London American Civil War Veterans

A remarkable - to me at least - snippet of information emerges from the murky pages of the South London Press, 16 May 1919, in the form of a short report on a meeting of the London Association of American Civil War Veterans, held at the Bermondsey Ragged School, Gedling Street. Salient details as follows:

• Colonel Bevington, treasurer of the Association, provided tea, while Mr F. W. Smith, secretary, took the chair (Mr Ambrose Pomeroy JP, the vice-president, was unable to attend). The business before the meeting included arrangements for decoration day and also organising a visit Windsor.

Of course a quick search of Google reveals that those in the know have long known about this Association, but its existence came as a surprise to me; hopefully this fragment will add a little more to the scholarly knowledge about the organisation. (And it goes to show, yet again, that if you really want to drill down through the layers of historical sediment forget The Times etc. and go for the local press - much more interesting and useful.)