Obtaining the Diary
At the end of September 2023, something interesting came up for sale on eBay with the title Allies Diary 1918 * Including 11th November, Bells Ring Out, It’s Over.
It was a diary written by a young lady named Sheilah Doherty (full name: Sheilah Doreen Gambier Doherty), aged 17 in 1918. Below you can see what she looked like when she was a little over 51 years old, courtesy of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 19th July, 1952.
This sounded very interesting in fact, but who was Sheilah, and where was she born?
That’s when things got even more exciting. With a bit of research, I soon found out that she was born in Plumstead, the very same town that many of my relatives hail from. What’s more, when looking at her baptism record, she appeared on almost the same page as a Meekums family member did. Could they have known each other? Could Sheilah tell me about what things were like in Plumstead in 1918? And wasn’t the person that baptised her the same person that performed the ceremony for my relative?
It was almost too much to bear putting my bid in. I picked a number that I was prepared to pay, then increased it, and then mentally did it again! I just had to have it. And thankfully, I won! Phew.
I was away at the time, but knew the diary was going to be sent from Rye, which is east of Hastings on the south coast of England, so not long to wait.
Once I got home, I contacted the seller to try to understand where they had come by the diary and whether the surnames Doherty or Isles (plus some other small details I’d worked out), meant anything to them. Unfortunately, all they could tell me was that it had been in their mother’s possession and they didn’t know anything else.
Sadly, that looked like a dead end.
Meeting Gillian & Our Project
A bit more tree research and I found Sheilah’s brother (Terence) who had been in the army. Even better, a lady named Gillian had written all about him so this was a huge lead. I contacted her and was so fortunate that she was able to help me understand more about Sheilah and place some of the facts in the diary, into context.
We then both agreed that it would be a good project to transcribe the diary but sharing the workload. The plan? To copy it as it is written, much as Gillian had done for her brother’s letters, without any intepretation or alteration.
And here it is! It’s been a long journey over a number of months, but we hope you agree, a worthwhile endeavour.
All that remains is to get ready to be transported back to 1918. The First World War is still waging with no end in sight, and young Sheilah is watching it unfold.
The Diary Organised Into Months
- January: Summary to come.
- February: Summary to come.
- March:
- April: Summary to come.
- May: Summary to come.
- June: Appointed secretary to the bell ringers team, Tag stampedes, Meets creepy Mr Adolphus, Terence off to Egypt, Trip to London, Accepted for RFC and leaves RFC(!), Says goodbye to Mr Adolphus, Buys more (giant) rabbits.
- July: Summary to come.
- August: Summary to come.
- September: Summary to come.
- October: Summary to come.
- November: Summary to come.
- December: Sad news about Perce.
Further Information and Images
There are so many extra details that we could have added to the main diary pages but instead chose to keep the notes fairly brief and instead provide links to images, information and biographical data, collated on this page.
Credits
After the diary was shared on Facebook on three community pages, we were incredibly grateful to receive a whole host of information which added context to the many things that Sheilah wrote about. Our huge thanks (in alphabetical order) go to:
- Jules Wallis for many, many contributions across a multitude of months, including background on people that were connected to Felsted School, pictures of the local area and details of many of the local people of Felsted at that time.
- Laurence C for revealing that Florence was his Great Grandmother - mentioned in November.
- And Others who know know who they are.
Thank you all so very much; your additions have really increased the value of this transcription.
See or read anything you’d like to talk about? Please do get in touch.