Legion of Frontiersmen

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The Legion of Frontiersmen is a patriotic organisation formed in Britain in 1905 and designed to bolster the defensive capacity of the British Empire. Prompted by pre-war fears of a pending invasion of Britain, the organisation was founded on a romanticized conception of the "frontier" and imperial idealism. Headquartered in London, branches of the Legion of Frontiersmen were formed throughout the empire to prepare patriots for war and to foster vigilance in peacetime. Despite persistent efforts, the Legion never achieved more than sporadic and tenuous official recognition, but it raised battalions and its members enlisted en masse at the onset of the First World War. Frontiersmen also served as special constables in London for the duration of hostilities. Wartime casualties devastated the Legion of Frontiersmen, and except for a brief resurgence in the interwar period, a series of schisms and sectarianism prevented attempts to reinvigorate the movement. Various Legion of Frontiersmen groups still exist throughout the Commonwealth, but as a whole, it has been unable to define its niche in the post-imperial world. As such they are poorly regarded by some members and former members of the uniformed services^[1]

All Legion members were volunteers. Prior to the First World War, they undertook a number of covert intelligence-gathering and counter-intelligence operations, such as discovering a secret German base in the Caroline Islands, surveying the Kiel Canal with the object of blowing it up in the event of war, and charting the Elbe's defences and minefields. The first British troops in action in 1914 were Frontiersmen, who paid passage for both themselves and their horses. Initially offering their service to the French, who declined, they were accepted by the Belgians, and to this day they retain an official affiliation with the 3ème Régiment de Lanciers. They formed the bulk of the 25th (Frontiersmen) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, formed in 1915, and won 4 battle honours. In Canada, 35 Frontiersmen joined in the original draft of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the first Canadian troops to serve in the First World War. They also formed the 210th (Frontiersmen) Battalion, CEF. In the late 1930s, the Legion of Frontiersmen was formally affiliated with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but after a schism split the Canadian Frontiersmen, the RCMP severed formal ties. Still without any formal recognition, Frontiersmen enlisted individually in the Second World War.

Among its more famous members were Jan Smuts, Louis Mountbatten, Robert Erskine Childers, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Wallace.

[edit] Decorations

Different legions in different parts of the Commonwealth award medals within their membership and occasionally to external recipients. For example, the Australian Division award a decoration called the Australian Medal of Merit (internally used post nom. AMM). ^[2]. It has caused minor controversy where it has been implied by an occasional recipient that it is a government endorsed, official medal. ^[3] The AMM appears to have been freely issued by the legion in the late 1970s and early 1980s, mostly for attendance and meetings and service in the Legion, although it has recently been changed so that the AMM is awarded for: ... by the Division to a member who has performed meritorious service above and beyond that which could be normally expected of them either for a specific act or for performance over a period... ^[4]

[edit] Sources

• Christopher M. Andrew, Secret Service: The Making of the British Intelligence Community. London: Trafalger Square, 1985. ISBN 978-03404-043-00
• Robert H. MacDonald, Sons of the Empire: The Frontier and the Boy Scout Movement, 1890-1918. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993. ISBN 978-08020-284-33
• John Fisher. Gentleman Spies: intelligence agents in the British Empire and beyond. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2002. ISBN 0-7509-2698-8
• Geoffrey A. Pocock. One Hundred Years of the Legion of Frontiersmen. Chichester, UK: Phillimore, 2004. ISBN 978-18607-728-25

[edit] References