SAHR Annual General Meeting 2023

Wednesday 26th April 2023

The SAHR’s 95th Annual General Meeting and Templer Prize-Giving took place on 26 April at the National Army Museum in London. At the AGM, members reviewed the Society’s activities, voted on several motions, and elected members to Council. The meeting was followed by a lively lecture by James Falkner, an historian and former army officer, on the Duke of Marlborough and the Battle of Ramillies. Proceedings continued with the award of commemorative glassware to Charles Street and Dr John Peaty, in recognition of their long and faithful service to the Society, and the presentation of certificates to our inaugural SAHR fellows. The results of the Templer Medal and the First Book Prize were announced; the Society’s President warmly congratulated both winners. The top entrants to the annual essay contest were likewise recognised and presented with their prize money. The evening concluded with a convivial reception, enhanced by delicious food and drinks.

The results for the SAHR Templer Medal were as follows:

Winner - The Wandering Army: The Campaigns that Transformed the British Way of War by Huw Davies (Yale University Press)
Runner-up (Second Place) - Storm and Sack: British Sieges, Violence and the Laws of War in the Napoleonic Era, 1799-1815 by Gavin Daly (Cambridge University Press)
Commended (Third Place) - 1945: Victory in the West by Peter Caddick-Adams (Hutchinson-Heinemann)

The results for the Templer First Book Prize were as follows:

Winner - Ham & Jam: 6th Airborne Division in Normandy - Generating Combat Effectiveness by Andrew Wheale (Helion)
Runner-up (Second Place) - The Company’s Sword: The East India Company and the Politics of Militarism, 1644-1858 by Christina Welsch (Cambridge University Press)
Commended (Third Place) - Who Owned Waterloo? Battle, Memory, & Myth in British History, 1815-1852 by Luke Reynolds (Oxford University Press)

The results of the Student Essay Prize were as follows:

First Prize (Schools) - Alexander Tonkin (St Paul’s School) for an essay on Congreve Rockets
Runner-up (Schools) - Oscar Schonfeld (Kingswood School, Bath) for an essay on Australian forces in the Vietnam War

First Prize (Undergraduate) - Jake Dixon (University of the West of England) for an essay entitled: ‘Savage warfare’ in the Abor Hills: C.E. Callwell’s Influence on Imperial Policing on the North East Frontier

The SAHR is very grateful to the National Army Museum for kindly hosting the evening's proceedings and contributing to the Templer Medal prize fund. We are equally thankful to His Majesty Al Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah for generously sponsoring the reception.

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