Derek’s book fills a history gap

Years of painstaking research by a military historian have resulted in a new book shedding a unique light on an aspect of Shropshire’s military history. The work by Derek Harrison has resulted in the publication of “The Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery, 1908-1920″ which is being hailed by Peter Duckers, curator of Shropshire Regimental Museum, as a valuable new addition.Mr Duckers, pictured with Mr Harrisoin, said: “He is a chef who works at a residential home whose hobby is military history. He became interested in the Shropshire RHA a number of years ago and, finding there was nothing available about them, he started trawling through all of the local newspapers from 1908 to 1920, which has taken him years to do, looking for accounts of what the battery was doing.

“Because it was only a local territorial part-time battery, rather than a full-time regular one, he has really had to fish around to find reports of competitions, social occasions, annual dinners, and rifle competitions, and so on.

“He has put together their month-by-month activities, training, competitions, social things, and the names of men given long service medals. There are a lot of local names in the book.”

Mr Harrison’s work had covered new ground, said Mr Duckers.

“Apart from a few sentences here and there, there is nothing else on the Shropshire RHA covering that period. It’s the only detailed account of who was in the battery, in so far as he can name them, and most importantly he gives an account of their service in the First World War.”

Mr Harrison has also given, so far as is possible, a roll of the men who served in the battery during the war.

Mr Duckers said: “Short of going to the National Archives in Kew and trying to get all the service records of these men, it’s as detailed an account of a local territorial artillery battery as is capable of being written.”

Currently the book is only available at Shropshire Regimental Museum at Shrewsbury Castle.

“It costs £9.50 which is a bargain as it is a big book with a lot of information in it,” added Mr Duckers.