Difference between revisions of "Lists of personal diaries, letters, memoirs"

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(Individual items: done Lamin, updated others)
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These names need to be matched to individual units so they can be added to its page. '''If you can find out which battalions these men were in, and [https://mia2.typeform.com/to/dkhC4B send in your links] to have them added to the wiki.''' If you're working on someone's record, you can also edit the wiki to add a note saying so. Remove the name below once it's been added to a regiment or battalion page.
 
These names need to be matched to individual units so they can be added to its page. '''If you can find out which battalions these men were in, and [https://mia2.typeform.com/to/dkhC4B send in your links] to have them added to the wiki.''' If you're working on someone's record, you can also edit the wiki to add a note saying so. Remove the name below once it's been added to a regiment or battalion page.
  
* [http://lettersfromww1.blogspot.com Letters home from Private Edward Ray Jackson]
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* [http://lettersfromww1.blogspot.com Letters home from Private Edward Ray Jackson] (Canadian)
  
* [http://haroldskillingslettersfromww1.blogspot.com Harold Skilling's Letters From World War One ]
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* [http://haroldskillingslettersfromww1.blogspot.com Harold Skilling's Letters From World War One]
 +
** Canadian Expeditionary Force
 +
** Royal Flying Corps
  
 
* [http://morelettersfromww1.blogspot.com Lieutenant William Milton Skilling]
 
* [http://morelettersfromww1.blogspot.com Lieutenant William Milton Skilling]
 +
** Canadian Expeditionary Force
 +
** [[Royal Artillery, UK]]
 +
** [[53rd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, UK]]
  
 
* Louis Barthas (ed. Edward M. Strauss), ''Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918'' (Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0300191592) is a translation of the diaries of French soldier Louis Barthas. Which unit was he in?
 
* Louis Barthas (ed. Edward M. Strauss), ''Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918'' (Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0300191592) is a translation of the diaries of French soldier Louis Barthas. Which unit was he in?
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* There's a stash of [http://hdl.handle.net/10462/comp/2948 fantastic photos  in The "Cambrian" Album] from the [http://hdl.handle.net/10462/eadarc/5855 OM77-14 2nd Light Horse Association Records 1914-1920] at the State Library of Queensland. The album includes photos from other units - can you help by adding images and links to unit pages?
 
* There's a stash of [http://hdl.handle.net/10462/comp/2948 fantastic photos  in The "Cambrian" Album] from the [http://hdl.handle.net/10462/eadarc/5855 OM77-14 2nd Light Horse Association Records 1914-1920] at the State Library of Queensland. The album includes photos from other units - can you help by adding images and links to unit pages?
  
* [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Maurice_George_Delpratt_Correspondence Maurice George Delpratt] was a prisoner of war in Constantinople, but what unit did he serve in?
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* [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Maurice_George_Delpratt_Correspondence Maurice George Delpratt]
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** [[5th Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
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** prisoner of war in Constantinople
  
 
* [https://www.archive.org/stream/englishwomanserg00sanduoft/englishwomanserg00sanduoft_djvu.txt An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Sandes Flora Sandes], 'the only British woman officially to serve as a soldier in World War I'.
 
* [https://www.archive.org/stream/englishwomanserg00sanduoft/englishwomanserg00sanduoft_djvu.txt An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Sandes Flora Sandes], 'the only British woman officially to serve as a soldier in World War I'.
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* [http://www.ocotilloroad.com/geneal/symonds2.html Frederick Heatley Symonds]
 
* [http://www.ocotilloroad.com/geneal/symonds2.html Frederick Heatley Symonds]
 +
** [[5th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
  
 
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10107/pg10107.html With British Guns in Italy, by Hugh Dalton]
 
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10107/pg10107.html With British Guns in Italy, by Hugh Dalton]
  
* [http://justafewlines.net/ Francis Leo O'Meara and Patrick Julian O'Meara]
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* [http://justafewlines.net/ Francis Leo O'Meara and Patrick Julian O'Meara] Australian Imperial force: which units?
  
* [http://www.arthursletters.com Arthur Dease]
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* [http://www.arthursletters.com Arthur Dease]: French Red Cross
  
 
* [http://www.worldwar1luton.com/object/william-owen-war-diary-1916-1917 William Owen War Diary 1916-1917]
 
* [http://www.worldwar1luton.com/object/william-owen-war-diary-1916-1917 William Owen War Diary 1916-1917]
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* [http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR90/018/ Bailey, Herbert Austin (Sapper, b 1873, d 1963)]
 
* [http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR90/018/ Bailey, Herbert Austin (Sapper, b 1873, d 1963)]
 +
** engineer in [[5th Australian Division]]: which unit?
  
* [//www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR03431/ Bayley, Francis Wilton (Private), 1896-1974]
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* [//www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR03431/ Bayley, Francis Wilton (Private), 1896-1974]: Imperial Camel Corps
  
 
* [http://www.first-world-war.co.uk/index.htm Thomas Fredrick (Fred) Littler]
 
* [http://www.first-world-war.co.uk/index.htm Thomas Fredrick (Fred) Littler]
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**Edward: [[2nd Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles, Indian]] (done)
 
**Edward: [[2nd Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles, Indian]] (done)
 
**Paul: Royal Navy, [[HMS Gloucester]] and [[HMS Malaya]]
 
**Paul: Royal Navy, [[HMS Gloucester]] and [[HMS Malaya]]
 
* [http://wwar1.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2006-01-01T00:00:00Z&updated-max=2007-01-01T00:00:00Z&max-results=5 Harry Lamin] (letters also published in print):
 
**[[10th Training Reserve Battalion, UK]]
 
**[[9th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, UK]]
 
**Attached to headquarters of [[23rd Division, UK]]
 
**[[1st Garrison Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers, UK]]
 
  
 
* [http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b19604592#?asi=0&ai=5&z=-0.0083%2C-0.1056%2C0.944%2C1.0838 War diary kept by Captain Neil Cantlie, RAMC, with the 6th Division at the Battle of the Somme, Sept - Oct 1916]
 
* [http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b19604592#?asi=0&ai=5&z=-0.0083%2C-0.1056%2C0.944%2C1.0838 War diary kept by Captain Neil Cantlie, RAMC, with the 6th Division at the Battle of the Somme, Sept - Oct 1916]
 
**[[Divisional Medical Services, 6th Division, UK]]
 
**[[Divisional Medical Services, 6th Division, UK]]
  
* Ely, Dinsmore, 1894-1918. '[https://archive.org/details/dinsmoreelyonewh00elyd Diary letters of Dinsmore Ely], edited by his father, Dr. James O. Ely'. Library of Congress via Internet Archive.
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* Ely, Dinsmore, 1894-1918. '[https://archive.org/details/dinsmoreelyonewh00elyd Diary letters of Dinsmore Ely], edited by his father, Dr. James O. Ely'. Library of Congress via Internet Archive. American pilot.
  
 
* [http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_War_Diary_of_David_Lindsay David Lindsay]
 
* [http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_War_Diary_of_David_Lindsay David Lindsay]
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** [[1st Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
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** artillery: which unit?
  
 
* [http://www.thekivellfamily.co.nz/family_pages/ralphs_diaries/Ralph_Doughty.html Ralph Dorchel DOUGHTY]
 
* [http://www.thekivellfamily.co.nz/family_pages/ralphs_diaries/Ralph_Doughty.html Ralph Dorchel DOUGHTY]

Revision as of 06:52, 16 January 2016

The letters, diaries, memoirs etc listed below could be linked to specific military units, but each name needs to be researched to find out exactly which unit they were in at the time. Can you help? Pick a name or document below, and try to find their military records to show which battalion they were in.

Here are some resources on researching World War One records to get you started.

Individual items

These names need to be matched to individual units so they can be added to its page. If you can find out which battalions these men were in, and send in your links to have them added to the wiki. If you're working on someone's record, you can also edit the wiki to add a note saying so. Remove the name below once it's been added to a regiment or battalion page.

  • Louis Barthas (ed. Edward M. Strauss), Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 (Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0300191592) is a translation of the diaries of French soldier Louis Barthas. Which unit was he in?
  • Anzac Live has 'interactive' posts based on letters and diaries from various men and women.
  • What information is contained in Nursing Adventures: A FANY in France (called 'A Nurse at War: Nursing Adventures in France' in the USA) by Grace McDougall?
  • FIELD HOSPITAL & FLYING COLUMN. Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia by Violetta Thurstan.
  • Ely, Dinsmore, 1894-1918. 'Diary letters of Dinsmore Ely, edited by his father, Dr. James O. Ely'. Library of Congress via Internet Archive. American pilot.
  • DeWitt C. Ellinwood Jr. (ed.), Between Two Worlds: A Rajput Officer in the Indian Army, 1905–21. Based on the Diary of Amar Singh of Jaipur (University Press of America, 2005, ISBN 0-7618-3113-4). Which unit did Amar Singh serve in?

Collections of items

  • A massive list of 'Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences' compiled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). Pick a name, find out which unit they were with, and add them to the battalion/regiment page!
From their blog post '(Re)Discovering the Great War', 'The Wellcome Library has digitized over 130,000 pages of correspondence, personal and field diaries and reports, photographs and memoirs associated with the allied medical services during World War I. Drawn from material presented to the Royal Army Medical Corps Museum and Archive (now the Army Medical Services Museum Trust), the collection covers virtually every sphere of operations including the Balkan Front, the Dardanelles, East Africa, India, Italy, Malta, Mesopotamia and the Middle East, Russia, and South West Africa, as well as the Western and British Home fronts.'
  • The Great War Archive contains memoirs, letters and diaries, each of which could be linked to an Allied battalion or regiment.
  • An archive of transcribed war diary (Kriegstagebuch), letters and blogs includes a list of diaries from Weltkrieg / The Great War
  • The Liddle Collection, Leeds University Library. Includes personal papers of over 4,000 people who experienced the First World War, and over 750 sound recordings and transcripts of interviews about experiences of the First World War.

Australian personal narratives

The Australian War Memorial's Anzac Connections lists 188 (at the time of writing) 'Biographies including private records and diaries'

The State Library of NSW has a collection of WWI diaries and letters online. Can you link the authors to their battalion page?

A user list of Great War diaries, letters, reminiscences on Trove (not all diaries may be available online)

British personal narratives

Canadian personal narratives

If you're interested in finding records for Canadian battalions, the Canadian Great War project has a form to search for War Diaries by unit.

Oral Histories of the First World War: Veterans 1914-1918 based on the CBC's radio broadcast In Flanders Fields, a series of one-on-one interviews with veterans of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which aired from November 11, 1964 to March 7, 1965. The website is organized into seven themes: Second Ypres, Vimy Ridge, War in the Air, The Somme, Trench Warfare, Passchendaele, Perspectives on War. Contains images, interview audio and transcripts.

New Zealand personal narratives

Personal Histories of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles (see also the sitemap).

Diaries listed in the National Library of New Zealand's WW100 digitisation project

Off at last the goodbye would have been too awful is a blog post featuring diaries discovered during digitisation at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

"It's just hell here now" is an Anzac Day post from the Alexander Turnbull Library that shows what can be learnt from individual diaries.

American personal narratives

Veterans History Project

Indian personal narratives

  • David Omissi (ed.), Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers' Letters, 1914-1918, (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999). ISBN 0333751450. Compilation of Indian soldiers' letters.
  • British Library IOR/L/MIL/5/825-828: Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. These reports contain many extracts of Indian soldiers' letters. Page scans are available through the "Browse this collection" link on the catalogue record page.

French personal narratives

Related Media

Images and recordings that aren't personal narratives but need matching to units.

  • Berliner Lautarchiv British & Commonwealth recordings: sound recordings of British prisoners of war in Germany. A selection of 66 of these recordings can be heard at British Library Sound Archive website. These need matching to units.
  • The Illustrated First World War website contains a large collection of photos from the archives of the Illustrated London News. Free to view but all rights reserved.

Research in progress

Add notes or links here for diaries you need help researching, missing links from the sites above, etc.