'Thank you Sarah Shepherd, for a wonderful, and truly fascinating talk about 'Soldiering in Egypt: A Friendly Invasion?' last night at Poynton. There was so much information in the talk, and being about the personal writings and recollections of Commonwealth soldiers stationed in Egypt during the First and Second World Wars, a lot of it is still relevant to the current generation and their parents and grandparents. I'm looking forward to seeing the book in print ('Soldiers, Sand and Syphilis' would actually have made a wonderful title!), and also any future information you can present. It's a pity that much of the topic has gone unnoticed by the Egyptology community at large in the past, but I hope that is now being addressed by your own researches and the work of ASTENE! Poynton Egyptology Group Feedback - March 2016

1. ‘A FRIENDLY INVASION ?’
Soldiering in Egypt
Sarah Shepherd
MA, Military History

2. AANS sisters possibly of No 3 Australian General
Hospital on top of the Great Pyramid. The nurse
seated at right has a camera case beside her, c.1915
The presentation will focus, in particular, on the visual and material
record of this encounter through the analysis of the rich collection of
soldiers’ sketches, engravings , art work and photographs, as well as
the visual vocabulary through which the Commonwealth-Egyptian
encounter was represented.
Presentation Scope

3. Conflict Archaeology is a developing area within the sphere of
‘Egyptology’ and my research is the first step of an endeavour to
embark on a comprehensive study surrounding the shared
experiences of soldiers serving in Egypt during the period 1914 –
1918 and their apparent interest in the heritage of Egypt. This
presentation will look at the following areas:
•The concept of ‘a friendly invasion’ – the clash of cultures
•Official Military policies on social and cultural interactions
•Soldiers and their interactions with the surrounding heritage
-archaeology
-photography
-narrative
-graffiti
-Iconography
-Material culture - Antiquities, souvenirs and curiosities (inc. trench
art
•Egyptology’s view on ‘colonialist ‘ related heritage material,
graffiti and damage to sites
•Conclusions and opportunities for further study Bombardier Maxfield (left), Driver Rich (Sitting on
the Sarcophagus), and Gunner Shields (right) A
section, 7th
F.A.B, Australian Field Artillery, c.1915

4. British forces involved in Egypt and Palestine (E.E.F)
42nd
(East Lancashire) Division
2nd
Mounted Division
53rd
(Welsh) Division
31st
Division
46th
(North Midland) Division
54th
(East Anglian) Division
52nd
(Lowland) Division
74th
Yeomanry Division
75th
Division
60th (2/2nd London) Division
Yeomanry Mounted Division
10TH
(Irish) Division
ANZAC Mounted Division*
Australian Mounted Division*
29th
Division*
* Moved to Egypt as a base for operations at Gallipoli

8. Why is Egypt so important?

9. ‘Alexandria is a very large but dirty and uninteresting town.
The people are mixed French, Arabs, Copts, Jews and all
manner of divers races. The poor are a pest and the buildings
unpretentious’
‘The people are disgusting in their mixture of East and West.
Saw some fine Egyptians but the majority do not appear at all
well to the Western eye. I have heard that Alex was this kind
of town’
‘Alex improves greatly upon acquaintance though there is still
a lot to be desired’
Second Lieutenant Leonard Leader Brereton
3 / 5th Bedfordshire Regiment
Saturday 27th
January 1917

10. ‘ The Last Tram to
Mena’
Australian War
Memorial,
MM107474 refers

11. A Bridge near Mena – with
the Mena to Cairo Tram in
the Background
The Australian War
Memorial PS0810 refers

12. An early panorama of Mena Camp and the Pyramids taken by
Captain Alfred McKenna, 16TH
Dec 1914
Museum of Victoria, MM050634 refers
‘A big water scheme was
under construction for
reticulation to the camp and
during excavations a old jar
of gold coins was found –
they were soon disposed
off’
Captain Walter C Belford
MA
11TH
Battalion AIF

13. ‘Life will drive us mad with monotony before we have been
here many weeks’
Alfred Plumley Derham, Mena Camp c.1914
Makings of a camp (Mena, Egypt) c. 1914,University of
Melbourne Archives, Alfred Plumley Derham collection,
1963.0024 refers

16. Captain Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean
A.I.F War Correspondent and Historian
Climbing the Great Pyramid on New Years Day, 1915
The Australian War Memorial, G01658 refers

17. ‘Will try and send a few things
from Egypt, curio’s and the like
that might be of interest to you.
Haven't any as yet except a
stone from the top of the
biggest pyramid but ought to be
able to get some’
1175 Corporal Herbert Andrew
Smythe
Australian Infantry, AIF
Mena Camp, Giza, Jan 1915

18. 'I am doing fine and having the time of my life. I go out for
motor drives and sight-seeing every day and I can tell you. It
is a real treat.‘
1285 Sergeant David Roberts

19. ‘You have to be very careful , lest you get
giddy and fall’
Lt A.J Williamson

20. AIF Soldiers on the summit of the Great Pyramid, c.1915
313 Private Joseph McMaster, 2nd Battalion, shown centre,
holding a folding camera
The Australian War Memorial P04752.002 refers

23. Sister Mary Theresa Martin
2nd
Australian General Hospital
Mena House Hotel / Ghezireh Palace, Cairo

24. Enlisted 18th
August 1914
Embarked from Sydney on HMAT A19
Afric on 18 October 1914 with No 2
Company, 1 Divisional Train,
Australian Army Service Corps
Served at Gallipoli
Promoted to Lieutenant and later
Captain
Awarded the Military Cross "for
gallantry and distinguished service in
the field" on 9 November 1917 and
the Bar to the Military Cross "for
conspicuous gallantry and devotion to
duty" on 22 March 1918.622 Cpl Norman Rutledge Plomley
(622 Captain Norman Rutledge Plomley MC & Bar)

25. A bright morning and pleasant in the sun but cool in the
shade. In afternoon visited the Zoo at Ghizeh. Delightful
gardens - the best in Egypt - far superior to the Nuzha
Gardens at Alexandria. In morning to Aquarium and
Grotto at Gezina. To town in the afternoon.
Pyramids of Ghizeh. Went inside Cheops and thoroughly
explored other pyramids and mastaba of 4-5th dynasty,
seeing skeletons of men probably slaves. Lunch at Mena
House. Quiet morning. Shopping in afternoon buying
things for Fripp and Philips.
Citadel in afternoon. Revisited Mosque Mahomed Ali and
saw Joseph's Well. Saw also tree against which a spy was
shot a month ago. Six bullet holes were discernible and
shewed bad shooting, being spread all over the place.
William Bailey
London Regiment
27th
Feb 1918

26. ‘During a fortnight’s leave – I went to
Cairo. Whilst there I visited the Great
Pyramid and went on top and also inside
the Great Pyramid. The camel journey
was from the town of Cairo itself to the
pyramids and it was advisable to go by
camel actually because of the road, or
part, was mainly loose sand. I also went
to the Sphinx and had a walk all over the
Sphinx. Seeing them as I did, one could
not but be impressed with the fact that
they’re fantastic constructions’
Edgar Wooley, Wireless Operator
The Royal Flying Corps, Egypt, c.1917

27. 'After Church this
morning the whole
Battalion was marched up
to the Pyramid (Old
Cheops) and we had a
photo took or at least
several of them.'
Captain Charles Barnes
11th
Battalion A.I.F
10th
January 1915

28. The men of
the 1st Field
Company
Engineers
By Courtesy of
the Jack
Moore Private
collection

29. Church Parade at Giza in the shadow of
the Sphinx
Giza, Egypt, 1916

31. 66 Pte John Brown
Panel 26, Lone Pine
Memorial, Gallipoli
2019 Pte Neil Wells
Chatby War Memorial
Cemetery, Egypt
51 Pte Herbert
Robertshaw
Panel 51, Lone Pine
Memorial, Gallipoli
Lt T.H Boyd M.C
Passchendale New
British Cemetery

32. Members of the A.I.F visiting the Tomb of Ty at
Saqqara c. 1915
The Australian War Memorial, J02174 refers
Members of the A.I.F Nursing Service visiting the Step
Pyramid, c. 1915
Museum of Victoria, MM107474 refers
Saqqara

33. Officers of the 10th Light
Horse en-route to Saqqara
The Australian War Memorial,
P08353.012 refers
Saqqara

34. ‘Sightseeing in the Egyptian Museum’ Cairo, c. 1915

36. British and Australian Nurses
visiting the Ramasseum in 1915

37. Soldiers of the
Wellington
Mounted Rifles
visiting a rather
pristine Avenue of
the Sphinxes in
Luxor, Egypt, c.
WW1

38. ‘In Cairo I climbed the Great Pyramid, built for the pharaoh
Cheops.
It is nearly fifteen hundred feet tall, and it took me twelve
and a half minutes running up, flat out, to get to the top. We
would go up in twos or threes. I was so fascinated, I did the
climb about a dozen times.
You had to leap from the edge of each big stone block up on
to the next block, all the way up. I carved my name into a
stone at the very top’
‘Nugget’ Currie
D Troop, 2/1 Field Regiment
c.1940

40. Salvaged Hurricanes on
their way to the Repair
Section at Helwan, Cairo.
No.53 Repair and Salvage
Unit.

41. Sightseeing at Memphis', the Alabaster Sphinx,
3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
1942
3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters),
named as Freddie Crowley, Alf Thompson and Pootle
Powell,Saqqara 1942

42. Bryant’s Diary Entry
Sat 15th Nov 1941
‘Had a look around
Cairo, It wasn’t very
interesting at all... ‘

43. 3 Members of 512 Army Field
Survey Company climbing the
Great Pyramid at Giza c. 1940

44. In 1940, the 1st
DLI (Durham Light
Infantry)
appropriated a
tomb for their
regimental HQ in
Egypt c.1940

45. ‘We learnt a lot about Cairo and
it was very cheap way to pass the
afternoons. Neither of us drank
much, we were quite happy to
spend time in Groppi's taking
afternoon tea for I think both of
us missed the more gentle things
after the harsh conditions of the
desert’
Robert E Hill
Royal Engineers
8th
Army

47. The ‘Bric-a-Brac’ of War
Authentic and faux Archaeological Artefacts collected by Servicemen
and Women
Scarabs
Statuettes
Statuary
Canopic Jar lids
Jewellery
Coinage
Amulets

48. Release Date: 2016
FontHill Media - http://fonthillmedia.com/

49. References and Acknowledgments
The Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/
The Alexander Turnbull Library https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/alexander-turnbull-library-collections
University of Melbourne Archives http://archives.unimelb.edu.au/
State Library of Queensland http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission http://www.cwgc.org/
Conflict Egyptology Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/egyptconflictarchaeology
The ASTENE Society http://www.astene.org.uk/
FontHill Media http://fonthillmedia.com/

50. Thank you for your kind attention