With Allenby in Palestine by Lt.-Col. F. S. Brereton c.1918

The Prolific "Boy's Own" Rival to G.A. Henty

Lt.-Col. Frederick Sadleir Brereton was essentially the heir apparent to G.A. Henty in the realm of British imperial juvenile fiction. What makes him historically compelling is that he wasn't just an armchair novelist; he was a retired Royal Army Medical Corps officer who had served in both the Boer War and World War I.

Publishers Blackie & Son utilized Brereton to churn out rapid-fire adventure books based on ongoing or very recent military campaigns. He gave young boys a heavily romanticized, highly patriotic, "boots-on-the-ground" look at current geopolitical events, turning real-time history into immediate fiction.

The Controversial Framing of the "Latest Crusade"

The subtitle “A Story of the Latest Crusade”—is a perfect artifact of the initial British media and cultural reaction to General Edmund Allenby’s capture of Jerusalem in December 1917.

Historically, this rhetoric was actually a major headache for the British government:

The Media Frenzy: When Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot out of respect for the holy city, British newspapers and religious publications immediately seized upon the event as the fulfillment of a centuries-old dream, explicitly calling it the "Last Crusade."

The Diplomatic Backlash: General Allenby himself, along with the British Foreign Office, was utterly furious with this framing. They knew that labeling the Sinai and Palestine campaign a "Crusade" would deeply alienate and anger millions of Muslim subjects within the British Empire (particularly in India and Egypt), as well as Britain's local Arab allies who were fighting against the Ottoman Empire.

While Allenby spent considerable effort trying to suppress "Crusade" terminology in official circles, popular fiction like Brereton’s book leaned into it unapologetically to capture the imaginations of young readers at home.

The South African / ANZAC Hidden Connection

While the book focuses on the overarching British campaign against the Ottomans, the real military campaign under Allenby featured an incredibly diverse imperial force. For anyone interested in Commonwealth military history, Allenby’s push through Palestine relied heavily on the Desert Mounted Corps, which included the Australian Light Horse, New Zealand Mounted Rifles, and the 1st South African Brigade, who fought prominently in the capture of Gaza and the subsequent push toward Damascus.

Minor wear to the binding; more so on the edges.

140mm x 190mm x 40mm

R800