Grandfather's Pre 1st WW service

**GeoffEllis058** · 07-07-2015, 17:48

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier as I have been very busy taking the wife for examinations and consultant visits, so 'relaxing time' has been limited.
Thanks for the 'message', how do I retrieve the 'zipped files'?
If it is any help, my email address is:- gellis058@aol.com
Did you receive the 'file' of my grandfather in uniform?

Regards
Geoff Ellis

**Mick McT** · 12-09-2015, 16:37

Hi.
Sorry to join the discussion so late but I'm relatively new to the forum.

I can give you some detail on 2/RWF in Crete.

In March 1897 following an insurrection on Crete by Cretan Christian demanding union with Greece and the landing of 1500 Greek troops on the island, the Concert of Europe decided to intervene to prevent inter-communal bloodshed and, more importantly for the geopolitics of the age, the annexation of Crete by Greece which would have a serious knock-on effect on the stability of the Ottoman Empire. The RN and Marines went in first followed in March 1897 by 1/Seaforths and then 2/RWF.

HQ. and 4 Coys 2/RWF arrived on Crete on 8 April 1898, the remainder joining them in August that year. They were stationed in Candia (now Iraklion) the centre of the British secteur of the island; the other three secteurs being controlled by the Italian, French and Russians. 2/RWF left Crete in August 1898 only to return in September following a riot in Candia which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 400 Cretan Christians and, crucial to the British response, 14 members of 1/HLI. They left the island again, for the final time, in December 1898. During the time there they appear, according to the memorial in Iraklion, to have lost at least 9 of their number; all through illness.

There are some original photographs of RWF in Crete here: http://gmic.co.uk/forums/topic/47497...comment-438050

If you want further background to the early part of the British intervention in Crete, it went on until 1909 for the army and 1913 for the navy, drop me a PM and I'll send you my dissertation!

Mick McT