Category: Finsbury Rifles
-
Finsbury Rifles: Away from the Western Front. 13th December – 31st December 1916
Celebrating Christmas and Boxing Day 1916 Troops in the Suez Canal Defence Zone were far enough away from enemy lines to be able to celebrate Christmas with gusto. Different entertainment and food all played their part in keeping up soldiers’ morale while far from home. Many of the battalions in…
-
Finsbury Rifles: Away from the Western Front. A Christmas card from Egypt 1916
Greetings for Christmas and the New Year Impressions of Egypt The Finsbury Rifles produced their own Christmas card in 1916 to send home to family and friends. They were not alone; the 54th (East Anglian) Division, of which they were a part, also produced Christmas cards while in the Middle…
-
Finsbury Rifles: Away from the Western Front, 23rd November 1916 – 12th December 1916
Lt-Colonel Stanley Cesnola Byrne (1872 – 1936) Lt-Col S.C. Byrne at Bir-el-Mazar, February 1917 ©IWM Q57798 Byrne, Stanley Cesnola (Colonel) collection In May 1914, Major Stanley Cesnola Byrne was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and became the Commanding Officer of the 11th Battalion, London Regiment (the Finsbury Rifles). He had joined…
-
Finsbury Rifles: Away from the Western Front, 25th October – 22nd November 1916
General Sir Archibald Murray inspects D Company at Kubri East General Sir Archibald Murray (1860 – 1945) was an experienced and decorated staff officer who had fought in South Africa and had served in France in the opening months of the First World War. In January 1916 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief…
-
Finsbury Rifles: Away from the Western Front. 20th October – 24 October 1916
Out with the mobile column The mobile columns of camels delivered supplies from the railhead at El Kubri to the outposts of the Suez Canal Defences. This also included small forward camps far out in the Sinai Desert that monitored enemy positions. Although the food, water and equipment were vital,…
-
Finsbury Rifles : Away from the Western Front. 24th September 1916 to 19th October
Sidi Bishr Sidi Bishr was an extensive Allied army base to the north east of Alexandria. It housed an open-air rest and recuperation camp for other ranks. Men were sent there from the different battalions guarding the Suez Canal during 1916 and appreciated the change of scene and better…
-
Finsbury Rifles : Away from the Western Front. 25th August 2016 to 23rd September 1916.
Loading Camels The 1/11 Finsbury Rifles were split at this point. While half the battalion stayed at Halfway House for specialist training and the never-ending maintenance and repair of the defence system, the remaining two companies were sent to the army base at Kubri. This was also the railhead for…
-
The Finsbury Rifles: From Islington to Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Private View and Storytelling Celebration!
Islington Museum is one of a number of partners around the country contributing to Away from the Western Front, a two year project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This project looks to explore the heritage of the men and women from Britain and its former Empire who served in the campaigns…
-
Finsbury Rifles: Away from the Western Front. 3rd August to 24th August 1916.
Specialist training Training was carried out intensively whenever a unit was away from the front line. It formed an important part of a soldier’s life, especially given the rapid development of new tactics and technologies as well as the large turnover of men in any given unit. On top of…
-
Finsbury Rifles: Away from the Western Front. 17th July to 2nd August 1916.
Work on defences The defence posts by the Suez Canal included a network of communication trenches. Maintaining these trenches was a never ending task involving an immense amount of hard physical labour by the men. The trenches were lined with sandbags and boards but these gradually rotted away because of…
Friends of Islington Museum 