Description
Object description
British officer served with 7th (Service) Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 39th Bde, 13th (Western) Div at Gallipoli, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, 8/1915-11/1915 and Mesopotamia, Ottoman Empire and Persia, 10/1917-11/1918; served with British Military Mission to South Russia, 1919-1921; served with Allied Police Commission in Constantinople, Turkey, 1921-1923
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Weston-Super-Mare and Bristol, GB, 1895-1914: family; education; activities with Cadet Force; enrolment in University of Bristol and membership of Officer Training Corps (OTC). Recollections of operations as officer with 7th Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 39th Bde, 13th (Western) Div at Gallipoli, Turkey, 8/1915-11/1915: commissioning into 7th (Service) Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 1915; opinion of training; daily routine and conditions; evacuation with dysentery to hospital in Malta, 11/1915; opinion of hospital and treatment on Malta; role as platoon officer and sniper officer; problem of flies and climate; opinion of organisation of Gallipoli Campaign; period of convalescence in GB; opinion of Royal Army Medical Corps; posting to Seaford, GB; inoculations; issue of tropical uniform and kit. Recollections of operations as officer with 7th (Service) Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 39th Bde, 13th (Western) Div in Mesopotamia, Ottoman Empire and Persia, 10/1917-11/1918: hospitalisation with dysentery in Basra, Mesopotamia, 10/1917-12/1917; rejoining battalion in Baghdad, Mesopotamia, 4/1918; opinion of senior officers.
REEL 2 Continues: advance to Kirkuk, Mesopotamia; transport; problem of flies; description of barracks at Kirkuk, Mesopotamia; transfer to hospital in Baghdad, Mesopotamia with dysentery and opinion of medical services; causes and effects of dysentery; sanitary arrangements; attitude to Turks and Arabs; role as gas officer and training; importance of Boer War experience for officers; accommodation in bivouacs; opinion of rations; sings song; explains 'song of numbers'; promotion and pay; recreational and sporting activities; Indian personnel in army; social life in Baghdad, Mesopotamia; move to Persia and role in collecting Armenian refugees from Bijar, Persia; description of Hamadan, Persia.
REEL 3 Continues: comparison of conditions in Persia and Mesopotamia; story of Gurkha sentry; problem with command structure; pay; reaction to news of Armistice, 11/11/1918; amusing story relating to German officer; question of acquiring Armenian levies; conditions for Armenian refugees. Recollections of operations with British Military Mission to South Russia in Russian State, 1919-1920: journey to Baku, 1919; description of Baku; role of Allied force in South Russia; social life in Baku; relations with civilian population; currency and rates of exchange; question of pro-Tsarist sympathies; attitude of Russians towards British Army troops; accommodation; daily routine and duties; attitude to Bolsheviks; description of evacuation of Baku, 11/1921.
REEL 4 Continues: organisation of 39th Bde and North Persia Force; posting to barracks in Scutari, Turkey; attitude to demobilisation; memories of first Armistice Day anniversary in Constantinople, Turkey, 11/11/1919; reason for volunteering for British Military Mission to South Russia; 1919; description of journey to Novorossiysk and duties as base adjutant; relations with White Russians; description of Novorossiysk; role in collection of refugees from Rostov-on-Don; organisation of base camp; opinion of rations; social life in Novorossiysk; weather conditions; story of telegram from Winston Churchill to General Officer Commanding (GOC); description of evacuation from Novorossiysk and journey to Sebastopol, 2/1920; attitude to role of British Military Mission to South Russia. Recollections of period as officer with Allied Police Commission in Constantinople, Turkey, 1921-1923: posting to Constantinople.
REEL 5 Continues: story of demobilisation in Constantinople and employment in bank, 1921; role of Allied Police Commission in Constantinople; command structure; uniform; pay; daily routine and duties; opinion of Turks, French and Italians; area of responsibility in Constantinople; problem of looters; international composition of Allied Police Commission; opinion of Turkish police; role in maintaining civil order; attitude of Turks towards Allied Police Commission; story of disbandment of Allied Police Commission, 1923; attitude to government of Kemal Pasha; demobilisation, 1923; enlistment in Royal Air Force in GB, 1924; attitude to British intervention in Middle East.
