Article 12 - The Tragic Death of Captain Fryatt - SS Brussels
Accompanying this article is a Belgian produced postcard commemorating the memorial to the capture of the British merchant mariner Captain Fryatt of the Great Eastern Railway Company Shipping Line who was executed by the Germans. He was the Master of the 'SS Brussels'.
Charles Algernon Fryatt (1872 – 1916) was executed by the Germans for attempting to ram a U-boat (U-33), in 191... read more
Article 11 - Field Telegraph Communications in the Egyptian War of 1882, 'C' (Telegraph) Troop, Royal Engineers
C (Telegraph Troop) Royal Engineers, first saw active service in the Zulu War of 1879, and a little later in the Egyptian campaign of 1882, where the unit laid cable in no-mans land to guide advancing British troops and later sent the first victory signal ever to come direct from a battlefield.
In 1882, British troops were landed at Ismailiyah in Egypt and the telegraph company w... read more
Article 10 - 2nd Pattern Malayan Emergency Special Forces Cap Badge - Senoi Praq circa 1960s, trained by the SAS
Die cast two part consturction white metal cap badge with painted green background. Circa 4.9cms tall with two original loops to the reverse. This is the second pattern badge with crossed blowpipes.
The Senoi Praaq (spelt PRAQ on the badge) was the brainchild of Colonel Noone in Military Intelligence and also a member of the British Administration in Malaya during the Malayan... read more
Article 9 - The Newfoundland Rangers
A rare brass gilding metal cap badge with two original loops and makers details embossed for Scully Montreal to the reverse. The head of a moose and motto scroll, "Ubique" (Everywhere) to the centre of a strap bearing the title. Circa 4.7cms in diameter. Not to be confused with the smaller collar badge.
The Newfoundland Ranger Force was the police force of the Dominion of New... read more
Article 8 - Delhi Durbar Medal 1911 - King George V's visit to India
Unnamed as issued.
Obverse: The conjoined busts of King George V and Queen Mary, crowned and wearing the robes of state, and facing left. Encircling the effigies of Their Majesties are on the right a sprig of laurel, on the left a spray of roses, with ribbon entwined at the base of the design. The design has minor differences in the obverse from the smaller coronation medal, an... read more
Article 7 - 'A' (British Asian) Squadron King’s Colonials Boer War Era Slouch Hat Badge
Depicted is a very fine scarce die-stamped heavy and stiff yellow brass original example of a much copied badge. An Asian elephant standing on scroll inscribed “British Asian”; palm trees in the background. Two loops to reverse (east - west) with "no feet" to the loops. Some slight staining to front. Things to note: the sharp detail of the palm trees, the quality of the two end stars on th... read more
Article 6 - Major Philip Malins, M.B.E., M.C., Order of the Rising Sun - a giant of a man who commanded Gurkhas alongside Japanese troops!
A memorial to the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bombings was the “dying wish” of an ex-WW2 Dunkirk veteran, Major Philip Malins, M.B.E. M.C., Order of the Rising Sun, from Solihull in the West Midlands. He worked for 10 years to have the monument, which includes a stone from Hiroshima’s ruins, installed at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
He died on April 9th 2... read more
Article 5 - 52nd Foot ( Oxfordshire Light Infantry ) - Comparison between an original glengarry badge and a modern copy
I thought this pictorial comparison may be of interest to collectors, as collecting glengarry badges, which have been reproduced by Fox in the late Victorian period and by others since the 1970s onwards, is an area fraught with uncertainty. Things to note in particular are: the colour of the brass, the metal used for the retaining loops, the shape of the numerals and the colour of the reverse, ... read more
Article 4 - WW2 Private Armies - British Security Co-Ordination (BSC)
Perhaps some of the rarest Canadian badges of WW2, and least understood are the two cap badges struck for British Security Co-ordination, or BSC for short. Two patterns are known, both die struck in gilding metal, with loops to the reverse and after a hard look it should be possible to locate the maker's mark on the larger first pattern badge: ' W. Scully / Ltd / Montreal' embossed in small le... read more
Article 3 - British India - The Lawrence Royal Military Schools
There were a number of different schools in India formed under this title. The most prominent appears to be the one originally founded in 1847, at Sanawar near Simla, India. It was the initiative of Sir Henry Lawrence of Indian Mutiny fame and his wife Honoria and it was initially titled the ‘Lawrence Military Asylum’. Its purpose was to provide an education and care of the children of Brit... read more