Long, P.C. Alfred (recovered)

[Bridewell]

I see another on the list, Quarter Master Sergeant Harry Finn, also had an alias!

This seems to have been quite common at the time. One of Albert Cadosch's sons deserted and then re-enlisted under his mother's maiden surname. I have a copy of his war memoir.

[Bridewell]

Long would have had to have provided at least two character references, most commonly from his previous employers and/or someone in an upstanding position in society who could vouch for him, a Vicar, Councillor etc.

These would be checked out and verified. Either by the Met themselves, or via the constabulary from where the applicant/referee lived.

Monty

That was still the case when I joined in 1974. It was certainly the case in the City Police at the time - not sure about the Met, but unlikely to be have adopted hugely dissimilar practise. Harvey's City Police file at the London Metropolitan Archive still contains his references, but not much else.

[Joshua Rogan]

Still trying to track down Long's DCM. I can't find any precise details about what he did, but it was apparently earned at Kila Kazi on 11/12/79. Presumably this would be the action on 11th Dec, when 170 lancers (2 squadrons from the 9th, 1 from 14th Bengal lancers) charged 10,000 Afghans trying to prevent the capture of British artillery. This was apparently Gazetted on 5/4/80, but I can't find an edition for 5th April so must be 4th May, which contains a full account of the actions taking place in December '79. Even though it provides the names of several enlisted men recommended for awards, our man is not among them. Unless I've missed him.
If anyone happens to have a copy of "Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal: 1855-1909" by PE Abbott, that should hopefully settle the matter.

[Joshua Rogan]

Surely the 9th Lancers archives would contain info on awards of the DCM to its soldiers? They merged in the 1970's (I think) with another regiment to make up the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales) but you would think the records would still be held.

As of last year, apparently, now just known as the Royal Lancers;

"The 9th/12th Royal Lancers will amalgamated with the Queens Royal Lancers on 2nd May 2015, in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of York, to form the Royal Lancers."

This was taken from the website of the museum dedicated to them in Derby, but unfortunately their online records seem to have a hole for the Afghan war period. Of the names I've found so far, none are in the nominal rolls, and only a couple are (possibly) mentioned in baptisms and marriages rolls.
I emailed the museum about this, but so far have heard nothing. Perhaps service records for this period exist only on paper, if at all.

[Joshua Rogan]

Hi All,

National Archives—

WO 146 - War Office: Distinguished Conduct Medal, Submissions to Sovereign.

WO 146/1/29 — 1880 April 5th. [Regiment in India].

Regimental Serjeant Major Robert Young: 9th Lancers.

Quarter Master Serjeant Harry, Finn, alias Harry Finn Walker: 9th Lancers.

Troop Serjeant Major Henry Spittle (since deceased): 9th Lancers.

Troop Serjeant Major Henry England: 9th Lancers.

Private Henry Longheed: 9th Lancers.

Private Alfred Long alias James Short: 9th Lancers.

Private Samuel William Harsent: 9th Lancers.

Could this be our man?

Regards,

Simon

I can't believe I missed the significance of this post earlier....I'm such an amateur!

With the exception of Long, these are all NCOs and enlisted men from the 9th Lancers named by Sir F Roberts in his report in the London Gazette. Also listed for the same action were Pte F Druce and Pte HJ Oakes. Druce has a separate entry - WO146/1/32 Lance Corporal Francis Druce (presumably he was promoted between December and April). But I can't find one for Oakes at all (although it may be missing).
It may be far fetched, but could this be another alias of Long/Short?

[jerryd]

Also of interest in this list is Private Samuel William Harsent. A lot of the Harsent family is from Peasenhall and Yoxford. Peasenhall was minutes down the road from Heveningham where PC Walter Andrews was from.

In 1902, 23 year old Rose Harsent was murdered in a farm house in Peasenhall. *Her throat had been cut, she had deep gashes on her shoulders, and her nightdress was charred. The police and a doctor were summoned and soon realized that the scene was made to look like she had tripped down the steps and cut herself with the oil lamp and that the lamp had caught her nightdress on fire. They found that the fire had actually been started by a newspaper and also found a broken medicine bottle containing paraffin near the body.

William Gardiner was tried twice and found not guilty. The mystery is still unsolved to this day. Could Samuel Harsent be a relative of Rose?

*[source]

http://murderrevisited.blogspot.com/2009/07/murder-in-peasenhall.html

[Joshua Rogan]

Mmmm, interesting jerryd, I'd not heard of that case before. Someone should look into it.

Here is a link that should take you to another photo which may show Alfred Long. Captain Gough's was one of two squadrons in action when Long won his medal, so a 50/50 chance his face is there (well, more like 1/3 by numbers, but still a good chance);

http://www.9th12thlancersmuseum.org/archive/journals/regimental-histories/regimental-histories-1715-1936-sheppard/39187#prettyPhoto

This is from the regimental history of the 9th (sorry, can't post directly, p.207 if it doesn't go to the correct place), which also contains the photo posted earlier in this thread. That pic (p.214) is entitled 'party of non-commissioned officers', but as Long was only a private he's unlikely to feature in it.

[Joshua Rogan]

Well, the Lancers Museum got back to me. Although they don't have many records from the period, their archives do apparently show that Long was presented with his DCM on Dec 18th 1880, after the regiment had returned to India. Which is nice.