WW2: A Civilian in the Second World War

This blog posts extracts from E J Rudsdale's diaries of life on the home front in Britain during the Second World War. Each extract was posted exactly 70 years after it was first written, marking the 70th anniversary of the Second World War between 2009-2015.

20th May 1940

Germans still advancing, heading for Cambrai.
Posted by E J Rudsdale at 07:00
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E J Rudsdale
Born on 14th February 1910 in Colchester, Essex. Began work at Colchester Castle Museum in 1928.
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Buy the Book Here

Buy the Book Here
The book, E.J. Rudsdale's Journals of Wartime Colchester, edited by Catherine Pearson, contains Rudsdale's primary account of his experiences during the Second World War.

E.J. Rudsdale's blog publishes additional material from his wartime journals that it was not possible to include in the book.

New Readers

Click here for an introduction to Eric Rudsdale and his journals. Also link to the people and places mentioned in his diaries.

Acknowledgements

The diary extracts and photographs published in this blog appear by kind permission of the heirs to Eric Rudsdale's estate and Essex Record Office.

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      • 31st May 1940: The wartime removal of signposts
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New Book by Catherine Pearson - Museums in the Second World War: Curators, Culture and Change

New Book by Catherine Pearson - Museums in the Second World War: Curators, Culture and Change
Available in hardback, paperback and e-book

New Children's Book by Catherine Pearson - The Sole Bay Railway

New Children's Book by Catherine Pearson - The Sole Bay Railway
Available now in paperback and e-book

The Sole Bay Railway

For The Sole Bay Railway blog click here

New book by Catherine Pearson and Neil Wiffen - Broomfield in World War Two

New book by Catherine Pearson and Neil Wiffen - Broomfield in World War Two

Favourite websites

  • Ronald Hellen - Artist and Illustrator
  • Catherine Pearson - Author

Links to other historic diary blogs

  • Alwyne Garling's Wartime Colchester Diaries
  • Orwell Diaries
  • Tom Critchley's Letters 1940 to 1941
  • J W N Broom's War Letters
  • WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier
  • The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Media Links relating to E.J. Rudsdale's Journals

  • BBC Radio 4 'Making History' programme featuring 'E.J. Rudsdale's Journals of Wartime Colchester', 22 March 2011
  • Article on 'E.J. Rudsdale's Journals of Wartime Colchester' in 'Essex Life' magazine, January 2011, see pages 86-89
  • Buy the book: 'E.J. Rudsdale's Journals of Wartime Colchester'

Links related to E J Rudsdale's Blog

  • Colchester Museums Service
  • National Trust: Bourne Mill
  • Essex Record Office
  • Short History of Colchester in Essex
  • Victoria County History of Essex: Colchester
  • Colchester Heritage Explorer
  • WW2 Timeline - BBC History
  • World War II today: Wartime events as they happened
  • The Literary Consultancy

Links related to the history of Colchester and Essex

  • Camulos - The Colchester Webpages
  • Essex Society for Archaeology and History
  • Essex Society for Family History
  • Friends of Chelmsford Museums
  • Friends of Colchester Museums
  • Old Colcestrian Society
(c) Catherine Pearson 2009-2024
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