Yearly Archives: 2017

1 December 1917; Saturday

Abridged, December 1917, , ,

Up about 7 o’clock and on double1 as usual. Spent morning at stretcher drill. Went to match in the afternoon. We scored first half. They equalised second half. Played extra time and we scored shortly before time. Ambulance team beat North Lancs 2 – 12. Letter in the Daily News from Lord Lansdowne asking what we are fighting for?3

  1. Double march, or run. See all diary entries tagged “double“. ↩

  2. A rematch? See 28 November. ↩

  3. Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, famously wrote a letter which called for Britain to negotiate a peace with Imperial Germany  in 1917. The letter was published in The Daily Telegraph on 29 November 1917; presumably The Daily News had subsequently picked up the story. The letter was highly controversial at the time. See Lansdowne Letter at Wikipedia. ↩

28 November 1917; Wednesday

Abridged, November 1917,

Up shortly before 7 o’clock. Paraded at 10 o’clock with full pack and were inspected first by the C.O. and afterwards by the A D M S 1.

In the afternoon went to the football match between our team and the North Lancs2. A very exciting game. They scored in the second half and we scored in the last three minutes. Played extra time 10 minutes and played the Lancs to a standstill, but couldn’t score.

  1. A D M S: Assistant Director of Medical Services. ↩

  2. “North Lancs” is probably the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment; its 7th battalion was in the 19th (Western) Division. ↩

22 November 1917; Thursday

Abridged, November 1917, , ,

Up about 7 o’clock. On the double1 as usual. On parade and put on the competition squad. Spent afternoon writing and made good progress with French. Heard of victory on the Somme.

British advance on Cambrai 2. 8000 prisoners and many guns.

  1. Double march, or run. See all diary entries tagged “double“. ↩

  2. The Battle of Cambrai (commenced 20 November) is best known as the occasion when tanks were first used in adequate numbers; the few available in 1916 having had their secrecy blown by being tried prematurely on the Somme, and in 1917, still in small numbers, having been largely wasted in impractical ground conditions at Passchendaele. ↩