British Army Corporal’s Post World War 2 A -Z Notes

An A-Z indexed notebook once belonging to Corporal Horth who notes his British army number, rank, posting and marriage details to the front free endpaper ‘4013132 Cpl Horth. Egypt 1948 -50 and Mr Mrs Horth 1958’. The contents are eclectic beginning with a hand written Arabic language phonetic alphabet and the words ‘Attestations 5th November 1946’ in the A section of leaves. Section F notes the names of types of aircraft and the words ‘approximately 20 hrs’, H notes Horth family birthdays and Holt family members in USA, R notes RAF bases and captains’ names. Many leaves reflect the owner’s knowledge in preservation and restoration techniques: B for brass cleaning and a beeswax recipe, D for dials silvering, G for gilding techniques and glass stoppers, I for ink stains on paper, M for marble cleaning, O for oak fuming, P for paintings cleaning and pewter polish, S for steel blueing.

Many names and addresses are noted throughout and indicate a connection to the Ipswich/Suffolk area and the surnames Cresswell, Curtis, Minter, Harvey, Hayes and Russell.