Unit/Office Abbreviations - Meso

[Dominion-of-the-North]

Colleagues:

I am trying to ascertain the meaning of a series of abbreviations I found whil reseraching the work of the Colombo (Ceylon) Rivercraft Committee. In 1917, the Colombo Rivercraft Committee was established, the principal purpose of which was twofold:

1. to build (or otherwise procure) suitable coastal craft which could be employed along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in support of the Campaign in Mesopotamia; and
2. to recruit suitable personnel to crew (and provide other, land-based support) for such craft.

In case any one might be interested, I've attached a few snaps relating to this service.

My question: when reading the files (in the Sri Lankan National Archives) on this subject, I repeatedly came across the abbreviations enumerated below, presumably indicating the organisation into which personnel so recruited served.

Below is a summary of these abbreviations. The meaning of a few are fairly obvious, (such as IWT = Inland Water Transport; or RLWYS = "Railways"), but most are a complete mystery to me. As a result, any suggestions as to what any of the abbreviations stand for would be greatly appreciated.

(PS: In case it might be helpful -- or of general interest -- the number of personnel attached to each organisation, as indicated in the records, has been indicated in brackets.)

Cheers,
and thanks again, in advance,


Glen,
In Our Dominion of the North

===================

Colombo Rivercraft Committee Recruits
Abbreviations Employed to Indicate Trade or Organisation in which one Served

IWT (511) (Inland Water Transport)
RLWYS (133) (Railways)
WD (20) (Ware Department?)
L & PC (2)
L & PD (20)
PD (4) (Political Department?)
Irr. Dept (5) (Irrigation Department?)
PA & C (8)
PA & CPL (4)
P & LC (1)
PT (2) (Port Traffic or Posts and Telegraph??)
PM (1)
PC & C (1)
MT (2)
OC Basrah (2) (Office of Officer Commanding, Basrah)
TRO (1)
GS (15) (General Service??)
D of LR (7) (Directorate of XXXX?)
AC (1)
D of ST (1) (Directorate of XXXX?) ... maybe... Dept (or Directorate) of Signals and Telegraphs or Dept (or Directorate) of Supply and Transportation??
ED & MS (1)
E & MS (18)
CA of M (6)
TS (1)
Treasury Wilhelmestal (2)

[MaureenE]

Glen, the following book , available online, gives the name of some of the Departments which were part of the Inland Water Transport.

''The Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia'' compiled by Lieut.-Col. L. J. Hall 1921 Archive.org

https://archive.org/details/inlandwatertrans00hall

I see there was a Port Traffic Department, so that would be probably be PT

But perhaps you already have this book as the photographs you have posted are in the book, although yours seem a better quality .

Another online book is ''Mesopotamian Transport Commission. Report of the Commission appointed by the Government of India... to enquire into questions connected with the organisation and administration of the Railway and River Transport in Mesopotamia'' 1918 which is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Table of Contents is computer/(digital file) page 6.

Refer the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Online books-Digital Library of India for more details about the DLI site.

http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Online_books#Digital_Library_of_India

Cheers

Maureen

[Dominion-of-the-North]

Thank you, Maureen.

I very much appreciate you taking the time to share with me your suggestions.

Cheers,

Glen

In Our Dominion of the North

[Dominion-of-the-North]

Updates in red....

Colombo Rivercraft Committee Recruits
Abbreviations Employed to Indicate Trade or Organisation in which one Served

IWT (511) (Inland Water Transport)
RLWYS (133) (Railways)
WD (20) (Works Directorate)
L & PC (2)
L & PD (20)
PD (4) (Port Directorate)
Irr. Dept (5) (Irrigation Department)
PA & C (8) (Port Administration and Conservancy)
PA & CPL (4)
P & LC (1)
PT (2) (Port Traffic)
PM (1)
PC & C (1) (Port Construction and Conservancy)
MT (2)
OC Basrah (2) (Office of Officer Commanding, Basrah)
TRO (1)
GS (15) (General Service??)
D of LR (7) (Directorate of XXXX?)
AC (1)
D of ST (1) (Directorate of XXXX?) ... maybe... Dept (or Directorate) of Signals and Telegraphs or Dept (or Directorate) of Supply and Transportation??
ED & MS (1)
E & MS (18)
CA of M (6)
TS (1)
Treasury Wilhelmestal (2)

[Waggoner]

D of ST = Director of Supply andTransport

OC Basrah = Officer Commanding Basrah

My suggestions.

All the best,

Gary

[Andrew Upton]

...

P & LC (1)

...

MT (2)

...

My money would be on - "Pioneer and Labour Corps" and "Motorized Transport".

[Dominion-of-the-North]

"Pioneer and Labour Corps"... it fits... and I would have never thought about that. I was fixated on the "P" being "Port" and the "LC" Lines of Communication" ... but, of course, that should be "LoC".

Thanks very much for your thoughts.

Cheers,

Glen

[squirrel]

PM (1) Provost Marshal

TRO (1) Train Regulating Officer

[MaureenE]

There is a Naval and Military Press reprint mentioned:

With the M.T. in Mesopotamia by Brevet Lieut. Col . F. W. Leland, R.A.S.C.. The author was an officer in Mechanical Transport in 1916-1918

http://www.naval-military-press.com/with-the-m.t.-in-mesopotamia.html

Cheers

Maureen

[Dominion-of-the-North]

Thank you, once again, Maureen. i was not aware of Leland's book. It seems right up my alley. In fact,I have just ordered a copy.

Cheers,

Glen

In Our Dominion of the North

[Griffner]

In case this might prove useful : I'm scouring through my great grandad's diary, who was working with the Supply and Transport corps as a Staff sergeant during the Mesopotamia campaign. He talks a couple of time about a possible commission to the "Political Department". This might or might not be your PD.

[MaureenE]

Glen, there is a book (published in 1938) on the Digital Library of India website called The Tragedy of Mesopotamia by Sir George Buchanan who was Director-General of Port Administration and River Conservancy at Basra, which possibly may have something of interest for you.

The author's Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Buchanan_(engineer_born_1865)

Cheers

Maureen

[aconnolly]

Glen

A few possibilities:

MT may infact be "Motor Tugs"

D of LR "Directorate of Light Railway"

PD could be "Personnel Department" - IWT in Mesopotamia used this term a lot.

PT "Paddle tugs"

TS "transhipping Station" - moved cargo from bigger to smaller vessels during low water period

The abbreviation "PA" was used in Mesopotamia for "Ambulance Paddler" - not sure how / if this helps with the PA ones on the list!

Andrew

[aconnolly]

E & MS could be Electrical and Mechanical Section

[aconnolly]

Glen

CA of M could well be Civil Administration of Mesopotamia