Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War (25 page)
Read Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War Online
Authors: Bill Lamin
Tags: #World War I, #Autobiography, #Personal Memoirs
For Harry, the great event of January 1919 was a trip he made with an unspecified number of his comrades to Venice. We can work out that it must have been on the weekend of 25 and 26 January. He
complained in his letters that he was short of money, and was then given £5 back pay to take on his leave. Today, that £5 is worth around £250, and so he could afford to stay in
‘The Grand Canal Hotel’ – no doubt an improvement on his billet. He had a few worries about spending all the money but, sensibly, realized that he would never get another chance
for such a visit. As long as he was ‘on the right side’ – that is, not in debt – he was happy.
For those who have never visited Venice, we now have television, magazines, websites and films that provide a good idea of the wonders of the city. To Harry in 1919, however, the canals, St
Mark’s Square, the churches, must have been nothing short of astonishing. Before his trip, his letters to Jack and Kate show that he is beginning to concern himself with matters beyond the
narrow military world in which he had lived for the past two years.
32507/9th Batt york & Lancs
C. Coy 12 Platoon., I.E.F, Italy
Jan 2/1/1919
Dear Jack,
I am sending you a few lines just to let you know that I am alright
and keeping in good health. It is a long time since
[I]
had a letter from
you,
but I got the pipe alright which you sent. I am glad that you and
Agnes are keeping well, and I hope you have had a happy Christmas
although I expect you have both been very busy
Christmas was very
quite out here, but I enjoyed myself in a way, not much money but we
had a good dinner. We are in a little town called Arzignano
[about 15 miles/24km west
of Vicenza]
it is a very damp place as it lies
in a valley between the mountains. I dont know when I shall get
home but I hope it will not be long. All men going on leave now
are alright for if they get work while at home they can stop so it makes it better for them. About all the miners have gone, some which came up in April 1918
[i.e. long after Harry joined
the battalion]
have got away. Let me know next time you write if you got the cards I sent. I am glad to hear that they are all keeping well at home and are keeping free of the flu. I guess
you must have a busy time in Hull with so many prisoners of the war coming in. Everything is so dear out hear the money now is thirty lires to a pound, we used to get forty at one time but
still things are no cheaper rather dearer Willie must be getting a rum chap as Ethel tells me some funny tales about him in her letters. Write as often as you can and let me know all the news,
I hope soon to be able to write you from England. Wishing you both A Happy New Year
With best Love to you both
Harry
It would appear that if soldiers on leave manage to find work, they can apply to quit the Army and take up the job. Jack was a priest in Hull, a major port, and he may well
have ministered to returning prisoners of war who landed there.
32507/9th Y&L., C.Coy., I.E.F
Jan 22/1919
Dear Kate
I have just received your letter and was very pleased with it, it was such a long time since I heard from you. I am glad that Connie is getting on alright I hope she will
soon be able to walk. I have not wrote to the firm
[his former employer]
yet I think it is not much use, as I dont think they have much work. Ethel has not said anything about the other
men writing I dont think they all have if they want us they ought to send for us. I am going on as well as possible but I am just about fed up. Well I think we all are its about time we all got
home but I expect we shall have to wait a bit and be patience things are very dear out here and I am very short of money as we dont get much pay Glad to hear that you enjoyed you holiday with
Jack and to hear that he is getting on
alright. Write as often as you can and let me know all the news. If you can spare a shilling
[£0.05 – about £2.50 today]
I
should be very pleased as it would come in alright, hoping to see you soon
With Best Love
Harry
Of course, in early February his letters are full of the trip to Venice. Thereafter they turn to the work he is doing and, inevitably, to demobilization. There is no great
optimism yet about getting home. He might have got his discharge from the Army if he had had a job to go to (he mentions a ‘slip’ which would have been a job offer) but, clearly,
Truman’s lace factory in Ilkeston, where he had worked before the war, was not taking on workers. The latter years of the war had seen a remarkable change in employment patterns. With so many
men in uniform, young women had started to work in factories, enjoying the status and the wages, which were significantly better than could possibly have been earned in domestic service – for
many women the only real employment open to them before the war. They would not be keen to give up their factory jobs.
During the month he got a new job with the Church Army, a very British version of the YMCA that provided facilities for off-duty troops – as well as good food for the novice cook. He uses
Church Army headed notepaper for several of his letters, and presumably worked there after he had completed his military duties for the day. Then, after his experiences of catering in the Church
Army, he moved on to a new job cooking in the Officers’ Mess at Divisional Headquarters. He feels the job is ‘no good for a man who as ad two years in the trenches without a
break,’ perhaps the first trace of bitterness he has shown in the whole of his war service. I can’t begrudge him that, just as he can be forgiven for forgetting that he had in fact had
one two-week leave in September 1918.
Back on form again, Harry is making the best of the job, asking for help with the cooking. As to the reference he makes to ‘two and three months leave’, some soldiers were given a
long leave which they could use to find civilian work, and so ‘earn’ demobilization.
Feb 1/1919
32507/9 Y&L
Dear Jack
Just a line to let you know I am alright I have not much time as I am very busy man this week I have been working in the Church Army dishing tea out in the afternoon and
night. I dont get away till 9.30 p.m so I have not much time the job is alright, but I expect we
[i.e. the battalion]
are moving next week so I shall have to go back to the company, but
address my letters the same as I get them alright We have a parson in charge of us of course he is like all the rest a bit of an old figgett
[fidget?]
gets excited now and again, so you
have to talk to him a bit. We have had supper with him these last four nights, of course we have cooked it between us. Well before I had this job I had a weekend at Venice, about three days, It
is a most wonderful city, all built on small islands and their is some fine buildings. I went in S. Marks Church it is a wonderful sight, well I enjoyed my self very much, I got £5.00 to
go with so I expect I shall be debt now but that does not matter so long that I am on the right side, and I thought I shall never get another chance. I will tell you all about it when I see you
I hope to be seeing you in the summer time. Well write as often as you can I am pleased to hear that you and Agnes are keeping well. I hope you will write as often as you can. I am very pleased
that they are going on alright at Ilkeston, Ethel tells me what a rum chap Willie gets I shall be glad to get home again I would rather do any thing than go on parade and do guards in fact I
think I would rather be in the trenches in Italy. I am just going to have supper now.
With best love to you both
Harry
[undated – probably written at the same time as the letter to Jack above]
32507/9th Batt
Dear Kate
I am getting on alright and am sorry I ask you to send me a shilling or two as the next day I was given a week end leave. I got £5.00 and went to Venice it is one
of the most wonderfulest cities in Italy, it must be a sight in summer time to see the boats on the river and canals We put up at the Grand Canal Hotel, and we was alright. I have bought Connie
and
Willie a broach and Ethel a present, things are very dear, but I did not mind, and I had a shilling or two left. I will tell you all about it when I get home but I dont know when
that will be, I hope it will not be long, only men with slips are getting home and I dont think our firm have got any work so they not bother with slips. I am glad that they are going on well
at home, and pleased to hear about Connie I hope she will be able to walk soon I am working in the Church army Hut this week so I dont require any money, the job is all right plenty to eat, so
you bet I dont grumble I have just made supper stewed meat, onions and potatoe and a piece of toast not bad, I dont think I shall be here above a week. I will write again soon but write as
often as you can
With Love
Harry
Later that month he writes again, among other things telling his brother and sister that he is now at Divisional HQ:
Feb 28/2/19
Dear Jack
I am sorry that I have not wrote for such a long time but you see I have been all over the shop, I am cooking at present in the officers mess for eight of them, three
majors at that I dont know how long I shall be here. I have been here a fortnight, I expect I shall have to leave when they get an experience cook. the only thing I am bottled at
[no good
at, or confused by]
is pastry. it is all work I have not had a night off yet and dont look like getting one. I am at the Divisional Head Quarters these jobs are alright when there is a war
on but no good to a man who as had two years in the trenches without a break. you see the cook as got Demob. I hope you got my letter telling you about my visit to Venice I am very pleased I
went. I dont know when I shall get demobed I might have to go
[to Germany]
with the army of occupation, but I expect I shall be out of the army some time this year. I am very glad that
they are going on alright at Ilkeston and that Willie and Connie is well. if you dont here from me you must write as I am so busy at present I get seven lires a week extra that is about 5/-
[5 shillings – £0.25]
English money. of course I live well, you can bet on that. but there is
such a lot of work. Well the next time I write I might have another job, or
they might keep me. I will let you know as we are expecting breaking the division up any time the address at present is
23 D.H.Q, C Mess, I.E.F.
Remember me to Agnes with best love
Harry
Dear Kate
I have received your postal order alright, but I could have managed alright. I have left the Church Army so I have finished making tea I liked it alright. But you see the
Batt moved to another place so I had to go with them. I have got another job now I am helping to cook at the Divisional Head Quarters mess but I dont know how to make fancy thing but you know I
liked cooking, I should be very pleased if you would send me a small cookery book, it might be useful, but you see we cant get all the things we want, we have to make pies and pastry with self
rising flour, you might give me a few wrinkles
[hints or tips]
how to go on how to make small meat savours
[savouries]
and a few sweets and so forth I am asking you all these
things and I might get the sack but not out of the Army, I wish I could, I hope you received my letter telling you about me going to Venice, I enjoyed myself very much I am glad that they are
going on alright at home, I shall be glad when I get there but I think it will be a few months yet there so quite a lot of our men taking on. I think it is this two & three months leave
that is doing it, but it will take a lot to make me list I have wrote to Trumans factory but I have not heard from them yet Write as soon as you can well right away as soon as you get my letter
my address at the present is
32507 Pt Lamin
23 D.H.Q, C.Mess, I.E.F
With Best Love
Harry
In writing ‘it will take a lot to make me list,’ Harry is saying that he is not keen to join the Regular Army. Many soldiers, finding on demobilization that there
were no civilian jobs, re-enlisted.
In March, Harry is writing about 1920 as a date for his demobilization, which is not at all encouraging. Still, he is keeping his job cooking in the Officers’ Mess at Divisional HQ. By now
the division has moved to Tavernelle, which seems to be the muster point for soldiers beginning the railway journey home. Willie has his third birthday on 23 March.
March 12
23. D.H.Q., 9th Batt Y
+
L., C.Mess., I.E.F., Italy
Dear Kate
Just a line to let you know that I am alright and still cooking but I expect the Division will break up in a week or two. your book came in very useful. I should not like
to be without it. Here was four messes on D.H.Q and ours is the only one left. I thought I should have to leave and let on
[e]
of the other cooks come, but I still keep my place. I should
like to be officers servant
[also known as a batman or soldier-servant]
when we break up, but I expect I shall be with army of occupation till I get demobed. I dont mean soldiering if I
can get a job any how while I am in the army. I hope I am out of it before 1920 any way. Write as often as you can and let me know how you are getting on I will write and let you know how I am
getting on and where I get too.
With Love
Harry
He mentions the Army of Occupation again in his letter to Jack of the same day. Commanded by Plumer until April 1919 and based in Cologne, the presence of the British Army of
Occupation on the Rhine was a condition of the peace treaty that was eventually signed in June that year.
