Description
Object description
British private and NCO served with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB and on the Western Front, 1914-1919
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Norfolk and Co Durham, GB, 1895-1914: house born in; family; education; work on farm; move to farm near Shildon; leisure activities; family home; dream of moving to Australia. Aspects of period as private with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1/1914-4/1915: process of joining the Territorial Army at Bishop Auckland; details of pay; uniform and equipment issued; drill; musketry; drill nights; officers in battalion; appointment as Captain Jeffrey's groom before 1914 Conwy Camp; duties of groom; history with horses; use of horses; story of being thrown off a horse; visits out of camp at Conwy; manoeuvres and battalion's daily routine; rations; organisation of battalion; transport in battalion; opinion of training; outbreak of war 8/1914; role of 6th Battalion.
REEL 2 Continues: family's reaction to joining army; ambition to move to Australia; description of Bishop Auckland drill hall; daily issue of kit; coastal defence work near Bolden Colliery; posting to Ravensworth Castle; duties and horse rations; visits of vet; Captain Jeffreys's checks for dust; enjoyment of army life; marriage; work as Staff Sergeant and reason for not taking up permanent appointment; accommodation at Bensham Road School in Gateshead; sleeping arrangements; accommodation of horses; reason for change in role; leisure activities; uniform; journey to Southampton; story of raising alarm on crossing to Le Havre. Aspects of operations as private and NCO with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry on the Western Front, 4/1915- 9/1916: entrained to Ypres area; march to front; first meal; story of locked water pump; duty to battalion on front; quickly into action; march through Ypres; arrival in trenches and gas precautions; advance to railway lines; problems with gas; roll call after relief; mission to railway line including rations; search to find Colonel Jeffreys's horse Captain; story about Captain after the war; destruction of Ypres; journeys carrying messages; rotation around positions; parts of front battalion served on; reasons for departure from transport; promotion to Lance Corporal; ration parties; rations in trenches.
REEL 3 Continues: cleanliness at home position; conditions in trenches; movement in trenches; latrines; health of battalion; freezing of ears; soldier who lost nerves and shellfire; battles and periods holding the line; regular duties; pumping of water out of trenches; duties following promotion to Corporal; patrols in No Man's Land; wire defences; repairing wire; noise from working parties; reaction to flares; trench passwords; Stand To and Stand Down; activities through day and night; problems with lice; rats in trenches; man from Spennymoor who lost nerve; fires for making tea; rations; parcels from home; sharing treats with friends; religious services; casualties from shellfire and coping with horrific scenes; evacuation of wounded; medical staff; evacuation when he got wounded; German involvement in helping evacuation of wounded; two week ceasefire with Saxon troops at Armentières; difference of Prussian troops who relieved them; contact with high ranking officers; attitude of troops towards officers in rear; pumping water out of trenches in winter.
REEL 4 Continues: problems from cold; care of feet; winter clothing; officer's accommodation; activities in line; description of trenches; leisure activities; organisation of sentries; sentry duties and description of periscope; periods in rest area; contact with civilians; hospitalisation and treatment for poisonous finger; story of dinner with civilians while Sergeant of a camp; visits to beach; difficulties with finger on return; contact with German troops; attitude towards Germans; journey to Somme area; training in passing orders along line; move into trenches; advance of tanks; going over the top; exhaustion of officer; halt and digging-in; arrival of and talk with Colonel Jeffreys; orders from Colonel Jeffreys to form troops into two lines; arrival of and contact with Captain Cook; wounding; evacuated by Corporal Albert Capp; woke up in Boulogne hospital; description of wounds; opinion he was shot by sniper; disappearance of troops during advance; fire faced; description of tanks seen. Aspects of hospitalisation in GB, 1916-1917: treatment in Freemasons Hospital in London; opinion of nurses.
REEL 5 Continues: bandaging; problems with small boils in Boulogne; move to Newcastle Infirmary; discovery of lump in knee; operation to remove lump; convalescence. Aspects of period as NCO with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1917-1919: postings in Catterick and Sutton; fitness level; duties escorting prisoners; sent on Refresher Course at York presentation of Military Medal; opinion of reason for receiving medal; elements of Refresher Course; field day on course; certificates presented with; rank held; duties on redoubts between Hull and Withensea; offer of job on discharge; reason for not taking offer; end of service; process of discharge; details of pension; opinions of officers; story of trouble with two men in platoon and punishment given; story from time as prisoner escort; discipline in trenches; contact with Albert Capp after war; memories of Fred Bryant and Belly Graham; civilian work following war; engagement and marriage
