Welcome to the NWKFHS Blog

Sunday 3 August 2014

The WWI diaries of the war poet Siegfried Sassoon are published free online for the first time. The Workhouse. Children's Homes and Institutions

The WWI diaries of the war poet Siegfried Sassoon are published free on line for the first time. 

The 23 journals and two notebooks of poetry has been digitised by the Cambridge University Library and can now be read free of charge. This is the first time they have been made available to all.

There are 4,100-pages that describe life in the trenches, including the moment he was shot by a sniper at the Battle of Arras, and his description of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. They also contain pencil or ink sketches, notes on military briefings, and diagrams of the trenches.

The Diaries cover the war years when he was stationed on the Western Front and in Palestine after WWI up to 1927, and from 1931-32.


They can be found at Sasson Diaries Click on any Journal picture on the right of the page which opens the Journal and you can navigate through the pages.

Was one of you Ancestor's in the Workhouse?

You might be interested in The Workhouse  there is an amazing amount of information including photographs/plans and some indexes. The Workhouses include many in Kent such as Dartford, Bromley, Cudham and so forth.

Children's Homes and Institutions:

If your Ancestor or family were in a Children's Home or Institution The Children's Home site is worth looking at. It has many details of the different homes through out the Country including Kent. You can use the search facility to find them, such as the Home for Little Boys at Farningham, and the one at Hextable, Swanley.