Actions in the Yemen

[Matt Dixon]

I am looking into this chap, can anyone tell me what his regiment was doing in the Yemen at this time?

Major Cyprian Edward Borton, 129th Duke of Connaughts, killed 02.08.17, buried Mhala Cemetery, Yemen

[michaeldr]

what his regiment was doing in the Yemen at this time?

Matt,

There is a passing reference to a Turkish garrison in the Yemen at the outbreak of the war which appears in TEL’s ‘Seven Pillars…’

Presumably an allied force was sent there to take care of it, along with other outposts of the Ottoman empire, while more well known actions took place in Palestine and Mespot.

Having brought this back to the top, hopefully someone who is better informed than myself will tell you exactly how and when

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Matt Dixon]

Michael,

Thanks for that. I have read the book (truly dreadful IMHO) but I don't recall this, I'll have another look.

Cheers for the info

[Guest klemen]

I can't add much to what Michael has already said except that the Ottoman 7th Army Corps under General Ali Sait Pasha found itself isolated in Asir and Aden (Yemen) after Arab revolt in 1916.

It could be that Matt's fellow did not die in Yemen but in Somaliland, where Turks and Germans managed to persuade a resistance leader and poet Muhammad Abdullah Hasan (also known to his foes as "Mad Mullah") to raise against the British and Italians in Somaliland. The Turks send the rebels a couple of Mauser and captured French Lebel rifles, but the Arba revolt and the fact that they have been cut off from Istanbul prevented them to assit them more. So it could very well be that Major Borton died in Somaliland but his body brought to Yemen for burial. Where is this Mhala Cemetery anyway? Near Aden?

I know it is not much, but I guess still better this than nothing.

lp,

Klemen

[michaeldr]

Where is this Mhala Cemetery anyway? Near Aden?

Klemen,

See the cemetery details here

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/cemetery_...ry=49701&mode=1

regards

Michael D.R.

[Terry Denham]

Major Borton did not die in Somaliland. Those who died in British Somaliland are commemorated on the Berbera Memorial, Somalia as having no known grave. None were taken to Aden.

The original CWGC register for Arabia (published 1931) contains a reasonably detailed description of the actions against the Turks around Aden throughout the war including some naval involvement.

Major Borton is listed as originally being buried in Sheikh Othman Cemetery, Aden but is now listed in Maala Cemetery. As the grave numbers have not changed, I suspect that this was merely the merging of two adjacent cemeteries.

Matt, I have a spare copy of this original register if you would like it (gratis). Email me off-Forum.

[Guest klemen]

Thank you Terry and Michael! I think that from the short description of the cemetery it is more or less evident how did he lost his life. Probably during one of the Turkish attacks on Aden.

Most of the servicemen of the 1914-1918 War buried here lost their lives in the defence of Aden against the Turks. There are war burials of the 1939-1945 War in Maala Cemetery. Most of those buried in other parts of Yemeni territory, whose graves could not be maintained, were later transferred to this cemetery. Aden was a naval and air base of vital importance during the war.

Thanks Terry for clearing the Somali things. I did not know that Great Britain maintain any war graves in Somaliland. I thought that all casualties against Mad Mullah resistance movement were buried at Aden. A new thing which I need to remember.

lp,

Klemen

[Terry Denham]

Klemen

CWGC maintain two cemeteries and two memorials in Somalia. The number of graves/names is in brackets.

Berbera Memorial (109)

Hargeisa Memorial (208)

Hargeisa War Cemetery (117)

Mogadishu African War Cemetery (185)

[Matt Dixon]

Terry, I have emailed you off forum.

Thanks for the information. This is a theatre of war I know very little about, and this chap has proved something of an enigma.....one of those that no matter how hard you look, you can't find out anything about him!

[domsim]

David Nicolle's Osprey book 'Lawrence and the Arab Revolts' (republished as Lawrence of Arabia) has brief details on this war on pages 23-35.

He acknowledges it as 'one of the most obscure episodes of the Great War'.

Ottoman forces consisted of the 7th Yemen Army Corps under 'Ali Sa'id Pasha (a Circassian officer) commanding 14,000 men. After the Arab Revolt in the Hejaz this contingent was effectively cut off. Despite this 'Ali Said went on the offensive and kept the British forces cooped up in Aden, as well as extending Ottoman influence east into the Hadraumat .

Initially Aden was defended by a British garrison supported by an Aden Troop of Indian soldiers and local guides. Once the danger to Aden was realised a classic British Imperial solution was cobbled together, the Aden Field Force was created from available Imperial forces and by 1916 consisted of:

6 Battalions Infantry

2 Squadrons Cavalry

1 company of sappers

some obsolete artillery

Gathering tribal force 'Ali Said attacked in July 1916 and reached Sheikh Othman from where his guns could shell Aden Harbour. The Turks were driven from here and a new front was established around Aden which remained unchanged for most of the war.

'Ali Said finally surredered in January 1919 and received a hero's welcome from the locals in Aden.

I guess your man was part of the Aden Field Force and died either of disease or in fighting around Aden.

Hope this helps

Dominic.

[domsim]

Just done a quick search on Google and came up with this:

Cyprian Edward BORTON

Major 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis who died on Thursday, 2nd August 1917. Buried in MAALA CEMETERY, Yemen. Grave A. 17.

From Andy Pay's research into the Marquis de Ruvigny's Roll of Honour the following:

Volume 2, Part 3, Page30 - BORTON, Cyprian Edward - Major, Malay States Guides

Elder son of the Rev. Neville Borton, vicar of Burwell, co.Cambridge, by his wife Annie Louisa, dau of the late Rev. Edward Heale, Incumbent of All Saints, Jersey. Born Barkly,Griqualand West, South Africa 15th Aug 1879, educated Felsted school and Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he was an undergraduate when the South Africa war broke out, and he obtained a university commission, being gazetted 2nd Lieut, Worcester Regiment 23rd May 1900, promoted Lieutenant 3rd August 1901, transferred to the Indian Army 15th May 1903, promoted Captain 23rd May 1909. Served in the South African War 1900 - 01 ( Queens medal with 3 clasps ), proceeded to India in March 1902, when for a time he was attached to the Suffolk Regiment, being subsequently appointed to the 129th D.C.O. Baluchis, with which regiment he served at Karachi, Hong Kong and Ferozepore, was then appointed for three years to the Malay States Guides, with the local rank of Major. He was in command in Penang when the Emd! en visited that place in Oct 1914; went to Aden in early 1915 and was killed in action at Imad, near there, 2nd Aug 1917. Buried at Sheikh Othman.

While at Cambridge he was an ardent oarsman and a keen sportsman in India and South China, sending home many heads and skins from both places.

Lieut - Col C.W.B. Lees wrote "I cannot tell you what his loss means to the regiment and to me personally. He was one of the finest soldiers i have ever met, with a fund of energy I never got to the end of, and he was just my right hand as regards this regiment, to me he is irreplacable." Unmarried.

So your man was actually on secondment to the Malay Sates Guides-interesting!

Dominic

[Matt Dixon]

So your man was actually on secondment to the Malay Sates Guides-interesting!

Any idea what they did?

[domsim]

Any idea what they did?

Matt

Also from google:

Malay States Guides

In order to restore law and order among the feuding Chinese miners, the Mantri of Larut, Ngah Ibrahim, hired Captain Speedy, formerly Superintendent of Police in Penang, to recruit a sepoy force. In 1873, Captain Speedy returned from India with 110 soldiers consisting of Sikhs, Hindus and Pathans. After the Larut Wars, the mercenary band formed the "Perak Armed Police", stationed in the cantonment in Taiping. On special occasions, the show regiment would parade on the Esplanade field.

Under Col. Walker, the predominantly Sikh regiment was styled the "1st Perak Sikhs" and, with the federation of the Malay States in 1896, they served as the "Malay States Guides".

The Guides joined the Aden Field Force during the First World War. Two Regiments, comprising Punjabi and Pathan Muslims almost revolted when asked to fight against the Turkish caliphate. Upon their return, the Malay States Guides were disbanded in 1919. They were replaced with the Burma Rifles, seconded by the Indian Government, who remained until the Japanese Occupation.

Hope this helps

Dominic

[Guest klemen]

Terry:

CWGC maintain two cemeteries and two memorials in Somalia. The number of graves/names is in brackets.

Thank you for explaining this to me, Terry. I thought that these cemeteries include only World War 2, but not also the Great War casualties.

lp,

Klemen

[Terry Denham]

The Berbera Memorial is WW1 and Hargeisa War Cemetery has two WW1 burials. The rest are WW2.

[Terry Denham]

Matt

The grave number for Borton troubled me as it was exactly the same in Maala Cemetery as it had been in Sheikh Othman Cemetery. The same applied to all the other casualties moved to Maala.

I checked this with CWGC and it seems that the grave numbers were never amended in the records when the bodies were moved. They have now been corrected!

Borton is buried in Grave No - Sp.Plot. 3.1

[Matt Dixon]

Interesting! Thanks for the information.

[jwsleser]

I checked Volume 6 of the Turkish official history of WWI (Birinci Dünya Harbinde Türk Harbi VInci Cilt) to see if I could provide any additional information.

Apparently the Allies launched an attack on 28 July 1917 to seize the town of Elvaht, which is 10 km north of Seyh Osman. Seyh Osman covers the approach to the neck of land that connects Aden to the mainland. The fighting lasted through 29 July. Imad is about seven km NE of Seyh Osman and protects Seyh Osman from that direction. The volume is unclear of who has control of Imad during this time period. By 7 August it was likely controlled by the Allies, as they launched an attack on Elmeçhale on that date. Elmeçhale is a few kms north of Imad. Imad was definitely controlled by the Allies in September when they launched another attack.

No action is described in the volume around Imad during this period. Nor does the volume give any details on the Allied forces in the area. It is likely Major Borton was killed during a small skirmish during a patrol or raid.

Jeff

[ianw]

Caught the tail end of aa prog. about Mad Mitch on the TV the other night. The end titles were of a spectacular - but rather bleak - war cemetery in Aden. Does anyone know which one this was ?

[Guest]

This thread is very interesting to me. I was stationed as a young soldier in Aden from 19664 to 1966. I now regret that I took no more than a passing interest in the history of the place. In Steamer Point which was the place you landed when arriving by sea there was a landing place called Prince of Wales Pier (named after Edward VIII), On its walls were memorial tablets commemorating those lost in the period 1914 - 1918. Mostly they seemed to be Indian Army with ranks like "Muleteer". I seem to recall being told that more were lost from thirst and ineeficiency than fighting. I believe the memorial tablets were destroyed in 1967 when a revolutiuon took place after the ejection of British Forces. There may have been a cemetery at Sheik Othman but I recall the main one was in Ma`alla but, I regret to say, I never saw it. This cemetery became full and during my time funerals took place at a new cemetery called Silent Valley in Little Aden. I seem to recall that Gen Claude Auchinleck served there as a Major in the Indian Army. I will cudgel my brains for more information. The regular pre war garrison went to Flanders in 1914, being replaced by among others the South Wales Borderers. Aden was regarded as a punishment posting for troublesome units prior to World War 1 - v barren, hot and unpleasant.