Monday 1st November
The Eskdalemuir Observatory recorded a large earthquake [magnitude 7.0] in the area of Japan.
Association waters were closed. The autumn has been very poor due to low water levels. Nevertheless, on the final day there were several good catches of salmon, including by James Connon of the Buccleuch Hotel (21 pounds) and Colonel William Scott-Elliot of Arkleton (20 pounds).
The Parish Council held a half-yearly meeting. There are currently 45 people on the poor roll.
At a meeting of the Langholm School Board, the recent dentists’ report was reconsidered due to a number of children not being treated because of parents’ unwillingness to meet expenses. Chairman Arthur Bell, manufacturer, said tongue-in-cheek that it was an issue for the Repairs Committee; it was referred instead to the Attendance Committee.
The Unionist and Liberal Associations arranged a meeting in the Town Hall to make arrangements for the forthcoming canvass of men of military age under the ‘Derby scheme’. It involves calling up younger unmarried men before older ones, and unmarried men before those who are married. The voluntary scheme depends on a good number of younger, unmarried men to come forwards, otherwise other methods will be adopted.
Tuesday 2nd November
Rev Alister Stewart of Waterbeck, Dumfriesshire, gave a lecture to the Townhead Literary Society entitled ‘Six Months at the Back of the Front’, covering his work with the YMCA. He mentioned two reasons for the organisation’s success: its organisational abilities and the support it receives from military authorities, the latter being due not to philanthropy but to its influence on soldiers’ efficiency.
The YMCA plays a key role in providing writing materials for soldiers to write home and in facilitating concerts. Stewart also observed that ‘When the Army chaplain meets the men they have to stiffen to attention because he is an officer, but it is not so with us. … One could see in their eyes a real hunger for talk with others who understand something different than the usual affairs of the soldiers.’
The value of the estate of Eleanor Bell, Major Bell’s late wife, is £1090 6s 3 [£93,860].
The woollen mill contracts for French blue-grey cloth have been completed but UK government contracts for khaki are still being fulfilled.
The Secretary of State for War has ordered the production of khaki armlets for a) enlisted men awaiting call-up; b) men who have sought enlistment but who have been deemed medically unfit; and c) ex-servicemen of good character who have been discharged due to injury. This will help to address the problem of some young men being wrongfully shamed for not being overseas, sometimes by being presented with a white feather.
Wednesday 3rd November
This week’s films, presented by Electric Pictures at the Buccleuch Hall, are Charlie Chaplin’s A Night Out (tonight) and Romance of Bear Creek, a western drama (Thursday and Saturday).
A train is running between Langholm and Longtown to transport workers at the explosives factory at Gretna, attracted by good wages. Skilled workers can earn a shilling per hour. There have been some strikes by young female employees at the Langholm mills.
Stewart Turnbull of 8th Royal Sussex has been wounded in the shoulder, leg and back. His brother Joseph was killed in France on 15th June.
Soldiers’ letters indicated that John Comrie of the Black Watch and David Thomson of the KOSB were killed, but subsequent official reports have described them as missing, giving some hope to families, despite the fact that they did indeed die in the Battle of Loos on 25th September.
John Hume, hatter, hosier and outfitter, is advertising various types of clothers for soldiers and sailors, including ‘Asbestol’ horsehide gauntlet gloves: ‘Look like kid – Wear like iron’.
Increased postal and telegram rates are now in force after the recent budget. Telegrams are nine pence for the first twelve words including the address, then a half pence for each additional word. A telegram sent overnight are nine pence for 36 words.
The E&L’s Women’s Gossip section reports that there are difficulties in finding sufficient jurors and that mature, competent women may be able to relieve hard-pressed businessmen of the duty.
4 Nov Thursday
- J Hyslop to sing The KOSB at Townhead Literary Soc.
Friday 5th November
At a statutory meeting of the town council, it was decided not to fill the vacant roles of councillor and junior bailie, created by […] Montgomery’s resignation in [February]. The practice of keeping records of councillors’ attendances will be discontinued. A request from the town’s scavengers asking for a pay rise of three shillings per week was referred to the Cleansing Committee.
Saturday 6th November
The IOGT held a social evening in the EU Church hall, including a tea, an address from a representative of the Scottish Temperance League, and a music programme.
- Received parcel from Mother, papers from William & parcel from R. Hamilton Esq.
Tuesday 9th November
Miss Inez Howard’s company put on a performance of The Rosary by American playwright Edward E Rose in the Buccleuch Hall.
- Townhead Literary Society lecture by Fred Ross who lost an arm on 16 May.
Wednesday 10th November
Following the example of France, light steel helmets are being trialled by some British troops as protection against metal fragments.
Langholm stationmaster William Hamilton is being transferred to Caldercruix, Lanarkshire, and is being replaced by John Webster from Crianlarich, Stirlingshire.
Miss Janet Cunningham (1856-1915) has left £350 to four Langholm churches, divided among them. Her father James (1826-1910) was a grocer in the High Street who drowned after falling into the River Esk, aged 84.
- Globe:
- [Men in reserved occupations seen as essential to the war effort were “starred”, as were the highly skilled and those possessed of scarce skills.]
Thursday 11th November
The Appeals Court sat in the Town Hall and allowed a number of appeals against property assessments on the basis of poverty. The Langholm Kirk Session appealed against the assessment on the Mission Church on the basis that it had been used as a Red Cross Hospital for over a year. This was dismissed on the grounds of being a matter between the Kirk Session and the assessor in Dumfries.
Friday 12th November
Another 11 men from 3/5th KOSB have left Dumfries to reinforce 1/5th in the Dardanelles.
A total of 481 parcels has now been sent by the Comforts Committee. Christmas parcels are being prepared which contain a cake of shortbread, a tin of biscuits, some cigarettes or tobacco, a plum pudding, a tin of sardines, a tin of turkey and tongue paste, a pair of socks, a candle, two boxes of matches, a handkerchief, a Tommy’s cooker (trench stove) refill and a cake of soap.
The Milligan brothers put on an evening of pictures for the benefit of the Cinema Ambulance Scheme which is looking to raise £30,000 to purchase ambulances for the Red Cross.
Monday 15th November
Monday for 6 nights
- Miss Danvers Smith’s Dramatic Company
Today was the deadline for sending any contributions (money or garments) to the Dumfriesshire branch of the Scotch Needlework Fund, care of the Duchess of Buccleuch at Langholm Lodge.
Tuesday 16th November
Fred Ross, whose arm was amputated after a wound in the Dardanelles in May, gave a talk to the Townhead Literary Society entitled ‘The Lighter Side of my Experience as a Soldier’. It was a description of his non-combat experiences, including concerts in the trenches, with his group making use of a concertina, a tin whistle, several mouth organs and a biscuit box for a drum.
Wednesday 17th November
The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch are extending their stay at Langholm Lodge until around mid-December.
The hospital ship HMHS Anglia hit a mine between Calais and Dover and sank with the loss of 134 out of 390 on board. One of the boats that came to the rescue was a coal cargo ship called Lusitania. The Anglia transported King George V across the Channel after his riding accident three weeks ago.
Saturday 20th November
A Flag Day for Russia was the town council’s fourth appeal on behalf of the UK’s allies, raising over £17, part of which will go to the Anglo-Russian Hospital in Petrograd, a Red Cross facility in the Dmitri Palace. The four Flag Days (for Belgium[?], Serbia, France and Russia) have raised a total of over £105.
Monday 22nd November
Lord Beaverbrook’s newspaper The Globe resumed publication after being banned by the government for two weeks for highlighting allegedly false rumours about the imminent resignation of Lord Kitchener. It has been reinstated after declaring that the rumours were untrue.
Tuesday 23rd November
Robert Milligan, water and sanitary inspector, (unrelated to the Milligan brothers with the cinema) published a warning that people leaving their spiggots (outside taps) and toilets running continuously will have their names recorded for the purpose of prosecution for wasting water.
Wednesday 24th November
Mrs Jane Comrie has now received official notice that her husband John was indeed killed in action at the Battle of Loos on 29th August. After losing three children in infancy, her newborn Angus has survived so far.
Percy Molteno, a Member of Parliament (Liberal) for Dumfriesshire, questioned the government’s very high expenditure, saying that there was enormous extravagance and wastage, including excessively high wages paid in the explosives industry, causing severe problems in other industries in addition to the loss of their staff to the armed forces. Talking of Langholm, he said:
In one town there is a textile industry wholly in making cloth for our own army and for our Allies, and the directors tell me that their efforts will be paralysed very shortly if the authorities do not stop taking
away their best and most indispensable men.
A trade union meeting was held in Langholm for Gretna munitions workers, addressed by Ernest Lowthian of the National Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers, a councillor in Carlisle. Between 20 and 30 joined the union.
The late Duke of Buccleuch’s will indicates that he had 430,000 acres in Scotland and 25,000 acres in England, a total of 711 square miles. His total rental income was £217,000 pa and the total value of his estate is £1.1 million.
- Clinthead for rent.
Friday 26th November
Over 130 ladies of the Eskdale Women’s Unionist and Tariff Reform Association gathered in the Buccleuch Hall for a presentation to former vice-chairman Miss Margaret Graham, who is leaving for London. Margaret is the sister of Richard and Fred Graham who are running the Reid & Taylor mill. Mrs Lottie Cairns, wife of bailie Cairns, presented her with a gold watch bracelet, after which there was a musical programme.
William Pendreigh, coal agent, died at age 69, a year after his only son William (30) and wife Agnes (68). William junior was also a coal agent and died in the Eskdale Infectious Diseases Hospital. William senior’s business will be continued by his daughters Mrs Isabella Johnstone (49) and Miss Wilhelmina Pendreigh (36). He began as a postmaster in Langholm and then took over his father’s coal business.
Saturday 27th November
The Langholm Working Men’s Sick Society held a special meeting to discuss its distressed finances due to the level of claims. It was decided to continue the society but to reduce the level of payouts.
Railway stationmaster William Hamilton was presented with a gold watch by station traders and staff on his transfer to Caldercruix, Lanarkshire, after six and a half years in Langholm. His wife Sarah received a gold-mounted umbrella.
The Independent United Order of Scottish Mechanics held its annual meeting in Langholm, with James Bell in the chair. It has 161 members on its roll, over half of which are on the English side of the border. The year’s accounts show that £96 [£8270] was spent on sick benefits, £6 [£520] on maternity benefit and £16 [£1380] on administration.
Sunday 28th November
Milk vendors in Langholm have increased the price from 3 pence to 4 pence per quart.
Nellie Tudhope, a Sabbath School teacher at the South UF Church, was presented with a lamp by her fellow teachers on the occasion of her marriage to John Ainsworth this coming week. She will cease her teaching after 10 years with the best wishes of all as she begins a new home. It is common for women to discontinue some former activities after marriage, although the war is changing this and is also resulting in new commitments such as munitions work. Nellie’s younger brothers Adam and John are on the front line; John was wounded on 25th September.
Tuesday 30th November
David Harkness, draper, gave a talk on ‘Heredity and Environment’ to the Townhead Literary Society, emphasising the importance of the latter to help shape healthy societies and individuals.
The town’s tailors and outfitters have decided that they need to implement price rises due to increased costs:
There have been various incidents in which gelignite has been exploded in border streams to kill trout. When perpetrators have been caught, they have mainly been from mining districts and have initially been charged with appropriating explosives.