HOW LORD KITCHENER GOT HIS SOBRIQUET
May 2, 2000
Page 11
I
would like to make a contribution on the life and work of the local Lord Kitchener,
how he got or chose his sobriquet and summarise some relevant data on the
man, the original Lord Kitchener, his life, his works and even his exploits.
I
knew the local Lord Kitchener quite well.
We were young men in the east, he in Arima and I in Arouca. As a matter of fact and interest he lived in
Arouca, off Waterloo Road, for a while in his early years. There was always keen rivalry in sports and
literature among the schools and movement between our two towns. Many of us became friends.
I
was a member of a steelband named “Back to Batan” under the inimitable
Anthony (Hing King) Look Loy operating from Waterloo Road, Arouca, which was
well encouraged and supported by the Look Loy family and generally the entire
surrounding community. There were three
other bands operating in the wider Arouca area. Tombstone on Lopinot Road and Pittsburg on Victoria
Street not far from Waterloo Road. The
other band operated from Five Rivers / Anguilla, Arouca. Back to Batan was later changed to “Wake
Island” steelband.
There
are a few things about Lord Kitchener I remember quite well. He was fascinated with bees, was an adherent
of the emerging steelband movement, enjoyed music and, like myself, loved and
read history extensively, in addition to this usual presence at horse racing on
the old Arima Savannah. We also had
common birth month and horoscope.
In
most of our encounters, greetings and / or inquiry about himself, his response
would usually be “busy like a bee”. On
one occasion when I was playing smart with foolishness, his refrain was
“behive”. I thought he had said behave
but he followed with “ah bet ah put me bees on you”. We also had a standing joke on bees, to put a long story short –
a man inadvertently ventured into a habitation of bees, was thoroughly stung,
devastated and disoriented and ran for his life. Trying to get something to cool himself he ran into a nearby
parlour for something to drink and enquired what they had to drink. The clerk simply replied “mauby”. He took off again bawling out “not me with
more bee”. To hear Kitch relate this
joke in stutters was a joke in itself.
When he did not want someone in his presence he would simply tell you
“your absence is required”. The above
was more or less the lighter side.
How
he assumed the sobriquet “Lord Kitchener”.
During
or in relation to World War I (1914-1918) there was a calypso sung which came
back to light just before or early in World War II (1939-1945), a stanza of
which went like this:
Run you run, Kieser Wilhelm
why you run, (repeat)
Lord Kitchener say, cheer
boys cheer,
Cheer boys with all surety,
We go conquer Germany.
Or
words to the effect. Aldwyn Roberts was
still a teenager.
Kaiser
Wilhelm (1859-1941) was Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia. Prussia then comprised some nations along
the south coast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe.
The Lord Kitchener referred to in the song and the man our Kitchener emulated and no doubt admired was officially the Lord Kitchener of (1850-1916) Khartoum. He was given this title for having led British and Egyptian forces in recapturing the city Khartoum in September 1898 from the Khalifa’s forces. Khartoum was earlier in the early 1880s captured by forces of Muhammad Ahamad also called the “Mahdi”. Khartoum, located 15.33 degrees North Latitude and 32.50 degrees East Longitude was and is, the capital of Sudan, the largest nation on the African continent with a land area of 966,499 square miles. Mahdi is defined in the New Webster International Dictionary among others as “the guided and directed one” and has a revered Islamic Spiritual connotation.
Lord
Kitchener of Khartoum was born Horatio Hubert Kitchener in Ballylongford,
County Kerry, Ireland, in June 1850.
Strange but true not in England.
He received his military training in the Royal Military Academy and
commissioned in the Royal Army Engineers.
After other assignments he served with the Egyptian forces in the
1880s. He led the British and Egyptian
forces in the recapture of Khartoum in 1898.
He was all things to all men in Britain and beyond afterwards. He served as Chief of staff to Lord Roberts
in the South African Boers War (1899-1902) and succeeded him as
Commander-in-Chief. Incidentally, the
then young Winston Churchill (1874-1965) who was to become British Prime
Minister on two occasions served under his watch in the South African Boers
War. He was then sent to India to
reorganise the Indian Army. Lord Kitchener was then made a Viscount.
He
had assignments in Australia, New Zealand and Canada advising the British
Government on defence needs. He was
created a Field Marshall. Lord
Kitchener was British Council General in Egypt and became an Earl in 1914.
In
August 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War between Germany leading
the Axis powers and Great Britain leading the Allies Lord Kitchener was
appointed Secretary of State for War, with Cabinet membership. (It should be noted that the United States
did not enter World War II until April 1917 the year before its end).
It
is more than interesting to note that Woodbrook streets bear names of a number
of prominent military officers of Kitchener’s era like – Roberts Street,
Kitchener Street, McDonald Street and Baden-Powell Street.
One
of his famous speeches as Secretary of State for War was delivered at the
Guildhall in London in 1915 on “Britain’s Man Power” in which he disputed
Napoleon’s concept on the necessity for a successful war which Napoleon said
was “Money, money, money”. Lord
Kitchener however advanced that the requirements were “Men, material and money”
in his appeal to the British people for total support of and for the war
effort.
It
was advanced that Lord Kitchener had considerable influence in Russia and other
jurisdictions as he had in England and was on his way to Moscow on a secret
mission travelling on the British War Ship “HMS Hampshire” when he met his
destiny by enemy action in the sinking of the above mentioned battleship off
the coast of the Orkney islands approximately 59.0 degrees North Longitude on
June 5, 1916. It was generally felt
that had he reached Moscow the course of the Russian Revolution may have been
different or even avoided.
It
is well known that Marshall Ferdinand Foch led the Allies to victory in World
War I in November 1918 but is equally true that Lord Kitchener had set the pace
and plan of action by which victory could be accomplished.
I
should appreciate if you publish this document for the information of those who
may be interested.