Nyasaland King's African Rifles series

Seventy-three black and white lantern slides and one tinted lantern slide covering the activities of the soldiers of the King’s African Rifles in Nyasaland, modern Malawi. Although this set is part of the lantern slide collection of the Church of Scotland, there appears to be few visual references to Christianity (and the Livingstonia Mission of the Church of Scotland in Nyasaland) apart from a single image of the exterior of a church building. The Europeans featured in the slides appear to be officers of the King’s African Rifles. The series of slides was possibly produced to inform audiences about British activity in East Africa in the First World War. Although individual slides do seem to date from the wartime period, a map slide showing Tanganyika, the British share of German East Africa given by the League of Nations in 1922, suggests that this set was made up in the 1920s. ❧ The King’s African Rifles was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment. In 1902, all British military forces in East and Central Africa were consolidated and renamed as the King’s African Rifles (K.A.R). Nyasaland’s battalions, the First and Second, which had already been in service for over fourteen years, became the senior regiments within the newly formed K.A.R. Rank and file troops were Africans, grouped together as “Askaris” from the Arabic word for soldier, whereas British officers were brought in from Europe to lead the regiments. In 1915, Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck invaded British East Africa, Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia. Although 20000 K.A.R, Indian and white South African troops went in search of von Lettow-Vorbeck, they were not to succeed in capturing him until he surrendered in November 1918. ❧ As Nyasaland became a focus for Anglo-German rivalry, Africans were drawn into the First World War. Over 200,000 were conscripted as infantrymen and as porters in the Carrier Corps, known locally as “Tengatenga”. “Tenga” means to carry or to take. Over one quarter of the 9,000 Nyasaland men in the K.A.R battalions were casualties of the war, with the Carrier Corps suffering higher losses. Mass recruitment and conscription disrupted daily life, and women struggled to raise enough labour to ensure regular harvests. ❧ African servicemen played only a small role in political associations that sprung up after the war, but some soldiers did save their wages to buy cattle so that they could buy into established families in the north. Others became a nouveau riche class in weakened areas of the country. Oral histories from African veterans after the war feature complaints about conscription, bad rations, brutal discipline, unpaid pensions, and lack of official gratitude for their service. ❧ In Nyasaland, the military influenced almost every aspect of social life. Soldiers were often responsible for civil services; they would collect taxes, build roads and bridges, provide health care, and administer justice. The sites of former forts are now some of Malawi’s largest towns, including Mangochi, Karonga, and Lilongwe. The military influenced local culture as communities developed traditional dances that imitated the marching parades of army recruits. The military even shaped the local language. Certain words, such as “galimoto” (car), “basi” (enough), and “chai” (tea), seem to have been adopted from the Indian soldiers who first made up the K.A.R corps. ❧ The slides are labeled with either the name “MacKay” or the initials “JWM”. Whilst this name could refer to a missionary, it is possible that MacKay could be a soldier, either the photographer or the subject of the slide set. A newspaper notice from the London Gazette, 28 June 1918 reports the secondment of Lieutenant J W MacKay from the East Yorkshire Regiment to the King’s African Rifles on 14 April 1917. A Lt. J W MacKay MD ChB is also listed in the alumni of the University of Glasgow, serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps Special Reserves during the First World War. No MacKay can be found in the Livingstonia Mission staff book.