Description
Object description
British NCO served with 1/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry on Western Front, 1914-1916; officer served as observer with Royal Flying Corps in GB and with 10th Corps Cavalry Regt and 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons on Western Front, 1916-1918.
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1911: enlisted as trooper with Leicestershire Yeomanry in Leicester, 1/1911; training and weekend camps; story of being mobilized on outbreak of war, 4/Aug/1914; preparations for embarkation including requisition of horses; billets; further cavalry training; sailed aboard Union Castle liner 'Cardiganshire' from Southampton to Le Havre, France, 1-2/Nov/1914. Aspects of operations with 1/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry on Western Front, 11/1914-10/1915: description of journey to Ypres via St. Omer; memories of refugees on roads; billeted in barn; rode through Ypres at night; description of terrain and weather conditions in Ypres area; question of firing rifle; problem of Flemish spies; reason for calling horse Esme; problem of straying into German lines; story of eating rabbit for Christmas dinner, 12/1914; treated in hospital for dermatitis, 5/1915; rejoined regiment at Ypres; accommodation in Nissen huts; problem of frostbitten feet and use of whale oil; promoted sergeant of No. 4 Troop, 5/1915; story of returning to GB for officer training; commissioned and posted to 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons in France, 10/1915; transferred to 10th Corps Cavalry Regt, 6/1916 . Aspects of operations as officer with 10th Corps Cavalry Regt on Western Front, 6/1916-1917: signals training and qualifications; description of setting up visual communications system using Lucas lamps between Hooge and Hellfire Corner, Ypres. Aspects of period with Royal Flying Corps in GB, 1917-3/1918: story of transferring to Royal Flying Corps after 10th Corps Cavalry Regt disbanded, summer 1917; previous experience as signalling officer on artillery observation; training and operations in GB; story of volunteering for night flying squadron; description of Farman FE2b aircraft.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on Farman FE2b; posted back to 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, c.3/1918. Aspects of operations with 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons on Western Front, 3-11/1918: role as Duty Officer during Battle of Amiens, 8/1918; story of being hit by machine gun fire and losing horse; description of night patrol into woods; role in support of Canadian Army during Battle of Le Cateau, 8/Oct/1918; story of being hit on boot by piece of shrapnel; problem of bridges being mined; story of seeing unusual cars in Mauberge town square, 11/1918; problem of using mill as billet for horses; reaction to news of Armistice, 11/Nov/1918; further comments on unusual cars in Mauberge town square; description of gas attack at Ypres, 23/Apr/1915; opinion of gas masks; attitude to use of gas; opinion of French and Flemish civilians; story about shopkeeper refusing to sell loaf of bread; story of returning to home in Leicester on leave following Armistice, 11/1918; story about being billeted at chateau in Luxembourg; demobilization; description of trenches, 1914; question of shooting wounded and abandoned farm animals; story of experiencing anxiety attack in trenches; attitude to suffering of horses; opinion of tanks.
REEL 3 Continues: story about joining Leicestershire Yeomanry in GB, 1911; religious beliefs; description of road side crucifixes; story of hearing Angelus bell ringing; duties with cavalry and as dismounted troops.