Mervyn Mitton

Very rare side drum (often called a 'snare') for one of the British older Regiments. THE ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT was originally formed in 1684 as the 18th. Regiment of Foot. One has to remember that King Charles 2nd. died in 1683 and his brother - King James 2nd. was forced out of Britain - he was Catholic and became known as the 'Old Pretender'. His son was 'Bonnie' Prince Charles - who became the 'young pretender' and invaded England in the 1740's. England had difficulty in finding a replacement for James and eventually settled on the daughter of King Charles 1 st. (who was be-headed by the Parliamentarians under Cromwell) - she had married the Prince of Orange - ruler of Holland. She would only return if her husband - Prince William, was made joint ruler and so it happened that for the first and only time, Britain had a King and a Queen - and not a Monarch and Consort. With the expulsion of James - and his settling in France and trying to cause revolution, many extra Regiments were formed - The 18th. of Foot being one of them. The Battle Honours shown are quite exceptional - they were present at all of the Duke of Marlborough's battle in France - and when you read through them - they were present at most during the 18th. and 19th. Centuries. The Regiment was disbanded in 1922 - with the Dissolution of Ireland - however, they were re-formed in 1992 with regiments from Northern Ireland. A 238 year old history to be proud of !! Military side drums - of this quality - are exceptionally rare on the market and are worth many thousands of Pounds. We can tell a lot from the details on this one and , can date it quite accurately. When the Regt. was dis-banded in 1922 the drums were probably gifts to the different Colonels of the Regt. - and with death, this one probably came onto the Market. All of the painting is hand done - and the artist - Collins - signed in the lower right corner. The drum is also signed Hawkes. This was the maker and Boosey and Hawkes are one of the great names in British military bands. The Royal Cypher is for King George 5th. - who came to the Throne in 1910. The drum was probably made especially for the Coronation Procession in 1911. World War One started in 1914 and the Regt. ceased after 1922 - so, to me, there is a narrow window for dates - 1910 to 1914 - because, we weren't making drums after 1914 ! This has to be one of the rarer items posted on GMIC and I will welcome any additional information. **NOT FOR REPRODUCTION OR, USE, WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION**

An interesting small group of three - QSA + WW1 pair. QSA - bars for OFS and Transvaal. Named to: Pte. Johnstone Jo'burg Mounted Rifles. WW1 Pair : Spr. Johnstone WSC (Water Supply Co.) I think this naming to a Company of what must be a Battalion to supply water, makes this quite rare. I have seen named units for electrical supply, but not Water - and yet, if you stop and think, they had to have water. Will be pleased to see what other members think ?

Story of all collectors' lives !!! Try having a shop and then looking back five years to things you sold 'for nothing'.... When I first collected truncheons and tipstaves, I struggled to find ?20-?50 for a truncheon and and up to a ?100 for a good tipstaff. Best thing I ever did - had years of enjoyment - which must come first - but, they have also appreciated in value. The last 'good' 1879 we had was to Royal Durban Rifles - 60 at that time and only about 30 bothered to collect.

Very sad. When the Queen had her Golden Jubilee procession there was an Australian VC holder riding in an open car - probably him?

Garth - is this the one with the cylindrical magazine ? I remember Dudley showing one at a meeting - an amazing weapon and one I'm surprised overseas forces haven't taken-up. Don't suppose you have a photo of one ?

This was the large helmet plate for the now, defunct, SAP mounted unit. You will see the arms are as for the SWA cap.

Aloe - with multi flower heads in centre of star. Note the pump action against the door - they had been rioting yesterday in Deepkloof.

No - Thomas 'the tank' - I didn't miss it, but not everyone knows what we are talking about, and I didn't have a photo. Today's iafrica homepage , obligingly showed a police car with the aloe in the middle, so please find it as an attachment. The aloe is Sth. Africa's national plant - one of the succulents it has a very fleshy and moist stem. This cap is for a Lt. Col. in the old South African Defence Force and shows the protea set centrally on the peak.

That I like - very elegant the way it is presented. Would go - as a collectable - happily alongside the Specials armbands of WW1. I can only remember the Army having the black background and red MP + and the arm band for Regt. Police. I expect all different today - Leigh keeps telling me everything is changing....

Hello - Unit8 - please give us a name - we can't call you by a number??? I have only just got back to posting, but welcome to GMIC - we need more exPolice. Where were you in SA - can you tell us anything about former service ? The SA truncheon was always very plain - the BSAP was better quality and used to have their initials - and , I think a number.

Hello -Jeff, welcome to GMIC. I have the rolls for the 1879 medal and I do not remember any ref. to the 1877-9 bar. Not that I would doubt Thomas - 'The Tank' - for a minute, but they are usually in the combinations as already listed. The 1879 is the valuable clasp - has gone up in recent years and a basic one to a standard unit - about ?400/500. ($640/800). We had one to a Rorke's Drift survivor some years ago and it recently was resold in the UK for the highest price paid for a non'gallantry' group - about ? 35,000

Dave - I did send you photos of one set with the Efficiency. I also posted - some time back - a picture of the SAMC group with his MID cert. If I remember, it was added to someone else's post. There is also one other Efficiency group in the shop - will not be going back this week - so will do it next Monday.(DV?) I must be honest, and say that I've never even considered the different 'strikes' for this medal. It was introduced in the early 30's and is not that common - with the English and Afrikaans , I think the MYB shows it at about ?80 -?100 ($120 - 160)

Well done, Thomas - are you sure your from his side.... Now, what happened to his medals??? BTW - who's presenting the medal - looks like Viljoen ?

I think this top part of a sporran is called the cantle ? You will see they shortened the motto after 1964 to leave off KING. Because S.A. opted out of the Commonwealth at that time a lot of our regiments had to take off their affiliation with the Crown. Not at all popular.

Sporran for the band of the Witwatersrand Rifles - usually known as the Wits. Rifles. They were raised in 1903 on the West Rand - outside of Johhanesburg - and were entirely recruited from miners. There were 8 companies numbering 1200 men. The Boer War had finished in 1902 and many British units had returned home - Wits Rifles were to fill the gap. The centre of their badge shows their origins, since it show mine winding head-gear. They were allied with the Scottish Rifles - hence the Scottish influence. During WW1 they served in the ccampaign in German South West Africa. In WW2 , there were two Battalions and both saw much service - they were joined with other units and became part of 12 S.A. Motorised Infantry Brigade, which was active in the Appenine Mountains of Italy in 1945. Their motto is : Pro Deo Rege Patria - For God King and Country. They are still a serving Territorial unit and were recently serving with the UN in Zaire (old Belgian Congo) 17.5 inches overall (44cm)

Never mind, Kev - if it's an original min. it's still worth ?50. Darrell was lucky - he has only one small chip in the enamel - so often they get beaten-up by others in the group.

Thankyou - Peter. That would make sense since they were para-military. I have never had a great interest in the Irish Police and regret, that I overlooked them in my book - basically, because of the differences from mainland Forces. An old Inspector of mine - Sir Hugh Annersley, became the Chief Constable in Northern Ireland. Are you in the 'job' to have this interest ?

I take it that a District Inspector - 1st class , in the RIC, is the mainland equivalent of a Chief Supt.? Would that make the RUC County Inspector a Supt.?

Leigh - one of the penalties with the Met. Police is that if you were an inner division, you got called out. I was in both Grosvenor Sq. riots - absolutely frightening ! We would be getting on well with the crowd - then cameras would arrive and they changed into savages. We were all hurt to some degree. I can also remember The Strand - them running at us and shouting ' Ho,Ho, Ho Chi Minh'. We were always outnumbered and didn't have the protective clothing available now - just normal uniform and helmet - we used to charge shouting - ' Ho,Ho, up the Met. you're dead meat'. Made us feel better !! I wonder if I'm on film - 'H' Div was always on the right of the Embassy (if you were facing it)

Ritchie - my first permanent beat was Brick Lane and the area around it. Mostly Jewish in those days - now Bangladashi. I used to have three of Jack the Ripper's murder site - the last one they pulled down was at Hanbury Street. Having pull-it down - they have now re-built it as a museum!!! I was a Home Beat or, Community officer - I served from 1967 to 1974, when my Father died and I became a Herbalist.... I agree with you about South London - I had family at Eltham, but couldn't stand that side of the river. Best wishes Mervyn. (see if there's anything in the custom museum you could photograph.) As for being 'everywhere' that is quite true. When people come off the planes, they don't realise plain clothes are mingling to see who is nervous - or, when they come out from Customs, again P.C.' waiting to see who goes ' we got away with that' !!!!! In those days if we did road blocks we used to ask Customs to attend - you had the power to deal with untaxed fuel in lorries. Does that still apply ?

Leigh - nice to have you back. I agree a very nice item with the family connection.. What does amaze me is that they were still making them in 1944 !! Please correct me if I'm wrong , but if I remember the Swordfish was on our early aircraft carriers and were responsible for torpedoing the Bismarck ? However, would'nt we have had something more modern by this date ?

Hat for a Chief Constable - in some Forces, also for the Deputy Chief Constable. Ranks with an Asst. Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police.

Thankyou Ritchie - it would have been strange if we didn't have someone from 'Customs'. All of these name changes are very confusing, and to be quite honest, I can't see the purpose for most of them. After all - how does 'Border Agency' - something borrowed from the US - have any meaning in the UK ??? When I was at Bethnal Green we worked very closely with Customs and I had occasion to visit Lower Thames St.' H.Q. on several occasions - I don't visit London now, so I find it rather 'sad' that I have got old - and the rest of the World has moved-on !!!

Sorry, I didn't look closely enough - saw the colours and assumed MC. Probably not the same person - but, always possible he transferred to the RUC?