Frontiersmen Mounted Training and Rides

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Roger Pocock

Were their exceptional skills ever of use?

Topic December 2023 / January 2024.  We often have said that Frontiersmen training during their first half century was more to be training for the previous war and not for any future conflict. In the early years Frontiersmen were convinced that their special mounted skills would be of use to the army as scouts and guides. When the world tumbled into the First War it soon became apparent that Frontiersmen mounted training was suited to wide open spaces, such as in Africa and throughout North and South America. Driscoll did offer to take his men behind German lines to harry and disrupt the German lines of communication while living by their wits and off the land. The areas they wanted to attack were highly populated and mounted Frontiersmen would soon have been destroyed. When they did go to East Africa as the 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen), the disease carried by the local flies meant that horses lived for only a brief period of time and so the Frontiersmen became mainly foot soldiers. Continue reading →

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The Shepperton Cowboy Frontiersmen

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Roger Pocock

Topic October/November 2023. Anyone who knows the rather upper-class town of Shepperton nestling by the River Thames will be rather surprised to learn that in Edwardian times there was a western style ranch-house in the grounds of the Imperial School of Colonial Instruction. That timber building was a club “El Desperados” for the many men in London who had experienced life in Western America or Western Canada. In those days it was quite legal to have a men-only club and such men could retire to their club and talk of their days in the “Wild West”. Continue reading →

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The Story of the First Legion of Frontiersmen Colour

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Roger Pocock

Topic August/September 2023.  On Sunday 19th May, 1931 eighty mounted Frontiersmen rode into Horse Guards Parade in London followed by at least one-hundred-and-ten marching Frontiersmen. All were parading in perfect order and the eighty best Frontiersmen horsemen in Britain had been chosen for the day. The horses were immaculate, having been loaned to the Frontiersmen by the Royal Horse Guards in London. The mounted men were all ordinary working men who, although they were all highly skilled, could never afford to own horses of this calibre. The Frontiersmen were to be inspected by a senior army general, Major-General Sir Percival Wilkinson, K.C.M.G., C.B., who was also Chief Commissioner of St John’s Ambulance. He was also to present the Legion with a new Colour, their first. The whole ceremony was watched by a crowd of many hundreds. Every Frontiersman wore on his chest campaign medals, or else the ribbons showing that they had fought all over the world for the King, and what was then the Empire. Some had gallantry medals. the Military Medal or the Distinguished Conduct Medal. A few who had served in the army as officers even displayed the Military Cross or even the Distinguished Service Order. Continue reading →

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The Man Who Got it Right

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Roger Pocock

Cutcliffe Hyne 1903

Topic June / July 2023.  Charles John Cutcliffe Hyne was a big man. He was 6 feet 4″ tall – most unusual for a man born in Victorian times (1865) and he was built accordingly. The name of Cutcliffe Hyne is known by few people nowadays, but had you mentioned the name to Frontiersmen a hundred years ago, you would find that most had read at least one of his many fiction books, particularly the “Captain Kettle” stories. Those who owned a “Frontiersman’s Pocket Book”¹ would recognise him as one of the contributors. Cutcliffe Hyne is listed as one of the original and founder-members of the Legion of Frontiersmen, but what has not been acknowledged is the input he had to the original plans for forming the Legion. Continue reading →

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It All Started Very Well…

Posted on April 1, 2023 by Roger Pocock

Topic April / May 2023.  It all started very well. The Legion of Frontiersmen have always trained with enthusiasm on simple crafts, such as basic first aid, fieldcraft, using radios etc. and been prepared to serve the State in times of need. What they had wished for for since the inception at the beginning of 1905 was some form of official recognition. They had duly served in the First War as 25th Bn. Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen): in the 1930s as trainers in anti-gas warfare: in the Second War in Home Guard, A.R.P., A.F.S., but with the younger Frontiersmen joining the armed forces. Other than in the First War they never achieved any kind of officially recognised named unit. It was almost eighty years after the founding of the Legion, in November 1984, that a letter in an official envelope arrived on the desk of Peter Fitchett who was commanding officer of the U.K. Command of the Legion of Frontiersmen. The letter on official government headed paper came from Air Marshal Sir Leslie Mavor, Coordinator of Voluntary Effort in Civil Defence, based at Easingwold in Yorkshire: Continue reading →

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Supporting the Police (Canada)

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Roger Pocock

Topic February / March 2023.  Back in August 2016 we posted a page Supporting the Authorities about the Legion supporting the legal authorities around the Commonwealth, even at times when the legal authorities’ causes might have been considered by some people as doubtful. We raised at that time a number of stories about Canada. In this topic page we will concentrate on Canada and the Frontiersmen’s support as official auxiliaries to both provincial police forces and to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was with great pride that the Legion accepted official affiliation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1937. Sadly, this affiliation was to last no more than a couple of years due to one of the very public internal squabbles which have plagued the Legion of Frontiersmen throughout its existence. Fortunately, even though the official affiliation was ended, both the R.C.M.P. and provincial police still found it to their advantage to utilise the Frontiersmen as auxiliaries throughout Canada. With such a large country with great distances to be covered, it was to the advantage of official police to use the services of these well-trained, uniformed, and self-supporting disciplined men locally and ignore any internal disputes which continued to fester in the higher echelons of the Legion. We will here cast a searchlight on some of the events in Canada, although we must emphasise that we are just nibbling at the edges of what is a much bigger story needing considerable research in Canada. We hope we will provoke much thought. Continue reading →

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Reconciling the Frontiersmen

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Roger Pocock

HorseGuards parade 1934Topic December 2022 / January 2023. There are always two sides to an argument. Admittedly some times it is difficult to see the other side, which can often have little merit. When the Independent Overseas Command of the Legion of Frontiersmen (later to call themselves Imperial Overseas Legion of Frontiersmen) broke away from the main body of the Legion in 1927 they believed they had a good cause for dissatisfaction with the leadership. The two men running the Legion at that time were the Commandant-General Arthur Burchardt-Ashton and his Chief of Staff Henry C. Edwards-Carter. In fact Burchardt-Ashton was only ever “Acting” Commandant-General. He did not want the job but nobody else could be found who would take the position. Continue reading →

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London’s Lord Mayor and the Frontiersmen

Posted on October 1, 2022 by Roger Pocock

Chilliwack Lord Mayor photo 1973Topic October / November 2022.  When the Lord Mayor of London, The Rt. Hon. Lord Mais, stepped onto the train at Agassiz Station late in the evening of Tuesday August 14th 1973 to continue a train journey across Canada it was the end of a very busy day around Vancouver and part of British Columbia around the Fraser River close to Vancouver. Together with his wife he had visited the University of British Columbia, Hudson Bay Fort and on to the town of Chilliwack, where they were given a civic reception and the Lord Mayor officially opened the 101st Chilliwack Exhibition. The citizens of that town had the distinct impression that the Lord and Lady Mayor thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the town. What would probably have surprised them was that much of the security was provided by the local members of the Legion of Frontiersmen and not by the R.C.M.P.. Although the Frontiersmen were no longer affiliated to the R.C.M.P. the Mounted Police still used the Frontiersmen as their auxiliaries. The R.C.M.P. did provide a mounted constable for the Exhibition wearing the original uniform of of what was then called the North-West Mounted Police, also their motorcycle display team put on a show. As the area commandant of the Legion wrote: Continue reading →

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The First Adjutant

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Roger Pocock

Charles Cory Kernick London 1906

Topic August / September 2022. To follow the previous topic page, another instance of a sad and early death is that of Charles Cory Kernick. Kernick was a world traveller and this was before the days when travellers to less civilised countries of the world could be inoculated against unusual and tropical diseases. You took your chances – plus a bottle of whisky and some quinine and hoped for the best. Kernick did not survive, and left behind him a young and deeply grieving widow.

The First Adjutant.
Charles Cory Kernick.

It is not strictly accurate to call Charles Cory Kernick the first Adjutant of the Legion of Frontiersmen, although that was his duty if not his title. He was the Legion’s first Secretary, as at first it was organised more as a club and it was not until men such as Lt.Col. Driscoll came to prominence in the Legion that it took a more military style and semi-military ranks. In the early days many members and supporters in London, where the Legion had its power base, were either titled aristocrats or semi-retired senior officers. These men were always known by their titles or ranks. Such a man was Lord (Charles) Frederick Brudenell-Bruce, the youngest son of the 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury who held the rank of Major in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry. Continue reading →

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The Perils of Hurried Handwriting

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Roger Pocock

3rd Baron HaldonTopic June / July 2022.  One of the tasks assigned to History and Archives when it was set up in 2001 was to demolish the many myths which have sprung up around the Legion of Frontiersmen. One of the earliest corrections of a myth posted on the topic pages in 2004 was that Lord Haldane was an early member of the Legion of Frontiersmen.

He was not.

How did this happen? There is a simple explanation. Continue reading →

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