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Remembered Today:

"Foul" Mesopotamia


PJS

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Below are a couple of photos from one of my grandfather's photo albums from his time in Mesopotamia. The place appears to be "Foul" but I'm struggling to find any such place. Best I can come up with is perhaps Fao (Al-Faw).  Does anyone have any better ideas or input on where this could be?

 

Foul-Mespot.PNG.ffafc35a8e80ca5614d4a13bb327a3fc.PNG

 

Foul-Mespot-II.PNG.cb618a5ae10d70a061cc98b78ac7d32f.PNG

 

Thanks

Peter

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I've looked in my Harmsworth's New Atlas (1920) which includes  "An Atlas of the Great War". 

There are 7 entries for FOUL under the Place Names index.

These have B., Sd., Pt., or Is. after = Bay, Sound, Point, Island.

None are placed in Mesopotamia, but are found in Ireland, India, Australia, plus.

 

Could it have been your grandfather's use of Foul as a description of the place?

 

Kath.

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Well they certainly look like the huts/homes used by the marsh arabs in the south, maybe Fao Peninsula, an area of many battles in the Iraq/Iran war.

 

Andy

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1 hour ago, Kath said:

I've looked in my Harmsworth's New Atlas (1920) which includes  "An Atlas of the Great War". 

There are 7 entries for FOUL under the Place Names index.

These have B., Sd., Pt., or Is. after = Bay, Sound, Point, Island.

None are placed in Mesopotamia, but are found in Ireland, India, Australia, plus.

 

Could it have been your grandfather's use of Foul as a description of the place?

 

Kath.

 

Thanks for looking it up. None of his other inscriptions lead me to believe that he was making a personal comment on the place. I think it's more likely that it was a phonetic thing or it is an obscure place with a 100 year old, westernized name.

 

He was on the Hospital Ship VITA which made the Bombay - Basra run many times. I know he also stopped at Bandar Abbas, (which he wrote as "Bunder Abbas" on those photos), and so it could also be Persia. Wherever it is, it is somewhere he was able to get off the ship, at least for a while, and the main industry appears to have been date farming.

 

Peter

59 minutes ago, stiletto_33853 said:

Well they certainly look like the huts/homes used by the marsh arabs in the south, maybe Fao Peninsula, an area of many battles in the Iraq/Iran war.

 

Andy

 

You make a good point. I need to dig out my copy of "The Marsh Arabs" by Wilfred Thesiger and see how those photos compare to my Grandfather's.

 

Peter

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Victor Bayley, who built the Khyber Railway served in Mespot during WW1 and he said that they had made up names for various railways stations, this was fine until a staff officer turned up looking to quarter troops in the village named.  Luckily staff officer had a sense of humour, but Bayley was evacuated with exhaustion.

 

Julian

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I wonder if  Fao (Al-Faw) is correct and they referred to it as 'Foul' just as those in Belgium referred to Plugstreet for Ploegsteert?

cheers

mark

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