Wet day. Wild and stormy. Went over with Charlie to Roker in the afternoon but the airman1 was not flying. Had short walk with Father, and later on had a short walk by myself. Read a bit Pelman2. Read some of Anna Karenina.
The airman: Presumably M. Salmet; see yesterday’s entry. ↩
Busy all day. The family at Roker in the afternoon seeing M. Salmet1 the Daily Mail man flying. I waited in the library for them. Joe, Charlie and I went over at night but he had finished flying then. Grand night.
Henri Salmet had Royal Aero Club licence No. 99, awarded in June 1911. He had a Bleriot monoplane, and took part in Daily Mail-sponsored UK touring exhibitions in 1912 and 1913, when various mishaps are on record. As ALL refers to the Daily Mail, this 1914 exhibition too may have been sponsored by the newspaper. ↩
Read a bit. Had walk with Charlie.
Busy at work all day. Played a bit at night and read a bit. Went to the meeting. Joe Speed leading. Mr Lawson and Mr Mullens spoke. I played. Dick sang a solo.
Got up about 7.30. Drilled a bit. Went down to practice at night. Discussed trip again and decided to go to Hexham. Walked round with Charlie and couldn’t find any pills†.
Saw cabman strike a woman beside Library stand.
At work as usual. Busy all day. Finished about 6 o’clock. Played a bit and had walk with Charlie. Filled in form for the piano lesson course under Becker. Beautiful day. Very warm.
Father, Gertie, mother and I troubled with diarrhoea, Father in bed all day. I stayed in in the morning and washed my head. Used some hair tonic too. Went out as usual in the afternoon and at night. Fine day. Talked with Charlie about choir trip. Held meeting at night and decided to go to Durham instead of Richmond. Read a bit of Anna Karenina.
Got up at 6 o’clock and went down to Roker on bicycles with Alf. Beautiful day. Finished about 2 o’clock. Played the piano a bit. Had short walk with Father†. Went down to Roker after tea with Joe.
Got up at 6 o’clock. Went with George Crawford to the Tunstall Hill<s>1 first thing and took some photos. Had walk at night. Got to know of disaster to aeroplanes which had passed over here2. Some of them wrecked at Northallerton and 2 men killed, Lieutenant Empson and Private Cudmore3 4 5.
Tunstall Hills is an area of open space in Sunderland, now both a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest both for its geological and biological importance. The area consists of Green Hill and Rocky Hill and surrounding land. Locally these two hills have been also known as the Maidens Paps because of their shape. See also Sunderland map. ↩
Lieutenant Empson and Private Cudmore: these were Army ranks, not RAF, because the Royal Flying Corps remained a corps within the Army until it was transformed into the RAF in 1918. ↩
This page at the History Network appears to refer to the same incident, and names the dead men as Lieut. John Empson of the 4th Royal Fusiliers and Air-Mechanic George Cudmore of No. 2 Squadron Military Wing R.F.C. ↩
See also John Empson and George Cudmore, both at Grace’s Guide. ↩
Got up about 8 o’clock. Busy all day. Finished rather late. Saw Army Aeroplanes pass over town from Blyth to West Hartlepool. We saw 7 of them. There were 10 altogether. Had walk round new park1 with Charlie at night. Fine night.
“new park”: presumably the Barnes Park, from the new park’s proximity to Durham Road: see 5 December 1914 entry. Mentioned by name on 13 June 1915. ↩