Frederick C. Selous, the former owner of the “Selous rifle” (November 1) that is to be auctioned on December 8 at Bonham’s sporting gun sale at Knightsbridge, was considered the world’s greatest game hunter and naturalist when he came to Malta on April 18, 1915.

He arrived on board the ss Naualia with the 25th Bn (Frontiersmen) Royal Fusiliers, the only unit in modern day military history to have been accepted in to the British army and sent in to action without training.

According to the Daily Malta Chronicle (February 11, 1915) volunteers in Malta who wished to join the battalion were requested to contact the organising officer Captain C. Bowden at St George’s House, St Julians. These premises were then being used as headquarters for the Eastern Telegraph Company.

It is not known if any volunteers from the island joined the battalion, and it would therefore be of interest to know if any volunteers did enlist with the battalion before the ss Naualia left Grand Harbour on the following day, April 19, 1915.

Captain Selous was killed on January 4, 1917 in East Africa when leading his company of frontiersmen against a German force, and was buried in what is known today as the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. He was 66 years old when killed in action.

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