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.

The Ice Storm, January 1940

Eric did not complete an entry in his diary over the next few days, presumably due to illness and possibly as a result of the intense cold w...

26th January 1940

Another tremendous snowstorm today from 4.30 to 6pm so that a further 6 inches fell. I am told that at places only a couple of miles out of ...

24th January 1940

Still freezing hard. I feel very ill. Chapman [Museum Attendant] went off sick today.

23rd January 1940

Freezing hard today, the roads just glistening sheets of ice. I have not yet heard that any horses have been involved in accidents through ...

19th January 1940

Vaughan got all one side of the old house [from Culver Street] up today [in the Castle], and Sisson came in to inspect it. It looks even mor...

17th January 1940

Woke this morning to find it still snowing. I decided that tonight Bob and Donkey must be shut in the Bourne Mill stable, but I must let the...

16th January 1940 - The Winter of 1940

This evening a tremendous fall of snow began. Never in my life have I seen such a fall. It started about tea time and fell in huge, soft fla...

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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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