'Message Map'

This large scale map depicts British and enemy positions and would have been used in the front line by a junior British officer.

The 1/10,000 scale of the map is also of First World War military history significance. British Army Trench Maps developed from the shift from movement to a static situation of trench warfare on the Western Front. This shift required the production of larger scale maps so that units in the trenches could use them to locate enemy defensive positions and to accurately build a picture of the type of ground held by the enemy. New maps were produced from a new survey of the ground on the British fighting front from January 1915. These maps were produced by a large operation of field survey companies. By the time this map was produced, the Geographical Section of the General Staff at the War Office were joined by trained surveyors from the Ordnance Survey in Southampton and Royal Engineer observers and topographers.

This map was was produced by the British Army and is dated 9 June 1918. The white paper map is cyclostyled in black, red and blue ink. It includes the names of farms and places such as Bonar Farm, Dene Farm and les Puresbecques, northern France. A 'Message Form' on verso for a soldier to fill out if in trouble.

It possibly belonged to Captain Captain George Middleton Turner (15th Royal Warwickshire Regiment, United Kingdom), who fought in France during the First World War. After travelling widely through the 1920s, he settled in New Zealand. He retired to Nelson and died 1973.