A poignant artifact from the Cambridgeshire Community Archive: an amazingly well-preserved World War I diary.

Eric Gardiner was the youngest son of F J Gardiner, owner and editor of the Wisbech Advertiser (now the Fenland Citizen).  Eric joined up when war was declared and from the moment of his arrival in France up to his death in 1915 he kept a detailed diary. This is now kept in the Wisbech & Fenland Museum. His father’s newspaper also regularly published letters and reports from him as part of its war coverage. These extracts include the first and last entries Eric made. The last entry in the diary dates from the 14 April 1915 and Eric died from wounds on the 20 April 1915.

See more images at : Extracts from Eric (Ernest Frederick) Gardiner’s diary | Behind the Lines, Families and War, Hidden Stories, Soldiers – before, during and after the war | Great War – Between the Lines