Author: | G I S Inglis | ISBN: | 9781783461080 |
Publisher: | Pen and Sword | Publication: | February 23, 2011 |
Imprint: | Pen and Sword Military | Language: | English |
Author: | G I S Inglis |
ISBN: | 9781783461080 |
Publisher: | Pen and Sword |
Publication: | February 23, 2011 |
Imprint: | Pen and Sword Military |
Language: | English |
Raised by the Mayor of Kensington, the 22nd Royal Fusiliers (the Kensington Battalion) were a strange mixture of social classes (bankers and stevedores, writers and laborers) with a strong sprinkling of irreverent colonials thrown in. Such a disparate group needed a strong leader and, luckily, in Randle Barratt Barker, they found one, first as their trainer and then as the Commanding Officer.
As this superb book reveals The Kensington Battalion had a unique spirit and given their ordeals they needed this. They suffered severely in the battles of 1917 and, starved of reinforcements, were disbanded in 1918. Yet thanks to a strong Old Comrades Association, a special magazine Mufti, welfare work and reunions the Battalion’s close spirit lived on.
The author has successfully drawn on a wealth of first hand material (diaries, letters and official documents) as well as interviews from the 1980s to produce a fitting and atmospheric record of service and sacrifice.
Raised by the Mayor of Kensington, the 22nd Royal Fusiliers (the Kensington Battalion) were a strange mixture of social classes (bankers and stevedores, writers and laborers) with a strong sprinkling of irreverent colonials thrown in. Such a disparate group needed a strong leader and, luckily, in Randle Barratt Barker, they found one, first as their trainer and then as the Commanding Officer.
As this superb book reveals The Kensington Battalion had a unique spirit and given their ordeals they needed this. They suffered severely in the battles of 1917 and, starved of reinforcements, were disbanded in 1918. Yet thanks to a strong Old Comrades Association, a special magazine Mufti, welfare work and reunions the Battalion’s close spirit lived on.
The author has successfully drawn on a wealth of first hand material (diaries, letters and official documents) as well as interviews from the 1980s to produce a fitting and atmospheric record of service and sacrifice.