Lancers part 2. Grenfell and de Montmorency

 A bit of an overlap with Part 1.

One of the officers in the newly created 21st Lancers who took part in the "shock action" cavalry charge at Omdurman[1] and awarded a VC for bravery for trying to rescue the mortally wounded Lt Robert Grenfell was Lt Raymond de Montmorency[2][3].

Montmorency would be killed during the Boer War leading an irregular unit he founded, the Montmorency Scouts[4]. In turn, Grenfell’s brother would earn one of the first VCs of the First World War with the 9^th Lancers[5]. Serving in South Africa at the time as Raymond de Montmorency was his cousin, Hervey de Montmorency[6], a member of the irregular Rhodesian Volunteers[7].

Whilst Erskine Childers would be on his yacht Asgard[8] bringing obsolete black powder 1871 Mausers to Howth, County Dublin in 1914, Hervey de Montmorency would take part in the smaller, more secretive landing at Kilcoole in County Wicklow aboard the yacht Chotah[9] owned by Sir Thomas Myles[10].

The forebear of the aforementioned de Montmorency's, Reymond Hervey de Montmorency, was one of those advocating for the introduction of lancers to British service[11], writing an 1820 publication proposing regulations and training for lancers[12]. During the Napoleonic War and prior to a name change, de Montmorency had served as Redmond Morres. Captured in April 1811[13][14], he was apparently able to study the working of Polish or French Lancers (Uhlans/ Chevau-Légers Lanciers). Napoleon had created nine lancer regiments in a Decree issued on the 18^th June 1811[15]; it is not clear which unit de Montmorency would have been able to study.

In 1816, four British light dragoon (mounted infantry) regiments were selected for conversion to lancers with 9^th, 12^th, 16^th and 19th Light Dragoons becoming the 9^th, 12^th, 16^th and 19^th Lancers. The 16^th Lancers would arrive in Dublin in April 1816 and be issued their lances shortly afterwards[16].

A century later, on the 24^th April 1916, a mixed group of 5^th and 12^th Lancers, would be fired on in Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street)[17]. While the Dublin Metropolitan Police were unarmed, the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Rising carried carbines remodelled from Boer war Lee-Enfield and Lee-Metford rifles, declared obsolete by the War Office in 1904. The carbines were upgraded to fit the obsolete 1888 pattern bayonet and fired obsolete .303 Mark VI ammunition.

Sent in to contain the Easter Rising was General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell, a veteran of the Sudan and Boer wars, and relative of the Grenfell brothers[18]. Amongst the modern technology sent to Dublin and available to General Maxwell were a number of Rolls-Royce armoured cars armed with Maxim/Vickers machine guns.

In 1928, shortly after the death of Douglas Haig, lances would finally be taken out of British front line service. Horses would start to disappear too, with the 11^th Hussars and 12^th Lancers being the first cavalry units to be mechanised with armoured cars[19].

A century later, the British Army retains obsolete names with units still carrying the designation lancers and undertaking cosplay with lances[20].

While it seems a good idea to move obsolete military weapons and ammunition to paramilitary police to give a new lease of life to equipment, it does raise the question as to why ammunition deemed too uncivilised to use against your enemies’ soldiers is ok to use against your own civilian population.

Obsolescence did not cause the mounted infantry/dragoons to be re-armed and re-named in 1816 (other units would become lancers later and be renamed too). The British were on the winning side of the Napoleonic wars when they had no lancers in their order of battle.

Like the London tower block that carried forward the Grenfell family name, did the British bolt on a capability that made it look like they were moving forward but actually created more problems than it solved? Not obsolescent, just unnecessary. Could the British have won their subsequent battles and campaigns without lancers?

The British Army is currently running a number of projects to replace some of its aging weapons and it will be interesting to see the outcomes[21]. The Gimpy has now been in service since 1961; beating the 56 years of service of the Vickers machine gun in the British Army (1912-1968).

 

[1] National Army Museum. "The 21st Empress of India's Lancers. A Memento of the Famous Charge at Omdurman Sept 2nd 1898". https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1968-06-7-1.

[2] Government of Canada. "Raymond de Montmorency". https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/people-and-stories/raymond-de-montmorency.

[3] VC and GC Association. "Raymond Harvey Lodge Joseph de Montmorency VC". https://vcgca.org/our-people/profile/1835/Raymond-Harvey-Lodge-Joseph-de-MONTMORENCY.

[4] Anglo-Boer War.com. "Montmorency's Scouts". https://www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/south-african-units/montmorencys-scouts.

[5] VC and GC Association. “Francis Octavus Grenfell VC”. https://vcgca.org/our-people/profile/179/Francis-Octavus--GRENFELL.

[6] Grant, Robert. "Hervey Guy Francis Edward de Montmorency, DSO". https://theauxiliaries.com/men-alphabetical/men-m/montmorency/montmorency.html.

[7] Anglo-Boer War.com. "Rhodesian Volunteers". https://www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/south-african-units/rhodesian-volunteers.

[8] National Museum of Ireland. "Asgard: From Gunrunning to Recent Conservation". https://www.museum.ie/en-ie/museums/decorative-arts-history/exhibitions/the-asgard.

[9] Martin, F X. The Howth Gun Running". https://www.rte.ie/documents/news/fx-martin-on-the-howth-gunrunning.pdf.

[10] Grace, Pierce. "Trinity College Dublin Alumni. Sir Thomas Myles (1857-1937), M.B., B.Ch. (1881)". https://www.tcd.ie/medicine/alumni/alumni-stories/thomas-myles/.

[11] British Empire website. "Reymond Hervey de Montmorency". https://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/9thlancersmontmorency.htm.

[12] de Montmorency, Reymond H. "Proposed Rules and Regulations for the Exercise and Maneuvers of the Lance". https://books.google.fr/books?id=bORhAAAAcAAJ&hl=fr&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false.

[13] Brown, Steve. “Register of British Officer Prisoners Held at Verdun 1804-1813”. https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/Britain/Miscellaneous/c_POWsatVerdun.html.

[14].Barrett, Charles R B. “History of the XIII. Hussars Volume 1 and Volume 2”. https://archive.org/details/histxiiihussars/Vol1HistXIIIHussars/page/143/mode/2up. p. 143.

[15]. Bukhari, Emir and McBride, Angus. “Napoleon’s Dragoons and Lancers”. p. 18.

[16] Graham, Henry. “History of the Sixteenth, the Queen's, Light Dragoons (Lancers), 1759 to 1912”. https://archive.org/details/history16thlancers/page/n101/mode/2up. p. 67-68.

[17] National Library of Ireland 1916 Exhibition. “Casualties. Insurgents, soldiers, and police. Lancers. Killed, Died of Wounds, or Wounded.” https://www.nli.ie/1916/exhibition/en/content/casualties/insurgents/img/0286.jpg. p. 49.

[18] Dictionary of Irish Biography. “Maxwell, Sir John Grenfell”. https://www.dib.ie/biography/maxwell-sir-john-grenfell-a5532.

[19] Upton, Peter. “The Cherrypickers. 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own) 1715 to 1969”.

[20] UK Ministry of Defence. “The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths' Own)”. https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/about-the-army/corps-regiments-and-units/royal-armoured-corps/royal-lancers/.

[21] Army Technology. “UK plan to withdraw L7A2 machine gun in 2035”. https://www.army-technology.com/news/uk-plan-to-withdraw-l7a2-machine-gun-in-2035/.

The Lancers are coming (and going)

This is part 1 of a text put together for a question raised in a course underway on military history re the Boer war and obsolesence. As usual, I have wandered off topic as I follow threads I'm interested in. The topic used the foreword and Chapter 1 of Erskine Childers anti-cavalry book “War and the Arme Blanche” as the starting point. Part 2 is more to the point and will be what I end up handing in.

Following interest in the Polish/French lancers of the Napoleonic Wars, 4 British light dragoon regiments were selected for conversion to lancers with 9^th, 12^th, 16^th and 19th Light Dragoons becoming the 9^th, 12^th, 16^th and 19^th Lancers. The 16^th would arrive in Dublin in April 1816 and be issued their lances shortly afterwards[1].

One hundred years later the phrase “The Lancers are Coming” would be heard in Dublin on the opening day of the Easter Rising as Irish Volunteers heading to the General Post Office were caught crossing the street [2].

With a marked change of technology, we have recently seen that the B1 bombers (aka Lancers) of the USAF are now going from UK shores[3]. Meanwhile, long after the retirement of lances, there is still an element of lancer cosplay within the British Army[4], echoing Childers comment about “the stubborn adherence to tradition that they have not had the good sense to abandon”[5].

When the 11^th Hussars and 12^th Lancers put aside their horses in 1928 to become motorized armoured car regiments, they did not follow the 1816 (plus 1858 and 1897) pattern of changing names to reflect their new function but retained their old obsolete names.

Having taken time out from his job at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster to volunteer for service in the 2^nd Anglo-Boer War, Erskine Childers would be a key participant in the 1914 gun running operation, bringing obsolete black powder cartridge firing German 1871 Mauser rifles (aka Howth Mausers) to arm the Irish Volunteers. He would be aligned with others awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal who would be working for Irish independence e.g. Sir Roger Casement and Robert Monteith, and those who had been pro-Boer e.g. Arthur Griffith and John MacBride (commissioned a Major by Paul Kruger 2^nd October 1899[6]). The Fianna Commando would attack the Magazine Fort in Dublin’s Phoenix Park as one of the first actions of the Easter Rising[7]. Boer war veteran Lt Gerald Neilan would be killed leading an element of the 10^th Royal Dublin Fusiliers into Dublin city centre and Boer war cavalry veteran John Walsh and his brother-in-law William O’Neill would be amongst the 16 non-combatants murdered by soldiers of the South Staffordshire Regiment at North King Street[8].

John MacBride[9], commander of the Boer 1^st Irish Brigade, would stand for election as an MP, missing out by a small margin. Arthur Lynch, commander of the Boer 2^nd Irish Brigade would be elected MP for Galway North[10] and arrested on a charge of high treason[11]. The majority of ordinary Irish soldiers on either side of the Boer conflict would not have been eligible to vote in UK elections; ditto those who served in WW1, and in the case of Northern Ireland voting remained out of reach for some of the population/members of the British army until after 1969.

Amongst the first casualties of the Easter Rising shot at using the obsolete “Howth Mausers” were a mixed group of 5^th and 12^th Lancers, fired on in Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) on the 24^th April 1916[12]. While the Dublin Metropolitan Police were generally unarmed, the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Rising carried carbines remodelled from Boer war Lee-Enfield and Lee-Metford rifles, declared obsolete by the War Office in 1904. The carbines were upgraded to fit the obsolete 1888 pattern bayonet and fired obsolete .303 Mark VI ammunition.

Eamon Bulfin, referenced by Desmond Ryan in the item re “The Lancers are Coming”, was a cousin of Boer War veteran General Sir Edward Bulfin[13]. General Bulfin sold his property in Dublin to James and Eoin MacNeill in February 1916[14]. It was from this property that Eoin MacNeill issued countermanding orders trying to stop the Easter Rising[15]. Left behind in South Africa having been mortally wounded at Colesberg on 1^st January1900, was another cousin, Farrier Sergeant John Bulfin of the Rimington Guides[16][17]; formerly no 3157, Corporal Shoeing Smith of the 4^th Dragoon Guards, commemorated on the Boer War Memorial in Uitenhage in South Africa[18].

Eamon Bulfin’s sister Catalina would marry Sean MacBride, son of Major John MacBride.

 

---

[1] Graham, Henry. “History of the Sixteenth, the Queen's, Light Dragoons (Lancers), 1759 to 1912”. https://archive.org/details/history16thlancers/page/n101/mode/2up. p. 67-68.

[2] RTE 1916. “The Lancers Are Coming”. https://1916.rte.ie/relevant-places/smash-the-windows-you-bloody-fools/.

[3] Gardner, Frank. BBC News. “What prompted the US bombers to leave RAF Fairford?”. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ck87z09xe82qo.

[4] The Royal Lancers. https://theroyallancers.org/.

[5] Childers, Erskine. “War and the Arme Blanche”. p. 3.

[6] Jordan, Anthony J. “Boer War to Easter Rising. The Writings of John MacBride”. p. 15.

[7] O’Neill, Hugo. Bureau of Military History 1913-21, Witness Statement No 1377. https://www.militaryarchives.ie/uploads/bmh/BMH_WS_1377_IO.pdf. p.12.

[8] Irish War Memorials. “North King Street Massacre Memorial #1070”. https://irishwarmemorials.ie/memorial/north-king-street-massacre-memorial-1070/.

[9] Dictionary of Irish Biography. “John MacBride”. https://www.dib.ie/biography/macbride-john-a5108.

[10] Dictionary of Irish Biography. “Arthur Lynch”. https://www.dib.ie/biography/lynch-arthur-alfred-a4931.

[11] Hansard. 12 June 1902 vol 109. “Arrest of Mr. Arthur Lynch, M. P.”. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1902/jun/12/arrest-of-mr-arthur-lynch-m-p.

[12] National Library of Ireland 1916 Exhibition. “Casualties.Insurgents, soldiers and police. Lancers. Killed, Died of Wounds, or Wounded.” https://www.nli.ie/1916/exhibition/en/content/casualties/insurgents/img/0286.jpg. p. 49.

[13] Powell, John. “Haig’s Tower of Strength. General Sir Edward Bulfin. Ireland’s Forgotten General”. p.151-153.

[14] Powell. p. 3.

[15] MacNeill, Eoin. “Countermanding Order”. https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-45006/.

[16] Stirling, John. “The Colonials in South Africa 1899-1902”. https://dn790009.ca.archive.org/0/items/colonialsinsouth00stiruoft/colonialsinsouth00stiruoft.pdf.p. 150-160.

[17] Royal Armouries. “Underwood and Underwood Stereoscopic photograph - Remington Scouts enjoying lunch in a Boer home”. https://images.royalarmouries.org/asset/41155/.

[18] Uitenhage War Memorial. https://artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes_mob.php?bldgid=12520.

Madsen Machine Guns

One of my background topics of interest is the Danish made Madsen machine gun, bouight by some British colonial units in Africa pre WW1 (under the name Rexer) with later models of Madsens still in use in Brazil today.

A YouTube video with an outline of the workings of the Madsen can be seen here and the gun is covered by Forgotten Weapons and C&R Arsenal.

I was fortunate to meet another Madsen enthusiast at the Vickers Machine Gun Collection and Research Association exhibition at Bisley this weekend (2nd to 5th October 2026). This will prompt a review of material I have already and hopefully prompt more questions and research (I'm just looking again at "Rommel and Caporetto" by John and Eileen Wilks to check on the Germans use of the Madsen in this battle).

One question I have relates to the machine guns that were transported on the Libau/Aud/Castro for the Easter Rising and sent to the bottom of the ocean when Captain Spindler scuttled the ship. The story generally is that there were 10 machine guns in the cargo but nothing published appears to mention the type of gun. The general assumption appears to be that these were Russian M1910 Maxim machine guns.

These are very heavy and bulky weapons that need transportation, training and tools to maintain the gun, load the ammunition belts etc

I can't help but speculate if the guns were Russian Madsens. Several thousand were made by the Russians and would potentially have been in the haul of weapons captured by the Germans in the early part of the war. Germany would press many Madsens into use in what they would term Muskette Battalions and these would feature in the Somme in 1916 and later in Italy. Lack of parts etc would see them eventually being replaced by captured British Lewis guns. 

The more man portable, magazine fed Madsens could have been of more useful to the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising than Maxim M1910s.

At some point I hope an archaelogical dive of the wreck or paperwork from German archives will identify the guns on the Libau/Aud/Castro.

There are a couple of books in the VMGCRA collection that refer to the Madsen.

At the Bisley Exhibition a 1910 book by Captain Applin was on display. Applin references the Madsen in his thoughts on how the British might use machine guns. This book (archive ref no V10785) has been digitized and available to view via the VMGCRA Patreon service.

Also available is a 1942 Small Arms Manual by Lt Col J A Barrow which has a nice chapter on the Madsen (and many othere WW2 weapons). This booklet (archive ref no V10170) has also been digitized and is available via the VMGCRA Patreon service.

David Martin (1887-1919)

 Any interesting trip to Salisbury Plain on Wednesday with the VMGCRA team.

After presentations that included the interception and destruction of drones, it was an odd co-incidence that we passed through Shrewton, the final resting place of Royal Flying Corps/RAF Sgt Major David Martin MSM MM MiD(x3).

Martin took up the forward gun position in a Vickers FB4 on Christmas Day 1914, flying from the former Vickers airfield at Joyce Green to intercept a German Naval Air Service FF.29 that was attempting to drop bombs on London.

No radar, so a mix of visual and accoustic tracking of the intruder.

Surviving the war, Martin succumbed to Spanish flu in a London hospital in February 1919. Buried in Shrewton by the vicar who officiated at his marriage in 1918.

Not 100% sure if Martin was firing a Vickers Maxim or a Vickers machine gun at the time of this encounter. The odds are for a Vickers Maxim as the British Army at the start of WW1 only had a small number of Vickers.

With the Russian made 1910 Maxims we see being used by Ukrainians against drones, I can't help but wonder if the Vickers Maxims/Vickers could be used in a similar role and what changes might be needed to make this work.

Twin config on the back of a truck. Left and right feeding ammunition; large sight fitted.

100 Year Old Maxim Gun Destroys Shahed Drone!

Twin config on the back of a truck. Left and right feeding ammunition; no additional sights :

How an Old Maxim Gun Still Counters Russian Drones

Three gun config on a lorry?. No sights. Disintegrating links. Shoulder stock.

Triple Maxim machine guns used by Ukrainian troops for drone defense. (2023)

  

Two Legal Eagles

 

The Dublin Daily Express of 14th July 1910 reported the results for a number of solicitors apprentices

Sitting at No 13 is New Zealand born Dinnen Burns Gilmore and at 14 is Lithuanian born Michael Noyk.

The two would take very different career paths.

Noyk would become very much involved in the Irish Independence movement and become an important part of the legal framework for the growing Republican movement. The Law Society of Ireland published a good article by Dr Barry Whelan in 2023 entitled :

Michael Noyk's role in Ireland’s independence

Gilmore would take a commission in the British Army at the outset of WW1, being gazetted a Temporary 2nd Lieutenant on the 13th November 1914.

Serving with the 6th Bn Royal Dublin Fusiliers, he landed in Gallipoli in August 1915 and would find himself going to hospital very shortly afterwards.

6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers Diary

Admitted to hospital in England on the 25th December 1915 with Gun Shot Wounds to both legs.

He would transfer to the Machine Gun Corps, Heavy Branch (later the Tank Corps) and in November 1917 would be with the section of 4 tanks sent to Dublin in November 1917. He would be in charge of two tanks that were then sent on to Cork. The one tank sent to Limerick would still be in Limerick during the War of Indepence and captured on film by Pathe. Gilmore was keen to move on and would find himself in France in early 1918.

Gilmore's diary/book "Between Two Games" is available to view at the Tank Museum Archive at Bovington (reference E2006.1512).  Gilmore trained at Grantham with the Machine Gun Corps before travelling to Bovington himself on the 8th August 1917 and later serving in the 14th(?) Bn, Tank Corps.

He was later legal advisor to the Bank of Ireland, President of Dublin Zoo, President of Wanderers Rugby Club 1942/3, and a Prison Visitor once he had retired.

Battenberg Dublin 1916

One of the characters on General Maxwell's staff during the Easter Rising was Queen Victoria's grandson Prince Alexander Battenberg. The website linked suggests he was wounded at least twice but it is hard to get to the bottom of these.

He appears to have been awarded a medal for his staff work during the Rising - possibly a serious paper cut while undertaking staff work or a boil from sitting at desks. No wounds suffered in combat but he had stomach issues before the Rising and piles after it. Possibly the two "wounds" alluded to earlier.

While a number of LGBTQIA+ are identified in the Irish Volunteers/ICA, Battenberg would appear to be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in the British forces.

He was amongst the British establishment with Germanic names who had to change surname in 1917 when the Royal Family chose to become the House of Windsor and leave behind their Saxe-Coburg-Gotha name. Battenberg chose to go with the English form Mountbatten.

Post war he would become the Marquess Carisbrooke - no link that I know of to the Carisbrooke House, scene of fighting during the Easter Rising before the Sherwood Foresters reached 25 Northumberland Road/Mount Street Bridge.

Battenberg's son in law would be another man who changed his name, though just a bit. Major Hamilton Joseph Keyes O'Malley-Keyes (later changed to just O'Malley), an Irish Guards officer and then Glider Pilot Regiment. Landed at Arnhem in September 1944 and captured after being wounded in the stomach. Possibly saw more combat than his father-in-law but got less medals for his efforts. He didn't received a Victoria Cross as suggested on a family genealogy website.

He is the second link I can find from Easter Rising participants to family members involved with gliders - the Neilan brothers nephew John Neilan becoming a glider pilot and then a test pilot.

Neil Cameron MacNamara - early British armoured cars

A while back I wrote an article for the Vickers MG Collection and Research Association regarding the early development of armoured cars by the British, straying off slightly into other countries efforts.

Johnny Doyle, 'The Early Development of British Armoured Cars', Zero Post: The Journal of the Vickers MG Collection & Research Association, 1 (2024), 50-63

One mistake I made that those proofreading and checking wouldn't have been able to pick up was that I erroneously attributed the name Colin to Neil Cameron MacNamara. I was doing some work looking at Colin Gubbins at the time and think this was the source of my error.

MacNamara was the son of the UK Member of Parliament (MP) Thomas James MacNamara. As well as being an MP, he was also the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty so well positioned to get his son involved in an Admiralty project, in the same fashion Churchill involved his cousin Lord Wimborne. 

Both Wimborne and MacNamara get a mention in Admiral Sueter's claim to the Inventions Commission but little real details about their involvement in the development of armoured cars sadly.

MacNamara junior would later serve in France with the Army Service Corps being Mentioned in Despatches 3 times and being awarded a Croix de Guerre. Nothing is mentioned about MacNamara's work with the Admiralty.

His Medal Index Card shows he entered France in early November 1914 so whatever work he did with the Admiralty did not last too long and perhaps wasn't enough to keep him in England.

In applying to be registered as an Engineer, he doesn't mention his work with the Admiralty but at least there is enough information to understand why he might be a good fit to be involved in the armoured car development given his work in the motor industry.

MacNamara would later become Chair and Managing Director of construction company Trollope & Colls Ltd.

Lord Wimborne moved on and shortly afterwards was in Ireland as the Viceroy. He would be there when Roll-Royce armoured cars would be sent to Ireland following the Easter Rising. 

A Rolls-Royce can be seen at approximately 45seconds in on this clip hosted by the Irish Film Institute, driving from left to right as the camera pans from right to left

Dublin Rebellion

The film clip is also available to view on the IWM site, ref  NTB 245-2 TOPICAL BUDGET 245-2.

Neil Cameron MacNamara's grandfather, another Thomas, was born in County Clare in 1830 and died in Devon in 1899. He enlisted in the British Army in May 1847 and served in Canada with the 47th Regiment of Foot at the time of the Fenian Raid, having served in Malta, Gribraltar and the Crimea (Crimea medal with Sevastapol clasp). An example of the Fenian Medal issued is available on the Australian War Memorial site, in this case another soldier of the same regiment. The 47th would later be renamed The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.

Next Trip to UK National Archives

Heading to the UK National Archives at Kew later this month. The following on order covering a range of interests :

1. WO 95/4406 General headquarters troops: Headquarters Light Armoured Car Brigade (1917 Aug - 1918 Oct). Headquarters Light Armoured Car Brigade (1919 July). 1 Armoured Motor Battery (1917 May - July). 1 Armoured Motor Battery (1918 Jan - May). 2 Armoured Motor Batte
2. WO 32/18595 Derbyshire Yeomanry: conversion into an armoured car company
3. WO 95/5399 10 Armoured Motor Brigade Machine Gun Corps: Headquarters (1919 June - 1921 Feb). 10 Armoured Motor Brigade Machine Gun Corps: 5 Armoured Motor Battery (1919 Aug - 1921 Aug). 10 Armoured Motor Brigade Machine Gun Corps: 7 Armoured Motor Battery (1919 J
4. WO 95/4415 General headquarters troops: Headquarters Hejaz Operations (1918 Mar - 1919 Sept). Officer Commanding Troops, Northern Hejaz (1918 Apr - June). Motor Section Royal Field Artillery Hejaz Operations (1917 Nov - 1918 Nov 10). Armoured Car Section Hejaz Oper
5. WO 35/56B Courts martial: military. (Described at item level). Individual cases: larceny, aiding escape of convicted prisoner, neglect of duty and loss of armoured car
6. WO 374/10257 Captain Ronald Bingham BRUCE. (County of London) Armoured Car Company.
7. FO 141/494 Sudan Mutiny of 1924: List of officers and other ranks killed in action (British Brigade and Egyptian Army); compensation for families of victims
8. STAT 14/1814 HMSO presses: consolidated trading account
9. STAT 23/15 HMSO Presses: Foreign Office, India Office, War Office; inventories of plants
10. STAT 14/288 Accommodation and Equipment, London: Princes Street to be renamed
11. STAT 14/1075 War Office Printing Press
12. STAT 14/816 Losses: War Office General Procedure

Your reserve documents

1. CO 904/29 Dublin castle records
2. WO 35/172 Movement of troops in Ireland. Also need to look at WO 35/173 to WO 35/214. For another trip.
3. WO 35/215 Composition of Headquarters and Officers in Command, Forces in Ireland

Battle of Saragarhi, 12th September 1897

 On the agenda for viewing once again - the film Kesari.

An interesting treatment of the story of 21 Sikh soldiers holding a small heliograph signalling station at Saragarhi during the Tirah Campaign against overwhelming odds OTD 1897.

All 21 awarded the Indian Order of Merit posthumously (the Victoria Cross not an option for troops in the British Indian Army until 1911).

Outside the time frame for the Imperial War Museum but there are a few related objects in the National Army Museum collection.

As a slight Rabbit 'ole, 3 British officers in the British Indian Army were awarded the Victoria Cross during the same campaign. In the case of Lt Hector MacClean his award was not gazetted until 1907 when the rules were changed to allow for the award of posthumous VCs.

London Gazette 15th January 1907

MacClean's cousin was the better known (Charles) Bruce Bairnsfather.

#SaraghariDay #TirahCampaign #RabbitHoles

The Printing Press at Liberty Hall after the Easter Rising

 

One of the many files available to view at the UK National Archives at Kew relates to the disposal of the printing press at Liberty Hall seized following the Easter Rising and moved to Dublin Castle, then Ship Street Barracks, and later Islandbridge.

There was an attempt to see if it could be used by the British garrison in Cork but this came to nothing.

Towards the end of 1919, the press was set to the HMSO officers in London to disappear from sight.

A cursory look at some HMSO correspondence files from the period held at Kew did not throw any more light on what might have happened to the printing press. An item of research that will be kept on the back burner for later follow up work.

 Another blog mentions James Connolly and the printing press at Liberty Hall in relation to a raid on The Gaelic Press at 30 Upper Liffey Street, Dublin. The file at Kew has a nice letterhead from The Gaelic Press signed by Joseph Stanley in relation to an attemp by new purchasers (Mr Leon Spiro of The Pearl Printing Works) to acquire back some of the items taken in 1916.

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.

There's not much mention of the Special Signal Company in the Royal Signal Corps 1920 compilation book The Wire.

On an unrelated side note, a relative by marriage, Michael Sweeney, appears to have been involved in the shooting of a despatch rider, Signalman De Orfe, belonging to the Special Signal Company.

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.