Revised comment on diary
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by Stork
In this diary --- 49 Infantry Brigade, 7/8 Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (31 Aug 1917 - 30 May 1918) --- the first 63 pages are the normal diary pages through the end of May 1918 like it says in the title. Starting on page 64 are Administrative Instructions and Operation Orders which I think cover the remaining 136 pages of the diary. These are instructions on the day-to-day running of a brigade- water supply, medical arrangements, burial instructions, etc. The only things to tag in these pages are the dates and the adjutant's name, so I did up through page 106, then got bored and decided to do another diary. Maybe you'll want to remove everything after page 63 since those pages have nothing to do with the Battalion's service.
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by cyngast moderator
Thanks for letting us know about this, @Stork.
What time period do all these orders cover? Or at least the ones you got through. They may not be much fun to tag--I understand that--but somebody may find some useful research information regarding logistics.
Going on to another diary is perfectly okay, too. Eventually they will all get tagged.
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by HeatherC moderator
I've had a quick look at the diary and it's not orders as we'd normally see them within the body of the diary. There are lots of pages of routine instructions for various administrative functions which are stamped 1917 but which tell the Unit how to do things like administer PoWs rather than being related to any specific action or date.
Later on there are some reports of raids, but certainly it's not a standard Battalion diary after end of May 1918.
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by Stork
Reply to cyngast's question 'What time period do all these orders cover?' The Administrative Instructions as well as the Operation Orders are from July 1917, which is the month before the date range given in the diary's title. It looks like whoever assembled the diary in 1918 felt that these things were worth keeping, so he just placed them all after the handwritten diary pages.
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by ral104 moderator, scientist
They actually sound pretty interesting, but obviously not very easy to tag. We'll leave it up for now and have a think about how best to deal with it.
Heather, thanks for going in and having a look.
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by David_Underdown moderator
7/8 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was a composite unit, formed after the two original battalions were badly cut up at the start of the Battle of Langemarck ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Langemarck_(1917) ). As there was no conscription in Ireland, Irish units found it very hard to get reinforcements - the only reason I know about this is that George William Waylen Honeyball, who like me was a bell ringer at St Mary's Putney, was among those killed on the opening day. He'd joined the East Surrey Regiment (which was the local county regiment), but on completing his training and going overseas, he was "grabbed" at the Infantry Base Depot and drafted to the Skins. I suspect that whoever became adjutant of the new battalion went back through all the standing orders to make sure there was a copy of everything, and it then ended up in the war diary.
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by ral104 moderator, scientist
Thanks, David. Do you know whether it was groups of reinforcements who would get grabbed in this way, or individual men passing through the depot?
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by David_Underdown moderator
As it happens I did some analysis (I was originally trying to establish Honeyball's enlistment date) http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20111216180948/http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Men_transferred_from_the_East_Surrey_Regiment_to_Royal_Inniskilling_Fusiliers_during_the_First_World_War so it certainly looks like his draft was broken up in France. Not all went to 7 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers however.
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by HeatherC moderator
That's a fascinating piece of work David and just shows what can be done with the fairly limited records available. I have seen similar examples while researching the men on a Gloucestershire War memorial, where a group of men on the same few pages of the medal rolls of the Glosters were sent from an Infantry Base Depot in France to the South Wales Borderers.
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by ral104 moderator, scientist
Thanks, David, that's really interesting. With no conscription, I assume the Irish regiments must have changed a great deal over the course of the war, with ever increasing numbers of men who had probably never seen Ireland before filling the ranks.
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by David_Underdown moderator
Probably yes, though the same was true of regiments in general, the county link broke down as time went on, and reinforcements were simply directed to the units most in need at the time.
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