INTRODUCTION
A few words on the manner in which the story of the 1st Battalion was written will not be out of place, and may help to explain the delay in producing the book and the obvious errors of omission which have been committed.
When the Battalion went to France two diaries were kept at headquarters—the War Diary, in which were recorded all the military exploits of the Battalion, and the Regimental Diary, which contained all the “personal gossip” in the Regiment, as well as accounts of tours in the front line. This Regimental Diary was started by Capt. Parish, who was then Adjutant, with the idea that it should be printed and published at the end of the war. But owing to frequent changes in the personnel of Battalion Headquarters, the book was not kept up to date, and there are, in consequence, several big gaps in its pages. It was finally closed early in 1918, when Colonel Segrave decided that as the keeping of two diaries entailed a certain amount of duplication of work, the War Diary should, in future, be a complete record of the history of the Battalion. From that time, therefore, the War Diary contained every item of interest to the Battalion, including such details as the names of the members of football teams and the artistes at Battalion concerts.
With these two books, therefore, I began in the winter of 1919 to collect material for a history. A committee was formed, on which I tried to get a representative of each Company and Specialist Section, and here I should like to acknowledge my indebtedness to these gentlemen, each one of whom has taken an active interest in the preparation of the book:—R. H. Burden, D.C.M., R. G. Callingham, S. L. Clements, E. Cooke, D.C.M., C. Ibbett, M.M., F. A. Lewis, M.M., R. H. Maddocks, F. C. Robertson, D.C.M., G. M. Sladden and R. C. Sugars, D.C.M.
In addition C.S.M. T. P. Brett, M.C., and Sergeant C. M. A. Tucker were kind enough to place at my disposal a book of notes, letters, and extracts from private diaries which they had collected, dealing with the first year of the career of the Battalion in France. Sergeant Tucker has been most energetic throughout in his efforts to collect further material and to improve the crude story which I presented to the committee.
The story was written in instalments and so read to the committee, who criticised it and amended it, and it was then typed by Sergeant Tucker. The typed copy was then circulated among different members of the committee, who suggested further amendments, and the result is now presented to the Regiment as a simple record of the outstanding features of life in the 1st Civil Service Rifles in France.
I am fully conscious that there are grave omissions, notably in respect to paragraphs of appreciation of individuals. There are many more members deserving of special mention than appear in these pages, but I have included all who were brought to my notice and who, in my opinion, played a prominent part in the success of the Battalion. At the same time there are some whom I have missed, and to avoid doing these an injustice it was at one time suggested that all references to individuals should be cut out, but there are some who played such a big part in our history that no story of the Battalion would be nearly complete without mention of them.
As to the literary style and arrangement of the book, I am told by one of my critics that it is dull and lifeless, and that the descriptions of battles are not sufficiently picturesque. My only reply is that I have aimed at an accurate description rather than at a highly coloured style, and I hope my critics will bear in mind that, prior to this effort, I have never attempted anything more ambitious in the literary line than a love letter.
In addition to members of the committee the following members of the Regiment have very kindly written contributions:—G. C. G. Andrews, C. E. Bassett, E. De Ath, C. N. Burdock, C. Manthorpe, L. C. Morris, M.C., V. Stewart, J. H. Swain, and W. G. Skillern. To these gentlemen I should like to express my grateful appreciation.
February, 1921. Paul Davenport.