FIRST WORLD WAR. Two diaries, one by 2nd Lt Lionel Frederick Southwell Sotheby, the other by his father William Edward Southwell Sotheby. Lionel was transferred to the First Battalion of the Black Watch in 1914, his diary contains a few detailed drawings of enemy lines, transcripts of official communications and some vivid accounts of the action: 'The Germans threw petrol bombs at the wounded and then shot them down when trying to rise... 8 officers 150 men killed and wounded. One batch of prisoners were all slaughtered'. His father William, being too old for the front line, joined the ambulance Corps in September 1914 when his diary starts, he begins on the Western front tending to the injured and dead: 'One of my wounded had his leg amputated, the thigh taken out of the socket', the diary shows a resilience of spirit in coping with such horrors, on 1st October 1915 he records: 'Received letter fr. Ronald Irwin Chaplain of the 2nd Blk. Watch saying the darling boy, they thought, was dead, killed in action.... He was once wounded and went on gallantly leading his men. Eventually a grenade burst at his feet & he fell on the German parapet.' A few days later he notes 'Am gaining knowledge that the darling boy is by my side in all my thoughts and actions - he is my guardian angel' referring to his son, Lionel.