Walter Davis was the husband of my Great Aunt Florrie Buxton. He was born the son of a railway carriage cleaner in Edmonton, London on 16 August 1887. His father Edward died three years later and Walter, along with two elder brothers and a younger sister, was brought up by his mother Elizabeth. Walter became a journeyman painter and decorator.
From 1914 he kept small pocket diaries of his day to day life. Entries were of course personal, often mundane and sometimes amusing but, as time went by and he joined the Great War in 1915, they became poignant and questioning of the War. They record the loss of friends and comrades and reflect the relationship between the common soldier and the landed gentry in the Command.
The only diaries to survive are from 1914, 1916, 1918 and 1919. Unedited transcripts of these diaries, illustrated by postcards that Walter sent to Florrie Buxton are posted below in chronological order.
In some of the postcards he refers to Florrie as 'Bob' - this is probably a play on words - Florrie = Florin = Two Shillings = Two Bob.
nice blog
ReplyDeleteBrian, a fascinating insight to attitudes to the war. I've added a couple of comments. My great uncle was killed in 1915 while with 7th Londons near Maroc!
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ReplyDeleteJust discovered these fascinating diaries. I've been posting my great-uncle Capt Arthur Agius's letters home 100 years to the day on http://agiusww1.com/ . Today he mentions a concert given by the Jovilians so I googled Jovilians ww1 and up popped your blog! On Feb 26th 1916 your Walter talks of the same concert. I gather from a previous diary entry that Walter was in Company A of the 1/3rd London Regiment . Capt Agius was in charge of Coy B and talks about the same events and places as Walter. It's fascinating to see the Officer's and Sergeant's view of things side by side. Do drop me a line at peter@agiusmicro.com if you wish to discuss further.
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