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15/19 The King’s Royal Hussars Part 1: The Boxing Team

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Subject :15/19 The King’s Royal Hussars Part 1: The Boxing Team
Published By : None 
Location : Ipoh
Estimated Year : 1955
Media Type : Photograph
Source : Lennie Brookes, UK
Remark : The photographs show the 15/19th The King’s Royal Hussars Boxing Team. The team was trained by Lennie Brookes' (our donor) father, CSMI (Company Sergeant Major Instructor) L Gurney.

CSMI Gurney was a member of the Army Physical Training Corps (APTC) which is the British Army corps that is responsible for physical fitness and physical education. Its members are all Army Physical Training Corps Instructors (APTCIs).

In both the photographs CSMI Gurney is the one in white.

From left to right the photographs show:

  • The boxing team of the 15/19 Hussars known as "The Fighting Hussars". Note the Golliwog mascot that is being held by the trooper on the bottom left.

    Historically the Golliwogg (later "Golliwog", "golly doll") was a character of children's literature created by Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century. It was inspired by a blackface minstrel doll which Upton found as a child in her aunt's attic in Hampstead, North London.

    The Golliwog was a grotesque figure with very black skin, eyes rimmed in white, clown lips, and frizzy hair. Although home-made golliwogs were sometimes female, the golliwog was generally a male. This is the reason in the period following the Second World War, the golliwog was seen, along with the teddy bear, as a suitable soft toy for a young boy.

    Today the doll is seen in many countries as a racial object rather than a cuddly toy!

  • The 15/19th The King’s Royal Hussars Boxing Team official photograph, from left to right:

    Standing: Trooper D Scott, Craftsman L Platt, Trooper J Burchinshaw, Trooper R Gunning, 2nd Lieutenant K Wylie, Trooper D Beards, Lance-Corporal L Gill, Trooper T Hawker, Trooper C Shields

    Sitting: Trooper G Blower, Trooper E McGillan, Trooper T Wales, CSMI L Gurney APTC, Lieutenant Colonel F Wyldbore-Smith DSO OBE, Captain J Laing MBE DCM, Lance-Corporal F Dolan, Trooper G Drew

    •  To see some members of the boxing team in action at Part 2, click here.

    Filename : 20100322-001