Category Archives: 1918

All diary entries written in 1918

27 July 1918; Saturday

July 1918, , ,

Up at 7 o’clock. Rain most of the day. Wrote letter home and one to Ernie. Received letter from Harvey. Did a little French and washed some clothes. Heard of the Coventry strike1.

  1. There was an engineering and munitions strike in Birmingham and Coventry in July 1918, caused by ‘the embargo’: a Government prohibition of the employment of additional skilled men in specified firms; it applied to very few firms, and was not generally known until a misleading notice by one of the affected firms drew attention to it. The strikes ended after a week, when the Government announced that those still on strike on 29 July would have their protection certificates withdrawn, making them eligible for conscription. ↩

24 July 1918; Wednesday

July 1918

Up about 7 o’clock. On duty at 8 o’clock. Fine morning. Pretty busy especially at dinner-time owing to dentist being here. Finished at 6 o’clock and went down road a bit with Sergeant Powell and Billy Truman. Had a good talk with Sergeant Powell on after-war problems and the cause of the war.

A lot of bombing in the night and a German plane brought down not far away.

21 July 1918; Sunday

July 1918, ,

Up about 7 o’clock and on duty at 8 o’clock. Not much to do all day, but fiddling about all day, no work of my own. Wrote letter home and went to C of E service and stayed to communion but didn’t partake of it. Had short walk afterwards with Billy Truman. Slept in headquarters billet again. Slept pretty well.

20 July 1918; Saturday

July 1918, ,

Up early and packed up. Ambulance paraded at 8.45. Billy Truman and I stayed behind and looked to the disposal of some patients. A corporal in the sanitary section called Linfoot spoke to me and told me about himself. He lives at Manchester but hails from Yorkshire1. Rode to Bourecq2 by car and arrived before the ambulance. Looked to the few patients and opened out hospital in a kitchen shop.

Splendid news from the Champagne district.

  1. Many of the Linfoots, including ALL himself, could trace their roots to North Yorkshire. It is possible that ALL and this new Linfoot were distantly related in some way. See also Family page. ↩

  2. Bourecq (B): western suburb of Lillers, about 8.5 km NNW of Auchel (A). ↩