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| Rowland Bott aged 27 July 1945 |
I do not know the full details of these photographs from my dad, Rowland Bott's collection. They are from when he was serving with the Royal Signals in Egypt, c1940-1945. I believe that there were 2 postings to Egypt with a recall early on to the UK. I remember a story he told me about this and below is the only written mention of the recall I could find so far... It reads 'Stan one of the boys who was recalled on the same day as 'Yours Truly' [Rowland Bott]'. Click
here for the photo of Stan.
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| Mention of the recall from Egypt |
So, Rowland Bott prior to call-up in 1939 was training as and working for the PO (Post Office) as a telephone engineer. What I remember him telling me is that early on in World War II, having been deployed to Egypt, he was with other servicemen with training in and knowledge of telecommunications who were recalled to England from Egypt. I understand that this was because there were too many men with similar skills so they were 'surplus'.
I think this was 1940/1941 (and may be the period when he was then with the
Home Guard). Anyway he used to tell me this story with a wry smile and some amusement.
The servicemen left in Egypt were waiting for telecommunications 'experts' to come to instruct and assist in laying down of communications in the desert. Those who had been sent back to England suddenly became these 'experts' and were redeployed to Egypt... much to the surprise of those who had remained in Egypt who were not expecting to see the familiar faces back again in Egypt this elevated role! If you click here for my
PO/GPO/BT page you will see that Dad was still progressing through his training in telecommunications and allied subjects at this period.
So far in creating this blog (Feb 2020) I have found actual dates written on the images are mostly 1942 and 1945. Some dates were added at the time of the photograph and some later when Bott labelled them in the 1970s/1980s.
The photos are in no particular order. They were removed from their lovely Egyptian tooled leather albums by Dad when he decided to label them in the 1970s/1980s. Below are photos of one of the photo albums - I have added a pound coin to give the idea of the size of this the smallest. Look how tiny some of the photos are! At least 2 other much larger albums existed and are with other family members.
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| Leather album with some of the removed photos |
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| Leather album inside |
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| Inscription on inside cover |
The inscription on the inside side cover reads 'Cairo 1942. Happy Memories with Bill [Jenkins], Carl [Brown] Reg [Parrish?] & Sid. The latter at Wadi Natrun'
The original order of the photos which were in this little album is now lost. With all the other I have tried to put them in a sensible order. Some photos feature his army duties using Bott's expertise in
telecommunications and others are of him on leave or enjoying a bit of R & R.
So far I have created 2 sections for this page:
- ARMY DUTIES
- ON LEAVE, R & R AND OFF DUTY.
As a novice to army terminology, if these need to be changed that will be done!
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| L to R: Freddie, Rowland Bott, Reg, WDN c1942 |
You can see the details of the above photo below. It reads: 'Freddie Yours Truly [Rowland Bott] Reg (WDN.) Just finished work on the Gantry [?]. Freddie preparing dinners'. I think the word should be gantry and is something to do with telecommunications?
This is in Egypt in the early 1940s. I think WDN may be short for Wadi Natrun which is my father's spelling of one of the first Egyptian locations he was based in. I believe it is now Wadi El Natrun. This is the place he told me about when he was given advice that, although amazingly hot when he arrived, new to the desert in his early twenties, it would be very, very cold at night. If he dug a hollow in the sand this would give some protection whilst sleeping.
Also notice the aircraft in the background of the photo.
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| Rowland Bott (posing!) at Wadi Natrun 1942 |
Here is another photo above of Dad in Wadi Natrun sitting 'admiring' an enamel mug. I've no idea what he is trying to communicate... but coming from 'The Potteries' (Stoke-on-Trent) maybe he was wishing he had something finer to drink from! The army issue for headgear in the heat seems to be a woolly hat...
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
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| L: Frank Morgan; R: unknown, Wadi Natrun c1942 |
More pictures of
Frank Morgan, featured above, are on the A-Z Who's Who.
I believe Morgan was Bott's best army pal. He was killed by 'friendly fire':- 'accidentally shot and killed by Basuto Guards at TME [Telecommunications Centre Middle East]'. This was probably after 1943 and is possibly May 1944.
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| Rowland Bott (left), others unknown, Egypt early 1940s |
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| Rowland Bott, aged 24, Egypt 1942 |
The details of this photo above, 'Bill at "work"', gives me little information but this looks like desert telecommunications to me! At least it has a date.
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| L-R: 'Bill Jenkins, Me, Maurice...' |
The above photo shows L-R: Bill Jenkins, Me (i.e. Rowland Bott) and Maurice' (believed to be
Maurice Thurbon). Below is the caption on the reverse which reads 'Bill, Me & Maurice Xmas Day 1942 in the Middle East'. On the front it also says that they are at TME [Telecommunications Middle East] Heliopolis [Egypt].
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| Reverse of above photo |
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| May 1942 see photo below for details |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
I am sorry that at present I do not understand more of the details on this photo.
MECN is possibly Middle East Communications Network.
TME is Telecommunications Middle East
I do not know what E.S.T. Jointers are but perhaps E is for Egyptian?
Click
Reg Parrish for more photos you can find on the A-Z Who's Who page.
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| Eric Impey... TME Cairo (see photo back below) c1942 |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
The details on the reverse of the photo of Eric Impey are partly contemporary and partly Bott's later addition in the 1970s/1980s of 'TME Cairo'. I think it reads 'Eric at present "residing" with Bill [probably Jenkins], Wain? & me'.
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| Bill Jenkins and his 'giant shirt' 1942 |
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| Bott's note on the back of the above photo |
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| Rowland Bott with dog, Egypt c1942 |
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| 'An idle moment...' 1942 |
The caption on the reverse of the above photo reads 'An idle moment at TME [Telecommunications Middle East] Heliopolis 1942' - this can be seen below. Sadly it is a poor photo and I have not been able to identify everybody, only
Bill Jenkins 3rd from left...
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
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| MDF "Middle East", Cairo 1944 |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
I think that MDF is the acronym for Main Distribution Frame. The men in both photos (above and below) are unidentified.
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| MDF "Middle East", Cairo 1944 |
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| Switchroom "Middle East", Cairo 1944... |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
The details on the reverse of the photo of 'Switchroom"Middle East" Cairo 1944' (above) show the labelling in 2 phases - contemporary, in ink, and then, in the 1970s/1980s when Bott went through his photos in biro. He was sometimes able to expand on his original caption as in this case. He added 'GHQ American Swbd [switchboard] installed by 40 & 49 STM'. I do not know what STM means. 49 STM are also mentioned on the Palestine page, in relation to the
DTN Teleprinter Switchboard in Palestine
2. ON LEAVE, R & R AND OFF DUTY
I wasn't quite sure how to name this section but hope that 'On Leave, R & R and Off Duty' suits. It's really the non-working photos i.e. not army duties. Please also visit the
Egypt Souvenir Photos page.
FOOTBALL TEAM:
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| P.O. Wanderers Football Team early 1940s |
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| Close up of The Team |
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| The Team |
This is a lovely photo of the P.O. Wanderers football team in Egypt. The abbreviation P.O. is for the Post Office. Dad was a telephone engineer working for the PO at call-up so this may be a team of telephone engineers. Dad always loved playing football.
'Yours Truly', far left back row is Rowland Bott, the subject of this blog. He often refers to himself as 'Yours Truly' in contemporary captions to his photographs. I rather like that!
HELIOPOLIS:
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| Rowland Bott, on leave 1942 |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
The photos above are of Bott, outside the RAF club at Helio, together with the details on the reverse of the photo. I believe he was on leave and it is nice to have the date of 1942.
I am thinking that Helio is the same as Heliopolis.
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| Rowland Bott enjoying 'A day out!' c1942 |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
Above, this is a photo of Dad on leave at Abdul Qadir or Kadir Alexandria. Both Dad and I apologise for the poor photo! I think, as this is signed Ro, it was one he sent to his fiancée Joan Lydeard back in England. An identical image has the location detail of Abdul Kadir, Alexandria.
The same 'poor' background was used for a photo of army pal, and later close friend, Bill Jenkins (below). Presumably it is the same '
Day out'. This photo is labelled as at Abdul Qadir - the details added in the 1970s/1980s, whilst the one of Bott to Lydeard above is a contemporary message.
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| Bill Jenkins at Abdul Qadir c1942 |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
The professional studio portrait below is one of my favourites. Three young men thrown into another world in Egypt serving in World War II. It is dated 1943 and is described as the three army pals on leave in Alex[andria]. Two of the three survived the war.
Frank Morgan was killed by 'friendly fire'; Dad (Rowland Bott) is 25 here and has signed the front with a message for his fiancée Joan Lydeard back in England;
Bill Jenkins, known to me as Uncle Bill Jenkins, was my Godfather.
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| L-R: Frank Morgan, Rowland Bott, Bill Jenkins 1943 |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
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| King Farouk's Palace, Alexandria 1942 |
There are some 'sets' of images numbered in ink on the front by Bott, but they have no detail on the reverse. They will all be early 1940s. I have grouped them together in this inky number order and done a little research to try to give an educated guess of their location. Subject to change! It is very possible that some of these were professional souvenir photos rather than Bott's or other servicemen's own photos but I have left them on this page for now. For more professional Egypt Souvenir Photos please click
here.
This first set, immediately below, runs from numbers 2 to 5 and includes possibly number 6. Going by the professional look and title of number 6 - Alexandria French Gardens - they may all be in Alexandria so I have placed them here. They do, however, seem to me to lean towards a set of professional souvenir photos.
The second set is in the Unidentified Locations at the bottom of this page.
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2. Fruit Shop, possibly Alexandria
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| 3. Street Barber, possibly Alexandria |
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| 4. Market, possibly Alexandria |
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| 5. Water Carriers, possibly Alexandria |
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| 6. Alexandria French Gardens - professional photo |
On the back of the photo below the description includes: 'complete with fire engine!' which seemed to impress Dad. I don't know which location it is in but it is one of the few photos dated 1943, which are mostly in Alexandria, so have placed it here.
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| A Funeral Procession, possibly Alexandria 1943 |
CAIRO
I found the 2 photos below separately and with different details on the reverse. But I was able to piece together that, as Bott and Jenkins seemed to have taken photographs of each other under the same tree, the location is Cairo. I feel Jenkins sent the photo to Bott some time later after 1942, and maybe even after the end of the war.
Bott labelled the photo in the 1970s/1980s with 'Cairo about 1942' so he gives the location. Jenkins omits the location but gives a more accurate date. But he spells Rowland incorrectly, missing out the 'w'.
These two became big pals and I met 'Uncle Bill Jenkins' several times in my childhood and he was my godfather. The two pals kept in touch: Bott in Stoke-on-Trent and Jenkins in Swansea.
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| Rowland Bott, Cairo. June 1942 |
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| Bill Jenkins, Cairo, June 1942 |
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| Details on reverse of above photo |
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| Sudanese boy, Cairo |
UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS:
There are several 'sets' of images numbered in ink by Bott but they have no detail on the reverse. So I have grouped them together in this inky number order and done a little research to try to give an educated guess of their location. Subject to change! It is very possible that some of these were professional souvenir photos rather than Bott's or other servicemen's own photos but I have left them on this page for now..
For more professional Egypt souvenir photos please click
here.
The first set is in the Alexandria section above.
This second set below, has inky numbers 1, 4 and 5 and I do not know the location... but the web research on the water wheels for irrigation seem to fit for the style used in Egypt... so at present the photos remain on this Egypt page.
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| Pottery shop |
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| Water wheel (in use) for irrigation |
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| Market or Souk |
And here are a few more photos where the location is unknown.
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| Palm tree and flower pots in a garden, unidentified |
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| Mosque, unidentified, Egypt or Palestine? |
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| The Nile view unidentified |
