Friends of Islington Museum

Tag: Local History

  • Away from the Western Front : 25th February – 9th March 1918.

    Victoria Cross awarded !         The award of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the British Armed Forces  to Lance-Corporal Jock Christie was a great morale booster for the battalion, 162 Brigade and the 54th East Anglian Division. In later life Jock Christie preferred not to…

  • Away from the Western Front : 25th January 1918 – 25th February 1918

    Visiting Jerusalem    After fierce fighting  over the previous weeks, Jerusalem had been captured by the Allied Forces on 9th December 1917 . This  tremendous boost for Allied morale and public opinion   was a massive blow for the Ottoman Empire which had now  lost control of three holy sites in spite of German military support. The painting above…

  • Away from the Western Front : 27th December 1917 – 24th January 1918

    Football, Salvage and Training   Football was a popular form of recreation in the army and was often used as a morale booster.. The battalion diary mentions several organised games like the one between the officers and sergeants on New Year’s Eve. Of course, leather footballs would have been low on the list…

  • Away from the Western Front : 25th – 26th December 1917.

    Merry Christmas ?   The battalion’s arrangements for Christmas 1917 were a far cry from the warmth and hilarity of the seasonal celebrations of the year before. Not only was it the rainy season when temperatures could be more like those back in London but festive meals were impossible to…

  • Away from the Western Front : 18th – 24th December 1917.

    The battle of Jaffa – Bald Hill     The key port of Jaffa, some 40 miles north of Gaza, had been captured by the Allied forces in November. However, Ottoman & German forces still controlled the River Auja which reached the Mediterranean Sea near the port. From their system…

  • Away from the Western Front : 27th November – 17th December 1917

    Wilhelma   The Ottoman forces had retreated further north to the area around Wilhelma. This was  a successful agricultural colony founded in 1902 by the German Templar movement and named for the Emperor of Germany,  Wilhelm II.  For the Finsbury Rifles a return to trench warfare and artillery bombardment seemed likely. They were fortunate not to suffer any casualties…

  • Away from the Western Front : 17th – 26th November 1917

    Marching North     While other divisions of the EEF advanced east into the Judean Hills, the 54th (East Anglian) Division now marched north along the coastal plain.  It was now the rainy season which at least gave the Finsbury Rifles a chance to catch up with some long overdue…

  • Away from the Western Front : 9th – 16th November 1917

    After the 3rd Battle of Gaza     After the fighting and an all too brief time to recuperate the Finsbury Rifles were  directed to support the Royal Engineers  –  providing labour for the construction of prisoner of war camps. While this work was often resented by the men of the…

  • Away from the Western Front : 6th – 8th November 1917

      The Third Battle of Gaza (2)   It was no secret that casualties in fighting were highest in the rifle companies of the army . The 54th (East Anglian)  Division had had to rebuild itself twice – after the Gallipoli Campaign and more recently after the disasters of the first…

  • Away from the Western Front : 31st October – 5th November 1917

               The Third Battle of Gaza (1)   The 3rd battle for Gaza lasted for over a week. This time the bombardment  from the Royal Navy and the Royal Artillery was calculated correctly and began ahead of the actual attack. As the 54th Division moved up along the coastal strip to the west, they came under heavy fire…