The exceptional Honorary Chaplain to the King’s 1932 Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Great War Western Front Methodist Minister’s January 1918 Distinguished Service Order, January 1916 Military Cross, quadruple Mention in Despatches, and Italian Order of the Crown group awarded one of the two Reverend’s selected to the important task of choosing the body of the “Unknown Warrior” the body that to this day resides in Westminster Abbey. As awarded to The Reverend George Standing, C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., Chaplain to the Forces 1st Class, Royal Army Chaplain’s Department. A methodist minister from circa 1900 onwards, he officiated his ministry prior to the Great War in Chipping Norton in Gloucestershire, Ryde and Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, and Aldershot. It was in the latter, where ‘he served for six years with the Aldershot Mission from 1908-1914 and it was here that the pattern of his future life was set. He threw himself into the life of the Garrison and soon found that ‘he loved the British soldier and knew that this was his life. His pre-war experience paved the way for an outstanding military career which would establish him as the pre-eminent Army Chaplain of his time.’ With the Great War he was out on the Western Front from the Summer of 1915, where his work included visiting the sick in four hospitals and two prisons, and serving in and around the front line, when participating in both the Battle of the Somme and the Third Battle of Ypres. Seven decorations later his war came to an end. His most important and poignant role came in its immediate aftermath, when he, together with the Reverend G. Kendall, the senior chaplain to the 63rd Naval Division, was selected to return to France to oversee the selection of the body of the “Unknown Warrior”, that which lies to his day under the eternal flame in Westminster Abbey. On this he later commented: ‘When I have stood in Westminster Abbey and heard people say ‘oh, it is some General’s son’ I know how wrong they are, I know for certain that nobody knows the identity’. Thed other chaplain assigned to this duty would recall: ‘near Ypres, Arras, Cambrai on the Marine and in ‘two other salients’ a total of six shell torn and unrecognisable bodies of British soldiers were disinterred by an impartial commission of which he was a member. Placed in six coffins, all exactly alike, the unknown candidates for immortal, anonymous fame were stacked in a soldiers’ hut, draped with the Union Jack. To make cheating absolutely impossible, all concerned then retired to a distance. Lastly, a British officer of very high rank was blindfolded, led into the hut, which he had not previously entered. Groping about he finally touched one of the coffins, choosing the unknown.’ Standing was then accompanied by Cedric Hardwicke, the actor, who was an officer attached to the then Graves Registration Union, when he handed the coffin over to the French on the first stage of the journey to this country.’ It is mostly likely, but by no means certain, that it was for this final important task, that Standing received his upgraded appointment to be an Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy, awarded to him on 15 December 1921. Later the Honorary Chaplain to the King from 1930-1933, he carried out this duty for His Majesty King George V, and was appointed a Commander of the Military Division of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the King’s Birthday Honours List as published in June 1932. He returned to service during the Second World War as Secretary of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force Board of the Methodist Church.
Group of 7: The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Commander, C.B.E. 1st type neck badge, Military Division, in silver gilt and enamels, and housed in its Garrard & Co. ‘To The King’ fitted presentation case; Distinguished Service Order, GVR cypher, in silver gilt and enamels, complete with original top brooch bar, this modified for wearing on a mount; Military Cross, GVR cypher, unnamed as issued; 1914-1915 Star; (REV. G. STANDING. A.C.D.) British War Medal and Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches Oakleaf; (REV. G. STANDING.); Italy - Kingdom of: Order of the Crown, 4th Class, Officer grade in bronze-gilt and enamels, complete with the original rosette on the ribbon. Last six all mounted swing style as worn on their original ribbons, and housed in a fitted carrying case by Bartlett & Son of Aldershot.
Condition: usual light chipping to enamels on first and last conducive to wear, overall Good Very Fine.
Along with the following spectacular archive, in which most of the award documents and appointment warrants are pasted by the recipent into a single booklet:
Warrant of Appointment to be a Commander of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire, inscribed to: Óur Trusty and well beloved The Reverend George Standing Companion of Our Distinguished Service Order on whom has been conferred the Decoration of the Military Cross one of our Honorary Chaplains, Chaplain to the Forces 1st Class in Our Royal Army Chaplains Department´. Further inscribed toÑ ´Reverend George Standing, D.S.O., M.C., K.H.C.’ and dated for 2nd January 1933. This suitably inscribed with the original ink signature ´George RI´ for His Majesty King George V, and ´Édward P´ for Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII.
Warrant of Appointment to be a companion of the Distinguished Service Order, inscribed to: ‘Reverend George Standing M.C. Clerk in Holy Orders, Chaplain to our Forces’, and further inscribed to: ‘Rev. George Standing. M.C. Assistant Principal Chaplain and Temporary Chaplain to the Forces 1st Class. Army Chaplains Department’, dated 8th March 1918. This bearing the facsimile signature ´George RI´ for King George V, and that of ‘Derby’ for the Earl of Derby.
The original Statutes Book for appointment to the Distinguished Service Order.
First Mention in Despatches Award Certificate as issued through the Despatch of Field Marshal Sir John French, dated 30th November 1915, inscribed to: ‘Rev. G. Standing, T./C. to F. 4th Cl. Army Chaplains Department’. Bearing facsimile signature of Winston Churchill as Secretary of State for War.
Second Mention in Despatches Award Certificate as issued through the Despatch of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, dated 7th November 1917, inscribed to: ‘Rev. G. Standing, M.C. Asst. Principal Chaplain & T./Chaplain to the Forces, 1st Cl. Army Chaplains Dept.’ Bearing facsimile signature of Winston Churchill as Secretary of State for War.
Third Mention in Despatches Award Certificate as issued through the Despatch of General Sir H.C.O., Plumer, dated 18th April 1918, inscribed to: ‘Rev. G. Standing, D.S.O., M.C. T./C. to F., 1st Cl., Army Chap. Dept.’ Bearing facsimile signature of Winston Churchill as Secretary of State for War.
Fourth Mention in Despatches Award Certificate as issued through the Despatch of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, dated 16th March 1919, inscribed to: ‘Rev. G. Standing, D.S.O., M.C., Asst. Prin. Chap. & T/C. to F., 1st Cl. Royal Army Chaplains’ Department’. Bearing facsimile signature of Winston Churchill as Secretary of State for War.
Kingdom of Italy: King Victor Emmanuel III Warrant of Appointment to be a Knight (5th Class) of the Order of the Crown of Italy, inscribed in ink to: ‘Georg (Rev.) Standing, Ten. Colonnelle nell’ Esercito Britannico’, dated 20th April 1918.
Kingdom of Italy: King Victor Emmanuel III Warrant of Appointment to be a Officer (4th Class) of the Order of the Crown of Italy, inscribed in ink to: ‘Rev. George Standing, Cappellano nell’ Esercito Inglese’, dated 15th December 1921.
Warrant of Appointment to be a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces 4th Class in the Army Chaplains’ Department, issued in the name of ‘George Standing’ and dating from 1st October 1914. This as issued on 4th December 1914, and inscribed to: ‘The Rev. G. Standing’. This bearing the facsimile signature ´George RI´ for King George V.
Warrant of Appointment to be a Chaplain to the Forces 1st Class in the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, issued in the name of ‘G. Standing, D.S.O., M.C.’ and dating from 1st January 1921 This as issued on 11th February 1921, and inscribed to: ‘The Reverend G. Standing, D.S.O., M.C. Chaplain to the Forces, 1st Class. Land Forces’. This bearing the facsimile signature ´George RI´ for King George V.
George Standing’s personal copy of the book titled ‘Naval and Military Despatches relating to Operations in the War, Part V. (Published in the “London Gazette,” January to April, 1916.), with names of Officers and Men Mentioned, and awards of the Victoria Cross, as printed in London under the authority of His Majesty’s Stationery Office in 1916.
George Standing’s personal copy of the book titled ‘Naval and Military Despatches relating to Operations in the War, Part VI. (Published in the “London Gazette,” May to December, 1916.), with names of Officers and Men awarded the Victoria Cross, as printed in London under the authority of His Majesty’s Stationery Office in 1917.
George Standing’s personal copy of the book titled ‘Despatch, Dated 23rd December 1916, from General Sir Douglas Haig, G.C.B., relating to operations on the Western Front including the Battle of the Somme, as printed in London under the authority of His Majesty’s Stationery Office in 1917.
A card mounted original photograph detailing the funeral cortege and procession during General Plummer’s funeral, in which Standing is visible and marching at the far left in the front row of the escort to the coffin.
An original photograph of Standing in uniform and giving a speech during the opening of Havant Cottage Hospital, for which his mother, Emma, collected weekly for many years.
An original photograph of Standing sitting at his desk.
Three original newspapers cutting that have come from the estate of George Standing, these to include his obituary, titled: ‘George Standing Dies at 90’.
George Standing was born in 1875 in Havant, Hampshire, the son of George Richard Standing and Emma Jane Till. His father was a local Methodist preacher, and also ran a successful grocery business and was a Justice of the Peace. Educated at Bedhampton Sunday School where he was influenced by Reverend William Cuthbert to think of methodist ministry, he then went on to Hartley College in 1898. He preached at Chipping Norton in Gloucestershire from 1900, at Ryde and Ventnor on the Isle of Wight from 1902, at Bournemouth from 1904, at Reading from 1907, at Aldershot from 1908 and at Leicester from 1914.
Owing to the outbreak of the First World War, Standing was appointed as a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces 4th Class in the Army Chaplains’ Department from 1 October 1914, and was initially stationed at Aldershot. Before the war, he had served for six years with the Aldershot Mission from 1908-1914 and it was here that the pattern of his future life was set. He threw himself into the life of the Garrison and soon found that ‘he loved the British soldier and knew that this was his life. His pre-war experience paved the way for an outstanding military career which would establish him as the pre-eminent Army Chaplain of his time.’
Standing saw service out on the Western Front from the summer of 1915, where George Kendall one of the first Primitive Methodist Army Chaplains recalled: ‘It was a real joy to me to welcome one day the Reverend George Standing who arrived from home for duty in France. I entertained him in my billet until he received his orders. Padre Standing who afterwards was awarded the CBE, DSO and MC, became an Assistant Principal Chaplain and later the Deputy Chaplain General at the War Office. He little knew then that all those honours would come to him. He was a kind and friendly man and throughout my Army career proved of the utmost help and inspiration to me.’
His first work included visiting the sick in four hospitals and two prisons ‘few preaching services, but a simple ministry to men sick in body and sick in soul’. This was the calm before the storm. He writes that in a few days he hoped to meet up with Joseph Firth, and listen to the story of his terrible winter in the fighting line. It is only when you get here that you can appreciate the grit of the man who has endured such hardness as a good soldier. He has been home, but he has returned to the old place of danger and discomfort.
Standing’s initial period on the Western Front saw him serving in I Corps under awarded the first of his four awards of a Mention in Despatches for gallant and distinguished services, this first award being announced in the despatch of Field Marshal Sir John French, dated 30 November 1915. Shortly afterwards he was awarded a Military Cross for his distinguished service, this being announced in the London Gazette for 14 January 1916. He then fought through the Battle of the Somme, and received his second award of a Mentioned in Despatches, when it was published in the Despatch of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig on 7 November 1917.
For his further gallant and distinguished service, it was announced in the New Years Honours List as published in the London Gazette for 1 January 1918, that he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Shortly afterwards his third award of a Mention in Despatches was announced in rhetorical Despatch of General Sir H.C.O., Plumer on 18 April 1918, and indicating that his last two awards were given for his services during the Third Battle of Ypres, when General Plumer had command of the Second Army.
Standing was by then a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces 1st Class, the equivalent of a Lieutenant Colonel, and in this rank it was announced that he had been decorated by the King of Italy with the Order of the Crown of Italy, the 5th Class Knights Grade, awarded to him on 20 April 1918, it was published in the London Gazette on 12th September 1918. Standing’s last recognition of the Great War would come when received a fourth Mention in Despatches, this being announced in Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig’s despatch of 16 March 1919.
By the end of the war he had been appointed Assistant Principal Chaplain, and it was then that he received the most important and poignant appointment of all, when sent to France with one other senior chaplain, the Reverend G. Kendall, the senior chaplain to the 63rd Naval Division, and tasked with completing the secret procedure for the selection of the unknown warrior. One this he later commented: ‘When I have stood in Westminster Abbey and heard people say ‘oh, it is some General’s son’ I know how wrong they are, I know for certain that nobody knows the identity’
Accompanied by Cedric Hardwicke, the actor, who was an officer attached to the then Graves Registration Union, he handed the coffin over to the French on the first stage of the journey to this country.’
In June 1930, a scandal erupted around the Unknown Soldier, where it was spread that the War Office knew his identity. An article from ‘Times’ states that if ‘they’ know, then the Reverend G. Kendall knows. He was senior Chaplain of His Majesty’s 63rd Naval Division during the war. He brought Britain’s officially nameless hero home. ‘He is absolutely unknown’ said Mr. Kendall with some heat last week. To hard-boiled, suspicious news-hawks, the clergyman explained. He said that near Ypres, Arras, Cambrai on the Marine and in ‘two other salients’ a total of six shell torn and unrecognisable bodies of British soldiers were disinterred by an impartial commission of which he was a member. Placed in six coffins, all exactly alike, the unknown candidates for immortal, anonymous fame were stacked in a soldiers’ hut, draped with the Union Jack. To make cheating absolutely impossible, all concerned then retired to a distance. Lastly, a British officer of very high rank was blindfolded, led into the hut, which he had not previously entered. Groping about he finally touched one of the coffins, choosing the unknown. ‘
It is quite possibly for his work in this final important act, that he received his final wartime award, being awarded the 4th Class Officer Grade of the Order of the Crown of Italy on 15 December 1921.
After the war Standing returned to Aldershot but would later go to Chester as Assistant Chaplain General, Western Command and Northern Ireland. In January 1929 he was promoted to Deputy Chaplain General at the War Office, becoming Honorary Chaplain to the King between 1931 and 1933. It was for his services as the Honorary Chaplain to the King that Standing was appointed to be a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, this being anointed in the King’s Birthday Honours List as published in the London Gazette on 13 June 1932. He would subsequently retire from the Army in January 1933.
In 1937, following the death of the Reverend H. Peverley Dodd, he was called out of retirement to act as Secretary of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force Board of the Methodist Church.
Due to the outbreak of the Second World War ,what was expected to be a temporary appointment in fact lasted until the war was over. What a task it was, and he carried it alone until 1942 when the Reverend Joseph Firth joined him. Hundreds of Chaplains were taken into the Department and with rationing regulations supplies for six hundred church canteens came under his control. Such sleep as he could get was taken in the cellars under the Central Hall.
During those years he would show the tremendous organising power so characteristic of him, and all was cheerfully accomplished without even the thought that it was unusual.
His obituary after his death in 1966 continues:
‘But those who knew him will remember him, not for those things, but for what he was. Those nearer to his generation recall with gratitude his loyalty and helpfulness as a colleague and as pastor. Those who are younger remember the confidence they had in him and that entering his office was to meet a friend. He was always proud of being a Methodist preacher, and none of the honours which came upon him in any sense altered his relationship to his brethren.
He was always a keen student and wide reader, and out of his great experience he gave to those who needed him. Most of all he was truly a man of God. Simple in its best sense, human and understanding, with a bubbling sense of humour, sportsman, with a passion for friendship, it is not surprising that he won the sheer affection of those of us who knew him. Behind all those qualities, was the factor which made it, and unswerving faith and loyalty to his Lord.
It was not for nothing that someone once described Mr. Standing to the writer as ‘one of nature’s gentlemen.’ We may question whether nature was the source of it, but he was a great gentleman of God and we are grateful and proud that we knew him and were privileged to share his friendship.’
