John Welch

During the First World War, John Welch corresponded regularly with members of his family. These letters cover the period from his training in Britain in 1915, to serving in France and until after the war in 1919.

John Welch (1884-1966) was a Lancaster solicitor who joined the Officer Training Corps in January 1915 and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant 4th (T.) Battalion King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment on 13th June 1915 and promoted to captain in July 1917. He served in France from January to August 1916 and was wounded during the Battle of the Somme on 8th August 1916. He returned to France from May 1917 to April 1919. After the war, he returned to being a solicitor but retired early to pursue his community interests and became a county councillor.

The collection of letters offers a compelling, personal impression of life at the front in the First World War. The letters bring to life the experience of an officer in the British Army during one of the defining conflicts of modern history.

The letters were transcribed with faithfulness to the style of the original by Catharine Margaret Welch, John Welch's granddaughter, and the daughter of his son Dr John Philip Lane Welch and the latter's wife, Annie Hogg Young.

The original letters and ephemera are preserved in envelopes, grouped by theme, date or recipient. However, the digitised letters and corresponding transcriptions have been arranged chronologically for the Lancaster Digital Collections platform to allow the personal narrative of John Welch's story to unfold with the course of the war.

The original letters and ephemera are preserved in envelopes, grouped by theme, date or recipient. However, the digitised letters and corresponding transcriptions have been arranged chronologically for the Lancaster Digital Collections platform to allow the personal narrative of John Welch's story to unfold with the course of the war.

John Welch Letters are kept in Lancaster University Special Collections and to be used only within Special Collections. They are for educational and research use only. Any requests for reproduction outside this scope must be agreed with the family owners. The originals have been digitised and are available for educational and research purposes only on Lancaster Digital Collections. They have been transcribed.

Received in 2018 for the purpose of digitisation from the Welch family.

The items have been catalogued and can be found by searching in the catalogue Onesearch of Lancaster University Library. Lancaster Digital Collections can also be search under keyword for specific words.

Originals have been digitised and available on Lancaster Digital Collections along with transcriptions of the letters.

Some of the original letters are difficult to read due to the conditions they were written in. In some cases the paper is very thin and sometimes a feint coloured pencil has been used which makes the writing difficult to read.

Originals cannot be reproduced without permissions from the Welch family. Digitsation happened under a licencing agreement with the Welch family. Use of the digital versions in Lancaster Digital Collection is for educational and research purposes only. Any use that comes outside this remit needs to be discussed with the Welch family who own the original items.

The original collection of letters and items was lent by the Welch family descendants for digitisation, however they have been happy for them to remain in Special Collections. The items have remained in the original order they were in in the envelopes which are labelled with letters and have different themes such as those received by John Welch's Auntie, Father, Sister, some chronologial envelopes etc. The originals have been kept in the order they were received in, however, for digitisation purposes they appear in Lancaster Digital Collections in chronological order.

The letters were loaned to Lancaster University Library by the Welch family for the purpose of digitisation. The Welch family still own the originals.

It is unknown whether these are all the letters and items and whether any would be added in the future by the family.

Original letters are held at Lancaster University Library Special Collections. For use in Special Collections only.