Soldiers who died in Crete were usually buried in a churchyard or cemetery corresponding to their religion. Most Protestant British soldiers are memorialised in a cemetery within, but walled off from, the Orthodox church of of Agios Konstantinos and Agia Eleni in Iraklion and their Catholic colleagues are buried in the Catholic Churchyard St John the Baptist, also in Iraklion. Most French Catholics are buried in the Catholic churchyard of the monastery of St Francis in Canea, the majority of Russian Orthodox buried in the Greek Orthodox churchyard of Agios Konstantinos and Agia Eleni in Rethymno, the Russian/Polish Catholics in a separate, Catholic, graveyard across the road from their Orthodox colleagues.
However, two British soldiers, Corporal W. Ward, Army Service Corps, who died in Canea 28th October 1898 and Private H. J. Sharp, Royal Marine Light Infantry from H.M.S.Thetis, who died on 24th May 1898, are buried in the Orthodox churchyard of Agia Fotini, Canea 731 33, the Canea Municipal Cemetery.
While it is of course not impossible that both men were members of the Greek Orthodox church, it is unlikely, in particular since their names do not appear to indicate they were anything other than British in origin.
British Military Casualties incurred in Candia on or about 6th September 1898.
The following details, as far as possible the British military casualties of the rioting in Candia on 6th September 1898. These details are taken from a number of sources, among them newspapers of the time, some of which are now difficult to decipher. Where different spellings or army numbers have been given, the alternatives have been shown in [square brackets].
Sailors and marines.
Source: Aberdeen Press and Journal – Friday 9 September 1898
Killed
186546. Ordinary Seaman Henry Harry Andrews
150918. Leading Seaman William Berry
147607. Leading Seaman Albert John Champion
185289. Ordinary Seaman Alfred Bargew Stroud.
Wounded
167068. Able Seaman Griffith Thomas Cadwallader
160248. Able Seaman George Fredrick Hodges
178034. Able Seaman George Jonas Sarfent
7377. Private William Smith R.M.L.I., Plymouth
168261. Able Seaman John Fredrick Wiltshire
176756. Able Seaman John Wolley
148436. Able Seaman Charles Henry Wollocott
Army
1/Highland Light Infantry
Source: C9086 Turkey No. 7 1898. Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Crete.[1]
Killed
Lieutenant Robert John Alwynne Haldane
Wounded
Second Lieutenant William Henry-Erik Segrave
Source: The North British Daily Mail – Thursday 15 September 1898 p5. (Details of wounds given The Scotsman 1st October 1898 p.11)
Killed.
6462. Piper Murdoch Campbell, enlisted at Lanark on 17 June, 1897, and was in his 20th year.
6035. Private James Edwin Cox, enlisted at Hounslow on 10th October, 1895, and was within one month of 21 years of age. (Killed in harbour en route to S.S. Turquoise.[2])
6484. Robert M’Neill [MacNeill], enlisted at Hamilton on 26th August, 1897, and was in his 20th year.
6495. Private William Weston, enlisted at Edinburgh on 27th September 1897, and had just turned 19 years; a native of Edinburgh.
6259. Private Alexander Allison, enlisted at Hamilton on 17 December, 1896, and was in his 21st year.
6547. Private John Bell, enlisted at Hamilton on 29th January, 1896, and was nearly 23 years
5012, Private Robert Fiddler, enlisted by Sergeant-Major D. B. Mackenzie at Edinburgh and was in his 29th year; born at Buttevant, Cork, while his father was serving with the H. L. I., where the regiment was stationed. (Killed while returning from No.2 outpost.[4])
6310, Private George Rayne, enlisted at Aberdeen on the 31st December, 1896, and was in his 21st year. (Killed while returning from No.2 outpost.[5])
WOUNDED.
4448, Sergeant Crawford Ferguson, enlisted at Hounslow on 20th November, 1891, and is nearly 26 years of age. Wound on right arm.
3896 Sergeant Abraham Gray, enlisted at Edinburgh on 13th March, 1891, and is in his 27th year. A native of Edinburgh.
5352. Corporal James Rae, enlisted at Edinburgh on 28th June, 1894, and is in his 23rd year. By trade a plasterer and a native of Edinburgh. Wound on knee.
6482. Private Joseph Cassidy, enlisted at Hamilton on 20th August, 1897, and is 19 years of age.
6271. Private Frederick Henry Davey [Dovey], enlisted in London on 29th December 1896 and has just turned 20 years. Wounded on buttock.
4896 Private Duncan Fraser, enlisted at Glasgow on 22nd May, 1893, and has turned 23 years.
6848 [6498]. Private James Gordon, enlisted at Edinburgh on 30th September, 1897, and is in his 21st year. A native of Edinburgh.
6409, Private William Guthrie, enlisted at Hamilton on 16th January, 1897, and is 21 years of age.
6273. Private Frank Harding, enlisted in London 30th December, 1896, and is in his 21st year. Wounded on hip(dangerous).
6552. Private Charles Hargreaves, enlisted at Hamilton on 5th February, 1896, and is in his 21st year.
6233. Private Arthur Hunt, enlisted in London on 190 December 1896 and is barely 20 years of age. Wounded on left shoulder.
6589, Private Alexander Kay, a native of Armiston, Mid-Lothian, and a cabinetmaker by trade, enlisted at Edinburgh on 23rd March 1898, and is barely 20 years of age. Wounded on right shoulder, left side and foot.
5937. Private Ernest Larcombe, enlisted in London on 12th September 1895, and has just turned 21 years. Wounded on head and leg.
6080. Private [Piper] John Maclean [M’Lean], enlisted at Glasgow on 5th November, 1896, and is in his 22nd year.
5694 [5894], Private George Maskall, enlisted in London on 7 September 1895, and is in his 22nd year. Wounded on leg.
4793, Private Kenneth M’Donald, enlisted at Hamilton on 11th January, 1893, and is in his 24th year.
5891. Bugler Kenneth M’Kenzie, enlisted in London 5th September, 1895, and is in 22d year. Wounded on left forearm.
4863. Private James Murphy, enlisted at Hamilton on 14th April, 1893, and is in his 25th year. Wounded on knee.
6383. Private Hoy Nash, enlisted in London on 13 January, 1897, and was within a few months of 20 years. Wounded on leg.
6337. Private Joseph Perkins, enlisted at Birmingham on 6th January, 1897, and has nearly completed his 20th year. (Wounded in the leg while carrying the body of Lt. Haldane to S.S. Turquoise.[6])
4384. Private [Bandsman] Andrew Watson, enlisted at Glasgow as a boy on 25th September, 1891, and is in his 23rd year. Wounded on both thighs.
3160 [3140]. Private William Welsh [3140 Webb?], enlisted at Hamilton on 9th November, 189? And is 18 years of age.
Source: The Scotsman 1st October 1898 p.11
6415. Private A. Campbell. Wounded on back and ankle.
5525. Private J. Caldwell.
5520. Private D. Maule.
Other Soldiers wounded. Source: Edinburgh Evening News Saturday 10th September p.4.
Royal Army Medical Corps.
Lieutenant Thomas Henry Matthews Clarke. (Wounded at the British hospital attempting to save Private MacNeill.[7])
11,177 Private G. Biddiscombe.
Royal Engineers.
26,601 Sapper Richards.
The total dead and wounded:
Navy and marines – Four dead, seven wounded.
Army – Ten dead, 28 wounded
One final British casualty to be added to the list is No.2423, Colour-Sergeant J. Craig who was in the hospital when it was attacked. ‘Being in a very weak state from fever, the shock of removal proved too great, and he died in hospital in Malta.’[8]
Private Robert Fiddler.
The Edinburgh Evening News. Friday 16 September 1898.
ANOTHER EDINBURGH VICTIM OF THE CRETAN RIOTS. The portrait is that of Private Robert Fiddler, native of Ireland, but who resided the Stockbridge district of the city for a number of years. Fiddler was a member of the Highland Light Infantry, and was murdered Bashi-Bazouks while returning from the outposts at Candia, Crete. His father was also a soldier the regiment.
The number of British civilian casualties is unknown, but relatively small. British Consul Biliotti reported that he was only aware of three British subjects killed: Lyssimachus Calcherino, the British Vice-Consul in Candia, Vincent Carabott, the father of the Superintendent of the Eastern Telegraph Company office and Marie Camillieri, a Maltese washerwoman.[9] However, in his report Biliotti makes no mention of Calocherino’s family who also perished on that day.
Vice Consul Calocherino and his daughter.
The number of Cretan casualties, in particular Cretan Christians, killed or injured is also unknown and probably unknowable. No accurate figures are available of the population of Candia at that time; the town was full of Cretan Muslim refugees who had fled from the interior and there had been a continuing exodus of Cretan Christians from the town taking place over the previous months. It is, however, believed that up to 800 Cretans may have died on that day, all but a handful of them Cretan Christians.
[1] Parliamentary Command Paper C9086, Turkey No. 7, 1898. Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Crete. (Hereafter C.9086) Inclosure 2 in No. 91. Lt. Colonel Reid to Captain Hallett, 7th September 1898.
[7] Obituary in Journal of Royal Army Medical Corps.: First published as 10.1136/jramc-76-05-16 on 1 May 1941. http://militaryhealth.bmj.com. Accessed 12.15 hrs. June 20, 2021
On arrival in Crete in March 1897, one of the many problems faced by British troops was gaining access to drinking water. With Candia’s water supply on occasion under threat from insurgents breaching the aqueduct, and anyway being of doubtful quality, securing a constant supply of potable water proved to be a considerable strain on the resources of the Royal Navy. With 1½ gallons per man and 10 gallons per animal daily being the laid down requirement, it was necessary at one stage to use the Cunard liner S.S. Samaria, on hire to bring in a Mountain Battery from Malta, to anchor off Candia in order to supply the 3,000 or gallons per day required, and to supply tank-boats to transport the water into the harbour, the Samaria having too great a draught to enter.[1] To further complicate matters, the British Admiralty then suggested that the War Office pay for the hire since it appeared to them to be a ‘military service’ they were supplying to the Army.[2] The matter was resolved by the use of the hired vessel SS Turquoise as a distillation vessel, anchored inside the harbour walls in Candia.
Built in Glasgow by John Shearer and Sons and launched in 1893, the Turquoise was a 165 foot long, 590 dwt, iron and steel, screw driven general coaster and hired out to the Navy by its owners, Walker Henderson and Company.[3] According to the records of Lloyds of London, she was surveyed in the Port of London on 22 September 1897 immediately prior to going to Crete, and then again in H.M. Dockyard Chatham on 4 May 1899 upon her return. On this occasion the distilling apparatus was removed.[4]
As it turned out, the Turquoise was to play a part in ensuring the survival of, not only the troops to whom it supplied drinking water, but also the men stranded within the harbour during the rioting on 6th September 1898.
According to contemporary accounts, the British troops who had been at the Town gate entrance to the harbour when the fighting started, sailors from H.M.S. Hazard and soldiers of 1/Highland Light Infantry, on being forced to retreat from the gate, were split into two groups. One party retreated to, and were trapped in and around, the Dime, the Customs House they had been attempting to take over. The other group were forced to make their way from the Town gate along the harbour mole to the relative safety of the Turquoise, moored almost immediately across the harbour, opposite the Dime. Here the men held out for several hours, under fire all the time from Bashi Bazouks on the harbour wall and in the houses across the harbour.
Candia map. Events 6 September 1898. FO78 4934Candia map The Globe 16 September 1898
There appear to be no descriptions of what occurred on board the Turquoise during the riot, but there exist several accounts of her role in the immediate aftermath.
“The Turquoise, condensing ship, was moored in the port, and she had to disconnect her distillers and couple up her engines before moving. The Governor [Edem Pasha] gave safe conduct to the British to go round the port and on board the Turquoise, but no help was given with the wounded…Refugees began to arrive on board, and when finally the Turquoise steamed out, her upper deck was covered with wounded and dead, and also with frightened Cretans, including half-a-dozen women and some babies and children.”[5]
“Firing on both sides stopped at once. We got the wounded into the boats first and made the Turkish soldiers row them over to the Turquoise, which had got up steam. We then marched round the harbour to her and all got on board. She then steamed out of the harbour.”[6]
“They did not succeed in getting the Turquoise out of the harbour until ten o’clock. They found then that she had four bluejackets, four soldiers, and one officer dead on board, and nearly 70 wounded, of whom 10 were bluejackets and over 50 soldiers, the remainder being Christian refugees.” [7]
“The [H.M.S.] Astraea (Captain Berry) arrived after midnight…All that could be done was to send assistance to the “Turquoise” where Dr. Maillard was singlehanded and the relief party who boarded her with surgical materials and food and clothing at 2 a.m. had a busy night’s work, continued till past daybreak. The Captain of the Turquoise [Captain Richard Shaw] rendering valuable help… [The following day, 7th September] The Turquoise was cleared of her wounded, who went on board the war vessels, and she then steamed out to the open sea, and buried the dead there. ”[8]
Although no British civilians were granted any formal award for their bravery on that day, in recognition of the part played by (civilian) Captain Richard Shaw of the Turquoise in keeping the men safe, the Admiralty presented him with a silver cup, now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Cup presented to Captain Shaw by the Admiralty.
According to the NMM website, “the cup has acanthus leaf decoration on the base of the bowl and on the lid and loop handles, and a border of scrolling foliage around the top of the bowl. It stands on a round foot decorated with a border of leaves, and the tall lid has a fir-cone finial. The cup is gilt on the inside. The side of the bowl is inscribed ‘PRESENTED BY THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY TO Captain Richard Shaw OF THE STEAMSHIP “Turquoise” in recognition of his valuable services to Her Majesty’s Naval and Military Forces at Kandia, Crete, on the 6th September 1898’. The foot is inscribed ‘ELKINGTON & CO LTD SILVERSMITHS TO THE QUEEN, 22 REGENT ST LONDON'”
On return from Crete in 1899, the Turquoise reverted to her previous role as a general cargo carrier.
On 2 July 1915 she was taken over by the Royal Navy and commissioned as Fleet messenger No.30,[9] and it was as such she met her doom on 31 July 1915. On this occasion two Admiralty fleet messengers sailing in company from Glasgow under sealed orders, bound for Dardanelles, were sunk by U.28 (Kapitänleutnant Georg-Günther Freiherr von Forstner). In the afternoon that day, the Turquoise, flying the naval Pennant No. Y4.30, with a crew of 15 under the command of Lt. John Mc Nicol RNR, sighted the U.28 surfaced on starboard bow. The submarine rapidly approached and ordered Turquoise to stop. The Turquoise refused to do so, but attempted to ram the U.28, which opened fire at around 1600, making several hits. The Turquois was immediately abandoned and sank at 1615, 60 miles SW of The Scillies. The chief engineer was killed by gunfire and two crew wounded; however, the survivors were picked up by a patrol trawler and landed at St Mary’s the next day. The accompanying vessel, SS Nugget, was sunk later that evening by the U.28.[10]
U.28. Photographs taken from the deck of one of her prizes.
The U.28 in action. Photographs taken from the deck of one of her victims.[11]
Post Scripts.
The self-sinking submarine.
From 1 August 1914 to 14 June 1916, U.28 was under the command of Kapitänleutnant Von Forstner and had a very successful career, sinking 24 ships, capturing two and damaging a further two.[12] Her successes continued under different commanders until 2 September 1917. On this day, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Georg Schmidt, while off the northern coast of Norway she attacked and sank the S.S. Olive Branch,[13] sinking herself in the process! Unfortunately for the U.28, the Olive Branch was carrying supplies and munitions to Russia and when, having hit the Olive Branch with a torpedo, the U.28 closed in to complete her destruction with gunfire, a shell from the submarine exploded the ammunition. According to differing accounts, the blast of the explosion either destroyed the submarine outright, or blew a lorry being carried as deck cargo into the air which then landed on the submarine, sinking her. Either way, she went down with all hands.
The submarine and the Sea Monster
In 1933, by now long promoted and retired, Korvettenkapitän Von Forstnergave an account of an encounter which he alleged occurred the day before the U.28 sank the Turquoise. Speaking to a German newspaper he stated: “On July 30, 1915, our U-28 torpedoed the British steamer Iberian, which was carrying a rich cargo across the North Atlantic. The steamer sank so swiftly that its bow stuck up almost vertically into the air. Moments later the hull of the Iberian disappeared. The wreckage remained beneath the water for approximately twenty-five seconds, at a depth that was clearly impossible to assess, when suddenly there was a violent explosion, which shot pieces of debris – among them a gigantic aquatic animal – out of the water to a height of approximately 80-feet. “At that moment I had with me in the conning tower six of my officers of the watch, including the chief engineer, the navigator, and the helmsman. Simultaneously we all drew one another´s attention to this wonder of the seas, which was writhing and struggling among the debris. We were unable to identify the creature, but all of us agreed that it resembled an aquatic crocodile, which was about 60-feet long, with four limbs resembling large webbed feet, a long, pointed tail and a head which also tapered to a point. Unfortunately, we were not able to take a photograph, for the animal sank out of sight after ten or fifteen seconds.” [14]
Artists impression of the U. 28 ‘Sea Monster’.
Fortunately for the current writer’s sanity, this account has been thoroughly debunked by the Fortean Times, while an interesting take on the ‘evolution’ of the illustration of the mythical monster can be found here.
[1] ADM 116/88. No. 95, Admiralty to Commander in Chief Malta 15 April 1897, Harris to Admiralty un-numbered, 18 April 1897 and response appended to telegram Harris to Director of Transport Admiralty 20 April 1897.
[2] ADM 116/88. No. 141. Commander in Chief Malta to Admiralty 10 April 1897.
[6] The People. 2 October 1898, p.18. From internal evidence this is from an account written by one of the crew of H.M.S. Hazard who was one of the original landing party present in the Dime throughout the events of 6th September.
[7] The Rugby Advertiser. 20 September 1898, p.2. ‘The following account of the fighting at Candia is from a private letter written on board H.M.S. Astraea which been sent to the Times with permission to publish. The letter is dated Candia, September 9.’
In November 1897, after much diplomatic negotiation, Abhakara Kiartivongse, Prince of Chumphon, Siam (Thailand), the 28th child of King Rama V of Siam and a commoner mother, was sent to train with the Royal Navy. Initially serving as a Midshipman onboard H.M.S. Revenge, he was transferred off the vessel to Malta in September 1898, immediately prior to the Revenge set sail for Candia to assist in the aftermath of the riots of 6th September.
Abhakara Kiartivongse, Prince of Chumphon (19 December 1880 – 19 May 1923)
The fact that he apparently never set foot on Crete did not stop another Siamese Naval Officer stating in, what appears to be rather more of a hagiography than a biography, that:
‘The Prince used to tell a story of when he was a student in [the Royal Navy] and how he had the opportunity to put down the rioting on the island of Crete. For three months he had to eat and sleep outdoors in the cold. On the battlefield, he had to sleep among the corpses of the recently killed. And sometimes he went without food. He had to eat snails that he caught and fried with opnions. The corpses of those who had been shot in their guts smelled terrible, even the ones who had just died.’ [1]
Richard A. Ruth, the author of the article[2] from which the above quote is taken, is clear that the intention of the original author is to show the Prince in a good light as a heroic figure and one of the founders of the modern Siamese Navy. However, while accepting that Abhakara never took part in any actions on, or off, Crete, referring to the events immediately after 6th September, Ruth goes on to state that:
‘The Royal Marines that this flotilla put ashore at Heraklion fought armed Turks throughout the city. Within months, the British forces had put down the elements that had attacked Heraklion and expelled all remaining Turkish forces from the island.’
Just for the record, the Royal Marines did not ‘[fight] armed Turks throughout the city’, let alone for ‘months’.
In additiion, snails fried with onions are delicious!
[1] Aphi det Aphakon, M.R. Luang pu suk kap krommaluang Chumphon [Luang pu Suk and the Prince of Chumphon]. Bankok Comma Design & Print 2009.
[2] Ruth, Richard A. “Prince Abhakara’s Experiences with Britain’s Royal Navy: Education, Geopolitical Rivalries and the Role of a Cretan Adventure in Apotheosis.” Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, vol. 34, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26594523. Accessed 25 Feb. 2021.
Reports, albeit somewhat inaccurate, of the events in Candia (Iraklion) on 6th September 1898 were published in British newspapers the following day.[1] However, it took the bureaucracy of the British Army some time to catch up, particularly when it came to rewarding the troops concerned. It wasn’t until January the following year that the following despatch appeared in the London Gazette, the official journal of the British government.
THE following Despatch has been received, through the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Malta, from. Major-General Sir H. C. Chermside, G.C.M.G., C.B., Commanding the British Troops in Crete:
Kandia,, December 16, 1898.
Sir, I have the honour to submit the following report as to the services of the Officers and others present when the British Troops in Kandia were attacked on 6th September, 1898. I was not present in Crete on that date, but in subsequently forwarding copies of the reports despatched by Colonel F. M. Reid, Highland Light Infantry, Officer Commanding Troops and Acting British Commissioner, I had no hesitation in endorsing his opinion as to the coolness, steadiness, and gallantry of all concerned, during a most difficult and dangerous crisis.
The Infantry called on to defend themselves, with the assistance of other detachments, against this sudden, general, and treacherous attack, all belonged to the 1st Battalion Highland Light Infantry, and behaved in a manner worthy of the traditions of this distinguished corps.
I recommend for favourable consideration the services of the following:
Highland Light Infantry.
Colonel F. M. Reid.
Major I. C. Conway-Gordon.
Captain A. G. Balfour.
Captain A. F. Lambton.
Captain E. R, Hill.
Captain and Adjutant J. W. A. Cowan.
Captain G. E. Begbie.
Second Lieutenant W. H. E. Segrave (wounded).
Quartermaster-Sergeant S. McNeill.
Colour Sergeant A.-Colville.
Colour-Sergeant J. B. Cameron.
Sergeant A. Gray (wounded).
Sergeant R. Murray.
Sergeant D. Christie.
Sergeant E. B. Underwood.
Corporal J. MacLean.
Corporal J. C. Harland.
Private D. Fraser (wounded).
Private W. Mason.
Private R. Jordan.
Private W. Guthrie (severely wounded).
Private Jos. Perkins (wounded).
Private W. Johnstone.
Royal Engineers,
Lieutenant M. R. Kennedy.
Sergeant G. Smith.
Royal Army Medical Corps.
Lieutenant L. Addams-Williams.
Lieutenant T. H. M. Clarke (wounded).
Private D. Philemon.
Private G. H. Lowden.
Private G. Leggatt.
Private G. Biddiscombe (wounded).
Army Service Corps.
Sergeant G. Gordon.
I have, &c.,
HERBERT CHERMSIDE,
Major-General.
Wounded from Crete in the Highland Light infantry at the Valletta Military Hospital, Malta. (Navy and Army Illustrated Vol VII No 101 page 399, 7 January 1899.)
The Queen has been graciously pleased to give orders for the following appointments to the Distinguished Service Order, and promotions in the Army, in recognition of the services of the undermentioned Officers during the outbreak in Kandia on the 6th September 1898. The promotions to bear date 8th March, 1899.
To be Companions of the Distinguished Service Order: —
Captain James William Alston Cowan, the Highland Light Infantry.
Lieutenant Macdougall Ralston Kennedy, Royal Engineers.
Lieutenant Thomas Henry Matthews Clarke, Royal Army Medical Corps.
Second Lieutenant William Henry-Erik Segrave, the Highland Light Infantry.
BREVET.
To be Lieutenant-Colonel: –
Major I. C. Conway-Gordon, the Highland Light Infantry.
To be Majors: –
Captain A.- G. Balfour, the Highland Light Infantry.
Captain G. E. Begbie, the Highland Light Infantry.
The Queen has further been pleased to approve the grant of the medal for Distinguished Conduct in the Field to the undermentioned: –
Royal Engineers.
Sergeant G. Smith.
The Highland Light Infantry.
Colour-Sergeant A. Colville.
Sergeant A. Gray.
Private W. Guthrie.
Army Service Corps.
Sergeant G. Gordon.
Royal Army Medical Corps.
Private G. Biddiscombe.
The Queen has also been graciously pleased to approve of the following promotions in the Army, in recognition of the services of the undermentioned Officers during the occupation of Crete, dated 8th March, 1899: –
Lieutenant-Colonel R. B. Mainwaring, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
To be Major: –
Captain Sir H. W. McMahon, Bart., D.S.O., the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
ADDITIONAL NOTICE.
Lieutenant C. M. Dobell, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, is noted for consideration for the
Brevet rank of Major, on promotion to the rank of Captain.
An analysis of the distribution of ‘mentions in despatches’, medals and promotions awarded after the events of 6th September illustrates the social hierarchy of the late Victorian Army. In 1898 1/Highland Light Infantry while based in Malta prior to and after, its deployment in Crete consisted of a strength of approximately 700 Officers and men,[5] the overwhelming number of whom would be enlisted men and N.C.O.s. In spite of this, one third of those mentioned in the despatch, 11 out of 32, were offices, and of those given some recognition for their bravery that day, seven were officers and six were other ranks. (The brevet promotions for the Royal Welsh Fusiliers were unconnected with the events of 6 September, the RWF returning to Crete, having served there from April 18907 to August 1898, as part of the reinforcements sent following the riots.) The inclusion of so many members of the Royal Army Medical Corps in the official Despatch reflects the fact that one of the significant locations for fighting on the 6th Sepember was around the British military hospital.
The Distinguished Conduct Medal, post-nominal letters DCM, was established in 1854 by Queen Victoria as a decoration for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranking below the Victoria Cross, until its discontinuation in 1993. Coming with a gratuity paid on the recipients discharge from the army, all medals awarded bore the recipient’s number, rank, name and unit on the rim.
Distinguished Conduct Medal, Victorian version.
Distinguished Conduct Medal, Victorian version. (Later versions had the Monarch’s head on the reverse)
The Distinguished Conduct Medal awarded to Private William Guthrie, 1/ Highland Light Infantry, came up for sale in 2016.
Distingushed Conduct Medal awarded to Private William Guthrie, 1/Highland Light Infantry.
The following biographical details of Guthrie were recorded at the time of sale:
William Guthrie was born in Ayr, and attested for the Highland Light Infantry at Hamilton, in January 1897. He was discharged, 17 October 1899, as a consequence of the gunshot wound that he received at Kandia. The latter was ‘received in action at Crete 6.9.98… defending the military hospital when wounded… Bullet appears to have entered one sternal end of 1st rib passed outwards under the clavicle (right-side) making its exit on the outer side of arm 2 inches below point of shoulder.’ (Medical Report refers)
Guthrie had only served for 2 years and 239 days with the Colours, with the D.C.M. being his only medallic entitlement.[6]
The Royal Navy also rewarded their personnel for their bravery that day. The highest British award for bravery in the armed services, the Victoria Cross, was given to Royal Naval Surgeon William Maillard.
[1] Cf The Morning Post, London, 7 September 1898, p.4.
[4] A Brevet promotion was an honorary, and temporary, promotion for bravery or distinguished conduct. It did not confer any seniority within the recipient’s regiment.
By September 1898, British and European troops were firmly ensconced on Crete having arrived there in response to an increase in intercommunal violence brought about, in part, by the landing of Greek forces attempting to support a Cretan Christian attempt to unite the island with Greece. Initially welcomed, or at least accepted, by the bulk of the Cretan Muslim population, by September the British contingent consisted a number of ships of the Royal Navy and a battalion of the Highland light Infantry; the latter consisting of about 370 men based in Candia (Iraklion), some 200 in outpost positions outside the town and a further 180 in Canea.[1] Effective political control of the island was vested in the Council of Admirals, the commanders of the European naval forces.
The Admirals were faced with numerous problems, one of which was the lack of funds available to them to take any effective steps to introduce any type of civilian administration be it Christian or Muslim controlled. In an attempt to overcome this shortage of cash, at the end of August, apparently at the suggestion of the Russian Admiral,[2] the decision was taken to commandeer the islands customs revenues, to occupy the Dimes, the Cretan customs houses; dismissing the Muslim staff and replacing them with Christians. Such a decision was never going to be popular with Cretan Muslims; not only would they be losing control of lucrative jobs and assets at a time when the coastal towns were packed with unemployed Muslim refugees from the interior of the island, but also their replacements would be the Christians who had previously been subordinate to them.
The takeover went without too much incident in Canea and Rethymno, but on 6th September when it was attempted in Candia, things went horribly wrong.
Candia September 1898
On the morning of 6th September 1898 (25th August old style), Lt. Colonel Francis Maude Reid, commander of the 1st Battalion Highland Light Infantry, along with an officer and some 20 men proceeded to the Dime office in Candia harbour and attempted to secure the customs building. On arrival at the Dime, Reid engaged in an argument with Major W.S. Churchill, head of the Gendarmarie, who initially refused to allow Reid to enter. Churchill eventually left and Reid and his party took over the building. While Reid was in the office, a crowd of protesters tried to force their way through the harbour gates which were being secured by a small group of HLI soldiers. In the scuffle, three soldiers were fatally stabbed and confused firing broke out from Bashi Bazooks, armed Cretan Muslim irregulars, who had gathered in the vicinity to protest the takeover. (While Ottoman regular troops stationed in the area appeared to take no part in the ensuing violence, Edhem Pasha, the kaimakam, chief Ottoman civil officer in Candia, was allegedly seen in the area haranguing the crowd.)
Edhem Pasha
Reid’s party, joined by several men who had been guarding the nearby Eastern Telegraph office and horse lines, were now besieged in the Dime and under fire. The British soldiers, who had been joined by a small number of Cretan Christians, barricaded themselves into the building. There they remained, constantly under fire, while attempts were made to evacuate them by ships’ boats from HMS Hazard and HMS Hazel, British gunboats stationed in the bay.
Candia Harbour. September 1898
Taking part in this evacuation was Royal Naval Surgeon William Maillard whose actions were reported later in the London Gazette:
On the 6th September 1898, during the landing of seamen from Her Majesty’s Ship “Hazard” Surgeon Maillard, who had disembarked and reached a place of safety, returned through a perfect deluge of bullets into the boat and endeavoured to bring into safety Arthur Stroud, Ordinary Seaman, who had fallen back wounded into the boat as the other men jumped ashore. Surgeon Maillard failed to bring Stroud in only through the boat being adrift, and it being beyond his strength to lift the man (who was almost dead) out of so unstable a platform. Surgeon Maillard returned to his post with his clothes riddled with bullets, though he himself was unhurt.[3]
Surgeon William Maillard winning the VC.
For his bravery, William Maillard was invested with a Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 15th December 1898; the only member of the Royal Naval Medical Service to receive a VC.
While the fighting was taking place around the harbour, the HLI encampment at the western end of the town came under attack from Bashi Bazooks who opened fire from previously loophole houses overlooking the camp. In spite of taking casualties the British troops in the camp, under the command of Major Conway-Gordon, maintained their fire-discipline and the order not to return fire unless deliberately fired upon was obeyed.
Throughout the whole of the day, the Ottoman troops stood by and made no effort either to attack the British or to intervene to prevent their co-religionists from attacking them and the situation in the town was only brought under control when British warships began to bombard the town. At around 5pm, with much of the area around the harbour in flames, either as a result of the actions of the Muslims or the British bombardment, Edhem Pasha reappeared in the town, the Muslim firing immediately stopped and Ottoman troops belatedly commenced restoring order. By about 6.30 pm, with the passive aid of Ottoman troops who had themselves taken casualties from the Bashi-bazooks fire, the British had fallen back from their encampment onto the Ottoman fort from where joint British /Ottoman patrols were sent to clear the ramparts. By 7 pm, after the arrival of reinforcements in the form of a further 100 Ottoman troops, the firing died down.[4] The besieged in the Dime, still including Col. Reid, were escorted by Edem Pasha to the other side of the harbour and to the water purification vessel Turquoise, from where, at about 8 pm, they were eventually transferred to H.M.S. Hazard.[5]
Fourteen British troops were killed that day and 39 severely wounded. However, the true of Cretan casualties remains unknown. Holland estimates that 29 Cretan Muslims died, as did an estimated 800 Christian Cretans out of a population of approximately 1000,[6] Senisik, however, gives figures ranging from 153 Cretan Christian dead according to Ottoman sources, to 600, according to British sources.[7] To complicate the matter further, the overall commander of British troops on Crete, Major General Herbert Chermside, had reported several months earlier that there were less than 500 Cretan Christians in Candia.[8] All that can be said for certain is that the Cretan Christian dead numbered in their hundreds.
British retribution was remorseless. Further troops were sent to Crete and initially a cordon was thrown around Candia to prevent Christian Cretans seeking revenge on the Muslim population of the town. Under the threat of further bombardment, the Ottoman authorities were forced to pull down any houses that had been loop-holed and on 16 September the Admirals decreed that civilian disarmament was to be completed within four days. Ottoman troops were evicted from their fortress and, except for a few allowed to remain as an honour guard for the Ottoman flag, confined to their barracks, while Edhem Pasha was forced to leave the island. Some 140 Cretan Muslims suspected of being involved in the murders of the British troops were rounded up and held on British warships awaiting trial.
Cretan Muslim prisoners on board H. M. S. Isis
Seven men accused of the murder of British troops were tried by British Court-Martial on 13th, 14th and 15th of October.
Trial of Candia Rioters. ILN 5 Nov. 1898.
All were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. The executions took place on 18th October; the men being hanged on a public scaffold built onto the walls of Candia, members of the HLI acting as executioners.[9] A further Court-martial of 10 men followed and on 29th October, a further five Muslims were hanged. Those accused of the murder of British civilians, most notably the British Vice Consul Lyssimachos Kalokairinos, and of armed riot, were tried by a British ‘Military Commission.’ This held two trials of 21 men. Five were found guilty and hanged from the ramparts on 7th November.[10]
Memorial to Lysimaxos Kalokairnos. Agios Constantine and Eleni Cemetery, Iraklion
For the murder of Vice Consul Calocherino, three men were hanged. One of them, Klklrida(?) was a negro. The other two were Mahomodan natives, named Abdalaki and Vitorail. They were blind folded before being led onto a bridge connecting the platform of the scaffold with some high ground. The executions were carried out without disturbances. These were the last executions that took place in Candia.[11]
Crossing the Bridge of al Sirat. The Graphic 3 December 1898.
Crossing the ” Bridge of al Sirat.” (The Graphic wrongly states that 3 men were hanged. In fact 5 were executed on this occasion.)
Sixty other Cretan Muslims were also taken to Canea and tried by an International Tribunal for the murder of Cretan Christians during the riot. Two were found guilty and sentenced to death. In a deliberate attempt to ensure that the message riot and murder would meet with retribution was known throughout the island, the two guilty men were publicly shot:
It is rare nowadays that the British Tommy experiences the thrill of horror at seeing a comrade shot. Mr Kipling’s mere description of the hanging of Danny Deever is thrilling enough. But Tommy was vouchsafed the experience of seeing two Turks shot in Crete the other day. They had been involved in the massacre at Candia last September, and condemned to be shot. So at eight o’clock in the morning of Nov.3 they were taken to Canea and surrounded by the four Powers, England, France Italy and Russia, mustered a hundred strong each, and drawn up on three sides of a square. Three men were selected from each of the Powers, two for the front rank and one in reserve, to shoot the prisoners. So Kaider Ismaneki and Halil Araf Haliaki took their seats with their backs to the firing party. The Commandant’s sabre fell, and in an instant they dropped dead.[12]
Execution of rioters. Canea 23 November 1898.
The ramifications of the outbreak of violence went beyond the immediate vicinity of Candia. It was now determined that not only would all Cretan Muslims be disarmed, but also that all Ottoman troops would be required to leave the island by noon on 5th November; effectively ending Ottoman rule on the island. While the Sultan was still had de jure sovereignty over the island and the Ottoman flag was to remain flying, henceforth the protection of the Cretan Muslim population, and the Ottoman flag, would be in the hands of the European powers.
Post Script: In addition to the VC awarded that day to Surgeon Maillard, the Highland Light Infantry, having lost one officer and nine soldiers killed and had one officer, two sergeants, one corporal, two pipers and nineteen soldiers wounded, had eight officers and fifteen rank and file mentioned in dispatches, two officers appointed to the Distinguished Service Order, four Brevet promotions and three other ranks awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.[13]
[1] Oatts L.B. (1961) Proud Heritage. The story of the Highland Light Infantry Vol.3 The House of Grant. Glasgow. Chapt.3
[2] Holland R & Markides D (2006) The British and the Hellenes. Struggles for Mastery in the Eastern Mediterranean.1850 – 1960. Oxford University Press. Oxford. p.100.
[4] National Archives FO 78/4934. Major Conway-Gordon to Officer Commanding British Troops, 7th September 1898.
[5] National Archives ADM 116/93, Vol. 2. Despatch 14 September 1898, No.1. Lieutenant Colonel Reid to captain Hallett, 7 September 1898 in Telegram No. 60, Biliotti to Salisbury, 7 September 1898.
[6] Holland R & Markides D (2006) The British and the Hellenes. Struggles for Mastery in the Eastern Mediterranean.1850 – 1960. Oxford University Press. Oxford. p.101.
[7] Senisik, The Transformation of Ottoman Crete, p.309 foot-note 75.
[8] Turkey No.9, 1897. No.8. Chermside to Salibury, 17 April 1897.
[9] Oatts L.B. (1961) Proud Heritage. The story of the Highland Light Infantry Vol.3 The House of Grant. Glasgow. Chapt.3
[10] C9233 Turkey No 1 1899. Inclosure No.19. Rear Admiral Noel to Admiralty, 7 November 1898.
On arrival in Crete in 1897, British troops were faced problems in addition to those of keeping the peace between two rival, and antagonistic, groups of the population, and preventing a ‘foreign’ takeover of the island. Located for the most part in Candia (Iraklion) with small detachments in villages close to the town and a token force in Canea, the troops were quartered on the ramparts of the Venetian walls surrounding the town.
Location of British Troops in Candia 1898.
The town itself was overburdened with an influx of Muslim refugees fleeing from the Cretan Christian insurrectionists, bringing the population up from an estimated 20,000 to an estimated 40,000. Surrounded by the Christian fighters and initially threatened with attack from Greek forces landed on Crete early that year, the already primitive sanitary arrangements within Candia which had suffered from centuries of Ottoman neglect, came close to collapse, and in doing so added another danger not only to the inhabitants, but to the British troops. From the point of view of the British Army, over the period of their presence in Crete, 1897 to 1909, the greatest danger they faced came not from the threat of Cretan or Greek violence, but from disease, much of it the result of the unsanitary condition within Candia town. The situation in Canea, though similar, was not as extreme as far as the British were concerned. Not only were there fewer refugees in the town, but by the end of June 1897, the small number of British troops in Canea were relocated from inside the town to a tented encampment in Halepa, some 3 Km outside the town.[i]
Layout of Seaforth Highlanders’ camp, Halepa. 1897.
Drawing on the annual Army Medical Reports presented to the British Parliament each year, and the ‘Report on Sanitary Work in Candia, Crete’ produced in February 1899 by Lieutenant T. H. M. Clarke, R. A. M. C., the Sanitary Officer for Candia, it is possible to construct a picture of the sanitary conditions under which the population, and the British garrison, co-existed. On arrival in Candia, the British were faced with a scene in which:
“Kandia (…) was found in a deplorable sanitary condition. An epidemic of smallpox was raging and decaying offal littered the streets in great heaps as practically no attempt at conservancy was made. The town is partially drained, but the only adequate sewers are the main ones built by the Venetians, the subsidiary ones, of more recent origin, being square in section and built of rough unhewn stone without mortar in many instances. They consequently permit the escape of the fluid portion of the sewage, and quickly become blocked. Some houses are supplied with water closets of ancient and inefficient pattern, but in those of the poor, a cesspit is dug under the boundary wall, partly in the house or its courtyard and partly in the street. These pits are mere holes in the ground and unlined in any way, and so, permitting the absorption of their fluid contents, do not require to be emptied often. They are covered with a few sticks and old mats, on which earth, frequently the dried contents of the pit at its last emptying, is heaped. The ventilation of the drains and those pits is naturally free into the streets and houses. The subsoil is everywhere saturated with the filth of age, and it is rare to see clean soil turned up anywhere in the town. Every street corner is used as a urinal and the streets themselves as latrines by the juvenile population at all times, and by their seniors under the cover of night. The principle streets of the town which alone are fit for vehicular traffic are paved with large flat granite setts and are broad and airy; all the others are narrow and tortuous and paved with rough cobble stones…
The immediate neighbourhood of the town outside the walls, which apparently had always been used for the deposit of refuse and dead animals, was polluted to such an extent that an excursion outside the gates was a most unpleasant experience. Much of the ground was immediately below, and partly to windward, of our camp on the ramparts. On the beach to the west, but outside the town, the municipal abattoir is situated, and the carcases are brought into the town, uncovered, on donkey back, often through clouds of putrescent dust from the polluted area just mentioned. The condition of this building was so bad that it was necessary to erect a private slaughterhouse for the use of the troops and, to avoid the dust, to provide a covered cart for the conveyance of the meat to camp.”[ii]
While lack of money played a major factor in the state of the town, ‘[t]he expenditure of the Municipal authorities…amounted to exactly £18 yearly; the expense of keeping a ramshackle cart in use which was more often on the sick list than off,’ added to which ‘the Public Health Officer of the port of Candia, whose duty it was to give the vessels arriving […] pratique [the authority to enter the port on the ship being declared free of infectious disease], had been a leper for eighteen years;’[iii] a more novel explanation was provided by ‘a leading Christian doctor in Candia, an able and cultured medical practitioner.’ According to this account, while overcrowding brought about by Muslims fleeing from the rebellion in the countryside and from the Sitia massacres clearly played its part in the deterioration of conditions within the town, there was another, less obvious, contributor.
‘The orthodox Moslem, owing to the frequent ablutions and hot baths prescribed to him by his religion, keeps his body clean, but in every other respect his habits of cleanliness, either in his indoor or his outdoor life, are very unsatisfactory. On the other hand, Moslem country people, being for the most part affiliated to the sect of “Becktasheeys,” [Baktashi] which dispenses with the precept of prayer, and consequently with ablutions, are still less apt to feel horror of filth and dirt. Therefore soon after the arrival in town of the country people, it was reduced to a vast cloaca and centre of infection.’[iv]
Before accepting this explanation, relying as it does on the alleged uncleanliness of the Muslim Cretans, it is worth bearing in mind the description of Cretan Christian refugees, provided by a possibly less biased observer than ‘a leading Christian Doctor.’ Some of these Christian refugees, returning from Greece where they had fled during the revolution, arriving in Candia at a rate of over 600 per day and forced to and forced to live in overcrowded conditions in the Greek Cathedral, were described as ‘villagers with habits and customs not much superior to animals.’[v] It would appear that the gap between the sanitary habits and practices of the townspeople and those from the countryside was more significant than between Christian and Muslim.
The existence and continuation of such insanitary conditions were clearly of great concern to the British Army given both their proximity to the British encampment on the walls of the town, and the need for British troops to pass through to town when carrying out their peace-keeping duties. The response, initiated in August 1897 ‘in anticipation of partial autumnal rains likely to be followed by hot still weather,’ was to engage twelve native scavengers under the control of a British N. C. O., to remove, bury, or burn the refuse heaps outside the walls. In September, a grant of £150 per month from the British Government was sanctioned ‘to take over the conservancy of the town.’[vi] However, given the political situation on the island, security implications – European troops were at this time ordered never to go into the towns alone or unarmed – and presumably the necessity for British troops not to be seen doing menial tasks which might imply their subservience to the local population, it was decided that British personnel could not be employed on such duties within Candia town; only outside the town walls. As a consequence, under the supervision and direction of the Army’s Chief Medical Officer, in 1897 Surgeon – Major Babtie, municipal and gendarmerie employees, headed by a gendarmerie lieutenant, were engaged to clean up the town.
The town was divided into districts and each district allocated a team consisting of an overseer, sweepers and sewermen each team with a number of mules or donkeys and their drivers. Though not carrying out any major works of a permanent nature, using these teams,
The accumulations of refuse were gradually removed, and a regular system of scavenging introduced, the drains repaired and cleaned as far as possible, streets mended where dangerous to life or limb, filthy corners, and, wherever possible, houses occupied by refugees washed with quicklime, cesspits, wherever the owners were unable to do so themselves, emptied, dead animals removed from the streets and buried, etc. The result was a ‘considerable improvement… effected in the condition of the town.’[vii]
The monthly grant was continued in 1898 and the system for cleaning the town maintained in spite of is suspension for a short period immediately following the outbreak of rioting on September 6th 1898,[viii] during which the interpreter to the British Sanitary Officer was murdered. The work recommenced in October, the British taking over full responsibility for the sanitation in the town in November with the eviction of all Ottoman forces and administrators from the island. The situation with respect to the health of British troops was exacerbated following the riots by the arrival of British reinforcements; raising the numbers camped on the ramparts from 500 to 5,000, and including three regiments ‘fresh from the short but arduous campaign on the Nile, where the seeds of enteric and dysentery were widely sown’[ix]
No reference is made to the monthly sanitary grant in the report for 1899, with the arrival of the High Commissioner Prince George in December 1898 and the provision of British and European loans to the new authority, the grant came to an end. With the ending of the International Provisional Administration on the island in July 1899 and the passing over of civilian authority to the new regime, responsibility for the sanitary condition of the town was handed over to the Cretan Autonomous State – albeit with the exception of ‘a strip of the town 50 yards deep from the ramparts where the British camp was situated, the three Venetian sewers, the ditches behind the camp and the large refuse heap outside the Canea gate.’[x] The retention of responsibility for the 50 yard strip of ground within the town walls was probably in order to maintain a degree of security given the events of the previous September, as well as to enable the British authorities to continue their campaign attempting to eradicate mosquitoes from the vicinity for the camp; malaria being one of the most significant contributors to the debility of British troops. The inclusion of the ditches behind the camp appears to be related to their previous use as a dumping ground for dead animals and their being the only place in Candia suitable as a recreation ground for the British garrison. The British clean-up of the moat does not appear to have been as successful as the Parliamentary Reports initially implied, this recreational area being not only inadequate in size but also ‘unhealthy’ in the summer and autumn. The British also retained the right to periodically inspect the rest of the town, in order to bring sanitary defects to notice of the authorities. While not specifically mentioning who is actually carrying out the cleaning work in Candia town, the report does makes reference to convict labour being to assist sanitary staff.[xi]
In 1900 the sanitary state of Candia was reported to have been ‘on the whole… satisfactory’[xii] but in October 1901, during a visit by the Principal Medical Officer, Malta Command, it was suggested that the deposit of the town refuse be moved further from the camp. At the time it wasn’t found possible to find a site to the east of the town so arrangements were put in hand for the old site to be abandoned and the soil pits and refuse heaps moved away to the west.[xiii] However, by the following year, 1902, with the town still being kept ‘superficially clean, and some of the main thoroughfares…remade so it [was] possible for them to be used by wheeled traffic,’ the refuse from the town was now being disposed of at a site ‘beyond the Christian cemetery to the east of the town and camp.’[xiv]
Little mention is made of the sanitary condition in the Reports of 1903 and 1904, though reference is made to the continuing mosquito eradication campaign in the vicinity of the British encampment. By 1905, the conditions in Candia were described as ‘very bad.’ While the barracks were considered to be mosquito free, admissions to hospital from malarial diseases totalled more than a third of the average strength of troops. The cause was put down to them being infected while on prison guard within Candia or on outpost duty outside the town. In the former case the sanitary conditions of the prisons was described as ‘particularly bad’ and a recommendation made that troops on guard duty be issued with suitable mosquito nets.[xv] By 1906 however, it could be reported that mosquito nets had finally been issued to the guards in the town[xvi] and subsequent reports make no further reference to the sanitary conditions in the town.
Inspired not by any humanitarian impulse aimed at improving the lives of the Cretan population, but rather by self-interest, the need to preserve the lives of British troops, the British ‘clean up’ in Candia undoubtedly saved lives; both British and Cretan. However, in spite of their efforts at improving the surrounding sanitation, the British involvement in the Cretan Intervention still came at a high price. While 14 soldiers and seamen were killed and 27 wounded by enemy action during the thirteen years spent on the island, the army alone lost a further 90 men dead to disease and other injuries, with over 11,000 men hospitalised. No comparable record is available of the number of Cretans who lost their lives during this period.
Army Medical Department Extract of Annual Parliamentary Return
Crete 1897 – 1909
Report Number
Year Reported On
Average Strength
Hospital Admissions
Deaths
Command Paper No.
XXXIX
1897
1152
1683
24
C 8936
XL
1898
1701
2424
51
C 9453
XLI
1899
1184
1110
12*
Cd 521
XLII
1900
592
622
6
Cd 980
XLIII
1901
564
1827
7
Cd 1422
XLIV
1902
460
1338
4
Cd 1906
XLV
1903
410
510
1
Cd 2434
XLVI
1904
439
454
6
Cd 2700
XLVII
1905
720
593
3
Cd 3212
XLVIII
1906
843
262
4**
Cd 3797
XLVIX
1907
750
459
3
Cd 4057
L
1908
640
368
–
Cd 4933
LI
1909
339
198
2
Cd 5477
*Includes one murder; excludes the execution of the murder.
**Plus 1 suicide.
[i] National Army Museum. 6807-171. Diary of the detachment 1st BN. Seaforth Highlanders at Canea, Crete, during the early days of the International Occupation, 1897.
[ii] House of Commons Command Paper (HCCP) 1898 [C. 8936.] Army Medical Department Report for 1897. Vol. XXXIX Section IV. On the Health of troops serving in the Malta Command. Sanitary Conditions, Section II Crete. p. 87. Based on the notes of by Surgeon – Major W. Babtie, the Senior Medical Officer.
[iii] HCCP 1899 [C9233] Turkey No. 1. Inclosure in No. 234. Report on Sanitary Work in Candia, Crete. Lieutenant H. C. M. Clarke R.A. M. C. to Captain J. C. Shaw, Governor of Candia City. 15 February 1899. p. 147, p. 149.
[iv] Ibid. Dr. A. Ittar to Lieutenant H. C. M. Clarke 6 February 1899. p. 152.
[viii] HCCP 1899 [C. 9453.] Army Medical Department Report for 1898 Vol. XL Section IV. On the Health of troops serving in the Malta Command. Sanitary Conditions, Section II Crete. p. 92
[ix][ix] HCCP 1899 [C9233] Turkey No. 1. Inclosure in No. 234. Report on Sanitary Work in Candia, Crete. Lieutenant H. C. M. Clarke R.A. M. C. to Captain J. C. Shaw, Governor of Candia City. 15 February 1899 p. 149.
[x] HCCP 1901 [Cd. 521.] Army Medical Department Report for 1899 Vol. XLI Section IV. On the Health of troops serving in the Malta Command. Sanitary Conditions, Section II Crete. p. 83
[xii] HCCP 1902 [Cd. 980.] Army Medical Department Report for 1900 Vol. XLII Section IV. On the Health of troops serving in the Malta Command. Sanitary Conditions, Section II Crete. p. 83
[xiii] HCCP 1901 [Cd. 1422.] Army Medical Department Report for 1901 Vol. XLIII Section IV. On the Health of troops serving in the Malta Command. Sanitary Conditions, Section II Crete. p. 81.
[xiv] HCCP 1904 [Cd. 1906.] Army Medical Department Report for 1902 Vol. XLIV Section IV. On the Health of troops serving in the Malta Command. Sanitary Conditions, Section II Crete. p. 80.
[xv] HCCP 1906 [Cd. 3212.] Army Medical Department Report for 1905 Vol. XLVII Section V. On the Health of troops serving in Crete. p. 106. The question must be raised as to why it took so long for such prophylactics to be issued and why it was felt necessary to include in a formal report to Parliament the fact that mosquito nets were apparently not issued to these guards.
[xvi]HCCP 1908 [Cd. 3797.] Army Medical Department Report for 1906 Vol. XLVIII Section V. On the Health of troops serving at stations in the Mediterranean Area. Crete. p. 69.
There is little dispute that the trigger for the forcible eviction of all Ottoman troops and functionaries from Crete in 1898 was undoubtedly the events of 6th September (25th August Old Style). In the riot which broke out following attempts by a small British force to take over the customs house in Iraklion (Candia), a number of British military personnel and large number of Cretan Christians were killed and a significant part of the city was burnt down. The number of Christians killed was, and is, unknowable since, in the chaotic conditions prevailing before the riot, there was no accurate count of how many Christians were in the town and, following the riot, there was little or no mechanism for counting or identifying the bodies of those killed. According to British historian Robert Holland,[1] up to 800 Christian Cretans out of a population of approximately 1000 died; as did 29 Muslims. Turkish historian Pinar Şenişik, however, gives figures ranging from 153 Christian dead according to Ottoman sources, to 600, according to British sources.[2] To further complicate matters, the commander of the British land forces, Col. Chermside, had previously stated that there were less than 500 Christians in the town.[3]
However, civilian deaths in Crete in 1897 had not produced any appreciable action aimed at limiting Ottoman power; although the island had been granted a degree of autonomy under Ottoman suzerainty until September 1897 no effective steps had been taken to put this into practice. What appears to have made the difference to the European Powers was not the number of civilians who died in the September riot, but the British military dead. Given the political importance of the British losses, it should, in theory, be relatively easy to determine the number of British military casualties. However, this does not appear to be the case.
The Cretan historian Theocharis Detorakis[4] puts the British losses at 17 soldiers and the British Consul killed. However, the British diplomat killed was not the British Consul, Sir Alfred Biliotti, who was in Canea at the time of the riot, but rather the British Vice-Consul, Lyssimachus Calocherino [Kalokairinos]. Reporting Calocherino’s death, Biliotti failed to mention the deaths of Calocherino’s wife and family, but stated that at least two other British subjects, Vincent Carabott, father of the Superintendent of the Eastern Telegraph Company and Marie Camillieri, a Maltese washerwoman, were also killed that day.[5] The body of Calocherino’s eldest daughter was never found and when he Ottoman troops and their families were evacuated, the veils of the women were lifted to check their identity; a rumour having circulated that Colocherino’s daughter had been kidnapped and forced into a harem.
Quoting unnamed French sources, Senisik puts the British casualties at ’13 British soldiers and one British officer killed, and 40 British soldiers and two British officers wounded during the disturbances.’[6]
Holland puts the British casualties on the day at 17 with 39 severely wounded and states that one Victoria Cross was posthumously awarded.[7] However, the only Victorian Cross awarded that day was awarded to Royal Naval Surgeon William Maillard who certainly lived long enough to receive it, being invested with it by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 15th December 1898, the only member of the Royal Naval Medical Service to receive a VC. Maillard died on 10th September 1903.
R.J. Pritchard in his examination of the legal aspects of the subsequent British reaction to the killings puts total British casualties that day at 14 dead and 40 wounded.[8]
The British infantry involved on 6th September were all members of 1/Highland Light Infantry and the memorial plaque in the church of Agios Konstantinos, Iraklion, lists one officer and 9 men as dying in Crete, a figure which coincides with the 1961 history of the HLI[9] which records that ‘in the outbreak in Crete, the 71st [1/HLI] lost one officer and nine soldiers killed and had one officer, two sergeants, one corporal, two pipers and nineteen soldiers wounded.’ In addition, two members of the Royal Army Medical Corps, one Royal Engineer and one private in the Army Service Corps were also wounded that day.
What do the official British sources say?
According to the Army Medical Report for 1898, published in 1899,[10] only 9 deaths from gunshot wounds were attributable to the ‘September events’ on Crete, an additional death from gunshot wounds being attributable to the accidental ‘discharge of a revolver with which a comrade was playing’. However, these figures are for Army personnel only.
In the snappily titled: ‘Return of the number of Sailors and Soldiers Killled or Wounded in War or Warlike Operations carried out by the Government of this Country and Chartered Companies during the Years 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902 and 1903 respectively (exclusive of those carried on by the Government of India) in the same form as the Return granted in Session 1895’, on 14 February 1907, R. S. Haldane, Secretary of State for War, reported the following to the House of Commons:
Sailors and Marines
Fight with Bashi-Bazouks, Candia 1898.
Officers Killed in action or died of wounds – None.
Officers Wounded – None.
Men Killed in action or died of wounds – Four
Men Wounded – Seven
Soldiers
Outbreak at Candia Crete 1898
Officers Killed in action or died of wounds – One
Officers Wounded – Two
Men Killed in action or died of wounds – Nine
Men Wounded – 18
Giving a total of one officer and 13 men killed, two officers and 25 men wounded; in all 14 killed and 27 wounded.
While the variation in the figures may be considered in itself irrelevant in the larger scheme of things, whether it was 14 or 17 British dead the result was still the decision to force the Ottoman evacuation of the island, the fact that such a variation in numbers can occur is significant. Even given the small number of British personnel involved in the September events, less than 200 from all services, and the limited geographical area in which the British casualties occurred, with the exception of two soldiers of the Highland Light Infantry killed outside Canea all the deaths and injuries occurred either in the harbour or in the British encampment, the difference in the numbers quoted by the historians above, illustrates the difficulty of writing any historical ‘truth’.
Fighting at the Dime. 6th September 1898.
Detorakis, Theocharis E., History of Crete, trans. Davis J.C (Iraklion,1994).
Holland, R. F. Markides Diana, The British and the Hellenes : struggles for mastery in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1850-1960 2006).
Pritchard, R. John, ‘International Humanitarian Intervention and Establishment of an International Jurisdiction over Crimes against Humanity : the National and International Military Trials on Crete in 1898’, International humanitarian law International Humanitarian Law / ed. by John Carey, William, (2003), 1-87.
Senisik, Pinar, The transformation of Ottoman Crete : revolts, politics and identity in the late nineteenth century, Library of Ottoman studies (London,2011).
[1] R. F. Markides Diana Holland, The British and the Hellenes : Struggles for Mastery in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1850-1960 (2006). p.101.
[2] Pinar Senisik, The Transformation of Ottoman Crete : Revolts, Politics and Identity in the Late Nineteenth Century (Library of Ottoman Studies; London, 2011). p. 309 FN 75.
[3] House of Commons Command Paper [C.8429] Turkey No.9, 1897. Reports on the situation on Crete. No.8. Chermside to Salisbury, 17 April 1897.
[4] Theocharis E. Detorakis, History of Crete, trans. Davis J.C (Iraklion, 1994). p.367.
[5] Admiralty file ADM 116/93. Despatch 11 October 1898 No. 1. Telegram No. 64 Biliotti to Lord Salisbury, 30 September 1898.
[6] Senisik, The Transformation of Ottoman Crete : Revolts, Politics and Identity in the Late Nineteenth Century. p.217.
[7] Holland, The British and the Hellenes : Struggles for Mastery in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1850-1960. p. 101.
[8] R. John Pritchard, ‘International Humanitarian Intervention and Establishment of an International Jurisdiction over Crimes against Humanity : The National and International Military Trials on Crete in 1898’, International humanitarian law International Humanitarian Law / ed. by John Carey, William, (2003), 1-87. p. 23.
[9] Oatts L. B. PROUD HERITAGE. The Story of the Highland Light Infantry Vol. Three. The Regular, Militia, Volunteer, T.A., and Service Battalions H.L.I. 1882—1918 (Glasgow 1961) p. 20.
[10] 1899 [C.9453] Army Medical Department report for the year 1898. Volume XL.
While the European Intervention in Crete was carried out for serious political purposes, the seriousness of the situation did not preclude the Powers throwing the occasional party.
The British celebrated Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee on 22nd June 1897 with a military parade in Candia, the principle British base, and a reception there in the evening. At the reception it was reported by Sir Alfred Biliotti, the British Consul, to Sir Philip Currie, his superior in Constantinople, that the Seaforth Highlanders ‘executed national dances’ to the apparent satisfaction of the audience.[1] Quite how satisfied the audience actually were at the sight of kilted Highlanders dancing is not recorded. Nor is it recorded that the British troops were given any souvenirs of the event.
Seaforth Highlanders ‘execut[ing] national dances.’ Undated photograph.
The Austro-Hungarian and German forces on the other hand did appear to produce mementoes of the celebrations held in honour of their Monarchs. On 18th August 1897, a birthday party was held in Canea to celebrate the birthday of Kaiser and King Franz Josef I, his 67th, and on 27th January the following year a party held to celebrate the birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm II, his 39th. Souvenir cards were produced for both events, presumably to be given to those who participated. Unfortunately, it’s not known apparent whether or not the Austro-Hungarian and German troops were amongst the recipients.
K & K Franz Josef birthday party souvenir
As well as an image of the Monarch and an overview of Canea harbour, the Austro-Hungarian souvenir features photographs of the Austro-Hungarian Consulate at Halepa, barracks at Canea and Suda and the Armoured Cruiser S.M.S. Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia.
Kaiser Wilhelm birthday party souvenir.
In contrast to the Austro-Hungarian card which was clearly produced for the occasion and features images specific to the Austro-Hungarian presence on Crete, the German card has nothing specifically ‘German’ about it. It is apparently a generic commercial souvenir postcard, overprinted with the souvenir declaration. The only images which could be said to relate to the German presence on the island are of groups of International troops. The definition on the image of the troops is insufficient to allow identification of German troops, although Italian, Montenegrin and Scottish troops can be made out, albeit with difficulty.
Original version of Kaiser Wilhelm birthday party souvenir.
One hope the German Consulate, or whoever decided on the card, were congratulated on their thrift.
[1] National Archive, Foreign Office FO 195/1983, From Crete. Sir Alfred Biliotti to Currie 24 June 1897.
Admiral Hinke, shown in the photograph above, was the Rear Admiral in command of the Austro-Hungarian force which landed on Crete in February 1897. The force initially consisted of the battleship Kronprinzessin Stephanie, the armoured cruiser Maria Theresia, the torpedo cruisers Tiger, Leopard, and Sebenico, along with three destroyers and eight torpedo boats.[1]
The Austro-Hungarian contribution to the Intervention forces was withdrawn in March 1898.
Djevad Pasha (Ahmed Cevad Pasha).
‘Djevad Pacha’, also known as Ahmed Cevad Pasha, was the Ottoman Military commander of Crete from July 1897 to October 1898, so the photograph must have been taken between his arrival there and the Austro-Hungarian departure in March 1898.
SMS Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie
SMS Tiger
SMS Tiger
SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia
SMS Sebenico
[1]The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary 1867 – 1918. Navalism, Industrial Development, and the Politics of Dualism. Lawrence Sonhaus, Purdue University Press, 1994.
The British in Crete, 1896 to 1913. 