TOBS DIARY PART 1
One of the many pieces we are working on is interpreting Tobs' diary in order to create a timeline for the months he lived in London. He escaped from his Nazi occupied homeland to fight the Huns from the safety and freedom of Great Britain where he arrived on 10 October 1943 and was immediately selected as a prospective SOE agent. Following an intensive training period he was parachuted back into Holland on 1 April 1944.
and left on his second mission in September 1944. His diary remained behind with his wife, Eva. For further details, please see our GLOSSARY page which is a companion piece to the diary.
Tobs was not fluent in English and often used a phonetic or Dutch spelling for similar sounding words in his diary: "foon" for "phone" or "Norfolkstr" instead of "Norfolk Street", "Kursen St" for "Curzon Street". Sometimes Eva would make entries as well as others which you will see going through the pages.
We uploaded 30 images and hope you can help us solve the entries on the pages that have us stumped. The same pages within the slideshow (above) appear below with our interpretation. Items followed by a question mark is where we need help. We would appreciate any insight you may have. Please email us directly using the CONTACT page.
Instructions:
- Click on one of the images below to make it larger.
- Words that are bolded and all in uppercase (above) are links. Click on GLOSSARY or CONTACT and you will be taken to that page.
- The London telephone exchange used names of specific areas such as PADdington and MAYfair for telephone numbers. Only the first three letters were used followed by four numbers. London exchanges until the 1960s are listed here: http://www.rhaworth....eak/tenp_01.htm
- Major cities outside London's telephone exchange: http://www.rhaworth....eak/tenp_uk.htm
- Our details below are brief, for more information please refer to the Glossary page
- Details followed by a question mark (?) is where we need help.
We divided Tobs diary into two sections called Diary Part 1 and Diary Part 2 because the images took too long to download. We will probably eventually do the same with the Glossary.
Left hand page:
The diary was named "Vrij Nederland" after a Dutch underground newspaper.
Diary was published in England for the Dutch with a list of essential addresses in London.
Right hand page:
"eigen flat" (My flat): BAYswater 5027 (phone for SOE flat? Main SOE number) ?
Howick Place: Post Office (see link below. Used as mailing address ? )
Left hand page:
Calendar: 1943 & 1945
Right hand page:
Memoranda from 1943: "Barbara Chandler ?, 2 Bridge Wor...? Iselworth, Middlesex 217" ?
Left hand page:
Memo From 1943:
"Eva Skotting born 11 March 1918, Viby, Jutland, Denmark"
"S.P.A. Skotting Born 18-11-1891, Aarhus, Denmark, Died Aug 1933" ( Eva's father)
Right hand page:
Jan 1
"I.M. Smidt, Aakirkeby, Denmark, Born 22-12-1896" (Eva’s mother Inger)
Left hand page:
Jan 2 - 5
Mon 3: "Eva Skotting, born 11 March 1918, Viby, Jutland, Denmark"
Tue 4: "S.P.A. Skotting Born 18-11-1891, Aarhus, Denmark, Died Aug 1933"
Wed 5: "I.M. Smidt, Aakirkeby, Born 22-12-1896 Denmark"
(Eva's personal information repeated from the previous pages. Tobs needed the dates for their marriage license)
Left hand page:
Jan 9 - 12
Sun 9: "1.15, 1.45, 1.76, 45/90" ? (Unknown sequence of numbers, train/tube times) ?
Right hand page:
Jan 13 - 15
Thu 13: "Drij art… Radia" ? "Distributie kaart" ? "Hatchett's ? Cap" ? "Hotel change"?
Fri 14: "7 uur Averard Parr" (See Glossary)
Left hand page:
Jan 16 - 19
Sun 16: "no 26, no 19, no 12" ? "100, 100, 150" ?
Tue 18: 11:20, 12:00 (Unknown times ? Bus? Train) ?
Right hand page:
Jan 20 - 22
Thu 20: "Norwegian Club": (where Tobs met Eva)
Fri 21: "2:30 - 3 o'clock flat" ?
Sat 22: "7-10 R.A.C." ? (Royal Automobile Club? See link below:)
Right hand page:
Jan 27 - 29
Fri 28: "Vader" (Father)
(Tobs may have been in training for his mission which could explain the blank pages)
Left hand page:
Jan 30 - Feb 2
Mon 31: "Red Cross" (See Glossary)
"Oranje Haven": (Dutch Club)
Wed 2: "Kap? L (or) H na 5 uur" ? (Capt he meets @ 5 o'clock ? or possibly Kas de Graaf) ?
Right hand page:
Feb 3 - 5
Thu 3: "Schrader" (escaped with Tobs)
"WHItehall - 3021" ?
"Graven ? Hotel near Strand" ?
Fri 4: "Father 6 1/4 uur, Trocadero ground floor"
Sat 5: "3:45 Cumb Parr": (Cumberland Hotel Parr) ?
"Schiet” (Shooting) ? "aanval. of. Norske Marine." ? (why drawing of heart) ? (Norwegian incident link - see XXX & Glossary)
Left hand page:
Feb 6 - 9
Sun 6: "Eva Skotting 22 Oakley St Chelsea, S.W.3." (Eva's writing, her flat)
Mon 7: "BARnet 6065" (Eva's office)
"FLAxman 1874" (Eva's Chelsea flat) ?
Tue 8: "Cumbert 3:30 Amerikaans" ? Cumberland Hotel or American named Cumbert ?
Wed 9: "Telephone Miss Skotting"
Right hand page:
Feb 10 - 12
Thu 10: "Call Eva 4:30"
"Mr. Collips BBC" ? (Phonetic spelling) ?
Fri 11 : "22:30 Hatton Garden" (jewellery centre)
"7:45 phone Eva"
"PER 4956" ? (phone of ) Kathleen Risdon ? (not Tobs or Eva’s writing, area is Perivale)
Sat 12: "7 o'clock Hatchetts" (Restaurant)
Memoranda: Veeraswamy, Regent St, Piccadilly. (Indian Restaurant)
Left hand page:
Feb 13 - 16
Sun 13: "12 o'clock, Oakley Street" (Eva)
Mon 14: "Queen's Gate, : Rn ? (Map ? see Glossary)
Tue 15: " to come...
Wed 16: " to come ..
Right hand page:
Feb 17 - 19
Thu 17: " to come...
Fri 18: " to come...
Left hand page:
Feb 20 - 23
Work In Progress
Sun 20:
Mon 21:
Tue 22:
Wed 23
Right hand page:
Feb 24 - 26
Work In Progress
Thu 24:
Fri 25:
Sat 26:
Memo:
Left hand page:
Feb 27 - Mar 1
The blank pages often signalled Tobs was away in training. From the above pages from the week before, *** he writes about the Eureka & S phones which will be explained in the Glossary **
Right hand page:
Mar 2 - Mar 4
Sat 4: "54 Woodside Park Road, Whelan" (Molly Whelan was Eva's friend) Glossary
Memoranda: "Roland en Lies 7.30" (cousins)
Left hand page:
Mar 5 - 8
Mon 6: 10:30 - 09.00
Tue 7: 0.900 (This was possibly the overnight train to Scotland to the SOE training school)**
Right hand page:
Mar 9 - 11
Sat 11: "Verjaardag Pol" (Pol Skotting?)
Memoranda: "Akvavit (Danish Bols) Skaal"
Left hand page:
Mar 12 - 15
Wed 15: "Danish Dutch Evening Danish Club"
Right hand page:
Mar 16 - 18
Fri 17: "A.T.O. 8 uur Liverpool Street"
Memo: "L. Frank Rheumatiek, 10 Devonshire Place" (Dr. Ludwig Frank Rheumatism)
Left hand page:
Mar 19 - 22**
Sun 19: "Major Dobson, 4 Montagu Mansions North; Agents The Portland Estates Office"
Mon 20: "Fokkard & Hayward, Baker Street; Bakker & Strouts, Sloane Street"
Tue 21: "Harrods, Marylebone Road, 3 o'clock churchman"
Wed 22: "Hamilton-Mack, Mr Jansma Weteringschans 93"
Right hand page:
Mar 23 - 25**
Thu 23: "Cumberl.., 10 o’clock Euston-Watford Junction (crossed out) West Brom (tube?) 5 o’clock"
Fri 24: "3.45 D Club, Clergyman"
Sat 25: "Portman Square 26A; O.lly Hamdon Road, R.O.W. 58"
Left hand page:
Mar 26 - 29**
Mon 27: "6.30 Cumberland ? Parr, Mankid..? "
Tue 28: "9.15 Warendorf; (Mr. Warendorf was in the Dutch government Justice Dept) 22 Oakley Street" (Eva's flat)
Wed 29: "10 – 12 Eton Square 82. Kwart voor 6 Politie Buitendienst Major Dirksemas" ?
Right hand page:
Mar 30 - Apr 1
Thu 27: "Ask address Adj Bootsma. Miriam Bell, 65 Curzon Street"
Fri 31 to Sat 1: Tobs is dropped with Jan Steman into Holland on his first mission
December 24 to January 6
Tobs left on his second mission in September 1944 so he was in Holland during this time more to come***
Left Hand Page:
Right Hand Page:
Left hand page:
"Liesje Krost, HOLborn 7076, 37 Ellington Ct, High St Southgate N14 PALmers Green 3883"
"Mia La Costa, Stockton-onTees, 49 Clarendon Road, Thorsby, Yorks"
"Lonsdale Hotel, 23 Montague St WC1, MUSeum 1812"
"HOLborn 0490 Hatton Garden, 63 New House EC1, Sapinworks"
Right hand page:
"Warendorf, Arlington REGent 2141 -2143"
"Gwen Brushett, 7 Chelsea Embankment London SW3, FLAxman 7255" "Wren 64214" ?
"Mrs. Rutta ? Fawley Henley-on-Thames"
Left Hand Page:
Right Hand Page:
"Mej Waterman, AVEnue 5260 Extension 3" ?
"Min Burgers, Stratton, GROvesnor 4181" ?
"J Barker, 58 Canfield Gardens, NW6, MAIda Vaile 5937" ?
"Warendorf, 65 Victoria Road, Kensignton W8, WESton 3879" ***