Description
Object description
British private served with 1/16th (County of London) Bn (Queen's Westminster Rifles) London Regt, 18th Bde, 6th Div on Western Front, 11/1914-5/1915; officer served with with 24th Machine Gun Coy, Machine Gun Corps, 24th Bde, 8th Div on Western Front, 11/1916-7/1917; served with 47th Bn Machine Gun Corps, 47th Div on Western Front, 7/1918-11/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1897-1914: family; story of sisters keeping letters he sent from Western Front; outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; education; employment; training with Officer Training Corps (OTC) at school; reaction to declaration of First World War, 4/8/1914. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 1/16th (County of London) Bn (Queen's Westminster Rifles) London Regt, 4th London Bde, 2nd London Div in GB, 8/1914-11/1914: enlistment and cost to join battalion, 6/8/1914; opinion of platoon commander; story of later commissioning; question of age at enlistment; knowledge of weapons and warfare; obtaining father's permission for overseas service; basic training; drill; accommodation; physical training; field days and exercises; accommodation in barns; issue of uniform; inspection by and opinion of Lord Kitchener, 9/1914; state of morale; embarkation for France, 1/11/1914; attitude of regular troops to new recruits; effect on morale of retreat from Mons, Belgium; opinion of adequacy of training.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as private with 1/16th (County of London) Bn (Queen's Westminster Rifles) London Regt, 18th Bde, 6th Div on Western Front, 11/1914-5/1915: relations with officers; problem of frostbitten feet; arrival in France and problem with disembarkation; march to camp; reception from French civilians in Saint-Omer area, France; inspection by Sir John French; moved to Bailleul, France; inspection by Lord Roberts; weight of kit and equipment; singing while marching; recites poem; sings song; Christmas songs; move into trenches, 11/1914; morale; accommodation with French civilians; amusing story of failure to wake up; Canadian troops; problem of marching to trenches; opinion of rations; proximity of German trenches; incident of not receiving bread ration; problem of water tasting of petrol and chlorine; effects of mustard gas; description of being under fire; duties in rear trenches; dugouts; nature of static warfare; casualties caused by snipers; opinion of medical treatment; sings song.
REEL 3 Continues: description of participation in Christmas truce, 12/1914; reads extracts from letter to sent to sister, 26/12/1914; description of Imperial German Army troops; question of organising football match; opinion of Imperial German Army troops' physique; brother's wounding while sniping; description of end of truce; question of going over top with unloaded rifle; attitude to bayonet charges; later role as officer with Machine Gun Corps at Passchendaele, Belgium, 1917; assessment of war service; stand to in anticipation of Imperial German Army bayonet charge; story of brother's service in India.
REEL 4 Continues: daily routine in trenches; amusing story of brigadier and rum jar; washing facilities; shaving. Aspects of hospitalisation in GB, 1915: reasons for return to GB; treatment of trench feet in 4th Northern General Hospital, Lincoln, 5/1915; posting to reserve battalion of London Regt in Richmond Park and duties as medical orderly. Aspects of period as officer with Lincolnshire Regiment and Machine Gun Corps in GB, 1915-1916: commissioning into Lincolnshire Regiment; amusing story of church parade; attending machine gun course and role as instructor; secondment to Machine Gun Corps, 10/1916; selection for riding course; story of riding breeches and leg infection. Recollections of operations as officer with 24th Machine Gun Coy, Machine Gun Corps, 24th Bde, 8th Div on Western Front, 11/1916-8/1917: posting to 24th Machine Gun Coy; attitude to role as officer; relations with NCOs; reads from letter by Sergeant Carter; accommodation for officers; duties of batman; daily routine and duties.
REEL 5 Continues: stand to; inspection of machine guns; proximity of German lines; description of terrain and trenches on Somme, France; sleeping accommodation for officers; problem of trench feet and treatment; problem of lice and personal hygiene; morale; popular songs; recreational and sporting activities including football matches; rotation out of line; rest areas near Amiens, France, Christmas 12/1916; amusing story of whisky; description of being under artillery fire; increase in number of machine gun companies and formation of Machine Gun Corps; memories of commanding officer of Machine Gun Corps in 8th Div; training for open warfare and rate of advance, 3/1917; going over the top; story of diabetic soldier.
REEL 6 Continues: organising firing party to execute deserter; entraining to Ypres, Belgium, 1917; role in operations at Passchendaele, Belgium, 7/1917; wounding and taking cover in shell hole, 7/1917; religious vision; nature of aerial activity; use of machine guns to fire at Imperial German Air Service aircraft. Aspects of hospitalisation and recuperation on Western Front and GB, 8/1917-8/1918: medical treatment for back wound; medical evacuation by train to base hospital; return to GB for operation to remove shell splinter; nature of wounds; convalescence; training as transport officer and appointed adjutant with Remount Div in GB; promotion to captain. Aspects of operations as officer with 47th Bn Machine Gun Corps, 47th Div on Western Front, 7/1918-11/1918: posting to battalion, 7/1918; duties as colonel's adjutant on Somme, France; description of advance and terrain; taking weather vane as souvenir; deserted villages; story of betting on date of end of war; memories of Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; victory march through Lille, France; reaction to end of First World War and celebrations.
REEL 7 Continues: receiving signal announcing Armistice, 11/11/1918; attitude to demobilisation; daily routine and activities; problem of boredom and maintaining discipline; story of intervening in fight; demobilisation in London, 6/1919; reason for not remaining in British Army; story of receiving post-war scholarship to Christ's College, University of Cambridge; reflections on war service.
