"Conservatism With Knobs On"

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.

One such cadre, a female section under the command of Lady Lydia Gravie-Browning, has been training with the forces of the BUF’s Lord Cirencester in Gloucestershire. Refusing to be relegated to traditional women’s roles, Gravie-Browning has been vocal in her demands for the group to take a more active combat role. Fed up with her constant (and to his mind, rather shrill) badgering, Lord Cirencester has arranged for this cadre to be transferred to the Three Counties Legion in Herefordshire, where their dark blue uniforms will at least make a change from all that black.

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).