Posts Tagged ‘National War Museum-Scotland’

Epaulettes of Ensign and Lieutenant Fotheringham - Scots Fusilier Guards

The Scots Fusilier Guards landed at Kalamita Bay in the Crimea in September 1854, as part of the Guards Brigade, 1^st Division, English Army of the East.  These were Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s elite personal guards.  In the Crimea the Guards Brigade consisted of the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, and Scots Fusilier Guards.  The Guards’ battle honours include Alma, Inkerman, and the Siege of Sevastopol.

Although they may have modified or discarded uniform parts later, when the Guards Brigade landed, the officers wore their full dress parade uniform with epaulettes and bearskin cap.  The photograph is of a fine example of Scots Fusilier Guards officer’s epaulettes, worn by Ensign and Lieutenant Fotheringham.

They are identified as Scots Fusilier epaulettes belonging to a subaltern (Lieutenant) by the thistle standing alone on the strap within the crescent.  A Captain would have had the same thistle with a crown on the epaulette, and a field officer would have had a Saint Andrew’s star, with crown above it.  There was also a difference in the size and shape of the bullion descending from the crescent depending on the rank.

Scots Fusilier Guards records indicate that Fotheringham served honourably in the Crimea.  He left active service as a Lieutenant and Captain in 1859.

This artifact was photographed courtesy of the National War Museum, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The real Bob. He can be seen at the National War Museum-Scotland, at Edinburgh Castle

Sticks survived the Crimean War, and came home a hero in his own right.  His comrades in the Scots Fusilier Guards even fashioned a medal for him.  As they made their grand victory march through the London streets, past their beloved Queen Victoria, Sticks led the regiment.

His heroic deeds in the Crimea were legend.  He even disappeared for weeks from the frozen trenches before Sevastopol.  He returned wearing a Russian religious medal around his neck.  The Sergeant Major winked, and said, “Guess the damned Ruskies know a good dog when they see one, aye.  Glad ta hav ye back laddie.”

Private Gorman also survived the war.  He left the Scots Fusilier Guards a few years later, but Sticks chose to remain.  He had found a home, indeed a calling.  Sean knew it as well.  Sticks didn’t belong to him.  He belonged to the Scots Fusilier Guards, and still does – in memory.

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Yes, there was a real Sticks, but his name was “Bob.”  He did belong to a butcher, but may well have chosen the life of a soldier, rather than having been rescued by one, as in my fictional tale.  He fought in many of the battles in the Crimean War beside his comrades in the Scots Fusilier Guards, and survivied the war.

He even survived the freezing trenches of that first winter of 1854.  His mates did fashion a medal for him, and a collar of white belt leather, festooned with regimental buttons.

Unfortunately, the irony of fate caught up to Bob.  On a cold February morning in 1860, he was marching through London in his usual place at the head of the Scots Fusilier Guards.  Outside Buckingham Palace he was run over by a butcher’s cart and died as a result of the accident.

Much mourned, his spirit lives on, even today.  You see his friends just couldn’t let him go.  They had him preserved, and he can be seen by all of you – sitting tall, still on guard duty, at the National War Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my tale about Sticks as much as I’ve enjoyed spinning it for you.

In memory of Bob … a warrior.