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This page is hosted by www.staffshomeguard.co.uk, a website dedicated to the memory of Britain's Home Guard in WW2.
REDFORD BARRACKS, EDINBURGH, 1919
Scenes from a Soldier's Photo Album
1. Buildings, Parades, Guns and Tanks
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BUILDINGS, PARADES, GUNS and TANKS |
Here are some of the scenes from Redford Barracks at Colinton, Edinburgh and the nearby area, recorded by a private in the 3rd Cameron Highlanders between February and Midsummer 1919.
The 2/10 Royal Scots on parade, in winter and summer......
The captured "Bolshie Gun"...... 
.....and its origin, only 6 months
or so previously.....
"The Demob. Office"....
A tank exercise, using a smoke screen.....
The above tank images have
been the subject of interest to several Great War
historians. Staffshomeguard is indebted to Mr. Dick
Harley, through the good offices of Dr. Mike Taylor, for
the following comments:
The two heavy
tanks are Mark V* Males (pronounced "Mark V Star"). The
nearer tank ("Better Ole") is serial number 10062, training
number 933, while what I presume is "Top 'Ole" beyond it
appears to be serial number 10034. Both tanks were
built by Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon & Finance Company of
Birmingham, in the second batch of Mark V* Males. No.10034
has its semaphore signalling device erected - the white
stalk with the disc projecting above its roof. We can't see
10034's training number from this angle, but it would also
have been a three-digit code beginning with "9".
The
photo showing the Mark V* generating a smokescreen is most
interesting. The engine must be running because the cloud of
smoke is being recycled through the radiator's air intake
louvres on the rear left side of the hull. The smoke itself
appears to be generated by smoke candles carried on the
stowage rack hinged to the rear of the armoured fuel tank,
instead of injecting acid into the tank's exhaust pipe,
which ends well above the source of the smoke in this photo.
The other interesting
point is the third tank, beyond the smoke screen,
immediately in front of the walking figure on the right side
of the photo. It is a Medium Tank Mark C Hornet, serial
number unknown. There is something behind the Hornet which
alters the shape of its roof line, but its long fighting
turret, and its rear horn with the rectangular mud chute
casting a shadow, are both clearly identifiable.
At least six tanks - and a number of armoured cars - took part in the Victory Parade
which progressed through the streets of Edinburgh in front
of joyous crowds. This occurred on Saturday 19th July
1919. The occasion was described in detail in The Scotsman
of 21st July and one small part of that lengthy and moving
article identifies several of the machines:
.....
Great interest was taken in the tanks and the armoured cars.
The tanks, which did not join the procession until it
reached Regent Road, were a representative group of four
"males" and two "females", and the recognised "ladies first"
was maintained. Their names tickled the fancy of the crowd –
"K-K-K-Katy" and "P-P-P-Percy" suggested a music-hall
origin, and "Ole Bill" and "Top 'Ole" representing the
Bairnsfather touch. The armoured cars bore illustrated
recruiting posters – "The Army today's all right" and "See
the world and get paid for doing it".....
So it
is likely that at least one of the tanks in our images
participated in the parade, and perhaps more. And that of
course raises the possibility that the tank images on this
page, and perhaps those showing the parade ground in summer,
were taken on the day of the Victory Parade itself.
Dr. Taylor is able to confirm the location of the
photographs: The Pentland Hills in the background,
the screes and the wood halfway up are unmistakeable. It
must be in the Swanston/Dreghorn area though exactly where I
am not sure - but the views from the Edinburgh bypass are
very like those.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are most grateful to Mike Taylor and Dick Harley for expert
opinion on the tank images; and to Chris O'Brien for bringing the
newspaper information to the attention of staffshomeguard; grateful
acknowledgement is also made to The Scotsman newspaper.
This Great War page is hosted by the Staffordshire Home Guard website - www.staffshomeguard.co.uk - a website devoted to the memory of Britain's WW2 Home Guards. To see the full contents of the website, please go to the
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Images ©
staffshomeguard 2009
AND ELSEWHERE WITHIN THIS WEBSITE:
L6-1 2009,
updated Jan 2016, May 2019)
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