Getting my grubby mitts on a set of Blind Beggar’s uniformed
female militia got me thinking… I was originally going to paint them up as a
women’s BUF unit, but in the end decided to go for one of the smaller
right-wing units – the British Fascisti.
The British Fascisti was formed in 1923 by Rotha
Lintorn-Orman: an upper middle-class daughter of an army major who served in
the Women's Reserve Ambulance and Scottish Women's Hospital Corps during the Great
War and gained a penchant for dressing in male uniform.
Like many of her class she was virulently anti-communist, royalist,
patriotic and pro-empire. Alarmed by the rise of the left she sought out others
with similar beliefs to form the British Fascisti – it’s name inspired by
Mussolini’s movement. However Lintorn-Orman’s group was originally more a
royalist organisation, as opposed to an explicitly fascist one, leading extreme
right-winger Arnold Leese to label it ‘conservatism with knobs on.’
Composed of largely of minor aristocracy, obscure
politicians and disgruntled ex-army officers, the group suffered from numerous
splits, especially after the general strike, when the anticipated socialist
revolution that would allow the BF to spring forward and save the day never
materialised. Soon it was eclipsed by larger fascist groups. Riven by
factionalism, the group dissolved in 1934, with Lintorn-Orman, dependant on
alcohol and drugs, dying in 1935 amid rumours of hedonistic parties.
In the VBCW universe, the British Fascisti is reborn as war
breaks out by Lintorn-Orman’s fictional equivalent, Emma Picton-Bryant, who
returns from a Swiss alcohol addiction clinic to reform the group. Soon cadres
of British Fascisti militias are operating – sometimes as an adjunct to the
BUF, sometimes as rivals.
The minis, from Mason's Blind Beggar line, are painted in a rough approximation of Picton-Bryant's uniform, as shown in the Solway sourcebook (minus armbands - I couldn't face painting lots of tiny F's, plus it makes them faction-neutral enough to use in other forces if need be).
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| (A test piece in BUF uniform - based with a spare bike to act as a messenger/runner) |
