On manoeuvres with the oldest regiment in the British Army

I AM a British Transport Police officer but for the last two years I have been seconded to a government office where my work has involved preparing a temporary mortuary in case of a large natural disaster or terrorist attack.

On July 7 the terrible London bombs required my plans to be invoked and later that day I found myself at the barracks of the Honourable Artillery Company in City Road, London EC1 which became my place of work for the next few weeks.

The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is the oldest regiment in the British Army having been established by charter in 1537 for the purpose of 'The better increase of the Defence of this our Realm and maintenance of the Science and Feat of shooting Long Bows, Cross Bows and Hand Guns'. Their base is adjacent to Bunhill Fields just north of the City. 'Bunhill' is a corruption of Bonehill and the bones from the clearances of St Paul's Cathedral following the Great Fire were moved here.

The mortuary was soon established on the playing fields of the HAC where in 1784 the Italian Ambassador to Britain, Signor Lunardi, had made the first ever manned flight in the country (a year after the Montgolfier brothers first flight in France)

I knew there was a connection between the HAC and Seaford as Seaford historian, the late John Odam, had found a small picture of the regiment on manoeuvres in Seaford taken from a Victorian edition of the Illustrated London News. When I had the opportunity, I went to speak with the regimental archivist and asked if they held the original. I was led through the magnificently decorated Armoury House to the Drum Room. Among the dozens of paintings on display was the splendid oil of the HAC in their red guards uniforms and bearskins, lined up in front of Seaford Martello Tower in 1859. The artist was Robert Landells, the official war artist to the Illustrated London News.