Description
Object description
[BASIC ACCESSION RECORD] Three ms Soldier's Own, Letts and Collins diaries (1916 – 1918) written by a Lieutenant, later Captain, in 5 Platoon (Bombing Platoon), 'B' Company, 2/15th (County of London) Battalion (Prince of Wales's Own Civil Service Rifles), London Regiment (179th (2/4th London) Brigade, 60th (2/2nd London) Division), starting from his journey to France (June 1916), in the line near Arras, British and German shelling (July 1916), taking ill and moving to a hospital with trench fever (August 1916), returning to his Battalion at Bray-sur-Somme (September 1916), a trench raid on 11 September 1916, bombing with 16th Battalion (Westminster Rifles), London Regiment, digging bombing pits, trips into Aubigny-en-Artois, moving to Sericourt and Honval, then to Lanches-Saint-Hilaire (October 1916), hearing of impending move to Salonika, travelling by train from Longpre to Marseilles (November 1916), the journey in HMT TRANSYLVANIA, stopping in Malta, arriving in Salonika, tourist stuff, left in camp when the Battalion crossed the bay, 181st Brigade arriving in camp, football matches, Christmas, re-joining his Company at Katerini (January 1917), the situation after the battle in Athens in December 1916, preparing accommodation, a wigwam, work and leisure time, terrible rain, low morale among officers due to his CO (January 1917), building defences, patrols, 2nd in command of company,
Working at Division HQ during the Battle of Beersheba and the Third Battle of Gaza (October – November 1917),
Brigade advanced party to prepare for an attack on Jerusalem, the Turks clearing out before they could do so, (November 1917),
Being shot in the thigh (30 March 1918), moving to 66th then 76th Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS), treatment, moving to 43rd Stationary Hospital, El Arish, and then 24th Stationary Hosptial, Kantara, before being sent to the Citadel Hospital in Cairo, (April 1918), hearing of casualties from his Battalion from Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt (May 1918), evacuation back to the UK (May 1918), St Katharine's Lodge hospital, Regent's Park, brief entries following including some home leave, news of the armistice and 'great scenes Oxford St', (11 November 1918), seeing the King and Queen in the Strand
with throughout brief details of his movements, shelling, prisoners of war, casualties, weather, the state of trenches, bombing instruction, news from home and war news,
Member of Courts Martial panels,
Together with his passport, cancelled in 1931, with details also of his wife and daughter.
Content description
[BASIC ACCESSION RECORD] Three ms Soldier's Own, Letts and Collins diaries (1916 – 1918) written by a Lieutenant, later Captain, in 5 Platoon (Bombing Platoon), 'B' Company, 2/15th (County of London) Battalion (Prince of Wales's Own Civil Service Rifles), London Regiment (179th (2/4th London) Brigade, 60th (2/2nd London) Division), starting from his journey to France (June 1916), in the line near Arras, British and German shelling (July 1916), taking ill and moving to a hospital with trench fever (August 1916), returning to his Battalion at Bray-sur-Somme (September 1916), a trench raid on 11 September 1916, bombing with 16th Battalion (Westminster Rifles), London Regiment, digging bombing pits, trips into Aubigny-en-Artois, moving to Sericourt and Honval, then to Lanches-Saint-Hilaire (October 1916), hearing of impending move to Salonika, travelling by train from Longpre to Marseilles (November 1916), the journey in HMT TRANSYLVANIA, stopping in Malta, arriving in Salonika, tourist stuff, left in camp when the Battalion crossed the bay, 181st Brigade arriving in camp, football matches, Christmas, re-joining his Company at Katerini (January 1917), the situation after the battle in Athens in December 1916, preparing accommodation, a wigwam, work and leisure time, terrible rain, low morale among officers due to his CO (January 1917), building defences, patrols, 2nd in command of company,
Working at Division HQ during the Battle of Beersheba and the Third Battle of Gaza (October – November 1917),
Brigade advanced party to prepare for an attack on Jerusalem, the Turks clearing out before they could do so, (November 1917),
Being shot in the thigh (30 March 1918), moving to 66th then 76th Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS), treatment, moving to 43rd Stationary Hospital, El Arish, and then 24th Stationary Hosptial, Kantara, before being sent to the Citadel Hospital in Cairo, (April 1918), hearing of casualties from his Battalion from Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt (May 1918), evacuation back to the UK (May 1918), St Katharine's Lodge hospital, Regent's Park, brief entries following including some home leave, news of the armistice and 'great scenes Oxford St', (11 November 1918), seeing the King and Queen in the Strand
with throughout brief details of his movements, shelling, prisoners of war, casualties, weather, the state of trenches, bombing instruction, news from home and war news,
Member of Courts Martial panels,
Together with his passport, cancelled in 1931, with details also of his wife and daughter.
History note
Cataloguer SJO