The Emotive Great War Hooge Officer’s posthumously Mentioned in Despatches casualty group awarded to Lieutenant R.W. Homan, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment who saw service on the Western Front on 7th September 1914 and would be wounded on 25th October 1914 being shot n thigh by a sniper at Radinghem, near Fauquembergues. Having recovered, he would return to France in May 1915 and would be mortally wounded on 10th August 1915 during the retaking of trenches at Hooge and died the next day at the Clearing Station at Abeele on 11th August 1915 being buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. He would subsequently be Mentioned in Despatches in the London Gazette of 30th November 1915, his Major writing ‘A few hours before he was hit I saw and told him that the Colonel Commanding the York and Lancaster Regiment had witnessed a very heavy shell-fire I told him that I would give an account of his action to the Brigadier for subsequent reward.’. General Nicholson also himself noted his uniformly good work, and I can only say that no better or more gallant soldier ever lived than your son. He possessed a large heart, and his large personality, he was 6ft 6 in and inspired us all. There is not a man in the Regiment who did not love him, nor one would not follow where he led. His influence was extra-ordinary, and his energy and zeal were unflagging. I have lost not only one of my best Officers, but one of my best friends. He was straight as a die and as true as tell. We shall always keep his memory green.’. From Tunbridge Wells, he attended Rugby School and Sandhurst.
Group of 4: 1914 Star and bar; (LIEUT. R.W. HOMAN. E. KENT. R.) British War Medal and Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches oak leaf; (CAPT. R.W. HOMAN.) Great War Memorial Plaque; (RALPH WILLIAM HOMAN). All housed in fitted glazed frame with a stand on the reverse.
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
Ralph William Homan was the only son of Ralph and Amy Arnold Homan of Hadley, Tunbridge Wells. He entered the School in 1906. He was in the XV in 1909, and won the high jump in 1910, as he did later at the R.M.A. Woolwich, whither he went as a Sandhurst Cadet in 1910. He was gazetted to the 1st Battalion of The Buffs in October, 1911, obtained his promotion in February 1913, becoming a Temporary Captain in February 1915.
He left for France on 7th September 1914, and was wounded, being shot in the thigh by a sniper at Radinghem, near Fauquembergues, on October 25th. On recovery he joined the Reserve Battalion at Dover in February 1915, and returned to the Front in May. He was mortally wounded on August 10th after retaking of trenches at Hooge, and died the next day at the Clearing Station at Abeele on August 11th 1915, subsequently being buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinghe, being noted as the son of Ralph and Amy A. Homan of Hadley, Tunbridge Wells.
Homan was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches on 30th November 1915. His major wrote: ‘A few hours before he was hit I saw and told him that the Colonel Commanding the York and Lancaster Regiment had witnessed a very heavy shell-fire. I told him that I would give an account of his action to the Brigadier for subsequent reward.
‘General Nicholson also himself noted his uniformly good work, and I can only say that no better of more gallant soldier ever lived than your son. He possessed a large heart, and his large personality’ he was 6ft 6in. ‘inspired us all. There is not a man in the Regiment who did not love him, nor one who would not follow where he led. His influence was extra-ordinary, and his energy and zeal were unflagging. I have lost not only one of my best Officers, but one of my best friends. He was straight as a die and as true as stell. We shall always keep his memory green.’
A Private, writing to a friend, said: ‘He was a very brave chap, what the boys call a ‘Trump’
An account by F.C. Hitchcock covers what he found after reaching the trenches:
‘At 7pm we marched off for Hooge in battle order, each man carried sand bags, and a pick or shovel. We got to the front line at Hooge after a rough journey under shell-fire, over dead men and round countless shell holes. At 11pm, we had taken over the line, when the Huns attacked our left flank, which was exposed. By the light of the moon and the glow from the green-white star-shells one could make out the course of the trenches of both sides, and could just distinguish the serpentine course of the German lines running along the near side of the Bellewaarde or Chateau Wood, only fifty yards away. The leafless trees stood out in the shattered forms, and behind them was the lake reflecting the moonlight.
D Company connected with the 1st Royal Fusiliers, who held the line running through the Zouave Wood. My left flank was in the air, a barricade only separating us from the Germans. We actually shared our front line with the enemy!’ How this strange fact came about was as follows; The continuation of our front line running up the Bellewaarde ridge which had been captured by the 16th Brigade on the 9th had to be abandoned the same evening, as the trench was untenable owing to the enfilade fire which caused terrible havoc to the troops holding it. This enfilade fire came from the German positions on the high ground, on the extreme left flank at Bellewaarde Farm.
The place reeked with the smell of decomposed bodies. They lay about in hundreds, on top of the parapets, in our trenches, in No-Mans Land and behind the parados. The British dead mostly belong to the 2nd York and Lancs, and the 2nd DLI. The dug outs were full of dead Germans, those that were not, tow only, were strengthened for occupation. While we were working bullets spat viciously all round, and we had several casualties.’
Philip Gibbs writes:
‘The men deployed before dawn broke, waiting for the preliminary bombardment which would smash a way for them. The officers struck matches now and then to glance at their wrist-watches, set very carefully to those of the gunners. Then our artillery burst forth with an enormous violence of shell-fire, so that the night was shattered with the turmult of it. Guns of every calibre mingled their explosions, and the long screech of the shells rushed through the air as though thousands of engines were chasing each other madly through a vast junction in that black vault.
The men listened and waited. As soon as the guns lengthened their fuses the infantry advance would begin. Their nerves were getting jangled. It was just the torture of human animals. There was an indrawing of breath when suddenly the enemy began to fire rockets, sending up flares which made white waves of light. If they were seen, there would be a shambles.
The company officers blew their whistles and there was a sudden clatter from trench-spades slung to rifle-barrels, and from men girdled with hand-grenades, as the advancing companies deployed and made their first rush forward. The ground had been churned up by our shells and the trenches had been battered into shapelessness strewn with broke n wire and heaps of loose stones and fragments of steel.
It seemed impossible that any Germans should be left alive in this quagmire, but there was still a rattle of machine-guns from holes and hillocks. Not for long. The bombing-parties searched, and found them, and silenced them. From the heaps of earth which had once been trenches, German soldiers rose and staggered in a dazed, drunken way, stupefied by the bombardment beneath which they had crouched.
The men went on in short rushes. They were across the Menin Road now, and were first to the crater, though other troops were advancing quickly from the left. They went down into the crater, shouting hoarsely, and hurling bombs at Germans, who were caught like rates in a trap, and scurried up the steep sides beyond, firing before rolling down again, until at least two hundred bodies lay at the bottom of this pit of hell.
While some of the men dug themselves into the crater or held the dug-outs already made by the enemy, others climbed up to the ridge beyond, and with a final rush, almost winded and spent, reached the extreme limit of their line of assault and achieved the task which had been set them. They were mad now, not human in their sense. They saw red through bloodshot eyes. They were beasts of prey.
Round the stable themselves, three hundred Germans were bayoneted, until not a single enemy lived on this ground, and the light of day on 9th August revealed a bloody and terrible scene. ‘
The Tunbridge Wells advertiser of Friday 20th August 1915 confirmed Homan’s death from wounds and published the following article:
‘Captain Ralph William Homan, of the 1st Buffs, who died in No.10 Casualty Clearing Station at Abeele, on August 12th , from the effects of serious wounds received in the battle near Hooge on the preceeding day, was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Homan, Hadley, Culverdown Down. Born in August 1892, he had only just reached his 23rd year, and the loss of an officer so young and full of promise has been deeply felt, both by the officers and men of his regiment and the many friends he had attracted to him through life.
He was educated at Bilton Grange and Rugby School (Mr. Wilson’s House), where he was in the School XV, and on two occasions won the high jump. At Woolwich, where he went as one of the Sandhurst cadets, he again won the high jump.
He received his commission in September 1911, and was gazetted Lieutenant in February 1913. In the early stages of the present war he was with the British Expeditionary Force in Flanders, where he was severely wounded in the thigh last October . After being invalided for four months, he was passed for home duties in February and was with the Reserve Battalion at Dover until May 26th, when he again went to the Front. He had then been gazetted Captain, dating from February 25th.
Lieut-Colonel Edward Finch-Hatton, of the 1st Buffs, in a letter expressing the great sorrow of the regiment at his loss, states that only just before he was hit he had been able to tell him that Colonel Clemson of the Yorks and Lancas had witnessed a very gallant action on his part, which he intended to report to the Brigadier for subsequent recognition. This letter concludes ‘His great heat and his large personality inspired us all.’ To those who did not know him, it may be explained, in view of this last expression, that Capt. Homan was one of the tallest officers in the British Army, standing 6ft 6ins in his socks.
His good nature to all, and cheerfulness in all situations were in more than proportion even to his size. Some extra touch of tragedy is added to his loss by the fact that before rejoining at Dover he had become engaged to the younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hay of Shandon Court. May it be added that this little biography has been written by one who has had the pleasure of knowing him from a young boy, and who, in signing his recommendation papers for Sandhurst, was inspired to give a hope of his future, which has been so amply, though in so brief a time fulfilled.
He was a popular member of the Ashdown Forest Golf Club, and was beloved by all who knew him.
Captain Homan was in command of the regimental bayonet fighting team, and was very enthusiastic in instructing his men in this branch of the service, the men responding with alacrity, and showing marked efficiency.
The sympathy of a large circle of friends will go out to Mr. and Mrs. Homan in the loss of their gallant son.
