Unexpected Things in a Marine Archive

Beginning work at the Royal Marines Museum was a daunting prospect for first-time, Canadian, Curator with only the smallest knowledge of British Naval History. But Amy Hurst’s, Curator to Archives, very first enquiry was somewhat unusual and started her on an unexpected journey through the archives.

Amy’s story follows:

This piece of research required me not to investigate an important military figure or an iconic battle, but a dog named Pelorus Jack. The enquiry also wasn’t  from a local historian or museum, but from half way around the world, the Commonwealth country of New Zealand. The Auckland War Memorial Museum were in the middle of a project to tell the story of the 10 month world tour of  HMS New Zealand in 1913, and were looking to find any information on the ship’s mascot, Pelorus Jack.

So here I was, my first few days on the job researching the life of a dog (while also trying to learn hundreds of years of Royal Marines history).  It turns out our archive holds not only a kennel club certificate for Pelorus Jack, but a certificate of service, a certificate of wounds and hurts, a medical history sheet, and a last will and testament. Documents you’d expect to find relating to any person who served as a Royal Marine, but not a dog.

Why then did a dog have all of these documents? Well we may never be sure, but perhaps these sailors just had a little bit too much time on their hands.

Either way we see that Pelorus Jack had an interesting life. He was the Captain’s, Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, bulldog, born in the summer of 1912 shortly before the ship’s world tour. Through the ranks he rose, from a puppy, to an ordinary dog, then an able dog, and finally passing his exams to become the leading seadog. Throughout he was described as having a ‘very good’ character, even participating in naval action in August 1913.

Unfortunately, he was wounded in February 1913 by accidentally getting his head stuck in a block while chasing a bit of rope, resulting in the loss of one of his lower canines. The tale tragically ends with him being discharged DDed or dead in April 1915. He did have enough forethought though to make provisions in his will for any surviving spouse and children, and also for how a new Leading Seadog should be chosen. Pelorus Jack was therefore a reputable example of man’s best friend from beginning to end.

Who knew that his unexpected story could be a great example to a new Curator of how to construct a life through service documents? Stay tuned for more unexpected finds from the archives!

For more information on Pelorus Jack, check out the Auckland War Memorial Museum project on the HMS New Zealand’s world tour: http://ww100.govt.nz/the-bulldog-the-battlecruiser

Learning the correct method of working is always useful and last week, I had the opportunity to attend an excellent three day course held at West Dean College, West Sussex. It was specifically designed to offer guidance and practice in training the museum curator, art handler and/or art courier in what are the ‘best practice’ methods for handling, packing, storing and displaying works of art and pieces of sculpture. Although, I have worked in museums for many years and have moved a variety of very large and often quite lumpy objects including gun barrels and ship models, my experience of moving valuable works of fine art is more limited hence my keenness to attend this specific course.

Amongst the many fascinating photographic prints and albums that cross my desk heading into the Prints Store here at the Royal Marines Museum, an interesting and unusual album recently arrived from a donor in New Zealand. The donor is a descendent by marriage of the compiler of the album, Marine Alfred Edwin Hall of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, 1896-1902. Marine Hall born in 1877 enlisted in the Chatham Division of the RMLI in 1896. During his time in the Marines, he served aboard the gunboat HMS Pigmy, a Pygmy-class gunboat built at H M Dockyard, Sheerness, Kent in 1888.

There is a long and illustrious history of Royal Marines’ involvement in Royal Tours. In 1920 Colour Sergeant Nathaniel Stacey developed a close relationship with the Prince of Wales on a tour of Australia and new Zealand.

The Museum was recently given an exceptional item relating to a key moment in Britain’s history and a pivotal point in the history of the Naval Service.

Recently I’ve been thinking about access a lot, access to the museum for people with physical impairments has been particularly in my mind. As Learning & Access Officer, I normally think about access quite a bit: it’s my job to have an eye on it at all times. The museum is housed in a Victorian Officers’ Mess where accessibility can be a real challenge. At the moment, though, I’m really thinking about it an awful lot. So what has changed?

The second blog from our volunteer Lloyd.

I’ve been at the museum a few weeks now, and in that time I’ve learnt quite a lot, not just about how museums are run but also the history of the Royal Marines. One thing that becomes apparent is how many things you can look at that can help you find out about the people you are researching. One example is the Royal Marines service number
.

My name’s Lloyd and I am an archaeology graduate. I’ve just joined the museum’s curatorial staff as a full-time volunteer for a few months, looking to gain valuable experience and skills in the museum sector. With the economic climate as it is, finding the right job without any experience is almost impossible for today’s graduates. Therefore, it seems to me that this short-term placement is the best way forward for me.

Help our Wounded Royal Marines are one of the fundraisers for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund (RMCTF). The cause was started by Chris Stubbings BEM in March 2010 and as now spread to all corners of the UK and the World. Local teams take on challenges and run events to raise funds and awareness for H.O.W.

Our next challenge is a 50 miles Yomp (March) ending at the Royal Marines Museum, with 50lbs of weight in aid of our wounded Royal Marines and to commemorate 30 years of the Falklands war.

Two medals have been reunited after 100 years, following a query by a medal collector. The museum has over 8,500 medals in our collection which means the curatorial team often gets medal-related enquiries. Recently we were contacted by a collector to see if we had a medal to a particular Royal Marine in our collection. This led to a remarkable reunion of two medals originally awarded to the same man.

 The Royal Marine in particular was a Private Francis Toole, who served in the Marines for 21 years, 17 of which were at sea. During the first Burma War, he was aboard the sloop Liffey and he took part in the operations on the coast of Syria in 1840. During his service he was eligible for two medals; the Army of India Medal with clasp Ava and the Naval General Service Medal with clasp: Syria.

We’ve recently undertaken an audit of our Commando daggers, more properly known as the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife. We’ve got several dozen of them of many different types, most of them donated by Marines who have owned them.

First introduced in 1940 the daggers were designed for silent killing and close quarter combat by Commandos. A thrust to the jugular vein was said to be the best way of killing your enemy and would guarantee death in around 12 seconds. In close proximity to your enemy, it must have been an intense and sobering way of killing an adversary.

“It’s ok, you can do it”

“…..”

“I promise, I’ve got you. All you have to do is move your weight forward.”

“…ok….”

“Keep going, you’re almost there.”

“I don’t think I can do this.”

“You can, you’ve almost got it….see? Now climb down. Told you you could do it”

Before the major assault that would happen at D-Day, the allied forces wanted to test an amphibious operation and storming of a defended coastal area. The raid on Dieppe took place on the morning of 19 August 1942, and was a disaster. Miscommunication between different commanders, and stronger German defences the previously thought, led to the raid being aborted. Thousands were killed and injured.

The Royal Marines Museum stocks a large range of books in its gift shop and from time to time members of staff at the Museum will be reviewing books on this blog. This review is from Jim Tann on Ian Gardiner's book 'The Yompers'

‘Och no, it’s for real-get yerself back into Condor Barracks now!’