Tower and Town, November 2025 (view the full edition)The Reaping Of The MoonrakersThe front cover, courtesy of the Rifles Museum, depicts a First World War cigarette card, showing a soldier of the Wiltshire Regiment raking the moon. The Moonraker nickname comes from a local story. The story is that Wiltshire smugglers threw barrels of illegally imported French alcohol into a pond to hide them from customs officers. That night, when they returned to retrieve the barrels, they were confronted by the Revenue. They quickly pointed to the moon and explained that they were trying to fish out a round wheel of cheese that had fallen into the pond. Taken as fools, they were off the hook. The Wiltshire Regiment were not so fortunate. They paid a heavy price in France with 5,081 dead. The 1st Battalion received orders to mobilise in Tidworth on 4 August 1914 and by the 14th arrived in Rouen, France. In November 1914 Major T Roche (Officer Commanding, 1st Battalion) noted: "Total wastage up to date for the first 3 months appears to be 26 officers and about 1000 men, or practically a whole battalion" Private Henry John Culley was born in Inkpen and served in the 1st Battalion, and is commemorated on the Manton war memorial. Fighting at Hooge, Belgium, he was wounded likely between 17 June (103 other ranks wounded), 20 June (4 casualties) or 22 June (where at 8pm No 1&3 platoons attacked but were held up by machine gun fire). He may have been one of the 24 casualties that day. Evacuated and treated for wounds at Ypres, 9 Field Ambulance, he died on 22 June 1915. Like who fought in WWI, he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. His personal effects file (see image below) shows that his next of kin was paid the £3 war gratuity.
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