Sassoon Journals : Journal, 26 June 1916-12 Aug. 1916

Sassoon Journals

The volume is a ruled notebook and mostly comprises diary entries. It shows some signs of damp damage to the fore edge of the text block and there is mud <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(139);return false;'>mud(i)</a> in the grooves around the inside cover where the end papers overlap the covering on the boards. There are some ink bleeds at the edges of the pages. This damage and mud may be from the trenches. Contents include: Diary entries:<ul><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(19);return false;'>9r</a>. news of his award of the Military Cross</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(21);return false;'>10r-13v</a>. 1st July, on the beginning of the Battle of the Somme</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(37);return false;'>18r-24r</a>. accounts of Sassoon's battalion fighting against the Germans at Mametz Wood</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(69);return false;'>34r</a>. on hearing (erroneously) that Robert [Graves] had died of wounds</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(71);return false;'>35r</a>. on falling ill (with trench fever) and being invalided home</li></ul> Many entries concern action in the Somme Valley (chiefly near Morlancourt, Fricourt and Mametz Wood).Drafts of poetry:<ul><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(76);return false;'>37v</a>. 'Thickened'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(77);return false;'>38r</a>. 'Elegy for M.G. (Marcus Goodall)'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(95);return false;'>47r</a>. 'For England'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(104);return false;'>51v-52r</a>. 'The Stunt'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(108);return false;'>53v</a>. 'Via Crucis'</li></ul> Sketches and doodles:<ul><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(3);return false;'>1r</a>. abstract frontispiece in red watercolour reading 'Sassoon, R[oyal] W[elsh] F[usiliers], 1'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(7);return false;'>3r</a>. semi-abstract image of a soldier entitled 'The Soul of an Officer' including text</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(21);return false;'>10r</a>. startled face, drawn under diary entry for July 1st 1916</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(53);return false;'>26r</a>. a cart and vegetation</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(62);return false;'>30v</a>. ?soldiers fighting in a trench</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(63);return false;'>31r</a>. horizon with trees</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(72);return false;'>35v</a>. head and shoulders of a cleric in a hat with a crucifix in the background</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(73);return false;'>36r</a>. hospital ward with the head of the ?German Kaiser looking on</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(87);return false;'>43r</a>. 'Water Eaton', a country house from a gateway</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(91);return false;'>45r</a>. head and shoulders of a farmer in front of rolling hills</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(92);return false;'>45v</a>. one head and two faces, male</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(99);return false;'>49r</a>. a pastoral scene</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(101);return false;'>50r</a>. mountains</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(102);return false;'>50v</a>. a cottage</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(132);return false;'>106v</a>. abstract lines</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(31);return false;'>15r</a>. landscape including a road, village, shacks, trees, and a German trench</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(88);return false;'>43v</a>. a galvanised iron shed</li></ul> Diagrams and maps:<ul><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(5);return false;'>2r</a>. plan of trench lines and cemetery</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(45);return false;'>22r</a>. cross section of a valley and trenches with a small copse showing Sassoon's solo raid</li></ul> Quotations:<ul><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(16);return false;'>7v</a>. Thomas Hardy, 'The Dynasts'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(89);return false;'>44r</a>. 'from a monument in Barford Church'</li></ul> Other:<ul><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(78);return false;'>38v-42r</a>. prose passage entitled 'Notes for a Satire'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(6);return false;'>2v</a>. locations and dates of time spent at or near the Western Front</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(32);return false;'>15v</a>. lists of members of his section and their fates</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(118);return false;'>109v-113v</a>. notes from a military briefing meeting re consolidation of position, objectives and 'Scheme of Battle'</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(115);return false;'>115r</a>. acquaintances' contact details</li><li><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(115);return false;'>115r</a>. list of monies spent</li></ul> N.B. Sassoon wrote from both ends of this notebook; after folio <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(132);return false;'>106v</a> entries resume from the opposite end. Folios <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(109);return false;'>54r-106r</a> are blank. Enclosure is to be found in a separate envelope. The foliation is the archivist's.