1915 was a relatively quiet year in East Africa with the British forces being on the defensive. However, elsewhere in Africa things were on the move: the campaign in South West Africa was well underway and action was still taking place in Cameroons.
2015 however, seems to be a bit busier on the remembrance front with a few conferences and seminars scheduled for the coming months. See Forthcoming Events on the homepage for details.
In case you haven’t checked lately, the In Memory pages listing those known to have been involved in the Great War in Africa have been updated. We now have over 19500 names for East and Central Africa and 3000 for Southern Africa. North and West Africa are lagging behind at under 1000. If you do have lists of names of men and women who were involved in the campaign, please send them in to help complete the lists. Apart from being of help to family members trying to trace information on relatives who saw action in the various theatres, being able to search and sort the information in different ways is opening up new insights into the campaign and avenues for further research.
After a bit of a wait, through no fault of his, Richard Sneyd’s History of the Faridkot Sappers and Miners is now available to access on the website. This can be found, together with some new articles by Harry Fecitt on the 40th Pathans and 30th Punjabis, and one by Mark Thatcher on Lettow-Vorbeck on the site. Thanks to all for their dedication to the cause…
Alan Rutherford has a second edition of Arthur Beagle’s Diary of East Africa out. It can be found online
Photographing in the British Library has been extended:
Guidelines to taking photographs in the British Library
Thanks to Alex Balm for sharing this find on a flight mechanic of 4RNAS
And to Paul Ferguson for drawing attention to the Masonic Great War Project
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission featured SA’s Mendi Day Commemorations
BBC on How British colonies helped war effort (Video footage featuring James Willson)
Review of Michelle Moyd’s Violent Intermediaries
Although not a member of GWAA, Leondard Shurtleff was a history enthusiast with wide-ranging interests including Africa, where he served as Ambassador to a number of countries. His willingness to help and advise will be missed across all the networks he participated in.