– cloudy, cool
To Bromley with Nield. We have 8 new arrivals, 6 of them are gassed – awful cases. Some blind with it – mustard & [……] gas.
Sister Gerard goes off night duty.
Archives for August 2018
Friday 30 August 1918
I draw £10 from Paymaster, the last I shall get in England. British take Bapaume & French take Noyon. We have taken 2,000 enemy guns since Aug. 18.
Whist Drive in Ward given by Sister Gerard. Beattie 1st Anderson 2nd prizes.
Thursday 29 August 1918
Monufret & I go to St. Pauls Cray, St. Mary Cray and Foots Cray for a walk.
*The name Cray possibly derives from the Saxon crecca: a brook or rivulet, but it also relates to a Welsh word craie: fresh water. The Latin word creta: chalk, must not be overlooked, as the River Cray flows over a chalk bed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_Cray)
Wednesday 28 August 1918
– rain
Parade at clothing store to have kit checked. Also @ admission & discharge room to receive form to fill up. Bapaume taken by us. Roye by the French.
I go to St. Mary Cray with Crocker on invitation by Crocker & I go to concert etc. given by Co-operative Socy. Girls. Splendid time & returned home at 10.30 pm. Miss Brinklow gives invitation to us.
*The website (www.greatwar.co.uk) indicates that the British recaptured Roye on August 27th and Bapaume on August 29th, and that Noyon was retaken by the French on the 29th.
Tuesday 27 August 1918
– rain
In afternoon to Chislehurst Common to see English Forestry Corp re chat on Forestry equipment. Monrufret accompanies me. Get many mushrooms of various edible sorts.
Call in to see Mrs. Pipe.
Monday 26 August 1918
17,000 prisoners captured in Haig’’s advance yesterday. In afternoon to see English Women’’ s Forestry Corps with Goulding(an Australian) & others. We do some scrumping for apples on our return. We ate so many that two of us had to go to bed.
*Scrumping is the term used by the women of the Forestry Corps for climbing the high walls of an orchard and pilfering the apples.
Sunday 25 August 1918
–– rain
Since July 18 Hun prisoners 100,000 . We capture 15 villages in a week.
Stayed in hospital all day.
Wet.
Miss Cavell, cousin of Nurse Cavell, calls & distributes flowers. We have a very interesting chat. If Nurse Cavell was like her cousin, she must have been an angel.
*Edith Cavell was a British nurse during the First World War. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without distinction. Born in England, Nurse Cavell moved to Belgium where she was appointed matron of the Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels in 1907. With war in 1914 and the subsequent German occupation of Belgium Cavell joined the Red Cross; the Berkendael Institute was converted into a hospital for wounded soldiers of all nationalities.Many of the captured Allied soldiers who were treated at Berkendael subsequently succeeded in escaping – with Cavell’s active assistance – to neutral Holland. In 1915, she was arrested for helping 200 allied soldiers escape from German occupied Belgium. She was subsequently court-martialled, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage. (https://www.cavellnursestrust.org/edith-cavell)
Saturday 24 August 1918
Monufret and I go to St. Pauls & Mary Cray. Visit an old water mill at Orpington worked by Mr. Hodsoll. Very old but interesting machinery.
Friday 23 August 1918
462 enemy aeroplanes brought down by British in a fortnight.
Thursday 22 August 1918
To Orpington.
[Vedrian] still alive & doing intelligence work for France. He takes French spies over to Germany, drops them & calls back for them later. He has Legion of Honor, etc. etc.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »
