Members of the Chinese Labour Corps, Boulogne, 12 August 1917

Lantern slide, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1917.

In 1916 an agreement was signed between the British and the Chinese government (then a non-belligerent nation) for the employment of Chinese men for a labour force on the Western Front. The principle work that they undertook involved maintaining lines of supply and communications, digging trenches and dugouts and unloading ships and trains. They also participated in the munitions clear-up and recovery operations after the Armistice in November 1918.

From a box of 73 lantern slides.