Scottish Camel soldiers dead in Egypt

[stevenbecker]

Mates,

Can you help in finding who these soldiers may be.

During the night march 16th/17th Sept 1916 for an attack against the Turkish positon at Mazar in the Sinai desert.

Two soldiers from the 7th British Company 1st Camel Bn were reported as lost and later found to have died of thirst.

This is mentioned in the book by the then commander of the 1st Camel Bn, Maj later BrigGen George Langley, that these men had due to the terrain and exhustion stopped to rest with there company but were over looked when the company moved off.

The 7th Company was then made up of soldiers from the following Scottish Yeomanry regts, Scottish Horse, Lanarkshire, Fife and Forfar and Aryshire.

I have checked the names on the Camel Corps War Menorial in London but found none that fall into that area of time.

There are three possible names of the "Soldiers that died in the 1914-1918 war CD, they being:

William Smith 657 1/3rd Scottish Horse died 17th Sept 1916,

Robert Jess 2298 1/1st Aryshire Yeomanary died 22nd Sept 1916, and

William Hamiltion 1068 CSqn/1st Lanarkshire Yeomanary.

Does anyone know how and where these men died?

And could two of these men be the missing two soldiers?

Thanks for any insight

S.B

[PPCLI]

Can you help in finding who these soldiers may be.

William Smith 657 1/3rd Scottish Horse died 17th Sept 1916,

From a county roll of honour (Kirkcudbrightshire, south-west Scotland):

Smith, Trooper William, Cumstoun Mains, Twynholm. Enlisted 16th August, 1914, in 1/3rd Scottish Horse. Transferred to Imperial Camel Corps. Served in Gallipoli and Egypt. Killed in the Sinai Desert, 16th August, 1916.

Note that the date given is wrong, but this happens quite often in this roll of honour. It was published 10 years after the war finished and it depended on who returned the information. If there was no relative to make sure the man was recorded, then the local minister sometimes did his best to submit names and details of the men from his parish who served. On the CWGC, the correct details are given, along with his parents address (Culdoch, Kirkcudbright), which is in the same locale.

Trooper Smith is commemorated on the village memorial at Twynholm. Inscription reads:

Smith, William P. Tpr. Scottish Horse

This does not give you a definite answer, but it does fit with both the Imperial Camel Corps and the Sinai Desert.

(n.b. Twynholm is pronounced Twine-um, home of F1 driver David Coulthard (pronounced Coolturt, even if he says differently).

Hope this is of some help.

Stuart

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

Yes thank you it confirms my earlier thoughts that Smith and Jess maybe the two found after the operation at Mazar.

As mentioned they were lost during the night 16th/17th Sept and I found that the CWGC will place a soldier in one or the other date.

Of cause when these two died of thirst and when they were found by those later looking for them is not known, and the date 22nd Sept could be a possible date if these two were not found together.

The only coment recorded is "Their bodies were found later in the campaign".

Dates can be very subjective as I have a soldier reported missing on going into a native village on a certain date, and his murdered body was found about a month later, the date of his death was the date he was found not the date he went missing?

Cheers

S.B

[BeppoSapone]

(n.b. Twynholm is pronounced Twine-um, home of F1 driver David Coulthard (pronounced Coolturt, even if he says differently).

Stuart