Molony, William O'Sullivan, Diary, 7 August 1914

00000556.jpg
Description: 
W.O. Molony diary, [page 88]
Case Study: 
A British Teenager Caught Up in the First World War: William O’Sullivan Molony
Creator: 
Molony, William O'Sullivan
Source: 
diary
Date: 
7 August 1914
Place: Berlin
Collection/Fonds: 
Contributer: 
McMaster University Libraries
Rights: 
Copyright, public domain: McMaster University owns the rights to the archival copy of the digital image in TIFF format.

Identifier: 
00000556
Language: 
eng
Type: 
image
Format: 
jpg
Transcript: 

[page 88]
I took this as best as I could, and waited for what was to follow.
Half-an-hour later, we were all marched off down the Potsdamerstrasse in twos, under guard, and after a very uncomfortable twenty-minutes, arrived at one of the small police-stations. A crowd had been following us most of the way—and I had led the company (about 30 or 40). Beside this, I was dressed for a call on the British Embassy, knowing nothing of the declaration of war—the news not having been printed yet—and was arrayed in a blue suit, light grey spats and a Sackville Street overcoat. My companions were for the most part engineers—criminals, niggers, hooligans and cutthroats—a great number of them taken from a very common class of Irishman.
The crowd followed us the whole way and then divided as we had a roll-call (in the street). Some jeered, but most of them behaved extraordinarily well, under the circumstances.
“England had declared war on Germany”.
I could hardly believe this terrible news—but had very little