The Field – August 2019

WWW.THEFIELD.CO.UK 149

WITH these recent war anniversaries my
mindhasturned,asnobodyelse’sprobably
has,toa differentaspectofconflict,a rather
moresportingside:pillage andplunder.A
skillweBritsdevelopedintoa nearartform
after centuries spent colouring the world
mapa fetchingpink.Anybodywhofought
uswasfairgameintheaftermathofdefeat
and,today,ourhousesandmuseumsand
(especially)regimentalmessesarefullofkit
capturedin battleor‘liberated’afterwards.
Nazi helmets and SS daggers, Zulu spears

Pillagedorplundered,itemstakenhomeaftera tourcertainly

have provenance, says Roger Field – if not always legal title...

Souvenirs of war

and shields,Indian andAsianswordsand

guns;ourprovincialsaleroomsarefullofthis

lower-gradestuff,somedoubtlessboughtas

souvenirsbutmuchofit capturedorlooted.

EvenI’vegotsomepointysteelkillingbits

lurkinginmystudy,mementosofa long-ago

fisticuffswithriflesandliveroundsI once

found myself involved in. Likewise, some

of the ancientarmour andweaponry that

comesontothemarketwasprobably,hun-

dreds ofyears ago,somebody’sbattlefield

souvenir. Soldiers, since time immemorial,

have been forced to return their ‘issued’

weapons – bloody quartermasters! – and

becameadeptatsquirrellingawaywhatthey

captured orhalf-inched,not leastas their

equally acquisitive superiors rarely knew

they’dgotit.

What you can get away with filching

tendstodependonrank.Onlya malcontent

(although therewere a few...) would have

daredquibbleatwhethertheRoyalFamily

should have ended up adding the Koh-i-

Noor diamond to the Crown Jewels back

COUNTRYESTATE

UNDER THE HAMMER

ThisTipuswordwas‘allocated’to

Major ThomasHartaftertheBattleof

Seringapatam in 1799