Description
Object description
29 ms letters to his parents in Tunbridge Wells (where his father was a vicar), and 2 to a schoolfriend, covering his training at the 164th OCTU in Colchester, Essex (November 1939 - January 1940), his service as a junior officer with the 1/4th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (146th Brigade, 49th Division) in Iceland (July 1940 - April 1942), in Herefordshire and Durham (autumn 1942 - June 1944) and, as a Company Commander, in Normandy (June - July 1944) where he died of wounds in August 1944; together with official telegrams and correspondence after he was briefly reported missing when serving with the 1/4th KOYLIs in Norway (April - May 1940), a few other personal telegrams and letters, mainly concerning a serious accident that he suffered in November 1942 at a Battle School (February 1941 - December 1942), 36 ms and ts letters of condolence to his parents (August 1944 - April 1945) from the Matron of the British General Hospital where he died, fellow officers, friends and staff from his school and university and friends of the family, individual and group photographs of him in uniform and a wallet of photographs of his fiancee. His letters are of particular interest for their references to his increasingly enthusiastic adjustment to the demands of life as an Army officer, his descriptions of conditions in Iceland and the frustration of being so far removed from the United Kingdom at the time when it was under greatest threat, his unwavering belief in the eventual defeat of Germany and his enormous admiration of the qualities of the men in his Battalion.
Content description
29 ms letters to his parents in Tunbridge Wells (where his father was a vicar), and 2 to a schoolfriend, covering his training at the 164th OCTU in Colchester, Essex (November 1939 - January 1940), his service as a junior officer with the 1/4th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (146th Brigade, 49th Division) in Iceland (July 1940 - April 1942), in Herefordshire and Durham (autumn 1942 - June 1944) and, as a Company Commander, in Normandy (June - July 1944) where he died of wounds in August 1944; together with official telegrams and correspondence after he was briefly reported missing when serving with the 1/4th KOYLIs in Norway (April - May 1940), a few other personal telegrams and letters, mainly concerning a serious accident that he suffered in November 1942 at a Battle School (February 1941 - December 1942), 36 ms and ts letters of condolence to his parents (August 1944 - April 1945) from the Matron of the British General Hospital where he died, fellow officers, friends and staff from his school and university and friends of the family, individual and group photographs of him in uniform and a wallet of photographs of his fiancee. His letters are of particular interest for their references to his increasingly enthusiastic adjustment to the demands of life as an Army officer, his descriptions of conditions in Iceland and the frustration of being so far removed from the United Kingdom at the time when it was under greatest threat, his unwavering belief in the eventual defeat of Germany and his enormous admiration of the qualities of the men in his Battalion.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 2006-05