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Rifle Brigade   26 Books
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"For Remembrance" In Commemoration of Port Elizabeth's "22" Machine Gun Section Which Left on 17th August 1915 to Join Kitchener's Army for Duty in France. 1st Ed., orig. printed wraps., 32pp., 18 photos. & portraits. Port Elizabeth: Printed & Published by J.W. Ware & Co., For Private Circulation. nd (c.1919).  #57969
[HLMainPic] In a stirring example of colonial loyalty to the Mother Country a group of 22 South Africans, veterans of the GSWA campaign with the then disbanded Prince Alfred's Guard, decided to privately form a machine gun section, sail to England & offer their services to the War Office. This democratic band even elected their officer, Nothard, who later won two MCs. They were accepted by the WO & posted en masse to the 13th (S) Bn. Rifle Brigade, joining it in France in October 1915 & after some months of front line service took part in that battalion's tragic attack at Contalmaison in July 1916. The group was gradually split up by death (5), wounds (7), appointments to commissions (7), illness &c., but the 'South African Mob' remained alive in the memory of the 13th RB for many years. This rare pamphlet contains an account of their adventures written by several survivors, also including letters from the front from several others, a number of portraits, roll of the group & obit. of one of them loosely inserted. VG. See illustrations on our website.   £225
Geoffrey Watkins Smith. 1st Ed., 219pp., 197x133mm, portrait frontis., 7 plates. Oxford: Printed for Private Circulation. 1917  #57832
[HLMainPic] Geoffrey Watkins Smith was born in 1881 at Beckenham, Kent. He was a Scholar at Winchester and New College, Oxford, taking a First and becoming a Fellow and Tutor at New College. A distinguished zoologist, he was commissioned in 13th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade, in 1914 & commanded "A" Coy. in France until his death on the Somme on 10th July 1916 during the battalion's attack at Contalmaison. He was thirty-four years old and is buried in Pozieres Military Cemetery. This memorial contains around 60pp. letters in training & at the front; also biography, lists of scientific publications &c. Grey paper covd. boards with wheat cloth backstrip. Number 116 of 125 individually numbered copies printed, "Each copy is to be numbered & presented to a near relation or intimate friend & the name inscribed." This copy presented to G.F. Simonds, who also was at New College & served in the war at a Lt. with 2/4th Berkshire Regt. & MGC until invalided in August 1916. Minor wear, VG & rare. See illustration on our website.   £225
Gilbert Walter Lyttelton Talbot. Born September 1, 1891. Killed in Action, July 30, 1915. 1st Ed., 104pp., real photo. portrait frontis. Printed for Private Circulation by the Chiswick Press. 1916  #57997
[HLMainPic] Lt., 7th (S) Bn. Rifle Brigade, KiA at Hooge 30th July, 1915, for whom Talbot House was named by his brother Neville, a co-founder with 'Tubby' Clayton. A memoir of his life at Winchester & Oxford (where he was President of the Union) with around 20pp. letters & diary from the front, May-July 1915, also letters of condolence & several accounts of the fighting at Hooge. Rare original privately printed edition with real photo. portrait frontis., inscription on half-title: "To General Sir Edward Hutton in memory of Gilbert Talbot from his mother. Oct. 1916. + Hooge July 30 1915." Plus loosely inserted letter to Gen. Hutton from Mrs. Talbot: "My Dear Sir Edward... I think I feel the tragic side more from reading yr. account of the Hooge disaster on July 30th than I ever did before & that is saying a good deal. It is not the falling in the fight, or being defeated when the odds are too strongly against one - but what seemed so tragic was the handling of those fine, splendidly trained young fellows with their platoons ready to follow them to the death in a way which led so certainly to disaster... as General Nugent said, 'Knowing as I am certain they did that they were going to certain death'... I hope you will have received my little book by now... I am your very sincerely, Lavinia Talbot." Orig. printed paper covd. boards with cloth backstrip, minor wear, very nice association copy. See illustrations on our website.   £225
James Colin MacLehose 2nd Lieut., Rifle Brigade 1897-1917. 1st Ed., 39pp., 5 portraits, 2 other plates. Glasgow: Printed for Private Circulation at the University Press. 1918  #57831
[HLMainPic] MacLehose was elder son of J.C. Maclehose, publisher to Glasgow University, & his wife Mary. Ed. at Rugby 1911-16; from school he went to the 4th Cadet Bn. at Oxford, was commissioned in the Rifle Brigade in November & joined 16th (S) Bn. in France in Jan. 1917. He was KiA in a night raid east of Ypres on 14th Feb. - rather less than six weeks after arriving - his last words as he was wounded being "Carry on, men, carry on." He was leading a raiding party and had not even reached the German wire when mortally wounded. The raid failed, the wire being uncut by the artillery preparation. Brown cloth with leather sp. label, another version seen, bound in brown paper covd. boards with gilt title to sp. VG. See illustration on our website.   £145
No. 26/451 Rfmn. Clarence Walter Hills. 4th Bn. 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Fine full-length studio portrait in NZRB uniform & slouch hat by Ray Tinsley of Palmerston North, contained in the studio's brown cards wraps. (258x172mm) with glazed overlay to the portrait, this inscribed by the subject: "To Margaret & Harold. With Best Wishes from Larry. Address L. Cpl. C.W. Hills 26/451 8th Platoon "B" Company 4th Battalion Earl of Liverpool's Own N.Z.R.B. c/o G.P.O. Wellington."  #58258
Hills was the son of The Rev. John William Hills & Elizabeth Hannah Hills of Mission House, Malua, Samoa, where he was born in 1897. He was KiA near Flers on the Somme, 24th Sept. 1916 & is buried in Bulls Road Cemetery, Flers. Sixty-six inhabitants of Samoa served in WW1 of whom fourteen died on service. Fine portrait & VG. See illustration on our website.   £45
The History of the London Rifle Brigade 1859-1919. 1st Ed., text & mapcase: xx+515p., 6 plates, 17 sketch maps in text + 5 lge. fldg. maps in separate case. Constable. 1921  #58116
[HLMainPic] 5th Londons F&F 1914-18 Plugstreet, 2nd Ypres, 1/7/16 at Gommecourt &c. Detailed & readable history with num. anecdotes &c. Appendices inc. officers' services, awards. Complete: text + 5 fldg. maps in separate mapcase. Orig. green cloth, silver gilt, VG. See illustration on our website.   £50
Two Men: A Memoir. 1st Ed., viii+302pp., 2 portraits, 4 plates. Oxford: Univ. Press. 1919  #57834
[HLMainPic] A joint memoir of E.H.L. Southwell & M.G. White, both of whom were masters at Shrewsbury School, & close friends who referred to one another as "Man" and were collectively known as "The Men." Both were commissioned in the Rifle Brigade early in the War, both were killed on the Somme and both are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Evelyn Herbert Lightfoot Southwell was Ed. at Eton & Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a distinguished "Wet Bob" (or oarsman) at Eton. He became an assistant master at Shrewsbury in 1910. He was gazetted to the Rifle Brigade in 1915 & posted to the 13th (Service) Battalion at Perham Down, then to the 15th (Reserve) Battalion. Posted to the 9th (Service) Battalion in France on 30th Sept. 1915 & KiA 15/9/1916 near Delville Wood. Malcolm Graham White was born in 1887, Ed. Birkenhead School & King's College, Cambridge. He was briefly an assistant master at Marlborough before moving to Shrewsbury in 1910. He was gazetted to the 6th (SR) Battalion, Rifle Brigade in 1915 and posted to the 1st Battalion in France in January 1916. He was killed in action in the battalion's attack near Serre on 1st July 1916, has no known grave, & is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Includes Southwell's letters written from Shrewsbury & the Front to various friends & family members, also diary extracts from France. The letters/diary give some impression of his experiences & refer to various friends on active service & several brother officers in his bn. Also extracts from White's diary kept on the Western Front. Fairly brief daily entries give some account of his experiences supplemented by extracts from his letters. Orig. paper covd. boards with paper label to front & black printed linen backstrip, VG. This copy includes a typed index of names of officers of the RB mentioned in the letters &c. See illustration on our website.   £90
BERKELEY (Capt. R., MC) & SEYMOUR (Brig. W.W.) The History of the Rifle Brigade in the War of 1914-1918. 1st Ed., 3 Vols., Vol. I: Aug. 1914-Dec. 1916; Vol. II: Jan. 1917-June 1919; Appendix: Lists of Officers & Other Ranks of the R.B. awarded decorations or MiD for services during the Great War (Comp. Lt.-Col. T.R. Eastwood, DSO, MC & Major H.G. Parkyn, OBE). xvi+245 & xv+409pp., 28 plates, 52 maps (14 fldg.); Appendix: [v]+105pp. 4to. The RB Club. 1927; 1936; 1936. 1927  #57013
[HLMainPic] Excellent history. Every notable action of all bns. described, many in great detail (all but one bn. served Western Front). Vol. II includes the indices; main index which is almost entirely names & index by bns. of their activities in chronological order & an index of actions. Rifle green cloth, silver gilt, VG throughout (inc. Vol. I which is generally rather worn due to earlier publication & inferior cloth), good set & very scarce. See illustration on our website.   £245
CURLING (Henry) Ed. Recollections of Rifleman Harris. 2nd Imp., xvii+191pp., ep map. Peter Davies (Soldiers' Tales series). 1929  #35609
Classic 95th Rifles memoir of Corunna & Walcheren. Sp. & edges of boards sunned o/w VG.   £10
DURAND (Major A.T.M., TD) & HASTINGS (Major R.H.W.S., DSO, OBE, MC) The London Rifle Brigade 1919-1950. 1st Ed., xi+320pp., 27 photos., 9 maps. Aldershot: G&P. 1952  #58102
[HLMainPic] Battalions were known as 7th & 8th Bns. Rifle Bde. during WW2: Western Desert, Italy, NW Europe. Roll of Hon, awards. Orig. green cloth, silver gilt, VG. See illustration on our website.   £45

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