A Veteran Remembers - part 1

It's 1940 and from your home in Australia you hear daily news reports of bombs landing on your native Kent, with invasion threatened to roll across the land. War is very much in the air and everywhere young men are joining up. You think back to all those many years ago when you did the same, 70 years ago -  Prussians were threatening Europe even then.

In January 1940 Bob Whiting gave an interview to the The West Australian newspaper. This is based on his interview.

Battles Long Ago. A Veteran's Memories
The West Australian
26 Jan 1940

Private of the Buffs. History comes very much alive again, and there is the sound of invisible drums and trumpets in the air, when you are talking to a certain grand old veteran, Bob Whiting, Private of the Buffs, the oldest soldier in Western Australia. Except for his 93 years there is no thing of the nonagenarian about Robert Austin Whiting, Private No. 2018. His stalwart body still has strength and suppleness, and there is a suggestion of rugged indomitableness in every line of it. His grizzled head is firmly poised, and his kindly old face is alert and full of character. Bob Whiting, doyen of all old campaigners now living in this State, is a sociable chap who loves to sit on the verandah of his East Fremantle home and swap reminiscences with other sociable chaps who drop in for a yarn about the brave days dead.

Robert Whiting

 It was in the year 1870, when the Prusslans were spreading the desolation of war over the smiling countryside of France, that Bob Whiting took the King's shilling and enlisted in the British Army as a full private in the 1st battalion of the old 3rd Regiment of the Line, now the East Kent Regiment, popularly called the Buffs on account of the former colour of the facings on their tunics. Besides being the oldest soldier in Western Australia, Private Whiting is the oldest living Buff anywhere in the world. He was born at Maidstone, Kent, on March 22, 1846, the year of the great Irish famine and of the repeal of the Corn Laws. Soon after he had "'listed for a soldier," in his early twenties, Bob Whiting was drafted out to India, and remained at various stations there until 1875. During that year and the next he took part with his regiment in the hazardous Malay Peninsula campaign, and was awarded the Perak medal, with bar........ (to be continued)

The Perak Campaign

James Birch in Perak

In the 1870s Malaysia was not a single state but a network of native Sultanates with a three British enclaves, Penang, Malacca and Singapore. British influence over the Sultanates was gradually increasing, so that in 1874 The Pangkor Treaty was signed with Perak in the north, allowing a British Resident to take over government administration. That Resident, James Birch arrived in 1875 and set about many reforming the government, especially by outlawing slavery and improving tax collection. Both of these hit the economy of the local chieftains and in July, whilst visiting up country at Passir Salak, Birch and his bodyguards were murdered under the orders of the local chief, and slave trader, Dato Maharajaleda. The British response was swift and crushing, the Perak War.

The British garrison in the Malay states was small, but troops were shipped in from other bases in India. Troops from the 80th Foot arrived from Hong Kong via Singapore in November and were shortly joined by a task force under Brigadier General J. Ross from India. Ross's force was a mixture of the 1st Gurkhas, the Madras Sappers, some Royal Artillery, and a strong Naval Brigade, supported by HMS Egeria, Fly, Modeste, Philomel, Ringdove and Stirling. Last, but certainly not least, he had the 1st battalion of the 3rd (East Kent) Regiment of Foot, based in Calcutta, Bob Whiting's battalion.

Arriving in Penang in late November the Buffs set about preparing for Perak, and presumably for Christmas, though their hopes in that regard were to be dashed. Christmas for 200 men of the battalion was spent down in Malacca were they were sent to put down a Chinese riot.

Meanwhile, Perak had been building up it´s forces, and the Residency was attacked in November, though this was easily repulsed. Elsewhere stockades were built and fortified, especially along the Perak river that formed the basis of the state. On December 10th 1875 the British started to move, the 10th Foot storming and defeating a stockade of 400 Malays only 5 miles from the Residency. The coast secured, in January the Expeditionary force started up the River Perak, checking villages and stockades as they went -  a typical action for the Buffs is described in the extract from the London Gazette below.

 British forces camping at Passir Salak 1876

By the end of February, Passir Salak was captured and three of Birch's murderers captured. The rest fled upsteam, pursued by a task force of 200 infantry of the 10th and 80th Foot, 40 artillerymen with two steel guns and a rocket tube and a small Naval Brigade of 40 men and officers, transported and supported by 40 boats including HMS Modeste and Ringdove, each with two steel guns on slides and three rocket tubes. 50 "friendly" Malays acted as scouts. The force reached Blanja on March 13th and disembarked, ready to march to Kinta, where the Sultan Ismail was believed to planning a stand. The road or path from Blanja was through virgin forest
 "it is difficult to imagine, but if endless fallen trees, tree roots, elephant holes, streams, swamps, and clay ditches fifty yards long full of, all jumbled together in different combinations of disorder, could be put on paper in it sketch, it would give a feeble idea of the 'road' over which the guns, rockets, and forty rounds of ammunition were dragged, carried, or pushed with intense labour."
Twice the force was ambushed by Malays behind felled trees, but each time the ambushers were driven off, the rocket tubes roving especially effective. After an uncomfortable night in the jungle they reached Kinta. There was some token cannon fire, swiftly silenced by artillery and rockets, and the British entered Kinta without casualty, pointedly taking over the best houses as their quarters.

Aftermath

Sultan Ismail fled again up stream, aiming for the state of Patani, under Siamese not British, protection. He was captured in March after surrendering to the Rajah of Quedah and was exiled to the Seychelles. Dato Maharajalela was found guilty for the murder of James Birch in December 1876 and was sentenced to death by hanging.

By April 1877, Whiting and the Buffs were on their way back to their base at Calcutta having lost eight comrades as casualties (Lt. Colvill, Col. Sergt. Julian, Corpl. Clune, and Privates Neal, King, Killingbeck, Hobbs and Watson). Reportedly, they were very glad to be leaving, the hot humid climate being regarded as unhealthy, with many more men sick in the local hospital. Apparently, the Gurkhas from the highlands of Nepal hated it even more, and were even more desperate to get away.

This was not to be Bob Whiting's last active service with the Buffs, far from it, but more of that another time.

 The Buffs Regimental Ball in Calcutta 1876 - probably not for private Whiting.

"Fortress Maidstone" 1939-41

The shortest invasion route from Europe to Britain is from Calais to Dover. The primary invasion target for any invasion is London. Slap bang between Dover and London, and controlling one of the main crossing points of the River Medway is Maidstone.

 The Eastern road block on Maidstone bridge.

When England was threatened with invasion in 1940 a rather optimistically named "stop line" was set up from Sussex to Kent - the GHQ line. In fact the GHQ was never intended to "stop" anything, it was supposed to delay and disorganise any invader so a counterattack could be prepared. In this part of Kent it followed the River Medway, a natural barrier, and along it's length were concrete type 24 pill boxes for infantry squads. Bridges were covered by larger anti-tank emplacements and wired for demolition.

Within this scheme Maidstone was a Category 'A' "Fortress". Don't imagine Stalingrad or Tobruk, it's garrison in the event of an invasion was principally the 11th (Maidstone) Battalion of the Kent Home Guard, supplemented with a few Regulars, giving a grand total of 985 men with twenty-four Boys anti-tank rifles, two Bren light machine guns, and five Northover Projectors. And reportedly one Lewis gun, which they had "acquired". In the event of an actual attack they would be presumably be reinforced by advance forces falling back, which in front of Maidstone meant the New Zealand 5th and 7th Brigades and "Milforce" armed with Matilda I and II tanks.

The Medway crossings at Teston and Aylesford were "defended localities", with an anti-tank pill box at Teston. The lock at Allington castle received special attention, with several pill boxes and a type 28A anti-tank gun emplacement with a 6pdr gun defending the lock itself , as well as the medieval castle! Behind this, the villages of Larkfield and West Malling were "defended villages". West Malling was a special case, having an RAF airfield (the former Madstone airport) which would have been of great value to the attackers.

Distribution of crossings over the Medway, marked in red. Dover and the coast is broadly to the East, London to the West, the Thames estuary to the north. Note that Maidstone, and especially Larkfield, are much bigger now than in 1940.

Maidstone

As a "fortress" Maidstone did not even have a medieval wall. But anyway, an outer perimeter was established of roughly the streets west of Bower Mount road up to Oakwod park, the streets north of Buckland Hill, then following the railway line down to the river. On the east of the river the perimeter was more northerly, extending east before curving down to cross the Sittingbourne and Ashford Roads. To the South the perimeter swung down from the A20 to the river and then down to the streets below Shears crescent, over Loose road, and then around Hastings road in the direction of Mote Park before swinging up to the Ashford road.

 Some of Maidstone's defences marked on a modern map. The coast is to the left, London to the right, and the River Medway running north-south, marked in blue. Roadblocks are marked as black rectangles, a flame trap in red (the roadblock on the Chatham Road is above this map. Potential strongpoints are marked as purple rectangles, 1 (Maidstone prison), 2 (Rootes car factory) and 3 (the Archbishops Palace).

Within this outer perimeter was a "Keep" entirely on the Eastern side of the river, and protecting the bridge. This was therefore hard against the Medway, stretching up to the prison to the north, Church street in the east across the Ashford road and down to Moat road in the south, and along Knightrider Street to the river, with strongpoints at the prison in the north and the church, Archbishops Palace and even the Rootes car factory to the south. This gives a battleground of mainly terraced housing around the outside, with a mixture of new shops and factories, and historic buildings in the centre. Unfortunately it was cut right through the middle East West by King Street and the High Street leading straight down to the bridge.

The area was dotted with road blocks which would have been also ambush sites, and in two cases barrel flame traps. Entering Maidstone from the East there was a road block on the Ashford road where it joined New Cut Road, though this would appear to be easily flanked by the railway cutting to the south. To the north east there was a roadblock at the junction of the Sittingbourne Road (A249) and Bearsted Road by the Chiltern Hundreds pub.

To the north, where the Chatham Road (A229) joined the Forstal Road near the Running Horse pub was both a roadblock and a barrel flame trap, whilst to the south on Loose Road (A229)  there was a roadblock at the  junction with the Sutton Road (A274) at the Wheatsheaf pub, and then further into the centre a barrel flame trap at the junction with Planis Avenue. It is noticeable incidentally how many of these roadblocks were by pubs.

 The road block and flame trap on the Chatham Road.

Anyway, assuming an invader had broken through the Keep and reached the bridge, he would still have to fight his way across it. There were 5 large concrete anti-tank cylinders blocking the eastern end, and a further four at the west end. The parapet at the eastern end was removed, presumably so that any invader would have to cross open ground across the bridge.

Kiwis and Matildas

The 5th and 7th Infantry New Zealand Brigades were unusually well equipped for the time, not least because of some strong negotiating by the New Zealand government. By 15th August 1940 General Freyburg the NZ commander could report that "more equipment has arrived and we have now got 50 per cent of our unit transport, together with 100 per cent of our field guns—eight 25-pounder guns and sixteen 75-millimetre (French) guns, 50 per cent or ten 2-pounder anti-tank guns, 100 per cent of our Bren carriers, 100 per cent of our Bren guns, 100 per cent of our Boys rifles. From today we are to all intents and purposes almost 100 per cent equipped."

A New Zealand anti-tank battery practicing on the range at Lydd, March 1940

Having said that, of the three formations involved, two were basically cobbled together
a) 5th Infantry Brigade
More or less as intended, with the 21st, 22nd and 23rd Battalions of the New Zealand army
b) 7th Infantry Brigade
There was originally no 7th Brigade. It was formed of the 28th (Maori) Battalion and various other bits and pieces. Fortunately, later experiance showed the 28th was an exceptionally good battalion.

 A Matilda II tank and crew on exercise in Kent, 1941 (Imperial War Museum)

 c) "Milforce"
Basically a combination of various New Zealand divisional units and the 8th Royal Tank Regiment, under Lt.Col. Custance, the commanding officer of the 8th RTR.
So,
5th Field Regiment, NZA,
7th Anti-Tank Regiment, NZA (31st, 32nd Batteries),
7th Field Company, NZE, C Squadron, 2nd New Zealand Divisional Cavalry,
157th Anti-Aircraft Battery, RA
8th Royal Tank Regiment, one company of Matilda II tanks, and 2 companies of Matilda Is

The plan called for Milforce to be stationed at Charing near Ashford. The 5th Brigade was staioned "east of Maidstone" and in the event of an invasion it would travel along the A20 to Charing to link up with Milforce, before they both swung south or east or north to face the greatest invasion threat. The 7th Brigade had the specific task of providing AA cover from the North Downs as the 5th passed along the A20 (which rather assumed that there would be no effective RAF by this stage) and then it was responsible for neutralising any parachute or glider landings in the area.

Conditions in reality

The invasion preparations above are, of course, based on a "What If" that never occured. The reality was bad enough, as shown by this letter from a Maidstone resident to her firend in Australia, published in the Horsham Times on Friday 3rd January 1941.

 A Bofors anti-aircraft gun set up (presumeably temporarily) on Maidstone bridge.

WAR CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND
A Maidstone Resident's Impressions In writing from Maidstone, Kent, Enigland, the sister of Mr.C. Waldoin, of Douglas, on October 14 says
'What endless extra jobs this war has given us. The blacking out is a real trouble unless can get plywood and make shutters, which we were too late to get but managed to get wood for frames to fit inside the windows, covering one side with brown paper and casement curtain the other side. We use it by day in case of the glass being splintered. I have: been fortunate so far. Most of the houses in this street have had broken windows, but we don't. We are just having our 214th air raid warning. This is the record for the 7th day of October, 5.35 until 6.35, a.m. 7.15 to 8.5, 9.40 to 11.20, 12:55 to 2:40 3.50 to 5.15, 8 to 12 midnight. October 8th, 4 am to 7, 8:35 to 12.20 pm., 7:40 p.m. to 5 am. We are not house proud after days like this. We sleep when we can and eat when we can.

For a month we have had to sleep downstairs. I do hope you will take a pinch of salt with all you hear of what is going on. I think it's worse to be at a distance and hear about things than it is to be where it is going on. (Later, October: 20th). We are just having our 227th raid. I wish you could see the wonderful tracing in the sky after an air battle.

 Life goes on - Maidstone Market in 1944

References

The excellent Defence of Britain site at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/dob/ gives lots of fascinating details on this subject.

Another valuable source of information is the digitalised newspaper archive at Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/). This deals with Australian newspapers, but these often reported on world events, and the site is free! There are also photos and other digitised material.

Nolan, of the Charge, in Maidstone

If you are ever in want of a read with a mid-Victorian flavour, you could do worse than A Soldier of Three Queens by Robert Henderson, published in 1866. Henderson not only writes well and vividly, he had had an exciting life including both the Carlist wars in Spain and the Crimean, as well as various scrapes with card sharps and a spell in a Spanish prison. During this time he had met and married a spirited vivandiere named Jeanette, who had helped him escape the prison by getting the warders drunk. His memoirs are available free online at google books or archive.org.

Here we only have space for two excerpts, Hendersons impression of Maidstone barracks, then a centre for teaching riding to the British army, and his meeting there of the famous Captain (then Lieutenant) Louis Nolan, of the Charge of the Light Brigade.. Although the time isn't defined in the book, it is sometime between 1841 and 1848.

Maidstone Barracks

Maidstone in the 1840s was the main riding school for the Army´s cavalry regiments, and according to Henderson it was far from up to the task. As been said by many others, the long peace between Waterloo and the Crimean tended to fossilise the Army, so that appearance was much more important than military effectiveness.

Maidstone in the 1840s

"During my service at Maidstone I was led into much reflection upon the fitness of the place for the purposes it was designed for, both as regarded its being a nursery

The first thing that struck me was the extreme poverty of design in the whole arrangement, and its utter inefficiency as a cavalry depot for the whole British army. That, in making this sweeping assertion, I may not appear presumptuous, I will give my reasons for what I say, and leave it to men well skilled in such matters to say whether my assertion is proved. Assuming Maidstone to be a place in which the recruit was to be trained for his after-career in India as a cavalry soldier, let us see what was the course adopted; and the means at hand to fit him for his future career.
In the first place, the barracks were so small that men were crowded (packed would more correctly express the stowing away of the luckless dwellers in Maidstone barracks) so closely that I have seen them sleeping on the tables used for dining, or in the coal-boxes. I once had the temerity to say that this school was not big enough to " swing a cat in;" for which I was severely rebuked by a Maidstone veteran, who had been born in the barracks and had passed his life there, hy the reply, "Sir, it was not built to swing a cat in."

When I first went to Maidstone there were no less than five depots there—viz., the 3rd, 4th, and 13th Light Dragoons, 15th Hussars, and 16th Lancers; besides about forty non-commissioned officers and men of the riding establishment. These latter brought their own horses with them. There were two men from every cavalry regiment in the service, household brigade included. Taking the year round, the men of the cavalry depot I should say, averaged four hundred. To instruct these four hundred recruits in riding there were forty horses. But whether a man rode every day, or never crossed a horse until he joined his regiment, was in a great measure dependent upon himself. Assuredly there was, for a very long time after I joined, no method or arrangement in the matter. A smart lad eager to ride could get two and three hours riding a day, if he pushed himself forward; but this was at the expense of many others, less resolute, who never rode at all, and indeed were even ignorant of the way in which to take to pieces that very complicated article a Light Dragoon saddle, and put it together again.

The paucity of horses also rendered it impossible to instruct one-half the recruits in their stable duties. The consequence of recruits not being properly instructed in riding drill and stable duty may be easily calculated by those who know anything of India. The recruit, on his arrival at his regiment, would have a vastly increased amount of physical exertion to undergo, in a climate which renders such over-exertion highly dangerous, particularly to newcomers, or, as they are called in India, "Griffins." He would have to ride for a long time without stirrups, to acquire a seat —would become over-heated and overfatigued. After drill he would, most likely, take off his heavy regimental clothing, put on a pair of light cotton trousers and a light shirt, and sit down on the cold stones in the verandah to cool himself. In a short time you miss him at riding drill, and byand-by hear he has been invalided. In due course he gets back to Maidstone, stops there a few months, and returns to his regiment, to be again invalided. I have known men to go back and forward thus three times in less than five years.
The greatest source of annoyance to me was the bad ventilation and overcrowding of the barrack-rooms, three or four-and twenty — sometimes more — men being crowded into rooms not large enough for half the number. I was always thankful for the reveille and when it was my turn for guard, as the oak floor of the guard-room was infinitely preferable to the close and noisome troop-room.

As to the duties I had to perform, I had nothing to learn. I kept myself very quiet, and watched what was going on. Taking a lesson from what the commandant said to me when I first joined, I especially avoided saying anything about Spain or Portugal. I soon perceived that to burnish a swordscabbard until one could see to shave in it was thought more of at Maidstone than dexterity in the use of the sword itself—to be regular and steady, quiet and orderly, more likely to forward me than the knowledge of the way to manoeuvre a regiment of cavalry in the field. Above all, it was of vital importance never to express a want of belief in the Maidstone faith as regarded riding—which was, that no man who had not been taught at Maidstone to ride, was fit to be trusted alone on the outside of a horse—and that the alpha and omega of equitation was the little riding-school which then stood in Upper Barrack Yard."

Louis Nolan

  Louis Edward Nolan is best known today as the messenger who started the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in 1856. As an ADC,  Nolan was responsible for delivering the order that sent the Light Brigade, about 600 troopers not to attack a target on their left, as intended, but an artillery redoubt straight ahead of then, down a valley lined with Russian guns firing canister and shell at short range, and into another battery backed by cossacks. As Tennyson famously put it....

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.

The Light Brigade were annihilated. Who was responsible - Raglan,the British commander, Airey who drafted the order, Nolan who delivered it, or Cardigan who commanded the division, is still debated, though Henderson's recollections below add an intriguing twist. Nolan was killed in the charge and so not available to give his version

Nolan, had already made a name for himself in army circles before Balaclava. He started his military career in the Austrian army, the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm III. König von Preussen 10. Husaren-Regiment, serving with them for 6 years before joining the British army. Possibly, a shared experience for foreign armies made a bond between him and Henderson. From 1840 to 1849 Nolan served with the 15th Hussars in both India and their home depot at Maidstone, where he was made riding instructor to the regiment. In fact he published on this subject, The Training of Cavalry Remount Horses: A New System, 1852.

Nolan was also something of a military theorist, touring Europe to see the training of cavalry in various armies before returning to Maidstone and publishing his next book, Cavalry: Its History and Tactics,in 1853.

Here are Henderson's recollections, from Maidstone in the 1840s...

"The only noteworthy incident that occurred to vary the gloomy monotony of my Maidstone life was the advent to the riding establishment of Captain (then lieutenant) Nolan, afterwards so well-known in connection with the Balaklava charge. In a long and varied experience of men and things, I have never seen a gentleman whose thoroughly amiable temper, kindness of disposition, and really fascinating manner so completely won upon everybody he came in contact with as Captain Nolan. He was a thorough soldier, as well as a finished gentleman.

As regarded horsemanship, he was a perfect enthusiast. There are many who soldier to live. Captain Nolan was a man who lived only to soldier. He had been in the Austrian service; and, like most Continental officers, his manner to those in the ranks, while it forbade the slightest approach to presumption, was so kind and winning that he was beloved by every one. He was a maiirt d'armes of a very good school; and, as there was nobody else of any grade in the place who could fence, I enjoyed the great privilege (for such I considered it) of an occasional bout with Captain Nolan.

On these occasions I had opportunities of conversing with this gentleman which could not otherwise have occurred; and 1 well remember how often I have heard him express his conviction that cavalry could accomplish almost anything, where it had fair scope to act.

I remember even, strange as it may appear, that, in putting a case hypothetically of cavalry charging artillery in a plain, Captain Nolan drew with a piece of chalk on the wall of the quarter-master's store, in Maidstone barracks, a rough sketch which, as nearly as possible, represented the relative positions of the Russian artillery and the British light cavalry brigade, at the battle of Balaklava; the only thing he was not quite right in was the result. He assumed in such a case, the certain capture of the guns. His glorious death at Balaklava prevented his being undeceived in this world."

Hanoverian Standoff - the Maidstone affair of 1756

On Monday 13th September 1756 a German soldier walked into a shop in Maidstone, Kent, to buy some handkerchiefs. What happened next helped bring down a government and led to a big change in military policy.

Britain was at war, and it was not going well. Since 1754 Britain had been fighting a losing war against the French in North America, and now this had spread to Europe, to become the Seven Years war. Defeats in Ohio and the loss of Menorca in the Mediterranean had raised well founded fears of a French invasion, but most of England's regular forces were abroad.

To make up the short fall the government hired troops from Germany, or rather the German states of Hanover and Hesse. These were not technically mercenaries, which are hired individually, but auxiliaries hired as units from the rulers of the state. A huge 12,000 had been hired, and they arrived in May. They had to go somewhere, so a enormous camp was set up at Cox's heath (modern Coxheath), an area of open ground outside of Maidstone, presumably as it lay on the obvious invasion route from France. The disruption and anxiety this caused locally can be imagined, but draconian discipline ensured that the troops were well behaved and they were, for the most part, accepted. After all they had to buy their supplies, and handkerchiefs, somewhere.

Coxheath Camp 20 years later in 1778, this time with 15,000 Hanoverians

Trouble in the Haberdashers

Christophe Guilleme Schroder, who was from Hanover, entered the shop with his friend Winckler and asked to see some silk handkerchiefs. The owner, Christopher Harris showed some, which Schroder accepted, paid for and tried to leave. Unfortunately he had 8, but only paid for 6. This might have been a mistake, or as Harris claimed, Christophe might have slipped in another two when his back was turned. Now it´s not mentioned in the accounts, but Harris must have had some trouble with Germans, or soldiers, before, or maybe his gout was playing him up, because he immediately charged Schroder with theft and demanded he be taken to the local authorities. According to the Hanoverian account he used "offensive language". Well, a crowd had gathered by now, and Schroder was taken in front of the mayor of Maidstone, called, slightly suspiciously, John Harris. Schroder was charged with common felony, and committed to jail to wait the next quarter sessions, or trial date. Most commentators at the time considered that he got off lightly, although Maidstone prison was condemmed around 1800 for it's terrible conditions even by the standards of the day, so not the pleasantest of places.

The commander of the Hanoverian troops in Maidstone was Georg Ludwig, Graf von Kielmansegg, and he wasn't accustomed to having civilians telling him what to do. Next day, he went to the mayor and demanded that Schroder be released to him, claiming that he was under Hanoverian, not English jurisdiction. The major refused, at which point Kielmansegg threatened to march troops into town and get him. This where the affair starts getting serious. News of the threat spread all over the country, but especially in Kent where they suddenly became aware that there were 12,000 foreign troops in their midst with very little to stop them. Many comparisons were made with Hengist and Horsa, Saxon auxiliaries of the Roman-British who had rebelled and set up their own kingdom in Kent - the alliteration with Hanover and Hesse helping no end in this regard. Plays on the words "outside the law" and "outlaws" were also quite tempting.

A contemporay cartoon of the event. Hanoverians, with handkerchiefs, kept out of the pub by stout Kentish men. The Hanoverians, being outside English law, are "outlaws".

Nonetheless, Mayor Harris still refused to release Schroder so Kielmansegg went up a level, to the government in Whitehall. Unfortunately, most senior ministers were away so it fell to a junior minister, the Earl of Holderness, to make a decision. He did, ordering the mayor to release Schroder at once, which he reluctantly did. Harris could have let the matter drop, but his revenge was to write again to Whitehall demanding "clarification" of the jurisdiction of town and Hanoverians. This forced the entry of the Attorney General and other senior figures, and bought the whole thing much more into the public domain.

Holderness's Problems

Earl of Holderness

Holderness found himself in the middle of a political firestorm, various controversies converging on him at once. They can perhaps be summarised as follows

a) A military officer had threatened the mayor of an English country town, and Holderness had supported the army. This did not go down well. Soldiers were regarded at this time with ambivalence, necessary but dangerous and frankly, almost criminal. Britain spent a fortune on her fleets, but the army was kept as small as possible. They were also regarded a potential threat to liberty, and the Maidstone affair" played right into this prejudice.
b) The military officer was foreign.
c) Not only foreign, but Hanoverian. George II was also King of Hanover, and was widely rumoured to prefer his homeland, not least because there he was an absolute monarch. The Jacobite rebellion was only 11 years earlier, and although there was little enthusiasm for a Stuart revival in England, there wasn´t a great deal of popularity for the Hanoverians either. There was always the suspicion that English interests would be second to Hanoverian ones, which the Schroder affair rather suggested. Holderness himself was generally held to owe his position to royal patronage rather than any particular talent, so it was especially unfortunate that he was the one handed this hot potato.
d) The government of which Holderness was a part, lead by the Duke of Newcastle, was already unpopular due to the debacle at Menorca, and was unlucky enough to face a talented political operator in the form of William Pitt who knew a good stick to beat the government when he saw one.

There were of course counter arguments. It made sense for a threatened, rich, country with a small army to hire troops elsewhere, and no one claimed the Germans were anything but good troops. Being Hanoverian might make them more loyal to England, not less - after all they shared the same king. In fact, of 12,000 troops the only claim laid against them was stealing some handkerchiefs, and thats debatable. In contrast, an officer of Foot, John Lauder, had been executed in Maidstone in August for killing a pot boy, William Forster, with his sword "in the heat of passion and liquor".

Aftermath

The country was not in the mood to listen to the Hanoverian side. Kielmansegg was sacrificed and sent back to Hanover, but it wasn't enough and by December Newcastle was out and Pitt was in charge. The King refused initially to sack Holderness, but he soon went too. At the end of November, 4 battalions of Hanoverians marched to Chatham and embarked for Germany, the transports returning for another 3 battalions. They had, incidentally, been camped on Cox's Heath all this time "notwithstanding the severity of the weather".

The incoming government started a process of forming a citizens militia, which was felt to more patriotic. Men would be trained, but continue their normal professions - lack of military training was held to be balanced by fervour in defending their homes and families. Of course Germans were still hired, in both the American Revolution and the wars against Napoleon, but home defence was to rely on English forces.

I would like to tell you what became of Schroder, but I cannot, it is not known. A local paper, the Kentish Post, reported that he was lashed repeatedly, and then thrown out of the army, but another reorted that he couldn't be tried, as Harris refused to testify in front of a foreign court. Let's imagine he returned home, married a beautiful Fraulein and set up shop back in Hanover. Selling handkerchiefs.

A more detailed description of the Maidstone affair, especially the political implications, can be found in an article by M McCormack - Citizenship, nationhood, and masculinity in the affair of the Hanoverian soldier, 1756. The Historical Journal, 2006 - Cambridge Univ Press
The rest comes from various contempory documents