Among the Ottomans: Diaries from Turkey in World War I

208 Pages·2010·16.03 MB·English

by  Ian Lyster

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Ian Lyster was born in 1937 in London and educated in Istanbul,
where his father and grandmother had earlier lived, as well as in the
UK. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked
for a number of printing companies and later set up his own book
distribution company.
Index 269
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Among thE ottomAns
diaries from turkey in World War I
EdItEd byIAnLystEr
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Published in 2011 by I.b.tauris & Co Ltd
6 salem road, London W2 4bU
175 Fifth Avenue, new york ny 10010
www.ibtauris.com
distributed in the United states and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave macmillan
175 Fifth Avenue, new york ny 10010
Editorial matter and selection copyright © 2011 Ian Lyster
the right of Ian Lyster to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof,
may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
Isbn: 978 1 84885 521 2
A full CIP record for this book is available from the british Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card number: available
typeset in garamond by Park graphics, ormskirk, U.K.
Printed and bound in great britain by CPI Antony rowe, Chippenham
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ContEnts
Acknowledgements.............................................................................................vii
List of Illustrations – between pages 84-85.....................................................ix
Preface...................................................................................................................xi
the Lyster family in turkey.............................................................................xiii
the Imperial ottoman bank............................................................................xix
turkey Enters the War....................................................................................xxiii
greece Invades Asia minor...........................................................................xxvii
Chronology.....................................................................................................xxxiii
Part One: The Diaries of Mrs Marie Lyster (1865-1965)
Vol. 1 –22nd February 1916..............................................................................1
1917.......................................................................................................15
Vol. 2 –23rd August 1917.................................................................................31
1918.......................................................................................................42
Vol. 3 –1st may 1918........................................................................................51
Afterword to mrs marie Lyster’s diaries.........................................................71
maps................................................................................................................73-79
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vi ContEnts
Part Two: The Diaries of Captain Henry Newbolt Lyster (1888-1980)
Early life up to initial military training.............................................................83
Posting to the dardanelles.................................................................................93
With the greek Irregulars..................................................................................99
Posting to Adrinople/Edirne..........................................................................121
Posting to Izmit.................................................................................................131
the ‘Kemalists’ take over................................................................................141
general musings on the Political situation....................................................149
Afterword to henry newbolt Lyster’s diaries.............................................153
Index to diaries of marie Lyster....................................................................155
Index to diaries of henry Lyster..................................................................157
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ACKnoWLEdgmEnts
the editing of and researching for this book has taken up a great
deal of my time, and I had to wait until retirement to be able to
allocate that much of this valuable commodity to it. much of that
time involved monopolising the dining-room table for long
periods. In hindsight I can now apologise to my wife Jill, and thank
her for her support during the project.
Foremost among others who have helped is of course my
brother Alan who had more in the way of old family photographs
and memories of his childhood in Constantinople in the 1920s
and 1930s.
I was recently given a birthday present by Jennie and richard
Lovegrove, of a subscription to that wonderful magazine on
turkey and all things turkish, Cornucopia, and in the first issue I
received was an article on the city of Edirne. I then contacted the
editor John scott, suggesting that an article on my father’s time
there just after WWI might be of interest to his readers. he agreed,
but also suggested that the whole of this diary, and that of my
grandmother, were worthy of expansion into a book, and this set
me onto the long and difficult trail to find a publisher who agreed
with him.
once on this trail and following several frustrating experiences,
I must offer thanks to several people in ormskirk who helped me
with their knowledge. In particular, Ken Lees, a local PC. whose
interest in WWI is wide-ranging and contagious; also noyan
dereli, whom I met at a local U3A (University of the 3rd Age)
meeting. his knowledge of turkish history must be unique in this
area.
many books have helped me, but the ones I have used the most
for my references are; Ionian Vision by michael Llewellyn smith
(London: Allen Lane, 1973) – I note in hisacknowledgements that
my name and that of my father are both mentioned!
Also Eden to Armageddon by roger Ford (London: Weidenfeld
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viii ACKnoWLEdgEmEnts
& nicolson, 2009); Alan moorehead’s Gallipoli(new york: harper
brothers, 1956); giles milton’s Paradise Lost (London: sceptre,
2008); and an anthology Chronology of the 20th Century by Philip
Waller and John rowell, (oxford: helicon, 1995). Certain
references listed on Wikipedia have also proved useful.
thanks are also due to dick sullivan, with whom I was at douai
school in the 1950s. We now meet at annual reunions, and I was
surprised to learn from him that his grandfather, michael sullivan
(1863-1911), had been Company secretary to the Imperial
ottoman bank at the time both my father and grandfather worked
for it. In fact it may have been he who was responsible for sending
my grandfather to Constantinople as Chief Cashier to their branch
in the city. dick has sent me information upon which the book’s
section on the ottoman bank is largely based. We only recently
made this connection –that our grandfathers probably knew each
other, and worked together.
Finally my gratitude to gerard swarbrick who is well-known
locally for his carefully researched and colourful maps of local
areas. he has kindly drawn the line maps which will help the reader
place some of the towns and villages mentioned in the diaries
which follow.
Ian Lyster, Ormskirk, Lancashire
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LIst oF ILLUstrAtIons
1. Page of diary (reduced). there are three volumes, all different
sizes. this page appears in the book on p34.
2. A letter written by my grandmother dated July 15th;
unfortunately no year shown. It is the style and writing of a
young girl (compare the writing to the mature hand in Illus.1).
she signs it ‘Anino’, so presumably still considers herself
(correctly) to be Italian despite her perfect English and her
attendance at an English school (that of ‘the misses Walsh’)
3. my grandmother’s ‘vesika’ as mentioned on p.1. turkey used
the Arabic script until Kemal Ataturk changed it in the 1930s.
the heading read ‘residence Permit for Foreigners’ and is
numbered 145510. her nationality is given as ‘English’. she
would have been 50 in 1915.
4. my father, taken in Adrinople, c.1918. the endorsement clearly
shows ‘british military representative, Adrinople’.
5. my uncle Freddie, my father and grandfather (looking very
proud of his two sons). Presumably taken in salonika, c.1916.
6. A photo taken of Constantinople inhabitants removing their
goods from their typical wooden houses due to an approaching
fire (see pp. 53 and 54). the girl on the wall on the right appears
to be distressed. (IWm).
7. A group of greek Irregular soldiers (or ‘comitajis’), typical of
the ones my father worked with (IWm).
8. An aerial photograph showing the burning of salonika – see
p.116. (IWm).