The Last of my Rifle Volunteers...

[Marvin]

The last in my series of Victorian rifle volunteers feature the 24th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers, aka "Post Office Rifles". These were the first group of volunteer rifles to come under fire, serving with the British army in the desert sands of Kassassin, Egypt in 1882.

Given the arid and dusty conditions, I have added a little desert onto their puttees and trousers. For some peculiar reason I chose to depict them with British-Indian army style puttees instead leather gaiters, which is what they would have worn. But, well, I like them this way!

From the blog - a little history -
https://suburbanmilitarism.wordpress.com/2017/11/05/the-postman-always-shoots-twice/
And some more pics -
https://suburbanmilitarism.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/the-post-office-rifles-in-egypt/

Cheers,

Marvin

[C M Dodson]

These are lovely indeed. I particularly like the faces as thus brings then alive.

Fantastic work.

Best wishes, Chris

[santifernandez]

Hi marvin...great paint.
nice job in faces and scene.
Santi.

[FredG]

..........Wot! No camels?...........

Well it is Egypt

[Marvin]

..........Wot! No camels?...........

Well it is Egypt

What do you think they are shooting at?

[FredG]

What do you think they are shooting at?

That may not be the wisest thing to do.

[Marvin]

That may not be the wisest thing to do.

At least they're not facing the much-feared Bactrian two-hump brigade.

[Kekso]

I wanted to say "lovely" or "great" but both terms are used already.
I really like dusty uniforms

[Graeme]

Another excellent post. The faces are very expressive and the dusty uniforms look great, mostly around the legs, which I think is right for windblown desert sand.

A fine tribute to these volunteers.

What do you think they are shooting at?

I assumed these guys came from the GPO's complaints department. "What's wrong with the Christmas delivery service"?

[Peter]

I wanted to say "lovely" or "great" but both terms are used already.
I really like dusty uniforms

Excellent? Fantastic? Choice enough!

[MABO]

You did again. Very interesting topic.

[Kekso]

Excellent? Fantastic? Choice enough!

Nope, they're not that good

[Marvin]

Thanks guys, glad you like them!

Another excellent post. The faces are very expressive and the dusty uniforms look great, mostly around the legs, which I think is right for windblown desert sand.

A fine tribute to these volunteers.



I assumed these guys came from the GPO's complaints department. "What's wrong with the Christmas delivery service"?

Yes - I've often had parcels come through the post that look like they've been out on a long campaign.

Excellent? Fantastic? Choice enough!

Nope, they're not that good

Grrr...that Kekso...