About the Transcription

I transcribed the battalion war diary from August to October 2012 in my spare moments.

Why WordPress?
I considered several different methods for displaying the results online – links to word documents, excel spread sheets or an access or other database. These all have merits but I decided that a simple month by month page view of the diary using a WordPress platform would be relatively easy to set up and would be searchable and, of course, free.

The Transcription
I have attempted to be accurate and faithful in transcribing the diary, however, small errors may have occurred, particularly with names as these are often very difficult to read. Where possible I try to check the existence of a given officer, though this is not always possible.

Dates

The dates are made out in a variety of different ways, even when the author is the same. I have therefore decided to standardise this so that it is uniform. e.g. 23 Dec 1915. Some entries span multiple days and in this instance I have used this form: 23 – 26 Jan 1916.

Where there are missing days I have said so.

Spelling and capitalisation

As far as possible I stick to the original spelling and capitalisation, even when wrong. If I notice wrong spelling of things that might make searching difficult (i.e. place names or people) I have used text surrounded by stars next to the original e.g. WHISK ***WISQUES***

Uncertainties

Where I cannot make out the text at all I will put in question marks with approximately the same number of letters. e.g. Maj Gen ????? arrived this day. If I think I have it right but am unsure I will surround the word with Q marks e.g. Lt. R. ?Atherne?

Links to Biographies

Where possible I have linked from any people named in the diary (usually senior Officers) to their Wikipedia or other biography. Obviously I cannot guarantee the veracity of these sites.