Peter Duckers – författare

This book outlines the medals issued to British soldiers and sailors for military service across the globe. At a time of imperial expansion, British forces were almost constantly in action - against major powers (like Russia in 1854), in wars of conquest (as in West Africa in the 1880s), or in expeditions on the fringes of Empire, such as the North West Frontier, southern Africa or Burma. Their campaign medals have become a popular field for collectors since, apart from the artistic merit of some awards, most British medals were officially named, making it possible to research the military career of an individual. Collectors feel that they can hold in their hand a real link with the people and events of the past and with famous incidents in Britain's military history.

Since ancient times soldiers have been honoured for gallantry in battle. Over the years and in different societies such honours have taken many forms byut since the 1850s specific acts of bravery 'in the face of the enemy' by British and Imperial forces have been recognised by the award of a range of wearable decorations. These provide a visible indication both of the bravery of the recipient and of its recognition by the government and nation.

This book provides a glimpse into the complex, multi-layered and evolving institution and offers an introduction to the uniforms, arms and services of the Indian Army at the height of the Raj.

This book introduces the insignia worn by members of British Orders of Knighthood and Chivalry. These Orders have existed since the early Middle Ages and were initially intended to unite important noblemen in bonds of loyalty to their monarch or to act as impressive rewards for their services. Over the course of time, appointments to Orders were made to distinguished persons for services rendered to the sovereign or to the state and they have survived into modern times as another means of rewarding people of all classes and occupations for their contribution at international, national or local levels. Some, like the 'Great Orders' of the Garter and the Thistle or the Order of Merit, remain the province of a very select few who have rendered service of signal importance, usually over a long period; others, like the Order of the British Empire, are made much more widely available and reward excellence or dedicated work in all spheres of life. There are those, like the Royal Family Orders or the Royal Victorian Order, which remain exclusively the prerogative of royalty or as rewards for special service to the royal family or sovereign.The insignia worn by the various ranks within the Orders are often of the highest quality and exquisite workmanship and, like campaign medals and decorations, have become a popular field for collecting and research.

A concise history of the attempts to develop and improve the British Army's most important individual weapon, and the ammunition designed for it.

Describes and illustrates many of the medals, including the Victoria Cross award, and the men and women who have been awarded them together with the award citations which are always remarkable and sometimes astounding.

This book surveys the medals awarded to British personnel for military service around the world and in two world wars. The campaign medals awarded for the military actions have become a popular field for collectors, since the majority of British awards were officially named, thus making it possible to research the military career of an individual or regiment. This second edition has been extended to include the operations of the British forces in the opening years of the twenty-first century.

Since the early Middle Ages, the royal families of Europe have rewarded loyal service with a wide range of Orders of Knighthood and Chivalry. Although many ancient Orders have fallen into disuse over time, many European states continue to award Orders for distinguished service and the exquisite badges and decorative objects are studied and collected widely. Expert medal collector Peter Duckers describes the range of European Orders conferred before 1945, some of which stretch back hundreds of years. A brief introduction to a fascinating subject, this is an ideal reference book for anyone interested in collecting these rare and valuable objects.

Britain has issued medals rewarding war service since at least the early nineteenth century, and increasingly through the period of its imperial expansion, but examples of many of the early types are now scarce.However, few families escaped some involvement with the 'Great War' of 1914–18 and many still treasure the medals awarded to their ancestors for wartime service. Today, with a growing interest in British military history and particularly in family history and genealogy, increasing numbers of people want to trace their ancestors' past.This book looks in detail at the origin, types and varieties of the British medals awarded for general war service between 1914 and 1918, and gives advice on researching the awards and their recipients.

This book presents a photographic record of the service of a distinguished county regiment whose origins go back to the Seven Years' War, in the middle of the eighteenth century. Formed in 1881, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the KSLI, formerly the 53rd and 85th Regiments, did tours of duty around the world in the days of the Empire - serving in India, the Far East, the West Indies, and the Mediterranean. This book also shows the KSLI on active service which took them to Egypt in 1882, the Sudan in 1885, and South Africa during the Boer War.Much expanded, the KSLI rendered outstanding service during the First World War. The eight battalions that went overseas served on the Western Front (notably in the Ypres Salient, on the Somme, and in the great offensives of 1918), in Palestine and in Salonika. During the Second World War, the KSLI played a major part in engagements in France in 1940, in Tunisia, in Italy and in North West Europe. Post-war campaigning took them back to Palestine, to Korea, and to Kenya, with peaceful interludes in Germany and Malaysia. The regiment ceased to exist as a distinct unit in 1968, when it was absorbed into the new Light Infantry as the 3rd Battalion.This fascinating book presents a vivid picture of the life of the regiment in times of peace and war through photographs from the regimental archives, the majority of which have never before been published.

This is a gripping new account of the career of Lieutenant Frank Abbott, Royal Navy (1854–86). It begins with his early naval service in the Far East and Pacific and his central role in the Perak Crisis of 1874, following his career through to the Egypt campaign of 1882 and his final service as an officer aboard the Royal Yacht. Central to the book is Abbott’s experiences aboard the powerful new frigate HMS Shah during her long deployment in the Pacific between 1876–79. This witnessed her famous ‘ship to ship’ action with the Peruvian warship Huáscar in 1877, when torpedoes were first used by the Royal Navy, followed by her unexpected deployment to South Africa during the Anglo-Zulu War. After the disaster at Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 and the very real fear of a Zulu invasion of Natal, the sudden arrival at Durban of this impressive warship, carrying most of the garrison of St. Helena and landing a shore party of nearly 300 officers and men, came as a huge relief to the colony of Natal and was a major morale booster. The ship’s company played a prominent part in the operations for the relief of the besieged garrison at Eshowe in March and April 1879, including the major battle of Gingindlovu, and in the subsequent campaign served with the 1st Division under General Crealock as it slowly advanced northwards along the Zululand coast. Abbott himself played a significant role in the movement of troops, ammunition and equipment into Zululand via the pontoon across the Thukela and in the later advance to a new coastal landing site at Port Durnford. In an area of the Anglo-Zulu War not extensively covered in general accounts, Abbott’s letters and journals provide a fresh and interesting insight into the workings of the naval brigade and of one officer’s experiences during a difficult campaign.

Too often historical writing on the Russian War of 1854-56 focuses narrowly on the land campaign fought in the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea. The wider war waged at sea by the British and French navies against the Russians is ignored. The allied navies aimed to strike at Russian interests anywhere in the world where naval force could be brought to bear and as a result campaigns were waged in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the White Sea, on the Russian Pacific coast and in the Sea of Azoff. Yet it is the land campaign in the Crimea that shapes our understanding of events. In this graphic and original study, Peter Duckers seeks to set the record straight. He shows how these neglected naval campaigns were remarkably successful, in contrast to the wretched failures that beset the British army on land. Allied warships ranged across Russian waters sinking shipping, disrupting trade, raiding ports, bombarding fortresses, destroying vast quantities of stores and shelling coastal towns. The scale and intensity of the naval operations embarked upon during the war are astonishing, and little appreciated, and this new book offers the first overall survey of them.

This second edition of Peter Duckers best-selling British Military Medals traces the history of medals and gallantry awards from Elizabethan times to the modern day, and it features an expert account of their design and production. Campaign and gallantry medals are a key to understanding - and exploring - British and imperial military history, and to uncovering the careers and exploits of individual soldiers. In a series of succinct and well-organized chapters he explains how medals originated, to whom they were awarded and how the practice of giving medals has developed over the centuries. His work is a guide for collectors and for local and family historians who want to learn how to use medals to discover the history of military units and the experiences of individuals who served in them.