This new post about Cameronians who served with Special Forces is of great interest. The piece about No 9 Commando is of special interest and Ferrey’s service with them and all of the detail in his personal diaries makes fascinating reading.
Delving on line for a bit more about 9 Commando I found this on the website of the Imperial War Museum: The unit did not wear a cap badge as such but while serving in 2nd Special Service Battalion they wore a black hackle in a khaki Balmoral hat. When the Special Service Battalions were re-organized in March 1941, the unit reverted to its 9 Commando title, retaining the Balmoral and black hackle. The hackle was transferred to the green beret when the latter was adopted in 1942. And The first version of the shoulder title is 9 COMMANDO in white on black, changed in late 1942 to No 9 COMMANDO, still in white on black. A green on black No 9 COMMANDO was subsequently worn for a short time before adopting the standard red on black in early 1943.
There is no doubt in my mind that a Cameronian, perhaps more than one, either with No 9 or on the staff, had a hand in this. The Balmoral bonnet with black hackle was the officers’ day-to-day dress with battle dress (or later with combat kit) for many years and until the 1st Battalion was disbanded.
This year sees the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Great Britain entered the War on 3rd September 1939; after six years of bitter fighting on land, sea and in the air, the War finally ended in 1945. Germany surrendered to the Allies on 8th May 1945. Only after atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, did Japan finally surrender on 15th August 1945, bringing the war to a final close.
A display of Highland Dancing in the liberated Belgian city of Ghent, March 1945, by men of the 2nd Cameronians.
Low Parks Museum had planned to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the War with a commemorative exhibition, exploring a number of personal stories and experiences of men from The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and the Lanarkshire Yeomanry (with our friends in The Lanarkshire Yeomanry Group). Current events have sadly put the exhibition on hold for the time being but it is hoped we may be able to feature some of the planned content in the Museum at some point later in the year.
While the Museum itself is currently closed in line with Government guidelines, we will continue to bring you stories, photographs and collections content through the regimental collections blog. The material that would have formed the basis for our exhibition will be covered in a series of blog posts over the coming weeks and months. We will continue to highlight and promote new posts through the Low Parks Museum Facebook page, so please make sure to ‘like’ the Page to keep up to date with our latest content. We are always interested to hear of your own family stories, so if you have any photographs, stories or objects from the War that you would like to share, we’d love to see them on the Facebook page.
Our first Second World War – 75 yearsOn post will be landing very soon, so stay tuned!
This programme was shown on BBC 4 on 25 March 2020. It is wonderfully entertaining, indeed engrossing. Harry was given a cine camera on his 10th birthday in 1928 and used it to record his life and times for the next 60-plus years.
Of interest to all Cameronians (and historians) is that in 1939, at the outbreak of war, he joined the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and was sent for initial training to their depot in Hamilton. He joined the regiment because it had been his father’s regiment. His father WH Birrell was serving as a second lieutenant in the 11th Battalion when he died of wounds near Salonika in what was then Macedonia. This was in 1918, just before the Armistice.
The Regimental History, Volume II, tells of the history of this battalion which went first to France and then to Macedonia where they were part of a Franco-British-Serbian force which was trying to deny the Bulgarians use of this major Mediterranean port. There were many casualties, not least because of malaria.
Harry was not to see service with the regiment. After commissioning he was sent to India where he joined the 7th Gurkhas. (Readers may be aware that this was the regiment which, after the war, formed a close alliance with the 1st Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)). As Harry was a qualified surveyor he was sent to carry out important surveying and map-making work behind enemy lines in Burma. Much of the film is of his time with the Gurkhas and in India and Burma.
This film has been produced by Harry’s granddaughter, Carina Birrell, and she plays an important part in introducing both the film and Harry’s diaries, all of which had lain undisturbed in boxes and trunks at the family home near Paisley. It is a joy as well as being an important archive.
There are literally hundreds of excellent photographs in the Cameronians regimental museum collection. One could argue that photographs are one of our richest resources, in that they provide visual documentation of the Regiment’s history, and the men who made it.
Unfortunately, we aren’t always able to make best use of a photograph as, to put it simply, we don’t know much about it; who does it show, when was it taken, what event is being depicted? For the majority of the photographs in the regimental collection, this information simply hasn’t been recorded.
At a guess, less than a quarter of the photographs in the regimental collection bear the names of the soldiers shown. Formal, posed, group photographs of a Company, Platoon or sports team might have a title and a date, but rarely individual names.
” ‘B’ Company, 2nd Battalion Boxing Team, Bordon, 1936″
All useful information, but sadly no names
Often a photograph has been pasted into an album with little or no caption, or has been removed from the mount that had the title recorded. If a photograph had been handed to the Regiment in times past, or to the museum in it’s infancy when still staffed by soldiers – there was often an assumed level of knowledge and familiarity with regimental photographs and so written details weren’t always deemed necessary. In other cases, the name of a soldier may have been written on the reverse of an image, but often without details such as when and where the photograph was taken. Often this is because the family member who may have donated the photograph didn’t know more than the name of the relative depicted – and even this might not always be certain. I’m sure many of us have old family photographs that we have inherited, with only a vague notion of which great-great granddad/granny/uncle or relative that we think might be shown. How many of us regularly lament the fact we didn’t pay more attention (or take written notes) when an older relative was relating family history stories to us, or pointing out faces in the family albums? I certainly do, and I should know better!
With that said, what can we do with these unidentified photographs? Luckily, with many military photographs there is usually always some detail that can be discerned as a starting point. The type of uniform worn can usually help establish, at the least, whether the sitter is a soldier, sailor or airman, and possibly also give us a rough period for when the photograph may have been taken. The more detail a photograph contains, especially in terms of uniform, the better chance we have of being able to identify things such as a regiment or battalion, time period, and possibly a location. There are many books covering this subject alone, not to mention some excellent online research guides that can be a useful starting point for those looking to research their own family photographs. The Scottish Military Research Group have an excellent guide aimed specifically for those with photographs of relatives in Scottish units – http://scottishmilitaryresearch.weebly.com/uploads/7/3/9/1/73918079/scottish_military_research_using_family_photographs.pdf
Not forgetting James Taub’s excellent blog post on the subject of identifying Cameronians in First World War photographs – http://cameronians.apps-1and1.net/srid/
With many photographs in the regimental collection, it has been possible to identify a particular unit or even identify individual soldier(s) by close examination of the detail on show.
“Guard of Honour to Douglas Haig when he unveiled the Memorial to the Regiment at Kelvingrove”
The above photograph is a perfect illustration of this. The title tells us that the group shown were Field Marshal Haig’s guard of honour when he unveiled the Regimental memorial at Kelvingrove Park (9th August 1924). A further note on the reverse of the image records that the men shown were from the 6th Battalion – one of the Territorial regiments of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). All the men in this photograph are wearing medals related to service in the First World War; a number of those shown are awards given for gallantry, or long, meritorious service. The combinations of these awards, together with the ranks of the wearers at a given point in time, and the fact they are all from the 6th Battalion makes it possible for us to put likely names against some of the men shown. Trawling through seniority lists and other 6th Battalion notes in the Regimental magazine, The Covenanter, from the 1920s gives me potential names for seven of the men shown: rear row, second from left – CQMS A. Peat MM; front row, left to right – Sergeant John Stevenson DCM, MM, RQMS J. Hamilton, RSM J. J. Wall MM, MSM, Lieutenant A. Cullen, unknown CSM, CSM J. Williams MM, MSM, unknown CSM.
Sometimes one can be very lucky and hit the jackpot while searching through resources like The Covenanter. Take the photograph at the start of this article as an example – if you remember it was a photograph of the boxing team from ‘B’ Company, 2nd Battalion, taken at Bordon in 1936. Looking through The Covenanter magazine for May 1936 reveals a reproduction of this very photograph, along with an accompanying article, and, more importantly the names of the men shown.
The following photograph was donated by a relative of a Cameronian soldier, one of the group shown. In this instance, the name of the soldier has been recorded on the reverse; i.e. ‘Charles Henderson, extreme left, back row’. None of the other soldiers are identified, and the photograph is undated although the donor knew that their relative had served in the First World War.
Group photograph from the First World War – Charles Henderson, standing first left
The badges and other insignia on show, however, tell us much more. The badge worn on the upper arm, consisting of three coloured blocks (best seen on Charles, standing on left) is that worn by the 2nd Scottish Rifles while part of the 8th Infantry Division, from 22nd Sept 1914 until 3rd Feb 1918 when they moved to 20th Division. Some of the men also wear a wound stripe(s) on the lower left sleeve; this was introduced in July 1916. At least six of the men also wear a medal ribbon above the left-breast pocket, most likely that of the 1914 Star – these were first issued late 1917/early 1918 – the 1914/15 Star ribbon was identical to the 1914 Star, but this wasn’t issued for wear until 1919.
The more we work through our photographic collections while cataloguing, or researching exhibitions and displays, the more familiar we become with things such as regimental peculiarities of uniform, barrack buildings and background scenery at camps and training facilities, and of course, with individual faces. Close scrutiny of identified faces in labelled photographs has allowed to us to pick out the same soldier in other, unlabelled images. Quite often the presence of this ‘well kent face’ is enough to give us a potential unit identification (if looking at a group photograph), and a broad time period. The more we know about a photograph, the more useful it becomes in terms of illustrating the regiment’s history.
“Sjt’s Mess, 1923”
The excellent photograph above was simply labelled “Sjt’s Mess, 1923”. A search of our collections database revealed that there was another photograph in the collection with a similar title, that version being framed with the names of those shown printed on the mount. A physical check of this second photograph confirmed that the images shown were identical. What’s more – the framed photograph is extremely large and difficult to digitise due to it being behind glass; the unlabelled copy is small enough to scan and reproduces at a very high quality. Looking through the faces, several men were familiar and could be identified in other photographs. Sitting second from the left in the front row is Company Sergeant Major John Crymble.
Close-up of CSM John Crymble
If we look closer at the First World War photograph of the 2nd Battalion above, look who’s sitting in the front row…
Of course, researching a solitary photograph is a time consuming process with no guarantee of the results. We are careful nowadays to make sure we capture as much information about any object that comes into the museum collection, whether it be a photograph, medal, item of uniform etc. It is important that we carefully record who the item belonged to, when and how it was used, and any other important details relating to an objects history and it’s owner. With this in mind, it is worth taking the time to sort through any family photographs you have and add in any details that will someday prove invaluable to future generations, budding family tree researchers, and of course, museum curators!
When still a young man and
straight out of Sandhurst, the future sultan, then known as Mr bin Said, served
in the 1st Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). He joined
the battalion in Minden in September 1962 and served with it for about nine
months. The battalion’s role was as motorised infantry in 11 Infantry Brigade,
mounted in basic armoured personnel carriers. One of the first deployments
during his time was on Exercise Autumn Double which was a corps exercise, 1st
Division against 2nd Division, the latter fighting a retreat across
the various river lines of the north German plain. It was only one year since
the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis was in full swing.
This was the cold war at its coldest.
The weather that winter was
brutal too. Each company was sent for two weeks on Exercise Snow Queen which
was based in Bavaria. Temperatures were regularly below -20C and the future
Sultan was no athlete. Standing on his skis on a snow field under leaden skies
he just looked thoroughly miserable. Winter sports were not for him; indeed, no
sports really suited him at all. But there was one happy outcome: in the
afternoons we were free to take advantage of the ski slopes in some of the nearby
towns including Mittenwald and Oberammergau. The largest of these is
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which nestles at the foot of Germany’s highest Alp, and
it was here that he later bought a house.
But why the Cameronians? One
simple answer is that it had to be an army unit as Oman at that time had no
navy and no air force. The full answer is that the 1st Battalion the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) had greatly impressed the then Sultan, Qaboos’s
father, when they, together with local units came to his rescue in an operation
on Jebel Akhdar in 1957. Sultan Said bin Taimur’s personal letter to the
Commanding Officer says it all[i].
The three regiments of the Omani army soon wore different coloured headdress
based on the Balmoral bonnets worn by Cameronian officers. This regiment would
be the Sultan’s choice for his son.
His two years at the Royal
Military Academy had been a rough introduction to what most of us thought
perfectly normal: lots of PT, plenty of team sports, cross-country runs. All
were alien to Qaboos who had never been to school and whose physique was
totally unsuited to the rough and tumble and physical demands of the basic
training in our first term.
A significant amount of time (especially
in that first term) was spent on the drill square which was overseen by the
redoubtable Academy Sergeant Major John Lord, ex-Grenadier Guards. All of the
company sergeant majors were warrant officers from the Brigade of Guards too.
Needless to say, we spent a huge amount of time – and every evening and waking
hour during the first term – polishing, shining, blanco-ing and pressing an array
of uniforms and boots. It was challenging even for those of us who had spent
years in our respective school Combined Cadet Force units.
His two years at Sandhurst (from
September 1960) were spent in Marne Company in New College (as were those of
the writer). There were three colleges (Old, New and Victory) and each college
comprised four companies and each of these had four platoons, one for each of
the intakes. It was said that Old College produced gentlemen, Victory College
produced soldiers but that New College – new, that is, after the 1st
World War – produced officers.
Eventually it was our turn to
‘pass out’. We were immensely proud that the Queen was represented at the
Sovereign’s Parade by non-other than Field Marshal the Viscount Slim. At the
end we duly slow-marched up the steps of Old College followed, as is the
tradition, by the Adjutant on his white charger. After lunch we dispersed to
the four corners for a month’s leave. At midnight we were all commissioned into
our various regiments or national armies.
Qaboos joined Michael Sixsmith
and me in the 1st Battalion in Minden in mid-September. (Michael and
I had been briefly to the depot at Lanark where we joined John Baynes who
commanded, Alan Campbell who was training the 6th/7th
Battalion, George Stephen who was ADC to Maj Gen John Frost – who commanded the
Lowland Division – and David Christie and Peter Gordon Smith who were training
subalterns). In the 1st Battalion, amongst many other things, he
learned about mess life and many of the traditions of which the Cameronians
were not short. He joined in everything else that new subalterns have to do and
learn: it was all strange to all of us. Having left the battalion Qaboos then
spent about a year on a world tour before, on his return to Oman, he was placed
in internal exile in the south of the country where he remained until the coup
which saw him replace his father in 1970.
In March 1982 the Sultan, HM
Qaboos bin Said al Said, was invited on a State Visit by HM the Queen. On the
first evening, at the State Banquet in his honour at Buckingham Palace, one of
the other guests (with his wife) was Colonel Reggie Kettles OBE MC[ii]
who had been our commanding officer nearly twenty years earlier in Minden. I
was fortunate to be amongst the guests (with my wife) at the State Banquet
given the following evening by the City of London in Guildhall.
Sultan Qaboos was generous to his
old regiment. When in the 1970’s it was necessary to buy a new building for the
Regimental Museum at Hamilton in Lanarkshire he gave a six-figure sum to help
to secure the Old Riding school of the long-since demolished Hamilton Palace,
seat of the Dukes of Hamilton. This building now forms the centre of the Low
Parks Museum where the regimental collection is still housed. More recently he
responded to an appeal for funds to restore the last colours of the 90th,
the Perthshire Light Infantry, which were laid-up in St Mary’s church in
Hamilton when Thomas Graham’s old regiment was amalgamated with the
Cameronians, the old 26th, to form the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
Sultan Qaboos died on 11 January
2020, aged 79.
Philip R Grant, Major (retired)
1st Battalion the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 1962-1968
[i] History of The Cameronians (Scottish
Rifles) Volume 4, John Baynes, Cassell & Co, page 117.
[ii] Major Kettles MBE MC (as he then
was) commanded the Support Company (machine guns and mortars) during the Jebel
Akhdar campaign in 1957.
