John Orr Ewing, MC (1884 - 1961) – Major and poet

With grateful thanks to Hannah Dale, Archivist at Cheltenham College, for additional information about John and for the photograph of him in the Boyne House 2nd XV Rugby Team;  and to Cheltenham Historical Society for their kind help.

In Catherine Reilly’s Bibliography of English Poetry of the First World War, there is an entry on page 122 about John Orr Ewing, (MC, Major), giving the title of John’s WW1 poetry collection:  “Hoof Marks, and other impressions (poems), illustrated with sketches by G.H.S. Dixon (H.F. & G. Witherby, London, 1934).

John is on the end of the back row 
on the right

John was born in Bonhill, Dunbartonshire, Scotland on 23rd May 1884.  His parents were Hugh Moody Robertson Ewing and Helen Margaret Robertson Ewing, nee Robertson.  John’s father died in 1889 and on the 1891 Census, John was living with Christian Robertson, his Grandmother, and his mother, Helen M.R. Ewing, who is listed as a widow.  John had the following siblings:

a sister - Christian Leckie Orr Ewing, b. 1885  - and a brother - Hugh Eric Douglas Orr Ewing b. 1888.

John was educated at Cheltenham College between May 1898 and December 1901 and was in Boyne House.  He went on to Sandhurst Military College and served in the British Army with the 16th Queen’s Lancers from 1903.   There is a listing for the marriage of John Orr Ewing and Gwendoline Evelyn Curtis in Kensington in December 1908.

There is an entry in the 1939 register for John Orr Ewing, born 23 May 1884 – a retired Army Officer - and his wife, Gwendoline Orr Ewing, born 9th February 1880.  

John died in Berkshire in 1961 and Gwendoline in Berkshire in 1964.  

  

I managed to obtain a copy of John Orr Ewing’s poetry collection “Hoof-Marks and other impressions” which is beautifully illustrated by G.H.S. Dixon.   Here is one of the poems:

“Roll On!”

Behind the lines in Flanders

A Corps Commander raged –

The Front was not the only place

That War was being waged –

The Nth Dragoons were dirty!

In wrath he named a day,

And, were the Nth not clean by then,

There would be Hell to pay!

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  

At three they had Reveillé –

“Black Jack” was due at ten –

From peep of day they slaved away

Till horses, saddles, men

Outshone the sun in splendour,

Outdid the newest pins –

The curtain rises, this is where

A Tragedy begins: -

First let me introduce y ou

To Trooper Albert Hake,

Who, grooming, as we see him now,

Is hissing like a snake:

Meet, also, one called Ginger,

His horse, A92,

And learn from Ginger’s glossy coat

What ‘elbow-grease’ can do.

When Hake had saddled Ginger

A man could see to shave

In leather’s gleaming surface, or

The glint that bright steel gave;

The back of every buckle

Showed polish, too, and spit –

All justified the looks of pride

That Hake bestowed on it.

Hake went to fetch his jacket,

Parade was nearly due,

Here Destiny took things in hand

To show what she could do –

To Ginger came a tickle

Beneath the blankets’ fold,

He squirmed, he wriggled, tried to bite,

The ropes, ‘built-up’ and ‘head’ were tight,

The thing persisted, come what might,

He had to – Yes!  He rolled!

The sun shone bright that morning,

But ‘ere the dawn, the rain

Had left the lines a sea of mud

That rendered sweeping vain:

So Hake returns to Ginger

To find the awful truth –

The coat that carried silken sheen,

The saddle cleaner than the clean,

Behold them now – a slimy green! –

A tragedy in sooth!

A Soldier’s sense of humour

Here lent its kindly aid.

Past praying for felt Albert Hake,

Yet very nearly prayed!

He held his hands to heaven,

And when he got his breath,

His words were few, but chosen well,

“Roll on! Oh ____ing Death!”

pp. 75 – 77 “Hoof-Marks and other impressions”

Sources: Information from the Archives of Cheltenham College, from Find my Past, Free BMD and

Catherine W. Reilly “English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography” (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978),  p. 122

John Orr Ewing, “Hoof Marks, and other impressions (poems), (G.H. Dixon, Witherby, 1934).  On the inside fly leaf of the book is a dedication/inscription:  

As John Orr Ewing married a Gwendoline Curtis, I feel there is some sort of connection but I am not sure what.  If anyone can help please get in touch.

George Scholefield Dixon (1890 – 1960)   -  artist and illustrator (illustrated John's poetry collection)

Born in Hunslet, Yorkshire, UK on 20th April 1890, George’s parents were George Dixon, a clerk, and his wife Clara Dixon,  nee Scholefield.   George studied at Leeds School of Art. Although a portrait painter, he was primarily an illustrator and commercial artist with works reproduced in such publications as Punch, Tatler and Bystander; he exhibited at the Royal Academy. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and an active member of the London Sketch Club.