File NLW MS 23924A. - Great War Diary

Identity area

Reference code

NLW MS 23924A.

Title

Great War Diary

Date(s)

  • 1914-1916 (Creation)

Level of description

File

Extent and medium

53 ff. with insertions (ff. 15-21, 26-30 blank) ; 100 x 155 mm.

Pocket notebook, cloth covers, pages gilt edged.

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Ms Hilary John; Llanelli; Purchase; May 2004; 0200405154.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Notebook, 1914-1916, kept by Nursing Sergeant Davies of 'C' section of the 130th (St John) Field Ambulance unit, attached to the 38th (Welsh) Division of the British Army. It includes a diary, November 1914-June 1916 (ff. 1-12), describing duties in Britain before embarkation for France on 3 December 1915, and subsequent activities on the Western Front prior to the Battle of Mametz Wood.
A draft application for an army commission (ff. 45, 46 verso) suggests that Sergeant Davies was a native of Carmarthenshire and a former miner. The notebook also contains medicinal recipes (ff. 13-14, 44 verso, 45-6), ration tables (ff. 8 verso-9, 14), and poetry in both English and Welsh (ff. 22 verso-23, 31-44, 49-53). An additional folio, tipped into the volume (f. 16a), contains further diary entries, October 1916, and suggests the existence of a second volume, subsequently lost.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Usual copyright laws apply.

Language of material

  • English
  • Welsh

Script of material

Language and script notes

English, Welsh.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Several folios removed before accession at NLW.

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Text

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Title based on contents.

Note

Preferred citation: NLW MS 23924A.

Alternative identifier(s)

Virtua system control number

vtls004327635

GEAC system control number

(WlAbNL)0000327635

Access points

Place access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rules and/or conventions used

Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

April 2012.

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Archivist's note

Description compiled by Maredudd ap Huw and revised by Rhys Morgan Jones;

Accession area