Description
Object description
2 albums of prints and loose negatives covering the service of Major Ludlow Sealy-King OBE with various battalions of the Royal Munster Fusiliers from 1910 to 1919. Pre-1914 photographs include 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers on parade at Tidworth in 1910; the battalion's colours and drums; a full-length portrait of Colonel R C Boyle and formal group photograph of officers of the battalion (all named) during 1910 manoeuvres at Blandford. Other photographs taken at Blandford show men cleaning kit and F Company on a route march. There is also a series of photographs relating to the battalion's role in the South Wales coal strike (1910-11). These show members of the unit and the Metropolitan Police at Gilfach Goch, Glamorgan; the Britannic coal mine and general views of Gilfach Goch village. Additionally, four prints record the winning of the Connaught Shield by the 2nd Battalion at Aldershot in 1914. Finally, for this battalion, dating from before the First World War, are images of the Regimental Depot and Officers' Mess at Tralee and a good photograph of the unit on Church Parade in Aldershot on St Patrick's Day, 1914. Pre-1914 photographs covering other battalions and regiments include a formal group of officers (all named) of 4th Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers at Granmore, County Galway, July 1913 and the lines of 4th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters in Strensall Camp during floods in July 1912. There are also individual portraits of officers including: Hawkes (2nd RMF), F B W Macpherson (4th King's), L S King and T G Eustace (4th RMF), B Egar (3rd RMF). Of particular interest are two photographs of Desmond-Arthur (5th RMF) alongside aircraft with a note in the album stating that he was killed whilst flying at Montrose on 27 May 1913.
The collection also offers excellent coverage of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers on the Western Front during 1915. Members of the unit are shown in the trenches and at billets, with many of the officers and NCOs being named and an indication given as to whether they were killed or wounded. Photographs include officers at billets in Richbourg, April 1915; scenes in the trenches at Neuve Chapelle; dugouts and billets at Festubert; Capt Hawkes sniping from trenches at Rue de Bois, April 1915 and a battalion machine-gun post. The wartime part of the collection also includes a series of postcards of French and Belgian towns and villages all with a date written underneath. These dates probably correspond to the time Major Sealy-King's battalion was at each location. Another interesting set of photographs are four showing damage done by bombs dropped from a Zeppelin on South Shields in June 1915. From later in the war and the years immediately afterwards are formal group photographs depicting officers and NCOs of the 4th Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers at Portabello in Edinburgh during May 1918 and officers of the 3rd Battalion at Plymouth in January 1919.