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JOCK’S LIVERY – ALL LINED UP AND READY TO GO

All went well for a while until disaster struck in the form of alcohol addiction. The soldiers up
at Fort Napier Military Camp were known for their Drinking and many tales are told still of
their escapades in town. If you search online you will find the famous ‘Black Horse’ mentioned.
A rampant black horse sign marked the favourite drinking haunt which was sold only recently
complete with all the military insignia that had been collected. Tales are told of equestrian
soldiers riding through the Bar, stopping only to bend down from their saddles for a (very)
‘quick one’ then riding out the back door. Jock was a man with a great sense of humour and an
eye for a pretty girl; a friendly, sociable, well liked man. Of course he would have joined in all
the fun and games!
So no doubt Jock had learned to be a heavy drinker in the Army where being one of the boys
and having fun were paramount. When he first married his beloved Rebecca and joined
civilian life he was managing his drink and his energies went in to building up his business and
his home. However much he wanted to leave army life, he must have missed the old
camaraderie, the drinking-buddies, the escape from pain and stress that his regiment provided.
Slowly he began to lose control of his drinking and as he did so he lost control of his horses, his
stables and ultimately his family and their home.
I don’t know what was going on in the home at the time; they were not the kind of people who
fought loudly and hurled abuse. Rebecca was too much of a lady for that kind of behaviour,
however humble her origins. But there were all those children anxiously awaiting their Father,
supplies were low, Rebecca was disenchanted and her anxiety was felt by all of them. The
family hit rock bottom one day when the Sherriff knocked on the door of their home and
started removing their furniture.
Terrified and humiliated, Rebecca pleaded with the men and the children did their best to hide
or confront or beg the removal men, but all to no avail.
Before the men began to strip the living room, the second daughter Alma, probably a teenager
but maybe older, rushed to rescue the precious mantle clock given to her parents by Lady
Havelock. She was determined to protect their Mother’s prized possession and she managed to
hide it successfully. The Sherriff never found the clock which today ticks happily away on
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