What Came Before The 'War Diary'

[At Home Dad]

Hallo all

From between the point of establishing a Service Battalion

to the point where they embark into combat (*) was there

any one 'diary' record of events during the training up period?

All the paperwork about discipline, morale, sequence/structure/nature

of the training undertaken, etc was it recorded in one document or does

it lie scattered across a complex military filing system and then hidden in

the National Archives, or held at the Regimental Museum?

(*) for example 13th Essex were "Formed at West Ham, 27 December 1914, by the Mayor and Borough."

The War Diary begins in November 1915. Just under a year of information secreted away in a dusty folder?

Thanks for any tips

Kind regards

[jay dubaya]

I've often wondered the same myself, but have never got round to asking the question, so I'll sit back and wait for the posts to appear. i have at least 3 relatives that joined up in August 1914, one of which has been sugested prior to August, so any existing documentation in the form of diaries would be most welcome,

Jon

[John Gilinsky]

Speaking for the CEF many battalions from the 2nd. Contingent on (authorized at the end of October 1914) were rapidly formed by local initiatives by prominent local men. Beyond the early enthusiasm things such as paper pushing bureaucrats would have seemed like an unpopular duty to begin with. Hence units were formed weeks or months before formal authorization and/or record keeping. Moreover, with the CEF many war diaries commence only OVERSEAS and not while they units were in Canada. Unit correspondence files are located mainly in RG 9 in the Library and Archives in Ottawa and this is where if you are interested in Canadian early unit records you will find most of what has survived. This gives you a "colonial" response rather than an English or British one. Clearly the BEF in Great Britain produced prodigious amounts of paperwork (no doubt requesting Canadian Foresty units to help out!). Local newspapers are obviously another major source for many units generally.

John

Toronto

[jim_davies]

4th Lincs (TF and not a service battalion) had a "war diary" of sorts from 4 Aug 1914 and 28 Feb 1915. I found a copy in the Lincs County Archivs...deals with training, recruitment, the split between first line and second line battalions etc.

[Tyneside Chinaman]

Hi

18/DLI had a war diary which Captain Lowe the Adjutant kept a lot of documents from - the majority were stamped to be destroyed before embarkation.

He had obviously decide he was going to write the battalion history after the war. The Lowe papers came to light just as I was researching "Durham Pals". The sheets detailing the various exercises and manouvres were exeptionally interesting as nothing like them had been found previously.

There was also snippets from battalion orders which again were very interesting. Presumably the rest had been destroyed as ordered.

regards

John

[Simon R]

Material relating to the movements, equipment, recruitment, training, mobilisation of the TF will usually be lodged with whoever maintains the TF County Association archives. Presumably the county records office.

Failing that, much information on TF btns/btys can of course be gleaned from local newspapers which can be surprisingly forthcoming.

[jay dubaya]

And of course the personal diaries, I have read a very detailed diary to the 12th Y&L from the day that he enlisted to the day the battalion embarked for Egypt and has some rare accounts of the training and leisure. It was made more poinent by the fact that I grew up half a mile from the some of the places he was describing, one of the local watering holes being owned by my Great Great Grandfather at the time,

Jon

[Phil Evans]

WO 95 has a sub-series; PART IX HOME SERVICE. It runs from WO 95/5453 to 5466. I think the War Office may have culled it at some time though, because the majority of diaries for units that later went overseas only cover Sept 1915 to March 1916, or there-abouts. It also seems to be biased towards Yeomanry and Artillery. I have also found the odd home service diary tucked in the box with the later operational war diaries, (although still limited to those dates).

Phil

[Charles Fair]

WO 95 has a sub-series; PART IX HOME SERVICE. It runs from WO 95/5453 to 5466. I think the War Office may have culled it at some time though, because the majority of diaries for units that later went overseas only cover Sept 1915 to March 1916, or there-abouts. It also seems to be biased towards Yeomanry and Artillery.

Correct on the period covered - though I found that it contained many diaries from the Provisional Battalions of the TF infantry.

Some of the units in 60 Divison have war diaries which start from 1/1/1915 although the division didn't go overseas until June 1916.

[At Home Dad]

Thank you all for the tips and clues!

Kind regards

[andrew pugh]

Good Evening All.

My Gt Uncle was a Special Reservist before going to France on the 4/12/1914 probably with a draft of other men to join the 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers,where would he have done his training, would it have been the local T.A.Centre? He was living in Warwick Road, Kensington at that time,I would love to find out what he was doing as a civilian while he was training as we know nothing about his youth days.Whould there be any records kept anywhere recording his time and service as a Srecial Reservist prior to being called upon to join a regular army battalion. would he have had a seperate service number proir to getting his Royal Fusilier service number?Does anybody know what the nearest drill hall was to Warwick Road in those days?

Regards Andy

[Ally Sloper]

Andy

For regular battalions, movements would be recorded in the 'Digest of Service'. These usually stop when the battalion was mobilised and began again in 1919. Not only do they record the battalion's movements, but also when new uniforms and arms were issued.

If they survive then they are usually found with the regimental archives rather than at The National Archives. Have you tried the Royal Fusilier Museum at the Tower of London, who may be able to help you

For service battalions, then soldiers' personal papers and diaries might record where a battalion was trained etc.

[andrew pugh]

Thanks for that Ally.

What i would realy like to know or try to find out is where did he train as a reservist,what drill hall did he use, how many nights a week, was it near where he lived in Kensington? I supose that will be something to research in the autumn evenings.Thanks again.

Regards Andy.