THOUGH guarding one of the outposts of the Empire, the members of the 2nd 5th Hampshire Regiment, nevertheless, still managed to find the time for a little relaxation from their official duties as jovially demonstrated in this snapshot published in the Southampton Pictorial a century ago in June 1915.

The troupe was originally put together as a bit of fun in providing for concerts for the men. However their turns were so successful that they were asked to return by request to give an encore performance. The following performance was such a success that generous funds raised during the show were sent back home to benefit the Hants and Isle of Wight Military Aid Society.

Meanwhile, back in Hampshire, considerable attention was aroused in the county this week by the arrival of a “Vanguard” motor caravan, flying the white ensign, and described as the “recruiting office” for the Royal Naval Division.

The Vanguard caravan represented something of an experiment in recruiting, for which Commander Charles E. Eldred, of Southampton, was to a certain extent personally responsible. Commander Eldred happened to be a member of the Caravan Club, and his idea of constructing a special motor vehicle for touring on behalf of the Naval Division through those rural districts that would otherwise never be dealt with adequately from a recruiting point of view, recommended itself so well to the naval authorities that they selected him to put it into practical effect.

The caravan, which was built at Winchester, made its first public appearance in the city one hundred years ago this week when it halting prominently under King Alfred’s Memorial before travelling to Southampton, in order that the Commander might visit the Naval Recruiting Headquarters in Washington Terrace. Later that evening the journey was continued to Romsey, where the novel vehicle took up a prominent position in the Market Place. The van remained in Romsey the following day before heading on to Lyndhurst at the start of a snaking journey through the New Forest, on a route that passed through Lymington, Ringwood, Fordingbridge and as far afield as Poole.

The “Vanguard” was so constructed that Commander Eldred – who was also accompanied by a Petty Officer who was acting as his chauffeur – was able to use it as his office by day and his sleeping apartment by night. Commander Eldred also received a great deal of assistance during his recruitment campaign from the proprietors of various cinema halls in the towns and places that he called in to visit, with many of the cinemas agreeing to show the Crystal Palace film, entitled “The Naval Division at Work and Play”.

The recruiting campaign asked for all prospective recruits to be aged between 18 and 38 years of age, but it was by no means necessary that they should have had any previous experience of the sea.