Up at 6.45. Not quite so warm. Usual work. Had short walk in the town in the afternoon. On at night. A new officer in with impetigo1. Did a little French and read a bit of Stacpoole’s2 Wilderness†3. Sergeant Powell and Steve Bott called and told of the shelling up the line. They had 60 cases through the dressing station last night. In at night and managed all right. Received another officer in my ward – a captain in the R A M C. Busy until nearly 11 o’clock.
Stacpoole: If correct, could be either: Henry De Vere Stacpoole (1863 – 1951); a very popular and prolific Irish author; best-known for his novel “The Blue Lagoon” (adapted as films many times, most famously in 1980), or; HDVS’ eldest brother, William Henry Stacpoole (1846 – 1914); doctor of divinity, Dean of Kingstown school and also a published author. ↩
“Wilderness”: The shorthand reading is probably not correct; no work with this or any similar title appears in any list of works by either Stacpoole. See also Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩