Battle honours
Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:28:00 BST
Star students Mike and John are the first winners of prizes in military history module
AFTER excelling in their study of weaponry and war and their impact on society, two University of Huddersfield students are the first recipients of prizes endowed by one of the world’s leading dealers in antique arms and armour.
Mike Kirby and John Matthews (below) have both had a long-term fascination for military history and in the third year of their University of Huddersfield history degree courses they were eager to study a module named “Threat and Response”. It is taught by the Rev Paul Wilcock, who is Director of Student Services, an expert on edged weapons and leader of the Arms and Armour Research Group.
[pictured left to right: Dr. Pat Cullum, Mike Kirby, Rev Paul Wilcock and John Matthews]
The module has been supported by Bob Hedger, who is the managing director of Leicester-based Michael D. Long Ltd and the company Military Swords Ltd. Mr Hedger has loaned artefacts for the course and he decided to back two annual prizes to reward the best students.
John, aged 29, from Marsden, won the Military Swords Ltd prize for best overall performance, and Mike, aged 55, from Barnsley, submitted the best dissertation, earning him the Michel D. Long prize.
Barnsley-born Mike (pictured below with Bob Hedger), aged 55 is a former soldier who went on to serve 23 years with the Fire and Rescue Service. “I’ve spent most of my life in uniform!” he says.
From the age of 11, when he bought his first model soldiers, he developed what he describes as an “obsession” for military history, which led him to become a dedicated researcher. His book about the Seven Year’s War in India was published in 2000 and after leaving the fire service he enrolled as student in humanities, specialising in history, at the University of Huddersfield’s Barnsley Campus.
In recent years he has developed a fascination for Langsett Moor, near Barnsley. During World War Two it was used as a training ground for British, Canadian and American troops and a tank firing range. Artefacts are continually being unearthed – recent rains resulted in 17 live shells resurfacing - and structures can still be seen that were constructed using materials salvaged from the Sheffield Blitz.
Mike has conducted guided walks of Langsett Moor and the saga was the subject of his dissertation - entitled “Tanks Upon the Moors” – which secured him a Michael D. Long prize.
Mike had to combat problems of his own while completing his studies. Shortly after starting Paul Wilcock’s Threat and Response module he was seriously ill for several months. But he caught up with the course work and scored First Class honours in his degree.
In addition to the military background, Mike was keen to examine the human legacy and the impact made by the presence of multi-national troops on the inhabitants of villages close to the moors. He conducted interviews with several people who could recall the period.
John Matthews (pictured below with Bob Hedger), whose prize was for the best overall performance in Threat and Response, has been fascinated by military history since childhood, when his father Alan became a member of the American Civil War Society. John eventually joined the society himself, taking part in many re-enactments. He also joined Marsden History Group.
Illness put a brake on his education. “But I kept my passion for history going,” he said, and when was able to resume his education and attend the University of Huddersfield, it was obvious which course he would choose and that he would plump for the Threat and Response module.
There was a bonus when Paul Wilcock’s contacts enabled John to spend a fascinating second-year placement at Bankfield Museum, Halifax, which houses the Duke of Wellington’s Regimental Museum.
After success on his BA course, and his Military Swords prize, John now has a place on the University’s MA history course and aims to write a dissertation on an aspect of arms and armour.
“Weapons are more than just weapons,” says John, who studies the social impact of war. “A lot of modern technology, unfortunately, comes out of warfare, so I am interested in how wars tend to push civilisations further forward.”
Paul Wilcock commented: “John and Mike were both outstanding students and their prizes are well deserved. I would also like to record our thanks to Bob Hedger and MDL Ltd for their continuing support of the programme since its inception. A key theme of the course is being able to examine genuine artefacts and without their support this would not have been possible.”
