Description
Object description
Four ms diaries covering his service with the Somerset Light Infantry, 1915 - 1917, including a diary written while a Lance Sergeant in 6th Battalion SLI (43rd Brigade, 14th (Light) Division), with brief entries for his movements and some duties, based at Aldershot, up to 21 May when the Battalion crossed to France, with much more detailed entries for the rest of the year, including his daily routines and duties with 11 Platoon, moving to camps near the Ypres front, trench digging, lectures and training, entering the trenches for the first time and firing his first shot at the enemy (15 June 1915), time in the trenches and ramparts on the canal at the east end of Ypres, casualties, attacks, bombardments, seeing dogfights overhead, descriptions of Poperinghe and Ypres, Officers and fellow NCOs being killed and wounded, leisure time behind the lines, in and out of trenches in the Ypres area during August to October 1915, promotion to full Sergeant, applying for a commission (October 1915), Royal Engineer classes, moving to Officer's School at Saint-Omer (November 1915), a trip to the trenches for lectures, gaining a commission and home leave (December 1915), the second diary being written in a notebook from memory for the dates December 1915 - 3 September 1916, and then contemporaneously until the end of 1916, with further details of attending the officer school, commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant and joining 'B' Company, 7th (Service) Battalion Somerset Light Infantry (61st Brigade, 20th (Light) Division), near Armentieres, list of Company Commanders, in and out of the trenches including as Machine Gun Officer (MGO), with briefer details of his movements and duties in the Ypres - Poperinghe area, Belgium, time at Battalion HQ on the canal banks (February 1916), becoming Adjutant (March 1916), becoming full time full-time Battalion MGO (June 1916), on leave at the start of the Battle of the Somme but joining 'B' Company in the trenches (July 1916), Lewis Gun training, taking command of 'B' Company, moving to Ginchy, being shot in the thigh during an attack (September 1916), treatment, and re-joining as CO of his Company (December 1916), the third diary being a 'Letts Soldier's Own note book and diary' for 1917, with brief and patchy entries of his movements, in the Ginchy and Sailly-Saillisel area, moving to Proven near Poperinghe (July 1917), home leave (August - October 1917), joining 3rd Battalion SLI, moving to Londonderry, Ireland (November 1917), the last diary being written in a German 'Notizbuch', re-joining 7th Battalion SLI in Scottish Wood (January 1918), with brief entries, his movements in the German Spring Offensive, being captured in March 1918, taken by train to Germany and a camp near Rastatt, details of the lectures and jobs in the camp, listening to the padre, moving to the prisoner of war camp at Graudenz, West Prussia (June 1918), more detailed entries about daily routines, food and rations, conditions, illness, letters from home, Red Cross parcels, an escape attempt in September 1918, a gap until the news of the Armistice (November 1918), and the prisoner's move to Copenhagen for repatriation, with at the end of the diary a list of the books he had read and names and addresses of fellow prisoners. Together with his Soldier's Service and Pay Book (AB 64).
Content description
Four ms diaries covering his service with the Somerset Light Infantry, 1915 - 1917, including a diary written while a Lance Sergeant in 6th Battalion SLI (43rd Brigade, 14th (Light) Division), with brief entries for his movements and some duties, based at Aldershot, up to 21 May when the Battalion crossed to France, with much more detailed entries for the rest of the year, including his daily routines and duties with 11 Platoon, moving to camps near the Ypres front, trench digging, lectures and training, entering the trenches for the first time and firing his first shot at the enemy (15 June 1915), time in the trenches and ramparts on the canal at the east end of Ypres, casualties, attacks, bombardments, seeing dogfights overhead, descriptions of Poperinghe and Ypres, Officers and fellow NCOs being killed and wounded, leisure time behind the lines, in and out of trenches in the Ypres area during August to October 1915, promotion to full Sergeant, applying for a commission (October 1915), Royal Engineer classes, moving to Officer's School at Saint-Omer (November 1915), a trip to the trenches for lectures, gaining a commission and home leave (December 1915), the second diary being written in a notebook from memory for the dates December 1915 - 3 September 1916, and then contemporaneously until the end of 1916, with further details of attending the officer school, commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant and joining 'B' Company, 7th (Service) Battalion Somerset Light Infantry (61st Brigade, 20th (Light) Division), near Armentieres, list of Company Commanders, in and out of the trenches including as Machine Gun Officer (MGO), with briefer details of his movements and duties in the Ypres - Poperinghe area, Belgium, time at Battalion HQ on the canal banks (February 1916), becoming Adjutant (March 1916), becoming full time full-time Battalion MGO (June 1916), on leave at the start of the Battle of the Somme but joining 'B' Company in the trenches (July 1916), Lewis Gun training, taking command of 'B' Company, moving to Ginchy, being shot in the thigh during an attack (September 1916), treatment, and re-joining as CO of his Company (December 1916), the third diary being a 'Letts Soldier's Own note book and diary' for 1917, with brief and patchy entries of his movements, in the Ginchy and Sailly-Saillisel area, moving to Proven near Poperinghe (July 1917), home leave (August - October 1917), joining 3rd Battalion SLI, moving to Londonderry, Ireland (November 1917), the last diary being written in a German 'Notizbuch', re-joining 7th Battalion SLI in Scottish Wood (January 1918), with brief entries, his movements in the German Spring Offensive, being captured in March 1918, taken by train to Germany and a camp near Rastatt, details of the lectures and jobs in the camp, listening to the padre, moving to the prisoner of war camp at Graudenz, West Prussia (June 1918), more detailed entries about daily routines, food and rations, conditions, illness, letters from home, Red Cross parcels, an escape attempt in September 1918, a gap until the news of the Armistice (November 1918), and the prisoner's move to Copenhagen for repatriation, with at the end of the diary a list of the books he had read and names and addresses of fellow prisoners. Together with his Soldier's Service and Pay Book (AB 64).
History note
Cataloguer SJO