INTERNATIONAL OCCUPATION OF CRETE, 1897
2nd-Lieutenant Percy John Finch, 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders
St. Nicholas', Hurst, Berkshire

The background

Does this sound familiar? Sectarian fighting and ethnic cleansing. Christians fighting Muslims, with atrocities on both sides. Massacres, and refugees fleeing the countryside for cities. Polarisation of communities along religious grounds. Entry of peacekeeping forces.

Just to prove there is nothing new under the sun, that is not Kosovo or Ireland or Cyprus, it is Crete, in 1897. An island that was part of the Ottoman Empire but which in early 1897 witnessed a declaration of autonomy by its majority Greek Christian population, followed by a Greek invasion of the island in their support. Cue the fighting alluded to above, with allegations of atrocities emanating from both sides.

Around the island a fleet of the Great Powers gathered – Britain and France, Italy and Russia. Supported by the Germans and Austrians they imposed a blockade on the island, preventing communication between the island and the Greek government, and then sent in troops themselves to occupy and impose peace, dividing Crete into four sectors, predating the post-war division of Berlin by nearly 50 years. The British assumed control of the region which had as its main centre of population Heraklion, then known as Candia, which was crowded with Turkish Muslim refugees. Yet again, the British found themselves involved in action to defend and preserve the Ottoman Empire – shades of the Crimea, and the Turkish-Egyptian war of 1840.

In April Turkey declared war and invaded northern Greece. As the summer progressed hostilities continued on the island, despite the peacekeeping forces.  In May the Greeks began to evacuate their forces, but local Christian insurgents continued to ambush peacekeeping troops. Emboldened by their successes on the mainland, the Turks decided they would reassume control of the island, prompting the commanding Admirals to declare that they would not allow the Sultan’s representative to land. On the 26th July The Straits Times reported that British Highlander troops in the Candia region had been fired on by insurgents.

The Man

Back in Hurst Grove, a few miles east of Reading, the Finch family were presumably enjoying the summer in their twenty-six roomed house (still there, though now offices). Father, Peter, a JP and landowner in 1871, had died aged just forty-one, in 1881, leaving Cumbrian-born Eliza with 8 children to raise, although presumably plenty of money to live on, as in all subsequent censuses Eliza is described as “living on own means”.  Peter was a scion of a Norwich brewing family. In 1837 one Peter Finch had merged his company with Steward and Patteson, who were to continue brewing in Norwich until the brewery was closed down by the infamous Watney Mann in 1970. Our Peter’s father was, according to his marriage records, called Timothy, but it’s difficult to believe that he and the elder Peter aren’t related; the younger had to have his money from somewhere – twenty-six rooms is a big house – and his eldest son was christened Peter Steward.

Peter’s absence from earlier censuses may be explained by him having been abroad, as we know one of his brothers-in-law, Charles Fetherstonhaugh, was a coffee planter in 1871, and a retired tea planter in 1901. Just as Peter’s family must have been well-off, so his wife’s family were. Eliza’s father, Timothy Fetherstonhaugh, farmed nearly four hundred acres in Kirkoswald in Cumberland, and lived in a house called The College, a former collegiate church described as “one of Kirkoswald's most splendid buildings”, and owned by the family since the dissolution of the religious houses in 1537. Charles went on to live in retirement at The Castle in Tiverton, with twenty-three rooms and seven servants, including a butler.

So the Finches were clearly members of the prosperous landed gentry. When Timothy died, around 1870, his wife and family moved to Sonning in Berkshire, on the Thames, and only a few miles from Hurst where daughter Eliza and husband Peter Finch were living. The children were Peter Steward , Charles, Francis,  Eliza, Alfred, Bertha, Percy and Margaret . In all future censuses Peter Steward was living on his own means until his death in 1910. In 1911 Francis was a “private secretary”, living in a twelve-roomed house in Wokingham. Charles and Alfred went back to the original  family business; in 1911 both were living in Norfolk and were directors of a brewery (presumably Steward & Patteson). Percy died in Candia on June 27th 1897, victim of the strife between the Cretan insurgents and the international forces, although the cause was enteric fever, typhoid, rather than a bullet.

Campaign continued

The Cretan problem was to continue for over a year after Percy’s death, and overall the Sutherland Highlanders were to suffer 19 dead in the conflict, according to the memorial plaque in St. Giles’ Kirk, Edinburgh. The final act came in September 1898, when a Turkish Muslim demonstration in Candia (against custom duties traditionally performed by Turks being taken over the International Forces – a money-raising venture) turned into a riot. The dockyard was attacked, then the British residences. The British Consul (a Greek Christian) and his wife died in their burning house, British soldiers were killed, and over eight hundred Greek Christians murdered. Within six weeks all Turkish forces on the island had been withdrawn under international pressure, and on 9th December Prince George of Greece took up position as High Commissioner of an autonomous Crete.

This rather obscure conflict is also noticeable for providing the Royal Naval Medical Service with its only Victoria Cross, when, during the riot mentioned in the previous paragraph, Surgeon William Maillard journeyed through a hail of bullets in an attempt to save a shot sailor, though the sailor died. Maillard died in 1903, and his grave can be visited in Wimborne Road Cemetary, Bournemouth. His house on Wood Road was called ‘Crete’.

 
TO THE SACRED MEMORY OF 2ND LT. PERCY JOHN FINCH 1ST BATT. SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS AGE 23 WHO DIED IN CANDIA JUNE 27 1897 DURING THE INTERNATIONAL OCCUPATION OF CRETE. ERECTED BY HIS BROTHER OFFICERS


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Sources

Photos
memorial at Suda Bay, Crete - by euro-t-guide.com (ironically, Finch's name is not present on this memorial, although he is on the one in St. Giles', Edinburgh)
Church of St. Nicholas, Hurst - by Brendan and Ruth McCartney, from geography.org.uk

Genealogy
www.ancestry.co.ukhttp://www.norridge.me.uk/pubs/names_/brewers/snp.htm

Military
London Gazette, 2 December 1898
http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/balkans/crete18971908.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crete#Cretan_State_1898-1908
http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=177
http://www.dcstamps.com/?p=365
http://mickmctiernan.com/history/flags/
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1897/mar/01/crete
http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-post-34381.html
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/66527084
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990CE5D71E3AE533A2575BC1A9659C94669ED7CF
http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbmailla.htm


 © Jonathan Dewhirst 2013