World · East Asia & Pacific · 4 hrs ago
Researcher traces mystery paper in Australian soldier’s WWI diary
Researcher Colin Reid traced a poem that fell from the World War I diary of Australian soldier Claude Nuttall.
Nuttall was born in Melbourne and was killed in France in 1918, aged 23, months after marrying Violet.
A man in England had found the diary on a rubbish tip as a boy, and it later came to Reid while he was preparing a museum exhibition.
A bullet hole and blood marked the diary, whose entries stopped during the Battle of Amiens in August 1918.
Reid also learned that Nuttall had received the Military Medal for helping rescue two wounded men near enemy lines in 1916.
The paper was a memorial notice in The Age, published in Melbourne on February 12, 1918, though Reid found no evidence that Nuttall was connected to it.
Reid’s research brought Nuttall’s relatives to his grave in France, and Reid has written a book about the case.
Researcher Colin Reid spent a decade investigating the story behind a World War I diary kept by Australian soldier Claude Nuttall.
A newspaper fragment that fell from the diary was identified as a memorial notice published in The Age on February 12, 1918.
The diary’s entries ended in August 1918 and it had a bullet hole and blood on it.
Nuttall, who was born in Melbourne, was killed in action in 1918 in northern France.
Reid’s research led Nuttall’s family to visit his grave in France.
- Who
- Researcher Colin Reid investigated the diary of Australian soldier Claude Nuttall.
- What
- Reid traced a newspaper fragment found inside Nuttall’s World War I diary to a memorial notice in The Age.
- When
- The research spanned about a decade. The notice was published on February 12, 1918.
- Where
- The diary was found on a rubbish tip in the West Midlands, England; Nuttall was killed in northern France.
- Why
- Reid wanted to solve the mystery of what happened to Nuttall after the diary entries abruptly ended.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
King George V presented Nuttall with the Military Medal for helping rescue two wounded men near enemy lines.
Alan Southall found Nuttall’s diary on a rubbish tip as a boy.
Reid displayed the diary in a World War I exhibition at Dudley Museum.
Nuttall’s last diary entry was written during the Battle of Amiens.
Nuttall’s family, Reid and Southall visited his grave in France, 100 years after he was killed.
- Researcher
- Colin Reid
- Soldier
- Claude Nuttall, born in Melbourne
- Diary finder
- Alan Southall
- Medal
- Military Medal, presented by King George V in 1916
- Newspaper notice
- The Age, February 12, 1918
- Grave
- Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières, France
What people are saying
It was as if Claude was up there in the universe, was directing my steps
I think it was a case of, this was a mystery to be solved