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Description: | Ts/ms transcriptions of 9 letters, with 2 ms originals (total 18pp), written home during his service as a subaltern initially with the 14th Battalion Middlesex Regiment before joining the 16th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (86th Brigade, 29th Division) on the Western Front, February - June 1916, describing his arrival in France and difficulties with the language, his billets, trench conditions and his admiration for the resilience of his fellow soldiers, with a 'last letter' written to his family shortly before his death in action on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916); together with ms/ts correspondence (23pp) relating to his death, July 1916 - June 1917, including letters of official notification and condolence, a photograph of him in uniform, cyclostyled papers concerning trench construction, an ms notebook containing 'Field Engineering Notes', and a few related press cuttings. Also held with the collection are ms letters written by his two brothers: Captain A D Heaton (30pp) serving with the 2/8th Battalion London Regiment (Post Office Rifles) (174th Brigade, 58th Division) in the United Kingdom and France, February 1916 - May 1917, and the 2/6th Jat Light Infantry in Mesopotamia, February - November 1920, describing the state of German prisoners, an improvised bath in France, the Mesopotamian climate, and a voyage up the Tigris, stopping to examine the remains of wartime trenches and sites such as Kut, with four portrait photographs of him in uniform and ten photographs of Mesopotamia; and the Reverend W J Heaton (24pp) serving at the 63rd General Hospital in Salonika, July 1918, describing a visit to Ostrovo, and then with the British Military Mission to South Russia, March - June 1920, referring to refugees in the Crimea, with a portrait photograph and a few related papers.
Cataloguer APR
Catalogue date 2003-05-02 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | 2/8th (City of London) Battalion London Regiment (Post Office Rifles) 14th Battalion British Army 63rd General Hospital 16th Battalion 58th Division 86th Infantry Brigade Middlesex Regiment Royal Army Medical Corps 174th Brigade 29th Division | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Heaton, Eric Rupert | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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