WITH THE TWENTY-NINTH DIVISION IN GALLIPOLI.

The author was C of E chaplain to the 86th Brigade and his account is sub-titled A Chaplain’s Experiences ; 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. His first church parade was with the 2nd RF and he remarks on the exact precision with which the parade was conducted. The service was taken by the vicar and Creighton asked that no ladies should be present! Some girls got into the gallery with the soldiers, but, as he remarks, “fortunately they were ejected before the sermon.” Evidently a very po-faced padre!
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 account was written just afer he had left Gallipoli and security was clearly uppermost in his mind – hardly any names are given of ships and men,. Two other chaplains are C– and D– and at one point his ship comes alongside the B–, sister ship to the A–, and later he rows over to the C– which was tied up with the D–. This sort of thing can get very trying! 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.