Sunday, 16 September 2012

Mounted Infantry

These men are serving in the 20th Company Mounted Infantry which saw service in South Africa during the Boer War. This Company was furnished by men of the 4th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, numbering 5 officers and 130 men, only 23 of whom received 5 clasp medals. I am presuming these photographs were taken somewhere in England on pre-deployment manouevres.





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3 comments:

  1. Celestial Charms16 September 2012 at 21:16

    Hi Laurie,
    Such an interesting set of photographs. I see moustaches were still all the rage back then. Most of the men look so very young, including the ones with "stashes," which tend to camouflage their youth.
    Maureen

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  2. Laurie6 October 2012 at 07:19

    I had a moustache, once but I grew out of it! To grow one, as a soldier, you had to write to your commanding officer for permission. Along the lines of:
    Sir,
    I humbly request permission to grow a moustache.
    I am sir,
    You obedient servant
    Atkin, T Private.
    I recall that you only had a limited time to grow one - 30 days, I think - and if it didn't come up to scratch, you were ordered to shave it off!

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  3. Anonymous13 February 2014 at 01:19

    These are actually men of the '20th (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps', a rather interesting part-time military unit. Their uniform was quite distinctive. The title on the shoulder strap is '20 Mx', rather than '20 MI'

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