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Happy Birthday elin_gregory and essayel! Here is a very special birthday salute for you. This charge is played by Trumpeter Landfrey, one of the surviving trumpeters from the charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava, October 25, 1854. The recording was made in 1890 and the bugle Landfrey is playing was used at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

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Last weekend's visit to Culzean reminded me of something I've been meaning to post since this time last year! As well as the beautiful castle and grounds, Culzean also has a rather good second hand bookshop. While we were there last summer I picked up three volumes of the 1909 edition of W.H. Fitchett's How England Saved Europe, which is ( Read more... )

Meanwhile in Glasgow....

When I nipped out at lunchtime today I discovered a large military presence in George Square. Thankfully these splendid gentlemen were there for the Glasgow International Piping Festival which is on this week.


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Continuing the story of Captain George Cadogan and his involvement with the influential Wellesley and Paget families. This section and all quotes are summarised from Robert Pearman’s account of the lives of George and Henry Cadogan The Cadogans at War 1783 - 1864. The Third Earl Cadogan and His FamilyGeorge Cadogan returned to England in July 1807 ( Read more... )

I don't usually go for military types but these guys were just to camp too resist. I picked them up in the antique print shop just outside Katikati in New Zealand and I have no idea of their date or provenance. There were about a dozen other prints in this series, mostly of French and German regiments though there was one Highland regiment ( Read more... )

There is a nice article on the bbc website today about a new exhibition at the National Army Museum called Wives and Sweethearts: Love on the Front Line. As the title suggests, the exhibition, which spans over two hundred years from the 18th century to the present day, focuses on soldiers' relationships through a moving collection of letters, ( Read more... )