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Machell article

Dear Sir or Madam, I am a former infantryman in the US Army now turned historian. My first book was on the Battle of Midway. At the moment, I am working on a short essay about Lieutenant Colonel Machell for Muster, the magazine of the National Army Museum. Could I share it with you? It would be wonderful to hear any comments that you might have. Thank you for maintaining this website. mcgregorsh@gmail.com

Hi McGregor, I am always interested to read about soldiers of the Border Regiment, and in particular, the Lonsdale Battalion. I do not have extensive knowledge of Colonel Machell, only what I have included on the website already, which has come from limited source material. I had planned to research more about him too, but as yet this has not happened. Those of authority on the man would be at the Border Regiment museum in Carlisle. I am guessing you may have already contacted them for further insight prior to writing the article. He was an interesting character and I would certainly like to know more about him. You are more than welcome to share it with me. I will send you an email with a contact email address. Cheers. Borderman ^(Talk) 20:00, 20 April 2024 (BST)

Hi McGregor, I received your article and read through it this morning. It is educational, and very well written. Your source material is very interesting, and I can see how little I actually know about Percy Machell because of the limited sources I have received via email in years past. It seems fairly common knowledge that he had a long and varied military career in Egypt (as the same information seems to float around the internet), but of the man himself you have provided a glimpse into his past that is new to me, reinforcing what little I know about him. You have written an informative piece, providing insight into an interesting character, and I totally agree with your comment that his story deserves to be told. Please let me know when you have had it published so I may be able to read the final copy. In which year/series/volume of the Cornhill Magazine was the memoir of Ali Gifoon published? I wouldn't mind reading that myself.

Roger shown in uniform from the booklet

I would like to mention that some sources cite he had a son, Roger Victor Machell, born in 1908. A few years ago I was given a digital copy of The Lonsdale Battalion Border Regiment, September 1914 to June 1915 booklet that shows a photo of Roger as a child in a Lonsdale Battalion uniform. Unfortunately, I only have a cropped version of the page without the white space around the image and the accompanying text. However, you write he and Lady Valda, as she liked to be known, which is an acronym of her Christian names Victoria Alice Leopoldina Ada [Laura Gleichen], had no son. What source(s) confirm this? Roger Machell is listed here on The Peerage website and a further newspaper article on the familysearch website titled Col. Machell was relative of King George and Kaiser mentions that the family home of Crackenthorpe (which itself has an interesting history and is beautifully restored) was left to Percy in 1902 upon the death of his uncle, Captain Octavius Machell. It also mentions that Roger would eventually come into the property, although this does not seem to be the case as Lady Valda sold it in 1929, most likely due to spiralling costs of keeping a country estate.
I guess it is difficult to include or exclude certain details if you are limited to an article count. There is certainly a great deal more you could include about his service in the Lonsdale Battalion if greater length was permitting. Even how he relates to royalty via his wife. As it stands right now, it provides an interesting glimpse into the man and a military career that, to those that do not know of his actions outside of the Lonsdale Battalion, would certainly entice the reader to learn more about his early life, training at Sandhurst, and ultimately, his military career in Egypt. Borderman ^(Talk) 10:50, 25 April 2024 (BST)