Yesterday we heard that some of our ships have had an encounter with the enemy & has sunk one of their ships. Those that took part were the Lion, Tiger, New Zealand, Princess Royal & Indomitable. All battle cruisers. Yest. morning I was off & went to the cathedral where was matins, followed by a late celebration as it was St. Paul’s day. I stopped for it, not having been to church for 3 Sundays. Was very weary at end of the day.

A morning off, which I am spending by the fire. On Friday Ursula came up & spent the night in Exeter. She, I & Mary dined at Dellar’s Cafe on Friday evening & had a good chat. Ursula looking better already. On Sat morning I got off at 11 with orders to be back by teatime, as more patients are expected. I spent the time looking for Ursula & fails to find her, and until 3 when we met by appointment in the cathedral, then went for a drive on the train & departed with Ursula by the New London...

Yest. I went to be inoculated for the 2nd time, & did not feel much of it to day. I was given extra time off in the afternoon & came back to East-Southernhay & sat by the fire all the afternoon. On Sunday Mary & I went down to Exmouth with the Worthington’s. It was a lovely afternoon, we were much refreshed by the air. We walked along by the sea, & then went to Louisa Terrace for tea. A lovely sunset was going on all the time. The Prof showed as a new Tory of his which consisted of...

This morning I had everything to do in my ward & also prepare the dining room for the men’s dinners, a great rush it was. As 2.15 I was off & ran to the station to see Ursula. The train was 20 minutes late, so after all there was plenty of time. Mary was there waiting. At last the train came in & there was Ursula and the dear babe. The latter very fat & rosy the former very white & thin. Bob was also there, doing nurse maid. The time was all too short & away they went. We...

The days go by so much alike there is little to record. Yest. 16 and more men came in, they had travelled straight from Boulougne. Yest. Ellis came up & visited the hospital & brought up some lovely flowers. Mary & I had tea with her at Dellars.

Until this moment 6 PM I have had very little time or energy for writing. The day I came up to the hospital, I was first sent up to the OC’s office to be interviewed by Dr Worthington & he at once said I must stay with them again which of course is nice for me, although 10 minutes walk. I was put into a medical ward chiefly men with frostbitten feet, over me was Miss Marker, & over us both is a very stern old sister, who has a most forbidding face & crusty manner but who looks nice...

Cold showers. The only interesting thing in the paper to day is the account of some of the men of the formidable, got away in one of the ship’s cutters & were for 21 hours battling against the storm, with no food & very little clothing. 12 died, & 6 more died when the boat comes to Lyme Regis. It is too terrible to think of their sufferings in this weather & all those hours without food. Cyril Turner arrived at tea time. Mary & I went down to Yalford & on our return of there was a telegram for...

Cold showers & very chilly day. Special services of intercession for peace. No sermon at any service, but a homily was read. It was a very good one, with exactly the right is telling about it. After lunch Reginald, Cedric, D & I went to Yalford to see the cottage prepared for Belgians. Had to shelter there from hail shower.

Another of our ships gone, the Formidable, sunk in the channel. A Brixham trawler picked up 70 of the crew who were in one of the ships cutters which was unseaworthy. There was a tremendous see on, and for 3 hours the trawler tried to get near the cutter & when at last they succeeded it took half an hour getting the men from 1 boat to the other, but at last they did it, & took them all into Brixham. Another 70 have been picked up by a cruiser, but no information is given to whether the cause of...

Such a fearful gale of wind was raging when he woke this morning, the rain was very heavy until about midday stop did not go out all day. At tea time Cedric Clare arrived, Dorothea wrote to Aunt Janie at Christmas & suggested he should come & see us again. In 11 years have passed since we have seen him. He was only 8 when he was here last.

To return to the war. A long list today of killed & wounded. On Tuesday we saw among those wounded & missing the name of Luke Coleridge. Mr Rennel Coleridge’s son. He was in the Coldstream Guards, having joined some time after the war. He was meant for the Diplomatic Service. It is difficult to find out what is happening, there is so little news. In the afternoon D & I went to Whitchurch. Miss Walker has asked us to try the organ. It is a lovely one. Miss W plays beautifully. Afterwards we went to tea at Holwell. I...

At 12 the rain began, and all the afternoon & evening, torrents fell, with a high wind from SE. This was really the last straw for from the beginning poor old D has had to contend against so many difficulties over this play, & then to have such appalling weather was too much of it. Fortunately we had the car to take us up, & at 6 it began to go to & fro, & fetched various people, & the last to come was Father. And after all we had nearly a room full. Outside the wind howled & the...

In the afternoon we had the performance of the play, & quite a nice number of people came. Newmans, Clarks, Joan brought over the boys, also Hilda, Theo and her two. The children did the play quite well.

Paper to day is an account of the raids that our sea planes made on Cox Haven , on Christmas morning, of all days in the year in which to drop bombs, it is too terrible. At Meuport too a special attack was made. A very long casualty list to day in which Reginald saw the name of a man he knew at Oxford, called Walters. See [something] Gloucestershire Reg. Also among the wounded & missing is Luke Coleridge, at least we think it must be he. LHR, sounds like his initials. In the times of Sat. is an account...

Real old-fashioned Christmas weather this morning, soft driving rain from South West. Reginald & I walked down to Greystone bridge for the meet. The rain cleared over and the morning was perfect. Soft drifts of grey cloud with peeks of blue sky, and the woods & countryside rich in colour. At the bridge there were very few people, chiefly farmers. The only one we knew was Cicely Lewis, & afterwards the rest of the family arrived in a car. One of the brothers, Ted, belongs to a public school corps connected with the Navy. He dresses like a ordinary sailor....

Last night was very beautiful, clear & bright and very still, with the moon half full, and a white frost. But this morning and came a thaw, after a very lovely red sunrise. At the 8 o’clock service there were a good many people, but how few we (the family) are now compared to former years. At breakfast I could not help remarking that it did not feel like Christmas although we had exchanged presents as usual. Perhaps it was, as Dorothea said, that being so few made a difference. But perhaps it is that we are all a great...

As usual, giving of presents, sending off cards, decorating church, & clearing up for Christmas day. Cold day but fine

Cold day. Fog came down at 12. Lifted again at sunset. Mary & Reginald came home, terribly busy all day doing up parcels & sending off cards.

Lovely day, white frost, clear sky. Iced cakes in the morning, in the afternoon went to Yalford to see goddaughter. During the day we had one postcard and 2 telegrams from Mary saying first that she was coming to day and secondly that she was not. After tea we did up the flannel for the men, and the servants presents.

Cold. Showers from NW. In morning made cakes. Armind and Ruth came to lunch. Jack has just gone to the front, left yesterday. Heard from Mary this morning saying that she was ill, and was at the Deanery. The Dean has fitted a room for sick V.A.D. nurses & has a nurse there to look after them. She hopes to have come home, but did not do so, by this means she may get leave for Christmas.