Reginald (Bill) Leonard Haine was born in Wandsworth, London, on 10th July 1896 to Harry James and Louisa Margaret (née Smith). Both of his parents were schoolteachers, and Bill had an elder brother, Harry Willis, born in 1892. He was employed at a firm of accountants when he enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company on 28th August 1914. Initially due to undergo six months of training at Aveley, Essex, this period was curtailed and he was sent to France.
Bill was wounded on 16th June 1915. After recovering and rejoining his unit, he was promoted to Sergeant in March 1916 and then to Company Sergeant Major the following November, before being granted a commission on 7th December. He was appointed to command C Company in April 1917.
Following the Division's success at Gavrelle, Bill was presented with the Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on July 21st.
Promoted to Lieutenant in June 1918, Bill was attached to the Indian Army the following November and served with the 35th Sikhs. During the fighting on the Indian North-West Frontier at Dakar on 17th May 1919, he was awarded the Military Cross for gathering the men to launch an attack on the enemy trenches in the face of heavy fire. He was presented with his medal at Buckingham Palace on 10th March 1920.
As Acting Captain, Bill was Adjutant of the 35th Sikhs from May 1919. He left the Indian Army in January 1920 and became a chartered accountant with the firm of Messrs Andrew Low, Son & Co. He married Dora Beatrice Holder on 21st November 1923, and the couple resided in Purley, where they welcomed their daughter, Janet, the following year.
Bill was promoted to Captain in the Honourable Artillery Company in January 1928 and transferred to the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers in June 1929. During World War II he served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Home Guard, commanding the 58th Surrey (Purley) Battalion. He was a founding member of the VC and GC Association, also joining the Committee. In later life, he became a director of Jennings Hotels Ltd and moved to Eastbourne with Dora.
Bill died at St Thomas's Hospital, Lambeth, London, on 12th June 1982. His funeral was held at the Parish Church of St Mary, Eastbourne, and he was cremated at Chichester Crematorium, where his ashes were scattered in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial plaque in St Mary's churchyard bears his name, as does the altar rail inside the church. He is also named on the Victoria Cross and George Cross Memorial at the Town Hall in Wandsworth.
IWM Collections: Haine, Reginald Leonard (Oral history)
REEL 1
Aspects of enlistment and training as gunner with No 3 Coy, 1/1st Bn Honourable Artillery Company, 8th Bde, 3rd Div in GB and France, 8/1914-11/1914: enlistment at Headquarters Honourable Artillery Company, Armoury House, City Road, Finsbury, London, GB, 8/1914; training at Belhus Park Camp, Aveley, GB, 8/1914-9/1914; crossing to France, 18/9/1914-20/9/1914: prior emergency re-equipment; lack of notification; rumours of German troops near Boulogne, France, 9/1914; unloading stores at Nantes, France, 9/1914-10/1914; system in regiment of promoting officers from ranks. Recollections of operations as gunner, NCO and officer with 1/1st Bn, Honourable Artillery Company, 7th Bde, 3rd Div and General Headquarters Troops on Western Front, 12/1914-7/1916: system in regiment of promoting officers from ranks; question of duration of war; lack of reserve troops behind front line; conditions in Ypres Salient, Belgium, 11/1914-9/1915; question of adequacy of training and value of active service experience; officers commissioned from ranks; carrying Vickers Machine Gun ammunition; trench clubs; makeshift shelters in trenches.
REEL 2
Continues: introduction of duckboards and sandbags, 12/1914; method of erecting barbed wire defences in No Man's Land as battalion wiring sergeant on Somme, France, 1916; use of Bangalore Torpedo; increase in use of massed artillery; effects of climate and ground conditions; mining operations.
REEL 3
Continues: opinion of officers. Recollections of operations as officer with 1/1st Honourable Artillery Company, 190th Bde, 63rd (Royal Naval) Div and General Headquarters Troops on Western Front, 7/1916-9/1918: account of 63rd (Royal Naval) Div; attack on Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre, Somme, France, 13/11/1916-14/11/1916, including situation, creeping barrage, wound received by Lieutenant-Colonel Bernard Freyberg, heavy German shellfire whilst consolidating Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre positions and casualties suffered; increased killing power of shellfire on frozen ground illustrated by death of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Boyle near Beaumont Hamel, 7/2/1917; problem with frozen water supplies at Bailescourt Farm, Somme, France; problems for ration parties with muddy ground conditions; question of German troops' morale, 1917-1918.
REEL 4
Continues: attitude of German prisoners of war; German retirement in Somme area, France, 3/1917; move to area around Arras, France, 3/1917; situation; account of attack on Gavrelle, France, 23/4/1917-29/4/1917 including support role during initial attack, 23/4/1917, situation on taking up into positions in captured sector of German Hindenberg Line, role of British artillery in stopping German counter-attack, 24/4/1917 and treatment German prisoner of war; attack on German strongpoint further along Hindenberg Line and retirement to original positions following success of German counter-attack, 28/4/1917.
REEL 5
Continues: account of attack on Gavrelle, France, 23/4/1917-29/4/1917 including retirement to original positions following success of German counter-attack, 28/4/1917, successful capture of German strongpoint, 29/4/1917, treatment of German prisoner of war; role of Captain Alfred Pollard with No 2 Coy in further bombing attacks and successful consolidation of position; fatigue on being relieved and interview with Major-General Walter Congreve; award of Victoria Cross, 17/7/1917 for action 28/4/1917-29/4/1917; opinion of King George V; leave; role of unit as Officer Training Corps cadre, 1917-1918; opinion of Field Marshal Douglas Haig; degree of contact with French Army troops; formation of demonstration platoon to instruct American troops.
REEL 6
Continues: role of demonstration platoon in training American troops; value of battle experience; question of civilian attitude to war; attitude towards civilian politicians; confidence in Allied victory; reaction to hearing news of Armistice during train journey to Italy, 11/11/1918. Question of post-war situation as Victoria Cross holder.
