peter monahan

Yes, thank you, Mike, for sharing your knowledge and collection. My acquatinace with the LOF is extremely slight, so much so that I was unaware that there were British members, though I did know of the CEF battalion they sponsored.

This one? http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30106116 One in an original box, so presumably in excellent condition as well, is being sold by a UK dealer fro L60.

Very nice. Canadian or...?

Lovely work, Nigel! I do educational work and re-enacting of WWI over here in Canada and the only GS wagons I know of are in military museums. Nice to see one in private hands and available for important ceremonies!

Clearly a military family, as neither was a 'hostilities only' enlistment. Ancestry.com can likely provide some further information, as Kimber is not so common a name as to be unsearchable, with birth year and city or origin known. Nice grouping!

You are very welcome, Pav. Sadly, much of the information on the old British organization of India/Pakistan was left in various local archives on the sub continent and is not readily accesible, especially to someone like myself who does not read Deva Nagri script. However, I'll keep poking about and if I come up with anything I'll let you know. Peter

The 'dot dash dash' stands for 'W' of course, but other than that, no ideas. Possibly some connection with the Order of St George.

What Hugh said! Thanks, Dave.

Wonderful, wonderful work.

Welcome to the GMIC, Pav. You have very probably figured out that yourr GG Granfer was a Carpenter for the Public Works Department. The Dept was established in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie and its' descendant organization exists today. Both Burma's and India's PWDs had Military Works branches, run by their respecticve governments but officered British officers of the Royal Engineers. The Indian one was transferred to Army control in 1899, but it would not be at all surprising if members of the civilian branches were seconded to the military during WWI. The Indian Labour Corps made a large though generally unheralded contribution to the war effoert, serving in a number of theatres and it may well be that members of the PWD were attached to them as well. I will see what I can dig up on this for you. I hope this is a small start. Below are a couple of links whihc may give you a little more general information. http://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/indian_labour_corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Public_Works_Department,_India Peter This site may also be of use, specifically the section on researching one's ancestors: https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Indian_Army

Fascinating and I second Brett's comments. It's also nice to see one of these tales with a 'happy ending': "She died a wealthy woman".

Dave The tradition of 'badges' which afre more than just identifiers is not new in the British services: the War Service badge for WWI was given for wear after one left the service and the Indian Army issued an 'Overseas Service' badge in both WWI and WWII. All of those were in addition to or separate from any 'medals' a serving soldier/person may have qualified for. It's nice to see that the government can see the value in acknowledging such service and is prepared to spend the relatively trifling sums needed to do so. Here in Canada, the men who served in the merchant navy were only officially recognized as war veterans, eligible for government support, in 1992, despite having a casualty rate higher than any of the figthing services [1 in 7]. The cynics point out that most of them were dead by '92, so it didn't cost the gov't much!

You might try contacting the Ugandan Embassy as well, to enquire whether or not those records are available in country if kew doesn't have them. I know that, for Inida, the records stayed in country and are, sadly, almost inaccessible, but perhaps you'll get lucky! Good luck in the hunt.

Hugh My understanding is that the ARC ladies - 50,000 by the war's end - did do 'hostess' duties in hospitals in the US and in mobile units in Europe, where the 'donut dolly' moniker arose, I believe. Here's and interesting retor. look at the unit: http://www.redcross.org/news/article/Red-Cross-Retrospective-The-Gray-Lady-Service Sorry for your loss! Peter

Welcome to the GMIC, Bruce. I'm not sure if I undersatnf your question, but are you asking about who might have made and/or earned this 'award'? My first guess is that this is a souvenir piece, probably locally made in Libya, Egypt or somewhere similar by local artisans for sale to the occupying troops. A man has to make a living , after all! I may be totally wrong, however. Perhaps other members have more concrete info. to contribute. Again, Welcome. Peter

Great find, Chris! Unrelated question: is the mounted soldier in your photograph Black? Or is that just my aging eyes and the photoreproduction of my cheesy laptop?

Interesting set indeed. Impossible to say exactly what it commemorates, though, without a few more clues. You might be able to get some information by contacting the Royal Green Jackets museum, as the Ox and Bucks were subsumed into that regiment in one of the re-organizations. Or, possibly, from the Soliders of Oxfordshire Museum: https://www.sofo.org.uk/ Good luck with your enquiries!

Have you posted this on social media? Try this: 'Willing to rule small to medium sized country. No previous experience. Salary negotiable. Must include benefits package and bodyguard regiment.'

Lovely! One of the nicest militraia pieces I ever saw was a 6" high british Dragoon Guards helmet, complete in every detail and also clearly a salesman's sample and, like these, very best quality work. There is also a chap in western Canada who recently posted, on another forum, photos of what he makes: Fairbarne Sykes Fighting Knves in minature. They are the size of a toothpick ! And seem to be very accurate scale models of the real thing. All hand work and very impressive!

Judging by what's going on just south of me, you may have a point, Chris. Where are all the enlightened despots when we really need them?

I was going to suggest what Brian has: a device for detecting transmissions, either of suspcious, perhaps espionage related radios or perhaps to detect unlicenced receivers? Did germany at this period insist on receivers being licenced, as the UK did? Another great wheeze by which gov'ts collected money!

Negative evidence is also evidence. Sadly, very few of the Canadian records and none of the offical ones for WWI include photos. Babcock's full record of service is avaialble at the web address posted above but is of no help. The 10th Battalion has a web site, maintianed by their successor unit, the Calgary Hughlanders, here: http://www.calgaryhighlanders.com/photos/1914-18/10th.htm

Well, yes, that's who I meant. How about we grant you 'provisional Gentleman' staus till all the votes are counted?

Speaking as one of the not gentleman, I first have to say that Chris is NOT the only gentleman in the group! That is to say, yes, we only have one, but Chris isn't him! Seriously, Rebecca, we are not so stuffy as to exclude women from the group. Both Chris and I are married, for example, and have too much respect for our respective spice [the plural of 'spouse'] and our own continued well being to ever consider such a move. You are more than welcome to browse, share and ask questions of all the members. In fact, as I am Canadian and Chris is a proud veteran of la legion, I'm sure we'd both love to see any information you'd care to share on The Colonel. Dave, please feel free to chip in as well, and welcome, both of you to the Gentleperson's Military Interest Club! Peter

Thomas Bryson Kinniburgh was discharged on Sept. 4, 1912 from the Canadian Pacific line's 'S.S. Lake Erie', an emigrant ship which seems to have had a steady run between Liverpool, where he was discharged, and Quebec City. His home address was given as Glasgow. A month previously he was discharged, at his own request, from the Workhouse in Old Gravel Lane, London. According to the 1901 Census of Scotland, Kinniburgh had a wife, Jessie, three daughters and a son, the eldest nine. I can't see anything else about his service in Ancestry, but perhaps those clues will help. Feel free to PM me for more detailed info. from the census and copies of the two discharge papers. Peter