on horseback with Major King and Lieutenant Haile, and their first port of call was to ‘Connaught Hill’ – the headquarters of the 5th Battalion of the Connaught Rangers, which formed part of the 29th Brigade. Dalton and King paid a visit to Lt. Colonel Vincent M.B. Scully, commander of the battalion. Dalton formed the impression that Scully was rather ‘fogged’, that is uncertain, about his duties in the event of a Turkish counter-attack, a contingency which Dalton considered absurd as he believed the Turks did not have the courage to ‘storm our present position’.31 Dalton records how he and the other members of the party rode on, shadowed by a party providing protection, passing through Kurbetha Ibn Hareith and through the Wadi Eyub. This was an area of rocky hills, with stone walls, bridle paths and olive groves. They watered their horses at a well in a place described by Dalton as Job’s Tomb. Because of a threatening storm they galloped towards home until the ground became very difficult, and he considered they were lucky to get back to base before the storm broke. On another reconnaissance tour, covering fifteen miles, Dalton rode the Adjutant’s spirited horse, and observed that the animal ‘had a mouth like iron and covered my hand with welts’.32
Exasperated by the intermittent heavy rain that sometimes penetrated his bivouac, Dalton remarks after once such occurrence that in the next war he will be a ‘conscientious objector’. There seems to have been limited contact between the military and the Arab population. One day Dalton records that he accompanied the Medical Officer (MO) ‘on his rounds of the natives’. On another occasion he encountered an Arab youth who had fled from the Turks, and for whom he felt sympathy. The youth, who spoke English, told how he was educated by the Christian Brothers – probably a reference to the De La Salle Brothers – in Jerusalem. The youth gave a graphic account of how the Turks ‘robbed the people’. Dalton remarks that he felt for the youth because he was only sixteen years of age. He comments: ‘I used think that Irish Catholics were the most oppressed but I have changed my opinion now.’33
After some weeks in Suffa, Dalton was made an Intelligence Officer (IO), in addition to his duties as Assistant Adjutant, but his work as IO seemed to consist largely of filing intelligence summaries from the division. Nevertheless, this experience would doubtless have given him insights into Allenby’s strategy, and contributed to his military education, giving him a lasting appreciation of the value of intelligence in military operations. Some of the reports he received seem to have been of a very general nature, to do with matters like peace conferences and offensives on other fronts.34
Instructing at the Sniper School, El Arish
On 13 February Dalton records that he was informed by Captain Monaghan that Division had recommended him for good work in regard to Intelligence and that he would leave the Battalion on the 14th, the following day, to take up his next position as Instructor in sniping and intelligence duties at the Army Sniping School, El Arish, in the northern Sinai Desert in Egypt. Dalton had been in correspondence with one of the officers running the school, Captain Chalmers of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, apparently giving Chalmers the benefit of his experience as regards tactics. It also emerged that Dalton kept a notebook on scouting. Chalmers had written to Dalton in January thanking him for his information and asking for more, as he considered that the sniping school benefited from every little piece of information from those ‘on the spot’.35
Dalton appears to have been popular with his fellow officers. On the night before his departure, there was a big attendance of officers from the battalion at a rousing send-off dinner in the mess. Dalton recorded that the main dish on the menu was ‘kid’ – a small goat that had been stolen from the 31st Field Ambulance ‘whose mascot it was’. A plentiful supply of whiskey seems to have added further to the merriment. There was a sing-song and there were farewell speeches and toasts, and Dalton was given a rousing cheer.36 Early next morning, Dalton set off on his long journey to El Arish. He was accompanied by two young fellow officers of the Leinsters, Lieutenants Cooke and Haile, who were being transferred from the infantry to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) at Heliopolis, near Cairo. Dalton may also have been tempted to transfer – he would later reveal that he was of a mind to join the air force. For the first leg of the journey they travelled by road to Latrun, a distance of about twelve miles. A lorry later took them to Ramleigh (Ramallah) where they boarded the night train to Kantara.
After their journey through the Sinai, they arrived at Kantara, situated on the Suez Canal, early next morning. Kantara, formerly a small village with a few mud houses and a mosque on an ancient caravan route through the Sinai to Palestine, now accommodated a massive British military base camp and supply depot. Kantara had grown, due to the British war effort, into something resembling a modern metropolis, with miles of railway sidings, workshops, tarmac roads, electric light, cinemas, hospital facilities, churches and even a golf course. There were clubs, including a very efficient YMCA establishment, and Dalton records that he had a ‘lovely breakfast’ in the officers lounge there. Dalton was disappointed to find that most of his kit that had been put in storage at Kantara had disappeared, but he was issued with a tent and other items from the stores, including silk pyjamas. He was particularly pleased with the latter, describing the pyjamas, in the parlance of the day, as ‘top hole’. After lunch in the mess, Dalton bade farewell to his travelling companions as they continued on their way ‘in very good spirits’ to Cairo.37
Dalton took a train to El Arish, with just one other officer in the carriage. Nurses got on at a stop en route and eventually Dalton tried to break the ice with the ‘nicest looking’ of them by offering her his ‘British warm’ – an officer’s great coat – as it was cold. He was rebuffed, instantly regretting that he had spoken at all. However, another nurse asked him where he was going, leading to a general conversation that developed into a sing song which helped to pass the time.38 It was late when Dalton arrived at El Arish. He began his duties at the school of instruction on 18 February, but found that his own services as a lecturer were not required until a new course started. He was told to assist Lieutenant Springay for the remaining week of the current course – Springay was giving a class on observation. Meanwhile, Dalton decided to take advantage of the golfing facilities at El Arish. On 23 February there is a simple entry in his diary, ‘Played Golf’. This is the first record of Dalton playing the game that would take on a highly important role in his life. He played regularly during his stay in El Arish, and he would recall later that it was in Egypt that he played golf for the first time.
He had some leave and decided do some sightseeing. On 24 February he travelled to Cairo by train via Kantara, and checked into the luxurious Grand Continental Hotel on Opera Square. The Continental was then one of the great hotels in Cairo, renowned for its spacious and very elegant terrace area, where patrons could relax over drinks or a meal. The hotel was popular with members of the British armed forces – earlier in the war, as a young 2nd Lieutenant working in intelligence, T.E. Lawrence had resided there. Having spent a long period of storms and heavy rain living in a tent, Dalton must have revelled in the luxury of a comfortable bed in a good hotel. He records in his diary that he had breakfast in the hotel after a good night’s sleep ‘and a lovely hot bath’.39 He went out to see the exotic sights of Cairo, and the following day continued with his sightseeing, visiting the other great hotel in Cairo, the historic Shepheard’s Hotel, and also the fashionable café, Groppie’s. Some of his fellow officers were also on leave, and he went about ‘buying stuff’ with ‘Timmins and Billie Martin’. Some nurses from Alexandria, where important military hospital facilities were located, were also staying at the Continental, and Dalton had tea and dinner with them. He became particularly friendly with one of the nurses, Sister O’Brien, and he went for a [horse-drawn] garry drive with her, getting half-way to the pyramids. Dalton enjoyed the outing enormously, commenting in his diary that he had a ‘top hole’ time. He and his companion had coffee back at the hotel ‘and went to our respective rooms’.40 The next morning he took it easy in the hotel, playing a game of billiards. He met up with another officer from the 6th Leinsters who was also on leave, Captain Alan Brabazon (22) from a well-to-do Church of Ireland farming family in County Westmeath, and went to Groppie’s for tea. (Brabazon was destined to die the following month from a sniper’s bullet.) Dalton had lunch with another officer called Fry, and in the afternoon went to a social event organised by the wife of General Allenby.
Dalton records in his diary how he was introduced to Lady Allenby ‘and had