Tag Archives: Letters

Diary entries which mention letters written or received by Arthur Linfoot during his time in the RAMC.

27 October 1916; Friday

October 1916, , , ,

Up about 7 o’clock. Helped officers’ servants by washing up breakfast things. Wrote letters to Ernie and Charlie. Wet day again. Received letter from Hilda Linfoot1.

  1. Hilda Linfoot: believed to be Hilda Tate Linfoot, ALL’s cousin, daughter of Charles Poulter Linfoot, who with his brother William Gaylard Linfoot and their families emigrated to New Zealand on 25 July 1912. Hilda had sent ALL a birthday card in January 1914 (Diary, 31 January 1914). Very little other communication is recorded until now, but the Diary mentions further letters in 1917 and 1918, and Hilda’s address in Auckland is noted in ALL’s 1917 Diary. Hilda was a younger sister of Lily Linfoot, who married Willie Marshall; see 10 June 1914. See also Family page and Hilda disambiguation page. ↩

26 October 1916; Thursday

Abridged, October 1916, , ,

Had practice going all day. Received news of big French successes at Verdun1 and also that we captured 200 Germans in a counter-attack up here. Read a good bit and got into bed in good time. Pretty cold and wet. Received letter from Charlie and papers from home.

  1. Verdun was a key point in France’s defence system, very strongly fortified, 100km E of Reims. French defeat there would have had great strategic and symbolic significance to both France and Germany. The prolonged siege took a heavy toll on French manpower, significantly influencing Allied strategy. See Battle of Verdun (Fourth Phase, 20 October – 2 November) at Wikipedia. ↩

13 October 1916; Friday

October 1916, , ,

Up at 7.30. Put on the water job and taken off again and away in the motor-car to Sailly-au-Bois1 to a dugout. Sergeant Fraser, Harman, Truman, Axley and Moss. Cleaned up the place and had dinner and tea there. The rest very busy. I wrote a few letters and wrote up diary.

  1. Sailly-au-Bois (A) (Michelin square H7): 7km E. of Authie (B), 14km N. of Albert. ↩

12 October 1916; Thursday

October 1916, ,

Up at 7.15. On fatigue in the morning picking up leaves. Had a bath at dinner-time and got a new shirt and pair of pants. Physical drill and smoke helmet drill in the afternoon. Wrote letters and diary in the evening. Captain Birrell spoke to me about a letter which <I> had written home and told me not to mention anything about journeys†1. I got the letter back.

Received letter from Ernie, and one from Ray McRoss.

  1. Letters home from the front would doubtless have been subject to censorship. ALL was evidently in the habit of including details of his movements in France in letters home, probably in very much the same way as he did in his diaries. Unlike in letters home, there does not appear to have been any prohibition on the use of personal diaries in this way. ↩

8 September 1916; Friday

September 1916, , , , ,

Up shortly after 6.30. On duty all day. Received long letter from Joe and one from Mother telling me that George Crawford1 had enlisted. Fine day and good news from the front.

Fire at the house at the hospital. We were out all night at it. I got a job to watch the stuff we carried out of the ward. Got to sleep about 5 o’clock.

  1. George Crawford, of the Hendon Paper Works office, mentioned frequently in the 1914 diary (see footnote on 30 January 1914), according to an address in the 1917 diary entered the Army Veterinary Corps. See also all posts tagged “George Crawford” and George H. Crawford at Lives of the First World War. ↩

31 August 1916; Thursday

August 1916, , , ,

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. ↩

30 August 1916; Wednesday

Abridged, August 1916, , ,

Up at 6.30. Fatigue cleaning walls and scrubbing floors. Stormy wet day. Wrote to Ranald MacDonald. Heard that Roumania12 has joined Allies.

  1. Roumania joined the Allies (not least because Bulgaria was with the Central Powers) with singularly bad timing. Falkenhayn was removed from the Western Front due to his perceived failures (and replaced by Hindenburg, who was President of Germany in 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor), but when transferred to Transylvania (still part of Austria-Hungary at this time) proved much too good for the Roumanians, who were routed in Wallachia (the southern portion of the country, where Bucharest is situated, between the Carpathians and the Danube) and were driven back to their original capital Iași (pronounced Yash; formerly spelt Jassy) at the Northern end of Moldova. ↩

  2. In 1916, Romania was still usually spelled “Roumania” or “Rumania” in English, from the French “Roumanie”.  The modern English spelling, “Romania”, was adopted some time after WWII. ↩

26 August 1916; Saturday

August 1916, ,

Worked outside in the morning at the dining hall. My afternoon off. Went with Duggins to Baileul1. Walked so far and then jumped on the back of a motor lorry. Had a good day. Posted a few postcards. Went to the Y.M. and played the piano. First time since I have been in France. Went to the pictures and enjoyed them. Rode back in horse ambulance. Charlie Farr, Sam Hall, and Corporal Salisbury† in and they were all pretty well drunk. Had a good day.

  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. ↩

22 August 1916; Tuesday

August 1916, ,

Up at 7 o’clock. Kept busy all morning washing floor. Had afternoon off. Received letter from home telling me of Chadwicks’1 departure. Read some of British Weekly. Had eggs and coffee and custard for super.

  1. Rev. Chadwick had been a minister at the South Durham Street United Methodist Free Church, of which ALL had been a member prior to enlisting. Rev. Chadwick was first mentioned on 4 January 1914, and again on many subsequent occasions. ↩

16 August 1916; Wednesday

August 1916,

Up at 6.30. On parade and on fatigues as usual. Stayed in at night and played cards. Wrote home. Kit inspection in the morning.

Paraded sick in the morning with toothache. Captain Newton told me I would have to go to the C.C.S.1 in the morning and managed to stop my tooth with cocaine at 7 o’clock at night.

  1. C.C.S.: Casualty Clearing Station. ↩