- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Petch, Percival William, 1886-1940
- Title:
- Percival W. Petch Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/b2773z976
- Dates:
- circa 1900-1953
- Size:
- 1 box
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box B-001177
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Consists primarily of an unpublished manuscript, dating from 1917 to 1919, along with clippings and a few original photographs documenting the experiences of Percival William Petch (1886-1940), a British army officer who was stationed along the Macedonian Front during World War I.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
This collection consists primarily of an unpublished manuscript along with photographic clippings and original photographs documenting the experiences of Percival William Petch (1886-1940), a Derby Scheme volunteer with the British Army who was stationed in Thessaloniki (Salonika) during World War I. Also included are a couple of poems by Petch as well as some ephemera and war memorabilia, including a Derby Scheme uniform armband.
Some correspondence, war memorabilia, ephemera, and photographs relating to Petch's brother, Eric George Petch (1892-1965), are also included in the collection. Eric Petch, a druggist, also served in World War I as a private with the British Army Labour Corps. He later worked for the Refuge Field Staff Association.
A few Petch family photographs and ephemera are also included.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Petch, Percival William, 1886-1940
Percival William Petch served with the British Royal Army as a Derby Scheme volunteer from 1916 to 1919. After being rejected from serving twice, Petch was recruited into the army in March 1916, and arrived in Thessaloniki in November 1917. From September 1918 until his discharge in December 1919, Petch was confined to several hospitals and camps in Greece, Turkey, and finally England where he was treated for various illnesses, including malaria. He was ultimately promoted to Corporal in March 1919.
Born in 1886 in Worcestershire to John Robert Petch (b. 1862) and Fanny Annie Colsey (1862-1937), Petch worked for a time as a clerk, and later as a performer and comedian. He died in Lancashire in 1940.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Purchased in 2017 . (AM 2018-34)
Acquired with matching funds provided by the Program in Hellenic Studies, with support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund.
- Appraisal
No materials were separated during 2018 processing.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Faith Charlton in January 2018. Finding aid written by Faith Charlton in January 2018.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
Open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Credit this material:
Percival W. Petch Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/b2773z976
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA(609) 258-3184
Find More
- Subject Terms:
- World War, 1914-1918—Campaigns—Balkan Peninsula—Sources.
World War, 1914-1918—Campaigns—Greece—Sources.
World War, 1914-1918—Campaigns—Greece—Thessalonikē—Sources.
World War, 1914-1918—Personal narratives, British--Sources. - Names:
- Great Britain. Army—History—World War, 1914-1918—Sources
