At work as usual. Received news of Defeat of Turkish Army in Caucasus1. Went down to Girls’ Guild Social at night. A large company and a lot of strangers. Pretty decent night. Mr and Mrs Flood and the Waggotts well represented. Left at 11 o’clock and came round with Gertie. Charlie called in but didn’t stay and slept at home.
See also: Wikipedia; Caucasus Campaign ↩
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.
“[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. ↩
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’. ↩
“… 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. ↩
Busy all day. Working overtime at night taking stock. Had tea at work. Went for walk round town last thing. Stormy night. Bought Echo with account of the Fight of Falkland Islands on Nov. 8th. German Cruisers “Scharnhorst”, Gneisenau, Leipzig sunk. Dresden and Nürnberg being pursued. Admiral Sturdee in Command.1
See 1 November entry on the Battle of Coronel, at which Admiral Graf Spee had been in command (the 1930s ‘pocket battleship’ Graf Spee, scuttled in the comparatively nearby River Plate after the 1939 battle of that name, was named in his memory); Spee, with 5 cruisers and 3 auxiliaries, moved from the S. Pacific to continue commerce‐raiding in the S. Atlantic (and detached the Emden for similar duties in the Indian ocean; see 10 November entry), and attempted to attack Port Stanley; Vice-Admiral Sturdee had arrived there the day before with 2 battle-cruisers and 5 other, mostly heavier cruisers. 6 of the 8 German ships (including Nürnberg) were sunk, only the Dresden and the auxiliary Seydlitz escaping; no British ships were lost; German losses were 2,200 (including Spee and his two sons), and 215 prisoners; British losses were 18 killed and 19 wounded. ↩
Got total out at work and it is right. Went down to Endeavour after reading a bit. Came round by myself. Bonny night but rather wild. Read a bit.
The King spent a few days at the front about this time1.
Got day book written up to date. Stayed in at night and wrote a long letter to Ernie. Went out last thing with Joe and had short walk round.
Russians gained great victory in East Prussia1.
East Prussia largely disappears from standard WW1 histories after Hindenburg’s victory at Tannenberg in September 1914, which stopped the Russian advance. According to a 1917 Illinois University thesis by Benjamin E. Ludvik, “The Russian Invasions of East Prussia, 1914-15”, the Germans in turn then advanced, despite bad roads and worse rail, but their attempt to cross the Niemen near Grodno (modern Hrodna) was repulsed with heavy losses; Ludvik quotes: “The London Times claims a great victory but the Germans deny the claim”. But this appears to date from 5 October. Ludvik records that thereafter the Russians advanced “slowly but surely”, and by 14 November had reached Stallupönen (c. 80 miles E. of Königsberg), where there had been a battle on 17 August, preceding Tannenberg. But the next phase, which Ludvik calls “The second [Russian] invasion of East Prussia” did not start until January 1915. So, failing any other candidate for the “great victory”, perhaps ALL had belatedly seen or heard a reference to The Times’ October headline, with the date missing. ↩
Missed chapel in the morning through sleeping in too late. Wild stormy day and night. At Sunday School and chapel at night. Mr Chadwick asked me to arrange for the missionary men’s anniversary†. I had a bit trouble and finally arranged with Mr Fred to try Jack Robinson. Stayed to prayer meeting. Read a good bit and played a bit. Received news that Lord Roberts had died in France1. He had gone over to inspect the Indian troops and contracted a chill and died there through pneumonia. Mr Chadwick preached in the morning but Mr Kettle preached at night.
Terrific attack on Ypres abortive.
Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, died of pneumonia at St Omer, France, on 14 November 1914 while visiting Indian troops. ↩
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.
“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.” ↩
Athletes: the Athletes’ Force? See 6 November. ↩
“Trinity”: possibly Holy Trinity Church, Bishopwearmouth. ↩
Cars: tram-cars. ↩
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. ↩
At work as usual. Hurried up to the High Barnes school with Joe to drill and we had to stay in and drill with the three recruits. Left about 9.15. Called by the chapel and played a foursome at ping‐pong.
Germans capture Dixmude1, slight advance on Rhine side2.
Dixmude: Actually the town of Diksmuide in Belgium; the French spelling is Dixmude. If the Germans did capture Diksmuide as suggested by ALL, then they only held it briefly. A contemporary newspaper report, dated 14th November, from the Evening Post in New Zealand notes that “a bayonet charge enabled the French marines to recapture the greater part of the town.” ↩
See also Battle of the Yser, mentioned in the diary entry for 2 November. ↩
Busy at work. Stayed at home until late trying to complete Willie Wanless’s song. Went to the practice late. Came round by myself. Read a bit at home.
Received news that the “Emden” had been destroyed near Cocos Islands by H.M.A.S.”Sydney”1. Also that the Koenigsberg2 had been entrapped on the East African Coast by the Chatham.
“Emden”, a light cruiser (4.1” guns; coal-fired, the last non-turbine German warship), had been a successful raider in Eastern waters, latterly with a dummy fourth funnel to masquerade as HMS Yarmouth; however she reached Direction Island without it, and was spotted by the Telegraph Superintendent; HMAS Sydney, with 6” guns, answered his call. ↩
“Koenigsberg”, similar to Emden but even older: successful Indian Ocean raider, traced by HMS Chatham through her collier in mid‐October, besieged and repeatedly attacked in Rujiji Delta (S. of Dar-es‐Salaam, then German E. Africa, now Tanzania) by RN cruisers, until scuttled under heavy attack in July 1915. ↩
Very busy at work. Received news of a naval engagement off Valparaiso in which the cruiser Monmouth was reported to have been sunk and the cruiser Good Hope badly damaged if not sunk1. German losses are reported small. The German Cruiser Yorck2 lost on a mission in the Coral Sea. Probably one of their own mines. Affairs on land progressing favourably. Had hair cut.
Russian Victory in Galicia.
“Naval engagement…”: The Battle of Coronel, which took place on 1 November and which ALL subsequently also noted in his diary entry for that day. Both vessels mentioned were in fact sunk; Good Hope was Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock‘s flagship. ↩
SMS Yorck was returning from the raid on Yarmouth of 3 November, made a navigational error in heavy fog and accidentally sailed into a German minefield. ↩