A ROKUOH-SHA TYPE 89 WWII ERA JAPANESE MACHINE GUN CAMERA, This rare gun camera was captured at the end of the second world war by Bail Ashmead Gotto when he had served as a Pilot Officer with...

A ROKUOH-SHA TYPE 89 WWII ERA JAPANESE MACHINE GUN CAMERA, This rare gun camera was captured at the end of the second world war by Bail Ashmead Gotto when he had served as a Pilot Officer with 100 Squadron RAF (December 1941-February 1942), after the evacuation of 100 Squadron to Java (January 1942) and, after the Dutch surrender, he subsequently escaped by flying Vildebeest to Sumatra where he was taken prisoner of war (POW) by the Japanese (March 1942) imprisoned in Palembang, Sumatra, where he remaining a POW until August 1945. Basil Ashmead Gotto was the son of the well know sculptor Basil Gotto The following nine lots (114-122) relate to the Ashmead Bartlett Family Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett (1849-1902) was born in New York, the son of Ellis Bartlett and Sophia Ashmead. The family claimed to have been descended from Richard Warren of Hertford, England, one of the passengers on the Mayflower. Family folklore also links them to Dr. Josiah Bartlett (1729-1795) one of New Hampshire's three signatories of the Declaration of Independence. Interestingly 'Ellis' is the name of a river in New Hampshire - Bartlett country. After the death of his father in 1852 Ellis and his family moved to England. He graduated in Law and History from Oxford in 1871 and was called to the Bar in 1877. In 1880 he was elected as MP for Eye in Suffolk and remained a Member of Parliament until his death in 1902. His eldest son Ellis, born in 1881 became a British war correspondent during the First World War. Through his reporting of the Battle of Gallipoli, he was instrumental in the birth of the Anzac legend which still dominates military history in Australia and New Zealand. He was intensely critical of the campaign and described the final offensive as ''the most ghastly and costly fiasco in our history since the Battle of Bannockburn.'' Through his outspoken criticism of the conduct of the campaign, he was instrumental in bringing about the dismissal of the British commander-in-chief, Sir Ian Hamilton - an event that led to the evacuation of British forces from the Gallipoli peninsula.

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