World War One diaries
Diaries, letters and photographs from the Beck Family of Portland archive. DHC ref: D-1820
The Dorset History Centre (DHC) is making the diaries of a WW1 soldier freely available online. At the outbreak of the Great War, George Beck was a Quarter-Master Sergeant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and he started to keep a diary of his time in the trenches. Starting from 21st August, each diary entry will appear on this blog 100 years after it was written.
DHC holds three diaries written by Beck over the course of WW1. His writing chronicles several major battles, the Christmas Truce of 1914 and the first time gas was used in the trenches in May 1915.
The diaries were deposited at DHC by Beck’s granddaughter, along with his service book, certificates and letters (DHC ref: D-1820). The diary entries are reproduced in their entirety, without editing. They were written in small pocket diaries, and have been completely transcribed by volunteers at DHC, allowing them to be made available online. Volunteer Alison Schwalm has thoroughly enjoyed transcribing Beck’s diaries:
It has been a privilege to transcribe these diaries written by a courageous professional soldier, an NCO who obviously cared greatly for his comrades as well as his young family at home. What a stark contrast between his account of survival in the battlefields of France and Belgium and the occasional leave to Portland.
As well as posting the full diary entries on our blog, we will be ‘live’ tweeting entries from Beck’s diaries a century after he wrote them. Follow the tweets @RSM_GBeck on Twitter.
About Dorset History Centre
Dorset History Centre in Dorchester is the archive service for Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole. It holds 1000 years of the county’s written history held within many thousands of varied collections – the ‘raw materials of history’.
Access to archive and local studies collections is free on-site. Many of our most important family history sources, including parish registers and wills, are now available online via www.ancestry.co.uk. See our research guidance for advice in discovering the history of your family, house or local area.
My Grand father also left his diary of the great war. You can read this on Facebook; look for John Harwood Wilson (John Wilson) of Wolverhampton. 100 years ago he was a corporal in the RAMC Staffordshires, later promoted to Sergeant
Thanks for sharing.
Fascinating to find this. I was shown the diary of Private J. W. Pattison, 2nd Battalion HAC earlier this year and had the same idea of sharing it on the 100th anniversary of each entry. It runs to December 16th, 1916. (A search for his name should find it.) I will add a link to this site.
I am researching the history of 32 men from my village (Stockton, Warwickshire) who died in WW1. Many of them served in the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Would Becks diary be of any help in understanding how these men perished ?
Hi Howard
Thanks for your comment. Beck does mention some men that died but rarely goes into much detail. You could search for their names in the search box to bring up any mention of the men so far.
Best wishes
Cassandra, Dorset History Centre