Trooper_D

8 hours ago, Alex K said:

... as far as the long service cross goes, i agree with you, it certainly looks like the most probable from a visual perspective, my only problem is why would he recieve it? as to the best of my knowledge, he never served in the KUK armed forces, but who knows!!? .

Was he a regimental colonel (Inhaber) of a KuK regiment, perhaps?

Great result, David!

On 08/02/2024 at 22:26, bigjarofwasps said:

But am curious to learn, how someone can be awarded their LSGC and bar at the same time? Can anyone shine any light on this for me? 

Perhaps he got lost in the system and never got round to chasing it up until he was due a bar, as well? Note that he is an officer - only eligible since 2016, it would appear - and RNR so the potential for being 'mislaid' is increased over a more usual recipient.

6 hours ago, PREM said:

I updated the link to the blog 🙂 https://rosyjskieodznaki.blogspot.com/

Good news! Don't forget to update the link on the footer to your posts.

What intriguing items, Prem! Do you know where they were found, by any chance?

btw I clicked on the link to your blog and, as you will know, it no longer works so your might want to remove it from your signature.

8 hours ago, Deutschritter said:

Royal Order of Francis I (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies), Knight's Cross 2nd Class (Sic.Fr.3b/ScF3b)

Just as a reminder, this award to v Lossow was briefly discussed by Dave Danner in this post,

with the award date, 18 August 1891, given two posts earlier.

On 18/01/2024 at 23:45, VtwinVince said:

Interesting that von Duering was married to a Forbes, they figure prominently in my family.

I, also, was fascinated as to how this could have come about and discovered a bit more at this link on thepeerage.com, a well-respected and usually reliable source,

https://www.thepeerage.com/p41343.htm#c413424.1

Interestingly, the mother of the bride wasn't directly a Forbes of Craigievar but came from a cadet branch descending from a younger son born in the mid eighteenth-century.

Brilliant find, No one! I have bookmarked it for future reference.

20 hours ago, Solomon said:

The Lippe-gendarmerie was organzied like the Prussian gendarmerie, but much smaller.

There were only 22 policeofficers and one Oberst.

Very interesting! Many thanks for this information, Solomon.

What a fascinating object to own, Solomon - congratulations!

In British English (and probably elsewhere), 'police officer' is a term used for all members of the police force, even Constables and Sergeants. However, I suspect that you are using the term in the sense of commissioned officers. Was the Lippe police force a gendarmerie, i.e. was it run along military lines with a rank structure similar to the army? Do you know what its size was, typically? That it only had 25 officers suggests it wasn't very large. This seems like an interesting niche area for study!
 

Is it not a bit curious that the tunic buttons to the left? I did wonder, at first, whether the photo was shown in reverse but, on closer inspection, I think not.

I'm puzzled! What has previously been identified as an officer’s tactical badge, in the rather splendid display of insignia is mounted on a card marked French colonial (bottom right corner of top frame)l!! Who is right/wrong?

Those interested in more about the Tientsin Volunteer Corps (TVC) should look at the article 'The Tientsin Volunteer Corps in the Boxer Rising, 1900' which appears in pp. 179-181 of volume 36 of the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. It can be accessed, through JStor, at the link below (registration required),

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44228890

The article contains the following photo of Privates F A Kennedy, A S Annand and F R Scott. The object on their head is described as a 'black lambskin cap, similar to that worn at the time by Canadian troops in Winter kit'. They were armed with the Martini-Henry.

There is reason to think that Arnold Bassett Watts was the brother of James Hector Watts, also of the TVC and the hero of the Siege of Tientsin in 1900 (a James Arnold Watts - their father? - died in Tientsin, aged 59, between 1901-1905.

James Watts rode through enemy territory to the Naval station at Taku and was successful in seeking a force to relieve Tientsin when the defenders were on their last legs. For his pains, he was awarded the Rettungsmedaille am Bande, a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold and was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.

The TVC, as a man, refused to receive their China Medal as, being civilians, they were initially refused the 'Relief of Peking' bar awarded to the regular soldiers who took part in the defence of Tientsin. However, subsequent questions in Parliament ensured that they were properly so recognised.

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1903/apr/02/medals-for-tientsin-volunteers

Finally, James Arnold Watts, the putative father to Arnold Bassett Watts, was described as a pilot in the entry of his death. If his son followed in his father's footsteps, I wonder if CPS might stand for something line China Pilot Service?

I believe this to be for Arnold BaSSet Watts. The clue was here,

https://www.pcgs.com/cert/35411530

FindMyPast has him as a private in the Tientsin Volunteer Corps with the China Medal to his name. His promotion seems to have been rapid! 

Thanks for your answer, No One. It is nice to have a postcard in pristine condition but so much more interesting when there is writing on the other side that might provide some historical context, isn't it!?

Very interesting, indeed, No one. I imagine that the photograph would have been taken in 1918 (or 1919?) but is there any writing or a date on the postcard's reverse, please?

Thanks for the clarification, Graham. Good sleuthing! I hope that someone will be able to help you with your questions.

Graham

A nice research project.

I wonder what information your research threw up to suggest that 'Probert 288' was P D Probert s/n 1134184. I would have expected the '288' on the tunic to be the last three digits of the wearer's serial number, which obviously doesn't match with that of your possible candidate. Of course, the number might means something else.

Would it be possible to have a photo of the tunic, please?

2 hours ago, Farkas said:

I don’t call that pedantic… ‘twas a shocking mistake…

I’m Welsh!!

Twenty press-ups!

Now!

😉

May I echo the welcomes you have received and say how much I have enjoyed reading your account of the document you are fortunate enough to own.

I have been lucky enough to have been on a battlefield tour of much of the terrain of this bloody but not so well known campaign, visiting both the Austrian and Italian positions (where some trenchwork still remains) and including walking the ground where Rommel won his PLM. You have to have been there to truly understand what an extraordinary feat of endurance it was to fight in those mountains, particularly in the depth of winter.

Your transcriptions of Sterger's diary entries brings home the human side of the fighting in a very vivid way. Thank you!

What an interesting project, USN! I hope that you manage to secure all the right pieces to bring the tunic back to something near its prime.

On 21/02/2023 at 11:25, USN said:

 Also the signature on the uniform matches another unit photograph which he signed not long before his death.

On past experience, I would have thought that, rather than this being Ridgway's signature, this is where the tailor has handwritten his name so that it doesn't get confused with other tunics they were making at the time. It is still the practice, today, that tailors write their client's name on the label they sew into the garment they have made.

Further to the above, having had another look at the 'signature' on the tunic, I wouldn't have said it is particularly similar to that on the group photo (a very different 'R', for example).

On 26/02/2023 at 03:33, Farkas said:

Your tunic definitely has North Staffs buttons and i’m guessing has collar badges more like this 👇 with fleur-de-lis above the knot?

A pedantic point, perhaps, but those are the Prince of Wales's feathers rather than a fleur-de-lis about the knot.

A good start to answering your question can be made by visiting this official page and scrolling down to the entry for the Order of the British Empire. 

https://honours.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/about/orders-and-medals/

As it states, the Order is awarded in either the Military or Civilian division, depending of whether the recipient is in the Armed Forces or not. Both divisions are equivalent in honour.

Your document is for an honorary (because the recipient is not British or from the Commonwealth) Officer of the Order, i.e. the fourth of the five classes of the Order. The ribbon of the Military division has a central stripe, as illustrated on some of the illustrations at the link.

I'm afraid that I don't know whether the signature is facsimile or original. I am sure that others will, however.

2 hours ago, David M said:

In 1815 he tried to get into the kurhessian army again, whence he came, but was refused. He lived in the principality of Waldeck for the remainder of his life on partial english pension, dying at an unknown date somewhere after 1838.

How interesting. Thanks for the follow up.

2 hours ago, David M said:

Great, thanks! So happy to be able to close this gap in his career

As a matter of interest, what did he go on to do after the KRRC?

He was, indeed, in the KRRC. One source in which he appears is this one,

Source: https://archive.org/details/aregimentalchro00wallgoog/page/n10/mode/1up

The scan is not the best but he appears at least four times:

p.165 (1st column), p.167 (2d col), p.173 (2nd col), p.177 (1st col)

To start you off, here is the first reference,