Scots Guards and the Execution of Josef Jakobs

By -
Tourists in London flock to Buckingham Palace and the Wellington Barracks to see Changing the Guard. It is a spectacular event in which the company on duty assembles on the parade ground of Wellington Barracks and then makes its way to Buckingham Palace.
Scots Guards Parade
Wellington Barracks - Scots Guards - Changing the Guard - © 2012 G.K. Jakobs
The soldiers that guard the Queen's residences are collectively known as the Queen's Guard and are normally drawn from the five Foot Guards regiments stationed at Wellington Barracks and Woolich. The Queen's Guard soldiers are responsible for guarding Buckingham Palace, St. James Palace and the Tower of London, still technically a Royal Residence.

Scots Guards on Parade
Wellington Barracks - Scots Guards - Changing the Guard - © 2012 G.K. Jakobs
The five Foot Guards regiments are the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards. The Guards ceremonial uniform is one of the most iconic uniforms in the world. Its black trousers, red tunic and bearskin hat are easily recognizable and often imitated.
Bears dressed in Guards-like uniform
Guardsman Bears - © 2012 G.K. Jakobs

At first glance, the different Guards regiments may appear difficult to distinguish, but there are differences in the tunics and the plumes worn on the bearskin hats.

Grenadier Guards - tunic buttons grouped singly, white plume on left side, grenade collar badge
Coldstream Guards - tunic buttons grouped in pairs, red plume on right side, garter star collar badge
Scots Guards - tunic buttons grouped in threes, no plume, thistle collar badge
Irish Guards - tunic buttons grouped in fours, blue plume on right side, shamrock collar badge
Welsh Guards - tunic buttons grouped in fives, white/green plume on left side, leek collar badge

Scots Guards, Tower of London
Tower of London - © 2012 G.K. Jakobs
A detachment composed of one officer, six non-commissioned officers and fifteen soldiers are stationed within the Tower of London. They provide a guard for Queen's House, a Royal Residence, and for Waterloo Barracks which houses the Crown Jewels.

Every evening, at exactly 9:52 pm, the Guards accompany the Yeoman Warder (a.k.a. Beefeater) to the entrance of the Tower to lock the gate. This Ceremony of the Keys has been performed nightly for 700 years, the longest running military ceremony in the world.

The duties of the Guards are not just ceremonial. During World War 2, a detachment of  Guards performed a more solemn duty in defense of the British Empire.  On the morning of August 15, 1941, eight Scots Guards served as the firing squad that executed Josef Jakobs at the Tower of London. The lint circle that had been pinned to Jakobs' chest, and which was pierced by five bullets, was collected by one of the soldiers.

Its location remained a mystery until 1976 when, after many enquiries, Winston Ramsey, editor of After the Battle Magazine, learned that it was being held by the Scots Guards at the Guards Museum. Ramsey took a photograph of the lint circle (After the Battle Magazine - Volume 11) which was reprinted in Nigel West's book, MI5: British Security Service Operations, 1909-1945.

The Guards Museum (located at Wellington Barracks) is open to the public and contains an impressive display of all things related to the Guards, documenting the histories of the five regiments from inception to the present day.
Guards Museum at Wellington Barracks, London
From Army Museums Ogilve Trust
The lint circle is currently not on display in the Guards Museum (2012).
Guards, Tower Station, London
Tower Station Mural - © 2012 G.K. Jakobs

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Clara Bauerle is Finally Laid to Rest

By -
Image
It has taken me a few years, pursuing many leads, but I can finally say that Clara Bauerle has been laid to rest.

Clara did not die stuffed into a Wych Elm in England. She was not Bella in the Wych Elm. She was a German actress and singer who passed away in a Berlin hospital on December 16, 1942.

A while ago, I ordered the birth registration for Clara, from the Standesamt in Ulm. That record gave her death registration number in Berlin.

With that in hand, I wrote to the relevant Standesamt in Berlin and, after a lengthy wait, received her death registration in the mail last week. Translation follows below...


The actress Hedwig Klara Bauerle, Protestant, living in Berlin, Bleibtreustrasse 32, did, on 16 December 1942 at 12:15 in Berlin-Oberschoneweide, Konigin-Elisabeth-Hospital, die.
The deceased was born on 27 August 1905 in Ulm (Standesamt Ulm/Donau Nr.../...).
Father - Fruitseller Adolf Bauerle, deceased, last living in Ulm.
Mother - Dorothea Barbara Bauerle, born Schaufele,…
Read more

Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?

By -
Image
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?

On 18 April 1943, near the town of Stourbridge, four young boys in search of bird nests in Hagley Wood found a hollow elm tree (a Wych Elm or Scots Elm). One boy climbed up and peered into the hollow trunk and found a human skull staring back at him. Despite a pact of silence, one boy, Tommy Willetts, told his father about their grisly discovery and the police were quickly called.
The Worcestershire County Police recovered a skeleton from the trunk, along with some fragments of clothing and finger bones scattered around the trunk. A pathologist concluded that the remains belonged to a woman  who had been placed in the tree about 18 months previously (October 1941) while still warm. She had likely been asphyxiated due to the taffeta stuffed inside her mouth.


The woman was thought to be 35-40 years old. She was five feet tall with mousy brown hair and a deformed lower jaw. She wore a cheap gold wedding ring, no more than four years old, and had …
Read more

Bella in the Wych Elm - The Story of Jack Mossop

By -
Image
Who was Jack Mossop? Did he and an accomplice murder a woman after a night of drinking at the Lyttleton Arms near Hagley? Did they stuff her still warm body into a wych elm in Hagley Wood? Did the memory of this traumatic event drive Jack mad? Did he die of an overdose in a mental hospital in 1942?

So many questions. So many suppositions and rumours. It's hard to tease apart fact and fiction. But let's give it a try. Before we get started, I am deeply indebted to Duncan Honeybourne. for sharing his information on the Mossop clan. Duncan's grandmother was a first cousin of Jack Mossop and he has conducted extensive interviews with the elders in the Mossop-Crump family.

Family
It all begins in Ireland, as most great stories do. Maurice Mossop and his wife Mary, both born in County Mayo, emigrated to England with their three young sons, sometime between 1847 and 1851. The family settled in Eccleshall, Staffordshire and Maurice worked at various jobs including agricultural labo…
Read more