Category Archives: 1918

All diary entries written in 1918

7 April 1918; Sunday

April 1918, ,

Packed up and handed over to A Section in the morning. Marched to Vierstraat1 (between Wijtschate and Kemmel) at noon and arrived about tea time. Opened main dressing station. On night duty first night. Not much to do.

  1. Vierstraat (B): 15km NE of Bailleul (A), where ALL had been since 2 April, and 3km NE. of Kemmel (C); Michelin square J2. ↩

5 April 1918; Friday

April 1918, , , , , , ,

Up about 7 o’clock. On parade and detailed off for the dispensary. Busy all day. Put up flagstaff and flag. Out for short walk at night.

The magazines came out. Bought six and sent them home, Ernie, Charlie, Marmie, Franchie and office1.

  1. ALL may have contributed to this magazine number – hence the copies for home; he mentions ‘writing’ occasionally, and specifically for the magazine on 6 and 11 May 1918. ↩

3 April 1918; Wednesday

April 1918,

Up about 7.30. Read all morning “Mr Britling Sees It Through”1. Received orders first thing after dinner to proceed to the new camp outside Bailleul with Billy Truman and Harman. Went by car. Had tea with Australians and had chips at night. Slept well. Rest of ambulance to follow in the morning.

  1. Mr Britling Sees it Through: Very popular novel by HG Wells about an ordinary man’s war, published in 1916 and described in David C. Smith’s 1986 biography of Wells (H.G. Wells: Desperately Mortal: A Biography) as Wells’ “masterpiece of the wartime experience in England”. We (ALL’s offspring) had a copy (and read it) during WWII. See also Mr. Britling Sees it Through and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

Mr Britling Sees It Through

cover image

Mr. Britling Sees It Through is H.G. Wells‘ “masterpiece of the wartime experience in England”1. The novel was published in September 1916.

The book  tells the story of a writer, Mr. Britling, who lives  in the fictional village of Matching’s Easy, Essex. The novel is divided into three parts. Book the First, entitled “Matching’s Easy At Ease”; Book the Second, “Matching’s Easy at War”; and Book the Third, “The Testament of Matching’s Easy”.

This book appears to have had a lasting appeal to Arthur Linfoot; a copy remained at his home in Sunderland and was read during WW2 by ALL’s own offspring.

Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had started to read this book on 3 April 1918, while stationed near Bailleul in Northern France.

  1. According to David C. Smith, writing in “H.G. Wells: Desperately Mortal: A Biography”. ↩

2 April 1918; Tuesday

April 1918, , ,

Up at about 7.30. Paraded at 10 o’clock and marched to a camp near to Baileul1. Glorious day. Walked into Meteren2 at night and had some eggs at Jeanne’s. Beautiful afternoon and pleasant walk. Rained last thing.

  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. Bailleul (B); is 6m SW of Locre (A). ↩

  2. Méteren (C); 4km W of Bailleul. ↩