We started this investigation into the lives of two intriguing individuals around two months ago. Since then we have started to accumulate information on their role in the historic conflict.

So where did we start?

We started out by meeting with our sponsor who is based at Truro Cathedral. We were able to look through the roll of honour (list of fallen soldiers) to give us some inspiration to start our research. However, we were not able to find any sufficient leads and so decided to try another tactic.

We visited Cornwall Record Office in Truro (CRO) which holds an extensive archive of Cornish experiences from the First World War, including a number of diaries. This is how we first learned of Richard Charles Graves-Sawle; the record office holds a whole collection on the family, which includes a transcript of Richard’s diary from his entry into the Conflict in August 1914 up until his death in November of the same year.

Also within the collection are a number of letters from Richard to his mother, which gave us a number of helpful insights into his familial relationships, his attitude towards the conflict and its development. We are very lucky that we are able to work with such a personal account.