The Die Hards

Find us on social media

The Diehards Facebook Group Our homepage in the 21st Century, the Diehards Facebook Group is where we post updates, organise events and is the fastest way to get in touch with us.

A Company, 24th Facebook Group The Facebook hub for our collaborative work with the Queen’s Royal West Surreys and the Royal Artillery, recreating the British army of 1879.

The Victorian Military Society Facebook Group Our parent organisation the VMS is also contactable through facebook – take a look to see latest plans and updates.

Fellow Victorian Re-enactment Groups

The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment Re-enactment Society. A Guildford based re-enactment society founded in 2004, and they are unique in portraying both the regular and volunteer battalions of one of the British Army’s oldest regiments.

Portsdown Artillery Volunteers Artillery re-enactment group of the Palmerston Forts Society, the PAV are dedicated to bringing the coastal fortifications of the Victorian Era to life.

Rifle Brigade Re-enactment group A new group dedicated to portraying the Rifle Brigade in the early Victorian era from 1830 up to the Crimean War 1854-1856.

The RE Living History Society Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We worked with, and were fed and watered by, several of their members at the Citadel in Canada in July 06. The group re-creates the military and civilian families that, between 1858 and 1863, lived in the Crown Colony of British Columbia, as well as Washington Territory. For the Changing of the Guard ceremony the lads present were dressed as marines (Picture on the left, the lads onboard HMS Scott).

The 1879 group The group was founded in 1998 to rededicate Anglo-Zulu War graves. There is a living history section that portray a company of the 24th Regiment of foot, Royal Engineers, an Army Surgeon, a Royal Artillery officer, Natal Volunteer Regiments and civilians..

The 16th Lancers Cavalry re-enactment group focusing on the mounted men and women of the First World War but also covering the Victorian Era.

Historical Societies

The Victorian Military Society Our parent organisation in which we are the living history element

The Anglo-Zulu War Historical SocietyFormed by a small group of experts and historians to educate, entertain, enlighten and encourage students to further their interest in that most fascinating of Victorian campaigns, the Anglo Zulu War of 1879.

The Crimean War Research SocietyA society that honour and remember those that fell in the war and to study the war in its entirety – from mainstream topics like the deaths from disease in the Crimea and the naval confrontation in the Baltic to little-known aspects of the war such as the British Army’s refusal to deploy poison gas at Sevastopol, and the naval actions in the Pacific.

The Martini-Henry SocietyResearch website detailing the history of the Martini-Henry series of rifles which served as the main armament of the British Army throughout the 1870s-1880s and was immortalised in the 1964 film Zulu. The society is run by Martini expert and longtime Diehard Neil Aspinshaw.

British Muzzle-LoadersYoutube channel focusing on historical British, Commonwealth and Allied firearms from the 19th Century to the Second World War. The channel is run by friend and colleague Rob Enfield.

The British Army & Navy, 1888-1914Facebook Group run by several Diehards sharing research and materials from the Victorian and Edwardian age.

Military DrummerFacebook Group focusing on military drumming and drummers across the centuries.

Boer War colourised photographsContemporary photos of the Victorian soldier’s most challenging war are brought vividly to life by digital colourisation in this Facebook Group. A truly extraordinary glimpse of the past.

Egypt & Sudan Campaigns, 1882-1898Facebook Group focusing on British military campaigns in that most intractable corner of the Empire, the Nile valley.

Under Every LeafFacebook Page covering the men and events of the British Empire at its most powerful – the period 1860-1913 which overlaps with our portrayal of the army.

19th Regiment of Foot (1st Yorks. North Riding) The Green Howards Former re-enactment group by members of the American Civil War Society (ACWS), who re-enact the Crimean War Impression. Their site has a transcript of the 1854 Infantry Manual.

Other Re-enactment Groups

World War 1

10th Essex Our sister society that portray the British Tommy of The 10th Battalion of The Essex Regiment during The Great War 1914-1918.

The Birmingham Pals A living history group portraying the 14th Royal Warwickshire Regiment “Birmingham Pals”, which was formed once the city was given the go ahead to form their own battalions in 1914 and was finally sent to France in 1915. Also the group portrays a c.1915 field hospital.

English Civil War

The Sealed Knot

Other Sites of Interest

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal RegimentAn informational site for Ex Soldiers of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) known as the Farmersboys. On their site is a very useful page with Routine Bugle Calls for the Infantry and Mounted Infantry in Camp and Quarters that can be listened to.

Alexis Benoist SoyerIn 1855, Soyer invented the ‘Soyer’s Field Stove’ (which the British Army was still using 120 years later.)

War GunnerA website is dedicated to the memory of John Parsons; a Gunner and Cook in the Second World War. In this site you will find War related historical data, war stories, photos and links. Of particular interest to us is the cookery section which has recipes for that are suitable for the Victorian stove.

Moving Images Communications Film and video library for archival and contemporary footage. Producer and director Michael Maloney filmed the group in South Africa. A sample of that footage can be found on Youtube and copies of the video Blood Mountain are for sale.

The Royal Engineers MuseumOne of the foremost military museums in Britain the Royal Engineers Museum and Library tell the story of theCorps of Royal Engineers and military engineering. The Diehards regularly participate in the Museum’s many special events.

CookeryFrom training through to work in the field: extracts from a field cook book, full of Cooking related recipes, rations, ovens & ranges, field camps and kitchen data. This information was obtained through training at Aldershot and Larkhill in Wiltshire 1923-6.

ZuluFilmStore a website dedicated to all things related to the classic 1964 film ZULU

Suppliers

Pearl and Hemingway Vintage 13 Harbour St. Whitstable, Kent. CT5 1AQ. 01277 770000
Stockists of vintage clothing – especially good quality granddad shirts