familyletters.co.uk

c/o Cox & Co

Karachi.

April 19.

Dear Mother.

Many thanks for your letter. Of course I knew you’d get no mail from me when you wrote as it was the mail I missed when sur la mer. Even then I doubted if I’d get yours as the Sussex sinking seems to have upset a good many letters, & very few people got home mail. Anyhow yours arrived & John Bull & the Tasmanian letter. What a house party you seem to have had the weekend before you wrote, but what a pity they all missed Bud & Bunchie. So funny he should be so like Ted. I remember Jane used to talk about Beres & Madge.

How nice for Topher Gen Stopford speaking to him during that inspection. There’s no one else to send a photograph to yet. Did I say Mrs Laws, Ben’s friend in Assam. She wants one. I don’t want them out here.

I am writing today from our new bungalow. Just moved in. I am sick of the hotel I was in & four of us have taken a bungalow. Two Majors, one a great friend of Ted’s, a Capt & myself. They all belong to No 1 I.G.H. so I have deserted my lot, however as I have this mo-bike I can get to the hospital alright; though a bit further away than the hotel was. We are not mealing here today, but shall start tomorrow. It’s so nicely furnished & near the sea, so we get all the breeze.

A good idea has just struck me. You remember Mrs Sparrow at St Hilda. Well Mrs Williams the boss is very ill, dead I expect, & has chucked it. Now I suggest you get Mrs Sparrow as a servant. She won’t want much, & I’m sure the work you’ve got for her to do is less than she had there, & she’d be a great help & a nice old thing too. She’d love to come where Susan is as she’s so fond of her & you & she would hit it off quite well! Ben I have told about it. If Mrs S is not at St Hilda, Mrs Kelly of 5 Wharncliffe Mansions, Bath, would know where she’s gone. Mind you get her now if poss, as she’ll work like blaizes & be no trouble.

I wrote to Ted today, he and I correspond occasionally, but he seems hard worked with his office.

June is very well & is here with me now, quite at home in the new house.

Best love to all

your loving son

Richard.

Richard’s high-handed insouciance about Mrs Sparrow and Mrs Williams in these rapidly written letters is breathtaking. 

General Stopford was the friend that Gertrude wrote to when she was asking for help with Jim’s commission – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Stopford

Madge was another family friend. Here Paul and Ted are flirting with her in 1910.

Paul Madge and Ted in 1910

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

C/o Cox & Co

Karachi.

April 14^th.

Dear Mother.

Very many thanks for your letter (March 15). I see you have no letter when you wrote & I daresay you got none the next time. I am wondering if you will be answering my letter from Bombay this mail or not. I’m afraid I’ll have to wait till next mail. I’m so glad you’ve been to see Jane & Chubbie & that Chubbie’s brother is pleased with his dog.

I got all the papers thanks very much, also that Tatler copy of funny pictures, I am quite popular from lending it round. Still very hot here & will get more so. I am moving into a bungalow soon I think with 3 others. At present I am in a hotel near the hospital. The bungalow is furthest away, but as I have this mo-bike it won’t matter so much.

We had the races on Monday & yesterday. It’s difficult to get a mount here as too many “pro” jockeys come up, & I am not well enough known. However I’ve had a couple, & rode a winner yesterday. It was’nt my fault I got a bad start, the starter shouted, & frightened my horse, who was very restive, & he turned clean round before I could stop him. Luckily I got him away at once & caught the others up very soon. I did’nt hurt myself when I fell off the first day, my fault for not seeing the saddle was properly put on. It was near the finish, but I could not have won or got even second anyhow, so it did’nt matter much. I’m sure Ben would have loved to have been there! I heard from Ted in Lansdowne, he’s very hard worked. Thank Ben for her letter if I don’t have time to write.

Best love to all

yr loving son

Richard.

Tell Topher I think I’m quite a good hurdle racer. I’ve not done much before.

Richard Berryman – (probably pre-war)

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

April 6^th

Karachi.

Dear Mother.  Many thanks for your letter (March 5.)  No one seems to have had a letter from me the mail you wrote, I think I was at sea. The snow at home has been awful from all accounts. I am glad France does Jim no harm, he only takes drafts over does’nt he. Ben has’nt written to me lately either.

The Zep raids were awful were’nt they, but I suppose everyone was awfully pleased they shot that one down in the Thames. What a good thing. How funny Susan should love the snow so.

I wonder if that was me in that picture Ruth sent. May have been. Topher seems to have had a rotten time, I do hope he found his pack. I had a John Bull from you, many thanks. Was that the one you thought would make me laugh.

That cutting about those forceps was most interesting. Why Jim in gaiters & spurs. Where’s his horse?

I am riding again now. The races come off next week & I have a mount or two. L’or I was stiff after my first ride, but it all went off in a day. You see we get lots of tennis, so I’m in fairish training. However I doubt if I shall last out the long hurdles race, over a mile, & I believe the horse I am to ride has a good chance.

I told you I bought a motor bike the other day. I gave about £12 for it. It would just go, a “Cathorpe”, & I’ve been fairly tinkering & cleaning it up since. Had the valves ground in & fixed up, & the tank repainted & now it looks so smart & goes so well I ought to get twice as much for it! There’s a big demand for them here.

Evelyn tells me you sent her a postcard saying I had gone to Bombay. Many thanks

I’ve heard nothing yet so far about my application for a move.

Best love to all, I must stop as the mosquitoes are biting me.

Your loving son

Richard.

Please send a big photograph to

Mrs H.C. Laws
Dum Duma P.O
Upper Assam
India.

I had a photograph taken there.

You shall see my moustache

Details of downed Zeppelin

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/document/8920

Biography of pilot who helped down it

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3b46/brandon-alfred-de-bathe

Photo of wreckage

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70607220@N04/6781168393/

Painting: St. George and the Dragon, 1917, IWM

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/17723

Calthorpe motorcycles

http://www.calthorpe.org/Englisch/modelle_index_ENG.htm