Description
Object description
British private served with 7th Bn York and Lancaster Regt in GB and on Western Front, 1914-1917; served with Tank Corps in GB, 1917
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Newall, Sheffield, 1896-1910: work as greengrocer's assistant; living with grandparents; work as pony driver at Nunnery Colliery, Sheffield including duties, rail system, ponies, conditions of employment; Davis lamps, work clothes, washing at home; period as door trapper at Dinnington Colliery including duties, risk of fire and necessity of removing wooden props on lowering roof in abandoned areas, necessity of pumps at Nunnery Pit.
REEL 2 Continues: question of fatal accidents and reaction of miners to risks; safety role of deputies; food breaks; role of foreman; relationship with deputy; role of National Union of Mineworkers; work as coal filler and wet conditions at Tinsley Park Colliery; Sheffield; securing work unloading coal wagons at Vickers, 1919; Church Lads Brigade activities; return to live with parents, 1911. Recollections of enlistment underage with Yorkshire and Lancaster Regiment at Pontefract Barracks, 1913: story of prior argument with mother; initial attempt to join Royal Artillery; mother's intervention at recruiting office and consequent assignment to Special Reserve.
REEL 3 Continues: background to being bought out by family; reaction to army lifestyle; loss of mobilisation papers as special reserve and subsequent collection by police from Tinsley Park Colliery, 8/1914. Aspects of training and conditions of service with B Coy, 7th Bn Yorkshire and Lancaster Regt at South Shields, Harrogate and Otley Park, 8/1914-7/1914: kitting out at Pontefract Barracks; marriage; training; relationship with officers, NCOs, other ranks and civilians; night training at Otley Park; state of training; question of pride in regiment. Journey out to France, 7/1917.
REEL 4 Recollections of operations as private with 7th Bn York and Lancaster Regt on Western Front, 1915-1917: move into Ypres area, Belgium, 7/1915; role as Pioneer Bn; laying duckboards; question of trench revetting; prior trench training in GB; carrying parties; periods in front line; story of meeting with German soldiers in No Man's Land whilst consolidating crater from detonation of German mine; dugouts; food, water, rum and cigarette rations; parcel and letter contact with GB; ammunition supply; uniform; sanitation; lice problem; baths at Armentieres; lice problem on GB leave; rat problem.
REEL 5 Continues: corpses; trench feet; sentry duty; food rations; daytime duties; duties as officer's servant and story of dismissal for using polluted water; recreations; sentry duty; listening patrols; methods employed in daylight raid including preparations, use of Bangalore torpedos, crossing No Man's Land to snatch German POW from dugout and weapons used; attitude to self defence, 1986; barbed wire parties and German star shells.
REEL 6 Continues: German shellfire; reaction of Portugese troops to German rifle gas grenades; burying gassed corpses; German sniping; eating horse meat; firing at attacking German troops; use of hand grenades; state of morale; disciplinary punishments; opinion of German troops; relationship with other ranks, NCOs and officers; opinion of Royal Army Medical Corps; 'Blighty wounds'; story of dispute with officer over appearance of uniform and subsequent punishment during march to Arras 1917; recreations during rest periods including visits to estaminet.
REEL 7 Continues: recreations during rest periods including visits to estaminet; move to Arras, 1917; situation; disbandment of unit and volunteering to join Tank Corps. Aspects of training with Tank Corps at Wareham Camp, 1918: types of tank; roles of tank crew members; conditions in tank. story of going absent without leave due to cancellation of embarkation leave, arrest in Sheffield, assault on interviewing sergeant major, subsequent court martial and prison sentence imposed. Recollections of conditions during period at Maybrick Prison, 4/1918-10/1918: reasons for rejection of alternative offer of immediate posting to Western Front; reception and enforced bath; beating following kit inspection; decision to conform to prison disipline; dispute with German POW; work. Posting to Le Treport, 11/1918. Early demobilisation as miner, 1918.
REEL 8 Continues: Early demobilisation as miner, 1918: rough Channel crossing; token welcome gift; return to work at Tinsley Park Colliery. Aspects of operations on Western Front, 1915-1917: story of George V falling off horse whilst drunk during parade at Meolt, 1916; story of confiscation of camera. Post-war story of successfully seeking help of Liberal parliamentary candidate to get house when family home became overcrowded.
