Tag Archives: Willie Whittaker

Diary entries which mention Willie Whittaker, a friend of Arthur Linfoot from South Durham Street Chapel. Willie Whittaker enlisted in the 13th Battalion of the Yorkshire regiment in November 1915, rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant (by then serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers) by the time of his death, which is recorded in October 1917.

15 June 1915; Tuesday

June 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Busy all day. Finished in decent time. Went down to practice. Walked up with Willie Whittaker and Blaikie and Joe.

Air Raid on the Tyne1. Damage to Palmer’s†2 works and 16 killed & many injured. Zeppelins arrived about mid-night. They were seen by some people in the town here.

Miss Aitchison commenced in the Office.

  1. This page at Strong-Family.org has extensive detail about the air raid. ↩

  2. Palmer’s: the shorthand, which is indistinct, looks more like “Abraham’s” or “Abram’s”, but has been transcribed as “Palmer’s” because a) that is known to have been the business most damaged in this raid and b) the detailed record at Strong-Family.org as noted above confirms the same number of fatalities at Palmer’s shipyard as recorded in this diary entry by ALL. ↩

3 June 1915; Wednesday

June 1915, , , , ,

At work as usual. Had dinner at the office. Got well up to date. Went down to chapel at night and walked up with Blaikie and Willie Whittaker. Spoke to Billy Winter on the telephone and offered him to keep in touch about enlisting. Fine night. Kitchener received decoration of K.G.1

Turkish transport sunk by British submarine.

  1. From the London Gazette: “The KING has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of His Majesty’s Birthday, to appoint Field Marshal The Right Honourable Sir Horatio Herbert, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.S.I.,G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., to be a Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.” ↩

27 May 1915; Thursday

May 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Busy all day. Received word that Sands1 & Jack Pallin2 are both wounded. H.M.S. Triumph3 sunk in Dardanelles by German submarine. Went to work at night, Came up with Blaikie and Willie Whittaker and was late in getting in.

  1. Most probably the same Sands as mentioned in earlier entries alongside Bob Brotherston who had subsequently died on 6th May. Nothing more is yet known about Sands. ↩

  2. This is the first and only occasion on which Jack Pallin is mentioned in the diary but it seems probable that this was also a work colleague from the paper mill. The 1901 census lists a John Y. Pallin living in Ryhope, quite near the Hendon Paper Mill, and gives his occupation as “Paper Finisher Paper Mill”; Jack was and remains a common alternative name for John. This John Y. Pallin was born in 1880 and was thus ten years older than Arthur Linfoot. The death of a John Y. Pallin at the age of 39 is recorded in 1919 and his name was listed on the war memorial at St Aidan’s Church, Ryhope Road, Grangetown, Sunderland. See also John Y. Pallin at Lives of the First World War – that life story appears somewhat ambiguous in its present form (as at 27 May 2015), but the Medal Index Card connected to it suggests that John Y. Pallin served with the Durham Light Infantry (service number 2650), as did Bob Brotherston (and probably Sands). ↩

  3. “H M S Triumph”: pre-dreadnought battleship, built Barrow-in-Furness for Chile but bought for RN before completion (1903); torpedoed by U-­21 off Gaba Tepe, 25 May 1915; 78 crew lost. ↩

22 May 1915; Saturday

May 1915, , ,

At work as usual1. Finished about 2 o’clock. Called for papers in the afternoon. Walked round Grindon with Charlie and Willie Whittaker at night. Fine night. Played the piano a bit.

Terrible Railway Accident at Gretna Green2. Troop train, goods train and express all smashed up and an appalling death roll. Daily Mail3 burned at Stock Exchange.

  1. Saturday morning working was of course normal – as it remained until the 1960s. ↩

  2. “Terrible Railway Accident at Gretna Green”: the Quintinshill rail disaster remains the worst ever UK rail accident – 246 injured, est. 230 killed (uncertain because regimental records being carried in the train were destroyed in fire caused by gas lighting in wooden carriages); troop train (carrying men bound for the Dardanelles) hit local passenger train (wrongly shunted onto main line), was then hit by express train; fire ignited two nearby goods trains. Two signalmen were convicted of culpable homicide (broadly equivalent to the English offence of manslaughter; the trial took place in Scotland). ↩

  3. The Daily Mail was burned (and its circulation fell by a quarter of a million) because of its personal attack on Field-­Marshal Lord Kitchener, who was still immensely popular with the public as Secretary of State for War. The proprietor, Lord Northcliffe, was running a campaign against the Government’s conduct of the War, mainly based on a shortage of shells to which the Generals in France claimed their lack of success was due. ↩

1 May 1915; Saturday

May 1915, , ,

At work as usual. Finished rather late. Played the piano and went out with Willie Whittaker last thing. Joe, Willie and I played ping pong most of the night as it was wet.

“Recruit”1 sunk by submarine, and Two German Torpedo boats sunk by British destroyer.

  1. “Recruit”: British destroyer, 335 tons, sunk by UB6 off Dover, 1 May 1915 with the loss of 39 men. 4 officers and 22 crewmen were rescued. ↩

17 April 1915; Saturday

April 1915, , ,

At work as usual. Finished very late. Called for papers at dinner time. Went with Willie Whittaker to Shiney Row, car from New Herrington to Houghton, walked from Houghton to home. We were stopped by a picket at Grindon1 who were stopping motorcars. A picket also at East Herrington. We saw an aircraft of some sort over Newcastle way. A raid of [sic] Shields during the night but nothing done.

  1. Grindon and East Herrington are just outside what would have been the built-­up area of Sunderland in 1915; on the main roads to Chester-­le-­Street and Durham respectively. It would be interesting to know if there were pickets that day on the other main roads out of Sunderland -­ and if so, why. ↩