James Sansom: July 4th 1918

After two days in Givenchy we move entrain to another village Estree Blanche where we remain for a while. We are in a camp which was used for German PoW and we have the epidemic amongst us that is raging all over the country

July 20th 1918 We march to Berquette on the Merville front and go in the front line for the first time in France. We get plenty of football practice here and good food

Letter from Alfred Forbes Johnson to his wife Essie, 8th July 1918.

The land is covered in poppies and corn flowers and all sorts of wild flowers. It is very different from what it was like in the winter.

I went down to some sports yesterday. They tried to get me to run an officers obstacle race but when I saw the first obstacle, climbing up a 20ft rope to get over a pole, I decided my running days were over.

8th July 1918 - Letter from Alfred Forbes Johnson to his wife Essie:

I wish I could have as many baths as I liked in a day. All our water has to be carried in petrol tins about a mile, so there is little to spare for baths

9th July 1918 - A small article on page 7 of the Daily Telegraph says 11 seaman have died on a ship after catching influenza, following 96 deaths last week in Birmingham.

All elementary schools in Wigan have been closed because of the epidemic

Students from the sixth form at Westfield Arts College joined us for a day at Dorset History Centre to explore the archives with engagement officer Maria Gayton and learn more about people’s lives in Dorset in 1918.

They visited the centre climate controlled archive with seven miles of shelves, listened to oral histories and learned about their importance.

Red Cross VAD nurses are back in Dorset 100 years on..serving cream teas! https://t.co/XMfWqgsMa5

— Voices from 1918 (@VoicesFrom1918) 12 July 2018

We are delighted that students from Westfield Arts College are joining us to learn more about life in Dorset as WWI ended. @VoicesFrom1918

— Dorset History Centre (@DorsetArchives) 12 July 2018

July 14th 1918

U-boat UC77 sunk by a mine off Flanders with the loss of all 30 hands. Weeks earlier on June 8th it was the target of an attack off Chideock, Dorset by airships, seaplanes and destroyers witnessed from the shore by Lady Mary Monkswell.

July 15th 1918

Peacefulness at the front has now reached a pitch which may be labelled suspicious, writes the Daily Telegraph. Such periods have generally preceded enemy attacks on a large scale. The paper reports influenza in the enemy is of a "serious character"

Anyone for tea? Students from Westfield Arts College are serving free Cream teas in @Brewery_Square Dorchester on Wednesday (11-1pm) to mark the launch of their silent film Tea for Two. The comedy, set in 1918, is part of their @ArtsAward @shascreenplay @ActivatePArts @artsdevco pic.twitter.com/PDo2H9e7z9

— Alastair Nisbet (@alastair) 16 July 2018

And here is that Lady Mary Monkswell diary entry about the U-boat (UC77 sunk off Flanders on July 14th 1918) that she witnessed on 8 June. @WW1IEPER1917 @LivesOfWW1 @VoicesFrom1918 pic.twitter.com/FKcUoRlV6O

— Dorset History Centre (@DorsetArchives) 16 July 2018

July 20th 1918

We march to Berquette on the Merville front and go in the front line for the first time in France. We get plenty of football practice here and good food.

[After three and a half years riding camels and eating oranges with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, stretcher bearer James Sansom from Portland is swapping the heat and dust of Egypt for the trenches of northern France as he goes into the line for the first time in Europe...]

Olive's diary July 25th 1918

Gave a sing-song at Beaucroft. Only ourselves and the boys Wright, Hall and Sgt Silvester. Latter recited very well. Took off Commandant’s hymn singing: “See ourselves as others see us...”

It’s not surprising that the most decorated of all British soldiers during WWI was Private W. H. Coltman, a stretcher-bearer. pic.twitter.com/XRUxNIm1dy

— Lindsey Fitzharris (@DrLindseyFitz) August 8, 2018

James Sansom - August 9th 1918 I leave Berquette to go on leave to Blighty after an absence of three and a half years. I arrive at Calais on the 9th and sleep there for the night. Of course there is a big enemy air raid but fortunately few casualties

August 10th 1918 I embark for England after having breakfast at Calais and have a fine trip across, reaching home [Portland, Dorset] at midnight.

30th August 1918 After an enjoyable 14 days back home on Portland, I have had a miserable time returning, not feeling very jolly till I reached the unit on the 28th. After a couple of days messing about we move entrain today for Lillers.

August 9 1918 Letter from Alfred Johnson to wife Essie

You will know by now where we are from the news in the papers. We have been taking part in a very successful affair.

As far as we are concerned it has been an affair of very hard work to get ready in time and nothing else at present we are in a captured Hun battery with some idea of using his own guns. We are miles from our supplies and it is difficult to get any rations.

Olive's diary 14th August 1918 Pound Day

I had a tent and did palmistry. Sister got it so nice with a divan covered with the hall tablecloth. Tyler got up as a Hindu attendant in white pyjamas and a sheet. He perspired in the sun and the black came off on his things.

Some thought he was the fortune teller and were afraid to come. My first visitors were VADs from Newton. Then I saw 3 pairs of legs hovering about - khaki legs, flannel legs and knicker legs each urging the other in first - Rex, Solly, Sugden and Ray - young scamps out for fun!

Solly has 2 heart lines which I have never seen before and cannot find out what it means. Two interesting hands were Rev Helps and Rev Allan, the first the true soldier type and the latter a visionary. He preaches spiritualism. The boys returned with flappers all day.

Olive's diary 15th August 1918

I took £2.0.8d in my palm reading tent. In all they took £104 and £25 in goods. I was having a nap at 3pm when I was sent for. A convoy coming in an hour! I went and Florence [my sister] helped later. Got very tired

'Flappers' has become associated with the 1920s in popular memory, but it was firmly established as a synonym for 'pleasure-seeking young woman' in the Great War

— Peter Stanley (@Stanleyhistory) 15 August 2018

August 16th 1918 Florence and I drove in donkey cart, through Uddens Wood.

Got splendid blackberries and harts-tongue ferns. Jack [the donkey] very fresh and shied a lot

16 Aug 1918 letter from Alfred Forbes Johnson to Effie

This is a weird state of affairs. The Hun is shelling something about a quarter of a mile on the left, and on the right there is a band playing.

Reading Emma by Jane Austen. It was a queer sort of society of those days, but I suppose it is not much different now in quiet parts of the country.

Letter to Dr Stopes from a wife in Ledbury about Married Love 17 August 1918

“Your book has cleared up so much for us, and it was written so nicely.” Her husband had just returned from active service in France in July.

A surgical operation. Oil painting by Reginald Brill, 1934-1935 @WellcomeLibrary @wellcometrust childbirth is a natural process which needs to be in the hands of mothers not surgeons pic.twitter.com/T6NgYCJS4B

— Marie Stopes (@mariestopes1918) August 17, 2018

Sent my envoy @shascreenplay to @Wellcomelibrary today - I gave them over 3 tons of papers for their archives - many of them letters from my readers which I will share with you here pic.twitter.com/C0qETljxWJ

— Marie Stopes (@mariestopes1918) August 17, 2018

6.8.1918 a letter from New Zealand

Dear Dr Stopes I would like to thank you for the invaluable help you have given me in my married life through your book married love it has been the means of making greatest happiness between my wife and myself."

However he goes on to say the book was banned in New Zealand and could I send him a copy. I replied I was not aware of this and sent him my publishers details.

I struggle to make it available in Canada and America and have had many letters from soldiers posted in India.

I understand Married Love being unavailable in Catholic countries - although they misunderstand me - but in Commonwealth countries????

I also understand it not being available in India - as it is not translated into Urdu - but soldiers from all these countries write to me.

Lady Mary's diary 17 August 1918

News very good. Nothing else matters. I have returned to my old manner of life. I thank God for the support of Robert and little Lorna - during those terrible weeks of the enemy offensive when we drove him back beyond the Marne. My dear old piano sounds very sweet.

Lady Mary's diary 19 August 1918

Arranged glass bowl with clematis, maiden hair and geraniums for the Women’s Institute Summer Show (lovely) for which they sent me a “Highly Commended” card. Round by Poorstock: summer beauty and new cornfields standing thick with sheaves

Olive's diary 20th August 1918

I had long wished to dream of ES [Major Edmund Street] and last night asked. I dreamt vividly of him and that we were travelling together and in a large room he asked me to sing “Home Sweet Home”. [Major Street died of wounds on October 21, 1916]

20 Aug 1918 letter from Alfred Forbes Johnson to Effie

I’m 2nd in line for leave if the present rate keeps up and the Hun does nothing desperate. I have had a days work translating German papers relating to their guns. Reading: The Vicar of Wakefield, Oliver Goldsmith, (1766)

20th August 1918 News good. To Mrs Pinney: she sent dog cart for me. High bred hunter who did not care about harness. Had to be led up drive. I scrambled in and took reins and the groom climbed in somehow when we’d started. Exciting.

The news of our advance on the Western Front is so good that we feel the dawn is indeed breaking. Excellent letter from Lord Hugh Cecil [MP for Oxford University] about dictating the peace.

I took Gertrude to Strode Manor in Hunt’s governess-cart and saw the dear Ryles [from Parnham] settled in their new home: 450 ft above the sea, a delicious home where in spite of health, war and many other drawbacks, Anne has laid out for herself and children a happy life.

Olive's diary 20th August 1918

I Here's a picture of dear Viola - Nurse Belgrave from my diary. She's on the right in the second row. She tended wounded Frenchmen at Arc-en-Barrois for 8 months and would be so proud to know that the efforts of all those women in France has been recognised

James from Cleveland, Ohio writes: “I note your discovery of a periodic rise in the sex feeling in women. Would you advise picking out one of these periods for the wedding date?

I suggest he reads my book.

He goes on to ask “Would you please give me a few hints as to the best method of bringing about the proper state, especially with regard to the best approach on the first night?

James is obviously anxious about doing the right thing.

And finally he asks “If the wedding night is spent on board a sleeping car would it be better to put off first intercourse until the quiet of a hotel. I ask you these questions so I can start off right. Thanks very much James.

My advice to all newlyweds is to postpone the first night together until you are at peace and quiet with each other

My book Married Love is sold out!

For the first edition I bought the paper and had it printed myself and distributed against my friends advice who counselled me not to waste my time and money in that way.

In two weeks the first 2000 copies were gone, the demand being so great that it was impossible to print quickly enough to meet demand. There are now more than half a million copies in English besides being translated into every language!

Lady Mary's diary: Aug 27 1918

I took my khaki scarf I had knitted to Mrs Partridge who collects for Red Cross. Found their large son Major P and wife. He presently relaxed and told most interesting details of his job at Rouen A working camp of 4000 Boches under 80 guards and barbed wire

To continue about my book Married Love, I believe birth control will make the coming generation healthier.

It is not a movement against children the aim being to ensure proper treatment before and after birth so that children may be more healthy.

So far I have received more than 100,000 letters on the subject and treated over 10,000 patients

The Health of the Child is the Power of the Nation - poster by Francis Luis Mora for Children's Year in the United States - picture courtesy of the Library of Congress

Lady Mary's diary - Aug 28th 1918

Mrs Dyer slept here [in Beaminster], agreeable talk of the Canadian advance before Amiens, her brother is a Canadian general. News very good, thank God

29th Aug 1918 Called on Drysdale, found handsome girl Stella D digging her potatoes in farm workers’ clothes. She does the entire garden herself. Immense number of flowers (for their seed) the bunn rabbits for food. Wartime

Olive's diary 29th Aug 1918

King found to have diphtheria. My sister Florence and I both think I had better not go to Beaucroft for a while. Called on Miss Belgrave to speak about King. She spent eight months nursing in a French hospital and knows about these things

Throughout the Great War I worked with Amgueddfa Cymru and other museums about my other passion - paleobotany or fossilflowers.

I was funded to go to Japan and in 1907 I took a long overseas journey - and found what were then the earliest known flowers and fossil insects from the Cretaceous period.

My work on paleobotany is what lead me to eventually come to reside in Portland and bring up my beautiful son there, enjoying sitting amongst the rocks. I also established Portland Museum and gave them my collection of fossils.