First diary
May 1, 1915 (Saturday)
Warned for guard
Second Diary
Told off for guard. Pay £3/10/0. Went in town - Late pass
Where Things Stand
A Second Notebook
May 1915
From this point on, some days appear twice. Alongside his main diary, Robertson was evidently also keeping a second, shorter notebook covering roughly the same stretch of 1915, and the two don't always agree in small ways, a guard duty logged at a different hour, a detail included in one and left out of the other. Neither reads as the clearly "real" one; they simply seem to be two parallel records of the same days, kept side by side for reasons the diary itself never explains. Where both survive, this archive presents them together rather than choosing between them, use the arrows above the scan to switch between the two.
First diary
May 2, 1915 (Sunday)
Rainy. - Not enough fellows off fatigue to have a church parade. - Sorted snap shots. Big Canadian Mail at last. - Charlie Lindsay came over + some of the fellows from the Field Ambulance. - Quartered at Sandling. Went on guard at 6 P.M. - Special post at Bgde. office. - Wrote a few letters. - Send blue paper to Charlie for Smiths sig.
Second Diary
Wrote home + delivered pictures. Ch. Lindsay + some of the fellows from VI Field Ambulance came over. On guard 5 P.M.
First diary
May 3, 1915 (Monday)
Off duty at 5 A.M. - Came home + slept till breakfast. - Off parade. - Big draft going across this week. - Pete + I were picked + did musketry all aft. - Was getting ready to go when my name was struck off by the Major. - Our bunch to go with the next draft. - Went in town + ordered photos.
Second Diary
Picked for draft. - Musketry. Returned proofs.
First diary
May 4, 1915 (Tuesday)
Hot
Battery gundrill. - Saw Geo. Drysdale
Came off as house orderly + lucky I did for the others got sent down to the Station to unload blankets. - A nice big cake arrived for me to-day. - some class. - Riding around all aft. on a big "Kelly" getting out ordinance. Stores for the 2nd. - Was getting ready to go into the dentists when Ham + Freddy Donald + I were sent over to Dibgate to guard ordinance stores. It was a cinch. - Wrote letters till 12.30 + then went to sleep on the softest bed I've had in camp. - Bundles of blankets.
Second Diary
Dropped from draft. Laying. House orderly. Ordinance fatigue. On guard ordinance stores at Dibgate all night.
First diary
May 5, 1915 (Wednesday)
Woke up at 8.15 - Relieved at 9 A.M. - Wandered back to quarters + then went in town for a bath. - Had lunch + got pinched by a C.M.P. for being in town without a pass. It was worth it, just the same, to be in town when there were no Tommies about. - Went to a picture show + back to camp 4.30. Hoped to get sent out to Dibgate again but no such luck. - Wrote letters.
Second Diary
Off duty 9am. Went in town all day + got pinched. Took in laundry.
First diary
May 6, 1915 (Thursday)
Warm.
On fatigue cleaning up the lines. - Moss sick. - Measles - Quarantined in Infant School. - Some loaf. - Rest of the Battery over at Ross Bks. scrubbing floors. Baker + Fysh got in about 9.30 all bust up from bucking a stone fence with a motor-cycle. - Sat around our room + talked till 12.30 - A box of grub came for Pringle to-day so we ate it.
Second Diary
House orderly. Moss took measles. Quarantined
First diary
May 7, 1915 (Friday)
Hot + close. - No reveille
Beautiful time in quarantine.
Second Diary
Battery moved to Ross Bks. Met Bill
First diary
May 8, 1915 (Saturday)
Went out to Hythe with Pete + Monty. Ham went to London.
Second Diary
Writing. Went out to Hythe with Pete + Monty.
Second diary
May 9, 1915 (Sunday)
Second Diary
Went out to Hythe in eve. Around quarters all day. Writing
Historical Context
The Sinking of RMS Lusitania
May 7, 1915
Just two days before this entry, a German U-boat torpedoed the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, killing nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans. It was one of the war's most internationally shocking moments, and a preview of the kind of unrestricted submarine warfare that would eventually help draw the United States into the war, though not for almost two more years. Robertson doesn't mention it at all in this entry, but it was very likely the single biggest news story of his week in England.
First diary
May 10, 1915 (Monday)
Went to dentist
Second Diary
Went in to dentist.
First diary
May 11, 1915 (Tuesday)
Got pinched by M.O. going into town
Second Diary
Wrote Ernie. Bought kit bag. Dentist.
Second diary
May 12, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
Packing up. Draft left. Visited Moss + Bill
First diary
May 13, 1915 (Thursday)
Rain
Quarantine off
Moved to Ross Barracks. Cramped quarters not so nice as Moore.
Second Diary
Wet. - Out of quarantine. Moved to Ross Bks. Sent mail home.
Second diary
May 14, 1915 (Friday)
Second Diary
Gun drill. Laying. Bath parade. Wrote home + mailed
First diary
May 15, 1915 (Saturday)
Penny came down from London. - Mac on guard all day. I'm on for night guard so Ed. has my bunk.
Second Diary
Told off for guard. 7 P.M. Took washing in. Stables 4.30. Penny down from London.
First diary
May 16, 1915 (Sunday)
Warm. Off duty 7 A.M. Cleaned up.
Started out on a tramp with Penny about 10
Went over to St. Martin's Plain + saw Capt. Shannon Med '10. - Then to the Can. Hospital + in to Hythe to eat. - Slept on the canal bank till 3 + came in to Folkestone. - Ran into the greater part of the McGill General Hospital - Some reunion - They got here at 4 A.M. + are quartered in the Moore Bks. Was around with them till Ed. had to leave at 8.30 - No Canadian mail.
Second Diary
Off guard 9 am. McGill hospital arrived. Around with Penny.
First diary
May 17, 1915 (Monday)
Rainy - Fair - Wet.
On lines orderly but it rained so I couldn't work in the morning + wouldn't in the aft. Stayed in + got rest of my correspondence ready to ship. - Geo. Drysdale was in. - C.A.V.C. pay day - so bummed him for 10 bob. - Went over to the Hospl. + saw some of the fellows - Had supper in town with Scriver + strolled around after. - Had a late pass so went down to the pier + met Sammy. Started to rain so we went into Maestrani's for a while but got soaked coming up Military Hill.
Second Diary
Line orderly. - Rain. Wrote Barr - Fred - Len - Mrs. R. Visited McG. Hospital - Went to town. Late Pass - Took in breeches for pressing.
Second diary
May 18, 1915 (Tuesday)
Second Diary
Fine picket. - Rain. Pay parade £3-0-0. Wrote home. - Monty + Linlay came over. Letters from home - May 3 + 6
Second diary
May 19, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
Marking on ranges all aft, sent Registered Pkge. Letters from H - Ch. - Dagan - Scott
Second diary
May 20, 1915 (Thursday)
Second Diary
Musketry - Loading + aiming. Rec'd candy - Letters from mother, Hemming. Call for proofs + Bucks pictures
First diary
May 21, 1915 (Friday)
Musketry
Second Diary
Musketry. Mailed to H. Met some of the 24th.
Second diary
May 22, 1915 (Saturday)
Second Diary
Got washing. Musketry - aiming + loading. Hythe. Met ord. - Pat Murray
First diary
May 23, 1915 (Sunday)
Cut church parade + went down to Sandgate with Pete. - Had to go in for clothes this aft. - Took a walk down to Cheriton with Pete + Monty after tea. - Feeling Blue. Mail from home giving new address.
Second Diary
Stayed in all day to do stables. - Cut ch. Parade + took a stroll down Sandgate with Pete.
First diary
May 24, 1915 (Monday)
Ball game with McG. Hospital. Doing musketry at Hythe. Mac + Pryme added to the draft. Sammy drowning his sorrows. Feel just rotten myself. Fred Fisher's name amongst killed.
Second Diary
Whit Monday - Baseball [?] Bgde vs. mg. Out on the range. Mac + Pryme put on the draft. Fred Fisher killed.
Historical Context
Fred Fisher, VC
May 24, 1915
Lance Corporal Frederick Fisher of the 13th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, was killed on April 23, 1915, covering the Canadian retreat near St. Julien during the opening days of Second Ypres by holding an advanced position with a machine gun under fire. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the first Canadian of the war to receive it. He and Robertson were almost exact contemporaries, both born in 1894, both McGill men, which sharpens the diary's own reaction that day: "Feel just rotten myself." That his name only reaches Robertson's camp in England a full month after his death is a small but telling illustration of how slowly casualty news traveled back from the front, and how far it had to travel to reach a friend.
First diary
May 25, 1915 (Tuesday)
Saw the Major about my papers. - He says it's off on account of the Col. - Asked if I could go on the draft. - He says next time. What the H- do you know about that?
Second Diary
Col. refused to sign my app papers. Sig co'y arrived. Late pass. Air raid.
Second diary
May 26, 1915 (Wednesday)
Second Diary
Went sick to dentist. Jim McCall + Ross Laing came over. Went back to Dibgate. At dentist 3 P.M.
First diary
May 27, 1915 (Thursday)
Out marking on ranges. Draft all ready to leave. - It's going to clear out all the old bunch but Sam, Ham + I - Took some snaps of the boys + chased in town shopping for them.
Second Diary
In town buying stuff for the bunch. Call for photos.
First diary
May 28, 1915 (Friday)
Draft left about 9 A.M. - Felt rotten to see them go. - Reported sick + went to the dentists for the want of something better to do.
Second Diary
Draft left. Dentist 10.30. Went out to Dibgate + saw the bunch in aft.
First diary
May 29, 1915 (Saturday)
Went in town right after dinner + met Jim McCaul + Ross Laing - Was intending going to Canterbury but they were going back to camp. - Had tea in town + went down to the pier with Ham but mislaid him. - Met Ord + some other boys.
Second Diary
Call for riding buckles. In town. Around with Jim McCall. Pleasure Gardens. Met Ham on the pier + lost him.
First diary
May 30, 1915 (Sunday)
Cold.
Used up nearly all the available bed boards trying to keep the place warm. - The place seems dead now the bunch have gone.
Second Diary
Wintery - Missed Ch. parade. Town picket 2-5 P.M. Around with Parker + Bohue
First diary
May 31, 1915 (Monday)
Sam & I moved downstairs to small room with Ham. - Sort of a closed corporation.
Second Diary
Dentist. Stables white-washed + disinfected for ringworm. Horses out grazing in aft.