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.

6 October 1914; Tuesday

October 1914, , ,

Got up about 7.30. Drilled again. Not much to do at work. Further news about Allies check. Russian Victory in East Prussia. German destroyer sunk by Submarine E91 off the mouth of the Ems.

Belgian King2 & ministers leave Antwerp. Garrison retires to inner ring of forts.

  1. The destroyer was the S116. It was the E9 which sank the Hela (see 13 September); she was scuttled off Helsinki on 3 April 1918 to avoid capture, and was salvaged for breaking up (in Finland) in 1953. ↩

  2. “Belgian King”: Albert I of Belgium ↩

2 October 1914; Friday

October 1914, , , , , , ,

Got up about 6.20. Went to baths. Pretty busy at work. Stayed in at night and wrote to Ernie. Went out last thing and called by the chapel. Charlie and Father there. They said the meeting was better.

Riot in India & about 20 natives and one Englishman killed1. British Navy commenced to mine North Sea. Heavy bombardment of Belgian trenches. Belgians retire across the Nethe. Germans occupy outer ring of forts.

  1. “Riot in India…”: Probably the denouement of the Komagata Maru incident. ↩

1 October 1914; Thursday

October 1914, , , ,

Not much to do at work. Slight signs of general improvement. Mother and Father to tea at Uncle George’s. Went down to meeting at night. It was slightly improved but very noisy. Policemen going round asking people to keep lights out or as low as possible.

H.M.S.Cumberland captured 10 merchant ships1 and one going out for the Cameroons. The lights in the town very much reduced. Lière forts destroyed.

  1. According to Wikipedia, HMS Cumberland was sent to West Africa after the beginning of the war in August and supported operations in the Cameroons where she captured 10 German merchantmen at Douala on 27 September. ↩

30 September 1914; Wednesday

September 1914, , ,

At work. Not much to do. Sands and Bob came down in the morning with their uniform on. They are going to Ravensworth Castle tonight1. Got money. Went to Porteous and had two teeth extracted at dinner time. It didn’t hurt much. Fine day. Had walk out last thing after playing a good bit.

Waelhem & Wavre-­Saint Catherine completely destroyed. Waterworks behind Fort Waelhem blown up. Belgian infantry fight well.

  1. Ravensworth Castle: presumably an Army camp; there are two Ravensworth Castles, one at Lamesley in Tyne & Wear, SW. of Low Fell, the other at Ravensworth village in N. Yorkshire between Richmond and Barnard Castle; the former appears to have been used as a training camp in 1914 having been abandoned by the Liddell family in 1910. The castle is now partially destroyed as a result of subsidence caused by mining. ↩

29 September 1914; Tuesday

September 1914, , , ,

Not much to do at work. Stayed in at night and read some grammar up. Had short walk up the town at night with Charlie. Rather cold night. Received news that the Emden had sunk other four British ships in the Bay of Bengal. Nothing fresh from the front

Magazine of Waelhem blown up. Wavre & Saint Catherine put out of action. Lière1 bombarded.

  1. Lière: spelled Lierre on 5 October; now Lier (S. of Antwerp.)  ↩

21 September 1914; Monday

September 1914, , , ,

Very slack at work. Finished early. Got hair cut. Had bath. Read a good lot of Everyman1 and wrote up old diaries about the time I was commencing to go with Mildred†.

News to hand of the damage of the cruiser Pegasus by the German cruiser Konigsberg while she was at anchor and not under steam2. Also the sinking of 5 merchant ships by the Emden3 and the sinking of the Cap Trafalgar by the Carmania4.

The big battle in France still going on. Read Lloyd George’s speech.

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

  2. Pegasus, a Tyne-built cruiser of 1897, was sunk by the Königsberg off Zanzibar. ↩

  3. SMS cruiser Emden was used as a raider in the Indian Ocean, and in September 1914 alone took over 20 British merchant ships, as well as raiding Madras. See also 29 Sept., 10 Nov., and note on 9 December. ↩

  4. Cap Trafalgar was a large modern German liner (1913, 23,640 tons) converted as an auxiliary cruiser, in service in the South Atlantic; she was found and sunk at a secret base in the Brazilian islands of Trindade, 500 miles E. of Brazil, on 14 September by the Carmania, another ex-­liner (1905, 19,500 tons) fitted out as an armed merchant cruiser; the Cap Trafalgar was thus the first ex-­liner to be sunk by another ex-­liner. ↩