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Description: | 7 excellent ms diaries (covering 1906, August 1914 – September 1921 and January 1927 – December 1945, with a few illustrations) mainly concerning the First World War and written by a struggling author with a young family based in Petersfield, Hampshire, who was employed from April 1916 until December 1917 by the War Office in London to censor foreign trade letters, describing reactions to the outbreak of war (August 1914), the possibility of conscription (4 August 1915 and 26 January 1916), his work at the War Office, news of the death of Lord Kitchener (11 June 1916) and the execution of Captain Fryatt (29 July 1916), the increasingly high casualty figures (17 August 1916), a visit to Hendon airfield (20 August 1916), German Zeppelin raids on the capital (September - October 1916) and the burial of the crews, his impressions of the effects of the war on the local populace, the social life of Londoners and the differences between the street life of the West End and the London slums (25 August 1916), theatrical performances in London (6 September 1916 and 1 July 1917), the ‘Battle of the Somme’ film (15 September 1916), criticisms of the government (November - December 1916), the Silvertown munitions factory explosion (20 January 1917), war loans and the economic situation in the country (February 1917), his sympathy towards the Russian Revolution (March and December 1917) and strong views against the German ‘barbarians’ (20 August 1916), the entry of the United States into the war (March – April 1917), further air raids on London (13 June, 7 July and 4 September 1917), sheltering in the London Underground (19 October 1917), his disillusionment with the War Office job and desire to grow wheat back in Petersfield, fundraising in Trafalgar Square (10 March 1918), a meeting with the Bishop of London (12 March 1918), reactions to the German spring offensive (March 1918) and news of the Armistice, amid general discussions of his writing, financial problems, depression, religious musings and speaking engagements; the Second World War diary entries are very brief but include a reference to air raids (24 November 1940).
Cataloguer APR | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Enock, Charles Reginald | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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