peter monahan

I'd agree with Mervyn - 'improvement' of a group going on here. I'd guess that he got the 1887 and then was either issued in error or bought the miniature with the 1897 bar and simply decided to wear both 'for the look of the thing'.

Possibly one of the temperance groups, also often associated with military service in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

Megan I'd say, speaking from a position of near total ignorance, that the Order of the Eagle and the Order of the Sea eagle are very likley one and the same. This illustration is perhaps a lower grade than the one pictured on page 1, but two virtually identical/identical orders seems odd to me.

Johnny On the burials question: it is very possible, even likely, that he was originally buried somewhere other than the CWGC cemetery where his remains currenly lie and that the re-burial of three men from one unit, killed the same day, reflects the fact that those remains were relo0cated at the same time from their original resting site to their current location, rather than any purposeful 'setting aside'. Just a thought

I like it! Many of the current renderings, of which there are a profusion, strike me as pretty insipid. I'm not sure I'd have called him handsome, but he had a strong face and your bust captures that excellently, IMHO.

Maybe he had a m,an who carried them behind, like the Drum Major of Napoleon's Guards, whose triple plume was so large that he had a drummer boy to carry his hat when he walked.

Not strictly relevant to this discussion, but the slouch hats were even issued to the Assyrian Levies and other locally recruited units in the Middle east, which suggest to me that they were likely ubiquitous out there.

Good to hear that reputable firms are still out there and prepared to pull dodgy items. Well done, all!

The Aden Protectorate Levies seem to have been used largely for garrison duties, though the anti-aircraft unit formed in 1939 did apparently shoot down at least one Italian aircraft, so at the very least those men would have qualified for a War and Defence Medal, I think, while the rest probably qualified for the War Medal. Again, info. compliments of Wikipedia. There was at one point a web site called 'assyrianlevies,com' but it doesn't appear to be active any longer. I suspect records for these medals, which would have been scrupulously recorded at the time, are in most cases with the RAF records, wherever those are currently kept. For the Ethiopians, no idea - they may have disappeared in the ensuing years. I hope this is all of some slight interest to the members. Peter

Africa Star: "one or more days service in North Africa between 10 June, 1940 and 12 May 1943..." Army qualification was "entry into North Africa on the establishment of an operational unit... Service in Abysinnia, The Somalilands, Erirea and, be it noted, Malta was included, but not that in West Africa" [same source]. So presumably, Ethiopians in Imperial service would qualify by virtue of their unit being declared 'operational' for one or more days. Current MOD info. says service in Abyssinia and so on was 'between certain specified dates' but does not give those. I suspect they have to do with when and where untis were considered to be operational, as opposed to actual battles or campaigns, but I may be wrong. The War Medal was awarded for 28 days service, so the Iraq Levies would indeed qualify, I think. Award of the War Medal was automatic with the award of any of the Stars.

Qualifications for the 1939-45 Star: Army (1) "Six months service in an operational command, except for service in Dunkirk, Norway and in some specific commando raids and other services for which the qualifying period was one day. Airborne troops qualified if they had participated in any airborne operations and had completed two months service in an operational unit." RAF (1) "Operations against the enemy... [with] two months service... (2) Non-aircrew... six months service... except that service at Dunkirk, and in Norway, etc. also counted." I wonder whether "other services" might cover SOE drops into Frnace and so on - high risk if short duration. The Merchant Navy had to do six months or had performed service during the Dunkirk evacuation. Source: Tapprell Dorling, British Battles and Medals, 4th edition, 1971. According to Wikipedia: The War Medal 1939–1945 - Awarded to Levies after 28 days of service in World War Two. The 1939-1945 Star - Awarded to Levies after six months service in World War Two. The Italy Star - Awarded to parachute company personnel that served in Albania, Italy and/or Greece. A number of companies of the Assyrian Levies served in Cyprus and Malta as well as the Middle East. Members of the Cyprus Regiment - mule pack companies - were in France before Dunkirk, and the unit served in North Africa during the qualifying period for that Star, as well as in Italy, so may have qualified for those two Stars as well.

Yeah, what Frank said! Please don't stop doing these, Steve.

Jonsey If he was a casualty there are other resources available - CWGC and the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and Canadian Great War Project which may shed light on his career and death. Library and Archives Canada also maintains card records on veterans circumstances of death but they are far from complete, as I believe they were dependent on next of kin submitting the info. Other than that, for thise who survived the war there is not a lot readily available. LAC is promising to release complete service records for men whose names start with A to C this summer, but haven't done so yet. If you'd care to share his name I'd be happy to poke around up her for you. Peter

Nice find, Gerry! Thanks for sharing it.

Excellent, Colin. Most appropriate.

Nice one, Odulf.

Impossible to say without any kind of markings but dozens, maybe hundreds of companies make these for hunters, campers and so on. 99% of military kit has stamps on it and, if used, often owners marks too.

That's my leaping to conclusions again!

Signed myself up for this one. Thanks, Irish!

If Branfoot's story is true, it would suggest that the 'other' governments gave the medals/orders to the British to award, presumably with the caveat 'Give us a list of who gets them'. I can see, post wat especially, governments not wanting to 'double dip' on awards but for WWI it looks as if that must have happened pretty regulalry. Otherwise, how does one explain, for example, Russian medals for Jutland. Not likely any Russian observers aboard the fleet, so either they used British records of who wree there and 'worthy' or...?

Beautiful, Maestro!

Darwinism in action?

Circumstances of Death Card: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-119.01-e.php?q2=28&q3=2272&sqn=466&tt=1003&PHPSESSID=rgi7t06a60or2jdheocn6v65f4 "Died of Wounds on No. 16 Field Ambulance Train."

Very odd - that stock would hardly help steady the camera unless it was mounted on a pintle/swivel, I don't think. OTOH, it looks like a professional constrsuction job and it would be a very odd thing to fake, unless perhaps for theatrics or a film. I'd agree with Mervyn's 'old rule, though. Let it lie!

As JF points out, 'uniform' was a slippery word in those days and it was a long way from Whitehall to Delhi. Perhaps a local uniform variant, sanctified by practice if not regulation, or simply a personal affectation. Frustrating and fascinating at the same time!