To help monitor spaces/availability, if you are interested in going on the Battlefield Tour in 2017, please let Anne know as places are limited and bookings are/interest is trickling in.
The War Office Archive at the British Library has a collection of Intelligence Maps from the colonial era including some covering the First World War in Africa. You can see this and other useful links here.
I recently came across an article by Peter Charlton in the ORMS journal 1993 Winter The 1888 ‘Three Emperor’ Medallion of Germany. He suggests based on the number of these medals that he came across in Malawi that they were awarded to the German Askari during World War 1.
Thanks to the GWAA member who kindly sent me the Britian at War Magazine for February 2016 containing some short articles on East African personalities.
Advance notice
A call for papers/contributions will be going out in the next while for articles/contributions on the Great War in the Horn of Africa. If you are working on this area and would be interested in contributing an article, please get in touch.
World War 1 Africa projects
Over the past few months, various groups with interests in World War 1 Africa have made contact in different ways. I thought it might be worth listing them in case anyone wants to get involved/attend events etc. These projects are mostly being funded by Heritage Lottery Funding which restricts activity and physical research to the UK – not a problem for many of their projects but it present a huge challenge for African-focused initiatives.
AHEC (African Heritage and Education Centre, London) – West African Frontier Force
In particular, the AHEC is looking for the local impact of the Great War in West Africa. They will be bringing the material together in online education resources. Linking with this project, GWAA has linked AHEC and The National Archives together and if all goes according to plan, there should be a West Africa study day at The National Archives on Saturday 15 October. Details will be posted as they are confirmed.
Churches Together in England – They also served (Midlands)
is exploring Black and Caribbean involvement in the First World War. Details can be found in their press briefing. Angie who is the lead researcher/project manager for the project is a member of GWAA. Please do get in touch with her [angelina.osborne[@]cte.org.uk] if you are interested and especially if you are based in the Midlands.
Recognize and
Black Poppy Rose are looking to raise awareness of Black African and Caribbean soldiers who served in the war. Links have been made between the two organisations and GWAA with information sharing taking place as appropriate.
Steve Lau (Ensuring we Remember) is leading a project to erect a memorial to the Chinese Labourers who served in the different theatres, including in Africa. Steve has started to uncover some material on the Chinese who served in East Africa but as this information is scattered and scarce, if you do know of anything, please let Steve or myself know. Hopefully an account of Chinese involvement will materialise as a result of this project.
Finally, I have been in talks with a new group, Away from the Western Front which is keen to include Africa in a project it is developing. Based on the queries I have received over time and where research is taking place on relatively untapped areas of the war in Africa, we are looking to undertake a medical project centering on the Pike Report. The Pike Report is about 245 pages setting out the medical services and their problems etc in East Africa. Although it is a localised report, it spans wide and far as all medical services (RAMC, SAMC and IMC) as well as hospitals, ambulances and convalescent homes were looked at. With the diversity of troops serving from across Africa, the report has tentacles into all the Africa theatre of war.
GWAA will be looking to turn the Pike Report into an interactive on-line resource to help family, social and medical researchers in different ways. Volunteers are being sought to help source material but also for groups to interpret the material introducing it to new audiences.
In particular GWAA is looking for volunteers to transcribe material, do internet and other searches and help link to as many related organisations/museums as possible.
Anyone interested in being direcly involved or in linking with the project to add a new dimension to an existing project or developing initiative, please get in touch.