Historian, novelist and former officer of the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment Brigadier Allan Mallinson will headline Cumbria’s first Military Festival.
Taking place at the Museum of Military Life at Carlisle Castle on June 3 and June 4, the festival will consist of talks and displays and will be run in partnership with local independent bookshop and publisher Bookends of Castle Street, Carlisle.
Brigadier Allan Mallinson will talk at the closing reception on “Why dwell on the past?” on Saturday evening, June 4. Allan served as a Company Commander in the KORBR, before transferring to the 13/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own). His last appointment was Military Attaché in Rome.
He has written several revisionist histories of World War 1. ‘1914: Fight the Good Fight’ won the British Army’s ‘Book of the Year’ Award. Its sequel, ‘Too Important for the Generals’ examines the leadership of the British Army and finds that there were alternatives to the bloodletting on the Western Front. His historical fiction follows the career of a fictional cavalry officer, Matthew Hervey, during the Nineteenth Century.
Speakers during the day will be Rob Griffith, author of ‘At the point of a bayonet’ his recent book, published by Helion, on the 34th Foot’s triumph at Arroyo during the Peninsular War, in which ‘The Cumberland Gentlemen’ – an antecedent regiment of the KORBR – captured the drums of the French 34th Regiment.
The drums are on display in the museum. Rob Griffiths lives in Warwickshire. Keith Matthews from Essex will talk about his research into the French soldiers who surrendered their drums at Arroyomolinos.
In the afternoon Ian Wilson will talk about the experiences of his father and other members of 9 Battalion The Border Regiment in Burma in 1943-45, which form the basis of his book, ‘My Dad’s Army – White Gurkhas’, (published by Bookcase). Ian Wilson was born in Carlisle, he now lives in Chelmsford. In the 1980s he was landlord of the King’s Arms, Bowness-on-Solway.
Alan Whitworth will talk about his book ‘Thunder of the Guns: An Artillery Officer on the Western Front 1914 – 1919’ (published by Bookcase), the WW1 letters sent to his family in the Carlisle area by Colonel William Murray. Alan is a retired archaeologist who worked for English Heritage for 25 years including time at Carlisle Castle and on Hadrian’s Wall.
Displays will include vehicles from The Military Vehicle Trust and demonstrations by Matt Zembo, a reenactor from the USA depicting a soldier of the 34th Regiment of Foot from the period of the American War of Independence.
Tickets will be on sale from February.
