More about the army of Georland

The main source of information on George Alfred Keef’s army and collection is of course the 60 or so pages of the History of the Army of George 1. There are however other sources, in particular two notes made by his widow Alice and his son Patrick Keef on the history of the collection, and the collected letters of George Alfred Keef while abroad on military service to mother Phoebe, his aunt Mary, and his brothers Arthur and Herbert.

The original collection were lead toy soldiers of the Franco Prussian War. These French and German figures (including Prussians, Bavarians and Wurtemburgers) were altered and repainted to represent British Regiments. Each figure was marked on the base with its regiment. These figures in the original collection were demi rondes, rather than flats. The original foot figures seem to have been 30mm from foot to eye. The cavalry figures had separate riders and horses.

Artillery were real miniature guns which could be loaded with gunpowder, wad, and lead shot, and actually fired by match. The artillery dominate some of the narratives of battles in the History and it is not hard to see why as they were fairly lethal (although it is difficult to acquire supplies of gunpowder today with no questions asked). A number of the surviving figures show damage consistent with suffering this artillery fire.(others have tried this at different times - see this Vintage Wargaming ink to Franz Stollberg.

There is also a pontoon train, with wagons, horses, pontoon boats which will actually float in water, and wooden sections to make the decking. There are also two wooden forts, one of which was designated as Windsor Castle.

A number of the figures are flats. These seem to be of German troops and were incorporated into that part of the collection deemed “the enemy”. These seem to be slightly smaller than the demi rondes, being more like 25mm measured foot to eye.

The Franco Prussian War took place from 1870-71, a couple of years before the battles documented in the History started – the first, the battle of Prebat, being dated 22^nd February 1873. Though it is not clearly stated this helps suggest the dates given in the History are the actual dates of the games when the battles were fought.

The History dates the army back to around 1860 and suggests it was first acquired for George’s older brothers Arthur and Herbert, who together with their friend J Arrowsmith initially used them to recreate historical battles from the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars. It looks as though George was behind the development of the make believe world of Georland to provide a setting for much increased wargaming activity, boosted no doubt by the reinforcements coming from the Franco Prussian troops.

The History (Second Epoch) refers to the army occupying a little more attention from November 1872 due to numerous desertions, mainly to the colours of G Collard (presumably another friend, along with Jack Arrowsmith). The Journal then mentions the raising of 4 Prussian infantry regiments in November, 4 more infantry regiments in December, 8th February the 9th Cuirassiers, and on 22nd February a newly raised Cavalry regiment, the 3rd Dragoons, was present. This seems likely to be the point at which the Franco Prussian War figures joined the army - clearly the original figures on its formation in the early 1860s must have been of different subjects.

The Franco Prussian War being so recent also provided some background to Georland and the History, including the enemy’s alliance with Prussia and the arrival of their expeditionary force in November 1873. The Prussian generals are not mainly fictional characters but bases on actual Prussian generals from the Franco Prussian and in some cases Napoleonic Wars.

There is a slight mystery over the sepia photograph of the army on the parade, used to illustrate this blog. There is a reference to a full parade of the army being held in 1940 by Patrick Keef, and it could be that this photograph records this occasion, though conceivably it could have been earlier. It is accompanied by two diagrams, indicating the unit names for all these figures and the organisation of the army. This shows the 1^st and 2^nd Army Corps and a Guards Division, totalling 45,000 men.

In February 1874 the History refers to a change in recording numbers in the narrative, previously given in hundreds, to actual numbers (i.e. a number of troops originally given as 10 would now be shown as 1,000). This suggests to me that a scale of 1:100 was being used, and without trying to count all the figures in the photograph it seems reasonable that there may be 450 figures shown as they represent the 45,000 figure given in the army organisation chart.

The final page of the History provides a chronology of all the battles and a list of all the Georland units present at each one. Together with the photograph, drawing and chart, this may provide the basis for further investigation of the structure of the army.

George Keef took the greater part of his army with him on his postings to Burma and the North West Frontier and his letters contain further information, including instructions to his brothers on the movement of units and for example ordering the firing of a 21 gun salute on the occasion of his mother’s birthday. In Rangoon George Keef shared a bungalow with the Regimental Surgeon and they kept the army set up on the floor on a large canvas map. In India the army was kept on shelves in a series of tins on a chalked map of India.

There is a list dated 1^st March 1878 showing the station of the various units of the Georland Army, in locations including India, Chatham, Liverpool and Edgehill. The letters also tell us that in January 1878 George bought a Kriegspiel set, minus rules, from a Colonel returning to England, and asked a copy of Baring’s English translation of the rules to be ordered and sent out to him.

The History is silent on the rules used for the games with figures, although as stated above we do know of the use of gunpowder firing cannon.

Further research into the George Keef letters may provide more insights and information in due course.