February 1916
As the month begins, Mary gets news of Zeppelin raids in England in which
fifty-four people have been killed and sixty-seven injured. The Germans have captured
the Appam and the Canadian Houses of Parliament
has been razed to the ground, supposedly by German spies.
Mary's eldest son Tommy receives orders to go to
the Mediterranean via Southampton. The evening before
his departure a dinner is organised with family friends and he leaves in good spirits,
meeting up with more friends in Liverpool. He is
probably on the Aquitania.
Meanwhile, Mary's younger sister, Aunt Lily, has
arrived in Malta where she is working at the Floriana Hospital. Mary's daughter, Marie, also in Malta, sends reports
back of people she has encountered, though there is no news of her brother, Charlie. Marie's boyfriend, Gerald Gartland, visits Mary on 19 February. They meet up again on 26
February before Gerald returns to England.
A few days later Mary writes that the British
Ambassador in Washington has offered to make
enquiries for her about her son Charlie. On 28th
February, Mary and her daughter Ethel are shown
around the hospital ship “Oxfordshire” by Capt.
Gravely. This is the vessel that Marie sailed
to Malta on and it holds 200 patients.
As the month draws to a close, Mary hears that battle is still raging around Verdun and that there have been two disasters at sea: a
French cruiser with 1,500 troops on board in the Mediterranean reports the loss of 1,000
lives, while 155 lives have been lost when a P&O liner is ruined off Dover.
(No Reference Available)
Appam
An English passenger liner captured by the German navy in 1916 and sailed to America. Thomas Patrick Martin
Born on St. Patrick’s Day, 17 March 1891 and died in 1954, Thomas Shannon Patrick was Mary Martin's son and was known in the family as Tommy. He served in the 5th Battalion of the Connaught Rangers, a famous Irish regiment of the British Army but survived the war. Southampton
Port on south coast of England and a crossing for British troops on their way to and back from the Western Front. Liverpool
Port in North-west England with ferry connections to Dublin for Irish soldiers and nurses on leave to and from England. RMS Aquitania
The RMS Aquitania was a Cunard Line ocean liner used as a troop ship in 1915 and early 1916. Tommy Martin, son of Mary Martin, sailed on her to the Mesopotamian Campaign. Lily Levins Moore
Born 1875, Lily Levins Moore was Mary Martin's sister. Malta
Mediterranean island south of Sicily and part of the British Empire. Marie Martin served there as a VAD from October 1915 to April 1916. Floriana Hospital
The General Hospital in Malta where Marie Martin worked as a VAD nurse. Marie Helena Martin
Born 25 April 1892 and died 27 January 1975. Marie Helena was Mary Martin's daughter and worked in Malta and France as a VAD nurse during the First World War. In 1937 she founded the religious order Medical Missionaries of Mary. Charles Andrew Martin
Born 3 June 1895, Charles Andrew was Mary Martin's son. This diary is dedicated to him. He was reported wounded and missing in December 1915 and died of his wounds on December 8 while in Bulgarian captivity, aged 20. However it wasn't until July 1 1916 that official confirmation of his death was received. Gerald Gartlan
Captain and staff officer in the Royal Irish Rifles, wounded twice in action on the Western Front. Friend of both Thomas and Charles Martin and romantically attached to Marie, Mary Martin's daughter, until 1917. Cecil Spring Rice
(1859 – 1918) Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice was British Ambassador to the United States from 1912 to 1918. Mary Martin's use of 'James' is incorrect in this instance. Washington
The British Embassy in Washington. The Martins had written letters there seeking information on the missing Charles Martin. Ethel Mary Martin
Born in 1893, Ethel Mary was Mary Martin's daughter and served as a VAD during the First World War. Captain Gravely
Unidentified as yet. Verdun
City in north-eastern France, site of a prolonged and moral-sapping battle between German and French forces beginning in February 1916. P&O
A prestigious English shipping company of the period. Dover
Port in South-east England and main embarkation point for France and the Western Front. | 
