Service dress pantaloons : Major General Shukri Pasha, Turkish Army

Turkish Army Ottoman general officer's fawn woollen pantaloons (similar to breeches). A fall front panel conceals the diagonal hip pockets and waistband fly. A hook-and-eye fitting fastens the panel at both of the top corners and it has a buttonhole in the middle of the top edge. The silver buttons on the waistband, for braces, are impressed with the maker's name 'Star'. All of the other buttons are black and they are impressed with 'FOR GENTLEMEN'. Two vertical wide red stripes flank a thin piping stripe in the leg seam. Stirrup straps are fitted to both leg cuffs. They are black with white stripes on the outward facing surface and have a blue, yellow, and red stripe on the inward side. Only one button remains out of the three, on the vertical opening on the outside of both of the leg cuffs. There is an adjustment strap across the back of the waistband. It has a metal buckle that is painted black. A buttoned patch pocket is sewn to the right side of the seat.

Accessioning information suggests that these pantaloons were worn by an Ottoman Major General Ehinkri Pasha, of the Turkish Army, who was governor of Medina. They were collected in Palestine by the Australian War Records Section. The wearer's name may have been recorded incorrectly, because no reference can be found to the name Ehinkri in any history of the war in the Middle East. The original register entry is handwritten and would have been transposed from other records. From the handwriting it is probable that the Major General's surname would have been Shukri. Shukri Pasha al Ayoubi was, however, military governor of Damascus, not Medina.