Evelyn Barker was the British general who commanded forces in Palestine during the Palestine Emergency of 1946 to 1947. Through 2020 and October 2023 the opening said he is remembered for his antisemitism and his controversial order following the King David Hotel bombing. Today the opening instead says he is remembered for surviving assassination attempts during the insurgency, and antisemitism appears nowhere in the opening though it survives twice in the article body. A reader today learns Barker survived attempts on his life, and not that Wikipedia once said he is remembered for his antisemitism.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “antisemitism” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
British Army general (1894–1983) Not to be confused with Michael Barker (British Army officer) . General Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker , KCB , KBE , DSO , MC (22 May 1894 – 23 November 1983) was a British Army officer who saw service in both the First World War and the Second World War . During the latter, he commanded the 10th Brigade during the Battle of France in 1940, the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division and the VIII Corps in the Western Europe Campaign from 1944 to 1945. After the war, Barker was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan from 1946 to 1947, during the Palestine Emergency .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1296966917.
The opening as it stood in 2010
General Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker KCB KBE DSO MC (1894–1983) was a British Army general in World War II , and commander of British forces in the Mandate Palestine from 1946 to 1947. Barker is remembered for his order, following the King David Hotel bombing , that (We) will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 353414179.
The opening as it stood in 2015
General Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker KCB , KBE , DSO , MC , (1894–1983) was a senior officer of the British Army who saw service in both World War I and World War II , and commander of British forces in the Palestine from 1946 to 1947. Barker is remembered for his order, following the King David Hotel bombing , that (We) will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 662586156.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
During the latter he commanded the 10th Brigade during the Battle of France in 1940, and the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division and later VIII Corps in the Western Europe Campaign from 1944 to 1945.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 957259676.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
During the latter, he commanded the 10th Brigade during the Battle of France in 1940, the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division and the VIII Corps in the Western Europe Campaign from 1944 to 1945. After the war, Barker was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan from 1946 to 1947, during the Palestine Emergency .He is remembered for his anti-Semitism and his controversial order in the wake of the King David Hotel bombing in July 1946 in which he declared, "[We] will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1168567701.
Today
“antisemitism” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
antisemitism
0
0
1
1
0
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 6 October 2023.
Then
british army general in world war ii
Now
british army officer who saw service in both the first world war and the second world war
Where the word went
It left the opening. It did not leave the article. Wikipedia moved it down the page, where a reader arriving from a search result will not reach it.
“antisemitism” now appears 1× under Affair with Katie Antonius, 50% of the way down the article
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
