The Henson Journals

[105]

Wednesday, December 30th, 1914.

149th day

Ella & I motored to West Hartlepool, and there were taken by Mr Macdonald to see the ravages of the recent bombardment, & to visit the hospitals where the victims yet lingered. We were interested & astonished. The Germans are said to have thrown more than 1000 shells into the town. Happily many of these exploded harmlessly on vacant land, and many failed to explode at all. Had they all gone home, the whole place would have been a heap of ruins, & the majority of the people must have perished. It was a melancholy spectacle to see mere children in the hospital variously mutilated by shrapnel. We lunched with Macdonald. He told me that his son would be standing for a King's Scholarship next year. We had tea with one of the Hartlepool magnates, & then returned home arriving shortly before 7 p.m. I brought back with me as souvenirs of my visit two fragments of a shell which had been picked up. After dinner I wrote diverse letters; & then ended the day by submitting myself for the 3rd time to the didactive efforts of Linetta!

[106]

Parish churches preached in during 1914:– [In 1916 the list is]:–

1.	St Ignatius, Sunderland.	1.	Tanfield.
2.	Brandon.	2.	Stockton
3.	Hebburn–upon–Tyne.	3.	S. Margaret's, Durham.
4.	Bishop Middleham.	4.	Seaham Harbour.
5.	Bishopwearmouth.	5.	Brancepeth.
6.	Belmont.	6.	Coxhoe.
7.	Dunston–on–Tyne.	7.	Eppleton.
8.	Sunnybrow.	8.	Willington.
9.	Wolsingham.	9.	S. Giles's, Durham.
10.	S. Gabriel's, Sunderland.	10.	South Moor.
11.	Stockton.	11.	Sunderland, Ch. Ch.
12.	S. Columba's, Sunderland.	12.	Darlington.
13.	S. James's, Stockton.	13.	Crook.
14.	Parish Church, Sunderland.	14.	Whitworth.
15.	Gateshead.	15.	Muggleswick.
16.	S. Thomas, Sunderland.	16.	Beamish.
–	–	17.	Haughton le Skerne

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