Second diary
June 1, 1915 (Tuesday)
Second Diary
Mess orderly. Went in town with Ham + Sam
Second diary
June 2, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
Laying - Pay £3-10. Range party. Went in town
Second diary
June 3, 1915 (Thursday)
Second Diary
Laying - Dentist - Got parcel from P.O. - P.P - Went in town with Ham - Mail from home.
Second diary
June 4, 1915 (Friday)
Second Diary
Laying
First diary
June 5, 1915 (Saturday)
Charley + Ada down for the day - C. interviewed the Adj. + C.O - + Gen. on my behalf. - Promise of a comm. in the C.E.S.
22nd Bn. started a riot.
Second Diary
Charlie + Ada
Where Things Stand
Working the Angles for a Commission
May 25 – June 5, 1915
Robertson's push for a commission hits its first real snag on May 25, when the Major tells him it's off "on account of the Col.", a frustratingly vague rejection ("What the H— do you know about that?"). Eleven days later, his London relative Charley, down for a visit with his wife Ada, goes over the Major's head entirely, lobbying the Adjutant, the Commanding Officer, and a General directly on Robertson's behalf, and comes away with a fresh promise of a commission in the Canadian Engineers. It's a small but telling glimpse of how much a well-connected family could still smooth the path to an officer's commission in 1915, running alongside the slower, more official process the diary tracks elsewhere.
First diary
June 6, 1915 (Sunday)
Fine.
Called on Morrow at H.Q. Put in application to O.C. Loafed around canteen + band with Guy Knight + Harcourt Block. Went in town in the aft.
Second Diary
Saw Morrow at Hdqus. Stables 4.30 - "B" sub. Folkestone
Second diary
June 7, 1915 (Monday)
Second Diary
Q.M.S. Fatigue. Office - Put in Application. Took in washing. Sam + Ham on leave
Second diary
June 8, 1915 (Tuesday)
Second Diary
Driving drill - Quick release. Battery parade - Seabrook. Office - Col. sgd. application. In lying picket. - Mailed home.
Second diary
June 9, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
Reported sick. Western layer. - Sacs M. McG overseas co'y arrived last night. (Pat's reinforcements)
Second diary
June 10, 1915 (Thursday)
Second Diary
Battery manoeuvres - got lost + came back. - Laying in sheds. - Mailed home.
Second diary
June 11, 1915 (Friday)
Second Diary
Went in town with Fred Donald. Q.M.S. Fatigue - Drawing stores + cleaning rifles. C.B. - In lying picket.
Second diary
June 12, 1915 (Saturday)
Second Diary
10 men for draft. - In town with Sammy + Guy - Met a bunch of the Pats. - Bath. Wrote letters - L
First diary
June 13, 1915 (Sunday)
Loafed around all morning. - Met Charley Cameron + young Sutherland going to Canterbury this aft. - I was broke. so they took me along. - Saw the cathedral + dined at the County Arms. - Met Gen. Steele
Second Diary
Missed ch. Parade. - Went to Canterbury - Met Charley Cameron + had a meal
Second diary
June 14, 1915 (Monday)
Second Diary
On guard with Ham + Guy + Sammy. - 3rd relief. 1-3,7-9 - Chas. Cameron + Lawrence Motaffy were over so we borrowed some coin.
Second diary
June 15, 1915 (Tuesday)
Second Diary
Off guard 9 A.M. + went to bed. Stayed off aft. parade + went in town with Ham + Sammy + ate at Soldier's Home. Wrote letters + came home early as Ham had a date. Got new issue of clothes.
Second diary
June 16, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
No pay yet. - C.A.V.C. paid monday, so visited Geo. Drysdale. Morrow sent for me from Hdqrs. - Everything O.K. only to wait now. - Went in town with George + me C.A.V.C. draft.
Second diary
June 17, 1915 (Thursday)
Second Diary
Still no pay. - F.O.Q.M.S. + loafed around in C.A.V.C. quarters all aft + went in town with Geo. again. Thought I was going to see someone but fooled myself.
PAY PARADE
Second diary
June 18, 1915 (Friday)
Second Diary
On Q.M.S. fatigue - Changing paliasses - Went in town with Geo, Ham + Sammy. Went to the show. - Lost Geo!
Second diary
June 19, 1915 (Saturday)
Second Diary
Out for exercise ride. In town with Ham. Perry down from London. Took him out to Pat's quarters.
First diary
June 20, 1915 (Sunday)
B sub on duty for afternoon stables so stayed in all day. - Had a letter from Pringle. - The bunch is all up with the 4th Battery. - Expect a draft of 50 men in here tonight. - A bunch of troops arrived Shorn. Stn. Heard pipe band. Wonder if 42nd have come.
Second Diary
Hot. B sub on duty. - Stayed in barracks all day except for a stroll down Cheriton. - 150 men expected for reinforcement. Slept + wrote letters. - Spent the evening up in Mitchell's room. Put in for pass.
First diary
June 21, 1915 (Monday)
Hot - Nothing doing this morning. Went out for a ride this aft. Had a peach of a gallop back of Beach borough. Saw a bunch of the 42nd + was just going in town when I saw Bob Moodie - Had tea with him + later met Jim Matheson + Hoskins. It's great to meet a bunch like that. Put in for 6 dys. - Wrote dad. Reinforcements came to 2nd Baty' - Bunny Emery with them.
Second Diary
Reinforcements to 2nd Baty. Lay in. - Out for ride with Stevens in a barge. - 42rn arr'd - Met Bob Moodie + Jim Matheson.
First diary
June 22, 1915 (Tuesday)
Went sick to see dentists. - Broken filling. Made a date + packed up kit bag to take + leave in London. - Met Bert Orr at Stn. - Got to 26 about 11.30. Slept at 22. - Letters from home. Frank, Len, Hazel, Dean.
Second Diary
Went to dentist. - Got pass. - Met Bert Orr. Went up to London 8.10.
First diary
June 23, 1915 (Wednesday)
Showery - Suit of civvies arr'd from home. Couldn't resist trying them on. - Wrote all morning. - Went in town with Ada in aft. - "Rose Day" - Saw Queen Alexandra in Pall Mall. - Went over to Streatham Common with Uncle in the evening.
Second Diary
Showery. - Stayed in all morning. - Went to town with Ada in the aft. Alexandra Day. I saw the queen.
Historical Context
Rose Day, and a Glimpse of the Queen
June 23, 1915
Alexandra Rose Day, first held in 1912, was an annual charity fundraiser held in the name of Queen Alexandra, widow of Edward VII and mother of the reigning King George V, with volunteers selling small silk roses on the streets of London for hospital funds. Robertson was in town that afternoon with his cousin Ada, and saw Queen Alexandra in Pall Mall.
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June 24, 1915 (Thursday)
Sorted our snaps + films. - Went in town in mufti - Lunched at the Corner House with Uncle. - Went to the Armory to meet Penny - Had tea at Pym's with him + a couple of other officers. Went to his room + out to dinner + spent the evening at the Imperial with him.
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June 25, 1915 (Friday)
Hot. Pulled out for the island from Waterloo at 9.05 - Portsmouth about noon - Ryde 1P.M. - Lunch at St. Mildred's. Took train 4.20 to Sandown + on to Rookley. Put up there for the night. - Quite a walk from the Stn. Very pretty. - Would be perfect if. - Lonely I guess.
Where Things Stand
A Beautiful Place, and a Lonely One
June 25–27, 1915
Robertson's three-day ramble across the Isle of Wight (Godshill, Ventnor, the cliffs at Blackgang Chine, Shanklin, Sandown, and finally Cowes) reads as genuinely idyllic on its face. But it opens with one of the diary's more unguarded lines: "Would be perfect if. – Lonely I guess", a rare admission of missing someone, almost certainly Hazel, that he otherwise keeps mostly to himself. And the holiday doesn't stay separate from the war for long: by the time he reaches Cowes on the 27th, he's noting "hundreds of transports in sight" in the harbor below, a quiet reminder, in the middle of a walking holiday, of exactly what all this leave is a break from.
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June 26, 1915 (Saturday)
Hotter. - Walked to Godshill. Met Alf. Ford - Visited old church. - Tramped over the downs to Ventnor. Had lunch. - Along the landslip. Black Gang Chine. - Shanklin along the beach (lovely) to Sandown. - Tea. - Out to Yaverland - A beautiful place. Back to S. - Train to Cowes. Met lots of people - All very nice.
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June 27, 1915 (Sunday)
COWES
Warm. - Took a good sleep after yesterday's tramp. - Had a walk with Fanny + Jack down along the front. - Passed the R.Y.S. to the boom. - Hundreds of transports in sight. - Slept wrote + played with Babs at "Erna" all aft. - Went to church + after had a walk down to the river + saw the Liberty.
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June 28, 1915 (Monday)
Boat left Cowes 10.30 for Southampton. - Took noon train. Got off at VauxHall + Ada went home while I took bags to Victoria + did a little shopping. - Out to Streatham about 6. Got things straightened up + came in town to catch the 9.45 - Searchlights magnificent like display of fireworks.
Historical Context
Searchlights Over London
May 31, 1915
Four weeks before this entry, a German Zeppelin bombed London for the first time, part of the opening stretch of the war's first sustained bombing campaign against a civilian population at home. The searchlight display Robertson found so striking on his walk through the city that night wasn't decoration. It was the new anti-aircraft defense grid hastily strung up around London after the raid, sweeping the sky for airships that might come again.
Original page · click to enlarge
June 29, 1915 (Tuesday)
By way of a change I'm house orderly. - Some job. - I'll need some new fatigues when I quit. Went in to Wheelers for photos.
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June 30, 1915 (Wednesday)
Pot walloping. - Went in town with George + it was so slow I vowed I wouldn't go in tomorrow if they brought a taxi up for me. Mailed photos home.