Second Lieutenant S Blagg

Extensive collection of 359 ms letters written principally whilst serving as an NCO with the South Nottinghamshire Hussars Yeomanry, 1914-18. These cover mobilisation and Home Defence August 1914 to April 1915, during which he became RQMS March 1915 (2nd Mounted Division), and in Egypt until February 1916, when he went to Salonika (unit part of 7th Mounted Brigade from January 1916). Returning to Egypt in July 1917 the unit became part of the Desert Mounted Corps, but he was withdrawn for Officer Training October 1917 to March 1918. Gazetted to the Notts and Derbys Regiment, he was posted to the 1-4th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment in Palestine (53rd Division) until May, when the unit was sent to France. After a period of training, the battalion was engaged in the Marne battle July 1918 (34th Division) where he was killed. The letters very rarely mention actions and are principally of value for their descriptions of life and conditions in England, Egypt and Salonika.

The bulk of the collection comprises 359 ms letters sent by Blagg to his parents and sister Eva in Newark, with a number of newspaper cuttings and other miscellaneous items. References to his involvement in action are entirely absent, although it seems possible that he did not actually come under fire until the last few days of his life. The content of his letters is, aside from family matters, very descriptive of his daily life and local conditions. The countryside, people and native flora and fauna are frequent topics, as are his duties and general regimental matters. Shortcomings in official rations or kit lead to frequent requests to his parents for specific items of food, clothing, and other 'comforts'. The letters were used by G Fellows and B Freeman in writing the Regimental History of the South Notts Hussars in 1928.

<p>1WM Photograph Archive, Q111835-111856</p>

Sidney Blagg was born in 1881, and joined the South Nottinghamshire Hussars Yeomanry in 1910. A native of Newark on Trent, he was employed as a clerk with the National Provincial Bank in Nottingham before the outbreak of war, when he was mobilised as a Sergeant. The regiment was used for Home Defence duties until April 1915 when it embarked for Egypt, Blagg having become RQMS in March (2nd Mounted Division).

When the unit departed for Gallipoli in August 1915 Blagg was left behind at Cairo in charge of the stores and horses. In February 1916 however, he accompanied the unit (since January part of the 7th Mounted Brigade) to Salonika, returning to Egypt in June 1917, when it was attached to the Desert Mounted Corps near Beersheeba, Palestine. In October 1917 Blagg successfully applied for a commission, attending a course at the Imperial School of Instruction at Zeitoun, Egypt, following which he was commissioned in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment in March 1918. He was attached to the 1-4th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment (53rd Division) in Palestine for a short while before in May the unit was withdrawn to Egypt, then to France in June, where it joined the reconstituted 34th Division. On 29th July 1918 Blagg was killed during the Soissonais-Ourcq operations (Battle of the Marne). He was mentioned in Despatches for his services during the War.