Finally, a little success and a kick in the teeth

Yesterday I spoke of the frustration I felt when so many of the enquiries I was presented with constantly came up against brick walls. MOD bombed out in WW2 or not, it made it very easy to become disenchanted with my lot.

However, today I had a good experience today, one that helped restore a little of the enthusiasm that i lost yesterday. My supervisor handed me a copy of an email he received through the usual channels to find the an uncle who had served with the regiment in WW1 and I went about the usual way of trying to track down this soldier in our records.

Normally, at this point, i'd head upstairs to the archive and find squat, but today I found far more than I expected. When i found the soldier's records through his unique serial number, the file in which I was searching was stuffed with hand drawn trench maps and letters from various officers at the front to the regimental headquarters. It wasn't just the feel of these nearly century old papers in my hands that got me, it was their relevance to the search I was carrying out, and the job i'd been assigned to do.

The guy's uncle turned out to have been present at a small-scale yet very significant engagement for the regiment, and within the files I found maps of the region it took place in; aerial reconnaissance photos of the moon-scape at the front, with barely recognisable features circled or labelled. And it just hit me like a ton of bricks, there was me bitching because I couldn't find the right file or find the service record of one man among a thousand. When you're surrounded by artifacts, it's strange but true to say that you sometimes forget the circumstances that forged these objects. As I leafed through the ancient, flaking paperwork, meticulously typed by a man in a dugout, I remembered why it was I wanted to do this work in the first place, it was to find men like this man's uncle, even if I only managed to find one in every four men I was asked to find, and feel the weight of history in my hands as I touched those papers. On a sad note though, when I got home and searched for the two villages that were featured in the reports: Rouex and Famboux neither Google nor the infinitely wise Wikipedia had ever heard of them, they, like so many of the men who died there, have been simply forgotten.

Needless to say, my zeal has been replenished. It was a high note of success today, and i'll try to recall that feeling whenever I feel dispondent in my search, and Keep Buggering On.

Names Lost in Time

So today was my first day at the Museum in Stirling, and I certainly don't regret going for it.

For my orientation today I was assigned the task of answering the correspondence of people who had contacted the regimental museum wanting to know more about their ancestors who had served with the Argylls.

To answer their questions and find out the histories of their relatives, I had to delve deep into paperwork that had not seen the light of day for a while! This was a real thrill for me, the tactile history of holding papers signed by Douglas Haig, or someones Victoria Cross citation, the hand drawn maps of enemy trench networks from the First World War. This is what I want from my career in history!

I was always advised to find work that feels like play and this certainly covers it! However there was a down side. Of four of the messages I researched and replied to today, only one provided a satisfactory answer to their enquiry. The lack of information you can uncover when you're surrounded by such a vast wealth of information is maddening! I was told that this is part of the job, that because of a mix of shoddy record keeping at certain times in the regiment's history and the fact that the MOD storage facility for records was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, the likelihood of finding all the information the people want is pretty slim.

The last enquiry I answered was one of these, someone wanting information about their relative who was a Regimental Sergeant Major for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at some point in the late 19th century. All I had to go on was a serial number and a name, so I had to put on my deerstalker and be a bit of a detective. However, despite trawling through the databases and the files; the obituaries, roll books, pay registers and even the personal diaries of the soldiers who served at that time I couldn't find a damn thing! You can't imagine the irritation I felt at that time, it was as if the poor sod had never even existed!

I had no choice but to reply to the person and tell them that our records held not mention of him and that he should attempt to contact the National Archives and the MOD's Scottish branches for records. I ended my email to them by saying that if they did find anything, would they please send that information to the Museum so that we can add it to our own, it's not fair for someone to be lost in time like that.

I meant it, i just hope to God it doesn't happen to me when I croak...

Milestone!

Thank you all for helping the blog to reach 250 views!

There should be more posts soon, starting my first day at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders museum on Monday afternoon. Lots to do, lots to discuss hopefully!

Got free time? Why not a historical thriller?

Thirteen Days - BBC Iplayer

A decent film on Iplayer at the moment, covering the fortnight of tensions surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. When I saw this again after watching Lincoln I saw a fair few parallels in style. If you saw Lincoln and liked it, you should enjoy this one: one century on, another president, another political shit-storm.

History in the Making, Where were you? A Curious Conclave?

Interesting developments in the last few days from the Holy See. As many of you will have heard, His Holiness the Pope has announced he will retire from office by the end of the month, the first Pope to do so in nearly 400 years.

The interesting thing is, Papal elections are performed by the College of Cardinals through Conclave , a election in which the Cardinals of the Catholic Church will elect the next Pope. With the Pope still alive, i'm interested to see how it will be done. Normally, the Pope dies in office and the Papal apartments are sealed  following his death. No wonder the Vatican is less than ecstatic about his resignation, he's forcing them to totally change their policy for elections! 

It'll be fascinating to see how this develops

History in the making! Where were you?

Richard III - The King in the Car Park

Great bit of history that I have been around for, the remains of King Richard III are identified in a car park in Leicester, England 600 years after his death. Successfully identified after the DNA of Richard's descendants was matched with that of the skeleton. Now famous traits such as his hunch and his feminine physique have been seen in the remains and he had a grisly end! Part of his skull appears to have been sliced away, a wound in the skull penetrated 4 inches into his brain and multiple lacerations on the face indicate a furious final battle at Bosworth in which Richard was clearly in the fray!

But how much about what we know about the "evil uncle" is true and what is fiction? Excellent documentary, unfortunately I doubt those outside the UK may view it on 4od, sorry!

A Fair Chance

Welcome back from the Christmas holidays, for me at least! Finally back at Uni after longer down south away from Scotland than I care to mention!

A promising step for me though today! Breaking News if you will!

I managed to secure myself a position for research and work at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders museum at Stirling Castle. According to the guys who interviewed me my duties will be to get through the archives (which i can say are massive!) and write up papers and new articles for their collections on the Regiment and its history. As if this wasn't enough i'll also be able to have the immense honour and pleasure of talking to Regiment's veterans who liase closely with the museum, to add their recollections to our collections as well.

"The Thin Red Line" The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Balaklava 1854

I feel this is a great opportunity for me and also for you! I intend to relay the information and the stories I uncover to you! So those who choose can share in the stories that I can hopefully recover from obscurity ( sounds a bit over zealous doesn't it?)