All posts by Arthur Linfoot

15 April 1916; Saturday

April 1916, ,

On parade in the morning. Major inspected and complimented our room.

Inspection by G.O.C1.

We paraded on the square and formed in line. Afterwards formed a square while he made a speech. The band played and it was quite a flash affair. Walked around Ecclesall2 way in the afternoon with Plummer. Called in the Mappin Art Gallery3. Tea at Lyons’ café4 and afterwards went to Victoria Hall with Plummer. Good concert. Miss Eva Rich’s5 choir. Walked round market place afterwards.

  1. “G.O.C.”: General Officer Commanding. ↩

  2. “Ecclesall”: SW. suburb of Sheffield, 2½ miles from city centre. ↩

  3. Mappin Art Gallery, now Weston Park Museum (marked on map). See Sheffield map. ↩

  4. J. Lyons & Co., the same company as also famously imported tea, had a large and very successful nationwide chain of cafés. There would have been a Lyons’ café in most large towns at this time. Interestingly, though irrelevantly, Lyons was also the first company anywhere to incorporate computers into its business operations, which it did in the early 1950s. Lyons’ computing efforts were so successful that its computer business was later spun off, eventually forming part of ICL, now owned by Fujitsu. ↩

  5. Miss Eva Rich: The “Musical News & Herald” of 21 October 1922, regarding a performance of ‘Lohengrin’ by the Sheffield & District Grand Opera Society the previous week, observes that “Miss Eva Rich’s reappearance, after two years’ retirement from public singing, as Elsa, caused intense interest, and resulted in a personal as well as an artistic triumph.” She is also mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008, not with an entry of her own, but as a teacher of the Sheffield-born operatic baritone Peter Glossop (1928-2008). ↩

7 April 1916; Friday

April 1916, , , ,

Went out with Mother in the morning. Visited Granny and Whittakers and Uncle George and Aunt Mary. Stayed in and played duets all the afternoon. Left by the 6.38. All family to see me off, and Willie Whittaker, Uncle Jack and Hilda1 and Whittaker family. Joe travelled with me to Pallion. Met Shepherd at Durham and travelled by a through train. Got car into city and arrived at barracks about mid night.

  1. See Hilda disambiguation page. ↩

6 April 1916; Thursday

April 1916, , ,

Up late. Went to Mill1 in the morning and saw them all.

Nedderton.

Went to Newcastle by 3.30 train. Arrived Stannington2 at 4.5 and Betty waiting for me. Took me to their digs. Introduced to Miss Wells. Had tea. Another chap arrived after tea. Sat in with Betty in front of the fire and talked. Betty had a headache. Had supper. Had to hurry to the station. Betty set me down. Train a few minutes late. Stayed a few minutes in the station. Said goodbye to Betty.

Arrived Newcastle after 11. Left 11.45 and in Sunderland after mid night.

  1. “Mill”: Hendon Paper Mill, where ALL had been employed prior to joining the RAMC. See also Sunderland map. ↩

  2. Stannington: adjacent to Nedderton, but apparently on the rail line. ↩