This blog post was prompted by recent discussions on Facebook regarding the whereabouts of certain items of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) regimental silver collection. Some veterans were curious as to where items of regimental significance ended up after the 1st Battalion’s disbandment in 1968, and so this blog post has been written to hopefully answer those questions and give something of an overview on the regimental silver collection from the time of disbandment to the present day.
Regimental silver laid out in the 1st Battalion’s Officers Mess, Maryhill Barracks, c.1913.
The disbandment of the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) has been touched on in a previous blog post and there is little need to go over it again in this post. Suffice to say, the decision to disband the 1st Battalion posed several logistical and administrative challenges. Chief among these must surely have been the small matter of the redistribution of officers and men from the 1st Battalion to other regiments and army corps. There was also the planning and organising required for the actual disbandment service itself – a high-profile yet sombre occasion of great significance that was attracting a high degree of media attention. While these considerable challenges were being faced, there was also the small matter of regimental property to consider.
In the March 1968 issue of The Covenanter (the Regimental magazine) the following article was published, under the title Disposal of Regimental Property:
Members of the Regiment will be wondering what will happen to our Regimental Property after the Disbandment of the 1st Battalion.
The bulk of the property in use with the 1st Battalion belongs to the Regimental Trust, and for so long as World Politics continue in their present fluctuating and critical state, there must always be a possibility that the Battalion might be resuscitated, however unlikely that this might appear today.
The Trustees have therefore decided (for the present, at any rate), to retain the bulk of our property. Utility items of Silver to equip a Battalion, will be stored, and the majority of the larger items will be loaned out where they will be appreciated, and where they will best serve to perpetuate the image of the Regiment. There will of course, also be a small requirement of items of historic interest, for the Regimental Museum.
At the same time however, there will be a certain number of smaller items which will be surplus to requirement, and which the Trustees are planning to dispose of, in order to supplement the Trust Funds. As almost all those items are from the Officers’ Messes of the two former Regular Battalions and the former 3rd and 4th Militia Battalions, the Trustees are anxious to give the serving and former officers of the Regiment the opportunity of bidding on favourable terms for those items before any attempt is made to dispose of them in the open market. In the case of the property of the two Regular Battalions, preference will be given to the bids of those who are, or were Regular Officers (or their close relatives), and in that of the 3rd and 4th Militia property, to the bids of our ex-Territorial Officers (or their close relatives).
The sorting, cataloguing and valuing of these possessions, is a complicated operation which the Trustees have in hand at the present time. Notification of the items available for sale, and the method of making bids for them, will be issued as soon as possible.
Having looked through the various lists, catalogues, insurance valuations, and correspondence generated through the cataloguing of the silver collection described above, I can confirm that it was indeed a complicated operation, especially when one considers the background of general upheaval under which this was carried out.
In the immediate run up to Disbandment, a number of formal presentations were made to high-profile persons linked to the Regiment, and to units with formal regimental affiliations. These were invariably items of silver, selected as being suitable for disposal. Included among these presentations were two pairs of silver goblets (a pair of 26th and a pair of 90th) to King Gustav of Sweden, the Colonel in Chief, a silver memento to Sir Alec Douglas-Home, and a small silver teapot to Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Dow, the last C.O. of the 1st Battalion. A number of silver bugles and regimental-pattern dirks were presented to the 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles, the Witswatersrand Rifles, and the Rifle Brigade Depot.
Around this time, a number of silver items were also returned to officers who had originally presented them to the Regiment.
As outlined in the article quoted above, there was also a private sale of surplus silver items where serving and retired officers of the Regiment could bid on a small memento of their service. The items offered in this sale comprised mainly of small silver items, such as cutlery, ashtrays, table lighters, tableware etc., along with a selection of trophies and presentation cups deemed not to be of great regimental significance. Proceeds from this sale would bolster the Regimental Fund, and help pay for the long term storage and insurance of the remaining items being retained by the Regiment. Items not sold through this method were sold in a subsequent general sale at Christie’s.
A follow-up article in the June 1968 issue of The Covenanter recorded the presentation of larger items of regimental significance on loan to other regiments, corps, and institutions in order to help maintain the name of the Regiment:
After separating out the items which would be wanted for the Regimental Museum, the Trustees decided that, in order to keep the Regiment’s name to the fore, in as wide and as worthwhile circles as possible, and at the same time, to save the Regiment from the heavy expense of storing and insuring large quantities of Silver for an indefinite period, the remaining items should be offered on loan to responsible institutions which could be guaranteed to look after these treasures, to keep them insured, and to restore them to the Regiment if we should ever call for their return.
Some of the more significant of these items included the silver centrepieces of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions. The 1st Battalion centrepiece was presented to Holyrood House, while the 2nd Battalion centrepiece was deposited with the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Major General Hunt (right) with the 2nd Battalion’s centrepiece at RMC Sandhurst. Pictured on the left is Major Jim Burrell, a Cameronian officer who commanded Dettingen Company at Sandhurst when the presentation was made on 27 June 1968.
Other loaned items include the presentation of the Durand Cup, a famous football trophy won by The Cameronians in India in 1906, to Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, and six regimental side-drums to St. Bride’s Church in Douglas to name but a few.
In the years following the 1st Battalion’s disbandment, a number of smaller items of regimental silver were gifted to individual’s on their retirement from service. A number of additional items were also presented to various sporting clubs and institutions as prizes for competitions.
The regimental trustees organised a series of sales throughout the 1980s and into 1990 to help raise funds for the purchase of the Riding School and to redevelop the regimental museum. During these sales a number of larger silver items were sold, including a rams head snuff mull and the ‘St Vincent’ bowls made by Paul Storr. Reserve items from the museum collection were also sold, namely items of uniform and headdress and edged weapons.
The remaining regimental silver, along with the rest of the regimental museum collections, officially transferred in 2000 to South Lanarkshire Council, at the request of the regimental trustees and with approval and conditions set out by the Scottish Court of Session. Care of and responsibility for the collection now rest with South Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture (SLLC) who directly manage the collection on behalf of the Council.
Silver ‘Junk’, presented to the Band of the 1st Battalion by the Hong Kong Naval & Military YMCA, 1927. After Disbandment this item had been loaned to Motherwell Burgh Council. It was returned in 2009 and is now displayed in Low Parks Museum.
Since 2000, we have continued to monitor the regimental silver loaned to other regiments, corps and institutions at the time of disbandment, honouring the agreement set out by the Regiment at that time. In some instances, silverware has been returned from loan through mutual agreement with both parties. These situations have mainly arisen whereby the unit or institution to whom the item(s) had originally been loaned have faced amalgamation, downsizing, disbandment or closure, resulting in a need to streamline or dispose of property.
A large number of items remain on loan, including the 2nd Battalion Centrepiece which has been a feature of the Mess at Sandhurst since June 1968. Several pieces continue to form part of the Mess Silver of the unit to which they are loaned.
Some regimental silver currently on display in Low Parks Museum. The 4th (Milita) Battalion Centrepiece is to the left of the display case.
A broad selection of the regimental silver collection is currently on permanent display in Low Parks Museum. In 2009 a temporary exhibition titled ‘Precious’ showcased the regimental silver and for the first time since disbandment, reunited some of the loaned items that were temporarily returned for use in the exhibition. Silver items have since featured in several other exhibitions and temporary displays.
Regimental silver displays as part of the ‘Precious’ temporary exhibition, which was showcased in Low Parks Museum in 2009.
A large selection of the silver collection has been photographed, and can be viewed on our Online Collections browser – https://www.slleisureandculture.co.uk/info/206/online_collection . Using the term ‘regimental silver’ in a Quick Search will return a good number of these items.
On 30th July 1944, 9th Cameronians were destined to take part in the opening phases of Operation Bluecoat, the first move in the break-out from the Normandy beachhead.
15th (Scottish) Division’s objectives for 30th July were fairly ambitious and were broken into three phases; Phase I – Wick, Phase II – Elgin, and Phase III – Nairn. 9th Cameronians were tasked with Phase I, namely the capture of the French village of Sept Vents with the support of 4th Grenadier Guards Tank Regiment.
According to written orders issued on 29th July, it was expected that 9th Cameronians would secure their objective by 10am on the 30th. Unfortunately, things did not quite go to plan. The Regimental History starts it record of this action with the ominous words “Many misfortunes were experienced in this engagement”, while Lieutenant Colonel Villiers, Commanding Officer of 9th Cameronians, starts his diary entry for that day “We started today badly”.
There were delays in briefing the officers with the most up-to-date information in the hours before the attack was due to start. The knock on-effect of this was that some officers did not have sufficient time to brief their own men fully before ‘H Hour’. The consequence of this were fully felt when Major Peter Clarke, Officer Commanding ‘D’ Company, was wounded early in the action. His subordinates, lacking the full detail of the expected attack, struggled to keep on with their objectives.
Enemy resistance had also been under-estimated. 9th Cameronians received heavy shelling from German positions even as they approached the Start Line for the attack.
‘C’ Company took the wrong route to their objective which, although getting them there in good time, meant they had failed to clear a particular section of the village of Sept Vents en route. ‘B’ Company thus encountered additional resistance when making their way through the village, resulting in many casualties.
Unexpected mine-fields and delays in clearing this dangerous obstacle compounded the problems faced by the Battalion that day.
It was 12:30 before the Battalions objectives were secured and they could be employed to provide support to the units undertaking Phase II and III. While ultimately the day proved successful (the men having the thrill of hearing a BBC broadcast that evening describing their victory), the events of the day proved the potential difficulties they could expect to face. Colonel Villiers closed his diary entry that day with the telling statement:
“The battle was a good example of how many things can go wrong.”
The war diary for 9th Cameronians records that 14 men were killed on 30th July 1944. Among them was 27 year old Lieutenant George Alexander from Blantyre.
George was married and he and his wife Elizabeth had two young children. George was something of an “Old Sweat”, having first enlisted as a Rifleman in 6th Cameronians in February 1933. The 6th Cameronians were a Territorial Army battalion covering Lanarkshire – it’s headquarters were in Hamilton, where George was originally from.
George rose steadily through the non-commissioned ranks and by early 1941 held the rank of Colour Sergeant. In December 1942 he was selected for Officer training and posted to 161st O.C.T.U. George received his commission on 2nd April 1943 and was appointed to 9th Cameronians.
George was a Platoon Commander in ‘B’ Company at the time of his death. ‘B’ Company suffered heavy casualties when they met fierce German resistance centred around the church in Sept Vents.
This poignant letter in the Museum Collection was written by George’s widow, Elizabeth. It was written in response to a letter of sympathy she received after George had been killed.
I just can’t realise that now he’s never coming back. Everyone has been so kind, and they have all said that time will heal. But I don’t think that it really brings forgetfulness. It is only that a little of the soreness leaves the heart as the weeks go past. At first it seemed as though the bottom had dropped right out of my world, but now as I slowly return to normal, I am realising that his two sons are his sacred trust to me and please God, I shall be worthy of that trust. When I look at them, I know that he is not lost to me entirely.
Elizabeth goes on to say:
I had a letter from Col. Villiers last week. He was his C.O. in France. He said that he was killed in the action which ultimately led to the big push which we are now having. He was leading his men against an enemy strong point across the River Orne and he says that I can be proud that he died so heroically. God knows it didn’t take this to make me proud of him. He was buried with eight of his men in a small regimental cemetery in a lovely little orchard on the banks of the river. A cross has been erected over his grave and the name of the regiment, Cameronians, was written out in flowers at the foot of all their graves.
She finishes her letter with:
I hope that Isa’s, Bessie’s, and your husband are spared to come back to you, my hopes and dreams are buried in a little orchard somewhere in France.
Buried near Lieutenant Alexander in Bayeux War Cemetery is 36 year old Rifleman Thomas Walker, also from Hamilton, who died in the same action. Both men are commemorated on the memorial panels at Hamilton Town House; these were unveiled on 29th March 1953, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) providing the Guard of Honour.
The CANLOAN Scheme – Canadian Officers on loan to the British Army
In 1943, an agreement was reached with the Canadian Government to allow and actively encourage trained Canadian junior officers to serve ‘on loan’ with British Army units. The Canadian volunteers would help fill the shortage of junior officers faced by the British Army, made all the more essential with the planned Allied invasion of Europe of 1944 on the horizon.
A total of 673 Canadian officers volunteered under the CANLOAN scheme, seeing them attached to regiments and units across all branches of the British Army.
Eleven Canadian officers had been attached to 9th Cameronians by the War’s end. The first to arrive were Captain George Baldwin and Lieutenant Lorne Paff, who joined the 9th while the Battalion were at Hove, in the weeks leading up to Normandy invasion.
Lt. Col. Richard Villiers wrote of the Canadian newcomers in a letter to his wife:
These two Canadian officers I was telling you about have just landed & are coming to us. They are being given disembarkation leave & their one idea is to see Scotland. They propose to spend a few days in Edinburgh. They know no one, so I suggested Melrose for a day.
They are Captain Baldwin, who seems to have done all sorts of interesting things including mining in Alaska, where he drives huskies and traps bears etc. The other is Lieut. Paff, a younger man, from Nova Scotia. They are both very nice, & have amusing expressions like all Canadians. When I asked Baldwin if he liked fishing he said he loved it, but if it’s a bore or difficult, they will be perfectly happy just going for a walk.
There may be another couple coming later – we are getting a lot of Canadian Officers, who have all volunteered to come to the British Army; they are getting leave, & know no one.
We have had an amusing evening planning out their leave for them, & arranging for people to show them round. We have someone to show them round Edinburgh.
Long Ago and Far Away: A travel diary, letters and Second World War letters of Dick and Nancy Villiers edited by their daughter, Linda Yeatman. Privately Published, 2005
The other officers expected by Colonel Villiers would arrive just before 9th Cameronians embarked for Normandy; they were Lieutenants George McDermott M.M. and Fernie Stewart.
Lieutenant George McDermott was already a battle-hardened veteran, having served as a Non-Commissioned Officer with Canadian forces during the famous Dieppe Raid of August 1942. For his actions, McDermott had been awarded the Military Medal. The citation for this award reads:
During the operation at Dieppe 19 Aug 42, L/Cpl McDermott, a regimental policeman, was attached to Bn HQ. He was one of the first to enter the Casino, where, single-handed he attacked and destroyed a German stronghold in the building at considerable personal risk. Subsequently, when it became necessary to withdraw from the Casino to the beaches, he displayed high qualities of leadership and skill in organization. Throughout the action Cpl McDermott displayed not only great courage and initiative, but also an excellent appreciation of the importance of military intelligence. He was most diligent in his efforts to obtain information about the enemy, and at the conclusion of the operation turned over to the Intelligence Officer of the 4 Canadian Infantry Brigade a diary and letters which he obtained during the raid. He also obtained German Training manuals, but lost them when he was blown out of one of the craft during the return journey. Further, during the operation he succeeded in taking several photographs.
McDermott, was from Hamilton, Ontario, sister-city of Hamilton in Lanarkshire, home of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) regimental depot.
In addition to their amusing phrases, interesting backgrounds and military experience, the Canadians also brought with them the game of softball, which would become a popular pastime for the officers when not engaged in training.
The Canadians proved popular with officers and men alike, and they also made a lasting impression on the locals where they were billeted. A letter printed in The Covenanter magazine of 2005 recounts the touching story of Mike Rainey, a young boy from Hove who befriended Lieutenant Paff:
In 1944 a ten year old boy in Hove on the south coast of England was delighted to find several of the houses in the road in which he lived with his parents were being occupied by Scottish soldiers. Being inquisitive he soon befriended one, who turned out not to be a Scot but a Canadian. The boy always regarded him as the first adult friend he had made for himself.
The Canadian was Lieutenant Lorne Paff, a tall, quiet, patient man who was in fact only twenty-six years old himself. Lorne Paff answered all the boy’s many questions and soon accepted invitations from the boy’s parents to come to their home for meals. The boy continued to pester Lorne Paff with all manner of questions about the soldiers and their equipment and on more than on occasion woke him from well-earned rest after night exercises.
After a while all the soldiers suddenly disappeared but the boy – and his parents, and everyone else – very soon found out where they gone. They had, of course, crossed the Channel to Normandy.
The four Canadian’s would go to Normandy with 9th Cameronians, and take part in the thickest fighting. Two of the Canadian’s were among the Battalion’s first casualties, during Operation Epsom.
Mike Rainey’s letter in The Covenanter continues:
Sadly, Lorne Paff was killed on Sunday 26 June only a few days after he had landed in France, and only one day after writing a letter to the boy’s parents that included the sentence, “I am quite confident that I shall be okay but you can never tell”.
The boy and his parents soon knew about Lorne Paff’s death because they were in contact with his parents in Stratford, Ontario. The boy cried; it was the first time in his life he had known someone who died.
The boys’ parents remained in regular contact with Herman and Laura Paff for many years until they all died. Then the boy, himself by now middle aged, traced Lorne Paff’s nieces by writing to the Stratford local newspaper and resumed the correspondence.
By now I am sure you will have realised that I, Mike Rainey, the writer of this article, was “the boy”.
In 2003, with my wife I went, belatedly, to Hottot-les-Bagues, a tiny hamlet between Caen and Bayeux and visited the grave of my long dead friend in the immaculately maintained Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery.
Lieutenants Paff and McDermott were both killed on 26th June 1944 during the attack on le Haut du Bosq. Lieutenant Stewart was killed on 28th September 1944.
Lieutenant Alfred Kirby, from St Catherines, Ontario, joined 9th Cameronians on 28th June 1944, with a draft of reinforcements. Kirby would soon be among those wounded at Eterville on 11th July. He remained at duty and was again wounded on 9th February 1945. Kirby had been friends with Paff, McDermott and Stewart while the four were undergoing officer training in Canada. He was the only one of the four friends to survive the War.
Of the eleven Canadian officers who would ultimately serve with 9th Cameronians, three were killed in action and a further seven wounded. They were from Canada, but they fought, bled and died as Cameronians.
As James highlighted in our last blog post (Holding the line at Grainville), the allied soldiers advancing through Normandy suffered casualty rates on a par with those witnessed on the Western Front during the First World War.
Adrian Smith has researched the casualties of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in depth, and has calculated 9th Cameronians losses throughout Operation Epsom (26th June – 1st July 1944) as 87 killed or died of wounds, 169 wounded, and 12 men taken prisoner.
One of those killed on 29th June was 20 year old, Rifleman Jack Schofield of Heywood, Lancashire.
This is the official letter received by Jack’s mother, informing her of her son’s death in action on 29th June 1944. The letter is dated 16th July 1944.
Jack and the other men of 9th Cameronians who were killed on 29th June were buried near to where they fell, in the vicinity of Grainville-sur-Odon. In July 1945 the battlefield graves in the area were concentrated into the newly formed St. Manvieu War Cemetery, Cheux.
The following images have been very kindly shared by Mr John Baird, who’s father was Officer Commanding 9th Cameronians Pioneer Platoon during the Normandy campaign.
Charles was born on 19th September 1924, in the parish of Eythorne in Kent. He joined the Army on 25th September 1942, six days after his 18th birthday. Charles was posted to 9th Cameronians and trained with them at Keighley in Yorkshire prior to the Battalion’s departure for Normandy on 17th June 1944.
While training at Keighley, Charles wrote a letter home to his mum and dad, exchanging some news on the Battalion’s billets and recent activities and asking his parents about life at home;
Dear Mum & Dad
I was ever so pleased to get a letter from you both today. I’m glad you are both OK & getting on alright & that you have finished getting the potatoes up alright. … I suppose Dennis wasn’t staying at home was he, couldn’t very well with all his animals to feed, when did Sis go back, Sun? With Jack moving its made a change all round about it. How was the fruit up at Jacks, mum, plentiful I expect wasn’t it – down here there’s a bit more fruit than up North but nothing like it is at home, its mostly apples here. Its not bad down here, more places to go & enjoy yourself but the money goes quicker. The billets are not bad, we are in a big mill. The room I’m in there is two Coys [Companies], about 300 men but there is still plenty of room, the room in fact is about 150 feet long & 60 feet wide but its not cold as you might think, but gets hot at night.
We are having an easy time here, although Fri[day] we done a hard days work, built a hundred yard range in one day, the RSM said that this Coy was the only one in the Battalion that could do it in a day & we did it, quite pleased he was…
We go out on a ten day stunt next week & I believe we move from this place as well, so I might not be able to write for quite a time. Well I must close for now so hoping this finds you OK as it leaves me at present. I’ll say cheerio, your every loving son
xxxx Charles xxxxx
The everyday topics of conversation finished with, and slightly distracted, Charles had to disclose his big news as a postscript:
P.S.
I finished the writing before I had said all I wanted to say, you see I’m on fire duty tonight & was listening to what the Sgt was saying & not thinking went & finished the letter so I hope you don’t mind it being sort of instalments. Well Mum, Eileen & I have decided to get engaged on my next leave, I hope you don’t mind, but I know what you are going to say & that is we are quite young yet. I thought I’d tell you now & see what you think of it. Well, I must close now as I have to parade in a few minutes time for this blue pencil fire guard so I’ll say cheerio, you loving son,
Charles xxxxx
From Keighley the 9th moved in May 1944 to Hove, where they joined the tens of thousands of troops gathering in the south of England awaiting the Normandy invasion.
Charles was a member of 15 Platoon, in ‘C’ Company. During the attack on 28th June, ‘C’ Company had been heavily engaged against enemy tanks in and around Grainville-sur-Odon. Major S. Bingley, who had commanded ‘C’ Company during Operation Epsom, wrote to Charles’ mother shortly after his death:
Dear Mrs Tupper
My task is, I fear, a very painful one. Already you will know that your son has been killed in action and I know full well that anything that I can say is of little consolation.
He died as a good soldier should, bravely, during an advance which pushed the enemy back many thousands of yards. Military security will not at present allow me to say more of the operation, but if you wish to know where is buried, please write to me and I will be only too glad then to tell you. He was, mercifully, killed instantly by a mortar shell. He suffered no pain.
May I then, on behalf of his comrades and myself, offer our deepest sympathy in your loss, and hope that time will show that he died not in vain.
Rifleman Charles David Tupper is buried in Tilly-sur-Seulles War Cemetery. Authorities sent his family a photograph of his original, temporary grave marker.
