Category Archives: About

Feb 12/18

Dear Mother

We’ve had no mail in now for a long time and the fortnightly despatch seems to be in full swing. I believe there is a mail hovering about somewhere, but no one seems to know when it will actually arrive.

Ink again you will notice, for we have come back some 30 miles or so and are in comparative civilisation again, though to all intents and purposes we are just as far away from things as we were up at Ramadi. But here we are at least on the railway. Baghdad is within 4 hours by cattle truck, so we are indeed in the haunts of semi-civilisation once more. I have got heaps of ink tablets, and have rigged up an ink-pot and am using my fountain pen as a dipper, as it has long ceased to carry out its fountain duties.

We had a comfortable and uneventful journey down. We took 5 days over it, 3 days marching and 2 halting, not by any means strenuous. I met 2 old King’s school boys on the way, and there are two of us in the 39^th so we had quite an old boys’ meeting. I wrote to the “Cantuarian”, and I can imagine the excitement the letter will cause!

The roads and weather were perfect for marching. They have done a lot of improving to the roads, mending them etc, and they use a lovely pink sort of stone, which they get from the sand dunes close by, to do the metalling with. A most gorgeous colour, it must have absorbed the sunsets of a thousand years to get like that. Of course it soon loses its colour when beaten and trodden into the road, but lying in heaps by the side of the road ready for use it looks lovely. The recent rains too have helped to bind the sand, and then traffic over the roads has made them hard and white and shiny. But I expect they will cut up in the summer and deteriorate into mere tracks once more, inches deep in sand.

It was cold and clear most of the time, except one night when rain fell in torrents from 6 to 11, and we had a damp cold dinner, huddled in a tent, & all went to bed about 8, there being no where else to go and it being the only dry warm place. Next day the roads were a wee bit muddy in parts, but the wind soon dried them and we got into our new camp quite dry.

Our new camp is out in a dusty bare place, the edge of the desert. All right now, in fact very cold with the N.W. wind whisking across sands, but it will be a warm spot in the hot weather I’m afraid. Not a tree or any shade of any kind; two miles from the river, and a dusty road running straight in front. And there is a railway line running within 20 yards of our tents, a novelty now, not having seen a train for 6 months (and we all stare at the train as it goes by daily!) but I expect we shall get sufficiently bored with it before we see the last of it. Still it’s a blessing to be on the rail again. One is’nt quite so cut off from the outer world, and you feel nearer home somehow.

We have been busy since we got in getting the camp in order and generally settling down. I have retrieved all my kit now, all the stuff (little enough, but still, all I had) which we left in Baghdad when we left for the Ramadi show last September. This paper is some of the spoils. It was a bit damp, but otherwise no harm done, as I had put it all in a tin suit case- does’nt it sound common! – but it’s the only thing to have in these outlandish places.

Lyell joined us yesterday. Poor man, he is very hard hit, but it must be a blessing to him to be employed. So I am no longer 2nd in command now, & though my brevet saves me from dropping to captain’s rank, it does’nt save me from dropping to captain’s pay, as of course a brevet only confirms the rank without the pay.

I have met Orton several times, you will remember he is on our Divⁿ staff, & they are here at present.

It’s still very cold at nights, but I have plenty of blankets now, though I still have to wear a woolly in bed, & spread my British warm over me. I hear the leave rules are out, but I have not seen them yet. I am told they are on the liberal side. I wonder if I shall be able to get home this year. It seems absurdly near now, & if I do manage it I ought to be home in about 3 months’ time. By the way, in case I do, you’d better write all letters to Cox & Co Bombay “to wait till called for”, as if I don’t come home I can wire them to forward them: & if I do I can pick them up there. So you’d better start doing so now.

I am very fit & well. Best love to all

yr loving son

Ted

Probable position – halfway between Falluja & Abu Ghraib

• http://goo.gl/maps/rwPAU

King’s Roll of Honour

• http://www.hambo.org/kingscanterbury/view_men.php?war=WW1

Named Old King’s boys –

Lt G D’O Maclear

• http://www.hambo.org/kingscanterbury/view_man.php?id=196

Cpt (later Lt Col) G C Strahan (9^th picture down)

• http://www.6thgurkhas.org/website/regiment-history/commanding-officers/1st-battalion

Medals of Col CWG Walker

• http://www.tooveys.com/lots.asp?WEBLOTID=189290&LOTID=922

Major W H Wardell

• http://www.hambo.org/kingscanterbury/view_man.php?id=235

A P Methuen

• http://www.hambo.org/kingscanterbury/view_man.php?id=205

CHC Gore, retired a Colonel in 1947

• https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38052/page/3983

Feb 1st/18

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for 3 letters from you last mail, a day or two ago. I am indeed sorry to hear of poor Aunt Edward’s death. She was always most awfully kind to me and took a real interest in me & my welfare. I know, as she always knew all about me & my latest doings whenever I went to see her. She was very interesting always about our family and the members of it whom we never or seldom met, and I was always surprised at the number of cousins, however distant, we seemed to possess but had never seen!

It was curious too the way she went on living in old Gravel Lane surrounded by all sorts & conditions of men, & every kind of squalor & poverty. I was always in an awful funk going to see her, all down among those slums and alleys. I only wrote to her a few weeks ago, as I always did at Christmas, but I’m afraid my letter never reached her this time.

I’m so glad that my letters about the Ramadi show arrived safely and that you were interested, but you are all much too lavish in your praises. I speak for myself, though I don’t think too much can be said for the men & the regiment. Very many thanks indeed, all the same. It is pleasing to know that having done our best, that best is appreciated.

We have had a day or two’s rain of late and one night of howling gale and wind, but otherwise this lovely cold clear weather goes on. We have frosts at night but it’s gorgeous weather all the same, and ever so much to be preferred to the summer out here.

So you are all going on rations I hear. I think it’s rather bad luck on you & all the rest who have played the game all along to have to suffer for the extravagance & indifference of an upstart class that suddenly finds itself with money in excess of its wildest dreams. All the same, I’m sure it’s right and after all I expect the ration will be ample, and it at anyrate ensures an equal distribution and shows the world we mean business. I don’t fancy England itself is short of food, not as short as all that I mean, but it’s the food supply of the whole world that is causing anxiety.

You all give me hopeful news about Topher and the curing of his stammering. I do hope you’ll be able to tell me of considerable improvement, if not of a complete cure, in some future letters. The boy has done splendidly I think & I’m sure we are all jolly proud of him, and I think he deserves a jolly long rest; even if it involves strenuous training he will at least be well housed and fed and will be away from the strain & stress of the front. Poor Dick! I know how he must hate all that slush & cold. You say he has been away from his regiment. What’s he been doing I wonder?

I hope to have lots more photographs to send you soon, but they take years to get developed and printed. The Stores, Bombay, should have sent you another lot now, but I have still more – chiefly groups of officers, & a few local scenes. I hope the ones of the guns & trenches arrive safely, though I’m afraid the ones of the trenches are very dull, but of course they are very real, as we lived & fought in them & for them for 2 & 3 days, & so we look on them as old friends, or enemies.

(By the way, don’t call us the “Garhwals”; either the “39th”, or the “Garhwalis”: hope you don’t mind the hint, but there’s nothing like correct names, & “Garhwals” sounds terrible to us!) Garhwal is the country where our men come from, and the inhabitants are called Garhwalis; just like Bengal & Bengalis, or Punjab & Punjabis.

Your letters were dated 28^th Nov, Dec 4^th & 5^th, the latter a note to tell me of Aunt Edward’s death.

We have been gorgeously free from flies all the last 2 months, and yesterday one came into the mess & was chased & slain, his death being greeted with cheers! one came in a few weeks ago too, and was also slain. It’s the cold weather & improved sanitary conditions that has done them in, but I fancy the hot weather will see a revival of them, as however careful one is they seem to be a perpetual plague in this country.

I suppose Paul is married now, but I was not aware of the date, which was being perpetually changed I gather, so I could not cable. In any case the cable between Bombay & London is unable to be used for private wires now owing to over-work, and cables are being sent by post if you please between Bombay & London! I’m glad they call it a cable!

You seem to have got all my letters all right; possibly one I wrote on 4^th September was burnt, as you make no mention of having received it, but otherwise I seem to have escaped as regards my letters, & very few, if any, went by that ill-fated ship and were burnt.

I had a line from Jim at Krillee, near Poona. He does’nt think much of India (who does?) & prefers Singapore. I wonder if he will turn up out here.

Now I hear of the shortage of sugar & currants etc at home I can appreciate your plum pudding (already eaten) much more. We still get rich Christmas cakes with thick sugar and almond icing from India, sent by various friends & relations. And if I come home this year it seems I’ll have to bring my wedding cake with me! I think it could easily be managed as of course there is no real shortage of sugar & spice in India: the difficulty lies in getting it home to England. They seem to have sunk much fewer ships in the last 3 weeks, but America says they have withdrawn a lot of submarines. In any case fewer ships have been sunk which is the main thing.

I fancy we are moving back in a day or two for a rest & change. We have been up here on outposts, & digging defences, & on reconnaissances for over 4 months now. And though of course we are not in actual touch with the enemy, still we have to keep our eyes skinned & always be ready for emergencies which becomes rather wearing after a time.

Must end up now

Best love to all & again many thanks for nice things said.

Best love to all

Yr loving son

Ted

Whenever my father, who also served in the Garhwalis, met his brothers in arms at the Regimental reunions, we children ran a discreet sweepstake on how long it would be before one of them said “When I was at Poooooon-AH”. I was disorientated when my yoga teaching friend said it, freshly back from meditating on an ashram. It’s only a matter of time before I hear someone saying it about visiting colleagues in a software team or an operations centre. The relationship between Britain and India is as complex as it is long. 

I am surprised and slightly disorientated by Ted’s throw-away comment “he doesn’t think much of India (who does?)” – maybe long distance love was making him particularly homesick or maybe he was nervous about taking his bride out there. 

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

Jan 27/18

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for a letter of yours dated Nov 21^st, which I got just after I had written to you last week. I got one from Dryden dated a week later, saying you had got my letter telling you about the Ramadi fighting, but that was the only one I got of so late a date – Nov 27^th – so I expect yours must be wandering about looking for me somewhere-

In your letter you had just heard of Sir Stanley Maude’s death. Yes it was very sad and we can ill afford to lose so good a man. I am awfully glad I served under him, and as I told you I met him personally when he came to say pretty things to us after the Ramadi show-

Our long spell of really nice weather has broken up at last- We have had nearly a fortnight of really perfect weather, absolutely cloudless skies, brisk bright and very cold days & frost at nights- generally a cold wind too, but on the whole it could’nt have been nicer or more bracing. But today it has begun to rain, and I think we shall have 2 or 3 days of it now.

No news from here. We have had one or two visits from Turkish aeroplanes, and our guns fired at one but he got away. And a few days ago one of their machines had to come down behind our lines owing to engine trouble, & we got the pilot and observer. We also hear that those two airmen of ours who were lost the other day had had to come down owing to engine trouble & were captured by Turks, though they got back to within 14 miles of here. Bad luck was’nt it.

You were writing of Paul’s wedding which I suppose is a fait accompli now. I had a long letter from him last mail and he seemed very excited about it all. I also had a line from Jim, in India, but of course you will have heard from him too. He says he has not heard from me for ages, but I have written several times. His being on the move so much has made it difficult for letters to reach him I expect.

Very glad to hear Topher is having something done for his stammering and I do hope he gets a good long time in England now. I think it’s splendid the way he has stuck it so long- Yes we get rotten matches out here too, Japanese mostly and they won’t strike very often & the boxes are very weak & wobbly.

But we are being wonderfully well fed, and our rations supplemented by what we can buy at the M.E.F. Canteens, are really extraordinarily good. We get fresh baked bread, ample, bully beef & sometimes frozen meat, jam, bacon, cheese & sometimes butter- Then we can buy practically everything that was ever put in a tin at the Canteen, not regularly certainly, but remarkably often. Vegetables too we get, turnips, beans, & salad, and sometimes potatoes. At anyrate what we do get to eat is ample & good, & you would hardly know there was a war on if you came to lunch in our mess!

Of late we have had heaps, really a dozen or more, Christmas cakes, sugar, sultana, almond paste an’ all, and just as rich as any pre-war Buzzard! All from India of course, but still, marvellous is’nt it when we come to think of how hard it is to get things at home. Really you are having a much harder time than we are, taking it all round I think- We have’nt had any mail lately, at least since the 21^st, but I see English letters of 4^th & 8^th December have arrived in the country & are on their way up.

Very few boats have been sunk at home these last 3 weeks. I do hope it means the thing is being really got in hand at last- And we read of strikes in Hungary & Austria, & of another in the German navy & perhaps this accounts for fewer ships being sunk as there may be fewer U-boats about. In any case, it’s a good sign and I sincerely trust it continues as low & lower-

It’s raining tonight & I can see we are in for a wet spell. It got a bit dusty the last fortnight, rather recalling the hot weather, but the rain ought to give us some respite yet.

Must go to bed. I have managed to wangle another blanket out of the quarter master, so I am warmer in bed now.

Love to all

yr loving son

Ted

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/workers-prepare-to-strike-in-germany

Jan 24/18

Dear Jinny

Very many thanks indeed for a letter from you which I got about Christmas time, but I’ve been that busy I have’nt had much time for writing, except to old Nell, ha ha – I’m still very ill, with Nellitis, I mean: and I see no chance of ever getting any better – a hopeless case, I’m afraid- and to think I have’nt seen the dear child for over 2 years. I do loathe this war-

We have had a simply gorgeous fortnight of lovely crisp cold weather, but night before last we got a gale o’ wind with rain and the whole place is one big marsh now, & it’s very raw & novembery-

Nothing very exciting has been happening here lately, a Hun ‘plane or two has been over but otherwise no alarms. We had a strenuous week training all last week, & thought it might mean something, but nothing has happened yet- We have been in the front line now for nearly 5 months, & we are getting rather tired of it, for though we are not in actual touch with the enemy, yet we have done a colossal amount of digging, and generally speaking we are very much out of the world in this remote corner.

I say, I told you did’nt I how fearfully bucked Nell was with the undies you made her; thanks awfully for making such ripping ones. I got some very old letters of hers last week, dated last July! In those she said Mrs F. had said she thought she ought to be getting her trousseau, & they went off & bought some Japanese silk for undies on the strength of it! Mind you help like hell in getting Nell’s things for the wedding, trousseau an’ all : the child is to be clothed perfectly right down to her nethermost garments: she’s such a dear that nothing but the best is good enough for her- (so you see I’m still pretty bad!) I don’t trust Mrs F. & the F. family as regards trousseau, though I expect Louie & Marjory would be all right. I often hear from Louie, rather a friend of mine it seems. And from Marjory too, though of course I’ve never met her.

I hear Geoff Houghton is “covered in red tabs”, what job’s he wangled pray? And I’m most awful pleased to hear old Topher is on his way to get a commission & I do hope his stammering course does him some good.

So I suppose old Paul is married now. Lucky devil, I say- and I hear you were b’maid, so I ought to be getting long descriptions of the show in a few weeks. Letters take 6 weeks or more now to reach us up in these parts from home. Those ripping Fortnum & Mason things turned up last week for me from you girls: thanks most awfully for them, they were most acceptable. The Dudmans sent me rather a nice writing pad, with this paper in it, but it’s good enough to get refills for.

Your letter is dated Tuesday, somewhat vague- but I see the post mark is 31^st October. (Remember 31^st October 1915? We went over to C’ham, to look for rooms, & found 30; I had been engaged 2 days then!) Yes I saw Stephanie’s wedding in the Tatler- remember how we used to invade their house on our way down to Gloucester always? My dear well can I picture the Babs-Jack wedding: old Davids looking an awful old cad I suppose: Maggie on the complete fuss, and I hear the mystery V.C. was there an’ all. I should like to know how many more honours and stars and bars that man’s going to get!

Well so long old bird & the best of luck

Lots of love

from Ted

Dear Ted. “Ripping” is perhaps not the best way to describe silk undies. Now we know why Mrs Fielding might have been shocked though. It’s interesting he asks Jane to make them, she was a great flirt and probably the naughtiest of the sisters.

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG3360665/The-trousseau-all-a-girl-needs-before-the-big-day.html

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

M.E.F.

Jan 21/18

Dear Mother

No more mails in since I last wrote but we don’t expect them nowadays much under a fortnight, or 3 weeks interval. It’s been cold again this week, with frost and North winds. But it has been fine and cloudless though the sun has not been over-strong. All the same it’s good clean honest cold weather, not raw and misty like it was when it rained such a lot a week or so ago.

Our only excitement lately – yesterday in fact – was one of the very rare visits of a Turkish aeroplane. He was very high up, barely distinguishable, and I think he must have been on his way somewhere else. Anyhow he was’nt stopping here, and our “Archies” shelled him – unsuccessfully – to speed him on his way and he disappeared into the distance- one of our ‘planes, which fly round here pretty well every day, has not returned and they can get no news of him. A rotten country to get lost or stranded in, this, I should think as it is very sparsely inhabited, and then mostly by unfriendly arabs.

I got a wire from you a day or two ago, just one word “congratulations”; very many thanks : the general wired & told me they had given me a brevet so I suppose you have seen it in some list. I do hope they give some of the other officers & men something. They are sure to of course, later on I suppose, as of course they did all the dirty work and deserve a reward. But they run these things in their own way, & the method is only known to themselves. I fancy a good many decorations & rewards are bagged by higher officials which only leaves a very few for the rank & file who deserve at least as many, if not more than the “gilded staff”. However it’s not for me to criticise.

A very dull letter I’m afraid but there’s nothing to write about. I’m very fit & well.

Best love to all   yr loving son

Ted

Archies

http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-on-land/weapons-equipment-uniform/880-anti-aircraft-measures.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_%28military%29

Jan 14/18

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for your letter of 13^th Nov, which arrived today, so you see you were just getting my rather few and far between letters I’m afraid while we were on the march up here from Baghdad, but really we had practically no time for writing & usually nowhere to post them. However by now I hope you have begun getting my letters regularly again-

This last week has been wet and fine in turns and today is lovely: cold, you know, but a cloudless sky & fresh & clean, & very English. I go about in a small cap all day, no need to wear a helmet, so this gives you some idea of the tremendous change in the sun’s power from the hot weather, when to stay a minute in the sun without a helmet would be disastrous.

The river has risen a lot these last few days owing to the rain presumably, and before much longer I expect it will get much higher. It is rushing past us now in a swirling flood, and sometimes when the wind is blowing up-stream, it breaks into waves and white horses just like a choppy sea and it’s lovely to watch it, but cold work- we have’nt had any actual frost lately & those biting N. winds have not been so bad either, but it’s awful cold at nights still, & I did’nt sleep at all last night as I was so cold. But it’s hopeless to try and get things like blankets etc, as by the time they arrive here it will be warm again. If I’m out here next cold weather I shall know what’s in store for the cold weather. I have’nt got any warm khaki yet, & there seems little prospect of getting any. However I am very fit and well and it’s all part of the day’s work so I’m not worrying.

Yes I saw in Punch that another Lloyd had been wounded, and that Major Bryant had been killed. How sad, I’m most awfully sorry as they were so good to me at the R.M.C. & I should like to write to Mrs Bryant if I could get hold of her address. Arthur Lloyd was reported badly wounded I see, & I do hope he’s all right. Is Kitty married yet I wonder, & what’s Johnnie doing? These things sort of flash across one’s mind when any news of the family crops up.

We’ve been nearly 3 weeks without a mail now, so today’s letters are most welcome. I got such a nice writing pad thing from the Dudmans & 2 lovely pairs of socks, both extremely useful & most opportune- I also got some nice things from Fortnum & Mason from the girls which are very tastey & welcome; they arrived quite safe. But the other F. & M. things have never arrived: held up somewhere I suppose-

I hope Topher manages to get over his stammering. It at anyrate means he will be at home for sometime does’nt it. You ask if we have been in any scrapping since the Ramadi show, we have’nt been in any real fighting, only a few odd shots when out on reconnaisance now and then-

I have’nt heard from Jim for some time though last time he wrote he seemed to be on the point of starting from Singapore. Yes indeed the woolly has been useful and is rather the worse for wear but still serviceable & warm & always worn. Those little split-rings which keep our buttons in our khaki jackets, you know, “little men” you call them I think, are always catching in it when I put my coat on so it suffers somewhat but is lasting wonderfully well.

Mail goes out today though I really don’t think it matters very much here; as often as not the cars can’t move owing to bad roads, and I expect my letters lately have been rather erratic.

Best love to all

yr loving son

Ted

Probable Major Bryant

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/652007/

Report of his death in Volume VII of The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914-1918 (10th edition, 1941)

Chapter 29 – Nahr Auja and El Burj (pdf)

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG1069613/

Jan 7/18

Dear Mother

No more mails in since Dec 27^th in fact we’ve had no mails of any sort for the last 3 days owing to the weather. It has been wet and cold & the motors simply can’t get along the none too good roads here – Last night at about 2 a.m. it began to rain & went on till 12 noon today & the whole camp is one mass of greasy glutinous mud.

There is a nasty wind blowing & the conditions are by no means nice- However we are very cheery & as comfy as possible, & are keeping very fit- I never feel quite sure that my tent won’t be blown away though- It is very raw & Novembery nowadays, we have had no frost for a long time, & the N. wind has given place to a South one which always brings the rain with it. But I expect we shall have some more of that biting N. wind before the winter’s done-

No sign of any of the good things from Fortnum & Mason yet, & I have had no Christmas parcels from Nell & the girls, though they all said they had sent them. We are out of the world here, & things take simply years to reach us. Very much “at the front”, no one else seems able to get here!

War news is not very exciting as I write is it. We had done wonderfully well in Palestine and it should have a splendid effect all round here, as it ought to fair put the lid on any Turkish thoughts of offensive movements here. He would make peace tomorrow I’m sure if he got the chance but I suppose Germany has got him too well in hand.

Two or three of us went for a long walk yesterday, ostensibly to shoot geese on a big lake about 8 miles from here. Really we went just for the walk. It was a coldish damp & misty day, but it was nice to get out of camp for a bit of exercise; we took our lunch out & had a most pleasant day-

Last Monday there was a race meeting here. I arrived in time for the last 2 races- I won £1 on the first one, & lost it all on the next one, so came off the course all square-

Afraid there’s no news here & I have no letters of yours to answer. Everything is horribly wet here, tents soaked through, & mud everywhere- But at least we are not in trenches-

Best love to all

Yr loving son

Ted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jerusalem_%281917%29

Hello, dear friends of the Berrymans, and a happy New Year.

I am very fortunate: I get to spend every Christmas and New Year with my 100-year-old family.  I feel like a Time Lord living in multiple time-streams at once (yay for Jodie Whittaker!) as I schedule the next year’s letters and tweets and spend a few days diving deeply into the vivid details that the Berrymans bring us about the past.

The last two weeks have been a treat for me – I’d forgotten how fond I am of them all: lovely Ted, always putting a happy spin on whatever circumstances he’s in; Paul charming his bride but not entirely convincing her family that he’s a good bet; Jim, getting an office job in Singapore; Richard, fussy and bossy on paper, but clearly another Berryman charmer in real life; and poor stammering Topher, outshone by his glamorous and heroic elder brothers. Let’s face it, who could compete with them?

We know that 11th November 1918 was Armistice day but of course the Berrymans didn’t, so the year ahead will bring us their excitement as the tide started to turn in Europe and the Middle East.  You may remember that the highlight of the 1914 letters was Ted writing home about the Christmas Truce, Nell’s brother stole the show in 1915 when he crashed his car, it was good to hear Paul’s voice in 1916 telling Ted about Jutland, and Ted’s account of the battle of Ramadi in 1917 reminds us that what they did then still echoes for us now, though I am also fascinated by his trips to the dentist. You will be pleased to know that the accounts of the Armistice are brought to us with typical Berryman vigour and wit.

The letters continue for a few months after 11th November and we can stay in their company until the summer of 1919 as they ease into peacetime life. And I’ve included a set of letters from the mid 1920s which were also donated to the IWM – these will go out at the rate of two per week, so time will speed up for us in 2019 as we finally leave the Berrymans to their post-war lives.

So thank you all for your company and your patience. If you want to catch up, check the summary of the story so far, soap-opera style,  If you want to share the letters, please forward this email to your friends and encourage them to sign up themselves in the form on the site. The Berrymans themselves are @BerrymanLetters on Twitter and I am @FamilyLetters. Re-tweets and shares would be kind. I’ve also re-launched the page at Facebook.com/FamilyLetters so please like and share that as much as you can.

If you are curious to  know why I got so behind with the 1917 letters, then take a quick peek at our new project at LighthouseKeepersCottage.co.uk and let us know if you would like to take a break there.

With warmest regards

Family Letters

A flicker of dawn in the reddening East;
A cluster of clouds in the melting grey-
A quickening stir amongst man and beast,
Drowsily conscious of coming day-

A sentry’s challenge- a stray dog’s bark
Cut the silence- from where we lie
The guns stand out in the lessening dark
In grim silhouette against the sky-

A whistle shrills through the cool, sweet dawn;
The camp is astir as the thin note dies-
An oath – a jest – and a laggard’s yawn
From his rough warm blankets unwilling to rise.

A shouted order, a snatch of song-
Smoke from the camp-fires hanging low-
In a jingling column, ghostly, strong
Down to water the gun-teams go

Two hours later the camp is bare-
High overhead a bullet sings-
(There’s a sniper up in those hills somewhere)
Into the desert the rear-guard swings

M.E.F,
(Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force)

1918

Dec 30/17

Dear Mother

A mail in at last! on 27^th, after we had been exactly a month without one. It was ripping such a heap of letters all together, I got 37! and heaps of papers. There were 3 mails in together, Oct 24, Nov 1, & Nov 7, and as one was the Christmas mail you can imagine what heaps we all got. I got 3 from you, of the above dates, and thanks most awfully for them, and the little diary which will of course be fearfully useful, one always wants to scribble down notes and odd things these days.

We spent a very quiet Christmas here. It was a raw cold day, but we managed to make merry in the evening with crackers & plum pudding and various luxuries specially ordered from India. The Fortnum & Mason things have’nt turned up yet, and I don’t know when they will. The recent rain has made the roads almost impossible, and we can hardly get our rations up. I have only had one Christmas parcel so far, & that is a lovely tin of nuts from Rosamond which arrived this evening, a very welcome gift indeed. On Christmas and Boxing day we had holidays, and sports too, which were coldish to watch, but not bad fun – otherwise we had no excitements.

Yesterday the Gunners had some mounted sports, & in the evening they had a revue “Ramadi 1950” which was rather funny- I dined with a pal in the Gunners after the sports & we went on to the show in the evening.

Today some of us went out shooting, & got a lovely fat goose, and 9 partridges, a most pleasant outing & good exercise to walk off these Christmas meals! Tomorrow there are races, & on New Year’s day we have a holiday, & I fancy we are getting up a shooting party for the occasion though cartridges are woefully short.

It has been a lovely day today, the first sunny day we have had for 2 weeks nearly – otherwise the weather has been rotten, raw windy misty & cold, though we have had no frost for a week or more. Typical English weather in many ways, but not at all suitable for camp life! However we are all very fit & getting used to this sort of thing now.

Your letters are, as I say, dated Oct 24, Nov 1^st & 7^th – very many thanks indeed for saying such nice things about the regiment, and it is very gratifying to feel one’s little efforts are appreciated, not only by relations & friends but also at the India office, where it is just as well to get known, though I rather fancy the 39^th are already pretty well known there. It is nice however to know that their expectation has been kept up. You all said much too nice things, but if you are pleased then I’m pleased, so that’s all right.

Genl Cox seems to have been very mysterious about it all, saying you were’nt to see anything etc, but by now I hope you will have got fuller details from me, though even my letters were a bit sketchy I fancy. I know Nell would wire on to you, or at any rate let you know if I cabled to her: the wires were naturally somewhat congested out here just then, & I did’nt like to worry them with more private wires than were really necessary-

You seem to have gone some time without a mail too. Dr Scott dead at last, as you say- I can only dimly recollect him. Yes, good work the French bringing all those Zepps down. We have pictures of them in some of the papers that arrived last mail. Pity we did’nt do it. I hear from all sides of the bomb in Picadilly & how                          & Edgars were strafed; a good shot was’nt it, though I don’t suppose they do much actual aiming. I heard from Jim a day or two ago, he says his relief is on his way out, & as soon as he arrives Jim will probably go to India, en route for this country.

I saw a notice of Stephanie’s wedding in the papers; yes rather I remember her, though I was never at home when she used to come and stay, Jinny & I used to go & see them outside Paddington on our way to Gloucester.

So glad my description of Baghdad pleased you, & by now I hope you have some photographs of it which I took, also of the journey upstream & various other interesting places. I was half afraid the letters I wrote about them had been destroyed at sea, by fire, between Basra & Bombay, but it appears they were fortunate & went by another boat.

Yes, I know nearly all the Queens now, & the two regiments are great friends, & the name Garhwal should not be unknown in Guildford after this. They are an awful nice lot of fellows and we get on awful well together- Poor Dick; yes he would hate the mud & cold I know, and now he’s losing Topher he won’t be any better off. As regards Topher’s commission, I expect poor boy he has had more than enough in the ranks, though as you say he was well enough off as Dick’s groom; all the same if he wants the commission it seems hard on him not to let him get it and he’ll be home some time training now. His stammer would certainly seem a difficulty & I hope he manages to do something for it.

I wonder if Specs has been roped in yet- I have glanced through the daily sketch with George’s picture in it, at his wedding, but I should’nt know him from Adam, not having seen him since 1902 or so. I was’nt home when he was so much with the family.

As you say, the war news is not very happy these days, but I fancy it’s only a phase and things will buck up again soon. Italy seems to be standing her ground, & there is no one in Russia to make peace with, & America must be nearly ready now.

Poor Capon seems to get no better, & from your description the garden wants some work on it. I don’t suppose Capon will ever be fit for work again, he will be a great loss I’m afraid but I suppose it can’t be helped. Please let me know if I can do anything for him: I think we boys ought to buy him an annuity or something as he has served us faithfully & well all these years. If you are writing to the others you might suggest it to them, & meantime make enquiries as to what’s the best thing we can do for him- There are many calls on our pockets nowadays, but I think this is a special case.

Must write to Ben now. We posted our English mails last Monday here, but they never reached the railway, as the road was too bad for cars to come & fetch it, so presumably they missed the mail. In any case, it’s only a fortnightly mail home and out now, & living in these outlandish parts one is never certain of anything.

Best love to all

yr loving son

Ted

Photo of bomb damage at Swann & Edgars in Picadilly, 20/10/17

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205194011

Followed by

Christmas card (unsigned and undated) depicting the British Residency at Baghdad with map of Mesopotamia