This is the first batch of Arthur's letters home after he joined the RAMC. (Additional notes made by me should be in Times new Roman at the end of each letter):
Turner’s Hotel (1)
February 6th 1918 (2)
My dear Father (3),
I have had a cheque-book and a whole pile of forms sent to me from Holts & my pay is apparently in full swing. I am so far credited with three days’ pay being the three days in January that I was in the Army and I get no more pay credited until the end of February when 14/- per diem for February will be issued to me. As soon as I send back one of the forms filled up I shall be credited with my £50 kit allowance.
The 25 cheques in my cheque-book are numbered from something like 823901 to 823925 and underneath this both on the cheques & the counterfoils is a space labelled No….. I take it that I have to number my own cheques beginning with No1 and going up to No25? If I am wrong perhaps you will tell me.
During the time I am in London I am apparently drawing:- Pay 14/-, billeting 2/3, Rations 1/9, Fuel & Light 11d, and Servant 1/- (doubtful) making a total of 19/11 per diem.
Turner’s bill comes to 8/- - 9/- a day and I get tea and lunch outside so it leaves me a big margin.
The Instruction Course at Rochester Row (4) finishes tomorrow (Thursday) and we go to Blackpool (5) on Friday. We have been told that unless we get any instructions tomorrow we can report anytime before 10 p.m. on Friday in which case some of us will go from Euston at 9.30 a.m. and arrive between 3 and 4. If we should be told to report earlier in the day it will mean travelling by night. It will be a long enough journey to get a decent sleep and a 1st Class carriage is no hardship.
Please thank Audrey (6) for her letter which arrived this morning. I don’t think you had better send any more letters here after you get this one but I hope to be able to let you have my Blackpool address at once when I arrive. I am almost certain to be in a hotel.
It has taken a decided turn for colder weather today & for the first time since I came the wet greasy mud has started to dry on the pavements. I am not sorry as the close muggy weather is so tiring.
For the first time for many years I made the tour of the Royal Chapels at Westminster Abbey during the dinner-hour. Many of the finest tombs are covered with sandbags on account of raids but there is more than enough to take in while the guide is telling the tale. Tell Audrey I saw the grave of Queen Anne so she must be dead.
Best love to you all from Arthur (7)
(1) Arthur also stayed here earlier in the war while sitting his university exams and on one occasion experienced a Zeppelin raid close by. It was the first hotel he stayed in.
(2) This letter was dated, as were most others, but where the date is in italics it indicates that the letter was not fully dated (There was perhaps only a day of the week given). I have made calculated guesses about the date of such letters based on the calendar for the year in question, the content, and the sequence in which my grandmother stored and numbered the letters.
(3) Arthur’s father was Henry John Morris, he was born 4th August 1854 in Whitchurch, Salop. By 1918 he was nearing retirement from his position as Manager of the National Provincial bank West Street, Bristol. (He was known as “Harry” as his father had also been christened Henry). And here are a couple of photos of him:
(4) This was Rochester Row Military Hospital Westminster
(5) There was a massive Royal Army Medical Corps base/depot here.
(6) Audrey was Arthur’s sister who was born 10th December 1901 in Bristol. And this is a photo of her:
(7) The original transcription contains a footnote number 7 with a little bit of info about Arthur in it, but as this whole blog is going to contain lots of (extra) details about him it doesn't really make sense to include that here. It will, however make things a lot easier for me to leave a footnote number 7 in the text so as not to accidentally alter the numbering of the entire original set of footnotes where the numbering is generated automatically.
Turner’s Hotel
My dear Mother(8),
I have now finished with Rochester Row and have received my orders for Blackpool . We have to report any time tomorrow (Friday) so we are going by the 9.30 from Euston arriving at Blackpool at 3.22. We apparently go all the way from London Preston (18 miles from Blackpool ) without changing.
I heard all this at a Blackpool Advertising Depot which I came across this afternoon. I was in Holborn on my way back from the Hospital when I saw a notice up that people intending to visit Blackpool were asked to come inside and receive any free information or guide books and also particulars regarding the journey, programmes for amusements, railway tickets, etc. etc. I went in and a young woman told me everything I asked her and was most obliging. We have got free railway warrants (1st Class) instead of paying £2/19. Also we get an allowance of 3/6 for the food for the day and on arrival we apply for our taxi fares at both ends of the journey and these are all put to our banking account. My allowances for the ten days I have been in London Hobbs
I paid another visit to the Abbey this dinner-hour and went all around the crypt, Chapter House, Cloisters, Dean’s yard, Westminster School etc. It was like being miles from London
As it is the anniversary of Irving
I got your letter last night and Audrey’s yesterday morning so had two in one day. What a nuisance the Stanfords(10) are to keep on about Jack. They ought to have enough sense to see how difficult it will be for us to meet as equals. Still I shan’t cut him or anything of that sort so you needn’t worry.
I will try and write you when I arrive at Blackpool as soon as I know my address, but don’t be surprised if you don’t hear until Sunday.
If Audrey is limp you can’t possibly do better than fill her up with that tonic I gave her. Insist on her having at least 2 teaspoonfuls a day or 3 if possible. If you have come to the end of the tonic then give her the malt extract – both are good for her although the Hospital tonic is probably the better.
My next letter will be from Blackpool . Last time I stayed at the seaside was at Westward Ho! the year before last. We ought to get some good rough seas at this time of year with nothing between us and America
Very best love to you all from Me.
(8)Arthur’s mother was Alice Morris (née Edwards). She was born 10th September 1866 in Rochester , Kent Alice Alice
Here are a couple of photos of Arthur's mother Alice:
(9) Irving and Dickens are perhaps singled out because my father met Henry Irving when Irving Bristol Rochester Medway Towns
(10) The Stanford family were near neighbours at No 1 Cotham Park. Mrs Stanford was Alice's best friend and this is a photo of her:
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Friday night. (8th February1918)
My dear Mother,
I have sent a long letter describing my journey and the place I am staying in to Margery(11) and I have asked her to show you the letter. The place I am in is full of officers and there is not a great amount of privacy and the noise here in the smoking lounge makes it rather difficult to write.
So far I am very comfortable and although the town is not the kind of seaside place which appeals to the Morris family the air and the sea are simply glorious. The waves are even finer and bigger than North Devon or Cornwall New York Atlantic in between.
I shall not be able to write quite as much as I did in London
I shall be glad to hear from you soon
Best love to you all from Arthur
(11)Margery was his fiancée Frances Margery Davies, born 26th December 1895 in Bristol Art College Bristol Bruges
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Saturday afternoon (9th February 1918)
My dear Mother,
I have got a holiday for forty-eight hours from 1 o’clock today as I have just had my second inoculation. I shall try and get out a bit and look round during daylight but it has been raining in cats and dogs most of the morning and is not really fine now. The wind here is infinitely stronger than anything I have ever seen in Weston(12) or anywhere else.
We started the day by squad drill on the esplanade but had to come in after half-an-hour on account of the rain. We then had a lecture from the Adjutant for an hour and afterwards were (?) medically examined (at least our hearts were) and then had our inoculation. On Monday we start instruction in anti-gas work, also lectures in medicine and we also have squad drill, stretcher drill, riding and other jobs. We number about 70 of whom 40 are English and the rest Americans. We are divided for instruction purposes into three classes and we of course are the junior.
There is apparently no definite rule as to whether we stay here three days or three months but (except on rare occasions) each man gets four days “Embarkation Leave” before going abroad.
There are about 25 of us in this hotel and no other guests. We have one batman (servant) for each five of us and apparently his duties are simply to look after us and our billets. He walked into our bedroom this morning and lit the light and marched off with our tunics, belts, boots, leggings, brought us hot water, and in about 20 minutes returned our property cleaned and polished. He is apparently entitled by Military Law to 1/6 per week from each of us in addition to his army pay.
There is a huge double-roomed lounge with 2 Chesterfields
Nobody dreams of opening any windows – as it is the curtains blow about the room! I have not yet seen Jack Stanford although about 120 men were drilling some little distance from us on the Esplanade and he may have been among them.
One can’t possibly tell where one is going to. Everybody receives instruction in work and diseases and so forth which will do for any front and even if I am sent to France Italy
The rain has stopped and we are going out to get blown about a bit. Ladies outside are having their skirts blown over their heads and hats are tearing about and people crawl round corners almost on all fours. If it does not do me good I’m a Dutchman.
Write to me and tell me all the news.
Love to you all from Arthur.
(12)Weston-super-Mare, Margery’s family lived in various places including Weston.
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Sunday night (10th February 1918)
My dear Mother,
I am now snug in here with a terrific gale of wind and rain and sea raging outside. It was much calmer this morning and I went for a walk some distance along the front. Then this afternoon the wind got up again and I walked on the sands. Now tonight the gale beats anything we have struck.
My arm has not been nearly so painful as it was last week. It feels stiff and tender but does not hurt when I move it like it did before.
Now that we are getting to know the men in the hotel it is getting very jolly. They are all active service men and are consequently on the average younger than the men at Rochester Row. Many of them qualified when I did and have just done “three month jobs”(13).
What do you think of the following for our rations for today?
Breakfast – porridge, sausages, 2 slices of bacon, toast, bread, butter, marmalade and tea ad lib.
Lunch – Soup, potato-pie, milk pudding, cheese and biscuits.
Tea – Tea, brown and white bread and butter and cake.
Dinner – Celery soup, Salmon, Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, boiled and baked potatoes and sprouts, apple tart and custard and coffee.
Supper – Tea coffee or cocoa and biscuits.
There is plenty of it all, good big helpings and second helpings. Of course being men training for foreign service we have to be fed up and my hat we are getting it. With this bracing air you feel you can always eat so it is just as well.
There are three other men called Morris in the school so be sure you put my initials on all letters.
There are between ten and twelve thousand R.A.M.C. rank and file in Blackpool . And they are all in the south of the town nearly three miles from us who are right in the town but rather towards the north. The town stretches for nearly four miles along the sea front and a long distance inland. There are three piers with a pavilion on each, three theatres and two music-halls – two of the former and one of the latter being first class – also over a dozen picture-palaces – five good ones – also the Tower and the Great Wheel, the Winter-gardens with dancing and concert every night, a menagerie and aquarium, and two huge ballrooms so you can imagine that Blackpool is not quite like any of the places we are familiar with. I have not yet been to any of the shows.
When I do get leave I shall get it very suddenly and with probably only an hours warning. When you have had your leave you may go abroad almost at once or you may stay on for weeks.
I have not heard from you yet but shall expect some letters tomorrow.
Best love to you all from Me.
(13)All newly qualified doctors initially had to work in a hospital for three months.
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
My dear Mother,
I was very glad to get your letter this morning. It was not quite my first news from Bristol
Yesterday and today I have done very little but anti-gas work – a mixture of lectures and practical work. Having got through the process of fishing out and fixing on my gas protection mask in the regulation 6 seconds we actually go into the gas chambers tomorrow. It is rather nice and most interesting work and the man who teaches us – Captain Spaight – is a splendid lecturer and a most entertaining man. In addition to the Anti-Gas work we have had one lecture a day on Medicine but have had no time for drills or riding.
Every day it is more or less wet – today rather more than less. In fact when the gale of wind drops it rains and as soon as the wind gets up again it blows away the rain. Still my face is getting pretty well weather beaten between the two.
Most of the inhabitants of Blackpool speak something like Lena Shepherd(14) when she is excited. In fact the Lancashire accent is not at all unlike Yorkshire and is full of “Eh well now” and “Yer don’t say?” and “Hoow niice” The head waitress “Annie” brought out a typical expression yesterday – “Eh, but Ah thowt he’d fell o’er c’chains wi’ t’coops on t”
My batman combines his broad Lancashire accent with a terrible stutter, add to this one eye - and that a wandering one -, a difficulty in standing straight, and a “Stanfordian” degree of stupidity and imagine what I have to put up with.
The food is still plentiful and good and although the civilian population of Blackpool have rations and meatless days such things are not for the Army.
I have not got five in my bed – in fact I have a very comfortable bed to myself. I do share the room with one other man but we don’t sleep together.
Men keep straggling in every day so we are no longer the infants of the school.
It seems such ages ago since we left Rochester Row and we know all the fellows here now so that we are quite in the swim as it were.
What a fool Benedict seems to be and what a wandering Jew Miss P.(15) must be. Why can’t she get a place she can stick to instead of wandering about like Nigger(16)!
I have had no more news - I don’t know that I had much to start with – so I will shut up.
Hoping you are quite well as it leaves me at present, in haste to catch the post I remain
Your loving sis (son)
Arthur
When did the Moke(17) have a baby?!
(14) Lena Shepherd was an old friend of his mother’s who lived on the Lizard Peninsular. She was an eccentric Yorkshire woman, for example she always carried a telescope so she could see who was coming before they could see her and when travelling wore extra layers of clothes to reduce the amount that had to go in her luggage! here is a photo of Lena:
(15) Miss Parsons, who ran a school at No 7 Cotham Park
(16) The family’s black cat. (Politically incorrect today, but comparable to Guy Gibson VC having a dog called Nigger in WW2)
(17) The family nickname for Sarah, the woman who was their cook before the war.
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
My dear Mother,
I have just returned from my first taste of Blackpool amusements. Several of us went down to one of the music halls and saw a lot of drivel. It was a nice change from merely sitting in the hotel lounges all the evening but I shouldn’t care to go very often.
We have finished our Anti-Gas Course and have been through trenches and dug-outs full of various gases wearing the different kinds of masks and protectors.
Today and yesterday we have been doing squad drill on the parade and having lectures from various people on various subjects.
I bought a pair of boots this afternoon. One pair is not enough to have and I cannot get anything from the army ordnance until I get abroad. I want to try and work them cosy by wearing them in the evenings and at other times before I actually wear them on parade.
I got Father’s letter this morning please thank him for the information about the cheque-book. I have just heard from Holts yesterday and am sending a cheque to Salisburys at once.
There has been a great change for the better in the weather the last two days and there has been no sign of rain or wind. The sun has been shining for several hours and the sea is quite calm as it has been high tide when we were drilling and the water was right up close to us and it was very jolly.
We have got a man under arrest in the hotel. He is an R.A.M.C. officer who deserted from France Ireland
I don’t know when I shall be home it might be tomorrow or it might be in three or four weeks. I will try and wire when I do come.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Sunday night (17 February 1918 )
My dear Mother,
I was very glad to get your letter with the photos yesterday. I don’t quite know what to say about the latter. They are very good likenesses but I think they are not very flattering. They would be better if they were professional by which I mean they would be better if they were touched up and the lines were taken out. My face doesn’t bear such close scrutiny and when amateur photos are taken of me they oughtn’t to be at such close range. The only thing wrong with Margery’s part of the photo is that being so fair she looks much better in a dark coat that in a light blouse. The ones taken with me the previous week shew what I mean.
Today we have had our first riding on the sands(18). There were about 40 of us divided into three groups 1 those that had done a lot of riding 2 those that had done a fair amount 3 those that had done none or practically none. I went with the last group but was too good for them and the sergeant said that I’d better go with the others next time. I didn’t want to be let in for any fancy riding until I had spied out the land. I enjoyed it immensely and the instructor said I rode very well.
There has been a great improvement in the weather. Thursday and Friday it was mild, sunny and calm and today it has been beautifully fine but a little colder and the high tide this afternoon was up with some fine big waves.
I have got a lovely pair of new boots which I have just bought. They feel very comfortable and I am using Saturday and Sunday to grease them and wear them so as to get used to them before wearing them on parade.
Now that the Anti-Gas course is over we get squad and stretcher drill each day and either two or three lectures as well. We are on duty from 8.45 to 12.30 and again from 2 to 4.
We get 2/- per day billeting and 1/9 per day rationing allowance. The former we get in actual cash each Friday and the latter is placed to our credit at Holts at the end of each month. I drew 16/- yesterday for my first eight days’ billeting here.
Two of our batch have just had orders tonight that they are to proceed on embarkation leave tomorrow so my turn may come any day. This of course does not mean that they necessarily go aboard at once. Some men go a day or two after returning from leave, others not for a week or two. There is one man still here who had his leave over six weeks ago.
I am feeling very fit and well and the army so far does me good in every way. Of course I have not done any actual medical work since I came but it does not matter very much for present purposes as with the younger medical officers who actually go with the troops and do not stay in hospitals in England the idea is more the prevention of disease that the cure of it. When it comes to the actual treatment of wounds it is more a matter of using what you have got in the way of materials and common sense. We get good lectures on sanitation, disposal of cookhouse and other refuse in the field, purification and testing of water etc, etc, all illustrated with excellent and detailed models and find them very interesting and I hope useful.
The most vexing and ever changing problem is that of kit – there are many men here who have been abroad and one advises one thing and one another but between them all I am getting a very fair idea of what to take. Of course I can’t definitely decide on things until I know whether I go East or West but in any case it seems a Medical Officer has a chance of taking practically an unlimited amount of baggage.
There has been a large mouse here in the lounge where a dozen of us are sitting. It has been running about on the floor, up and down the curtains and round the picture rail.
I think I have told you most if not all of the news. I am always glad to get news from home.
Best love to you all Arthur
(18) All officers had to be able to ride and in anticipation of this he had already had riding lessons while still at university.
British Officers Club
A.P.O. 1. B.E.F.
My dear Father,
I guess this letter will give you a bit of a surprise but this is where I have got to today. I have written to you because a letter to mother or Margery would give them fits. However I have not come here for any time but am likely to be in Bristol Blackpool again either as soon as or soon after you get this. Three of us have brought half a battalion of men over here and we shall hand them over to their new command within a couple of days and then go home again. At present I am Acting-Adjutant to this camp which is some job for a new hand!! This place is scores of miles from the Front so Mother need not worry. It is a gloriously healthy place near the sea and high up. We came across from my native town(20) during last night and spent all day yesterday getting there from the north. The journey across the water was very comfortable although we were very crowded and I was not sick for a wonder. We have only brought what we could carry in haversacks as it is a short trip. Don’t send any letters here as I shall not be here long enough to get anything. I will try and wire you on my way home to give you a few hours warning. When I come it will not be my Embarkation leave but merely a break in my return journey as it was last week. My proper leave has still to come. This place has a gramophone, a piano, 2 billiard-tables, any number of papers, books, and magazines and the feeding is excellent and everything quite cheap. We are just outside a large town but not likely to get there much. We marched through it this morning and shall probably do so on our return.
I have plenty of money as we had cheques cashed by the Adjutant before we left. Of course our journeys are free but we pay for everything ourselves and claim for it and get a fair amount of it back in grants.
Will you let Margery know where I am if you can as I don’t want to write to her with this postmark unless she already knows I am here.
I am having a jolly good time and rattling good experience which should be most useful to me when I come over in earnest. The three of us are all lieutenants, one of the others being a Morris too. I am the middle one as regards seniority.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(19) My understanding is that this was the large Camp on the hill above Le Havre
(20) Southampton. His father was the chief accountant at the National Provinical Bank in the High Street and the family lived in the Bank House, so that's where Arthur was born. In the 1990s it looked like this (with me standing by the door with my children):
France
My dear Mother,
By this time father will have told you where I am, why I am here, and how quickly I am returning. We have now finished our work and have handed over our draft of men and are now in a large hut rest camp in the town where we landed and are waiting for a boat to carry us to England
Yesterday we went by river for about 100 miles up one of the biggest and most beautiful rivers in Europe to a large city(21) where we left our men. We spent the night at a big Hotel and returned here this morning. Of course we do not move anywhere except with written orders and our times and places are all decreed for us by Transportation officers etc.
How long we shall be waiting in this camp I don’t know but we have absolutely nothing to do but kick our heels. Last night at the Hotel I took off my clothes for the first time for nearly a week and I had a bath too and actually slept without my breeches on. We get unlimited magnificent food in places where we can feed in Officers Canteens or in YMCA canteens things are pretty cheap. The French people rob us right and left and make no secret of it – it really is disgusting to think they are our allies. From what we see here they are all out to make what they can out of English Officers.
This place is miles from the Front so you needn’t think I am being killed every night. In fact I am having a jolly good time. Of course I shall get allowances towards expenses but these will only help and not nearly cover necessary expenses. Still to see life and France
I have not joined the Salvation Army but they are the only envelopes I can get here.
I hope to call for a night at Bristol England
My best love to you all from Arthur.
(21) They went up the Seine to Rouen
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Wednesday afternoon (possibly 20 February 1918)
My dear Mother,
I have arrived here safely as you see after a very comfortable journey and am feeling rather washed out and in need of sleep.
I was not expected before this morning so I am glad I took the chance of going home. I have received a grant of 18/6 towards expenses incurred. I was not able to get any food en route but my buns and chocolate at 6.30 came in useful and I had ten minutes to spare here before parade for tea and toast so was alright.
It was a glorious morning and I had a ride and a drill. It has now turned wet and I have just been vaccinated and am waiting for tea. We get dinner at 6 and I shall go to bed about 8 and feel quite refreshed by morning.
I find that my bedroom-mate left here yesterday for four days extra leave as his father has just died so I shall temporarily have a room to myself.
All our little party have now been transferred to the senior class but the work is merely following on what we have already been doing.
Your letter and Margery’s were waiting for me when I arrived but I had no time to open them until lunch time. The Pakeman whose portrait you sent along is the uncle of “my” Pakeman.(22)
I have just spilt the ink all over the table but fortunately the table is polished and it has all mopped up without any trace being left. The inkpot is suppose to fit into a stand but somebody has removed the stand and the pot is top heavy.
As it is only last night that I saw you I naturally am not overflowing with news and as tea is nearly ready I will now hope you are quite well as it leaves me at present.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(22) Howard Pakeman was one of Arthur’s fellow assistant-scoutmasters from before the war. Arthur was too old to be a scout when the scouts were formed. His friend Eric Weir, the son of his former headmaster, was a scoutmaster and persuaded him to become an assistant-scoutmaster soon after Baden-Powell founded the movement, and Arthur later took over from Eric Weir. Far too many of his scouts became casualties in the war. Both the other assistant scoutmasters Phillip Beck, a chartered accountant, and Ernest Walters, an arts student, were killed. There is a Field postcard from Walters to my father among the letters. It was sent to Arthur on 19th October 1915 and may well have been kept because it was the last communication Arthur had from him.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission have the following:
Name: | WALTERS, ERNEST BEAUCHAMP |
Initials: | E B |
Nationality: | United Kingdom |
Rank: | Lieutenant |
Regiment/Service: | Gloucestershire Regiment |
Unit Text: | 8th Bn. |
Age: | 21 |
Date of Death: | 30/07/1916 |
Additional information: | Son of the Rev. George Ernest and Mrs. Walters, of Keynsham Vicarage, Bristol. |
Casualty Type: | Commonwealth War Dead |
Grave/Memorial Reference: | Pier and Face 5 A and 5 B. |
Memorial: |
AND
Name: | BECK, PHILIP HENRY HARCOURT |
Initials: | P H H |
Nationality: | United Kingdom |
Rank: | Captain |
Regiment/Service: | Gloucestershire Regiment |
Unit Text: | 2nd/6th Bn. |
Age: | 27 |
Date of Death: | 02/04/1917 |
Additional information: | Son of Robert Henry and Mary Jane Beck, of The Elms, Faringdon, Berks. Born at Birmingham. |
Casualty Type: | Commonwealth War Dead |
Grave/Memorial Reference: | B. 2. |
Cemetery: |
And I have photographs of these close friends of Arthur's:
Pakeman on left Walters on right
Philip Beck
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Monday night (4th March 1918)
My dear Mother,
I got up here quite safely this morning with quite a nice journey. I had 6 hours to wait at Crewe and tipped a porter to wake me and then slept for 3 or 4 hours by the fire in the waiting room. I also got some tea there before the refreshment room closed. I am actually detailed for another draft-conduction starting on Wednesday morning. This time I’ve got to go to Scotland Perth
While I was in France Salonika . I think it is quite likely I shall go there too as they are sending crowds of men from here in about a month’s time. If it is a hospital job it wouldn’t be at all bad. The chief objection is the lack of home leave but after all that is not very serious.
I do hope that you and Father have recovered from your various complaints. It is very mild here – much more so that Bristol
I found 12 letters waiting for me here today.
I must turn in early this evening so will write some more later.
I do hope you are better much love to you all from Arthur.
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
My dear Mother,
I am writing to you tonight as I shall hardly be able to write for the next two days. Your heart can well be in the Highlands as I leave for there at 9.30 in the morning. We get there at 9.9 at night. I hope to leave there at 8.20 the next morning and put in six hours in Edinburgh Blackpool at 10.30 at night.
I can’t write with my awful pen any more so will switch off on to a pencil.
Practically all the men here are going off to Salonika and are loafing about waiting for orders. They are apparently all going to Field Hospitals where they should have a pretty good time. Only we three who went to France Southampton .
I hope by this time that the patients are all better. I presume that Audrey is laid up with a cold by now.
I have absolutely no news for you just now, but thought you would worry if you didn’t get any letter for three days.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Friday afternoon (8th March 1918 )
My dear Mother,
I got back here last night at midnight and was surprised to find no letters and again this morning the postman brought me nothing. I left Bristol
I had a most glorious trip to Scotland Blackpool at 9 a.m. on Wednesday and got to Edinburgh Edinburgh midnight .
The journey all through the English Lakes Scottish Mountains Scotland
During my stay in Edinburgh Forth Bridge
Kinross is on the banks of Loch Leven and although Mary, Queen of Scots, was not at home the castle from which she made the famous escape is there on the island in the middle of the Loch .
My party of men were not R.A.M.C. but Royal Scots Fusiliers and I was merely lent to them for Conduction. Think of me marching along Prince’s Street Edinburgh – which is supposed to be and I should think is the finest street outside London
And can you picture me in the Officers Mess having breakfast with a piper marching up and down piping all through breakfast!!!!
The main streets are crowded just like London London
The pen I am writing this letter with is a fountain pen I bought in Edinburgh
I am still unposted to any unit and am as much in the dark as to my future movements as I ever was.
The afternoon post has just come but there is still no letter from you or Margery!
It has been fine until now but is just turning wet with a suspicion of sleet. We had a good five or six miles ride this morning. I had a very fresh horse to begin with which kicked and did all sorts of things so that the O.C. told me to swop horses with the sergeant. The latter’s horse was a beauty and I had the best ride since I got here.
I may be home on leave tomorrow or I may not arrive for weeks. If I don’t come soon I shall send you some socks but at present I have plenty to go on with.
Write soon. Much Love to you all from Arthur.
P.S.
Audrey’s letter plus two from Margery have just been brought to me. They arrived last night and Mrs Hayman(23) put them in her office as I was away and she did not know I had returned until this afternoon.
I am very sorry to hear that Father is laid up again and that you have to carry on when you are not fully recovered. I also hear that Margery has a bad cold. Do try and take care of yourselves and nurse yourselves. I do hope that by the time you get this you will be on the road to recovery.
Dinner is ready and I must finish up or this won’t catch tonight’s post.
Love from Arthur.
(23) The Manageress/Proprietress of the Fernley Private Hotel
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Sunday (10 March 1918 )
My dear Father,
I am very glad to hear from your letter that you are all recovering from your various complaints.
You do indeed seem to have been rather unfortunate in all getting ill together, but what could be more typical of the Morris family? I notice there is no mention of Audrey having been ill so I hope she is escaping but it is strange for her to keep clear.
I myself am most frightfully stiff today and yesterday as after having no ride for a fortnight I have just had two good long ones. The first one I had a horse which was a bit of a kicker and after a time I had to change it for another but anyhow I did not get thrown or anything of that sort.
I still have no indication as to my future movements and may be here a few days or a few weeks. When I get my Embarkation leave as it will be an official leave and not merely a break in a journey as before, I shall be issued with food tickets so that provided I can get to a Bristol
Has anything been heard of Leonard(24) during the last three weeks. The last I heard of him was that he had just gone to Swindon . I should never be surprised to see him turn up here as quite a third of the R.A.M.C. men here have already been overseas and then come here for a week or two before proceeding to new units. There are now three late B.R.I.(25) men here who were a year or two senior to me. They have all been abroad and are expecting to go again. Britton arrived here yesterday. He has just done the twelve days course at Rochester Row, London
Mother seems to be greatly amused at my adventures in Scotland
We have all just had a telephone message from headquarters that nobody is to leave the hotel until further orders as they are expecting War Office instructions which may mean Embarkation leave for those who have not had it or moving-on orders for those that have had it. So I may be home before this letter!!
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(24) Leonard was Arthur’s half brother Leonard Newsom Morris. He was born 4th January 1882 in Maryleborne. London
This is a photo of Leonard in his RAMC uniform:
This is a photo of Leonard with his wife (her first name was Alice and her maiden name was Cherry, but she liked to be called "Cherry"):
And this is a photo of Arthur with Leonard and their father from before the war:
(25) Bristol
Arthur had his embarkation leave at this point
The Fernley private Hotel (Late Maclean’s)
1&2 Landsdowne Crescent
Wednesday night (13 March 1918 )
My dear Mother,
I have just been down to the Orderly Room to report and they say we are to simply stand by for further orders. At any rate we are not likely to move tonight for which I am thankful. I did not want to go off to Southampton tonight after travelling up here nearly all day.
I had a very comfortable journey. Although I got to Temple Meads Pontypool Road Crewe but found my train waiting for me. Then at Preston I had half an hour and a second cupper tea and a black cat with a yellow ribbon round its neck.
I found a lovely dinner waiting for me which I had before going along to report.
Don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear from me regularly – I don’t know what my arrangements may be either here or anywhere else just now but don’t worry about me a bit.
Very Best love to you all from Arthur.
Alexandra Pavilion for Officers
52 Grosvenor Gardens S.W.
March 15.1918.
My dear Mother,
We are just having breakfast here while we wait for our train. We came down from Blackpool during the night and are crossing from Folkestone to Boulogne
We were very comfortable travelling down and there are 25 of us we are quite a jolly party.
By the time you get this I shall be across the other side – probably staying in an Officers’ Club – so you needn’t worry about submarines.
Cheerup and don’t worry about me I shall be alright.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
So the next batch of letters will be the ones after he has arrived in France for real.
Alfred
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