Liverpool Scottish Museum Archive

Sketches

Extracts from the Edited Diaries of Frank McDonald

Sketches

These rudimentary sketches are done on lined paper from a small pocket book. The descriptions in the text of the diary corroborate these sketches

Dugouts for Battalion HQ 1917.The upper sketch is from Frank McDonald's notebook entitled 'A Trench Scene 1917' and inscribed at the bottom is 'B.H.Q.', presumably meaning Battalion Headquarters where he spent a lot of time as a runner. He was an eye-witness to the detonation of the mines beneath Messines Ridge and casually records on 7th June. that 'The adjutant and I waited on a small mound in the support line waiting for zero hour to come'. McDonald's drawing shows some sort of trackway in the bottom left hand corner.

The very polished drawing below is by (later Sir)Muirhead Bone acting as war artist on the Western Front, and is provided for the purposes of comparison. © The Trustees of The Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum 1999 Acknowledgements to 'Country Life' The drawing immediately above is 'Dug-outs' by Muirhead Bone (taken from 'The Western Front' Part 1 Plate X published as a part work from the offices of 'Country Life').The accompanying text reads "A small hamlet of sand-bagged dug-outs, a little behind the front line, seen during a passing lift of the clouds at the end of a wet day. Many dug-outs, like the one on the left, bear such names as 'The Rat Hole' .......and 'The Ritz'. On the right, a shelf in the outer wall of sand-bags is decorated with flowers in pots."

This rather lyrical and rustic prose with its references to light and horticulture was presumably for the consumption and reassurance of the subscribers to this 'Country Life' series 'published by "Authority of the War Office" and seems only a small step from describing a stately home caught in the evening light amidst parkland designed by Capability Brown. There is some comparison with the amount of open space behind the dug-out though presumably Bone's location must be quite well behind the front line judging by the casual attitude of the two men taking the evening air on top of the dug-out. CSM D.A.B. Marple MC, of the 1st.Battalion, records in his own diary that he modelled for Muirhead Bone when he was in London.

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© The Trustees of The Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum 2012

 

 

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