Beginnings
The unit has its origins in 1867 in the recruitment of 1,600 post office staff as special constables under Major John Lowther du Plat Taylor, private secretary to the Postmaster General. This was done in response to explosions in London and Manchester and disturbances elsewhere, in the name of Irish independence.
In 1868 the constables were reorganised as a permanent unit of the Volunteer Force as the 49th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers (Post Office Rifles), with du Plat Taylor becoming the first commanding officer. In 1880 a reorganisation of the volunteer corps under saw the unit renumbered as the 24th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers (Post Office Rifles).
Read more about this topic: Post Office Rifles
Famous quotes containing the word beginnings:
“Let us, then, take our compass; we are something, and we are not everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge of first beginnings which are born of the nothing; and the littleness of our being conceals from us the sight of the infinite. Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“The beginnings of altruism can be seen in children as early as the age of two. How then can we be so concerned that they count by the age of three, read by four, and walk with their hands across the overhead parallel bars by five, and not be concerned that they act with kindness to others?”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“When the beginnings of self-destruction enter the heart it seems no bigger than a grain of sand.”
—John Cheever (1912–1982)