Opened Shop. Mother went up to the shop first thing and opened it. The people still in the house. Gertie up with mother. Very little doing. I went up at night last thing and saw the place for the first time. Late when we got to bed. A good deal excitement and anxiety about the shop.
Yearly Archives: 2015
7 February 1915; Sunday
Got up in good time and had a bath. At chapel and school as usual. Mother at the shop with Mr Gordon taking stock all the morning. Had dinner late. Stayed to sacrament at night. Went to Gordon’s with Mother at night and placed an order for keys for the shop. Stormy night.
6 February 1915; Saturday
At work and busy. Went to Training Centre at night. Had usual walks with Willie Whittaker. Arrangements being made about the business.
5 February 1915; Friday
At work as usual. Spent most of the day in writing out copies1 of the 1st & 2nd over again and didn’t finish until late. In bad temper about it. Tired at night. Played a bit and went out.
Possibly to replace the bad copies from the copying machine? ↩
4 February 1915; Thursday
Had trouble at work through the copies being bad1. Wrote to Ernie at night and played the piano. A good deal of excitement about the prospects of the shop.
“Copies being bad”: Possibly as a result of yesterday’s problem with the copying machine? ↩
3 February 1915; Wednesday
Busy at work. Had trouble with copying machine1. Put in a drill at night and had the guns2 out.
It would be interesting to know what the copying machine was (possibly a mimeograph?), and what it was used for. Letters etc were typed with carbon paper copies, and old ink transfer copies of handwritten letters would have been obsolete by this date. ↩
“The guns” would no doubt be dummies for drill purposes. ↩
2 February 1915; Tuesday
Busy at work. Choir practice at night. Received word that the shop can’t be occupied for another week.
1 February 1915; Monday
At work as usual. Busy all day. Received letter from Ernie and one from Isaac1. Stayed in at night and read and looked up Pelman2. Walked out last thing. Another big British ship sunk by a German submarine in the English Channel3. Meeting in the Thornhill Hall of the athletes. Joe went but didn’t stay to the finish.
Isaac: see footnote to entry on 12 October 1914. ↩
Pelman: See 6 January 1914. ↩
It is not clear to which “big British ship” ALL may have been referring here. Three merchant ships (SS Ikaria, SS Tokomaru and SS Oriole) had been sunk by U-20 in the English channel (near Le Havre) on 30 January 1915 and U-20 also fired a torpedo at the hospital ship Asturias on 1 February. The latter attack failed when the torpedo missed its mark. Wikipedia notes these events briefly at this page. U-20 was later better known as the submarine which sunk Lusitania. ↩
31 January 1915; Sunday
At chapel and class as usual. Had Ron Haynes’ class and mine and had some trouble. Mr Mullens on the desk as Dick is unwell. Reverend Arthur Strother preached and was very slow in his delivery. Willie Blaikie went round with us at night. Charlie sang a piece from “St Paul”. There was some trouble about his book and some misunderstanding. The German submarines sunk some British ships in the Irish Sea1.
On 30 January 1915, U-21, the first U-boat in the Irish sea, captured Ben Cruachan (a collier) and two other ships. Ben Cruachan was scuttled some 15 miles north-west of Morecambe Light House using explosive charges set by U-21 crew. See World War 1 at Sea – Royal Navy Vessels Lost and Damaged at Naval-History.net ↩
30 January 1915; Saturday
At work as usual1. Finished shortly before 2 o’clock. Went round with Charlie and called at Whittakers in the afternoon and arranged to go to the King’s Theatre directly†. Went to the King’s Theatre and heard “Il Trovatore”. It was very good though I didn’t like it so well as Wednesday night’s piece2.
Saturday morning working was of course normal – as it remained until the 1960s. ↩
Wednesday night’s piece: See 27 January. ↩