In the last few days, thanks to the efforts of several Pals and KevinT in particular, I've discovered that two brothers, who were my Grandfather's first cousins, served in the 1st OBLI and were captured at Kut. Sidney/Sydney Gaskin died at Adana on 27th September 1916 and now lies at Baghdad North Gate Cemetery. His brother, William Campbell Gaskin, survived, one of the very few that did. Given the ordeals these men suffered, it seems remarkable to me that William managed to recover enough to court and marry a girl he'd probably never met before he got home by April 1919, he having been brought up in rural Oxfordshire while she was born in Wandsworth.

Can anyone help with these questions:

Were they in Turkish hands until the Armistice?

What happened to them after they returned to Blighty? That is, were they left to recover as best they could by themselves or were they hospitalised?

Keith

Not a direct answer but if you haven't seen this before there is some good information ... http://www.gutenberg-e.org/steuer/steuer.ch15.html. This is from Pursuit of an 'Unparalleled Opportunity' - The American YMCA and Prisoner of War Diplomacy among the Central Power Nations during World War I, 1914-1923.

Thank you. I've had a quick squint and it looks very interesting.

Keith