Author Archives: Ted Berryman

May 26/16

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for 2 letters from you, one on Tuesday & one on Thursday. As usual two mails turned up next door to each other, a favourite trick these days, & then we go for about a fortnight without a mail at all. Your letters were dated April 26^th & May 3^rd, so one of them took best part of a month on the journey.

So glad dear old Nell had such good times at Delaford & that you all liked her so. I hear from you all & you all say such ripping things about her, that I don’t know how to thank you enough. She is rather a dear is’nt she. So she managed to get over to Godalming to have her photograph taken! She tells me they are quite good; I should think Adrian would make a very pretty picture of her. She told me all about her new clothes before she went; from all accounts they are very smart & becoming. Did Ruth go & stay with her I wonder? When’s she beginning at Guy’s by the way? I expect she’s started by now, but the holiday & rest at home must have done her a lot of good.

Poor old Topher, it is bad luck on him about his leave; it surely is time they gave everyone a whack of leave by now.

How’s specs these day? And how does he like conscription! I suppose he has been roped in with the rest of them. Few good things have been done by the government since the war began & this is certainly one of the best of them, though they’ve taken long enough this time about it. Yes, Kut was bad luck was’nt it & such bad management. However it’s no good criticising an effete and despicable system; I fancy the British public will not stand much more of this, & then the politicians will stew in their own juice.

Still very hot up here, though we get cool nights. Famine is rampant in Garhwal & Government is giving as much relief as possible, but I’m afraid the poor inhabitants are suffering terribly. I don’t know how the rest of India is faring but there has certainly been very little rain everywhere this year.

Fearful hurry to catch the mail, will write longer next time

Best love to all

from yr loving son

Ted

Tell Ben the bearer had a regatta in my room this morning. Just like old times, the whole place turned upside down!

I’ve not been able to find information about a famine in Garhwal in 1916. This suggests that famine is frequently under-recorded.

May 18/16

Dear Mother

No mail in since I last wrote; one is due on Monday I believe, & this is only Thursday so we have some time to wait yet. Still very hot & muggy up here, the little rain we had last week does’nt seem to have done much good. I see the monsoon is expected at Colombo shortly so we ought to be getting it in about a month from now.

I am longing to get the next mail as it should tell me about Nell & her stay at Delaford. She was hugely delighted at the prospect when she last wrote, and was evidently going to enjoy herself thoroughly. I do think it’s bad luck on old Topher not being able to get away on leave; every letter you write seems to say he was on the point of starting but was stopped at the last minute. He certainly ought to come home for a bit now.

I think I’ve got all letters and parcels you’ve sent out, except the Sussex ones, which I’m afraid we must put down as irretrievably lost now. The submarine campaign seems frightfully spasmodic; I suppose they launch a whole lot of new ones periodically which do a lot of damage for a bit, and eventually get rounded up. It must be difficult to get views of them I should think, as I should imagine the chances of coming through on a German submarine are very small.

I believe there is a tennis tournament on here, and various other so called festivities, but I am not moving in society much myself as I have very little time to do so, & not, I must say, much inclination.

There is absolutely nothing of interest to tell you I’m afraid, so this must be just a very dull letter this week. I’m very fit & well but I feel this weather is vy relaxing; Lansdowne never really suits me, & it seems worse this year. Everyone is the same, we all feel slack & unenergetic.

Love to all

from your loving son

Ted

Nell met all of Ted’s sisters on her visit to Delaford, presumably the first of many such visits.

Rosamund, Ben, Dreda, Nell, Spring 1916

Nell, Ruth, Dreda, Ben, Susan the dog,
Spring 1916

May 12/16

Dear Mother

As I told you before I think we got another mail yesterday, making 2 again this week. Are’nt they erratic. Yes, Nell said my letters were very late that week & she did’nt get them till Monday. I heard from her yesterday of course & she was delighted at the prospect of going to stay at Delaford, but how awfully short. But of course that can’t be helped as she works at the old hospital 3 times a week. I’m longing to hear how she got on, from both you and her. I hope she was nice and behaved herself! I wish I could have been there.

Quite a large week end party you must have had; what awful bad luck on Topher not being able to get home. I do think it’s rotten, especially as it was all a scare apparently, as as far as one can see there has been no pressing urgency on the British Front to warrant the stopping of all leave. Poor boy, I do hope he gets his leave soonish as he must be wanting some badly.

Fearful rain yesterday, but I think it did a lot of good, though perhaps it’s too late now to do any real permanent good. Anyhow it’s made the place gorgeously cool and clean, as we have had a lot of dust storms lately which simply coat the place in dust and are very unpleasant. Last night, just at dinner time there was a tremendous thunderstorm with brilliant lightning & very heavy rain; a wonderful sight the lightning, it seemed to be all colours, blue, purple & mauve. But it did clear the air anyhow and this morning (I am writing this at 6.30 a.m. before parade) it is simply gorgeous, cold, clean, & clear. The weather before the rain made one feel horribly sick, but it’s much better now.

I am sorry about old Lewis’ son. Yes Rather I remember the old man well, at anyrate by name, & I’ve often heard of the flying son, both in France & at Delaford. I know he had done awfully well out there and it does seem a shame he should have been killed. He’s been right through the war so far, has’nt he. Was’nt his daughter-in-law a friend of Spider’s? I remember meeting her there, & I think you said she had been to call on you the other day; rather a nice person I thought; anyhow she had heard of the Garhwalis I know, because her brother is in the 2/Leicesters who were brigaded with us in France.

The new arrangement upstairs sounds an improvement. In any case the view out over the lawn is much nicer than the other I think, and anyhow a change is always attractive. What about that old ceiling in the front room d’you think? Is it quite safe, though I don’t suppose it matters much if it does come down now. Yes, do go on sending the pink papers, we don’t get them & they are much appreciated. They have one or two very good war articles too. If you ever buy a “Saturday review” or a “Spectator” I should’nt mind that; one gets rather out of things here. The weekly times now rolls up direct; I could’nt get on without that.

Asquith has indeed stultified himself before the nation : it absolutely beats me how government hangs on; it’s only the loyalty of the people that prevents them getting up and having the whole lot out of it for a set of incompetent muddle-headed curs; I suppose the public realise this is a very critical time of the war, & not the time to swap horses while crossing the stream. How Germany must laugh at us, & what a show we are making before the allies who are putting every man into the field with not the slightest hesitation. What a terrible show that Irish business was; why can’t they hang that beast Casement straight off for high treason; surely a trial in the case of a man like that is a mere farce & quite unnecessary. He’s a self-proved traitor, caught absolutely red handed, & should be shot or hanged without ceremony. If he’s let off with a sentence of penal servitude I fancy the public will have something to say to it.

Later.

Gorgeous & fresh on parade this morning & there is a lovely clear view of the Snows today, a thing we have’nt seen since we’ve been back as it’s been too hazy.

I got a Cordwalles Chronicle yesterday, I must say old Vowles has got it up awfully well, & exactly the same as the old numbers. I must write and thank him as I think it’s awful good of him to take all that trouble with old boys.

Must end up now

Best love to all

yr loving son

Ted

Donald Swain Lewis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Swain_Lewis

http://www.theygavetheirtoday.com/guildford-war-memorial-ww1-a-l.html

(Sir) Roger Casement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25017936

Painting by Lavery

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/20031/1916-the-trial-of-roger-casement.php

May 11/16

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for your letter which I got 2 days ago. How erratic the mails are these days to be sure, as after going a fortnight without one we get 2 again this week, another being due today. I suppose the boats get held up at Marseilles or Malta or somewhere, & then the next week’s mail nearly catches the other one up.

I had some nice long letters from Nell, who seems very fit & is working hard at the Gloucester VAD hospital 3 days a week; a very good thing too I think, & I’m most awfully glad she’s doing it. I wonder if she’ll be able to get up to Guildford for a spell. I think Bunchie was the other person to whom I wanted you to send a photograph. I must send you the money for the other ½ doz I asked you to get last week. I hope to hear today that Topher managed to get his leave all right, though I should think it was rather hard to get just now. He deserves a whack of leave if any one does.

Thank goodness we had some rain yesterday, badly needed but really too late to do any good. But it has washed the place down well, and made it nice & cool; it was very oppressive before & made one feel awful slack. I had a nice longer letter from Ben last mail, asking for Zoo tickets; rather funny, because the mail after she wrote she must have got some, because I sent some off to her a long time ago. She said the East called her a lot these days & seemed to be getting on well in her job of adding by machinery!

Yes it’s a sad place now in Lansdowne, a shadow of its former cheery self. So many gaps, & so many new faces, which one almost resents, they almost seem to be trespassing. The sadness is tempered somewhat by pride in having given so many of our best & bravest from so small a community, for indeed a heavy toll has been taken of our tiny population. Things are settling down more or less now, & I’ve not quite so much work, still I’m always pretty doggo by the end of the day.

Do go on sending pink papers, because we don’t get them in the mess, & they are much appreciated.

Yes do send old Nance a photograph, all the same I’m sure she’s had one since Sandhurst days. How ripping of old Vowles to send you a Cordwalles Chronicle; I shall love to get one, & I hope it turns up today. You might offer him our back numbers on loan, as he said he had no records of Cordwalles, & wanted to compile some, and I think it’s almost a public duty to supply them if we can. I have a vague remembrance of promising to send them.

No, so far – tap wood!- I think we’ve been lucky, only the Sussex mails lost. I hope you are getting mine regularly. Poor Willie’s gramophone records. Yes was’nt that Wittenberg camp awful? I’m glad to see they’ve rewarded those splendid doctors. The Boche is only piling on the agony for himself after the war now, & I don’t think even the most conscientious objector (what about specs these days of compulsion?) could stand by & watch much more of that sort of thing.

Best love to all

yr loving son

Ted

Very fit & well

If “Nance” is Nancy Swan who got engaged to Paul early in 1917, then she would have been about 21 at the time of Ted’s letter and about eight when Ted was at the Royal Military College in Sandhurst in 1903. She came from a military family with a long-term friendship with the Berrymans so it could be Nancy Swan, it could be another Nance, or “Sandhurst days” could refer to when the family lived in Camberley, we just don’t know.

Gloucester VAD

http://www.angelfire.com/az/garethknight/redcross/glosva.html

Wittenberg camp

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58458

2^nd BATT. 39^th GARHWAL RIFLES

LANSDOWNE

U.P.

April 27^th 1916

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for 3 letters from you. Rather curious this week, we got 2 mails, 2 days running, I don’t quite know how it happened, but it was very nice especially as we had gone for a fortnight without mails owing to the “Sussex” show.

How cold & miserable it seems to have been lately at home, Nell says just the same down her way in Gloster. I got 9 letters from her in the 2 days! I also got all the Pink papers all correct & the weekly Times, thanks very much. Yes, are’nt the French magnificent at Verdun, and all the time our so-called Ministers are squabbling about conscription. Disgraceful is’nt it & they deserve to be hung. What must our allies think, who are putting all their strength into the war, and we are still debating whether we are to or not.

So glad Jim has got his second star, it will buck him up & it’s certainly time he got it. Any chance of his getting out to France soon? And old Topher coming home on leave is ripping of course, it’s quite time he did as he must have been having a rotten time. How ripping of old Stopford to have a talk with him, & you seem to have had quite an F.F with Mrs Stopford. Dick sent me on your letter last week, as I did’nt get any-

We are still very busy up here, & it’s rather hot & stuffy as we’ve had practically no rain lately. Pardon this horribly official looking paper but I am writing in office. Funny you saying Bud Fox is so like me; was he like me before ever? I don’t remember it.

I’m afraid I’ve been far too pushed again this week to write many letters, I really must get down to it on Sunday & try & polish some off. I heard from Kathleen Thompson yesterday, such a nice letter.

Will you please send one of my photographs – a Goldalming one, whichever you think best, side face perhaps – to Louie Fielding; you’d better order six, & send one to her & give one to Ruth as I believe I promised her one, & please send me the other 4.

No more for the present. I do hope these Zepps keep quiet for a bit.

Best love to all

yr loving son

Ted

FF was family slang, probably for Face to Face

Second star – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_%28British_Army_and_Royal_Marines%29

April 19/16

Dear Mother

I’m afraid this week’s mail must have been lost in the Sussex, as none of us who have just come back have got any letters. All letters addressed direct here arrived all right, but all of us who had had our letters addressed c/o India office got nothing, so evidently the India office bag was lost. Is’nt it a shame; the papers said the mail was a very small one last week, as so many bags had been lost in the Sussex, but one sort of hoped that one’s own letters would roll up all right.

We are still very busy here; I have a little less office work thank goodness, but I have lots & lots of parade work, which I like far better & it’s out of doors anyhow which is a blessing. It’s awfully hot up here nowadays for some reason, & we’ve had no rain for months so the place is as dry as a bone. Today however we had a big sandstorm & now it is struggling to rain a bit; it’s gorgeous smelling the wet earth again. I wonder what it’s like at home now & whether you have done with snow at last.

There is no news to tell you. Things seem to be going very quietly up here & everyone working at top pressure. I wonder what they are going to do with us eventually & if they are going to keep us here now.

I have’nt heard from Dick lately, I wonder if he will be able to get an exchange with something he likes better. He seemed rather fed up last time he wrote.

Has old Nell been able to get up to Guildford to stay yet? Last time she wrote she said you had asked her but she could’nt go. I imagine you’ll have some difficulty in digging her out; she’d come like a shot but Pa & Ma I fancy will be rather silly about it. I do hope she manages it soon; she’s such an awful dear, & I want you to get to know her frightfully well. She was going strong when she last wrote; I’ve got a ripping enlarged photograph of her on my table. Any more news of Paul & Topher? I do hope the latter is having an easier time now. Must end up; this is a rotten letter; so sorry

Love to all yr loving son

Ted

April 14th/16

Dear Mother   Very many thanks for your letter of March the 15^th. We got an English mail very unexpectedly last Sunday; they still seem very erratic. I believe there is another mail in in a day or so, probably the “Sussex” mails, or what is left of them so I don’t suppose we can expect very much.

Yes rather thanks, the weekly times rolls up regularly now up to time, and the Pink papers too are always very punctual. We do indeed seem to be losing our Kits rather frequently. I heard from the India office & they say the whole question of compensation for Kit lost in the Persia is “under consideration”, so I suppose we shall get something out of them eventually.

Never mind about the camera; keep it till I get home again; meanwhile I’ve got one to go on with, & all those films you sent me too, so I’ve got lots of stuff to use up. By the way, please let me know how much these films cost, & the attaché case, also the notebook Ben sent & I’ll send the price along. Tell Ben the notebook rolled up all right & is much admired & envied.

So glad Topher is so optimistic about the war; he ought to be in contact with current rumour certainly; anyhow it shows the right spirit is abroad in the army. What terrible fighting there is going on around Verdun. It’s ghastly to think of all those literal heaps of dead men; of course from the allies’ point of view nothing could be more favourable but it all seems such a useless waste of life somehow. On the other hand I think the German must be exterminated. He’s proved himself so utterly unworthy to be numbered among civilised races, & the things he has done should be so severely punished that nobody will ever dare do them again.

I think everything points to a fairly speedy finish now; I think they will collapse, and various influences will tend to make the war fizzle out sooner than is expected. Did you read about that terrible outbreak of typhus in a British prisoners’ camp in Germany & how all the German doctors fled & they pushed food through to these prisoners through the barbed wire for 8 months. Just imagine the cruelty & cowardice of it all, & the utter inhumanity displayed. They simply must be exterminated, or so crushed as never able to hold their heads up again.

Yes I got cheery letters from Jinny; she seems very pleased with her job. Nell too writes very happily, Mr Fielding has been very seedy lately, a weak heart, but he seems quite to have recovered now. I sent old Nell a lot of that Kashmir work, you know, table cloths & cushion covers, yesterday. A very poor selection as the man who came round selling them had nothing very nice on view.

Lovely up here now, but the place & the whole country in fact is badly in need of water. I am writing this before breakfast, as I find I can get so much more done then; 6 o’clock I get up, & I’m always quite ready to, as it’s no effort to get up on such lovely mornings. I sleep out in the verandah & it’s always lovely & fresh. We are still very busy and I generally have had quite enough by the end of the day, so that’s partly why I like to start the day as early as possible.

So glad to hear Ruth is getting her job at Guy’s; and I expect she’ll be glad to get away from Broadstairs & see planes & things. Where’s she going to live in London? I heard from Dick a day or two ago; he seems rather bored, but his motor bike should keep him occupied.

Must get up now

Best love to all

Yr loving son

Ted

I’m very fit & well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Sussex

This is the news report Ted is probably referring to about German POW camps – http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58458

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_prisoners_of_war_in_Germany#Hygiene_and_illnesses

April 7/16

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for your letter last mail. I’m afraid I’ve got most awfully behind hand with my correspondence, I never seem able to deal with any. I get out of the office so late & absolutely brain weary that I don’t feel inclined to anything, & certainly nothing in the writing line. How I hate it all, but I’m afraid it’s got to be done. I try & get a game of golf in the evenings, anything to get some nice clean air & some exercise. There should be a mail in today, several letters arrived yesterday, but ours addressed India office always roll up a day late.

I have had an enlargement made of that litle photograph of Nell, the last one she had taken, with her hair up. It looks perfectly sweet and it is the only big one I’ve got of her. Everyone seems to have heard of her up here, anyhow lots of people have said to me that they’ve heard she’s very pretty & nice in every way, & people to whom I have shown her photograph always are quite overcome. However, I know there’s a good deal more in old Nell than her physical beauty, which, though something & something very very sweet, is by no means everything is it mother. I hope old Nell will be able to go & stay at Guildford for a bit soon, I want you to get to know her well, & she you.

More air raids I see, though we seem to be a little more successful lately & have bagged some Zepps I see. What an awful time poor old Topher has had, but I’m thankful he’s all right. It is a shame he can’t get any leave, but I supppose there are big things just coming off so they simply can’t spare anyone.

We got Reuters yesterday with all the new Taxes in them; of course they will be severely criticised, & everyone will say the working man is’nt taxed enough, but on the whole they seem fairly reasonable; we’ve simply got to face it & there’s an end of the matter. It will tend to force economy on people a bit I suppose & will bring the war still more home to them.

It’s lovely up here now, nice & cool, but sunny. I have begun sleeping outside in the verandah, it’s gorgeous; but this won’t appeal much to you at home with your snow & blizzards will it! By the way we’ve seen no more about that blizzard of a week or so ago; I do hope some real spring weather has begun now, how the troops in France must have suffered.

10 o’clock, I must get off to work. Excuse such a hasty scrawl mother & tell the others I’ll try & write next week; I’m most awfully sorry about it but I simply can’t cope with the situation. I’m very fit & well & going strong.

Love to all

yr loving son

Ted

March 31^st 1916.

Dear Mother

Thanks most awfully for your letter this week. The mail was rather late this week, and ours later than most people’s. I suppose they are still not sure of our exact whereabouts in the post office, and we still get letters for fellows who have left a long time ago or been transferred to other regiments etc. I got a nice pile of letters this mail, but I’ve been so fearfully busy this week I really have’nt had much time to answer them; and I’m not quite sure if the mail goes out today or tomorrow; if today I’m afraid I’ll have to leave some for next week.

I am writing this in the early early morning before parade. It’s lovely up here, especially at this time, though we want some rain to freshen things up a bit. How awful the snow seems to have been at home this year, much worse than it’s ever been for years I hear. And Reuters wires yesterday mentioned that awful blizzard, very vaguely “in England”, all communications interrupted, villages isolated, & railways damaged. How awful it must have been. I’m not awfully anxious to hear more news about it, the wires are so sketchy, and I do hope it did’nt affect the south of England too much, and I’m anxiously awaiting more news today.

We had a great wedding here yesterday, my friend Mr Rogers in the regiment was married to a girl he met up here; he only met her a few weeks ago, so has’nt been long about it. I have’nt met her yet, except just after the wedding for ½ a second, but I believe she’s charming; anyhow I suppose old Roger thinks so, so nothing else matters very much.

I had a letter from Dick, he tells me he is at Karachi, & the hospital seems to be a permanency there, but I imagine he is trying to get out of it somehow for some more active work. Yes was’nt it rotten about that exchange, everyone was awfully sick about it round our way, as the man behaved in a rotten way.

I hope they have’nt been having too much of this awful weather in France, but I expect they got their share of it. How awful it must have been, & I do hope old Topher managed to get some leave sometime, it’s quite time he had a bit of a rest. I’ll finish this after parade & breakfast.

Just finished breakfast, the main portion of which was a really nice ham, left over from yesterday’s wedding. Mr Roger & his bride did’nt get any leave, so they just walked away after the wedding breakfast, she in her wedding dress, and walked down to his house; somewhat unsatisfactory somehow.

Leave has’nt been opened yet for the men; I can’t think why, and we are still mobilised. Praps they have another job for us shortly. Meanwhile the back work accumulated during our absence is appalling, & I am at it hard all day, including parades, from 7 till 5 or 6 in the evening, & I hardly ever get away for lunch. It’s all such drudgery, how I hate it all, but it’s simply got to be done. One feels, one knows it does’nt help to finish the war one bit, but what can one do? Sometimes I get absolutely fed up & feel that another hour or two’s work will make practically no difference, so yesterday for instance I chucked it at 4.30 & went & had a round of golf with Dolly Lyell; ripping that was. Must fly off to office now & start again. Enclosed is an account which may interest you. Lots of love & I do hope this awful blizzard is all over now & none of you  are any the worse.

from your loving son

Ted.

Many thanks for cutting re I.A. promotions. I had seen it. But it does’nt affect me yet, I’ve only 11½ years’ service. In any case it’s a very very poor concession.

Image of Rogers’ wedding

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saffron_walden_snapper/3292650342/in/photostream/

Announcement in Times, 18/3

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/33265129/

The bride’s mother

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_L._Barclay

Article on blizzard

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=WDT19160330.2.30

March 20^th 1916.

Lansdowne

Dear Mother

Thanks most awfully for 2 letters from you, which I got yesterday. The mail turned up 2 days ago as a matter of fact but they had done up all our letters in little packets, & everyone was so busy here that they were chucked on one side, thinking they were papers etc for the men, till somebody opened one & out fell a lot of mail letters! I got 15 altogether, including 5 from Nell. You see it’s a 3 weeks’ supply. I also got the pink papers all safely, thanks awfully for them.

I must tell you about our various receptions. We had a great one at Agra,  all the civil & military population crowded on to the station, & the men were all drawn up on the line & a great speech was made, extolling our exploits & generally laying it on pretty thick. We were there 2 or 3 hours & it was frightfully hot, so we were all quite ready to drive off to the club afterwards where a huge lunch was served. Nice cool drinks & general festivities.

The place was gaily decorated and bands playing an’ all made things very gay all round. You see Agra is the first city we come to in the U.P. so they saw fit to give us the welcome. I must say it was very gratifying & I think a good thing, as it showed the men that at anyrate their efforts & sacrifices were very much appreciated.

We then got into the train again & came on here. At the station where we got out we had another reception, more speech making by the big bugs of Garhwal, and a jolly good firework display in the evening. The people were very enthusiastic and gave us a right royal welcome.

The general gaiety was somewhat marred by one of the men who shot himself during the night. He had been flogged early in the war for sleeping on his post when a sentry, and he evidently could’nt or would’nt face his friends & relations on his return home, so chose to commit suicide.

We marched up to Lansdowne next day & got another reception! All the station turned out, bands, breakfasts & everything en route, & an address on arrival & a big lunch in our mess afterwards. There are quite a lot of people here really, considering, so they made quite a good show.

It’s very sad to think how few of those who started have come back, & I’m afraid there are some big gaps in the officers ranks. Only 6 of us here came back out of about 26 who started; not all killed of course, some have got jobs or gone sick, but the majority will never return I’m afraid. I suppose these things must be, and indeed the name Garhwalis have made has been dearly paid for, so we who are left have a special mission in life to see that their name, & the name & fame they helped to bring Garhwal are never forgotten.

We are all fearfully busy now, as of course everything is in a real good old muddle after 18 months war. How everything is going to be put straight I can’t imagine; I suppose some things will never be really settled, but most things will adjust themselves in time I suppose.

I am living in Lyell’s bungalow, where Ben & I lived in 1914, & everything is brought back very vividly to me in consequence. We did have good times then, & I realise more than ever now what a perfect blessing it was having old Ben out here, and what perfect times those were. I don’t think I ever ½ thanked her enough for all she was and did then.

It’s quite cold up here but very pleasant all the same. We have been divided up into two battalions again but whether they have anything up their sleeve for us to do I don’t quite know. I rather think they have; I can’t imagine they will leave us alone for very long. They may of course, it’s impossible to say.

Your letter was dated Feb 23, so it has been some time coming. I think it will be quite all right to address letters straight here now, as we shall be here for a bit anyhow.

You speak of snow; ugh, how cold it must be. It’s quite different up here, really quite cold after Egypt & our hot journey up from Bombay.

I haven’t heard from Dick at all; I wonder where he’s got to.

I must deal with some more correspondence now; I’m so busy all day I only have time to write in the evenings. I’m very fit & flourishing.

Lots of love to all

from your ever loving son

Ted