#13th london regiment

[royalty-nobility]

HRH William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester

Artist: Thomas Gainsborough (English, 1727–1788)

Date: c. 1775

Medium: OIl on Canvas

Collection: National Army Museum, London, United Kingdom

Description

The younger brother of King George III, Prince William Henry (1743-1805) was created Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught in 1764. He wanted to pursue an active military career, but neither his physical stamina nor his mental capacity were sufficient to carry a commander's position on active service. Nevertheless, he became Colonel of the 13th Regiment of Foot in 1766, and of the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards in 1767. He was promoted lieutenant-general and became Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards in 1770. During the War of Bavarian Succession (1777-1779), he longed to serve under Prince Frederick (Later King Frederick II) of Prussia, but his request was declined. Gloucester was made a field marshal in 1793.

In 1766 Gloucester secretly married Maria, widow of James, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, without royal consent. This was concealed for six years until Maria became pregnant. The King banished the couple from court and they spent the next few years in Italy before Gloucester was restored to favour in 1780.

The Prince is depicted in the uniform of Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, wearing the ribbon and star of the Order of the Garter. It is the earliest known portrait of a member of the Royal Family in the uniform of colonel of a regiment. Unfinished, the painting remained in the artist's studio until his death. It was subsequently purchased by the Prince Regent and given to Princess Sophia of Gloucester, eldest daughter of the sitter, in 1816.

[herprivateswe]

Left to right: Captain Hammond, 1/11th London Regiment; Major H. F. Byrne, D. A. D. O. S. , 13th Division; Major Malcolm, M. O. 1/11th London Regiment, in the Aghyl Dere, Anzac, August 1915. Major Malcolm died of dysentry in Malta, October 1915.

[scotianostra]

On January 8th the burgh of Stirling surrendered to the Jacobite army.

As had happened in Edinburgh the year before, the town fell to the Jacobite army, but crucially the castle remained in Government hands.

Stirling has always been a pivotal Scottish location, an important, strategic site for centuries, particularly throughout the first and second Scottish ‘Wars of Independence’ of the 13th and 14th Centuries and, indeed, during the entire mediaeval period. The history of Stirling, the name of which is said to derive from ‘striveling’ meaning ‘place of strife’, seems to have proceeded in concert with that of Scotland and the 1745-6 Jacobite Rising also made its mark.

We last saw the Jacobite army in Glasgow at Christmas, they left on 3rd January in two columns. One column of six Highland battalions and Lord Elcho´s cavalry, led by Lord George Murray marched towards Falkirk, via what is now Cumbernauld. Lochiel´s regiment was sent to Alloa to escort the artillery to Stirling and subsequently to form the Prince´s guard at Bannockburn.

The Prince marched towards Stirling, there he set up his headquarters at Bannockburn House as the guest of Sir Hugh Paterson, a Jacobite supporter. Lord John Drummond came from Perth with four thousand men and heavy artillery. Whilst he was there he was visited by Sir John Douglas MP who stated that there was £10,000 waiting for him in London from London Jacobites.

Now boasting a force of 8,000 men the Jacobites sent a drummer to Stirling on 5 January demanding the surrender of the town. The garrison responded by shooting at the drummer who then ran for his life. The town council later agreed to surrender. Stirling Castle itself was held by a small garrison of trained militiamen and troops under the command of Major General William Blakeney, who declined to surrender. The Prince ordered the castle to be besieged, but withstood the artillery bombardment.

As this went on, General Hawley brought an army of 13,000 from Newcastle to Edinburgh, sending an advance unit to Linlithgow on January 13th. Lord Elcho fell back to Falkirk where he met Lord George Murray. Hawley advanced with his main army of 6,000 on 15th January, intending to relieve Stirling Castle, Murray and Elcho withdrew to Bannockburn.

Stirling would later be relieved by Cumberlands troops as they swept North pursuing Charlie's army.

The Jacobite army is shown retreating across the Forth laden down with plunder from the town while Prince Charles Edward Stuart is depicted submitting to Cumberland and his troops. Following the Battle of Culloden the Duke of Cumberland was made an honorary burgess of Stirling. It is thought this fan was one of several manufactured for the occasion of his presentation in April 1746 when he received his burgess ticket in a handsome engraved silver box.

[18thfoot]

Lieutenant Bernard Haines, Captain James Daubeny and Captain Richard Dawson, all of the 18th, Royal Irish Regiment, New Zealand, 1868. Ensign Bernard Gilpin Haines gets one mention in Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment, appearing on the list of officers who deployed to New Zealand with the 2nd Battalion in 1863. Haines was born in London on 6th February 1842, the son of Samuel and Ann Haines. His Ensign's commission dated from 18th January 1861.He was promoted Lieutenant in October 1865 and retired from the service on 5th July 1873 receiving the value of his commission. Haines became a Militia Captain in the 4th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment on 10th May 1882, promoted to Major on 24th December 1892. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel , commanding the 4th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment on 31st October 1894. Haines was granted the honorary rank of Colonel on 28th November 1894, and he retired from the Militia on 1st January 1902.

Richard William Erskine Dawson was born on 31st December 1832 in Malta, the son of Major George Thomas Dawson, 73rd Foot, and his wife Euphemia née Erskine. Dawson fought in the Crimean War and in the Maori Wars with the 18th Royal Irish. He was Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment between 1882 and 1886 and eventually rose to the rank of Major-General. Richard Dawson and Florence Anna Barton, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Hugh William Barton were married on 13th May 1871, in Croydon, England. The couple had no children. Dawson died on 11th June 1890, aged 57, in Kensington, London.

#18thfoot #royalirishregiment #newzealand #maoriwars

Photo Credit; Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.26 (after 1940)

1941 – World War II: Battle of Grand Harbour, British forces on Malta destroy an attack by the Italian Decima Flottiglia MAS. Fort St Elmo Bridge covering the harbour is demolished in the process. 1941 – World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and cut off oil shipments. 1944 – World War II: The Red Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation. 1945 – The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power. 1945 – World War II: The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany. 1945 – World War II: The USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with components and enriched uranium for the Little Boy nuclear bomb. 1946 – Aloha Airlines begins service from Honolulu International Airport. 1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council. 1948 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the military of the United States. 1951 – Walt Disney's 13th animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, England, United Kingdom. 1952 – King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad. 1953 – Cold War: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement 1953 – Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek raid. 1953 – Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment repel a number of Chinese assaults against a key position known as The Hook during the Battle of the Samichon River, just hours before the Armistice Agreement is signed, ending the Korean War. 1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated. 1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched. 1963 – Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster. 1963 – An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (present-day North Macedonia) leaves 1,100 dead. 1963 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development votes to admit Japan. 1968 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war. 1971 – Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo "J-Mission", and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle. 1974 – Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule. 1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government. 1989 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. 1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. 1993 – Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashes into a ridge on Mt. Ungeo on its third attempt to land at Mokpo Airport, South Korea. Sixty-eight of the 116 people on board are killed. 2005 – Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission: Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003. 2016 – Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee for President of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. 2016 – Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.

[bookloversofbath]

Johnny Get Your Gun: A Personal Narrative of the Somme, Ypres and Arras :: John F. Tucker

Johnny Get Your Gun: A Personal Narrative of the Somme, Ypres and Arras :: John F. Tucker

Johnny Get Your Gun: A Personal Narrative of the Somme, Ypres and Arras :: John F. Tucker soon to be presented for sale on the outstanding BookLovers of Bath web site! London: William Kimber, 1978, Hardback in dust wrapper. Includes: Black & white photographs; Maps; From the cover: At the age of 17½, full of idealism and patriotism, John Tucker enlisted as an Infantryman in the London Kensington…

[grandmaster-anne]

Court Circular | 13th December 2022

Buckingham Palace

The Sultan of Brunei Darussalam visited The King at Windsor Castle this afternoon and remained to Tea. The Queen Consort this morning visited Emmaus Surrey, Lambeth and Croydon, Bobby Vincent House, 9A Knights Hill, London SE27, and was received by Mr Christopher Wellbelove (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London).

Kensington Palace

The Prince of Wales, President, the Earthshot Prize, this afternoon held a Meeting.

St James's Palace

The Duke of Kent, Colonel-in-Chief, The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment), this morning received Colonel Craig Hayman (Honorary Colonel) and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Fraser (Commanding Officer). His Royal Highness, President, King Edward VII’s Hospital (Sister Agnes), this evening attended a Carol Service in St Marylebone Parish Church, 17 Marylebone Road, London NW1, and was received by Mr Randeep Lall (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London).

St James's Palace

Princess Alexandra, Patron, this afternoon visited St Christopher’s Hospice, 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, London SE26.

[nellygwyn]

Today at work, I was positioned outside in one of our main courtyards, most of which is surrounded by buildings from a mish-mash of eras, although mostly, they are 16th, 17th and 18th century. This means that there is SO much old graffiti everywhere and one of my favourite things to do is discover new initials or messages or dates etched into the wall. We have some even older stuff inside one of the few remaining medieval towers, I'm talking 13th/14th century graffiti left by French POWs. It's a privilege to see it and to feel it with my hands.

I've probably said this before, but I love historical graffiti. Some of my favourite examples include a picture of a large rat carved onto the wall of a prison cell in the Doge's Palazzo in Venice c. late 1600s, the words 'I am foolish' above a tally chart on the wall of mid-18th century debtors' prison cell in the Museum of London, and the mark of one 'Little Tom 1666' etched on Edward I's tomb at Westminster Abbey. Historical graffiti makes me wild because it is one of the last tangible pieces of evidence of a centuries-old ordinary person's thoughts and feelings (although, of course, seeing the graffiti of more notable people from history at the Tower of London is amazing too).

People write/draw things on the walls for many reasons, just as they do today. And because of that, I feel within spitting distance of the past when I see ANY historical graffiti, because you are actually privy to the moment someone was like 'I'm really in love with this girl so I'm going to draw our initials into the wall here' or 'I'm scared in this prison cell so I'm going to carve my innocence into the wall' or 'I don't ever want to be forgotten, not even after my death, so I'm going to leave my name on this medieval tomb and it'll be there forever.' And some of the more silly examples (like the rat picture in Venice) are just another example of the humanity of the people who came before us. To be honest, graffiti is a kind of ghost. I love it so much.

Here's a recent example I saw at Winchester Cathedral, most assuredly done by a young soldier fighting in the French Revolutionary Wars/Napoleonic Wars:

The graffiti says 'West York[shire] Regiment 1797.' This young soldier's regiment were stationed in Winchester, perhaps before they travelled to Portsmouth to sail abroad, and he wanted to be remembered forever. He's saying 'I was here, future traveller' from all the way back in 1797. It's magic.

[greatworldwar2]

• Jean Moulin

Jean Pierre Moulin was a French civil servant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II.

Jean Moulin was born at 6 Rue d'Alsace in Béziers, Hérault on June 20th, 1899, son of Antoine-Émile Moulin and Blanche Élisabeth Pègue. He was the grandson of an insurgent of 1851. His father was a lay teacher at the Université Populaire and a Freemason at the lodge Action Sociale. Jean Pierre Moulin was baptised on August 6th, 1899 in the church of Saint-Vincentin in Saint-Andiol (Bouches-du-Rhône), the village his parents came from. He spent an uneventful childhood in the company of his sister, Laure, and his brother Joseph. Joseph died after an illness in 1907. At Lycée Henri IV in Béziers, Jean was an average student. In 1917, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law of Montpellier, where he was not a brilliant student. However, thanks to the influence of his father, he was appointed as attaché to the cabinet of the prefect of Hérault. Moulin was mobilised in April 1918 as part of the age class of 1919, the last class to be mobilised in France. He was assigned to the 2nd Engineer Regiment of Montpellier. At the beginning of September, after an accelerated training, he headed with his regiment to the front in the Vosges, where he was posted in the village of Socourt. His regiment was preparing to go to the front lines as part of the attack planned by Foch for November 13th, but the Armistice was signed on November 11th.

Although Moulin did not fight directly on the front lines, he nevertheless was in a position to observe the horrors of war. He saw its aftermath on the battle fields, the devastation of villages and the state of prisoners of war. He helped to bury the war dead in the area around Metz. While still enlisted after the War, he was posted successively to Seine-et-Oise, Verdun and Chalon-sur-Saône. He worked as a carpenter, a digger and later a telephonist for the 7th and 9th Engineer Regiments. He was de-mobilised in November and, on November 4th, 1919, immediately resumed his post as attache at the prefecture of Hérault. After World War I, Moulin resumed his studies of law. His position as attache allowed him to finance his university studies as well as providing a useful apprenticeship in politics and government. He obtained his law degree in July 1921, He then entered the prefectural administration as chief of staff to the deputy of Savoie in 1922 and then sous-préfet of Albertville from 1925 to 1930. After his proposal of marriage was rejected by Jeanette Auran, Moulin, aged 27, married a 19-year-old professional singer, Marguerite Cerruti, in the town of Betton-Bettonet in September 1926. The marriage did not last long. Cerruti quickly became bored with the marriage, and Moulin responded by offering her further singing lessons in Paris, where she disappeared for two days. Moulin was appointed sous-préfet of Châteaulin, Brittany in 1930, but he also drew political cartoons for the newspaper Le Rire under the pseudonym Romanin. In 1932, Pierre Cot, a Radical Socialist politician, named Moulin his second in command or chef adjoint when he was serving as Foreign Minister under Paul Doumer's presidency. In 1933, Moulin was appointed sous-préfet of Thonon-les-Bains, parallel to his function of head of Cot's cabinet of in the Air Ministry under President Albert Lebrun. In 1936, he was once more named chief of cabinet of Cot's Air Ministry of the Popular Front. In that capacity, Moulin was involved in Cot's efforts to assist the Second Spanish Republic by sending it planes and pilots.

He became France's youngest préfet in the Aveyron département, based in the commune of Rodez, in January 1937. It has been claimed that during the Spanish Civil War, Moulin assisted with the shipment of arms from the Soviet Union to Spain. A more commonly-accepted version of events is that he used his position in the French air ministry to deliver planes to the Spanish Republican forces. In January 1939, Moulin was appointed prefect of the Eure-et-Loir department. He was based in Chartres. After war against Germany was declared, he asked multiple times to be demoted because " his place is not at the rear, at the head of a rural departement". Against the opinion of the Minister of the Interior, he asked to be transferred to the military school of Issy-Les-Moulineaux, near Paris. The minister forced him to return to Chartres, where he had trouble ensuring the safety of the population. When the Germans got close to Chartres, he wrote to his parents, "If the Germans who are able to do anything make me say dishonorable words, you already know, it is not the truth". He was arrested by the Germans on June 17th, 1940, as he refused to sign a false declaration that three Senegalese tirailleurs had committed atrocities, killing civilians in La Taye. In fact, those civilians had been killed by German bombings. Beaten and imprisoned because he refused to comply, Moulin attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a piece of broken glass. That left him with a scar he would often hide with a scarf, which is the image of Jean Moulin remembered today. He was found by a guard and taken to hospital for treatment. Because he was a Radical, he was dismissed by the Vichy regime, led by Marshal Philippe Pétain on November 2nd, 1940, along with all other left-wing préfets. He then began writing his diary, First Battle, in which he relates his resistance against the Nazis in Chartres, which was later published at the Liberation and prefaced by de Gaulle.

Having decided not to collaborate, Moulin left Chartres for Saint-Andiol, Bouches-du-Rhône, to study and join the French Resistance, and he decided to negotiate with Free France. He started to use the name Joseph Jean Mercier and went to Marseille, where he met other resistants, including Henri Frenay and Antoine Sachs. Moulin reached London in September 1941 after travelling through Spain and Portugal, and he was received in October by De Gaulle, who wrote about Moulin, "A great man. Great in every way". Moulin summarised the state of the French Resistance to de Gaulle. Part of the Resistance considered him too ambitious, but de Gaulle had confidence in his network and skills. He gave Moulin the assignment of co-ordinating and unifying the various Resistance groups, a hard mission that would take time and effort to accomplish. On January 1st, 1942, Moulin parachuted into the Alpilles and met with the leaders of the resistance groups, under the codenames Rex and Max. He succeeded to the extent that the first three of these resistance leaders and their groups came together to form the United Resistance Movement ( Mouvements Unis de la Résistance, MUR) in January 1943. The next month, Moulin returned to London, accompanied by Charles Delestraint, who led the new Armée secrète, which grouped the MUR's military wings together. Moulin left London on March 21st, 1943, with orders to form the Conseil national de la Résistance (CNR), a difficult task since the five resistance movements involved, besides the three already in the MUR, wanted to retain their independence. The first meeting of the CNR took place in Paris on May 27th, 1943. Some historians consider Moulin one of the most important figures in the French Resistance because of his actions in unifying and organizing the various resistance groups, which had previously been operating in an independent and uncoordinated manner. He was also instrumental in obtaining the cooperation of the Communist resistance groups, who had been reluctant to accept De Gaulle as their leader, because Moulin was known as a left-wing republican.

On June 21st, 1943, he was arrested at a meeting with fellow Resistance leaders in the home of Frédéric Dugoujon in Caluire-et-Cuire, a suburb of Lyon. He was, along with the other Resistance leaders, sent to Montluc Prison in Lyon in which he was detained until the beginning of July. Tortured daily in Lyon by Klaus Barbie, the head of the Gestapo there, and later more briefly in Paris, Moulin never revealed anything to his captors. According to witnesses, Moulin and his men had their fingernails removed using hot needles as spatulas. In addition, his fingers were placed on the door frames and the doors were closed again and again until his knuckles were broken. They then tightened the handcuffs until they penetrated his skin and broke the bones in his wrists. Because he still refused to speak, they beat him until his face was unrecognizable and he fell into a coma. Afterwards, Barbie ordered Moulin to be placed in an office and to be shown to all members of the Resistance not to collaborate with the Nazis. The last time he was seen alive, he was still in a coma and his head was yellow, swollen and wrapped in bandages, according to the description given by Christian Pineau, fellow prisoner and another member of the Resistance. He is believed to have died near Metz on a train headed for Germany. He was reported to have died on July 8th, 1943 at the age of 44. There has been much research, speculation, judicial scrutiny and media coverage of who betrayed Jean Moulin and the circumstances of his death. Klaus Barbie alleged that suicide was the cause, and Moulin biographer Patrick Marnham supports that explanation. René Hardy was caught and released by the Gestapo, who had followed him to the meeting at the doctor's house. There have been many suppositions in the postwar years that Moulin was Communist. No hard evidence has ever backed up that claim.

Ashes that were presumed to be those of Jean Moulin were buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and later transferred to the Pantheon on December 19th, 1964. France's French education curriculum commemorates Moulin as a symbol of the French resistance and a model of civic virtue, moral rectitude and patriotism. As of 2015, Jean Moulin was the fifth most popular name for a French school, and as of 2016 his is the third most popular French street name of which 98 percent are male. In 1967, the Centre national Jean-Moulin de Bordeaux was created in Bordeaux. Its archives contain documents on the Second World War and the Resistance. The Centre provides pedagogical supports and research material on the involvement of Jean Moulin in the Resistance. In 1993, commemorative French 2, 100 and 500 franc coins were issued, showing a partial image of Moulin against the Croix de Lorraine and using a fedora-and-scarf photograph, which is well recognised in France.

[mea-gloria-fides]

Her Royal Highness The Princess Mary’s gift tin for tobacco sent to A/Corporal Ernest Fankini, 13th Battalion, The London Regiment, 1914

[on-misty-mountains]

Stirling Castle

Standing on top of Castle Hill, giving it great defensive advantages, this castle was very sought after and changed hands numerous times, especially during the Scottish Wars of Independence at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century. James IV and V of Scotland contributed by building the Great Hall and the Royal Palace and it was the main royal residence and coronation place at the time. Mary Queen of Scots spent the first years of her life here, before being whisked off to France for her own safety. She would later return to take her throne, but had to flee again and leave her infant son behind. Her son, James VI, would eventually leave Stirling Castle for London and become James I of England, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603. After this Stirling Castle was mainly used as a military base, the buildings serving as barracks, before it was restored back to its former glory and opened to the public. Incidentally, while we were there, we witnessed a military display celebrating the birthday of Prince Charles, as it is still the headquarter of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment. 

There is a vlog up on Youtube with a castle tour. 

[herprivateswe]

Troops of the 13th Battalion, London Regiment (Kensington) at physical drill exercises.

[scotianostra]

Acting Sergeant Louis McGuffie, of The King's Own Scottish Borderers and recipient of the Victoria Cross died on October 4th 1918 in Wytschaete, Belgium.

Louis McGuffie was born in Wigton 15th March 1893 the first-born of Edward McGuffie and Catherine (Gilmour) McGuffie.

There is nothing more online about his life prior to being sent to the battlefields as part of a territorial battalion of part-time soldiers

He set out on a troop ship from Liverpool in 1915 landing at Gallipoli in Turkey, where he was wounded twice, recovering on both instances he saw service in Egypt and Gaza before being sent to France, during this time he had been promoted to Corporal and was awaiting confirmation of another promotion to Sergeant. An extract from The London Gazette on December on December 13th read.....

On 28 September 1918 near Wytschaete, Belgium, during an advance Sergeant McGuffie entered several enemy dug-outs and, single-handed, took many prisoners. During subsequent operations he dealt similarly with dug-out after dug-out, forcing one officer and 25 other ranks to surrender. During the consolidation of the first objective, he pursued and brought back several of the enemy who were slipping away and was also instrumental in rescuing some British soldiers who were being led off as prisoners. Later in the day, while commanding a platoon, he took many more prisoners, but was killed by a shell a few days later.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Regimental Museum of The Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Berwick upon Tweed.

I don’t feel comfortable posting these types of posts at times and often shy away from them. This Louis McGuffie’s story is a bit different from others I have read, there is no mention of him killing, or “taking out” enemy soldiers, no doubt he was involved in fighting and did his fair share of killing but in this case I wonder if any of the soldiers he captured survived the war due to his actions.

[18thfoot]

Michael Clarke was born on 4th March 1818 in Bohola, Castlebar, Co.Mayo and enlisted in the 8th Hussars in London on 2nd January 1836. He was promoted Sergeant in 1849 and Troop Sergeant-Major in March 1854. He went with his regiment to the Crimea in September 1854 where fought in the battles of the Alma and Balaclava, taking part in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Clarke served as Troop Sergeant Major of Captain Tomkinson’s Troop during the Charge. Of the 115 Officers and men of the 8th Hussars, 21 were killed and 20 wounded. The official casualty list, published in the London Gazette of 17th November 1854, records that Clarke was slightly wounded at Balaklava on 25th October 1854.

He remained in the Crimea until May 1856 and was then posted with his regiment to Ireland. Clarke was gazetted Cornet, without purchase, on 16th October 1857.

Around the time of his commission the 8th Hussars sailed for India, landing at Bombay in December 1857. Clarke served in India during the suppression of the Mutiny until 12th May 1862, after which he was stationed in the UK. He took part in the Battles of Kotah on 30th March 1858, Pupuldah, 8th April 1858, Rajpootanah, 15th December 1858, and the Pursuit of Rebels 15th December 1858 to 30th April 1859.

Clarke was appointed Adjutant on 24th November 1858. He was promoted Lieutenant (by purchase) on 11th May 1860. Back in the UK, a broken leg from a kick by a horse ended his cavalry career and he transferred as a Lieutenant to the 59th Foot on 15th March 1867. He was Adjutant, District Recruiting Staff, in Liverpool from 22nd April 1868 until 1st April 1870. He was promoted Captain on 1st April 1869 and was Acting District Paymaster at Inverness from 1st April 1870 until 30th September 1873. On 13th June 1874 Captain Clarke was appointed Paymaster, 2nd Battalion, 18th Foot He died while still serving, in Dublin, on 27th December 1878 and is buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin.

#18thfoot #royalirishregiment #crimeanwar #crimea #sebastopol #alma #balaclava #inkerman #india #indianmutiny #8thhussars #mayo Photo credit; https://www.jagermedals.com/_shop_section/medal_groups_and_gallantry/j3260a.html

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.26 (after 1950)

1951 – Walt Disney's 13th animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, England, United Kingdom. 1952 – King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad. 1953 – Cold War: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement 1953 – Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek raid. 1953 – Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment repel a number of Chinese assaults against a key position known as The Hook during the Battle of the Samichon River, just hours before the Armistice Agreement is signed, ending the Korean War. 1956 – Following the World Bank's refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, sparking international condemnation. 1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated. 1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched. 1963 – Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster. 1963 – An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (present-day North Macedonia) leaves 1,100 dead. 1963 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development votes to admit Japan. 1968 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war. 1971 – Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo "J-Mission", and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle. 1974 – Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule. 1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government. 1989 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. 1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. 1993 – Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashes into a ridge on Mt. Ungeo on its third attempt to land at Mokpo Airport, South Korea. Sixty-eight of the 116 people on board are killed. 1999 – Kargil conflict officially comes to an end. The Indian Army announces the complete eviction of Pakistani intruders. 2005 – Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission: Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003. 2005 – Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, resulting in floods killing over 5,000 people. 2008 – Fifty-six people are killed and over 200 people are injured, in the Ahmedabad bombings in India. 2009 – The militant Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram attacks a police station in Bauchi, leading to reprisals by the Nigeria Police Force and four days of violence across multiple cities. 2011 – A Royal Moroccan Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes near Guelmim Airport in Guelmim, Morocco. All 80 people on board are killed. 2016 – The Sagamihara stabbings occur in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. Nineteen people are killed. 2016 – Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee for President of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. 2016 – Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.

[bantarleton]

Private Samuel Evans VC

There are not many men who have recommended themselves for the Victoria Cross and been successful. Samuel Evans was one of them; or, to be more exact, his wife put him up to it.

She was a remarkable woman who had been married to his best friend in the regiment, Private Thomas McNicholl, and had accompanied her husband out to the Crimea in 1854. When he was killed at the Battle of Alma on 20th September 1854, Margaret McNicholl went to Scutari to work in the hospital for Florence Nightingale. She only met Samuel Evans by chance in Edinburgh in 1856 when he returned from the wars. On impulse he asked for her hand in marriage; she accepted and took control of his life thereafter.

It was Margaret Evans who heard the full story of what happened in the trenches on 13th April 1855, Samuel and some other men from the Light Company of the 19th Regiment of Foot were employed guarding a 21 gun battery manned by sailors. A shot from one of the Russian batteries, sited behind the high walls of Sebastopol, exploded on the embrasure, knocked out one of the naval guns and collapsed the earthwork. Volunteers were sought to repair the damage. There was no problem finding the men from the 19th Foot to rebuild the embrasure from inside, but there was a remarkable reluctance for anybody to clamber outside under the eyes of the Russian sharpshooters.

Evans realised the importance of immediate action as the gap in the earthworks exposed many of the gunners to shell fire and grape shot. He clambered through the gap with a shovel and began to rebuild the damaged embrasure from outside. When a shout from inside signalled an approaching Russian shell, Evans hurled himself over the earthworks until it exploded, then returned to his task. He did this over and over again until the embrasure was repaired.

Fortunately, the gallant action was witnessed by a staff officer who reported the matter to Lord Raglan. On page 15 of Evans’s Account Book, now held in the Green Howards Museum – in the section entitled ‘Distinguishing Himself’ – are the words ‘£5 reward for coolness under fire in the trenches before Sebastopol’. However, when each regiment in the British Expeditionary Force was asked to nominate men for the Victoria Cross Samuel Evans’s name was not put forward.

Margaret Evans had seen an article in the local newspaper about the institution of a new decoration for bravery, and the pension it would bring to the recipient. She told her husband to apply for the Victoria Cross. Samuel Evans lodged his claim with Colonel Hope, the staff officer in charge of pensions at Edinburgh Castle. On the failure of his first attempt, Margaret urged him to go and see his old Company Commander, Captain Warden, who was staying with his mother in Edinburgh. He would surely support the claim. The new application, with extra enclosures and recommendations from Robert Ward, was resubmitted on 16th April 1857. It received an immediate response, his claim for the award of the Victoria Cross was approved and the announcement was made in The London Gazette on 23rd June 1857.