Tag Archives: Current affairs

Arthur Linfoot often noted newsworthy events not directly related to the war.

3 June 1915; Wednesday

June 1915, , , , ,

At work as usual. Had dinner at the office. Got well up to date. Went down to chapel at night and walked up with Blaikie and Willie Whittaker. Spoke to Billy Winter on the telephone and offered him to keep in touch about enlisting. Fine night. Kitchener received decoration of K.G.1

Turkish transport sunk by British submarine.

  1. From the London Gazette: “The KING has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of His Majesty’s Birthday, to appoint Field Marshal The Right Honourable Sir Horatio Herbert, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.S.I.,G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., to be a Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.” ↩

28 May 1915; Friday

May 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Very busy all day. Stayed back until 8 o’clock.

“H.M.S. Majestic”1 sunk by German submarine in the Dardanelles & “Princess Irene”2 blown up at Sheerness with heavy loss of life. The 7th Durhams had rough time early in week.

  1. “H M S Majestic”: old (1895) battleship; torpedoed 27 May 1915 off Cape Helles, with the loss of 49 men. ↩

  2. “Princess Irene”: a 5,400 ton passenger vessel, built 1914 for Canadian Pacific for the Vancouver – Seattle route; requisitioned by RN on completion as auxiliary minelayer; exploded on 27 May 1915 while loading mines upstream from Sheerness, near Chatham; 352 killed: 273 crew, 76 dock workers, 3 others by debris including a girl of 9 on the Isle of Grain; large debris (including human body parts, near Hartlip, east of Gillingham) fell in 9 –10 mile radius. ↩

22 May 1915; Saturday

May 1915, , ,

At work as usual1. Finished about 2 o’clock. Called for papers in the afternoon. Walked round Grindon with Charlie and Willie Whittaker at night. Fine night. Played the piano a bit.

Terrible Railway Accident at Gretna Green2. Troop train, goods train and express all smashed up and an appalling death roll. Daily Mail3 burned at Stock Exchange.

  1. Saturday morning working was of course normal – as it remained until the 1960s. ↩

  2. “Terrible Railway Accident at Gretna Green”: the Quintinshill rail disaster remains the worst ever UK rail accident – 246 injured, est. 230 killed (uncertain because regimental records being carried in the train were destroyed in fire caused by gas lighting in wooden carriages); troop train (carrying men bound for the Dardanelles) hit local passenger train (wrongly shunted onto main line), was then hit by express train; fire ignited two nearby goods trains. Two signalmen were convicted of culpable homicide (broadly equivalent to the English offence of manslaughter; the trial took place in Scotland). ↩

  3. The Daily Mail was burned (and its circulation fell by a quarter of a million) because of its personal attack on Field-­Marshal Lord Kitchener, who was still immensely popular with the public as Secretary of State for War. The proprietor, Lord Northcliffe, was running a campaign against the Government’s conduct of the War, mainly based on a shortage of shells to which the Generals in France claimed their lack of success was due. ↩

21 May 1915; Friday

May 1915, ,

At work as usual. Very busy all day. Frank1 back to work. Played the piano a bit. Submarine AE.2 2 lost about this time in the Dardanelles. Daily Mail attack on Kitchener3.

  1. Frank had been sent home on 17 May. ↩

  2. The AE2 was an Australian Navy vessel; she sailed to Australia from Vickers Armstrong on delivery in 1914, then the longest voyage by a submarine, but was then towed back to the Mediterranean. She operated for five days in the Dardanelles before surfacing due to mechanical trouble, was damaged by a Turkish torpedo boat and was scuttled, all her crew being captured; the only Australian Navy vessel lost due to enemy action in WW1. ↩

  3. The Daily Mail famously attacked Kitchener, blaming him for a shortage of shells during the shell crisis of 1915. ↩

5 April 1915; Easter Monday

April 1915, , , , ,

Got up about 8 o’clock. Went by train to South Shields, car1 to Tyne Dock, ferried to Albert Edward Dock, trammed to Wallsend, and then to Walker, ferried to Hebburn, walked to Bill Quay, and train from Pelaw home. Saw some light cruisers and destroyers, one submarine, and the Malaya. Walked to Penshaw Hill2 in the dark with Willie Whittaker. Charlie back at work. Had some music at dinnertime. Fine day.

The King proclaimed3 that alcoholic drinks are prohibited after today.

  1. “Car” means tram-car, as usual, although ALL uses “trammed” here too, meaning the same thing. ↩

  2. Penshaw Hill: See note on 2 April. ↩

  3. This was not a formal proclamation by King George V – in fact he publicly supported a campaign against the consumption of alcohol begun by Lloyd George by promising that no alcohol would be consumed in the Royal household until the war was over. This promise failed to influence even the Cabinet, let alone the public, but the King observed it himself. ↩

25 February 1915; Thursday

February 1915,

At work as usual. Played the piano at night. Went down to meeting, but was rather late and they hadn’t one. Received word that the Clan M’Naughton1 had been lost with all hands, about 280 people.

  1. HMS Clan McNaughton was a passenger/cargo vessel, converted to auxiliary cruiser in November 1914; lost off N. Ireland (last contact on 3 February), due to one or more of: severe weather; inexperienced crew; top-­heaviness due to gun-­mounting; possibly a drifting mine. ↩

18 January 1915; Monday

January 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Busy all day. Played the piano at night, and then went to Mr Chadwicks. Talked to Mrs Chadwick until 10 o’clock, and then stayed and had supper and didn’t leave until 11 o’clock. Talked about speeches1 that we couldn’t quarrel about. They referred to the loss of their little girl2. Mother in bed bad3.

Great Earthquake4 in Italy about this time. About 30,000.

  1. “Speeches”: transcription correct, but perhaps “subjects” was intended. ↩

  2. ALL had first heard of the Chadwicks’ loss on 9 November 1914. ↩

  3. “Bad”: in North-Eastern English idiom means ill or unwell. ↩

  4. Great Earthquake: presumably the earthquake (13.01.15) in Avezzano, in the Abruzzo region of central Italy, said to have been ‘possibly’ the worst earthquake in Italy’s history. The town had been on the shore of Lake Fucino, at that time ‘the largest lake in peninsular Italy’ (this presumably excludes the lakes north of the Po), which was completely drained in the late 19th century, leaving land for cultivation and housing. Population was 42,000, of whom 12,000 died; only the Casa dei Palazzi and a wing of the Palazzo Orsini remained. ↩

2 December 1914; Wednesday

December 1914,

Busy at work. Got books well up to date. Went down to drill at night. Billy Wayman joined our lot. First time I have spoken to him since he left the Paper Works1. Had a real soldier showing us how to go about it. Called in at Grandmother’s last thing. She is not so well.

De Wet2 captured.

  1. Billy Wayman had evidently left the Paper Works on 31 October. ↩

  2. Christiaan Rudolf de Wet was a Boer general and rebel leader in the Maritz Rebellion of 1914 in which men who supported the recreation of a Boer South African Republic rose up against the government of the Union of South Africa.  ↩