It’s odd how a name and a memory from over half a century ago sometimes pop back and remind me of a time long ago.
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| Tel-El-Kebir Road, 2022 |
I was living just south of Sunderland in Seaham Harbour and for reasons now long lost we would regularly pass the road which resonated with me.
I will have checked out the name as the site of a battle in 1882 in which a Franco British force defeated elements of the Egyptian army, and surmised the road was in honour of the victory.
At the time I took it no further, and today sitting in Manchester I don’t have access to the sort of detail which would offer up when the road was cut who decided on the name and what the residents thought at the time.
There are only 4 places named after the battle. Two are here in the UK and two in Australia. The Australian connection makes sense given that during the Great War Australian soldiers were based at a camp located at Tel- El-Kebir.
Of the British sites one is Hendon in Sunderland and the other is Pontypridd in Wales.
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| Detail from the Storming of Tel-El-Kebir, 1883 |
The obvious explanation for the commemoration of the battle is a connection with those who fought at Tel-El-Kebir. Now I know the names of some of the regiments which were there including the Black Watch, Gordon Highlanders and The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of the Highland Brigade, along with the Guards the 19th Hussars and units of Indian Army.
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| The Storming of Tel-El-Kebir, 1883 |
The answer may lie in a local newspaper, or someone might come forward with the answer.
And given the times Tel- El-Kebir Road could just undergo a name change.
It is perhaps time for such a change and I doubt it will alter my memories.
Location; Hendon, Sunderland
Picture; The Storming of Tel-El-Kebir, 1883, Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville, National Museums Scotland, Accession number, M.1952.50 and Tel-El-Kebir Road, Hendon, Sunderland, 2022, courtesy of Google Maps & Google Earth
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