Friends of Islington Museum

Tag: Local History

  • Away from the Western Front : 17th – 30th October 1917.

          Training intensified in the lead up to Gaza. In October those skills learned and practised in  platoons and companies during the summer, were developed at  battalion and brigade level. The message for the soldiers of the EEF whether they were peacetime territorials  or wartime conscripts was that  bravery and courage alone…

  • Away from the Western Front: 30th September – 16th October 1917.

    The Allenby Effect After the failures to take Gaza in March-April 1917,  it was clear that the Egyptian Expeditionary Force needed a fresh approach and a new command structure. General Sir Archibald Murray was posted back to the UK to be head of the army  in Aldershot while General Sir Edmund Allenby took over as…

  • Away from the Western Front: 12th – 29th September, 1917.

    Reciprocal shelling, night patrols and anti-gas training The Small Box Respirator was the most advanced and successful anti-gas equipment used by the British and Dominion forces during the First World War. Introduced in 1916, it became standard issue during 1917. The respirator consisted of a face mask with glass eye-pieces connected to a metal ‘small box’ filter (containing …

  • Away from the Western Front 1st – 11th September 1917

    The Indian Army and the EEF Some 1.8 million soldiers from the Indian Army were sent overseas during World War One. 200,000 served in Egypt and Palestine, over 95,000 in combatant roles. The main role of the Indian Army in peacetime had been to defend its North- West Frontier. Its commissioned officers  were all British while other…

  • Away from the Western Front : 25th August – 31th August, 1917.

    Back into the Front Line   In order to allow soldiers to cope with the stress of trench life and fighting,  British army practice was to rotate divisions between the front and rear lines for rest periods. However, although the troops were away from direct shelling or carrying out trench raids, these  ‘rest’  periods often…

  • Away from the Western Front : 12th – 24th August, 1917.

    Major-General S W Hare and the 54th Divisional Training Camp     Major-General Steuart Hare, the regular army officer commanding the 54th Division, believed strongly that Territorial soldiers could reach the same standard as those in the regular army. This was not a widespread view – the pre-war prejudice against the  ‘Saturday night soldiers’ or the ‘town…

  • Away from the Western Front : 30th July – 11th August, 1917.

    Reinforcing the Redoubts and Reinforcing the Battalion     By summer 1917, the drafts of men sent out to join the 54th Division were no longer drawn automatically from the training battalions of the Finsbury Rifles and the other battalions in the division. Conscripts rather than volunteers were replacing men who…

  • Away from the Western Front : 28th – 29th July, 1917.

            Captain Tattersall DSO The warning recorded about the dangerous currents off the beaches near Gaza proved to be horribly accurate. The war diary, usually so concise and impersonal, recorded the death and funeral of Captain Tattersall with more detail than usual. Philip Tattershall had grown up in the Gray’s Inn Road in Holborn,…

  • Away from the Western Front : 15th – 27th July, 1917.

     Umbrella Hill Umbrella Hill: the most advanced of the redoubts guarding Gaza.James McBey © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1520)“…British infantrymen advance at night across No Man’s Land towards Turkish positions on Umbrella Hill, which rises up gently in the right background. The British soldiers, carrying rifles, move out of their advanced trenches…

  • Arsenal FC Collection

    London has always been known for its association with football. Islington is the home of one of London’s greatest football clubs, Arsenal. The club was founded in 1886 and over the course of its history, they have gone on to win a number of titles and gained worldwide prestige. Originally…