Category Archives: September 1916

All diary entries written in September 1916

28 September 1916; Thursday

Up at 7 o’clock. At work all day as usual. Managed all right. Kept busy all day. Received definite news of the fall of Combles1.


  1. Combles was on the extreme right of the British sector (in the Somme area), or possibly in the French sector; 10km due S. of Bapaume, 14km E. of Albert. It had been used by the Germans as a shelter for reserves, supplies and engineer stores and as a staging area for reinforcements during the Battle of the Somme. See also Capture of Combles at Wikipedia. 

27 September 1916; Wednesday

Busy all day. Not feeling very well. An observation balloon brought down near us. Had short walk at night with Bascombe and Barburn† after 7.30. Usual day’s work. Our team playing football against Black Watch won 1 – 0.

Received news of Zeppelin raid on north east coast1.


  1. Zeppelin raid: This was actually part of the same raid as ALL had noted the previous day; the four Zeppelins which attacked London on the night of 23-24 September (two of which had been brought down as noted by ALL) were actually part of a larger group of 12 Zeppelins, the others targeting different parts of the UK, including the North-East. See also German strategic bombing during World War I at Wikipedia. 

26 September 1916; Tuesday

Up at 6.45. At work as usual. My afternoon off. Went over to Bailleul with Harvey. Our team playing football against M.A.C. and lost 1 – 0. At the Merry Mauves1.

Received news of Zeppelin raid and 2 brought down2.


  1. “Merry Mauves”: The soldiers’ revue first mentioned on 22 September

  2. Zeppelin raid: On the night of 23 September 1916, a group of four Zeppelins comprising L31, L32, L33 and L34 staged a raid on London and the surrounding counties. Two of these, L32 and L33, were shot down, the former near Billericay with the loss of all hands. The latter crash landed at at New Hall Farm, Little Wigborough; the crew survived and were taken prisoner. L33 was not completely destroyed and was used to inform the design of British airships R33 and R34. See also List of Zeppelins at Wikipedia. 

Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul

Kipps

Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1905.

Orphaned at an early age, raised by his aunt and uncle, and apprenticed for seven years to a draper, Artie Kipps is stunned to discover upon reading a newspaper advertisement that he is the grandson of a wealthy gentleman – and the inheritor of his fortune. Thrown dramatically into the upper classes, he struggles desperately to learn the etiquette and rules of polite society. But as he soon discovers, becoming a ‘true gentleman’ is neither as easy nor as desirable as it at first appears.

Kipps was adapted for the stage in the early 1960s as Half a Sixpence; Half a Sixpence has itself been revived and updated in a new production at the Chichester Festival Theatre in July 2016.

Arthur Linfoot wrote that he “read a good bit of Kipps” on 24th September 1916, while stationed at the military hospital at Méteren in Northern France.