Mark Hone Posted 26 June , 2013 Share Posted 26 June , 2013 One of my departing sixth formers has discovered a fascinating album of photographs amongst his family documents. It is a series of snapshots of the 1919 Afghan War. Unfortunately he does not know which of his relatives it belonged to and the only unit identification given is two photographs of '15th Machine Gun Squadron in Kiber (sic) Pass' There are lots of pictures of men and horses including one entitled 'The Boys on the Road' so it's a reasonable guess this chap was a cavalryman. There are also pictures of places and some nice shots of Pathan civilians, the bazaar and camels in Nowshera and barracks in Risurpur(?). If anyone could provide any additional information it would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 26 June , 2013 Share Posted 26 June , 2013 Any chance of a scan of any of the photos? I believe the 21st Lancers (Empress of India's) were there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 27 June , 2013 Author Share Posted 27 June , 2013 Two photos of 15th Machine Gun Squadron in the Khyber Pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 27 June , 2013 Author Share Posted 27 June , 2013 'The Boys on the Road' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 27 June , 2013 Author Share Posted 27 June , 2013 'Entrance to Khyber Pass'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEW Posted 27 June , 2013 Share Posted 27 June , 2013 Failed to find a list of Campaign Medals etc to 15th MG Squad. on Ancestry. Wiki says: No campaign medal was struck for this conflict. Instead, participation in this conflict was recognised by a clasp to the India GSM (1908–1935). Was hoping to find a Campaign List for the 15th MG Squad. which might provide a surname link for the 6th former. Browsing through the collection I can't seem to find the appropriate roll for IGSM. Also, The Army Order was unusual in that a mistake was made in awarding the Afghanistan 1919 battle honour to The Hampshire Regiment and the 21st Lancers. This was subsequently rectified and the award to these two units was withdrawn. So, 21st Lancers not present? TEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushfighter Posted 27 June , 2013 Share Posted 27 June , 2013 Crisis on the Frontier. The Third Afghan War and the Campaign in Waziristan 1919-20 by Brian Robson lists on page 27: ten machine gun companies or squadrons as being in the northern area (Gomal - Chitral). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 27 June , 2013 Author Share Posted 27 June , 2013 Thanks for all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEW Posted 28 June , 2013 Share Posted 28 June , 2013 Mark, I'm making a few assumptions and mixing in some guess work based on oddities on Ancestry. If the original photographer is from the 15th Machine Gun Squadron, as he has a camera he is probably an officer?? Working on the principle he is 15th MG Sqd. I've been trying to find other men in the same unit to try to find the correct 'UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Roll' which is not easy to find as Ancestry have it under Battle of Waterloo!! Yes, apparently we had the Machine Gun Corps in 1815!! The correct roll for ordinary ranks is WO/100/480 and for officers WO/100/484 (I think) . On Ancestry the ordinary ranks for 15th MGS start on page 722 of 939 under Waterloo - Cavalry, Wagon Train, Artillery and Footguards. LINK Another, extremely useful site (Geoff's) identifies the unit as being the 15th Squadron of the MG Corps (Cavalry) and lists 3 men that died in Afghan during 1919 e.g. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/909555/ The medal index cards don't help a lot as they only ID the men as MGC (Cav), one of these men's MIC can be seen HERE, a 15th MG Sqd. man. Without finding any officer's name from the 15th MG Sqd, I can't locate where Ancestry have chosen to hide the relevant roll. Assuming you have an Ancestry account I can only suggest a bizarre search using the pupil's surname and search under Battle of Waterloo. I've just tried it without a name and it returns 1,885 results across all the Sqds. of the MGC present in Afghan 1919. Alternativley if you PMd me the pupil's surname I think there'd be a good chance of finding out if the original photographer shares his name and from there work out if he's grt grandfathwer or great uncle etc. Failing that, if he's a great aunt's husband or other ancestor on the maternal side things get trickier. TEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 29 June , 2013 Author Share Posted 29 June , 2013 Thanks. My student isn't sure which of his ancestors it relates to and doesn't think it's on his father's side. I'll get back to him to find out possible surnames. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEW Posted 30 June , 2013 Share Posted 30 June , 2013 Mark, I eventually located the officer's rolls for the 15th Sqdn. MGC (Cavalry) Afghan 1919 clasp/IGSM. Ancestry have it hiding in 'Africa, Asia, New Zealand 1845-1879'. Starts on page 483 of 569 and goes up to page 520 of 569. You could try your student with the following names: Lieut J W Putnam Major H A Garstin (MC) Lieut H C Treadaway Lieut W Stones Capt C O D Anderson Lieut C H Z Piercy Lieut H Player There are others not identified as 15th MGC just MGC, these are all listed as 15th Sqdn. MGC TEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 10 November , 2018 Share Posted 10 November , 2018 My grandfather was Lieut H C Treadaway and know he served in Mesopotamia. I would to learn more about the 15th MGC and campaigns. Is it possible he is in the photos I wonder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 11 November , 2018 Author Share Posted 11 November , 2018 To my horror I find that I had completely forgotten about starting this thread and cannot even remember which of my former students brought in the photographs. I have found this quite alarming, particularly as I am about to start some research on the Afghan Wars and recently tracked down the Official History of the 1919 conflict. That failed to jog my memory. I can only blame all the research I've been doing for the Centenary and the two bouts of ill health I've suffered in that period. I'll go back through my files in an attempt to find out where the material came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberley John Lindsay Posted 11 November , 2018 Share Posted 11 November , 2018 Dear Mark, That sort of thing happens to me quite often. One is distracted by, in my case, the illness of one's wife. Suddenly one has to concentrate on completely different challanges, and the numerous Officers with IGS clasp Afgh NWF 1919 have to be pushed to one side... Kindest regards, Kim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 24 November , 2018 Author Share Posted 24 November , 2018 I have been in touch with my former student and should have further information soon. I hope to be able to post all of the photographs if practicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 24 November , 2018 Admin Share Posted 24 November , 2018 Whilst not the Afghan campaign the war diaries for 15 MGC http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/33a0fd548b1c4f78a32c4206c36c4a24 and http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/73cff82d5642475caf137436fd23c7bb Might have some interesting info? Not digitised yet but details of the campaign at TNA? http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4558544 One example of an Officer's MIC (images courtesy of Ancestry free access) Major Horace Garstin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 24 November , 2018 Share Posted 24 November , 2018 Look forward to the pics. A local man was a casualty- Corporal Adrian Lionel Clarke, formerly Gaggero- from a Gibraltarian family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 25 November , 2018 Share Posted 25 November , 2018 For links to online accounts of the 3rd Afghan War, see the FIBIS Fibiwiki page of that name https://wiki.fibis.org/w/3rd_Afghan_War Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberley John Lindsay Posted 25 November , 2018 Share Posted 25 November , 2018 Dear Maureen, Thanks for that. Unfortunately, I was unable to open the picture of BE2c aircraft at Dakka... Interesting, too, that the Sgt Obs turned down an offer of a commission in the RAF. Kindest regards, Kim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 25 November , 2018 Share Posted 25 November , 2018 11 hours ago, Kimberley John Lindsay said: Unfortunately, I was unable to open the picture of BE2c aircraft at Dakka... Kim, the archived version of the webpage you referred to, shows the images https://web.archive.org/web/20140830133118/https://sgtregnaldwhite.blogspot.com/2010/07/third-anglo-afghan-war.html Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberley John Lindsay Posted 25 November , 2018 Share Posted 25 November , 2018 Dear Maureen, Thank you, I have now found it - and indeed this is not the first time you have unselfishly lent a helping hand. The Great War Forum and those who people it, is notoriously generous in sharing information... Kindest regards, Kim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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