More than 200 letters sent home by soldier serving in the First World War published 100 years on

This photo shows Captain J D Hills second from right Credit: Leicester City Council

More than 200 letters sent home by a soldier serving in The Great War are being published 100 years to the day since they were written.

‘Captain JD Hills’ Letters from the Front’ were written between February 1915 and November 1918. Each of the 230 letters will posted to the online blog from today, exactly a century on from the day they were written.

The blog is a partnership project between Leicester City Council’s museums service and The Royal Leicestershire Regiment, with support from The Imperial War Museum. It is part of an ongoing programme of events and exhibitions to mark the centenary of the First World War.

Captain Hills served in the 1/5 (Territorial) Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, having enlisted at the start of the First World War at the age of 19 years old. After training in the UK, he was posted to France in February 1915.

It is at this point that his personal account begins with a letter dated February 26, 1915, recounting his departure from Southampton docks and arrival in Hardifort, France.

The letters were given to the Royal Leicestershire Regiment by Captain Hills’ son.

The exercise books – which ran to over 170,000 words – were painstakingly transcribed for the blog by museum volunteer Lilian Upton.

Philip French, museum curator at Leicester City Council, said: “Captain Hills sent frequent letters home to his family, dashing off a few lines whenever he could.

“His mother copied the letters into a series of 13 exercise books, sometimes noting where they were sent from and occasionally adding her own comments.

“This complete archive of letters provides a very candid and personal insight into one of the most studied periods in human history and we delighted to be able to share this online.”

The Royal Leicestershire Regiment was an infantry regiment formed in 1688. It served with distinction around the world until being merged into The Royal Anglian Regiment in 1964. Since 1825, it was known by its famous nickname ‘The Tigers’.

The Tigers’ regimental gallery is on permanent display at Newarke Houses Museum.

Captain J D Hills’ Letters from the Front will be published here from today until 2018.