Banner - 2nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers 1882

[josey]

This handsewn banner is in the possession of a 96 yr old relative. He chose to take it with him from his home to a care home in August; he no longer has any memory of how it came into his possession. He was born in Sunderland.

I am searching his family tree to see if there are any men who enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers. Meanwhile, can anyone tell me when and on what occasion it would have been made, what it is and who would have had access to it? How would it have come into the possession of an individual?

In due course should he donate it to a museum?
Thanks for any help as always.

ADDED: as I remember, the size is roughly 60 cm x 40  cm

[Andy J2022]

Artefacts like this were often made by wives and girlfriends while their other halves were away serving overseas. The finished product would then either be framed behind glass or used as a cushion cover etc. Obviously this one was too big to have been a cushion cover. It looks like the work of a very skilled needlewoman, with a lot of time on her hands.

I have no idea how it came to be among this relative's possession's but it seems likely that it belonged to a relative of his.

I'm not sure of the significance of the year 1882. This isn't one of the Regiment's battle honours. It is the year after the Regiment was retitled from its previous name the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot. The 2nd Battalion was in India from 1880 to 1896 and took part in the final phase of the Second Afghan War (1878–1880). Perhaps 1882 is when the person for whom it was made joined the Regiment, or more poignantly, died, although I don't think this was a memorial tapestry.

You should definitely contact the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers museum as they may be able to provide more details about it. And I am sure that if your relative no longer wants it, the museum would love to have it for their collection.

The motto 'Quo fata vocant' roughly translates as Wherever fate takes me or Wherever fate calls [me].

[josey]

That's brilliant and very informative, thank you. I  will do as you suggest.

[josey]

I'm posting the kind and comprehensive reply I got from the manager of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers Museum

"Thank you for sending the image of the embroidery - the colours are certainly vibrant.  I am afraid I don't think I can help much in regard to why it was produced.  It does resemble embroideries that were produced in India, for example in 1911 for the Delhi Durbar which were distributed to members of the 1st Battalion who took part in the ceremony.  I have not been able to do a lot of research but from what I can see the 2nd Battalion sailed for India in 1880.  It doesn't look like they left India until 1895 when they sailed from Bombay to Singapore, on to Gibraltar and then home.  No mention is made in the Digest of Service or the regimental history of any 'special' occasions taking place in 1882 to warrant the production of an embroidery/banner. 

The 2nd Battalion were raised 5 Aug 1799, was disbanded in 1802 (re-raised in 1804 and disbanded again in 1816), and was re-raised on 26 October 1857 at Newcastle upon Tyne.  Therefore, in 1882 the latest version of the 2nd Battalion would have been 25 years old - so perhaps a Silver Jubilee commemoration?  However I cannot find any mention of such a celebration in any resources available here in the archives.  I even looked ahead to October 1907 (St George's Gazette, Regimental newsletter) to see if anything was mentioned about the 2nd Battalion's 50th Anniversary which may have made a reference to anything produced for the previous 25th Anniversary - to no avail. 

I also searched our collections catalogue for references to the names you kindly supplied below but unfortunately there were none which were relevant.

Sorry, I don't think I will be able to locate any further information within our archive. "

The family names from the 19th century I had mentioned are Annison, Donnison, Ratcliffe and Cowley. The search goes on!!

Thanks for the help. 

[Jeffrey]

Very interesting post.
My father was in the Northumberland Fusiliers in the latter part of WW1

Judy