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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Thanks for the comments, Kitchener. I guess maybe I don't know as much about photography as I thought, but in my defense it's that the photo itself doesn't look old. I wouldn't advocate the hang outside for a month trick however to age them. I think I might "save" your photo and massage it a bit, with your permission of course.
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Mikey29211


Joined: 26 Aug 2006
Posts: 232
Location: Central Nebraska, USA
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Alan wrote:
Judging by the number of kilts it must be in the USA.


Hi Alan, There are only two chaps in the group that are kilted, The Pipe Major on the left and the private on the right. How does that give us away as Americans? Smile
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R. Kitchener


Joined: 09 Dec 2007
Posts: 31
Location: Iowa City, IA, USA
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Sawubona wrote:
Thanks for the comments, Kitchener. I guess maybe I don't know as much about photography as I thought, but in my defense it's that the photo itself doesn't look old. I wouldn't advocate the hang outside for a month trick however to age them. I think I might "save" your photo and massage it a bit, with your permission of course.


I agree. That was the major problem with some of Greg's photos, they just 'looked' too crisp to be contemporary.
Try putting the cap lines in a direct light source, sunlight preferable, for an extended period. Ought to do the trick.
Of course you have my permission. But if you sell it, just remember that I get a percentage. Cool
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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If I sell it, it would only be to the Post Office for them to hang on the wall among the portraits of the rest of the "alleged perpetrators" and disreputable malefactors I see there!
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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The legend would read "Wanted for Felonious Mopery"! I've no idea exactly what that crime is, but if I ever saw a photo of mopists this is it!
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Mikey29211


Joined: 26 Aug 2006
Posts: 232
Location: Central Nebraska, USA
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Sawubona wrote:
The legend would read "Wanted for Felonious Mopery"! I've no idea exactly what that crime is, but if I ever saw a photo of mopists this is it!


Felonious Mopery: Exposing yourself to a blind man Very Happy
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R. Kitchener


Joined: 09 Dec 2007
Posts: 31
Location: Iowa City, IA, USA
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I thought it had something to do with Mo-ped Gangs.


Last edited by R. Kitchener on Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:14 am; edited 1 time in total
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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In truth, I looked it up just now. It's "vagrancy while walking" or more explicitly walking with no particular destination or goal. It was (and probably still is) used to harass people who are not actually guilty of a particular crime but look or act as though they should be treated as criminals. It's uncertain if this is actually a crime on the books anywhere, but many police seem to believe it is and act accordingly. Isn't it just amazing how one's horizons can be broadened on this and other sites? And now my apologies to all for the digression!
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R. Kitchener


Joined: 09 Dec 2007
Posts: 31
Location: Iowa City, IA, USA
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Another pair of mystery pix. I think these are an officer in Princess Zoe Margaret's Own MacCaroon Highlanders, c. 1896-99. Suggestions?







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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Amazing, RK - absolutely amazing. You're dead right about the regiment and I can reveal/confirm that this is my grandfather, Capt (later Major) Hamish McGregor Ewart, as I already have a badly damaged version of this photo which has come down through the family. Many thanks for this pic, as it is of much better quality than the one I have. What a coincidence!

The incredible thing is that we still have his "housewife" (do you call them that over there?) containing all the needle and thread for repairs, etc., but two items ar clearly missing - a couple of large safety pins. And then I look at the picture and - blow me down - there they are on his kilt! (We couldn't see them on our copy as it is very faded and damaged). For those who thought only ORs had a "housewife", in fact grandad's mother insisted he took one with him in case his batman was unreliable, which made him the laughing stock of the mess.

When the TA was formed, grandad assisted in their training in Auchtermuchtie, and in Aug 1914 (by now the Laird of Auchtermuchtie & an honorary Brigadier)) he offered to raise a thousand men for Kitchener's Army, which the WO accepted and eventually assimilated into the Highland Bde as an extra service Bn of the Pee-Zeds, as they were known as. They went to France in 1916 but he did not accompany them. He was killed by a rhino in Amabotwsambiland in 1921, sharing a similar fate to Guy Dawnay.

Many thanks indeed for digging out such a great picture - how did it get over that side of the pond?

Peter
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Alan
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Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1530
Location: Wales
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Mikey29211 wrote:
Hi Alan, There are only two chaps in the group that are kilted, The Pipe Major on the left and the private on the right. How does that give us away as Americans? Smile


Mikey, even two kilts suggests Americans. (One other has a Scots Glengarry).

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Martin Everett


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 786
Location: Brecon
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Mr (or it is Lord) Kitchener does not know his medals. At least I am doing this every day - trying to identify photographs.

DSO, QSA and KSA - photograph must be post Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902.

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Martin Everett
Brecon, Powys
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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RK

My last post was very hurried (all the excitement!) and I misspelt Amabotswambiland (nowadays part of Zantania of course, where they've had all that trouble recently).

We have never seen the second photo before - it was the top one which is familiar to us. His elder sister commandeered the khaki kilt (or was it grey, like the London Scottish?) for herself and used to wear it regularly in civvie street during Edwardian times, as she thought it matched her handbag (seen in the photo round grandad's shoulder, so that obviously came home too). She was very proud of these accoutrements as she marched briskly along in public.

I think the photo was taken soon after he returned from the 1898 Sudan expedition (under Kitchener) where he was mentioned in despatches after Omdurman and also rated a brief mention in Churchill's The River War. The monocle you can see in the photo is a replacement for the one he lost at Omdurman (snatched from his face by a Dervish during the action). This snapshot (or a head & shoulders only version of it) also appears in Atkinson's regimental history With Princess Zoe Margaret's Own in the Sudanese Campaign and late South African War (Gale & Polden, Aldershot, 1904). The MacCaroon Highlanders part of the regimental name was dropped on amalgamation with the Machonochie Rifles, after which they were always known colloquially as the "Bully Beef" boys, thus substituting one culinary epithet for another.

It was this very kilt (in the top picture) which grandad was wearing when he was captured by Cronje during one of those never-ending chases after De Wet. Cronje was apparently furious with his field cornet when he heard that the Boer commando had released Capt Ewart in error, mistaking him for a female non-combatant, having no knowledge apparently of the uniform of Scottish regiments at that time. He soon learnt. The photo was taken during the period between his return from the Sudan and his embarkation for the Cape for the South African War.

Out there, he served under Ian Hamilton (don't ask me which one), French and Plumer, and family legend has it that Hector MacDonald would have taken to him more readily had grandad not always worn a kilt, but we'll gloss over that.

On the back of our copy of this snap is scribbled "Taken outside the Lodge, Auchtermuchtie" which would be on the periphery of the estate up there. The white weatherboarding looks more Kent/Sussex Weald to me (although rather "new" looking) but I gather the estate was also involved in shipping cheap, prefabricated sheds to Canada, where many fellow Scots had gone to seek their fortune, and these can no doubt be seen in the background.

Great photo, isn't it?

Peter
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AMB


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 921
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Peter,

Not THE Capt (later Major) Hamish McGregor Ewart? Wow! He was the Johnny who charged the Hun maxim nest and collected the DSO AND BAR before morning tea and toast! Quite a chap. He�s still regularly mentioned in lectures to the OCdts at RMA Sandhurst. I think the famous Ewart Cup (inter Coy leap frogging) is named after him.

You must be so proud.

Nice photo, too!

AMB
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R. Kitchener


Joined: 09 Dec 2007
Posts: 31
Location: Iowa City, IA, USA
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These two are also interesting. They are a cadet from the ADRIC, c.1921. My question is WHERE? I've been told eith Dublin or Cork, but I have my doubts. I am REASONABLY sure that the cadet is in fact Peter's grandfather, whom (i believe) signed on for a tour with the Auxies after the Great War, primarily as a lark (he didn't NEED the money) before he departed for that fateful encounter with the the rhino. Can anyone, maybe Peter, shed some light on these? And I hadn't realized all this family memoribilia of Peter's was in that box when I purchased it at auction.
[IMG]


This, I believe, is podpolkovnik Dmitri Alexandrovich Suhkmiov, of the 1st Terazapan Cossacks, taken outside of either Anatevka or Govnograd, Russia, c. 1905



Now this one IS interesting. It is Princess Zoe Margaret with Major Hamish MacGregor Ewart at a fancy dress party at the latter's highland estate, c.1899. I believe there was some kind of scandal involving the pair, but I'm not sure what it was. If Peter want's to shed some light on this, it would be greatly appreciated. But, as it does involve one of his direct ancestors, I can understand his reticence if he chose not to comment. Although I rather hope he does. R. Kitchener
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