Mervyn Mitton

The hilt - this also reminds me of some French types

I have another sword I had intended to post today - however, a customer has just emailed me pictures of this sword and is asking for identification . I have not yet checked any books - so, I will tell you what I think and perhaps we can work out it's history ? Firstly, I think it may be a Naval sword - the hilt has the usual lion's head - the blade has a curve - and there appears to be a fouled anchor etched on the blade. The lion's head has been quite roughly worked and the engraving is not good. I am wondering if it is of Indian workmanship and perhaps for the Honourable East India Company - who ruled British India until the 1850's - and had their own navy. I would think from it's appearance that it would date to the early part of the 19th. Century.= These are. just my thoughts - hopefully someone will be able to make a better call ?

Well done Jean-Paul - as Dave says, it is nice to see some coverage on the West Indies. I wish someone had time to do a good article on the early Regiments - and indeed on the current ones. Brian and I would be very happy to consider it for a pinned award. We are also going to add a certificate of Merit with this Moderators' Choice.

I think Chris is right - two does sound excessive ! I have never come across - in any research - someone with a Swedish name. He must have had a British Mother - perhaps from World War 2 ? Strange, a simple picture of a current helmet and yet - all of this mystery ? Just what we like............

Nice sword in good condition. Was the scabbard missing ? This would have made a good post under our Edged Weapons Forum You could still do this.

Hi - Jean-Paul. Unfortunately, the text of your message has come out in very tiny type. I've noticed this on other posts recently. Repost and make it larger. Brian or, I can wipe this one later. Mervyn

Craig - I'll ask Ian Shepherd to tell him - they know each other.

This is an interesting cutting from our Sunday paper. 2016 marks the 200 th year since Shaka succeeded to the throne. The plans for a big celebration are already underway and this photo show King Zwelethini (on right) with his traditional prime minister - Prince Buthelezi. Buthelezi is the King's Uncle and was the Regent when the King was young. They are not particularly good friends these days. Those of you who remember the film ZULU - showing the attack in 1879 on Rorke's Drift - may remember the figure who stood on the hill giving instructions to the Impis by pointing his spear. This was Prince Buthelezi - playing the part of the King Cetywayo's half-brother - Dubalamanzi. In this picture the King is wearing traditional leopard skins - incl. the headring. He is wearing the necklace of lion's claws - only Royalty can wear lion and only chiefs are allowed leopard skin. Buthelezi is wearing a bravery necklace - probably a gift from the King - as only he can award one. The shield that he is holding is the UMBUMBULU - it is a fighting shield and can only be held by warriors'. The larger one - often used on ceremonial occasions is the Ishilungu. The word Zulu is a clan name - and in 1816 it is thought under 3000 people came under Shaka. As he expanded he made other clans take his name and today there are 12.5 million Zulus. Unforunately, their history is not taught properly and very few Zulus will actually know when Shaka lived.

The name sounds Swedish ? Perhaps it was an exchange gift to him - pity Leigh isn't still here - he was Cambridgeshire Const. and could have checked the number.

Hope everything is going well - we will look forward to some details of your training ? You ask a difficult question when you talk of formula's . I think most of these Victorian conflicts were won more by goodluck - and the bravery of the men - then any careful judgement by the officers. Should I venture any opinion I would say that the British have always fought in their Regimental formations and this established en espirit de corps of similar strength to the old Roman Legions. You fought for your comrades - the concept of fighting for Queen and Country looks good on paper - but for the men their home and friends were the Regiment. I can carry this a step further - when I was in the Metropolitan Police, we directly carried the Queen's Authority - but we didn't go around thinking or, talking about this concept. Should a colleague need assistance or, a situation develop then you acted together to look after each other. The British landed Gentry of the 19th Century all attended Public Schools (Public, meaning Private) - they knew each other therefore, on both a school basis and on a social one. When they left school it was to join a social network that extended throughout business, politically and in the Military and Navy. When you were Commissioned you did not just get allocated to a Regiment - well, not a top one. You went before boards of officers from the Regt. you wished to join - and this was one of the reasons for Hon. Colonels. Your background, title, available money - these were all important. An officer had to be able to keep-up with the social events of a top regt.. Some Regts. would only accept young officers from titled families. Whilst they were taught to maintain and look after their commands - it is a fact that most officers left the running of things to the senior NCO's. They were the professionals. Probably the main success of the British , in those days, was our ability to control big areas and large populations, with comparitively small numbers of British personnel. We did this by having a very efficient civil service - who employed large numbers of locals to do the basic work. We also, immediately on gaining a new Colony set-up a police force and a local militia. Most of the small Victorian Wars had a few British Regiments and large numbers of local troops. THe Hon. East India Company - had of course - been the pioneers in this type of Govt. and at any time the proportion of Indian soldiers to white was far higher. I am not sure which letter you refer to when you say they 'dropped a letter'. The public school system made them all speak pretty much the same - and even today I find the so called 'upper English' accent can be hard to follow. One final observation - in the 19th C. soldiers were expendable. They fought a long way from home and so long as we won, no-one worried too much. However, look at some of these battles and you will find whole Regiments being 'wiped-out'. The First Afghan War in 1839 saw 40,000 Indian troops of the East India Co. being killed. When we went back for the 2nd. War in 1878/9/80. there were large numbers of casualties again - the Berkshire Regt. being all killed. Apart from a few pages in the Illustrated London News, the main thing was that we claimed to have won. The same in the 1879 Zulu War. However, Natal was a very small colony and did not have all the extra local service men - the result was that the Zulus inflicted the worst defeat in a Colonial battle. I hope this little bit of background is some help. Mervyn

Just a few off the top of my head - Police; Special Constabulary; St' John's ; Home Guard ; Corps of Commisionaires ; Private security companies ; - not the Ambulance or, Fire Brigade. I am sure otheres will be added but, not a long list.

I am pleased to see Paul's excellent description of the Defence Medal has come back to the front. Nick's comment at the time, that it would be good to have the criteria for all British WW2 medals listed - still stands. Does someone have the time - remember, it will be a reference site for years to come. South Africans did not receive the Defence Medal - for home service - Police etc. - had two medals. The War Medal and the Africa Medal. However, many Sth. Africans were sent to training camps in North Africa and Egypt - particularly when the invasion of Sicily was being planned. This entitled them to the British Defence - and so, we do find-it on groups.

Stuart - you raised the point about Dresden and Hiroshima. The latter was justified and saved thousands of young US lives. Dresden has always been a 'blot' - simply because two wrongs don't make a right ! However, there are some points to consider. The attacks on Britain weren't just in the early part of the War. The 1944 V1's and V2 attacks had been planned for many years. They were merciless in their randomness - and no one in Germany ever cared who was hurt or, killed. They were also totally aimed at civilians - in the hopes that we would negotiate a peace. Dresden was in the last period of the war - it has been acknowledged by experts that the Firestorm was an unexpected and dreadful event. One that was not looked for or, wished for. Only in recent years have the full effects of a firestorm been appreciated. So, at this stage - the German Third Reich could have surrendered unconditionally - our terms for ending the War. This would have been the sensible thing to do - would have saved Russian occupation and saved untold German lives. However, the people concerned had the good of the population totally out of mind. Perhaps under these circumstances - and bearing what they had done to our civilians for five years - the justification to make a sharp lesson was justified. Bear in mind that the Boer Republic did the same thing - their army was defeated - but, the hardliners insisted on fighting a commando war. This caused great loss of life and property.

No doubt he is terribly proud of this piece of rubbish. That's 2000 pounds !

I don't think Brian or myself are likely to get upset. I have enjoyed the original topic and this is a good follow-on. Although, it would justify a post on it's own.

COMMENTS. I haven't really thought what I'm going to write about today. I think we have started to get towards the last two years of the War - and that was not the quiet time that we might have expected. I will probably cover it in two parts. I have enjoyed writing this - even if it is a little time consuming. I intend continuing until I was 12 and we left to live in Australia. I will cover the trip and stop when we arrive in Melbourne. I have said before - and will probably continue to annoy you by repeating it at frequent intervals - there is no way to tell how many are reading the blogs. Unless you comment, it could be just the writer ! I was brought up in Australia - did my Military service there. We then moved for four years to South Africa. After returning to Aussie in 1960, I worked in Brisbane for 4 months and was then 'head hunted ' to work for 3 1/2 years in Thailand. I went back to UK and was then asked to run an advtg. agency in Sierra Leone - West Africa. I then served for 7 years in the Metropolitan Police - eventually running the family business when my Father died unexpectedly. My home in Sth. Africa was a holiday place to visit - but, a few years ago my heriditary Muscular Dystrophy got worse and I am now unable to leave this Country. I have put these details in for a reason. Would any one of my two readers (?) like me to continue in chapters and cover the different Countries I lived and worked in ? Remember we are talking the 1960's/70's and 80's. The World was a lot different - travel was easier and everything wasn't blocked with tourists. Should I live that long, I envisage the different sections would take about 12/18 months. Eventually, they will probably be taken to publish as a book - after some polishing. So, the question is - do you want me to continue this as a series ? WE ARE HIT When I started this blog I was 2 3/4 and the War had just started. Now we have reached 1943 and I am about 7 - this is an age when you understand what is going on around you - and I, and my friends certainly did. We read papers, we listened to the radio and at school were given sensible up-dates. No-one treated us as little children - we were all in the same danger and it was appreciated by adults that we needed to know for our own protection. There were still sporadic bombing attacks and much damage - very few houses were undamaged. Our bedrooms were in the basement and my Father had made shutters to protect us from blast. Sometime during this period we had a severe night raid - I have always slept soundly and sometime in the middle of the night awoke to hear my parents in my room talking to each other. I asked what was wrong and they said the house had been badly hit - and I had slept right through all of the noise. Houses around had also been damaged, but most of the bombs had hit he edge of the Heath and it was blast that had caused the damage. Being Victorian, all of the house glass was 1/4 inch plate (1 inch = 21/2 cm.) The back of the house windows survived - everything else was just splinters - including my lovely pond yacht. That, I never forgave them for. Needless to say - with all of the shortages - it took weeks / months to get the glass replaced. We were all just thankful that we - and our friends and neighbours had survived. The funny thing was that my little Cairn 'Tess' had not even barked. WHAT YOU HAVEN'T HAD - YOU DON'T MISS ! There were no carbonated drinks in those days - soda water used a special bottle that was filled at the factory and you took the empty bottle - with it's lever action to the off license for exchange. All bottle were glass - no drinks used tins. The usual drink was an orange or, lemon cordial which was watered down in the glass. If we wanted a 'fizzy' drink we used to put in 1/2 a teaspoon of Andrew's Liver Salts. Quite tasty - it fizzed and probably kept us 'regular'. I can remember you could buy Heinz tomato sauce and there was a pickle called Pan Yan - which you can still buy and I am quite fond of. Coca Cola and all of the other things taken for granted today , were just not available. I think they started to come into the uk when the US joined the War and their men wouldn't fight without it. Sweets - as I said - earlier were very rationed. We would usually buy 'Bulls eyes' as they lasted longer. With clothing being heavily rationed and my allowance going on my school uniform, things like underclothes, shirts and socks were kept in repair and seemed to have a life of their own. I have never worn a pir of darned socks since I started work. The other thing that is taken for granted today is all of the ingredients for a cake. Dried fruit had to come from the West Indies and the ships brought food that was so desperately needed. You know - thinking about it - I don't remember any fat or, overweight people. Other then perhaps people who were ill. The experts say we were the healthiest in our history. I think Fish required points - but small things like winkles could be bought freely - if they were available. Things had settled down at school and I was doing fairly well - I was never a brilliant student - I really only remembered the things I had an interest in. English I enjoyed - history is a given and I loved Geography. Maths, I liked the basics - but, algebra and geometry a total no-no. However, I learn't the basics and today can still add up a bill faster then I could on a calculator. For all of the ever present problems I was happy - as only a small boy can be if he has food, shelter and love. This was about to change. V1 ROCKETS This is an aerial picture of the first rocket to attack Britain. It carried one ton of explosive and was quite devastating in it's destructive ability. Everone knew them as Buzz Bombs - they droned with a steady buzz. However, they had enough fuel to take them over London - when this ran out they became silent. You had approx. 1 minute to take shelter. They were not a joke - although we pretended they were. They were quite terrifying - whole streets were destroyed by them - and you were in great danger since you didn't know where they would come down. All of a sudden our freedom of movement was gone. Parents were too worried to let us roam anywhere. Fortunately, the RAF learnt to shoot them down - and also to flip their little wings and throw them off course. This helped, but since London was the target we were badly hit. June 1944 was the start of the V1 Buzz Bombs - we would have voted to keep them had we known the sheer terror that was about to strike London from September 1944. This was the V2 Rocket - which came down from a height of 60 miles (100kms) and at a speed of over 2,200 miles per hour. There was no escape and thousands were to die - they nearly forced an early peace.

Tracy - the closest I have been able to come to an identity for the unit is : The Alexandra, Princess of Wale's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry (Hussars). 1908 to 1956. The use of the double rose - the Tudor one - is quite common - however, they appear to have used it on it's own. We must await further identifications. Don't worry about posting any of the badges on this blog section - we are making an exception. With regard to the daggers - actually fighting knives - I think these have been made as lapel pins for identification of members of the unit. I don't think they will be official issue. Best wishes. Mervyn

Tracy - it has been pointed out to me that the dagger may be a miniature. There was no scale and it does look like a stud on the side. Perhaps you could say how long it is ?

Personally, I feel it is quite old. Should it have had a gunpowder container then I think the sea will have cleared-it - however, you are quite right never to take chances - too many arms have been lost that way ! Get your next door neighbour to try............ I would contact an Army or, Navy Museum to see if it matches any known calibres - apart from that mount it on a block of wood. A nice old souvenir.

Thankyou both for taking the time to reply. Whilst writing this I have been aware of my later knowledge of Dresden and the Japanese bombings. I don't think this little post is the right place to discuss it all - I am only writing from my viewpoint as a very small boy - and how it affected me. Any children under similar circumstances - and in whatever Country - would have suffered the same privations and dangers.

Tracy - you're doing well. Just the descriptions of getting sidetracked will be familiar to every member - we all do that. No-one is quite sure at present how many members are actually reading the Blogs - I think it is a fair number - so, don't be put off if there aren't a lot of immediate answers. We are all delighted to have you - and keep up the humerous bits - great reading. Now, you will understand that badges such as these would normally go under British badges. I can identify the lower one as a cap badge and the top one is probably a collar badge - two would be worn - one on either lapel. The flower is the double rose - the original Tudor badge. I will check on which regt. - however, it is likely another member will answer before I get back to you. The lower item is a combined knuckle-duster and commando style knife. The solid piece is in the palm and the fingers around the spikes. Should you strike someone in the face they would do terrible damage. The blade of the knife is curved and is intended to go under the rib cage - directly into the chest. The Middle East countries use this style. The shape and style makes me think of early WW2 Royal Marine Commando's. Could your family member have been a commando ? IIf it can be proved to be a genuine issue and not home made - then it is quite valuable. Keep posting - we will look forward to 'reading you' on a regular basis. Mervyn

Thankyou Greg - all contributions to the Comp. are gratefully accepted - I think we stand a chance of hitting 400 entries - which is exceptional. Did your Certificate arrive ? Have a great holiday and try to bring a few prisoners back for your establishment ! I was driving back to London late one evening - in pouring rain. I never give lifts but felt sorry for a hitchhiker. He - for some reason, that I am sure he regretted later - started to tell me his 'life story' - which included that he had just escaped from prison. He got quite a fright when I told him I was Police and handcuffed him. I dropped him off at a Police Station I passed - had to wake the Sgt. up - he wasn't too pleased either. We used to have a saying - ' if you can't take a joke - you shouldn't have joined !' A lot of truth in that. Have a great holiday. Mervyn

Always fascinating when these old items are found. From it's appearance and encrustaceans I suppose it could even be Civil War period. It's looks as if it might have been a solid projectile - but you can never be sure - certainly 7 inches x 2 inches is quite small. ( 17.5cm x 5cm). At this size it might even have been belt fired - did the military have any bases in this area - it might have been a practise round ? Skyliner - I see you are a new member - welcome to GMIC. Mervyn

Jean-Paul - another harrowing account of great bravery in the field. I will never understand though, why New Zealanders are involved in Afghanistan. For that matter - why any Western Countries are involved. This is the 4th Afghan War that we have fought and have never been fully succesful in any of them.

If he was the Grand Master of the Order of the Bath - then that would be the one with the pointy sides. Although it is outranked by the the Thistle and Patrick. Thanks for that list Greg - just shows, be born to a Royal family and look what you get ! He is obviously only wearing a few of them - but, you could live comfortably just from tthe gold and the jewels.