The Queen is Dead - God Save the King

I was going to give you plaster figures from India this afternoon, but events - as they say - had other ideas, so I think this is more appropriate, file under the nostalgia thread.

This is my Grandfather's baton; not any-old baton, not a sports-day baton, not a parade-ground baton, not an "I'm in charge of this ship today" baton, but the baton of an usher at the marriage of Princess Elizabeth Windsor and Philip Mountbatten (Nee Prince Phillip of Greece and Denmark) which took place on Thursday 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London.

I would imagine there were several hundred ushers, and I don't suppose any of them got to enter the Abbey or sit through the wedding service, as they were there to hold back crowds and direct people or traffic as a near day-long programme of 'Pomp & Circumstance' unfolded, giving new hope - and a reason for a knees-up - to a nation still struggling to shake-off the aftermath of total war.

The baton's really only a wooden dowel, painted, with a gilded-brass badge nailed to it, but it's not what it is, it's what it represents, it's the symbology of nationhood, of continuity, of the hopes of the age, of service, loyalty, pageant, and it's a reminder of the fact that history is also today.

And - on this saddest of days for our nation - also a reminder that nothing lasts forever, but that we are all the products of that history.

JTSH is for John Talbot Savignac Hall, Rear Admiral!

Yes - they did naming differently in the Victorian era, I'm plain Hugh David! It's the eleventh of the eleventh today so a bit of a quiet reflection, we looked at his 'Pom-Pom' yesterday and I thought I'd pay what little tribute to him I feel able to.

Looking good in his Tropical or Summer Dress 'whites', there is a slightly sterner picture of him on the Indian Navy website; he's also on Wikipedia, taken when he was older, the above shot is of him when he was a Commander.

JTS - as he was known - was my Grandfather on my mother's side and he rose to become the first Naval Chief of the Indian Navy after Independence - serving in the post for one year, from the 15th Aug 1947 to the 14th Aug 1948, during which time he reorganised the newly independent Indian Navy and - along with Lord Mountbatten, Commodore Nott and Commander AK Chatterji (who would himself go on to command the Indian Navy) among others - prepared a ten-year plan for the development of the new Navy.

The plan was thrown into chaos a year later when a tropical typhoon damaged most of the fleet.

His last ship - isn't she beautiful? At various times - I believe - known as HMS, HMNZS and HMINS Achilles and latterly as HMINS and INS Delhi (I'm not sure about the first prefix of those last two?) she was a Light Cruiser.

The open bridge is a surprise on a ship of that size and date, but there had been a war on and sailors were weathered, rugged sorts back then, they probably enjoyed the fresh air and excellent view!

She is flying the Indian flag, so this must be a 'Delhi' shot, as there is a full ships-company parade going-on and the ship is flying the ensign of a Rear Admiral, it may well have been taken on her name-change day, or even Independence Day?

And - the above image doesn't appear in a Google image-search result's page, so new to the internet?

Airfix made a kit of her sister ship Ajax, which I was given - for obvious reasons - too young to do it justice and I made a predictable hash of it, although I still have the turrets in a spares bag somewhere!

His role as a rather symbolic bridge between the colonial and independent administrations left both governments slightly embarrassed by my Grandfather and he never got the knighthood he probably should have, retiring to farm apples in Kent and run the local Civil Defence, he died before I was born, so I never knew him.

I wish I could ask him about it all now, Gallipoli, the South China seas and Indian Ocean, pirates, pom-poms . . . Achilles! My Granddad drove HMS Achilles . . . get in!

Sorry granddad . . . rest in peace.