Description
Object description
Ts transcripts of 29 letters to his sister and son written while he was serving as a private in the 1st Battalion Honourable Artillery Company and describing their crossing to France (September 1914) and subsequent employment on guard duties behind the lines, principally at Le Havre (October 1914) and then in the trenches as a unit in the 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division (November 1914 - January 1915), during his training in France at an officers' school of instruction (January 1915) and in his few days' service as a subaltern with the 1st Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment in the trenches (March 1915); together with ts transcripts of 4 letters of condolence from officers in the Battalion following his death in action on 20 March 1915. Harker's letters include good descriptions of the appalling conditions in the trenches in the winter of 1914 - 1915 and of life out of the line in France and also show the keen patriotism and ready acceptance of the hardships of Army Life of a family man in his mid 30s who had immediately volunteered.
Content description
Ts transcripts of 29 letters to his sister and son written while he was serving as a private in the 1st Battalion Honourable Artillery Company and describing their crossing to France (September 1914) and subsequent employment on guard duties behind the lines, principally at Le Havre (October 1914) and then in the trenches as a unit in the 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division (November 1914 - January 1915), during his training in France at an officers' school of instruction (January 1915) and in his few days' service as a subaltern with the 1st Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment in the trenches (March 1915); together with ts transcripts of 4 letters of condolence from officers in the Battalion following his death in action on 20 March 1915. Harker's letters include good descriptions of the appalling conditions in the trenches in the winter of 1914 - 1915 and of life out of the line in France and also show the keen patriotism and ready acceptance of the hardships of Army Life of a family man in his mid 30s who had immediately volunteered.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 1991-03