Henry Charles Buckle was an ordinary Tommy. A whitesmith from Tewkesbury, before the Great War he had been a part-time soldier with 5th (Territorial) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment. He volunteered for active service in September 1914, his period of service abroad was a relatively brief one. 1/5th Glosters went to France on 29th March 1915, and Henry was injured in October of that year when a trench collapsed on him, as a result of enemy shell-fire.
During his time on the Ypres Salient he kept a diary and sketchbook. He was a keen amateur photographer and water-colourist. Together with his diary, Henry Buckle’s paintings, over sixty in number, provide a fascinating insight into life in and out of the trenches in France during 1915. Contemporary colour images from the front are all too rare, and Henry’s charming and naïve pictures are full of exquisite details and insights.
From moving images of destruction in Arras, Messines, the Somme and Ypres to caricatures of his fellow soldiers and officers through to sketches of washing, cooking and patrolling, Tommy’s Sketchbook is a unique view of trench life not to be missed.
