyn Philipps was born in 1888, educated at Farnborough School, Eton and Sandhurst, and commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards in 1908. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1909. He joined his regiment in France at the beginning of November 1914, was killed in action east of Ypres on 13th May 1915 and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. He was twenty-six and was Mentioned in Despatches. Includes poetry and prose compositions by the subject (some with war themes), and forty pages of extracts from letters from the Front, November 1914-April 1915 (mostly written to his mother). During the First Battle of Ypres he wrote: "We are taking part in a most amazing battle: we are holding a V that sticks out into the German lines; the result is that we have two fronts facing different ways and shells come from all directions… all our fighting is in these beastly trenches, forty-eight hours at a time and up to your knees in water. It is not cold but horrid wet… The first thing we learn out here is to forget about 'Glory.' Your regiment is no good when it is dead, and your job is to retire rather than be wiped out… we have no chance of really beating the Germans here, and if we hold on the Russians may win for us…" Orig. mock vellum binding, gilt to front & sp., sp. tanned & a little chipped, generally VG.   £85
LUBBOCK (Percy) George Calderon: A Sketch From Memory. 1st Ed., 194pp., 228x150mm, portrait frontis., 10 plates (including leaf from a sketchbook & 4 drawings by the subject). Grant Richards Ltd. 1921  #68286
[HLMainPic] George Calderon, author & playwright, was born in 1868 & educated at Rugby & Trinity College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar, studied at St Petersburg & worked in the British Museum Library from 1900-1903; thereafter he devoted all his efforts to family life, writing & producing plays, travel, sketching & so forth. He went to Flanders as an interpreter with the Royal Horse Guards on 5th October 1914 and in the same month received a (rather irregular) battlefield commission in the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment; he later transferred to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry & was attached to the 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers at Gallipoli where, in an attack on 4th June 1915, he was posted missing and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. He was forty-six years old. Contains an account of his life drawing, the recollections of several friends, with extracts from letters written from Flanders during the First Battle of Ypres, when having arranged an attachment to the Warwicks he was wounded the same day that he adopted their badges and "burnt my interpreter's brassard." Recovering at home, he was officially commissioned in the Ox. and Bucks., then posted to the Dardanelles & attached to the K.O.S.B. as a platoon commander on arrival about 27th May. Letters describe his journey, arrival & brief service with the battalion, covering some dozen or so pages. Orig. blue cloth, gilt to sp. & front, VG & rare memoir. See illustrations on our website.   £225
LUBBOCK (Percy) George Calderon: A Sketch From Memory. 1st Ed., 194pp., 228x150mm, portrait frontis., 10 plates (including leaf from a sketchbook & 4 drawings by the subject). Grant Richards Ltd. 1921  #69311
[HLMainPic] George Calderon, author & playwright, was born in 1868 & educated at Rugby & Trinity College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar, studied at St Petersburg & worked in the British Museum Library from 1900-1903; thereafter he devoted all his efforts to family life, writing & producing plays, travel, sketching & so forth. He went to Flanders as an interpreter with the Royal Horse Guards on 5th October 1914 and in the same month received a (rather irregular) battlefield commission in the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment; he later transferred to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry & was attached to the 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers at Gallipoli where, in an attack on 4th June 1915, he was posted missing and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. He was forty-six years old. Contains an account of his life drawing, the recollections of several friends, with extracts from letters written from Flanders during the First Battle of Ypres, when having arranged an attachment to the Warwicks he was wounded the same day that he adopted their badges and "burnt my interpreter's brassard." Recovering at home, he was officially commissioned in the Ox. and Bucks., then posted to the Dardanelles & attached to the K.O.S.B. as a platoon commander on arrival about 27th May. Letters describe his journey, arrival & brief service with the battalion, covering some dozen or so pages. Orig. blue cloth, gilt to sp. & front, VG & rare with bookplate of society hostess Mary Hunter   £145

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