Peter Duckers

This is a gripping new account of the career of Lieutenant Frank Abbott, Royal Navy (1854–86). It begins with his early naval service in the Far East and Pacific and his central role in the Perak Crisis of 1874, following his career through to the Egypt campaign of 1882 and his final service as an officer aboard the Royal Yacht. Central to the book is Abbott’s experiences aboard the powerful new frigate HMS Shah during her long deployment in the Pacific between 1876–79. This witnessed her famous ‘ship to ship’ action with the Peruvian warship Huáscar in 1877, when torpedoes were first used by the Royal Navy, followed by her unexpected deployment to South Africa during the Anglo-Zulu War. After the disaster at Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 and the very real fear of a Zulu invasion of Natal, the sudden arrival at Durban of this impressive warship, carrying most of the garrison of St. Helena and landing a shore party of nearly 300 officers and men, came as a huge relief to the colony of Natal and was a major morale booster. The ship’s company played a prominent part in the operations for the relief of the besieged garrison at Eshowe in March and April 1879, including the major battle of Gingindlovu, and in the subsequent campaign served with the 1st Division under General Crealock as it slowly advanced northwards along the Zululand coast. Abbott himself played a significant role in the movement of troops, ammunition and equipment into Zululand via the pontoon across the Thukela and in the later advance to a new coastal landing site at Port Durnford. In an area of the Anglo-Zulu War not extensively covered in general accounts, Abbott’s letters and journals provide a fresh and interesting insight into the workings of the naval brigade and of one officer’s experiences during a difficult campaign.

Too often historical writing on the Russian War of 1854-56 focuses narrowly on the land campaign fought in the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea. The wider war waged at sea by the British and French navies against the Russians is ignored. The allied navies aimed to strike at Russian interests anywhere in the world where naval force could be brought to bear and as a result campaigns were waged in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the White Sea, on the Russian Pacific coast and in the Sea of Azoff. Yet it is the land campaign in the Crimea that shapes our understanding of events. In this graphic and original study, Peter Duckers seeks to set the record straight. He shows how these neglected naval campaigns were remarkably successful, in contrast to the wretched failures that beset the British army on land. Allied warships ranged across Russian waters sinking shipping, disrupting trade, raiding ports, bombarding fortresses, destroying vast quantities of stores and shelling coastal towns. The scale and intensity of the naval operations embarked upon during the war are astonishing, and little appreciated, and this new book offers the first overall survey of them.

This second edition of Peter Duckers best-selling British Military Medals traces the history of medals and gallantry awards from Elizabethan times to the modern day, and it features an expert account of their design and production. Campaign and gallantry medals are a key to understanding - and exploring - British and imperial military history, and to uncovering the careers and exploits of individual soldiers. In a series of succinct and well-organized chapters he explains how medals originated, to whom they were awarded and how the practice of giving medals has developed over the centuries. His work is a guide for collectors and for local and family historians who want to learn how to use medals to discover the history of military units and the experiences of individuals who served in them.

Over the ages and in all societies, gallantry in battle has been highly regarded, with the bravery of individuals and fighting forces being officially rewarded and publically recognised in a wide variety of ways, such as gifts of jewels or money, grants of land, promotions in rank or status etc. In Britain, it has been the practice since at least the mid-19C to award decorations – medals specifically conferred to reward bravery in action. With the growth of the British Empire in the late 19C, the waging of two World Wars, the campaigns that mark the end of Empire and a continuing UN and NATO role, Britain has produced a wide range of medals to reflect the gallantry of its own and Imperial fighting forces. Such rewards have been conferred upon men and women, in all theatres of war and amongst the whole range of its forces on the ground, in and under the sea, in the air and even “at home”. This new Spink book offers an introductory guide to British and Imperial medals for gallantry which have appeared since 1854 and which continue to be awarded to this day, illustrating the type of action which has led to the award of the various medals over nearly 200 years.

Britain has issued medals rewarding war service since at least the early nineteenth century, and increasingly through the period of its imperial expansion, but examples of many of the early types are now scarce. However, few families escaped some involvement with the 'Great War' of 1914–18 and many still treasure the medals awarded to their ancestors for wartime service. Today, with a growing interest in British military history and particularly in family history and genealogy, increasing numbers of people want to trace their ancestors' past. This book looks in detail at the origin, types and varieties of the British medals awarded for general war service between 1914 and 1918, and gives advice on researching the awards and their recipients.

This book presents a photographic record of the service of a distinguished county regiment whose origins go back to the Seven Years' War, in the middle of the eighteenth century. Formed in 1881, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the KSLI, formerly the 53rd and 85th Regiments, did tours of duty around the world in the days of the Empire - serving in India, the Far East, the West Indies, and the Mediterranean. This book also shows the KSLI on active service which took them to Egypt in 1882, the Sudan in 1885, and South Africa during the Boer War.Much expanded, the KSLI rendered outstanding service during the First World War. The eight battalions that went overseas served on the Western Front (notably in the Ypres Salient, on the Somme, and in the great offensives of 1918), in Palestine and in Salonika. During the Second World War, the KSLI played a major part in engagements in France in 1940, in Tunisia, in Italy and in North West Europe. Post-war campaigning took them back to Palestine, to Korea, and to Kenya, with peaceful interludes in Germany and Malaysia. The regiment ceased to exist as a distinct unit in 1968, when it was absorbed into the new Light Infantry as the 3rd Battalion.This fascinating book presents a vivid picture of the life of the regiment in times of peace and war through photographs from the regimental archives, the majority of which have never before been published.

As a border county of the ‘Marcher Lordships’, Shropshire was for centuries an active military zone. Its often turbulent past is reflected in the large number of castles in the county, in particular those lying along its western border with Wales.After outlining the history of castles in Shropshire – their origins and expansion under the Normans, their development during the middle ages and their subsequent fate or reappearance as county homes rather than fortifications – the authors provide a full, illustrated gazetteer of every visible castle (or castle remains) in the county. In particular they give details of many early castles that have never been covered in earlier works.This thorough but compact guide will prove an invaluable guide for residents and visitors alike.

This book surveys the medals awarded to British personnel for military service around the world and in two world wars. The campaign medals awarded for the military actions have become a popular field for collectors, since the majority of British awards were officially named, thus making it possible to research the military career of an individual or regiment. This second edition has been extended to include the operations of the British forces in the opening years of the twenty-first century.

Describes and illustrates many of the medals, including the Victoria Cross award, and the men and women who have been awarded them together with the award citations which are always remarkable and sometimes astounding.

In the days of Empire, thousands of British men and women spent their lives in India. The men found active employment in the Army, the police or Civil Service, in the Law or in commerce, banking, the railways or industry. The vast majority of these one-time inhabitants of India have left little evidence of their own careers and of the lives of the women, children and families who shared their experience of life under 'the raj'. This book records the history of one such family.

For generations, the county of Shropshire has maintained a range of volunteer military units - infantry, cavalry, artillery, medical and the rest - which have served effectively and loyally in peacetime and in war. In times of national emergency, their numbers have been swelled by the creation if new military formations, raised purely to meet the crisis of war and which, their duty done, have ceased to exist. This book (a companion to The King's Shropshire Light Infantry 1881 - 1968 in the Images of England series), presents a selection of photographs of these 'part-time' soldiers of Shropshire between peacetime and through two World Wars, on ceremonial duty, on active service and in training. The photographs follow the story of the Shropshire Yeomanry, the local Militia, the Rifle Volunteers, the Territorial Army and the Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery from the 1870s towards the present day, with additional glances at other short-lived or war-raised units which were called into existence as need demanded. As with other countries, Shropshire has fought hard to maintain its military connections and to preserve and enhance their fine reputation. It is hoped that the publication of these photographs will be a reminder of that proud heritage and be of general interest to military historians and to veterans and families of those who served their country. PETER DUCKERS is Curator of the Shropshire Regimental Museum in Shrewsbury Castle.