Saturday, 1 March
Out at the Barrows23 before tea and bought an awl and a wee wally bow-wow24 for the cherub.
Wednesday, 12 March
Today’s advertisement: ‘Children’s Fancy Dress Ball. Mr J. B. McEwen’s Juvenile Pupils, St Andrew’s Halls, Granville St, at 5p.m. Carriages at 9.30 p.m. Spectators’ tickets 1/6. Tickets to be had at 29 St Vincent Crescent.’25 I did not manage to the above.
Monday, 24 March
‘Men must either be the slaves of duty or of force.’ (Or the wife.)
Tuesday, 25 March
Was at library at night for my usual good moral book.
Monday, 14 April
Cold, wet day. National strike started in Belgium today.26 King of Spain shot at yesterday.27 He was not hurt.
Wednesday, 16 April
Got a note from the factor. Cuss him that the rent is raised 22/- in the year. Now we’ll starve.
Monday, 21 April
Telephoned the factor about the rent and found to my delirious joy it was only advanced 4/- in the year, to wit £3 15s 3d per quarter.28
Friday, 25 April
Fresh sort of day. National strike in Belgium fizzled out. Agnes still got toothache. Poor Agnes. Her bottom teeth are up the pole.29
Saturday, 26 April
Very cold and windy. Wet. In the afternoon I went to the Stirling’s Library30 and on my way back saw the start of the Great Territorial March Out. I went into a doorway and saw it all. Rain coming down in buckets. Poor ‘sojers’. They were wet.
Monday, 5 May
Lord ‘Bobs’ in Glasgow today to make us all ‘sojers’.31
Wednesday, 7 May
Paid the cussed factor his cussed rent. Cussed cold and cussed windy.
Saturday, 10 May
Took the wife of my bosom and my son also heir out for a walk by Hangingshaws and back by Mount Florida. Saw the Boys’ Brigade inspection on our way home.
Friday, 16 May
Beautiful summer day. Took the wee man a walk to Queen’s Park at night. Agnes met us there. Saw the recruits drilling in the recreation grounds.
Sunday, 18 May
Played hymns on the piano and amused our good selves in divers ways.
Sunday, 25 May
Broke the clasp of my wally teeth today.32
Tuesday, 3 June
I went straight from my work to the man who pulls teeth and got my renovated set. Seeing it was my first offence he charged me nothing. I did not press the good man.
Wednesday, 4 June
Lost my usual bob on the Derby.33 Got my hair cut. This is my birthday.
Thursday, 5 June
‘Every step of life shows how much caution is required.’
Tuesday, 10 June
This is the anniversary. ‘Marriage notice. 10 June 1910. At 39 Whitefield Road was spliced Agnes Smart Cook, spinster, to Thomas Cairns Livingstone, bachelor. MOSC.56 SCA. 7,053. God save the King. Ora Pro Nobis. Let Glasgow Flourish.’34
Thursday, 26 June
[On holiday in Rothesay.] We saw two blessed warships, one of which anchored in Sweet Rothesay Bay.35
* * *
As well as the war clouds gathering over Europe, in 1913 there was another battle raging in Britain as the supporters of equal votes for women staged spectacular protests to win publicity for their cause. On Wednesday 2 June, Emily Wilding Davison ran onto the racecourse at Epsom during the Derby and was struck by Anmer, King George V’s horse, and its jockey Herbert Jones. The seasoned campaigner may have intended simply to disrupt the race and to unfurl the banner of the Women’s Social and Political Union, but she died of her injuries and became a Suffragette martyr.
* * *
Friday, 27 June
Rothesay’s full of sailormen now.
Saturday, 12 July
This is the Glorious 12th.36
Saturday, 9 August
The wee man’s birthday. Two years old now, bless his little heart.
Thursday, 14 August
Dull sort of a day, cooler.
Not out a night. Agnes’ eyes annoying her. Gave my music stand a coat of varnish.
Thursday, 21 August
Wet all day and extra special wet at night. The doctor got paid tonight (12/-).37 Got myself a new pair of boots today (10/6).
Monday, 25 August
Bought a book tonight called The Evolution of Man for some deep study.38
Friday, 24 October
Got a notice from our beloved factor raising our rent 6/- in the year. Heard two revolver shots about 11.30 p.m. A man round the corner shot his girl and then committed suicide. Foolish fellow.
Saturday, 25 October
Man that shot himself last night is dead. Girl is not dead.39
Wednesday, 5 November
This is Guy Fawkes day. The factor was here for his rent. Not having any gunpowder handy, he got it.
Monday, 10 November
Agnes’ birthday.
Saturday, 15 November
At library in afternoon for an ‘Annie S. Swan’40 and a book for myself.
Wednesday, 19 November
Working late, home 9.30 (stocktaking). New carpet for kitchen tonight (5/11).
Sunday, 23 November
Wet forenoon, cleared up in the afternoon. After dinner, just to enliven up proceedings, we took the car to Cathcart Cemetery and admired the tombstones etc., and came back in the car.
Wednesday, 3 December
Rained in buckets all day long. Think I’ll make an ark.
Wednesday, 10 December
Agnes and Tommy at Ibrox.41 They got home at 10.15 p.m. I sat in and enjoyed myself in divers ways.42
Monday, 22 December
Nice day. Addressed all the Christmas cards tonight.
Thursday, 25 December
A Merry Christmas. Got away [from work] at 12.35. Took Agnes and Tommy into the town and admired the shops.
Wednesday, 31 December
On holiday today. After dinner we took 3.22 train to Coatbridge via Blairhill, and spent the time in the bosoms (collectively and allegorically) of the Crozier family. I went down to the hotel and had a glass of milk? with Mr Crozier.43 Tore ourselves away in time for the 10.12 train via Glasgow Cross. Sat up and saw the New Year come in, and so ends this year.
* * *
1 Langloan was a village in Old Monklands.
2 See ‘People and Places’,
3 Dinner was the midday meal. The car was a tramcar, rather than a motor car.
4 Until around 1920, young children of either sex wore dresses over their nappies.
5 Thomas detested the factor, who represented the owner of the property. Tenants paid rent to the factor, and relied on him for repairs. The ‘whirly’ was a metal cowl on the chimney pot, with small ‘sails’ that spun in the wind and drew smoke up the chimney. If it malfunctioned, the whirly could force smoke and soot back down the chimney and into the house.
6 Govanhill was one of the wards, or electoral districts, of the city.
7 Licensed grocers were the only businesses, except public houses, that were allowed to sell alcoholic drinks for use off the premises.
8 In 1913, the parliamentary voters’ roll was made up of men aged 21 or over who either owned or lived in property with an annual rental value of £10 or more.
9 Flitting is a Scottish word for moving house.
10 An affectionate name for a child. Its use may come from Thomas’ Irish relatives, or his own upbringing in Scotland by an Irish immigrant family.
11 The National Insurance Act 1911, which took effect on 13 January 1913, provided insurance for workers against ill-health and injury. Registration with a family doctor was compulsory. Thomas appears to have beaten the deadline for registration by seven hours. Under the scheme, each worker contributed 4d a week, his employer added 3d and the state 2d.
12 The apartment on the second floor, with the door on the left of the second floor landing.
13 The board advertises a �
�room and kitchen to let’. This type of house, typical for a tenement, consisted of a front room or parlour, which was for entertaining guests, and a kitchen, which had one or more bed recesses, curtained areas that contained the household’s bed or beds. The Livingstones’ new house had an inside toilet; many were less fortunate and had to share a toilet on the landing between floors.
14 Thomas is probably being ironic.
15 The front room would have been floored with waxed cloth, a type of linoleum, with a carpet in the centre.
16 Thomas’ work address.
17 Bridgeton.
18 Thomas’ brother and sister-in-law.
19 Mr Gordon extended the house’s gas supply to the lighting fixtures in both the front room and the kitchen. The Ibrox relatives were members of Agnes’ extended family .
20 Probably Daniel McCort, a decorator who lived at 20 Morgan Street.
21 Bow’s Emporium was a department store on the corner of High Street and Bell Street, just north of Glasgow Cross.
22 Sam and Donald were Thomas’ brother and brother-in-law, respectively. Josephine was Thomas’ sister.
23 The Barrows was an open air market where people could hire static barrows on which to sell everything from fresh food to household ornaments. It was to the east of the city centre, it later became formalised in roofed enclosures known as Barrowland.
24 A wally bow-wow was a ceramic ornament in the shape of a dog. Many city mantelpieces were adorned by a matching pair of wally dugs (china dogs).
25 Thomas has evidently seen a newspaper advertisement for a children’s entertainment. St Andrew’s Halls, to the west of the city centre, were among the most prestigious public halls.
26 The national strike, which lasted until 24 April, was called to demand the vote for all adults.
27 José Sancho Alegre, a young Spanish anarchist from Barcelona, shot King Alfonso XIII of Spain at a military parade in Madrid. He was found guilty of the attack, and sentenced to death. The king commuted the sentence to life imprisonment,
28 Thomas presumably telephoned from work, since he does not have a phone at home. The rent is expressed quarterly. See ‘Housing and Factors’,.
29 ‘Up the pole’ is a quaint term for being out of order or beyond use.
30 Stirling’s library was the main public library in the city centre.
31 Lord Roberts of Kandahar was a distinguished Anglo-Irish soldier, who had made his name in India, Africa and Afghanistan. He was commonly known as Lord Bobs. He was a prominent advocate of conscription, and was head of the National Service League from 1905 until his death in 1914. ‘Sojers’ is how the word soldiers is often pronounced in Glasgow.
32 Thomas evidently has a set of false teeth, known as wally (ceramic or china) teeth.
33 The Derby Stakes, run in the first week of June each year at the Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, is one of the most prestigious flat races for thoroughbred horses in the world.
34 Thomas seems to be making fun of wedding notices, either on church noticeboards or in the press. The Latin phrase means: ‘Pray for us.’ The final sentence is the motto on the coat of arms of the city of Glasgow.
35 The warships in the Clyde would appear to be an omen of the coming war. The phrase ‘Sweet Rothesay Bay’ is from the sentimental traditional song ‘Rothesay Bay’.
36 The anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne is celebrated each year on 12 July by members of Orange Lodges and other Protestant and Loyalist groups in Scotland and the north of Ireland. The phrase ‘the glorious 12th’ is usually applied to 12 August, the opening of the grouse-shooting season.
37 Before the National Health Service was founded in 1948, people paid doctors for health care, and doctors or pharmacists for medicines. The National Insurance system, which came into effect in 1913, only covered the insured worker.
38 This is likely to have been The Evolution of Man, by Ernst Haeckel, written in German and published in English in 1905 and often reprinted. Haeckel was a German biologist and naturalist who championed the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin.
39 The confused reports of the shooting show the speed at which gossip travels in close communities.
40 Annie Shepherd Swan (1859-1943) was a Scottish romantic novelist who wrote around 200 popular books. She also contributed to women’s magazines. Book titles included: A Lost Ideal, Thankful Rest, The Guinea Stamp: A Tale of Modern Glasgow and A Divided House. The book was presumably for Agnes.
41 Agnes’ family, the Gordons, lived in the district of Ibrox on the south side of Glasgow.
42 We know that Thomas enjoyed reading and smoking his pipe. However, this is the first reference to alcohol.
43 Tommy’s ‘glass of milk’ may well have been something stronger.
1914
The war makes its first appearance in Thomas’ diary on the day Austria and ‘Servia’, as it was sometimes written, were first at war, followed by reports of the armies of Russia, then Germany, then ‘all Europe’ mobilising. Britain entered the war when Germany invaded Belgium, since Britain and Belgium had a mutual defence treaty. On 4 August 1914, the British government declared war on Germany, King George V called out the Territorials and the government nationalised the railways. As the year progresses, Thomas charts the actions that made this ‘world’ war different from any other conflict. In August he notes that this is ‘the biggest war in the world’s history’ and that ‘a few million men’ are taking part in a battle in Belgium; in September he writes that British shipping is falling prey to German submarines but that British aviators have ‘fried’ a Zeppelin shed in Cologne; in October, he sees crowds of Belgian refugees in Glasgow and records ‘fighting by earth, air, water and under the water’; in November he notes that the war is costing Britain £1 million a day; and in December records the first of the German air raids on the east coast of England.
Thursday, 1 January
A Happy New Year to you. On holiday today. All of us at Greenlodge Terrace.1 There at 6 p.m. John and Lily2 also there. Home 11.30 p.m.
Monday, 5 January
Our ‘lum’ makes the most unholy noise when the wind blows, and the man below came up about 10 p.m. and said he couldn’t sleep for it.3 My oh my.
Tuesday, 6 January
Wrote a love letter to the factor about the lum. This is Epiphany.
Friday, 9 January
Man up today greasing the ‘whirly’ on our lum.
Saturday, 10 January
Went to the library for some moral books in the afternoon. Wrote Duncan tonight.4
Friday, 16 January
Very foggy and frosty. Not very well myself at night. Took some castor oil, so help me bob.5 Sat in front of the fire all night and made myself comfortable.
Wednesday, 21 January
Agnes very ill at night. Bathed her feet, gave her a hot drink and put her to bed.
Thursday, 22 January
Agnes in bed as much as possible today.
Saturday, 24 January
Went to the library in the afternoon and for ‘messages’.6
Sunday, 25 January
Wild, stormy day. Agnes worse again today. Lily came in for a little in the afternoon to see her. Third Sunday after Epiphany. First Sunday after pay day.
Thursday, 29 January
Tommy not well at all, so I went for the doctor at night. Doctor came, took his temperature, which was 101 0 [Fahrenheit]7, shook his head and looked serious. May develop into quite a lot of other things. Got a new hygienic pipe (6d).
Friday, 30 January
Doc up again seeing Tommy. His temperature still 102°. Got him a bottle to reduce same. Doctor puzzled. Wee man cheerier at night.
Saturday, 31 January
Doctor up today. Wee man just the same. Doctor can’t tell what’s wrong. We are getting a bit anxious about Tommy. Poor wee man.
Sunday, 1 February
Doctor up again. Tommy’s temperature down to 100°. Doctor doesn’t know yet why he is not well, but
says it isn’t measles, fever, diphtheria or pneumonia. Sam up, Lily up, and Mrs Carmichael in to see the young man.8 Gave Tommy an extra large dose of castor oil.
Monday, 2 February
We did not sleep much during the night. The oil did its duty right nobly and we were kept on the hop. I was at work early, to wit 6.45 a.m. to let some engineers in. Wee man much better, temperature down to normal. Doctor was here. Agnes about pegged out now.
Tuesday, 3 February
Wee Tommy up for an hour and a half at night. Quite shaky on his feet. He was very cross all day. Agnes’ patience exhausted by night. Sad times.
Tommy's War: A First World War Diary 1913-1918 Page 4