palestine

A Voyage on White Star Line steamer Arabic in 1907

Extract from The Travel Diary of Rev. and Mrs. Alexander Brown Riggs

“Saturday, Feb. 23, 1907. Algiers, Algeria, Africa

We found ourselves here when we got on deck this morning. We took the tender to shore & then to carriages, when we had the most beautiful drive I have ever had. The day was perfect & the drive to the governor's house near the top of a hill upon the side of which the city is built, with the Atlas range of mountains, snow-capped in the distance. Then we drove through the city & the Arab quarter, where we saw Arabs, Moors, Turks, Jews, & many more of the unwashed, bringing to mind the lines of the hymn, “Though every prospect pleases & only man is vile.” As we looked in upon the little shops, most of the men were playing games, doubtless gambling.

The city government is under French control, & the two avenues nearest the harbor & parallel with it are filled with French stores, stocked with every variety of goods imported from France. The lady who had her hip broken at Granada was taken from the ship & placed in a hospital here which is said to be under Presbyterian control. At 1 PM we returned to the ship & remained aboard the rest of the day, watching the sale of all sorts of goods brought aboard. Weighed anchor & sailed at 4 PM.”

www.whitestarhistory.com/arabicdiary

I assume that the Alhambra reference is the Alhambra in Granada. With todays modern roads, that's just over a two and a half hour journey by car. I can't imagine what the journey would have been like in 1905.

“Frank C. Clark and his brother Herbert Edgar Clark had first-hand knowledge of Ottoman geography as part of the diplomatic network of the United States in the region. The fact that the region they were working in was one of the main destinations for tourism played an important role in the marketing strategy of the Clark agency. In the advertisements he gave to the press, Frank C. Clark was careful to state that the cruise trips to the Mediterranean were organized by the “former American vice-consul in Jerusalem” and that he personally accompanied the tourists. “

turkiyeturizmansiklopedisi.com/clark-frank-c

I suppose it may depend which part of Palestine you intend to venture..

I think the date must be incorrect, I am sure this advertising booklet was printed well in advance of the Feb 2nd 1905 start date, I would suggest that 1904 is the correct date for this document. I wonder, could you bring a dog on the cruise?

The 1901 census has an 11 year old Charles G. born at what looks like Portronan, Country Donegal and who was recorded at Scaitcliffe E.G, Egham Surry as a boarder.(Apologies, but the census enumerators hand-writing is appalling)

Scaitcliffe was a day/boarding prep school for boys aged 6-13 in Egham, Surrey. After merging with Virginia Water school, the school is now co-educational and known as Bishopsgate School. The school is located in a small village in Egham called Englefield Green near Windsor Great Park.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaitcliffe

There isn't an obvious match for Charles on the 1911 census.

The additional information on the CWGC site is that he was son of the late Col. B. J. Barton, A.D.C., D.L., and Mrs. Barton, of Portsalon, Co. Donegal; husband of Letty Barton, of The Garth, Ashford, Kent.
www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/572143/BARTON,%...

It may be coincidence but in a piece on a well-to-do pair of spinsters from Dublin who grew up in this period and who moved in the circles of the Anglo-Irish gentry, there is a passing mention of a Barton family of Portsalon, Co Donegal.

"Golf was a particular passion of Letitia’s and she was a member of Carrickmines Golf Club in Dublin and Portsalon in Co. Donegal. This is a picture of a golf outing at Portsalon with members of the Barton family. The Overends and Bartons were related and both Letitia and Naomi spent quite a lot of time in Donegal with their cousins throughout their lives. For Letitia in particular it provided the only real contact she had with other children (or teenagers as we would say now) as her early life was dominated by adult company."
www.airfield.ie/who_we_are_overend_family.html

(Part of the reason they may well have remained spinsters is the devasting losses suffered amongst the eligible young men of their generation).

Many of the Kent Town memorials have been very well researched, although some of the associated documents are quite large - the one for Ashford Civic memorial is 46Mbps. These confirm that Charles was commemorated on both that memorial and the Ashford St Mary's one. Although it doesn't offer much additional information about his death, it does note that his father had been aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria and gives his mothers name as Mrs Ethel Barrow Barton.
www.kentfallen.com/PDF%20REPORTS/ASHFORD%20TOWN.pdf

I can't find an obvious candidate in England and Wales for the marriage of Charles and Letty, but of course they could have married in Ireland and then had some other reason to move to Kent.

I also could not find a citation for his Military Cross award in the London Gazette - in fact the only mention I could find of him was a note in the edition dates 28th July 1916 that a Temporary Lieutenant C G Barton of the Royal Inniskillings gave up the rank of Temporary Captain on ceasing to command a Company, effective 20th May 1916.
www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29687/pages/7486

(PS - I too thought of David Niven when I saw the picture :-)

Charles Geoffrey Barton was the youngest of 8 children, (2 girls and 6 boys - all of the boys later becoming Servicemen; Lt Col B J Barton DSO [33rd]; Lt G Barton RN; Lt R Barton RGA; Maj E H Barton [10 R Innis Fus], and Capt C G Barton MC [5 R Innis Fus]).
Details are at: The Peerage.com www.thepeerage.com/p26800.htm#i267992

Charles Geoffrey Barton married Ethel Barrow Welldon on 27th March 1915; they had a daughter, Carol, b. 25 December 1915. Carol went to Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall) and later married Lt Col Richard William Shepherd, (9 August 1941), they had 2 sons and a daughter. Ethel Barton died in 1971.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2vV5qOf5YQ

es una forma de poner un poco de alegria entre tanta tristeza y calamidades un saludo

awesome!!!

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called TOUR OF DUTY, and we'd love to have this added to the group!