This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Colonial Encounters during the First World War The Experience of Troops from New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies Maguire, Anna Mary Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 09. Oct. 2021 Colonial Encounters during the First World War: The Experience of Troops from New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies Anna Maguire Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy King’s College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. 2 Abstract This thesis offers a sustained comparative analysis of colonial encounters during the First World War by examining the experience of troops from New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. While the war is usually understood as a military clash of empires, the thesis argues that it also created fresh spaces for a range of encounters as diverse groups were thrown together. These encounters varied from fleeting interactions to more sustained relationships in changing contact-zones dependent on military mobilisation. While race remains the primary focus in the thesis, the analysis is also nuanced to other categories, such as class, gender, and combatant/civilian status. In the recent ‘global’ turn in First World War studies, more has been learnt about colonial participation and the impact of empire. If much of the work has focussed on particular national or ethnic groups, this thesis adopts a comparative and at times transnational approach to make lateral connections between the colonial groups and their represented experiences. The thesis investigates how the structures and hierarchies of colonialism operated once dislocated by the movements of war, disclosing the complex lived realities of colonial cultures in times of war. The thesis draws upon document and photograph collections at the Imperial War Museum, alongside other archival collections, as well as memoirs, oral testimonies, newspapers, magazines and literary works, and often reads them together in order to recover and analyse this complex history. Many of the non-white troops were non-literate and the subsequent paucity of written material necessitates this broader interdisciplinary approach. Encounters represent a central element of the represented war service of the colonial troops in the source material. The concentration on encounters in this thesis, through the perspective of cultural history, reveals how war challenged and changed identity beyond the space of the battlefield. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 Acknowledgements 5 Abbreviations 7 List of Figures 8 Introduction 10 Section One Going to War 28 Chapter One Contexts 29 Chapter Two The Journey 53 Section Two Military Men 80 Chapter Three At Camp 81 Chapter Four Exploring the Sights 120 Section Three Race and Gender 162 Chapter Five Behind the Lines 163 Chapter Six On the Wards 200 Conclusion 232 Appendix 255 Bibliography 263 4 Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful for the funding awarded to me by the AHRC through the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership programme, which has allowed my full commitment to this studentship during my three years at King’s College London and Imperial War Museums. My utmost thanks go to my supervisors, Santanu Das and Suzanne Bardgett, for developing such a fascinating topic, for selecting me to undertake the studentship and for their guidance and support throughout the duration of this project. Their boundless enthusiasm for the material, insightful and helpful comments and careful reading of so many drafts has ensured the success of this collaboration and their generosity will not be forgotten. I thank, too, the staff of the Imperial War Museum, from whom I have received immeasurable advice and help in accessing the collections, developing my research and sharing my findings. Particular thanks go to Emily Peirson-Webber and Roger Smither in the Research Department. The financial support given to me by the Museum has enabled my participation at numerous conferences and to make a significant archival research trip to New Zealand. Thanks, too, to the Arts and Humanities Faculty at KCL for additional funding to support my research in New Zealand. I am grateful to the staff at the Alexander Turnbull Library and Archives New Zealand in Wellington, the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the New Zealand National Army Museum in Waiouru and the National Archives in Kew whose generosity and interest in my topic spurred on my archival research. To the British Library, too, where I have read and thought for hours on end. I am grateful to all these archives and libraries for permission to include their fascinating material in this work. I am fortunate to have been part of numerous collaborations and networks throughout this research, which have fuelled my curiosity and excitement. I am indebted to the members of the Cultural Exchange in a Time of Global Conflict project for such a lively, supportive and productive collaboration. I would like to especially thank Daniel Steinbach for reading my 5 work and for his encouragement and guidance. Thanks to my fellow students in the English and History departments at King’s, at IWM and those who I have met through the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, who have supplied much needed moments of academic kindness. Other thanks must go to my brothers, Sam and Daniel, and my friends both near and far. Thanks to them for cheering me on, keeping me going through writing up and all the good times in the last three years, which have given me much needed time away from my research. To my parents, Sarah Floyd and Tom Maguire, my academic inspirations, who have given me my love of reading and my passion for telling stories. They have supported me completely – emotionally and financially – along the way. Their endless encouragement, belief and love have been essential to completing this thesis. Finally to Simon, who has been here from the start, who has spurred me on throughout and who has made countless cups of tea. His unwavering support has got me here: thank you, this one is for you. 6 Abbreviations AIF Australian Imperial Force ANZAC/Anzac Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ATL Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington AWMM Auckland War Memorial Museum AWM Australian War Memorial ANZ Archives New Zealand, Wellington BWIR British West Indies Regiment CO Colonial Office IWM Imperial War Museum NAMNZ National Army Museum, New Zealand NCO Non-commissioned officer NZEF New Zealand Expeditionary Force TNA The National Archives, Kew SANLC South African Native Labour Corps SAIB South African Infantry Brigade VD Venereal Disease VAD Voluntary Aid Detachment WIR West India Regiment WO War Office 7 List of Figures Table 1. Total of British and British Empire Troops and Casualties. 30 Table 2. Military Contribution of the British Empire in the Great War. 30 The Empire Needs Men, First World War Recruitment Poster. (Courtesy of 31 Imperial War Museums, London) Map 1. The Sailing Routes of the Troops from New Zealand, South Africa and 55 the West Indies. (Courtesy of Google Maps) Men of the Australian and New Zealand Division on a transport ship to Gallipoli, 61 1915. (Courtesy of Imperial War Museums, London) Sunset over tents at the New Zealand reinforcement camp, Étaples, France. 81 (Courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington) The South African Native Labour Corps doing a ‘Zulu war dance’. (Courtesy of 111 the Imperial War Museum, London,) Maori Pioneer Battalion performing a haka. (Courtesy of Alexander Turnbull 113 Library, Wellington) New Zealand YMCA Party at the Zoo, London. (Courtesy of Auckland War 120 Memorial Museum) New Zealanders Visit Sphinx and the Pyramids. (Courtesy of Australian War 129 Memorial) Exterior of Shepheard’s Hotel. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress) 135 New Zealand troops, led by an army band, marching through a London street 149 after the First World War. (Courtesy of Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington) Maoris being entertained by Egyptian kids. (Courtesy of Australian War 168 Memorial) A New Zealand Soldier with two little children on Lemnos. (Courtesy of Imperial 169 War Museums, Q13441) ‘As Others See Us’ by G. P. Hanna. (Courtesy of Imperial War Museums) 172 8 Anzac Falls in Love and Marries his Nurse. (Courtesy of the British Library) 179 The Market Woman. (Courtesy of the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection) 184 A Maori lumber worker talking to a Frenchwoman, Foret de Nieppe, March 1917. 185 (Courtesy of Imperial War Museums, Q4740) The Maori and his English Bride. (Courtesy of the British Library) 187 A Dusky Lady-Killer.