Rutland Collectables

24/02/2023

**Back for 2023!**

We are delighted to announce that we will return on Saturday 1 April 2023. Please share the word and make this again the best family friendly event in Rutland. More details to follow.

Tom and The Team
www.rutlandcarboot.com

20/03/2021

Uppingham man remembered.

Here’s a rare original postcard of 8715 Pte. Frederick Brown North Northamptonshire Regt. Joining the colours on 10 May 1908 aged 18, Fred was somewhat of a character in the regiment having been recorded in the Disciplinary book more than 12 times for violations such as ‘drunk on duty’, ‘improper conduct in the dining room’, ‘urinating in the lines’, and the most serious of all ‘pointing a revolver at a policeman whilst inebriated in main Malta police station’. It seems however that he finally turned a leaf when he was appointed as a Sanitary Man in 1913.

At the outbreak of WW1, Fred arrived in France on 4 Sep 1914 with the 2nd North Northamptonshires. WW1 was still very much a moving war during these early months though, usually for us, one a withdrawal amidst the German masses. Fred sadly didn’t survive long and died of wounds in a field dressing station on 11 Jan 1915. He is buried in Estaires, France. His parents, George and Sarah Brown, were living in Byfield, Northamptonshire.

If you have any military items that would like valued and/or to sell please get in contact.

11/03/2021

It’s been a while, but I hope everyone is coming out of this COVID blight unscathed. There are some exciting developments for Rutland Collectables in 2021 so keep your eyes peeled!

In the meantime, here’s an inspirational story of courage.

Walter Ernest Brown wanted to fight. Unfortunately, the Australian Army put him in a rear echelon unit where he would be doomed serve out the First World War as an army service corps butcher in France. This didn't stop Brown, as the crafty bu**er convinced the army to transfer him to Egypt where he tagged along with some new replacement infantry destined for France.

He arrived back in France as a member of the 20th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force in 1917. His baptism of fire would be the mud of Passchendaele, where he would be awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his combat gallantry. While fighting back the German Spring Offensive in 1918, his unit was posted to the front lines at Villers-Bretonneux.

On 6 July 1918, he decided he had enough of the Kaiser's army and decided on his own initiative to rush a machine gun post. Despite withering enemy fire, he made it to the fortified German dug out and stood outside with a primed Mills bomb. Upon seeing the apparently deranged wannabee su***de bomber, 12 Germans exited the dugout and surrendered. For this bold act, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

The interwar years were quiet for Brown, as he quietly settled into civilian life and raised a young family. When war broke out again in 1939, Brown had the itch to fight once again. He enlisted in 1940, but declared to recruiters that he had no prior military experience. He didn't want his Victoria Cross to keep him from fighting on the front lines again.

Though Brown had ended the First World War as a highly decorated infantry Sergeant, he would be sent to Singapore as a lowly Gunner with the 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery. He didn't stay anonymous for long, and was promoted to Lance Sergeant when his identity was discover. At Brown's request, he was quickly reverted back to the rank of Gunner - he was going to fight this war with the boys.

As Japanese forces invaded and overran British and Imperial forces in February 1942, Brown's regiment was deployed to the front lines. After weeks of "fighting withdrawals", morale was wearing thin as the situation for Allied forces looked increasingly grim.

The order ultimately came on 28 February 1942 for all Allied forces in Singapore to surrender. In response, Gunner Brown grabbed a few Mills bombs and allegedly remarked to his comrades "No surrender for me". He walked towards Japanese lines and was never seen again.

We'll never know what happened to Brown VC, but we like to believe he's still out there, Mills bomb in hand.

04/10/2020

18/06/2020

As we start to slowly come out of lockdown, many of you will be having a good sort out.

It’s worth making sure you don’t discard anything valuable or rare. We are here to help. Our team of Rutland and Stamford based specialists can offer you free valuations through home visits, and online, on your collectables. We cater for single items to large valuable collections. All social distancing guidelines must be adhered to.

Contact us through our page to arrange a visit or call 07934247033

30/05/2020

What kind of absolute lunatic earns the Victoria Cross at the age of 19?

Probably the kind of lunatic that charges alone through intense artillery fire, to silence a machine gun crew that have pinned down an entire company.

30th October, 1917, and over 4.5 million shells and the heaviest rainfall in 30 years have turned the small Belgian village of Passchendaele into a swamp of mud and blood; which 19-year-old Private Cecil John Kinross is now crossing as part of the Canadian attack to take the strategically vital ridge at Passchendaele.

It wasn’t long before his companies advance was met by intense German artillery and machine gun fire, which completely halted the Canadians advance. Quick to assess the situation and ID the machine gun position, Pvt. Kinross quickly ditched all his kit, save his rifle and ammunition, and in broad daylight, charged through the open ground of exploding shells and machine gun fire. Clearly, absolutely no German expected anybody to leave cover to charge across the open ground, or that anybody could actually survive this charge in any sort of working order; because when Pvt Kinross arrived at the German gun position he single handedly killed all 6 of the gun crew, and destroyed the gun itself. He then continued to fight alone until he was seriously wounded in the head and left arm. With this in mind, and no ammunition left, he decided it was time to walk himself back to the aid station where talk was already circulating of a “wild Canadian, running amok trying to defeat the entire German army single-handed”.

Cecil would survive the war, and after receiving the Victoria cross from King George V, settled back down in Alberta, Canada. Unfortunately, like for so many veterans, the end of the war didn’t bring an end to his struggles. He suffered terrible headaches and struggled to sleep, and with PTSD not even being accepted as a psychiatric disorder, turned to alcohol. His nephew, whom he was very close to recalled, “To me, his struggles with alcohol wasn’t a difficulty — it is what kept him alive. What comfort was there for veterans as they progressively got worse? None. Little wonder they took to drink.”

Cecil John Kinross would never marry and died alone at the age of 62. Hundreds lined the streets in the rain to pay their respects, as a gun carriage transported his flag draped coffin to be buried at the Soldier's Plot in the Lougheed Cemetery, Alberta, Canada.

This piece was written at the request of Niam Hodgson, relative of Cecil John Kinross.
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Follow our page for more stories of forgotten heroism.

22/05/2020

Today, our battle is the Coronavirus. As we try to enjoy a windy bank holiday, nearly 105 years ago the war that was was supposed to be ‘over by Christmas’ was beginning to come home. Young local men were beginning to be invalided home with life changing wounds. Country homes were turning into ad-hoc convalescences and the public were starting to witness the true outcome of a bitter mechanised war.

Oakham however, appears to have laid it on for the sick and wounded at the Catmose Grounds. The events are fantastic to read. This poster is a rare surviving piece of our local history which was recently acquired by us. Now time to preserve it in a nice frame.

20/05/2020

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine! Here’s an interesting read for you in the shade.

Crew members of the Admiral Graf Spee, a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine of Germany during World War II.

(Nb. this photo was taken when the ship was anchored at Portsmouth for King George VI's birthday 'Review of the Fleet', held on 20 May 1937 at Spithead off the coast at Portsmouth.
By tradition, foreign navies were invited to send a single warship each to the review and seventeen were present.)

The ship was scuttled by its commander, Capt. Hans Langsdorff, in the River Plate, on the 17th of December 1939 to keep it from falling into British hands. Four days previously the Graf Spee had been seriously damaged during the Battle of the River Plate by a British fleet under Admiral Henry Harwood comprised of HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles, which were guarding South America's Atlantic coast.

Thirty-seven German sailors were killed in the confrontation and Captain Langsdorff was wounded, along with 57 other of the Graf Spee's men. The Graf Spee was hit more than 30 times by shells fired from the British vessels, rendering it practically unable to function. Early on the night of Dec. 13th, the battleship entered the River Plate and docked at Montevideo's port and Langsdorff presented a report to Uruguayan authorities claiming that since the vessel was having navigation problems - due to the combat damage it had sustained - it was justified in entering the port for repairs.

The German dead were buried in a Montevideo cemetery and the wounded - five of whom were seriously injured - were treated at local hospitals. The Uruguayan government, which at that point in World War Two was still maintaining its neutrality, invoked international practice and asked the Graf Spee to leave the port after four days, on Dec. 17, upon which Langsdorff decided to scuttle her. The battleship left the port and was blown up in the River Plate after its crew was transferred to a German merchant vessel, which transported them across the broad estuary to Buenos Aires. Langsdorff committed su***de several days afterward in the Argentine capital. Most survivors of the German ship settled in Uruguay and Argentina, where they married and raised their families.

It appears that the internees were given the choice of returning to Germany or assisting the large N**i espionage network in Argentina. About half did return, mainly through the Andes to Chile with assistance from the espionage organisation. After a period of internment on an island in the Rio Uruguay, the remainder were allowed to settle in Cordoba province, officers at Cumbrecita, NCOs and men at Villa Belgrano, these being modern thriving communities of Argentine-Germans.

(Colorized by Jiří Macháček from the Czech Republic)

12/05/2020

Ketton born S.O.E member. Lest we forget

26/03/2020

A raiding party of the 1/8th (Irish) King's Liverpool Regiment, 55th Division, at Wailly, Pas-de-Calais, France.
Photograph taken the morning after a night raid during 17/18th April 1916.

Photosource © IWM ( Q 510)
photographer- Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant)

Colourised by Royston Leonard
https://www.facebook.com/pictures-of-the-world-by-royston-colour-18215851977012/

07/03/2020

Very fun and successful day today in Langham. It was a pleasure meeting you and hope to see you at our next event soon! (June in Barnack nr Stamford)

07/03/2020

On today as planned 👍 See you there!