Category Archives: 1916

All diary entries written in 1916.

29 June 1916; Thursday

June 1916, ,

Up at 7 o’clock. Washed in bucket. Walked up to the cooks’ place and had breakfast. Lee gave me some bread the night before. Had good breakfast. No letters. Saw some of the observation balloons up and watched one go down and go up again. Walked to the next village and visited the Y.M. Watched the Germans shelling an aeroplane – and miss it. Watched the shells bursting round Albert. Met a chap called Crooke who belongs to Castletown1. Had walk2 with Leaky, Duggins and Lee. Saw 22 Balloons up and one quite near. Watched Germans shelling aeroplanes last thing, and saw one brought down in the distance. Went to bed about 9 o’clock.

  1. Castletown: on N. bank of Wear, about 1¼ miles W of Southwick (Sunderland.)  ↩

  2. In his 1976 transcription ALL says that this walk, presumably from Laviéville (A), was to “Hehencourt”, with an ‘n’ typed over or under the ‘h’, so it was probably Hénencourt (B), but could (just) be Béhencourt (C). The name is definitely not written in this diary entry. Hénencourt is 2km N of Laviéville, 9km W of Albert, ref H7; Béhencourt is some 15km W of Albert, N of the D929, ref G8. ↩

28 June 1916; Wednesday

June 1916, , , ,

[The pencilled shorthand of this day’s entry is exceptionally faded.]

Got up at 9 o’clock. Rained heavily. Met two [illegible word deleted by ALL] Sheffield men. Had to walk about a mile to the canteen and got wet through. Shaved and washed under difficulties. Rained all morning. Had orders to parade ready for the lines at 5 o’clock but orders subsequently cancelled. Had to walk up to the top of the bank for each meal. Bully1 and biscuits. Walked to the bottom of the village at night and watched the shells bursting over Albert. An Engineer told us that the attack had been put off for 48 hours on account of the wet. The men played House2 nearly all day. Received letter from Franchie Inwood.

Saw shells bursting first thing.

  1. “Bully”: Short for bully beef, more commonly known as corned beef, a staple of troops in WW1 and all later conflicts until quite recently. ↩

  2. “House”: housey-housey, the WW1 name for WW2 (and later) tombola; now known as bingo. ↩

27 June 1916; Tuesday

June 1916,

Up as usual. Paraded first thing but it rained. We were told to get ready for moving. Had stew and biscuits for dinner. Helped to load waggons in the afternoon. Walked to the village at night. Packed up kit and marched off at 6.40. Long walk with few rests. Pack again heavy. Heard heavies1 towards the end of the journey. Lost way and had to sit down and wait for the officers finding the way. Arrived destination about 1.30. Had tea served with cheese and bread. Walked on to the billet. Was detailed off for the stretcher parties. Deserted barn. 2 tiers of beds. Slept well. Shell hit church tower as we passed. Sky lit up with the light of the guns. Very pretty.

Left Raineville. And arrived at Lavieville2.

  1. “Heavies”: heavy guns. The front line at the start of the first battle of the Somme was on the E. outskirts of Albert, and the main British sector of the battle straddled what is now the D929 – an old Roman road – towards Bapaume. ↩

  2. Laviéville (B), 5km W of Albert and about 20km E of Rainneville (A), just N of the D929; ref H8. See also June 1916 map (movements since arrival in France). ↩

26 June 1916; Monday

June 1916,

On guard in the morning. Paraded with the guard. Tossed up and won for the officers’ guard. Wrote letter home in reply to one received. Had a bath in a biscuit tin. Also at on [sic: presumably ‘on at’] one o’clock and finished at 5 o’clock. Went to the village at night. Bought 3 handkerchiefs. Listened to a band of the Gloucesters in front of the village church. Rained later on in the evening. Heard guns again. Saw 12 observation balloons. Saw aeroplane go through the village on a waggon while band was playing.

24 June 1916; Saturday

June 1916, , ,

Received letter from Betty telling me that she understood1, but would like to keep on corresponding with me. I replied. Physical drill. [Some words about ‘drill’ crossed out by ALL.] Also foot and chest inspection in the morning. No parades in the afternoon. Wrote letter. Went to boxing contest at night and saw about 6 matches and some decent boxing. Went to bed early after talking a bit with Walsh. Saw 3 observation balloons up.

  1. This letter from Betty may have been her reply to the letter to her written by ALL on 15th June and posted on 16th. Neither of those earlier diary entries offers any clue about the reason for Betty’s understanding. ↩

Simon the Jester

Cover ImageSimon the Jester is a novel by by William J. Locke, first published in 1910 and twice made into films, in 1915 and 1925, both silent.

After learning he has but six months to live, the wealthy Simon de Gex decides to tell no one of his impending death and to spend his fortune madly.

Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had “read a lot of a story called Simon the Jester” on 22 June 1916 while stationed at Rainneville in northern France during the build up to the battle of the Somme. He finished the book the next day.

21 June 1916; Wednesday

June 1916, ,

Up at 7 o’clock. Reported sick. Had tooth out. Sat on cart shaft. Captain Johnson pulled it out1. Route march in the afternoon. Very hot. Stayed in at night and wrote letters. Received letter from Leishman and replied to it. Had milk and marmalade for supper. Fine day.

Had tooth out.

  1. Without anæsthetic, naturally; in later life ALL described how the MO, Capt. Johnson, sidled up to him hiding the pincers behind his back. ↩