Lieutenant Colonel John Fryer

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel John Fryer

 1871-1920

 Mess Jacket, c. 1910

 

 Fryer was the son of Lieutenant General Sir John Fryer, KCB, who commanded the Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The younger Fryer became a second lieutenant in the 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars on November 26, 1890. He was made aide-de-camp to his father in 1894, who was posted to the Cork District of Northern Ireland. Fryer received his captaincy in 1899 and served in the Second Boer War with the 7th Hussars. He was mentioned in despatches for operations at Cape Colony in December of 1902. Fryer was then assigned as adjutant of the Sussex Imperial Yeomanry in 1903. He made major in 1910 and was later placed in command of the Southern Cavalry Depot at Bristol. Fryer was appointed a Brigade Major on January 5, 1912, and assigned to the Yorkshire Mounted Brigade, which consisted of the Yeomanry regiments of the three Ridings of Yorkshire. The regiments that comprised the Yorkshire Mounted Brigade were assigned to other formations in 1915 and the brigade ceased to exist. Promoted to a temporary lieutenant colonel, Fryer then went to France as a staff officer with the General Headquarters.

3rd Aberdeen (The Buchan) Rifle Volunteers

 

 

Subaltern, 3rd Aberdeen (The Buchan) Rifle Volunteers

 Full Dress, c. 1880

 

The 3rd Administrative Battalion, Aberdeenshire Rifle Volunteers, with headquarters at Peterhead, Scotland, was formed in January of 1862 from the 5th, 9th, 17th, and 20th Volunteer Rifle Corps.

In 1867 the 24th Corps, in 1868 the 25th Corps, and in 1872 the 26th Corps were formed and added to the battalion, which was granted the title "The Buchan," in 1868. The 24th Corps was amalgamated with the 9th Corps in 1875 and a new 24th Corps was formed.

The battalion was consolidated as the 5th Aberdeen (The Buchan) Rifle Volunteers in May of 1880, but was re-numbered as the 3rd in June. Headquarters were then established at Old Deer, Scotland. The old corps of the battalion were then formed into nine companies.

 

From Records of the Scottish Volunteer Force: 1859-1908, first published in 1909.

The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry

 

 

Other Ranks, The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry

Walking Out Dress, c. 1890

In 1798 The East Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry, The Berwickshire Yeomanry Cavalry, The Midlothian Yeomanry and The Royal Edinburgh Volunteer Light Dragoons (the Princess Street Lancers) were raised to provide a defense against the armies of Napoleon. In 1800 the last two of these amalgamated to form The Royal Midlothian Yeomanry Cavalry. A reduction in strength of all three at the end of the Napoleonic Wars was followed by an increase in recruitment during the unemployment and social unrest of the early nineteenth century.

All had been disbanded by 1838, only for the Midlothians to be formed again in 1843, followed by the East Lothians in 1846. In 1888 they became The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry, consisting of two troops from East Lothian, one from Berwickshire and one from Midlothian, and, in 1892, a West Lothian Troop was added.

In the Second Boer War, the regiment sponsored the 19th (Lothians and Berwickshire) Company, which served in the 6th (Scottish) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, in South Africa from 1900 until 1902.

 

The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry Resting on Belhaven Sands by R. Payton Reid, 1891.

---

 

Departed the collection in 2022.

Brigadier Herle Maudslay Hordern, OBE

 

 

Brigadier Herle Maudslay Hordern, OBE

 1892-1981

 Full Dress Tunic, c. 1914

 

 Hordern attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1913. As a Captain, he received the Military Cross for service in The Great War in 1918. Beginning in 1922, Hordern served with the Mechanical Warfare Experimental Establishment, which was responsible for the development of tanks and armoured vehicles. For this, he was appointed an Officer, Order of the British Empire in 1927. Hordern became Deputy Assistant Director of Mechanization in 1932. He was made Commandant of the Military College of Science in 1941 and made a Temporary Brigadier in 1942. Hordern retired in 1946 and was granted the honorary rank of Brigadier

9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

 

 

Captain, 9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

 Full Dress, c. 1909

 

The 1st Administrative Battalion, Dumbartonshire Rifle Volunteers, with headquarters at Balloch, Scotland, was formed in May of 1860. The Volunteer Rifle Corps included in it were the 1st through the 14th.

In April of 1880, the battalion was consolidated and retitled as the 1st Dumbartonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, with twelve companies and headquartered at Helensburgh, Scotland.

The battalion adopted the scarlet doublet with yellow facings, trews, and glengarry of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in March of 1887. Following the Haldane Reforms of 1907, the battalion was reconstituted as the 9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, and consisted of eight companies. It was then that the battalion adopted the kilt, hose, and sporran.

 

From Records of the Scottish Volunteer Force: 1859-1908, first published in 1909.

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North Deane Sismey

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North Deane Sismey

 1900-1993

 Mess Jacket, c. 1930

 

 Sismey graduated from Eton College in 1918 and became a second lieutenant in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps on July 16, 1920. He was advanced to lieutenant in 1922 and made adjutant in 1926. Sismey received his captaincy on July 16, 1929, and married Anna Laetitia Philips, the daughter of Brigadier Lewis Francis Philips in 1931. From 1935 to 1938, Sismey was on staff at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst as an instructor. He was promoted to major on August 1, 1938, and returned to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps by the year’s end. Sismey became a temporary lieutenant colonel in 1941 with the Second Battalion of the King’s Rifles. The Second Battalion had been reformed after having been lost during the defense of Calais, which allowed for the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force to proceed. In early 1942, Sismey took command of the Second Battalion, leading it during the Battle of Gazala during the North African Campaign. He relinquished command of the Second Battalion in August of 1942. Whilst with the First Battalion during the Italian Campaign, Sismey was mentioned in despatches in January of 1945. He retired with the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in 1948 and due to his age was released from the Reserve of Officers in 1951, but returned to the service as an officer in the Territorial Army on February 11, 1952, as a second lieutenant. Having been made a Deputy Lord Lieutenant for the County of Huntingdon on June 3, 1952, Sismey left the service again as a captain in 1956.

21st (Empress of India's) Lancers

 

 

Captain, 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers

 Mess Kit, c. 1900

 

The regiment was originally raised in Bengal by the East India Company in 1858 as the 3rd Bengal European Light Cavalry, for service in the Indian Rebellion. As with all other "European" units of the Company, it was placed under the command of the British Crown in 1858, and formally moved into the British Army in 1862, when it was designated as a hussar regiment and titled the 21st Regiment of Hussars.

In 1897 it was re-designated as a lancer regiment, becoming the 21st Lancers. The Indian origin of the regiment was commemorated in its "French grey" facings - this distinctive light blue/grey shade having previously been the uniform colour of the East India Company's eight regiments of Bengal Native Cavalry.

In 1898 the regiment served in Sudan during the Mahdist War, as the only British cavalry unit involved. It was there that the full regiment charged with lances in the classic cavalry style during the Battle of Omdurman. "Omdurman" was the regiment's only battle honour, giving rise to the satirical regimental motto of "thou shalt not kill." That same year, the regiment was given the title 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers, taking the name from Queen Victoria who was the Empress of India.

 

21st (Empress of India's) Lancers Mess Dress, 1901

By Richard Simkin
 

---

 

Departed the collection in 2022.