Surviving Chunuk Bair: H D Skinner at Gallipoli
H D Skinner was one of over 24 000 ANZAC soldiers injured during the Gallipoli campaign of WWI.
He went on to become our Museum Director.
Our special display Surviving Chunuk Bair: H D Skinner at Gallipoli told his story, from digging trenches to dodging machine gun fire. Visitors experienced his recollections of the battlefield as told through the items he used, the images he gathered and the letters he sent home to family.
H D Skinner sent these letters to family and friends in New Zealand during the war. Four of them detail the three days and nights of fighting during the Battle of Chunuk Bair, and were written in 1915.
The other four were written from Cambridge, England in 1917 and include details about H D’s recovery, research and life at Cambridge with his new wife Eva.
Here we publish some of those documents, preserved digitally for all to read.
Download each letter's scan and transcript:
October 1915 Bethnal Green Infirmary transcript
October 1915 Bethnal Green Infirmary letter
22 October 1917 Father transcript