An Introduction to War Diaries

All the way through the First World War, every unit from battalion size upwards in the British Army kept a war diary - this included artillery brigades, military hospitals etc - only the Labour Corps weren't automatically required to keep a diary.

Most battalion diaries survived the war and are stored in the National Archives at Kew - fortunately for us, Kew have digitised almost all of the diaries and during national lockdown they are allowing 100 FREE DOWNLOADS A MONTH! The war diaries usually cost £3.30 per file and some battalions have a file or more per year so this is a great freebie!

If you are researching the movements of a battalion, the War Diary is a prime resource for you, and you should look at the relevent Brigade diary too if you're interested in the broader picture.

If you're researching an individual officer, you may find mention of them in the Battalion diary, if you're researching an ordinary soldier you're unlikely to find them mentioned by name (unless they were MiD or won a gallantry award) but the diary will give you a lots of information about their experiences in the war. The smallest unit of men included in the diary is usually a Company (usually written as No "2" Coy ) so if you are researching an individual it is very useful to know which company they were in as you could get a more specific account of their Company's movements during operations.

You can search for war diaries in the National Achives online catalogue here:

The search can be a bit tricky, make sure you have the correct Battalion and dates.

The diaries were kept monthly with covers like this:

They were completed on Army Form C 2118 which was a simple form, requesting a "summary of events and information" which produced a wide variety of information in diary entries.

They could also include appendices such as this page from a handwritten report, torn out of an officer's notebook:

The information contained in the diaries - and the legibility of the records - depends on who filled them in. Some have typewritten or clearly handwitten longhand records of everything they did. Here's some clear handwriting:

Others are less easy to read with rushed handwriting or faded pencil:

Some sensitive information was removed from appendices but the diaries themselves aren't redacted so placenames are included, often with map references. Copies of secret army orders for operations are often included, giving great insights into what the officers in the field were working with. You can find a lot of detail on the minutae of army life; I have noticed instructions on what to do with kit during operations, lists of equipment issued to each man and lists of winners of each race on sports day!

Officers (when mentioned) are always named, whether it's noting which company they led, describing specific acts or recording casualties (killed/wounded/missing) Sadly, other ranks are not generally named although of course you do get a few exceptions (see 18th Bn King's Liverpool Regiment below).

Diaries with names and regimental numbers like this are definitely unusual though! You're more likely to find sparse entries such as this page:

Sometimes you find little gems like these drawings from a Military Hospital diary: