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:
“When the beginnings of self-destruction enter the heart it seems no bigger than a grain of sand.”
—John Cheever (1912–1982)
“The frantic search of five-year-olds for friends can thus be seen to forecast the beginnings of a basic shift in the parent-child relationship, a shift which will occur gradually over many long years, and in which a child needs not only the support of child allies engaged in the same struggle but also the understanding of his parents.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“[Many artists], even the greatest ones, are not sure of their own existence. So they search for proof, they judge, they condemn. It strengthens them, it is the beginnings of existence. They are alone!”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)