Tag Archives: Father

Diary entries which mention Arthur Linfoot’s father, Christopher William Linfoot. See the Family page for more details.

24 October 1917; Wednesday

Up at about 8 o’clock. Spent usual day. Father off in the afternoon and went to the Picture House1 with me where we saw “A Tale of Two Cities”2. Went to Todd’s at night and had a very nice time. A few strange girls3 there.


  1. “The Picture House”: the capitals are the editor’s and are not marked in the shorthand. Was this the Picture House, reputedly the oldest cinema in Sunderland and still operating in the 1940s, or  a picture house (possibly the Havelock House again; see 27 December 1915)? 

  2. A Tale of Two Cities: Presumably the 1917 silent version released by Fox Film Corporation, directed by Frank Lloyd and starring William Farnum, Jewel Carmen and Charles Clary

  3. “Strange girls” may sound odd to contemporary ears, but ALL means only that these girls were not previously known to him and not that they were peculiar. 

20 October 1917; Saturday

Up pretty well all night. Got breakfast about 7 o’clock. Went down to boat and moved off from the quay about 9.20. Arrived about midday at Folkestone and London at 4.30. Got 5.30 express and arrived home1 shortly after midnight. Found Joe and Father waiting for me.


  1. “Home” was 47 Eldon Street since 11 February 1915. The map shows ALL’s journey from Boulogne (A) to home (D) via Folkestone (B) and London (C). 

13 December 1916; Wednesday

Up about 7 o’clock. On duty 7.30. Cleared all patients for the hospital and packed up. Called down to the C R S 1 shortly after dinner. Billeted in tents. Heard Holman and Truman taken up the town and put on a big double marquee with 27 patients. Got to bed after a search for my blankets. Rain came in through the tents and awoke rather wet. Received letter from Father telling me of accident to Marmie and Dorothy through the oven bursting.


  1. “C R S”: Camp Reception Station. See RAMC Chain of Evacuation

2 September 1916; Saturday

On guard at 9 o’clock. My turn in the middle. Had a few short walks and called in Y.M.

[The foregoing words are superimposed on “Father’s birthday” and “Dorothy 7th”, written faintly in longhand.] 12

On from 1 o’clock in the morning until 5 o’clock. Gas alert put on and gave me some trouble. Pinched some petrol and washed tunic next morning3.


  1. ALL’s father’s birthday was the 4th of September, not the 2nd. ALL noted his father’s 59th birthday on 4th September 1914, so he would have celebrated his 61st birthday two days after this diary entry. 

  2. “Dorothy” refers to Dorothy Wiseman, ALL’s niece and daughter of his elder sister, Marmie, and her husband, Joe Wiseman. “7th” refers to the date of Dorothy’s birthday, 7th September, and not to her age. The 7th of September 1916 would have been her 4th birthday. See also: Family

  3. “Washed tunic”: possibly to remove discolouration of buttons caused by gas? (q.v. gas test on 3rd June). 

31 August 1916; Thursday

Went to Baileul 1 at 8.30 to have tooth done. Got there about 9 o’clock. Walked round town. Had dinner at the C.C.S. Left Bailleul about 3 o’clock. Called in at the house in the village we found the other night and had coffee. Munton, Taylor and Moss. Worked an hour extra at night. Wrote letter to Dorothy and commenced one to Father in reply to one <I> had received from him today.


  1. Baileul: ALL always omits one ‘l’ from ‘Bailleul’ in his longhand; the transcription follows this, but where he writes it in shorthand, ie phonetically, it is transcribed with the correct spelling. 

20 February 1916; Sunday

Got up late. At chapel late with Father in the morning. Went with Ernie at night and sat in Tulips’pew. Went down in the car and saw Gertie in it. Called at Grandmother’s in the afternoon and saw her, Aunt Esther and Uncle Jack. Spoke to a few chapel friends. Ernie and Hilda and Moira to dinner and tea and we had two chickens and pork for dinner. Played piano a bit. Sent postcard to Betty.

At Home.

Ernie’s finger better, Father’s not much. I got out a spelk1. Shook hands with Father.


  1. Spelk” is/was a dialect word meaning “splinter”. Spelks were a common hazard for timber workers – ALL said his father normally left them in until they festered, when the spelk could be got out more easily; he said this did no harm, because he had “good blood” – but maybe not this time. 

19 February 1916; Saturday

On fatigue with Ted† Copeland in the morning. Left off the job at 11 o’clock and got dressed. Got 12.8 train from Alnwick and arrived home shortly before 3 o’clock. Went down for Ernie at the shop1 with Joe. Called at Wiseman’s and then went over to Ernie’s nice house and saw Hilda and had tea. Called for Ernie at night again. Had walk out with Father, Joe and Ernie last thing. Went to bed late.

Weekend at Home.

Father got bad finger and Ernie too.


  1. “… at the shop”: presumably Hills’; see 21 January

29 January 1916; Saturday

Got off duty at 10 o’clock. Went into town before dinner. Met Father and Mother at the station about 2 o’clock. Had dinner in town and then walked through the deer park. Came back by the lane bridge and the bottom of the camp. Back into the café for tea and then to the station. Fine day. Left by the 6.43 train.

Visit to Alnwick of father & mother.

Met Misses Mack at the station and set them up. They afterwards walked up the road with me until 10 o’clock because I had a late pass. Spent a pleasant day and night.