World War I In The Middle East

When recalling World War I and its horrors – which led to the deaths of 37.5million people, a million of them from the United Kingdom – the first images that come to mind are of the blood-soaked, rat-infested killing zone that was trench warfare on the Western Front.

The most enduring works of fiction and non-fiction concentrate on the millions of soldiers who were killed in what became known as ‘the sausage factory’.

So it is easy to forget that during this time, British forces were also fighting and dying in other arenas of war throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.

In fact, many of the soldiers who represented the East Riding in the First World War spent most of World War I fighting in the deserts of Egypt and the former British Mandate of Palestine rather than the quagmires of northern France and Belgium.

The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry formed part of the Western Frontier Force, which was sent to Egypt, in 1915, to suppress the pro-German ‘Senussi Uprising’.

The Yeomanry later saw action at the first, second, and third battles of Gaza, in which they helped to secure Egypt, India, and the Persian Gulf from the Ottoman Empire.

It was not until the final months of the war, in 1918, that part of the regiment was regrouped into a machine gun corps and deployed to northern France.

In memory of these forgotten East Yorkshire soldiers and to commemorate Beverley Armed Forces Day, on Sunday 3 July, the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service has received a photo album, showing scenes from the yeomanry’s time in Egypt, to add to the archive’s collection on this regiment.

Sam Bartle, collections officer, said:  “Very often, we forget this part of the First World War and this photo album serves as a reminder that East Yorkshire soldiers were out there in Egypt, fighting for King and Country.

“As the album doesn’t contain pictures from any of the battles, these images give us a feel for what life was like in between the fighting.”

The photo album is now available to researchers at the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service, in the Beverley Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley.

A small display of copy images from the album has also been prepared and can be viewed in the exhibition gallery from now and throughout Beverley Armed Forces Day