Description
Object description
British officer served with West Yorkshire Regt in GB, 1940-1941; served with Somalia Gendarmerie in Somalia, 1941-1948; District Commissioner with Colonial Administrative Service in Somalia, 1948-1950 and Keren, Eritrea, 1950-1952
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Wakefield, GB, 1919-1939: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as private and officer with West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) in GB, 1939-1941: enlistment in Territorial Army, 10/1939, whilst studying at University of Leeds; training at York, 1940; move to No 166 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1940-1941; commissioning into regiment, 2/1941; coastal defence duties at Cromer, 4/1941; reasons for volunteering for unspecified overseas duties, 4/1951. Aspects of voyage from GB to Mogadishu, Somaliland via South Africa and Kenya, 6/1941-7/1941: issue of tropical kit in London, GB, 5/1941; relations with civilians in Clydeside whilst embarking on board troopship on River Clyde, GB, 6/1941; voyage in convoy from GB to South Africa; hospitality of civilians in Durban, South Africa.
REEL 2 Continues: voyage aboard HMS Barham from Durban, South Africa to Mombasa, Kenya; voyage from Mombasa, Kenya to Mogadishu, Somaliland including method of disembarkation in Mogadishu. Recollections of period as officer with Somalia Gendarmerie, Somalia, 1941-1948: induction in Mogadishu, 8/1941; administrative problems left by ending of Italian administration; posting to Isha Baidoa; issue of uniform; nature of gendarmes equipment; start of policing duties; exploits of his Somali servants; methods of disarming tribes, 1941.
REEL 3 Continues: pacification in South Western Province by 12/1941; visit to Hoddn Fort; distributing cash in outlying areas; languages used in Somalia; attempt to trace radio transmitter in contact with Italy; attempt to stop Marihan raiders raiding into Kenya at Filtu, 1942; sight of deference shown to Ethiopian Ras by petitioners; failure to get co-operation from Ras in stopping Marihan raids; encounter with Shifta band under Muhammad Abdilli in Ethiopia; skirmishes with Marihan raiding parties; game in Filtu including shooting giraffe for skin for gendarmes sandals; story of lucky escape from death from thirst, Filtu area.
REEL 4 Continues: locust control in Filtu area; contracting illness on leave in Nairobi, Kenya; posting to training barracks, Mogadishu, 1942; return to duties in Filtu; strategies for dealing with Marihan raiders; question of loneliness; use of Somalia Mail for travelling; having to deal with raiders whilst suffering from bout of dysentery; construction of bush camps.
REEL 5 Continues: loyalty of Somali NCOs; posting to Imi in Ogaden, late 1944; weapons available to him; return to GB on leave, 8/1945; return to duties, Imi, 1946; temporary confiscation of tribal flocks as means of getting back stolen weapons, 1946; loss of £300 in cash, 1946; appointment as commanding officer of No 4 Group, 1946; influence of Somali Youth League, 1946-1947.
REEL 6 Continues: policy of Somali Youth League towards tribalism; Somali liking for intrigue and exaggeration; usefulness of officer on spot; problems caused by prospecting of Sinclair Oil Corporation in Waberi District; tribal suspicions about oil prospecting; attacks on Sinclair Oil Corporation; question of political future of Ogaden and problems of hand over to Ethiopians, 24/9/1948; winding up of Somalia Gendarmerie in 1948; arrival of new Ethiopian administration in Ogaden and threat of violence, 24/9/1948.
REEL 7 Continues: attitude of Somalis to being under Ethiopian rule in Ogaden; opinion of Somalis; Somali attitude towards British rule and administrators; pro-British feeling among Somalis. Recollections of period as District Commissioner with Colonial Administrative Service in Mudug Province, Somalia, 1948-1950: dealing with administrative problems including water supplies and murder of tribal retainers.
REEL 8 Continues: special commission to investigate tribal disputes over farming lands, 1950; role as liaison officer with Italian advance party sent to Somalia to prepare for ten-year Italian United Nations trusteeship, 1950; British withdrawal from Somalia, 5/1950. Recollections of period as District Officer with Colonial Administrative Service in Eritrea, 1950: initial work on urban matters in Keren; transfer to rural work in Nakfa area, 1951; role as District Officer in Asmara, 1951; investigations into grazing disputes in Senafe District; work as District Officer for Senafe District.
REEL 9 Continues: demarcation of border with Ethiopia; details of hospitality of Ethiopian Ras; plans for political future in 1952; opinion that tribal elders preferred European to African rule, 1952; leg illness contracted in 1952.