Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/37/1 - January - February 1916 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/37/1
Title: Diary, January - February 1916
Includes references to the formation of new
divisions in Egypt, and to Gallipoli.
AWM38 - 3DRL606/37/1

Diary Second Series 
B.1 1
Jan 31 1916 - Feb 18
916
My visit of   In England
Original DIARY No. 37
AWM38 3DRL 606 ITEM 37 [1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C.E.W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914-1918
The use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.
The records should, therefore, be use with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946. C. E. W. Bean
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS 
OPEN

[* [[?]]
Splitting up of Bns Gellibrand [[?]]
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Circular [shorthand]
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4 8^th [shorthand]
9th
4
6^th Sept. 1915.
2
6 *]
1 

Diary Second Series
B.1
Jan 31 1916 - Feb 18
Jan 31. 1916.
My visit to In England
everything seemed much more
normal than in France so far as the 
people's amusements went. There
was a sort of hectic liveliness abt
the theatre porters where in France
there seemed to have fallen on / country
a steadfast quiet earnestness.
This may be very shallow impressions.
In England except for the darkened
streets of London - as for Brentwood 
it is an inky blackness after sundown 
- the shaded lights in / train, /
necessity for concealing all naked
light by drawing blinds & painting
/ upper half of motor car lamps
so th they cannot guide Zeppelins
along / main roads - you wdn't 
know / country was at war. Of 
course / French habit of going
into deep mourning for any sort
of relation who dies increases
/ soberness of France.
A glimpse of one solitary 
redoubt in / corner of a 
field as our train sped
towards London - a redoubt

2
quite empty, but made on model
lines - ws / only sign of fortificatn
tt I saw. At night you wd notice / beams 
of / huge double searchlights always
alight & sweeping / sky. I suppose
they are / best precaution - but
tt in spite o / fact tt they direct
aircraft towards London they
/ balance ^of advantage is on their side.
The Australian is having the
time of his life in London - & the
better class of men are getting
well appreciated there. They are 
always open handed - the real 
Australians, & the poorer classes
especially love them. Some scallywags
are continually bringing the country's
name into peril ^Eg. by taking taxi's 
& jumping out without paying
the driver - a very mean dodge
for the driver has to pay his
owners. But you find mean
hounds everywhere, even in the
best society.
The girls are simply throwing
themselves at our mens heads

3
& there have been a lot of
marriages. Some men have 
taken their discharge in England
& a large number - I have
heard it put as high as 800 -
are missing. The military control
is a bit slack - Buckley who
is supposed to be head of the
organisation is hopelessly weak.
He waited so long before giving
answers - "The war office wdn't
approve!" "We'd better wait & 
see!"  "I don't think they'd like it."
"We'll leave things to develop a little"
that the control in England has 
really shifted into the hands 
of Sir Newton Moore who has bn
made a Brigadier Genl. But
Moore is a politician, and 
the art of politicians is to please,
& tho' he's a strong man for 
a politician I doubt if he could
do the unpopular things which
military leaders of any worth
in the world always have to do.

4
Besides, the Agents General have 
so long had to make things
pleasant & smooth for Australian
visitors that they get to look on
this as the end of all successful
organisation.
The Base in England was
gradually getting into a hopeless
tangle when Sir George Reid handed 
it over to H.C. Smart, his ablest
Civil Clerk, then head of the Publicity
Dept, to unravel. And Smart
has really done wonders. He
started with the records, which were
headless & tail-less. He has now
a card system, a with a card for
every soldier who becomes a
casualty. Every single movement
of every casualty is (if Egypt
does its job) records on each man's 
card. As soon as he comes to England 
& he is sent off from his ship to any
hospital the hospital informs
Smarts office in London - & every

5
move which the man then makes
is reported to Smart - until he leaves
England.
On this card index record of casualties
the whole office system is built up;
The Information branch answers
every question about casualties 
- our 200,000 have been answered
up to / present, i.e. abt 2 for every
man in / force; Smart also sends
reports of all movements of men
to Red X socies. in Australia
so tt they may answer similar
inquiries there.
The Post office sends on / 
mail received in Cairo to /
men at / addresses on / cards.
10,000 letters per wk are dealt w
at this p.o.
The organisation for providing
soldiers in hospital w various
necessities from / Red X is carried 
on thro' / same card record.
Every hospital where there are 
many Australians has an n.c.o.

6
in charge to tell / men what they
can get & find out what they 
want. Hospitals Men going to
hospitals where there is no Australian
n.c.o. are written to.
& so on. This is an admirable
organisation, The only fault
perhaps is if it is too kind &
therefore expensive thro' being too
kind. Men seem to be fitted out
"better than new" by the ordnance
dept - certainly they look very
smart in / London streets in 
their brand new clothes, belts
hats boots badges putties - but
I doubt if a very careful economy
is practised here, as it ought to be.
However / absence of muddling
probably saves far more money
that the ordnance loses. And I
doubt if men are cleared out of
England fast eno' by these soft hearted
medical boards; Smart has
nothing to do w that. Certainly

7
many o / men are really
ill - broken in nerve. But those
cases ought to be sent back to
Australia. Men are apt to put 
off their boards from wk to wk by
writing (without a doctors certificate
- sometimes with it) to say they
are unfit to come. The returns 
from / hospitals are very bad &
incomplete inaccurate. On the strength
of one such return, / Commonwealth
procured a great convalescent 
home of I think 800 beds in
St Peter St. (to wh Jack has been
attached) & so far only 20 men
have bn found to put in it.
There ought not to be 10,000
Australians in England - Many of
them have been given commissions
in the Imperial army - largely 
thro' / instrumentality of an

officious committee of the Royal
Colonial Institute. I met 
that little man Coleman P. Hyman,

8
who used to exist in Sydney, the 
other day - & he has got himself
made secretary of this Ctee.
"We have got "I have been very
busy since / war broke out," he sd, 
"getting commissions for colonials
- oh, very busy. We have got a 
a great number." "I think they've
been giving some from Egypt of
late," I sd. "Oh no - not at
all." he interjected  - "We
got them here - numbers of
them - that is what I have bn
doing." Coleman P. Hyman has
always pushed himself into
office jobs in connection w /
Imperial organisation & he 
has bn always one of those men 
whom I believe to be the
Imperialist of the most obnoxious
class - the man who professes to
speak for Australia (wh certainly
doesn't own him) from / standpoint o /
inferior state taking any crumb of