R. M. D. Fairweather
We don’t often see reels in UK antique shops, it’s usually dejected little bundles of rod sections, mismatched and overpriced, but this little fellow was sharing a shelf with three Birmingham pattern brass platewind reels and a Malloch side caster. I could see the Turnbull stamp, and the price ticket was no money at all, so the request for a closer look was duly made. Very quickly I could see why the price was so low. In collecting terms, this reel was rather like the school janitor’s brush, the one he has had for fifteen years, it’s on its third handle and fifth head…during its career it has had the foot, calliper check and a pillar replaced. Some one really loved this reel, enough to make several repairs over time to keep the reel in service for as long as possible.
Robert Turnbull reels have been the subject of much discussion over the years. some were clearly made by Dingley, - the telephone latch caged spool models for example, but other examples have been harder to place, leading to speculation that Turnbull had his own manufacturing ability. Whatever its origin, the most exciting aspect of this reel, a reel which clearly has its own unique history, is that we know who owned it, we know who wanted to keep this favourite reel working...
...on the back of the reel, neatly punched into the metal is the name "R. M. D. FAIRWEATHER"
Who Was R. M. D. Fairweather?
As I have said elsewhere on this website, we have an unprecedented range or tools and techniques at our disposal for the research and identification of both objects and people. Three initials and a relatively unusual surname suggested that it might be possible to find at least something about the reel's one time owner. As it happens, he turned out to be a decorated war hero.
Reginald Michael Duff Fairweather, or Reginald as he seems to have been known, was born in Perthshire in about 1895. One of three brothers, his father had been appointed Minister of a church in Morningside, Edinburgh some time in the closing years of the nineteenth century. There is little to tell of Reginald's early life, but he next comes to light serving in the First World War as a Second Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry.
Although the HLI is recorded as his parent regiment, Reginald was actually a member of the Royal Flying Corp. formed in 1912 in recognition of the need for airborne capability for the armed forces, the RFC initially functioned as an observation and artillery cooperation platform for ground based troops. Reginald entered, like so many of his comrades, as an Air Observer with 7 Squadron providing observation and reconnaissance support over the battlefields of Belgium. |
The London Gazette The London Gazette was an important source of information for the story told here. The Gazette is one of the oldest newspapers in the UK. It does not carry sensational headlines, daily horoscopes or celebrity scandal but does publish items of national importance. Functioning as a kind of "national noticeboard" it features notices of Parliamentary Bills, Bankruptcies, Commissions in the Armed Forces, Medals, awards and even dishonourable discharges. To be "gazetted" was to have one's name published in the Gazette. The London Gazette is still published, alongside regional specific editions like the Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes |
The aircraft of this time were, of course, biplanes. Reginald probably flew in two aircraft types, the BE 2, which bizarrely had the observer's position in front of the pilot under the upper wing, and latterly the much improved RE 8. Part of the role of the observer was to operate a rear-facing machine gun to protect the aircraft from attack, and the RE 8 at least made this a practical possibility.
Lt. Fairweather must have been good at his job. Aside from being made up to full Lieutenant, in January of 1918 the London Gazette recorded his award of the Military Cross. The citation:
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when co-operating with artillery. He has carried out an exceptional number of successful shoots during the last eight months, on one occasion ranging a howitzer on a hostile battery, destroying the ammunition and wrecking the battery position. He has consistently shown great skill in carrying out his duties as observer. Awarded the Military Cross."
On the 1st of April 1918, the RFC and its naval equivalent, the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to form the Royal Air Force, and Lt Fairweather appears on the initial RAF Muster Roll but after this he drops out of sight.
Oddly enough it takes another global conflict to reveal what happened to Lt Fairweather. At the onset of the Second World War, the government undertook what was essentially an out of sequence census of the population of England and Wales. The 1939 England and Wales Register was needed accurately to assess the population in order to provide for rationing, recruitment and public safety. Within this document is a record for an address in Leeds, Yorkshire, where R. M .D. Fairweather is living with his wife, his son, who is a motor mechanic and his Mother in Law. He is employed as the manager of an iron and steel construction office and employs a nurse for his Mother in Law and a domestic servant. He died in Leeds in 1959.
I can't prove it, but I am pretty certain that the repairs made to the reel were done by Reginald himself. He bought it in his home town in Edinburgh, and probably had it with him for most of his adult life, though I doubt if it followed him to France...
Lt. Fairweather must have been good at his job. Aside from being made up to full Lieutenant, in January of 1918 the London Gazette recorded his award of the Military Cross. The citation:
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when co-operating with artillery. He has carried out an exceptional number of successful shoots during the last eight months, on one occasion ranging a howitzer on a hostile battery, destroying the ammunition and wrecking the battery position. He has consistently shown great skill in carrying out his duties as observer. Awarded the Military Cross."
On the 1st of April 1918, the RFC and its naval equivalent, the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to form the Royal Air Force, and Lt Fairweather appears on the initial RAF Muster Roll but after this he drops out of sight.
Oddly enough it takes another global conflict to reveal what happened to Lt Fairweather. At the onset of the Second World War, the government undertook what was essentially an out of sequence census of the population of England and Wales. The 1939 England and Wales Register was needed accurately to assess the population in order to provide for rationing, recruitment and public safety. Within this document is a record for an address in Leeds, Yorkshire, where R. M .D. Fairweather is living with his wife, his son, who is a motor mechanic and his Mother in Law. He is employed as the manager of an iron and steel construction office and employs a nurse for his Mother in Law and a domestic servant. He died in Leeds in 1959.
I can't prove it, but I am pretty certain that the repairs made to the reel were done by Reginald himself. He bought it in his home town in Edinburgh, and probably had it with him for most of his adult life, though I doubt if it followed him to France...