Loved Empty Throne. And just read Sharpe’s Fury. Masterson, the sergeant who got the Eagle had a descendant distinguished in the Boer War, apparently.
I was reminded of the Tenth Lord Dundonald, of the Napoleonic era. And a bit from Kipling covering the Boer War. “Lord Dundonald’s galloping pom-poms ate up their weight of shell in three minutes.” That’s why we recall The Master and not the guy who said that quick-firing guns were hard to supply.
Also, it’s another Lord Dundonald, call it seventy years later. Maybe eighty. Great grandson, perhaps.
My father’s division (104th ID Timberwolves) were first in the Canadian Corps in Holland under Montgomery with the British army. My dad met a lot of Brits, Aussies and Canadians, and Polish tankers. He was interested in the Brits and their empire. Until they ran out, I used to print off the Telegraph UK obits of various vets for him. I found a not uncommon term, “Old military family”.
Interesting phenomenon.
Richard Aubrey