197 
IN MEMORIAM — E. G. KENSIT 
but not so to him, whose life three-fourths was spent for others; surely to 
him no sterner task than keeping to his oath under such circumstances. He 
writes “We marched with little food to catch this crowd and we did meet 
them to our cost— the very hottest fire that I was ever under— the way in 
which the Yeomanry charged made me cry. I was close and saw it all. They 
went m with lances against machine guns and big guns and they were very 
few and our enemy were 1500 strong.” And here some irrelevancy, “I am 
always with you in thought, and when those bullets were passing me I thought 
of you all at your 11 o clock tea ; but again he goes back in splendid admira- 
tion of the Yeomanry, his own share not included, “I would like to tell you 
more of the brave charge — it was too brave for words.” 
Perhaps the stray thought of 11 o’clock tea has to account for the following 
episode told by his young nephew. “In Egypt after advancing under heavy 
rifle and machine fire for about 2 miles in open ground, was Pansy tired? 
No! He and a friend of his, Cpl. Forbes, pressed forward beyond the others. 
The next thing our chaps saw, was a camel tearing over the ground with 
Pansy and Archie hanging on to it. They took the risk just to get some dates 
off the enemy camels.” The next entry after the battle reads: “Now, I must 
close and wash my feet, they are all blistered and very sore indeed, and try 
for a sleep. Have been up three nights so far, so you see we are in it all.” 
From Agagia they marched to Barani, a coastguard station, which they 
found in ruins “thanks to the good marksmanship of our naval gunners.” 
Here just at first Kensit realises his weary state. He says: “I found some 
nice chess-men here; but I never took them — I was too tired.” Here too was 
the joy to him of finding “a patch of some liliaceous plant, like an Ornitho- 
galum, plentiful on the Kenilworth race-course.” 
He enjoyed himself at Barani perhaps the more for the arrival of the mail 
boat with letters and a parcel of much needed socks and soap. 
From this place of high winds and sandstorms, more violent than any our 
men had experienced even in S.W. Africa, and deluges, they departed early 
in March for Solium. 
Of the hardships of that march over the inland plateau Edward Kensit 
writes very briefly, “ They were mad with thirst. Lack of water was the only 
drawback.” In one place they found water and also found “a dead Arab in 
the well. But, there were guards with fixed bayonets to keep the chaps away. 
Here he noticed some Gnidia sp. growing and about six miles from Solium 
he mentions the Romulea sp. “which we were digging up to secure moisture 
from the corms.” 
The weather was now getting very hot, the nights, however, still con- 
tinuing cold and often wet. One march was begun at 4 a.m. and as anothei 
diary tells “we had no tea for a start, which is rough on a S. Afiican. 
When the sun rose the heat became almost tropical. Soon after noon the\ 
15 
A. B. H. II. 
