Letter writer, Baghdad, 1919 (c)

Photograph, Mesopotamia, 1919 (c).

Women in traditional Arabic dress sit next to a letter writer. In societies where most people were illiterate such individuals provided a useful service, especially when it came to dealing with official correspondence.

From an album of 334 photographs compiled by Major W Leith-Ross, Army Staff and 13th Frontier Force Rifles, 1918-1920.