Description
Object description
Set of 71 original photographs regarding service of CSM Richard Harold Russell 551350 on the Western Front and in Finland during the North Russia Intervention.
Collection consists of:
1. Photograph of a group of troops of the 16th Battalion, London Regiment (Queen's Westminster Rifles) in Richmond Park, 1915.
2. Decorated officer (MC) of the Battalion with three soldiers in historical British Army uniforms from 1814, 1860 and 1914. Photograph taken in 1915.
3. Captain the Honorary Edward George William Knollys, officer of the Battalion (later on transferred to the Royal Flying Corps).
4. Group photograph of remnants of the 1/16th Battalion, London Regiment in 1918.
5. Two soldiers in "hospital blues" in the Bagthorpe Military Hospital, Easthorps, Nottingham, 1917. Corporal (then) Richard Russell is on the left.
6. Hospital ward in Stobhill, Glasgow, 1917.
7. Series of photographs of North Russia, mainly buildings in one of the cities, probably Murmansk, 1918-1919.
Separate series of photographs related to the eastablishment of the Finnish Legion, remnants of the Red Guards from the Finnish Civil War who decided to serve under the British command.
8. Lieutenant Colonel Warren DSO of the Royal Field Artillery.
9. Lieutenant Colonel Burton OBE (Canadian), the Commanding Officer of CSM Russell's unit, which probably was the Elope Force.
10. Emanuel Rae, Chief Interpreter.
11. General Carl Mannerheim, the leader of Finland.
12. Silhouettes of three soldiers of the Force (with their original signatures) from 1919: Battery Quartermaster Sergeant Dawson RFA; Company Sergeant Major Richard Harold Russell, the COs orderly; Battery Quartermaster Sergeant McDavid RGA.
13. Series of photographs taken in wintery conditions: British soldiers on a horse-drawn sleigh with female companions; British soldiers in an outdoors supply depot; female nurses and British soldiers in various locations; troops and civilians using horse-drawn sleigh for tranportation of supplies and timber; all photographs probably taken in Murmansk area.
14. Photographs captioned as "Opposing Factions": Finnish Red Guards in British Army uniforms; Finnish White Guards in German Army uniforms; and a photograph of a British officer with a soldier of the Finnish Legion captioned as "The Intermediaries".
15. Two photographs of the Finnish Legion troops on parade.
16. Series of photographs of various Royal Navy ships in the Baltic Sea: troopship SS Kursk in Leith and in the open sea; destroyer HMS Viceroy, pennant number F38; submarine HMS H48; and Finnish icebreaker Wainamoinen (Wäinämöinen) in Helsingfors (Helsinki) Bay.
17. Series of photographs taken aboard SS Kursk, August-September 1919: British soldier with a group of children; British soldiers at rest on board the ship; a nine years old boy in a British uniform called "Our Mascot".
18. Warships in harbour in the city of Abo (Turku), Finland; cathedral in Helsingfors (Helsinki).
19. Three images of individual British soldiers, amongst them CSM Richard Russell.
Collection also contains CSM Russell's detailed service history in print provided by his daughter.