On a recent trip to Richmond, North Yorkshire, I visited The Green Howards
Regimental Museum; an excellent display of the regiment's history. In the
Boer War exhibit, there is a rectangular piece of khaki cloth printed with
the wording
The Cloth our boys are wearing ate the front
"THEY ARE OUT ON ACTIVE SERVICE
WIPING SOMETHING FROM THE SLATE"
-Kipling
With Best Wishes and Kindly Thoughts from South Africa
There is a bunch of grass as decoration.
The museum label headed "Illustrated Greeting Cloth" was confused, as the
Curator agreed, it does not identify the poem (Absent Minded Beggar,
1899) and he will have it corrected; it appears that these bits were
provided in S. A. for the men to send home, presumably with a covering note
at Christmas. Adjacent is a handwritten greetings on a dirty scrap cut
from a tunic.
Does anyone have any such item or know more about them?
Bryan Diamond
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