Roused at 6 am to be ready at 7:30 to go in bus to boat. Embarked on P. de Coninck for Dover. Journey takes about 2 hours. Very cold. Most of troops are on deck. Enter train for Newcastle. Given soup & meat on train. S. Major Russell of 4th C.M.R. is with me. Arrive Newcastle at 11 pm & go to Armstrong College (of Armstrong Whitworth factory works) which is filled up with hospital arrangements.
*When war broke out in August 1914, the First Northern General Hospital was mobilised with the rest of the Territorial General Hospitals. The original provision was for 540 beds, but by 1917 this had risen to 2166 and the unit took over Armstrong College, Durham University, the Newcastle Workhouse Infirmary (now Newcastle General Hospital) and a private house to serve as hospital accommodation.
(http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2014-11-10/stories-behind-ww1-memorial-revealed-by-newcastle-university/)
