"WJ Rawkins - History Book Man" Topic

I read on another forum that Mr Rawkins, author of the Napoleonic uniform guides, has sadly died.

The website is down – it would be a great shame if these marvellous publications were lost with his passing.

I did see the website was down and I had been hoping it was a technical matter. He has left a tremendous legacy which I hope will comfort his family at this sad time.

Very sad indeed. Unusually for me, I don't own any of his books but I do have some of his Napoleonic discs, such as The Duchy of The Berg, Kingdom of Naples and Army of Sweden.

That is very sad indeed. I found him a great gentleman to do commerce with. Perhaps his work will be purchased by someone else or will migrate to a third party in some fashion. It would be a crying shame to see it disappear.

Sad indeed, I only have a couple of older book prints.
Hopefully someone will offer to purchase/ commission them- there are plenty like Caliver who demonstrably promote the hobby and resources,
farewell soldier… d

That is indeed sad news. He was working on quite a few new titles as well. Hopefully his family will pass the business and files on to someone else with the interest to sustain it.

Sad news indeed. I had intended to buy several,of his guides this year, to supplement the old printed ones that I bought 40 years or so ago.

Just an update. The books were written by Rawkins (father) who died in the 1990s. Rawkins (son) reissued them with some additional stuff from his father's notes. I understand that Anshcluss actually owns the copyright on them and they original booklets are still available from Peter Heath, the Anschluss proprietor – so hopefully these excellent works won't disappear.

Is there a link someone can put up for Peter Heath and Anschluss

TMP entry at TMP link says "No longer active"; but this link goes to Anschluss Wargames (?Publishing): link
There appears to be a linkedin entry but I have not checked link

>>and they original booklets are still available

Caution required as I read and understood that much revision took place; so the 'old' ones may not be that useful.
I have the Anschluss own battle productions, and they were excellent battlefield notebooks giving much more detail than the 'big name' ones.

The loss of his web site is an ill-informed and misunderstanding of its importance by someone.
You usually pay an annual fee in advance for domains and sites, so its immediate takedown probably wasn't necessary.
Again some roaring hobby business could have purchased the rights and continued Bills fine work.
cheers d

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CrossLink: TMP link
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His daughter in law posted on another site that the family didn't have any ability to continue on the work, but she/they were willing to continue to sell the existing volumes. Unfortunately no way to contact her was posted yet. So the mystery continues. I continue to look for a full set.

Sorry, step daughter

Has anyone got an update on the status of these publications. I note Amazon has an 'out of stock' notice on the CD. I'd be really keen to get the CD for the Confederation troops I'm planning to do. But I also feel a bit ghoulish . . . :-(

John

A further call for anyone who has an update on the sale of the revised books. Or the contact details of his step daughter? I'm looking for the Army of Hanover and the King's German Legion revised edition.

Or if anyone has a copy who's willing to sell, please also let me know!!

Thanks,
Ed

This is the list of content for the CD version of the Army of Hanover and the King's German Legion
The Electorate of Hanover 1786-1815 4
THE ARMY OF HANOVER 1786-1803
The Regular Infantry 10
Regimental Auxiliaries 47
The Landregimenter 51
The Garnison-Regimenter 54
Infantry Colours 1786-1802 58
The Cavalry 71
Cavalry Standards 95
The Feldartillerie-Regiment 107
The Artillerietrain 115
The Ingenieurs-Corps 119
General Officers and Staff 125
THE KINGS GERMAN LÉGION 1803-1815 128
The Line Infantry Battalions 134
The Line Infantry Colours 159
The Light Infantry Battalions 161
The King's German Dragoons 1803-1813 180
The King's German Light Dragoons 1813-1816 197
The King's German Légion Hussar Regiments 208
The King's German Artillery – Foot Artillery 225
Horse Artillery 239
Driver Corps 246
The King's German Corps of Engineers 247
THE NEW HANOVERIAN ARMY 1813-1816 253
The Infantry 1813-1815 262
The Landwehr 1814-1815 290
The Infantry Flags 1813-1815 296
The Cavalry 300
The Artillery 313
Notes of Research & Sources 319

Hello Prince,

Thank you for that list. It's a very extensive book extremely detailed, which is why I'm looking to buy/trade a copy. If you know one going soon, please let me know!

Merry Christmas all!
Ed

We got an indirect and kind reply from Bill Rawkins' family a few weeks ago. I've edited the response lightly.

"I'm so sorry for the delay, as you can imagine we have had so much to do with regard to Bill. We are now coming round to year ago….still can't believe he has gone. With regard to his ebooks I have not given this any thought and to be honest I just don't know how I would set this up. I promise I will talk to my sister and let you and Pierre know."

So there is consideration under way and some movement. We remain super respectful of the family and their wishes – and passive/moving at their pace. They have my contact info, I don't have theirs.

As a reminder, the offer was to get the sale of his books going again with proceeds going to the family or to charity, whatever they wish. And to see if we could get the unfinished work and finish it (as a collective?).

Just wondering if there has been an update in the past six months? I'm still looking for the Armies of Hanover +KGL, as a starting point.
Thanks!
LS

They are sort of historical books about the same uniforms. I, for example, could have used his research for a history essay in college. I then, due to lack of information, used various examples ready from writix.com/essay-examples/history on my topic. As it is, I would have had enough sources from WJ Rawkins' books and would have done even better than I did.