The diary of Alphaeus Abbott Casey: “Preparing for war”

Friday 25 December 2015

Passed through Straits of Gibraltar 9pm.

Alphaeus Abbott Casey: Alphaeus Abbott Casey (Private, 12/69) was a student of the University of Sheffield who joined the Sheffield City Battalion (12th Bn. York and Lancaster Regiment), which was formed in September 1914, partly at the behest of members of the University of Sheffield, and recruiting from both university and commercial men. He was killed in action on 1st July 1916 at the age of 21 at Serre (on the Somme), along with many other members of the Battalion. The author John Harris, in A covenant with death, his fictional story of a recruit in the Sheffield City Battalion, describes the battle thus: “Two years in the making. Ten minutes in the destroying. That was our history”. Casey is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 14A and 14B). The diary of Alphaeus Abbott Casey (1895-1916, soldier, Sheffield) (MS 312) is held in Special Collections, University of Sheffield Library.

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