Description
Object description
British private served with 12th Bn Gloucestershire Regt in GB and on Western Front, 1914-1916; served as officer with 3rd Bn Welsh Regt in GB, 1917-1918; served with 15th Bn Welch Regt on Western Front, 1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Alcester and Bristol areas, 1897-1914: education and military training at Colston School; failed attempts on outbreak of war to join North Somersetshire Yeomanry, 8/1914; question of father's recruitment; mobilisation of naval reservists, 2/8/1914; effects of newspaper propaganda on desire to join army. Recollections of period with 5 Platoon, B Coy, 12th Bn Gloucestershire Regt during periods at Bristol, Wensley Dale and Codford, 9/1914-11/1915: story of recruitment underage at Colston Hall, 15/9/1914; medical; drill at Colston Hall; reaction of family and friends to enlistment; platoon drill at Whiteladies Road; move to Ashton Gate; Lee Mitford rifles; lectures; battalion drill; leather equipment; route marches.
REEL 2 Continues: route marches and songs sung; rifle and bayonet training; tactical exercises; uniform; accommodation; food rations; evening passes; reactions to army lifestyle; kit inspections; relationship with other ranks, NCOs and officers.
REEL 3 Continues: officers commissioned from ranks; opinion of officers; question of applying for commission; recreations in Bristol; question of sporting activities; tactical training and billets in Chipping Sodbury area; parades in Bristol; guard duties; civilian send off on move to join 95th Bde at Wensleydale, 6/1915; conditions of service; tactical training designed for officers; night exercises; rifle firing course.
REEL 4 Continues: divisional exercises at Codford, ca 10/1915; straw mattresses; reaction to news of posting to Western Front, 11/1915; anticipation as to nature of fighting. Journey via Boulougne to Somme area, 11/1915: question of spies amongst French civilians; passing VD Hospital; background to posting of 95th Bde to 5th Div; use of artillery formation on approaching front line. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine in Suzanne and Maricourt sector, 11/1916-1/1916: French civilians restrictions on troops using water supplies; equipment issued including gumboots and gas masks; story illustrating difficulty in moving up communication trenches due to wet ground conditions, 12/1915.
REEL 5 Continues: story of meeting veteran of Franco-Prussian War, 1870; attachment in front line to 1st Bn, Connaught Rangers; bailing out trenches using mess cans; rat problems; lice problem and problem with Harrison's Pomade; advice and relationship with 1st Bn Connaught Rangers; nature of trenches and dugouts; food rations.
REEL 6 Continues: food rations; cooking; rum and cigarette rations; latrines; story of falling into old latrine in No Man's Land; apocryphal story illustrating difficulty in maintaining personal appearance; frost bite precautions and question of effects of cold weather; question of effects of muddy conditions; state of health.
REEL 7 Continues: breakfast; rat problem; minimal daytime duties; food rations; sentry duty and question of falling asleep; absence of fighting during Christmas Day, 25/12/1915; night duties; area's status as quiet sector; story of efforts to become 'right hand man' of BEF at junction with French Army; periods out of line; working parties; wire beds.
REEL 8 Continues: divisional cinema in reserve area; development of divisional identity; spy rumour and illustration of precautions; diary entries; parcels and letter contact with GB. Period of divisional rest in Amiens area, 1/1916: billets; newspapers; discovery of empty Buddhist temple; visits to cathedral and estaminets in Amiens; question of looting; question of training; story of getting drunk; rumours of move to Verdun area. Recollections of period in Arras area, 2/1916-7/1916: charge for cutting down greatcoat; problem with new boots during march; ration party duties.
REEL 9 Continues: nature of trenches and area's status as quiet sector; trench mortars; tours of duty; sniper problem in reserve at Arras; state of morale; rest camp; diversionary marches to Somme area, 6/1916. Recollections of period in Longueval/Delville Wood sector, Somme area, 7/1916: approach to front line; ground conditions; belief Germans could induce rain; story of assisting stretcher bearers in Delville Wood; B Coy positions astride Longueville road; role as company runner. Account of attack towards High Wood, 29/7/1916: background to posting as Colonel's personal runner with battalion headquarters despite desire to remain with company; breakdown of attack having reached German front line due to lack of flank support.
REEL 10 Continues: decision by B Coy commander to withdraw back across No Man's Land due to lack of flank support from 1st Bn, East Surrey Regt; heavy shelling whilst carrying written message back to battalion headquarters; giving verbal message having lost written version; roll call on withdrawal from line and casualties suffered; story of section abandoned in frontline by NCO and their subsequent reactions. Rest period in Normandy area, 8/1916-9/1916: reception and billeting arrangements; cider; question of GB leave; new drafts including former Gloucestershire Hussars; local leave in Le Treport; opinion of role of cavalry; view of corpse of cavalryman in Somme area. Return to Somme area, 9/1916: cookhouse casualties; nature of terrain; situation in Guillemont sector.
REEL 11 Continues: Account of attack on Guillemont, 3/9/1916-4/9/1916: situation; close escape during German counter-bombardment of trench containing battalion headquarters; organisation of attack; break down in communications between attacking troops and battalion headquarters; failure of night reconnaissance and successful morning attempt with Colonel to locate battalion's new position; situation in newly consolidated front line; question of casualties; orders to discover status of troops on right flank; bullet wound in groin and intitial treatment in battalion headquarters dugout.
REEL 12 Continues: Evacuation via Canadian Hospital, Le Treport to Lincoln General Hospital, GB, 9/1916: medical treatment; first news of tanks and subsequent German bombing of manufacturing plant in Lincoln; story of inquisitive civilian visitor; convalescence. Period at Horfield Barracks, Bristol, 1916: reaction to non-active service personnel; successful protest at premature posting back to Western Front. Posting to Buttevant Convalescent Camp, Ireland, 12/1916-5/1917: question of Sir Roger Casement's plans to attack camp; duties in regimental sergeant major's office; question of relationship with Irish civilians and attitude to political situation; background to application for commission with encouragement of former company commander. Training with Household Bde Officer Cadet Bn in Hertfordshire, 5/1917-12/1917: origins of cadets; story illustrating strict discipline; story of Duff Cooper drilling battalion; syllabus and question of trench warfare; assessment methods.
REEL 13 Continues: restrictions on visiting London; rejection on financial grounds of commission into Welsh Guards. Commission into 3rd (Reserve) Bn Welch Regt at Scarborough, 12/1917-2/1918: patrols searching for German spies in Robins Hood's Bay; billets; officers' mess; relationship with officers; relationship with other ranks and failure of attempt to discipline insubordinate soldier; relationship with NCOs; question of active service posting; posting to B Coy, 15th Bn Welch Regt. recollections of period with A Coy, 15th Welch Regt in Somme area, 5/1918-8/1918: reception at battalion transport lines at Aveluy, Somme area, 1/5/1915; efforts as company mess president to reduce excessive drinking and mess bills by providing improved food rations; duties as platoon commander; story of gaining reputation as expert revolver shot.
REEL 14 Continues: method of establishing relationship with other ranks and importance of knowing their names; question of differing conditions of service of officers; duties of officer's servant; organisation of tours of duty in Ancre sector; question of changes in nature of trench warfare, 1916-1918; duties as platoon officer in front line; duties as battalion works officer organising working parties during rest periods; success in cross country in divisional sports; digging Carmarthen trench; story of organising special mess night and dancing with brigadier; recreations; Welsh troops' singing.
REEL 15 Continues: Recollections of night attack in Thiepville Ridge sector, Somme area, 3/8/1918-4/8/1918: situation following German offensive; screening role on left flank of 38th Div; crossing River Ancre and setting up outposts; success in capturing two German machine gun positions; German troops in dugouts; clearing German support trench; wound in back from stick bomb; willingness to continues attack; evacuation by stretcher; personal morale; award of Military Cross. Evacuation to GB, 8/1918: second innoculation against tetanus by US medical team; question of 'Blighty' wound.
REEL 16 Period at Birmingham Military Hospital, 8/1918-9/1918: effects of double tetanus innoculations; threat of court martial over question of third tetanus innoculation. Demobilisation, 1/1919. Post-war career: question of work at Bristol Zoo; work as bank clerk in Holts Bank, London; reaction to war experiences; membership of regimental association and Toc H including battlefield tours; duties as inspector for Ministry of Labour in Wiltshire; passing Civil Sevice examination and interview prior to employment with Customs and Excise Department in Bristol and Gloucester.
