21st February 1916 Monday

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Douglas mentions in the diary of being visited by several “big-bugs” during February. Probably the biggest bug was Major General Sir William Watson Pike. A distinguished professional soldier, General Pike 10-03-1860/06-06-1941 was the son of an Irishman and was domiciled in the fashionable Dublin suburb of Booterstown, not far from the port of Dun Laoghaire.  His father William was a landowner and owned a large part of Achill Island in Co. Mayo. William Pike was involved in a series of running battles fought out in the local press with a priest over evictions of tenant farmers.

General Pike as DMS (Director of Medical Services) inspected Mesplaux Farm on 21^st February and remarked to the Officer commanding that he had known the place for some months and had little hope of it ever being fit for use as a field hospital. On this visit he was delighted with the efforts the men had put into making it fit for use and Douglas tells us:

“We were inspected by Surg. General Pike, who said that our place was the cleanest, tidiest and most efficient in the whole of the 1^st Army. We were all very ‘bucked’ at such praise.”

The praise was reiterated by letters of appreciation to all ranks of the whole 38^th (Welsh) Division RAMC, from both the ADMS of the 38^th Welsh, Colonel T.J.Morgan and the Commander of the 38^th Welsh, Major General Ivor Phillips.

Although General Pike was considered important in his time and as seen below was to rub shoulders with King George V not a great deal seems to have been written about him, which is possibly a cue for a bit more digging.

With the King
Major-General Sir William Watson
Pike.
http://hibbertfamily.org/html/pike/william%20pike%203.htm

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