Busy at work. Got books pretty well up. Went up to Dr Robinson’s in reply to Father’s postcard and arranged for Father to call when he was well again. Went with Joe to the meeting of the Athletes in the Thornhill church school room. Long meeting. A lot of wasted time.
Category Archives: November 1914
29 November 1914; Sunday
At church and School as usual. Had usual walks. Fine day, but rather windy. Mr Chadwick preaching. Sang “Sun of my soul” at night. Mr Bowman† also sang solos. Father had a cold.
28 November 1914; Saturday
Worked until 3.30. Had dinner hour1 work, George and I. Went to the Training Centre at night and Joe went with me. Afterwards went for walk with Willie Whittaker and went up the Durham Road. Bought paper and it had in rumour of 2 German ships being sunk in the Baltic. The Herta & Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse , battle ship. [Following words encircled: - ] Not true2.
Could “hour” be “ower”, = “over [at]”? It would be the only bit of Sunderland dialect in the Diary. ↩
It is not known which paper published this rumour, but ALL was clearly right to discount it. The sinking of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse had happened (though not in the Baltic) on 26 August and was noted by ALL in his diary entry for the following day. There is no record of any ship named Herta at this time although there was an SMS Hertha which survived the war and was scrapped in 1920. ↩
27 November 1914; Friday
Got day book written up to date. Stayed in at night and wrote a long letter to Ernie. Went out last thing with Joe and had short walk round.
Russians gained great victory in East Prussia1.
East Prussia largely disappears from standard WW1 histories after Hindenburg’s victory at Tannenberg in September 1914, which stopped the Russian advance. According to a 1917 Illinois University thesis by Benjamin E. Ludvik, “The Russian Invasions of East Prussia, 1914-15”, the Germans in turn then advanced, despite bad roads and worse rail, but their attempt to cross the Niemen near Grodno (modern Hrodna) was repulsed with heavy losses; Ludvik quotes: “The London Times claims a great victory but the Germans deny the claim”. But this appears to date from 5 October. Ludvik records that thereafter the Russians advanced “slowly but surely”, and by 14 November had reached Stallupönen (c. 80 miles E. of Königsberg), where there had been a battle on 17 August, preceding Tannenberg. But the next phase, which Ludvik calls “The second [Russian] invasion of East Prussia” did not start until January 1915. So, failing any other candidate for the “great victory”, perhaps ALL had belatedly seen or heard a reference to The Times’ October headline, with the date missing. ↩
26 November 1914; Thursday
[Note at top of page – ] Bulwark
Busy at work. Mrs Spain to tea. Received news that the HMS.Bulwark1 had blown up in Sheerness Harbour & over 700 lives been lost. Went with Willie Whittaker to hear “Carmen” at the King’s. It was very good and the singing good too.
HMS Bulwark: pre-Dreadnought battleship attached to the Channel Fleet; exploded with the loss of 750 men (including 14 died later) when moored near Sheerness (Isle of Sheppey, in the Thames Estuary.) Cause believed to have been overheating of cordite charges placed too near a boiler-room bulkhead. ↩
25 November 1914; Wednesday
Busy at work. Went down to drill at night. Pretty fair drill. Commenced to write letter to Ernie afterwards. Roker road stopped from the bridge.
24 November 1914; Tuesday
Busy at work. Mr Kettle called for mother at night and we went to Garrett’s house and saw his parents. I went down to practice. Came round with Blaikie and Jim Wilkinson. A notice in the paper to the effect that the War Office is disposed to revive voluntary forces.
23 November 1914; Monday
Busy at work. Tried to get book up to date. Stayed in at night and commenced letter to Ernie Missionary Meeting. Very good meeting and collection about £1. Didn’t get out until late. I gave missionary report.
22 November 1914; Sunday
Missionary Anniversary. Rev G.M.Sheppard preached morning and evening and spoke in the School. He was very interesting and threw some interesting lights on life in China. Had usual walks. Charlie sang solo in the anthem “Incline Thine Ear” at night. Our turn in children’s service.
21 November 1914; Saturday
Finished in good time. Went across to Roker with Joe and saw the guns. 3 big guns on the Cliff Park and trenches all the way along. The road stopped off from halfway down. Taking Bede Memorial1 down. Watched them unloading 6”shells at Ebb’s Point battery. Went round town at night with Willie Whittaker and Charlie. A lot of strange soldiers in town. Went to Trinity Preparation School. Mr Milburn not present.
Bede Memorial: a sculpted stone cross, some 3 – 4m high, erected in early 20th century on Roker Cliff Park, between the east ends of Sidecliff Road and Rock Lodge Road. Removal of this monument (and probably others) was presumably intended to make it more difficult for an invading force to identify a specific location. The Bede Memorial was temporarily removed in WWII also, for the same reasons. See also Sunderland map. ↩