The Alfred Burne Memorial Medal is awarded annually to an officer or soldier, serving or retired, or
civilian, who, in the opinion of Royal Artillery Heritage Committee, has affected the best work in the historical field relating to the Royal Artillery. In 2023, it was awarded to the Regimental Historian, Dr Spencer Jones Dr Spencer Jones – Senior Lecturer in Armed Forces and War Studies at Wolverhampton University.
The BCMH would like to congratulate Spencer who is well-known to many of us. The full citation is below:
Citation
Dr Spencer Jones was invited to become the first official historian to the Royal Artillery in October 2013 and so next year (2023) we will mark his tenth anniversary in this role. One of Britain’s respected academics in war studies and an acknowledged leader in the history of the First World War, Dr Jones is currently a senior lecturer in War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton. He is author of a wide number of books, publications and papers (both written and presented) and he is particularly well known for his outstanding online presence where he has a natural ability to bring his well-researched theses to life. His most notable publications are ‘From Boer War to World War’, ‘Stemming the Tide’ and ‘Courage without Glory’. One of his specialisations is artillery and firepower and this made him a natural choice to become our Regimental Historian. This role is not one of glorifying the somewhat ‘rounded up’ heritage of the Gunners but to bring a critical appreciation to the study of the past and to develop the professional understanding of the current and future generation of the Royal Artillery’s soldiers and officers.
His support to the Gunners has more often been through the sponsorship of the Royal Artillery’s Historical Society but this is merely the vehicle for his interventions and guidance. While our chaplain might bring us closer to God, then our historian brings us closer to fact or at least a critical interpretation of information. Dr Jones intervenes at least three times a year through the RAHS which will have equated to over thirty papers this time next year. A number of these are published in the Royal Artillery Journal and his interventions through online platforms are recorded and circulated to a wide audience. Thanks to Dr Jones, Gunner history is now only widely shared across the Royal Canadian Artillery (who also join to listen to his lectures), the Royal Engineers and he has a small following in the French Gunners too. COVID 19 forced the RAHS online and this medium made best use of the Regimental Historian’s outstanding scholarship and more importantly his ability to make an informed and critical approach to history accessible to all ranks. He has supported study days with numerous regiments. His work on Air Observation Posts was particularly commended by 47th Regiment Royal Artillery and this was published in the RAJ. His scholarship on gunnery in the Boer War is both insightful and compelling and sets the scene for the Gunners’ entry into the great context of 1914. It is here that the Gunners that we recognise today took shape and yet, as Jones rightly reminds us, it was a painful birth and 1915 proved a deep struggle before the answer took shape in late 1916. His work on artillery in the American civil war was also noteworthy.
Dr Jones supports the Young Officers’ Branch in terms of their formative programme for the next generation of leaders, he was a member of the Heritage Governance Review Panel where his historical judgement and expertise were of huge value and brought academic diversity to an already very impressive team. Spencer receives a small stiped for his services which is small token to recompense him for his work but is far less than he could command and indeed if we were to approach a more ‘commercial’ academic then we would be charged thousands for the benefits that he offers us. The war in Ukraine has brought a new string to Spencer’s bow, with a series of studies on Russia, notably the Tsar’s Army. This year’s Shrapnel Lectures were acknowledged as undoubtedly the best yet (we filled the Newcome Hall) and as ever this was in no small way down to the Regimental Historian’s outstanding scholarship.
For a decade of outstanding academic service to the history, heritage and most importantly, the education of the Royal Artillery, Dr Spencer Jones is most strongly recommended for regimental recognition.