European Officer outside Hut, Malawi, ca. 1914-1918

Black and white lantern slide showing a European officer in the King's African Rifles standing outside a hut. He wears khaki shorts, a khaki shirt and a belt, with a pith helmet on his head. He wears long puttees or socks. The hut has thatched walls and roof, and there is a break between the walls and roof around the top of the walls to ventilate the hut. Although rank and file troops in the King's African Rifles were native African soldiers (named "Askaris" from the Arabic word for soldier), the officers in the regiment in the First World War tended to be European and brought in from battalions from the United Kingdom. This slide comes from a set on the activities of the King’s African Rifles battalions in Nyasaland. It was originally held by the Church of Scotland, and generated by J.W MacKay.