1248681
- TitleGeoffrey Gaden diary, 1916
- Creator
- Call numberMLMSS 9623
- Level of descriptionfonds
- Date
1916 - Type of material
- Reference code1248681
- Issue CopyDigitised
- Physical Description0.16 metres of textual material (1 volume) - manuscript
- ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Geoffrey Charles Guy Gaden was born at St Leonards, Sydney, in 1895. From 1911-1915 he attended Lancing College in Sussex, where he had apparently been sent due to a health ailment. On completing his schooling, Gaden enlisted in the British Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Connaught Rangers, an Irish Regiment. Between October 1915 and February 1917 he served in France and Belgium, where he was promoted successively to Temporary Lieutenant, Lieutenant then Temporary Captain. During much of 1917 he was in Russia, returning to England before being posted to Iraq and Iran in 1918 and 1919. Recognition for Gaden’s distinguished service during World War I came in the form of a mention in despatches, the Military Cross and two Russian medals (the Order of St Stanislaus and the Order of St Anne).
Gaden remained in the British Army as a regular officer and, after the Connaught Rangers were disbanded in 1922, transferred to the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. He served in Iraq from 1924 to 1926 and then was seconded to the Colonial Office, serving in Barbados and India.
During World War II, as Captain and later Major, Gaden served in France and was evacuated from Boulogne in May 1940 on board the destroyer ‘Vimiera’, the last ship to leave after the Battle of Boulogne.
After his retirement from the British Army in 1943, Gaden moved back to Sydney. He and his wife Barbara settled in Pymble, Sydney, with their two children, who had been evacuated to Australia in 1942. He died in Pymble in 1967.
Reference:
Library correspondence file - Scope and ContentLeather bound notebook containing Geoffrey Gaden's account of war service during 1916 in France and Belgium, particularly in the Loos sector, including descriptions of life in the trenches, details of field artillery, observations on officer characteristics and hand-drawn maps of the British and German front lines, with four interleaved fragments of postcards and a French menu.
- Copying ConditionsCopyright status:: In copyright
Approval for publication required - General note
Digital order no:Album ID : 1269591 - Signatures / Inscriptions
Inscriptions on flyleaves: C. W. Gaden, Sydney, 30/6/16. (Also) To Dad with all best wishes from Geofffrey - Conservation note
Interleaved items are fragile and torn - Name
- Subject
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