At work all day. Went for a march at night. Wet night. Marched up from High Barnes School and by the Grindon Road to the top of the 1† Mile Bank. Wet and dirty night. My feet tired and I had a bath last thing.
17 December 1914; Thursday
At work all day. Went down to Endeavour at night. Mrs Hann† had the topic and I said a few words on the subject†. Walked round the town at night.
16 December 1914; Wednesday
Hartlepools, Whitby, Scarbro’ & Redcar1 bombarded by German cruiser squadron. Heavy loss of life, especially in the Hartlepools and a great amount of damage done2. Our destroyer flotilla engaged them but they got away3. The first news was received through a telephone message from Hartlepool. A good deal of excitement.
“[The] Hartlepools” was a commonly used name for the conurbation formed of the old town of Hartlepool and the newer West Hartlepool. “Scarbro'” was and remains a common abbreviation of Scarborough. Curiously, few if any other contemporary accounts mention Redcar at all although it is close to the coast between Hartlepool and Whitby and could quite conceivably have been a target. ↩
See Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby at Wikipedia. The attack caused 137 fatalities and 592 casualties. Sunderland was lucky to escape this and any subsequent bombardment. The shelling of Scarborough is the subject of Osbert Sitwell’s 1926 novel ‘Before the Bombardment’. ↩
“… they got away.”: While the raid caused public outrage towards the German navy for its apparent targeting of civilians, there was also a significant backlash against the Royal Navy for its failure to prevent the raid. ↩
15 December 1914; Tuesday
At work as usual. Choir practice at night. Walked up with Blaikie and promised to look up some hymn tunes for him. Directors’ meeting. Mr Lawson not present.
14 December 1914; Monday
Pretty busy at work. Stayed back a short time at night and completed stock sheets. Played piano at night for Charlie and tried some new songs through. Got on pretty well. Finer day, but still stormy. Received news that submarine B.11 had blown up Turkish ship “Messudiyeh”1 in the Dardanelles. Lieutenant Commander Norman D Holbrook2. He passed under 5 chains of mines to do it.
“Messudiyeh”: Actually the Ottoman ironclad Mesudiye, correctly noted to have been sunk by HMS B11 ↩
Norman D Holbrook: ALL’s shorthand appears to have Lt. “Commander”, but he was only a Lieutenant; awarded first naval VC of WW1 for this. ↩
13 December 1914; Sunday
At chapel as usual. Stormy day. Charlie not out except to work and back. Gave 2/- towards infants’ treat. Managed pretty well at Sunday School. Had shorter walks than usual. Charlie told us about being at the recruiting office and they wouldn’t take him on account of his finger1.
We do not know what this problem was. It arose again on 25 January 1915. ↩
12 December 1914; Saturday
Finished about 1.30. Wild afternoon. Didn’t go to drill. Finished reading Anna Karenina1, went to Teachers’ Training Centre and afterwards called for Willie Whittaker. Then went on to the Picture House. Paid 9d each. Poor pictures.
See Anna Karenina and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩
11 December 1914; Friday
Busy at work. Working at night. Finished about 9.30. Had short walk up the town and got very wet. Very stormy night. Strong easterly wind and rain. Read a good bit last thing.
10 December 1914; Thursday
At work as usual. Stayed <in?> at night. Had walk round the town. Got a newspaper on way from work stating that the “Nurnberg” had also been sunk1 in the fight. Read a good bit of Anna Karenina2.
Nurnberg also sunk…: See 9 December. ↩
See Anna Karenina and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩
9 December 1914; Wednesday
Busy all day. Working overtime at night taking stock. Had tea at work. Went for walk round town last thing. Stormy night. Bought Echo with account of the Fight of Falkland Islands on Nov. 8th. German Cruisers “Scharnhorst”, Gneisenau, Leipzig sunk. Dresden and Nürnberg being pursued. Admiral Sturdee in Command.1
See 1 November entry on the Battle of Coronel, at which Admiral Graf Spee had been in command (the 1930s ‘pocket battleship’ Graf Spee, scuttled in the comparatively nearby River Plate after the 1939 battle of that name, was named in his memory); Spee, with 5 cruisers and 3 auxiliaries, moved from the S. Pacific to continue commerce‐raiding in the S. Atlantic (and detached the Emden for similar duties in the Indian ocean; see 10 November entry), and attempted to attack Port Stanley; Vice-Admiral Sturdee had arrived there the day before with 2 battle-cruisers and 5 other, mostly heavier cruisers. 6 of the 8 German ships (including Nürnberg) were sunk, only the Dresden and the auxiliary Seydlitz escaping; no British ships were lost; German losses were 2,200 (including Spee and his two sons), and 215 prisoners; British losses were 18 killed and 19 wounded. ↩