The Haslam Diaries

Born 4th August 1882 in the town of Rochester, Kent, Elsie moved to the Parish of Week St. Mary, Cornwall with her father – Anglican clergyman Samuel Holker Haslam, mother – Sarah Elizabeth Haslam, and brother – Bernard ‘Bernie’ Lewthwaite Haslam.

Her diaries – housed and digitised in the Courtney Library and Archive, Truro – and the people in them offer a rare insight into the progression of the War on the Homefront as well as on overseas French battlefields.

You can explore personal stories and war themes that they evoke by clicking on the tabs below.

Special thanks to Graham Harvey, to the Cornwall Regimental Museum and to Paul Nixon of www.britisharmyancestors.co.uk/, their invaluable input aided greatly in the research for this section of the exhibition.