NAM.1967-07-19-27

Lett’s No 35 Colonial Rough Diary, 1914. From a collection of 1414 papers of FM William, Lord Birdwood, relating chiefly to his career in the Indian Army, 1882-1930. Birdwood’s 1914 diary opens in Delhi. He saw off Sir Garrett O’Moore Creagh on 4 March and welcomed his successor as Commander in Chief, India, Sir Beauchamp Duff, on 9 March. He left for Simla on 1 April, his workload increasing after the declaration of war. On 24 November he was appointed to command the Australian and New Zealand Contingents in Egypt with the status of Corps Commander and the rank of Lieutenant General. He embarked on 13 December and reached Cairo on 21 December. He notes the deaths of the Viceroy’s wife Lady Hardinge on 11 July and of Lord Roberts on 15 November, along with his appointment as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire on 30 December.

World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), World War One, Egypt and Palestine (1914-1918), World War One, India (1914-1918)