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BROWN, Frederick John, Colonel.
Service with the 56th Regiment and 2nd Battn. The Essex Regiment "Pompadours." A Manuscript Autobiographical Record, 1875-1919.
A well-written, lively and highly detailed account of a military life in the late nineteenth century through to the First World War. Evidently written up for family reference, Brown's autobiography takes him from schooldays at Cheltenham College, where Price Alamayu of Ethiopia - "very savage" - was a fellow pupil; through various postings in India at Karachi and Poona, and at Gibraltar, Aden and Malta with the usual longueurs and high jinks, but also much of local colour, conditions, and the genuinely fascinating - and usually unrecorded - minutiae of regimental life; to his retirement in 1906 and beyond. Central to the journal is his 80 page anecdotal account of the Regiment's involvement in the Gordon Relief Expedition of 1884-5; description of the Assouan; the trip on dahabieh to Wadi Halfa; the gathering of the boats at Gemai with a detailed description of the whalers; the perils of negotiating the cataracts and the problems of portage; the challenges of "camel cussedness," the "fearful" heat, and spiders with "bodies as big as mice." From the Nile he returns to Malta, and thence to India, until 1897 at the time if the establishment of the Crown Colony in Burma, when he receives an order to organize an advance party to Rangoon. There follows an excellent account of the country, people, and customs, interspersed with typical tales of the hunting field and the rivalries of brother officers. Brown wrote up his experiences of the South African War, 1899-1902, elsewhere, and so here merely gives a brief summary. Following his retirement in 1906 until the outbreak of the First World War he involved himself with the National Service League, a pressure group on the "pro" side of the conscription debate, acting as organizing secretary for Middlesex and being involved in a number of large-scale outdoor rallies. He eventually was forced out through internal politicking in 1914, and he here provides an extremely unusual account of this under-recorded aspect of Imperial politics. Remarkably Brown offered his services in 1914 and was given command of the 1st Garrison Battalion The Royal Scots, giving here in 65 pages a succinct, but engaging account of their involvement in the campaigns around the Mediterranean, the unit being based on Mudros, at Alexandria, and guarding Turkish POWs at Famagusta on Cyprus. Part of the appeal of this document is again in Brown's keen involvement in the internecine squabbles which seem to have been rife, even, as here, at the time of the greatest crises. His duels with General Altham and Colonel MacGregor - in Brown's defence he seems to have had his men's best interests at heart at all times - during the worst of the Gallipoli campaign make fascinating reading. His pride in his adopted regiment is clear from his conclusion of this volume with full returns of casualties, officer, NCOs and other ranks. In all Brown's autobiography offers an unusual, entertaining and highly informative account of a military career spanning colonial campaigning to the "war to end all wars."
Folio, c.440pp. manuscript in half reversed calf ledger book, sewn into sail-cloth wrapper. Thirteen mounted original albumen prints, Suez, India, Aden and Malta. Very good indeed.
