Tag Archives: Gertie

Gertie was Arthur Linfoot’s younger sister. See the Family page for more details.

14 July 1916; Friday

14 July 16July 1916Gertie, Laviéville, Letters, SommeArthur Linfoot

Up at 7. No bread and rotten dinner, boiled bully. Got hair cut. Physical drill at 11 o’clock. Wrote to Gertie. Received two copies of the Daily News from home. Rain in the morning but fine in the afternoon. Got new cap two sizes too small. Paraded at 6 o’clock with the guard. Went on from 6 until 10 o’clock. Got two blankets and slept with Lee on a fairly comfortable bed in the hospital barn.

13 July 1916; Thursday

13 July 16July 1916Betty, Gertie, Laviéville, Letters, Mack, Map, Ribemont, SommeArthur Linfoot

Up at 7 o’clock after a bad restless night. Hunted in shirt and pants and found about 6 big lice. Paraded in the morning for cleaning waggons etcetera and then physical drill. Lay down all afternoon – no parade. Had some peaches for tea. Received some papers from Betty and also a letter from home. Went out at night with Lee and called at a village. Bought some chocolate. Afterwards met Leaky and Duggins and went with them to Ribemont¹. Had eggs, coffee and cakes and bread. Walked round village and bought card for Gertie. Saw a few thousand cavalry go by our village and understand they are going to charge in the morning.

Ribemont: presumably Ribemont-sur-Ancre, 7km SW of Albert, not Ribemont, SE of St Quentin. ↩

21 February 1916; Monday

21 February 16February 1916Alnwick, Dorothy, Father, Gertie, Leave, MotherArthur Linfoot

Up at 7.45. Got 9.30 train. Mr and Mrs Whittaker and Lizzie and Daisy to see me off besides Mother, Gertie and Dorothy. Father out first thing. Arrived at Alnwick about 12.30. At lecture in the afternoon.

20 February 1916; Sunday

20 February 16February 1916Betty, Chapel, Ernie, Father, Gertie, Hilda, Leave, MackArthur Linfoot

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.

“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. ↩

18 February 1916; Friday

18 February 16February 1916Alnwick, Betty, Dorothy, Gertie, Leave, Letters, MackArthur Linfoot

Received letter from Betty in reply to mine¹. Wrote acknowledgement and said that I would be travelling through Morpeth. Out in the town at night and got one or two things. A bottle of scent for Gertie and a brooch for Dorothy.

ALL wrote his letter to Miss Mack on the 15th February and received a reply from Betty on the 18th. ALL continues to use Miss Mack’s first name only from this point on. ↩

24 December 1915; Friday

24 December 15December 1915Gertie, Leave, Willie WhittakerArthur Linfoot

Got up about 7 o’clock. Dressed, paraded for pay, and got 10.20 train. Arrived Sunderland about 2 o’clock. Walked in as they were reading my letter saying I wasn’t going to get home. Played piano most of the afternoon. Went into town with Gertie at night, but it rained heavily and I sent Gertie back. Went to Whittakers’. Had supper. Met their soldier friend, Mr Spencer. Willie set me back. He looks all right in uniform¹. Didn’t go to bed until late.

This would have been Willie Whittaker (not Willie Marshall); see 2 November for his enlisting. His death is recorded in November 1917. ↩

8 November 1915; Monday

8 November 15November 1915Alnwick, Dorothy, Father, Gertie, Leave, Marmie, MotherArthur Linfoot

Got up at 9 o’clock. Played the piano and then walked into the town before breakfast. In the afternoon played duets with Marmie and then walked out with Gertie. Called at Lily’s, Grandmother’s and Whittaker’s. Had tea at home, and then got 7.30 train. Father, Mother, Marmie, Gertie and Dorothy saw me off. Met Metcalfe at Newcastle. Fell in with two decent chaps too.

Left home for Alnwick.

23 June 1915; Wednesday

23 June 15June 1915Charlie, Gertie, WorkArthur Linfoot

At work as usual. Pretty busy all day. Gertie had Nora¹ Gibson to tea. Charlie off at night. Played and sang and had walk.

There was a Dora Gibson on January 27, but the shorthand clearly differentiates. ↩

14 April 1915; Wednesday

14 April 15April 1915Aerial warfare, Charlie, Gertie, Joe, Mother, WorkArthur Linfoot

At work as usual. German Air Raid on North East Coast¹. One Zeppelin passed over Blyth, Wallsend and South Shields and over the sea again. No lives lost, very little damage done. Mother and Gertie down at Rowe’s. Joe and I went out for a walk and found that all the electric lights were out and the cars² stopped in the streets. Charlie working until after mid-night and brought us news what it was.

Wikipedia’s summary of Zeppelin raids in 1915 notes only that “two Navy raids failed due to bad weather on 14 and 15 April.” ↩
“Cars”, as noted previously, means “tram-cars” at this period – powered through overhead electric cables. ↩

7 April 1915; Wednesday

7 April 15April 1915Current affairs, Gertie, Mother, Naval warfare, WorkArthur Linfoot

At work as usual. Played a bit at night and read a bit. Mother and Gertie at the pictures.

Prinz Eitel Freidrich [sic]¹ interned at Newport about this time.

Prinz Eitel Friedrich: a German liner, built 1904, converted to auxiliary cruiser, sank 11 small vessels in south Atlantic & Pacific; interned in Newport, USA, 11 March 1915, converted by US Govt. to troopship April 1917. ↩

The Diary of Arthur L. Linfoot

58th Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C.