Category Archives: 1916

All diary entries written in 1916.

18 June 1916; Sunday

June 1916, , ,

Up at 7 o’clock. Church parade at 9 o’clock. Open air service. After service we were given a pair of socks each. First field service I have attended. Spent the afternoon in the field writing a letter to Mr Inwood and watching aeroplanes playing about. Fine day. Went to service in the field again at night. Read Epistle of St. James. Had a discussion with Lee about singing words in hymns which we don’t believe. Short walk in the village.

Can hear guns at the front very distinctly.
Had one cup of coffee.
Received 4 letters.

17 June 1916; Saturday

June 1916, ,

Up at 7 o’clock. Paraded first thing and cleaned waggons. An hour’s physical drill and pretty hard too. Nice little march in the afternoon. Walked into the village at night and got a paper. Russians still advancing. Posted letter home and one to Green.

Fine night.

Called at farm house and had two glasses of coffee.
and heard guns at the front very distinctly.

16 June 1916; Friday

June 1916, , , ,

Paraded in the morning and marched to Raineville. Parts† of whole brigade marched past and it was a most interesting sight. Carried full pack about 8 miles. Warm day. Found new billet. In a barn in a French house. I had coffee and lay in the house. Quaint old fashioned house with big fire place. New billet much cleaner than the old one. Went to bed early.

Raineville1.

Wrote letter home and posted letter to Betty.

  1. Rainneville (B): 10km NNE of Amiens and about 30km E of Longpré-les-Corps-Saints (A); on D11; ref G8. ALL spells it “Raineville”, but it is only identifiable in Michelin with the two n’s; the location seems consistent. See also Note on Locations in France. ↩

14 June 1916; Wednesday

June 1916, , ,

Paraded in the morning with full pack and marched to a village a nice distance away and back. Physical drill in the afternoon. Walked to the village1 at night.

Received letter from home and one from Betty.

  1. “Walked to the village…”: Possibly Vignacourt again? Not the same village “a nice distance away” as had been the objective of the earlier route march on this day. ↩

13 June 1916; Tuesday

June 1916,

Got up about 6 o’clock. Double along the road first thing. Breakfast dinner and tea as usual. Paraded 9.30 with skeleton equipment and overcoats and gas helmets. Marched about 8 miles. It rained heavily and the roads were fearful. Our coats wet through. Had to go to bed at night with nothing to cover us. Managed all right and had good night. Used newspaper to help me to keep warm.

12 June 1916; Monday

June 1916

Up at 6 o’clock. Shaved and dressed. Detailed off for water duties. Pump smashed so they had to go to town for water and I got off. Took pay books up for pay. Read a bit. Walked into Vignacourt at night. It rained as we were going up.

Snails†. Big spider. Charlie Ford and the lot of them drunk and had a sing song.

11 June 1916; Sunday

June 1916,

Up at 6 o’clock. Detailed off for fatigue and told to sweep up first and then had to wash out the hospital. Finished about 9 o’clock and did nothing further. Wrote letter in the afternoon. Meals as usual. ASC1 section returned and were pretty full of what they had seen. A lot of dirtiness talked. Went to a service at night in the village with Lee and La Vere2. C of E and enjoyed it very much. Sang “O Jesus I have promised.” Called in at the R.C. church. A soldier playing the organ and played all sorts of things. Pretty organ. Some missionary figures in the church. All coloured. Splendid windows. Big, high church. Met a chap who objects to swearing. Walked back with him.

  1. “ASC”: Army Service Corps, later the Royal Army Service Corps ↩

  2. ALL wrote this name as one word, Lavere, from 24 July onwards. ↩