In December 1917, British and French divisions  were sent to support the  Italian army after the defeat at the Battle of Caporetto . Overhung by the fame of the disastrous battle, in Italy the story of the English campaign in Italy was mostly neglected . The arrival of the troops is documented by a precious documentary titled BRITISH TROOPS IN ITALY that is viewable on the Imperial War Museum website.

Camp Vaje was setup at Arquata Scrivia. It became the main the gathering point for British soldiers who arrived in Genoa by sea before the transfer on the Asiago plateau. 36.000 soldiers stayed at Camp Vaje from 1917 to 1920 of whom 94 died of Spanish flu  and other military accidents. They were buried in a small cemetery next to the Municipal Cemetery. This site was  visited in 1923 by King George V and the Queen, accompanied by Rudyard Kipling, Commissioner for War Graves.

In our archives and in the local press of the time I have not found references to the passage of British troops in my town during the years of the First World War, but their passage is documented by  an exchange of letters between a young girl and a British soldier. This correspondence of course started from the moment he left our town to move across the north of Italy and then back home.

Giuseppina Carosio

The letters in our possession can’t be considered the letters of two lovers; they seem to belong more to the category of “godmothers of war” , but they offer an interesting document on relationships, often with no future, between young women and men in uniform. Letters are often keepers of a sweet melancholy for long walks, talks and perhaps some misplaced hope. Nothing more.

The authors of the letters used to include photographs where they were often portrayed in anonymous, almost shy, poses. It is hard to believe, especially in the case of men, that they were of a young age, at least according to today’s standards.

This happened to Leutenant Rowland McConkey who had several exchanges of letters through 1918 with Giuseppina Carosio. When I began getting involved in this story I knew nothing but his name and had this picture. A gentleman with mustache, to whom is difficult to attribute an age, with a mild look  diverted from the map which is examining, the magnifying lens in his right hand and wearing a signet ring or Chevaliere.

I knew much more about Giuseppina, born in 1892, daughter of a rich banker and owner of Hotel Universo, an elegant hotel in the city center. She grew up in a interesting and stimulating enviroment as her father wasn’t only a good entrepreneur  but also very keen in cultural events, sport and entertainment. Educated first in Ovada, she finished her studies in a college in Massa Carrara, with her sisters Bice and Maria . Her brother, Giacinto, the only son of Carosio family,  died in 1917  of tuberculosis contracted while serving in the army. In 1919 Giuseppina got married. It was in 1917 that Giuseppina met Rowland, though we do not know the exact circumstances.

We are ignorant, for example, of Rowland’s location when he wrote his letters wrote, except for 3 postcards sent unequivocally from London. The first postcard, sent on February 27 1918, depicts the British Parliament and it is likely that Rowland had returned home on leave . He writes of the cold weather, confesses to thinking about her and expresses the desire to see her again. He greets her with “ a rivederci”.

On April 8 1918, he writes from Arquata: we know from a postcard enclosed with the letter that portrays Villa Vittoria. He tells of living in a guesthouse in the center of the city, that took profit by  the forced stay of the British soldiers: hotels, restaurants, bars, craft shops and local products proliferated. A theatre was erected, the “Victory Theatre.” Rowland calls it beautiful but too noisy: he prefers the country and especially would love to be in Ovada where maybe he would see her. He includes a postscript: I hope that you will write to me so I would love to get a letter. The envelope, in addition to the card, contains the photo I mentioned earlier.

Sweet Giuseppina obviously replied but as to what she said; who knows … We do not have the letters that she wrote to Rowland. Considering the content of British Soldier’s letters, we can suggest that she didn’t overbalance . Something seems to hold her, maybe the fact that Rowland was a foreigner and somehow the family opposed, perhaps she was already engaged. Who knows… All this, anyway, did not prevent them from going on with the correspondence.

And here my research makes a small step forward. I found, after sifting the internet and investing some money, the family status of the McConkey family, the family of Rowland, according to the census of London in 1891. From this source I got further interesting information.

Rowland was born in 1886 in Shipton, in Yorkshire and then, at the time of the photo, was 32 years old : six years only separated him from Giuseppina. Son of William and Mary J. Gordon, he lived in St Paul’s Road, in London, today a quiet  and residential street, with his parents, two sisters and an aunt . His father was General Manager of Railways and perhaps for this reason forced to change residence often, in fact the children were each born in a different part of the UK. A similar fate apparently fell to Rowland , in his frequent travels.

May 1 he writes again to Giuseppina, we have reason to believe from Vicenza, thanking her for the two letters he received . He apologizes for not having written before having been very busy. Today I left my old board and I found another, a British one. I was very happy when I was in Ovada, here there’s too much noise and people are not classy.  And with these few sentences it is clear that the impression we got from the photo is more than true .

Quiet man, dear Rowland was: it is hard to imagine him among the roar of battle. We suggest he was involved in the distribution of military supplies packed into a train depot. And even a good mannered man as well with discrete culture as he can almost properly manage our language. He reassures Giuseppina  about his health and hopes that both she and all your family is fine.

On May 12 he writes about the very hot weather. He’s always in the same English board (temporary address) but hasn’t any contact. He has nobody to talk to and is afraid he’ll unlearn his Italian. He likes the summer costumes of the people who he meets in the crowded streets but he misses people from Piedmont. He writes that they are nicer. In Veneto the dialect is hard to understand and people always talk about money and business.

In a letter of June 16, there is the only reference to the war:  I read in the newspapers today that Austrians will begin an offensive, and I hope and believe that will fail.

The battle to which Rowland refers is the one which will be defined by Gabriele D’Annunzio the ‘Battle of the Solstice’, or Second Battle of Piave. The goal of the Austro-Hungarian Army was to break through and reach the Po valley. However, the offensive, as predicted by our dear Rowland, failed , and helped usher in the end of the war .

In July Rowland is transferred to a small village in the countryside, close to the front.  It is the town of Thiene, as indicated by the image of Castello Colleoni depicted on the card. He’s happy as he has a motorbike and goes around the country.

Letter from 8 April

In October he writes from London, and from Italy again in December. Only a few soldiers are still there and he feels lonely. But the war is over and everybody’s happy. But he does not seem to be: I forgot all my Italian:  is hard to write a letter to you to say all that I want. I will not forget my stay in Italy. Ever.

Those were the golden years of illustrated love cards: kisses posing, “killer” looks, acts of desire just mentioned. Mostly shipped in envelope, to avoid embarrassment. The soldiers at the front were portrayed in uniform and sent cards accompanied by some thoughts of love to girlfriends. Postcards and letters are often rhetorical, they appear ridiculous, ridiculous as are – according to Pessoa – love letters.

Ridiculous seemed to me the letters of Rowland at the beginning of this story. Although, as I said, they are only letters of “almost” love. Then, over time, I confess that I grew fond of him. For him I wanted a romantic ending, as the natural conclusion of the good times he had here: perhaps he and she reunited after the war, married in St Pancreas in the early 1920s. Rowland dressed in the Royal Army uniform with medals obtained for taking part in the war, Giuseppina dressed in a light and short dress, as required  by the post-war women’s fashion, and her granddaughter Tilde as “flower girl”.

Instead Rowland got married in the summer of 1926 to Mary Cheyne Gordon, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on March 27, 1877. They lived in London, at no. 4 of Camden Square , where Rowland died on 16 May 1940. She passed away, 13 years later, on January 27 1953, at the Hospital of Ashford , Kent. She had retired to the small town of Peacehaven in East Sussex as a war widow.

What kind of marriage was theirs? Of love of almost love? We can’t say. But I imagine a sort of partnership to cope with old age, loneliness. She, curiously, had the same name as Rowland’s mother, Mary J. Gordon. A coincidence? Almost certainly. But what if he had been looking for protection, or was unable of autonomy? A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Rowland .

Anyway, we have to stop here. They  had no direct descendants, perhaps some nephews , children of his sisters. We know however, and this makes us wonder about fate, that a great-grandson of Giuseppina, Elena , now lives not far from  no. 4 Camden Square: and his family is credited with having kept all this for themselves, but also a bit for the rest of us .

As a personal note I want to thank Giuseppina (named in honor of the grandmother) called Kiki who handed me the precious letters and game me the confidence and permission to view them. I’d like that this article, written with affection for both, could  be considered a small compensation for that shy soldier, whom Giuseppina may have gone on thinking of, although losing some details: just as a kind of  a tissue paper between one page and another in the album of her life.

This article was submitted by Cinzia Robbiano

Letters from Rowland

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Men of the West Indies Regiment in a camp near the Amiens-Albert Road. Courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History Group

Once war was declared in 1914, the West Indies offered to send contingents of men to fight alongside Britain. The British West Indies had been part of the British Empire since the 17th century. Only two years before the start of the First World War they had been divided into eight separate colonies, the names of which we are now familiar with today: The Bahamas, Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras, Jamaica (with dependencies Turks and Caicos), Trinidad and Tobago, the Winward Isles, and the Leeward Isles. In total, 16,000 soldiers were recruited in the West Indies along with 4,500 volunteers who were also sent to the war.

Racial Tensions

Whilst Britain was more than happy to accept these men from the West Indies, they were far more opposed to using black African soldiers on European battlefields. African soldiers were a common feature in the French army during the First World War with around 450,000 men being deployed in their armies. However, Britain eventually banned the use of black African soldiers in their own armies in Europe as Professor Christian Koller explains,

[l]ogistical issues, coupled with racist prejudices and opposition from colonial authorities in Africa, resulted in a renunciation of using such troops on European battlefields. Non-white men were also banned from the “South African Overseas Expeditionary Force” that sent about 30,000 soldiers to France. Black and “coloured”  men from the Union of South Africa served in Europe in the “South African Native Labour Contingent” (21,000 men), the “Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport” (2,800 men) and the “Cape Coloured Labour Corps” (1,200 men), all of them in unarmed ancillary roles. However, a number of blacks resident in the United Kingdom managed to enlist in metropolitan British forces and some of them were even promoted to officer ranks.

French poster celebrating the ‘Day of the African Army and Colonial Troops’. 1917

Additionally, the German army was fiercely opposed to the use of black African soldiers in Europe going so far as to produce a pamphlet entitled Employment, Contrary to International Law, of Colored Troops in the European Theatre of War by England and France which suggested that colonial soldiers were perpetrating a variety of war crimes and atrocities on German soldiers such as the cutting off of ears, hands, or heads as trophies. Stories about this sort of behaviour were rife in the British and French armies as well but were often anecdotal or slightly removed from the actual supposed incidents themselves. The nature of these atrocity reports was often complicated by different perceptions and notions of warfare and the supposedly barbarous nature of some of the colonial combatants.

Ongoing German propaganda often portrayed black soldiers as uncivilised or barbarous demons or apes who would sweep away all forms of pre-war civilisation. Allied propaganda would attempt to counter these arguments by referring back to Germany’s supposed lack of civilisation for starting the war in the first place, but would also represent their own black soldiers in similar ways or portray Germany in a manner which echoed similar racial stereotypes.

West Indians in Seaford

Men from the West Indies arrived in Sussex prepared to fight side by side with the British army. A camp was created at Seaford to be used to train and prepare the 1st Battalion of the West Indies Regiment for the fighting taking place in Europe and beyond.

However, much like the Indian soldiers initial deployment in France or the men of  the Chinese Labour Corps the soldiers arriving from the West Indies did not have an easy acclimatisation to Britain or Europe. The initial journey to Britain was hazardous and, when their ships were diverted via Halifax in Canada, hundreds of men were left with severe frostbite. Many had to be sent back to the West Indies as unfit to serve and were given no compensation or benefits. The South Coast Leader recalled on December 7th 1995, that the winter of 1914/15 was particularly cold and harsh. The West Indian soldiers were confined to their poor accommodation and unsuitable clothing for the duration of the winter and, as a result, their health and morale began to suffer. Following this, a bout of peneumonia which had afflicted numerous men and an epidemic of mumps then swept through the camp.

The West Indian army would go on to play a crucial role in the First World War, especially in Palestine and Jordan, where they were deployed against the forces of the Ottoman Empire. During this fighting, General Allenby sent a telegram sent the telegram to the Governor of Jamaica,

I have great pleasure in informing you of the gallant conduct of the machine-gun section of the 1st British West Indies Regiment during two successful raids on the Turkish trenches. All ranks behaved with great gallantry under heavy rifle and shell fire and contributed in no small measure to the success of the operations.

After the War

Thousands of men from the West Indies had campaigned vigorously to be allowed the right to fight alongside Britain at the start of the war. However, in a cruel twist, by the war’s conclusion the West Indian soldiers were on the verge of mutiny in the Italian camp of Taranto. Manpower shortages had left the West Indian soldiers facing hard physical and demeaning labour, such as the building and cleaning of toilets for white soldiers, and the later discovery that white soldiers in the camp had received pay rises whilst they had not, tipped the regiment over the edge. The mutiny lasted for around 4 days and, at its conclusion, 60 soldiers were tried and convicted of mutiny. Most received prison sentences from 3 to 5 years while one soldier was sentenced to 20 years in prison and another was executed by firing squad.

West Indian graves in Seaford. Courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History Group

The mutiny may have subsided but the feelings behind it had not, with many West Indian soldiers deciding that they would strike for higher pay upon their return to the West Indies. However, the islands of the West Indies had already been undergoing a series of violent strike actions over the final years of the war. Such was the concern at these that the British had moved naval warships into West Indian ports to quell the possible uprising.

Fearing that returning West Indian soldiers to this environment may exacerbate the situation, the decision was taken to displace some 4,000 West Indian soldiers to Cuba and Venezuela and leave them there instead. Many would be forced to stay and never see their homelands again.

Nineteen West Indian soldiers died in the Seaford training camp and their bodies are buried in a military cemetery there. In November 1994, for the first time, a service was held there attended by Second World War veterans from the West Indies Ex-Service Men and Women’s Association of London. They were possibly the first to visit their compatriots in 80 years. In 2006, family members from the West Indies visited the graves of West Indian soldiers in Seaford.

Sources

Bert Williams MBE, Brighton and Hove Black History

Christian Koller – Colonial Military Participation in Europe (Africa)

Steven Johns – The British West Indies Regiment mutiny, 1918

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In particular I worked on the archive of the Eastbourne Chronicle a local newspaper issued every Saturday, which is now known as the Eastbourne Herald. Through issue after issue I could follow all the activities of the war: from the recruiting and training of soldiers to the impact of the conflict on everyday life.

At the beginning of the war the names of the dead soldiers were in the part of the newspaper generally dedicated to the births, marriages and deaths but with the passing of time they became so many that a special space was created for publishing the Roll of Honour about the East Sussex. Reading the Roll of Honour I could follow the traces of some soldiers mentioned as missing or wounded and find them two or three weeks later among the deaths or more rarely with the survivors.

British troops detraining at a railway station on the Italian Front, December 1917. Photograph probably taken at Fontaniva near Venice. © IWM (Q 26526)

Sometimes a soldier’s name can be featured in the news with subjects apparently not directly connected to the war. For this reason during my research I read different articles and one drew my attention; “An Eastbournian in Italy”. It was about AJ Vinall, a private of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, who wrote his impressions about the life in the small village where he lived. Vinall didn’t write where he stayed, probably in the North East were there was the front between Italy and the Austro – Hungarian Empire. Between 1917 and 1918 most British troops were concentrated on the Eastern Alps and the Royal Warwickshire were here. The involvement of British troops in Italy has been largely overlooked in favour of the Western Front.

The village of which Vinall spoke was most likely in this area but I can’t say precisely where: the poor condition of the villagers he describes were unfortunately very common. Indeed Vinall didn’t write on the war at the Italian front but on the hard life of this people:

What the villagers live on passes my comprehension. There seems to be no sit-down meal, but bits eaten here and there, and while going about their work. The staple food seems to be polenta, made from maize flour, and it helps out sometimes when bread is short

Vinall write about things which may be common for us today but not for him or the readers of the newspaper:

I have not seen the country people drink anything but vino, made from grapes. It is given to the children as well as adults, and seems to be their only drink. I have never tried vino, as I have seen its effects too much, but must not write more about that.

Upon reading these articles for the first time the main thing I liked was Vinall’s concern for the poor condition of the villagers and his openness regarding them:

Another item of interest is that some of the people sit in the sheds with the cows to keep warm and save firing. I tried one night, but my nostrils did not allow me to remain. Even children have gone back to the old ages, and we find them sleeping in the mangers.

The fighting on the Italian Front during the First World War was marked by harsh weather conditions and terrain deeply unsuited for fighting.

The article was of March 1918 and the Eastbourne Chronicle promised more news from him and I was very interested because I would like read others of his impressions on my country.

Unfortunately AJ Vinall never wrote again and I didn’t find other information about him in the Chronicle.

This story was submitted by Valentina Rossetto. If you have any furhter information about AJ Vinall then please contact us.

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Chinese Labourers at Boulogne. Image courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History

With manpower shortages hampering the war effort, the British Army looked further afield in order to find able workers.

1915 was the worst year of the war for Britain and France whilst, correspondingly, proving to be one of the best for Germany and its allies. The casualties sustained in battles at Ypres and Gallipoli had brought precious little success and cost the British Army so much that the start of 1916 saw the introduction of forced recruitment through conscription.

Beyond the need for fighting men, however, was the additional requirement for men to provide labour at various supply depots and ports both in Europe and Britain.

The French initially led the attempts to solve this problem with the foundation of their own Chinese Labour Force in May 1916. This saw 40,000 Chinese men serve with the French and hundreds of Chinese students serve as translators. Shortly after the French had launched their project, the British followed suit by creating a recruitment base in the British colony of Weihaiwei in October 1916.

China was a confirmed neutral power at the time and citizens were forbidden from fighting in the war by their government. Working as labourers however was permitted and around 95,000 men would join this British Corps over the remaining course of the war.

Chinese Labourers loading ammunition. Image courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History

The Chinese Labour Corps

Life in the Chinese Labour Corps began under terrible conditions with men sailing across the pacific and then, to avoid landing taxes, travelling for 6 days across Canada in sealed trains. By the time they then sailed across the Atlantic, no mean undertaking in itself considering the U-Boat threat, and then journeyed by train down the length of Britain, many of the men who had set out from China had died.

Every man who joined the Labour Corps was assigned a number that would effectively replace their name for the duration of their service. Whilst translators were on hand to explain orders to the men, British officers referred to each man by the numbered wristband each wore and it was reproduced on the headstones of those men who had died.

Men who had joined the Labour Corps existed under the restrictions of Military Law and were contracted for a duration of 3 years. It was not uncommon, therefore, to see groups of Chinese labourers continuing to work on the abandoned battlefields in 1919 and 1920 long after the soldiers had departed them and returned home.

A Chinese grave at Le Quesnoy, France. From the collection of Chris Kempshall

Service in East Sussex

Duties for men in the Labour Corps included digging trenches, filling sandbags, building huts, repairing roads, loading and unloading vehicles and munitions, and even cooking.

The port of Newhaven was the key supply point on the East Sussex coast and was heavily guarded by the watchful guns of the Fort and the nearby Seaplane base. Chinese Labourers would also become a common sight in the town as they worked on the dockside and handled the train-ferry to Dieppe.

China officially declared war on Germany in 1917 after a U-Boat sunk the French ship Athos at the cost of 543 Chinese lives. Britain and France had promised China that, if victorious, they would ensure the Shandong Peninsula would be returned to them from the Japanese. During the fierce negotiations and jockeying for position that marked the negotiations at the end of the war this promise was not kept and, as a result, the Chinese refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles which brought about the end of the war and dictated the terms and cost that Germany and its allies would have to pay.

Most Chinese labourers returned home in 1920 with a small number remaining in France.

Official statistics suggest that around 2,000 men of the Chinese Labour Corps lost their lives but modern estimates place the actual number at around 20,000.

Sources

The information for this article was provided by the Brighton and Hove Black History project and we are extremely grateful for their assistance.

For more information on activities in Brighton relating to the First World War Centenary then visit the following links:

http://www.visitbrighton.com/first-world-war

http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/leisure-and-libraries/local-history/marking-centenary-first-world-war-ww1

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The CTS was joined by the Canadian Trench Warfare School (CTWS) in May of the same year. In January 1918, the Canadians took over Cooden Camp and converted it into Princess Patricia’s Canadian Red Cross Hospital. The Canadians took over many town centre buildings and locations. Egerton Park was the main training grounds of the CTS; land where St. Augustine’s Church now stands was where the CTWS laid trenches; Down Council School (now King Offa School) hosted CTWS lectures; and the Metropole Hotel was the main billets (a building where soldiers are temporarily lodged). The Sackville Hotel, The Pelham Hotel, the Kursaal, and Bexhill Museum were used for socialising and entertaining.

The Canadian presence in the town was extensive. The CTS band played regularly in Egerton Park and Canadian social clubs were opened in the town. The Soldiers Club, informally called ‘Ye Old Trench Club’ was opened in May 1917 at 18 Sackville Road, Bexhill.

The club was funded by the Catholic Army Huts committee of the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal Catholic organisation, and run by the local Catholic Women’s League.

This story was contributed by Dr Luke Flanagan who runs a website about Canadians in Bexhill

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Agatha Christie’s most famous detective was also the fictional manifestation of a real phenomenon. Hercules Poirot may be better remembered now for his ability to solve intricate murders, but as a refugee from Belgium during the First World War he also had a backstory that would have resonated with many of Christie’s readers.

29 August 1914, Eastbourne Gazette

Belgian Refugees

Following the invasion of Belgium by Germany over a million Belgians fled the country and sort refuge in their nearby neighbours. The majority made their way to the Netherlands, whilst 250,000 arrived in Britain.

A mix of temporary and permanent camps and communities began to spring up around the country for these new arrivals. Earls Court in London became a makeshift refugee centre and even developed its own Belgian police force. Near Gateshead, a custom-built, gated community called Elisabethville housed the ‘Birtley Belgians’ who also worked in a nearby munitions factory. The land was considered sovereign Belgian territory for the duration of its life and also operated under Belgian law.

Because of the proximity between East Sussex and the Belgian coast, a significant number of these refugees arrived in the nearby channel ports and settled in Eastbourne. This would not have been an easy situation for either party; the Belgians having fled their war-torn country had few possessions and nowhere to go. The resident British would have needed to provide rooms and food, at least in the short term in order to support them.

5 September 1914, Eastbourne Gazette

Early declarations about the arriving refugees in local newspapers played on the alliance and mutual history that existed between the two countries, particularly in regards to the defeat of Napoleon a century beforehand, in order to foster warm relationships between the civilians. Other reports would highlight the need for clothes, furniture and financial support as the numbers of refugees rose and the infrastructure had to be developed to cope with higher usage and greater demands.

There were also attempts to highlight the fact that the Belgian army was still fighting in the field and that a number of those Belgians in Britain were actually wounded soldiers who had been serving alongside the British army.

Eastbourne responds 

7 November 1914, Eastbourne Gazette

Amongst the Belgians who arrived in Eastbourne during this period were Edouard Joseph Monu and his wife Constance Anna Monu (maiden name: Coremans) were both deaf mutes. Although many details about the couple are sketchy, we do know, through a surviving relative, that they were living in Antwerp when their daughter Yvonne was born on May 14th 1900. Edouard was a photographer and the family may also have lived and worked in Lier. There is some uncertainty as to when they came to England, though the family believe that Edouard travelled by his own means to England either shortly before or after the start of WWI, perhaps motivated by the fact that Constance’s sister already lived in the country.

5 Elms Building, Eastbourne

What is certain is that Constance and Edouard arrived in Eastbourne before May 1916 when they had a second daughter, Paula. At that time they were recorded as living at 5 Elms Buildings, Seaside Road. Elms Buildings was actually a parade of shops with grand apartments upstairs. Number 5 was an ironmongers shop owned by a gentleman named Arthur Caplin who may have volunteered to house some of the Belgian refugees who arrived in the town.

At the conclusion of the war, the government enacted plans to return 10,000 Belgian refugees to their home country a week, during the months of January and February, with most being returned to Antwerp. The government had become concerned about the possible friction caused by having ‘large bodies of unemployed foreign workers and their families’ in industrial areas that would shortly be suffering from further overcrowding with the return of British soldiers from the continent. The British Government wished to avoid destroying ‘the good feeling and harmonious relations built up since their reception as refugees in 1914’.

Book of Gratitude. Courtesy of Eastbourne Library

Book of Gratitude. Courtesy of Eastbourne Library

Book of Gratitude. Courtesy of Eastbourne Library

These harmonious relations are most easily demonstrated by the departure of the Monu family and many other Belgians from Eastbourne. As part of their departure many families contributed to and signed a book of gratitude towards the town of Eastbourne and its people for accepting them and sheltering them in their time of greatest need.

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The 29th Lancers, Indian Army. Hastings and St leonard Pictorial Advertiser.

When war was declared in 1914 the major combatants would come to rely heavily on soldiers from their empires and colonies. Men from around the world would arrive in East Sussex to fight for Britain. 

At the outbreak of the First World War the Indian Army numbered 240,000 men; by 1918 its ranks had swelled to nearly 550,000. Most recruits came from the north of India, especially the Punjab. The Indian army at the time was made up of numerous religions. Battalions of Punjabi Muslims served in Mesopotamia and, after the war, the 92nd Battalion were made ‘Prince of Wales Own’ in recognition  of their bravery and gallantry. Sikhs made up 20% of the British Indian Army at the outbreak of the war. By its conclusion around 130,000 Sikh soldiers had served.

Indian Soldiers in battle 

Indian soldiers on the Somme. Image courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History

Indian soldiers served on many battlefields over the course of the war. Four divisions of Indian soldiers arrived in Marseille in 1914 and fought in the Battle of La Bassee. The troops were unfamiliar with their equipment, having only been assigned their rifles and kit upon arriving in France. Additionally, they had almost no artillery. Their lack of equipment in resisting the cold soon saw morale plummet and desertion was not uncommon. In October 1915 the infantry divisions were withdrawn to Egypt whilst the cavalry remained in France.

Nearly 700,000 Indian soldiers served in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) fighting against the Ottoman Empire. Indian soldiers also fought the Germans in East Africa and defended the Suez Canal. Three battalions of Gurkhas and one of Sikhs participated in the Gallipoli campaign. The Sikh Battalion was almost wiped out in the Battle of Krithia. Find out more about the experience of Sussex soldiers at Gallipoli in our article here.

Smaller units of Indian soldiers also served in Singapore and China, whilst many others remained in India to defend the North Western border against incursions from Afghanistan.

Khudadad Khan VC. Image courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History

During the First Battle of Ypres Khudadad Khan, a Sepoy in the Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis, and another team used their machine gun position to hold the allied line and prevent a final German breakthrough. When the position was finally overrun the defenders were all killed by the attackers, except for Khan who suffered many wounds and was left for dead. Despite his injuries he managed to crawl back to his own lines under cover of darkness. He and his men had held the line long enough for further reinforcements to arrive and prevent the Germans from seizing the vital ports of Boulogne and Nieuport. For his courage and bravery Khan was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Indian Soldiers in Brighton

Many Indian soldiers like Khudadad Khan were wounded during the war and a great number of them were taken to Brighton, then part of East Sussex, to be nursed back to health. The Royal Pavilion, Corn Exchange and Dome were all converted into military hospitals and provided 722 beds. The workhouse on Elm Grove was renamed the Kitchener Hospital and also took in patients. Between 1914 and 1916 12,000 soldiers were treated in Brighton with 4,306 placed in the Pavilion. Only 32 men died in the Royal Pavilion hospital.

As these soldiers were a mix of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs great care was taken to respect the religion and customs of each. Separate water supplies were provided for Hindus and Muslims in each ward, and nine kitchens catered for the different requirements of the patients. Separate areas were also provided for worship with a a marquee being erected in the grounds for Sikhs and an east-facing area of the lawn reserved for Muslim prayer. Wounded soldiers were cared for by orderlies of the same caste and religion.

Brighton Dome as a hospital. Image courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History

However, at times the patients at the Royal Pavilion were also kept purposefully apart from the inhabitants around them. Barbed wire was place around the perimeter of the Pavilion in order to keep the patients in and the residents of Brighton out. Military authorities were particularly concerned about the possibility of the female inhabitants of Brighton contracting a bout of  ‘Khaki Fever‘.

By the end of 1915 the Indian Army was redeployed away from the Western Front to Mesopotamia and no further Indian soldiers arrived in Brighton.

Following the conclusion of the war a permanent memorial was opened at Brighton Pavilion in honour of the Indian soldiers who had been cared for. The ‘India Gate‘ was opened in 1921 by the Maharaja of Patiala. In his speech he paid tribute to ‘Brighton’s abounding hospitality’.

Opening of the Chattri. Image courtesy of Brighton and Hove Black History

To commemorate the Indian soldiers who had died in the various hospitals in Brighton a permanent memorial was unveiled in the South Downs. The Chattri was unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1921. The Royal British Legion held an annual pilgrimage to the memorial every year until 1999. Since 2000 the ceremony has been conducted by the Chattri Memorial Group and takes place every June.

Sources

The information for this article was provided by the Brighton and Hove Black History project and we are extremely grateful for their assistance.

For more information on activities in Brighton relating to the First World War Centenary then visit the following links:

• Marking the centenary of the First World War – Brighton and Hove City Council
• First World War Centenary Site for Brighton & Hove – Visit Brighton

The featured image for this article was provided to us by the Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton and Hove.

The post Indian Soldiers in East Sussex appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

Whilst the Armistice in 1918 brought an end to the fighting, it was not the end of the suffering for many people in Belgium or Northern France. Over four years of fighting and military occupation had left the towns and villages around the front lines devastated and thousands of civilians without homes and possessions.

Whilst the French government would use the reparations secured from Germany to begin the process of rebuilding, the task was mammoth and funds were scarce. But there were soldiers and families from Britain who had formed a connection to France and particular towns or areas because of the war.

The Cost of War 

Sussex Daily News

The nature of the fighting meant that, particularly in 1916, casualties amongst British soldiers were often very specific in geographic terms on both sides of the channel. Soldiers in Pals Battalions were drawn from the same communities and, when they suffered casualties, tended to be in large numbers at very specific places.

The Battle at the Boars Head was so disastrous for the men of the Royal Sussex Regiment ‘Southdowns’ Battallions and a prime example of this. Here, at least 366 men from the south coast had died in action near Richebourg l’Avoue. Similar stories regarding other Pals Battalions and French towns were commonplace. If these towns were not rebuilt after the war, then what had it all been for?

Therefore, in the early 1920s the British League of Help began the process of temporarily ‘adopting’ French towns. These adoptions were often focused on those towns where local soldiers had fought and died. Richebourg itself was adopted by Worthing. This assistance manifested itself in the form of ‘tools, seeds, blankets and clothes’. Elsewhere, Bexhill adopted the town of Bayencourt in Northern France which had seen heavy fighting in 1916. A remnant of this link still exists in Bexhill today.

Bayencourt Road, Bexhill

Bray-sur-Somme had been almost destroyed by the years of fighting and was adopted post-war by Eastbourne. The Maire (Mayor) of Bray was an invited guest to Eastbourne on Remembrance Day 1921 were he was presented with a war medal and 3,000 francs to aid the rebuilding efforts.

East Sussex Responds

This financial support provided by Britain, continued during the 1920s but by the 1930s had almost entirely stopped. The passage of time since the end of the war, having moved most people away from the desire to continue financial support of France. Additionally, the Great Depression and changing international situation also proved a difficult obstacle to overcome. 

However, some links and friendships did endure and there were joint visits between adopted towns into the 1930s. The fields around Richebourg, Bayencourt and Bray-sur-Somme had held the bodies of Sussex men who had fought and died to protect them. The work done during the war had been further bolstered by that done during the peace.

Sources

Sussex Daily News

Sussex in the First World War by Keith Grieves

The Keep

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