Category Archives: August 1916

All diary entries written in August 1916

31 August 1916; Thursday

Went to Baileul 1 at 8.30 to have tooth done. Got there about 9 o’clock. Walked round town. Had dinner at the C.C.S. Left Bailleul about 3 o’clock. Called in at the house in the village we found the other night and had coffee. Munton, Taylor and Moss. Worked an hour extra at night. Wrote letter to Dorothy and commenced one to Father in reply to one <I> had received from him today.


  1. Baileul: ALL always omits one ‘l’ from ‘Bailleul’ in his longhand; the transcription follows this, but where he writes it in shorthand, ie phonetically, it is transcribed with the correct spelling. 

30 August 1916; Wednesday

Up at 6.30. Fatigue cleaning walls and scrubbing floors. Stormy wet day. Wrote to Ranald MacDonald. Heard that Roumania12 has joined Allies.


  1. Roumania joined the Allies (not least because Bulgaria was with the Central Powers) with singularly bad timing. Falkenhayn was removed from the Western Front due to his perceived failures (and replaced by Hindenburg, who was President of Germany in 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor), but when transferred to Transylvania (still part of Austria-Hungary at this time) proved much too good for the Roumanians, who were routed in Wallachia (the southern portion of the country, where Bucharest is situated, between the Carpathians and the Danube) and were driven back to their original capital Iași (pronounced Yash; formerly spelt Jassy) at the Northern end of Moldova. 

  2. In 1916, Romania was still usually spelled “Roumania” or “Rumania” in English, from the French “Roumanie”.  The modern English spelling, “Romania”, was adopted some time after WWII. 

28 August 1916; Monday

Up at 5 o’clock. Marched off at 9†.30. Heavy road and very muddy. Arrived about 11 o’clock. Call new village Meteren1. Germans here a few days and driven out by British. Going to run a D.R.S. 2 and we are the advance party to clean up. Unloaded† waggons in the afternoon. Went round village at night and found Y.M. Played piano a bit. Dug latrines and dug up some refuse with a fearful smell.


  1. Méteren: 2km due W. of Bailleul. 

  2. “D.R.S.”: Divisional Rest Station. 

26 August 1916; Saturday

Worked outside in the morning at the dining hall. My afternoon off. Went with Duggins to Baileul1. Walked so far and then jumped on the back of a motor lorry. Had a good day. Posted a few postcards. Went to the Y.M. and played the piano. First time since I have been in France. Went to the pictures and enjoyed them. Rode back in horse ambulance. Charlie Farr, Sam Hall, and Corporal Salisbury† in and they were all pretty well drunk. Had a good day.


  1. Baileul: ALL always omits one ‘l’ from ‘Bailleul’ in his longhand; the transcription follows this, but where he writes it in shorthand, ie phonetically, it is transcribed with the correct spelling. 

24 August 1916; Thursday

Up at 6.30. Dressed and went across to headquarters with Taylor and off to Baileul1 C.C.S. for dental treatment again. Drilled a bit more out of my tooth and put me to go back in 6 days. Had a good day.


  1. Baileul: ALL always omits one ‘l’ from ‘Bailleul’ in his longhand; the transcription follows this, but where he writes it in shorthand, ie phonetically, it is transcribed with the correct spelling. 

23 August 1916; Wednesday

Up at 6.45 and had to hurry. A foot parade on and Taylor had to look after the group and I called the roll†. Scrubbed one out with mop†. In the afternoon went across to headquarters and got a gramophone. It played most of afternoon, very good too. Washed mess tin first, mess tin cover and handkerchief. Wrote a letter home. Went to bed early.

Got friendly with an R.F.A. man called Salkeld, he went out in the afternoon.

22 August 1916; Tuesday

Up at 7 o’clock. Kept busy all morning washing floor. Had afternoon off. Received letter from home telling me of Chadwicks’1 departure. Read some of British Weekly. Had eggs and coffee and custard for super.


  1. Rev. Chadwick had been a minister at the South Durham Street United Methodist Free Church, of which ALL had been a member prior to enlisting. Rev. Chadwick was first mentioned on 4 January 1914, and again on many subsequent occasions