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