Mervyn Mitton

Steve - have you bought this ? Mortgage one of the children. It may just happen that the Dorset's Museum might have the weapons register - but, even without that it is a lovely piece to add to the medals.

Huck - I think one of our difficulties with GMIC is that we don't 'cross boundaries'. Obviously the knowledge aspect plays a big role in this - however, we are all fellow members and inter action is important. If I introduce signatures as a new subject on our Documents forum, would you be willing to give an introductory post on what members should be looking for and the importance of such a list ? I expect we already have members who collect autographs.

I had a feeling that was your job - but I couldn't recall seeing it. When I was in the Met. Police we used to have to take women prisoners to our womens' prison - Holloway. Always a number of male warders on duty. We never went right inside, but, I must say that it was the one prison I was nervous of - a hard bunch of women.

It's next to Collectors' Blogs - but, Nick may have just added it ? I think it's an excellent idea - all of these new additions keep us ahead of the opposition and give us something to offer to new members. I would like to take the opportunity to say that we seem to add these new ideas - but, they need an explanation. Perhaps a few paras on the Lounge ? I turned it on yesterday, but, it wouldn't switch off - so the icon showed 1 member was on-line. However, no one tried to open and see who it was. How can we tell the members that a particular person is on the Chat room and can be contacted by ................ A few simple instruction steps would help members overcome their nervousness.

Hucks - I'm not sure that a blog is the best place to start this 'push' - however, if you can turn it into an interesting regular hunt and the things you have had to do to get signatures - then I think you have great potential and members will be interested. I notice that the only Forums at present are for German material - however, under our British section we have a Documents Forum which would be ideal. Best of luck - and keep the momentum going. Mervyn

Lee - an interesting post and one that I think will generate some interest - you've already got Stuart on board ! Many people think that the Australians took the current slouch hat from the Colonial troops in South Africa - they had been using that design for quite a while. There must be Orders on the pattern from Aust. and it would be nice to clear this point. Over the years I have seen a number of the SA Colonial pattern - but I have never seen the double row of ventilation holes. I am wondering if orders were given to Aust. troops to do this for better ventilation. The holes have the appearance of being done with brad awl. Stuart - what do you think ? With regard to the green one you have - i personally think this has been made-up. Ther Dutch flag looks added and the two brass badges look to be British. Hopefully some other member will have an opinion. Mervyn

Very sad Greg - had he been ill or, was it personal problems ? I take a sleeping tablet at night and took the trouble to read the little pamphlet - it said 'predisposes you to suicide ! ' I can assure you I am very careful with the one tablet I take. I have been a little disappointed with the response everyone has had on the blog. I think it is an excellent innovation and one that could give a whole new interest to our members. However, it does seem that we have only a limited number of viewers. No real way of telling. I was actually thinking of tailing mine off - however, there was a nice lady in the shop on Friday, and the blog came-up in conversation - we had been talking about WW2. She took the GMIC leaflet I give out and plans to join. She is from George in the Eastern Cape - so we must welcome her if she joins. Take care - I have had your certificate sent off on Friday. The Comp. is doing well now - 264 up to Thursday. Greg - somewhere along the line I've missed what your job is - please put a little note in for new readers. Mervyn

Thanks JPL - always interesting to see lists like these. I thought it read rather strangely - most of the Awards are to Commanding Officers - most of the more straightforward MID's and Commendations to O/R's. Perhaps I am reading it out of context - there may well be other Award lists made recently. I just got the feeling that it was rewards for the people who sat in offices. Please tell me I'm wrong ?

Hi - Jonathan. It is very rubbed - however, I think it is French and there is part of an address - but, not sure which City. I had thought of it as more like the British pattern for Infantry officers - cavalry would have more of a curve to the blade. However, it came with a label saying Crimea War , French heavy cavalry. We all know how a quick look at the net. gives a wrong ident. - which becomes Gospel after a few years ! I think I agree with you - I thought the condition was good - obviously has been looked after. Haven't you added to your collection recently ? I've only got a few left from the last batch - although I saw a nice collection last week and will probably take a few. Thanks for your help. Mervyn

jf - why do you think it would arrive so late ? I would say that it arrived in Afghanistan soon after 1849 - the war never really stopped and the Russians had every intention of taking the passes into India - and then India. This was the expansionist period in European history - Countries like Germany and Russia suddenly realised that the maritime powers , Britian, France, Holland etc had a number of overseas possessions - which limited their gaining bases. Germany went after Africa - Russia was aiming for the Far East. Britain fought 3 historical wars with Afghanistan - 1839 ; 1878 and 1919. Now we are involved in a fourth. A barbaric and barren place it defeated all of us - including the Russians and the US. We should have bombed the passes closed and left them to get on with their own lives.

Ostprussenmann - Sounds that a good story is waiting to be told. I am going to see if Brian can move this down one post to Colonial - really more suitable. Look forward to your future details on him. Mervyn

Sword and scabbard

The underside of the guard

The hilt and grip are in excellent condition

Blade engraving

This lovely heavy cavalry sword is French and probably in use for the early 1850's. I understand it was the pattern used during the Crimea War. I have not been able to find a lot about it and would appreciate confirmation of date and also if it is an officer's ? There is an old engraving on the blade with manufacturer's markings - but, polishing has made it indistinct. I think that it may be the 1822 since it has similarities with the Light Cavalry sword of that period. This was the sword bought from the French by the US and eventually made in America for the Civil War. French sword hilts are always distinctive with their pistol grip.

Sorry ! I'm getting old - forgot the picture. This was taken in 1886

Going through a copy of Picture Post for April 1940, I came across this old picture. The figure on the right is the Prince of Wales - the other one is the 3rd. son of Queen Victoria - the Duke of Connaught. He was 90 at the date the magazine was published. I thought the elaborate Freemasonry regalia may be of some interest ? Mervyn

jf - this actually marks a very interesting period of history - and with your antecedants provenance almost certainly taken from Afghanistan. The fist Afghan War between Britain - represented by the Hon. East India Companies army - and the Afghan Army , took place between 1839 and 1842. The main reason was that Russia was intent on expanding it's field of influence into the Far East - and the easiest way was through Afghanistan and into India. We were well aware of this and saw it as a great threat to our Indian Empire. The book 'KIM' by Rudyard Kipling deals with some of the background. Nothing with Afghanistan has ever been simple - there were several contenders for the throne - some friendly to Britain and others to the Russians. We invaded with an army of some 21,000 - mostly Indian troops. I will not go into the full history - only to say that we lowered the number of troops to about 8000 and they were allowed to have their families. Eventually, we retreated and some 12,000 British subjects were slaughtered in the snow covered passes. This leads us to your musket. Russian - dated 1849 - obviously the Russians had maintained their contact and still had firm intentions of an invasion into India. This led to the 2nd. Afghan War in 1878 ,9, 80. I am about to post a medal for this War. However, in the meantime Britain still remained in contact with friendly leaders in Afghanistan and I would say this was obtained to show the Russians were supplying arms. Equally, there were lots of skirmishes and this could have been taken from a dead Russian. I don't suppose you will ever know - unless there is diary ?

This is an authenticated 'Charger's' group that we had in the shop a few years ago. The first medal is a 4 bar Crimea Medal - named to the 8 th Hussars. The central one is his LS&GC to the 19th Hussars. The one on the right is the Turkish Crimea. They obviously have nothing to do with the man Hugh mentions - just to show the medals.

GENERAL COMMENTS. I would like to make a personal observation - this blog on my very early life , necessarily deals with the Blitz and the dreadful and casual bombings of defenceless civilian areas. I am old enough - and well versed enough in history to realise that the blame was not to all German citizens. There was a totalitarian regime in place and ordinary people really had very little control of what was happening. I have many German friends and have visited the Country on numerous occasions. We are dealing with historical events, that hopefully, will never be allowed to re-occur. I realised yesterday, when checking Google under my name, that already these blogs have been re-printed. I have no problem with that - but, if it is possible to have a counter of visits it would let us know what is happening ? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a 250 kg German bomb - probably the most common to be dropped in the early part of the war. It would have contained nearly 440 lbs. of high explosive - allowing the remaining weight for the casing. Along with the heavy bombs the Luftwaffe added very considerable numbers of Incendiary bombs and also of high explosive 'butterfly' bombs. These were both dropped together and caused the worst of the damage. The incendiaries were a mixture of chemicals and could not be extinguished with water. Also, because the explosive Butterflies were dropped at the same time, you were killed whilst trying to put out the fire. Householders did their best - but most of the time the Fire Brigade couldn't even assist. Every house was issued with two metal buckets for sand and a water bucket and stirrup pump. For anyone who has never seen one, they are used today in greenhouses. The long part of the pump goes into the bucket - you pump the handle to force water under pressure through a short hose you held in your right hand. The sand was to try and smother the incendiaries - the water to try and put out the blaze it had started. If it didn't upset me so much to write this - I could just laugh at the absurdity of it all. Yes - we did practise - Mother was i/c sand buckets - Father was the pumper - me, at 4 years old was the supplier. I had to get sand from a heap in the back garden - water from the bathroom and, keep running next door to see my Grandmother was alright. Most houses burnt down when they were hit - the bombs settled in the lofts and people couldn't get to them. And, Yes - we were hit ! An incendiary hit the roof - came right through the ceiling and landed in the upper hall. My Father got sand on it before it did more then scorch the wallpaper. We were very lucky. A typical Incendiary bomb. Although the usual age for school was 5 years - looking at dates I think they must have allowed us to go sooner. Every morning all the little children in the road met and then we had a short walk alongside the golf course to get to school. After the first few mornings parents stopped coming with us - it was a matter of a few hundred metres . I think it was one of these mornings that I knew I was destined to be a Constable............ We had a very heavy raid the night before and all of us were a bit shaken - I suppose there must have been 5 or 6 of us - all about the same age. While we were walking down the lane to the school I noticed strings of bombs hanging from trees just inside the golf course. We had regular lessons teaching us to recognise all these different things and I knew at once that they were Butterflies. I remember shouting that we had to run at once to school - which we safely diid. However, it was days before our area was declared safe - they were everywhere and many houses had been damaged or burnt. I suppose to small children it was all a bit of a game - but, I think we did understand how serious it all was. Some final memories of this house - we moved from Bexley to Blackheath in about the end of 1941. I mentioned earlier that we did not have an air raid shelter. When the daylight raids started in Sept. 1940 there was an urgency to having one. We started off with a Morrison Shelter , whilst waiting for the Anderson to be delivered. The Morrison was designed to be a table in the daytime - it had a metal top - also on the bottom. The sides were steel mesh and you crawled through a small door. It was horrible ! Try three of you sleeping in something the size of a single bed. Anyway, we had to put up with it for a few months whilst the Anderson arrived and my Father and neighbours dug it's pit. The War seemed to 'pull' people together and when something big , like the shelters had to be built - then everyone joined-in. The Anderson was six curved sheets of steel that had to be bolted together at the top. There was a metal backpiece and the front had a door opening. You made a hole about 3'6" deep (approx.1 m.) and built the shelter. The top was then covered with the earth you had dug out. They actually provided good protection - but they were damp and cold. Fortunately, my Grandmother had selected a brick shelter with a concrete roof and this was more comfortable. We used this one most of the time. First thing in the morning - when Father opened the shelter doors - I had to rush off and look for shrapnel. Sometimes it was from bombs but, mostly from the anti-aircraft shells. All the boys collected this and by the time I moved must have had a pile about 3 feet high (1m) When we into the shelter at night , there was always a steel box with all the family papers - insurance ID's etc. This was the only time in our history that British people had to carry an identity document. OK - next episode, dear reader I shall be in another house - a very grand one ! The only problem was that Hitler kept trying to destroy it........ This was a Butterfly bomb - wings opened and it 'twirled' down. A file picture of a Morrison shelter A file picture of 2 Anderson shelters in different stages of completion

Hi - avante. What an excellent way to get your post numbers up - we shall all enjoy seeing pictures of the uniforms you mention ! Mervyn

Mariner - a very interesting discovery. 200 tons of pure silver ! The spokesman for the salvagers said - ' we honour their memory ' - what he means is thank goodness they got sunk. The comments below this are very strange - seem to be some very 'liberal' antiBritish comments ? However, I do agree that it is wrong that we let a foreign company reap the benefits. The silver belongs to Britain and we should have had a British Company salvage it and put it into the Bank of England - they could have been paid a fee.

Well done Mike - I wracked my brains trying to think of the initials.

Just a short note to add to the history of these pieces. They were sent to the US and the unpleasant Customs seized them for examination. Since they didn't recognise them --- and ignored my note in the box - they called in the FBI ! Who in turn called in the Federal Drugs people. Luckily my note had big lettering saying that the head of the Mace unscrewed - they would probably have cut it in half. It finallky arrived dirty, and dismantled - but unharmed. People are always saying how rude the US officials are - it's time someone told them to be polite - not everyone is a terrorist.