Description
Object description
British private and NCO served with 15th (Service) Bn (1st Birkenhead) Cheshire Regt and 17th (Reserve) Bn Cheshire Regt in GB, 1915-1916; NCO served with 7th (Service) Bn East Lancashire Regt, 56th Bde, 19th (Western) Div, 1917-1918; trained as observer with Royal Air Force in GB, 1918. Served as officer with Local Defence Volunteers and Home Guard in Cosham, Hampshire, GB, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, GB, 1896-1914: family; education; employment with organ makers and as clerk at naval architect's office; reaction to declaration of First World War, 4/8/1914; volunteering for army and rejection due to height, 1914. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 15th (Service) Bn (1st Birkenhead) and 17th (Reserve) Bns Cheshire Regiment in GB, 1915-1916: formation of Bantam battalions in Cheshire Regiment by Alfred Bigland, MP; enlistment with 15th (Service) Bn (1st Birkenhead) Bn Cheshire Regt, 1915; posting to regimental staff of 17th (Reserve) Bn Cheshire Regt at Prees Heath Camp, 1916; role of Bantam battalions; duties as orderly room sergeant; discipline; story of meeting future wife; leave. Recollections of operations as NCO with 7th (Service) Bn East Lancashire Regt, 56th Bde, 19th (Western) Div on Western Front, 1917-1918; background to drafting to battalion in France, 1917; journey from GB to France; posted to camp at Étaples.
REEL 2 Continues: conditions in camp at Étaples; memories of mutiny in camp; moved into trenches in Ypres Salient, Belgium; description of trenches and dugouts; opinion of rations; sanitation; daily routine; proximity of Imperial German Army trenches; trench raids; snipers; attitude to personal morale; medical services; night-time activity; relief and rest periods out of line; opinion of adequacy of training; effects of being gassed; march to Somme, France; description of terrain and living conditions; brief posting to 9th (Service) Bn Welch Regt, 1918; duties as clerk with Headquarters, Deputy Adjutant General Staff at Rouen, France.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of training as officer with Royal Air Force in GB, 1918: volunteering for Royal Air Force, 6/1918; medical; tests; posting to London; training as observer at No 7 Observer School, Bath; duties as orderly officer; announcement of Armistice, 11/11/1918; transfer back to British Army and posting to records office in York; marriage; demobilisation, 1919; post-war life and employment. Recollection of period as officer with Local Defence Volunteers and 31st (Cosham) Bn Hampshire Home Guard in Cosham, Hampshire, GB, 1939-1945: call-up from officers' reserve at outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; question of serving with Royal Air Force; joining Local Defence Volunteers; duties in command of company based in Cosham; meetings and training; opinion of battalion commander; civilian employment and age of members of company; opinion of men under command; discipline; uniform; weapons training; opinion of instructors; preparations for potential German invasion; relations between Home Guard and local civilians; route marches; use of masonic hall for drill practice.
REEL 4 Continues: inspections; question of discipline and punishments; liaison with Hampshire Constabulary and Royal Navy; duties as company commander; attendance and level of commitment; patrols; rumours of German invasion; communications and transport; rank held; incident of home being bombed by German Air Force, 1944; memories of end of Second World War and disbandment of Home Guard, 31/12/1945.