This is the occasional
newsletter of the Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum. If
you do not wish to receive future copies please accept my
apologies and please read the note at the foot of
the page
to unsubscribe.
Professor Donald Ritchie FRSE, the Chairman of the
Liverpool Scottish Museum Trustees, and Mrs. Jeanne Ritchie have
very generously presented to the Museum a watercolour of the
S.S.Maidan, the ship in which the 1/10th (Scottish) Bn, The
King's (Liverpool Regiment) sailed to France on 1st November
1914. The painting is the work of Merseyside marine artist Jim
Micklewright. The picture measures 15.5inches x 24 inches (39cm x
61 cm) and has been displayed at Southport
Art Gallery and at Liverpool Town Hall on the occasion of the
Liverpool Scottish Officers' Association Dinner, held to mark the
regimental centenary, in March 2001. An enlarged version may be
seen by clicking on the illustration or here. Professor Ritchie (pictured here) has taken a
hands-on approach to Museum refurbishment and his wife, Jeanne,
has been a strong supporter of Liverpool Scottish events. He is a
member of the Liverpool Scottish Regimental Association and he
has recently been appointed as Honorary Colonel of the Liverpool
University Officer Training Corps.
The painting, to which the web images do little
justice, is the result of painstaking research carried out at the
Maritime Museum (National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside) by
the artist and by Major David Evans TD of the Liverpool Scottish
Museum. In the picture the ship is shown on the River Mersey,
with the Liverpool Pier Head in the background, accompanied by
two tugs and with a Mersey ferry to the forward of the bow of the
Maidan. Although in 1914 the Liverpool Scottish sailed from
Southampton, in the south of the UK, to Le Havre in France, the
Liverpool backdrop is appropriate as the ship was owned by T.
& J. Brocklebank, a major Liverpool shipping line. On the
journey to France, the Liverpool Scottish shared the ship with
the Queen's Westminsters and an account of the voyage by an NCO of
the Queen's Westminsters, Sgt. BJ Brookes, can be found here (courtesy
of Bob Brookes).
Since the last electonic
newsletter (No. 2 in October 2000), things have moved on a great
deal. The aim of the Trustees is hold an 'opening function' in
the museum by March 2002 and to be fully open by June 2002. There
is an urgent need for volunteer painters and for people with
joinery skills. If you can help, please contact us
The
photographs show how the museum is beginning to develop
developing from its basic shell.
A work party of Trustees with the volunteered
assistance of several soldiers from the serving Liverpool
Scottish element removed surplus wiring and protrusions
and made good some of the surface faults in the walls.
Carpet in royal blue was
provided by the RFCA (Reserve Forces and Cadet
Association - the successor to TAVRA) and was laid
throughout the main room. This is not exactly Wilton
carpet but it is new, highly serviceable, durable and
greatly enhances the appearance of the Museum. The RFCA
have also made good some deficiencies in the fabric of
the building.
Mr. Mike Swift,
a friend of the Museum who is also a keen supporter of
NELC (National Employers Liaison Committee) and service
charities, gave his very valuable services to make some
structural alterations within the Museum and to paint the
walls with a primer base coat of grey. Neither the
alterations (the demolition of a storeroom wall to make
provision for a built-in showcase) nor the initial
painting were minor tasks and we record our profound
thanks to Mike Swift who has helped us to obtain large
quantities of paint and also undertaken to rebuild and
refurbish two handsome large wooden showcases.
In
March 2001, the large majority of the property of the
museum together with much of the contents of the messes
of the old Forbes House at Childwall were brought from
storage and taken into the new premises. This was done by
the King's and Cheshire Regiment (Commanding
Officer: Lt. Colonel SMJ Bell TD). Sergeant
Major Geoff Irvine and his team (L/Cpl
Mawson, L/Cpl Smith and xxxxxxxxx)
made a truly Herculean effort to move the mountain of
material with astonishing and almost unbelievable speed
from its various locations in Liverpool and Manchester
without damage. We are exceptionally grateful to them and
to Colonel Simon for making this possible. Only the war
memorials remain to be brought to the new Museum and
their location is incorporated into our overall plan.
Sergeant Major Irvine continues to provide practical
support for the Museum and his efforts are greatly
appreciated. The Trustees acknowledge their great debt to
Major David McNeil who helped so much
with storage of items.
A salvage team has been into the old Forbes
House to recover a great deal of electrical equipment and
some architectural items. We owe a considerable debt to Mr.
David Sellars, well known to many members of the
Liverpool Scottish, for his help in this and other areas
of salvage. This material has also moved to Botanic Road
with Sergeant Major Irvine's help. Mr.
Frank Dean has recovered the electrical items
and has taken responsibility for their installation at
the new Museum with the assistance of Mr. Andy
Dobson. This help is extremely welcome and we
are most grateful. It has taken some time to decide the
final location of showcases (your correspondent, a
mathematician, is astonished at the number of
combinations of location that Major David Evans manages
to find for what seem to be increasingly immovable
showcases) and we have now fixed the positions of power
points and lighting.
Dennis Reeves and
David Evans have established the office
and record centre and this was used for Trustee meetings
in the spartan depths of winter. They have rebuilt some
of the showcases with the assistance of Major
Mike Brimage. Visitors have been received at the
Museum since Easter including Professor Margaret
McKeith (a trustee of the National Museums and
Galleries on Merseyside) and her architect husband, Gordon,
who have given welcome advice on matters of layout and
colour schemes. We have also been visited by Simon
Jones, curator of the King's Regiment collection
at NMGM (National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside),
who is our professional curatorial advisor.
Teams
of Trustees have laboured in the main room with huge
dining tables, vast display cabinets and enormous packing
cases (marvelling again at the work of Sgt. Major Irvine
and his team) to achieve the optimum arrangement with
David Evans in the chair; 'chair' is definitely the
operative word in this respect.. The room has really
begun to to take on a atmosphere of order. It resembles
rather less the frantic and chaotic opening and closing
scenes of the film Citizen Kane in which the
vast assemblage of contents from the mansion, Xanadu, are
stacked high in the semblance of some colossal Old
Curiosity Shop and rather more a Museum and home of the
Liverpool Scottish tradition.
Dennis Reeves
has now refurbished and prepared two display cases, one
dealing with Liverpool Volunteer history prior to 1900
(the Scottish volunteer companies) and the other looking
at the Boer War.
Lighting and power circuits are
being installed by Frank Dean and, as I
write, it is reported that this work is virtually
complete. All that remains to be done with the electrical
infra-structure is to put in wiring to illuminate
pictures. Following this the lighting provision in
individual cabinets will be refurbished or restored as
necessary. Plans are being made for the painting of the
Museum walls (members of the Liverpool Scottish
Regimental Association have volunteered to give a lead in
this) and a rich shade of red is to be used on
professional advice. The early installation of a
suspended ceiling with insulation is planned so as to
improve the proportions of the the main room and to make
the heating of it more manageable. A new showcase has
been acquired. We have to work hard to preserve our
'provisional registration' status with the Council
for Museums, Archives and Libraries (originally the Museums and
Galleries Commission) and to convert this to the status
of 'full registration'. We remain registered with the
Army Museums Ogilby Trust and our page on the Ogilby
Trust site can be seen here (search for 'Museums' and the 'Liverpool
Scottish').
On
Saturday 17th March 2001, at the dinner held in Liverpool Town
Hall by the Liverpool Scottish Officers' Association (hosted by
the Lord Mayor) to commemorate the centenary of the foundation of
the Regiment, the Museum received a ceramic plate specially
commissioned by the Officers' Association to mark the centenary.
It is the work of the very distinguished Julia Carter Preston,
one of the leading artists of the city. She has recently been the
subject of a major exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in
Liverpool.
The plate is nearly eighteen inches (45 cm) in
diameter and carries the badges of the Liverpool Scottish in
their King's, Cameron and Highland Volunteers forms together with
the sign of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division with its motto
'They win or die who wear the rose of Lancaster'.
Julia Carter Preston comes from
a family at the centre of the artistic world; her father, Edward
Carter Preston, was a painter, sculptor and medallist whose major
works include many of the British gallantry decorations, war
medals and memorial items (including the 1939-45 British War
Medal and the First World War 'Next of Kin' Memorial Plaque to
name but two). Her own work is in the Walker Art Gallery, the
Liverpool Athenaeum Club and the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral as
well as many churches within the Diocese of Liverpool.
There will be a Liverpool
Scottish visit to Ieper (Ypres) over the weekend of
Saturday/Sunday 15th/16th June 2002. The focus the sad but
fascinating case of Sjt. Ormesher.
Acting Serjeant Charles William
Ormesher, who had joined the Liverpool Scottish in 1908, was
listed as 'missing' after the Battle of Hooge on
June 16th 1915. His
mother remained convinced that he was in a German prisoner-of-war
(POW) camp and followed this through diplomatic channels to the
extent of seeking and obtaining the intervention of the King of
Spain through his ambassador to Germany.
It may be that her desperate
conviction that he had survived and her efforts to establish this
are the reason why he is not listed amongst the dead by the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and why his name
appears neither on any memorial of the CWGC nor their Debt of
honour register to this day. The CWGC has now accepted our case
for recognition, made by Major David Evans TD as Honorary
Secretary of the Museum Trust, and is to place Sjt. Ormesher's
name on the Menin Gate in Ieper, the memorial to those listed as
missing in the Ypres Salient before 16th August 1917. The
correspondence with the CWGC has subsequently brought fascinating
contemporary documents to light. We are
very grateful for the assistance of Mr Rob O'Brien for his help
in establishing the facts.
In a
separate development, the Last Post Committee (LPC), under the
Chairmanship of Guy Gruwez MBE AOM, have invited Regiments of the
British Army to nominate individuals who would be specifically
remembered each evening at the Last Post ceremony in Ieper
(Ypres) and for whom information would be displayed in the famous
Cloth Hall. We have nominated Sjt. Ormesher and we understand
that his name will be central to the Last Post ceremony of 15th
June 1915.
Sjt.Ormesher
was a member of the Machine Gun Section led by Captain Bryden
McKinnell MC, killed in the same action. Captioned photos have
recently come to light from Carol Williams in Canada whose
grandfather, 2748 Pte. John Bloor Watkinson, sailed to France
with Ormesher and the rest of the 1/10th (Scottish) Battalion on
the SS Maidan. The
photo on the left shows
Ormesher and others at a position in the Region of Hill 60 (about
3km east of Ypresand the machine gun section at Hill 60. Although
the photograph is known to the Museum, the importance of the
contact with Mrs Williams lies in the captions. There is a fourth
man in the shelter who is partially obscured by a flaw in the
plate. The captions are a direction sign for 'France', a notice
'Bar' and a sign that says 'RUM - nothing doing'.
The photo on the right shows the Machine Gun Section at Hill
60 (March/April 1915)
The Liverpool Scottish
Regimental Council has asked Lt. Col. Chris Harris TD to chair a
committee to organise the Liverpool Scottish participation in the
events in Ieper and we will be looking for support from serving
soldiers, old comrades and friends of the Liverpool Scottish.The
Liverpool Scottish Museum will take a leading rôle in this
project, building on the experience of previous visits. Lt.
Colonel Simon Bell TD (Commanding Officer of the King's and
Cheshire regiment) is giving the event a very high profile for
the Liverpool Scottish element within his training programme. A
preliminary mailshot will go out over the next few months
(following August 2001) to all those who might be interested,
using our e-mail network and, with their co-operation, the
networks of the Regimental Association and the Officers'
Association. In addition we will be contacting those friends of
the Liverpool Scottish who we feel might be interested. Soldiers,
Old Comrades and their spouses and families
are encouraged to attend.
Individuals and parties
will naturally travel when they want but we are in the process of
making a decision as to whether the central event, the Last Post
Ceremony dedicated to Sjt Ormesher, should be either
the Last Post
Ceremony on the Saturday 15th June 2001 with the main
party travelling outward from the UK on Friday 14th and
returning Sunday 16th June
or the Last Post
Ceremony Sunday 16th June 2001 (the anniversary of the
Battle of Hooge and Sjt Ormesher's death) with main party
outward travel from the UK on Saturday 15th June and
return on Monday 17th June
PLEASE NOTE THAT
THIS ITEM HAS NOW BEEN SUPERCEDED THE BULLETIN OF 1ST FEBRUARY
2002
The aim is to avoid a
programme that prevents people from following the interests of
their own party but it is hoped that all those making the journey
would be able to attend the key events
the Last Post
Ceremony which includes a remembrance of Sjt Ormesher
(decision as whether this is on the Saturday or the
Sunday is awaited)
an Act of
Remembrance at the Liverpool Scottish Memorial on
Bellewarde Ridge on the Hooge battlefield (this would
probably be on the afternoon prior to the Last Post
Ceremony)
a short Act of
Remembrance at the Menin Gate to mark the inscribing of
Sjt Ormesher's name (if not incorporated in the Last Post
Ceremony (the name is likely to be placed on panels away
the focus of the Last Post in the cental space of the
Menin Gate)
Other events under
consideration are
service at St.
George's Memorial Chapel in Ieper
visit to the 'In
Flanders Fields Museum' (European Museum of the Year for
2000) in the Cloth Hall for those who have not been or
wish to revisit
visit to Talbot
House at Poperinge, the place where the idea TocH
movement was born (TocH is derived from the WW phonetic
alphabet for TH). This Flemish town house is beautifully
preserved in its role as a centre for soldiers out of the
front line; amongst the features are the gardens and the
attic chapel.
visit to the grave
of Captain Noel Chavasse VC and Bar, MC and the
associated memorial (erected by the local Belgian
community) in the village of Brandhoek.
battlefield tour
of the Hooge battlefield for those who have not
previously been or who wish to revisit
visit to the Hooge
Crater Museum (probably the best private museum in the
Ypres salient)
guided visit to
Hill 60 and/or Sanctuary Wood, both scenes of intensive
Liverpool Scottish activity in 1915 (see the picture of
Sgt Ormesher at hill 60 above)
PLEASE NOTE THAT
THIS ITEM HAS NOW BEEN SUPERCEDED THE BULLETIN OF 1ST FEBRUARY
2002
If you wish to register
an interest in joining us and being included in our arrangements,
please e-mail Major Ian Riley TD. We are looking for a package
which gives pleasant coach travel with economical but comfortable
accommodation in Ieper (Ypres).
The high quality, extensively researched 'Bravest
of Hearts - the biography of a battalion' took place
just before Christmas 2000. This has been written by Hal
Giblin with David Evans and Dennis Reeves. It includes a
great deal of new material and is not simply a reworking of the
fine history written by Colonel McGilchrist in 1930. Much work
has been done on the citations for gallantry awards and on the
archive of material from the 55th (West Lancashire) Division as
well as including a huge amount of biographical material culled
from a huge range of sources including local newspapers and
families. It is a substantial volume, handsomely bound, well
printed and extensively illustrated. It has been produced in a
limited run and comments on it are very favourable (e.g. the
review in 'Stand To', the journal of the Western Front
Association). The Museum holds a stock or alternatively contact the publishersnow to ensure your copy.
From the Flyer
The Liverpool Scottish in the Great War. The story of the First
and second Line fighting battalions of the 10th (Scottish)
Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment (Territorial Force).
in France and Flanders during the Great War, 1914-18.
80,000 word text. More than 450 named photographs. Rolls of
Honour. Full lists of Gallantry Awards with many previously
unpublished citations, including those for Military Medals, MIDs.
Roll of men commissioned from the Ranks. Fully cross-indexed.
PRIVATELY PUBLISHED - HARDBACK -CLOTH, SEWN BINDINGS WITH DUST
COVER 400 PAGES
PRICE £29.95 POST FREE ( Ed note: presumably within the
UK) FROM THE PUBLISHERS OR FROM APPOINTED BOOKSELLERS
For further information please contact
winordie publications
PO BOX 53
FORMBY
LIVERPOOL
L37 3RU
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 151 929 2248 100446.161@compuserve.com
The Heritage Group
of Liverpool University are co-ordinating the arrangements for
the unveiling of two 'blue plaques' on the university precinct,
one in memory of Noel Chavasse (whose home, the Bishop's Palace
in Abercromby Square, is now a university building) and one in
memory of Sir Ronald Ross whose contribution to the field of
tropical medicine and the control of malaria was outstanding. The
intention is that this should happen in the autumn of 2001 but
arrangements will depend on the liaison with the respective
families and the School of Tropical Medicine at Liverpool
University.
We have added a site search
facility to the website. It is at the bottom of the menu frame.
You enter a key word such as 'Hooge' and it will produce all the
references to Hooge throughout the site. Try not to be too
specific; searching for 'Lt. Colonel Algernon McSporran DSO' in a
single entry will fail if the reference in the site is only to
'McSporran's distingished service' without christian name or
rank. Additionally there is a facility to produce a 'site map'
which will show the range of pages available. This facility is
only updated every few months (it's a free service but much used
by our visitors) so information may appear in an update such as
this newsletter but not yet be listed on the search facility. Be
warned: we get a report on the keywords used in the searches so
frequent attempts to find your own name will be notified to the
webmaster.
In an effort to keep the Museum
website manageable it is the intention to archive links that have
been in place but that might not be of immediate interest to
regular visitors so that the pages remain available. For
instance, this will allow you to continue to access that
photograph of yourself at a regimental function, clutching a
glass and singing whilst standing on a table in the company of
several other like-minded Liverpool Scots. An 'archive' item will
appear on the menu. This link will lead to items such as previous
newsletters and to pages dealing with specific events which are
no longer current. You can use the search facility of the site
(at the foot of the menu frame) to look for specific items
through the use of keyword. The archive page is likely to
introduced from the beginning of October and we will continue
this facility as long as server space for the website allows.
Some of the links from
the menu page added since September 2001 and now taken off the
menu
Dennis Reeves
together with Major David Evans have now
identified and documented over 135 World War 2 casualties who
served either in peace or in war with the Liverpool Scottish.
Anybody who wants to suggest or check a name is invited to
contact Major Evans at david.evans@taurusuk.net There was a WW2 plaque placed below the WW1 war
memorial (shortly to be transferred to the new Museum premises)
but no names were listed. The majority of casualties died whilst
serving with other units as the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the
Liverpool Scottish were on home defence duties during WW2,
providing reinforcements to the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
and other regiments of the Highland Brigade,
Liverpool
Scottish Regimental Museum Trust (Reg Charity 277953)
Maintained Entirely by Voluntary and Regimental Donations http://www.liverpoolscottish.org.uk/
Museum Mail to: ilriley@liverpoolscottish.org.uk
Personal mail to i.l.riley@theoffice.net
Ordinary
mail/donations should be sent to Major D.S. Evans TD, Inglenook,
167 Moor Lane, Great Crosby, LIVERPOOL L23 2SH
Note for those
receiving the text version of this newsletter by e-mail
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is the
Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum Newsletter. You are
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front page of the museum website (see the address block above)
Professor Donald Ritchie FRSE, the Chairman of the
Liverpool Scottish Museum Trustees, and Mrs. Jeanne Ritchie have
very generously presented to the Museum a watercolour of the
S.S.Maidan, the ship in which the 1/10th (Scottish) Bn, The
King's (Liverpool Regiment) sailed to France on 1st November
1914. The painting is the work of Merseyside marine artist Jim
Micklewright. The picture measures 15.5inches x 24 inches (39cm x
61 cm) and has been displayed at Southport
Art Gallery and at Liverpool Town Hall on the occasion of the
Liverpool Scottish Officers' Association Dinner, held to mark the
regimental centenary, in March 2001. An enlarged version may be
seen by clicking on the illustration or here. Professor Ritchie (pictured here) has taken a
hands-on approach to Museum refurbishment and his wife, Jeanne,
has been a strong supporter of Liverpool Scottish events. He is a
member of the Liverpool Scottish Regimental Association and he
has recently been appointed as Honorary Colonel of the Liverpool
University Officer Training Corps.
.JPG)
