An abridged military history of my family...

As part of the sorting process this lot of photos emerged...

My Maternal Great Grandfather Alexander McFarlane. He seems to have been in the 2nd Garrison Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers?

I assume this photo was when he served in India.

He died there in 1919 during the flu epidemic (officially dysentry) and we got this! At the bottom of this post are a few more details!

His daughter Jessie was put in an orphanage while he was abroad. After some time in service she became a nurse in  Queen Alexandria's Royal Nursing Corps where she met my Grandfather - Belgium, 1919. He was in hospital having been gassed. Like his Father in Law, Northumberland Fusiliers.  Haven't got any photos of him in army uniform, should have some somewhere of him in his St John's Ambulance Brigade uniform or WW2 Air Raid Warden, just haven' t found them yet. I have got both their discharge papers though...

Technically, not military. My dad was in the Sea Cadets for years, wanted to do National Service in the Navy but they tried to force him into the army! So he joined the Merchant Navy. This is him with my mother.

OK, This is the only photo I have of me in uniform - a unit photo from my time in the OTC. It was the worst photo I've ever seen - someone cropped the photo and did some very poor editing - I clipped those bits out! I'm second row from the front. fourth in from the right.

This is me!

This is the official War Office notification of my Great Grandfather's death.

Letter from his Company Commander to my Gran.

Second page. Sad to think he died a week before he was due to come home.

Discharge certificate for my Grandfather - difficult to read now.

Discharge cerificate for my Grandmother. She only seems to have been in for 6 months before being demobilised! Quite an eventful 6 months!

A final surprise while going through the papers included something I had previously known nothing about. I never knew my paternal Grandfather - my Grandmother had remarried  by the time I was born and no one ever mentioned him. Found his Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. He died when my father was about 5. His name was John Young: My Dad's older brother was also called John, and the name carried on when Uncle John's oldest son, my cousin, was also named John.

So, overall, today has actually been a very useful day when it comes to putting together parts of my family history.

 This one is an oddity. Going through various family documents (OK, Sandra is doing the sorting!) came across this. The oddity is that I haven't the faintest idea who in family was in the 8th Army!

Anyone doing WW2 Desert or Italian campaigns may be interested in this as part of the scenario?

Looked it up (OK, again Sandra looked it up). Seems to have been published in January 1945.

Found one on Abe books for £60!

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Eighth-Army-Service-Thanksgiving-BRIGHT-CLEAN/30582400349/bd The ABE books one has all the units written beside the formation signs - these are not just the formation in the 8th Army, but also those that fought alongside it.

Minifigs one piece Assyrian cataphracts

 The second squadron of Minifigs 'S' Range Assyrian one piece cavalry.

They're generally in good condition though two horses have lost their crests.

Armour is basically dry brushed. I did make the mistake of painting the bases green instead of sand but the filler hides most of it.

Originally I had intended to leave the centre of the shield plain bronze. However, it didn't really look right because the centre has an embossed pattern on it - so I had to paint a centrepiece.

Sorting out/tidying up the lead mountain.

 Partly because things have gradually finished up all over the place, mainly so I can see which figures can go back into the pot  and let me avoid buying more metal!

One thing I'm doing is boxing up lots of the little card boxes into larger A4 boxes. I recently bought another batch of Weston half price end of run boxes for the job - the colour of the box isn't really a concern!

This gives an idea of the current mess on my table!

Slightly different view of the same table. Looks messier than it is - quite a few figures have already been put into loose piles.

And this is one of the reasons for doing this exercise - haven't weighed them but probably about 10-15kg of metal that needs further sorting. At least it means I don't have to buy any more metal yet!

I've got more Byzantine cataphracts than I thought...

 Many years ago Harry Pearson sent me a tin of figures containing 'JohnBee' figures. It's one of those 'must look at sometime' projects that was filed apart from a couple of photos. As a result of the last couple of 'S' Range posts I thought I'd look at the box again...

Found these...

Quick comparison and they're 'S' Range! Strangely, does seem to be minor variations across all of them as far as tail and helmet plumes go, don't know if these represent casting issues, more than one master used or updates during the lifespan of the figures - can never tell with Minifigs!

So checked the other cavalry figures. The cataphracts (mostly - see above!) have the 'typical' 'S' Range tail. the other figures don't.The last figure has to be JohnBee - smaller than the others, But look at that second figure.

So compared that Hun-type figure to the Assyrian 'S' Range horse archer... similar tail (not all the one piece figures seem to have the typical tail), similar head, rider a similar size. Differences horse body not as deep... that's it, really. So is this an early one piece 'S' Range figure of the 'Gaul or Hun horse archer? On balance I think it is closer to the 'S' Range figures than the JohnBee figures! But not certain.

 

So went to look at another one of the 'boxes-in-waiting' - 'S' Range Gauls. Found 6 'Gaul Lancers' in there, turns out they were one piece castings as well. Again, the known 'S' Range figure is a bit heftier than the '?' figure. So still haven't the faintest idea - has to be one of the two, balance of probabilities probably in favour of 'S' Range, but far from certain.

Ain't Minifigs wonderful!

The Byzantine 1 piece cavalry

 Found them!

As previously mentioned, looking a bit the worse for wear. I like the original paint scheme.

I have to admit though that I'm a bit concerned at how well the spears will survive any remedial work! About the only painting needed  would be the spears, stirrups and the arrows in the bow cases. Other than that, minor touching up paintwork. There should be another figure lying around somewhere.

Minifigs 1 piece 'S' Range cavalry

 These figures have been gradually bought over a period of time in small quantities, hence painting and basing has been held back in the hopes of getting more!

Greeks, Macedonians, Assyrians, Persians and a lone Philistine.

I have enough of the Greeks and Macedonians for a 6 figure unit of each plus a couple of others. They were acquired part painted - for example the Macedonian horse has eyes painted in! I have assumed the 6 figure unit to be the Greeks, the 3 figure unit Macedonians based on comparing helmet designs with the infantry. I have 3 more Macedonians to finish off.

The Assyrians. These were bought unpainted - one unit of horse archers finished, EHC and HC lancers undercoated. I have enough figures for full size units. For the HC I even have enough to make a bigger unit!

Sadly, I only have one of the Persians that came ready painted. I do have a dozen to paint up myself but I won't be reaching this standard! The Philistine came unpainted and I'm afraid I only have this one.

Finished unit of Assyrian horse archers. Being part armoured I suppose I should have used them as heavies, but that would leave me with no 1 piece light Assyrian cavalry!

I also have a painted (needing restoration) unit of Byzantine cataphracts but not sure where they are at the moment!