peter monahan

Possibly 82nd [Prince of Wales] Regiment or, a little more likely, the Cheshire Reg't who wore the 3 feathers and 'Ich Dien" motto as their badge for some decades. But then, so did the Leinster Reg't. Maybe Volunteer or Yeomanry as regular regiments would, I think, most probably use the name of the reg't somewhwere on the badge. Probably officer's because of the three piece [expensive] construction, and probably Napoleonic period. Haven't looked at cavalry badges but pretty sure at least one of them is 'PWO' too. Interesting puzzle!

Very nice, Lawrence. The length of time in that rank suggests to me that either he was bent but nobody could prove it, or that he was very very good and his superiors didn't want to lose his services! Or, if he were Irish, that he was too fond of bottles and punch-ups to keep a higher rank. Peter

Good on ya! Any chance you can post some photos? [i do War of 1812 - not unrelated! ] Peter

BSAP Honour Roll: http://www.rhodesianforces.org/BSAPRollofHonour.htm No matchers there, so probably not killed in action or died of wounds Books on Zimbabwe, including at least two on the BSAP in the bush war: http://www.booksofzimbabwe.com/british_south_africa_police_basp.html Hope that's some small help. Peter

Italian, Second War, used in Ethiopia? The bugle horn looks distinctly un-British to me. Also the brown edging - I don't think that's British either. Peter

David I never cease to be amazed by the knowledge held collectively by the members of the GMIC. Perhaps you could give us a little more information on what you're seeking and someone, expert or otherwise, may have an answer. Are you looking for info. on battles, individual tanks, a man or men, or something else entirely? Peter

One would think that the Arctic Medal, added to the MC, AFC and Territorial Medal would pin it down pretty definitively once you find some eligible names. It must represent quite the career! Good luck with the hunt. Peter

Nahab Akhal Infantry - States Forces, I think. Which state will come to me soon - in a dream, very likely - and I'll let you know. Peter

That is an odd one, no mistake. I associate rings with an officer, who typically wore a sword BELT as opposed to a shoulder sling/belt. But a briquet shouldn't be/ wouldn't be worn by an officer in most armies. However, as someone pointed out, this style of sword was worn by men from practically every army in Europe at one time or another, so anything is possible. Are there any marks on either the sword blade& handle or on the scabbard? Most military markings have a lot of stamps, at least by the 19th century, especially on blades: proof marks, acceptance marks and often regimental/company/individual ID markings. Repros., of which there are many and some of quite good quality, tend to lack markings, the manufacturers not being prone to snap inspections by hawk eyed NCOs looking for stolen, lost or 'borrowed' weapons. Close up shots, if available, would also be a help. Peter

Jim I can't take any credit for the link. That was Peron. But I'm glad my guesses make sense to someone else with experience in shakos. Hand stitching would suggest an original to me, or a forger who's a lousy businessman, as neither the price you suggest nor the potential market would make such forgeries worth while, IMHO. So, on balance, it sounds like an original unissued or refurbished. Lovely piece though! [thumbs up]

Tim and Ulsterman Truly awesome medals [and the vets wearing them]. In fact, the vets are the more awe inspiring of the two. History on the hoof. Sadly, as you say, most will be gone in another few years and probably the majority of their stories will be lost to the wider world. One finds this ancient heroes in many places but, by and large, few appreciate what they were and did, outside their families and a [very] small group of 'oddball' collectors like yourselves. Thanks for sharing both the photos and your knowledge.

Spaz My aging eyes couldn't make out the text in the newspaper clippings. Any chance of a precis on the origins of Wooley Bully? That one's bugged me for years - every time I hear the song. As to distinguished ancestors, just remember that for every recognized hero there were another bunch of blokes following behind and holding his coat and such. So you can say, with understandable pride, "Grandad was one of the other blokes!"

Those dates make sense too. I wasn't sure enough to make a date guess on the helmet, but a couple pics I saw, from the Sudan campaign, show this 'long tailed' style on solar topi. In fact, it appears to be the 1877 "Foreign Service Helmet" pattern.

Unfortunately, my YouTube has blocked your post for 'copyright' issues. Are the examples in the museum like the one you have posted? P

The badge - and it is a badge, not a sweetheart -belonged to my late father-in-law, Herbert Lawson Blakely. In 1939, he was a Radio Officer on the British tramp steamer Pensilva, having gone to the UK for work, and was torpedoed a half day out from England on a trip back from China. He returned to Canada and joined ATFERO, the Atlantic Ferry Organization. Posted to an emergency air strip in northern Ontario in early 1940 he met and wooed the daughter of his landlady. They married and honeymooned en route to Montreal, from which he flew many trips, some as far as India. He also acted as RO on a seaplane taking one of the lesser 'Royals' on a bond tour of the West Indies. He resigned from Ferry Command, which by that time had become part of the RAF Transport Command, in the spring of 1945. The fact that he was able to resign - when he figured the jug had gone enough times to the well - suggests, as David suggests - that he was a civilian employee rather than a servicemen, but there was no problem getting his medal allotment many years before Canada's far too long delayed recognition of its Merchant Marine vetereans. I also have his medals - '39-'45 Star, Atlantic Star and War Medal, a number of his uniforms, an 'ATFERO' lapel pin, an RAF Transport Command half wing and a merchant marine uniform and cap. One of these days I'll get them all photographed and post them. I have also just acquired a copy of Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command. One thing I've recently discovered: prior to WWII there had been less than 500 attempts to fly across the Atlantic, of which half were successful and I know from Lawson's anecdotes that the losses were pretty grim. His personal copy of a book on Radio Officers contains 3 pages of names listed as 'Silent Keys'. Presumably all the trades experienced the same attrition. Lawson's flight jacket bears a badge which looks like this example at the Smithsonian, except that the bullion is silver, not gold. http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19711782000 H Peter

Mike Not an expert but I believe most of the WWI battalions wore a curved 'CANADA' on the shoulder. many also has embroidered regimental titles on the upper arm. It doesn't appear that the 10th CEF wore a plain "10" either, so my guess is a pre-1914 militia cap badge, as Cdn militia did wear brass numbers on the peaked service dress hat. I hope that is some help, if only in narrowing your search for further information. Peter

Jim Been away and just saw your post. I'm nothing like an expert on Portuguese Napoleonic shakos, but I have worn a shako on many many weekends over the last 20 years as a re-enactor of that period [War of 1812, British vs. Americans]. So, I suspect that the liner may be a replacement. Black shakos do a very nice impression of a gas oven on 'Roast' in the summer months and this liner looks far too white and lacking in sweat stains and fraying to have been worn very much. The rest of the piece looks suitably worn and faded, however, so perhaps that one piece is new or perhaps my aging eyes are deceiving me as to the colour and condition. Close-ups of the construction details - plume holder, buttons, stitching on the leather top might help too. Does the piece come with any provenance and, I should ask, is the price such that it would make fakery worthwhile? I wouldn't want to put you off a purchase on that slim evidence alone. Many times, an artifact 'in the hand' produces a gut feeling that photos simply can't produce and, I must say, the rest of the piece looks good to me but sadly, neither life nor collecting never come with a guarantee and in the end one goes with a best guess. I know all that is not nearly as helpful an answer as you likely want, but I felt the question deserved answering. Hope its of some small help. Sincerely, Peter

James As a proud Canadian and one with a strong interest in the British Indian Army, I was fascinated by some of your references. One of my proudest 'military' possessions is a photograph of William Hall, framed with a set of minature medals. It was put together for the Military Institute in Toronto, Canada and became surplus because it was one of two and the MI opted for the one with the maroon ribbon, not the naval blue version which Hall seems to have worn. You may know Hall's story but not this tidbit: when he was eventually listed in a Canadian 'Who's Who', after his retirement to rural Nova Scotia, he listed his occupation as 'gentelman farmer' and his hobbies as 'shooting crows'! Clearly a man of parts. OTOH, he recieved his VC in Simonstown, SA and I strongly suspect that, while his mates and superiors didn't care about his colour, the info. didn't come to 'official attention' until well after the deed. I did know that the WesT India Reg't was eligible before the IA but not aboput the 1911 Durbar. Thanks for that. I would be very interested in the source for your info. on the Indian general officers. I do believe you but would love to look at the details and circumstances. Blacks in the British Army were certainly not unknown - there was, apparently, a black sergeant in the 42nd Highlanders at Waterloo, of all odd units to have joined. I agree with you that more were probably serving than have been documented but at this distance in time are lost behind English names. My feeling - impossible to substantiate - was that recruiting sergeants and officers were often colour blind, mosrt especially when warm bodies were in high demand. A number of Sikhs and many many blacks served in the Canadian Army oin WWI. In most places where blacks were a small minority they were integrated into the regular units but in the Martimes, where blacks had arrived as Loyalists after the American Revolution, they were put into their own units, mostly as Forestry Corps. My rough rule of thumb, as applied to 'visible minorities' is that 1 or 2 are a curiosity but X% they become, at least potentially a 'racial issue/problem'. I won't argue about the reletive merits of the IOM and VC,and in fact quite like your relative valuation of the two but I'm not sure Britons at home would have agreed that the IOm was 'better', for want of a kmore precise term. And, to be a bit niggly, isn't the VC made of bronze? I'll give you Indians in the Medical Department, but suggest that that service was not held in nearly the esteem accorded 'fighting units' by either the authorities or in general perception. A point which I did not make in my first post was that the Colonial Office's use of British trained Black West Afrtican doctors but apparently ended when the fiurst mem-sahibs arrived on the scene in the Bight of Benin. I do know that when the Indian Army began to 'Indianize' its oofice corps, with Indian KING's Commissioned Officers, great pains were taken to ensure that no white officer in a regiment found himself juior to or under the command of an Indian. Again, while the Viceroy's Commissioned Officers were given senior rank, often upon retirement, it was HONORARY and again the mechanisms were always in place so that no Indian officer was placed in the chain of command above a Brit. The greenest 2nd Lt. could and sometimes did issue oredrs to VCOs with multiple decorations and decades of service. My central thesis was, and is, that while the fighting soldiers oftenput bravery and competence far above class or race, the base wallahs - what our American brethern so charmingly call 'REMFs' - often did notshare those enlightened views. I'm currently working on a museum exhibit for 2014 on the Indian Army divisions who went to France in 1914. One of my sources, located but not yet fully digested, deals with the popular canard of the time that Indioan Troops in particular and the Indian formation in general - which often had British elements - suffered a higher percentage of self-inflicted wounds than equivalent British formations, a clear sign of 'low moral fibre'! I hope that study of that situation will take me out of the general run of 'anti-colonialist' historians! Respectfully, Peter

I think "A. AB. stands for "B Detachment, Alberta" which is the Airdrie detachment. Not sure about the logo.

And it may come to that! I heard today that the kelpies on 'los Malvinas' are holding a referendum to see whether they wish to remain under British control, presumably as a way of muting the Argentinian government's continued agitation to have the islands returned to them. Apparently having them back is actually in the Argentine constitution. And speaking of money, what must it be costing Her Majesty's government to hold onto the Falklands? Immediately after the war the figure was literally millions of pounds per week, as the MoD flew in supplies daily from the Canaries. They could have bought the whole population villas on the Costa del Sol for what it cost in a year, but presumably prestige and self-determination for the islanders were seen as justifying the costs. Is that still the case?

The Ninth Regiment became the Norfolk Regiment. Georgian period, but they are being reproduced. [see here: http://www.militaryheritage.com/bplate.htm] Is it possible to see a shot of the reverse?

Excellent! I know archaeologists love garbage dumps for artifacts and obviously around old building sites would be, potentially at least, rich pickings too. Fascinating bunch of stuff. Peter

I've worn a pocket watch - well, actually a series of them - since I was 10. Can't abide wrist watches and broke the only decent one I ever bought within the first month I owned it. I now carry a cheap one daily and my great grandfer's 1882 gold repeater for re-enacting and fancy dress. Sadly, however, Mervyn seems to be correct. Unless the watch has history - engraving, family legens, etc - it seems they have little salability. A new-ish trend in fantasy role playing and dress-up is something called 'steampunk', based on an alternate history in which steam is never replaced by the petrol or diesel engine. The costumes and gadgets lean heavily to brass, leather and random gears stitched or glued to things, so hundreds of old pocket watches are being gutted for the brass works! I saw a stall this summer in which were at the very least 60-80 old watches, all sans works. What a shame!

Interesting! A decade or so ago we had an employee of the Royal Canadian Mint get the jail for deliberately double stamping coin blanks to produce highly desirable 'flawed' coins and flogging them, off through a numismatic dealer. What was this lad at the Portuguese mint trying to accomplish?

Some very nice finds there, Upnorth. Please tell me they didn't come from Batouche or Red River!