Description
Object description
Ts transcription (49pp) of an excellent diary, March 1915 - January 1916, recording his service as a Company Sergeant Major with the 1/18th Battalion London Regiment TF (London Irish Rifles) (141st Brigade, 47th Division) on the Western Front, including his embarkation overseas, active service at Festubert, Givenchy and Maroc, his wounding at the Battle of Loos (September 1915) of which he gives a detailed description, recovery from his wounds in Taplow, Buckinghamshire (October 1915), service with the 3rd Battalion at Tadworth, Surrey (October 1915 - January 1916) before he re-embarked for France, and with comments on his love for his wife and children and his worries for their well-being if he is killed, trench conditions, "chasing rats as big as kittens" (April 1915), food, his off-duty entertainment, enemy shelling and sniping, relations with his officers and the French inhabitants, the accumulation of casualties, an inspection by Sir John French (March 1915), the "live and let live" agreement with the Saxons (April 1915), the death by sniping of the Brigade Commander, Brigadier General G C Nugent (May 1915) and the arrival of his successor, later General Sir William Thwaites, rumours of his own death (June 1915), the arrival of Kitchener's New Armies (July 1915), and home leave in London (August 1915). Also included are a photocopy (1p) and a transcription (1p) of his ts obituary in THE POST, the fortnightly journal of the Fawcett Association, November 1917, and a ts letter (1p) from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, September 1998, giving details of his death at the age of 33 in April 1917 and his commemoration on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Content description
Ts transcription (49pp) of an excellent diary, March 1915 - January 1916, recording his service as a Company Sergeant Major with the 1/18th Battalion London Regiment TF (London Irish Rifles) (141st Brigade, 47th Division) on the Western Front, including his embarkation overseas, active service at Festubert, Givenchy and Maroc, his wounding at the Battle of Loos (September 1915) of which he gives a detailed description, recovery from his wounds in Taplow, Buckinghamshire (October 1915), service with the 3rd Battalion at Tadworth, Surrey (October 1915 - January 1916) before he re-embarked for France, and with comments on his love for his wife and children and his worries for their well-being if he is killed, trench conditions, "chasing rats as big as kittens" (April 1915), food, his off-duty entertainment, enemy shelling and sniping, relations with his officers and the French inhabitants, the accumulation of casualties, an inspection by Sir John French (March 1915), the "live and let live" agreement with the Saxons (April 1915), the death by sniping of the Brigade Commander, Brigadier General G C Nugent (May 1915) and the arrival of his successor, later General Sir William Thwaites, rumours of his own death (June 1915), the arrival of Kitchener's New Armies (July 1915), and home leave in London (August 1915). Also included are a photocopy (1p) and a transcription (1p) of his ts obituary in THE POST, the fortnightly journal of the Fawcett Association, November 1917, and a ts letter (1p) from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, September 1998, giving details of his death at the age of 33 in April 1917 and his commemoration on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
History note
Cataloguer SNR
History note
Catalogue date 1998-09-22