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Awards of the Pakenham Family - Part 2

Thursday, 01 August 1991 00:00 Wm. B. Mauk

by Wm. B. Mauk

William Lygon Pakenham G.C.B.

4th Earl of Longford

William Pakenham was the second son, born 31 January 1819, to Thomas Pakenham, 2nd Earl of Longford and Lady Georgiana Pakenham. He was educated at Winchester and Oriel College, Oxford, matriculating 4 May 1836 at the age of 17. In August the following year he entered the army as an Ensign by purchase, was a Lieut. in 1838, Captain in 1844 and Major in 1852; all these steps were by purchase. He was appointed Lt Col in 1854 and Colonel in 1855.

Gulf War Medals

Friday, 01 November 1991 00:00 Michael Walsh

The British campaign medal for the Gulf War, details of which were announced in August, will be awarded to some 70,000 people. So it will hardly be a rarity. But certain clasps and combinations of clasps associated with it will be of considerable interest to collectors and the medals which bear them will be priced accordingly. So also will medals to certain named individuals such as RAF strike and fighter aircrew, POW and KIA.

Execution of an Irish Soldier

Tuesday, 01 May 1990 00:00 Anonymous

Extract from THE REGIMENT, 20 February 1897

Doubtless some will remember the execution of Private O’Hara of the Leinster Regiment in India some time ago (1895), who in a fit of drunkenness shot three of his comrades, killing two and wounding the third. The case was not without a touch of sadness for O’Hara, evidently, did not know what he was doing and when he came to himself and heard the sentence of death passed on him he expressed regret for what he had done. He wrote the following letter and handed it to his priest just before going to his execution:

The Mountbatten Medal

Wednesday, 01 May 1991 00:00 H. Mason-Fennel

by H. Mason-Fennell

At about midnight on 20 December 1976, Paddy McMahon, a Sub-Station Officer with Limerick Corporation Fire Brigade, dived fully clothed into the dark and icy waters of Limerick Docks and rescued a man from inside a car which had plunged over the unprotected quay. This gallant action was in due course rewarded by a Certificate from the Council for Deeds of Bravery.

“I am directed by Comhairle na Mire Gaile to state that at a meeting held in Leinster House on Friday 24 February 1978 An Comhairle awarded you a Certificate for your action in rescuing a man from drowning in City Dock, Limerick on 20 December 1976.”

The Order of the Eight Trigrams

Saturday, 01 October 1988 00:00 Thomas Rea

by Thomas Rea

The names which have been given to Orders and decorations from time to time are a puzzlement to many, including quite experienced collectors, and in some cases are never fully understood. What is one to make, for example, of the Order of a Million Elephants and White Parasol (Laos), the Order of the Auspicious Clouds (Manchukuo), the Order of the Nine Gems (Thailand), the Order of the Elephant (Denmark) or, for that matter, the Order of the Bath (GB)? That there was a compelling reason for these curious titles is beyond doubt but, unless one happens to be unusually well informed about the history and culture of a nation as well as about its awards, the reasons may remain obscure.

Myles Keogh - an Irishman with Custer

Tuesday, 01 May 1990 00:00 Eamonn O’Toole

by Eamonn O’Toole

A significant proportion of the 260 or so men who died with Lt Col George Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on 25 June 1876 were Irish but, as far as is known, he had but one Irish officer with him that day, Captain Myles Keogh, in command of I Troop of the 7th Cavalry.

Myles Walter Keogh was born near Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow on 25 March 1840 and was reared in an atmosphere of some ease and gentility, an uncommon state for most Irish Catholics of that time. He had a good education and on 7 Aug 1860 was commissioned 2nd Lt in the Irish Battalion of the Papal Army. This was a poorly organised body of some 1,400 Irishmen who had volunteered to help the Pope in his struggle against the Garibaldian nationalists who were determined to destroy the ancient Papal States and establish a united Italian Kingdom. Some of the Irish had a vestige of military training in the constabulary and militia at home but the majority, students, lawyers and farmers, were quite untrained. Equipment was minimal, conditions of service were appalling, the officers - with one or two notable exceptions - were quite inept, and the unit was never allowed to operate as a separate and complete entity.

Shot at Dawn

Saturday, 01 August 1992 00:00 Robert Scott

By Robert Scott

In the papers during July 1992 it was reported that British Member of Parliament Andrew MacKinley is leading a movement which already has the support of ninety parliamentarians for a pardon for the many British and Empire soldiers who were court-martialled and executed during the First World War. He claims that it is not too late to restore their names and reputations and adds that, if anyone should be condemned for their part in that war, it should be the generals. As some of the condemned were members of Irish regiments, MacKinley is considering an approach to Labour members of Dail Eireann to seek further support.

Richard Bolster Holland

Saturday, 01 March 2008 00:00 Conor Dodd

Royal Army Medical Corps

by Conor Dodd

Richard Bolster Holland, son of Thomas Holland, West End, Mallow, County Cork enlisted into the Royal Munster Fusiliers at their Depot in Cork on the 14th October 1887, aged 18 years and 1 month. His terms of engagement were ... For a period of 12 years, 7 years in the army then 5 years in the 1st class army reserve, or if serving overseas on completion of 7 years, 8 years in the army then 4 years in the 1st class army reserve ... etc. These terms also allowed him to be kept on in the regular army during times of war and/or national emergency. It is believed he joined the Regiments Depot on 17th October 1887 at Tralee.

Shot at Dawn (2)

Sunday, 01 November 1992 00:00 Robert Scott

by Robert Scott

Shortly after compiling the piece on Irish soldiers executed in WWI (JOURNAL No. 21, p5) I came across the following in the Summer 1992 issue of STAND TO, the journal of the Western Front Association. It is unusual in that it gives a ranker’s view of the unpleasant business of military executions - most comment in the past has been from officers and official sources. This was written in the diary of Sergeant Joe Beard of the 1st Bn. Royal Rifle Corps, who was seriously wounded and invalided home in September 1915.

Orders and Medals of Manchukuo

Monday, 01 June 1992 00:00 Michael Walsh

The film THE LAST EMPEROR, released a few years ago, told the strange story of Hsuan Tung, who, at the tender age of two years, became Emperor of China on the death of his uncle on 14 November 1908. Brought up in virtual seclusion at the Imperial Court in Peking (Beijing), he had no contact with and little knowledge of the outside world, or of his many millions of subjects. With the Sun Yat Sen revolution of 1911 the monarchy was abolished, but Hsuan Tung was allowed to retain his title and to continue living in the Forbidden City in the extraordinary style to which he was accustomed.

The Mysterious End of UB.65

Monday, 01 September 2003 00:00 J.Morton

by J.Morton

The United States Navy, having had its first victory over a German U-boat in November 1917 (see Journal No.61), very nearly achieved a second one on 10th July 1918. On that day, U.S. submarine L.2 on patrol off the south coast of Ireland sighted the conning tower of the German U-boat UB.65 south of Fastnet Rock Lighthouse and was preparing to attack when, for some inexplicable reason, the U-boat was suddenly enveloped in a violent explosion and sank, thus denying L.2 , which herself had been shaken by the explosion, any chance of a second American victory over the U-boats.

A Lucky Soldier

Saturday, 01 December 2001 00:00 Liam Dodd

Munster Fusiliers

by Liam Dodd

When Princess Mary's gifts to the troops at the front were being despatched from Deptford, Her Royal Highness deposited in one box a slip with the words ‘this box was packed by her Royal Highness the Princess Mary.’ The recipient should acknowledge its receipt to her Royal Highness Princess Mary, Buckingham Palace. Today the slip was received at Buckingham Palace with written on it the words ‘Thank you received by me 9780 Private Fitzgerald, Royal Munster Fusiliers’.

Source

Freeman's Journal 29th January 1915

Collecting Irish Badges

Wednesday, 01 February 1989 00:00 L. Byrne

by L. Byrne

Cap Badges of the British Regular Infantry Regiments 1898-1921

Fig. 7/1

Shoulder Belt Plates of the Irish Regiments

Thursday, 01 February 1990 00:00 Mark Antolowitz

by Mark Antolowitz

One of the more interesting aspects of collecting old Irish regimental insignia centres round the shoulder belt plates. These plates first appeared around the time of the American War of Independence when the practice of wearing the waist belt over the shoulder became prevalent. The early plates were generally oval, oblong or elliptical in shape and of smallish size - 2-¾ x 2 inches, plus or minus. The later plates were almost invariably oblong and much larger than their predecessors, measuring up to 4 inches by 3 inches. The method of construction and the materials used vary from silver, hand-engraved examples to die-stamped brass (copper, gilt and bi-metal were also used). Belt plate design, as well as size, varied greatly even within the same regiment at the same period of time. The method of attachment to the shoulder belt was generally by means of four mushroom or similar type lugs located on the reverse of the plate, but a method of thr three hook type construction has also been found.

A German Naval Victory

Wednesday, 01 August 1990 00:00 Anonymous

Please do not destroy this
When you have read it carefully through kindly pass it on to a friend.

“With joyful price we contemplate this latest deed of our navy…”
Kilmische Volkzeitung, 10th May, 1915

This medal has been struck in Germany with the object of keeping alive in German hearts the recollection of the glorious achievement of the German Navy in deliberately destroying an unarmed passenger ship, together with 1,198 non-combatants, men, women and children.

Military Stations - Clonmel

Thursday, 01 November 1990 00:00 Anonymous

“The Regiment” July 1896

It frequently happens when a regiment is ordered to some small station in Ireland, that both officers and men - except those in the know - imagine that they are being sent into banishment outside the lines of civilisation. They are, however, soon undeceived after they have sojourned for a time amidst perhaps the most hospitable people in the world, there is many a feeling of regret among the redcoats when at last the hour arrives to say farewell.

U.S.A. Medal of Honor - Facts and Figures

Saturday, 01 February 1992 00:00 Michael Walsh

The Army MOH was approved on 21 December 1861 and the Navy MOH on 12 July 1862.

The first strikings of the Army Medal cost $1.85 each and the Navy $2.00 each.

Army officers did not become eligible for the Medal until 1862 while Navy officers had to wait until 1915.

Belgian Contingent in Korea 40 Years Ago

Thursday, 01 August 1991 00:00 Edwin Kennis

by Edwin Kennis

On 25 June 1950 North Korea invaded the US supported South Korea and, at the request of the USA, the United Nations decided on the 27th to send in an intervention force. Fifteen countries sent combat troops and five sent medical teams. Belgium agreed to send a battalion to the ’land of the peaceful morning.’ The supreme Commander of the UN Forces was the American General Douglas McArthur.

Regiments at a Glance

Tuesday, 01 May 1990 00:00 Hugh MacDonald

By Hugh MacDonald

The following potted histories are taken from the book "Regiments at a Glance" by E.C.Dolling (Philip, Liverpool 1917)

5th (Royal Irish) Lancers

Descended from a regiment of heavy cavalry formed by William III in 1689 and named “The Royal Irish Dragoons” from its long service in Ireland. They were present at Marlborough’s four great victories, winning great honour at Blenheim and Ramillies, where they shattered the French Grenadiers de Picardie, and gained the privilege (since taken away) of wearing the grenadier headdress. They were disbanded in 1798 but were re-embodied in 1858 with their present title. The regimental badge is the crowned Irish harp with the motto QUIS SEPARABIT, the harp and crown being worn on the collar. The cap badge is their number 5 in a circular band inscribed with the motto, placed in front of two crossed lances.

An Irish Honours System?

Wednesday, 01 May 1991 00:00 Michael Walsh

After years of awarding nothing more exciting than doctorates to national worthies and foreign dignitaries, Ireland is, at last, to consider introducing an important piece of national equipment - an honours system. Yesterday (19 Feb 1991) the Irish Prime Minister, Charles Haughey, told the Dail that he was to meet other party leaders to discuss the creation of a system, a subject which has been mulled over since I doubt, however, that this is quite what Mr. Haughey has in mind. I devoutly wish it were. I would even consent to see him elected at Ard Ri no hEireann could I only be certain that the castles would be opened up again and the bards be invited in again to entertain the Uasal (gentlemen of Ireland) and their ladies, accompanied upon the harp and copiously watered with whiskey. This is all a dream. I doubt I shall ever be offered any honour by Eire.

More Badges of the South African Irish

Saturday, 01 October 1988 00:00 J. Brian Forde

by J. Brian Forde

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Medal Society of Ireland