War Diaries/Battalion Histories

[westkent78]

I'm sure that the PRO are the people to answer this question, but I thought I might tap the knowledge here as well.

Is it possible to obtain copies of entire war diaries from the PRO by using there own services, as opposed to copying manually when visiting the Archives? Is this recommended? Do they have access to better copying facilities than the public at the PRO?

And slightly off-topic: Were diaries only produced during WW1 and 2, or do they exist for other wars? Particularly interested in Boer War, 1880's Egypt and Sudan, 1890's Northwest Frontier, Indian Mutiny and Crimea.

Thanks,

Matthew

[Max]

Hello Matthew

If the diary is fairly substantial it would probably be more cost effective to purchase a digital camera and photograph it. The copying service at the PRO can be prohibitively expensive.

Andy

[crispy]

Andy.

Thanks for the tip, I know i`m not bright but that never crossed my mind, what a money saving gem!

David.

[westkent78]

Very good suggestion, but sadly can't be done remotely from USA.

I guess this brings up the question of "deals" that the PRO offer- hopefully for bulk copies?

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

I'm sure that the PRO are the people to answer this question, but I thought I might tap the knowledge here as well.

Is it possible to obtain copies of entire war diaries from the PRO by using there own services, as opposed to copying manually when visiting the Archives? Is this recommended? Do they have access to better copying facilities than the public at the PRO?

And slightly off-topic: Were diaries only produced during WW1 and 2, or do they exist for other wars? Particularly interested in Boer War, 1880's Egypt and Sudan, 1890's Northwest Frontier, Indian Mutiny and Crimea.

Thanks,

Matthew

I did once have the whole of the No1 Special Company Middlesex Regiment War Diary for the NREF 1920 Copied,using a Researcher~One of this Forums Members~ If I Recall, before they became Famous!;This was only a relatively small project,as the Diary only covered just over a Year,but was still a costly,but very worthwhile job done!

[JulianB]

re slightly off topic, I think War Diaries only started in 1909

[reformbill]

i have recently had the War Diary of 160 Siege Battery - Sept. 1916-Sept 1917 copied ( all that is extant). It took from 6th January to 18th April to receive an estimate, but having ordered I got the Diary some 40 pages of A3 size within ten days. One's idea about cost is relative. I paid c.£40. Compare that with travelling to the N.A., perhaps staying in London, and all the hassle of tracing the documents and copying them. I think that the exercise was well worth while.

[ALANJONES]

The online order system using PROCAT works well although the search facility needs some lateral thinking! However one thing to be careful about is that some diaries contain multiple blank formatted pages - try to specify that you only require pages with specific entries on. Also if you ask for a date band sometimes you will find there are additional bits and pieces of interest - I did! At the end of the day do not assume you have seen all there is to see!!

Alan

[SPotter]

I have had the entire War Diary of the 1st Dorsets copied, running from 5th August 1914 to their return to the UK in March 1919. This was a number of years back (when the PRO was still using yellow paper!) and was achieved by simply ordering the relevant references, deciding what I wanted (there are sometimes some very interesting inserts; intelligence reports etc.) carefully marking up the document - not necessary if you want the entire thing, counting how many pages this was, taking it the the photocopying counter and filling in the form. Perhaps simply wasn't quite the right word - it wasn't difficult, as you can have a good read whilst doing it, just time consuming.

Admittedly a lot has changed since then but I had each section back within 2-3 weeks.

Cheers

Steve