Colonel Emil Carl Haag

The Carmarthenshire Antiquary Vol. XXXV 1999 Reprinted here by Permission of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society (Pages 116-121)

COLONEL EMIL CARL HAAG 1868-1930 18th HUSSARS     The 'Colonel' a shadowy figure of my childhood has recently re-surfaced, and taken on a more tangible form. He lodged with my grandparents in The Avenue, Carmarthen, for a year or so before the Great War, and returned to live with them at sometime after the cessation of hostilities. With the death of my grandmother in 1928 the 'Colonel' moved to Oak House in Priory Street.     A decade later, I slept in the front bedroom where the 'Colonel' had slept, in fact I slept in the bed which he had occupied. The ink-stains on the dressing-table intrigued me as a child. Did the 'Colonel' also burn the midnight oil!     Two year ago on a 'trek' in Kwa Zulu Natal I visited Ladysmith; my grandfather's tales of the 'Colonel' and the Boer War struck a chord in my memory. On my return home I searched through my grandfather's papers and discovered the obituary of Colonel Emil Carl Haag in the Carmarthen Journal of 14 February 1930. From this limited source of information 1 began my research...

Emil Carl Haag was born 25 October 1868 in Hampstead. His father Carl Haag, R.W.S., born in Bavaria had been court painter to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and began his artistic career as an illustrator, painting portraits and architectural subjects in Nurenberg, Munich and Rome before settling in England in 1847. Ida his mother was the daughter of General Buettner. Carl Haag who became a naturalized British subject about 1850, and Ida Buettner married in 1866. There were three other children of the marriage - Victor, Norman and a daughter Erna.     When Carl Haag arrived in London in 1847 he studied the English techniques of water-colour painting. From 1850 he exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, and was elected a full member in 1853. That year he was commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to paint two large and elaborate water-colours commemorating deerstalking expeditions at Balmoral in Scotland which are in the Royal Collection; he returned to Balmoral in 1863 and 1864. Contained in the book Master Drawings in the Royal Collection by Jane Roberts is a black lead and black chalk drawing with water-colour additions by Haag of the final study for the finished water-colour of the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred with the jäger (hunter) John MacDonald

after salmon spearing. According to the inscription on the drawing, the painting was carried out in London in July 1854. Haag was paid £75 for his work on 17 August, and the finished water-colour was presented by the Queen to Prince Albert one week later.     Between 1847 and 1858 Haag made painting excursions to Rome, Venice, the Tyrol, Montenegro, Dalmatia and Munich. A more ambitious expedition to Egypt Palestine and Syria in 1858-1860 provided subjects on which much of his subsequent fame and prosperity rested. He spent the first winter in Cairo sharing a house with Frederick Goodall, and making sketching trips to Giza and Suez. The following Easter he went to Jerusalem, Palmyra and Baalbek. Haag returned to Egypt in 1873. His water-colours of the East, with their portrayal of Bedouin life, deserts, camels, ruins and religious ceremonies, owed their popularity to the combination of ethnic detail and idealization. Works such as The Swooping Terror of the Desert (1873), sold at Sotheby's (London) in March 1980, contained both a narrative and the idea of moral virtue.     In 1903 Cart Haag and his wife retired to Oberwesel, and he was the restorer of the mediaeval Red Tower there. His address latterly was the Roter Turm, Oberwesel on the Rhine, where he died in January 1915.   To continue with the subject of my investigation, it is obvious that the 'Colonel' came from a privileged back-ground. He chose the army as a career, and entered the 18th Hussars as a Second Lieutenant on 1 March 1890.

Lieutenant Haag served with the Tochi Field Force in the North West Frontier of India, 1897-1898, and was awarded the Indian General Service Medal 1895-1902 with Clasps - Samana, 1897 and Tirah, 1897-1898. Early in 1897 Haag was Assistant to Major H. L. Hutchins, Divisional Transport Officer of the Second Division. Later in that year he acted as Divisional Transport Officer at Ramain. When hostilities ended in March 1898 he returned to his regiment.     The next period of active service for Lieutenant Haag was in the Boer War, and in 1899 he became Aide de Camp to Lt. General Sir George White. White had been Commander-in-Chief in India, and was responsible for the general direction of the North West Frontier campaign in 1897. However he had been in Natal only a few weeks when he allowed himself and his army to be cut off at Ladysmith. General Sir Redvers Buller sent orders to White to fire off all his ammunition and make the best terms he could for surrender, but While sent a cold reply to say he had no intention of surrendering ... Therefore for the next few months Haag was involved in the action around Ladysmith.     The first battle was at Talana (Dundee) 30 October 1899 when the British managed to drive the Boers off Talana Hill, but suffered heavy losses. This was the first time that British troops wore khaki uniforms in the field. Haag took part in the successful Gun Hill Sortie 7 December 1899 and was in action again on 6 January 1900 at Wagon Hill. On 24 February 1900 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. It was four days later on 28 February that some of Buller's

relieving force came into the town of Ladysmith, thereby opening communication with the outside world after 118 days of confinement.     Following the Relief of Ladysmith, the 18th Hussars left the town on 22 May 1900 under General Sir Redvers Buller's command, and took up position on Laings Nek. They were the first Regiment to cross from Natal into the Transvaal. They returned along the Buffalo River and halted below Laings Nek for 3 to 4 days. On 8 June 1900 Botha's Pass was captured by Buller, who thus opened the route for the British advance into the Orange Free State. A communique from Buller stated that on 10 June 1900 the 18th Hussars gave valuable assistance and well-timed support to the South African Light Horse, and that on 11 June a valuable reconnaissance through difficult country occupied by the enemy was made by Captain E. Haag, 18th Hussars. Captain E. C. Haag was Mentioned in Dispatches on 19 June 1900 and again on 9 November 1900 with the following comment - 'An excellent Squadron Leader and one who well understands South African warfare". His promotion to Brevet Major was announced in the London Gazette 29 November 1900. Haag who was with his Regiment until February 1901, took over 'B' Squadron in December 1900.     At the beginning of October 1900 enlistment had begun for a force of South African Constabulary of a semi-military nature, not unlike the North West Mounted Police in Canada. The command of this force was given to General Baden-Powell, and the other officers were mostly seconded from the regular Army. The next stage of Haag's career was with the South African Constabulary 3 February-5 November 1901, and the value of his contribution was marked by a Mention in Dispatches on 4 September 1901.

Major Haag was with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Orange River Colony 7 November 1901 - 19 February 1902. The two Regiments of the Imperial Light Horse under Colonel Briggs and Colonel McKenzie, which Major General Sir John G. Dartnell now commanded had left Harrismith about 800 strong. Before leaving the town Dartnell had also borrowed from Lt. General Sir Leslie Rundle the 11th Battalion of Yeomanry, under Major Haag, numbering some 400 rifles. Until his departure on leave in the second week of December 1901 Colonel Firman, an officer who had done good work in organizing Randle's Yeomanry, had commanded the column. His natural successor would have been Major Haag, now at the head of the 11th Yeomanry; but Haag (aged 33) was considered to be too young for the post and Major Williams of the 1st Staffords was given temporary command. The withdrawal of the Infantry on the morning of the 24th, left Williams with the 11th Yeomanry, under Major Haag, a gun of the 79th Battery, under Lieutenant Scarlett, and a pompom. General De Wet marched on Groenkop on the night of 24 December, and stormed the plateau at 2:00 am on 25 December. Williams was killed, Grice the Adjutant was mortally wounded, and Haag commanding the Yeomanry was badly hit. The plateau was lost, and the camp at the mercy of the Boers. Major Caldwell the senior Medical Officer survived, and performed his duties with admirable devotion throughout this terrible night. One of his first acts was to find De Wet and ask protection for the hospital, a request promptly granted and rigidly enforced. The gunshot wound Haag sustained was to his right elbow joint. He was hospitalized at the 13th Stationary Hospital, Pinetown bridge, Natal District. At the proceedings of the Hospital

Board 17 February 1902 it was recommended he be invalided home.     Almost a year later on 9 January 1903 the Medical Board at Aldershot confirmed that Major Haag was once more fit for military duty, although impairment of movement of the joint was likely to be permanent. After the Boer War the Regiment was entitled to Queen Victoria's South African War Medals with five and in some cases six Clasps, and to the King's Medal as well. Major E. C. Haag was presented with the Queen's South Africa Medal with Six Clasps - Belfast. Cape Colony, Orange Free Slate, Tilana, Relief of Ladysmith, Laings Nek; and the King's South Africa Medal with Two Clasps - South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902.     In 1904 be was selected as a student at the Staff College, Camberley, where he graduated, and he also qualified as an interpreter in German, 1st Class in April 1904. He was with the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces 25 May 1906 - 31 August 1907. Apparently his Regiment was in the Marseilles area on 31 May 1906, because on that date his Will was witnessed by R. N. Hodgson, Acting British Consul General at Marseilles, and T. Y. Hamling, Rue St. Jacques.     Major Haag was Brigade Major of the South Wales Mounted Brigade at the Barracks, Carmarthen, under the command of Colonel F. A. B. Fryer, 20 July 1913 - 4 August 1914. It was minuted at a meeting of the Joint Committee of the Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke Territorial Force

Associations held at Carmarthen 10 December 1913, 'that the Brigade Major (Major E. C. Haag) had been taken away for the last six weeks to lecture at Newport'. Subsequently Haag was with the South Wales Mounted Brigade, Central Force Home Defence 5 August 1914 - 1 February 1916. However, early in that year he asked permission to resign his appointment because of the feeling which existed against him. In forwarding this application Brigadier-General Fryer, commanding the Brigade had stated that there was a strong feeling among the rank and file against Major Haag owing to his German descent. General Fryer stated that during two and a half years Major Haag had drawn himself to be 'a most excellent Officer', and that he was grateful to him for his assistance, hard work and intelligence. He added 'it is with great reluctance that I feel compelled to forward and recommend his application. His position has become an impossible one'.     Haag's resignation was accepted, and on 31 January 1916 he was ordered to France. He disembarked at Boulogne 3 February 1916, and joined his Regiment at Alette on 5 February. His troubles followed him, for on 16 February 1916. Lt Colonel Harman, 2nd Dragoon Guards, who was at the time in temporary command of the 18th Hussars (Major Haag was 2nd in command) reported that owing to Major Haag's German descent his presence with the Regiment was detrimental to discipline, and requested that his services be

employed elsewhere. Major Haag was accordingly ordered to return to England, and to report in writing to the War Office. Deprived of service with the Regiment in France, he was from 13 March 1916 employed in England on the Staff of G.S.O. 1 First Mounted Division, commanded by Major-General Burn-Murdoch, and given the temporary rank of Lt. Colonel. Little is known about this period, but it would appear that in early July 1918 there was an unsatisfactory report from Haag's Divisional General with regard to his fitness for the appointment.     There was a vacancy for the command of the 18th Hussars in July 1918 when Lt. Colonel Haag was with the 18th Hussars, 1st Cyclist Division, Sevenoaks. The question of his promotion was considered, and it was decided that under the circumstances it was impossible to give him command of the regiment. He was recommended for a half pay Lieutenant-Colonelcy, but this was refused. A cryptic telegram from Colonel E C. Haag, Cavalry Club was sent to the Military Secretary at the War Office on 22 July 1918: 'My appeal is in the hands of His Majesty the King . . .' A letter dated 25 July 1918 was received by the Military Secretary, Lt. General Sir Francis Davies from Lt. Colonel the Rt. Hon. Lord Stanfordham on behalf of His Majesty.     At this time it was understood that the War Office would not let Haag serve in his own Regiment. However it would seem that he was harshly treated, and had to suffer merely on account of his name (his father had been naturalized more than 70 years previously). The treatment accorded to him at the time was different! to that of others in similar circumstances, who were allowed to occupy positions of trust and responsibility in the State. On 29 July 1918 he was relieved of the temporary rank of Lt. Colonel, and posted to

the 5th Reserve Regiment of the Hussars, where he joined for duty on 31 July 1918. Brevet Colonel A. E. W. Harman who had been in temporary command when Haag was in France was selected to command the l8th Hussars.     A reply to a letter dated 15 August 1918 from the Military Secretary was sent the following day 16 August 1918 by Stamfordham, from Buckingham Palace. Another letter from the Military Secretary on 22 August 1918 was replied to by Stamfordham from Windsor Castle on 23 August 1918. The outcome of this correspondence between the Palace and the War Office was that no further action was considered necessary.     In the Spring of 1919 Haag anticipating that there would shortly be a vacancy for the command of the 18th Hussars, again applied that he might be considered. Again although it was acknowledged that Major Haag 'was as loyal a subject of His Majesty as any one of us.', 'the fact remains that this strong feeling against him exists, and in the interests of the service (he) cannot possibly be considered for the command of his Regiment'. There was a proviso: 'It is however, a question for consideration whether he should not be given a half pay Lieutenant Colonelcy'. This was approved by the Secretary of State on the recommendation of the Selection Board held 20 May 1919.     A letter dated 20 May 1920 from Lt. Colonel E. C. Haag, late 18th Hussars, Cavalry Club, Piccadilly to the Military Secretary, War Office, reads, 'I have the honour to request, should my services no longer be required, that I may be granted permission to resign my commission'. Retirement was approved with effect from the day after notification in the Gazette of 7 June 1920. A promising military career had ended in personal disappointment.

After his retirement he returned to Carmarthen, to my grandparents home where be had the warmth and comforts of family life. Undoubtedly the presence of the 'Colonel' added another dimension to the life of my grandfather who was a tin-worker. Colonel E C. Haag, an expert shot and a keen angler was a familiar figure in the countryside around Carmarthen, when he was seen invariably either carrying a gun, or sporting his fishing tackle. He had written a manual on cavalry training, which was considered by experts to be a work of outstanding merit.     Emil Carl Haag died suddenly 10 February 1930, aged 61 years, and at the private burial service in Carmarthen Cemetery on Friday, 14 February 1930 the Rev. Gwilym Smith, B.D. Vicar of St. Peter's officiated. On the coffin which was draped with the Union Jack, rested Colonel Haag's sword and cap. At the close of the service, the 'Last Post' and 'Reveille' were sounded by Mr. Gwilym Lewis, Johnstown. The principal mourners were his brothers and sister, namely Mr. Victor Haag, Germany; Mr. Norman Haag, British Consul at Basle (appointed to this position in 1920. and given the personal rank of Consul General in 1929: in 1920 married Doris Maud, daughter of Sir Ernest Salter Wills, Bt., of Meggernie Castle, Perthshire): and Mrs. Erna Kilburn, Guildford. From the newspaper account

of Colonel E. C. Haag's funeral one has a glimpse of his friends and acquaintances. Friends who attended included Colonel E. C. L. Fitzwilliams, C.M.G., Cilgwyn, Major W. E L. Stewart, D.S.O., Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Major H. O. Pugh, D.S.O., Mount Hill (Secretary of the Carmarthenshire Territorial Army Association), Colonel E C. Jennings. C.B.E., Gellideg and Mr. Ryle Morris, Brynmyrddin. Among those who sent floral tributes were; Judge & Mrs. Frank Davies. The Right Hon. Lord & Lady Dulverton, Captain & Mrs. Wilson, Eirianell and Colonel E. C. L. Fitzwilliams - 'In Memory of a Good Soldier, Sportsman and Old Friend'.     The memorial his family erected in memory of this 'Gallant Officer' was an open book!     My grateful thanks to the following for information/material made available in the course of my research: Major Martin Everett, TD, Curator, The South Wales Borderers and Monmouthshire Regimental Museum, Brecon; Captain (Retd.) G. E. Locker, OC Home Headquarters, The Light Dragoons, Fenham Barracks, Newcastle upon Tyne; Thomie Holtzhausen, Chief Community Services, Ladysmith, South Africa; Staff, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth; Staff, Carmarthen Record Office.        Nan Evans

WITH SPECIAL THANKS  to Clifford Allison.