By yesterday night the Blues had embarked at Southampton. But the transport ships did not move, as there was suspected U-boat activity in the English Channel. They may not have moved next day either, or they may have steamed eastwards hugging the coast. They presumably spent most of tonight at anchor and with their lights out.
An element of darkness will now enter this blog as well, since Calderon was not supposed to say in his letters where he was, and when he did the words were blacked out by the censor. I wrote to the Household Cavalry Museum Archive some months ago (and paid!), to find out where the Blues were from day to day between 8 and 29 October 1914, but the Archive is overwhelmed with requests at the moment, a situation that I can understand.
By a stroke of luck, however, we have the personal war diary of Sir Richard (Dick) Sutton, the twenty-three-year-old son of Kittie’s friend Constance. Dick Sutton was in the 1st Life Guards, which like the Blues was part of the 7th Cavalry Brigade, and he embarked with them. His diary names places, so this helps track some of Calderon’s movements. It is published in Richard Vincent Sutton: A Record of his Life Together With Extracts from his Private Papers, ed. by Mildred Isemonger (London, George W. Jones, 1922).
Today is a hole in Calderon’s biography.
Next entry: 8 October 1914
