All posts by Christopher Linfoot

I Will Repay

Cover ImageI Will Repay is a novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, author of The Scarlet Pimpernel, who lived at Acol (near Thanet in Kent).

I Will Repay is the second Scarlet Pimpernel book written by Orczy although it comes chronologically third in the series, after Sir Percy Leads the Band and before The Elusive Pimpernel.

Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had finished reading I Will Repay on 23 January 1916, while posted to the RAMC training camp at Alnwick.

The Family page has been updated to include a family tree and biographical details of Arthur Linfoot’s close family.

Newcastle Daily Journal 15 January 1916

Newspaper Clipping
Image © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Click or tap to enlarge.

Image and text via the British Newspaper Archive.

MOTOR AMBULANCE VAN FATALITY

Inquest on a Soldier at Alnwick

Mr Charles Percy held an inquiry at Alnwick yesterday, into the circumstances attending the death of Thomas Bell (32), a private on the motor transport of the Army Service Corps, though holding the local rank of sergeant while stationed at Alnwick. His death was the result of injuries received while driving a motor van in the direction of Alnwick, on Wednesday night.

Colonel P. Broome Giles, C.B., commandant of the convalescent camp at Alnwick, stated that the deceased had taken charge of the car1 entirely at his own initiative, and without orders.

Ernest Ball, a private in the motor transport of the Army Service Corps at Alnwick, stated that just before ten o’clock on Wednesday night he got an order to drive the motor ambulance car2 to Titlington with Mr G. Sordy and his wife, who had been attending the military concert in the Y.M.C.A. hut at the encampment. They got to Titlington, a distance of about ten miles, just after eleven o’clock. A gale of wind was blowing. They stayed at Titlington about half an hour, during which time he had one and a half glasses of whisky, and the deceased had two ordinary glasses of whisky. The deceased took the wheel of the car on the return to Alnwick. Continue reading Newcastle Daily Journal 15 January 1916 →

  1. Interestingly, “car” is used here in the same way as ALL himself often used it, to mean a generic motorised transport. ↩

  2. Here, “car” is qualified as “motor ambulance car”. Evidently “ambulance” on its own was not yet generally understood to mean a motorised patient transport. ↩

Prophets, Priests and Kings

Cover ImageProphets, Priests and Kings is the title of a book by Alfred George Gardiner, editor of the Daily News (a newspaper owned by George Cadbury) from 1902 to 1919.

The book comprises 20 short biographical essays on kings, emperors, politicians, generals & admirals of some 10 combatant nations.

The title is seemingly inspired by the Christian doctrine of the threefold office (munus triplex), which states that that Christ has three offices, Prophet, Priest and King, although the book itself is not a Christian work.

Arthur Linfoot read Prophets, Priests and Kings on 7 July 1915, while on holiday in St. Andrews.

The Sky Pilot

Cover ImageThe Sky Pilot is an 1899 novel by the Rev. Dr. Charles William Gordon, writing under the pen name Ralph Connor.

It is the story of a young minister whose vocation takes him to a frontier town where he is initially dismissed by secular townsfolk as “The Sky Pilot”.

Although intended to be insulting and used in that sense in the title of this book, Sky Pilot was (and still is) widely used by armed forces personnel as an affectionate nickname for a chaplain or padre.

Arthur Linfoot read The Sky Pilot on 7 July 1915, while on holiday in St. Andrews.

Poison Island

Poison IslandSir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch was a British writer who published under the pen name of Q. He is best known for the Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250–1900, but was also a prolific novelist.

Quiller-Couch’s novel Poison Island is the story of Harry who meets a mysterious Captain Coffin. Coffin is planning a voyage to the Honduras, where he expects to find treasure, while avoiding the poison of the title.

Arthur Linfoot read Poison Island while on holiday in St. Andrews on 5 July 1915.

She

Cover ImageShe is a novel by H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925), first serialised in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887.

The story is a first-person narrative that follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in the African interior where they encounter Ayesha, the eponymous “She”.

She remains one of Rider Haggard’s most popular books and has never been out of print.

Arthur Linfoot started to read She while on holiday in St. Andrews on 3 July 1915 and finished it the next day.