War Diaries

Apart from the men’s individual Service Records, Pension Records and Medal Rolls, a big part of the research effort involves finding and reading the War Diaries of the regiments and those of the Brigades  and Divisions they belonged to.

Below is a set of war diaries that have been transcribed (at least partially):

  1. 1st Sherwood Foresters. May 1918.
  2. 9th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. May 1918.
  3. 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment. 1915.
  4. 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment. 1916.
  5. 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment. 1917.
  6. HM HT VITA. 1915 – 1916.
  7. HM HT VITA. 1917 – 1919.
  8. HM HT Guildford Castle. 1915.
  9. Mesopotamia Lines of Communication, ADMS Basra. 1916.

Below are a small number of personal diaries and accounts that have been transcribed:

  1. Lt. Charles Earsham Cooke’s personal diary covering his time at Gallipoli.
  2. Sgt. Thomas William Chisholm’s personal diary covering his capture and imprisonment during the 3rd Battle of the Aisne.
  3. Sydney Rogerson’s Between the Aisne and the Marne.

Additionally, the following book excerpts have been transcribed, (at least partially as they relate to the Battle of Krithia Vineyard):

  1. The 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, 1914-1918, by Frederick P.
    Gibbon. [1920].
  2. Military operations : Gallipoli. Vol. 2, May 1915 to the evacuation.
    by Cecil Faber Aspinall-Oglander; A F Becke.

The following official war diaries have been used to create this web site. The links to download them from the National Archives is included (but there is a small fee required):

Mesopotamia:

  1. Lines of Communication Troops. Hospital Ship, Vita (June 1917 – Dec 1918). WO 95/4152/1.
  2. Lines of Communication Troops. Hospital Ship, Vita (Jan – 1919 Dec). WO 95/4152/2.
  3. Headquarters Branches and Services: Assistant Director Medical Services (Nov 1916 – Nov 1917). WO 95/5238/4.
  4. Headquarters Branches and Services: Assistant Director Medical Services (Jan – 1916 Oct). WO 95/5238/3.
  5. Headquarters Branches and Services: Embarkation Commandant (1916 July – 1916 Sept). WO 95/5241/3.
  6. Lines of Communication Troops. Hospital Ship, Guildford Castle (1914 Nov – 1919 Jan). WO 95/4145/7.

3rd Battle of the Aisne:

  1. 24th Infantry Brigade: Headquarters (Jan 1 – 1918 May 31). WO 95/1718/4.
  2. 25th Infantry Brigade: Headquarters (Apr 1 – 1918 May 31). WO 95/1728/3.
  3. 23rd Infantry Brigade: Headquarters (Mar 1 – 1918 May 31). WO 95/1711/2.
  4. Headquarters Branches and Services: General Staff (May – June 1918). WO 95/1678/3.
  5. Headquarters Branches and Services: Commander Royal Engineers (May 1918). WO 95/1691/3.
  6. Headquarters Branches and Services: Commander Royal Artillery (May – July 1918). WO 95/1686/2.
  7. Divisional Troops: Divisional Signal Company (1917 Dec 1 – 1919 May 31). WO 95/1701/5.
  8. 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (1914 Oct. – 1919 Apr). WO 95/1723/1.
  9. 22nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry (Pioneers) (1916 June – 1918 July). WO 95/1702/1.
  10. 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment (1918 Feb – 1919 Apr). WO 95/1729/2.
  11. 24th Infantry Brigade: 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) (1918 Jan 1 – 1919 Apr 30). WO 95/1721/4.
  12. 8th Battalion Machine Gun Corps, (Mar 1918 – Mar 1919). WO 95/1702/4.
  13. 9th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (1915 Sept – 1918 Aug). WO 95/2246/1.

Pte Arthur Slater:

  1. 1/9 Battalion Manchester Regiment (1917 Mar – 1918 Feb). WO 95/2658/1.

Pte Edwin Slater, MM:

  1. 11th Battalion Royal Scots Regiment (1915 May – 1919 Mar). WO 95/1773/1
  2. 16th Battalion Royal Scots Regiment (1916 Jan – 1918 Aug). WO 95/2458/1