Description: | Ms diary, 2 April - 31 December 1917, written by him whilst serving as a Private with 18 Company MT ASC (4th Divisional Train) in Mesopotamia, describing his duties as a clerk at Larkhill Camp, Bulford, embarking from Devonport onboard the P&O Liner COMMONWEALTH, the journey to Basra via Sierra Leone, Cape Town, Durban and Zanzibar, the cramped and uncomfortable conditions, daily routine, duties, drills and social events onboard, sightseeing in Cape Town and Zanzibar, embarking the HMT ROYAL GEORGE at Durban and the improved living conditions, arriving in Basra and his duties as a clerk in the MT Base Stores; together with 3 ms notebooks, containing further details, some in shorthand, of the journey from England to Basra and from Basra to Baghdad; Depot Orders; draft articles for the Basra Times; a photograph album showing him, his colleagues, the countryside and local people in Mesopotamia; a series of scenic postcards; 4 editions of the "Basra Times", 1917 - 1919; a ts copy of "The Wag" journal, 24 December 1919; concert and sporting programmes; tourist guides; temperature charts and press cuttings. Also included is a ts transcription of the diary titled "From Bulford to Basra", (67pp), including photocopied letters, photographs and postcards.
Cataloguer JHK
Catalogue date 2007-10-29 |