Searching for the missing dead of the First World War: Finding & digitising the ‘lost’ service records of the King’s African Rifles

Dr George Hay, Commonwealth War Graves Commission Official Historian, guides us through a vital digitisation project to preserve the records of the King’s African Rifles.

Digitising & preserving King’s African Rifles service records

The Non-Commemoration Project

Image: First line small ammunition column of the 2nd/4th Battalion, King's African Rifles crossing the Lurio River during operations in Portuguese East Africa (© The rights holder (Q 67823))

In 2021, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) published a report that exposed a number of historical inequalities in the way it commemorated the dead of the First World War. 

The most significant finding of that report was evidence of the systematic exclusion from commemoration of upwards of 88,000 East Africans who died serving with British imperial forces in the First World War. 

Although the majority of these men are believed to have been employed as carriers, at least 5,000 of those who lost their lives were soldiers fighting in British units, with more than 4,000 serving in the King’s African Rifles (KAR) alone. 

Prior to the commencement of this work, the CWGC commemorated just 198 KAR soldiers by name, of which 46 were British officers. In an effort to rectify these historical inequalities, the CWGC has been working with global partners to attempt to locate collections of papers that might tell us who these men were, what happened to them and how they should now be commemorated. 

Amongst the most significant finds in this ongoing search was a collection of service records of the King’s African Rifles, thought to have been destroyed before or shortly after Kenya’s independence. 

Identified as part of a collaborative effort between the CWGC and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), a portion of these records formed the basis of a pilot digitisation project funded by the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme.

The King's African Rifles

The King's African Rifles was formed in 1902 by uniting a collection of existing colonial regiments from across British East Africa, focused initially on Nyasaland (Malawi), Kenya and Uganda. 

Though principally raised to perform internal policing and security operations, these units were expanded on the outbreak of war in 1914 and swelled considerably in the years that followed, expanding from 4 to 24 battalions during the course of the conflict. 

These soldiers played a significant part in the fighting in the East Africa Campaign, a theatre of war much overshadowed by the war in Europe and now often completely forgotten. 

Though the exploits of these men have sometimes been recounted by their European officers, few accounts in their own words survive and, until now, very little has been known about them as individuals.

The value of the records

Given the gaps in our knowledge about these men and our understanding of what happened to them, the extraordinary rarity and significance of these records cannot be overstated. 

Dating from the beginning of the formal British colonial presence in the region in the late nineteenth century, the whole collection is now known to extend all the way to Kenyan independence in the 1960s. 

The earliest material records information about individuals raised within Kenya and bordering countries, which would otherwise never have been committed to paper. 

While a civil registration system has existed in the United Kingdom since before the middle of the nineteenth century, the births, marriages, deaths and other life events of the bulk of African peoples living under British administration were never formally recorded. Nonetheless, these records prove that those who were recruited into the King’s African Rifles had a host of details captured about them and their communities. 

These details encompass a wealth of information: enlistment forms, medical records, service histories, and, occasionally, correspondence from soldiers and next of kin. These documents offer invaluable insights into the lives of African soldiers during the colonial era. 

They shed light on recruitment practices, the challenges faced by soldiers in peace and war, and the socio-political dynamics of the time. Moreover, they help us to understand the impact of service and war on African societies under colonial rule. 

All these details have been captured and preserved by this project and these records potentially present the only surviving material that can document this African military and cultural heritage. With this material, we can tell the stories of these men, whose service has otherwise been largely forgotten.

For an example of just how much these records can tell us, see our blog on George Williams DCM and Bar. 

In another, the confused nature of war is reflected within the correspondence held within Masida Odona’s attestation papers. 

These records show that Masida was initially reported as missing following the Battle of Latema-Reata Nek on 11 March 1916, and it was not until September 1918 that an official order proclaimed Masida as being killed in action.

Remarkably, as part of the inquiry into these events, the already mentioned RSM George Williams DCM & Bar wrote a letter to confirm Masida’s death:

This letter was written just two months before Williams himself was killed in action, and it detailed that Masida was killed outright during the bayonet charge ordered at 6 pm, with his death being witnessed by RSM Juma Bokari, Sergeant Hamis B. Juma and Sergeant Hamis B. Said. As a penned eyewitness description of the battle by a highly decorated African NCO, the account is extremely rare and understandably significant as a result.

In another example, the file of Private Chambeshi, who died of disease whilst serving with the 1st/2nd KAR, includes a testimony by his wife, Mwamba, who detailed her journey from Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) to Nyasaland (Malawi) to be with her husband. 

It is entirely possible these are the only surviving written words of this woman and her journey, with the account providing an invaluable record of African experience in this war.

In a final example, Abdulla Fadlmulla from Uganda enlisted on 1 December 1913, aged only 16, and served with the 4th KAR. He was killed in action at Shirari Hill on 17 January 1915 whilst assaulting an enemy machine gun position. 

Given the age recorded on his enlistment, this boy soldier would have been no more than 17-18 years old when he died.

The most important records for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission naturally relate to those soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War but whose service and death has, until now, not been recorded or commemorated by the organisation. 

The need to recover this information provided the parameters for the digitisation sample. 

Although details of the arrangement and total number of records was not well understood, it was known that the KDF had been re-boxing them into years of attestation – effectively the year in which a man joined the unit. 

As a result, the proposed sample included the earliest attestations (to incorporate those soldiers who served from peace into war) all the way through the First World War (up to 1918). In the end, time constraints, complexity and a greater number of records than was predicted meant this pilot finished with records dating from 1917.

Project outcomes: impact & legacy

To give an idea of how important this project has been in the recovery of missing names, more than 650 men who served and died in British imperial service during the war, but who never received recognition or commemoration, have now been added to the CWGC’s casualty database. 

In the coming years, their names will be preserved permanently on some form of fitting memorial. However, just as important as this commemoration are the other opportunities this work has made possible: Kenyan families, communities and scholars can now freely access this material wherever they are in the world, enabling them to re-engage with this lost history and begin to write it in their own words.

Pilot project outcomes in numbers

• Total number of individual personnel records digitised: 8,556
• Total number of TIF images captured: 94,531
• Total disk size of project data: c.2.8TB
• Total number of new First World War casualties identified: 651
• Earliest recorded enlistment: 1887 (Sakhir Ahmed Aga, KAR/1899/1/229/2748)
• Longest service: 28 years (Juma Bakari, 1 July 1895 to 25 October 1923, KAR/1902/1/75/591)

Conclusion

These records represent one of the most important archival finds of the CWGC’s Non-Commemoration Programme, not just because of the names of the dead they contain but because of what the files represent. 

By working with the Kenya Defence Forces to digitise and safeguard these records, the project has not only preserved a significant piece of colonial history but is also helping the CWGC to honour the contributions of African soldiers who played such a crucial role in shaping the history of East Africa. 

Their stories, long forgotten and locked away, are now accessible to all, ensuring their legacy endures.

The CWGC is continuing to work with the KDF to see that all these records are ultimately digitally preserved. To access the records of the pilot project, visit the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme website.

See more Non-Commemoration Project updates

The CWGC Non-Commemoration Programme has a clear mandate: to ensure all those who died in the world wars, no matter where they were, where they died or how they died are remembered equally.

Our historians work with global and state archive materials to direct their research. This allows us to yield important information – we can identify missing names, understand casualty numbers, and identify likely burial locations, as well as reinstate abandoned graves.  

Read more about the Non-Commemoration Project and our latest updates today.

Discover more of our history in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Archive

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s archive tracks the history of the CWGC from our founding in 1917 to the present day.

Featuring meeting notes, blueprints, architectural designs, and much, much more, you can discover our story as it unfolded throughout the years.

The archive is available to view online with more files being regularly digitised for public availability. What will your research uncover?