Description
Object description
105 ms letters and cards sent to his family in Glasgow, together with a wordprocessed transcript (114pp) of the correspondence and other papers (and including extensive editorial additions by his granddaughter) covering his enlistment, as a family man of thirty, as a private in the 5th Battalion Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (August 1914), his training with the Battalion (26th Brigade, 9th Division) in England (September 1914 – April 1915), and service on the Western Front, progressing from private to Staff Quarter Master Sergeant in the Army Service Corps, on the staff of the AA and QMG at HQ, 9th Division (May 1915 – May 1919), including involvement in the Battles of Loos and the Somme, the final advance in Flanders and duties with the Army of Occupation in Germany. The letters include some account of the ceaseless demands made on the 'Q' branch in delivering supplies and rations to the troops and interesting references to the high morale of the BEF (4 October 1915, 25 October 1916), the prevailing optimism at the outset of the Somme offensive, a visit by the entertainer Harry Lauder (10 June 1917), his reservations about the working man's contribution to the British war effort (22 August 1917), his feelings about the Armistice and the warmth of their welcome from the Belgians in November 1918, the strength of his ties to his family and his frustration over the delays in his demobilisation, while there are also letters from two of his relatives describing Zeppelin raids on Glasgow and Sheffield in the autumn of 1916 and further family correspondence, a citation and other records concerning his Military Medal, additional records relating to his military service and ration documents issued to his wife in 1918 and 1919.
Content description
105 ms letters and cards sent to his family in Glasgow, together with a wordprocessed transcript (114pp) of the correspondence and other papers (and including extensive editorial additions by his granddaughter) covering his enlistment, as a family man of thirty, as a private in the 5th Battalion Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (August 1914), his training with the Battalion (26th Brigade, 9th Division) in England (September 1914 – April 1915), and service on the Western Front, progressing from private to Staff Quarter Master Sergeant in the Army Service Corps, on the staff of the AA and QMG at HQ, 9th Division (May 1915 – May 1919), including involvement in the Battles of Loos and the Somme, the final advance in Flanders and duties with the Army of Occupation in Germany. The letters include some account of the ceaseless demands made on the 'Q' branch in delivering supplies and rations to the troops and interesting references to the high morale of the BEF (4 October 1915, 25 October 1916), the prevailing optimism at the outset of the Somme offensive, a visit by the entertainer Harry Lauder (10 June 1917), his reservations about the working man's contribution to the British war effort (22 August 1917), his feelings about the Armistice and the warmth of their welcome from the Belgians in November 1918, the strength of his ties to his family and his frustration over the delays in his demobilisation, while there are also letters from two of his relatives describing Zeppelin raids on Glasgow and Sheffield in the autumn of 1916 and further family correspondence, a citation and other records concerning his Military Medal, additional records relating to his military service and ration documents issued to his wife in 1918 and 1919.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 2001-05