The Great War record of the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry remembered

A photo from the album

WHENEVER THE FIRST WORLD WAR is mentioned, thoughts almost instantly turn to the trenches and the horrors of the western front. However during this time, British forces where also fighting in other parts of the world.

In fact, many of the soldiers from the East Riding in the First World War spent most of that conflict fighting in the deserts of Egypt and the former British Mandate of Palestine rather than the quagmires of northern France and Belgium.

The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry formed part of the Western Frontier Force, which was sent to Egypt, in 1915, to suppress the pro-German ‘Senussi Uprising’. They later saw action at the first, second, and third battles of Gaza.

It was not until the final months of the war, in 1918, that part of the regiment was regrouped into a machine gun corps and deployed to northern France.

In memory of these forgotten East Yorkshire soldiers and to commemorate Armed Forces Day, on Sunday, 3 July 2011, the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service has received a photo album, showing scenes from the yeomanry’s time in Egypt, to add to the archive's collection on this regiment.

The photo album is now available to researchers at the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service, in the Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley.

Sam Bartle, collections officer, said: “Very often, we forget this part of the First World War and this photo album serves as a reminder that East Yorkshire soldiers were out there in Egypt, fighting for King and Country. As the album doesn’t contain pictures from any of the battles, these images give us a feel for what life was like in between the fighting.”

A small display of copy images from the album has also been prepared and can be viewed in the exhibition gallery from now and throughout Armed Forces Day.