IWM interview with Ralph Alger Bagnold

The Imperial War Museum has an interesting set of 3 reels of an interview held with Ralph Alger Bagnold, founder of the Long Range Desert Group, reference IWM 9862.

While his WW1 service is mentioned as well as some of his inter war exploration and then the creation of the Long Range Desert Group, there is much missing e.g. his service in Ireland during the War of Independence with the 5th Division. So far, no sign of Bagnold in the 1921 census serving in Ireland. His boss, Richard Ernest Barker, is listed in the census at Marlborough Barracks, Dublin as part of Special Signal Company, Royal Corps of Signals.

Bagnold and team can be seen in a 1930 film hosted by the British Film Institute on expedition into the desert in stripped down Ford Model A cars using sand mats etc

Denis "Sonny" O'Neill

A project a few years ago looking into the capture of a Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) from the South Irish Horse in January 1918. It wasn't too difficult to identify Corporal Denis "Sonny" O'Neill as the missing NCO after a delve into WW1 Prisoner of War Records held by the Red Cross.

Repatriated in a batch of severely wounded soldiers in June 1918, O'Neill would later find himself one of the chief suspects in the shooting of General Michael Collins in August 1922. 

I don't discount O'Neill as a potential suspect - I just don't think there is enough untainted "evidence" and unbiased opinion to come to an absolute conclusion. What I can say is there is no evidence to show that he was a trained sniper with a record of "kills" but I would expect his service in the Royal Irish Constabulary and the South Irish Horse to have established a good knowledge of how to use a rifle to shoot to a reasonable standard. 

Without a proper autopsy on Collins to confirm absolutely what type of bullet was used and what type of wound was inflicted everything is just opinion and red herrings.

Over in Sweden, an autopsy was conducted in 1917 on the remains of King Charles XII who had been killed in 1718 under less than clear circumstances. A good little analysis of the research into the possible weapons etc. Perhaps it needs that time distance to move forward with the Collins theories.

The Military Archives team generally do a great job with the archives but collected a bullet from a wall in Portobello/Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin and believe that a .44 Magnum (not developed until the 1950s) was used in the 1916 murders of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Thomas Dixon, and Patrick McIntyre. I would love to be able to see the ballistic report to see if this is really the conclusion reached.

The research into O'Neill capture and wound status is used in Paddy Cullivan's show "The Murder of Michael Collins". I'm not too sure I agree with Paddy's take on the role of a Musketry Instructor but he does raise other interesting observations.

Paddy's shows are well worth checking out just to see the reaction and rejection of some of his take on the world of Irish "history". Mark Perry's book on The South Irish Horse in the Great War is a good read too.

O'Neill's pension claims records are available to download from the Military Archives website, 4 files in total under the reference MSP34REF4067.

Arbour Hill Commandant in 1916

A nice set of plans for the British built Arbour Hill Detention Barracks in Dublin is available to view on the Irish Military archives website. These plans carry a variety of dates up to 1913 so likely the layout at the outbreak of WW1 and during the Easter Rising.

We know that Sir Roger Casement passed briefly through the building on his way to imprisonment in London thanks to reporting by the Irish Times in 1916. Collected by Sergeant Thomas Bracken (number 762) of the Military Foot Police (formerly number 5931, Royal Dublin Fusiliers). Bracken was a Company Sergeant Major when discharged from the British Army in 1920, having enlisted in 1896. Like Sir Roger, Bracken had been awarded the Queen's South Africa (QSA) medal for service during the 2nd Anglo-Boer War. Bracken also awarded the King's South Africa (KSA) medal.

The National Library of Ireland holds a list of Easter Rising prisoners in the barracks on 2nd May 1916, which includes Patrick Pearse. Pearse executed the following day. This list signed off by Major Cotton, Commandant of the Detention Barracks.

Major Cotton's name also appears on a pass held by the South Dublin County Council Library Service. The pass allowed a Miss Callender to bring food to Patrick Pearse during his detention in Arbour Hill. Mrs Callender owned a restaurant nearby.

Her son, Lance Corporal Brian Callender (number 22218 Royal Dublin Fusiliers) was killed in France on the 29th April 1916 and I have blogged about him previously.

There aren't too many references to Major Cotton in any Easter Rising related books or repositories. He appears to be Major Benjamin Temple Cotton (1862-1925) of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. He left the British Army in 1892 after being wounded in the "Soudan" but rejoined at the outbreak of WW1. Served in France early in WW1 but returned to England due to illness and assigned a new role. The following from the London Gazette mentions his appointment under the heading Detention Barracks but not specifically mentioning Arbour Hill :

Benjamin Cotton served under Sir Francis Grenfell's command in Egypt and Sudan, as did Grenfell's nephew John Grenfell Maxwell. Maxwell taking command in Ireland during the Easter Rising.

Cotton appears to have been the British officer most seriously wounded at the Battle of Toski (there weren't many casualties on the British/Egyptian side - 25 killed).

A recent arrival, "Tokar 1891" by Mark Reid carries a small summary re the career, wounds, medals, etc of Benjamin Cotton.

School of Musketry Khartoum

 

Two colonial photographs acquired via an auction house last year. Removed from their really cheap and nasty frames and now in acid free wallets. Too difficult to remove the photos from the dreadful backing that they are glued too.

Right hand photo is labelled Khartum 1921 and shows a group of Egyptian and British officers plus some civilians centred around British Governor-General of the Sudan/Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, Major-General Sir Lee Stack. Stack would be assassinated in November 1924. In the picture and labelled is Captain Walker Bey, Commandant of the School of Musketry. There appears to be two machine gun tripods obscured at each end of the group.

British officers on secondment to the Egyptian Army generally carried Ottoman ranks and nominals e.g Pasha, Bey, Bimbashi etc.

Left hand photo shows officers and men at the Egyptian Army School of Musketry in Khartoum in 1922. Sitting in the centre and poorly labelled :

Bimbashi Auten - Asst Chief (hard to read)

Kaimakam Walker Bey - Commandant

Bimbashi Auten is Captain Geoffrey William Auten. Originally commissioned into the Welsh Regiment, Auten was later attached to the Machine Gun Corps. He is in the Sacker/VMGCRA MGC database reference "SKR/DAT/IP/32033". Auten's Medal Index Card (MIC) gives the School of Musketry in Khartoum as his address.

Captain Walker is Robert Khonoma (Konoma is some texts) Beaumont Walker, who appears to have been at Sandhurst and to have served with the South Wales Borderers at Tsingtao and then Gallipoli before secondment to the Egyptian Army. His Medal Index Card references School of Musketry, Egyptian Army.

Promoted October 1906.

Military Cross awarded in May 1916.

He gets a mentions in Sir Ian Hamilton's despatch of May 1916.

His MIC mentions Darfur and Fasher clasps for the Sultans 1910 Sudan Medal but he doesn't appear in Wingates Despatch re the campaign.

Awarded The Order of the Nile in August 1917.

He would return to the South Wales Borderers in December 1922, missing the later assassination and mutiny.

Having retired from the Army in February 1934 and removed from any obligations to the Army in June 1937, Walker joined the Royal Air Force just before WW2. It's not clear what role he undertook but he was appointed a Squadron Leader in September 1942.

He appears in the credits on IMBD for a part in a BBC 1964 WW1 documentary episode So Sleep Easy in Your Beds. Presumably it is him speaking about the Tsingtao operation and the need to adopt Japanese jackets so as not be be mistaken for Germans. He is also on file in an IWM recording at about 9:30minutes in talking about Tsingtao.

I'm not finding anything about his time at the School of Musketry and the part played by members of the School in a mutiny that followed shortly after the assassination of Sir Lee Stack.

Three men (one linked to the School of Musketry) were executed and a fourth imprisioned with hard labour. Material in the Durham University Sudan Collection from Robert Baily mentions the botched execution of 3 officers on the 5th December 1924 as well as limited details of the mutiny. There does not appear to have been a trial of the executed men.

In August 1925, seven men would be hanged for the assassination of Sir Lee Stack following an investigation that apparently involved one of the first use of forensics.

January 1925 would see the setting up of the Sudan Defence Force and the separation of Sudan from Egyptian control. Rolls-Royce armoured cars from No 3 Armoured Car Company, Tank Corps would remain in Sudan following the unrest.

Major Walker appears to have died in 1972 and sadly there does not seem to be anything recorded regarding his time in the School of Musketry or much information about the school in general.

Notes

The London Gazette has a page re WW1 Despatches.

PDF : 1921 The Sudan in Evolution

Darfur Campaign 1916

Aerial Warfare Darfur 1916

Sudan Defence Force Armoured Vehicles and a Vickers Apprentice to a REME Brigadier

Templemore/Youghal to Sudan to Spandau Prison