60748: Diary of Corporal James Cross, Royal Engineers

Diary kept by Jim Cross, No. 62966, Royal Engineers, promoted corporal in February 1916. Also detailed is his illness after an inoculation in May, and throughout the year trying to stay in contact with his wife.

No diary survives for 1917 “ Cross' jacket was stolen with the diary in a special pocket.

Part of a large collection relating to Jim Cross, Broadway, Worcestershire. Before the First World War he was a postman in Hereford, joining the army as a ˜sapper' (service number 62966) in the Royal Engineer (Signals) in January 1915. The collection includes artefacts from Serjeant James Cross' service as a despatch rider, and his memoirs “ dictated in his 90s in the 1980s-90s to his second wife, Jill. The memoirs are based on Jim's diaries from 1915, 1917 and 1918. Sjt. Cross served overseas in the 38th (Welsh) Division Signalling Company, and was later attached to Headquaters, Royal Artillery, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.