Souvenir of Egypt : Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry

Green embroidered souvenir with the badge of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in the centre. Underneath is the battle honour 'SOUTH AFRICA, 1900-1902', with the date '1915' under that. Above the badge is embroidered 'SOUVENIR OF EGYPT'. In the top proper right corner is a Union Jack, in the top proper left is a French tricolour. The bottom proper right corner bears the Imperial Russian flag and in the bottom proper left corner is a Belgian flag. Tere are embroidered flowers and leaves on either side of the badge. The souvenir has a cream fringed edge.

The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry was raised in the summer of 1794 as the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Cavalry. The Regiment did not see active service until a mounted squadron was sent to South Africa in 1900. In 1915 the unit served in Egypt, until it was sent to Gallipoli later in 1915, performing an infantry role for three months. The Regiment then returned to Egypt subsequently operating in a cavalry role in northern Greece and Palestine. This souvenir is dated 1915 and may have been purchased by someone who trained in Egypt and possibly served in the Gallipoli campaign. Textile souvenirs made in Egypt, were usually brightly coloured embroideries on cotton sateen. They invariably bear the words 'Souvenir of Egypt', and often have a year of manufacture, such as in this example. Most have a distinctly Egyptian flavour such as the pyramids, camels or date palms. Others have military themes, such as unit badges or colour patches. The embroideries were displayed on wooden racks beside small booths in the bazaars where the manufacture was undertaken. They usually had a paper backing tacked to them, which has not often survived. Normally the embroidery was customised by the addition of an embroidered message of the customer's choice, and by the addition of a coloured fringe braid edge, also of the customer's choice. It was also possible for the customer to design the souvenir completely, in which case it would have to be specially ordered and collected later on. Examples of this can be seen in the embroideries whose background colours and design replicate the colour patches worn by Australians at the top of each sleeve to identify the unit with which they were serving, or in embroideries featuring Australian animals, especially the kangaroo and emu. All the types of embroidered souvenirs were easy to customise because they utilised a machine produced chain stitch that was created by a small hand held, free standing machine that was readily manipulated to produce any design. The original pattern in pencil or ink can sometimes be seen under the chain stitch. This kind of machine embroidery is still widely used throughout the Middle East today for both souvenirs and domestic soft furnishings.