Got up early and drilled. Not much to do at work. Went to Patriotic Concert in Victoria Hall1 with Willie Whittaker and Alf Wright and his sister. Very good concert. The Sunderland Vocal Union were the chorus and Mr L A Nicholson’s orchestra accompanied. Mrs Vincent and Miss Spain, and Mr William Hendry were the singers and a lady recited.
Germans commence to bombard Antwerp2 at midnight with heavy guns & 6 Zeppelin Airships drop bombs3.
Victoria Hall: see note on 10 January. ↩
Winston Churchill rather controversially went personally to take part in the defence of Antwerp, on the arguably slender grounds that Royal Marine troops were involved; he was First Lord of the Admiralty – not an operational appointment – and no longer a serving officer in the Army. ↩
This presumably means “on Antwerp”: the first Zeppelin raids on England are said to have been in January 1915. ↩