The Gough Family Connection with the 2nd Goorkhas

The Gough family has produced many distinguished soldiers. In March 2012, The Daily Mail published an article entitled Britain’s Bravest Family which described the three of its members who had been awarded the Victoria Cross. General Sir Charles Gough VC GCB, was serving with Hodson’s Horse at the Siege of Lucknow when on 15 August 1857 he was awarded the Victoria Cross for saving the life of his brother Hugh,. General Sir Hugh Gough VC GCB, when a Lieutenant in the 1st Bengal European Light Cavalry, was awarded the Victoria Cross on 25 February 1858 for seizing two enemy guns near Alumbagh, and later for his inspirational leadership in attacking enemy guns near Jellalabad. The third recipient was General Sir Charles Gough’s son, Brigadier General Sir John Gough VC CMG KCB, was awarded the Victoria Cross on 22 April 1904 when a Major in the Rifle Brigade, for his bravery in helping to save a mortally wounded officer under fire during the Somaliland Expedition.

Two members of the Gough family served in the 2nd Goorkhas: Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Augustus Kepple Gough CIE (1871-1950 ) and his nephew Brigadier William George Hugh Gough MC ( 1897-1948 ).

Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Gough was the third son of General Sir Hugh Gough, nephew of General Sir Charles Gough, and first cousin of General Sir Hubert Gough and Major General Sir John Gough. He was also the uncle of Brigadier William Gough. He was educated at Wellington College and in June 1890 was gazetted to the Wiltshire Regiment, transferring to the 2nd Battalion 2nd Goorkhas in June 1892, officiating as a Wing Officer on probation until 1894 when he was appointed to special duties at Gilgit as Assistant Political Officer. He left the Regiment in 1898 to join the Political Department and served in the Punjab, Baluchistan, Central Provinces, Persia and Zhob.

In 1914, he was recalled to military service and rejoined the 2nd Goorkhas. He commanded the 2nd Battalion Depot in Dehra Dun until 1916, when he returned to the Political Department until his retirement in 1923. In an obituary written in 1950 by Major General Godfray Hind, he was described as ‘one of the kindest and keenest officers of the Regiment. Known to few of the present generation, he always kept up his interest in the Regiment.’

Brigadier William Gough, known as ‘ Bill ‘, was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Gough, late Bengal Lancers, a nephew of Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Gough and grandson of General Sir Hugh Gough. Educated at Haileybury and the Royal Military College Sandhurst. He arrived in India in 1915 and joined the 1st Battalion, 2nd Goorkhas. He became Company Commander No 1 Double Company in Mesopotamia and was awarded a Military Cross in the assault on the Dujaila Redoubt. He was accidentally wounded, receiving no less than 27 wounds, a broken arm and leg and subsequent loss of an eye.

In 1918 Bill Gough took part in the Marri operations and in 1919 was a company commander in Waziristan. He was fined Rs 100 for burning a village in British territory, but the fine was never paid. He held various Staff appointments throughout the 1920s and 30s until he rejoined the 1st Battalion as 21C. The following year, he commanded the Regimental Contingent in the UK at the Coronation of King George VI. He took part in further operations in Waziristan before being appointed Commandant 2nd Battalion in 1938. He was described in the Regimental History as ‘one of the most aggressive and dynamic officers of the Regiment. He was a forward thinker who foresaw the possibilities of specialist training and welcomed with avidity the experiments of his colleague, Colonel Tuker.’ He qualified as a parachutist in the UK and on his return to India in 1941 raised the first Indian Parachute Brigade, designated the 50th. He retired in 1947 and was killed in an air crash in South Africa in 1948.

Bill Gough gets a mention in Major General Farrar-Hockley’s biography of General Sir Hubert Gough ‘Goughie’. The book recounts that in 1921, at the age of 24, Bill Gough and his cousins (the General’s daughters) became involved in a practical joke. They made a hole in an egg with a needle and pushed in horse hair, which went in with ease, and when boiled, the hole closed. The egg in question was duly given to the unsuspecting General for his breakfast, who, on close inspection and not finding the hole, suspected the hen had some terrible disease. After it happened again, he informed the local branch of the Farmers’ Union, which closely examined the eggs but came to no conclusion. Eventually a governess discovered horse hair in the schoolroom and showed it to the General. Bill Gough had returned to the 2nd Goorkhas but his daughters were forced to own up. After a flash of anger their father’s sense of the ridiculous asserted itself and he was relieved that more experienced men than himself had fallen for what was apparently an old country joke.

I have to declare a personal interest in the Goughs because I married Miss Rosaleen Gough, the younger daughter of Lieutenant Johnny Gough, late Irish Guards, who at 101 is the oldest surviving Mick from the Second World War and in 1944 took part in the breakout from Normandy and the subsequent pursuit across France, Belgium, Holland and into Germany.

JRH