Tommy’s War: A First World War Diary 1913–1918

House, the stately former family home, is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. This is singularly appropriate, since the informal meeting that set up the trust was hosted by Sir John Stirling Maxwell here in 1931. The district of Cowglen, through which Thomas walked on his way to Barrhead, was part of the Pollok estate.

Barrhead, in Thomas’ day a thriving industrial town, sits eight miles south-west of Glasgow on the slopes of the Gleniffer Braes. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries its industries included iron founding, tanning, making porcelainware and carpet weaving. The road between the outer suburbs of Glasgow and the town travelled through farms and open countryside, with fresh winds blowing from the west and south-west, free from industrial pollution.

Thomas talks of sitting in the parks and listening to music. The Glasgow Corporation had Parliamentary powers to spend £4,000 each year on providing music in its city parks, although the annual bill often amounted to more than £10,000, with the difference coming from the sale of reserved seats. The city fathers no doubt thought this was money well spent on ‘civilising’ the population, just as the city libraries offered ‘improving literature’. Thomas seems to derive as much pleasure from walking as from music and reading, all of which he enjoys several times a week.

Tuesday, 21 April

Men up today to sort our ‘lum’. They took it away.

Wednesday, 22 April

Tommy cracked his skull in the back green today, fell off the kitchen table and again cracked his skull on the door. We were glad to get his remains safely to bed. Got Tommy a jar of ‘Virol’ as he is not as well as might be.

(#ulink_c2ff5410-f96d-5249-bd78-ebb1bfc1c0e3)

Thursday, 23 April

Got our lum put up today.

Monday, 27 April

Went out to Ruglen at night to consult my tailor for a new suit. Bought four clay pipes and broke three of them on the way home.

Monday, 4 May

Got the doctor’s little bill today.

(#ulink_ec7ea371-ccc4-505e-921c-9b1d80c164be) £2 14s 0d.

Wednesday, 6 May

Factor here and got his blood money.

Saturday, 9 May

In the afternoon Agnes and I went out to the green fields and beat the room carpet.

(#ulink_82689a1f-bae1-5fa8-99dc-b2dd9cd9b675) Great fun. And then I laid it well and truly.

Sunday, 10 May

This is the day the Aquitania leaves the Clyde, so I met Andrew at 9 a.m., walked into the town and managed to get on to a Renfrew car and walked from there to Langbank and watched the boat passing.

(#litres_trial_promo) And then we walked back to Renfrew. Rained all the time. About half a million folk helped us to watch.

Monday, 11 May

Agnes at Ruglen in afternoon. Josephine and Small Lily here at tea time and after that Lily and John and Pa arrived.

(#litres_trial_promo) We played whist.

Saturday, 16 May

Agnes up nearly all last night with toothache, jaw-ache, earache etc., and has it all day today.

Sunday, 17 May

Agnes still got neuralgia, and I took a very sore throat and sore head. Wonder what’s going to happen.

Monday, 25 May

Agnes got a very sore head. Says it will be the bile. ‘Ora pro nobis.’

Thursday, 28 May

This is the day we all flit but I didn’t.

(#litres_trial_promo)

Friday, 29 May

Pubs don’t open now till 10 a.m., which does not affect me.

(#litres_trial_promo)

Saturday, 30 May

Empress of Ireland CPR rammed yesterday. 1,024 lives lost.

(#litres_trial_promo)

Wednesday, 3 June

Thought we were in need of a little amusement so off we went to the Cinerama.

(#litres_trial_promo)

Thursday, 4 June

At 10 India Street, Rutherglen, on this date 1882 T. C. Livingstone was born.

Sunday, 7 June

We noticed burglars had been at work opposite us. A policeman came up and interviewed us on the matter but we had no clue.

Friday, 12 June

Very busy tonight packing up, as we go our holidays to Rothesay tomorrow. Hallelujah. Agnes got a new pair of corsets today.