Objekt NK/1 - PP/MCR/150

Norman King was the British consul at Dar-es-Salaam, German East Africa, when war broke out in 1914. His diary begins at the end of July and the early entries reflect the confusion which the declaration of war brought to the colonies. King himself was now on enemy territory; nevertheless, the German Authorities who had previously been his associates and friends made every endeavour to help him and other British subjects to leave Dar-es-Salaam safely: "The Governor said the Authorities would give me every assistance to obtain a dhow and told Kempner, who had meanwhile prepared my pass, to go with me and see that I got what I wanted. I expressed my regret at the situation and thanked him for all the consideration he had shown me as British Consul. He seemed very upset and both of us felt too bewildered at the sudden catastrophe to say more than a few formal phrases." (5 August 1914) After a hazardous journey by dhow along the coast King and a few other refugees arrived at Zanzibar only to be mistaken for German saboteurs and fired on! Eventually they got ashore and King went straight to the Residency to make a vigorous complaint about the incident. There followed a few days in Zanzibar during which time he was appointed Chief Intelligence Officer and then ordered to proceed to Simla in India, headquarters of the British East African Expedition. A break in the journey at Mombasa, to await despatches, allowed him to note and criticise the fact that the German subjects there had been imprisoned. King arrived at Simla, (25 August), and was installed in the headquarters to impart his knowledge of German East Africa to the British staff. He was officially appointed Political Officer to Force "B" of the East African Expedition and spent the following few days in composing a handbook on German East Africa for the benefit of the Expeditionary Force. On 20 September he sailed from Bombay with Force "C" and, on his return to British East Africa, was gazetted Political Officer temporarily attached to Force "C". Several diary entries at this time express Kings irritation with the vagueries of his position and series of stop-gap appointments. At the beginning of November the Expeditionary Force sailed for Tanga, a coasted town of strategic importance, just within the border of German East Africa. Kings description of the attack on Tanga is detailed and highly informative. Although he personally blamed the failure of the expedition upon the cowardice of the ill-prepared Indian troops, it is clear from his account that lack of organisation was chiefly responsible for the British defeat. After the Force had landed and established a camp King commented: "There was not much organisation apperant and the nature of the troops was shown by a sudden scare when what looked like the whole camp bolted, seized by unreasoning and uncontrollable panic. ------- it was pitiful to hear the officers calling out to the men to take their arms, while the men ran like sheep." (3 November) Eventually the Force advanced on the town but the move was chaotic: "There was machine gun just in front which was making a terrible noise; people said it was ours and we hoped it was, but nobody knew much." (4 November) Having sustained heavy losses the British began to fall back and the demoralised troops re-embarted. [NB News of the disaster at Tanga was not released publicly in Britain until several months later, for fear of the effect which it would have on morale.] The second operation in which King took part was more successful but still characterised by disorganisation. He was to act as interpreter on board HMS FOX whose mission was to sail to Dar-es-Salaam to make a reconnaissance and to ensure that German ships could not leave the harbour. The situation was delicate as Dar-es-Salaam was protected by a flag of truce - on the understanding that she did not harbour the German cruiser Koenigsberg. However, whilst inspecting the harbour the British were fired on and so HMS Goliath was ordered to bombard the town. After inflicting some damage the British returned to Zanzibar with a few wounded and a number of German prisoners, (28 November). Back in Mombassa King wrote: "I am at a loose end, my activities as Political Officer having come to an end after the Tanga affair, and I may have to return to consular duties." (8 December) Shortly after this he was transferred to the service of the Governor of British East Africa and early in the New Tear was sent as Political Officer with an expedition to capture Mafia Island, a small island to the south of Dar-es-Salaam. He sailed in the Kinfauns Castle with an expeditionary force of 500 and gives a thorough account of the capture of the island. While the Kinfauns Castle and Fox shelled the shore the Force landed and set up a base camp, (8 January 1915). The following day they advanced on the German position, meeting with little resistance from the outnumbered enemy. Mafia was, in fact, the first German territory in East Africa to be captured by the British. In February King returned to Mafia to take up the post of Political Officer on the island. This time he sailed in "a miserable little tub full of Indians and niggers and a rather interesting baboon" and arrived to find that Colonel MacKay, the Military Commandant of Mafia, ". has the whole white house to himself and has put up a tent for me." (8 February) Throughout Kings term of office on the island relations between the two were strained, with MacKay unwilling to recognise Kings status. The native population of the island, mainly Indians and Arabs, were apparently undisturbed by the transition from German to British rule but had enough problems of their own as, writes King, "practically everyone on the island seems to be an undischarged bankrupt." (23 August) The handling of native disputes occupied much of his time conscientious in dealing with them. Most of his non-working hours were spent in hunting or dining with the other white people on Mafia, of which there were few. The monotonous routine of life on the island is reflected in Kings diary entries which gradually become shorter and more infrequent. In addition to suffering from boredom and loneliness he was not in the best of health and many entries complain of feverishness. After a few months on Mafia he wrote ". feeling rather a wreck. I need home-leave after three-years in this climate." (3 November). In September 1916 the Foreign Office informed King that he was to be transferred to Dakar, but he remarks in his diary that he has no intention of going. He left Mafia for Dar-es-Salaam, which had just surrendered to the British, and then proceeded to Zanzibar where the medical board prescribed him four months rest in a temperate climate. On 30 October the Jubilant King sailed for home and had travelled as far as Durban before he received a wire from the Foreign Office actually granting his leave. After a dull voyage, the ship having to sail in darkness and quiet because of submarines, King reached England. His diary ends on 31 December 1916 as the ship weighed anchor.

Imperial War Museum Department of Documents >> Sir Norman King KCMG

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127 pp

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/8be6ae6b-d052-41fb-8acf-bf9ce903c7d4

{{data source}} The National Archives Discovery

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