[Very faint and smudged]
Up at 6.15 o’clock again. Busy all day. My turn on at night. Went to the Y M in the afternoon and wrote a long letter to Ernie. Fine night.
Yearly Archives: 2017
3 June 1917; Sunday
Up at 6.30 as usual. Kept busy all day. Off at night and went to the Y M service. Enjoyed it very much. Had short walk round afterwards. Eric Hardy, Wishaw, Billy Truman, Lennie Protherell†, Peter Simmons and Exley down.
2 June 1917; Saturday
Up at 6.45. Very busy first thing. Kept pretty well at it all day. Saw some new triplanes up for the first time. Did a bit French. Harvey and Ross called. I walked through the town with them to see about Billy Truman’s watch. Billy and Ross lance-corporals1. Fine day. Saw 112th stretcher bearers go up in battle order2.
Billy and Ross had presumably been promoted to Lance-Corporal from Private.
ALL himself had been promoted to Lance-Corporal on 7 September 1915. He had, probably mistakenly, reverted to Private on deployment to France on 31 May 1916 and claimed in a 1976 interview to have been “the only man in France who went through the war Lance Corporal acting Private with Lance Corporal’s pay.” He regarded this as a rather comic reversal of a situation, common probably in 1914-18 and certainly since then, in which men were temporarily given the responsibility of a higher rank without being paid for it: “acting unpaid” Lance-Corporal, Corporal or Sergeant. ↩
“Saw 112th stretcher bearers…”: Probably preparation for the Battle of Messines Ridge, which began on 7 June. See also note on 22 May. ↩
1 June 1917; Friday
Up at 6.45. Kept busy all day. My night off. Had a bath in the evening. Went to the pictures in the concert hall at night with Whittaker. Fine night.
31 May 1917; Thursday
Up at 6.45. Felt pretty rotten after a poor night. Very busy first thing. Lieutenant Moores went and died. Stayed in at night. A little bit of shelling but not in our direction.
30 May 1917; Wednesday
Up at 6.30. Very busy first thing. Did a bit French in the afternoon. Read a bit of Stacpoole’s novel1. Received another officer – R G A2. Fine onset†. Out at night with Dai Davies and Driver. We went to the concert hall where there was a lecture on Egypt by Bishop Gawain†. It was pretty interesting and the Army Group Commander was in the chair. An orchestra was in attendance and we sang two hymns. Sergeant Holmes went with us and when he saw the hymn books <he> came out again, and afterwards said it was a swindle advertising a lecture and then having hymns. Met an old Sheffield chap in a shop at night.
Shelled by big high velocity gun during the night and put the wind up many of us.
“Stacpoole’s novel”: See footnote on 29 May, Stacpoole and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩
R G A: Royal Garrison Artillery, the branch in which Ernie Linfoot was serving. ↩
29 May 1917; Tuesday
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. ↩
Stacpoole
On 29 May 1917, Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had “read a bit of Stacpoole’s Wilderness”. He continued reading it on 30 May.
Stacpoole could be either Henry De Vere Stacpoole (1863 – 1951), a very popular and prolific Irish author best-known for his novel The Blue Lagoon (1908; adapted as films many times, most famously in 1980), or; HDVS’ eldest brother, William Henry Stacpoole (1846 – 1914), doctor of divinity, Dean of Kingstown1 school and also a published author.
No book entitled “Wilderness” appears in bibliographies of either Stacpoole although much of HDVS’ oeuvre (including The Blue Lagoon) takes wilderness as a theme, while WHS’ books are all science fiction. This may suggest that the book Arthur Linfoot was reading on this day was by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, although which of his books this was remains unclear.
The Irish coastal town of Dún Laoghaire was known as Kingstown from 1821 to 1920. ↩
28 May 1917; Monday
Up at 6.30. Kept busy all day. Stayed on at night. Had walk round the town in the morning. The Germans had put a big gun again and shelled heavily round about. I lay awake a good while listening.
Heard that a lot of artillery and suchlike had been killed the night before and that the dressing station had 70 wounded there. Wrote letter to Mr Eaves about Mr Mullens1. Did a bit French at night and read a bit.
27 May 1917; Sunday
Up at 6.30. Busy as usual. My turn off at night. Went to the Y M service by Amiss†. Enjoyed it very much. Good singing and good hymns. Watched the Germans shell an observation balloon and the observers go down in their two parachutes.
Fritz1 shelled heavily at night and did some damage.