Capt. H. J. Walmisley-Dresser

[BCrosby]

Does anyone know who he was? W/D published a beautifully written short piece in the Am. Golfer in 1914 on strategic architecture. He wrote another piece (equally well written) on composting. From the sublime to the s#@*t.

But that's it. I can find nothing else by or about him. My feeble Google searches turn up nothing. I suspect he was English and might have been the son of an Eleanor Walmisley-Dresser, the wife of an English academic. Any leads would be appreciated.

Bob

[Jason McNamara]

Bob, a couple very brief mentions of military service before and during WWI:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29468/supplements/1568/page.pdf
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28657/pages/7865/page.pdf

[BCrosby]

Jason -

Thanks. That's him. Do we know if he survived WWI? He seems to drop off the map.

Bob

[Jason McNamara]

Bob, sadly it would seem not.
http://tinyurl.com/2bg7w2m
http://tinyurl.com/25b5zmt  (find [walm] in your browser window and that will take you to his listing)

Also, some background of his service in Africa  (first mentioned on page 3)
http://british-colonial-africa-from-1873-to-1955.com/PDFS/9_AA_CHICHESTER_20_2.pdf

And this was his father:
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/DD/fdr12.html

(FYI, I had some luck de-hyphenating the name.  Some sources seem to list it erroneously as a middle name.)

[BCrosby]

Jason -

Thanks so much. Your gracious assistance resolves the mystery. A shame. For a brief moment on the eve of WWI W/D was as articulate a spokesman as anyone for the tenets of strategic architecture.

Bob   

[Jason McNamara]

Bob, happy to help.  I didn't see his architecture article in the LA84 online list.  Do you have a link?

[BCrosby]

http://photoarchive.usga.org/mbwtemp/AGAPR1914.pdf

It is in the AG April, 1914 issue, which LA84 does not seem to have. You need to go to the USGA SEGL online collection.

On a slightly different topic, if you haven't already discovered neither LA84 nor the USGA has complete runs of magazines of the era. One will have an issue that the other won't. Sometimes neither will have it. I'd guess the gaps in the collections are a function of gaps in the collections that donors gave them. It would be a wonderful thing indeed if those gaps could be filled someday.

Bob   

[Jason McNamara]

Got it - thanks, Bob.

(For anyone outside this pleasant colloquy also wondering  , the article is on p 17 / 96 of that PDF, or p. 463 if going by the AG's own numbering.)

[Niall C]

Bob

He certainly wrote in British editions of Golfing but unfortunately I don't have a copy of any of his articles to hand. Nor do I have a date. Can't even recall what he wrote about but his name is not one that you tend to gloss over if you know what I mean.

Niall

[BCrosby]

Niall -

It's good to hear that W/D's name - so hard to forget and so easy to misspell - is familiar to someone. It was not to me. It would make sense that he was an experienced commentator. If you come across anything of interest about or by him, I would be indebted if you would send it on.

Bob

[TEPaul]

Bob:

If you're speaking of gaps in the runs of American Golfer in SEGL and LA84 another place worth looking is in the library of Piping Rock Club.