March 21st 1918
My dear Mother,
I am writing to you again so soon because my address is being changed. I have been transferred to a neighbouring Field Ambulance so my full title and address will now be Lieut. A.H.Morris R.A.M.C. 2/1st Wessex Field Ambulance(32), B.E.F., France
There is nothing for me to tell you that I can tell you although I hear many most interesting things out here. There was a huge spider in my bedroom last night but among many unpleasantnesses as devised by brother Boche one doesn’t worry much. Audrey will be interested to hear that there are heaps of cats – one “petit chat qui catche les souris” made friends with me last night. I shall be quite sorry to change my billet tomorrow. Write soon, I shall be very glad indeed to hear something from home.
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
(32) Also part of the 55th Division
March 22nd 1918
My dear Audrey,
I am sending this letter to you in case you are in need of a little reflected glory and I know that any news will be passed on to the rest of the family. I have made my change from one Ambulance to another and in case you have not made a note of it my address is now and is likely to be for a few weeks 2/1st Wessex Field Ambulance, B.E.F., France
For the first time since I left London
My very best love to you all from Arthur.
(33) From reading “The Story of the 2/1 Wessex Ambulance” the unit was at Les Harrisoirs near Locon at this time. Brigade HQ may also have been at Locon at this time. No idea where exactly Les Harrisoirs was, it may also have been a British Army nickname for the farm or a miss pronounciation of the French name eg "Arrisoire".
(34) The CO was Colonel Blackwood, he had recently joined the 2/1 Wessex his predecessor having been killed. Col. Blackwood was an experienced RAMC man and looked like this:
(35) The Dennis family were neighbours at No 2 Cotham Park
The same address
Sunday MARCH 24 1918 (36)
My dear Mother,
I have made a particular point of putting the date in order that you may see that I am quite alright on that date, so you need not worry as to where I am when you read the papers. I have had a very good day yesterday as in the afternoon the Colonel took me with him on a tour of inspection of our Advanced Dressing Stations. We went about forty miles altogether in a car and travelled at some speed. The Boche was pretty quiet but our guns were blazing away merrily. The stations are much more snug and strong that I expected to find them and are really very comfortable. We stayed to tea at one of them and had a gorgeous feed. After dinner last night I went out to see a little French boy with pneumonia (37). Imagine me going into the cottage and questioning the people about him in French and giving them my directions as to treatment also in French. I am just going down there again today avec plus de la médicine. The farm that I am living in is exactly like an English one and the sun being hot and the sky blue and the weather warm it is just a treat to be staying in the country. There are all the usual farm animals and poultry and in addition the place is of course full of soldiers. All the farmers and wives etc are still here. I had my hair cut in the front garden yesterday by the regimental barber and today I propose to have a bath in the scullery. I have not yet had any letters. Probably they have already just about reached my old unit and have hardly had time to be sent on to me yet. Considering that it is now twelve days since I left Bristol
At the Dressing Stations yesterday I met the other officers of our unit and was quite favourably impressed and I must say I think I did well when I changed units. Add to that the fact that most of the men here come from Devon and all speak with the broadest of Devonshire accents and you can imagine I feel quite at home. I wake up in the morning a here the fellows at the cookhouse outside one window and the washing place outside the other all speaking broad Devon and a gentle chorus of chickens and ducks and I think I am actually in Devon . Most of the men come from Exeter
I have just been round to inspect the billets, cookhouses, workshops etc. and have also joined in some anti-gas drill and as soon as I return from seeing the French laddie I have to inspect the dinners and the way the food is served out. I have also held a sick parade this morning for any of our men who were not well. I suppose you have started Daylight Saving by now so that your time is now the same as ours and I can just think of you starting church service. We have to do without one here as the Padre has just gone away for fourteen days sick leave and there is nobody to take his place. We get papers fairly regularly and we get official war news issued to us daily from All Fronts and as these things are more detailed than those in the daily papers we know pretty well what is going on. Don’t worry about me at all. Things are quiet and alright here. I hope you are all quite well again now.
Best love to all from Arthur.
(36) The Germans launched a massive Spring Offensive around St Quentin from 21st March onwards.
(37) It was the standard army practice for a doctor from such a unit to be available to deal with local civilians
The Same Address
My dear Mother,
I do hope that you are not worrying about me now that the newspapers are so full of the Boche offensive. You certainly need not worry as the place where I am just like you in England Cornwall France England Devonshire looks after me very well indeed and I am gradually getting to know the men and be known by them and find them a very decent lot indeed. I am very fit and am eating heartily of the very best of food. I went for my last visit to my little French patient this morning. He is much better. I drink coffee there and discuss the war with his mother in French which I am re-picking up again quite quickly after many years abstention.
Very best love to you from Arthur.
(38) The family lived quite close to the activity of the aerodrome at Filton.
The Same Place
Wednesday March 27th (1918)
My dear Mother,
I am just sending you a little extra note again today because I know this Boche offensive will be making you anxious. Well we are quite a way from it just now so you needn’t picture me being carried to Potsdam Exeter
There are still no letters for me although it is just a fortnight this morning since I left Bristol Bristol Taunton Exeter Newton Dartmouth Plymouth Exeter
We are just like a school here – everybody is sitting at the big round table in the Mess writing letters. I am the only unmarried man here and the others all write to their wives pretty regularly each day if possible.
There is a big wheel which works like a water wheel in this farm only it is kept revolving by a big dog which runs around inside it like a treadmill. Everywhere you go here you see dogs harnessed to wheelbarrows, and cows and oxen pulling carts and women doing heavy work in the fields. Nothing which can be of any use is wasted by these French people. Don’t go and imagine anything has happened to me when you do not get letters. It is very unlikely we shall get sent to the seat of the offensive.
With very best love to you all from Arthur.
Thursday March 28th (1918)
My dear Mother,
Your very welcome letter turned up today. Posted on the 20th it apparently reach my old unit on the 25th, left there again on the 26th and reached me on the 28th. I suppose I shall now get a fairly regular supply from either you or Margery and although all news will be practically a week old that is a great deal better than no news at all. And after all time counts for very little out here. All the days are exactly the same and it is very difficult to know that it is Sunday or Tuesday or Good Friday or any other day. C’est la Guerre, tous les jours. So Widow Nash has got off the shelf at last. Well good luck to her, she deserves it after her near thing before. Captain Hodder is probably one of the same family that Frank Parker didn’t marry. Sundry members of the family have been and are now scouts in the “Rangers”. The “Captains” are captains of merchant vessels and the people of the boys now in the scouts are big provision people in Maryleport Street
It has been very much colder today with a strong wind but the wind has now dropped and it has turned into a very wet night. I went for another route march at the head of my gallant band of Devonians this afternoon.
According to the papers the Boche is not having it quite all his own way down South and things seem to be going pretty well the way they were expected to go. It is something of a satisfaction to think that he is now losing all this huge number of men in recovering just the country which he voluntarily gave up before. It seems terrible to think of his losses but after all it is quite certain that extermination of Germans is the quickest and probably the only way to get to the end of this business. For your sake and Margery’s I am very glad I am not in it – possibly it is just as well I am out of it for my own sake. I don’t want a whole packet sent out but the occasional envelope or two inside one of your letters would always be acceptable. I’ve got plenty of notepaper to last for a good long time. I came across my name as being Commissioned in an old copy of the “Lancet” today. So Leonard has managed to get out of it after all. He was evidently a “Temporary” then. If he had stayed in he would have got a Captaincy at once but now if called up again – which will be more than probable – he will have another year as Lieutenant with 10/- a day less pay than before(39). What an ass Cherry (40) must be to talk such rot about the war. I can just imagine Audrey’s face when Miss P. caught her in the garden! If you get any Field Post Cards (41) from me don’t go and jump to the conclusion that I am in the middle of the offensive – it will simply mean that I am sending you a line to allay your fears when I am not writing to you every day. Am very glad to hear you are both alright again now.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(39) Leonard did not exactly “get out” of it given the fact he was invalided out after being badly gassed, and Leonard's commission was also stamped "Temporary" anyway unlike Arthur's (meaning he would only have been sent overseas for one year and may opnly have spent one year in the RAMC so as not to be away from his normal work. RAMC commissions were largely based on a doctor's seniority in civilian life, for instance Arthur’s professor of medicine had instantly been commissioned as a Lieutenant-Colonel. Leonard was an experienced GP and surgeon aged 34 when he was commissioned in 1916 and this would have been reflected in the rank they gave him.
(40) Cherry was Leonard’s wife. Cherry was her maiden name, her actual first name wasAlice
(40) Cherry was Leonard’s wife. Cherry was her maiden name, her actual first name was
(41) Field Post Cards were very basic communications referring to the general wellbeing of the sender. The sender crossed out the printed messages that were not applicable and signed it, they could thus be dispatched very quickly without any need to pass through the censors.
Good Friday evening
(29 March 1918 )
My dear Mother,
Another letter arrived from you today and also one from Margery. Margery’s letter was not her first one although it is the first that has reached me. Both yours and hers were addressed directly to my present unit so that if you know how many letters you sent to the old unit you know that up to the present I have received only one of them.
Things here are quieter than ever and during today we have hardly remembered there is such a thing as a war. From what I hear we are not likely to move down to where the Boche offensive is. I see from the papers that he is not having things all his own way down there and now that it has gone wet and rather cold the weather may for once be on our side.
There is so little doing that I have absolutely no news for you. The weather has been very unsettled all day and last night was very wet and the result is a return of mud and duckpond conditions. I have been orderly officer for the day and consequently have not been outside the farm buildings the whole day. Tonight I am going to celebrate the occasion by another dip in the waterbutt in the scullery. When I sit in it I feel exactly like a sardine in a tin with my toes tucked in – if I take a deep breath I bulge the sides out.
I hear Margery is going to Weston for Easter. I do hope she will have better weather than this as a couple of days sea-air in fine weather will do her good now that she is indoors all day.
I hope you will all go and stay at Almondsbury (42) for a bit for the latter part of Audrey’s holidays. If the weather is nice it will do you any amount of good after your illnesses and the light and smell of a few cowslips will cheer you up. There are heaps and heaps in the field opposite the Chester-Master’s front gate. Give my kind regards to the Knightons and Topper.
There is nothing more to say so I will shut up.
Very Best love to you all from Arthur.
(42) Almondsbury was then a quiet place in the countryside north of Bristol
The Same Address
Saturday March 30 (1918)
My dear Mother,
Today has been a day of movement for me as I have had two moves since breakfast. The whole unit moved to a place a few miles from the old farm during the morning and I went with them then this afternoon I came on by motor to this one of the Advanced Dressing Stations. As the Colonel went by car and the second officer had gone on with the advance party I had to take command of the whole unit for the march and had you been strolling along the country roads or shopping in the town you would have seen me with my tin helmet on marching at the head of the men, horses, wagons etc!! Their new quarters are a great improvement on the old farm so are mine. There are two of us here – a major and myself – and we have a very snug little cabin with two little windows like portholes let into the thickness of the walls. The whole place(43) is enormously fortified with sandbags, earth etc etc, but it is not very necessary except in the case of accidents as the place has been used as a dressing station for over three years and the Boche knows it and leaves it alone. If he wanted to destroy it he could and would have done so years ago as the line in this part has not altered a scrap for over three years. Our little wee cabin contains two camp-beds, two primitive washstands, two chairs, a fire, and a table, and there is just comfortable room to turn round twice with care. The men have equally snug quarters and the dressing places are just like the casualty ward of a Hospital except that it is lit by artificial light. The work will be much more of a kind I am used to – except that there are crowds of forms and so forth to be filled in with each patient – but just now all there is to do all day is to read or play patience and wait for casualties. All the activities on both sides seem to be pretty well concentrated on the South. I got a long letter from Audrey today but have not had more sent from my original unit although Audrey told me that Margery had sent a good number of letters there. Perhaps they will turn up some time. I am not likely to see Bert Gordon again as both he and I have now moved from our little village but he may call and see you and tell you something about me – although from the number and length of my letters there can be very little that you don’t know. You must not always expect to get letters like this every day as it is highly improbable that I shall have so little to do all my life, so don’t get into the habit of expecting a daily letter and then getting curds and whey (44) when you miss one. The major is busy opposite me playing Demon but he has not won one yet. Audrey will be interested to know that the tabby and white cat which belongs to the unit travelled by motor-car this morning and was sleeping peacefully when I left on top of a pile of papers in the new orderly-room. I am afraid she will not get so many mice in the new place. Write to me and the same address and letters etc are sent up here the same afternoon on which they reach Headquarters. There is plenty of good plain food and I shall do well in that direction as usual.
Best love to you all Arthur.
(43) He was at Lone Farm ADS with Major Ellis. Others posts were at Gorre Chateau/Brewery and a place called Tuning Fork due to the shape of the road junction. (See Trench map below)
(44) The expression “Curds and Whey” crops up a lot, it is a family expression meaning worried or “in a state”.
April 1st 1918
My dear Mother,
I can just imagine how pleased you are with yourself on this your day of days. I had another letter from Margery today so that I have now had two from her although none of her early ones have turned up yet. This one was written on March 27th and reached me on April 1st. I had one on March 30th from Audrey which was written on March 26th. Yesterday I spent the greater part of the morning in the trenches which are a great deal safer and more comfortable that I expected to find them. I had to make a tour of inspection of all the places from which we receive cases at this place. I should love you to be able to see the two of us in this place. Our room is about 10 feet by 12 feet and there are two posts in the middle which help to support one of the extra iron and concrete ceilings.(45) We just have two little camp beds, two kind of kitchen-chairs, one table, and our washstands. We use enamel cups and plates, although there is one glass tumbler which is kept for visitors and seven eighths of a china plate which we use as a bread board. We have enamel butter and jam dishes. The table is covered with shiny American cloth although between meals we spread an Army blanket over it. We each have a couple of shelves on the wall and innumerable nails to hang things on while our towels hang on strings across the room. We have a little acetylene lamp and a candle in case the lamp goes out. There is a cosy little fire on which we burn any amount of wood which smells delicious. Tomorrow is the Major’s 23rd Wedding Day and today we had a lovely home-made cake sent from England
Best love from Arthur.
(45) Here is a photo and diagram from a text book about the RAMC that gives one some idea
(46) Leonard studied while in hospital for months recovering from the gassing and took the FRCS Edinburgh exams
3rd April 1918
My dear Father,
Your letter on the back of the Elves’ communication arrived yesterday morning and today I had one of Mother’s letters (dated March 24) forwarded from my old unit, so I am fairly up in Bristol
Things in the Dressing Station have been quieter than ever today – yesterday we had more to do. There is nothing much doing here just now except continuous artillery strafe – chiefly on our part, and a good deal of flying work. Yesterday I had just visited one of the Aid Posts in time to find the M.O. in the trenches and half a dozen casualties in. I had to carry on and clear them out. This afternoon the Major was visiting one of the posts when a General and half a dozen Staff Officers walked in and inspected a section of our arrangements in which he was a specialist and I had to go round with them. Things like that usually happen when the seniors are away.
The glorious weather of the last few days has left us today and it has been very dull with plenty of showers. Still we are very comfortable in here with a nice log fire and all the gas and light proof curtains down. The whole thing reminds me very much of Swiss Family Robinson with our little wood-lined hut and all its protections and our camp beds and simple furniture.
Fortunately books are fairly plentiful and I keep my own books (“Dombey & Son” and “Three Musketeers”) for the time when I am in a place which nobody has left any books. I have just got through J.M. Barrie’s “Sentimental Tommie”, and I am now dipping into “Sketches by Boz”. So the literature is up to a fairly high standard. We also get the “Times” one day late so keep well up with news.
The men are all in their quarters in the next room singing popular song-choruses with good broad Devonshire accents and very excellent harmony. There is a huge gun outside which has come and settled down by us today and makes a deuce of a noise. It fires two or three times a minute for about a dozen shells and repeats this every fifteen or twenty minutes throughout the day. The whole place vibrates every time and it nearly deafens you.
I hear from Margery that she had a very good time up at Almondsbury on Good Friday. I do hope that you will go out there for a few days before Audrey goes back to school. It would do you all such a lot of good to see a few primroses growing. There area good many out here and heaps of violets.
I hope Mother is not worrying that I am being killed in the South every day. Everybody is quite confident about the result of the Boche push and looks upon it as the quickest and cheapest and possibly the only war of finishing up the war.
My French is being sadly neglected up here. I have not seen a French person for a week and so have nobody to practice on.
Hope you are in the Best of Health as it leaves me at Present (This I read in 90% of letters daily(47))
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(47) One of the officers’ jobs was to censor the men’s letters.
5th April 1918
My dear mother,
The postman did me well today as I had one letter from you and five from Margery – one of the latter coming from Weston and the other four being the missing early ones which were forwarded from the other unit. “Oh to be in England Devonshire lane. Your letter was very full of news. Just fancy Simpie (48) resigning, let me know who succeeds Boucher. I should think he will be a great improvement on Simpie. What is the matter with Marion Archer? Is she really so ill or is it Mrs A with the wind up? If she really is so bad I must say that they are a fatally unlucky family.
Widow N-H-P was very wise to get married after deciding it the previous evening – after her previous slip between cup and lip she needed to take the chance while she got it. The Gordons also seem to be going with a run after hanging fire for a year or two rather unexpectedly. I think you had better let it be known that I may get married on one of my leaves in case I arrive one day and decide to get married the next morning. Then all the family etc. scattered throughout the country won’t be able to say they knew nothing about it as with Leonard’s wedding (49) and at the same time they won’t expect to be asked to the wedding. Is Leonard’s discharge from the Army due to his being gassed or because he was a Temporary and has finished a year. If the latter I think they will call him up again pretty soon. Things here are still quiet and the weather has turned damp. There is plenty of mud and puddle and travelling is not easy. Still whereas our mud and water is only an inch or two deep the Boche has got it up above his knees in his trenches in this part of the line. Our men have been over to see. With regard to your little list I am just about midway between two and three and a few miles south of six. I came through seven on my journey here.(50) If you repeat another list of this district you will probably name this place and I can verify it in the same way. Will you please send me a little book called “AIDS TO SURGERY” which you will find among my books in the big tin box. It is a small book and I think it has a brown paper covering. I am not doing any surgery but it is a little book with a great deal in it and will be useful to read and handy to carry. There is plenty of time for reading but books are heavy and can’t be lugged about. In this station we live very simply but get plenty. The result is that my Mess Bill comes to the huge sum of 3 francs per week. Of course this is very unusual but while it lasts I am saving any amount of money. Some messes come to 60 francs a week and of course if you are in such a unit you are bound to pay.
Silence from the Stanford boys does not necessarily mean disaster as I am sure no mails are leaving that part of the line while the stunt is on. We are just comfortably snug in for the night with a good log fire and dinner is ready so I must stop.
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
(48) Simpson from the Bank.
(49) The first even Leonard’s close family knew about his wedding was the arrival of a Telegram “Married this morning Love Leonard stop”.
(50) I found one of the lists of coded names his mother sent him thus 2=Ypres , 3=Arras Armentieres
7/4/18
Field Post Card
I am quite well
April 7th 1918
My dear mother,
Things are still pretty quiet here and there is nothing very much doing except by artillery and aeroplanes. This morning I watched a party of thirty aeroplanes flying about over the trenches with the sun shining on them. They were being well potted at by the Boches’ Anti-Aircraft guns but none of them were hit. Yesterday when the Major was doing his round and I was alone I had a couple of really bad cases in. One of them only stayed a few minutes and a padre who was here did all he could for him and left me to look after the other chap. He had his legs broken in four places as well as a few other wounds but although only a boy of 20 he was smoking cigarettes and joking all the time I was dressing him! By this time he is probably in Blighty. It really is wonderful how these chaps bear anything and yet they are as cheery as they can be – and those who are going Blighty-wards are all congratulated by the unwounded. You see I am writing with a pen again. My new fountain pen disappeared ten days ago when I moved but yesterday my batman was down at Headquarters and saw one of the cooks who had picked it up at the old farm. I had never expected to see it again. Audrey will no doubt be interested to hear that I met a large black cat in one of the communication trenches this morning. It neither understood my English nor my French but seemed very happy. There are enough mice wherever there are soldiers to make any cat happy. There are two mice in the wall by my bed and one of them for three days has had a terrible cold or else has been recently gassed(51). They chew paper all night and one of them sneezes and coughs the whole night and his breathing is as wheezy as old Wells(52). It is once more Sunday here but it is not the least but different to any other day as regards the day’s work. Except that for some reason Sunday is rather a favourite day for big gun barrage. I suppose each side thinks it might catch the other taking a day of rest. In the language of the letters I censor “I am in the pink and hopes that this finds you in the best of health dear Ma & Pa as this leaves me at the present”. I hear from one of the fellows at Blackpool that all the batch who were under orders for the East have now been told to hold themselves in readiness for an immediate move to France. This was written over a fortnight ago so it is quite possible that they are all over here now. If so they would probably have gone almost straight to the offensive so perhaps I didn’t do so badly to leave England Bristol
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
(51) Arthur never mentioned the horrors, but the Military histories indicate a lot of gas in this area at this time. Indeed the famous Imperial War Museum photograph below of a line of blinded soldiers queuing hands on the shoulders of the man in front was taken on the 10th of April 1918 outside a 55th Division Advanced Dressing Station near Bethune!
(52) Mrs Wells was his mother’s closest friend in Bristol
(and this is Mr Wells)
(53) Major Watson-Williams
9.4.18
Field Post Card
I am quite well(54)
(54) The 9th April 1918 was the day the Germans opened a second front. The bombardment was said to be the biggest of the entire war, and he was right in the middle of it, indeed German troops actually entered the courtyard of Lone Farm on the 9th of April but also withdrew immediately.
Lone farm is in the middle of the bottom row of the following Trench Map
this modern map gives one an idea of where it all was.
this is a recent aerial photo (looking East) of the area (The tuning fork shape is diagonally across the middle of the picture)
I visited the area in April 2008. There is still a house on the bend in the road in the same position that Lone Farm is marked on the Trench Map. There are ruined farm buildings in the garden of this house and I assume that they may have been where the Advanced Dressing Station was. This is a photograph of those ruins.
April 11th 1918
Still going strong and now fairly quiet. Have no time for letters just now but don’t worry if you don’t hear regularly from me as mails both ways are somewhat upset. Please send me a comb as soon as possible. My last I got at Hodders and it was about 4½ inches long. Try and get the same size if possible. If impossible send a smaller one. I think there is a war on somewhere but I am still well and happy. Don’t worry about me as there is no need for it. No time for more, love from Arthur.
April 12th 1918
My dear Mother,
I am just sending you a fairly short letter as I guess you will have seen in the papers that the Boches have attacked on a second front and you will be anxious. Well I am perfectly alright and well although times have been somewhat busy the last few days. We were informed that the mails to and from us were in some confusion and letters to me have been very irregular lately and I am thinking some of the cards I have sent you may not have arrived. The only thing I have asked you for (in case you did not get the card) is a new comb. I have half a one left but should like a new short one if you will please send one. My last one was about 4½ inches long and I got it at Hodders in Wine St.
I cannot yet tell you any news of myself and my doings. Sometime in the future I shall be able to tell you of my adventure. The weather has taken another turn for the better and today it is gloriously fine with blue sky and sunshine.
There is still some work for me so I must not stop for any more now. Don’t worry yourself about me. I should not tell you I was alright if I were not.
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
Have not yet received any envelopes – a thing difficult to get here.
13/4/18
Still going on alright and not so busy. Am just taking charge of another post as relief for a time(55). No time for a letter. Have heard nothing from you for days.
Love from Arthur.
(55) The battle situation was pretty fluid but I think it was ADS that had been at Tuning Fork, but which was withdrawn to Gorre.
Field Post Card
I am quite well
April 14.1918.
My dear Mother,
I was very glad to get a letter from you today – the first for over a week. I also had one from Aunt Con(56) and three from Margery. During the last eight days I had one from Margery and no others. I suppose by this time you are thoroughly worried by the news you see in the papers. Well they seem to be very full of our “Gallant Division” and I think the Boches will have still another grudge against the Division. In spite of everything I have had I am still having a really good time with quite a lot of just the kind of work I am used to and which I enjoy very much. Yesterday I went away for half a day to “carry on” for Major Watson-Williams as he had been a bit pressed for a day or two and wanted to get some business done at Headquarters. The many, many Boches who have passed through here all seem very tired of the war and are very thankful to get captured. Things have been very much more quiet here the last forty-eight hours - I fancy Fritz prefers to be active in some place where he is not quite so close to our division as we rather put the wind up him. Thanks very much for the envelopes. They are about the most difficult things to get just here although I shall be more easily able to get them when I return to our Headquarters. I am very surprised to hear of Aunt Edith’s(57) separation from Ben. Have they really fought? Poor Audrey! What a terrible ordeal it must be to be in such mortal terror of Misses P. and C. I hear that Connie has been to see you. She and Margery seem very thick and I am glad M. has got somebody to go about with just now. I am glad to hear that you and Audrey are going to see the “Scarlet Pimpernel”. She will enjoy it. I suppose you have seen it already? You must not be alarmed if my letters are irregular because even when I do write the mails are frequently held up for several days. One mail to us was lost a few days ago so there may have been letters to me which have departed for ever. Of course I can’t tell you about all the interesting experiences I have been through lately but shall be able to tell you some tales when leave comes along.(58) I am very glad to have been with such a fine crowd when there was a stunt on. Our chaps are just splendid and we all work together in a most cheery free and easy way. The longer I stay with the unit the better I shall be pleased. It has gone ever so much colder the last day or so and we are very glad to light a fire in the evenings. If you have already posted the surgery book alright – if you have not you might keep it for a week or so as although it is not much weight one wants no extra luggage when you are on the move. I struck a mess yesterday with pancakes for lunch and owing to the flight of the civilians at the first sound of a big gun there are plenty of chickens going. Now don’t worry too much – I am going on quite alright. Best love to you all from Arthur.
(56) Mrs. Constance Henry, (née Edwards) his mother’s eldest sister. She had a very “odd” marriage and she and her daughter Madge lived with the Morris family for over a decade as her husband, an architect and artist, went off to Australia
(57) Miss Edith Edwards, his mother’s younger sister. She worked for something like the Women’s Prisoner Service in York
(58) For more details about the battle one should read the History of the 55th Division and the History of the Wessex
16/4/18
My dear mother,
Just a line to let you know what you will be glad to hear – namely that we have been relieved in the line, and are now starting rest for a few days at least. Not that I personally was glad or am glad to be away from my post as I was doing very well there but of course the combatants have to be considered and naturally cannot go on for ever. We are now staying in a place which for some time previous to the new offensive has been used as a Military Field Hospital and we are occupying a hut which was a ward. It is in the garden of a place something after the style of Hiatt Baker’s place at Almondsbury but this is only temporary as we are going still further back for our short rest. I have just walked round the garden admiring the strawberry-beds and such-like luxuries. With the exception of one day on which I removed my boots to wash my feet and change my socks my boots have not been off my feet for an instant day or night for eight days so I shan’t be sorry to get a change. Still I’m awfully well and fit although I have been cleaner. I yesterday got eight letters – a little accumulation after a very erratic service during a week. I have heard from Tasker R.N. from the “Brushwood Brave (59)”, from Aunt Con, from Margery, from one of the men at Blackpool – they are all still there waiting to go East – and from Holts the bankers. My bank account is mounting up quite nicely – may it continue to do so. Tell Audrey we have got many cats, several tiny puppies and a wee lamb who drinks out of a bottle. They are all destitute refugees. We also have several hundred fowls who have already been usefully internally and many thousand bottles of stuff which I have not sampled but most of the others have. The officers of the unit have all come through quite safely although one of the Yankees (60) got a slight flesh wound and this only through curiosity.
I see they have put bloater paste on the table for tea so it will be quite homelike – of course we have returned to our mess again now. We are next door to a huge aerodrome – which would keep the Morris family as interested spectators for ever. I hear from Margery that you and Mrs D(61). are beaucoup de thick and that you are going there to tea. I also hear that the younger “Prime and Proper”(62) boy is being married. I shall soon be the only batchelor in Bristol
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(59) Douglas Tasker studied medicine with him at University. The Brushwood Brave is the nickname of a fellow called Hatcher who I think was a scouting friend.
(60) The only American I can find reference to in the unit is Lt Pearce MORC USA
(61) Margery’s mother Mrs Davies. (Known in later years as “Granny D”)
(62) Nickname for the Marsh family
M & A’s joint envelope arrived today.
(postcard)
Only a card as I have got to go to bed early and get up ditto in the morning. We have been trekking nearly all day and are now farther from the line than I have been since we arrived (63). I don’t know about the rest of the unit but I personally – if rumour be correct – am likely to be well back for at least a few days. Tonight I have a bedroom shared with another man and a bed with sheets. This is the prettiest place I have struck and is more English than most villages over here. I shall probably be able to write more tomorrow night. Best love to you all Arthur.
(63) An Army Division is very big, it was perhaps as many as 60,000 men, so the various units were moved around in the area behind Bethune to regroup it etc. The Field Ambulance moved over several days to places such as Lilliers, Choques and Ruitz.
18/4/18.
My dear Mother,
Your very long and most interesting letter has just arrived. I am pleased indeed to hear of Audrey and the R.D.S. please give her my very hearty congratulations tell her how pleased I am that she takes after me. I feel quite proud of her. It seems quite a time since I had a chance to tell you of my adventures although I did tell you of my arrival in a Chateau garden back from the line. Yesterday we had a good day’s march and landed in a little village. I spent the night in an upstairs room in a largish house with a spring mattress, a feather-bed and two sheets. Today we had another long march not so absolutely directly away from the line but I am still well back for a day or two at least. Of course as in London
I am now in a wooden hut in the garden of another fine Chateau. There are six of us in the hut – which could easily hold a dozen. For a bed I have a stretcher on two mineral-water cases. Also a straw palliasse and my sleeping-bag. I have a small wooden stool and a packing case for a dressing table. I wash in my fold-up washstand and I propose to have a hot bath tonight. I have just filled myself with roast pork, rhubarb and custard and am with difficulty writing on my knee with the light of one candle. My original unit are sharing this place with us and are in similar huts in the garden. Our first five or six miles march this morning was through a thick misty rain blowing almost horizontally. I got thoroughly soaked before starting and had to put my mackintosh on top of a sopping-wet tunic. However things which seemed to give people pneumonia at home do not worry them out here and I was well on the move for several hours. How on earth do you hear all the news of Widow Nash-Parker-Hodder’s corsets? Does she go around telling everybody about them! I am delighted indeed to hear that you went to the “Scarlet Pimpernel;” and enjoyed it. There is certainly no good in behaving like the Scotch on the Sabbath just because there happens to be a war on. If you could see the good spirits out here and the laughing and joking which goes on during a stunt it would surprise you. And it is the only thing which makes it possible to stick it. As soon as the British troops lose their sense of humour I think the war will be lost but as long as they can fight and joke at the same time – good enough.
I see the newspapers are still full of the praises of this Division and we have had congratulations from Haig, Lord Derby(64) and heaps of people. Before last week it was one of the crack divisions of the British Army and now we are absolutely IT. My biscuit-tin of water is hot so I must bathe forthwith. You are quite right to keep the surgery book for the present – there is not much prospect of time for leisure in the near future. Don’t worry about me – worrying will not do me or you and good. There is one thing about this and that is that I have certainly settled down to continental Army life. I don’t know how long letters will take to reach you or how regular my letters will be.
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
(64) Lord Derby was very involved in forming the 55th Division
April 20.1918.
My dear mother,
I am still resting(65) although the word as interpreted by the Army does not convey quite the usual meaning. As a matter of fact the work is in a way more strenuous that it was up at the dressing station but it is rest in the sense that it is away from the line. I spent yesterday from breakfast until 2 o’clock driving about the country in a large car inspecting sanitary arrangements. I went over thirty miles altogether and had to call at several places. It was snowing a good part of the time so you can imagine it was not the warmest of jobs. However it is when motoring around that you get a chance to see what is going on in various other units besides ones own and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After tea we had orders to move our quarters from one hut to another so we kept our reputation up of only spending one night in the same place. All the same we are quite comfortable in our new quarters. It is a long narrow hut with windows down each side and a stove at each end. We have hung a screen of blankets across the middle to divide it into two and one half we use as a mess and the other as a dormitory. There are six of us sleeping there so we have ample room. I still sleep on a stretcher resting on two boxes. It is very comfortable but somewhat narrow. The place is all laid out with paths and flowerbeds and there are some lovely woods and streams and rustic bridges in the gardens. I have not actually been inside the house as it is occupied by another unit. Last night we had a memorial service and a concert and this afternoon there is a football match. One of the chief reasons for these “rests” from the line is to enable officers and men to gets themselves and their belongings washed and repaired. I had a hot bath the night I arrived, all my clothes have gone to the wash except what I stand up in, and this morning I have had my hair cut. And a shampoo. All the men have been having baths and the two barbers(66) are working very hard. It is still cold but beautifully sunny. Last night we had a house on fire a few hundred yards away. It burnt very fiercely and nothing much was left of it. The chief disadvantage of this place is that we never know whether we shall be here two hours, two days, two weeks or two months. I have just come to sit down after a tour of all the sleeping quarters, kitchens, washhouses, etc, etc. and also a sick parade. Each one of us gets this daily work in turn and now that all the unit are gathered together it doesn’t come very often. Instead of being overcrowded with dogs as we generally are this is a catty place. It is astonishing the way every Tommie seems to want to pet some kind of animal. We have been well petting a fine pig in the mess and have been having pork for dinner and breakfast since we arrived here. As usual wherever we go the air is full of aeroplanes. You never need bother to look for such things in this country. I have just burnt a fine collection of letters that have been steadily accumulating while I was up the line (67). I am so glad to have been through such a big show and with such a crack division – it does make one feel that one does ones bit for ones country. I will not finish this up until after the mail arrives in case there is a letter to answer.—
The mail brought me two letters – one from Margery and one from Eric(68). The latter is still in Mansfield Mansfield Scotland
Very Best love to you all from Me.
(65) “Resting” actually means getting everything sorted after being in a battle. It is reckoned to be one of the busiest times for the doctors in a unit. If possible the men sort out all their kit etc, and get a bath or shower and a change of kit at which point the doctors inspect all the men’s bodies feet etc.
(66) Barbers and hair cuts were important in the battle against lice.
(67) This indicates quite clearly that he did not keep letters he received. His mother kept his though he only knew this when he found them on her death in 1945.
(68) Eric Weir, Arthur’s great (best) friend who got him involved with the scouts, which helped him immensely with many of the leadership aspects of being an officer.
(69) The son of Commissioner Bennett of the Bristol Scouts
(70) The “Crow” was the nickname of Eric’s father Mr Preston Weir who was Arthur’s ex-headmaster
22 April 1918.
My dear mother,
Have just got your letter with enclosures. Am very glad to hear you have had my letters to relieve your anxiety. Cannot stop to answer letter now. Have just returned from a route march in order to hear of another move at once. Not going up the line so don’t worry. Will try and write tomorrow.
Best love from Arthur.
Have just heard from Aunt Edith !!! !!!
April 23.1918.
My dear Mother,
Your letter with many enclosures arrived yesterday. I am returning the newspaper cutting in case you want it. You will be surprised to hear that we did not move last night after all. Everything was packed when another order came to tell us to stand fast. We are now expecting to move at any time. I cannot say I am surprised to hear about Mr Holland. He was just the build of man who wouldn’t stand much chance if a severe illness came along. I am sorry to hear about Uncle Dick (71) and hope the next news of him will be more cheerful.
Last night the rain poured down through the whole night and I had to get up at 5 o’clock to move my bed as the hut leaked badly onto my face. Yesterday had been hot and fine and today is ditto but all the place is steaming vigorously just now. I heard yesterday that the men who went to Blackpool with me have left there at last after outstaying me for nearly six weeks. They were all due for the East but half of them have arrived in France England England Bristol Beaufort Hospital
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
(71) Uncle Dick was Richard Morris: one of his father’s younger brothers Dick lived in London
(72) Uncle Percy was his mother’s brother. Dr Percy Edwards OBE of Liverpool . He was married to Nell. (Eleanor, née Smith) and they had two sons Francis (Frank) and Cyril. Percy was a highly regarded doctor in Liverpool and received his OBE for his work on the Central Medical War Commission in London
(73) Professor John Michell-Clarke, he was Arthur’s Professor of Medicine. Also an honorary Lt-Colonel in the RAMC attached to Southern Area Military Hospital at Bristol Southmead. His son was killed in 1917.
25th April 1918.
My dear Mother,
I hope you have not been worrying at my not writing to you for two days but my intention of writing yesterday was knocked on the head. Yesterday afternoon as I was nearing the end of my days work in camp we got moving orders. The whole unit had to pack up and march eleven miles and we reached this place just before 9 o’clock last night. Of course I marched with the others and then on arrival I had to be up all night with eight men running a Dressing Station. I had breakfast and went to bed at 9.15 this morning. I got up at 3 this afternoon had a bath and have just had tea. This station is the next degree behind where I was during the attack of April 9th and succeeding days. That is to say that the place where I was before and two or three places of a similar nature send their cases here and we deal with him and if necessary send them on to the next stage back towards Blighty. As it is once more “Casualty” over again it suits me but as usual we don’t know whether we shall stay here or we may quite likely move at a couple of hours notice today or any other day. I only briefly acknowledged your parcel which arrived just after I had written my last letter to you. The comb will do very well and I think the envelopes are good enough as people don’t expect to get first-class notepaper coming from the Front. The chocolate was good and came in useful on yesterday’s march. During the march we were met by a terrific storm of thunder lightening and hail. It seemed to burst right over us and we got beautifully wet. Fortunately I had a coat in the transport which I was able to get at. Imagine what it is like to have thousands of huge hailstones like marbles dashing down on ones iron helmet! A rumour has just arrived that we may expect a very early move a little further back. I don’t know if it is true. A neighbouring aerodrome affords quite good entertainment and I counted over 100 aeroplanes in the air between 6 and 7.30 this morning!! I see the Navy have been having a little stunt on the Belgian coast(74). Poor old brother Fritz. He seems to get it in the neck in all directions. I have just had your letter with a copy of Bennett’s letter enclosed. Many thanks. I did get the original. I shall certainly be quite glad to get the occasional “Times & Mirror” if you can send one(75). So many things of interest may happen in Bristol
Much love to you all from ME.
(74) Raid on Zeebrugge.
(75) The Bristol Times & Mirror, his “local” newspaper
27 April 1918.
My dear Mother,
Today we have moved yet again but are continuing to do the same work as in the last place. We are now a little further back than we were before and are in a large camp in the middle of open fields. We are not in tents but in wood and corrugated-iron huts. The place has until recently been used as a Casualty Clearing Station and the accommodation for our purposes is excellent. The huts we are in are cut into two in the middle and two of us occupy each half. The mess-room is the best I have been in. When we arrived there wasn’t a stick of furniture anywhere so we had to make things. We each have a stretcher for a bed, I have acquired a small campstool and have knocked together a dressing-table and a chest of drawers with a couple of broken down window panes and few bits of matchboard. I was working at the other place until 11 o’clock last night and started again at 3 o’clock this morning. We closed the place at 9.0 and marched over here in time for lunch. I am now off duty until 8 o’clock tomorrow morning unless there is a rush of work when we are liable to be called. Still this work is very much like the old “Casualty” and is the kind of work I like best. The Division gained Plus de glory yesterday and more telegrams of congratulation from the powers that be. Another lieutenant has arrived from Blackpool so I am no longer the baby of the unit. He of course is my junior although he has been in Mesopotamia as a private and was sent home to get qualified. By a few delicate hints I have got transferred to ‘C’ section which is under Major Ellis with whom I worked at the Advanced Dressing Station and which contains the majority of the fellows that I got to know so well up there when the show was on. Dinner is ready so I must stop. After dinner we all share the censoring of letters which takes about half an hour when we all do it. After that I want to get to bed early to make up for last night.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
May 1st 1918.
My dear Mother,
Just a short note in case you are worrying at not hearing from me. I am having a few days in bed with flu. Of which there is quite a sharp little epidemic in these parts. While it lasts it is rather severe but goes quickly. I am now on solid food for the first time and tomorrow I hope to get up for a bit. I hear from the B.G.H.(76) that there is a rumour in Bristol
Very best love from Arthur.
(76) The Bristol General Hospital
May 2.1918
My dear Mother
I am now crawling about like a dead fly and feeling like nothing on earth. The peculiar type of this epidemic is that you have no cold in the head symptoms simply a high temperature and most awful pains all over but particularly in the legs. Fortunately it only lasts about 48 hours but my word it does leave one cheap. I am being well looked after both medically and provisionally. Luckily 1450 eggs were sent to this unit last week and I have been living on eggs beaten up in milk until I could have solid food. Luckily also we have not been on the move the last few days and this place we are in is fairly quiet. We perform two functions – being fairly near the Front we evacuate wounded from the front to the base, and being fairly away from the front we run a hospital for any sick cases who are not likely to be ill for more than a week and therefore are not sent down to the base. I had a letter from the hospital yesterday with a newspaper cutting about Dr Clarke’s funeral. The same day that you told me of his death. I heard it from Margery and Watson-Williams, and also saw it in the “Lancet”. Apparently nobody knows even now what was the exact cause of the jaundice which he died of. To change the subject, will one of you please find a pair of newish brown boots in my chest of drawers and give them a coat of olive oil and back-garden sun and then put them in a dry place. I left the olive oil on the bathroom mantelpiece. After several days blight it is very hot and sunny today and I am up and allowed to bask in the sun. Unfortunately there are many thousand flies far less half-dead than I am who persist in buzzing and biting ones hands. There are many aeroplanes humming above and the next door mess gramophone pouring forth Gilbert and Sullivan at a nice restful distance so life is not too bad. I have not heard from you for three days but it doesn’t worry me as I know our postal arrangements too well by now. I shall very likely be sending home a small parcel of odds and ends I don’t want in the near future as all unnecessary things only make weight. I hear the Davies have booked the Kingston
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
May 4th 1918.
My dear Mother,
I have absolutely no news to tell you but I expect you will be anxious to know how I am getting on with the “flu”. Well I have I think managed to get rid of it although I still get tired with very little exercise. However things are quiet just here now and I am returning to duty tomorrow. Today I have been marching about the camp as much as possible in the open air but unfortunately the sun did not come out until teatime so it was too cold top keep still and I got tired to keep moving.
I have not had any letter from you for nearly a week – five days I think it is since I got the last one. I hope none of you have been getting “flu” and if you have I trust it wasn’t as bad as mine. I must not tell you how many cases of “flu” we have had in the unit this week as that would be giving away information concerning the health of the troops but I may say that it was more than the number of the Davies’ flat(77). And that of course does not include the “flu” patients from the Division who are all in our field hospital.
It is now getting light enough for us to take a little air after dinner and watch aeroplanes and play quoits. The latter is played with stakes driven into the ground and new iron horseshoes for rings. I tried last night but two shoes were quite enough for my aching arm-muscles. However I guess I shall be playing in a day or two. I have just been out to watch a little party of twenty aeroplanes fly over. They make a fine noise altogether.
The nettles we cooked were not such a success as we hoped although the Colonel says he often used to have them at home. If you wait about a month I expect the Davies would sell you an allotment cheap – particularly if Mr D. leaves Bristol
My first statement that I had no news was pretty correct so I can’t send any more.
Very best love to you all from Me.
Combined letter from all three of you just arrived 6 hours late. Will answer tomorrow.
(77) ie he is using the house number as a code, but I am not sure which number he means, as he refers to both No26 and No32 in these letters, but for the purposes of this note there were clearly a lot of sick soldiers.
6.5.18
Field Post Card
I have been admitted into hospital / Sick
May 7th 1918
My dear Mother,
Just a short note to let you know why I sent the field-card yesterday. The second night after I got up from Flu I had a second attack and being as weak as a cat my temperature went up very high and I went down very low. The result was that next morning I was sent into our own hospital. The officers’ ward has six beds all of which have been full. It is very much comfortabler than being in a hut by oneself and of course it is much easier for them to nurse me in with five other officers. I am up by the fire this afternoon but not out of doors. The Surgeon General(78) for this Army and his staff paid us a visit of inspection today and was most affable. He is a great big fat white-haired old fellow covered with gold and scarlet and medals. The “Medical comforts” issued to hospital patients by the Red Cross are awfully good and we get eggs chocolate margarine etc.
I got a combined letter from you, Father, and Audrey and the following day I got your parcel for which very many thanks and another long letter from you. I cannot really answer the letters now, partly as I feel a bit flabby but chiefly because they are in my hut with my belongings. Still I shall have plenty of time I hope in the next few days to write more.
Don’t worry that I am being neglected because I am now being well pampered and am going on well.
Very best love to you all Arthur.
(78) I am not sure if this was S-G A.T. Sloggett, S-G T. P. Woodhouse or S-G T. J. O'Donnell, in April 1918, but this photo is of Lt-Gen. Sir Arthur Thomas Sloggett, CMG, LRCPEd, MRCS, KHS, KStJJ to give one an idea of how much gold and medals he meant.
May 8.1918.
My dear Mother,
I am ever so much better today and expect to be out of hospital tomorrow. The Divisional Band has been spending the afternoon here playing sweet music and it is a very fine band too. We also had chicken and tight custard (79) for lunch so the end of the war must be imminent. I got up yesterday for the first time and today I have been up since lunchtime. A hospital ward not being the most exciting place on earth I have no news. All rumours from every quarter of France
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(79) Years before this the family cook had once appeared with pudding and custard that had solidified. She apologised saying “Sorry mum, but the custard’s gone all tight” since then the family has called this “Tight custard” especially as in “cold tight custard”.
May 9th 1918.
My dear Mother,
I have just received your long letter with its enclosures. The photographs of you and Audrey are quite good. Audrey seems to have grown but I think you are wrong in thinking you have. Is Miss Filbert a P.G. at 13 Cotham Park now? I am more than surprised to here about Mrs Mickie. Has there been any previous idea that she was going balmy? I think there must be something wrong with Bristol
I know the bride by sight but thought they had been married last year.
I am now well on the high road towards recovery again although I still feel a bit flabby. I could really go out of hospital today but as there is no immediate demand for beds I am staying until tomorrow. It is quite summerlike now and there is plenty of sun.
I had a long letter from Aunt Con in Ealing toady – not much news from her but very decent of her to write.
Your little list of names is away in my billet so I can’t refer to it but when I do I shall be able to tell you a little. We are still in the same place and by the look of things are likely to be for some little time. Well I shan’t mind how long we stay here. Your silence regarding Uncle Dick I take it means he is going on alright. I am very glad indeed to hear that you are going to Almondsbury –I’m sure it will do you all good. Try and get there for more than a week if you can. I am much amused to hear about the Simpies. Does J.J. itch to get up and about during the service? And does he see how much better things must go without all his fussiness? Have you ever tried fritters made with slices of lemon instead of apple? We have just had some for lunch. We are also struggling through 2350 eggs which the Red Cross have sent here in the last few days. Aren’t you glad you didn’t have to take them from the dining-room table to the Simpsons? I have not yet sent off the parcel which I propose to send but as soon as I return to my kit I must get rid of one or two little things. There is nothing to tell you about but I knew that you would want to know that I had recovered or nearly so.
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
On second thoughts I’m sending the parcel separately as it may take longer on the way.
May 11th 1918.
My dear Mother,
You will be relieved to hear that I was discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon practically well. I feel quite alright but not over-energetic. However I am still off-duty today but expect to be carrying on tomorrow. The contents of this parcel are not extremely valuable but I though that they might just as well be sent home as left lying about here and they all help to fill up ones kit space an add to the weight if one carts them about. It has gone ever so cold again today and it is particularly marked after the few days summer weather we had in the early part of the week. How the French people can criticise our English climate I can’t think as the weather out here is “worse than Tintagel” and not only this spring but the men who have been out here since early in the war say that the climate is always vile here. I only got out of the hospital just in time as the officers’ ward is wanted for something else and consequently the officers are all being put in one end of one of the men’s wards. With regard to the little matter you wrote about I quite appreciate your comments. When I first mentioned the matter to Margery I put it in almost your words that Mrs D. might cause trouble financially but I am doubtful whether things are likely to be as bas as you suggest. Still I quite see that danger. Should that danger be negligible and the additional expenses very slight I cannot see much in the way of a contra-indication and of course if anything should happen to me which though unlikely is always possible Margery as Mrs M. would get a pension which of course nobody would get as things are at present. However the question is not one for immediate settlement and the idea of getting married during the war was rather on my second leave than on my first one so that the first one can be used for discussing things in a very much easier way than by letter. And as my first leave is very unlikely to come before early winter there is certainly no hurry. Referring to you second list my chateau garden was at eleven and our headquarters while I was up at the advanced dressing station were at thirteen(80). At present I am about equidistant from eleven and thirteen in the same direction as is Dundry from my window. By the time this letter arrives I may be miles away from either. The barber is waiting to cut my hair so I must stop.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
(80) 11 = Lillers, 13 = Bethune. I have found a recent photo of Lillers
Saturday night. (date could be May 10th as that was a Saturday when he could have received T&M from 4th. I think this might be a note put in with the parcel referred to in the letter of 11th May 1918 and stored in same envelope as the letter.)
The “Times & Mirror” for May 4 has just arrived for which many thanks. You did not mark it so perhaps you didn’t notice that young Blilby had been appointed an Inspector in the N.P. Bank. It is very nice to see some Bristol
We see in the papers for May 10th that one of the Ambulance drivers who was carrying back wounded from our and the next dressing station during the stunt has been awarded the V.C.(81) for it.
(81) The VC winner was Richard George Masters (30 March 1877 - 4 April 1963) He was aged 41 at the time and he was a Private in the Royal Army Service Corps, attached to 141st Field Ambulance:
On 9 April 1918 near Bethune, owing to an enemy attack, communications were cut off and the wounded could not be evacuated. The road was reported impassable but Private Masters volunteered to try to get through and after great difficulty succeeded, although he had to clear the road of all sorts of debris. He made journey after journey throughout the afternoon over a road which was being shelled and swept by machine-gun fire and once he was bombed by an aeroplane. The greater number of wounded (approximately 200 men) were evacuated by him as his was the only car which got through.
On 9 April 1918 near Bethune, owing to an enemy attack, communications were cut off and the wounded could not be evacuated. The road was reported impassable but Private Masters volunteered to try to get through and after great difficulty succeeded, although he had to clear the road of all sorts of debris. He made journey after journey throughout the afternoon over a road which was being shelled and swept by machine-gun fire and once he was bombed by an aeroplane. The greater number of wounded (approximately 200 men) were evacuated by him as his was the only car which got through.
Field Post Card
I am quite well.
Thursday May 16th 1918.
My dear Mother,
Imagine me sweltering in a hot July sun in May – My word but it is hot. I grant you it is much better living here in a camp than toiling up Hospital Lane 6 o’clock in the patients’ reception room. There are many thousand cockroaches here who overrun everything and are somewhat “half-dead-fly-ish”. The men here say that they are destroyed by hot weather rather than produced and that three or four days like this will finish them off. There is an old Major living with us called Edmeades. He is an ex-regular who retired in 1913 and has rejoined the war. His family estate which he inherited in 1912 is eight miles out of Rochester
Having no letters to comment on and there being nothing of interest here to tell you I have not much to write about. We had another visit from the Divisional band this afternoon which played in the camp for an hour. Some time when you are writing you might let me have Aunt Edith’s address as she did not put it in here letter to me. I hear Margery is going to Weston again at Whitsuntide. I take it that you will have the holiday in the garden and are going to Almondsbury the week after. I shall not address any letters to the Kington’s as it is difficult to tell how long letters will take to reach you.
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
(82) Maj-Gen Jeuwdine
(83) The Edwards family lived in Rochester
May 17. 1918
My dear Mother,
I am writing to you again today not because I have any news whatever but because I want something. Will you please send me 2 pairs of summer pants. I want them with long legs because other wise my breeches will rub my knees sore. I think you will find that there is one pair of Aertex summer pants somewhere in my chest of drawers and if so send me them and one other pair. Whatever you buy don’t get anything very good as they will probably only be worn for about 4 or 5 months and may or not be put by until next summer. As soon as they arrive I will send home my winter ones until the autumn. I shall probably send home a couple of winter shirts as I think I can get a couple of summer ones at the Officers’ Clothing Store out here and if so can get them about 5/- cheaper than they are in England. It is still very hot here although it is the suddenness of it rather than the intensity which as overwhelmed me. Fortunately things are pretty quiet. I have again had no letters today but that is quite likely to be the fault of the postal authorities. As I said before I have no news.
Best love to you all from Arthur.
Whitsunday 19.5.18.
My dear Mother,
I got a letter from you yesterday after not hearing for many days. I am very sorry to hear that you have had such a rotten cold and hope that long before this letter gets to you, you will have fully recovered. I am much better now and have quite got over my influenza although the sudden advent of such hot weather has affected us all and me no less than anybody else. I shall be quite glad to see the Times & Mirror when it comes. How is Mrs M. of the same paper? Your letter is away in my hut and I can’t remember whether you asked me any questions in it. You seem to have had a good run for your money carrying all your belongings round Almondsbury. I think I should have risked Mrs Kington’s haircurlers and displeasure before doing all that. You must be far more energetic than of old to walk about like that when you arrived and then go all round by Cattybrook and Mr Biss’s afterwards. I wonder if you had more aeroplanes than we do? I suppose when this letter gets to you, you will be full of curds and whey and other signs of an approaching shutting up of the house for a week. One thing the war will have taught me is the ease of moving about and travelling and packing and so forth. You never get time nor opportunity for curds and whey in the Army and if you can’t get quarters in one hut or barn you go on to another and if that doesn’t suit there are always ditches and fields. I hear there is another girl-Parrott arrived. They are just like Odys. The sun of the last two days has turned me a most fearful red colour something of a cross between a scarlet geranium and Mrs Rutherford-Eliot. And I am so sore about the face and arms I can hardly wear my clothes. You would hardly know it was Whitsuntide out here except that all denominations have been having services. I was detailed to take the Roman Catholics to Mass this morning but did not attend the service.
There is still nothing very much doing here at present. Where has Leonard Dennis come from that he should now be going where he is? Margery seems to have got a horrible cold according to her account and Joyce’s(84) health seems to be giving cause for anxiety – at which I’m not surprised considering her late hours etc. As I predicated there is a probability of an allotment in Elm Lane
Very best love to you all from Arthur.
(84) Joyce Davies, the younger sister of his fiancée Margery.
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