Fiji Islanders

[christine liava'a]

I now think that the photo in the Dutch newspaper, and the photos in the French newspaper and also in The War Illustrated, all in early 1915, are NOT of the Fiji Labour Corps, which did not even exist then, but rather are of the small contingent of the Fiji Armed Native Constabulary which came to  Britain in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VI.They were brought by Adolph Brewster, a colonial officer.  Note the number of men, and their uniform, which matches the 1915 photos, compared to the FLC, which was 100 strong.

I think the training photos would have been somewhere in England, probably in July.

Edited 29 July , 2022 by christine liava'a

[christine liava'a]

3 hours ago, michaeldr said:

Christine,

I don't know how much this will help, but my guess is that the reference is about the ambulance unit provided by the Maharaja at Christmas 1914: 

 

 Yes, which fits with January 1915 newspaper reports. But the references to Marseilles are completely wrong. The photo is probably in London, after the Coronation Procession. They were too small a group to march in the procession, so lined the street somewhere en route.

 

 

 

 

[knittinganddeath]

Glad that this mystery is solved!

[christine liava'a]

Compare an actual photograph of the Fiji Labour corps, prior to their leaving Fiji. Uniforms are a different colour, and not so many bushy hairstyles- buiniga.

 

It is interesting how the 1915 newspapers used a photo that was 12 years old.

Edited 29 July , 2022 by christine liava'a

[Eric C]

Trying to get info about a specific person in the fijian labour corps.  British war medal index card is below if anyone can shed some light on who he is. 

Thanks! 

[charlie962]

Eric, welcome to the Forum. I cannot help specifically with Tobia but I have seen there are discharge papers available on FindmyPast for two members of the Fijian Labour Corps.

1) Venisoni Vitilevu

Born1895

Discharged1919  (he died shortly after)

Service number 13

2) Kalaboso Naqesa

Born 1894

Discharged 1919

Service number 74

 

It is worth looking at these records for little clues as to embarkation date at Folkestone for Calais, probable transfer to Marseilles then to Taranto.

These two men also suffered illnesses that fit with commentary earlier in this thread.

I suspect a lot more has been found by the original contributors to this thread since 2003? 

@christine liava'a

Charlie

Edited 15 January by charlie962

[stevenbecker]

The MIC lists some 22 men on them from the Fijian Islands both white and native

[charlie962]

The medal roll for Fijian Labour Corps lists men from 1 to 106

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/5119/images/41629_611411_5833-00069?treeid=&personid=&queryId=b9649e4b-d13e-4e6c-9674-633ad9950e83&usePUB=true&_phsrc=tLN754&_phstart=successSource&pId=3200364

[Eric C]

So how were the non native men recruited to the fijian corps and where do they come from.  Were some recruited locally to perform work lets say while they were in Taranto.

 

[stevenbecker]

More Chris's area then mine, but Like many Native units they had white officers and SNCO to command them

Large numbers of British and Commonwealth soldiers were recruited into formations like the Egyptian Labor Corps and CTC so maybe the same in Fiji?

As many whites had already joined up before 1917 from Fiji, they could have still got them from there (see photo) or from NZ 

PS,

Christine mentioned the FLC was an all Fiji (native) unit, so possibly no whites?

The whites in the photo possibly those who trained the unit before going OS

Edited 16 January by stevenbecker