Record Number: 33678

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

' ... this is being written in a cellar which is my present billet. The house which stood overhead was rendered a ruin a long time ago and the bricks etc make a thick covering through which a shell would hardly penetrate ... There are many houses round here, but all ruins, and not a civilian anywhere, with one exception, a French boy has just come at 1.30 with the Continental Daily Mail of yesterday, printed in Paris. It gives the war news up to the previous night ... Thanks for the papers, I have read them all ... Have had a good deal of time to myself since leaving the Hospital, and would not care to go back again but I have not been through anything yet. The grass is long and rough all round these ruined houses, and in the old shell holes, and it is alive with grasshoppers ... The electric light has just gone off, but I've a candle. Have nothing to do this afternoon, so I will go and read my 2 ½ paper and then perhaps have a nap.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

30 Aug 1918

Country:

France

Time

afternoon

Place:

city: Arras
county: Pas-de-Calais
specific address
other location: Cellar

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Thomas Wainwright

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

2 Oct 1887

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

Private, Royal Army Medical Corps

Religion:

Nonconformist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

France

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

[n/a] [n/a]

Title:

Continental Daily Mail

Genre:

Reference / General works

Form of Text:

Print: Newspaper

Publication Details

29 August 1918

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33678

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Lyn Dyson

Title:

Uncle Tom's Letters: The Letters of Private Thomas Wainwright, 1914-1919

Place of Publication:

[Great Britain]

Date of Publication:

2013

Vol:

n/a

Page:

177

Additional Comments:

letter to Gladys Wainwright, 30 August 1918

Citation:

Lyn Dyson (ed.), Uncle Tom's Letters: The Letters of Private Thomas Wainwright, 1914-1919, ([Great Britain], 2013), p. 177, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33678, accessed: 16 January 2025

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Additional Comments:

Location is speculative. Wainwright was attached to the 46th Field Ambulance, part of the 15th Scottish Division.