Category: Researching Salonika

Notes and advice on researching the Salonika campaign (1915-1918), especially individuals who served with the British Salonika Force.

Message from the Chair

Dear Members and Friends,

As I sit writing this over Easter, the world is in the grip of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. I hope you and your families are keeping well and that you are getting used to the social and commercial lock-down that is currently in place. Like many of you, I’ve been working from home since mid-March and coming to terms with only seeing work colleagues, friends and family online. Thankfully we live in an age of remarkable communications technology enabling us to maintain instant contact across the globe from our living rooms. One can only imagine what the men and women of the BSF would have given for anything approaching this level of modern comms.

Continue reading “Message from the Chair”

NEW : A Salonika Campaign Bibliography

SCS member Keith Roberts has been compiling a list of books in English about the campaign. At present it is limited to books, so items from regimental journals and the like are not included. He has checked, amongst other things, the bibliographies in the better known books on the campaign and searched some online catalogues using key words.

A first version – with nearly 200 books listed – has been produced for review to make good any omissions. Once this review process is over we will make it available in a searchable format on this website – hopefully before the summer – with the expectation of providing occasional updates to capture further discoveries and new publications. This will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in this neglected campaign of the First World War.

If you think you might be able to add to this bibliography please contact Keith for a draft copy on  scsbiblio@gmail.com.

A photograph of a selection of books about the Salonika campaign

Faces of Salonika : John Henry Gibbon – Methodist army chaplain

The John Rylands Library recently accepted on deposit a collection of diaries written by a Methodist army chaplain John Henry Gibbon (1880-1933), who served in Salonika with the 67th Brigade of the 22nd Division between November 1916 and June 1917. Continue reading “Faces of Salonika : John Henry Gibbon – Methodist army chaplain”

Remembering ‘Dad’, Flo, Nell and Jack Middlehurst

I generally buy postcards related to the Salonika campaign on the basis of the image depicted, whether it’s a landscape or pictures of soldiers. If there’s a message on the back, then that’s an added bonus – although those I have with spidery French writing are rather a challenge – and one with a nice clear message in English is a treat.

Continue reading “Remembering ‘Dad’, Flo, Nell and Jack Middlehurst”

Remembering 180629 Sapper Harry Ernest Wilkinson, Royal Engineers

Some months ago the Society was contacted by Harry Wilkinson’s granddaughter who wanted to know more about his war service. Little is know about it, except that ‘he fought both against and later with the Bulgarians’ and ended up in Constantinople. Happily, he returned home safely.

Continue reading “Remembering 180629 Sapper Harry Ernest Wilkinson, Royal Engineers”