Tag Archives: Franchie

Franchie Inwood, a girl with whom Arthur Linfoot became friendly during his stay in Sheffield. See also Inwood.

16 July 1916; Sunday

Up at 7 o’clock. Still standing by and no church service. Rumours of Germans’ retreat up the line. Wrote to Willie Whittaker. Fine morning. Service in the field in the afternoon but it rained and so we stopped before the sermon. Rained a bit at night. Wrote letter home in reply to one received and also to Willie Whittaker and Franchie Inwood. Went to bed early at night. Lay awake with toothache, but generally slept well.

1 killed and 9 wounded of the 57 Ambulance at La Boisselle.

28 June 1916; Wednesday

[The pencilled shorthand of this day’s entry is exceptionally faded.]

Got up at 9 o’clock. Rained heavily. Met two [illegible word deleted by ALL] Sheffield men. Had to walk about a mile to the canteen and got wet through. Shaved and washed under difficulties. Rained all morning. Had orders to parade ready for the lines at 5 o’clock but orders subsequently cancelled. Had to walk up to the top of the bank for each meal. Bully1 and biscuits. Walked to the bottom of the village at night and watched the shells bursting over Albert. An Engineer told us that the attack had been put off for 48 hours on account of the wet. The men played House2 nearly all day. Received letter from Franchie Inwood.

Saw shells bursting first thing.


  1. “Bully”: Short for bully beef, more commonly known as corned beef, a staple of troops in WW1 and all later conflicts until quite recently

  2. “House”: housey-housey, the WW1 name for WW2 (and later) tombola; now known as bingo. 

30 May 1916; Tuesday

On parade most of the day receiving kit and suchlike. Went to town and bought a brooch for Franchie. Returned to Inwoods’. Went out with Franchie to Five Ridges1 to pick daisies. Gave her the brooch. Mrs Inwood gave me shaving material and some cakes. Stayed pretty late. Wrote in both autograph albums and birthday books. Left 11 o’clock.

Went to bed about midnight.

Last night in Sheffield.


  1. “Five Ridges” doesn’t seem likely, but I can find nothing on the map to which the shorthand could be stretched. 

29 April 1916; Saturday

[The pages for 29 & 30 April, which face each other, are badly smudged, in part illegible.]

Men parading for their gear. Off in afternoon. Went into town and had a bath with Green. Met Bennett and went to Cinderhill1 café for tea. Some fun with the girls. Went to concert at night at Victoria Hall. Met Mrs Inwood and Franchie and a lot of RAMC men. I went with them to supper. Very good concert.


  1. “Cinderhill”: uncertain transcription, but there are Cinderhill Lanes both N. and S. of Sheffield, so it may have been used as a name for a business. 

25 April 1916; Tuesday

On parade in the morning. Bank holiday1 in the afternoon and allowed out. Walked into town with Leishman. Had a drop tea at the Y.M. Went to Inwoods’ for belts2. Arranged to go to Victoria Hall concert. I met Mrs Inwood and Franchie in the car and went down together. Pretty good concert. After concert big rush for cars3. Mrs Inwood, Green and Leishman got in and left Franchie and I outside. We walked up to the Town Hall before we could get one. Stayed to Inwoods’ to supper. A man got *4 knocked down by a car and I helped to pick him up. Mr Inwood wrote out the paper of the Dublin Rebellion5.

Lowestoft6 Naval Raid.


  1. Actually the preceding day, 24 April, was the Easter Monday Bank Holiday. 

  2. “Belts”: clearly written as plural; uniform belts were often taken off indoors: presumably others besides ALL had done so the previous day. 

  3. “Cars”: Meaning tram-cars, as usual. 

  4. “Shorthand looks like “regiment”; ALL interrupted while writing – “. . man from regiment knocked down . .”? 

  5. “Wrote out the paper…”: Possibly the Proclamation of the Irish Republic

  6. Lowestoft: this was intended to be a very big operation, and was timed to coincide with the Dublin Easter Rising, the Irish rebels having asked for German supporting action. Very briefly: 8 Zeppelins bombed Norwich, Lincoln, Harwich and Ipswich on 24 April, then a strong German naval force arrived off East Anglia, and by bombarding Lowestoft and Yarmouth hoped to draw divided Royal Navy forces to be attacked and beaten separately; the Germans correctly believed that the High Seas Fleet was widely divided, part of it trying to carry out a similar plan on the German coast, but some British ships had returned after colliding in fog, and were not where the Germans expected. The German leading battleship hit a mine, and all in all the whole operation was greatly disrupted and achieved nothing. 

24 April 1916; Easter Monday

Went across to Soldiers’ Home in the morning and played the piano a bit and a game called Badminton. Met Inwoods in the afternoon and went up the moors with Mr and Mrs Inwood, Franchie, Miss Yately, an Engineer, and Leishman. Had pleasant walk. Returned to Inwoods’ to tea. After tea Mr and Mrs Ford, Meyrick, Hunter, and Read. Played games and had a bit music. Had a good time. Forgot my belt.

19 March 1916; Sunday

Up shortly after 6 o’clock. Church parade to Wesleyan church again. Mr Inwood preaching in the morning. Franchie in the choir. Went over to soldiers’ home in the afternoon and wrote a few postcards and a letter to Black. Had tea with Miss Chapman, Mrs Chadwick, a Miss Herschel and Metgrave. Went to the Wesleyan church. Mr Wednell† preached a good sermon and it didn’t do me any harm. At Inwoods’ to supper. Was introduced to some new soldiers. Met Franchie and Mrs Inwood. Walked from church with Franchie and talked a bit. Promised to go back Friday.