Description
Object description
A collection of 94 ms letters (272pp) written to his family in Norfolk from France and Belgium between July 1916 and March 1918, and then from the United Kingdom in 1918, relating to his service in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) (letters from his time with a 4.5 inch howitzer battery in France in July - December 1915 do not survive), with an 18 pounder battery attached to the 177th Brigade RFA (16th Division) (July 1916 - February 1917), before joining the 77th Army Brigade Ammunition Column, and then joining a battery in the 77th Army Brigade, with which he served in the attack on Messines Ridge (June 1917), the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) (July - September 1917), and the Battle of Cambrai (November 1917). He was admitted to hospital with slight gas poisoning shortly after the German Spring Offensive began in March 1918, was evacuated to the UK, was passed fit for duty and posted to the 4th Royal Artillery Reserve Brigade at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Together with other papers including: nine field postcards; a ms operation order (2pp) issued to the OC, 'D' Battery, 177th Brigade RFA relating to Fourth Army operations on the Somme (September 1916); a permanent pass (October 1916); a 16th Irish Division Christmas Card (1916); a printed programme for a concert party; two trench maps; a presscutting from the 'Daily Mail' with Captain Tatham's name on the roll of wounded (April 1918); a War Office letter granting him the rank of Captain (May 1920); and fifteen postcard photographs of Royal Artillery officers and men and their equipment.
Content description
A collection of 94 ms letters (272pp) written to his family in Norfolk from France and Belgium between July 1916 and March 1918, and then from the United Kingdom in 1918, relating to his service in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) (letters from his time with a 4.5 inch howitzer battery in France in July - December 1915 do not survive), with an 18 pounder battery attached to the 177th Brigade RFA (16th Division) (July 1916 - February 1917), before joining the 77th Army Brigade Ammunition Column, and then joining a battery in the 77th Army Brigade, with which he served in the attack on Messines Ridge (June 1917), the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) (July - September 1917), and the Battle of Cambrai (November 1917). He was admitted to hospital with slight gas poisoning shortly after the German Spring Offensive began in March 1918, was evacuated to the UK, was passed fit for duty and posted to the 4th Royal Artillery Reserve Brigade at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Together with other papers including: nine field postcards; a ms operation order (2pp) issued to the OC, 'D' Battery, 177th Brigade RFA relating to Fourth Army operations on the Somme (September 1916); a permanent pass (October 1916); a 16th Irish Division Christmas Card (1916); a printed programme for a concert party; two trench maps; a presscutting from the 'Daily Mail' with Captain Tatham's name on the roll of wounded (April 1918); a War Office letter granting him the rank of Captain (May 1920); and fifteen postcard photographs of Royal Artillery officers and men and their equipment.
History note
Cataloguer SJO