Feb 17th
Inspection of 7th R.B, 7th K.R.R’s, R.E’s and MLC(?) by Gen. Sir Douglas Haig at Winnezeele.
****HELP******
Could anyone confirm what the letters MLC stand for. I know KRR and RE but not MLC. Also if anyone has an pictures / photos of the inspection by Haig I'd be very interested in seeing them.
****************
Feb 11th
Paraded at 7am. Marched through Poperinghe, Abeele and Steenvoorde. Billeted in barns between Steenvoorde and Winnezeele. Stayed here until the 15th.
Feb 10th
Marched to Poperinghe for a bath and getting ready to move. We are actually leaving this part of the line at last; where for, of course, we don’t know.
Feb 8th
Rejoined Battalion at No. 1 Camp Elverdinghe. Warned for working party with 36 men tonight. Left at 4.30pm and got back at 3am 9th.
******** HELP ********
I'm interested in knowing whether anyone has any information on how the camps etc..would have been laid out in places such as Elverdinghe - there must have been thousands of people coming and going the whole time - I'm amazed anyone knew how/where to relocate their company after leave!
*********************
Jan 31st
Sent on to Mont des Cats (north Midland C.C.S) and kept until Feb 4th. Had thumb nail taken off.
****** HELP ******
Again my knowledge fails me - advice on what C.C.S stands for would be appreciated!
*****************
P.S - No wonder Grandfather wasnt writing much! I remember him telling me when I was very small just how painful this procedure was. He never did like hospitals and doctors!
Jan 24th
Sent down to 14 D.R.S (42nd f.a(?)). Kept here until 31st.
++++++++++HELP++++++++++++
Here my knowledge of WW1/Army abbreviations lets me down. Handwriting is hard to read. Can anyone help identify what 14 DRS or 42nd fa might be? A field hospital or something similar?
++++++++++HELP++++++++++++
P.S - It was clear that my grandfathers thumb was getting worse in January 1916 and remained very painful. The brevity of entries in the diary during this period bear th
Jan 14th
Relieved by other two platoons and went back into support. Pretty heavy shelling during the day but no casualties. Working party at night in front line.
Jan 13th
Had to proceed to firing line to join B Company in “E22” and what a place. Trench all blown in and up to your neck in mud. Only isolated posts here as in B16; no continuous trench.
Jan 12th
Took out party to work with Liverpool’s on Communication trench. (Skipton Lane). Informed on return that I had been promoted Sergeant and transferred to B Company.
Jan 4th
Left again for firing line. Rode up to Brielen in motor Buses. Took over E22 (Skipton Lane) from K.R.R’s. Trenches here are fairly free of water and in pretty good repair. No dug-outs to speak of; during the four days we were here we were unable to lie down.
Dec 31st
Relieved by K.R.R’s and marched back to 49th Division Camp at Vlmertinghe arriving about 12.30am 1-1-16 absolutely knocked up, so we saw in the new year marching along a Belgium road in a pretty exhausted condition, but we managed to welcome it with a song or two nevertheless.
