#1
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Silver memorium Statue
As my location moniker would suggest, I am once again wintering in sunny (but dusty) Kandahar airfield again. Those of us who have been out here know about the Satuday market held here on KAF where the locals sell various bits and bobbles. Most of it is mass produced jinglies from China, India, or Afghanistan, but occasionally something unique comes up. This last Saturday, one of the locals had this memorial silver statue to sell, standing amidst the usual fake WW1 sextants, compasses and telescopes. It is of a WW1 British Captain, and there are silversmiths marks on the officer's boot, on the base below him, and on the plaque.
The plaque says: Presented to the officers of the 2nd Battalion Green Howards In memory of Lieutenant KR Henderson, MC 1915-1922 by his Parents One has to wonder how it would have been released from the unit's Officers Mess silver collection, and how it found it's way to Afghanistan. Internet service here is pretty crappy, and often, due to our IP address, we get filtered off a bunch of sites. So any research as to the story behind this officer will have to wait until I get home in a few months. Does anyone have any suggestions where to start looking? Last edited by rob love; 14-03-10 at 19:26. |
#2
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Statue
Hi Rob, I found this on Google. If you can't open it where you are I can post the relevent bits here.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/c...itish-officers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroom Apparently three British Officers and a Private were kidnapped and executed in Macroom in Ireland in 1922 during the civil war. One of the officers was Lieutenant K. R. Henderson. Paul |
#3
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Thanks Paul. My googling here could not find any of the information you have shown. I was able to open both your links. I am pretty positive that will be the officer to whom the statue was in memory of.
I sent an e-mail to the Green Howards museum asking them what info they had, but I know museums like these get thousands of such requests for information every year, and cannot answer all of them. The statue itself is a beautiful piece on it's own right. I likely paid too much for it, but it was just so unique I had to have it. This bit of history to go with it certainly makes it all the more special. Last edited by rob love; 15-03-10 at 15:57. |
#4
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silver memorial
with regard to your email to the Green Howards Museum if your mark your mail for attention of RO1 it should get priority...best regards and good find...malcolm
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mally B |
#5
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I read through more of the parliamentary records, and the kidnapping and subsequent execution of the 3 officers and their driver were brought up quite a bit for the next while in parliament. There were questions as to whether the Officers involved were merely joyriding, going out for lunch, or on official duty. There were also queries as to why there was not an immediate armed raid on the castle where the 4 were reported to be held. Apparently the father of Lt Henderson also sent a letter to one of the major papers wanting answers.
There was the usual political posturing back and forth about what happened. It all makes very interesting reading. A fellow by the name of Churchill seems to have been required to do a lot of the answering. I emailed the Green Howards museum last night and was surprised to see a response today from a Captain Appleyard, with the Green Howards HQ. He sent me an attachment where apparently someone from the British Military Liaison Office in the British Embassy (Kabul) had also sent a query about this same statue. Apparently a local provided photos of it, and wanted to repatriate (sell) it. The commission member wanted to know if it was worth recovering. Apparently, they did not as it found it's way south to our local market. The commission was also intrigued about how it found it's way to here. Information provided in that attachment included: Quote:
When I emailed the museum, I asked about how such an item may have found it's way out of the Officer's silver collection and into local Afghanistan hands. I did not get a reply to that query, so the mystery continues. Perhaps it was in the British embassy when the Taliban over ran it back in the 70s? More to follow on that subject I hope. |
#6
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silver statue
Rob make sure you keep your wallet in your pocket as I believe my own local regiment is in Camp Roberts at the moment ROYAL SCOTS BORDERERS them lads can drink a river dry...best regards/stay lucky...malcolm
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mally B |
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