Referentially

I am starting to wonder when I will come to the bottom of the seemingly bottomless collection of documents and photographs from Arnold’s WW1 experience. Being back in Australia again, I have been spending time at my in-law’s house and took the opportunity to have a bit of a snoop on the weekend. Once again, I unearthed some documents I had never seen before. They were being kept in Arnold’s black metal box, where many of his formal documents were kept. The ones I am sharing today are a collection of references. The first one is from Yarrow & Co, the shipbuilding company Arnold worked for in Glasgow and where he undertook his apprenticeship. The second is a reference written in 1917 but Officer Nelson from HMS India. I think this would have been written for Arnold to use when applying for work on the construction of the railways. The third is a Norwegian reference from the Norwegian State Railways (and it’s translation) and the final one is his original service certificate.
My personal favourite is the one from Yarrow’s. In particular the second last paragraph – “Mr. Clarke’s personal character was excellent; his intelligence superior; sobriety perfect; diligence very good, as also his general conduct and moreover he was an excellent timekeeper.” I often speak of how my father-in-law and my husband are carbon copies of each other but anyone who knows either of them will be laughing as I was at the thought of Arnold being an excellent timekeeper – that is one quality that was definitely NOT passed on to his son or grandson! The perfect sobriety might also have been lost along the way.

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