A line of barefoot girls in headscarves and long patterned skirts carry large clay water jars on their backs past a brick wall. Newton & Co lantern slide no. 50 from the series "The Persians, Kurds, and Nestorians, their manners and customs", attributed by the Nelson Collection to Ernest Hoeltzer, late 19th century; published in The Living Races of Mankind (1901) as "Armenians water-carrying (Nestorians)" and by D'Allemagne (1911) as "Jeunes filles Nestoriennes faisant le métier de porteuses d'eau" (young Nestorian women working as water carriers).

Nestorian (Assyrian) girls carrying water jars

A line of soldiers in slouch hats and shorts, rifles at the slope, drawn up in front of a Royal Air Force biplane. The agency captioned them as Assyrian troops in Iraq; they are likely men of the Assyrian Levies.

Assyrian troops in front of a British bomber in Iraq

Armed men in caps and overcoats stand in a snowy bazaar street in Urmia in 1918, described as Assyrian militia on patrol.

Assyrian militia patrolling in Urmia, 1918

Assyrian recruits in slouch hats with plumes and rifles at the slope parade at RAF Habbaniya after three weeks of training. Photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1942.

Assyrian Levies recruits in uniform after training, Habbaniya, 1942

A line of Assyrian recruits to the Iraq Levies in headcloths, felt caps and striped robes stands in profile against the sky at RAF Habbaniya. Photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1942.

Assyrian recruits to the Iraq Levies at Habbaniya, 1942

An Assyrian dancer in an embroidered jacket and keffiyeh raises a dagger, accompanied by a zurna player and a drummer in patterned national dress, on a parade ground in Iraq. Photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1942.

Assyrian dancer and musicians performing the khigga, 1942

A long line of Jilu Assyrian recruits in tall felt caps faces a New Zealand NCO of Dunsterforce in a slouch hat at Hamadan, August 1918. Photographed by Ariel Varges.

Jilu Assyrian recruits drilling with a New Zealand NCO, Hamadan

Bare-chested Jilu Assyrian recruits line up while a British officer examines one man's eyes and other officers in pith helmets look on, August 1918. Photographed by Ariel Varges during the formation of the Urmia Brigade at Hamadan.

Medical inspection of Jilu Assyrian recruits for the Urmia Brigade

Three Iraq Levies in slouch hats, Sergeant Macko Shmos, Lance Corporal Adoniyo Odisho and Corporal Yoseph Odisho, look over the rail of the ship Orbita as it docks at Liverpool in 1946. They had volunteered as RAF ground crew and came for the London Victory Parade.

Iraq Levies arriving in Liverpool for the 1946 Victory Parade

A British instructor in a slouch hat drills a line of Iraq Levies recruits at Habbaniya who still wear their tribal dress: embroidered jackets, sashes, wide trousers and feathered caps. The Levies were then recruited largely from Assyrians, so many of these men are likely Assyrian.

Iraq Levies recruits drilling at Habbaniya

Eight armed Jilu Assyrian men in tall felt caps, embroidered jackets, sashes and patterned trousers pose against a mud-brick wall, four standing and four seated, 1918. From Major W. Leith-Ross's album at the National Army Museum.

Assyrian fighters from Jilu, 1918

A crowd of armed Assyrian volunteers, some mounted, surround a captured Turkish banner in 1918. The Commons description identifies the rider in the white hat as Agha Petros saluting his men; the photograph comes from Major W. Leith-Ross's album at the National Army Museum.

Assyrian volunteers with a captured Turkish banner, 1918

Half-length portrait of a young Jilu Assyrian soldier in a wrapped turban, embroidered tunic and sash, with a rifle at his side. The print, captioned "Type of Jelu" and "Mesopotamian Campaign", is mounted on a U.S. War Department photo card; it likely dates from 1918.

Jilu Assyrian soldier, Mesopotamian campaign

A young Assyrian man from Jilu in a felt cap, patched clothes and cloth leggings stands with a rifle over his shoulder at Hamadan, August 1918, recruited for the British-formed Urmia Brigade. Photographed by Ariel Varges.

Jilu Assyrian recruit for the Urmia Brigade at Hamadan

Rows of Assyrian Christian men from Jilu, many in torn clothes and felt caps, stand on parade at Hamadan while British NCOs drill them for service with the Urmia Brigade, August 1918. Photographed by Ariel Varges for the British Ministry of Information.

Jilu Assyrian recruits drilled at Hamadan for the Urmia Brigade

Armed men with rifles and bandoliers, described as "our army of defence", crowded in a street at Urmia in 1918, during the Assyrian defence of the city.

Faces, places & memories of the Assyrian people.