With The Twenty-Ninth Division In Gallipoli, A Chaplain's Experiences. [Illustrated Edition]

“The padre of the 86th Brigade, 29th Division, gives an account of his experiences at Gallipoli where he landed on 25th April 1915 to his evacuation on medical grounds on 12th August.

...it covers the period 27th January 1915, when he reported to the HQ of the newly formed 29th Division in Leamington, to 12th August 1915 when he arrived in Alexandria having been evacuated sick (diphtheria) from the Peninsula. The 86th Brigade was a Fusilier Brigade with 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers and 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and it was the first to land on 25th April 1915. It was with the first two mentioned that Creighton had most contact and they feature prominently in this account. The other two battalions, being recruited mainly from the south of Ireland, were predominantly RC.

Creighton had come straight from civvy street and took a little while to find his feet among regular troops....This account is based on his diary and he took pains to write only what he got firsthand and from personal observation and he has tried to be as accurate as possible.

The interesting photos were borrowed from the CO of 2nd RF and his narrative does give a feel for the conditions and fighting on the Peninsula. At one stage he gives vent to his feelings after a fruitless attack by a brigade of the newly arrived 52nd (Lowland) Division which cost over fifty percent casualties: “These things seem to happen every battle. The amount of unnecessary lives simply thrown away is appalling."...

The book closes with a chapter by the BM, Major H.M. Farmar, on the landing of the 86th Brigade and the subsequent operations till 3rd May.”N&M print version

Author — Rev. Creighton Oswin, 1883-1918

Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in London, Longmans, Green and co., 1916.

Original Page Count – xiv and 191 pages.

Illustrations — 26 maps and Illustrations.