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The port of Avonmouth wasn鈥檛 only used for those leaving Britain, but also for those who were coming back home. For the latter part of the war; over 24,000 patients arrived in Avonmouth. Thirteen thousand soldiers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were brought back to Avonmouth to convalesce.

In the first full year of the war; 147,956 people left Avonmouth for their duty around the world. One of which was Major Jesson. Originally from Southampton, and serving in the Wiltshire Regiment, his diary gives a detailed account of the journey from Avonmouth on the RMS Franconia to Basra.

He served with the 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, in the Gallipoli and Mesopotamia Campaigns. His papers contain a detailed account of his travels from England to the Dardenelles via Lemnos, and time spent at Cape Helles (July 1915), Lemnos, Anzac (August 1915), and Suvla Bay (October 1915) until his evacuation by hospital ship following exposure and strain in the cold (January - February 1916).

Jesson鈥檚 papers include descriptions of his journeys, the trenches, his duties, battalion casualties, and a list of all the officers of the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment who had left England on Franconia and what happened to them subsequently, as well as poems. However the most poignant items are the two telegraphs informing his family of his death in action on 22 February 1917, and copies of two letters written by Lt R I Scorer and Lt Col R H Haseldine of 5th Wiltshire Regiment expressing their sorrow at his death at the hands of a Turkish sniper near Kut.

Location: Avonmouth Docks, Bristol BS11 9DQ
Image shows a ship leaving Avonmouth Docks for Canada, May 1910, courtesy of the Hulton Archive, Getty Images

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