Napoleonica

stuka f

Well-known member
Found this picture on the net regarding a rather special grave of a former high rank officer of the Imperial army.
Tought some of you might like to see it too.
 

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In France Châlons-en-Champagne.
That is about 48 km SE of Reims.
Grave monument of Colonel Pierre Nicolas Martelet (1765-1846).
-He was Adjudant, Commander and Chief-of-Staff of the 35th Division of the IInd Corps of the Grande Armée.
-The monument shows the Battles this Officer fought in. Revolutionary and Napoleonic.
-Discription: it has bicorn; epaulettes; sword and Croix de la légion d'honeur on top of the monument. And has a skull and an owl in it.
 
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Just got my self a bunch of documents to a captain who started his career under Napoleon and made it to his retirement.
He got wounded several times and fought in various campaigns.
Quiet intresting to read, imagining what and how it must have been...."boys will be boys"....;-)
 

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I remember when I was just starting out on the collecting journey in the 1970's the show I liked the most was the Lower Canada Arms Collectors shows held at the armouries of the Royal Montreal Regiment.

Ben Weider (the Fitness/Bodybuilding guru) lived in Montreal. He was obsessed with anything Napoleon related and often had parts of his Napoleonic collection on display. I believe he owned the largest private collection of Napoleonic items in the world. He had Napoleons death mask, all sorts of his correspondence, despatches from Marshall Soult,, Prince Jerome's sword which he broke over the barrel of a cannon in frustration at Waterloo, etc, etc,

I suppose it was broken up after his death. The collection made quite an impression on a history fixated high school kid at the time.
 
Even though it's only second empire the detail is stunning on this officer's sabretache plate for the Guides of the Imperial Guard. It's not perfect but still glitters beautifully in the light
 

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Well, forgive my using the Napoleonica topic as a segue to post these Regimentalaly marked wind coasters.

They showed up in an auction in Bath, Ontario, just west of Kingston. I assume these came out of the Officer's Mess after the disbanding of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment at Kingston in 1870.

From my research of the hallmarks I believe they were made by Elkington and Co. of Birmingham in 1848. The regiment was formed in 1840 and was disbanded after only 30 years. And here's the Napoleonic connection. The Royal Canadian Rifles Regiment didn't have a single Canadian in it's ranks. It was recruited exclusively from veterans of the Napoleonic Wars.

The regiment was formed as a means of combating the high desertion rates experienced in regular British line regiments posted to Canada. Being so close to “the land of opportunity” had many recently enlisted men with few prospects in England crossing the St. Lawrence and into the U.S.

The thinking behind raising the Rifles was that men with long service and being close to a pension as well as a land grant in Canada would be loathe to desert. The theory was sound until the passage of time saw the ranks being slowly depleted as men retired from service.

I know from visiting many Canadian Army Messes that Regimental Silverware would be very unlikely to wind up in civilian hands as long as the regiment was active. Was there a protocol for the disposal of the Regimental Silverware of a disbanded regiment?

RCRR 5 Re-Sized.jpgRCRR 4 Re-Sized.jpgRCRR 1 Re-Sized.jpgRCRR Hallmarks Re-Sized.jpg
 
Well, forgive my using the Napoleonica topic as a segue to post these Regimentalaly marked wind coasters.

They showed up in an auction in Bath, Ontario, just west of Kingston. I assume these came out of the Officer's Mess after the disbanding of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment at Kingston in 1870.

From my research of the hallmarks I believe they were made by Elkington and Co. of Birmingham in 1848. The regiment was formed in 1840 and was disbanded after only 30 years. And here's the Napoleonic connection. The Royal Canadian Rifles Regiment didn't have a single Canadian in it's ranks. It was recruited exclusively from veterans of the Napoleonic Wars.

The regiment was formed as a means of combating the high desertion rates experienced in regular British line regiments posted to Canada. Being so close to “the land of opportunity” had many recently enlisted men with few prospects in England crossing the St. Lawrence and into the U.S.

The thinking behind raising the Rifles was that men with long service and being close to a pension as well as a land grant in Canada would be loathe to desert. The theory was sound until the passage of time saw the ranks being slowly depleted as men retired from service.

I know from visiting many Canadian Army Messes that Regimental Silverware would be very unlikely to wind up in civilian hands as long as the regiment was active. Was there a protocol for the disposal of the Regimental Silverware of a disbanded regiment?

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Hi Steve.

There should be one but I am not sure there is. I know when the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group was disbanded when we left Germany a lot of stuff went missing. 1 RCHA the Gunner unit of 4 CMBG replaced 3 RCHA in Shilo Manitoba (really just renaming 3 RCHA to 1 RCHA as 1 RCHA is the senior Regiment) did a better job but stuff always seems to disappear.

Back then I bet it was even less closely managed so not surprising that stuff would disappear.
 
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