In March 1902, Lieutenant General J.P. Redmond was buried with full military honours in Guildford cemetery. Officers past and present of his old regiment, the Glosters, sent a ‘magnificent wreath’, and a military carrying party from the 61st bore his body to the graveside. But, despite appearances, this was no ordinary old soldier’s funeral. After … Read more
The 1860s was a period in which physical-force nationalists were once again secretly organising and it was later claimed by the Fenian leader John Devoy that the IRB had recruited Irishmen to the Fenians from within the ranks of the 61st, as well as other British regiments. Devoy later recalled that ‘One of the most … Read more
The Indian Rebellion began when native soldiers of the East India Company mutinied in May 1857. The result of a number of grievances, it was triggered by the outrage of Hindu and Muslim sepoys at the use of rifle cartridges greased with beef and pork fat. Violence against white civilians angered British public opinion and … Read more
The Inquisitions are ‘treasury’ documents, recording the rights and privileges of the crown over land held by tenants-in-chief in Ireland. The Inquisitions Post Mortem were surveys undertaken by the court of chancery or exchequer at the time of death of the landholder. The earliest start in 1276 but there is a notable gap between the … Read more
An exhibition—‘George Catlin: American Indian Portraits’—opened earlier this year in the National Portrait Gallery, London, with the bull buffaloes of British art criticism, Brian Sewell and Andrew Graham-Dixon, locking horns over whether the self-taught Pennsylvanian was any use as a painter. The show has since moved to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. It is … Read more