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The Diehard Company 1st Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment 1887 |
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Formed in 1993 the Diehard Company; Victorian Military Society is an awarded winning recreation of an infantry section on home service at the time of Queen Victoria's Golden jubilee. Equipped in full home service uniform and wearing 1882 pattern equipment we carry the ultimate Victorian rifle the Martini Henry with it's fearsome "lunger" bayonet. The unit is 100% accurate and prides itself on both its links with the Middlesex Regimental Association and its international reputation for the quality of its drill and displays. Working from authentic period manuals we recreate exactly the life and times of the Victorian soldier - with many period artefacts from medical and signalling equipment down to the minutia of the soldiers haversack contents. They also know a bit about foreign service - in 1997 the unit "garrisoned" Malta for two weeks as guests of the Maltese government and in 1999 they went on active service when 35 of them recreated the battles of Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift 120 years to the day on the sites - with 15,000 Zulus! More recently members formed part of the square in the remake of the Four Feathers in the Sahara and others have scaled Talana Hill and Spion Kop in full kit at the head of an infantry company. They are very user friendly - come and talk to them about the life and times of the soldiers, find out what it felt like to be on active service in Africa from lads who have worn the kit there on the battlefield sites.
The Diehards - our aim is to educate. |
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