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Title: WWI Postcard from Malta - EIL00212
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Title
WWI Postcard from Malta - EIL00212
Description
The postcard is addressed to Mr Jim Longbottom, Old Chamber, Hebden Bridge. The greeting is: Malta Sunday. Wish you could see this place. we are in with some French battleships. The grand harbour is a wonderful sight. Blazing hot, it is difficult to think of the cold we left in. kindest regards to ? and everybody else. In haste. EGD (or EAD) OHMS 12916 25 Battn R.F. Frontiersmen.
From Wikipedia: The 25th (Frontiersmen) Service Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a British Army unit that served during World War I. It was raised by the Legion of Frontiersmen.
The battalion served in the African Theatre of the war from 1915–1918, centred mostly in the area around Lake Tanganyika, British East African and German East African territory. The battalion was largely composed of older men who hailed from diverse backgrounds and varied occupations, some of whom were Boer War veterans. Amongst these occupations were English big-game hunters, a British millionaire, several American cowboys, a Scottish light-house keeper, a naturalist, a circus clown, an Arctic explorer, an opera singer, a famous photographer, and a lion tamer. There were also French Foreign Legionaries and Russians (reportedly prison escapees from Siberia).
The unit was formed on 12 February 1915 by Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Patrick Driscoll, who was, at that time, fifty-five years of age, well above that of an average soldier.[1] Another noted serving officer (and eventually the Second in Command of the battalion) was Frederick Courteney Selous, a veteran of various small African wars and skirmishes, a famous big-game hunter and friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Selous had previously hunted with Roosevelt during his famed 1909 African safari. Selous is also known for having served as the inspiration for Sir H. Rider Haggard to create his fictional Allan Quartermain character, a 19th Century African explorer and hunter of big-game beasts. Captain Selous was later killed in action with the unit, shot through the mouth by a German sniper in January 1917. The unit gained the nickname "Old and the Bold", due to its members' ages, their veteran status, and reputation for endurance and daring against the enemy, Even though the majority of volunteers were young men. The battalion was disbanded on 19 June 1918.
From Wikipedia: The 25th (Frontiersmen) Service Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a British Army unit that served during World War I. It was raised by the Legion of Frontiersmen.
The battalion served in the African Theatre of the war from 1915–1918, centred mostly in the area around Lake Tanganyika, British East African and German East African territory. The battalion was largely composed of older men who hailed from diverse backgrounds and varied occupations, some of whom were Boer War veterans. Amongst these occupations were English big-game hunters, a British millionaire, several American cowboys, a Scottish light-house keeper, a naturalist, a circus clown, an Arctic explorer, an opera singer, a famous photographer, and a lion tamer. There were also French Foreign Legionaries and Russians (reportedly prison escapees from Siberia).
The unit was formed on 12 February 1915 by Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Patrick Driscoll, who was, at that time, fifty-five years of age, well above that of an average soldier.[1] Another noted serving officer (and eventually the Second in Command of the battalion) was Frederick Courteney Selous, a veteran of various small African wars and skirmishes, a famous big-game hunter and friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Selous had previously hunted with Roosevelt during his famed 1909 African safari. Selous is also known for having served as the inspiration for Sir H. Rider Haggard to create his fictional Allan Quartermain character, a 19th Century African explorer and hunter of big-game beasts. Captain Selous was later killed in action with the unit, shot through the mouth by a German sniper in January 1917. The unit gained the nickname "Old and the Bold", due to its members' ages, their veteran status, and reputation for endurance and daring against the enemy, Even though the majority of volunteers were young men. The battalion was disbanded on 19 June 1918.
Source
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Date
No date yet
Rights
PHDA - Eileen Longbottom Collection
Relation
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Identifier
EIL00212.tif
Collection
Citation
“WWI Postcard from Malta - EIL00212,” Pennine Horizons Digital Archive, accessed June 25, 2024, https://penninehorizons.org/items/show/19346.
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