Tag Archives: Work

Arthur LInfoot was employed as a clerk at the Hendon Paper Mill in Sunderland prior to joining the RAMC. He rejoined the company after demobilisation and remained there until his retirement, rising to become a Director of the company by that time.

14 December 1914; Monday

December 1914, , ,

Pretty busy at work. Stayed back a short time at night and completed stock sheets. Played piano at night for Charlie and tried some new songs through. Got on pretty well. Finer day, but still stormy. Received news that submarine B.11 had blown up Turkish ship “Messudiyeh”1 in the Dardanelles. Lieutenant Commander Norman D Holbrook2. He passed under 5 chains of mines to do it.

  1. “Messudiyeh”: Actually the Ottoman ironclad Mesudiye, correctly noted to have been sunk by HMS B11 ↩

  2. Norman D Holbrook: ALL’s shorthand appears to have Lt. “Commander”, but he was only a Lieutenant; awarded first naval VC of WW1 for this. ↩

9 December 1914; Wednesday

December 1914, ,

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

  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. ↩

4 December 1914; Friday

December 1914, , , , ,

Kept busy at work. Went with Father at night to Dr Robinson to be examined. Interview lasted a good bit. Big recruiting meeting in the Victoria Hall1. Lord Charles Beresford2 speaking. Went along to Halford’s† and bought Charlie a flash lamp. Had walk last thing with Joe.

  1. Victoria Hall: see note on 10 January. ↩

  2. Lord Charles Beresford (1846 – 1919): a senior admiral, popular with the public, and an MP from 1874; a participant in the late 19th/early 20th century naval controversies, including competing unsuccessfully for appointment as First Sea Lord in 1906, with Admiral Fisher (who escaped compulsory retirement at 65 in that year by promotion to Admiral of the Fleet, for which the retirement age was 70.) Fisher, who was a leader in the pre-1914 naval construction race with Germany, retired as First Sea Lord in 1911, but was recalled in 1914 to succeed the German-named Prince Louis of Battenberg, was a bizarre and unpredictable character, who briefly went absent during the controversy about the Dardanelles debacle, then resigned in May 1915. ↩

3 December 1914; Thursday

December 1914,

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.

  1. George V visited the Western Front for the first time in December 1914 and again on several later occasions. On one such visit in 1915 he was thrown from his horse and seriously injured. ↩

2 December 1914; Wednesday

December 1914,

Busy at work. Got books well up to date. Went down to drill at night. Billy Wayman joined our lot. First time I have spoken to him since he left the Paper Works1. Had a real soldier showing us how to go about it. Called in at Grandmother’s last thing. She is not so well.

De Wet2 captured.

  1. Billy Wayman had evidently left the Paper Works on 31 October. ↩

  2. Christiaan Rudolf de Wet was a Boer general and rebel leader in the Maritz Rebellion of 1914 in which men who supported the recreation of a Boer South African Republic rose up against the government of the Union of South Africa.  ↩