Untold lives blog

In the foyer of the staff entrance to the St Pancras site of the British Library is a memorial tablet commemorating 142 librarians who died during the First World War.  It was unveiled at the British Museum 100 years ago this month.

Memorial tablet at the British Library commemorating 142 librarians who died during the First World War

The memorial to ‘the British librarians fallen in the War’ was commissioned by the Library Association in 1923 and consists of a framed set of five oak panels with incised and gilded lettering.  It was made by Messrs Harry Hems & Sons of Exeter and was originally placed in the corridor leading to the main reading room of the British Museum.

The Library Association had started gathering information on British and Empire librarians who died on active service during the war itself.  A roll of honour was published as a supplement to the Library Association Record in March 1923, its preamble hoping that the printed roll would be superseded by another one, ‘necessarily briefer, but more monumental, in some appropriate public space’.  The contract with Harry Hems & Sons for the new memorial was awarded in early 1924.

‘Librarians’ Memorial’ - Newspaper article from the Western Morning News, 28 April 1924, p. 5. British Newspaper Archive

A week or so before it was unveiled at the British Museum, the Librarians’ Memorial was the subject of a short article published in the Shields Daily News.  The local interest concerned the two members of staff from the public libraries at South Shields and Tynemouth who were commemorated on the memorial: 270013 Sergeant Reginald Maurice Daniel of the Northumberland Hussars; and Second Lieutenant Richard Harold Urwin Potts of the 1/2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment.

‘Librarians’ Memorial’ - Newspaper article from the Shields Daily News, 9 October 1924, p. 2. British Newspaper Archive

The memorial was unveiled on 24 October 1924 by Sir Frederic George Kenyon, Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum.  A short account of the ceremony was published in the Shields Daily News a few days afterwards.

‘Librarians Memorial: unveiling ceremony at the British Museum’ - Newspaper article from the Shields Daily News, 27 October 1924, p. 5. British Newspaper Archive

More names were added to the memorial after its unveiling, bringing the total number commemorated to 142.  Of these, 130 (ca. 92.5%) had previously worked for organisations based in the UK, nine in Australia, two in South Africa, and one in Ireland.

The Librarians' Memorial remained at the British Museum until 1998, when it was moved to the new St Pancras site of the British Library.  It remains a prominent feature there in the foyer of the staff entrance on Midland Road.

Michael Day
Digital Preservation Research and Services Lead

Further reading:
Graham Jefcoate, 'Roll of honour: the Librarians’ War Memorial and professional identity', Library History, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1996, pp. 171-182 (£)
Lynn Young, 'Valete fratres - Librarians and the First World War', Untold lives blog (13 November 2011) 
'The Librarians' Roll of Honour', Library Association Record, March 1923, supplement.

Launched on 22 October 2014, the Qatar Digital Library (QDL) was developed as part of a longstanding partnership between the Qatar Foundation, the Qatar National Library, and the British Library.  The partnership includes the digitisation of a wide range of material from the British Library’s collections, aimed at improving understanding of the modern history of the Gulf, Arabic cultural heritage, and the Islamic world.

Since the QDL’s launch, nearly two and a half million images have been published, mainly deriving from two collections held by the British Library: the India Office Records (IOR) and Private Papers, and the Library’s Arabic manuscripts collection.  A small selection of items held by the Qatar National Library also features on the website.  Published alongside all these images are detailed catalogue descriptions, available in English and Arabic.

In the following passages, members of the team of experts working on the QDL reflect on memorable material that they and former colleagues have encountered during the last decade.

• The General Treaty with the Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf, and the importance of looking beyond appearances – IOR/L/PS/10/606 and others

Printed copy of the 1820 General Treaty with the Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf – IOR/L/PS/10/606, f. 131r

The General Treaty with the Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf is central to understanding the modern history of the Gulf and Britain’s role within it.  It is perhaps, then, no coincidence that it was given a rather vague and innocuous-sounding title, as this belied the force that lay behind it and the unbalanced relations it established with the rulers who signed it.

• Individual stories within the imperial war machine: the war diaries of the Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’ – IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3223 through to IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3328

Front cover of an Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’ War Diary, covering 1-15 August 1917 – IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3282

The War Diaries of the Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’ – a British Indian army dispatched to Ottoman Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) during the First World War – are an excellent introduction to the fascinating complexity of the IOR collection.  They describe the day-to-day activities of a large military as it steadily advanced against its Ottoman opponents, allied with local populations, and laid the groundwork for post-war imperial ambitions to keep Mesopotamia under British control.  The volumes also contain wonderful individual stories, ranging from a disastrous journey made by German aviators to the efforts of a lone Frenchman to stay one step ahead of the British authorities and take up a diplomatic post in occupied Baghdad.

• Royal letter dispatching in late 19th century Afghanistan – Mss Eur F111/361

A kharita sent in January 1899 by Abdur Rahman Khan Barakzay, Amir of Afghanistan, to Lord George Curzon – Mss Eur F111/361, ff. 2r, 3r, and 4r (the silk pouch does not have a folio number)

This very small file consists of two letters, dated 1895 and 1899 respectively, from Abdur Rahman Khan Barakzay, Amir of Afghanistan (reigned 1880-1901) to Lord George Curzon (Viceroy of India, 1899-1905).  The second letter is a kharita, a type of letter that was usually sent in an elaborate textile pouch, and which for centuries was dispatched as part of the royal correspondence of Muslim rulers.  The kharita is interesting not only for its contents but also for the way in which its various parts were made and arranged, as covered in this QDL expert article.

• A letter requesting plant specimens for the new Botanical Garden in Bengal – IOR/R/15/1/1

Letter dated 3 October 1787, from Samuel Manesty, Resident at Basra, to Edward Galley, Resident, and Charles Watkins, Factor, at Bushehr – IOR/R/15/1/1, f 50-50v

This short letter to Bushehr, containing a list of plants and a request that specimens be searched for, collected, and sent to Bengal, illustrates the Gulf being integrated into an expanding scientific endeavour, one that was becoming increasingly facilitated by British and European imperial expansion, to which it also contributed, as discussed in this QDL expert article.

IOR Cataloguing Team, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

In December 1919, Paris was awash with diplomats.  The victors of the First World War met to calculate reparations and carve new political entities from collapsed empires.  Amidst these negotiations, a smaller diplomatic mission was conducted.  On 25 December, a British Captain named Norman Bray found himself rushing from hotel to hotel.  He hoped to arrange a meeting between representatives of two men who now dominated the Arabian Peninsula, and thereby prevent war breaking out between two British allies.

Bray was the political officer accompanying the ‘Najd Mission’.  This was a delegation representing the ruler of the Emirate of Najd, ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Sa’ūd, and led by his teenage son, Shaikh Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd.  Under ibn Sa’ūd’s leadership, and with the help of an alliance with Britain, the Emirate had expanded rapidly.

Shaikh Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd, photographed in 1919 during the Mission’s visit to England. Source: Wikimedia Commons 

It now found itself clashing with its neighbour, the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hejaz.  The Hashemite ruler, King Husayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, had initiated the British-backed Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.  His son Emir Fayṣal bin al-Husayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, the Revolt’s battlefield leader, had travelled to France to argue for a unified Arab state under Husayn’s rule.  The British were anxious to avoid a military clash between their allies, and so Bray sought to arrange a meeting in the hope that the sons might influence their fathers towards a peaceful resolution.

Emir Fayṣal bin al-Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī (centre) with his delegation at Versailles. Source: Wikimedia Commons  

Despite Bray’s hopes, almost all the Mission’s time in Paris passed without a meeting between the Shaikh and the Emir.  But on the evening of 25 December, the night before the Mission was to depart for Najd, the party found that Emir Fayṣal had left a card at their hotel.

The Mission received an invitation to meet Emir Fayṣal on the evening of 25 December 1919 - IOR/L/PS/10/391/1 f.557

Bray was eager to take advantage of this ‘un-expected courtesy’, but Aḥmad bin ‘Abdullāh Āl Thunayān- a key advisor to ibn Sa’ūd and senior member of the Najd Mission- refused to allow Shaikh Fayṣal to meet the Emir.  Aḥmad argued that the Emir’s failure to contact them earlier was disrespectful.  Bray nonetheless endeavoured to make contact himself, visiting ‘all the principal Hotels in Paris’.  He failed to find the Emir, but did encounter one of his advisors, Brigadier General Gabriel Haddad Pasha; the two agreed to bring the parties together.

Bray spent the night of Christmas 1919 searching Paris hotels, eventually finding Haddad Pasha, an advisor to the Emir - IOR/L/PS/10/391/1 f.558 

As neither side was willing to visit the other, Bray proposed a compromise- he would host a ‘private luncheon’ that both parties could attend without losing status.  Haddad Pasha agreed, provided that it was preceded by an introductory meeting.  This meeting was almost derailed by the refusal of one member of the Najd Mission to attend.

‘Abdulla’, a member of the Najd Mission, initially refused to go to the meeting with Emir Fayṣal, but was persuaded by Bray’s reminder that the meeting could benefit ibn Sa’ūd - IOR/L/PS/10/391/1 f.559 

Eventually, the Mission found themselves in Emir Fayṣal’s hotel room.  The conversation was ‘harmless’, other than a ‘rather tactless question’ from the Emir regarding the Ikhwan, ibn Sa’ūd’s fiercely loyal shock troops.  A ‘strain both in attitude and conversation’ ended the meeting.  Aḥmad ‘very politely refused’ the suggestion of further discussions and Bray abandoned the idea, lamenting that his last-minute diplomacy had failed.

Conflict between Najd and Hejaz proved to be unavoidable.  In 1925, ibn Sa’ūd conquered the Hejaz, absorbing the Hashemite kingdom into his state, soon to be renamed Saudi Arabia.  Emir Fayṣal became ruler of the short-lived Kingdom of Syria, and after a French army had driven him out, was established by the British as the ruler of the new Kingdom of Iraq.

Dan McKee
Content Specialist Archivist
British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

Further reading:
File 2182/1913 Pt 11 'Arabia: relations with BIN SAUD Hedjaz-Nejd Dispute', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/391/1, in Qatar Digital Library 

Revolutions and Rebellions: Arab Revolt (Ottoman Empire/Middle East)

Born on 16 August 1888, Thomas Edward Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’) was instrumental in formulating a strategy of guerilla warfare against the Ottoman military forces in the Hejaz during the First World War.

IOR/L/PS/18/B287, f 75 'Summary of the Hejaz Revolt'

Better known aspects of his life might therefore include orchestrating the attacks against the Hejaz railway.

IOR/W/L/PS/10/12 (ii) 'Damascus-Mekka Railway'

T.E. Lawrence and the Hashemites
Lawrence had been sent from the Arab Bureau, Cairo, to the Hejaz region of western Arabia.  Here he linked up with Faisal, the second son of Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca.  Hussein was the head of the Hashemite dynasty who was encouraged by Britain to launch a revolt against the Ottoman Empire.  In return the Hashemite dynasty expected the creation of an independent Arab Kingdom as discussed in the Hussein-McMahon letters, 1915-16.  The map below indicates the areas to be ruled by the Hashemite dynasty: Hussein and his sons Abdullah and Faisal.

Mss Eur F112/276, f 104

Lawrence helped to foment this revolt which started in June 1916 undertaking intelligence work including producing maps of the Hejaz.

Womat. Arabia. 29(b), 1917. Photograph: Francis Owtram

In regards to the maps of north-west Arabia the Arab Bulletin reported that he had produced new information about Wadi Sirhan including the preponderance of poisonous snakes and that ‘all existing maps leave much to be desired’ although ‘Miss Bell’s was good … but too slight.’

IOR/L/PS/10/568, f 9v

Faisal and Lawrence: onwards from Aqaba to Damascus

IOR/L/PS/12/2160B, f 50 1 'AKABA (Transjordan)' (this photograph created in 1937)

Faisal and Lawrence successfully took Aqaba with a surprise attack from land and sought to establish Faisal in Damascus.  However, France evicted him following the Sykes-Picot agreement secretly signed by Britain and France which undercut the Hussein-McMahon correspondence.  In compensation Faisal was installed by Britain as King of Iraq; that monarchy was overthrown in 1958.  For strategic reasons Britain chose not to intervene when Ibn Saud conquered the Kingdom of Hejaz in 1925 but the dynasty lives on in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

From Arabia to Dorset
It is possibly lesser known that disillusioned with the post-war peace settlement, Lawrence sought anonymity and signed up under an alias to the Tank Regiment in Dorset.

Clouds Hill, Dorset Photograph: Francis Owtram

He renovated a dilapidated cottage at Clouds Hill.  It was here that he wrote his autobiographical account of his involvement in the 1916-18 ‘Arab Revolt’, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Painting of Faisal in the Music Room at Clouds Hill. Photograph: Francis Owtram

He was later to spend time in Afghanistan but thereafter returned to rural Dorset indulging his love for speed on his Brough Superior motorbike.  On 19 May 1935 he came round a bend and to avoid two boys on bicycles skidded off the road.  He died a few days later and was buried in the cemetery of St Nicholas Church, Moreton.

Grave of T.E. Lawrence, cemetery of St Nicholas Church, Moreton. Photograph: Francis Owtram

Lawrence, who in his quest for adventure had travelled the world from Aqaba to Afghanistan, found his final resting place under the Dorset clouds.

Francis Owtram
British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

Further reading
James Barr, Setting the Desert on Fire: T.E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916-18 (Bloomsbury, 2006)
Rodney Legg, Lawrence of Dorset: From Arabia to Clouds Hill (Dorset Publishing Company, 2005)

Nunhead is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries.  It may not have the famous residents of Highgate or Kensal Green, but in among the graves and tombs of local worthies lies that of a sailor who took part in one of the most daring naval raids of World War One.

Reginald Bult’s grave, Nunhead cemetery, © Sarndra Lees, New Zealand, 2015.

Reginald Bult was born in Bermondsey in 1896 and grew up in Peckham, the seventh of nine children of Henry, a railway weighbridge clerk, and Jane.  He worked as a Post Office telegraph messenger and a lift attendant before joining the Royal Navy on his eighteenth birthday, just two months before the start of hostilities.  Within a year he had advanced to Able Seaman and in April 1918 he took part in Operation ZO.  The brainchild of Vice Admiral (later Admiral of the Fleet) Roger Keyes, the plan was to sink obsolete cruisers simultaneously in the harbours at Zeebrugge and Ostend thus preventing German U-boats entering the North Sea from their pens at Bruges.

The operation began on the eve of St George’s Day with Keyes’s signal ‘St George for England’ (to which Capt. Carpenter, commanding HMS Vindictive, replied, ‘May we give the dragon’s tail a damn good twist’).  Reginald was onboard HMS Iris II (a requisitioned Mersey ferry) whose task was to create a diversion by landing Royal Marines and sailors on the mole at Zeebrugge to destroy German guns and cause as much damage as possible.  Iris came under intense fire and most of the raiding party was killed before they even got off the ship.

Reginald Bult’s name in the register of participants in Operation ZO, Add MS 82500 C.

The operation was only a partial success.  Neither blockship at Ostend obstructed the harbour , and while all three were sunk at Zeebrugge, they were not in the right positions.  The harbour was only out of action for a couple of days.  The Germans simply dredged new channels, allowing naval movements at high tide.

The cost was huge.  Of the 1780 men who took part something like 227 died and 400 were wounded.  Exact figures are difficult to determine as there is no consistency of approach in whether to include the missing among the dead and whether to combine casualties from both sites.  Whichever source one uses, the ratio of casualties to participants was around 1:3. 

Sadly, Reginald is numbered among the dead, dying of his wounds in Dover Military Hospital, his Royal Navy service record marked, poignantly, ‘DD’ – discharged dead.  He was mentioned in dispatches and he was included in the ballot for a Victoria Cross to be awarded to the non-officer ranks in action at the mole – the warrant for the VC allows recipients to be chosen in this way where a body of men is deemed equally brave.

Reginald Bult’s service record, The National Archives ADM 188/691/22432, © Crown copyright, 1908, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Reginald Bult’s mention in dispatches, London Gazette, 19 July 1918, Add MS 82503, © Crown copyright, 1918, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Reginald was not chosen. Instead it was fellow Bermondsian Albert McKenzie who was selected, one of eight VCs awarded for the operation.  McKenzie, only nineteen at the time of Operation ZO, was severely wounded in the action.  He recovered but did not live to see peace, succumbing to the 1918 flu pandemic just eight days before the armistice.  He is commemorated with a statue on Tower Bridge Road, a stone’s throw from where he was born, and is buried just a mile from Reginald, in Camberwell Old Cemetery.

Michael St John-Mcalister
Manuscripts Catalogue and Process Manager

Further reading
The Keyes Papers, Add MS 82499-82507
E. C. Coleman, No Pyrrhic Victories: The 1918 Raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend, A Radical Reappraisal (Stroud, 2014)
Christopher Sandford, Zeebrugge: The Greatest Raid of All (Oxford, 2018)
Philip Warner, The Zeebrugge Raid (Barnsley, 2008)

24 July 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Turkey commonly referred to as the Treaty of Lausanne which ended the war between the Allies and Turkey [now known officially as Türkiye/the Republic of Türkiye]. It was the final Treaty of the First World War.

Front cover of the Treaty of Lausanne 1923 Mss Eur F112/280/2

One of the issues on the table at the Lausanne conference was the question of Mosul – whether the city and its province should become part of the new Republic of Turkey or the British mandate of Iraq.

‘The Question of Mosul’ Mss Eur F112/294, f 237

Mosul had been occupied by the British at the end of the war. The head of the British delegation was the Foreign Secretary and former Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon.  He was adamant about the importance of retaining Mosul; the final decision to change the British Navy’s fuel from coal to oil was taken during the war.

The importance of controlling the development of the Mosul oil field Mss Eur F 112/294, f 10

Curzon resisted Turkish attempts to settle the matter at the Lausanne conference.  He wrote from the Hotel Beau Rivage to General Mustafa İsmet İnönü Pasha, the leader of the Turkish delegation, that Mosul ‘is under a Mandate administered by Great Britain, which I have had the honour to inform you repeatedly that I am not in a position to surrender’.

Letter from Curzon at Hotel Beau Rivage to General Mustafa İsmet İnönü Pasha, the leader of the Turkish delegation, Mss Eur F112/295, f 13

Instead, the question of Mosul was pushed onto to the League of Nations whose committee ruled that Mosul should be part of the new British-controlled mandate of Iraq.  In 1926, the ‘Brussels Line’ was drawn as the boundary of Iraq, and Iraq agreed to pay Turkey 10 per cent royalties on Mosul’s oil resources for 25 years.

Map of the Mosul area IOR/L/PS/20/C204, f 34 ‘Map No. 3’

Curzon’s instinct turned out to be prescient as oil in vast quantities was discovered in Kirkuk in 1927.

The Hotel Beau Rivage still welcomes international guests to the shores of Lake Geneva today.

Francis Owtram
Gulf History Specialist, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

Further reading:
Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen, The Middle East in the First World War (Hurst, 2014)
Jonathan Conlin and Ozan Ozavci (eds) They All Made Peace – What is Peace? The 1923 Lausanne Treaty and the New Imperial Order, (Ginko, 2023)
The Lausanne Project – the New Middle East, 1922-23
Francis Owtram, ‘Oil, the Kurds and the Drive for Independence: An Ace in the Hole or a Joker in the Pack’, in A. Danilovich (ed) Iraqi Kurdistan in Middle East Politics (Routledge, 2016)

In 1917 the Army Young Men’s Christian Association in Bangalore, India, published a guide to the town for British soldiers.

Front cover of A Soldiers' Guide to Bangalore

Henry Venn Cobb, the Resident of Mysore, wrote a foreword to the book, welcoming all ranks of His Majesty’s Forces quartered in Bangalore.  He said that they would be living amongst friends and well-wishers in as good a climate that India could give.  Bangalore was the stepping stone to what all the soldiers wanted – a speedy transfer to the far-flung battle lines.

The Lal Bagh garden at Bangalore, looking towards the glass house

The guide opens with general information about Bangalore – the government, population, climate, electricity supply, manufactures and agriculture – followed by an historical overview.  It describes some places of interest both in Bangalore and nearby –
• Cubbon Park – over 100 acres in size and beautifully laid out, with a bandstand for regular concerts.
• The Museum with collections of carvings, birds, insects, fishes, shells, and geological specimens.
• The Old City and the Fort.
• Tata Silk Farm, given to the Salvation Army around 1911.
• Lal Bagh, a pleasure garden with a rare and valuable collection of tropical plants, a menagerie, and a glasshouse for exhibitions.
• Maharajah’s Palace, designed on the model of Windsor Castle.
• Bull Temple with a huge bull carved out of rock and dedicated to the god Siva.
• Ulsoor Temple, an example of pyramidical architecture.
• Military Dairy Farm run by the British Government to supply produce to its forces.
• Tata Institute for scientific study and research.
• Mysore Government Experimental Farm.
• Cauvery Falls.
• Kolar Gold Fields.
• Mysore City.
• Nandidroog, a fortified hill providing wonderful views.
• Seringapatam, an old town with a fortress.
• Sivaganga, a sacred hill.

There are sections on missionary work in and around Bangalore, and on the Y.M.C.A.

Soldiers visiting Bangalore on furlough could stay at the Church of England Institute or the Wesleyan Soldiers’ Home.  Details are provided of all the churches in Bangalore with times of services – Church of England, Church of Scotland, Wesleyan, Methodist, Baptist, Roman Catholic.

Health hints are given to the soldiers –
• Inoculation for enteric and malaria.
• Getting at least seven hours’ sleep, eight if possible.
• Taking a sponge bath every morning if nothing better is possible.
• Eating only foods known to be good and properly cooked.
• Drinking water only when the source is known to be pure, or after it has been boiled.
• Not drinking or eating too much of anything.
• Taking some form of vigorous exercise – football, hockey, cricket, fives, basketball, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, wrestling.
• Forming ‘high ideals of sex relation’ - medical science has proved that sexual intercourse is not necessary for the preservation of virility.
Soldiers should remember the folks at home; think clean thoughts; eat clean foods; and drink clean drinks.

There are explanations for a short list of Indian words.

Explanations for a short list of words

The Guide ends with recommendations for reliable merchants and business houses in Bangalore whose advertisements had paid for the publication of the booklet.  The goods and services offered include furniture, stationery and books, Indian curios, clothing, footwear, jewellery, tools, cinema, car and cycle hire, medicines, toiletries, and confectionery.

Merchants' advertisements - curios, pharmaceuticals and cycles

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
Army Y.M.C.A., A Soldiers' Guide to Bangalore (1917) British Library General Reference Collection 10056.de.13.

When sixteen-year-old Thomas John Crawford joined the Second Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers in August 1906 he was escaping a turbulent home life.  His parents Clara (née Jones) and Alfred were married on 8 July 1888 in Chester, and daughter Annie arrived later that year.  Thomas was born in Chester in 1890, younger brother William in Liverpool in 1894.  By this point, the marriage was at breaking point, and Alfred deserted his wife and children, leaving Clara to apply for poor relief.

Report of Alfred Crawford's court case, British Newspaper Archive Chester Chronicle 13 August 1898

In 1897, after dodging the law, Alfred appeared at Chester Petty Sessions and was sentenced to two months in jail.  The Justices were outraged at ‘one of the worst cases ever brought before them’ - Crawford earned a decent salary of around £2 per week as a compositor while his wife was claiming poor relief.  However the prison sentence was not enough to persuade Crawford to support his family, and he was sentenced to three months’ hard labour in August 1898.  By 1901 he had moved to Wales, and spent the period from 1911 to his death in 1925 as a ‘single’ man living in a boarding house in Warrington.  Clara moved on with her life, ‘marrying’ Samuel Griffiths in 1901 and starting another family.  As an abandoned wife she must have felt morally, if not legally, justified in marrying again.

Photograph of Quetta cantonment early 1890s - British Library IOR/L/MIL/7/6553

Thomas Crawford headed overseas, arriving in Shwebo, Burma, in early 1908.  On 31 December 1910, he left Rangoon for Karachi, en route for Quetta, Balochistan.  The Royal Welch took part in the series of events connected with the visit of George V and Queen Mary in that year, including the Coronation Durbar.  The Regimental Records of the Royal Welch state: ‘The Battalion is doing well and is very efficient… Men are clean, healthy and cheerful. There is a tremendous esprit de corps… I consider the Battalion has improved much during its stay in Quetta’.  Thomas’s service record shows a charge against him for neglect of duty, insubordination, and being absent from parade in November 1911, so perhaps Quetta did not improve him personally!  Despite this blemish, he is described as ‘Honest, sober and thoroughly reliable’.

Defaulter sheet from the service record of Thomas John Crawford, UK British Army World War I Service Records 1914-1920, The National Archives WO 363

Thomas returned from India in March 1913, transferring to the Army Reserve.  He married his cousin Elsie Maud Jones in July 1914, but Thomas, like many of the Royal Welch reservists, re-enlisted in early August 1914.  He was immediately sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, serving there for two periods during 1914 and mid-1915, before being shot in the thigh and returning home to recuperate.

October 1915 saw Thomas leave for the Mesopotamia campaign, and by February 1916 he was in Basra.  A report describes the conditions: ‘The whole theatre of operations is as flat as a billiard table. It is impossible to locate one’s position except by compass bearing and pacing.  This induces in the individual a sense of isolation and an impotent feeling of being lost.  The mirage also distorts and confuses all objects…Man in these surroundings feels like an ant on a skating rink… Under the effect of rain or flood the country is turned into a bog of particularly tenacious mud’.  Thomas went missing in action on 9 April 1916 - his body could not be found.  His death was formally certified at Basra on 28 August 1917.

Lesley Shapland
Cataloguer, India Office Records

Further reading:
Reports of Alfred Crawford’s desertion of his wife and family can be found in the Chester Chronicle, 25 December 1897, 18 June 1898 and 13 August 1898, available at the British Newspaper Archive, also via www.findmypast.co.uk.
Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, late the 23rd Foot. Compiled by A. D. L. Cary ... & Stouppe McCance, 4 vols. (London: Royal United Service Institution, 1921-29) - quote from p.326.
IOR/L/MIL/7/6553: Defensive works in Quetta: plans and photographs 1888-1891.
New Horizons Volume 2 Number 1 2008 Cadet Gregory E. Lippiatt ‘No More Quetta Manners: The Social Evolution of the Royal Welch Fusiliers on the Western Front’.
IOR/l/MIL/15/72/1: Critical Study of the Campaign in Mesopotamia up to April 1917, Part I Report (Calcutta; Government of India Press, 1925) - quote from p.66.
1911 Census records the 300 men of the Second Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers at the Roberts Barracks, Quetta.  Available via www.findmypast.co.uk and www.ancestry.co.uk.