One of the pictures that grabbed my attention when looking in the UK official Abyssinian Campaign publication was a picture of an armoured vehicle with an odd registration number, a structure above an open turret, and a radiator cover that looked a bit like it is from a 1920 Pattern Rolls-Royce armoured car.
The picture is not too high a resolution but there is enough to make out a few details and to grab my interest. It turns out that the vehicle is from the Sudan Defence Force contingent operating in the campaign.
A copy of the picture appears in W E Crosskill's book "The Two Thousand Mile War" which I recently acquired. Sadly not much information re the cars or the SDF.
The Sudan Defence Force was formed after unrest in the 1920's, at which point Sudan was separated from Egypt and its own armed forces created under British control. The SDF inherited two 1914 pattern Rolls-Royces from No 3 Armoured Car Company, Tank Corps that had originally been part of the Duke of Westminsters armoured car quadron during WW1. The cars had likely been involved in the 1916 Tara Rescue.
It appears that 45 of the armoured vehicles were constructed during the 1930s by Charles Gordon Stewart, then responsible for Motor Transport in the Sudan Defence Force.
The cars don't have wheel arches/fenders but do appear to have storage at the rear, an open top turret fitted with a Vickers .303 inch machine gun and a Boys .5inch anti-tank rifle. The Boys rifle only came into service in 1937 so probably not part of Stewart's development.
Together with a number of Sudan Defence Force Scout Cars, the armoured cars appear from about 2minutes 5 seconds onwards in a film clip hosted by the Imperial War Museum, reference WPN 283.
Having participated in the Abyssinian campsign, the some of the cars were moved to Kufra to take over garrison duties from the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG).
LRDG commanding officer Guy Prendergast had previously served with the SDFs No 2 MMG Company and had learnt to fly in the Sudan.
A couple of photos that feature the armoured cars appear in a 1964 album prepared for the President of Sudan and former member of the Sudan Defence Force Ibrahim Abbood, available to view at the UK National Archives in Kew, reference CO 1069/15.
An inside view of the turret can be seen on the Imperial War Museum website where there are several SDF and Sudan related photos, films etc
IWM ref E 3764 1941 photo inside an SDF armoured car turret
Charles Stewart Gordon (1891-1964) was born in London to parents from Ireland, his father an engineer. In the 1911 census of Ireland he is at the house of an uncle (James Stewart, age 60) and two aunts (Rachel age 59 and Rebecca age 57) at Northland Road, Derry. The record transcription gives his occupation as :
"Engineers Apprentice at Vickors Sons and Mariens Ltd (at Barrow in furnise] at present in Turner Shop"
which should say "Engineers Apprentice at Vickers, Sons and Maxim Ltd (at Barrow in Furness) at present in Turner Shop".
The most surprising snippet for me in looking into the background of Charles Gordon was that another uncle, Reverend Harvey Stewart (1859-1939) was rector at St Stephen's Parochial Hall during the Easter Rising in Ireland. Never expected to find any Easter Rising link on this bit of work.
Charles Stewart started the First World War as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Transferred to the Army Service Corps and later commissioned into the Army Service Corps. He would be in Turkey in the 1921 census. Seconded to Sudan in 1927, he was there until 1937. On return to the UK, he transferred to the RAOC, with whom he stayed until the creation of REME where he became a Brigadier. Quite a remarkable progression.
There is an exceptional photograph album of Stewarts that was donated to the REME Museum at Lyenham that is worth a look if you are interested in interwar vehicles and/or the Sudan.
The Bodleian Library has a good copy of "Tales of the Sudan Defence Force" by John Orlebar, carrying the same picture as used on the cover of the Abyssian Campaign publication.
For general interest in the Sudan, the archive at Durham University is the place to go. Check their Special Collections site.
