Gallipoli - A Walthamstow Perspective

In this talk Chris Hunt takes a look at the events of the Gallipoli Campaign, from the failed attempt to force the straits with battleships, through the landings and repeated offensives seeking to reach and destroy the forts defending the passage, to the final withdrawal of Allied forces, set against the lives of the men of one English town who served there.

A relatively new town in south-west Essex, Walthamstow had no particular military connection beyond being the home of the 7th Essex Regiment Territorial Force battalion, yet it provided over seven hundred soldiers, sailors and airmen to the campaign, more than a hundred and twenty of whom would never return. 

Chris does not suggest that Walthamstow is special in regard to the First World War in general, or the Gallipoli Campaign in particular, but rather that its' very ordinariness makes it representative of towns, cities and villages all across the country, and speaks to the level of engagement that every community would have had with the titanic struggle that was the Great War, and in this instance the tragic campaign in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Chris, a retired lecturer in science and technology, has spent the last decade immersing himself in the history of Walthamstow residents' service in the First World War, writing several related articles, giving talks and leading local cemetery walks based on his research.

Members and non-members of The Western Front Association are equally welcome. Any new visitors are guaranteed a friendly atmosphere and a warm welcome from a group of like-minded enthusiasts.

Main Images:  ANZAC Cove (NAM 1979-08-66-137) and Gallipoli pictorial map from the 'Graphic' (IWM Q70855)