Letters written by Albert White to his sister Carrie Thomas (née White) 1916 ~ Letter 5. Stratford-on-Avon United Kingdom 28 March 1917

Transcription

1 Letters written by Albert White to his sister Carrie Thomas (née White) 1916 ~ 1918 Letter 5 Stratford-on-Avon United Kingdom 28 March 1917

2 Stratford-on-Avon 1 March 28 th 1917, My Dear Sister 2, A few lines to let you know my proceedings since I last wrote you as I suppose you heard from home that I left Eng. 3 for France on the 7 th Feby. when I joined the Battallion 4 up straight away once resumed hostilities until the 4 th. of March when I was again put out of action by the explosion of a shell 5 which old Fritz 6 got right into our trench & we got the full contents of it. You would have read of Fritzs evacuation on the Bapaume front 7 & it was there that we were & consequently had a very busy time keeping up our ammunition etc which keep us going from dark to daylight for several nights however he fell back on a very strong ridge which he had well protected with barbed wire to a depth of fully 20 yds 8 so it fell to our brigade to shift it him out of this which we eventually did & it was in a newly taken trench we were when I was hit. As I told home I got it in the head & back the latter being the worst, thanks to my old steel helmet it saved my head from destruction, resulting in just a short deep cut on the top of the nut which is now only very trivial. When hit three of us in all we were put in hd-qrs 9 dugout till night time when with three stretcher bearers we were making out to the Dressing Station & had not got far down the trench when a trench mortar bomb got among us & gave several a bad time my whack being a crack of the hand between the thumb 1 Albert was in a private hospital in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England 2 Carrie [Carolyn Mary Thomas, née White] was Albert s full sister 3 England 4 Albert rejoined the 25 th Battalion in northern France on Albert was wounded in action for the second time since he went to France in Fritz was a name given to German troops by the British and others in the first and second world wars; equivalent to Tommy as the British troops were called by German and other troops 7 The Bapaume front was the centre of heavy fighting in northern France and was occupied by allied forces on yards, just over 18 metres 9 headquarters

3 [p 2 is on back of p1 of letter] & finger but I also got off very lucky on this occasion, some got an awful doing. Anway we reached the D. Station 10 without further mishaps & after conveyance of trolly, stretcher & Amb. 11 Car we the Casualty Clearing Station where they operated on my back & took a big piece of steel out of it. Staying there for a few days I then got as far as Roueon 12 where I struck the same hospl but a different ward as in Nov. but the news spread & two Sisters & the Dr of that ward came up to see me very kind of them wasn t it. I put in 4 days I Roueon 12 being very stiff & sore when they got me ready for Blighty 13 where by train to Le Havre 14 & then boat to Sthampton 15 & then train again I eventually lobbed Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire, the birth place of Shakespeare. Well Carrie this is fine hospl being a Private one & no Militarism, 10 times in preference to Stourbridge 16, my last one. In France I was treated well but I had no appetite, plenty of chicken, & a glass of Port Wine for bed & it was very nice I can assure you. The food here is glorious, we only have five feeds a day & they are good ones too, you get a lovely dinner & plenty of it & Im now eating like a horse & Im pleased to say Im feeling first rate under the circumstances, though Im not able to be up yet I feel I would like to be but it wont be long every time I ask Sister about getting up she just says soon. There are some lovely meadows here by a window view & I can see the little lambs frisking about & I will be on for a bit of a game with them when up for I love animals. 10 Dressing station where wounded soldiers were treated 11 Ambulance 12 Roueon is a misspelling of the town Rouen, the historic capital of Normandy in northern France 13 Blighty is an English slang term for Britain and comes from the Hindustani word Bilayati, foreign land 14 Le Havre is a port at the mouth of the River Seine, north-western France 15 Sthampton [Southampton] is a major port on the south coast of England 16 In 1916 when he was first wounded Albert was sent to the 1 st Southern General Hospital in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, central England

4 Other allowances here are writing paper etc, three penny 17 stamps & two pretty P. Cards ^per week, I sent Mother my last two, also a photo of the H. Ship 18 which I came over in so you will get a them when the Pine again. Barbers also come & give us a shave every Thurs. & Sunday so we are right in the boom here. I will try & give you a bit of something else now but dont know how to start but I must say it is quite a long time since I had a letter from you, Jim 19 or Ina 20 but Im in hopes of getting a few while here. The home letters have come via. the Boyne 21 & I got them better the last was in dated Decr 17 th. & I was most delighted to get the good news of such a fine season you ve had & every thing seems first the Pine. George 22 informs me that he is keeping company with a young lady & that Norman 23 also was doing like-wise so I asked them by way of a favor to wait till we come home if they had not already fixed the date for the celebrations; which I have no doubt they will do. Fred 24 I am pleased to say was quite well & happy when I left & I hope he remains so. He was not with us for some time, as he with others were away practising for a raid & I fancy it or a general attack was to come off the night I left but of course have not heard. I had a letter from Uncle Joe s wife 25 yesterday & she informs me of the loss of a grand-child 26 one of cousin Fred s 27 boys a lad of 12 so it is a sad loss. They are looking forward to seeing me when out of here as also do the Scotch 28 relatives & I also am looking forward to having a look round again. The country ought to be looking well when I make the trip this time in the heart of Spring. 17 Coinage at the time 18 Hospital Ship [Warilda] which transported Albert and other wounded soldiers from Le Havre, France to Southampton, England 19 Jim [James Hay White] was Albert s full brother 20 Ina [Jemima Isabella White] was Albert s full sister who married Robert Nelson 21 Albert s mother Catherine White [née Reid] came from the Banff area in north-eastern Scotland where relatives still lived in 1917 in The Boyne, Portsoy, Scotland 22 George Stephen White was Albert s full brother 23 Norman [Arthur Norman White] was Albert s full brother and the youngest in the White family 24 Fred [Fredrick Alexander White] was Albert s half-brother who had also enlisted in the 25 th Battalion and was also fighting in northern France where Albert was located 25 Uncle Joe was Albert s father James s brother who lived in Nether Winchendon, Buckinghamshire England and his wife was Caroline, his second wife. His first wife Harriet died in The grand-child was Ernest Albert White, son of Fred White and his wife Esther Susannah, née Evans who were married in Guilsfield, Wales on 8 July Ernest was born Dec 1904 and died in March Uncle Joseph [brother of Albert s father James White] had a son Fred White, the eldest of 4 children of Joseph and Harriet White, his first wife. Fred was Albert s first cousin 28 The Scotch relatives were those on Albert s mother s side. His mother was Catherine Reid from Banff, northeastern Scotland

5 [p 4 is on back of p3 of letter] It is still very wintrified, snowing & raining & Sunshine all in few minutes but the Sun has more power now & the days are lengthening. A rumour got afloat here on Sunday that the Germans had landed a force in Eng. but I could not believe it, however it remained a rumour & I think that during the next three months Fritz 6 will have all the stouch he wants & I feel confident that Prussianism 29 will have its downfall by 6 mths. America 30 coming in will materially help us & the fact of old Sling Ho 31 the Chinese breaking off relations with them is far better to be with than against us. Glad to hear Ted 32 is doing so Petersen s 33 & I hope little Les 34. is still doing nicely & that you yourself are quite in the pink, also Ask Him 35 quite well. News from home tells me Fido 36 is well also his son Jackie 36, am curious to see Jackie. Will feel old man with son running around. Will now have to close assuring you that Im feeling real good & my back is doing nicely, I will close with best love to you all from XXX For little Les 34 Your loving brother, Albert. 29 Prussianism was the practice or policy of the Germans who were from the previously known area of Prussia [northern Germany] who advocated military action 30 America officially entered WW1 on 6 April The origin of this slang expression is unknown 32 Ted [Edward Hugh Thomas] was married to Carrie [Caroline Mary, née White], Albert s sister 33 Petersen s Plant Nursery, possibly at New Sandgate Road, Clayfield, Brisbane 34 His Nephew, sister Carrie s first child Les [Leslie], born Ask Him was Albert s dog which Carrie looked after when Albert enlisted 36 Fido was a small white dog [possibly a Pomeranian] which Albert s mother, Catherine White [née Reid] had on the White Family farm at North Pine. His son was called Jackie