At work as usual. Not much to do. Ernie, Hilda and baby arrived in the afternoon from Boldon. Charlie received notice to go to Seaham Harbour and had to go in the afternoon. He arrived home at about 11.30 and had to be out again at 8 o’clock in the morning. He said the office was rotten and they were in an awful mess. I had a walk round the town by myself and was a good bit dissatisfied with Charlie having to go away now.
Tag Archives: Ernie
26 December 1914; Saturday
Slept in until about 10 o’clock. Went up town with Charlie. Bought a little clockwork Zeppelin. Ernie, Hilda and the baby in to tea. I went up the town after calling at Whittakers. We had a walk through the town and then went up Durham Road way. Didn’t leave the town until about 10 o’clock. A big crowd of soldiers in town. Report to hand that the Invincible & Inflexible were the British ships in the South Atlantic fight1.
Possibly a reference to the events recorded on 9th December? ↩
25 December 1914; Friday
[Christmas day – see footnote1.]
Had walk round town with Father before dinner. Had roast pork and onions for dinner. Ernie came in for dinner and stayed a short while. I set him up to the station. We were rather too soon and walked about town talking. Played the piano and played a few games amongst ourselves at night. Went to bed about mid night. British Air Raid on Cuxhaven 2 by 7 aviators. 4 machines lost but all the men safe.
While ALL routinely included brief notes on War events in his diary entries, often writing them on the date they had happened and not necessarily on the date he became aware of them, he never made any reference to the ‘Christmas truce‘. Histories of WW1 which mention a truce generally say that any such events, with or without impromptu games of football or exchanges of gifts, were localised, informal and strongly deprecated by Army commanders. ALL’s silence may be interpreted either as confirming that censorship of news about truces, if not complete, was fairly successful, or as suggesting that if anything was known about them, it was not considered significant in Britain at the time. The former seems the more likely explanation. ↩
The Cuxhaven Raid was a British ship-based air-raid on the German naval forces at Cuxhaven on Christmas Day, 1914. ↩
24 December 1914; Thursday
[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.
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.” ↩
ALL had started to read this book a few days earlier, on 22 December. See The Manxman and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩
27 November 1914; Friday
Got day book written up to date. Stayed in at night and wrote a long letter to Ernie. Went out last thing with Joe and had short walk round.
Russians gained great victory in East Prussia1.
East Prussia largely disappears from standard WW1 histories after Hindenburg’s victory at Tannenberg in September 1914, which stopped the Russian advance. According to a 1917 Illinois University thesis by Benjamin E. Ludvik, “The Russian Invasions of East Prussia, 1914-15”, the Germans in turn then advanced, despite bad roads and worse rail, but their attempt to cross the Niemen near Grodno (modern Hrodna) was repulsed with heavy losses; Ludvik quotes: “The London Times claims a great victory but the Germans deny the claim”. But this appears to date from 5 October. Ludvik records that thereafter the Russians advanced “slowly but surely”, and by 14 November had reached Stallupönen (c. 80 miles E. of Königsberg), where there had been a battle on 17 August, preceding Tannenberg. But the next phase, which Ludvik calls “The second [Russian] invasion of East Prussia” did not start until January 1915. So, failing any other candidate for the “great victory”, perhaps ALL had belatedly seen or heard a reference to The Times’ October headline, with the date missing. ↩
25 November 1914; Wednesday
Busy at work. Went down to drill at night. Pretty fair drill. Commenced to write letter to Ernie afterwards. Roker road stopped from the bridge.
23 November 1914; Monday
Busy at work. Tried to get book up to date. Stayed in at night and commenced letter to Ernie Missionary Meeting. Very good meeting and collection about £1. Didn’t get out until late. I gave missionary report.
16 October 1914; Friday
Busy at work. Directors’ meeting. I had a few letters and managed them all right. Very late for dinner.
Got news that the “Hawke”1 had been sunk by a submarine off Scotland with heavy loss of life. Went up town at night to see Belgian wounded come in, but none arrived. Wrote to Ernie.
HMS Hawke was an old cruiser (launched 1891), on patrol in the North Sea with sister ship Theseus, at which submarine U9 aimed a torpedo, which missed Theseus and hit Hawke; 524 out of 594 crew were lost. In 1911 Hawke had had the distinction of having her bow sheared off in a collision in the Solent with RMS Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic, slightly smaller but at that date still the largest liner afloat. ↩
2 October 1914; Friday
Got up about 6.20. Went to baths. Pretty busy at work. Stayed in at night and wrote to Ernie. Went out last thing and called by the chapel. Charlie and Father there. They said the meeting was better.
Riot in India & about 20 natives and one Englishman killed1. British Navy commenced to mine North Sea. Heavy bombardment of Belgian trenches. Belgians retire across the Nethe. Germans occupy outer ring of forts.
“Riot in India…”: Probably the denouement of the Komagata Maru incident. ↩
12 September 1914; Saturday
Finished in decent time. Walked up town in the afternoon. Paid for history† book which I received from Hills’s1. Went up town at night with Willie Whittaker. Wet night. Saw young Letty come out of the library as we came down Villette Road.
German retreat continued to the Aisne, where new battle.
Hills’s: the main Sunderland bookshop, in Waterloo Place, where Ernie later worked as manager and eventually as a director. ↩