hill camel corps

it It was a " war-raised " formation that had no permanent status on the Order of Battle and was expected to be disbanded when the composite detachments were returned to their regiments on the completion of hostilities. 

In Major-General Brackenbury's account The River Column, he alludes to the 6 March parade at Merawi as the first and last time that the River Column was reviewed ( p. 287 ) Count Gleichen mentions that as soon as the Guards Camel Regt. reached Gakdul Wells, in late April I suspect, they turned over their long-suffering camels and reverted to infantry. He doesn't mention any specific date or event that would indicate the disbandment of the Camel Corps but certainly by mid-March the composite units had been broken up and distributed in camps along the Nile in preparation for an Autumn campaign. Certainly by this time the Camel Corps had ceased as an effective fighting force, with its men in tatters and their surviving mounts at Death's door.

Regarding the British Camel Corps at Ginnis in December 1885, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a different, ad-hoc unit that had been raised from the garrison in Egypt. By this time, the Frontier Field Force, established and maintained along the Egyptian-Sudanese border, was comprised almost exclusively of Egyptian troops, with only small detachments of British troops at a few locations. The British Camel Corps at Ginnis was commanded by Lieut. G.W. Maunsell of the Royal West Kent Regt. a unit which was garrisoned in Egypt at the time, and I wonder if this was simply a short-lived special detachment of the battalion?

Certainly the bulk of the " camel duties " on the frontier were being undertaken by the Egyptian Army's Camel Corps which had existed from early 1883. Specially recruited from First-Class shots within the army, and from men already familiar with camels, it proved to be a highly successful force. Even its mounts were hand-picked, from the Bisharieh breed of off-white racing camels from around Assuoan. The detachment at Ginniss was commanded by Lieut. R.A. Marriot, Royal Marine Artillery, who received the DSO for his leadership at the battle. One of his Egyptian colleagues, Bimbashi Said Radwan also received the award, a rare honour for a non-British officer.

Another British Camel Corps was raised at Suakin on 16 April 1885 and consisted of detachments from the Guards, the Royal Engineers, the East Surreys, the RMLI, the Berkshires, the NSW Infantry, the SLI, the 15th Sikhs, the 17th Bengal Infantry and the 28th Bombay Infantry. Although mounted on beasts from India, these camels were simply intended to transport soldiers, two at a time, while their care & maintenance was carried out by a native ( Indian ) driver. hardly the same concept as the Camel Corps formed for the Nile Expedition.