Description
Object description
British private served with 6th (Service) Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 43rd Bde, 14th (Light) Div on Western Front, 1915-1916; served with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 95th Bde, 5th Div on Western Front, 1916; served with 4th (Cyclist) Bn, Army Cyclist Corps in Ireland, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1895-1914: family; education; sporting activities; story of family name; religious beliefs; attitude to women's emancipation and Suffragettes; memories of Boer War; story of attending Queen Victoria's funeral, 4/2/1901; childhood; memories of opening of underground in Kentish Town Underground Station; reaction to outbreak of First World War, whilst working at National Liberal Club, 4/8/1914. Aspects of enlistment and training with 9th (Reserve) Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB, 1914-1915: volunteering with group of fellow workers; assembly of new recruits at St Martin's Fields, London; roll call and march to Paddington Railway Station, London; role assisting chef in battalion officers' mess; reason for volunteering for active service. Recollections of operations as private with 6th (Service) Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 43rd Bde, 14th (Light) Div on Western Front, 1915-1916: posting to battalion at Ypres, Belgium; use of flame-throwers by Imperial German Army at Sanctuary Wood, Belgium.
REEL 2 Continues: operations at Sanctuary Wood, Belgium, 1915; conditions in trenches and problem of flooding at Sanctuary Wood, Belgium; story of meeting brothers in trenches and question of obtaining extra rations for them; in action during Battle of Loos, 9/1915-10/1915 including role with decoy section, description of Imperial German Army artillery bombardment and casualties; relief of battalion and use of tented accommodation in hop field; story of leaving battalion without permission to locate brothers and punishment of loss of three days pay; attitude to personal survival; move to Arras area, France to relieve French Army troops. 1916; story of contracting trench fever and missing opening of Battle of the Somme, 7/1916; medical treatment in France and GB; personal morale. Aspects of operations as private with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 95th Bde, 5th Div on Western Front, 1916-1918: move to and activities at La Bassée, France.
REEL 3 Continues: operation to capture Imperial German Army machine gun emplacement; preparations and role as bayonet man; attack on emplacement and journey back along bank of La Bassée Canal, France; question of exhaustion; attitude to loss of friends; story of being categorised B2 by medical board and return to GB. Aspects of operations as private with 4th (Cyclist) Bn, Army Cyclist Corps in Ireland, 1916-1918: posting to battalion in Dublin, 1916; sight of Sinn Fein drilling in field; description of role as signals' instructor; attitude of Irish towards British Army troops; use pigeons to carry messages; story of pigeon carrying message of Armistice, 11/11/1918; story of house being destroyed by bomb during Second World War and employment at Langham Hotel, London
REEL 4 continues: memories of Sir Edward Elgar. Recollections of operations as private with 6th (Service) Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 43rd Bde, 14th (Light) Div and 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 95th Bde, 5th Div on Western Front, 1914-1916: question of rank; memories of Sergeant Frederick Keeling; Imperial German Army use of flame-throwers at Sanctuary Wood, Belgium, 1915; duties on patrols; banning of journal 'The Red Feather'; story of wounded Imperial German Army soldier with club foot; attitude to death and suffering on battlefield; story of death of godson in Netherlands during Second World War; award of Legion d'Honneur; story of being buried in cellars of Cloth Hall, Ypres, Belgium and rescue; description of conditions in Ypres Salient, Belgium, 1915; problem of lice and rats.
REEL 5 Continues: trench foot and treatment; attitude of civilians towards war; popular songs and sings song 'I Want to Go Home'; rest periods; ole taking rations and supplies up to front line; importance of humour and various amusing stories; question of comradeship; reason for nickname 'Three Musketeers'; comments on value of jujitsu training; demobilisation, 2/1919; reflections on period of military service; attitude towards politicians.