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.

23 January 1915; Saturday

January 1915, , , ,

Finished rather late at work. Walked round the town with our Charlie and met Dora’s Charlie in town. Came home with him and talked about enlisting. Walked out with Willie Whittaker at night and went up to the top of Chester Road. Looked in the free shop we are interested in and there was very little trade doing. At Trinity1 lecture on the emotions and enjoyed it.

  1. Trinity: See 10 January 1914. ↩

16 January 1915; Saturday

January 1915, , , , ,

At work as usual. Went up to the Ford Estate with Joe, and watched them drilling a short time. Met Blaikie on the way back and talked a short time. Called at the Echo office but no replies. Read and played a bit. Called for Willie Whittaker. Went to the Memorial Hall1. Mr Newrick’s choir there and Willie Whittaker and I were in the audience. Charlie on the platform. Willie got toothache.

  1. Memorial Hall: See 10 January 1914. ↩

28 November 1914; Saturday

November 1914, ,

Worked until 3.30. Had dinner hour1  work, George and I. Went to the Training Centre at night and Joe went with me. Afterwards went for walk with Willie Whittaker and went up the Durham Road. Bought paper and it had in rumour of 2 German ships being sunk in the Baltic. The Herta & Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse , battle ship. [Following words encircled: -­ ] Not true2.

  1. Could “hour” be “ower”, = “over [at]”? It would be the only bit of Sunderland dialect in the Diary. ↩

  2. It is not known which paper published this rumour, but ALL was clearly right to discount it. The sinking of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse had happened (though not in the Baltic) on 26 August and was noted by ALL in his diary entry for the following day. There is no record of any ship named Herta at this time although there was an SMS Hertha which survived the war and was scrapped in 1920. ↩

26 November 1914; Thursday

November 1914, ,

[Note at top of page – ] Bulwark

Busy at work. Mrs Spain to tea. Received news that the HMS.Bulwark1 had blown up in Sheerness Harbour & over 700 lives been lost. Went with Willie Whittaker to hear “Carmen” at the King’s. It was very good and the singing good too.

  1. HMS Bulwark: pre-Dreadnought battleship attached to the Channel Fleet; exploded with the loss of 750 men (including 14 died later) when moored near Sheerness (Isle of Sheppey, in the Thames Estuary.) Cause believed to have been overheating of cordite charges placed too near a boiler-room bulkhead. ↩

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. ↩

31 October 1914; Saturday

October 1914, ,

Finished at the office in good time. Went to Porteous and had a second tooth stopped. It took all the afternoon nearly. It rained heavily at night. Went to the Teachers Training Centre, and afterwards bicycled called for Willie Whittaker but didn’t go far. Came back home and played chess for a few minutes.

Wayman finished1.

Hospital Steamer Rohilla2 ashore at Whitby. About 70 lives lost. Newcastle lifeboat took off 50 people. British casualty list to date 57,000 on land.

  1. The diary entry for 2 December 1914 mentions a Billy Wayman who had recently left the Paper Works. It appears that 31 October was his last day of employment there. This Billy may possibly be the “Willie” who received his notice on 29 October to “finish on Saturday first”. ↩

  2. His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Rohilla: 7114 tons, built for the British India Steam Navigation Company in 1906 (Rohilla means an Afghan tribesman); ran aground 4.00am on 30 October in gale and blackout, at Whitby Rock just S. of Whitby; carried no rockets (for breeches buoy), but out of 229 aboard 144 were rescued (including one Titanic survivor) by land-­based rockets and lifeboats from as far away as Tyneside. ↩