Hello all; In the Officers photo of 45 recce here: http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/28892-45th-recce/ There is an imposing looking gentleman sitting second from the right, labelled 'Captain Saville'. Lt. Brewer (less imposing gentleman third from the left in the third row back) mentions 'Busty' Saville in his diary, which -it seems a fair bet- would be the same person. My grandfather had a couple of little sketches of himself, one in a bush hat and one on a troop train. They appear to be signed 'Savile' (looks like only one 'l' but I can't be sure, bearing in mind that the spelling of names in the photo isn't 100% perfect). I'd be interested in finding out about Saville, but don't have a first name to go one. So is Busty an antiquated nickname for a common name?
Hi there Ethan, my grandfather was called 'Busty' when he was serving with The Bays during the Second World War. He was a tank driver. After consultation with one of the members here, I think it was Tom Canning, he told me that it was used with men who were big in the upper chest. My Grandad:
I see, that would seem to make sense looking at Saville in the photo and the picture of your grandfather.
My tank commander was SSM "Busty" Thomae. Busty, in this case anyway, referred to his corpulance. Read about "Busty" here http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/20427-7340821-wo-ii-ssm-william-thomas-bronze-star-4th-queens-own-hussars-rac/ Ron
Well, it would seem to follow therefore that it's a size-related name; saville's one of the two or three biggest men in that picture. I haven't had much luck searching for just "Captain Saville" and the like, too many of them. Will keep trying.
'Buster' appears to be pretty much a 20th century appellation for those big and powerful - able to bust, as Brewers' Phrase and Fable has it, also as a nickname of similar origin and used in an ironic way. i.e. of someone diminutive in stature. 'Busty' as I understood it definitely meant those with big chests. It's probably died out as much for the association of the word with women nowadays? It's not so long ago that all Clarks were 'Nobby' and all Millers 'Dusty'. My uncle, who was in the wavy navy in WW2, and possessor of a formidabe pectoral array himself, got the nickname on occasion, he used to sing 'My Brother Sylveste'. I remember as kids, we joined in the chorus enthusiastically; He was my brother - Sylveste! (What's he got) He's got a row of forty medals on his chest. (Big chest!) Killed fifty badmen in the west; he knows no rest. Bigga the man, hells fire don’t push, just shove, Plenty room for you and me. He’s got an arm, like a leg (a ladies’ leg!) And a punch that would sink a battleship. (big ship!) Takes all the Army and the Navy, To put the wind up - Sylvest.
There was a reasonable well know "Chesty" Jennings in Chindit spheres of research but never come across that one anywhere else, or a "Busty"... He looked "barrel" chested in the one image of him I've found...
Quite often, in the case of officers, these nicknames seem to have carried over from public school. "Fat Boy" Gort and "Tiny" Ironside are regularly referred to in BEF memoirs. As Brian says, some others were compulsorily linked with surnames. I never understood where "Whacker" Payne came from but it seems to have been common.
RSM Reed of the 4th QOH was always known as "Chesty" and thinking about it now, he certainly was barrel chested. Ron
Nicknames have always been popular with Britons - prior to the PC brigade taking over - anyone from Liverpool was known as Wac - Scotland - Mac / Jock - Birmingham - Brummie - London - Cockney - Ireland - Paddy/Mick - WOG - a wily oriental gentleman - which is a fair lead in to a racist type tale of the WOG at the building site was complaining of racial discrimination to his supervisor - who tried to explain that - in the main this was a type of endearment - to no avail so he leaned out his window and shouted - " Hey- Mick - Mac - Paddy - Wac - leave the Wog alone.......I guess you had to be there ! Cheers