On This Day ... in 1916 & Others

The tiny naval war fought on the waters of Lake Tanganyika (the inspiration for the film African Queen) came to a close when the Royal Navy manned vessels Mimi and Fifi (pictured below)

caught and sank the last remaining German vessel, Hedwig von Weissman.

On This Day ... in 1857 & Others

During the war with Persia, the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry charged 500 enemy infantry who had adopted a defensive square formation, almost impenetrable to cavalry attack. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Arthur Moore jumped his horse over the bayonets into the midst of the formation. But his horse was shot dead and fell, trapping Moore beneath its body and breaking his sword.

Lieutenant John Grant Malcolmson came to Moore's rescue, fighting his way into the enemy ranks until he reached his comrade, who was defending himself with what remained of his sword.

The two then escaped from the enemy formation, Moore clutching Malcolmson's stirrup. Both men were awarded the Victoria Cross. Their citation reads

On the occasion of an attack on the enemy led by Lieutenant-Colonel Forbes, CB, Lieutenant Moore the Adjutant of the regiment, was perhaps the first of all by a horse's length. His horse lept into the Persian square and instantly fell dead, crashing down his rider and breaking his sword as he fell amid the broken ranks of the enemy.

The thoughtfulness for others, cool determination, devoted courage and ready activity shown in extreme danger by this young officer, Lieutenant Malcolmson, appear to have been most admirable, and to be worthy of the highest honour.

On This Day ... in 1941 & 1944

Heavy fighting continued at the Italian colonial mountain stronghold of Keren in Eritrea. Richpal Ram, a Subadar (Captain equivalent) of the 6th Rajputana Rifles, led his company in an attack that succeeded in taking an Italian position. However, reinforcing him proved impossible. Nevertheless, he led his men in defending against no less than six fierce Italian counter-attacks, until, ammunition completely exhausted, he succeeded in extricating the survivors back to the main British lines.

Five days later, on 12 February, he once more distinguished himself in the attack, until he lost a foot in an explosion. He continued to urge his men forward until he died of his wound. For these combined acts of gallantry, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

On This Day ... in 1806 & Others

Vice Admiral Sir John Duckworth caught a squadron of French warships at San Domingo, capturing three and sinking two.

On This Day ... in 1810 & Others

British troops under Sir George Beckwith, supported by a fleet commended by Vice Admiral Cochrane, captured Guadeloupe. Beckwith had distinguished himself as a regimental officer during the American War of Independence & he subsequently iserved in high administrative posts & in numerous successful military operations in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary & Napoleonic wars.He attained the full rank of general in 1814 & commanded forces in Ireland, 1816-1820. He died in London on the 20th of March 1823.

On This Day ... in 1783 & Others

Great Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its American colonies

In April 1782 Benjamin Franklin rejected informal peace feelers from Great Britain for a settlement that would provide the 13 States with some measure of autonomy within the British empire. Franklin insisted on British recognition of American independence and refused to consider a peace separate from France, America's staunch ally. Franklin did agree to negotiations with the British for an end to the war. Joined by peace commissioners John Adams and John Jay, Franklin engaged the British in formal negotiations beginning on September 27, 1782. Although Franklin demanded the cessation of Canada to an independent America, he knew that the British Government of Lord Shelburne, opposed to American independence, was unprepared to accept that offer. Two months of hard bargaining resulted in a preliminary articles of peace in which the British accepted American independence and boundaries--a bitter pill to George III--resolved the difficult issues of fishing rights on the Newfoundland banks and prewar debts owed to British creditors, promised restitution of property lost during the war by Americans loyal to the British cause, and provided for the evacuation of British forces from the 13 States. The preliminary articles signed in Paris on November 30, 1782, were only effective when a similar treaty was signed by Britain and France, which French Foreign Minister Vergennes quickly negotiated. France signed preliminary articles of peace with Great Britain on January 20, 1783, which were followed by a formal peace of Paris signed on September 3, 1783.

Someday, & that day may never come…

Now let me see, it was sometime back in 2003 (4,094 posts ago) that this all started & since then several million of you have had the good grace of visit this dark dank little corner of the internet. One or two of you have even visited twice. However you humble correspondent is fast approaching a reasonably large career intersection over the next 10 days or so. This blog has always been written (if you can call it that) at least semi-anonymously. To the best of my knowledge, one only person stumbled across this site by chance & after a number of months worked out the connection to the real world – so the subterfuge worked at least in part

7 years ago it really didn’t matter who the hell I was in real life. Times however change & basically careers move on to the extent whereby should a public connection between my somewhat intemperate invective, ill humour & a penchant for wanting to hang politicians/lawyers etc & what I actually do for a living, it would at very best cause acute embarrassment & more likely, loss of livelihood. Boards of directors & institutional shareholders are a humourless bunch at the best of times. Those of you that have followed this side of the blogosphere for any period of time will know that more than one person has ended up in the proverbial hot water with an employer as a result of exercising what used to be called freedom of expression outside office hours

It’s a sad indictment of corporate life that if through dint of fate you scale the giddy heights as a result of the efforts of others, you suddenly realise that you are no longer allowed to voice an opinion unless it as first been vetted by the PR people. (As an aside, our PR consultants have just written to me about Family FM’s various Facebook pages & the changes that they would like to see made. Really!). If they ever made the connection between office persona & this, I can well envisage some significant boardroom ructions … so there are decisions to be made & damnit, the money that they are about to throw at me is embarrassingly good. So the day that I thought may never come is just about upon me & it is time to close the armoury door, turn the key & walk away … well almost

At this point it behoves me to thank two of you in particular: Firstly The Englishman who through is unstinting efforts has managed keep everything running over the years & despite my regular electronic phuquewhittery has kept the content viewable. Secondly, to Kim du Toit for the inspiration, guidance, suggestions & for time to time, use of the sorts of firearms that I am banned for owning here in once Great Britain. But most of all I would like to thank all of you for all of the emails, comments & just for visiting over the last few years. I could not have asked for a better bunch on readers

As to the future, this post will remain at the top of the page but as the week progresses, nearly all of the other content will disappear. The exception will be the On This Day section which needs quite a lot of work in any case, so I hope to be able to edit what is already there as well as expanding it. If that causes our Corporate Compliance Officer a problem, he can simply sod off but sadly most of the rest of it will have to go. Of course I’m not happy about that but somethings in life just ‘is’, & this is one of them

So now it just remains for me to thank you all one last time & exit stage left, up the electronic clock tower with a hip flask of something dark n peaty & a rifle

As ever, I remain your humble correspondent

Mr Free Market

On This Day ... in 1646 & Others

Sir John Lord Byron surrendered Chester to the Parliamentarians, as the Royalist cause continued to collapse across England & Wales.

On This Day ... in 1141 & Others

During the Anarchy, Earls Ranulf of Chester and Robert of Gloucester marched on Lincoln with a mainly Welsh army, to relieve the castle, held by Ranulf's men, which was under siege by King Stephen. Stephen was outnumbered but chose to fight, despite the advice of his nobles: his father had borne an undeserved reputation for cowardice as a Crusader, and Stephen seems to have been determined to avoid similar smears. However, the battle went against him as his (probably outnumbered) cavalry were driven from the field after initial success against the Welsh levies, and the King was captured along with many of his closest supporters. The accession to the throne of the Empress Matilda, Robert of Gloucester's half-sister and the only surviving legitimate child of Henry I, thus seemed assured.

On This Day ... in 1806 & Others

George III renamed the Naval Academy at Portsmouth the Royal Naval College.

On This Day in 1606 & Others

Guy Fawkes, convicted for his part in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed.

On This Day ... in 1649 & Others

King Charles I was beheaded

On This Day ... in 1856 & Others

Queen Victoria instituted the Victoria Cross, Britain's first formal gallantry award, by Royal Warrant.

On This Day ... in 1069 & Others

The Norman occupation of northern England suffered a setback when Robert de Comines and his men were massacred in Durham after they had drunkenly sacked the city.

De Comines took refuge in a church, but the Northumbrians set it alight to drive him out of sanctuary, then killed him.

The rebellion provoked William the Conqueror to embark on his Harrying of the North: indiscriminate slaughter and pillage north of the Humber to bring the English to heel. The 'harrying' was so severe that as Simeon of Durham recorded that there was no village inhabited between York and Durham, a distance of some 60 miles. This act was seen as excessive force, even for the time. Oderic Vitalis, the author of Ecclesiastical History wrote

I dare not commend him for an act which levelled both the bad and the good in one common ruin by a consuming famine...I assert, moreover, that such barbarous homicide should not pass unpunished.

On This Day ... in 1606

The trial of Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot began.

It ended with their execution on January 31.

On This Day ... in 1788 & Others

The first British colony in Australia was formally founded, Royal Marines hoisting the Union Flag at Sydney Cove. HM Ships Sirius and Supply led the thirteen ship "First Fleet", which had sailed from the Solent in May 1787, carrying several hundred convicts, North America no longer being available for the transportation of criminals following the Revolution. The colony of New South Wales totalled 568 male and 191 female convicts with 13 children, guarded by 206 marines with 26 wives and 13 children. Twenty officials administered the colony.

The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on 7 February.

On This Day ... in 1327 & Others

Edward III became King of England

On This Day ... in 1865 & Others

During the Third New Zealand War's so-called Hauhau campaign - named for the war cry of the Pai Marire sect amongst the Maoris of North Island - Captain Hugh Shaw of the 18th Regiment won the Victoria Cross for leading a party to rescue a badly wounded soldier lying only thirty yards from a Maori position.

On This Day ... in 1915 & Others

Royal Flying Corps reconnaissance aircraft gave warning that Turkish troops were preparing for an attack on the Suez Canal. The subsequent offensive in early February was easily defeated.

On This Day ... in 1879 & Others

Disaster befell the centre column of Lord Chelmsford's army which had advanced into Zulu territory. Whilst Chelmsford was away leading a force against a reported Zulu concentration, the 1,250 British (mainly from the 24th Regiment - South Wales Borderers) and African troops left behind in camp at Isandlwana were attacked by 20,000 warriors under Ntshingwayo and overrun - very few survived the massacre.

Later that day, 4,500 Zulus led by Dabulamanzi attacked a small garrison of the 24th Regiment at Rorke's Drift.

The famous defence of the outpost cost 17 lives from the South Wales Borderers, and secured the award of no less than eleven Victoria Crosses. Three Victoria Crosses, two of which were posthumous, were also awarded for gallantry at Isandlwana.

The third, often forgotten, action that day was fought at Nyezane, where the right hand column of Chelmsford's army, commanded by Colonel Pearson, fought off another fierce Zulu attack.

More information on the famed Martini Henry is here & just to get you really in the mood...

On This Day ... in 1916 & Others

Efforts to relieve Townshend's force trapped at Kut in Mesopotamia led to an action amidst ruins at El Orah

Lance-Naik Lala of the 41st Dogras Infantry rescued two wounded officers lying only yards from the enemy positions, and not only dressed their wounds but covered them with his own clothing to keep them warm until he was able to carry them to safety during the night.

His Victoria Cross citation reads:

His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to confer the Victoria Cross on No. 501 Lance Naik Lala, 41st Dogras, Indian Army, for most conspicuous bravery.

After dark he carried the first wounded officer back to the main trenches, and then, returning with a stretcher, carried back his Adjutant. He set a magnificent example of courage and devotion to his officers

Captain John Sinton, a medical officer, also distinguished himself in the care of the wounded, despite himself being shot in both arms and the body, winning the Victoria Cross.

His citation reads:

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. Although shot through both arms and through the side, he refused to go to hospital, and remained as long as daylight lasted, attending to his duties under very heavy fire. In three previous actions Captain Sinton displayed the utmost bravery

He later achieved the rank of Brigadier (1943), was awarded the Russian Order of St George and Mentioned in Dispatches six times. In 1921 he transferred from the military to the civil branch of the Indian Medical Service which he continued to serve with until 1936.