TOPIC:

I bought this with the medals to Lt Col Thursby Dauncey, who commanded the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons in the latter stages of the ABW. He left the army in 1904 as he had a major altercation with General Mike Rimington, his boss. This bit of silver soldier decoration seemed to have been hallmarked on the face, but enthusiastic cleaning has obliterated the hallmark. The suspension clips have retained legible hallmarks, but they show Victoria's head, which contradicts the Edward V11 cypher.
Can anyone date this ?
Thanks
Mike

Hello Mike,
I like your silver pouch, they are actually good scarce items and hard to find these days.
This particular one is so typical of an officer of the period in question, who did of course, have to pay for everything he wore, including this.
This pouch has been altered, but, this was really quite common, they were not cheap, a very brief glance at your photographs tell me it was made before 1890, the Royal Cipher has been added after the death of Her Majesty the Queen.
The queens head was not a hallmark, it was actually a duty mark and these themselves actually died a death in 1890.
I was interested to see Dauncey was commissioned on the 7th of June 1879, his further appointments were Lieutenant 20th of September 1884, Captain 26th of October 1892, he attained field rank on the 2nd of August 1899 and his appointment of Lieutenant Colonel was on the 22nd of August 1902.
An interesting man and a nice piece of his uniform, look after it, the manufacturer is intriquing and is not what I am used to seeing, I'll look again as time permits.
Kind regards Frank

Hi Frank,
Thanks for the info. I can well imagine that he wasnt that excited about buying a replacement when the new monarch arrived. It seems that as OC of the unit he had a very poor relationship with his superior officer, Brigadier General Mike Rimington - not many did as he was a vindictive sort. Dauncey ' retired' in 1904 , there was some sort of scandal and he felt that he should take responsibily and resign ( I wish a few of our elected officials would do this - but its not the African way - you hang on until dragged out in shackles !) I have an article from John Bull magazine ( April 24th 1909)titled, "A officer, but not a gentleman " which is all about Rimingtons less than admirable human relationships.
Dauncey was quite a soldier, having been in the Egypt campaign with the 7th Dtagoons ( wounded at Tel el Kebir ) and Sudan ( Captain charger at Omdurman ) and then the Boer War , mostly as a Major with the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons , being promoted in 1902 to Lt Col and OC.
During WW1 he ran a cavalry training establishment and then a POW camp. He was awarded an OBE for this.
Regards
Mike

Hello Mike,
I do see a number of these every year, but, they are far from common and although your example is rather plain when compared with others, in particular, those Imperial Indian Army examples, the good provenance with yours more than makes up for that, Dauncey was a very good, old school cavalryman, who could be relied upon to do a good job, I do like it and of course, it is to a good regiment too, which also adds value.
The death of the soveriegn did mean having to go to yet more expense for a lot of officers, but, within the county regiments, in particular those not employed in royal duties, many simply did not bother.
For example, you do see group photographs taken well into the edwardian period and only the young subalterns are correctly dressed, the officers of field rank had just not bothered, very obvious with a plate on ones helmet!
Kind regards Frank

Mike,

I did some research on Colonel Dauncey many years ago - a very interesting man and career. He was a "ranker" and the only cavalryman to charge at both Kassassin in 1882 and Omdurman in 1898. His medal group should include a R.H.S. medal for saving the life of a soldier near the pyramids in the River Nile.

The details around his dismissal from the command of the Skins in 1904 seem to be in the Churchill Archives Cambridge.

Sad to relate, he committed suicide in 1940 age 79 as his health was failing badly.

Regards,

Justin

Thanks Frank & Justin,
I was aware that Dauncey died in 1940, having fallen 18ft out of a window. I wasn''t aware that it was suicide, and would naturally be very interested to get details. How do I do this ?
Dauncy was an interesting chap and hob-nobbed with the rich and famous. In 1895, while at Secunderabad ( not sure of the spelling !) with the 21st Lancers, they were visited by by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and entourage. One evening they had a shooting contest with the target being champagne bottles on the end of a rope. I guess that they emptied them first. The contest included the Archduke, Count Kinski ( evidently famous for winning the Grand National one year ) , the Nizam of Hydrabad and others. The shoot was won by Dauncy and he was given a silver cup to commemorate the event. I attach a pic.
Regards
Mike