Got up about 7.40. Not much to do at work. Stayed in at night. Played a little. Had walk last thing. Joe said he heard that Mr Chadwick’s little girl was dead and buried1.
Mr Chadwick’s little girl had been taken ill a few days before as noted on 4th November. Nothing is known about the nature of her illness. ↩
At chapel and School as usual. Mr Kettle preaching and preached well in the morning. Had usual walks. Billy Marshall playing all day. A lot of excitement about recruiting.
Not much to do at work. Finished at Porteous with teeth. Walked round town in the afternoon. Walked to Whitburn with Willie Whittaker and Charlie at night. Got new pair of trousers from the Store. Received letter from New Zealand. First one for about 6 months1.
Busy at work. Went up to St Gabriel’s with Joe and joined the Athletes’ Civilian Force. Marched from St Gabriel’s to the High Barnes School and drilled there until about 9.30. Joined Athletes’ Force.
Very busy at work. Received news of a naval engagement off Valparaiso in which the cruiser Monmouth was reported to have been sunk and the cruiser Good Hope badly damaged if not sunk1. German losses are reported small. The German Cruiser Yorck2 lost on a mission in the Coral Sea. Probably one of their own mines. Affairs on land progressing favourably. Had hair cut.
Russian Victory in Galicia.
“Naval engagement…”: The Battle of Coronel, which took place on 1 November and which ALL subsequently also noted in his diary entry for that day. Both vessels mentioned were in fact sunk; Good Hope was Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock‘s flagship. ↩
SMS Yorck was returning from the raid on Yarmouth of 3 November, made a navigational error in heavy fog and accidentally sailed into a German minefield. ↩
Pretty busy at work. Went down to Mr Chadwick’s meeting at night. Mr Chadwick had been called away from home to his little daughter who is away and seriously ill. Mr Kettle spoke in his place. Pretty fair meeting. Played ping pong afterwards with Willie Peake, Joe and our Charlie.
The Allies progressing favourably. England declared War on Turkey1.
Many sources suggest that the formal declaration of war on Turkey (by both Britain and France) actually came on 5th November, not 4th. See for example The Great War Timeline at greatwar.co.uk and Timeline of World War I at Wikipedia. ↩
Pretty busy at work. Went up to the Garrison Field at night with Joe to join the scouts†, but they were out so we went to Green Street Hall and watched the Athletes’ Force drilling. Went to the choir practice late. Played one ping pong game and lost. Came up late with Charlie and Joe Edwards†. Received news that some German ships have been off Lowestoft1 and dropped mines which sank a Submarine2 and fired on a steamer Halcyon3.
Dardanelles forts bombarded by French & British ships4.
“Lowestoft”: Wikipedia notes a Raid on Yarmouth, about 10 miles north of Lowestoft on the Norfolk coast. This raid took place on 3 November 1914. ↩
“Submarine”: The submarine was the HMS D5, sunk by a German mine laid by SMS Stralsund. ↩
“Halcyon”: Yarmouth coast was patrolled by the minesweeper HMS Halcyon and the old destroyers HMS Lively and Leopard. Halcyon had spotted two German cruisers, which she challenged. ↩
“Dardanelles forts bombarded…”: On 3 November 1914, Churchill ordered the first British attack on the Dardanelles following the opening of hostilities between Ottoman and Russian empires. This attack actually took place before a formal declaration of war had been made by Britain against the Ottoman Empire. ↩
Willie off. Pretty busy at work. Stayed at home and read up a bit grammar† at night. Played a bit. Didn’t go out at all. Alfie went on to consignments and George Crawford with him.
Germans retreat from the Yser1 in Belgium.
See Wikipedia: Battle of the Yser ↩
At chapel and School as usual. Mr Chadwick preaching. Managed pretty well at School. Stormy day. Sacrament at night. Had only short walks. Received news of the loss of the Hermes1 off Dover. Sunk by a submarine.
Germans sink “Good Hope” & “Monmouth”2 off Valparaiso.
HMS Hermes: cruiser, the first RN vessel to be fitted for carrying and launching seaplanes; she had delivered some to Dover on 30 October, and while returning to the Solent next day was torpedoed by U-27 off Ruylingen Bank, in the Straits of Dover. ↩
HMS Good Hope and Monmouth: heavy cruisers sunk at the Battle of Coronel, W. of Valparaiso; there followed (8 December) the Battle of the Falkland Islands (a British victory). See 5 November for news of these events reaching ALL. ↩
Finished at the office in good time. Went to Porteous and had a second tooth stopped. It took all the afternoon nearly. It rained heavily at night. Went to the Teachers Training Centre, and afterwards bicycled called for Willie Whittaker but didn’t go far. Came back home and played chess for a few minutes.
Wayman finished1.
Hospital Steamer Rohilla2 ashore at Whitby. About 70 lives lost. Newcastle lifeboat took off 50 people. British casualty list to date 57,000 on land.
The diary entry for 2 December 1914 mentions a Billy Wayman who had recently left the Paper Works. It appears that 31 October was his last day of employment there. This Billy may possibly be the “Willie” who received his notice on 29 October to “finish on Saturday first”. ↩
His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Rohilla: 7114 tons, built for the British India Steam Navigation Company in 1906 (Rohilla means an Afghan tribesman); ran aground 4.00am on 30 October in gale and blackout, at Whitby Rock just S. of Whitby; carried no rockets (for breeches buoy), but out of 229 aboard 144 were rescued (including one Titanic survivor) by land-based rockets and lifeboats from as far away as Tyneside. ↩