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Remembered Today:

Burma ww1


tommo8016

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Hi.

My distant relative jabeez bacon served with the rifles in burma. I'm guessing it was to look after what was left of the British empire during the war?

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Jabeez's battalion (18th Rifle Brigade) was sent to India, and then Burma for garrison duty, so I think your suggestion is correct. Amongst their duties would have been quelling local unrest. That said, there was plenty left of the British Empire in WW1 as Wikipedia tells us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire, although the cracks were beginning to show.

I guess you'll have to wait for the LLT article on the Burma Division: https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/burma-division/. However, these sites may be of interest: http://www.kaiserscross.com/304501/468722.html and https://www.bnionline.net/en/chin-world/item/17872-chin-involvement-in-world-war-1-the-great-war.html.

Acknown

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I've just found this thread: 

Perhaps Jabeez is in one of the photos.

Acknown

 

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1 hour ago, tommo8016 said:

Hi.

My distant relative jabeez bacon served with the rifles in burma. I'm guessing it was to look after what was left of the British empire during the war?

 

The soldiers performing garrison duty in Burma were part of the British Army in India which was very much still the Jewel in the Crown of Empire.

 

The 18th (London) Battalion was a supernumerary Battalion of the Rifle Brigade formed from National Reservists in 1915. (See https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/the-rifle-brigade-1914-1918/)

They were posted to Burma as outlined in the linked thread and headquartered at Sale Barracks in Rangoon. Burma was used as a POW Camp for Turkish soldiers from the Mesopatamian Campaign and part of their duties was guarding these POWs.  Detachments would be sent out to guard key points and quell any local nationalist unrest.

See also

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/burma#:~:text=Burma’s participation in World War I was limited,the colony as well as important political repercussions.

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I would strongly recommend Peter Stanley's book, Terriers in India, for further reading. It's excellent.

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