Robin Lumsden

............and again, being worn by Chief SS Medic Dr. Ernst-Robert Grawitz. He was the guy who blew up himself and his family with grenades in the bunker film.

Bunkers and medics seem to go together.

Here is the badge being worn by Dr. Stumpfegger, of 'bunker' fame........................

Very nice!

No need for me to bug r.l.

You are a gentleman and a scholar.

Aluminium wire with black central stripe.

is this Freikorps related?

That's a badge I've been after for ages.

I think it inspired the later Dirlewanger collar patch.

Willy Fritsch, 1930s actor in a Freikorps movie..........

Here's the theatre actor Giampietro, from 1912..............

Nice pix.

I wonder if the forestry man had his picture taken after 1945?

The TR awards have the swastika turned to the reverse.

British troops wounded in WW1 also received a 'For Service Rendered' badge that could be worn with civilian clothing.

Check the photo - this one was on ebay........did you get it Robin?

I was wrong about a Lumsden falling of his horse - checking on the web it was the Lumsdens who benefitted from a King Alexander the nth falling off his horse.

Hello Leigh.

Yes................I bought the badge as a present for my younger brother who is resident in Australia.

As a matter of interest, I live a few miles from Kinghorn, which is where King Alexander III fell to his death from his horse in 1286..............the stupid cuddy rode over a cliff. A monument there now marks the spot. See below.

I didn't know that any Lumsdens benefitted from the accident!

Robin,

One just sold on eBay for c.?55.

Lumsden's Horse are an interesting (and well collected unit). I have a couple of Queen's South Africa Medals to L.H. men in my collection.

All the best,

Derek (Don't know if you remember but I met you at HQ in Glenrothes a couple of years ago - I had the Special Constabulary Medal to Chief S.C. James Affleck)

Thanks Derek!

I remember!

By the way: here is a free download.....

http://www.archive.org/details/historyoflumsden00pearrich

Many thanks!

Colonel Lumsden, of 'Lumsden's Horse'....................................

The name Lumsden derives from the old manor of Lumsden in the parish of Coldingham in Berwickshire. The earliest known recordings of the name appear between 1166 and 1182 when the brothers Gillem (William) and Cren de Lumsden witnessed a charter by Waldeve Earl of Dunbar to the Priory of Coldingham.The lands of Lumsden are first mentioned in a charter dated 1098 of King Edgar of Scotland and his son Malcolm Canmore. Gillem and his brother Cren are the first recorded owners of the land. In 1296 Adam Lumsden and Roger de Lumsden were among the Scottish clan leaders who were force homage to King Edward I of England with both of their names appearing on the Ragman Rolls.

14th Century:

Around 1328 Gillbert de Lumsden married a heiress of Blanerne and by 1329 had received a charter for the Blanerne lands by the Earl of Angus. By the mid 14th century offshoots of the Lumsden clan had charters and lands confirmed to them in Conlan in Fife and Medlar and Cushnie in Aberdeenshire.

17th Century & Thirty Years' War:

In the early 17th century during the Thirty Years' War the Clan Lumsden fought for the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus in a unit called "Lumsden's Musketeers".

17th Century & Civil War:

One of the Lumsden brothers, James Lumsden returned from the war in Europe with his men to fight in the Civil War which was taking place in England, Ireland and Scotland to support the Covenanters. They fought at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 where King Charles I was defeated. They also fought at the Battle of Dunbar (1650) under David Leslie where the Covenanters were defeated by the Parliamentarians. James Lumsden's brother Robert defended Dundee against General Monck but he was killed on its surrender.

18th Century & Jacobite Uprisings:

During the Jacobite Uprisings of 1745 to 1746 the Chief of Clan Lumsden was Prince Charles Edward Stuart's secretary. After the Battle of Culloden the chief fled to Rome. He returned to Scotland in 1773 and was pardoned by the British government. His tartan waistcoat is preserved at Pitcaple Castle.

Nothing I can find about falling off a horse.

I like the story about 'Lumsden's Musketeers', though! God only knows what they got up to during the 30 Years War.

Lots of pillaging and 'you know what', no doubt!

Thanks Leigh.

Guess it must be fairly scarce then, eh?

What's the story with the Lumsdens who fell off the cuddies?

..............but a major challenge for me.

I know nothing about these.

Can anyone tell me what this Boer War slouch hat badge is worth?

Great items...........esp. the Flemish shield and the hammerhead eagle.

I think it must have been for a visit from Hitler.....................like the special passes issued each November in Munich.

Hitler and the Prince of Hess visited Kassel in mid-1939 to see a museum of antiquities..............not sure of the month, though.

That really makes me wonder what the 'after final victory' police officer corps would have looked like.

Almost certainly something like this.

Beat cop, Berlin, 1950........................if Himmler's plans had gone through.

P.S.

Police NCO swords are actually rarer than the officer swords, as fewer men were entitled to wear them.

1. Robin observed the owner was a "warrant officer". I am not familar with SS ranks. What would be the official SS rank designation of a "warrant officer"? It seems that I have read that some of the higher NCO ranks were "with and without" a portepee. (I could be all wet).

Rod.

'Warrant Officers' would equate to SS-Hauptscharfuehrer-Sturmscharfuehrer..................but I was referring to the police NCO grades entitled to wear swords. Even the lowest police man was technically an 'NCO' so to speak. Only the higher non-coms were entitled to wear swords. The lower ranks wore police bayonets.

I can imagine the (growing number of) Old Age Pensioners (or are they 'Senior Citizens' still?) having lots of fun with these.

What they want is something with a clear '5', '10', '50' or whatever, that can be read easily.

The heraldic references are fine, but the designs are too 'busy' IMHO.

At least we don't have rainbows etc. etc. on them.

Hummm .... both a policeman AND SS ..... sounds like a fully committed to the cause guy!!!

Himmler (and Hitler) realised early on that it was the police, not the army or the SS, who had the real executive powers of arrest, detention etc. that the Nazis would rely on to control the country.

There was a drive after 1936 to recruit as many policemen as possible into the Allgemeine-SS, and to encourage civilian A-SS men to join the police as a profession.

Himmler's aim was to completely merge the police and the SS into a single Nazi-controlled State Protection Corps.

So dual membership of the SS and the police was quite common.

Rod.

That stamp on the blade was used by WKC instead of the usual SS proof stamp. It is typical of that maker.

The knot suggests that the original wearer was a warrant officer in both the police and the SS. Otherwise, a normal police knot would have been worn.

Usually, police men with SS membership also opted for runes in the pommel, although that was an optional extra.

Nice sword.