Officer Gordon Highlanders, Tropical Sevice Dress

[fantomark]

Hi!

First of all my apologies for having disappeared from the Forum for such a long time!

I am still alive and kicking , as we say here, just really too much busy with work , etc. in the last couple of months.

Attached is my latest Victorian uniform effort: a Boer War Era Gordon Highlanders officer.

I turned up in this kit at STORITALIA re-enacting show in Cisliano (near Milan) on April 1st, 2012.
Unfortunately I was the only British Victorian Period re-enactor in the show!

Cheers!

Mark

[Mark]

Welcome back, Mark! Great photo - how many different uniforms do you have for re-enactment purposes?

Mark

[fantomark]

Unfortunately , there were no Dervishes , nor Afghan Ghazis around, so I had to improvise a "cold steel" hand to hand fight with an Italian Celtic Warrior instead.....

[fantomark]

Welcome back, Mark! Great photo - how many different uniforms do you have for re-enactment purposes?

Mark

Hi ,
Thanks, Mark - quite a few, in fact!
Later on, I will also post photos of a different uniform I was wearing on the Saturday (it was a 2 days event)...

Ciao!

mark

[fantomark]

BROTHER IN ARMS!!
At the time of the Sudan campaigns Great Britain and Italy were sort of allies in the Scramble for Africa - with Italy in an obvious subaltern position).
In fact Massowa was kindly donated by the UK to their Italian allies in 1885 as part of the Evacuation policy in the Sudan imposed by Britain on Egypt.
Some years later, when the Italian Government asked london for permission to organize an expedition to capture Kassala from the Dervishes (1894), with a view to expanding their East African Colony, Britain kindly granted her approval.
The italians quickly mounted a successful campaign capturing kassala in a short but bloody battle in the same year.
The Dervishes tried to recapture it in 1896 (just after the Italian disater of Adowa, at the hands of the Abyssinians), forcing the Italian garrison within the town and effectively putting Kassala under siege.
In spite of the critical moment (they were still licking their wounds after Adowa) the Italians managed to organize a successful relief column . The Kassala Relief Force successfully raised the siege and - assisted by the garrison - soundly smashed the Dervishes at the battles of Mokram and Tucruf.
However in 1897, with the Sudan Reconquest Campaign now on its way, London promptly asked that Kassala should be returned to Egypt, and the Italians meekly complied!


In he attached pic I stand between an Alpini (mountain troops) and a Bersaglieri (assault infantry) "veteran" soldiers.
The uniform shown is the one worn at the time of the Adowa and Kassala campaigns of 1896.
Due to the traditional bunch of cockerel feathers in their helmets, the Italian native troops called the Bersaglieri "Chicken Askaris" !!



Mark

[fantomark]

The event was a multi period one..
So you would see some improbable groupings of uniforms of totally different eras, like in the attached pic. here
However this is actually why I like multi-period events!

Ciao!

Mark

[fantomark]

Strictly speaking , on campaign, a straight cross hilted Broadsword would have been more appropriate for an officer in the Gordons (according to contemporary photos ).
However I thought the full dress basket hilt Broadsword definitely looked more "Scottish" , and therefore was better for the show !!

[fantomark]

... In any case , for some reasons, the most popular items in my GH kit happened to be my Victorian Dirk and sgian-dubh
(in fact in both cases good quality replicas - original ones would cost a fortune!)

[fantomark]

The kid was quite appropriate, but my mobile phone was a definite NO! NO!

[jf42]

Is it my imagination, Mark, or is the real reason for your silence that you were putting all your energies into growing that fine toothbrush moustache?

[fantomark]

Quite right, Quite right, old boy!

By the way, the wife does not like it : she says I look like an old walrus!!!
Mark

[fantomark]

In fact the moustache was originally grown for this definitely post Victorian and not entirely regulation Uniform, which I wore last March for a WWI/WWII rifle shooting copetition, in which - as usual - I competed with my SMLE N° 1 MK III

I betted that If I should end up among the first top four I would cut the moustache!!
However my prformance fell definitely short of my expectations, , actually finishing 12th out of about 30 competitors.

Generally you nearly always find only Mausers and Karl Gustavs at the top of the chart , and this competition was no exception !!

Ciao!



Mark

[Mark A. Reid]

Ciao Marco;

A newly joined major from the McTuscan Highlanders, I see!

Congratulations, you and your kit look excellent, especially the Sandhurst-issue mustache. It's the sort of small touch that makes the whole outfit look like an ensemble. I'll bet you got some pretty funny looks from the Italian locals, they can't be too used to seeing men in kilts running about?

Your account of Italian activity during the Mahdiya is most welcome, if only because those of us in the English-speaking world hear so little about it. In fact, the Egyptian garrison at Massawa was commanded by a Yousbashi Mustapha Sadik of the 1st Infantry Bn. Egyptian Army who had been told nothing about the Italian takeover. When the Italian ships dropped anchor he was completely gobsmacked and refused to co-operate, only agreeing to leave the fortifications when he was given a receipt and a letter explaining that he had only handed over the place to a vastly superior force. Sounds a bit like a theatrical farce!

According to Haggard in " Under Crescent and Star, " the Brits were horrified at the impractical nature of the Bersaglieri's black hats and loaned them a supply of pith helmets until they could be resupplied from Italy.

Tell your wife that I can send you some mustache wax of you plan to grow it any longer, that should really make her happy!

Ciao,
Mark

[fantomark]

Hi, Mark!

thanks for your encouraging comments on my moustache : but you must succeed in convincing my wife to allow me to keep them..
In the meantime I have arranged for a sort of truce: no moustache shaving until we debate the issue whe you an Carol come to see us !!



As to the occupation of Massowa, I am glad to see that you have an interest in It...

I do have quite a bit of information on the occupation of Massowa (including some pictures) and the Italian - Mahdist Wars : Unfortunately, all of it in Italian only...
As I told you , possibly the largest collection of Mahdist flags in the world is stored in the warehouse an obscure museum in Turin , away from private eyes, and that' is really a pity!

By the way did anybody know that before Wolseley's dash to Khartoum was launched, the Italians, so eager to please Britain, had proposed to send a Gordon relief Expedition made up of an Italian camel corps?
I even have the details of the proposed force - I will show them to you in about four weeks time, if of interest.

Finally , in case anybody would be interested in seeing illustrations of the Itailan-Abyssinian and Italian-Mahdist Campaign, I would be happy to post somepics on this Forum.
In this case, which would be the most appropriate section?

Cheers!

Mark

[Jonathan]

Marco,
We would love to read and see more about the Italian wars in Africa. I recommend posting in the "Other Victorian Wars Chat" section.

Thank you,
Jonathan

PS--It is great to see you posting here again!