Transcription
The Diary of Norman Allatt, 1914
Norman Allatt. Diary of Norman Allatt, 1914-1915. Pencil and ink on paper, 1 volume, 130 pages. Leather-bound notebook, H: 12, W: 7.5, D: 1 cm. Norman Allatt fonds © McMaster Library Archives, Hamilton, Ontario.1 Transcription ©MLC Research Centre. dcr/blt/ig
keywords: camp life, courtship; Gertrude May Benford (fiancée), military training, shooting target practice, Montreal, Toronto
summary: Functioning more like a notebook than a diary, sparse and telegrammatic, Norman Allatt’s entries routinely replace the printed 1914 dates with adjusted 1915 ones, making this volume slightly confusing (with some entries being repeated in expanded form in the next volume). At the age of 21, Toronto shoemaker Allatt records his courtship of his future wife, Gertrude May Benford (BMB or G.B.), whose name appears on Valentine’s Day, 14 February, and again three days later noting that he bought a ring, which the 1915 diary will identify as a cameo ring (presumably containing his hair or other miniscule mementoes by Allatt). He records locations, recalling the old and new names (e.g., Vancouver, Halifax, and Ottawa) of the Camps of 2nd Division, as well as addresses of contacts at Dibgate Camp in Kent, England, where he will be stationed, and his family’s address at 30 Victoria Park Avenue in Toronto. On 16 August 1915, after being given a good send off, he leaves the Niagara Camp for Montreal and from there sails overseas. This volume also details statistics on his shooting progress including effective zones and how many bullets he could shoot how far in how many seconds. Some of the pages are decorated with pressed flowers and his cartoon drawings including the final ones.
special features: cartoon portrait diary drawings in pencil; pressed flowers
editorial note: The original pre-printed notebook dates throughout Allatt’s 1914 diary have been maintained in the transcription. Regular alterations made to these dates have been noted, as Allatt routinely crosses out the 1914 date, replacing it with the corresponding day for 1915. In addition, Allatt transferred several entries from 1914 including information about overseas travel into his 1915 diary. While unusual, such redundancy or doubling of diary entries across different volumes is also found in the diaries of Harry Colbourn. In both cases, because it can prove confusing to readers, we have put the printed dates in light gray and actual dates in black.
Transcription:
[Ed. Running Header] Memorandum From 19132
N. Allatt #404251
30 Victoria Pk Ave.
Toronto
Ont.
Canada
404251 #
[Ed. Running Header] Memorandum From 1913
Friday 19 Feb [1915, ed.]3
Photo taken
[Coll. Liberary]4
[Ed. Running Header] Memorandum From 1913
109th Regiment
Started. Tuesday Jan 19, 1915.
First pay $6
Second $18
$24 end of month.
Feb. First pay $6
Sec ″ $8
20th. 3rd ″ 6
Got uniform
Feb 13.
18 Feb.
Thursday went for long march
Manuvering [sic] in high park.
[Ed. Running Header] Memorandum From 1913
1915. Feb 17. Bought [ring]
G.M.B.5
Mon. Feb. 22 [Ed. 1915]
March to Davisville
Wed 24 Feb [Ed. 1915] Picket
Wed. 3 March [Ed. 1915]
Banquet
St Simons Church
[Ed. Running Header] Memorandum From 1913
Wed. 14. [Ed. 1915] Got stuck in chest. Inoculated [1st].
Went to G.B.6 3 am.
Moved to Waverly Rd.
Mon. 19 [Ed. 1915]. 2nd inoculation.
Thur 22 [Ed. 1915] Vaccinated.
Fri 23 [Ed. 1915] 3rd Inoculated.
[Ed. Printed Date] 1 January 1914
Thursday
[Ed. Printed Date] 2 January 1914
Friday
48 Wheeler7
[January 3 - 10 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 11 January 1914
Sunday
[entries from January 11 – 16 are written across both pages horizontally with the writing beginning on the left side of the first page]
Camps of 2nd Div area.
Old name location New Name
Di
A G 11 St Lawrance [sic]
B G 11 Erie
C G 12 Toronto
D G 24 Ottawa
E H 19 Winnipeg
F H. 19 Montreal
D H. 14 Halifax
C H 14 Vancouver
H H. 21 B. Pioneer
1st Div Lines
Dickebush8 H. 26. P.
Scottish lines G. 23
Dominion ″ G. 23
Pat9 ″ O 29
Conought [sic] L. 34
[end page]
[Ed. Printed Date] 17 January 1914
Saturday
[Entries from January 17 – 22 are written across both pages horizontally with the writing beginning on the left side of the first page.]
2nd Division lines
New name Location Old name
Mic Mac10 H 31 A
Chippewa M. 6 D
Alberta M. 5 D
Ontario M 5 E
Quebec M 5 H
Victoria M 3 I
Kenora M 3 J
Heron M 5 K
[end page]
[January 23 – Feb 10 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 11 February 1914
Wednesday
[11 is scratched out and 14 was written beside the date]
Wed. 14. 1915.
Long march with Rifles.
[February 12 -13 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 14 February 1914
Saturday
G. M. Benford.
[February 15 – May 6 left blank; scan for April 17 – 22 missing]
[Ed. Printed Date] 7 May 1914
Thursday
9 / 1915
Service of Song @ Exhibition Park.
[May 14 – 24 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 25 May 1914
Monday
Holiday.
Rain morning.
Ball game afternoon.
Park night.
[May 26 – June 6 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 7 June 1914
Sunday
G. M. Benford.
[Night] at Park.
[June 8 – 18 left blank] [business card in between entry pages for June 16 – 21, card reads “Norman Allatt, 30 Victoria Park Ave. Toronto” on one side and is blank on the other]
[June 22 – July 3 left blank] [pressed leaf found in between entry pages for June 28 – July 3]
[July 4 – August 15 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 16 August 1914
Sunday
[Sun 16 is crossed out and replaced with Monday 16 August 1915]
Mon. Aug. 16
Left Niagara Camp, had a good send off.
6 lines equipment.
Left Toronto at 9:30 am
to Montreal at 8:30.
[Ed. Printed Date] 17 August 1914
Monday
[Mon 17 is crossed out and replaced with 17 August 1915 date]
Tue. Aug. 17 [1915]
Pulled out 4 am Tue.
Quebec. 3:30 PM [first submarine
1600 on board amun.
[August 18 – November 12 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 13 November 1914
Friday
1914
Broke up camp.
[November 14 – 30 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 1 December 1914
Tuesday
Pte. C. W. Aldred
N.o A. 4004
D. Co 23 Batt
Dibgate Camp
[Ed. Printed Date] 2 December 1914
Wednesday
[G]. Allatt.
74. Market Place
Heckmondwike
C. Riley.
[December 3 – 6 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 7 December 1914
Monday
N. Allatt.
[December 8 – 12 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 13 December 1914
Monday
[Entries from December 13 – 15 are written across both pages horizontally with the writing beginning on the left side of the first page.]
[Secleus]11 Zone of Effective Beeten [sic] Zone12
500. 450 – 550 380 – 620 320 - 680
1000. 970 – 1030 940 – 1070 920 - 1085
1500. 1470 – 1530 1450 – 1550 1430 – 1570
[end page]
[Ed. Printed Date] 16 December 1914
Wednesday
Mark 7 bullet
2700 feet per sec
Mark 6. 2100 ft. per sec.
[December 17 – 18 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 19 December 1914
Saturday
[Secleus]
[December 20 – 24 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 25 December 1914
Friday
Miss. G. B.
[December 26 – 31 left blank]
[Ed. Printed Date] 25 December 1914
Friday
[Written in lined but undated space following December 31 entry space.]
New Year’s Eve at Party G.B. 7 am. [The number 7 has been bolded as if for emphasis; end page]
[On the opposite unlined page, Allatt has drawn a woman in profile, presumably G.B. Benford, wearing a short-sleeved dress with V-neck and five frontal buttons running vertically from chest to skirt; her hair is softly piled up in the Gibson Girl style of the era. The drawing is in pencil.]
[The verso of that page features two cartoon drawings in pencil, in the top half, a baby sitting in profile in the grass playing the trumpet; and in the bottom half a cross-eyed bearded man wearing a tight coat.]
[The recto of the opposite, final page shows a man walking in a top hat, overcoat, and bowtie with a monocle on his eye. The man is depicted pointing his right hand in front of him, as if in mid-stride.]
[The verso of the final unlined page is empty. Opposite it, the internal endpaper of the back cover features a one-cent postage stamp, turned upside down and at an angle, with the right corner folded over.]
-
MLC secured digital photos of the diary pages on a trip to McMaster University Library in November 2021. See Anna Krentz’s research essay on the topic.↩︎
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Like the pre-printed dates that appear before each diary entry, the five Memorandum pages preceding the first diary entries include pre-printed running headers. “MEMORANDUM FROM 1913.” In contrast, the handwritten text recorded in this memorandum section is dated 1915, shortly after Allatt enlisted in the military.↩︎
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February 19 did not fall on a Friday in 1913 or 1914 but did in 1915, further evidence that this “1914 diary” contains many entries from 1915.↩︎
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Presumably, the photograph was taken at the University College Library at King’s College Circle in Toronto.↩︎
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G.M.B.: Gertrude May Benford.↩︎
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G.B.: Gertrude May Benford.↩︎
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48 Wheeler: 48 Wheeler Avenue is located in the Toronto Beaches neighbourhood.↩︎
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Dickebush: Dickebusch (Dikkebus) in West Flanders was at the front line in 1915.↩︎
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Pat: Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment.↩︎
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Mic Mac: Camp MicMac in West Flanders, not far from Dickebusch.↩︎
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[Secleus]: This word is likely misspelled, but it is not clear what is being referenced.↩︎
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Beeten [sic] Zone: Beaten Zone is a term in infantry firearm use, typically for machine guns, referencing the pattern of the bullet burst; an enemy standing in the Beaten Zone will be hit.↩︎