Two days after Christmas in 1917, Private Thomas Birkett Yarker, who lived at 15 Poulter Road, Aintree, Liverpool, set off for France to fight in World War 1.
His wife and five-year-old daughter Doris waved goodbye to him at Lime Street Station, Liverpool.
From that date he kept a small diary of information of his movements and experiences on the Western Front until he was sadly killed in action in October 1918 just three weeks before the Armistice was signed.
The pages for 24th to 30th October were torn from his diary, probably by the person certifying his death.
The diary was returned to his wife and was passed on to Doris who died in 2013, aged 100 years. Doris bequeathed the diary to Simon Rennie who, a few years ago, visited Private Yarker’s grave and followed his footsteps as described in the diary. He videoed this experience and shared it with Doris.
Many thanks to Simon and Molly Rennie for allowing reproduction of the diary.
