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

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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.
 
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.
  
* Matron Margaret Gray [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P3583/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
+
* [http://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2017/11/testimony-from-the-trenches-personal-journeys-of-ww1.html blog post about Alfred Forbes Johnson]. His papers and photos are now British Library Add MS 89235. He served in the Artists Rifles (which battalion?) and Royal Garrison Artillery (which unit?).
** [[British Red Cross Hospital, Rouen]]
+
 
 +
* [http://ufdc.ufl.edu/wwi Diary of Albert Huet] in the French infantry. [http://www.crid1418.org/temoins/2016/03/12/huet-albert-1897-1977/ This biography] gives the regiments he served in.
  
 
* Petty Officer Hans Heinz Harmes-Emden [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/P3818/#collection-items Australian War Memorial - Anzac Connections - collection items]
 
* 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)
 
** 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]
 
** 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]
 
** [[8th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
 
** [[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?)
 
 
 
* [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]]
 
** [[3rd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, UK]]
 
** [[1st Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, UK]]
 
 
* 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.
 
  
 
* 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.
 
* 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.
 
* 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.
  
* [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]
+
* [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] Joined a volunteer ambulance unit, then the French Foreign Legion and served as a pilot in the Lafayette Flying Corps. See [[Wikipedia:William_A._Wellman#World_War_I]] for more details.
 
 
* [https://archive.org/details/whenchenalsingsm00wyth When Chenal sings the Marseillaise : With the honors of war : Sister Julie by Wythe Williams]
 
 
 
* 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]). What is Jack's full name and which units did he serve with?
 
  
* [http://www.masshist.org/features/saltonstall/nora-saltonstall Letters and photos of Nora Saltonstall] (American Red Cross)
+
* [https://archive.org/details/whenchenalsingsm00wyth When Chenal sings the Marseillaise : With the honors of war : Sister Julie by Wythe Williams] (American journalist in France. Not clear from internal evidence which units it covers.)
  
* [http://lettersfromww1.blogspot.com Letters home from Private Edward Ray Jackson] (Canadian)
+
* [http://lettersfromww1.blogspot.com Letters home from Private Edward Ray Jackson] (Canadian). [http://lettersfromww1.blogspot.co.uk/p/time-line-for-edward-ray-jackson.html Timeline] shows that he served with:
 +
** [[160th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)]]
 +
** [[1st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)]]
 +
** wounded, treated at:
 +
*** 7 Casualty Clearing Station
 +
*** 32 Casualty Clearing Station
 +
*** East Suffolk Hospital, Ipswich
 +
*** Woodcote Convalescent Hospital, Epsom]
 +
*** hospital ship SS Esquibo
  
 
* [http://haroldskillingslettersfromww1.blogspot.com Harold Skilling's Letters From World War One]
 
* [http://haroldskillingslettersfromww1.blogspot.com Harold Skilling's Letters From World War One]
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** Royal Flying Corps
 
** Royal Flying Corps
  
* [http://morelettersfromww1.blogspot.com Lieutenant William Milton Skilling]
+
* [http://morelettersfromww1.blogspot.com Lieutenant William Milton Skilling]. [http://morelettersfromww1.blogspot.co.uk/p/timeline-for-william-m-skilling.html Timeline] shows that he served with:
** Canadian Expeditionary Force
+
** 81st Battery, Canadian Field Artillery
** [[Royal Artillery, UK]]
+
** 40th Battery, 8th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery
** [[53rd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, UK]]
+
** 48th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery
 +
** 32nd Reserve Battalion, CEF
 +
** 15th Reserve Battalion, CEF
 +
** [[180th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, British Army]]
 +
** [[73rd Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery, British Army]]
 +
** [[53rd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, British Army]]
 +
** also treated at No 2 Stationary Hospital and hospital ship [[SS Carisbrook Castle]]
  
* 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?
+
* 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. Served in these regiments of the French Army (see [[Wikipedia:Louis Barthas]]):
 
+
** 280th
* 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.
+
** 269th
 
+
** 248th
* [http://www.anzaclive.com.au/ Anzac Live] has 'interactive' posts based on letters and diaries from various men and women.
 
 
 
* [http://gallipoli.rte.ie/people/eye-witnesses Eyewitness accounts from Irish soldiers and nurses involved with the Gallipoli campaign] from Ireland's National Public Service Broadcaster, RTÉ.
 
  
 
* [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://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, British Army]]
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/397412 New Zealand's Roll of Honour 1915 The Auckland Weekly News Illustrated List] with the names and photos of 'New Zealand Officers and Men killed or wounded in action in Turkey, The Dardanelles & Gallipoli in 1915'
 
 
 
* Items digitised by Te Papa include the [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/1366687 Photograph album of Major J.M. Rose, 1st NZEF] - which units are depicted in his photographs?
 
 
 
* India and the Great War has some [http://indiaww1.in/memory.aspx Stories and Memories] that might provide some clues
 
 
 
* There are lots of references to individual soldiers and Indian Army units mentioned in [http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Sikhs_in_World_War_1 Sikhs in World War 1 on SihkiWiki] - can you find sources for them and link them to the appropriate [[Indian units in World War I|Indian unit]]?
 
 
 
* 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?
 
  
 
* [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 [[Wikipedia:Flora_Sandes|Flora Sandes]], 'the only British woman officially to serve as a soldier in World War I'.
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* 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.
  
* Which unit was Charlie, who wrote [http://www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk/discover/query/Blanche%20Woonton these postcards to Blanche N Wooton], in?
+
* Charlie, who wrote [http://www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk/discover/query/Blanche%20Woonton these postcards to Blanche Woonton], served on the British hospital ship [[SS Asturias]].
  
* 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? (Can't identify from internal evidence: more info needed).
  
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10107/pg10107.html With British Guns in Italy, by Hugh Dalton]
+
* [//www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR03431/ Bayley, Francis Wilton (Private), 1896-1974]: Imperial Camel Corps (which battalion?)
 
 
* [http://justafewlines.net/ Francis Leo O'Meara and Patrick Julian O'Meara] Australian Imperial force: which units?
 
 
 
* [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]
 
** driver in the Royal Field Artillery: which unit?
 
 
 
* [http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR90/018/ Bailey, Herbert Austin (Sapper, b 1873, d 1963)]
 
** engineer in [[5th Australian Division]]: which unit?
 
 
 
* [//www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR03431/ Bayley, Francis Wilton (Private), 1896-1974]: Imperial Camel Corps
 
 
 
* [http://www.first-world-war.co.uk/index.htm Thomas Fredrick (Fred) Littler]
 
**[[1/5th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, UK]]
 
**Royal Engineers: which unit?
 
 
 
* [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 Medical Service]], various hospitals and attached to [[20th Horse, Indian]] (done)
 
**James: Middlesex Regiment (which battalion?); Royal Fusiliers Public Schools Battalion (which one?)
 
**Christopher: Middlesex Regiment (which battalion?); Army Service Corps (which unit?)
 
**Edward: [[2nd Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles, Indian]] (done)
 
**Paul: Royal Navy, [[HMS Gloucester]] and [[HMS Malaya]]
 
 
 
* [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]]
 
  
 
* 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.
 
* 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]
 
** [[1st Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)]]
 
** artillery: which unit?
 
 
* [http://www.thekivellfamily.co.nz/family_pages/ralphs_diaries/Ralph_Doughty.html Ralph Dorchel DOUGHTY]
 
** Australian artillery: which unit?
 
  
 
* [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
+
** pilot in [[Royal Naval Air Service, British]] and [[Royal Air Force, British]]
 
** prisoner of war in Germany
 
** prisoner of war in Germany
 
* [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]
 
**[[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/1671 Letter from Charles Hezlet to his mother, 26 September 1916]
 
**Commander of 33rd Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery
 
 
* [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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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 ===
+
[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'.
 +
 
 +
[http://www.anzaclive.com.au/ Anzac Live] has 'interactive' posts based on letters and diaries from various men and women.
 +
 
 +
=== British and Irish personal narratives ===
 +
 
 +
* [http://gallipoli.rte.ie/people/eye-witnesses Eyewitness accounts from Irish soldiers and nurses involved with the Gallipoli campaign] from Ireland's National Public Service Broadcaster, RTÉ.
 +
 
 +
* [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://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.
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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.
 
* [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.
 +
* There are lots of references to individual soldiers and Indian Army units mentioned in [http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Sikhs_in_World_War_1 Sikhs in World War 1 on SihkiWiki] - can you find sources for them and link them to the appropriate [[Indian units in World War I|Indian unit]]?
  
 
=== French personal narratives ===
 
=== French personal narratives ===
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Images and recordings that aren't personal narratives but could be matched to units or used on other pages.
 
Images and recordings that aren't personal narratives but could be matched to units or used on other 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?
 +
 +
* India and the Great War has some [http://indiaww1.in/memory.aspx Stories and Memories] that might provide some clues
 +
 +
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/397412 New Zealand's Roll of Honour 1915 The Auckland Weekly News Illustrated List] with the names and photos of 'New Zealand Officers and Men killed or wounded in action in Turkey, The Dardanelles & Gallipoli in 1915'
 +
* Items digitised by Te Papa include the [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/1366687 Photograph album of Major J.M. Rose, 1st NZEF] - which units are depicted in his photographs?
 +
* 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]
 +
 +
** See also [https://about.historypin.org/2017/08/01/working-archival-data-metadata-reuse-us-national-archives/ Metadata for reuse from the US National Archives] and [https://github.com/usnationalarchives/wartime-films-project/tree/master/ww1/metadata ww1/metadata]
 
* 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.
 
* 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, British Army]] at Gallipoli, but also showing many other units.
  
 
* 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 [http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Berliner-Lautarchiv-British-and-Commonwealth-recordings British Library Sound Archive website]. These need matching to units.
 
* 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 [http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Berliner-Lautarchiv-British-and-Commonwealth-recordings British Library Sound Archive website]. These need matching to units.
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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.
 
* 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.
 +
 +
* 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.
  
 
== Research in progress ==
 
== Research in progress ==

Latest revision as of 06:41, 15 December 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.

  • blog post about Alfred Forbes Johnson. His papers and photos are now British Library Add MS 89235. He served in the Artists Rifles (which battalion?) and Royal Garrison Artillery (which unit?).
  • 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. Served in these regiments of the French Army (see Wikipedia:Louis Barthas):
    • 280th
    • 269th
    • 248th
  • FIELD HOSPITAL & FLYING COLUMN. Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia by Violetta Thurstan.
  • Where was Llewelyn Williams based? (Can't identify from internal evidence: more info needed).
  • 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'.

Anzac Live has 'interactive' posts based on letters and diaries from various men and women.

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.
  • There are lots of references to individual soldiers and Indian Army units mentioned in Sikhs in World War 1 on SihkiWiki - can you find sources for them and link them to the appropriate Indian unit?

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.