Tuesday August 6th, 1918
Reveille 6:30. Work in assault course. Hard graft.
Home Front after Four Years of War
Life for Frank and the 13/Manchesters doesn’t seem to have changed much as it enters the fifth year of war.
The reported reaction to the anniversary on the Home Front is mixed. The occasion has been marked by ‘the holding of solemn services throughout the country’.¹ The King and Queen together with both Houses of Parliament have attended one such service in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster. Apparently this is the first time since early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, that ‘our monarch has attended church officially at the head of his Lords and Commons’.¹
Strangely, this anniversary was also the publication date of Lord Rothermere’s article in the Sunday Pictorial on ‘The Menace of a Seven Years War’. Hardly encouraging!
Isle of Man
Perhaps with this in mind, another article, in the Guardian, reported that the Isle of Man is having its best season since the War began. ‘One reason no doubt, is that the finger of Lord Rhondda has been lightly laid upon the island, and that of Lord D’Abernon not at all.’ º
The references to the peers of the realm were really aimed at their roles in Government – food and liquor. Lord D’Abernon was the chairman of the Central Board of Liquor Control – a difficult role, with policies neither wholly supported by either the teetotaller or the drinker.²
The reference to Lord Rhondda seems ill-timed. Lord Rhondda had been the Food Controller until his death a month ago. While not universally popular, his efforts were well-intended. As the same paper conceded in his obituary, ‘He brought a plan where there was uncertainty, and confidence where there were misgivings, and food where there would have soon been none’.³
Interestingly Lord Rhondda and his daughter had been amongst the few people who survived the sinking of the Luisitania. He was replaced as Food Controller by JR Clynes, MP.
Probably more telling of the return of tourists to the Isle of Man, and a general comment on the public mood, is the following:
‘Four years is about as long as the psychological effect even of a world-convulsion can be fully maintained. In sacrifice, in effort, in bereavement its incidence cannot be lessened till peace returns, but through whatever channels are not barred life begins to seek its normal course.’º
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 6th August 1918 – Haudricourt
Training and work as per programme. 3 OR struck off effective strength after 7 days in hospital with effect from 6-8-18. Lt KH Allen and 2Lt J Byrne returned from leave to UK.
References & Further Reading
¹ Articles in The Observer, August 4th,1918 page 8
² ‘Liquor Control’, article in The Guardian, February 16th, 1918, page 8
³ Obituary for Lord Rhondda, in The Guardian, July 4th, 1918, p8
º Isle of Man, The Guardian, August 5th, 1918, page 4
* photograph of Lord Rhondda, public domain.