"K’s death in the North Sea... I told Fitzgerald to tell everyone it was a mine, not a torpedo... Henry Even Rufus was tactless. I told him not to speak to me about the WO. The poor man’s body hasn’t yet been found..."

"Masterton Smith rang me up to communicate the dreadful tragedy that the Hampshire had been mined or torpedoed and sunk with all hands including Lord Kitchener... General Robertson... was very anxious not to have Lloyd George, and rather inclined to Austen Chamberlain."

"Basil called for me... and took me to see two adjoining sort of studio houses in Glebe Place... Dined with the Wimbernes... Got an awful flushed face—sea water—absolutely crippling pain and stiffness where I had the injection."

"Poor Kitchener has been drowned. I feel very grieved. We got on well. He was a great man, but very uneven."