harribobs

if he did i wouldn't mind a small wager that (illness or death aside) he was serving again in an Aussie uniform nice little project for Mossy i think

Graham i'm not correcting you, i really don't know about the bullion badges, but the VB white metal dogs didn't have egypt on them so i can believe the others didn't. As you say the differences were officially dispensed with, but some battalions still had their own rules, i have seen brunswick stars ( a design coming from the old 96th) worn as cap badges by the 2nd batt as for Lt Lomax, i checked an army list from 1911 and i think (i haven't got the list with me) he was commissioned 1904 cheers

Gentleman i should have stated that is a cap badge, not a collar dog! i can confirm that Lt Lomax was indeed an officer of the 6th Battalion Manchester Regiment as far as i'm aware the white metal sphinx VB collar dogs certainly didn't have egypt on them, after the Haldane reforms i understood the officers wore standard manchester regiment dogs with a territorials 'T' (seperate badge) on the SDs, not sure about the bullion ones

actually this is an OR badges, the officers would have been all silver

there certainly are books detailing the casualties, i have lists of the manchester regiment casualties taken from a book (the mancs start at page 152) chris

you're welcome we were at passchendale ourselves last year, hope your trip goes well !

stevens

not a lot more info then you already have, but here they are

wasn't it Lord Raglan during the Crimean war that kept refering to the French as the enemy, only to be reminded they were now allies On topic but earlier than WW1 'Doolally' ie going a little mad, comes from a transit camp in India Doolalie (sp?)

If anyone requires lookups in SDGW or ODGW (officers section) let me know I also have a half decent ( ) database on the Manchester Regiments actions and battalions as well

I think it's amazing that some of these words have been adopted into the english language in normal usuage as well one other that comes to mind as well is 'shufti' which is arabic for look (IIRC)

i would certainly recommend 'Ill met by moonlight' it's a superb read, real boys own stuff, (if you know what i mean) also made into a film in the 50's not strictly true to events but still worth viewing

no, it was an amazing coup but not falling with in the remit of a victoria cross

OH YES!!!

they really are fantastic knives with great style and feeling here's two of my heros wearing their knives and german uniforms! Paddy leigh Fermor and Billy Moss pictured before the kidnap of General Kreipe in Crete ( from Billy Moss's book, Ill met by Moonlight)

no problem, i have just spotted the FS knife lurking in your showcase photos, that's an amazing collection!!

doesn't look too good to me, a poorly stamped copy IMHO

a leather version? here's a volunteer in 1914

the fairbairn sykes knives certainly originated in WW2 but are still in production now , that one is a third pattern made since 1942 if the mark is Shefield ( single F ) it's a wrong un! but i suspect you've just missed an F out, however even if it's Sheffield i would be thinking it's post war and as such not really that valuble proof marks such as the WD broad arrow, B, B2, 21, 4 would indicate an original ( but i'm sure there are others) cheers chris

I am pretty sure what you have got there is an 1886 pattern Army Parade Sabre, the pattern on the back denotes it's a company officer grade ( (fuller and gregory,japanese military and civil swords and dirks) as Doug says the mark you can see is the Kokura but it could also be the Koishikawa arsenal who used the same mark, as there is another mark next to it ( i can't make it out either) it denotes it was made somewhere else under the supervision of the arsenal chris

In 1899 the 1st battalion left gibraltar, which they had been stationed for the last two years for service in South Africa, they were withdrawn in 1901 (to Ireland IIRC), the 2nd battalion arrived in South Africa in 1900 and were withdrawn to England in 1902 cheers chris

it's the way a regiment of the line would 'line' up in battle order the light and grenadier companies being the flank companies with the other companies in between them

probably three months late but the Left Hand Man of the Line, would be the Light Company, the right hand man would be the Grenadiers