Tag Archives: Sunderland

Diary entries which mention places and events in and around the Sunderland area. See also Sunderland map.

24 December 1914; Thursday

December 1914, , , , , , ,

[Christmas eve – See footnote1.]

At work as usual. Mill stopped at 6 o’clock a.m. We finished in good time and Tom Fagin† brought his gramophone across and played it until nearly 6 o’clock. I went up town at night and posted some Christmas cards. Called at station for Ernie but he didn’t arrive. Went up town later and called at Wiseman’s both in going and coming. Joe’s face swollen very much and he can’t go out. Bought Gertie a music case. And read a lot of The Manxman2 and went to bed about 1 o’clock. Charlie out tonight. Ernie arrived at Boldon with Hilda and the baby.

  1. ALL didn’t mention, and presumably hadn’t heard of, the first German bomb dropped on British soil on Christmas Eve, 1914. A single German aircraft (which appears to have got away unscathed), dropped a bomb which fell in a garden near Taswell Street in Dover, where there is now a blue plaque on the wall reading “Near this spot on Christmas Eve 1914 fell the first aerial bomb ever to be dropped on the United Kingdom.” ↩

  2. ALL had started to read this book a few days earlier, on 22 December. See The Manxman and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

16 December 1914; Wednesday

December 1914,

Hartlepools, Whitby, Scarbro’ & Redcar1 bombarded by German cruiser squadron. Heavy loss of life, especially in the Hartlepools and a great amount of damage done2. Our destroyer flotilla engaged them but they got away3. The first news was received through a telephone message from Hartlepool. A good deal of excitement.

  1. “[The] Hartlepools” was a commonly used name for the conurbation formed of the old town of Hartlepool and the newer West Hartlepool. “Scarbro'” was and remains a common abbreviation of Scarborough. Curiously, few if any other contemporary accounts mention Redcar at all although it is close to the coast between Hartlepool and Whitby and could quite conceivably have been a target. ↩

  2. See Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby at Wikipedia. The attack caused 137 fatalities and 592 casualties. Sunderland was lucky to escape this and any subsequent bombardment. The shelling of Scarborough is the subject of Osbert Sitwell’s 1926 novel ‘Before the Bombardment’. ↩

  3. “… they got away.”: While the raid caused public outrage towards the German navy for its apparent targeting of civilians, there was also a significant backlash against the Royal Navy for its failure to prevent the raid. ↩

21 November 1914; Saturday

November 1914, , ,

Finished in good time. Went across to Roker with Joe and saw the guns. 3 big guns on the Cliff Park and trenches all the way along. The road stopped off from halfway down. Taking Bede Memorial1 down. Watched them unloading 6”shells at Ebb’s Point battery. Went round town at night with Willie Whittaker and Charlie. A lot of strange soldiers in town. Went to Trinity Preparation School. Mr Milburn not present.

  1. Bede Memorial: a sculpted stone cross, some 3 – 4m high, erected in early 20th century on Roker Cliff Park, between the east ends of Sidecliff Road and Rock Lodge Road. Removal of this monument (and probably others) was presumably intended to make it more difficult for an invading force to identify a specific location. The Bede Memorial was temporarily removed in WWII also, for the same reasons. See also Sunderland map. ↩

20 November 1914; Friday

November 1914,

At work as usual. Went up to the top of Chester Road and went for a march with the Athletes. Marched round Hendon and round the town and back to High Barnes School. A lot of people in town thought we were recruits. Came down to chapel and played ping pong.

A ship sunk off the entrance to stop the channel. Others were sunk within the next few days.

14 November 1914; Saturday

November 1914, , , ,

Finished about 2 o’clock. A remarkable amount of work. Belgian Flag Day. I purchased one in the office at work and Charlie and I were tannered1 again up the town and I had to get them too. Walked up to the Workhouse Field and saw the Athletes2 drilling. Everybody in the town wearing Belgian flags. Went to the lecture at Trinity3 at night, and afterwards went to Roker out with† Willie and Mr Peake. The cars4 not working from Roker to the lower end of Roker Avenue. Fern. Motte called at the office. Bought a pair of new boots at the Store. The “Niger”5 a small gunboat had been sunk by a German submarine off Deal. No lives lost.

  1. “tannered”: the transcription seems to be correct, and if so probably means that ALL and Charlie had again been caught by a seller of flags, for which the going rate was a “tanner”, meaning 6 old pence, equivalent to 2½p.” ↩

  2. Athletes: the Athletes’ Force? See 6 November. ↩

  3. “Trinity”: possibly Holy Trinity Church, Bishopwearmouth. ↩

  4. Cars: tram-cars. ↩

  5. HMS Niger: built as torpedo gunboat, converted to minesweeper; sunk by U-12. This was the first Allied casualty from submarines based in Belgian ports. ↩

3 October 1914; Saturday

October 1914, , , , ,

Got up 6.15. Had walk along Hendon beach and cliff with Alf before breakfast. Had a bit of a row with Willie about a football. Sent 5/-­ to Everyman1 for Persian relief fund. Went to Porteous and had another tooth out. Went to Roker at night with Willie and Charlie. Walked as far as Whitburn.

British troops in Antwerp2. Germans attack with artillery only.

  1. Everyman: see Everyman and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

  2. “British troops in Antwerp”: See upcoming guest posts by Leading Seaman Arthur Hawes, which offer a first hand account of these events. ↩

26 September 1914; Saturday

September 1914, , , ,

Finished in good time. Finished about 1.30. Went up the town in the afternoon with Charlie and he got measured for a suit at the Store1. I called at Porteous the dentist and he examined my teeth and agreed to take 2 out next Wednesday. Went to Roker at night with Willie Whittaker. Came back on the car2.

The Belgians retired from Malines to line of outer Antwerp forts.

  1. Store (if correct reading) would mean Co-operative Retail Store ↩

  2. Car means tram-car, as usual. ↩

12 September 1914; Saturday

September 1914, , ,

Finished in decent time. Walked up town in the afternoon. Paid for history† book which I received from Hills’s1. Went up town at night with Willie Whittaker. Wet night. Saw young Letty come out of the library as we came down Villette Road.

German retreat continued to the Aisne, where new battle.

  1. Hills’s: the main Sunderland bookshop, in Waterloo Place, where Ernie later worked as manager and eventually as a director. ↩