Beersheba

Date: 1939-1945

From: New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency

By: Battersby, Thomas Middleton, 1911-1986

Reference: PAColl-4161-01-159

Description: Series of numbered photographs taken of 4th Reserve Mechanical Transport Company in the Middle East. Includes group photographs of members of the Company. Photographs have been mounted in three exercise books; some have captions underneath or written on the back. Book No 1 has Cpt Blanch written on the cover. First page has the name Battersby Lt, unit photographer. Quantity: 3 album(s) Album(s).

Date: ca October 1918-ca July 1919

From: Field-Dodgson, Ernest Robert, 1926-1999 :World War I photograph albums compiled by trooper C L Crowley

Reference: PA1-o-170

Description: Photo album, World War I, ex late trooper Crowley, C. L. Canterbury Mounted Rifles (34th Reinforcements). Images taken in Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, and Turkey. One group relates to the Gallipoli Peninsula. Photographer possibly Crowley himself. The images in this album were probably taken at the very end of the war in the Middle East, and reflect what happened after the Armistice with Turkey on the 31st of October 1918. The Gallipoli episode in the album relates to the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, and the 2nd and 7th Australian Light Horse Brigades leaving Kantara on the 27th of November 1918 for the Gallipoli Peninsula. The purpose of this was to take part in the Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and Constantinople and specifically to see that Turkey was carrying out its commitments under the terms of the Armistice in the southern part of the Gallipoli Peninsula. They did not take their horses on this operation. During this tour of duty most of the troops took leave in Constantinople. They returned to Egypt in January 1919, by which time the New Zealand Mounted Rifles had were encamped at Rafa. They rejoined the rest of the Brigade at Rafa on the 23rd of January 1919. They remained in Egypt to help control civil disturbances, so that the New Zealand Mounted Rifles were not disbanded until June 1919, and the soldiers began their journey home that month and in July. (Info from "The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine," Lieutenant-Colonel C Guy Powles, Whitcome and Tombs, 1922, chapter X1X; "The History of The Canterbury Mounted Rifles 1914-1919, Edited by Colonel C Guy Powles, Whitcome and Tombs, 1928, chapter X1X). Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s). Physical Description: Dark blue suede album, entitled Photographs, 21 x 27 cm

Date: [ca 1918-1919]

By: Lupton, Roger Deller, 1897-

Reference: PAColl-0401

Description: Photographs of Palestine, Egypt and the Middle East, probably taken by Roger Lupton who was on active service there. As there are captions relating to the AMR, it is assumed that he was with the Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment. They are mostly of places of interest in the area such as the Monastery of St George at Wadi Qelt; the Crusaders' Tower in Richon; the Mosque of Omar, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem; temple ruins at Luxor; the Agricultural College in Jaffa; the River Jordan; a Roman amphitheatre in Amman; the German Church in Bethlehem; the Church of Lazarus in Bethany; the inside of the Russian Church in Jaffa; and a man and a woman floating in the Dead Sea. However, there are others relating to the campaign: a pontoon bridge over the River Jordan; Kastal Railway Station on the Mecca line with a long goods train being loaded; the remains of the Turkish gun Jericho Jane (Turkish gun used in the Jordan Valley during the First World War so named as its range was long enough to hit Jericho from the opposite side of the vally, twelve miles away. The gun had an eighteen foot barrel); bombed houses in Jaffa; a cemetery; Algerian cavalry in Ismalia; railway lines at Tantah, Egypt; a stone Turkish bridge at Beersheba; the ruins of a Turkish patrol boat next to the Dead Sea; a railway engine destroyed by the retreating Turks; dead horses of the Auckland regiment in the Jordan Valley; a group of soldiers on board a troop ship; and three of men and horses, one showing the camp at Richon. Quantity: 49 b&w original photographic print(s) loose prints. 4 b&w original photographic print(s) post cards. 1 album(s) Album(s).

Date: [ca 1915-1918]

From: Carswell, Peter Alexander, 1892-1975 : World War I photographs

By: Jacob, K, active 1910s

Reference: PAColl-10157

Description: Portrait and snapshots relating to Trooper Peter Carswell's service in World War I with the Wellington Mounted Rifles. Half-length portrait of Carswell in military uniform taken by a photographer called K Jacob, in Alexandria, Egypt. Snapshots are annotated, probably by Carswell, and were taken in Egypt and Palestine. They appear to have been taken by a soldier, possibly Carswell. They show soldiers on horses, tents where they camped and a large building in Port Said. Most prints are very faded. Quantity: 6 b&w original photographic print(s).

Date: 1942-1944, 1949, 1966, 1972, 1985-1986

Reference: MS-Papers-11994

Description: Contains assorted material relating to soldiers on service during World War Two, and the Dorset family of Wellington. World War Two material includes: an original letter addressed to George Standen, 26th Battery, 4th New Zealand Field Regiment, and a newsletter possibly produced by the 26th Battery entitled 'RHQ gazette - published in Syria 1942'. Also includes a publication entitled 'A soldier's guide to Italy', and two typescript pages entitled 'My recent tour of the Holy Land and Sinai Desert' describing travel through areas of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel that appear in the Bible. Dorset family material includes: an original letter addressed to 'Dolly' from Kathleen Eivers (10 Apr 1972) and seven newspaper clippings (1949-1986). Clippings discuss and contain images of Dorset family members and their family home on Grant Road, Thorndon. Source of title - Supplied by Library Arrangement: Material was originally received with a box of New Zealand publications and is arranged into two subject groupings as delivered. Quantity: 1 folder(s). 0.01 Linear Metres. Physical Description: Mss, typescript, printed matter Provenance: Donor/Lender/Vendor - Donated by Robert T Burch of Arty Bees Books (2015). Transfers: From Book Collections -.

Date: October 1917

From: Eccles, Martin Ashton :Photographs of Palestine and Gallipoli, 1914-1918

Reference: PAColl-5863-1-05-1

Description: View of horses in the desert with a dead one in the foreground. According to the information on the back of the print this image was taken at Beersheba ( Bir Saba) after the action was over. The soldier in the middle distance is identified as Martin Ashton Eccles. Photographed by an unknown photographer in early november 1917. Inscriptions: Verso - centre - Bir Saba after action over. Ones self in the fore ground This was taken after the Battle for Beersheba (Bir Saba) which involved taking the hill Tel el Saba. The battle occured on the 30th and the 31st of October 1917. Quantity: 1 b&w original photographic print(s). Physical Description: Silver gelatin print, 8 x 5 cms

Date: 1916-1917

From: Powles family : Papers

Reference: PA1-o-813

Description: This album relates to the British campaign against the Turks in north-eastern Egypt and Palestine, 1916-1917. Charles Powles compiled a detailed record of his experience of these events up to the taking of Jerusalem in albums PA1-q-604, PA1-q-605. This Album should be read in relation to them. They are more of a sequential record of the military campaign; this has a greater focus on people and scenic places. It begins with Cairo, then moves north and finishes in Jaffa. Jaffa was in control of the British forces by November 1917, but British possession of the town was not secured until late December, after the capture of Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem does not appear in this album, the Jaffa pictures were probably taken in November 1917. Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).

Date: 1917-1918

From: Powles family : Papers

Reference: PA1-q-605

Description: Album is the second part of a two-album record of the British campaigns in north-eastern Egypt and Palestine, 1916-1918. It is a record of the Palestine campaign after the capture of El Arish. Thus its story really begins at Rafa on the Egyptian/Palestine boarder and ends with General Allenby's triumphal entry into the city of "Jerusalem the Blessed" (his words) on 11 December 1917. As a record it presents a detailed account of the actions, movements, encampments, places, troops, countryside, and locals as experienced by a New Zealand officer participant. The photographs are well documented and identified. In relation to place names, spellings from books and maps have been used. Album spellings have been added to the "non preferred" slot in the place records, so that they are linked to the official place name spellings and can thus be used in a search. Arrangement: Negatives for the prints in this album should be among those registered at F 178589 1/2 to F 178976 1/2, and F178993 1/2 to F 179124 1/2 Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).

Date: 10 November 1917

From: Powles family : Papers

Reference: PA1-q-605-24-1

Description: Soldiers of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles watering horses at Beersheba in a dust storm. Photographed by an unknown photographer on the 10th of November 1917. Inscriptions: Album page - right of image - NZMR watering horses. Beersheba 10 Nov 1917. (Taken in a Dust Storm). Quantity: 1 b&w original photographic print(s). Physical Description: Silver gelatin print, 10.4 x 6 cms