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Description: | British private served with 4th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers on Western Front, 1916
REEL 1: Background in Nottingham, 1895-1914: family life and social conditions; education; sporting activities; employment; attitude to outbreak of war, 4/Aug/1914; anti-war feeling of family and reason for not volunteering; question of white feathers; attitude to recruitment campaigns; question of conscription under Derby Scheme. Aspects of training in GB, 1916: enlistment at Fulford Barracks, York, 1/1916; reaction of family to conscription; issued with uniform and kit; description of barracks; opinion of fellow recruits; attitude to swearing; opinion of food; description of basic training; drill; route marches; rifle training.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on rifle training including cleaning rifle; bayonet training; daily routine; recreational activities in York; opinion of NCOs and officers; transferred to camp on Strensall Common, York; training with Mills bombs; opinion of training; story of marriage and embarkation leave, 6/1916. Recollections of operations as private with 4th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers on Western Front, 6-11/1916: drafted to France and arrival at Etaples, France, 6/1916; description of training and opinion of instructors; posted to A Coy 4th Bn at Albert; opinion of fellow recruits and question of Northumbrian dialect; description of gas training; reason for not becoming conscientious objector; description of conditions in front line trenches.
REEL 3 Continues: further description of trenches; problem of water in trenches; ration parties and opinion of rations; water ration; washing facilities; problem of lice; question of rum and cigarette ration; sanitary facilities; daily routine; sentry duty; rest periods out of line; amusing story of creosote; religious beliefs; story of attack in Butte de Warlencourt sector and nature of wounds caused by shell explosion, 14/Nov/1916; description of hospital treatment and convalescence in GB including operation on throat; opinion of treatment; problem of losing use of left arm.
REEL 4 Continues: attitude to wound and question of returning to front; reason for refusing commission; problem of heart being moved as a result of explosion; discharged, 11/1917. Aspects of post-war life and employment: return to pre-war employment with cycle firm; question of fitness and effects of wounds; question of disability pension; reflections on period of war service. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Hart, Peter M | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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