Second diary
December 11, 1915 (Saturday)
Second Diary
RNAS
Sub. Lieut G.M. Masse Killingholme Air Station
Lincs
England.
December 1915
No entries recorded: December 1–10, 1915 (10 days)
Second diary
December 12, 1915 (Sunday)
Second Diary
B. - B.
L. M.
D. - B.
Second diary
December 13, 1915 (Monday)
Second Diary
B - B
L - M
No entry recorded: December 14, 1915
Second diary
December 15, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
B - M
L - M
D - I
Second diary
December 16, 1915 (Thursday)
Second Diary
B - I
L - I
D - M
Second diary
December 17, 1915 (Friday)
Second Diary
B - B
L - B.
Moved back to barracks.
A Private Shorthand
December 12–17, 1915
For about a week, the second diary drops into a private code: single letters, B, L, D, paired with other letters, day after day ("B – B," "L – M," "D – I"). The best guess here is that these are meal notes: B for breakfast, L for lunch, D for dinner, each paired with a shorthand for where or with whom he ate, barracks, mess, an instructor's mess, in town. But it's only a guess, and the diary offers no key. Rather than force a confident decode, this archive presents the entries as Robertson wrote them and leaves the rest an open question.
No entry recorded: December 18, 1915
First diary
December 19, 1915 (Sunday)
Fine & Clear. Went to Parish Ch. with Ted. in A.M.
Second Diary
Went to church a couple of times.
Second diary
December 20, 1915 (Monday)
Second Diary
No Fatigue party.
2 transports, 3 leaks
"Potash and Perlmutter"
Second diary
December 21, 1915 (Tuesday)
Second Diary
2 M.T. - 3 H.T.
Second diary
December 22, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
3 M.T. (½ day) - 3 H.T.
Bull took over
First diary
December 23, 1915 (Thursday)
Orderly day. - Warned for France AT. LAST.
Second Diary
Warned awaiting order. - O.O.
Historical Context
A New Commander, and Orders for France
December 19, 1915
Four days before this entry, Sir Douglas Haig replaced Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, a change driven in part by the costly failures of 1915, including the Battle of Loos that September. Haig would remain in command of the BEF for the rest of the war.
Where Things Stand
Warned for France
December 23–31, 1915
"Orderly day. – Warned for France AT. LAST." After nearly a year at Shorncliffe, the order finally comes, but it's still a week of waiting: Christmas rounds of the hospitals with the men's canteen money, a party at the Salisbury that runs to five in the morning, shopping for kit only to find the shops shut for the holiday. The one cryptic line of December 29, "#3 Gen Hosp. / Camiens or jesuits College Boulogne", is a jotted note of where he's headed, not where he is; the actual Channel crossing doesn't come until January 3, 1916.
First diary
December 24, 1915 (Friday)
Went around to the hospitals giving the men their canteen[?] money. - Full of good cheer etc. - Called Squib after dinner + went in town with Newt. - Called at the Salisbury. - Every one going to Grand [?]. - Promised to go. - Went shopping. Met Sapper Hill. Arr'd Grand 12 P.M. Party at Salisbury. - Arr'd Bks. 5 A.M.
Second Diary
Party at the Salisbury
Second diary
December 25, 1915 (Saturday)
Second Diary
Rain.
Second diary
December 26, 1915 (Sunday)
Second Diary
Went out riding. Walked to the warren with L[???] + Smeed. Trinity Ch. + dinner at R.Kt
Second diary
December 27, 1915 (Monday)
Second Diary
E.K.H.C. meet at Lyning[?]
Rain. - Heavy going
Dinner + dance at Metropole
Second diary
December 28, 1915 (Tuesday)
Second Diary
About town to buy kit + found all shops closed.
Second diary
December 29, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
#3 Gen Hosp.
Camiens or jesuits College Boulogne
No entry recorded: December 30, 1915
Second diary
December 31, 1915 (Friday)
The Last Page of the Second Diary
See the actual page in the Gallery →
Carry the word to my sisters—
To the Queens of the East and the South.
I have proven faith in the Heritage
By more than the word of the mouth.
They that are wise may follow
Ere the world's war-trumpet blows,
But I—I am first in the battle,"
Said our Lady of the Snows.
Kipling "Five nations"