Hamilton Barracks, Hamilton, Scotland

[Jockbhoy67]

Ah, is that the brochure that follows the footsteps of oor pals Jock and Sandy as they are taken through the recruiting process?

Yes thats the very one Barrie....

[Glengarry]

They had certainly expanded their accomodation by the time of the 2nd photo.

I note the broken lamp on the left pillar was left to fall apart though, not very military like!

I believe that the military was not quite as pernickety as it later became during the time of National Service, the theory being that there were an awful lot of people who didn't want to be there. Discipline had to be maintained and idle minds occupied with senseless drills (whitewashing kerbs and coal heaps, brassoing webbing, kit and bedding layouts, bulling of brasses, boots, even issue plimsolls etc.) You can see by the state of the order of dress of the guys in the photographs that attitudes were more relaxed.

Even foot drill became more stylised, shouty and stampy than before and this aspect pertains today.

[Jockbhoy67]

I believe that the military was not quite as pernickety as it later became during the time of National Service, the theory being that there were an awful lot of people who didn't want to be there. Discipline had to be maintained and idle minds occupied with senseless drills (whitewashing kerbs and coal heaps, brassoing webbing, kit and bedding layouts, bulling of brasses, boots, even issue plimsolls etc.) You can see by the state of the order of dress of the guys in the photographs that attitudes were more relaxed.

Even foot drill became more stylised, shouty and stampy than before and this aspect pertains today.

I would have thought during times of peace or relative times of peace, as there was usually trouble some where in the British Empire, discipline might have been somewhat more relaxed, with the emphasis more on drill as they would all have been professional serving soldiers rather than conscripts. As it was a working Barracks, with familes of serving soldiers living in the Barracks, maintainance and upkeep would surely still have had to be maintained. In the top photo of the Barracks gate, there appears to be an H.L.I. soldier, which would make it pre-1921 and still using gas lighting, possibly by the time the other photo of the Barracks was taken in the 1920s, the place may have been converted to electricity and the lamp was simply no longer required.

Edited 9 July , 2015 by Jockbhoy67

[Moonraker]

There are five postcards attributed to Hamilton Camp and the 8th Royal Sussex Regiment on offer on the well-known auction site. One certainly shows the camp and itself is captioned accordingly. Another definitely is not, and I have my doubts about the others.

 

I emailed the dealer who replied saying that the cards were in the same numerical sequence in the album he had broken up, so his assumption was that all were of Hamilton Camp... 

 

Bids have been made on some of the cards; I hope that this was on the basis of them featuring the Royal Sussex if indeed they do), not Hamilton Camp.

 

Moonraker

 

 

 

[Guest]

Hi Moonraker, I read with great interest the posts concerning “Salisbury Plain” military camps, I research them as a local resident to Durrington etc and have a keen interest in this field. I was wondering if you would like to share some of your postcard images with me, pm me if you like, thanks, jeepster1

[Moonraker]

Shall send you PM.

 

Moonraker