"Bladdadder in the Sudan?" Topic

In the final episode of Black Adder IV General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett says, "we had to shoot an entire platoon in the Sudan for wearing underpants on there head" I am paraphrasing. I wish to include Melchett as a character in my new Sudan campaign and have a fictional question. Melchett is a general by the time of WWI, what do you suppose his rank would have been in the Sudan, he is upper-class, any suggestions?

I'd go for Major as being about right.

Which Sudan campaign? 1885 or 1898? Thirteen years might make quite a difference to his rank.

Plynkes, 1885 Gordon's Relief please.

"They had underpants on their heads and pencils up their nostrils"

They also had to respond to questions with the word 'wibble'.

If Melchett was with the Gordon relief expedition, it would make him a rather elderly Major General in 1917, which he clearly isn't due to his magnificent bushy moustache.

CS Foresters fictional General was a 2nd Lt in the Boer War, however General Sir Ivor Maxse was commissioned a 2nd Lt in 1882, promoted captain in 1889, major in 1897, Lt Colonel after the Omdurman campaign, Brigadier General in 1901, Major General in 1915 and Lt General in 1917.

If Melchetts career followed a similar path (although he clearly isn't a Guardsman), then in 1885 I'd have him as a 1st or 2nd Lt, probably a 2nd.

Wibble.

No baldrick,

I said prick your finger!

1885 to 1917 would be 32 years, if Melchett were a young 2nd Lt. of 22 years that would make him 54 in 1917, the character could be that age even with bushy mustache. Would 22 be too young for a 2nd Lt. in the Sudan or 54 too old for a Major General in WWI?

Actually, 22 is a very reasonable age for an 1885 British Lieutenant – not so many years earlier, it was not uncommon for Lieutenants to be in their late teens

As for Major Generals, 54 is actually almost young for some WWI armies, at least early in the war

Well that settles it, in my Sudan Campaign Melchett will be a 2 Lt. Now to try and decide which unit he would have been with. Any suggestions?

Detachment of the Post Office Rifles. (Not making this up)

link

"mustache. Would 22 be too young for a 2nd Lt. in the Sudan or 54 too old for a Major General in WW1"

Well, Maxse was born in 1862, so he was commissioned a 2nd Lt at the age of 20 after attending Sandhurst and he was 51 when he got his division in 1915. By 1917 (when Blackadder is set), 54 is on the older side for divisional commanders, but not completely unlikely.

Which regiment? Well, he doesn't strike me as an officer in either a Scottish or Irish regiment or the KRRC, so that leaves the 65th Foot aka the Yorks & Lancs. He is obviously infantry as he talks about shooting a platoon of men rather than a troop. Could be the Bombay Pioneers of course, a secret he has managed to keep all these years….

Could he have been a British commander of an Egyptian Infantry?

Blackadder himself was pre-war regular army too of course, who can forget his brave rescue of Haig at the terrible Battle of Umboto Gorge? After all it was a particularly vicious slice of mango….

OK so Blackadder must be too young for the early expedition but could just get in to the 1898 (say 18 in '98, 37 in '17). Perhaps he was a subaltern then? Baldrick as batman or drummer-boy?

And of course no encounter with Fuzzy-Wuzzys is complete without Corporal Jones.

Found this picture of a peter pig 15mm Egyptian commander with huge mustache and long coat. Could this be young Melchett? The fig on the right in the picture below.

picture

Baldrick as batman or drummer-boy?

Unlike Blackadder, Baldrick isn't a career soldier. He's a Kitchener's Army recruit (joined the Turnip Street Workhouse Pals).

Well may be the Royal Sussex.

Corporal Jones of Dad's Army was in the Sudan (prob second campaign though due to age but ignoring that for a moment!). Warminton-on-Sea was on the south coast so Sussex is as good as any south coast county. Now if Jones served in a local regiment and came back home the Sussex it has to be and its kind of right that Melchett and Jones are in the same regiment.

But Baldrick's dad/ granddad could have been swept up and taken to Darkest Africa. There's always a Baldrick.

Who is corporal Jones?

Found him on Wikopedia.

I think the idea of being an infantry officer seconded to the Egyptian army is a great thought – then you could pick any regiment, pretty much (I agree, though – not Irish or Scot)