Monthly Archives: April 2016

18th April 1916 Arthur (and his horse Ben!) has been sent on a ten-day course to Rebreuviette, near Brigade HQ; he is worried that the mail will not reach him promptly; the Company meanwhile have been sent on a route … Continued

17th April 1916 Arthur has had a strenuous Palm Sunday and falls asleep instead of writing to Dollie … so a letter of two halves; Dollie is seeing Fr McNamara today and he is anxious to hear how that goes; … Continued

15th April 1916 Arthur’s letter writing has been interrupted by their landlady’s raging and screaming; a wet morning, but the football match still goes ahead, followed by pay day for the men; thankfully the affair of Subaltern T. has been … Continued

14th April 1916 Arthur has had a busy day of letter writing and sorting out the paperwork for his new draft of 24 men; his recent toothache has been cured by an application of carbolic; Arthur has no news to … Continued

12th April 1916 The cold, windy and wet weather is not helping Arthur’s mood – the post is delayed, he is worried about his Subaltern, T., plus he is having a difficult time trying to phrase an appropriate letter to … Continued

11th April 1916 A dull and wet day – with a morning march for the men across muddy countryside to a temporary brigade bathhouse; Arthur is experimenting with a new cross-country signalling system; news of re-enforcements arriving soon, including some … Continued

10th April 1916 New rules issued now mean the troops have to wear their steel helmets when on parade and the officers also have to wear shoulder tabs like the men’s [presumably in order to make them less of a … Continued

9th April 1916 Arthur has had a troublesome day, hoping to write at length to Dollie, but alas events have conspired against him; one of his normally hard working Subalterns (in the care of one of Dollie’s brothers) went on … Continued

8th April 1916 Arthur has a bundle of Dollie’s letters to answer but has been busy for the past few days – a long journey to a French workshop and Brigade sports have taken all his waking hours; he longs … Continued

6th April 1916 Arthur has had a hectic two days working at the Court Martial – not helped by the fact he has had a raging toothache; Arthur is overjoyed to read however that Dollie’s recent meeting with Fr McNamara … Continued