Tweet
During the current site shutdown, I did a little poking around at random and came across something related to a familiar character I had been interested in years ago....Roslyn D'Onston.
Previous researchers ( Harris & Edwards) had written about the Garibaldi campaign of the early 1860's for Italian independence....a campaign D'Onston claimed to have participated in as a young man in his early 20's.
Seems like this claim, as with virtually all of the claims D'Onston made is bogus.
While it is true that his name is present on a Muster Roll....Harris and Edwards didn't display the heading in which his name is featured.
D'Onston's name is listed among the 'Non-effectives'....men who were rejected for service for several reasons, such as these below :
Non-effective : noun A member of a military force who is not in condition for active service, as through age, illness, etc.
D'Onston bragged about his service to Garibaldi and it became an article of faith in some Ripper circles. Truth is, he never served a second in the military.
Metropolitan Police Inspector Thomas Roots, certainly no dunce, wrote in December 1888 a report concerning D'Onston's visit on Boxing Day that he ( Roots ) had known him for 20 years. He was under the impression that D'Onston was a former Major in the Italian Army ( Garibaldi campaign). Roots, evidently, was told this prior to D'Onston's visit in late 1888. I can guess who told him.
This is a photo of the Muster Roll in which D'Onston is listed from 1860. He was either 18 or 19 at the time being born in April of 1841. I found it in the Bishopsgate Institute.
The British Legion was a voluntary military corps composed of around 800 Englishmen and Scots, who in 1860 made their mind up to join Garibaldi and fight for the unification of Italy together with the Italian Garibaldini against the Bourbon Army of The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Officially they were "Garibaldi Excursionists" to avoid any problems of diplomatic appearance and the departure of the British Legion was financed by the Garibaldi Special Fund Committee, one of the British organisations supporting the unification of Italy.
After having sailed from Great Britain by the ships Melazzo and Emperor, the British Legion landed in Naples on 15 October 1860 and took part in a fight, under the command of John Whitehead Peard in Sant'Angelo up to the wall of Capua, where two volunteers were killed and eight wounded. Even if half of the volunteers were enthusiastic and behaved properly, there were some roughs, principally from Glasgow and London who lacked discipline, so the Legion acquired a name for disorder. The Legion had a short war experience and were replaced by the Kng's Army in the final siege of the fortress in Gaeta, where the Bourbon Army surrendered In February 1861.
The George Jacob Holyoake Archive at Bishopsgate Institute includes records relating to the British Legion, including the Muster Roll below. The Archive also includes minutes of the Garibaldi Special Fund Committee, miscellaneous papers and numerous illustrations documenting the progress of the British Legion in Italy.
Melvin Harris stated on page 90 of The True Face of Jack The Ripper that D'Onston, being one of many inspired by the prospect of war on the Italian peninsula for Italy's independence came down from Hull staying at a friend's house in Islington and making a second application for the 'British Legion' or the Excursionists.
Actually, this didn't happen. There was only one volunteer drive for the Italian campaign....and D'Onston couldn't, pardon the expression, cut the mustard. Yet another modern fable.
Previous researchers ( Harris & Edwards) had written about the Garibaldi campaign of the early 1860's for Italian independence....a campaign D'Onston claimed to have participated in as a young man in his early 20's.
Seems like this claim, as with virtually all of the claims D'Onston made is bogus.
While it is true that his name is present on a Muster Roll....Harris and Edwards didn't display the heading in which his name is featured.
D'Onston's name is listed among the 'Non-effectives'....men who were rejected for service for several reasons, such as these below :
Non-effective : noun A member of a military force who is not in condition for active service, as through age, illness, etc.
D'Onston bragged about his service to Garibaldi and it became an article of faith in some Ripper circles. Truth is, he never served a second in the military.
Metropolitan Police Inspector Thomas Roots, certainly no dunce, wrote in December 1888 a report concerning D'Onston's visit on Boxing Day that he ( Roots ) had known him for 20 years. He was under the impression that D'Onston was a former Major in the Italian Army ( Garibaldi campaign). Roots, evidently, was told this prior to D'Onston's visit in late 1888. I can guess who told him.
This is a photo of the Muster Roll in which D'Onston is listed from 1860. He was either 18 or 19 at the time being born in April of 1841. I found it in the Bishopsgate Institute.
The British Legion was a voluntary military corps composed of around 800 Englishmen and Scots, who in 1860 made their mind up to join Garibaldi and fight for the unification of Italy together with the Italian Garibaldini against the Bourbon Army of The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Officially they were "Garibaldi Excursionists" to avoid any problems of diplomatic appearance and the departure of the British Legion was financed by the Garibaldi Special Fund Committee, one of the British organisations supporting the unification of Italy.
After having sailed from Great Britain by the ships Melazzo and Emperor, the British Legion landed in Naples on 15 October 1860 and took part in a fight, under the command of John Whitehead Peard in Sant'Angelo up to the wall of Capua, where two volunteers were killed and eight wounded. Even if half of the volunteers were enthusiastic and behaved properly, there were some roughs, principally from Glasgow and London who lacked discipline, so the Legion acquired a name for disorder. The Legion had a short war experience and were replaced by the Kng's Army in the final siege of the fortress in Gaeta, where the Bourbon Army surrendered In February 1861.
The George Jacob Holyoake Archive at Bishopsgate Institute includes records relating to the British Legion, including the Muster Roll below. The Archive also includes minutes of the Garibaldi Special Fund Committee, miscellaneous papers and numerous illustrations documenting the progress of the British Legion in Italy.
Melvin Harris stated on page 90 of The True Face of Jack The Ripper that D'Onston, being one of many inspired by the prospect of war on the Italian peninsula for Italy's independence came down from Hull staying at a friend's house in Islington and making a second application for the 'British Legion' or the Excursionists.
Actually, this didn't happen. There was only one volunteer drive for the Italian campaign....and D'Onston couldn't, pardon the expression, cut the mustard. Yet another modern fable.
Comment