War Diaries

Apart from the men’s individual Service Records, Pension Records and Medal Rolls, a big part of the research effort involves finding and reading the War Diaries of the regiments and those of the Brigades  and Divisions they belonged to.

Transcribed War Diaries:

Below is a set of war diaries that have been transcribed (at least partially):

  1. 1st Sherwood Foresters. May 1918.
  2. 9th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. May 1918.
  3. 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment. 1915.
  4. 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment. 1916.
  5. 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment. 1917.
  6. HM HT VITA. 1915 – 1916.
  7. HM HT VITA. 1917 – 1919.
  8. HM HT Guildford Castle. 1915.
  9. Mesopotamia Lines of Communication, ADMS Basra. 1916.
  10. 42nd (East Lancashire) Division: Asst. Dir. of Medical Services, Gallipoli 1915.

Transcribed Personal Diaries & Letters:

Below are a small number of personal diaries and letters that have been transcribed:

  1. Lt. Charles Earsham Cooke’s personal diary covering his time at Gallipoli.
  2. Sgt. Thomas William Chisholm’s personal diary covering his capture and imprisonment during the 3rd Battle of the Aisne.
  3. 2/Lt. Albert Edward (Ned) Stringer’s letters home from Egypt & Gallipoli.
  4. Sgt. Noel Duncan Braithwaite’s Egypt 1914 -15 Journal.
  5. Cpl. Thomas Valentine’s Egypt & Gallipoli Journal.
  6. Chaplain 4th Class, Reverend Kenneth Best’s Letters from Egypt & Gallipoli.

Transcribed Book Excerpts:

Additionally, the following book excerpts have been transcribed, (at least partially as they relate to the Battle of Krithia Vineyard):

  1. The 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, 1914-1918, by Frederick P.
    Gibbon. [1920].
  2. Military operations : Gallipoli. Vol. 2, May 1915 to the evacuation.
    by Cecil Faber Aspinall-Oglander; A F Becke.
  3. Sydney Rogerson’s Between the Aisne and the Marne.

List of War Diaries:

The following official war diaries have been used to create this web site. The links to download them from the National Archives is included (but there may be a small fee required):

Mesopotamia:

  1. Lines of Communication Troops. Hospital Ship, Vita (June 1917 – Dec 1918). WO 95/4152/1.
  2. Lines of Communication Troops. Hospital Ship, Vita (Jan – 1919 Dec). WO 95/4152/2.
  3. Headquarters Branches and Services: Assistant Director Medical Services (Nov 1916 – Nov 1917). WO 95/5238/4.
  4. Headquarters Branches and Services: Assistant Director Medical Services (Jan – 1916 Oct). WO 95/5238/3.
  5. Headquarters Branches and Services: Embarkation Commandant (1916 July – 1916 Sept). WO 95/5241/3.
  6. Lines of Communication Troops. Hospital Ship, Guildford Castle (1914 Nov – 1919 Jan). WO 95/4145/7.

3rd Battle of the Aisne:

  1. 24th Infantry Brigade: Headquarters (Jan 1 – 1918 May 31). WO 95/1718/4.
  2. 25th Infantry Brigade: Headquarters (Apr 1 – 1918 May 31). WO 95/1728/3.
  3. 23rd Infantry Brigade: Headquarters (Mar 1 – 1918 May 31). WO 95/1711/2.
  4. Headquarters Branches and Services: General Staff (May – June 1918). WO 95/1678/3.
  5. Headquarters Branches and Services: Commander Royal Engineers (May 1918). WO 95/1691/3.
  6. Headquarters Branches and Services: Commander Royal Artillery (May – July 1918). WO 95/1686/2.
  7. Divisional Troops: Divisional Signal Company (1917 Dec 1 – 1919 May 31). WO 95/1701/5.
  8. 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (1914 Oct. – 1919 Apr). WO 95/1723/1.
  9. 22nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry (Pioneers) (1916 June – 1918 July). WO 95/1702/1.
  10. 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment (1918 Feb – 1919 Apr). WO 95/1729/2.
  11. 24th Infantry Brigade: 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) (1918 Jan 1 – 1919 Apr 30). WO 95/1721/4.
  12. 8th Battalion Machine Gun Corps, (Mar 1918 – Mar 1919). WO 95/1702/4.
  13. 9th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (1915 Sept – 1918 Aug). WO 95/2246/1.

Pte Arthur Slater:

  1. 1/9 Battalion Manchester Regiment (1917 Mar – 1918 Feb). WO 95/2658/1.

Pte Edwin Slater, MM:

  1. 11th Battalion Royal Scots Regiment (1915 May – 1919 Mar). WO 95/1773/1
  2. 16th Battalion Royal Scots Regiment (1916 Jan – 1918 Aug). WO 95/2458/1