Tag Archives: Father

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

16 April 1914; Thursday

April 1914, ,

Got up at 7 o’clock. Grand morning. Not very well. Easy1 day. Finished at 5 o’clock. Played the piano a bit. Read. Called at the dock at dinner time for father’s compensation money. Pupil came at night and I stayed with him. Wrote to Ernie and posted it last thing. Went to bed about 11 o’clock. Felt a bit dizzy.

  1. Illustrating the difficulties of transcription: ALL’s usual entry was “Busy day”, but the “b” and “s” strokes sometimes, as here, run together into almost a single arc: “s”. Elsewhere only a dot for the final vowel, after the stroke, is marked, though there should also be a dot before the stroke, for the first vowel; here, exceptionally, a first vowel is clearly marked, and for this reason, together with the ambiguity of the curved stroke and the fairly early finish at 5.00, I have transcribed the word as “easy”. (DL)  ↩

11 April 1914; Saturday

April 1914,

Got up about 8. Rather late for work. Finished about 1.30. Cleared up a few things at home. Went to Roker at night with Willie. Ordered Hutchinsons’ “History of the World”1 at the branch. Had short walk with Father in the evening.

  1. Correct name “History of the Nations” used in 17 April entry; quite a well-­illustrated, glossy production, apparently published in weekly or monthly numbers, subsequently bound in 4 volumes and retained by ALL. ↩

8 April 1914; Wednesday

April 1914, ,

Busy all day. Finished in good time at night. Tried a bit voice production and then went over to North Bridge Street Church. Crucifixion1 at North Bridge Street. Mr Oliver met the Durham Cathedral tenor. Charlie Ramsey bass. Tom Leydon did the odd men’s parts. It went off all right. Only a few there. Father a little better, but rather depressed.

  1. Stainer’s Crucifixion: see note on 5 April. ↩

7 April 1914; Tuesday

April 1914, , ,

Got up at 7 o’clock. Fine morning. Directors’ meeting. I didn’t get away for my dinner until 2 o’clock. Did 3 letters for Mr Lawson. Finished in good time. Went over to the practice at North Bridge Street at night. Sang rather well. Came over with Charlie and Tudie†1. Father not well. Dr Blair in and he is coming again on Thursday.

  1. “Tudie”: Could this be “Trudy”? – ALL’s sister Gertrude is always “Gertie” elsewhere. ↩

6 April 1914; Monday

April 1914, , , ,

Busy at work. Finished about 5.30. Got missionary money squared up. Sat with Joe with his pupil. A letter in the paper referring to George’s and saying that the baths were to be opened as usual. I went along to Chadwicks’ last thing. Talked with him until after 10 o’clock. Read an interesting article on Frederick the Great and Voltaire1. Father ill again. Gertie went for Dr Blair and he came down again.

  1. “Frederick the Great and Voltaire”: although – or perhaps because – he had had only very basic formal education, ALL made efforts throughout his life at ‘self-­improvement’; as shown in notes at the end of his diaries on his ‘progress’ in various studies and activities, and notes on authors to be read. ↩

17 March 1914; Tuesday

March 1914, , , ,

Not very much to do at work. Played at night and went down to the chapel last thing and helped Jim to put up the curtains and things. Came round with Willie Marshall. St Patrick’s social at the Victoria Hall1 and there were a lot of drunken Irish people dancing beside the Palatine2 last thing at night. I went up to Brumwell’s3 and got Father a fiddle string. Joe at Leeds. He wired to say he had taken the place to start on Monday next.

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

  2. “Palatine”: the Palatine Hotel, in South Bridge Street. ↩

  3. “Brumwell’s” (if correct): hardware shop in John Street (or Frederick Street?) with very comprehenisve stock. ↩

13 March 1914; Friday

March 1914, ,

Got up about 8 o’clock. Busy all day. Finished about 5.30. Mr Pike in at night. I got Susie Robson’s songs and tried them over. Had short walk last thing. Went to bed about 11 o’clock. The doctor in and he is not coming until next week. Father downstairs in the front room.

8 March 1914; Sunday

March 1914, , ,

Missionary Anniversary. At chapel and School as usual. Mr Baker preached in the morning. A meeting in the church in the afternoon. Mr Shepherd and a Mr Clark spoke. Pretty good meeting. Collections slightly up but no chairman’s donation. Didn’t have usual walks. Night very fine. I stayed to prayer meeting †afterwards to† get collections and square things up. Played the piano. Father improving. I called at Fred Waggott’s1 at dinner time to see about the School. James told Charlie the sketch for the social is off.

  1. Fred Waggott: the family had a long-­established butchery business, and were members of the Methodist chapel. ↩

4 March 1914; Wednesday

March 1914, , ,

Got up at 8 o’clock. Mr Aitken away at London. Called round by the dock and got Father’s compensation money. Finished in decent time. Played a bit at night and then went down to Briggs’ and practised with him. Called for Willie and went to the Victoria Hall1 and saw Cherry Kearton’s Pictures of wild animals2. They were very good and interesting. Joe reporting3 at a meeting in the afternoon and got 5/-­ for it. Went to bed late.

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

  2. Cherry Kearton: early wildlife photographer, recently (2013) re-popularised. ↩

  3. “Joe reporting”: Joe Wiseman wrote excellent Pitman’s shorthand; he and ALL did verbatim reporting at political meetings etc for practice, and evidently for income in Joe’s case. ↩

3 March 1914; Tuesday

March 1914, , ,

Got up about 7.45. Drilled a bit. Pretty busy at work. Finished soon. Played a bit. Went to the library. Shaved. Went to the choir practice and played for the anthems. Walked round with Willie. Told him about Joe being out of work. Arranged to go to the pictures tomorrow night at the Victoria Hall1. Went to bed late. Father sat up for a bit.

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