23 -29 August 1914 Summer holidays continue

Ted’s diary returns to recording the events of his school holidays which seem to include numerous visits to family and friends of his parents. The diary continues in similar vein until his return to school on  Tuesday September 15^th. After that the most regular entry is “I stopped to play football at school."   There is no mention of the War although a couple of school football matches against military teams are recorded:

Sat 21 Nov 1914 Our school played Cheshire Regiment. We won 6-1.

Sat 28 Nov 1914 Our school were beaten by the Fifth Cheshires 3-1

This is the final entry from the diary to be posted.

****

23 Sun

We went to church.

24 Mon

Freddy came to have tea in the loft.

25 Tues
We had tea at the Eason’s and then went to the pictures.

26 Wed

Miss Major from Lilllishall came to Cousin Leonards.

27 Th

The Major’s little boys came to Cousin Leonards.

28 Fri

We went to Uncle Edwin at Shrewsbury. Mother did not come.

29 Sat

We went to the Major’s house in the afternoon. We played at rounders.

16-22 August 1914 "We saw all the sites of London"

Ted seems to have taken the whole adventure in his stride, which surely reflects well on the teachers who were accompanying the group.  The London "sites" do not seem to have made a great impression on him and life soon returns to normal.

16 Sun

We went to church in the morning.

17 Mon

We went crabbing in the afternoon.

18 Tues

We came home. We saw all the sites of London in the afternoon.

19 Wed

We went to Newport in the morning in the tri-car. Mother came by train. Freddy was there.

20 Th
We went into the barley field to help the Sillitos.

21 Fri

Daddy went shooting rabbits in the evening.

22 Sat

We played in the loft. We went to the pictures in the evening.

9 - 15 August 1914. "We went round the warships in a rowing boat."

The group remained in Folkestone for another full week. It would be fascinating to identify the article which Kate Buckley had sent to Mr Weedon, also to establish the identity of Mrs ?Withy - perhaps another Sir John Deane's teacher - and "the Driscolls".

 

 

9 Sun

We went to church in the morning.

10 Mon

We went fishing and caught twenty seven fish.

11 Tues

We went bathing but I did not go in the water.

12 Wed

Grouse Shooting Begins
We walked to Dover and back 16 miles. We went round the warships in a rowing boat.

Postcard 3

Marine Gardens, Folkestone

To: Mrs Buckley, The Cottage, Weaverham, Cheshire

13 Wear Bay Road, Folkestone

Aug 12

Thank you for article – it describes our experiences almost exactly! We had a walking expedition to Dover today – Ted insists on walking back with the others but our little family took the train back. We saw ships and aeroplanes galore! F.W. [Frank C Weedon, Sir John Deane's Headmaster]

13 Th

We went to Canterbury and saw everything in the Cathedral.  We saw the oldest church in Great Britain.

Postcard 4

Folkestone (5 views)

To: Mr C Buckley, The Cottage, Weaverham, Cheshire

Dear Daddy

Many happy returns of the day. Went to Dover on Wednesday and walked 16 miles. We saw 10 aeroplanes and an airship.  We are going to Canterbury to-day (Thursday). We are returning home on Tuesday. TED

Will write later
Saw plenty of warships

14 Fri

I went to Hythe with Mrs ?Withy. We had our tea by the sea and [illegible].

15 Sat

I went to the Driscolls for the day. We played at cricket. We climbed trees in Ashley Park.

2- 8 August 1914. "We came home again because of the war."

The entry for Monday 3 August 1914 is a classic. It would be fascinating to know exactly what happened and how the group managed to leave France. It seems strange that the group then stayed in Folkestone for over a week. Modern day parents would surely be keen to seen their children immediately if they had had such a traumatic experience but Ted and presumably the others seem to take it in their stride as just an interruption to the fishing and bathing.
Communications seem to have been good as evidence by the postcards which only seem to take a day or two.

There is a link from the Folkestone & District Local History Society website to an online book by J C Carlile entitled Folkestone during the war
http://www.archive.org/stream/folkestoneduring00carliala#page/n5/mode/2up
This describes the effect of the outbreak on the town and of the influx of Belgian refugees, but the SJD party does not feature.

2 Sun

We played cricket on the sand.

Postcard 2

L.D,B, 735 Wissant (Pas-de-Calais) – Le Camp de Cesar

[view of a grass fort]

To: Mrs Buckley, The Cottage, Weaverham, Cheshire, England

 Sunday
[postmark unclear, pencil annotation, Recd Aug 6^th)

Just received your letter – we are quite unsettled now + all are waiting for more news before we can decide anything – you are better informed than we, for we have no Eng. Papers. Ted is well and happy, don’t be surprised if he does not write for all is unsettled and rather restless. 

Yours F. Weedon

3 Mon

We came home again because of the war. Nearly lost our baggage.  We stayed in Folkestone.

4 Tues

I stayed at the ?Wild’s house. We went to the baths.

5 Wed

We went to the baths and we took a house, 13 Wear Bay Road. We went to a Picture House.
 
6 Th
We went to the baths. We went to the theatre in the evening.

7 Fri

We went fishing but we did not catch anything.
 
***
The Northwich Guardian for 7 August 1914 has a brief article entitled "Teachers return from the Continent."  The school involved is not named but  it is reported that 8 students and 2 teachers had cut short a trip to the Continent.

***

8 Sat
We went fishing – we caught three fish in the morning. We went to the baths. I did not go in them.

 

26 July - 1 August 1914 "We went to France."

This week of the diary begins in its usual low-key way, as Ted's cold continues, and even the start of the trip to France is not the cause of great excitement

 

26 Sun

I stopped in bed nearly all day.

27 Mon

We had a half holiday at school.

28 Tues

We broke up at school. Mr Gaskin/Gashin and Mr Dunningham left the school.

29 Wed

We went to France and we stayed the night at Folkestone.

30 Th
We crossed over to France by boat. We started camp.
[I had understood that the party stayed at Wimereux , but it seems to have been Wissant,  a town a few miles further north in the Pas-de-Calais, see the postcard text below].

31 Fri

I bathed in the morning and in the afternoon played rounders.

[A postcard from the Sir John Deane's headmaster, Mr Weedon was sent on this day:

 

E S Wissant (P-de-C) – La Pecaille – Retour de la Peche au Bar

[3 fisherman with fish]

To: Mrs Buckley, The Cottage, Weaverham, Cheshire, England

Wissant

Thurs night
[postmark 31/7/14]

All arrived safely. Fine weather. Mrs Fruit and I have been shopping and all are tired.

Yours sincerely

F Weedon

1 Aug Sat

I had a very bad cold. The others bathed. We went fishing.

19-25 July 1914 - news from Austria

The diary entries continue as normal until Friday 24 July. This is the first entry in the whole diary which relates to life outside Ted's local world. Was he prompted by a parent to record the declaration of war? 

 

 

19 Sun

I went for a walk with Albert.

20 Mon

The examinations started at the school.

21 Tues
It rained very hard in the evening.

22 Wed

I played cricket in the afternoon at school.

23 Th

I had a cold. The examinations ended at school.

24 Fri

Austria declared war on Servia because a Servian killed the Archduke and his wife of Austria.

25 Sat

I went to Philip Tricketts for tea. We played trains. My cold grew worse.

 

1914 school boy diary, July Week Three

The diary continues in the same vein with no hint of the excitement to come.

 

12 Sun

I went for a walk

13 Mon

I stopped to play cricket at school.

14 Tues

I played cricket with Albert.

15 Wed

There was a cricket match on at school.

16 Th

I stopped to play cricket at school.

17 Fri

I played cricket with Albert in the evening.
 
18 Sat

I went to Winsford baths in the morning. Albert came to play with me.

 

Second week of July 1914

5 Sun

We went to church.

6 Mon

I stopped to play cricket at school.

7 Tues

It was a very nice and sunny day.

8 Wed

I stopped to play cricket at school.

9 Th

I went into Northwich for Mother.

10 Fri

I played cricket with Albert in the evening.

11 Sat

I went to Winsford Baths in the morning. Albert came to play with me.

The diary is carefully written in pencil. Some words are tricky to decipher but it is mostly legible. It helps that many of the entries are identical - lots of cricket and almost no mention of schoolwork.


The diary layout is one week per double page, with a very small section for Sunday which is the first day of the week and then equal sized sections for the rest.


I plan to post each week's entries throughout July and August to show how a very ordinary routine life suddenly changed dramatically.

JUNE 1914

28 Sun

I went for a walk with Albert.

29 Mon

It rained all day and it was very windy.

30 Tues

I played cricket with Albert.

JULY 1914

1 Wed

I stopped to play cricket at school.
 
2 Th
I had a very bad cold. I went into town for mother.
 
3 Fri
My cold grew worse. I played cricket with Albert.


4 Sat
I did not go to the baths as I had a very bad cold. Albert came to play with me

 

In 1914, my grandfather, Thomas Edwin (Ted) Buckley, was a 12 year old schoolboy living in Cheshire, England. He had a Boy Scout Diary in which he completed entries for every day of the year. Most of these refer to playing football or cricket with occasional comments on the weather but there is a change in July 1914 when he went on a school trip to France. I have been transcribing the diary and plan to post the entries for July and August over the next two months,