MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE OVERSEAS, 1938 (1) - BRITISH GUIANA

In 1938, the critical year of the Very British Civil War, John Player & Sons (part of Imperial Tobacco) produced a series of cigarette cards depicting the "Uniforms of the British Empire Overseas". Here in the Hereford VBCW, we do like a nice cigarette card - in this case, contemporary evidence of some of the troops that returned from overseas to fight for "the King Emperor" (or, if you're a Yorkist, fight to replace him with a different "King Emperor"):

The British Guiana Militia

The reverse of the cigarette card (No.48 of 50) states:

"British Guiana, which was ceded to Great Britain in 1814, has an area of 89,480 square miles and a population of over 328,000. The British Guiana Militia was constituted in 1891 and consists of a machine gun company and infantry companies. The Force is equipped with modern arms and is trained on the lines of the Territorial Army. It is under the command of the Inspector-General of the Police and has a permanent military staff to supervise its training. Our picture shows a Company Sergeant Major of the Militia; the Town Hall, Georgetown, British Guiana, appears in the background."

Notes:

(1). it appears that - unbelievably enough - no 28mm manufacturer has produced figures for the British Guiana Militia, 1938. However, West Wind have produced four Colonial Police that could pass; and Empress Miniatures' "Jazz Age Imperialism" lines might be profitably plundered for special items such as machine guns. Gripping Beast do 28mm separate heads in Wolseley Helmets. Any other suggestions, leave a comment!

(2). British Guiana became independent in May 1966 and was renamed Guyana. The 2022 population of Guyana was c. 808,000. Shorn of all imperial pretensions, The Town Hall, Georgetown still stands:

No Militia today - replaced with Mondeos and Toyotas. Sic transit....