Look ups etc - Mesopotamia

[LinaMoffitt]

Hi

I am researching Kitchener's 100 Australian surgeons who joined the RAMC in early 1915. Most of their records were destroyed so trying to piece together information from other sources. One I know was in Meso - Dr Archibald Simpson Anderson. He served with: 19th Brit Field Amb, left Port Said 23 Dec 1915 for Basrah then Kut. Then with 3rd BGH under a Colonel Palmer. 19th April 1916 rejoined 19th Field Amb. From 15th July 1916 traveled with divisional troops to Egypt. No doubt there were other of K100 who were in Meso, including a Dr Packer. Dr Anderson survived the war but I'm wondering whether he is mentioned in any of your books, or the units he was with?

thanks, Lina

[davidgill]

Mike,

You might be interested in a small collection of photos I found taken by my great uncle who served with the 2/6th Gurkha Rifles from March 1916;

http://gillww1.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/26th-gurkha-rifles-in-mesopotamia-1916/

Not sure how long he stayed but was back in India in October 1917.

Kind regards,

David

[Guest Sperring]

I have my great uncles casualty form. Edward Taylor Worc regiment 6/8947 which stated he was posted to the 9th batt 22/09/15 from the 5th

embarked Port Said 16/02/16 Disembarked Buera 11/03/1916

Reported missing Mesopptamia 20/04/16 B213

Death accepted 5/11/17.

Any extra information would be appreciated. Was he still with the Worcestershire Regiment?? Which offensive could he have been involved in???

Thanks

[kenf48]

Welcome to the forum, you may have more luck if you start a specific thread and find a Worcester's expert (there's bound to be one!), but for now:-

He was still in the Worcestershire Regiment, it seems he was a reservist who originally went overseas with the 1st Battalion in 1914. The 5th was a reserve Battalion and he was posted there after he had served 35 days detention for desertion. The 9th Battalion had been fighting at Gallipolli and he was probably posted to the Battalion in a replacement draft to bring the Battalion up to strength either during the Dardanelles campaign (most likely given the date) or when it shipped to Mesopatamia as part of the 13th Division.http://www.1914-1918.net/13div.htm

He actually landed at Basra

(spelt Busra in the record).

The main objective of the 13th Division (and other elements of the British Army) was to relieve the garrison at Kut and attempts were made to fight their way to the besieged garrison. There were a number of battles/skirmishes on the way.

I don't know the exact deployment of the 9th Worcesters on the 20th April but they suffered 26 killed that day, most of whom have no known grave. On the 17th April they were part of the 39th Brigade who together with 38th Brigade took part in supporting offensive against 1500 metres of Turkish trenches, or the Chahela line during the battle of Bait Isa around an area named the Twin Pimples. The two Brigades turned the battle which ended on the 18th April. However the fighting continued on until the 23rd April as the relief force desperately tried to break through. By the 23 April they were spent and the fighting ended. While it was technically a Turkish defeat the cost had exhausted the relieving force who suffered very heavy casualties. (A very edited version of a ferocious battle).

The 20th April date for the casualties should be treated with caution as the roll was not usually taken until the troops were out of the line I can find no casualties for the 17th/18th but 16 on the 19th. The war diary should help clarify the above and put more detail on it.

Shortly after, on the 29th April the garrison at Kut surrendered so their efforts were in vain. The Battalion/Division withdrew to Amara to regroup during the summer and did not begin campaigning again until the winter.

See http://www.1914-1918.net/mespot.htm

This online history of the 9th Bn dismisses the period as 'the Bn has seen no fighting of any importance during the Summer and Autumn of 1916'

http://www.worcester...?main=inc/bat_9

Ken

[Ed ROBINSON]

Hello Ken. I have recently picked up a 14-15 trio to a Gnr J.H. MARSHALL who was with the 55^th Brig RFA. His mic simply reads Dead.

He is listed on the CWG as being commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial., commemorating 3,300 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the First World War in operations in Egypt or Palestine and who have no known grave. He is recorded as died 28^th July 1916. The 55^th Brig RFA was with the 13^th Div in Mesopotamia.

From what I can gather the Div was not in action at the time and there were numerous casualties from the heat being an average of 120 f in the shade.

I suspect that he died of disease or heat stroke. If this is the case why would he have no known grave?

Your thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Ed

[Guest Mirabelle]

RPG wrote

"Captain Philip Wood, 33 died on April 5 1916 in Tigris/Baghdad as a POW

Educated at Wellington and Sandhurst and spent most of his time in Burma. He spoke fluent Japanese"

This man was my great uncle. He was a qualified Chinese translator too. He is buried in the British War Cemetery in Baghdad which I believe is in a poor state of repair.

JKE

[Darren Evans]

To Neil C, a snapshot of the Buffs from the Basra War Memorial taken 2 years ago. Will see if I have others.

[Darren Evans]

To Elena (Joanne64), a picture of the South Wales Borderers with your relatives name listed.

[Guest Margie]

My husbands great uncle Cyril Eugene Corry served in the 14th Hussars and took part in the Mesopotamia campaign then later becoming inspector of police for the ministry of justice and was awarded an mbe and Lawrence of Arabia memorial medal for his work with the Marsh Arabs.

Do you have any further information about him please or suggest where I should look.

Thank you

[kenf48]

My husbands great uncle Cyril Eugene Corry served in the 14th Hussars and took part in the Mesopotamia campaign then later becoming inspector of police for the ministry of justice and was awarded an mbe and Lawrence of Arabia memorial medal for his work with the Marsh Arabs.

Do you have any further information about him please or suggest where I should look.

Thank you

Welcome to the forum you might have more luck if you start your own specific thread but the story so far if you do please reference this thread to avoid repetition:

There is a medal index card in the name of C.E. Corry which shows Iraq Police and the award of the General Service Medal with Iraq Clasp

Further digging shows the Army named him as Private 7113 Cyril Curry. He entered theatre 15 November 1915 (5a) Hedjaz and was awarded the 14-15 Star BWM and Victory Medal.

He originally enlisted in the 14th Hussars on the 11th March 1911at Newcastle, aged 18yrs 5 months he served in the IEF (sic) between 8th November 1915 and 21st May 1916, and again 27 October 1916 to 24th September 1917. Outside these dates he was probably in India.

He was discharged 1/3/1919 as a L/Cpl Conduct Very Good Reason for discharge Para 392 (xxi) King's Regulations 'End of terms of engagement'.

Doesn’t appear to have a Tank Corps number but given he was awarded the GSM he must have been serving in some capacity beyond that date.

I assume you have the citation for the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal

Captain C.E. Sorry, Iraq Police author of ‘The Blood Feud’ for his successful work in the the tribal country of Iraq and his study of the Marsh Arabs’.

“This officer has for many years past had great influence in the tribal districts of Iraq, and that influence was particularly valuable this year when Rashid Ali was endeavouring without success to raise the tribesmen against Great Britain.”

The Times July 17 1941

There is also a letter in The Times for Thursday September 6th 1928 when he presented a two month old cheetah cub to Norman Corkill, the Department of Biology Royal College of Medicine, Baghdad (there is also a picture of the cub!). At the time he was Inspecting Officer of Police, Nasiriyah.

FMP also has him on the passenger list to Bombay in 1926. Prior to joining the army he was a groom so seems to have had a 'good war' and an illustrious post war career in the Iraq Police.

Ken

[lascamelias]

Happy New Year Mike,

I am wondering if you are in a position to assist me with information. I am researching the names on the Tisbury (Wiltshire) War Memorial, currently working on 23691 Private Arthur Charles Penny, 5th Bn Wiltshire Regiment. There is an Ancestry tree which states that he was wounded in Gallipoli - I do know not to belie

everything I read!

I know from SDWG he "died" and was buried at Mazargues War Cemetery in Marsielles France. If I put what I have together, it is possible he was wounded in Mesopotamia and was on board a hospital ship coming back to the UK, but sadly didn't get that far.

Can you give me any pointers?

LC

[Alunw]

Good day to you I am hoping you have some information on the Indian labour Corp 1919-1920.

My grand father George Turle was with the glousters from 1914-1919 and served at Gallipoli and then Mesopotamia.

He then transferred to the Indian Labour Corp and stayed in Mesopotamia. He received the GSM and a clasp for North West Persia and was awarded an MID but I and other people on this forum can't find any mentioned of the MID.

my aunt said he was wounded during this period and that's why he was awarded the MID.

Any help in this matter is appreciated

Many thanks

[kenf48]

Happy New Year Mike,I am wondering if you are in a position to assist me with information. I am researching the names on the Tisbury (Wiltshire) War Memorial, currently working on 23691 Private Arthur Charles Penny, 5th Bn Wiltshire Regiment. There is an Ancestry tree which states that he was wounded in Gallipoli - I do know not to belieeverything I read!I know from SDWG he "died" and was buried at Mazargues War Cemetery in Marsielles France. If I put what I have together, it is possible he was wounded in Mesopotamia and was on board a hospital ship coming back to the UK, but sadly didn't get that far.Can you give me any pointers?LC

LC

Mike was last active here in 2010 as noted above for a query like thi your probably better starting a separate thread in the Soldiers forum.

In the meantime this may help:-

23690 mobilized 28/2/1916and posted 8 Wilts

23694 attested 9/12/1915 posted to 8 Wilts no mobilisation date available

23698 mobilized 29/2/1916 to Wilts Regt 1 March 1916 Posted 8th Bn unfit discharged did not go overseas.

All three enlisted under the Derby or Group Scheme in December 1915, each came from Wiltshire and this reflects the element of choice of Regiment under the scheme.

23690 Ernest George Haskell service record shows this journey to the 5 Th Bn

Embarked Devonport 10 July 1916

Disembarked Bombay 4/8/1916

Arrived Kirkee (Depot in India) 5/8/1916

Departed Kirkee for Bombay (posted 5th Bn) 14/9/1916

Embarked Bombay 15/9/1916

Disembarked Basra 23/9/1916

To Base Depot Makira 23/9/1916

Posted to, and joined 5th Bn in the field 9/10/1916

23694 Hale followed a similar route, the 23/9/1916 to Basra is consistent but then his career diverged.

I suspect that 23691 Penny, having campaigned in Mesopatamia it seems likely he contracted influenza on the troopship on the way home, or was suffering from some tropical disease. His death certificate might help. He was not wounded at Gallipoli ash is medal entitlement was a pair, i.e. BWM and VM which means he did not serve in a theatre of war until after 31/12/1915. He could have been wounded in Mesopatamia but in the absence of a service records impossible to say.

Ken

[kenf48]

Good day to you I am hoping you have some information on the Indian labour Corp 1919-1920.

My grand father George Turle was with the glousters from 1914-1919 and served at Gallipoli and then Mesopotamia.

He then transferred to the Indian Labour Corp and stayed in Mesopotamia. He received the GSM and a clasp for North West Persia and was awarded an MID but I and other people on this forum can't find any mentioned of the MID.

my aunt said he was wounded during this period and that's why he was awarded the MID.

Any help in this matter is appreciated

Many thanks

Hi see above ,Mike the originator of this thread has not been active since 2010. Once again you may get a better response if you repost your query in Soldiers or pursuing your original thread.

Ken

[Alunw]

Hi see above ,Mike the originator of this thread has not been active since 2010. Once again you may get a better response if you repost your query in Soldiers or pursuing your original thread.

Ken

Thanks ken as mike has the documentation trout it might be easier to ask.

Many thanks

[kenf48]

You could try sending him a personal mail through the forum.

Ken

[lascamelias]

Hi Ken,

Thank you very much for assisting. Sorry to be so long in reply, it seems its one step forward and two back at the moment! Again, my thanks and I will probably take your advice and post on the Soldier's forum shortly. Happy New Year!

LC

[susancammas]

Good evening Mikemeso

I have just seen your original post in 2008!

I am wondering whether you still do the occasional look up for forum members?

I am trying to piece together what my grandfather (Lieut. Charles John Troke Johnston, RFA) did in Mesopotamia and am not having much luck.

In his service record, it states he "embarked for Mesopotamia with 131 Bde RFA on 20th December 1915". However, this is incorrect because according to the 131 Bde war diary they were in FRANCE!

So, my question is this: do you happen to know which RFA brigade embarked for Mesopotamia on 20th December 1915? The problem is that I'm not sure whether they embarked from France (my grandfather was there before going to Mesopotamia) or from GB.

Many thanks indeed for any help!

Kind regards

Susan

[linjames]

On looking through past posts about Royal Engineers, I wondered if you could provide me with the unit my Great Uncle William Charles Udall served in Mesopotamia.

His service numbers on his Medal Card 150743 and WR 552190.  He was mentioned in Dispatches in the London Gazette 12 March 1918 supplement page 3127 under Inland Waterways and Docks.   If I new his unit I could perhaps get the War Diary from Kew.

 

Many thanks

Linda

[kenf48]

21 hours ago, linjames said:

On looking through past posts about Royal Engineers, I wondered if you could provide me with the unit my Great Uncle William Charles Udall served in Mesopotamia.

His service numbers on his Medal Card 150743 and WR 552190.  He was mentioned in Dispatches in the London Gazette 12 March 1918 supplement page 3127 under Inland Waterways and Docks.   If I new his unit I could perhaps get the War Diary from Kew.

 

Many thanks

Linda

 

As previously noted the originator of this thread has not posted for six years.

 

I notice you've previously posted on roots chat where you received some good advice and reference to Maude's Despatch in which your g- uncle received his mention, and there is a previous thread on this forum.

 

 

As noted in that thread It's very difficult to know exactly what an individual Sapper was doing, or where he was posted.  He could have been employees at any of the staging posts on the river, or on a boat.  There are records at TNA on the Inland Waterways Operations and these are cited on this earlier thread

Together with this link to an online book written by a Lt-Col RE 

https://archive.org/details/inlandwatertrans00hall

which describes the type of operations in more detail

 

The war diaries do not appear to go to unit level but Assistant Director,

though you could ask at the RE Museum whether they have more detailed diaries who do not do research on individual soldiers.

 

There has been more research and publications since 2011 when you last posted about this man, it may be worth resurrecting that thread.

 

Ken

 

 

[barkalotloudly]

An interesting thread, i have some  items on this campaign not mentioned "Notes of the first Indian army corps" October  1917 to November 1918 this this consists of thier war diary plus  operational orders and approx 20 large maps this was printed in America in 1926, also "An ordnance officer in Persia 1918" mainly deals with Dunsterforce a highly detailed account regarding the supply etc of this operation written by Routh i think 5 copies were produced?

I have also just purchased a small collection of photographs of the Armoured cars on operations in northern Persia as i have the name of the photographer further research will be much easier!! 

As mentioned elsewhere i was very lucky to purchase an archive of letters to an officer in the "Norsets" which give a personal view of the campaign in mesopotamia   

[susancammas]

On ‎26‎/‎01‎/‎2009 at 09:17, Tomkinson said:

If anyone is interested I have a number of postcards sent by my great Grandfather who was a Gunner in the RFA and served in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

They largely show scenes of local life in Basra at the time.

There are also some showing various members of the RFA unit in which he served and the troop ship used to send them to the campaign.

My great Grandfather was Gnr.Alfred Cookson (780888) and he appears to have served in the TF of the RFA.

From the postcard collection I can more of less trace where they were during the War including France, Mespot and Egypt?

However, any information is welcome and if anyone wants to see some photos please let me know.

Cheers

Mike Tomkinson

Bradford

Good afternoon Mike

 

I may have missed the boat but I have just seen your 2009 post (quoted above)!

My GF was in Mesopotamia from  21^st January 1916 to September 1918.   He was a Lieut/Capt in the RHA/RFA and probably in charge of an Ammunition Column.   I know that he was with 30^th Brigade RFA  in Shahroban in 1918

 

If your offer still holds, and especially if you have time etc. could you check if you have any photos that might illustrate what he was doing?   I'm interested in the troop ship and the individual photos of the various members of his unit.

 

Many thanks

Susan