Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/94/1 - November - December 1917 - Part 2

5
12
at 11 p.m. we cd hear a
heavy bombt there in / North abt an
hour ago (^11 pm our time - it wd be
12 by theirs).
White came back ^from leave I ws
asking him as to how he regarded
the new General Allied Staff wh
Lloyd George has set up to advise
/ Allied Council of Prime Ministers -
To me it seems as obviously
sensible measure - so right tt it
is a condemnation of our staffs
not to have suggested it before;
instead of wh they fought it now.
White says it is a good thing
done in / wrong way. It is a
good move, but he thinks it ws
Sir Henry Wilson. White knows
him - a very capable but
 

5
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unscrupulous Irishman; who
has captured Lloyd George, White
Thinks. Haig & Robertson were
strongly against it, & tt is why
the army as a whole is.
I must say tt to me it is
a condemnation of Haig & Robertson
tt they were agst it, &, more than tt,
tt they did not themselves support
it, before. White agreed to this.
It will probably breed trouble
 - Haig & Roberson will not give
Wilson the support information he needs - &
they will probably have to go.
White is afraid tt this upsetting
may bring a lot of altercation;
& he doesn't thinks / war
will end by revolution &

he wants to see / revolution in
Germany come first.
It wants someone
 

5
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really more fitted to step into 
Haig's shoes' & Robertsons. There
did because they are not there wdnt
be much of an upsetting if some
man existed were in sight who really was more
capable. The trouble is tt there
is none in sight. How That this
army has fought for 3 years without
discovering such a man is only
to be explained by / extraordinary
British method of choosing men
not by their capacity but by their
"breeding" or tact or birth merely
in some cases. White agrees tt this
system is / blight of the English
xxxx institutions, though he has
some belief in title. His only
family must have held a
title once, & , when his father came
on evil days, the knowledge of this
& / family tradition kept his head
high after blow upon blow. 

5
15
Nov.17 Sat. A stove in my hut
at last; so I wrote an article
for the evening papers - it
is wonderful what a difference
a stove makes to ones
inclination to work.
The firing of yesty seems to have
ceased.
Nov 18. Sunday. I am 38 today.
Came to Boulogne with Coleman
Ward & Wilkins. Wilkins &
I were turned back from the
11.15 boat as it takes only
leave officers & men, - They
sent of those on leave before
those on duty; probably rightly.
[[?]] & I went in to
White yesterday to submit
the scheme for sectional histories
(histories of the problems of
the various arms) which
are to be written by members
of the force. Gullett is really
the author of the suggestions. 

5
16
The scheme was that certain
officers names shd be chosen
to collect the material - & tt they
shd consult w Treloar to & then draw
up ^each one the scheme of his history.
White read the minute we had
drawn up; & then pointed out
like a flash that it did not
provide for the two or three definite
things to be done wh wd set the
scheme going. He sketch a short
order (in A.I.F. orders) giving
everyone knowledge of what ws
being done; & then the writing
to the suggested "Collectors of
material" a definite order to
consult Treloar & draw up
the scheme.
[[?]] as he came
out sd; "Thats just like
White. You draw up a 

5
17
thing wh you think is perfect
until he has a look at it;
then in two or three strokes he
shows you that something
told you exactly what is lacking
& puts it right in one act."
Birdwood ; by the retirement
of Nixon & Duff, & the
resignation of two or three
older generals has become
a full General in / Indian
army. White has put up
his major General's star
& his Servian decoration
for /first time.
Birdwood as soon as
another Conscription Referendum ws
decided on, wrote a
letter to all officers pointing
out / fear & necessity for
reinforcements not xxxx if the 

5
18
break up of a division
were to be averted.
The old liberals and the
Asquith are at - Lloyd
George tooth & nail
because of his speech in
Paris promising joint
control by / allies. They
want to get him out of
power, & they mistrust
the making of our generals
responsible to anyone exc.
the British people. But
all / army tt I have heard,
except on a xx some o / old army
think tt his speech ws entirely
sensible, & so does / country
as far as I can see.
Came over to London by
3.30 boat with Williams to consult
with Treloar abt a photographic branch in
London. 

19
Col. Hurley ^(of ordnance) is our member of the British
War Museums Committee - wh is collecting trophies.
Hurley told me tt our Light Horse
captured an early (I think 6th Century)
pavement in / desert there (I fancy
it is one wh Mother tells me of from a
letter of Jack Bisdee - a pavement wh
ws uncovered by / Turks in trench
digging). Our people brought it to
Cairo & intended to send it to / Sydney
Museum. The British members of the Ctee
objected, or some of them - British archaeologists
sd this thing ws most valuable -
it cd not be taken to Sydney. It wd be
a disaster to let it go there. Hurley
had a real row w / committee over
this - He told them / pavement ws already
ours - they cd go and inspect it & take
photos if they liked - but it wd be sent to 
Australia.
Lord Beaverbrook told me tt the Governors
Genl of Australia & Canada had written in to / ctee
saying tt all / most unique or irreplaceable trophies cd
be kept by / British War Museum in London.
Beaverbrook is going to fight this tooth and nail.
 

5
20
Nov 19. Monday. Spent the day
in conferences with
Col. Hurley, & Treloar & Wilkins as to
establishing a dark room &
photographic branch of the
A.W.R.S. - there is abundant 
work accumulating for it. Col
Griffiths has decided to ship the
section into larger quarters near
Horseferry Rd. It will occupy
at least 10 rooms.

Nov. 20. In order to get the one
original copies negative & one
positive of our cinema film
for record purposes we
visited Lord Beaverbrook 
this morning - [[?]] Treloar
& I. He was in his dressing
gown - rather haggard looking

I thought, but I dare say that 

5
21
was the effect of the undress.
At the end of it be broached
the question of the control of
the photographers, which he had
induced Gen Charteris to place
under Maj. Hope, a Canadian 
officer. [We ^had protested at the time,
immediately, against this being
done by GHQ without our being
informed or consulted. ^Lytton the new
censor replied tt he understood from
General Charteris that
we had bn consulted, & tt any
way the tram control only
applied to certain matters of
sale. But Faunthorpe , had hinted
who Beaverbrook was the
only man who informed me of
it sd tt beaverbrook had
seen Hurleys work & wanted
to rake him in under his own
control - I did not believe
this. Hurle Something Hurley 

5
22
afterwds sd made one wonder
if it were not true - it looked
as if Hurley had had an offer
made to him by / Canadians -
of all of this we knew nothing
whatever].
Beaverbrook has been
running the Canadian records
himself & has spent money
lavishly on pictures, photos,
& cinema. And These
have returned about £15000,
£4000 being the result of his
book on "Canada in Flanders."
He now wants to recoup
as much as he can of this -
& is going to ask the War Cinema
committee for a quarter of
their fund - £25,000 this will.
amount to. The original idea
ws to give this to charitable