Mesopotamia.

[Tony Lund]

Mesopotamia.

Of all the places God hath made,

Or human feet have ever strayed,

I speak the truth - I’m not afraid,

It’s Mesopotamia.

It is no place to love to lurk,

Your duties there you cannot shirk,

In fact, I know, you have to work,

In Mesopotamia.

You cannot see a house for miles,

No cats are prowling on the tiles,

There’s neither hedges, gates or stiles,

In Mesopotamia.

There is no climbing bedroom stairs,

The beds are single - not in pairs;

I notice how the soldier swears,

In Mesopotamia.

There are no clubs or music halls,

There are no shops or market halls,

But when it rains the water falls,

In Mesopotamia.

There is no German sausage here,

No Johnny Walker and no beer,

It makes you feel so dull and queer,

In Mesopotamia.

There are no girls to catch your eye,

To give them a kiss upon the sly,

For them you have to pine and die,

In Mesopotamia.

Oh, that I could ‘sling my hook’ from here,

Enraptured would my heart appear,

For then I would not shed a tear,

Away from Mesopotamia.

Corporal George Lockwood.

Holmfirth Express Christmas 1917.

[asdarley]

My dad, born 1910, used to recite the following He claimed it was a remark shouted at a local politician

who was banging on about the said place

"Never mind Mesopataimia....what about the mess up at 'ome 'ere!"

[Tony Lund]

It seems it was never a very popular place. At a military tribunal in Holmfirth in 1916 a conscientious objector who was applying for exemption from military service was told; “You are being protected by your fellow-countrymen.” The applicant replied, “I fail to see that. I fail to see that. I fail to see how I am being defended by soldiers in Mesopotamia. When this war broke out it was to defend the rights of Belgium and not to go as far as Mesopotamia and Egypt. If our grandfathers could come back and see, I wonder what they would make of it,” Colonel Mellor interrupted saying; “If we are going into a long argument we shall be here all night.” The claim was disallowed.

Tony.

[Guest mruk]

How very pertinent. I think the grandfathers would making the same arguments today.

Thanks,

Dave

Tony, I meant to ask on the 'Huddersfield' thread, but was 'Mr Lund of the Electric Picturehouse' a relation?

[Tony Lund]

I don’t think so. My lot all seem to have evolved in Pontefract. My grandfather came to Huddersfield after he was discharged in 1919, and I think he was the first one that I am related to in this town.

Tony.

[Guest mruk]

Thanks Tony,

I hope you don't think I was being too nosey. I'm off to check the 'Mesopotamia' archive now in Special Collections.

Regards,

Dave

[asdarley]

Re the northern connection my dad I (who I quoted previously) was born and grew up in Hemsworth not too far from Ponty and Huddersfield. Were troops from that area specifically linked to Mesopatamia do you think?

[Tony Lund]

The only Holmfirth man killed in action there was serving with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and a man who died of wounds on the way home at Malta was with the Machine Gun Corps. No obvious connection there. The 1st Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment was in India throughout the war but I see Soldiers Died gives details of a few of them killed in Mesopotamia.

Tony.

[Guest mruk]

I'm not sure that this was the case. I've just had a quick look at the casualties in Kut Cemetery [iraq] and come up with this sample:East Surrey Regt; Norfolk Regt; West Riding Regt; Ox and Bucks LI; Queeens Own; Somerset LI; Dorsetshire Regt; Devonshire Regt; Middlesex Regt. Hampshire Regt; Yorkshire Regt; Cheshire Regt; Wiltshire Regt;North Staffs and South Lancs Regiments. There is a page on the Long, Long Trail which provides a lot more info about this particular theatre of war.

Cheers,

Dave

[Tony Lund]

Every history book I have seen says that the 1st Battalion stayed in India, and yet there are those deaths recorded in Soldiers Died for all to see.

William Akers, Herbert Clayton, Archibald James Haskins, Cecil Line, Albert Charles Moore, William Henry Thorn and Richard Woolard. George Arthur Thompson from Leeds is listed as KIA in India.

Perhaps a company was sent from India for some reason; fortunately no Holmfirth men were involved so I do not need to worry about this, but I have been curious about it ever since I first noticed the deaths in Soldiers Died.

Tony.

[BMoorhouse]

Because of the terrible attrition in Mesopotamia, the British regular units in India were regularly thinned for replacements for the British battalions serving there - for obvious reasons it was not practical to draw on the UK directly for replacements.

I don't understand why they would still be listed on their original battalion casualty rolls though?? One would think that the drafts were assimilated into their 'new' battalion and be counted amongst their casualties which is what I believe to be the norm on the Western Front.

Regards,

Brendon.