Corporal Vince Schürhoff – Life Off-Duty | Jim Beach

Over the years, we have filmed quite a lot of speakers at the branch. These have been available to view on the WFA's YouTube channel, and can also be found as 'articles' on the WFA website. However these videos have not been separately grouped for those visiting the Yorkshire branch 'landing page' on the website.

By starting a process of loading these onto the branch page, this makes a number of talks that stretch back to about 2019 'visible'.

In this presentation, Jim Beach talks about 'Corporal Vince Schürhoff – Life Off-Duty' - which was given to the branch in May 2022.

Corporal Vince Schürhoff came from a Birmingham business family that was German on his father’s side. He joined the British army in 1914 and served with 16th Warwicks until 1916. He was then seconded to signals intelligence work and later transferred to the Royal Engineers (Signal Service). Employed in a variety of intelligence roles, he was awarded the Military Medal in 1918. His diary provides an excellent window into the physical and mental worlds of a middle-class junior NCO on the Western Front, recording the nuances of life in the trenches and behind the lines.

Jim’s talk explains how Vince and his comrades spent their off-duty time, concentrating upon aspects of cooking and the forms of entertainment that they accessed.