Thursday 22 January 2009

Men of Harlech

On this day in 1879 the British army suffered both a great defeat and won a glorious victory....the great Queens soldiers fought and died like true men...God bless them all.

8 comments:

Vinogirl said...

As amazing a feat as there ever was!

Anonymous said...

Heros....And the numbers alone astound me. Seriously.
:)

Anonymous said...

Ahem... Men of Warwickshire actually.

Thud said...

My apologies Mr Hook...if anybody would know..you would!

JPT said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JPT said...

Harry Hook:
They WERE the Warwickshire regiment that's true, but based in Brecon and were to be renamed two years later as 'The South Wales Borderers'.
At the defence of the Drift they had 49 English (how many from Warwickshire I don't know!), 32 Welsh, 16 Irish, 1 Scottish and 21 'unknown nationality'.

The Old Tarf said...

It is nice to learn of some Men with true Grit.

I am the curator of a small military museum here in Dartmouth NS, belonging to our local Legion.

It is one of the largest private collections in Canada not in the hands of the Government. In it we have some of the cap badges of this Regiment.

I would be honoured to give you a personal tour of the Museum anytime you are in town.

Anonymous said...

Dear JPT,

They were indeed the 2nd Warwickshires and most would never have seen Brecon. The make-up of the regiment was typically 'British' with the Welsh constituting approximately 11% of the total.

I see that you added the Welsh and Monmouth figures together to give 32... tut...tut... Of the 24th Regiment at the defence, the numbers (Source: 'The Noble 24th. by Norman Holme), 49 were English, 18 Monmouthshire,16 Irish, 1 Scottish, 14 Welsh and 21 of unknown nationality.

The VC Winners

Lt. John Rouse Merriott Chard (Royal Engineers).
Born near Plymouth in December 1847 …English.

Lt. Gonville Bromhead (‘B’ Co. 24th. Regiment).
The family home was in Thurlby Hall, Newark. Born at Versailles in August 1845 …Anglo-Irish.

Cpl. William Wilson Allen (1240 'B' Co. 24th. Regiment). Born in 1844, in a little village south of Berwick-on-Tweed in Northumberland …English …soon to become Scottish.

Cpl. Christian Ferdinand Schiess (2nd Battalion, Natal Native Contingent).
Born on 7th April 1856, Burgdorf, Bern Canton, Switzerland … Swiss and definitely not Welsh …even in the film.

Pte. Frederick Hitch (1362 ‘B’ Co. 24th. Regiment).
Hitch was born at Chase Side, Southgate, London on 29th. November 1856 …a London Cabbie who only visited Brecon once, when taking a punter from Heathrow to the West End.

Pte. Henry (Harry) Hook (1373 'B' Co. 24th. Regiment).
Yours truly was born at Churcham in Gloucestershire in 1850 ...neither Cockney nor Welsh.

Pte. Robert Jones (716 'B' Co. 24th. Regiment).
Born at Raglan, Monmouthshire in August 1857 …controversial …English/Welsh …take your pick.

Pte. William Jones (593 'B' Co. 24th. Regiment).
Born in Bristol in 1839 …An Englishman who toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

John Williams (Fielding) (1393 'B' Co. 24th. Regiment).
Born in Merthyr Road, Abergavenny as John Fielding ...stuff me with green apples ...a Welshman!

James Henry Reynolds (Army Medical Department, later to be RAMC).
Born in Dublin on February 3rd 1844 ...Irish.

James Langley Dalton (Commissariat and Transport Department).
Born in London in 1833 ...English.

The only concession I have ever received from a Tafia mate …after a few pints and a heated discussion …is that the butchered soldiers of Isandhlwana were English.