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.

16 June 1915; Wednesday

June 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Busy all day. Finished in decent time. Went over to the Tyne with Hoggetts & saw the damage done by the air raid1. Train to South Shields, walked to Tyne2 Dock, car3 to Jarrow, and train from Hebburn back again.

Visited the Tyne. Reggie Bailes4 left the Office.

  1. Air raid: See yesterday’s entry. ↩

  2. The shorthand clearly has “town” and “town dock”, but “Tyne” and “Tyne Dock” must be right. ↩

  3. “Car” means “tram-car”, as usual. ↩

  4. “Reggie Bailes”: evidently another work colleague who may have joined the war effort. As of 12 June 2015, Lives of the First World War lists only four people with that name. One of these served with the 6th Durham Light Infantry but without any further clues – and, sadly, there are none – it would be pure speculation to suppose that this was the same Reggie Bailes. ↩

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. ↩

11 June 1915; Friday

June 1915,

At work all day and working again at night. Two Torpedo Boats sunk by German Submarine in North Sea, No 10 & 121.

  1. Two torpedo boats, ex-Cricket-class coastal destroyers, sailed from Harwich at midnight on the 9th June, on patrol off Thames estuary, searching for reported submarines with three other TBs and five destroyers. Both were mined on 10 June; mines laid by UC.11 two days earlier. TB12 (ex-Moth) was mined first (thought to have been torpedoed at the time) . TB10 (ex-Greenfly) suffered the same fate while trying to take TB12 in tow. See Naval-History.net. ↩

10 June 1915; Thursday

June 1915

At work as usual. Busy all day. Commenced overtime1 at night.

  1. “Overtime”: for some reason, Hendon Paper Works always had a non-fiscal-year accounting year, which meant that the office staff had to work overtime (for the year-end accounts) in June, when the evenings were longest and finest. ↩

9 June 1915; Wednesday

June 1915, ,

At work as usual. Busy all day. Finished about 6 o’clock. Grand day. Had walk at night with Charlie. Played a bit. Mr Balfour1 announced the loss of a German submarine.

  1. “Mr Balfour”: Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, a Conservative politician who had  served as Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905, succeeded Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty following the formation of Asquith’s coalition government in May 1915.  ↩

8 June 1915; Tuesday

June 1915, ,

At work as usual. At practice at night. Directors’ meeting. I had one letter off Mr Lawson. Got work well up to date. Went to choir practice with Charlie and came up with him, Willie and Blaikie. Grand day. Got measured for suit of clothes at Stewart’s but cost 35/61.

  1. i.e. £1 15s. 6d. (£1.77½ – roughly equivalent to £180 in 2015.)  ↩