Tag Archives: Charlie

Charlie was Arthur Linfoot’s younger brother. See the Family page for more details.

24 December 1914; Thursday

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[Christmas eve – See footnote1.]

At work as usual. Mill stopped at 6 o’clock a.m. We finished in good time and Tom Fagin† brought his gramophone across and played it until nearly 6 o’clock. I went up town at night and posted some Christmas cards. Called at station for Ernie but he didn’t arrive. Went up town later and called at Wiseman’s both in going and coming. Joe’s face swollen very much and he can’t go out. Bought Gertie a music case. And read a lot of The Manxman2 and went to bed about 1 o’clock. Charlie out tonight. Ernie arrived at Boldon with Hilda and the baby.

  1. ALL didn’t mention, and presumably hadn’t heard of, the first German bomb dropped on British soil on Christmas Eve, 1914. A single German aircraft (which appears to have got away unscathed), dropped a bomb which fell in a garden near Taswell Street in Dover, where there is now a blue plaque on the wall reading “Near this spot on Christmas Eve 1914 fell the first aerial bomb ever to be dropped on the United Kingdom.” ↩

  2. ALL had started to read this book a few days earlier, on 22 December. See The Manxman and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

14 December 1914; Monday

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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.

  1. “Messudiyeh”: Actually the Ottoman ironclad Mesudiye, correctly noted to have been sunk by HMS B11 ↩

  2. 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. ↩

6 December 1914; Sunday

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At chapel in the morning. Sung Jackson’s1 Te Deum. At Sunday School and got on fairly well. Lent Reverend MacDonald Stalker’s2 Life of Christ. Went with Charlie at night to North Bridge Street Presbyterian Church choir and helped in “Let the call of the Lord”. Good singing, nice church, poor preacher. Wild night. Missed Willie. Read a bit and wrote up diary. Tried Charlie’s new song over. At North Bridge Street Church.

  1. William Jackson of Exeter, composer, 1730-1803. ↩

  2. Stalker’s: J. Stalker “Life of Jesus Christ”, 1891 (now ISBN 9780766170469). See also The Life of Jesus Christ and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

5 December 1914; Saturday

December 1914, ,

Finished in good time. Went up with Joe to drill but when we got there decided to go for a walk and went round by the top of the new park and round Durham Road. Saw the recruiting procession. A lot of Scottish Horse and Highlanders. Recruiting Procession. Went to Teachers’ Training Centre. Had walk round town at night with Charlie and Willie. Read a bit last thing. Went to bed about midnight.

4 December 1914; Friday

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Kept busy at work. Went with Father at night to Dr Robinson to be examined. Interview lasted a good bit. Big recruiting meeting in the Victoria Hall1. Lord Charles Beresford2 speaking. Went along to Halford’s† and bought Charlie a flash lamp. Had walk last thing with Joe.

  1. Victoria Hall: see note on 10 January. ↩

  2. Lord Charles Beresford (1846 – 1919): a senior admiral, popular with the public, and an MP from 1874; a participant in the late 19th/early 20th century naval controversies, including competing unsuccessfully for appointment as First Sea Lord in 1906, with Admiral Fisher (who escaped compulsory retirement at 65 in that year by promotion to Admiral of the Fleet, for which the retirement age was 70.) Fisher, who was a leader in the pre-1914 naval construction race with Germany, retired as First Sea Lord in 1911, but was recalled in 1914 to succeed the German-named Prince Louis of Battenberg, was a bizarre and unpredictable character, who briefly went absent during the controversy about the Dardanelles debacle, then resigned in May 1915. ↩

21 November 1914; Saturday

November 1914, , ,

Finished in good time. Went across to Roker with Joe and saw the guns. 3 big guns on the Cliff Park and trenches all the way along. The road stopped off from halfway down. Taking Bede Memorial1 down. Watched them unloading 6”shells at Ebb’s Point battery. Went round town at night with Willie Whittaker and Charlie. A lot of strange soldiers in town. Went to Trinity Preparation School. Mr Milburn not present.

  1. Bede Memorial: a sculpted stone cross, some 3 – 4m high, erected in early 20th century on Roker Cliff Park, between the east ends of Sidecliff Road and Rock Lodge Road. Removal of this monument (and probably others) was presumably intended to make it more difficult for an invading force to identify a specific location. The Bede Memorial was temporarily removed in WWII also, for the same reasons. See also Sunderland map. ↩