Army Form B.50 - Soldiers' Small Book

Army Form B.50 was the Soldiers' Small Book which contained his personal details as well as notes and observations designed to be helpful to the soldier such as points to be observed on outposts, how to prevent sore feet, and instructions for cleaning the rifle and carbine. Every soldier was issued with one - and so too were airmen, as in the image above,at that point in its evolution when the Royal Flying Corps was just another army corps.

I have a couple of these in my collection, including the one my great grandfather kept when he joined the Army Service Corps in November 1915. In my experience it is rare to find these books completely filled in; often as not they appear to be largely blank, but they are nice objects to own and can be useful as there is a section which deals with the soldier's description on attestation as well as details of his next of kin.

As these books were issued to the soldier it it is rare to find them in service records - indeed, I have never seen one - but they do turn up at trade fairs and on well-known internet auction houses and they can be useful starting points for research projects.