RADICAL HERO (2) - LEWIS CLIVE

We last encountered Captain Percy Clive, Unionist MP for the Ross Division of Herefordshire (Hereford South), back in THIS POST about the January 1910 election in the County. 

Percy Clive c. 1900.

Captain Percy Archer Clive (b. 13th March 1873) was the eldest son of Charles Meysey Bolton Clive of Whitfield, Herefordshire, and was educated at Eton and the RMA, Sandhurst. He received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards in 1891, aged just 18. He was first elected to Parliament, for the Ross Division, in  the "Khaki Election" of 1900 (returned unopposed!). At that time, he was away in South Africa fighting in the Second Boer War. After a somewhat low key political career, punctuated by losing his seat in the Liberal landslide of 1906 and thereafter regaining it in a by-election, Captain Clive MP "rejoined the colours" on the outbreak of WW1 in August 1914. By 1918, Clive had been twice wounded, twice mentioned in despatches, received the Legion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre, and was in command, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, of the 1/5th Lancashire Fusiliers. Clive was killed at the Front on 5th April 1918, defending against the German Spring Offensive in the area of Bucquoy.

Whitfield, near Wormbridge, Herefordshire. Clive's ancestral home. A 1907 postcard.

Lt-Col Percy Clive sat in Parliament initially as Liberal Unionist, and thereafter a Conservative, and cannot therefore be considered a "Radical Hero". That distinction - if distinction is the right word, dependent upon your political point of view - belongs to his second son, Lewis (b.1910)

Lewis Clive aged 21, Oxford University, 1931.

Lewis Clive was educated at Eton (Captain of Oppidans, and of Boats) and Christchurch, Oxford. His principal activity at Oxford seems to have been rowing, for he rowed in the University Boat Race in both 1930 and 1931, losing to the Cambridge boat on both occasions, but also represented Britain in the coxless pairs at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, where he won a gold medal.

After graduation from Oxford, in August 1932, Lewis Clive - just like his father - received a commission in the Grenadier Guards. At some point thereafter, however, his politics took a radical turn to the left. In 1934, for example, he was a founding member of the National Council for Civil Liberties (now known simply as "Liberty"); by 1937, he had been elected as a Labour Councillor on Kensington Borough Council. In that year, possibly by reason of his Council election, he resigned his army commission. He was by now actively engaged with the Fabians, as this interesting letter from May 1937 demonstrates:

Tom Wintringham will have to wait for another blogpost, but at this point had commanded the British Battalion of the International Brigades and been wounded at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937. We don't know if he ever replied to Lewis Clive's letter, but at some point afterwards, Clive decided not to wait, but to volunteer for the International Brigades himself. He arrived in Spain in late February 1938.

Soviet Files on Lewis, incorporating International Brigades records

"...an honest and earnest anti-fascist fighter. Should develop into a good
military leader......"

By July 1938, Clive had been promoted to command a company of the British Battalion, and had taken part in the fighting around the River Ebro. He was by now almost unrecognisable from his days as an Oxford undergraduate:

Lewis Clive in Spain, 1938.

Around 1st August 1938, Clive was killed by a sniper's bullet. A fellow IB fighter, George Wheeler, recalled:

"Lewis Clive re-appeared and asked about the activity in the fascist lines. It was a hot, sunny day and, as usual, my shirtsleeves were rolled up. At that moment I felt splashes on my left forearm, and glancing down, was astonished to see that they were splashes of blood. Turning, I saw Lewis reel and fall. Someone below said "What a ghastly sight". I slid down from my firing position and saw that the top of his head was severed completely...This big, cheerful, and sincere man had performed his duties as Company Commander with distinction. Well-liked and respected in the battalion, this was a great loss to us all...."

Notes:

(1). Accounts of Lewis Clive's rowing career, and death in the Spanish Civil War, are set out in a very helpful blogpost, "Lewis Clive - the Red Blue" HERE. His Wiki entry is HERE.

(2). Lewis Clive's elder brother, Major Meysey George Dallas Clive (b.1907), was killed in action with the Grenadier Guards in North Africa on 1st May 1943. See more HERE.

(3). Lt-Col Percy Archer Clive is commemorated in an ornate plaque within Hereford Cathedral. It notes that he was "killed in the act of rescuing a wounded comrade".

(4). Before he left for Spain, Lewis Clive had proposed to Mary Farmer, subsequently better known as Mary Wesley, author of "The Camomile Lawn". In that novel, the character Oliver Anstey is apparently based on Clive. There is also a splendid biography of Wesley by Patrick Marnham, in which Lewis Clive features:

TYPES OF THE VBCW (21) - REVOLTING CLERKS !

These Old Glory "European Civilian Volunteers" from their Boxer Rebellion range (see HERE), with their bowler hats, short jackets and rifles, make good office clerks for a VBCW "urban faction" of whatever ideological persuasion:

Boxer Rebellion Civilian Volunteers. Unknown painter - but
very nice urban bases.

Excellent value at £35 for 30 figures - enough to make 3 Infantry Sections !

SPANISH REPUBLICAN PARADE - 1936

 As a complement to this EARLIER POST, some more Spanish Republicans passing in parade:

Assault Guards with motorcyclists and armoured car..

Mountain Artillery with pack mules...

Motorised infantry. Cool command car and lengthy carrier...

Motorised Artillery. Interesting ways to bring the artillery into position...

The heavy stuff - Soviet supplied tank battalion, and another interesting armoured car...

Early tank transporters with French supplied FT-17s...

El Presidente with his escort. Mounted ceremonial squadron...

Bringing up the rear (for security), 179 "Mixed" Brigade of infantry and cavalry.

Lots of inspiration for a 1930s VBCW Platoon.....

GENERAL ELECTION JANUARY 1910

As the Hereford1938 blog pays not the slightest attention to other events, perhaps it is a drop in our well-known standards even to refer to some electoral material, but here is the "Hereford Times" Illustrated Supplement for the General Election of January 1910, a contest between - as Party leaders - H.H. Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister, and A.J. Balfour, the Conservative Leader of the Opposition:

The candidates in the (then) three Herefordshire Constituencies - Hereford City,
Hereford North and Hereford South.

In the Hereford City contest, Mr E. Lewin-Thomas KC (Liberal) challenged Mr J.S. Arkwright, the sitting Unionist MP. In Hereford North (or the "Leominster Division"), Sir James Rankin, Bart. (Unionist), took on the sitting Liberal MP, Mr E. Lamb, while Hereford South (or the "Ross Division") was contested between the sitting Unionist MP, Captain P.A. Clive, and Mr Harry Webb (Liberal). Interesting that all the "Conservatives" then ran as "Unionists", and that there was no Labour challenge. The results were reflected in a subsequent locally printed piece of "doggerel":

The January 1910 election was obviously within the living memory of many of those engaged in the Very British Civil War of 1938 - for the General Election closest to the VBCW in time (i.e. the 1935 General Election), see HERE.

Add Edit:

(1). There were two General Elections in 1910 - in January, and then again in December. For the issues and results of the January election, see HERE; for the same information in relation to the December election, see HERE. In Herefordshire, the second General Election elected the same MPs as the first. 

GOERING'S YACHT

Reichsmarschall Goering, fresh from his victory in the field at the Battle of Stoke Edith, has turned his mind to how he can best assist the gathering Wye Flotilla. It seems to the Reichsmarschall that his own personal yacht - perhaps with the addition of a 3pdr "forrard" and a few Lewis Guns - may be just the thing: 

Goering's personal yacht. For those with good eyes (or prepared to download and enlarge)
that's the Reichsmarschall, seated and waving, on the rear deck.

Yacht named after his first wife, the "Carin II"

For scratchbuilders, the original schematics of the "Carin II" dating from 1936.

In the alt-universe (of reality), the "Carin II" was captured by British Forces at the end of the war. It then - unbelievably - served in the Royal Navy Rhine Flotilla, re-christened as "Prince Charles". At the end of the 1950s, Emmy Goering managed to reclaim the yacht from the British, as it had been Goering's personal property and had never served military purposes. She promptly sold the yacht, and, renamed again as the Carin II, it finally finished up in the hands of the journalist Gerd Heidemann, subsequently notorious for promoting the fake "Hitler Diaries".

Modern day pictures of the "Carin II"

After Heidemann's disgrace, the yacht was sold on to an Egyptian purchaser, and (after some further adventures) it is now re-christened (again) "Prince Charles" and moored in the old marina of el-Gouna, Egypt. It remains, nevertheless, a floating piece of history - surely one of the few chattels successively visited by Mussolini, Hitler, Goering and his top commanders (Udet, Milch and Jeschonnek), and then Field Marshall Montgomery, Prince Philip, King Charles III and Princess Margaret. Full details HERE !

For those not inclined to a full scratchbuild, this Sarissa "Dunkirk Little Ship"
might - with the customary "squint" - be a good 28mm substitute for the "Carin II".

Ahoy there! The Reichsmarschall, aboard the "Carin II", waves to his adoring public.

RADICAL HEROES - INTERNATIONAL BRIGADERS

As noted HERE, just as the Spanish Civil War was "winding down", the Very British Civil War was "heating up". In late 1938, the "International Brigades", then fighting for the Spanish Republic, were disbanded and withdrawn (in a futile attempt by the then President of the Republic, Juan Negrin, to make an end to all foreign intervention in the conflict, and win the support of the British and French Governments). This meant that a lot of British Radicals (in significant part, Communists), experienced in the ways of civil war, then returned to the UK - with consequences well known to all VBCW historians.

In any event, the British Contingent of the International Brigades has been well (indeed, exhaustively) documented - down to the personal histories of each individual fighting with the "British Battalion". THIS PAGE HERE gives wonderful detail of the kind of personalities who were willing to fight, and if necessary, die, for the "Anti-Fascist cause" in the late 1930s:

A posthumous Communist salute from Charles Goodfellow, a Scottish miner
and member of the CPGB from 1921. Killed by shrapnel to the head on Mosquito Ridge,
 Battle of Brunete. He arrived in Spain on 22nd December 1936. MORE HERE

Although consistently describing themselves simply as "Anti Fascists", the International Brigades were in large part organised and financed by the Comintern and, at the Comintern's orders, European Communist Parties. Harry Pollitt, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, did his bit from 16, King Street, the CPGB HQ, and visited the British Battalion in Spain:

, 

British Battalion LtoR - Walter Tapsell with pipe, William Paynter, Fred Copeman, 

Harry Pollitt, George Aitken, George Brown, Bert Williams.

28mm International Brigade from North Star Figures (Crusader). It's not clear whether
these are still available, or have now gone OOP - enquiries to North Star.
Nobody (as yet) seems to make a 28mm "Harry Pollitt" figure.

All you need to complete an "International Brigade" force for the VBCW
 - a generic International Brigade Flag.

RADICAL HERO (1) - MICHAEL FOOT COLOURISED

Those readers of a certain age may remember Michael Foot as Leader of the Opposition (1980 - 1983) and fierce critic of Margaret Thatcher. At the 1983 General Election, sponsoring a party manifesto memorably described as "the longest suicide note in history" (courtesy Gerald Kaufman, a Labour Front Bencher), Foot lost in a landslide, experiencing the worst result for the Labour Party since 1935:

Michael Foot and Margaret Thatcher at the Cenotaph, November 1981

Having had an extremely lengthy political career, Michael Foot would have well remembered the 1935 result, for it was then that he fought his very first Parliamentary election, in the constituency of Monmouth, right next door to Herefordshire.

A (very) young Michael Foot, Labour Party Candidate, 1935

Michael Foot, 1935, colourised.

For more on Michael Foot's 1935 election, and his subsequent involvement in Herefordshire's VBCW, see the Bishop's Broadcasting blog HERE. On any basis, a "radical hero" for the "Broad Left" !

CHEAP VBCW TANKS (6) - SP ARTILLERY

The sixth in our occasional series of how to create large VBCW armoured forces for only a few pounds. Here is a cheapy Chinese pre-moulded plastic tank that pops up on Ebay from time to time: 

Far too modern looking, of course, for the VBCW - on the other hand, there's no bothering with painfully cutting out from sprues, assembling and gluing lots of tiny plastic parts before one gets to something vaguely resembling an armoured vehicle. Here there are only two parts - the turret and the chassis. And there's the intriguing element of pre-moulded "bullets" at the rear end of the vehicle, which obviously suggested a conversion to some form of SP Artillery.

So - remove the turret (with fingers!). Then find some kind of (preferably cheepy plastic, preferably non scale) artillery that "looks right" sitting on top of the now denuded hull, cutting away any gun parts (such as wheels and trail) to fit. Paint, add crew, et voila:

BUF "Bison" SP Artillery. Non scale plastic 25pdrs converted to fit. Crew by Empress, GW etc.
(anything in a sidecap, really). The "bullets" at the rear of the chassis are now
"readily available artillery shells" for quick firing operations.

For more on the role of BUF "Bisons" in the Hereford VBCW, together with the full tale of the theft of the design  its subsequent adoption by the Wehrmacht, see HERE.

TYPES OF THE VBCW (20) - SPANISH SOVIET ADVISER

The relationship between the Spanish Civil War and the Very British Civil War, as previously noted, is somewhat hazy; one thing that is certain, however, is that just as the Spanish Civil War was winding down (it officially ended in the Spring of 1939), the Very British Civil War was heating up. Hence, it's no surprise that a variety of battle-hardened "advisers" made their way from Spain to Herefordshire, including this stern-looking "Spanish Soviet" officer:

Very nicely painted Bolt Action Soviet Adviser.
Ideal for the Presteigne or Kington Communist Fronts.

Strangely, notwithstanding the chaotic and deadly nature of the fighting in Herefordshire, Soviet "advisers" may have thought a transfer "in County" from Spain to be some form of life-saver. The record of Communist military advisers recalled from the Spanish Civil War direct to Moscow was not a happy one, as illustrated by the well-known Vladimir Copic (see full Wiki bio HERE):

Vladimir Copic. A prominent Yugoslav Communist and famous (or notorious)
Republican Commander and Commissar of the XVth International Brigade
during the Spanish Civil War. After the Battles of Jarama and Belchite, recalled
to Moscow, denounced and imprisoned as a Trotskyite deviationist, then shot by
the NKVD in April 1939. For earlier purges of prominente, see HERE.

Add edit:

A similar fate befell Manfred Stern, aka General Kleber, the "Saviour of Madrid".
Recalled to Moscow, he was tried, condemned and sentenced to fifteen years
hard labour in May 1939. The remainder of his life was spent in the Gulag.
He died of exhaustion in February 1954. See his WIKI HERE

RIVER GUNBOATS (FROM LEGO)

Back in 1973 (now more than fifty years ago!), Lego produced a series of plastic ships:

The original Lego advert, reflecting contemporary issues - Icelandic
Cod Wars, French passenger ferry, and cargo boat "with fruit from the
West Indies, machinery to Australia and oil from the Middle East"

The Lego Trawler

These Lego boats had a detachable keel, enabling the boat to be used "in the bath" or "on the carpet". Over the succeeding years, a variety of variants were produced, such as the Lego "Police boat":

The later police boat. Simply a different superstructure on the same
type of hull, and "rebranding by transfers" (or decals if you're American)

Apart from the detachable keel, the useful thing about these boats is that the pre-formed plastic hulls are split up in to Lego type sections, easily clickable together in shorter or longer lengths:

3 sections

or 4 sections

These vintage Lego boats (or more accurately, bits of them, usually hulls without any superstructure) turn up fairly regularly on Evilbay, and very often at useful prices. One thing to watch out for, however, is (whether by reason of age or children's fingers) the hulls sometimes have broken sides (see the example above) - so be careful when studying the photographs to avoid disappointment.

All that said, these hulls are pretty much the right size for 20 or 28mm figures, and take all the work out of "building gunboats". A plasticard covering for the "Lego nobbly deck", a suitable superstructure and a gun or two, and you're ready to rule the River Wye take your place at the bar of the Hereford Boathouse!

As always, some modelling inspiration:

The Sarissa Gunboat. Too large for the River Wye, although it might form part of the
"Bristol Fleet". Anyway, a good superstructure to emulate..PS If you're patient or lucky,
you can get about three - four Lego hulls for the price of one of these Sarissa kits!

Impossible to resist the more "Colonial Style" gunboat - part of Hereford's own "Great White Fleet" ?