Description
Object description
British private served with 1/7th, 21st and 1/4th Bns Northumberland Fusiliers in GB, 1915-1916; served with 1/5th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers on Western Front, 1916-1918 Wounded and required early form of plastic surgery for disfigured face
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Alnwick, 1899-1914: education; choir trips; family military connections; work as apprentice at fishing rod factory, 1913-1914; reactions to outbreak of war and failed attempt to join up as bandboy with Northumberland Fusiliers, 4/8/1914; redundancy on closure of factory. Recollections of period as joiner's apprentice working at Pastures Camp, Alnwick, 9/1914-3/1915: construction of huts; units at camp; dismissal on asking for pay rise; hours of work. Recruitment underage and initial period with 1/7th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers at Alnwick Drill Hall, 14/4/1915: reasons; acceptance of false age given; medical; parents' reaction; uniform; remaining behind on posting of unit to Western Front, 21/4/1915; basic drill. Recollections of conditions of service and training at Newsham Camp, Blyth; Longbenton Camp, Newcastle and Cambois Camp, Blyth, 4/1915-1/1916: tent accommodation; food rations.
REEL 2 Continues: canteen; pass out system; visiting Black's Theatre in Blyth; stories illustrating question of bullying; reactions to army discipline and lack of privacy; rifle training including firing miniature .22 rifle, method of siting rifle, cleaning method, rifle mechanism, Whitley Bay Rifle Range, rifles issued and qualification as 2nd class shot to avoid classification as sniper; route marches and parody songs sung; sings, 'With Me Little Bombing Bucket in Me Hand'; formation and posting to C Coy, 21st (Provisional) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers at Longenton Camp, 5/1915; tactical training; trench digging; bayonet training.
REEL 3 Continues: bayonet training; hand grenade training and question of accidents; accidental shooting; relationship with NCOs and officers; view of Zeppelin at Longbenton Camp; guard duties; question of official knowledge of age; digging coastal defence trenches at Cambois; relationship with civilians; story of soldier breaking German butcher's windows; leave; opinion of training; guard duties at Blyth harbour. Recollections of periods at Upstreet and Herne Bay, 1/1916-9/1916: move due to wet weather; billets; relationship with civilians and question of their attitude to northern troops.
REEL 4 Continues: relationship with civilians and question of their attitude to northern troops; training with Maxim Machine Gun including firing mechanism, stoppage clearance, practise firing, range cards and method of ranging, opinion of instructors; unsuitability for signal training; question of keenness for active service; question of official knowledge of age. Recollections of period with B Coy, 3/4th (Reserve) Bn at Redcar and Catterick Bridge Camps, 9/1916-11/1916: role of unit; night exercises; pay grievences; question of keenness for active service; relationship with other ranks; news of draft to France, 11/1917.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of military police. Journey to St Martin's Camp, France, 14/11/1916: prior embarkation leave; supplementing food rations at canteen. Period of training at Infantry Base Depot, Etaples, 11/1916: food rations; gas mask training; opinion of instructors; obstacle courses; question of food rations and pay; question of recreations; comparison of conditions of service for infantry in First and Second World Wars; issue of kit; opinion of training; journey with draft to Albert.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections and illustrative stories of conditions of service, daily routine with 1/5th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers in Somme, Arras and Ypres areas, 11/1916-1918: reaction to execution of soldier; local leave in Amiens; story of ruse during inspection by general and subsequent confinement to barracks during period of extra training at Basieux Camp, 12/1916-1/1917; rejoining unit and move to relieve French in line at Choines, 2/1917; effects of thaw on unrevetted trenches; gas shell attack; movements; open warfare training at Warfusin; reason for avoidance of posting to Lewis gun section; falling out sick with impetigo behind knee during march to Arras area, 3/1917; buying bread from French civilians; issue of trench stores including water purification pills; court martial of soldier.
REEL 7 Continues: situation in Arras area, 4/1917; work in mine; overnight digging of advanced trench line; story of reconnaisance in strength towards Guemappe; movements; story of punishment for assisting soldier falling out on march; story of using prohibited well; acting as reserve in St Leger sector including story of minnenwerfer fire during listening post duty and sheltering amongst corpses; pride in 50th Div; nature of trenches; communication trenches.
REEL 8 Continues: barbed wire; saps into No Man's Land; comparison of German and British dugouts; concussive effect of minenwerfer shells; food rations and ration party duty; water supply and water party duty; shaving; washing and personal appearance; lice problem.
REEL 9 Continues: lice problem; baths; question of rat problem; burial of corpses and question of smell; question of smell of fear; latrines and danger of snipers; wet and cold weather; state of health; cigarette, rum and lime juice rations; field postcards; daytime activities; wiring and covering parties in No Man's Land.
REEL 10 Continues: carrying parties; burial parties; repairing trenches; sentry duty and question of sleep; relationship with other ranks; question of quality of new drafts, 1917-1918; relationship with NCOs and reasons for refusing promotion; opinion of officers and story of refusing position as officer's servant; stretcher bearer duties; question of attitude to 'Blighty wounds' and shrapnel finger wound, 29/3/1918; question of self inflicted wounds; insane soldier.
REEL 11 Continues: replacment of worn clothing and equipment; absence of stealing; eating iron rations; state of morale; padres; attitude to German troops including their attack formations, 3/1918 and question of shooting prisoners from minenwerfer and machine gun teams; opinion of base troops and high command; opinion of British artillery and effects of German shellfire; minenwerfer fire; British rate of rifle fire; German sniper fire; story of guiding relief troops into line.
REEL 12 Continues: story of getting lost in No Man's Land after guiding relief troops into line; avoidance of sniper duties; rifle grenades; question of use of hand grenades and German 'potato masher' grenades; gas precautions and aborted British gas attack; view of air warfare; question of special equipment; opinion of German equipment; reconnaisance and fighting patrols; reports of German raids; German reaction to arrival of unit following quiet period of trench occupation by French troops; view of failed raid; question of raiding policy; periods in rest camps including training, guard duties and story of avoiding winning 'stick'.
REEL 13 Continues: periods in rest camps including story of refusing to clean equipment for guard duty immediately following return from front line duty, foraging for firewood, billets, food rations, gambling games, question of sports activities, Infantry Base Depot canteens and shortage of pay, estaminets, popular songs, sings 'Yorkshireman's Anthem', drinking habits, question of absence of women, story of post-war meeting with escaped prisoner, relationship with French civilians; working parties; situation in Arras area, 8/1917; story of lottery for reduced bread ration.
REEL 14 Continues: reaction to posting to Ypres area, 9/1917; rumours of French mutiny, 1917; role with divisional baggage party; train journey; conversational topics; story of officer treating troops in estaminet; march in stages to Ypres area; Northumberland Fusilier battalions in Ypres area, 10/1917; attack in Houlthurst Forest sector, 26/10/1917 including immediate German response to preliminary bombardment, ground conditions, crossing No Man's Land under fire and withdrawal after failure of attack; casualties; situation after attack; night withdrawal from line; story of shrapnel leg wound in billets, 27/10/1917. Period of hospitalisation and convalescence in France, 10/1917-1/1918: question of return to GB; story of meeting Bombardier Billy Wells at Trouville; story of ruining boots.
REEL 15 Continues: period at Etaples Infantry Base Depot; rejoining unit in St Omer sector, 1/1918. Period in St Omer sector, 1/1918-2/1918: effects of drafts from GB; visit to veterinary hospital. Recollections of GB leave, 2/1918: news of leave; pay; Military Police check of kitbags; journey back; delousing; question of civilian perception of conditions on Western Front; soldiers' superstitions. Period in Ypres area, 2/1918-3/1918: status as 'old soldier'; move into line on light railway; story of being challenged by sentry during reconnaisance patrol; story of officer accidentally leading working party into No Man's Land in Houlthurst Forest sector, 10/1917.
REEL 16 Continues: Period in Ypres area, 2/1918-3/1918: food rations on coming out of line; move to Villes aux Iralles, France, 3/1918. Account of German offensive in St Quentin sector, Somme area, 21/3/1918-31/3/1918: question of prior knowledge of offensive; move to Caulaincourt, 21/3/1918-22/3/1918; rearguard action against German attacks at Caulaincourt; withdrawal via Tertry; story illustrating lack of panic during planned retreat; question of cover; shortage of food and effects of fatigue; question of state of morale; question of closeness of contact with German units and story of capturing scouts; subsequent opinion of strategy employed by Gough; covering withdrawal of 18 pdr battery; view of failed British cavalry charge; firing at German mass attacks; securing personal ammunition supply; severe leg, pelvic and facial wounds from shrapnel near Moureul, 31/3/1918.
REEL 17 Continues: Initial medical treatment and evacuation by hospital train to Rouen, 31/3/1918-2/4/1918: story of being left for dead at advanced dressing station; subsequent reports of death to family; reaction to facial wound; discomfort during journey. Periods at Rouen Hospital, Ford Western General Hospital, Neath and Bhelan Convalescence Camp, 4/1918-1/1919: reception; crowded conditions; food; removal of shrapnel and medical treatment. medical treatment for pelvic and abdominal injuries; reaction to first look at disfigured nose; parents' reaction to initial reports of death; reaction to receiving last rites at Rouen Hospital, 4/1918; news of progress of war; recreations and hospitality of civilians; Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; state of nose; pride in unit. Period at Armstrong College Hospital, Newcastle, 1/1919-7/1919: operation on pelvis; knowledge of possibilities of plastic surgery on nose.
REEL 18 Continues: Period at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup , London, 1919-1921: preparations for plastic surgery; refusal of demobilisation prior to operation; account of successful operation by Doctor Kilmer using rib cartlidge to replace nose; learning to walk unaided. Post-war career, 1921-1984: question of physical and mental effects of injuries including story of civilian reaction to facial injuries in Neath, 1918; attending medical board in Newcastle, 1921; discharge from army, 1/1921; electrical and massage treatment, 1921-1922; attending course as watchmaker at Birtley Instructional Factory, 1922-1923; success in career as watchmaker in Alnick, 1923-1959; question of effects of war experience and adequacy of disability pension.