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

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== Individual items ==
 
== 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 [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.
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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 units these people 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.
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* Matron Margaret Gray [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P3583/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
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** [[British Red Cross Hospital, Rouen]]
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* Petty Officer Hans Heinz Harmes-Emden [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P3818/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
 +
** German navy: SMS Emden (1908)
 +
 
 +
* Private David Watson Izatt [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P10675843/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
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** 10 Casualty Clearing Station (British?)
 +
** 15 Casualty Clearing Station (British?)
 +
** [[No 2 Australian General Hospital]]
 +
** [[No 1 Casualty Clearing Station, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
 +
 
 +
* Sergeant John Robert Cowan Kelly [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P10677284/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
 +
** [[30th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
 +
** [[Elope Force]] in Russia
 +
 
 +
* Major Percy Lay [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P10675871/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
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** [[8th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
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** [[Dunster Force]] in Persia
 +
 
 +
* Matron Mary McLean Loughron [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P10675771/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
 +
** Red Cross
 +
** [[Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service]] Reserve
 +
** 2 Stationary Hospital Annexe (which country?)
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* [http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/sassoon Siegfried Sassoon's journals] are online at Cambridge Digital Library (but note that his ''Memoirs of an Infantry Officer'' is a fictionalised novel, not his memoirs). Sassoon served in the following units but we still need to know if he served in other units later in the war:
 +
** [[1/1st Sussex Yeomanry, UK]]
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** [[3rd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, UK]]
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** [[1st Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, UK]]
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 +
* Margaret Hall, American Red Cross. [https://www.masshist.org/photographs/hall/index.php Photos and narrative at Massachusetts Historical Society].
 +
 
 +
* [https://archive.org/details/twocoloredwomenw00addi Two Colored women with the American Expeditionary Forces by Addie W. Hunton and Kathryn M. Johnson] is a fascinating account of the YMCA's work and includes photos of named individuals as well as mentions of specific military units.
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 +
* Bodleian Library, Oxford, [http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/kings-african-rifles.html MSS. Afr. s. 1715] (168A) (Box 10): papers of Brigadier M.S. Lush, who served in the Sudan Political Service, 1914-1945.
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* Bodleian Library, Oxford, [http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/kings-african-rifles.html MSS. Afr. s. 1715] (103) (Box 5): papers of Sir Angus Gillan, who served in the Sudan Political Service and took part in the Darfur campaign in 1916.
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* [https://archive.org/details/gogetem00will Go, get 'em! The true adventures of an American aviator of the Lafayette flying corps who was the only Yankee flyer fighting over General Pershing's boys of the Rainbow division in Lorraine, when they first went "over the top" by William A. Wellman]
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* [https://archive.org/details/whenchenalsingsm00wyth When Chenal sings the Marseillaise : With the honors of war : Sister Julie by Wythe Williams]
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 +
* John Terraine (ed.), ''General Jack's Diary'' ISBN 978-0304353200 ([http://www.amazon.co.uk/General-1914-18-Cassell-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304353205/ Amazon link]). An abridged version of the diary of James Lochhead Jack:
 +
** commander of C Company, [[1st Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), UK]] (Dec 1914-Feb 1915)
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** company commander and 2nd in command of [[2nd Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), UK]] (Aug 1915-Aug 1916)
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** commander of [[2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, UK]] (Aug 1916-July 1917)
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** commander of [[1st Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), UK]] (to Sep 1918)
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** commander of [[28th Infantry Brigade, UK]] (from Sep 1918)
 +
 
 +
 
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* [http://www.masshist.org/features/saltonstall/nora-saltonstall Letters and photos of Nora Saltonstall] (American Red Cross)
 +
 
 +
* [http://lettersfromww1.blogspot.com Letters home from Private Edward Ray Jackson] (Canadian)
 +
 
 +
* [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]
 +
** 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?
  
 
* The [http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/ Your Paintings site] has artworks including Ellis Silas [http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-last-roll-call-6236 The Last Roll Call] that could be linked to specific units through their artists.
 
* The [http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/ Your Paintings site] has artworks including Ellis Silas [http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-last-roll-call-6236 The Last Roll Call] that could be linked to specific units through their artists.
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* [http://ww1journeys.org/paul-thuns/ Paul Thuns' War-Diary 1914-1918] (served in German army)
 
* [http://ww1journeys.org/paul-thuns/ Paul Thuns' War-Diary 1914-1918] (served in German army)
 
* [https://archive.org/details/gallipolidiary00gillrich John Graham Gillam's Gallipoli Diary]
 
  
 
* [https://medium.com/@ri_science/letters-to-gwendoline-one-gallipoli-story-told-through-letters-home-9a3f434ec82e Letters to Gwendoline: One story of Gallipoli told through letters home in memory of Anzac Day] (58th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery)
 
* [https://medium.com/@ri_science/letters-to-gwendoline-one-gallipoli-story-told-through-letters-home-9a3f434ec82e Letters to Gwendoline: One story of Gallipoli told through letters home in memory of Anzac Day] (58th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery)
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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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* [https://www.archive.org/stream/englishwomanserg00sanduoft/englishwomanserg00sanduoft_djvu.txt An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army] by [[Wikipedia: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'.
 
  
* The [https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR88/165/ letters] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Corkhill Sister Pearl Elizabeth Corkhill, AANS] could shed light on many locations.
+
* The [https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR88/165/ letters] of [[Wikipedia:Pearl_Corkhill|Sister Pearl Elizabeth Corkhill, AANS]] could shed light on many locations.
 
 
*  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.
 
* FIELD HOSPITAL & FLYING COLUMN. Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia by Violetta Thurstan.
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* Where was [http://www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk/discover/query/ww1%20letter%20Llewelyn%20Williams Llewelyn Williams] based?  
 
* Where was [http://www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk/discover/query/ww1%20letter%20Llewelyn%20Williams Llewelyn Williams] based?  
 
* [http://www.ocotilloroad.com/geneal/symonds2.html Frederick Heatley Symonds]
 
  
 
* [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]
+
* [http://justafewlines.net/ Francis Leo O'Meara and Patrick Julian O'Meara] Australian Imperial force: which units?
 
 
* [http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG0001092/?image=2#display-image Photostat copies of letters from John Alexander Raws and Robert Goldthorpe Raws, 1915-1916]
 
  
* [http://www.arthursletters.com Arthur Dease]
+
* [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]
 +
** driver in the Royal Field Artillery: which unit?
  
* [http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR90/018/ Bailey, Herbert Austin (Sapper, b 1873, d 1963)]
+
* [//www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR03431/ Bayley, Francis Wilton (Private), 1896-1974]: Imperial Camel Corps
 
 
* [//www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR03431/ Bayley, Francis Wilton (Private), 1896-1974]
 
  
 
* [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]
 
**[[1/5th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, UK]]
 
**[[1/5th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, UK]]
 
**Royal Engineers: which unit?
 
**Royal Engineers: which unit?
 
* [http://lu.softxs.ch/mackay/RLM_Diary.html Robert Lindsay Mackay]
 
**[[11th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, UK]]
 
 
* [http://udel.edu/~mm/wwi/ A. W. Miller]
 
  
 
* [http://www.familyletters.co.uk/ Richard, Jim, Ted, Paul, Topher Berryman]. Imperial War Museum catalogue entries for [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030021700 Ted] and [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030020614 Paul] give more details.
 
* [http://www.familyletters.co.uk/ Richard, Jim, Ted, Paul, Topher Berryman]. Imperial War Museum catalogue entries for [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030021700 Ted] and [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030020614 Paul] give more details.
**Richard: Indian Army Medical Corps, various hospitals and attached to [[20th Deccan Horse, Indian]]
+
**Richard: [[Indian Medical Service]], various hospitals and attached to [[20th Horse, Indian]] (done)
 
**James: Middlesex Regiment (which battalion?); Royal Fusiliers Public Schools Battalion (which one?)
 
**James: Middlesex Regiment (which battalion?); Royal Fusiliers Public Schools Battalion (which one?)
 
**Christopher: Middlesex Regiment (which battalion?); Army Service Corps (which unit?)
 
**Christopher: Middlesex Regiment (which battalion?); Army Service Corps (which unit?)
 
**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://gallipolifirstandlast.blogspot.co.uk/ Major-General Cuthbert H T Lucas]
 
**Commander of [[87th Infantry Brigade, UK]]
 
**Commander of Machine Gun Corps training school
 
**Commander of [[4th Division, UK]]
 
 
* [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://www.thekivellfamily.co.nz/family_pages/ralphs_diaries/Ralph_Doughty.html Ralph Dorchel DOUGHTY]
 
  
 
* [http://www.trentu.ca/admin/library/archives/ffowldswelcome.htm Nursing Sister Helen L. Fowlds]
 
* [http://www.trentu.ca/admin/library/archives/ffowldswelcome.htm Nursing Sister Helen L. Fowlds]
  
 
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030019021 Private Papers of Lieutenant L H Riddell]
 
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030019021 Private Papers of Lieutenant L H Riddell]
 
+
** pilot in Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force
* [http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/engage/blog/family-memories-a-soldiers-great-war-sketchbook/ Private McGarrigle was a soldier with 7th Northumberland Fusiliers Observation Corps]
+
** prisoner of war in Germany
**[[1/7th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, UK]]
 
  
 
* [http://dh.tcd.ie/letters1916/diyhistory/items/show/1791 Letter from John Adams to his mother Mary Adams, 13 May 1916]
 
* [http://dh.tcd.ie/letters1916/diyhistory/items/show/1791 Letter from John Adams to his mother Mary Adams, 13 May 1916]
 
* [http://dh.tcd.ie/letters1916/diyhistory/items/show/1784 Letter from Lieutenant Richard Henry Perceval-Maxwell to his father, Colonel Robert David Perceval-Maxwell, 7 October, 1916]
 
**[[10th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), UK]]
 
  
 
* [http://dh.tcd.ie/letters1916/diyhistory/items/show/1671 Letter from Charles Hezlet to his mother, 26 September 1916]
 
* [http://dh.tcd.ie/letters1916/diyhistory/items/show/1671 Letter from Charles Hezlet to his mother, 26 September 1916]
 
**Commander of 33rd Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery
 
**Commander of 33rd Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery
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* [http://tapuhi.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/spydus/FULL/GLOBAL/OPHDR/551/2732,4 Letter from Joseph Vivian Wilson to Dr D E Currie, 13 June 1917]
  
 
*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?
 
*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?
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* [http://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-liddle-collection 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.
 
* [http://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-liddle-collection 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.
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* [http://www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London] hold personal papers of senior British personnel.
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* [http://transcribe.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/collections/show/2 Transcribe project at the Royal British Columbia Museum] is a crowdsourced project to transcribe letters and diaries from their archives. The First World War collection includes narratives relating to several Canadian and British units.
 +
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* Sharon Ouditt, ''Women Writers of the First World War: An Annotated Bibliography'' (Routledge, 2014). ISBN 978-0415755498. Includes personal narratives of war experiences, and guides to archive collections.
  
 
=== Australian personal narratives ===
 
=== Australian personal narratives ===
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The State Library of NSW has a [http://ww1.sl.nsw.gov.au/explore/179/ collection of WWI diaries] and [http://ww1.sl.nsw.gov.au/explore/180 letters] online. Can you link the authors to their [[Australian battalions in World War I|battalion page]]?
 
The State Library of NSW has a [http://ww1.sl.nsw.gov.au/explore/179/ collection of WWI diaries] and [http://ww1.sl.nsw.gov.au/explore/180 letters] online. Can you link the authors to their [[Australian battalions in World War I|battalion page]]?
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The [http://diggersdiaries.org/ SLNSW diaries have been analysed and visualised] by Jaume Nualart Vilaplana as part of his PhD. You can explore them via the [http://diggersdiaries.org/reader.html topics Personal, War, Military life, Travelling and The accidental tourist].
  
 
A user list of [http://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=36319 Great War diaries, letters, reminiscences] on Trove (not all diaries may be available online)
 
A user list of [http://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=36319 Great War diaries, letters, reminiscences] on Trove (not all diaries may be available online)
  
=== British personal narratives ===
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[https://www.historypin.org/en/first-world-war-centenary/memories-for-a-new-generation/her-noble-share/geo/-23.808737,145.433219,4/bounds/-52.964039,125.701774,13.492979,165.164664 State Library of Queensland HistoryPin collection for women in WWI]: 'Honouring the contribution of Queensland women during the First World War, both at the home front and the war front'.
 +
 
 +
=== British and Irish personal narratives ===
 +
 
 +
* [http://www.tcd.ie/library/fitasfiddles/ Fit as Fiddles and Hard as Nails] is a collection of Irish soldiers' letters, diaries and memoirs digitized by Trinity College Dublin.
 +
 
 +
* [http://www.librariesni.org.uk/LibrarymenofWW1/Pages/default.aspx The Library Men of WW1]: a collection of letters from 11 Belfast librarians who served in the British Army.
  
 
* [http://cymru1914.org/en/home Cymru 1914, The Welsh Experience of the First World War] includes some diaries, photographs, letters and memoirs
 
* [http://cymru1914.org/en/home Cymru 1914, The Welsh Experience of the First World War] includes some diaries, photographs, letters and memoirs
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* [http://www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk/archive/herefordshire-in-the-great-war Herefordshire in the Great War]
 
* [http://www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk/archive/herefordshire-in-the-great-war Herefordshire in the Great War]
 +
 +
* {{Cite TNA|http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3852|CAB 45}}, official historian's papers, includes personal diaries and letters that were used to write the British Official History.
  
 
* [http://worldwar1veterans.blogspot.co.uk/p/veteran-index.html World War 1 Veterans 1914-1918 blog]: a collection of interviews with veterans conducted by Paul Nixon in the 1980s.
 
* [http://worldwar1veterans.blogspot.co.uk/p/veteran-index.html World War 1 Veterans 1914-1918 blog]: a collection of interviews with veterans conducted by Paul Nixon in the 1980s.
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=== Canadian personal narratives ===
 
=== Canadian personal narratives ===
 
If you're interested in finding records for Canadian battalions, the [http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/WarDiaries/diarySearch.asp Canadian Great War project has a form to search for War Diaries by unit].
 
If you're interested in finding records for Canadian battalions, the [http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/WarDiaries/diarySearch.asp Canadian Great War project has a form to search for War Diaries by unit].
 +
 +
[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/first-world-war/interviews/index-e.html 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 ===
 
=== New Zealand personal narratives ===
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[https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/it-s-just-hell-here-now "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.
 
[https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/it-s-just-hell-here-now "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.
 +
 +
[http://www.sincewritingyoulast.co.nz/ Since writing you last] is a collection of digitized letters from Invercargill City Libraries and Archives.
  
 
=== American personal narratives ===
 
=== American personal narratives ===
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* David Omissi (ed.), ''Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers' Letters, 1914-1918'', (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999). ISBN 0333751450. Compilation of Indian soldiers' letters.
 
* David Omissi (ed.), ''Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers' Letters, 1914-1918'', (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999). ISBN 0333751450. Compilation of Indian soldiers' letters.
 +
* [http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS040-000340715 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.
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 +
=== French personal narratives ===
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 +
* [http://www.loiret14-18.fr/ La centenaire de la Guerre 14-18 dans le Loiret] is a French site that contains lots of narratives, media and other resources.
  
 
== Related Media ==
 
== Related Media ==
  
Images and recordings that aren't personal narratives but need matching to units.
+
Images and recordings that aren't personal narratives but could be matched to units or used on other pages.
  
 +
* The US National Archives has some large collections of WW1 photos, many of which mention unit names in the catalogue descriptions:
 +
** [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/533461 American Unofficial Collection of World War I Photographs, 1917 - 1918]
 +
** [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/533104 British Photographs of World War I, 1914 - 1918]
 +
* Royal Armouries online collections includes [https://collections.royalarmouries.org/first-world-war Arms of the First World War], with photos and catalogue descriptions of weapons.
 
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/listing/object-205015340 Imperial War Museum: A H T Andrew's photos]: a large collection of photos taken while he was a medical officer with [[29th Division, UK]] at Gallipoli, but also showing many other units.
 
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/listing/object-205015340 Imperial War Museum: A H T Andrew's photos]: a large collection of photos taken while he was a medical officer with [[29th Division, UK]] at Gallipoli, but also showing many other units.
  
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* [http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/ 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.
 
* [http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/ 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.
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* The Library of Congress has a collection of [http://www.loc.gov/pictures/related/?va=exact&st=gallery&q=World+War%2C+1914-1918--Recruiting+%26+enlistment--United+States.&fi=subject&sg=true&op=EQUAL&loclr=blogpic American recruiting posters], and hundreds of [http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/womphotoj/kirtlandintro.html?loclr=blogpic photos taken by Helen Johns Kirtland], including the Italian front.
  
 
== Research in progress ==
 
== Research in progress ==
 
Add notes or links here for diaries you need help researching, missing links from the sites above, etc.
 
Add notes or links here for diaries you need help researching, missing links from the sites above, etc.
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 +
[[Category:Sources]]
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[[Category:To do]]

Revision as of 12:19, 15 April 2017

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 units these people 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.


  • Bodleian Library, Oxford, MSS. Afr. s. 1715 (168A) (Box 10): papers of Brigadier M.S. Lush, who served in the Sudan Political Service, 1914-1945.
  • Bodleian Library, Oxford, MSS. Afr. s. 1715 (103) (Box 5): papers of Sir Angus Gillan, who served in the Sudan Political Service and took part in the Darfur campaign in 1916.


  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Sharon Ouditt, Women Writers of the First World War: An Annotated Bibliography (Routledge, 2014). ISBN 978-0415755498. Includes personal narratives of war experiences, and guides to archive collections.

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?

The SLNSW diaries have been analysed and visualised by Jaume Nualart Vilaplana as part of his PhD. You can explore them via the topics Personal, War, Military life, Travelling and The accidental tourist.

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

State Library of Queensland HistoryPin collection for women in WWI: 'Honouring the contribution of Queensland women during the First World War, both at the home front and the war front'.

British and Irish personal narratives

  • The National Archives of the UK (TNA): CAB 45, official historian's papers, includes personal diaries and letters that were used to write the British Official History.

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.

Since writing you last is a collection of digitized letters from Invercargill City Libraries and Archives.

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 could be matched to units or used on other pages.

  • 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.