The Fownes Family & HorsePower Museum
This month we welcomed relatives of John Henry Fenner Fownes and his wife, Eileen Isobel Fownes, to the museum. Whilst following up on their initial research enquiry we discovered that both S.S.M.R.R. Fownes and Eileen Fownes had quite the extensive history with the 10th Hussars,
We’ll start with Eileen Isobel Fownes, nee Allan, the daughter of Richard Allan. Richard Allan himself was an Army Schoolmaster for the 10th Hussars. He enlisted as an Army Schoolmaster in July 1875. He transferred to the 10th Hussars in August 1876, embarking with them to India in September. Allan would remain with the 10th until 7th January 1884, although he did not leave India until April 1891. His last posting, from 1898 to 1900, was with the Depot of The Royal Hampshire Regiment in Winchester.
Eileen was born on 11th April 1878 whilst her father was at Rawalpindi, in India. We know little about the rest of her life, although we can confirm she met S.S.M.R.R. Fownes in 1903. The pair were both on a boat bound for India, Eileen going over as an Army Schoolmistress, Fownes with the 10th Hussars. On 16th September that same year, in the Church of England, Mhow, Central India, Eileen and John Fownes were married. From the 10th Hussars’ Regimental Journals, we know that Eileen remained as the Regiment’s Schoolmistress until 1913, when she transferred to Lucknow. It would appear that she continued on in the same role, for which she was awarded the British War Medal for her service, still in India, throughout the First World War. Eileen likely retired sometime shortly after 1923, with a career as an Army Schoolmistress spanning over twenty years.
John Henry Fenner Fownes’ (nicknamed Jack) service record is much better detailed, and we can track almost his entire career from when he first joined up with the 10th Royal Hussars. Fownes’ attested for the regiment on 6th March 1890, going on to join them in York on 8th March. On 19th February 1892 he was appointed a Lance Corporal, and, on 24th June the following year, was promoted to a Corporal. In that same year he passed a Class of Instruction: Equitation (the art of horse riding), at the Riding Establishment in Canterbury.
From ‘A Short History of the Xth PWO Royal Hussars’ we know that then Private Fownes was selected as a pall bearer for the funeral of HRH Prince Albert Victor, which took place on 20th January 1892:-
‘Colonel Viscount Downe, commanding the Regiment, and nine Officers proceeded to Windsor, and acted as pall bearers at the funeral on the 20th January; and 20 non-commissioned Officers and men of the Regiment under the Honourable Captain Julian Byng, bore the body of their late Officer from the train to the gun carriage at the station, preceded it to St. George’s Chapel, into which they carried it, and remained in the nave of the chapel until the conclusion of the burial service, when they again resumed their sad office, and laid the Royal corpse in its last resting place – The Albert Memorial Chapel.’
In May 1896 he was appointed Lance Sergeant, and, on 4th March 1897, Fownes extended his Army Service to complete 12 years with the colours. On 22nd May 1898 he was promoted to Sergeant. In October 1899, he, alongside the rest of the 10th Hussars, were sent to South Africa to serve in the Second Boer War. Reports show that he was severely wounded at Colesburg on 4th January 1900, losing 16 teeth. According to the Hastings and St Leonards’ Observer (8th June 1901), Fownes ‘horse was shot in a heavy engagement, and just as [Fownes] fell to the ground a bullet hit him at the side of the mouth, passed through to his other cheek, knocking out many of his lower teeth, and breaking part of his lower jaw.’
He was rescued by Captain Laurence Cave of ‘C’ Squadron, 10th Hussars. ‘He was sent to Portland Hospital, and was thoroughly well looked after.’ After his recovery, Fownes was sent to Maitland Camp, Cape Town, the site of a major British Cavalry encampment throughout the Second Boer War. Whilst here he served as Regimental Sergeant Major to the Yeomanry. In an earlier edition of the Hastings and St Leonards’ Observer (27th April 1901), a Corporal P.T. Ross reported that ‘when he got to the detail camp at Maitland on his way home, he saw a Hastings man in Sergeant Major Fownes, of the 10th Hussars. He was in charge of the Yeomanry details at the base, and was highly popular with everybody. He is a handsome fellow, and quite an ideal Hussar. In appreciation of his kindness the men of the Yeomanry presented him with a silver cigarette case, silver match box, and a cigarette holder in a case.’
This reflects a trend in the documentation of S.S.M.R.R. Fownes’ life, as he continuously is described as well-liked and respected by all the men who either served with or met him. He returned to England in mid-1901, arriving at Southampton on 31 July aboard the SS Bavarian.
On 23rd June 1901 he was promoted to Squadron Sergeant Major Rough Rider, and in October 1902 he re-engaged, completing 22 years’ service with the colours. In January 1903, he would find himself on the same boat as Eileen Isobel Allan, the pair bound for service in India. According to the family, whilst on this boat they began their romance, culminating in their marriage 8 months later. A daughter was born on 23rd March 1908, whilst at Rawalpindi. In October 1908 Fownes was appointed as President of the Sergeants’ Mess, and the 10th Regimental journals report that he was well known for his ‘hospitality and entertainment’, offering ‘weekly al fresco concerts and dances in the tennis courts’. In January 1909 he was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, having served for nearly 19 years.
The Regimental journals also record the birth of his and Eileen’s second child, this time a son, on 26th January 1910. That same year he was also permitted to continue his service beyond 21 years. Fownes did not serve much longer after this, taking his discharge on 31st May 1911. After which he moved to Lucknow, India, where he had been appointed as the Secretary of the Lucknow Race Committee in May 1912. In a letter to his regiment Fownes stated that he had taken over the ‘Race Office with a large debt, which he converted into substantial credit at the end of the season.’ Fownes had previous qualifications as a clerk and accountant, for which he was noted as being ‘a good clerk, painstaking and industrious’.
Jack Fownes unfortunately died of influenza on 18th November 1918. He is buried at Morar, Padampur Cemetery. His gravestone reads: ‘John Henry Fenner Fownes, born Ilfracombe, Devon 3rd February 1871, died at the Guest House Gwalior 18th November 1918, Secretary Lucknow & Gwalior Races, late 10th (PWO) Royal Hussars’. Before his death, Fownes was the personal horse trainer to the Maharajah Scindia of Gwalior, who held a great respect for him. He consulted Eileen in the creation of a memorial stone on his estate. The Regimental journal records the following: –
‘So, in a tiny cemetery, with only one other white man buried there, on the vast estate of the late Scindia of Gwalior, miles from the beaten track may be seen “The Feathers” and “Ich Dien” marking the spot of a gallant 10th Hussar. At the foot of the stone is a verse of the evening hymn, that he had heard almost every night for over 20 years.’
Eileen Fownes remained in India and when the 10th Hussars returned in 1930, the Regimental journal noted:
‘When the Regiment arrived in Meerut, one might have seen an old 10th Hussar watching with pride the Regiment in which she had spent many happy years. Mrs. Fownes (who at heart is still one of the Regiment) now resides in Meerut with her grown up family, the elder son carries on a successful business as a Trainer, in which he is assisted by two or three brothers. A quiet and retiring family, displaying the qualities for which their father was noted, watched over by the kindly and experienced eye of a devoted mother.’
On 13 April we welcomed three generations of the family to the Museum – his granddaughter Diana, who was born in India, his great-granddaughter Giovanna and great-great grandson Django. A special point of interest was that Captain Cave’s Boer War album is reproduced in the Museum – and they joked that if it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t be here today to visit! The family kindly presented his medals to the Museum – a Queen’s South Africa and the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, which we hope to display soon.
