peter monahan

Sadly, there isn't a museum in the world which can display more than 10-20% of its collection. I work occasionally at three different [smallish] local museums and our least favourite visitors are the ones who come in to show Cousin George the left-handed horse collar they donated 17 years ago and are appalled that it isn't in a front case. The fact that we have 16 horse collars, 14 of them in better condition and with verified local connections hardly ever satisfies the donor, who goes away convinced that we have somehow 'cheated' them by accepting, however reluctantly, their gift in the first place. To add insult to injury, of course, not infrequently the conversation around possible donations begins with 'Well, I was going to take it to the rubbish tip but...'. One of the museums I volunteer at had wonderful wonderful artifacts given to the recently retired curator, who knew everyone in the county and never said now to a donation. This means, of course, that we have some things that the Royal Ontario Museum covets and a whole load of complete sh*t* which Jimmy 'couldn't say no to.'

Presumably decided by whoever did the mounting, in the abscence of any official guidelines.

"What is interesting though the primers have been fired, all of the ammunition is period and has power in them. (Scratching head)" Have you actually pulled a bullet to verify that the cartridge fillings are powder? One explanationmight be that they are inert rounds, made up using fired casings, bullets and some sort of filler to give them weight and intended for training purposes.

Sorry, but I can't open the photo you posted!

I did wonder, but know that many men buried overseas also had 'local' stones - I have photos of a half dozen named to Alliston men who died in WWI. The patriotic medal is classic high Victorian too! And a fine design, which wasn't always true of such things. Thansk for sharing the information.

Well called. The 55th were in Afghanistan and earned the N.W.F. 1919 bar. After '22 they became the 1/13th FF Rifles - and medals issued 1923 and later would reflect that, I think - but also do not appear to have been in action again until WWII.

The style is different but the proportions of the two letters seem very similar. I'd say 'Ernst Ludwig' is a real possibility.

Great story and research! The extra privately made [I assume] medallion is lovely too, Mike. Thank you for sharing that! I'm in Alliston, north of Torortnto, so Owen Sound is just ' a piece up the road' from me. Perhaps I'll go see hammond's stone some day.

I agree: almost certainly a piece of horse harness, though it coukld I suppose be for a military horse as easily as a civilian one.

Oh, I got that, Tony. Was just saying I won't hold my breath!

Mike Careless of me to imply that the dated medals went to the Constabulary. Not my intention! 'Back in the day' - when I had money for medals - a dated medals to the Lord Strath's was the Holy Grail of Canadian collecting, although one I once saw named to the 'Bushveld Carbiniers' was a strong contender for that title too.

Some of the Canadians who went to SA were among the very few awarded the QSA with the original dates on it. Such things are higly collectible, of course, and I believe Mike has one!

No need for that Tony. I only meant that if you didn't want to keep it I'd be happy to give it a home. But thtnks for the kind thought! Peter

Well done for rescuing this and the other WWI medals from obscurity/the dutbin/the melting pot. The Jat LI went to France in 1914 with the Dehra Dun Brigade, 7th meerut Division, and on to Mespot. in 1915. Good soldiers. If you tire of looki ng after this one, let me know and I'd be happy to give it a home. Peter

'Captain Laxmi' was Doctor Laksmi Sagal, who was practicing medecine in Singapore in 1940 - running a clinic for Indian labourers. She helped wounded Indian POWs and became involved with the Indian National Army under Bose - you know who he was. As a propaganda tool - a female, medical doctor who fought for independence - she was invaluable to the INA cause, I suspect. She also established the 'Rani of Jhansi' all-female regiment of the INA in 1943. that led to the nickname 'Captain Laxmi / Lakshmi' which she bore for the rest of her life. Seems to have escaped criminal trial after the war but went on to joing the Indian Communist Party, serve in various feminist organizations and was still seeing patinets at age 92! Quite a lady. I suspect the medal itself is a fund raiser or commemorative, almost certainly created during the war, as such items would have been quickly destroyed or hidden after 1945! Possibly a much more recent striking, but y money would be on the war period, based on the quality and apparent age. A nice find indeed.

The most useful information for identifying this will be the words/letters/numbers and symbols stamped at the top of the blade. In this case, it appears, under the two 'wings' which project downward from the hilt. Those mat include maker's name, arsenal marks and so on. The style is common to a number of European armies but I think - guessing mostly - that it may be German. Or possibly one of th Scandanavian countries, who copied german style in many military fashions. Sorry I can't say more, not my field, but having the stampings will help.

Aw, shucks. T'weren't nuthin'!

Those are honking big collar dogs! 10 minutes extra on kit polishing every day must have made the lads happy.

Here is the war diary, edited by one of the unit members after the war, with a lengthy preface. The unit began its war at Tobruk and finished up in Italy. Good luck hunting down Smith in the story! https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/documents/2411/history-of-192-(haa)-heavy-anti-aircraft-battery-69th-haa-regiment-royal-artillery-1936-1944/ And, yes, there was a 'Left Troop', later presumabky changed to 'B Troop'.

Bingo! An Irishman to boot, which probably explains how the medal wound up back in Dublin.

Posted in error.

Brilliant, Arthur! I did very briefly look for 'normal colleges' in the SA context, but got distracted by a shiny object in another tread and never got back to the search. Now I'll have to research why they were 'normal' colleges. Most of the elementary students I had the 'pleasure' of teaching were, if not actaully abnormal certainly verging on 'odd and unsettling'.

Glad to hear it! Good luck with the ongoing research.

Or some sort of optical instrument, as the case appears to be padded. A musical Gunner or Engineer?

Post them on the Police forum and see what response you get. That would be my [off the cuff and uninfromed] guess.