A 1918 Soldier’s Diary

Amongst the material made available to the Farnhill WW1 Volunteers project is a 1918 Soldiers’ Diary belonging to Private Harry Hargreaves, of 1/5 battalion West Riding Regiment.

The diary measures about 7 x 11cm – small enough to fit into the pocket of a military uniform; the cover is made of card and the inside pages of very thin paper.  The entries were written in pencil, in Harry’s own small (and sometimes, after 100 years, difficult to read) handwriting.  All are very concise and include an almost day-by-day account of the weather – even in the days immediately after he had been wounded.  It is entirely fitting that the final entry in the diary should be a comment on the weather.

The entries run from January 1^st to October 23^rd 1918 and record the final months of Harry Hargreaves’ service in France, which began in June 1916.

Article – Harry Hargreaves’ 1918 diary