Macdiarmid, Allan M (Lieutenant, 45th Bn)

Collection relating to the First World War service of Lieutenant Allan Macdiarmid, 45th Battalion, France, 1916 – 1917. The collection consists of two original handwritten diaries. The first diary is a 1916 edition, however preliminary entries start with Macdiarmid’s enlistment on 12 July 1915: ‘Applied at Recruiting office, Inverell, for Enlistment’. Six months later, on 22 January 1916, Macdiarmid, in company with the 45th, ‘anchored in Port Suez at 6am’. Both of Macdiarmid’s diaries predominantly contain brief entries noting locations and movements. The final entry of the second diary, dated 31 December 2017, reads ‘Left Boulogne 11am for train through Saint-Pol, Arras and to Achiet-le-Grand. Arrived there 7.30pm. Visited Bapaume. Returned to Achiet and saw New Year in there.’ Two halfpenny postage stamps are interleaved in the second diary.