This was produced by Liz Bregazzi at Durham Records Office for a project we were running on life for soldiers on the Western Front in World War One. It's a selection of artefacts from the archives' huge range and would be ideal for teachers looking for interesting sources to use with their class. This project also led to a great website for students and a range of resources for teachers which is well worth visiting here http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/Pages/WorldWarOneintroduction.aspx

1. Durham County Record Office
Life and Death as a Soldier
in the First World War

2. Map of Ypres and surrounding area, c1915
D/DLI 7/26/17

3. Soldiers in a shelter near Zevenkote Farm, 28 April 1915
D/DLI 2/6/10 (301)

4. Soldiers in
a trench at
‘Shrapnel
Corner’,
near Ypres,
April 1915
D/DLI 2/6/10
(307)

5. Soldiers in a trench at ‘Shrapnel Corner’, April 1915
D/DLI 2/6/10 (316)

6. Letter
from
Corporal
Robert
Constantine
from the
trenches at
Potijze, to
his brother,
James, in
Newcastle,
13 May
1915
Page 1

7. Letter
from
Corporal
Robert
Constantine
from the
trenches at
Potijze, to
his brother,
James, in
Newcastle,
13 May
1915
Page 2

8. Letter
from
Corporal
Robert
Constantine
from the
trenches at
Potijze, to
his brother,
James, in
Newcastle,
13 May
1915
Page 3

9. Letter
from
Corporal
Robert
Constantine
from the
trenches at
Potijze, to
his brother,
James, in
Newcastle,
13 May
1915
Page 4
D/DLI 7/137/5

10. Diary of Sergeant John Barclay at Potijze, Belgium, May 1915
D/DLI 7/41/1

11. Waiting to Move to Counter Attack, Potijze, 24 May 1915
D/DLI 2/6/10 (317)

12. Private Perry’s grave, Potijze Wood, 24 May 1915
D/DLI 2/6/10 (325)

13. Poem by
Signal
Sergeant
J. Wilkes,
May 1915
Page 1

14. Poem by Signal Sergeant J. Wilkes, May 1915 Pages 2 - 3

15. Poem by
Signal
Sergeant
J. Wilkes,
May 1915
Page 4
D/DLI 2/5/17

16. Aerial photograph of shell craters behind British lines
at Ypres, 1915 D/DLI 2/7/18 (319)

17. Poem, ‘My
Little Dry
Home in
the West,
1915
D/DLI
7/417/3

18. Diary of
Rev. Birch,
chaplain to
the 5th
Battalion
DLI, Ypres,
June 1915
D/DLI 7/63/2

19. 2nd Battalion DLI War Diary, Potijze, Belgium, June 1915
D/DLI 2/2/1

20. 5th Battalion
DLI
Recruitment
Propaganda
leaflet, 31
July 1915
Page 1
D/DLI 2/5/16

21. 5th
Battalion
DLI
Recruitment
Propaganda
leaflet, 31
July 1915
Page 2
D/DLI 2/5/16

22. Poem about how the DLI fought at Hooge, August 1915
D/DLI 7/250/3

23. Mine crater at Hooge, Belgium, August 1915
D/DLI 7/87/2 (21)

24. 2nd Battalion
DLI War
Diary, Hooge,
Belgium,
August 1915
D/DLI 2/2/1

25. 2nd Battalion
DLI War
Diary, Hooge,
Belgium,
August 1915
D/DLI 2/2/1

26. Poem,
c1915
D/DLI 7/332/18

27. Wilfrid Owen’s poem, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’
From An Anthology of War Poems, compiled by Frederick Brereton, Collins, 1930