Numbers play quite a large part in daily life. We all have numbers assigned to us; At birth; at work; in HM Forces; National Insurance number; Passport; bank account; telephone; house, etc etc, the list is endless.
Most cultures have so called "lucky" and "unlucky" numbers. Seven is considered lucky in Western culture, [and figures prominently in many stories; dwarves, seas, wise and foolish virgins, wonders of the world, brides for brothers etc] whilst thirteen is considered unlucky.
The Chinese consider eight auspicious [and also one in certain contexts]. When these two numbers occur together, as in 18 and 81, then good fortune is assured. In Singapore there is a budget hotel chain called Hotel 81. [I'm still waiting for the article Kingy!]
Besides auspicious numbers there are two well-known unlucky numbers in Chinese culture. Four, which is the number associated with death, and seven, which can mean gone (seven dishes are served after a Chinese funeral - therefore, make sure that happy meals do not have seven dishes).
It could be that the juxtaposition of these two unlucky numbers was the cause of the Great Dispersal of Entries at Halton in January 1956. Remember the 74th entry were Senior Entry at the time! [Anyone have a better explanation for the break up of Entries?]
Our entry must be doubly fortunate in that we carry our entry number within our service numbers; not many other entries can claim this honour, [the 80th may be the only other one?]

When I joined the GPO I was surprised, and pleased, to find that one of the hand tools, in frequent use, was known as "81's". The actual nomenclature was " Pliers wiring No2" but for reasons that no one could explain they were always referred to by their number in the tools vocabulary book. No other tools had this distinction.

So let us have a look at this number 81, of which we have the honour of bearing , alongside other military formations similarly blessed.

Starting with the Senior Service.

F81 is the code number for HMS Sutherland, a Type 23 frigate of the Duke class. The present ship is the third to bear the name and was launched March 1996 and commissioned in July 1997, [it would have been great if the ceremony had been on the 30th but unfortunately it was the 4th]
The first Sutherland was a ship of 54 guns ,launched in 1704 and originally named HMS Reserve. She served as a hospital ship in theMediterrean, and was broken up in 1754. The second Sutherland was a Fourth-rate of 50 guns launched in1741. She saw active service in the siege of Louisbourg and in the captures of Dominica, Martinique and Havana during The Seven Years War. She was paid off and sold in 1770.
The most famous Sutherland, captained by Horatio Hornblower, existed only in the fertile imagination of the late great C S Forrester.

Now for our khaki clad comrades of the British Army.
The 81st Foot was first raised in 1753 but renumbered in 1764 to 71st Foot. Raised again in 1793 the 81st absorbed The Loyal Lincoln Volunteers [Villagers] in 1802 and were then known by the title 81st Regiment of Foot [Loyal Lincoln Volunteers] They were amalgamated with the 47th [Lancashire] Regiment of Foot, under Childers' reform of the army in 1881 (!) to form The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
More amalgamations followed over the years and now the 81st is a part of The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, which is formed from so many former regiments that it, like most British Army regiments, resemble a bingo card with the amount of numbers carried over from it's predecessor regiments (e.g. 30; 40; 47; 59; 81; 82; 63; 96; 30; 8; 4; 34; 55… BINGO!!!]
The 81st regiment's 88 years of service was served all around the globe, including Canada, America, West Indies, Italy, Sicily. Spain, Portugal and India. Unusually the regiment didn't take part in the Crimean War [serving in India at the time].
The 81st were awarded the following battle honours.
Maida, 4th July 1806. Notable for the fact that both the French and British employed Swiss troops in the battle, both units dressed in redcoats, with the inevitable cock up.
Corunna January 6th 1809. Notable for the Burial of Sir John Moore and that it was the short lived 2nd Battalion of the regiment that was present. [Raised 1803 disbanded 1816]
Peninsula 1812 -1813. The regiment was employed on the east coast of the Peninsula.
Ali Masjid, 21st November 1878. The first battle of the 2nd Afghan War, capturing the fort and opening the route to Jellalabad.
Afghanistan 1878 -1879 Operations in the second phase of the 2nd Afghan War, after the murder of the British envoy to Kabul following the Treaty of Gandamack.

What about our fellow " Brylcreem Boys"?
No.81 Squadron RAF
This squadron was first formed in 1917 at 'Sunny Scampton' as a training unit. Disbanded in the summer of 1918 then reformed just after the Armistice as a fighter unit it was again disbanded in 1920. At the start of 2nd World War it was reformed and flew Tiger Moths as a communication squadron in France. The German invasion forced its withdrawal back to the UK, where once again it was disbanded. Reformed in July 1941 at Leconfield, with Hurricanes, it moved to North Russia in September, flying its aircraft in from HMS Argus! The squadron flew operationally, besides training the Russians to fly the Hurricanes, which were left behind when the squadron returned to UK in November 1941. For the remainder of the war the squadron was constantly on the move. Deployed from Scotland to Hornchurch in May 1942 [the squadron now equipped with Spitfires] it moved in October 1942 to Gibraltar, then to North Africa, where it supported the 1st Army. After the end of the North African campaign the next base was Malta, in support of the allied invasion of Sicily. Transferred to the Italian mainland in September 1943 it had hardly time to say "Bon Giorno" before it was off to India in November!
It was employed in a ground support role in this theatre until August 1944 when it was sent to Ceylon, to be disbanded on 20th June 1945. No. 123 Squadron, which was in process of re-equipping with Thunderbolts, was then re-numbered as 81. The war ended before the squadron became operational with their new aircraft but they were deployed to Java in convoy protection and tactical reconnaissance role in October 1945, before being disbanded [again!] in July 1946. Reformed, when No 684 squadron was re-numbered in September 1946 at Seletar, it flew Mosquito's; Spitfires; Meteor Mk10's; Pembroke C Mk 1's and finally Canberra's in the PR role [but not at the same time!] The squadron was disbanded, [for the last time?] on 16th January 1970. Maybe some of the entry served on the squadron out in Singapore?
No 81 Squadron must hold the record for the number of times reformed and of the number of bases it operated from over its illustrious career.

And one from across the pond………
I was reading through an account of The Battle of Gettysburg [as you do] when a phrase leapt off the page "… the 81st advanced into the Wheatfield….." This was The 81st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment {PVI}, a Union regiment that had been raised in August 1861, not long after the start of the American Civil War. The 81st PVI fought in most of the battles of the Eastern Theatre in Virginia , generally where the going was the toughest and the casualties were the highest; Antietam [The Sunken Lane]; Fredericksburg [Marye Heights], Gettysburg [The Wheatfield]; Spotsylvania [The Bloody Angle] and the blood bath that was Cold Harbor. At their first battle [Fair Oaks, June 1st 1862] the 81st lost their colonel {who had raised the regiment} killed in the first exchange of fire. The 81st also had the dubious distinction of having the second highest number of officers killed during the war in the entire Union Army. The regiment numbered just over 1000 men on enlistment. After the battle of Farmville, just two days before Robert E Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia and the war ended, the historian Frank Taylor wrote of the regiment:
"At the end of this disastrous affair (Farmville) there remained only Colonel William Wilson, two line officers, thirty-six enlisted men and the colors, which had never been lost to the enemy."
So maybe auspicious numbers didn't work for the 81st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment?