AWM Collection Record: 2DRL/0020

ID Number: 2DRL/0020
Title: Collection relating to Adlard, John Evan (Lieutenant, b.1888 -d.1980)
Maker: Adlard, Charles "Chas"; Adlard, John Evan
Object type: Diary; Typescript
Place made: Australia; North Africa: Egypt; United Kingdom: England; Western Front
Date made: 1915-1918; 1930; 2003
Measurements: 1 wallet: 3 cm
Summary: Collection relating to the service of 4352 Lieutenant John Evan Adlard, 1 Division Artillery, AIF, Australia, at sea, Egypt, Gallipoli, Malta, England, France, Western Front. Collection consists of three original diaries kept by Lieutenant Adlard from February 1915 until March 1918. Diaries are roughly bound together and enclosed within black cardboard casing. This collection also includes typescript extracts from Adlard's diaries, made in 1929 at Australia House, London, at the request of the Australian War Memorial, Melbourne, and a typescript copy of the complete diaries, made by Adlard's son Charles 'Chas' Adlard in 2003. This typescript by Charles Adlard includes a short story titled "Life on a Shoestring" which describes John Evan Adlard earlier life, and another short story titled "Bites of Fright" by Chas Adlard.

In a letter which he wrote to the official secretary at Australia House, in September 1929 regarding his original diary, Lieutenant John Evan Adlard said: "It is the diary of a young man, but has the merit at least in that I wrote it day by day throughout my experiences; and had the good fortune to keep it intact to the end."

In a later letter which accompanied the original diary upon their formal presentation to the AWM, Adlard wrote: "Regrets in parting [with the diary], but my love of Australia impels me to do this small thing now that it appears to be really of some interest in the archives of the Australian people." (3 April 1913)

Lieutenant John Adlard's son, Chas Adlard, has made the contents of the diary available online at http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~cadlard/shoestring.htm
Copyright: Unlicensed copyright; AWM copyright
Copying provisions: Copying permitted subject to physical condition; Private papers - permission required to copy
Access: Open
Related subject: Diaries
Related unit: 1 Field Artillery Brigade; Divisional Artillery Units
Related place: North Africa: Egypt; Ottoman Empire: Turkey, Gallipoli; Western Front: Western Front (France)
Related conflict: First World War, 1914-1918

Last-Modified: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:38:42 GMT

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