Civilians Gallery

Coastguards and civilians of Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey

Commemorative postcard, Heroes All! Five brave coastguards and two civilians of Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, who rescued 20 members of the 2nd Walworth Boy Scouts Troop who got into difficulties when their training vessel, a 32 foot ex-naval cutter, was hit by a sudden squall and capsized. Sadly, nine Sea Scouts died. There were 23 Sea Scouts, the Scout Master and five helpers on board. The tragedy was widely reported in newspapers at the time. A Memorial was erected in 1914 in Nunhead Cemetery.
4 August 1912

© Mary Evans / The Scout Association

A family of Iraqi civilians seek the help of a soldier

Digital photograph: A family of Iraqi civilians seek the help of a soldier serving with No 2 Company, 1st Battalion The Irish Guards to locate their other child caught up in the panic caused by incoming small arms fire from Iraqi positions in Basra.Photographed by WO2 Giles Penfound, Army Media Operations, outskirts of Basra City, southern Iraq, Operation TELIC, 30 March 2003.From a CD entitled Iraq Conflict. Operation Telic, compiled by WO2 Penfound, for an exhibition at the NAM provisionally entitled Conflict (Project: Operation TELIC).Associated with 1 Company, 1st Battalion, The Irish Guards, Iraq (2003-).The family were part of a column of people fleeing the city of Basra when it and the soldiers of the 1st Battalion No 2 Company, The Irish Guards, manning a checkpoint on the outskirts of Basra, came under small arms fire from two Iraqi positions several hundred meters away. The Irish guards were trying to give as much protection to the local civilians as well as ensuring no Iraqi Military or Militia slipped through the checkpoint disguised as ordinary civilians. After returning small arms fire and bringing in artillery fire on the two positions the soldiers were then in a position to allow free access across the checkpoint. Date: 2003

© The National Army Museum / Mary Evans Picture Library

Stretcher bearers waiting for ambulance train arrival

A group of civilians are standing by parked ambulance vehicles inside a station building at Ramsgate Town Station. On the ground nearby are several stretchers. These are men of the local VAD Transport Group. The man standing by himself alongside the stretchers is Major PHG Powell-Cotton of Quex Park. Major Powell-Cotton was the VAD Transport Officer for the Isle of Thanet area, responsible for organising the transport of patients from the stations to the local hospitals. The men are waiting for the arrival of an ambulance training bringing more military patients for the local VAD Hospitals. This photograph is in the archive collection related to the Quex Park VAD Hospital. The Quex Park VAD Hospital opened on 15 October 1914 and closed on 31 January 1919. The hospital was run by Kent/178, the Birchington Detachment. The Commandant was Hannah Powell-Cotton (1881-1964), wife of Major Percy HG Powell-Cotton (1866-1940) of Quex Park, founder of the Powell-Cotton Museum. Date: 1916

© The Powell-Cotton Museum Collection / Mary Evans Picture Library