P.G.M.S.
You may already have read about the Robert Turnbull reel in the Museum that was owned by a decorated WW1 airman. Soon after that reel was acquired, a second reel that clearly had a tale to tell came into the Museum.
This was also a Turnbull reel, but it could not have been more different. To begin with it had been sold not by Robert Turnbull, but by William Turnbull, a distinction demonstrated by the "Princes St" retailers stamp. It is also a much bigger reel and a brass platewind rather than an alloy cage and drum. The two-screw drum fastening and "tramlines" on the winding plate tell us the reel was made by P D Malloch in Perth. so far so ordinary, but this reel also had an inscription.
This was also a Turnbull reel, but it could not have been more different. To begin with it had been sold not by Robert Turnbull, but by William Turnbull, a distinction demonstrated by the "Princes St" retailers stamp. It is also a much bigger reel and a brass platewind rather than an alloy cage and drum. The two-screw drum fastening and "tramlines" on the winding plate tell us the reel was made by P D Malloch in Perth. so far so ordinary, but this reel also had an inscription.
On the winding plate of the reel are the initials P G M S in neat serif capitals. Even with today's research opportunities, a set of initials alone are unlikely to reveal much about the reel's former owner, but below them you will see 42nd HIGHRS...one of the names by which The Black Watch, one of the most famous of the Highland Regiments, is known.
The reel is big, 4 1/4 inches, it is a salmon reel, and would have been expensive when new. This is not the reel of a common soldier, it has to have belonged to an officer...
Ordinarily I would have been happy to make the trip to Perth, to the Regimental Museum but at time of writing travel is still affected by Covid-19 restrictions, but the regiment's own research staff were happy to help, answering my enquiry very quickly.
The reel is big, 4 1/4 inches, it is a salmon reel, and would have been expensive when new. This is not the reel of a common soldier, it has to have belonged to an officer...
Ordinarily I would have been happy to make the trip to Perth, to the Regimental Museum but at time of writing travel is still affected by Covid-19 restrictions, but the regiment's own research staff were happy to help, answering my enquiry very quickly.
Who Was P. G. M. S?
Philip George Moncrieff Skene was born near St Andrews in Fife in 1880. Heir to the baronies of Pitlour and Hallyards, Phillip was educated at Eton and at Christchurch College, Oxford. On his graduation in 1902 he joined The Black Watch as a career soldier. Being a university graduate he was able to enter the service as a Second Lieutenant, rapidly progressing to Lieutenant in 1906 and Captain 1907.
It is possible Philip bought his reel in 1906, he was certainly in Edinburgh, but may have had other things on his mind as this was the year he married.
It is possible Philip bought his reel in 1906, he was certainly in Edinburgh, but may have had other things on his mind as this was the year he married.
Philip's service record indicates that he was attached to the 2nd Battalion and in 1907 the battalion was in Northern India, at Peshawar on the Kabul River. In the nineteenth century British officers serving in India had begun to sing the praises of the Mahseer, a game fish found throughout India, - but in the North of the country, you get Golden Mahseer.
But if you were serving abroad....would it not make sense to have your name and unit on your equipment....just in case? The reel is certainly big enough, and compares with similar reels being retailed in India at the time... Did this reel, made in Perth, purchased in a tackle shop in Edinburgh, carefully engraved with initials and regiment, find its way to India, to fish for Mahseer?
Of course there is no way to prove any of this, but it does make a certain sense.
Of course there is no way to prove any of this, but it does make a certain sense.
At the outbreak of the First World War, the 2nd Battalion was stationed at Bareeilly, still in Northern India, and in September 1914 began the long voyage from Karachi to France, arriving in October for immediate deployment to the Western Front. By November 1914 Philip had been wounded in action, only to recover and return to the front where he was wounded for a second time in January of the following year. Despite these setbacks, he continued his war service earning a mention in despatches which led to his award of the Croix de Guerre in 1916, for distinguished service. Over time he was also awarded the Legion D'Honneur, The Order of the Sacred Treasure of Japan, 3rd Class, The Order of Saint Stanislaus and finally the Order of the British Empire.
He ended his war service with the rank of Major, though acting Lieutenant Colonel, a rank that was fully ratified when he retired from the regiment in 1919.
He ended his war service with the rank of Major, though acting Lieutenant Colonel, a rank that was fully ratified when he retired from the regiment in 1919.
In the years after the war, Philip, or "Crieff" as he was known to the family, continued his public service as both Deputy Lieutenant of Fife and as a Justice of the Peace. It was not all work though, we know he enjoyed fishing, and he also seems to have enjoyed golf, being appointed Captain of the famous Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrews in 1929. Though retired from the regiment, he maintained his military connections and after the onset of the Second World War was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 7th Battalion of the Black Watch. The seventh was a territorial battalion, raised in his home county of Fife and went to distinguished service in the Western Desert.
"Crieff" died in 1944 at the age of 64, he is buried in Strathmiglo, within sight of the family's ancestral home at Pitlour.
Just on a final technical note, the reel dates form a time when almost all reel were set for right-hand wind, the practice being to cast and then swap hands to reel in a fish, this reel is left-hand wind, and there fore may well have been the subject of a special order.
*I would like to record my thanks to Dugald Skene, P.G.M.S's Great Grandson for his help in compiling this page.
"Crieff" died in 1944 at the age of 64, he is buried in Strathmiglo, within sight of the family's ancestral home at Pitlour.
Just on a final technical note, the reel dates form a time when almost all reel were set for right-hand wind, the practice being to cast and then swap hands to reel in a fish, this reel is left-hand wind, and there fore may well have been the subject of a special order.
*I would like to record my thanks to Dugald Skene, P.G.M.S's Great Grandson for his help in compiling this page.