| StorageSite | UCL Institute of Education |
| Description | Diary contains entries from from Isabel Fry's time as a trainee farm labourer which she undertook during the First World War for four weeks, partly with the idea of one day running a farm school, she was then called by the Ministry of Munitions to work as a Welfare Supervisor in Government owned factories. She discusses progressions regarding the War, the people she meets while working in factories, her work activities and their effect on her views of the world, her experiences of the night shift during the threat of a blackout
Feb 15 1916 manual farm work; bullying attitude of workers
Feb 17 killing chickens; driving ducks; thinks about wonder of nature "to see the sun accross the sky from dawn to sunset is a great thing"
February 25 to March 12 describe Fry's attempts to secure a job with the Ministry of Munitions
Mar 15 returned from Cadbury's, discusses the conditions of workers there, and at Robertson's Marmalade factory, Catford, also visited. Hears talk of end of War being close
Mar 16 talks disparagingly of Peek frearn's biscuit factory
Mar 17 lunch at McNeills; League of Nations meeting, speaker Dr Theodore Marburg
Mar 20 is offered post of Welfare Supervisor at Birtley, prepares to leave the farm
Mar 25 frustrated by disorganisation of her employers Fry works on her personal projects regarding the teaching of grammar
Mar 26 talks about the "Labor People" along with Mary McArthur, getting women working in the factory into a trade union, and their subsequesnt demand for higher wages
Mar 27 Fry finally gets to work in her role as Welfare Supervisor, and questions her driving power to make reforms
Mar 29 dined with Miss Jayne (employer?) and discussed her activities with the workers in the factory
Mar 31 discusses her activities in the factory and interaction with foremen
April 1 visits Whitley Bay to assess it for a destination for Lewis' visit (Lewis was Fry's adopted child). describes it as a "dull featureless place"; goes on to discuss zeppelin raid over York, Hull and London
Ap 3 Fry learned that Sunderland had been "zepped" in the night; female workers on strike "clearly worked up by the National Federation of Wom[en] Workers"; visit from Miss Jayne to the factory; mentions B [Bertrand?] Russell, Miss McArthur, and Miss Plowright
11 Ap gives short lecture on Women of Turkey to female workers in their cloakroom
12 Fry learns her father had been taken ill, thinks about his accomplishments in life
25 April discusses revolution in Ireland and parts of dublin being in rebel hands
Ap 26 progressions of War; Sinn Fein
Ap 30 rumours round the factory of Whitley Bay being bombarded
May 3 blackout; four Irish rebels shot
May 15 talks about Sheehy Skeffington's murder and the resulting trial
May 16 further discusses the Irish situation, and also anxieties abut her work and her supervisor's view of her
May 20 discusses putting the clocks back
May 22 Fry tells the story of a woman named Miss Kay who lived in Liege, and had stayed there when it was occupied by Germany. She tells of her escape to the Netherlands
May 23 discuses feeling as though she is a conscientious objector
May 24 Talks about Jack White [captain James Robert "Jack" White] being sent to prison for trying to ignite a strike of the South Wales Coalfield in sympathy for Sinn Feiners. It is clear that Fry knew, or had met White from the rest of this entry. She calls him an "utter freak" and puts his madness down to being kicked by a horse in the Boer War
25 meetng with factory girls to explain "Welfare Captaincy Scheme"
June 2 Fry considers resigning from her post as Welfare Supervisor
June 3 hears of the Battle of Jutland
June 4 Fry experiences anxiety about Miss Norman's secret regarding her place of birth
Fry leaves the factory at Birtley. She discusses various aspects of the War, and a visit she makes to Beldergrange [a place she lived or visited in childhood possibly]. Towards the end of the volume Fry begins to discuss the possibility of running a farm school. The inside of the front cover includes a lit of expenses/budget, and the back cover a draft of a letter to the factory girls asking one of them to own up to stealing a watch. |