Margaret’s WW1 Diary +100 Years

Journal Entry –Monday January 11th 1915

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...

Journal Entry –Monday January 4th 1915

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...

Journal Entry –Saturday January 2nd 1915

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...

Journal Entry –Thursday December 31St 1914

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...

Journal Entry –Wednesday December 30th 1914

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...

Journal Entry –Monday December 28th 1914

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...

Journal Entry –Saturday December 26th 1914

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....

Journal Entry –Friday December 25th 1914

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...

Journal Entry –Saturday December 19th 1914

Left Wimbledon at 10. Reginald came with me as far as Waterloo. Met Jack Sethbridge at Wimbledon station. He staying at Wimbledon going through a case. At Waterloo met Armind Morshead and travel down together. She is working very hard at her painting & is evidently getting on, as Lucy Kempe Welch told her the other day, that she would do strong work one day. We saw train loads of soldiers coming off for Christmas leave. Reginald is going to try again to get into something he thinks he might do some home job so as to let some other...

Journal Entry –Friday December 18th 1914

Very nice day. Went up to town met Ela at Harrods for lunch. After which went on did a good deal of shopping and finish with tea at the Coleridges. They were very excited over the Scarborough outrage. Canon MacMarness was celebrating in the one of the churches when a shell fell on the church, he however finished the service. In the meantime one of his sons who arrived home on leave just as the shelling began, found his mother & the servants in a panic, and drove them all down into the cellar. A shell entered the study &...

Journal Entry –Thursday December 17th 1914

It was all too true. Some German ships came in quite close to Scarborough under cover of a fog, & proceeded to shell the town at 8 AM then they went on to Hartlepool & Whitby & shelled that. Great damage done. This will perhaps stir people other bits & make them recruit. In the afternoon Ursula & I went to see the Gondoliers at Hammersmith, it was very enjoyable.

Journal Entry –Wednesday December 16th 1914

Wimbledon came here on Monday, just to catch a glimpse of Ursula & the child. The latter is quite a different baby from what she was when she left Kelly in Sep. she is now very round & fat, with a very comic face, lovely colour & beautiful eyes. A baby in fact to feel proud of. On Monday during my journey up, two private’s got into the same carriage. There was an elderly woman also there, who talked a great deal to them. One was in the R.F.A. & had been wounded and Mons, but he said he knew...