The SMRG Advent Calendar - Day 4

Day four of our Advent Calendar, and time for a Christmas card!
This card I believe was sent to my grandparents by my father James McNay while he was serving with the Royal Engineers. He had served in France in 1944, but by this time he was clearly in Greece. I have his service record, but it's typically difficult to decipher all the numbers and abbreviations.
What I do know is that he applied for officer training, and the selection officer said he was fairly quiet, but would make a "solid yet unremarkable officer". He never rose above the rank of Sergeant!

The SMRG Advent Calendar - Day 3

Today's a special day for the Advent Calendar, as we present a little something of interest to researchers.

I've posted before about the indexing of the Daily Record. What I haven't done is let anyone see the work so far.

Well, as a special early Christmas present, I present the first sneak peek at the work so far.

What you have here is the Index for January 1915. Only a little file, but hopefully enough to whet your appetite. Enjoy!

For Sale: Aircraft Carrier. One reasonably careful owner.

It's second hand, and you'll probably have to pay the delivery charges yourself, but if you have a spare quid or two lying around, why not purchase HMS Invincible?

HMS Invincible is for sale by tender. Laid down in 1973 at Vickers Shipbuilding, Barrow-in-Furness, she was completed in 1980. She is currently stable for tow, subject to buyer confirmation.
Displacement - Current 17000 Tonnes
Estimated metal weight - 10000 Tonnes
Estimated metal % - 95% mild steel
Length - OA 210m, W/L 193m
Draught - Fwd 5.2m, Mid 5.8m, Aft 5.8m
Beam - Extreme 35m, Ex-walkways 32m, W/L 27.53m
Height - 46m (estimated at current draught
Engines - Removed
Generators and Pumps - Generally unserviceable or not working
For fuller information, please see the General Particulars.

3rd wave of "Cameronians"

I make a point of not making any political points on my blog, I’ll leave that to others. There are plenty of ranters and ravers out there who froth at the mouth over the actions of MPs, MSP, MEPs etc. It’s not for me.

However today I’m going to dip my toe ever so slightly into something that is starting to crop up in the political pages of the English newspapers which I think is worth mentioning here.

What I’ve noticed is that there is a new word being used to describe people loyal to Prime Minister David Cameron. The word they use to describe them is Cameronians

At first I couldn't believe it that they would hijack the name but actually the Cameronians are now history so who can blame them for using such a handy word? The original Cameronians were covenanter followers of Richard Cameron. Richard Cameron and David Cameron, leaders of Cameronians, you can't argue with that.

The second Cameronians were the British infantry regiment but the 1st Battalion Cameronians chose disbandment to amalgamation over forty years ago. The Cameronians were removed from the Army list in 1995 when the T.A. Cameronians were rebadged to KOSB, and the Lanarkshire Army Cadet Force rebadged from Cameronians in 1999. Can anyone complain the word is being re-used now? It's been up for grabs for eleven years.

The third wave of Cameronians are now here. It may grate to hear the name of a fine old Scottish regiment now being used for political purposes but I’m sure it will be a few years before David Cameron steps down from leading his party so we better start getting used to it.

The SMRG Advent Calendar - Day 2

After yesterday's rather uninteresting pair of boots, let's see what's behind the little cardboard window marked with a 2, shall we?

Well, it's another picture....

Also on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, these are the medals of Piper Daniel Laidlaw.

Laidlaw was a Piper with the 7th Battalion of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, and on the first day of the Battle of Loos, he carried out an act of bravery which earned him the Victoria Cross.

His citation reads:

"For most conspicuous bravery prior to an assault on German trenches near Loos and Hill 70 on 25 September 1915. During the worst of the bombardment, Piper Laidlaw, seeing that his company was badly shaken from the effects of gas, with absolute coolness and disregard of danger, mounted the parapet, marched up and down and played company out of the trench. The effect of his splendid example was immediate and the company dashed out to the assault. Piper Laidlaw continued playing his pipes until he was wounded."

It's not particularly well-known that you can see Laidlaw playing his pipes on film. The film "Forgotten Men", released in 1930 features an appearance from Laidlaw playing the tune he had piped the 7th KOSB over the top in 1915. If you ever get a chance to see the film, it''s worth watching.

Laidlaw died in 1950, and despite this page stating his medals are not publicly held, you can see them in the National Museum.

The SMRG Advent Calendar - Day 1

I thought it would be a good idea to have a Blog Advent Calendar - a daily entry where we offer you a little something, whether it's an interesting image or a download of an item of interest.

Day one of your advent calendar is a picture. It's not a fantastic picture, but then the first day of an advent calendar has to start small, so you can build up to better things.

What you have here is a pair of boots and a script from the National Theatre of Scotlands production of Black Watch by Gregory Burke. These were (and possibly still are) on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

If you haven't seen the play, I highly recommend it. It's available on DVD from the usual online retailers.

Come back tomorrow for day two which promises to be much more interesting!

Snow on the Ground...

All this snow reminds me of one of my favourite films 'Tunes of Glory' which was taken from James Kennoway's book. It’s set in a fictitious Scottish castle in winter time. In fact a lot of the exterior shots were filmed in and around Stirling Castle.

Although filmed in the home of the Argylls and the officers are wearing Cameron kilts, the regiment it was based on was the one Kennoway served in just after the war in Edinburgh; 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders

He had joined the Camerons just after the war but transferred to the Gordons and didn’t enjoy his time in the regiment. You can probably get that vibe from the book and the film.

Coincidentally the writer George MacDonald Fraser also served in the Gordon Highlanders at the same time. First with the 2nd Battalion in Libya, and then with the 1st Battalion in Edinburgh when the two battalions merged in 1948.

MacDonald Fraser did enjoy his time with the regiment though and turned them into the amusing "General Danced at Dawn" trilogy.

His third book "McAuslan in the Rough" deals with his time in Edinburgh at the same time Kennoway was there.

What is fascinating is that in both books, which claim to be of fictional regiments, certain characters in them are quite clearly the same people and must be the men of 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders.

I'd heartily recommend the "General Danced at Dawn" series of books and "Tunes of Glory". If you read them back to back you'll recognise the martinet colonel, RSM, pipe sergeant, adjutant and other characters used by both authors.

Interestingly in the film there is a character Captain Rattray, a dark-haired, thickset officer played by Ricard Leech who is one of the ringleaders in the mess taking Major Sinclair's side against Colonel Barrow. I wonder if that was Kennoway's recollection of McDonald Fraser? Leech certainly has a resemblance to GMF and in his books GMF doesn't seem to care for his new colonel.