A Very British Civil War. The Primrose League vs The LMS Worker's Militia

This is the initial post of a new venture.

A Very British Civil War.

The premise of this fiction is that King Edward VIII married Wallis Simpson but did not abdicate and caused a constitutional crisis which led to various factions taking up arms against the crown and each other.

Edward invited Oswald Mosely to form a government as all the other political parties refused unless he abdicated. Thus, the British Union of Fascists, the BUF became the government.

The events that will unfold here will be located in Walkden, Lancashire, my home town (even though I left 50 years ago!).

The main protagonists will be the Primrose League (part of the Women's Institute). 

This is a very real and interesting league though purely a political one. It was formed after the death of Disraeli. The Primrose, being his favourite flower was chosen as the emblem. It centred on promoting conservatism and the conservative ideology. It was very strong in Lancashire at the time, especially with cotton mill workers which were mainly female. As an aside, my mother, grhs, used to work in one when she was very young though I  know very little about it. 

In fact, the PL has been reformed recently though it seems a little underpromoted by the league itself.

The C in C of the PL, who also number the Suffragette Regular Army and Suffragette Guard as the military arm of the PL with mill workers as militia, will be kept secret for now. I'm hoping you will be shocked!

The WI and Primrose Society are allied with the Anglican League generally, though with some obvious conflicting aims!

At the outbreak of the rebellion, the SRA seemed to materialise very quickly, suspiciously so to many. They seized most of Lancashire from Southport up past Morecombe on the coast and with the exceptions of Liverpool and its environs and a sizable area around Manchester. Manchester thinks it is a free City, but only because the SRA let it think so. If it caused trouble they would learn how free they really are.

There are pockets of the Anglican League within Lancashire, just as there are PL and SRA in other areas, who ensure areas are defended while the SRA form the front lines with the militia.

There are also unclaimed areas around Warrington, Leigh and between Liverpool and Southport.

That isn't to say areas are totally protected, they aren't. It is just controlled with checkpoints and various outposts to warn and protect their areas. No trenches and long barricade lines.

The opposition is the LMS (London, Midland and Scottish Railway) Worker's Militia centred on Walkden Yard as was in the 1930's Walkden. This was an engineering depot servicing the trains, rolling stock for the LMS and various Manchester Collieries in the area. They are allied with the miners of Mosley Common, the other old Bridgewater Collieries and, maybe, the troublemakers further west in Liverpool..

The LMS Workers Militia holds the area south of Manchester Road and to the west of Bridgewater Road continuing down Newearth Road towards Astley Colliery and the Bridgewater Collieries.

 

To the north of them is the open space where Ashton Colliery used to be. This is free land leading up towards Farnworth and is west of Bolton Road. .

The PL hold the area east of Walkden Road up through Memorial and Bolton Roads continuing up to Hill Top. and sweeping east to Kearsley Chemical works and Kearsley Moss Colliery ( closed down). Linnyshaw Moss and Kearsley Moss to the east and south east of these are large open spaces.

North and east of these are some Anglican League forces.

Some figures have been ordered for the LMS and PL/Suffragette Regulars to try initial uniform colours.

A PL pin badge

Honorary Dame of the League

I have one of each!

I have to admit, this trend started when i was in the Solo Wargamers Association. Not being wholly satisfied with building an army I looked for affordable historical objects to tie in with the armies I built, medals and coins becoming the choices I came to.

So I bought a Persian Daric. A solid silver object to go with the Later Achaemenid army. Later followed by some Roman coins of Septimius Severus and a couple of Khusru 2nd Drachm's for the Sassanians. 

I even wrote an article on the subject in the '80s that was printed in the journal. A highwater mark, for me!

I'm not sure how quickly this will develop. The good thing is that besides occasionally trying my hand at some DIY building for wargames, I don't have much of a lead/plastic pile to deal with. There are a few Heroic & Ros British and Germans and some plastic sprues from magazines. That is it.

I was fortunate to get a little background reading while waiting for some more figures. This helped to jog my memory of some places I had forgotten and learn about some I never knew about. Obviously the area had changed from the 1930's to the '60s when I was a boy. 

My youngest brother was at Walkden Yard before it closed working for BOC.

Thanks for dropping by