Catalogue description Ts. Diary of Captain P W Kerr

Philip Kerr (1886-1941) was working at the Crown Mines in South Africa when the war broke out, and at Johannesburg on 26 September he enlisted as a Trooper in E Squadron of the Imperial Light Horse. After barely a fortnight's training, the Imperial Light Horse were ordered to the front to help put down the rebel forces under Maritz - "... the news was received with shouts of joy ..." (10 October). They entrained for Prieska and then made a long and very tiring march across country towards Uppington. These "days of heat, dust and dirt" were followed by a couple of inconclusive skirmishes with the rebels and, finally, a fiercer action with a rebel force under Kemp, in which ten men from the Imperial Light Horse were killed (25 November). Although Kemp escaped, the government's hold on Uppington and the surrounding area was secured.

In early December 1914 the Imperial Light Horse returned to Cape Town and later in the month they were landed at Walfish Bay in German South West Africa (28 December). Resistance was minimal, and Swakopmund was occupied within a few weeks, proving a rich source of booty for the South African troops (22 January 1915). Occasional counter-attacks were launched by the Germans, but Kerr did not see any further action before he was invalided back to Cape Town in March. During his convalescence and leave, he was offered a post on the Governor-General's staff, which he declined (7 May), and witnessed the anti-German riots in Johannesburg (12-16 May). At the beginning of June, he was discharged from the Imperial Light Horse and sailed home to volunteer for service in the British Army.

In July 1915 Kerr was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery and, after training in Ireland, he crossed to France in October and was posted to 114 Battery, 25th Brigade RFA, 1st Division, then in the Hulluch-Loos sector. The contrast with the cavalry skirmishes of the "gymkhana" war in Africa was painfully obvious: ".. there are a good many dead people lying about, which is rather beastly" he noted (29 November). Apart from frequent German shelling, the sector proved a peaceful introduction to trench warfare, and Kerr settled into his task of acting alternately as observation point officer and liaison officer with the local infantry. The behaviour of Major-General A.E.A. Holland, the RFA commander in the area, did, however, anger Kerr and explain to him why relations between staff and regimental officers were so unsatisfactory (11 December 1915, 21 February 1916).