Three: Private G. Ades, Royal Sussex Regiment

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hazara 1888 (2241 Pte. G. Ades 2d. Bn. R.Suss R.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen (2241 Pte. G. Ades, 1st. Rl. Sussex Regt.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (2241 Pte. G. Ades. Rl: Sussex Regt.) mounted as worn, light contact marks, nearly very fine (3) £280-£340

George Ades was born in Hastings, Sussex, in 1866. A labourer, he attested at Chichester for the Royal Sussex Regiment on 17 March 1886, serving in India from 8 October 1886 to 29 November 1893, and South Africa from 10 February 1900 to 24 August 1902. A veteran of the Hazara campaign and the punitive Black Mountain Expedition of 1888, Ades served with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, against the mountain tribes of Akazais, Hassanzais, and Chargarzais from 3 October 1888 to 14 November 1888. Fuelled by the murder of two officers and five sepoys of the 5th Gurkhas, the British advanced in four columns and defeated the latter at Kotgai and Maidan. As picked marksmen, the British then continued to wreak revenge at Thakot and Pokal, before the tribesmen finally relented and sought peace.

Field Marshal Lord Roberts was later somewhat scathing of what could have been: ‘The expedition was a success from a military point of view, but the determination of the Punjab government to limit the sphere of actions of the troops and to hurry out of the country prevented our reaping any political advantage. We lost a grand opportunity for gaining control of this lawless and troublesome district, no surveys were made, no roads opened out, the tribesmen were not made to feel our power, and, consequently, very soon another costly expedition had to be undertaken.’

Remarkably, Ades re-enlisted for a third term with the Royal Sussex Regiment on 29 October 1914, aged 47 years. His Army Service Record offers limited information regarding this time, but it seems likely that he spent this period training the young lads from his home town of Hastings, and from other Sussex coastal towns such as Brighton, Eastbourne and Chichester, and preparing them for war.