Britain's Small Forgotten Wars
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  • Africa
    • Cape of Good Hope, 1806
    • The Attack on Algiers, 1816
    • Bailey's Grave & Auta's Cave: Eighth Xhosa (Kaffir) War, South Africa, 1850-53
    • (The Expedition to Abyssinia, Ethiopia, 1867-68)
    • Asante! Third Ashanti War, Ghana, 1872-73
    • Bleeding in the Dirt: Zulu War, Battle of Kambula, 1879
    • Taking on the Slavers, Zanzibar, 1881
    • The Moonlight Charge, Battle of Kassassin, Egyptian War, 1882
    • Beau Geste: Mahdist Wars, Sudan, 1881-1899
    • Far from the fells of Wensleydale: First Boer War: Ingogo/ Schuinshoojgte 1881
    • Three Graves: The Nile Expedition - Battle of Kirbekan, Sudan, 1885
    • Punishing Okurike, Nigeria 1893
    • Fight against Slavery, Zanzibar, East Africa, 1895
    • Fight Against Slavery, Madina Creek, Gambia, 1894
    • The Fight at Mguni's Stronghold: 2nd Matabele War, Rhodesia, 1896
    • Battle of Talana Hill, Second Boer War, 1899
    • War of the Golden Stool, Ghana, 1900
    • Battle of Atbara, Sudan, 1898
    • Accident & Ambush: 1st Somaliland Campaign, 1901
    • Gumburru and Daratoleh, 1903 Somaliland Campaign
    • The Sokoto Caliphate, Nigeria, 1903
    • Third Somaliland Campaign, 1904
    • The Silent Ones: Asaba Hinterland Operation, Nigeria, 1904
    • The Satiru Uprising, Nigeria, 1906
    • (Abyssinia, 1935-36)
    • The Kolloa Affray, Kenya, 1950
    • (Mau Mau Uprising , Kenya, 1952-60)
  • Americas
    • (American Revolution 1780)
    • Lost Colours: Rio de la Plata, Argentina and Uruguay, 1805-06
    • Farewell, Queen Charlotte - The British-American War 1813
    • (Venezuelan War of Independence, 1811-21)
    • The Franklin Coppermine Expedition, North-East Canada, 1819-22
    • (American Civil War, USA, 1861-65)
    • Cut Knife Creek, North-West Rebellion, Canada, 1885
    • Battle of Coronel, Chile, 1914
  • Asia
    • Farewell to a Fireworker: Invasion of Java, 1811
    • One Shot More: The Anglo-Nepalese War, Nepal, 1814
    • The Pirates of Borneo, 1844
    • Fighting Dacoits, Burma, 1887
    • Storming of Namtow, China, 1858
    • Chin Lushai Expedition, Burma, 1890
    • The Kachin Hills, Burma, 1893
    • Siege of Tientsin, Boxer Rebellion, China, 1900
    • Siege of the Legations, Peking, China, 1900
    • The Younghusband Expedition, Tibet, 1904
    • The Lost Lieutenant: Russo-Japanese War, Manchuria/ China, 1905
    • The Singapore Mutiny, 1915
    • The Wahnsien Incident, China, 1926
    • (Hsaya San Rebellion, Burma, 1930)
    • (The Malayan Insurgency, Malaya, 1954-57)
    • (Yangtze River Incident, China, 1949)
    • Battle of Happy Valley, Korea, 1951
  • Australasia
    • The Flagstaff War, New Zealand, 1845
    • Struck in the Middle: Waikato War, New Zealand, 1863-64
    • Heni Te Kiri Karamu: Tauranga War, New Zealand, 1864
    • (Titokowaru's War, New Zealand, 1868-69)
  • Europe
    • the Glorious First of June, 1794
    • And he marched them back again: The Invasion of North Holland, 1799
    • The Walcheren Campaign, 1809
    • Waterloo, 1815
    • Call in the Marines: The First Carlist War, Spain, 1834-39
    • Hail the Messiah: The Battle of Bossenden Wood, England, 1837
    • International Occupation of Crete, 1897
    • The Dover Patrol, English Channel, 1914-18
    • Q Ships, Bay of Biscay, 1917
    • Irish Independence, Limerick, Ireland, 1922
    • Corfu Channel Incident, 1946
    • Someone Has To Be The First, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 1972
  • India
    • First British-Mysore War, 1768
    • Building Bombay: the Seizure of Salsette 1774
    • "So I may die like one brave soldier": 4th British-Mysore War, 1799
    • Battle of Assaye, 2nd Maratha War, 1803
    • Battle of Deeg, India, 1804
    • The Vellore Mutiny, 1806
    • A Symbol of British Dominance, Nagpur, 1817
    • Arrow in the Skull: Conflict with the Bheels, 1833
    • Siege of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, 1826
    • (The Retreat from Kabul, 1842)
    • The Gwalior Campaign, Madhya Pradesh, 1843
    • First Sikh War, Punjab, 1845-46
    • (Second Sikh War, Punjab, 1848-49)
    • Matale Rebellion, Sri Lanka/ Ceylon, 1848
    • The Kohat pass, North-West Frontier, 1850
    • Let The Killing Begin, Meerut, India, 1857
    • Independence or Mutiny? Oudh, India, 1857
    • "A Mutinous Sepoy", Vellore, 1858
    • Attack on Wana, Waziristan, 1894
    • Malakand Field Force, North-West Frontier, 1897
    • (Tirah Expedition, North-West Frontier, 1897-98)
    • Third Afghan War, North-West Frontier, 1919
    • (Waziristan, North-West Frontier, 1936-37)
  • Middle East
    • Storming Sidon: The Oriental Crisis, Egyptian-Ottoman War, 1840
    • (Anglo-Persian War, 1856)
    • (Aden Hinterland, 1905)
    • The Palestinian revolt, Palestine, 1939
    • (Oman, 1971-75)
  • (Battle of Omdurman, Sudan, 1898)
  • (Siege of Azimghur, India, 1858)

SOMEONE HAS TO BE THE FIRST, LONDONDERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND, 1972
Major Robin Alers-Hankey, 2nd Battalion, Royal Greenjackets
Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester, Hampshire

I have written enough of these stories to appreciate that much of Britain's empire building over the last three hundred years has not been glorious. I can also appreciate that every argument has two sides, and that in Ireland it is comprehensible that Republicans can think they have been fighting a war against British invaders for centuries. There are occasions, however, when the line is overstepped, and war becomes murder, and that, I think, applies to the killing of Major Robin Alers-Hankey, of the Royal Greenjackets.

Allow me to appear to go slightly off-track for a few sentences. In the year I am writing this, 2021, the North-east of England has had several instances of fire crews and police being drawn into ambush. The method usually involves something being set on fire, for example stolen wheelie-bins, with the fire being serious enough for the emergency services to be summoned by concerned locals. When they arrive they are then pelted with bottles and stones, providing amusement for the more disaffected local youths (and maybe older). 

The tactics are not, therefore, unusual, and still occurring today. It was also happening in Derry/Londonderry in 1971. On 2nd September of that year the fire brigade was called out to a fire in the Bogside neighbourhood. As they and the police had been attacked when attending previous incidents, the Army attended as support. This time, however, more than bottles and stones were involved. As officer commanding Major Alers-Hankey was a prime target, and he was picked out and shot by an IRA sniper. The troops were not engaged in combat; they were there to assist the emergency services, should assistance have been needed. The suspicion has to be that, just as in Middlesbrough and Sunderland this year, the fire was started to draw the army in, and the intention was for a soldier to be shot. Robin Alers-Hankey was unlucky enough to be that man, the first army  officer to be killed in The Troubles.

Although a member of a prominent banking and stockbroking family, Alers-Hankey was a professional soldier. A former pupil of Winchester School, where he coxed the School boat, he went to Sandhurst, and then served in conflict zones such as Malaya, Cyprus  and Oman before being posted to Ireland. Married, with two young sons, he was not killed immediately, but breathed on until the end of January, 1972. He died on 30th January, the same day thirteen civilians died from British soldiers' fire, only a few hundred metres from where Alers-Hankey was shot. One can only hope it wasn't revenge.  

Picture
ROBIN NIGEL HUMPHREY/ ALERS-HANKEY/ MAJOR/ THE ROYAL GREEN JACKETS/ FATALLY WOUNDED IN LONDERRY 2ND SEPTEMBER 1971/ DIED 30TH JANUARY 1972
Sources
www.winchestercollegeatwar.com/

www.historyireland.com - letter from Brian Lacey published in History Ireland Issue 6, Nov/Dec 2010
​www.iwm.org.uk/memorials
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