Another move forwards on the Ancre. Serre has been taken. The Germans have withdrawn their troops. We have now at this point in front of our trenches a piece of ground unbroken with shell holes. Lloyd George has made a statement that certain imports are to be forbidden, but that will not affect us much. The potatoe question is a very burning one, the price is very high & some people think that farmers are holding up supplies in case that the price should go up. In the meantime poor people who depend very largely upon potatoes for food have...

The War Loan has bee a great success. Mr Bonar Law last night in the House made the statement that £700,000,000 had been subscribed & more is coming in. Here in this parish Miss Miller has taken it up & has collected £113 chiefly through the children of the school. It is extraordinary what a number of people have a hoard of gold & we were asked long ago to give up all gold. Father & Arthur went in to Tavistock to Kelly College meeting consequently the former was not able to make his famous quotation at lunch. In afternoon...

The thaw has come at last. It began on Monday, but the ice has not gone yet. I can still stand on the lily pond, but the flowers are beginning to show . The snowdrops have come up with a rush. Yesterday Father heard from Highbury that Uncle Joe was very ill & we fear this may be the end. Bob’s kit has returned from France. Ellis & I unpacked it on Thursday. Mr Moore’s brother who is in the Lincolns is home on sick leave. He has been wounded & was in hospital in Boulogne. One day this week...

Mr Gerard has left Berlin, but still America is uncertain about what she intends to do, it almost seems now as if she will patch it up again on as before. The thaw has come at last but the wind is still cold. Yest Dorothea went to Buckfastleigh & I walked over to Landue with bag in hand & spent the night there, Sophie & Mrs Tregonning were the only ones at home. I had a most pleasant evening there. Mrs T amused me much by her views on the war & was exceedingly bitter against the Prussians & looks...

Only 7 degrees last night. Heard from Father describing Gerald’s wedding. It was a very quiet affair. This morning Dorothea and I both noticed a curious noise. At first I thought it was a Aroplane but it was too steady & continuous & sounded like the sea. Balsdon told us it was the East wind roaring on Dartmoor & this evening after tea we went to the front door & heard it again, a steady rustling noise of wind & yet it was quite still here. Elizabeth & I walked to Milton to inquire at the Post Office about the...

22 Deg last night. Lovely weather bright sun & no wind. Makes us all feel so well & cheery. All the neutral countries are very perturbed at this new move of Germany. America is still considering.

Father went to London. He is to officiate tomorrow at Gerald Ashton’s wedding.

Very cold day. America has withdrawn her Ambassador from Berlin & Count Bernstorff has been handed his papers at Washington. This looks as if America means to act, but I hope she will not come in. There are enough nations fighting. This submarine menace is the last resort of the enemy. The Zepps have failed & her army on the Western Front can not make any headway. now it comes to this, either Germany is starved out or we are starved out. A list of food regulations is published to day. 2 ½ lbs of meat per head per week,...

Very cold day. Snow fell & in the evening it fell again.

Returned home on Thursday. The weather has been bitter, & in that little house in Wimbledon it was impossible to get warm. None of the doors or windows fit, gales blow all round you when you sit in any of the rooms. There is a large crack in the house from top to bottom & the ceiling in one of the rooms was momentarily expected to fall. Yet for all this Frank, Ursula & Juliana live a happy life. I had a nice time running up to town most days & seeing several of my friends. Had tea at Wimb....

An Aux Cruiser has been torpedoed off Ireland, the Laurentic, a converted White Star liner. Some activity reported on the West Front.

Something bombarded the Sussex coast last night but did very little damage & there were no casualties. The Germans are attacking mear Verdun again. A bitter wind still. We have not had such a cold winter since the year 1895 but we have not had severe frosts but it is such a long spell of cold winds. We have had stacks of letters enquiring about Bob perhaps by the end of next week we get news. This afternoon to give the children exercise I fetched them down in to the dining room & had a good romp. Ellis has moved...

I stayed in bed yesterday to shake off my cold, have still a beastly throat. Ellis is better & is coming down into the N room today. I have been reading the German official news in the Times of the 13th, it refers to 50 prisoners being taken about where I think Bob must have been but does not mention officers but the number fits it as he had 40 men with him.

The Times speaks favourably of the President’s speech though it says that the Allies will not agree to what he says about peace coming without victory that is ending in a draw. It speaks in the highest terms of his great ideal. If he succeeds he will rank among the greatest men the world has seen. I know Reginald on whose word the family relies does not hold the exalted opinion of President Wilson which I do & thinks he is only working for the material good of America but here I beg to differ from my most estimable brother....

President Wilson has made a great speech about his plans for the future peace of the world, he says America can have no voice in the peace terms but they can and will have a voice in the arrangements which are made after the war to stop further wars. He is a great man & I hope the allies will listen to him. Fortunately our leaders have more sense than the newspapers. I cannot quite understand what the president’s plans are, but he seems pleased with our answer to his note. I see to day that further complications have arisen...

M.C.K. went to Wimbledon on Wednesday with Nicholas. Took him to see a doctor on Thursday & dispatched him to school on Friday. On Friday night there was a terrible explosion near Woolwich a whole munition factory was blown up. Fortunately most of the people were got out before the fire reached it. 18 Stanley Road felt the shock just as Juliana had been kissed good night & she was frightened but was soon soothed. Bert Clogg has lost his leg but he is able to write himself and writes a very cheery letter & says his other foot is...

Cheering news that he is reported unofficially prisoner & unwounded. The Adj. wrote that he and another officer & forty men were cut off but news has come in that two officers and some men have been taken prisoner so they think it must be them.

Heard this evening that Bob is missing. The wire came after tea. One imagines all sorts of dreadful things. He has been missing since the 11th. That is a week ago.

Cold day. After lunch snow fell for an hour & lay, but about 3 the sun came out. I went down to Limes Cottages to see Mrs Sly, on my return I found Father sweeping the snow from the front door step. He had actually swept a path from there to the east gate of the churchyard. The great event of the week has been the new War Loan which was started on Friday. Mr Lloyd George made a great speech on Thursday at the Guild Hall explaining it. He wants more money. I had hoped to put in some...

Drove Tim Betts down to Lifton & went in to Launceston with him. Did shopping & went to meeting of Suffrage Society. Had to preside, and as it was the first one I had been to for 2 years felt rather out of touch with it all. Miss Willcocks spoke & told us of the work of the N.U.W.S. & of the Hospital Units which have been sent out to the various fronts. She told us that the American Commission of Inquiry had published the following approximate figures of both the military and civil population in Europe during the war....