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    Harry Fecitt

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    Everything posted by Harry Fecitt

    1. An album page from a set of 25 Medals issued by Stephen Mitchell & Son in 1916. Expect to pay up to six pounds sterling per card in VG condition. Two of the backs are shown in the current Rhodesian thread.
    2. Mervyn I was serving in the Zambia Army as a contract infantry officer when the Rhodesian rebellion (known as UDI) started, so perhaps I may offer comment from that perspective. (In the UK through Soldier magazine the South African, Rhodesian and Zambian armies all advertised vacancies. I was totally naive about how time-warped white public opinion then was in southern Africa and I applied to all three. Luckily for myself and my young family the Zambians were fastest on the ball, and our life did not get bogged-down in a losing situation further south.) Your thread title asks a question, but then you jump in with both feet and use the phrase: the shameful betrayal by the British Government of their own Colony. I am pretty sure that history shows that the British government, which had to consider its responsibilities to all sections of the Rhodesian community, offered suitable terms. Twice the Royal Navy provided a venue for meetings, but the white Rhodesian spokesman never seemed to have the authority to settle the issue. One got the feeling that there were manipulators behind the southern African political scene who had their own profitable agendas. What I never understood from a military perspective was why the Rhodesian army did not recruit far more Africans. Surely the expansion of the Rhodesian African Rifles into a couple of infantry brigades would have both helped the security situation and shown the world that this was not just a 'white settler' military operation? I like reading about military operations in southern Africa from the 1960s onwards, and I find the late Ken Flower's book "Serving Secretly" interesting. He doesn't tell the full story, but he mentions a couple of intelligence failures. Firstly he says that the Rhodesians didn't know how much pressure military cross-border operations (thanks to a lot of South African help) were deteriorating relations between the Mozambique government and the insurgents. Secondly the Rhodesians (or at least the decision makers in Salisbury) seem to have been unaware of the strength of support for the insurgents in the rural areas when elections were held. Those were bad intelligence failures. However, in the end Rhodesia was discarded by its sustainer South Africa who had her own situations to resolve in Angola and South West Africa. The chaps who had fought in the Rhodesian bush on both sides of the fence then had to watch the behind-the-scenes manipulators looting the country as railway loads of cattle etc headed south. With hindsight we can see that the collapse of white-settler power in the Belgian Congo (and in Algeria further north) started an inevitable chain reaction. When Portugal had its revolution and abandoned its colonial policies then South Africa and Rhodesia could only fight rear-guard actions. Now that I live in Portugal I take a lot of interest in Portuguese anti-insurgency operations in Africa. Not much is known about them but they were pivotal to Rhodesian survival. I will end by saying Mervyn that when ex-Rhodesian organisations and web-threads devote more time and space to commemorating the black and coloured chaps who fought and died for Rhodesia, then a more healthy and less biased attitude will prevail, to the benefit of all. Harry
    3. My favourite set of silks. From Godfrey Phillips Ltd's set of 126 medium-sized GP Territorial Badges issued in 1913. Expect to pay around two pounds sterling per silk.
    4. The backs of the above cards. Expect to pay 150 pounds sterling upwards for the set.
    5. An album page from Ogden's set of 50 cards issued in 1907 and titled Orders of Chivalry. Another excellent reference set.
    6. The backs of the above silks. Expect to pay around 100 pounds sterling for this set.
    7. Silks with card backings. From Soldiers of The King, a set of 14 medium sized inserts issued with copies of My Weekly and The Happy Home magazines during the Great War.
    8. A couple of dashing Diggers and a relaxed gunner. From Gallaher's Types of the British Army issued in two different sets of 50 cards each between 1897 and 1898. No descriptive text on the back, only cigarette brand adverts, Depending on the brand printed on the back, expect to pay up to 10 pounds sterling per card.
    9. These are 'Scissors' cards aimed at the British troops in India. A set in VG condition costs around 75 pounds sterling, but an identical Wills set issued under the United Service Cigarettes brand has blue backs and is catalogued at a few pounds less.
    10. Three cards from Regimental Colours & Cap Badges, a set of 50 from W.D & H.O. Wills Ltd, issued in 1907.
    11. A trade card from Typhoo Tea Ltd issued in 1939 and titled Important Industries of the British Empire. There are 25 cards in the set which can be bought for 10 to 15 pounds sterling. In this series from Typhoo the descriptive text is on the front of the card.
    12. When you can find them expect to pay up to 100 pounds sterling for the set.
    13. The largest-sized set in the collection. From The British Empire, a set of 12 postcard-sized cards issued in 1929 by W.D. & H.O. Wills Ltd.
    14. A set for the ex-gunners amongst us. From an extra-large set of 12 cards issued by John Player & Sons in 1917 titled Artillery in Action. Expect to pay around 60 pounds sterling for the set.
    15. An album page showing part of a set of 50 medium-sized silks issued by Godfrey Phillips Ltd in 1920 and titled Orders of Chivalry. Expect to pay over 100 pounds sterling for the full set, but dealers often sell silks cheaply because the collecting public prefers cards.
    16. United Tobacco Companies (South) Ltd (S. Africa) also distributed sets of more artistically designed cards. The prices remain very affordable at around the same cost as the previous set.
    17. The bi-lingual back of the above card. Expect to pay only around 40 pounds sterling for a full set of 200 cards.
    18. Attack on a laager United Tobacco Companies (South) Ltd (S. Africa) issued many interesting large or medium sized cards. This set of 200 large cards is titled Our South Africa Past and Present and was distributed in 1938.
    19. A card from a large set This is one of 111 cards issued by Gallaher Ltd in 1901 titled The South African Series Expect to pay five to six pounds sterling for a good card. Colonel Kekewich, CO of the 1st Bn The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, successfully commanded the garrison at Kimberley in a 126-day siege during the South African War. He became a Major General commanding the 13th (Western Division) but on 5th November 1914, due apparently to a nervous breakdown, he tragically took his own life.
    20. Some popular sets of cigarette cards have been reproduced for the collectors' market. W.D. & H.O. Wills Ltd issued the original set of 50 cards titled Military Motors in 1916. An original set is likely to cost you over 80 pounds sterling, but a reproduction set sells for six or seven pounds.
    21. From Wills' Scissors set of 30 cards titled Heroic Deeds issued in 1913. Expect to pay four pounds or more in sterling for a VG card. The text on the rear reads: Lieutenant Parsons RA and men of the 60th Rifles manning a field gun at the Ingogo River after all the gunners had been shot down (Boer War 1881). At the Ingogo River, February 8th 1881, every officer, gunner and horse of the RA, with the exception of Lieut. Parsons, who was wounded later, was shot down. For an hour the gun was silenced, then a party of the 60th Rifles began to work it, and kept it in action throughout the day, but with heavy loss.
    22. The backs of the last two cards This is a superb reference set. Pay up to 75 pounds sterling for a set in VG condition.
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