The diary is carefully written in pencil. Some words are tricky to decipher but it is mostly legible. It helps that many of the entries are identical - lots of cricket and almost no mention of schoolwork.


The diary layout is one week per double page, with a very small section for Sunday which is the first day of the week and then equal sized sections for the rest.


I plan to post each week's entries throughout July and August to show how a very ordinary routine life suddenly changed dramatically.

JUNE 1914

28 Sun

I went for a walk with Albert.

29 Mon

It rained all day and it was very windy.

30 Tues

I played cricket with Albert.

JULY 1914

1 Wed

I stopped to play cricket at school.
 
2 Th
I had a very bad cold. I went into town for mother.
 
3 Fri
My cold grew worse. I played cricket with Albert.


4 Sat
I did not go to the baths as I had a very bad cold. Albert came to play with me

 

In 1914, my grandfather, Thomas Edwin (Ted) Buckley, was a 12 year old schoolboy living in Cheshire, England. He had a Boy Scout Diary in which he completed entries for every day of the year. Most of these refer to playing football or cricket with occasional comments on the weather but there is a change in July 1914 when he went on a school trip to France. I have been transcribing the diary and plan to post the entries for July and August over the next two months,