Story Category: Legacy

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

It’s a great privilege to be part of the conservation team at the Royal Pavilion and we wanted to share a little of what we do with you.

The Conservation team includes specialists in Buildings, Objects, Gilding, Paper, Glass and Paintings Conservation, three Assistant Conservators and Conservation Technicians and as a department we are responsible for the preservation, conservation and restoration of the buildings and collections, ensuring that they are safeguarded for present and future generations.

The Royal Pavilion and Museums consist of five different sites with a broad range of collections in each. These are the Booth Museum of Natural History, Preston Manor, Hove Museum, Brighton Museum and the Royal Pavilion.

The work we undertake is varied and interesting and it’s a pleasure to work in such inspiring surroundings.

Anne Sowden – Decorative Artist and Glass Conservator

Anne Sowden at work in the Saloon

I am Anne Sowden and I have worked in the department as Decorative Artist and Glass Conservator for 30 years.

After completing a degree course in Fine Art (Painting), I worked in museums and trained in conservation. I then worked in the ceramics industry as a designer dealing with both the creative and technical sides of the process.

My role here involves the conservation, restoration and recreation of decorative schemes. I also look after the chandeliers and lanterns in the Royal Pavilion. All of this can only be undertaken after careful research.

At present, I am working on the Saloon restoration project. I have designed the carpet, based on a fragment of the original Saloon carpet and on documentary and visual evidence. I am now recreating the hand painted wall decoration. A rigorous study and analysis of the original fragments of the 1822 Robert Jones scheme have informed the work.

Andy Thackray – Objects Conservator

Andy Thackray, Objects Conservator

I’m responsible for the conservation of 3D objects from the RPM collections. With such broad and eclectic collections, this means I get to work with a wide range of objects and materials. Objects can range from taxidermy from the Booth Museum, to furniture from the Royal Pavilion, silver giltware from the Decorative Arts Collection, historic toys from Hove Museum or mummified animal remains from the Egypt Collection. My work is generally driven by major redisplay projects, exhibitions work, and preventive conservation priorities.

I am also responsible for managing the Assistant Conservators and Collections Care team who carry out vital preventive conservation work to keep the collections in the best condition possible for future generations to enjoy.

Amy Junker Heslip – Paper Conservator

Paper Conservation in progress

As the paper conservator at Royal Pavilion & Museums I am responsible for looking after all works on paper in the collection. This can vary from archive material, photographs, historic wallpaper, prints, drawings, pastels and more!

My days are varied and can involve tasks such as small repairs in situ of wallpaper that may have been damaged around the Pavilion or getting works ready for in house exhibitions or external loans — I’m currently working on loans to Tunbridge Wells, Paris and New York. My days are also spent working on my rolling programme of rehousing and conserving works in the collection which is curator led. I might also be carrying out handling training for in house staff and volunteers, giving a Bite-sized Talk in the museum or working with the rest of the conservation team on a large project. At the moment the Saloon project is keeping everyone busy but I suspect another of the team will write more about that in their blog.

In short, it’s a busy, wonderful place to work. I come across some fantastic and fascinating objects and get to work pretty closely with them. I look forward to sharing more about that with you soon.

Hannah Young – Assistant Conservator

Hannah Young at work

I’m an Assistant Conservator at the Royal Pavilion & Museums, concentrating on the remedial conservation of objects.

I am lucky enough to work on a broad variety of objects and different materials from the collections which spread over the five museums.

My material specialism is in metalwork conservation, of which there are many objects to keep me busy, but I also work on other objects ranging from toys and furniture to the repair of taxidermy birds and animals, which is a new interest for me.

I am currently assisting in our main conservation project which involves the restoration of the Saloon, one of the principle rooms in the Pavilion. Through this I am learning to water gild under the instruction of the Pavilion’s Gilding Conservator.

Hannah Young, Assistant Conservator

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The 7th July 2016 marked the centenary Queen Mary’s Workshop on the East Lawn in the Royal Pavilion Garden. During the years 1916 to 1920, the Royal Pavilion was transformed into the Pavilion Military Hospital for Limbless soldiers, which included a workshop to provide classes for amputees to learn new skills and prepare for work in civilian life.

Over the workshop ran the motto ‘Hope Welcomes All Who Enter Here’, which is said to have been chosen by Queen Mary herself. It was a literary reference to the words over the gate to Hell in Dante’s L’Inferno, ‘Abandon Hope All Who Enter Here.’ These men had already experienced the Hell of trench warfare and now were encouraged to look towards the future with hope.

Queen Mary’s Workshop on the East Lawn of the Royal Pavilion

Before the First World War, disabled veterans depended on the goodwill of charities, but with increasing numbers of amputees returning from the battlefields the government took action to prepare the men for civilian life. The workshop was the first step to help amputees find jobs if they were no longer able to return to their previous work. Here they could retrain in a number of trades, such as typing, carpentry, motor mechanics, shoe repair and cinema projection operating.

There is rarely a mention of Queen Mary’s workshop without reference to its Superintendent, Mr A G Baker. He stated that his aim was to give ‘a higher form of education than they had previously had’ as many soldiers will have left school by the age of 12 and only been trained for manual work.

Although only in his forties, Mr Baker had retired from business at the beginning of the war to offer his skills to the war effort. He is described as bringing ‘kindness, tact and devotion’ to his work, and as being highly respected by all.

Superintendent of Queen Mary’s Workshop, Mr A G Baker The Pavilion “Blues”, November 1916

Each new patient would be visited by Mr Baker soon after their arrival and assessed as to whether he would be able to continue his previous job in civilian life. If he needed to be retrained, he would then be encouraged to sign up for 18 to 22 hours of classes a week to fit around his medical treatment.

Students learning typing skills at Queen Mary’s Workshop.
The Pavilion “Blues”, December 1916

As well as preparing the men for work, classes also kept the men occupied during long periods of treatment at the hospital. Mr Baker was concerned that the men could become institutionalised and writes:  ‘Card playing is the most formidable hindrance; once a man has got into a group of gamblers, he can only be got out of it by fatherly kindness and firmness.’ (Reveille No 1 August 1918)

In addition, a Red Cross report refers to the work done at Brighton as and comments that classes also helped the men to exercise their limbs and speed up healing (The Development in England of a State System for the Care of the Disabled Soldier John Culbert Faries, PhD). Indeed, it is referred to as an early form of occupational therapy. 

The Mechanics class at Queen Mary’s Workshop The Pavilion “Blues”, December 1916

The workshop opened without ceremony, so that classes could start as soon as possible and the formal opening by Lady Falmouth took place a month later on 9th August 1916. Queen Mary herself did not visit for two more years, but when she did, her visit was filmed by British Pathe News. This can be viewed at the exhibition Pavilion Blues: Disability & Identity. 

A stall celebrating the work carried out at Queen Mary’s Workshop in honour of her visit on 9th August 1918. The Pavilion “Blues” September 1918

When the men returned to civilian life, further formal training was offered at technical colleges in addition to the war pension. However, the reality of the post war years meant that jobs were scarce and only about 90% of amputees were able to find work in the early days after the war. They formed Limbless Associations to offer each other support, which eventually combined to create the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association (BLESMA).

The efforts of Mr Baker and his staff were not forgotten as their work here at the Pavilion Military Hospital, as well as at Queen Mary’s, Roehampton, became the model for the Ministry of Pensions’ training scheme for veterans.

There is a postscript to this story as the workshop was moved to Hollingbury Golf Course where it served as the clubhouse for many years until it was finally demolished.

Jo Palache, Oral History and Life History Researcher

More about the Pavilion Military Hospital can be learnt in the exhibition Pavilion Blues: Disability & Identity and The Royal Pavilion as a Hospital for Limbless Soldiers.  All editions of The Pavilion “Blues” magazine are available to be downloaded from the Royal Pavilion & Museums Image Store, free of charge.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Have you heard the expression ‘lupus in fabula’? It means ‘the wolf in the tale’. Well, at Hove Museum we have ‘museum in fabula’ – we are putting the museum in the tale! What do we mean? We have the Fabula Collective as artists in residence at Hove Museum.

We have invited Fabula Art Collective to use our space for inspiration, new readings and interpretations of the collections. The residency runs for five months and will culminate in the exhibition ‘Many ways to tell a story’ (December 2016 – March 2017).

A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.

ICOM (International Council of Museums), Vienna, 2007.

Museums are not just about the pure observation of inanimate works of art; museums are interactive and dynamic because they are made of people. The definition of museums is constantly evolving, in line with developments in society. I love this evolution and I like to see that museums are not just static institutions that hold collections or are touristic attractions. Museums are nowadays playing a powerful role with communities and can offer a wide variety of benefits: they are active spaces for connection and meeting, for learning and sharing, for meditation and conversation. They can be a space for growing through reflection and action, observation and dialogue.

And this is exactly the purpose of Hove Museum’s artists in residence programme: make the museum a working space, open to research, questions and answers.

Fabula is a multi-disciplinary, Brighton based collective which formed in 2014. The group originated among students from the MA Sequential Design/Illustration and the MA Arts and Design by Independent Project courses at the University of Brighton. The group is made up of 21 local and international artists coming from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines including illustration, moving image, writing, narrative textiles, art therapy, fine art, and graphic desig,n and are connected by a desire to tell stories through images, objects and text.

Fabula are working on personal research in response to the collections of Hove Museum but also on a collaborative project inspired by fairy stories and the museum’s artworks. Every other Monday starting on 4 July and running until the exhibition opens in December, they are ‘invading’ the galleries and the workshop space.

I was lucky to see them in action last Monday: some of them were sketching in the Toy Gallery and in the Contemporary Craft Gallery and others were focused on developing personal research in the education room.

We are really exited to have them around concentrating on their work but at the same time open to engage with the public who have the opportunity to interact with them. The artists are easy to recognize – they are the ones with the sketchbooks and black t-shirts with a question mark. We encourage our visitors to take advantage of their presence and stop to chat with them. Ask them about their project and find out more about their art.

The exhibition in which the residency will culminate will be a fantastic opportunity to discover the museum from a different perspective, to look at it with the eyes of the artists who have turned the museum collections into magic stories. This will include a rich programme of activities open to a wide range of audiences. For children and families there will be storytelling (including mysterious ghost stories inspired by the museum’s collections) and practical making workshops. Fabula are also planning a series of adult story making workshops and a day seminar on illustration. All workshops will be led by members of the collective themselves, with input from guest specialists. There will be something for everybody’s taste, so keep up to date and follow this work in progress through our website and social networks.

You can also follow the Fabula blog for a weekly update.

You can meet the artists in residence next Monday August, then every second week following. Entry at Hove Museum is free so just come along, discover our collections and exhibitions, and get to know the individual and collective stories held by our museum. Museums are not It, museums are Us. 

Martina Bellotto, Hove Museum Assistant

More information

• Visiting Hove Museum
• Fabula Collective website

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

For me, a highlight of working with museum collections is the little ‘side alley’ of information I can often find myself disappearing down. In my current role as collection assistant I am working with material from the Barnes Collection of film-related ephemera at Hove Museum, ensuring it is catalogued on our collections database and scanning images of the documents.

This is part of a wider project funded by the John Ellerman Foundation called ‘Film Pioneers’ which includes a review of the Media & Film collection, improved documentation of the objects, and a forthcoming exhibition ‘Experimental Motion’ in the Spotlight Gallery at Brighton Museum.

The Barnes Collection was gathered by twin brothers William and John Barnes and formed the basis of their Museum of Cinematography in St Ives, Cornwall. William ‘the archaeologist’ would seek out the items, from postcards to early cine cameras, which enabled John ‘the interpreter’ to piece together the history of early film making and cinema. As well the equipment, the Barnes brothers kept all kinds of printed ephemera such as programmes and catalogues, and also newspaper cuttings. It was a series of these cuttings which caught my attention.

Over the years there has been much debate about who actually invented ‘the moving picture’. The name William Friese-Greene is often cited and this is probably largely due to the influence of the 1951 film ‘The Magic Box’, based on a biography of Friese-Greene by Ray Allister. ‘The Magic Box’ was released to coincide with the Festival of Britain, and the producers had clearly gone to a lot of effort in gathering a star-studded cast of British actors to tell the story of this great British invention, The Cinema. Both the book and the film are considered to have presented a ‘romanticised’ account of the facts (laced with many fictions).

One of the minor figures in the film is Rudge, an inventor with whom Friese-Greene worked. It is thought that Rudge’s early experimentation in creating moving images influenced Friese-Greene, who adopted the same ideas and expanded them. Many film historians now dismiss Friese-Greene’s contribution to the advancement of cinematic technology, as others working in the field at the same time produced more successful equipment, but there is no doubt that Friese-Greene and his mentor experimented enthusiastically towards this goal.

So who was Rudge?

John Arthur Roebuck Rudge was born in Bath on 26 July 1837, 179 years ago today. His friends called him a ‘JAR of Knowledge’ (in reference to his initials) and his work ranged from penny-in-the-slot machines to early x-ray apparatus. He was the inventor of the Biophantascope, a type of magic lantern designed to project a sequence of still photographs so as to create the illusion of movement on screen. One of his early experiments features a young boy, Frank Huxtable. Frank was photographed making a variety of facial expressions which were then animated using the Biophantoscope.

Newspaper article 26th July 1938

Many of the newspaper cuttings relating to Rudge are of the ‘letter to the editor’ type, written to the Bath Chronicle and Herald by Ernest Crawford, viewed as a somewhat eccentric character himself. Ernest by name, earnest by nature it seems. Being a young friend of Frank Huxtable, Ernest had known Rudge personally and apparently joined in with these photo gurning sessions. He clearly admired Rudge and made it his mission to see the inventor gain the respect he was due. Crawford’s letters, dated from around 1934-1943, are just a sample of his ‘yearly reminders’ to the public of Bath that they (particularly the ‘eager…fellow citizens [who] enjoy the moving pictures’) should honour Rudge by placing flowers on his grave on the anniversary of his birth. The general tone, that of an outraged headmaster admonishing his pupils, perhaps did not endear him to the readers.

When Rudge died in 1903 he was virtually penniless. It wasn’t until 1926 that a memorial stone was put up in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Rudge’s final resting place, after Crawford’s ‘22 years’ unremitting agitation on my part.’

The headstone was paid for by Alderman Cedric Chivers who also generously funded a grand and wordy plaque to both Rudge and Friese-Greene, sited near Rudge’s house in New Bond Street, which can still be found alongside another smaller plaque.

This rather more concise panel is the ‘persistently banned citizens’ tablet’ referred to by Crawford, also the designer; paid for by local subscribers, it was refused permission to be mounted on Rudge’s former house by the Bath Corporate Property Committee for ‘no valid reason’. It seems that Crawford at last won this match; in his own words ‘One might almost suspect the world of a conspiracy to ignore Rudge, and my efforts to rescue his name from oblivion have been a continual and watchful contest…’

Intrigued by this correspondence, I resolved to go and find Rudge’s grave myself. I knew where it was and what it looked like, thanks to photographs, also in the Barnes Collection, possibly taken late 1980s or early 90s. An internet search proved fruitless save for one 2014 article which both gladdened and saddened me simultaneously. Adrian Payne, surely a spiritual descendant of Ernest Crawford, had written a plea (in somewhat gentler tones) to the public via the Bath Chronicle. His wish? To see the inscription on Rudge’s grave, presently unreadable, restored to its former glory. Adrian, who had been ‘involved in cinematograph engineering for most of my working life’, was now 80 years old and felt that he could not take up this project himself.

Spurred on by these words of a contemporary Crawford, I found the perfect opportunity to visit. I was due to attend the summer meeting of the Magic Lantern Society in Bath merely days before Rudge’s birthday. Thanks to the photographs and the warning of illegibility I located the grave quite easily. In 1943 Crawford was ‘utterly astonished’ to find the vacant vase he had provided ‘now filled with a fine bouquet of yellow flowers’, giving him ‘a pleasant surprise’. As this vase was no longer there I found my own appropriate one; a vessel fashioned as a jar which functioned as a lantern. I removed the LED light fitting and substituted it with sunflowers, nature’s own illuminant.

Rudge’s grave 2016

Rudge’s memorial stone was placed 80 years ago. 2017 will be the 180^th anniversary of Rudge’s birth. As one who regularly likes to ‘enjoy the moving pictures’ I feel a fitting gift would be to restore the inscription on his grave and have already sown seeds of encouragement among his supporters. I hope these will bloom into action and that JAR Rudge, Ernest Crawford and Adrian Payne will all find this ‘a pleasant surprise’.

Alexia Lazou, Collections Assistant, Film Pioneers project

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

In 2016 Royal Pavilion & Museums will be running an exciting summer arts programme for young people aged 13-19 (up to 24 years with additional needs).  A creative workshop will take place in each of our 5 sites across Brighton & Hove – all of them are free to attend.

• See the Summer Arts Programme for Young People 2016

Graffiti Canvas

The participants will have the opportunity to explore our buildings and collections, meet museum staff and work with professional artists to learn new creative skills such as fabric monoprinting, drama, iPad animations, graffiti and carved clay tiles.

The programme is designed for young people who may not have visited the Museums before, and will be particularly targeted at young people who may be socially excluded or those not in education, employment, or training (NEET).

Furthermore, if you know young people who are completing their Arts Award then these workshops can be incorporated into their awards (www.artsaward.org.uk).

The summer programme is a great opportunity to do something creative and fun in a supportive and inspiring environment. Participants can sign up for 1 workshop or all 5. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

If you are interested, or know a young person who might be, then please contact Sarah Pain to book a space: sarah.pain@brighton-hove.gov.uk / 07833 483245.

Workshop details (all workshops will include a tour of the venue):

Mon 1st Aug at Hove Museum 11am – 3.30pm

• Carved Clay Tiles – Use pattern, texture and colour, inspired by the Contemporary Craft Galleries, to create interesting and organic tiles. Lead by artist, Sarah Pain.

Thurs 11th Aug at Preston Manor 11am – 3.30pm

• Drama workshop – use drama games, theatre techniques and period costume to explore the Manor’s history. Lead by theatre practitioner, Julia Box.

Tue 16th Aug at Royal Pavilion 11am – 3.30pm

• iPad animations – Create animations on iPads inspired by the weird and wonderful interiors of the Royal Pavilion. Lead by artist, Lindsey Smith. Please note the workshop will be run at Brighton Museum.

Thurs 25th Aug at The Booth Museum 11am – 3.30pm

• Graffiti Canvas – Use spray paint, paint pens and graffiti techniques to create a canvas inspired by a behind-the-scenes tour of the eccentric and gothic taxidermy collection and the artwork of Ralph Steadman’s ‘Extinct Boids!’ Series. Lead by graffiti artist, Tom Goulden.

Tue 30th Aug at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery 11am – 4.30pm

• Fabric Monoprinting – Use Ugandan hand-printing techniques fused with UpCycling to create a fashion item and print samples inspired by the Museum’s ‘Fashion Cities Africa’ exhibition. Lead by ethical Fashion & Make brand, Afroretro.

Sarah Pain, Youth Engagement Team

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The first edition of The Pavilion “Blues” was published during June 1916. Researcher, Jo Palache, describes how the magazine reveals the experience of patients and staff at the Pavilion Military Hospital for limbless soldiers during the First World War.

Very few official records from the Pavilion Military Hospital for limbless soldiers survive. However, Brighton Museum has a complete set of the 45 editions of the hospital magazine, The Pavilion “Blues”, that was published monthly from June 1916 to February 1920.

The first edition of The Pavilion “Blues”, June 1914 © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

Named after the patients’ standard blue army uniforms, the magazine became my primary source of information while researching this neglected period of the Pavilion Estate’s history. Photographs, articles, cartoons, poems and event reports all provide clues as to how the buildings and grounds were used, the forms of treatment available and above all the attitudes and experiences of the patients themselves.

The positive outlook of the contributors helped the men to recover and face the challenges and discomforts during the long months of treatment. The articles often display the dry army humour, which had previously helped the soldiers through the horrors of trench warfare. One cartoon in particular reflects this by playing on the theme of the Western Front having been replaced by the Brighton Seafront.

The Pavilion “Blues”, May 1918. © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

The unknown artist states that his inspiration came from a more poignant sub-editorial in the previous month’s edition when Sergeant Penfold wrote:

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The [Brighton] front is crowded with a mixed throng, all basking in the warmth. Folk are just beginning to cast off their fur coats and the heavy outer garments of Winter, and adorn themselves with a lighter and more varied shade of material.

A peaceful scene – broken only by the continued hum of an aeroplane which is flying above, and which reminds them of the other picture.

That is also of a front – but a vastly different one to the former. Promenade, composed of duck-boards and sand-bags; piers, more numerous, but in the form of listening posts; the same sun shining overhead, but nature robbed of its beauty by the hail of iron from the guns; only an occasional bird to be seen.

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However, the magazine mainly concentrates on life at the hospital. It could take up to a year to complete the treatment and the magazine is full of reports as to how the men occupied their days. Accounts of outings, sporting fixtures and other entertainments fill many of the pages and reflect the amputee’s determination not to be held back by their disabilities. While reports of the facilities at the hospital and the expertise of the staff celebrate the high standard of medical treatment.

‘Ladies vs. patients’ cricket at the Pavilion Military Hospital, The Pavilion “Blues”, July 1917 © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

As the number of patients dwindled by 1920, the final copy was published in February 1920 with the same trench humour. Today The Pavilion “Blues” continue to provide insights into the lives of some of the 41,000 men who had one or more limbs amputated during the First World War. They also provide a lasting tribute to the spirit of the staff and patients of the Pavilion Military Hospital. All are available to be downloaded from the Royal Pavilion & Museums Image Store, free of charge.

From The Pavilion “Blues”, February 1920 © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

Jo Palache, Oral History and Life History Researcher for Pavilion Blues: Disability and Identity 

If you have any information on the Pavilion Military Hospital or would like to know more, please contact me at jo.palache@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

On Thursday 30 June, our Museum Lab in Brighton Museum will host a Discovery Day on the Battle of Boar’s Head. As the UK prepares to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, historian and museum Visitor Services Officer Amanda Scales tells the story of the battle and its impact on the people of Brighton.

The Battle of Boar’s Head is a largely unknown battle of the First World War, significantly overshadowed by the Battle of the Somme and its devastating impact on the British nation.

The Battle of Boar’s Head took place on 30 June 1916 and was primarily a planned diversionary tactic to draw German troops away from the Somme battlefields the day before the main battle began.

Aerial photo showing Boar’s Head salient, c1916. Courtesy Paul Reed

‘When are you coming over then Tommy?’

The Germans had been subjected to a weeklong bombardment, and were very aware that an attack was imminent. To show they were ready and waiting, they erected signboards on their parapets asking ‘When are you coming over then, Tommy?’

As would be seen the following day on the Somme, the bombardment not only gave advance warning of the attack, but also failed to signifcantly weaken the enemy defences. The German lines were left mostly undamaged with barbed wire still largely intact, making advances into the trenches almost unachievable.

Although British soldiers were able to make some initial gains into enemy trenches, the attack was a disaster. In less than five hours the majority of the men were either dead, injured, captured, or forced to retreat.

When asked the next morning what he thought of the attack, one General replied that it was ‘like a butchers shop’.

The Day Sussex Died

Sussex men in the 12th and 13th battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment spearheaded the attack and paid the price for this attempt to bite out the bulge of the salient known as the Boars Head. The casualty rates were extremely high:  for 366 men this was the ultimate sacrifice, and over 1000 other soldiers were either injured or reported as missing in action – later it was found that many were taken as prisoners of war and spent the remaining years of the First World War in German prisoner of war camps.

The 11th, 12th and 13th Royal Sussex Battalions were together known as ‘The South Downs’ Battalions’. They were ‘Pals’ battalions, made up of men who had enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside friends, neighbours and colleagues. When such batalions suffered a high casualty rate in action, it had a devastating effect on the towns and villages that the men came from. 70% of the men killed at the Battle of Boar’s Head were known to have been born in Sussex, and many more would have been residents. 30 June 1916 passed into local public consciousness as ‘The Day  Sussex Died’, a comment which originally came from a veteran of the battle.

What of our city, made up then of the towns of Brighton, Hove and Portslade? Like other Sussex men, young local men had also responded to a recruitment drive from Lt Col Claude Lowther MP. Friends, workmates and brothers had bravely responded to the call to arms and joined ‘Lowther’s Lambs’. Over 850 men from Brighton and Hove were recruited into the South Downs’ Battalions; at least 61 of those men were killed at Boar’s Head, with many others injured or taken prisoner.

The Battle of Boars Head and its huge losses resonated in all local people in 1916. For every soldier dead, injured or missing there was a mother, a father, maybe siblings, cousins, grandparents, friends, work colleagues, maybe a team mate, an old school friend. Whole communities were struck with grief: from my research into the addresses of those killed at the battle, many lived in the working class areas of east Brighton and the Hanover area, and Poets’ Corner in Hove.

New recruits of 11th South Downs Battalion in training at Cooden Camp, 1915. Courtesy Paul Reed

Later in the war, ‘Pals’ battalions were no longer to be seen as a positive way to recruit, given the overwhelming aftermath of failed advances such as Boar’s Head. The first day of the Battle of the Somme which commenced on 1 July 1916 would become known as the British Army’s ‘bloodiest day’, and became a point of trauma and grief for the enitre nation. But for the people of Brighton, Hove and Portslade the Battle of Boar’s Head the day before had a more immediate impact.

On the 100th anniversary of the battle, the Museum Lab at Brighton Museum is holding a commemoration day which will include information on the Brighton and Hove Boar’s Head casualties, First World War film footage, access to handling collections, and talks by WW1 reenactors. The Royal British Legion will visit at 3pm with local Councillors. At 5pm a memorial service will be held at the nearby Old Steine, while five churches across the city will toll bells for a 15 minute period. Chichester Cathedral will conduct a full three hour toll to finish at 5pm.

We will remember them.

Amanda Scales, Historian and Museum Visitor Services Officer

More information

• The Day that Sussex Died at The First World War East Sussex website
• More blog posts about WW1

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

An ambitious interwar plan for an ampitheatre on the Royal Pavilion Estate.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Discover the man behind the blue plaque on the Royal Pavilion Estate.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Last Sunday, a blue plaque was unveiled on the Royal Pavilion Estate, near the Indian Gate at the southern entrance to the estate. The plaque commemorates Mir Dast, a patient at the WW1 Royal Pavilion Indian Military Hospital, who was awarded the Victoria Cross here in August 1915.

Mir Dast blue plaque, 2016

Mir Dast was born in 1874 in the Maidan valley in a province of British India that is now part of Pakistan. He was a member of the Afridi tribe of Pashtuns (then more commonly known as Pathans) who were identified by the British as one of the ‘martial races’ who possessed excellent fighting qualities. Like many Afridis, Mir Dast joined the Indian Army in 1894, enlisting in the 55th Coke’s Rifles.

By the time of the First World War, Mir Dast was already an experienced and decorated soldier. The north west frontier was an area of frequent tension, and he fought in several campaigns. In 1908 he was awarded the Indian Order of Merit, at that time considered the Indian equivalent to the Victoria Cross. He was also promoted to jemadar, the most junior officer rank of the Indian Army.

Mir Dast, 1915

Mir Dast was not among the first wave of Indian Army soldiers who travelled to the Western Front in 1914, as his regiment remained stationed in India. But as Indian casualties mounted, he was among a number of men that transferred from Coke’s to be attached to the 57th Wilde’s Rifles, a brigade that was fighting in Europe. Mir Dast joined his new unit in France in January 1915.

Mir Dast’s great moment of gallantry came through his actions during the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. On 26 April, he led a platoon on a counter-attack against German lines, across difficult undulating terrain. The attack was thwarted by heavy artillery fire and poison gas, at a time when the latter was still unfamiliar to most soldiers — the first major gas attack on the Western Front had taken place just four days previously. In spite of the confusion, Mir Dast held his position until nightfall. When ordered to retire he led numerous men back to the British lines, and at great personal risk he carried eight British and Indian officers back to safety.

Mir Dast was severely injured by the gas attack, and like many other wounded Indian soldiers he was hospitalised in Brighton. He was admitted to the Royal Pavilion Hospital and it was here that he learned that he was to be awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in Ypres, and was also promoted to the rank of subedar.

Lord Kitchener and Mir Dast shaking hands in Royal Pavilion Garden, 1915

The Victoria Cross made Mir Dast not only a hero but a celebrity too. He was presented to numerous eminent men of the day, including the Secretary of State for India, Austen Chamberlain, and Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, who was also a former Commander in Chief of the Indian Army. While this was an obvious source of pride, Mir Dast’s pleasure was tempered by his physical suffering. In a letter written from the Royal Pavilion on 12 July he said:

‘I want your congratulations. I have got the Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross is a very fine thing, but this gas gives me no rest. It has done for me.’

On 25 August Mir Dast received his award from the King-Emperor George V at a ceremony in the Royal Pavilion Garden. The event was heavily publicised, through photographs, a book that was printed in three languages, and a short film that can be seen in the Royal Pavilion’s Indian Military Hospital Gallery. Although he still required the use of a wheelchair, Mir Dast insisted on standing to receive the Victoria Cross from the king. In conversation, he asked the king to release wounded Indian soldiers from further active duty once they had recovered — a request that was not carried out.

Mir Dast receiving the Victoria Cross from George V, August 1915

In a letter written two days after the ceremony, Mir Dast displayed a very different tone to his previous letter:

By the great, great, great, kindness of God, the King with his royal hand has given me the decoration of the Victoria Cross. God has been very gracious, very gracious, very gracious, very gracious.. the desire of my heart is accomplished.’

Curiously, Mir Dast’s fame and honour stand in stark contrast to the infamy and disgrace attained by his brother, Mir Mast. Another experienced and decorated soldier, Mir Mast had been promoted to jemadar shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. Arriving in France in October 1914, he had fought for several months under British command before deciding to desert. On 3 March 1915, Mir Mast led a small band of fellow Afridis to defect to the Germans. It is unclear whether this defection was motivated by personal or political grievances: the entry of Turkey into the war in November 1914 placed a strain on the loyalty of some Muslim troops. A rumour was circulated that Mir Mast had been awarded the Iron Cross by the Kaiser as a reward for his desertion, but this was probably a myth or a deliberate piece of propaganda by the Germans.

Mir Mast’s defection came just a few weeks before Mir Dast’s extraordinary feat of bravery in Ypres: was the latter inspired to this through shame of his brother’s treachery? While Mir Dast’s actions were certainly sufficient to win him the Victoria Cross, it is easy to speculate whether the British felt that the award could provide a counter-narrative to the actions of his brother. The vast majority of Muslim soldiers would remain loyal to the British, but it was certainly a cause of concern for the military authorities throughout the war.

One intriguing question is whether the brothers met again. Both survived the war: Mir Dast was invalided from the army, and returned to a hero’s welcome in India. Mir Mast is reported to have worked with the Turks in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade more Afridis to defect. Although he returned to his homeland, he remained just outside of British jurisdiction, and was spared reprisals. Mir Mast is believed to have died in the flu epidemic of 1919, having been stripped of his previous medals. Mir Dast IOM VC lived until 1945.

Mir Dast wearing his Victoria Cross at the Royal Pavilion, 1915

Kevin Bacon, Digital Development Officer

Sources

• Doherty, Simon and Donovan, Tom, The Indian Corps on the Western Front (2014)
• Omissi, David, Indian Voices of the Great War  (1999)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Mir Dast

More information

• Download photographs of Mir Dast
• More blog posts about WW1