Category: Letters

A train journey without a destination

ellimondo 1 Comment

7th October 1914

 

The Dorsets paraded at the ungodly hour of 3am and marched north through the Bois de Compiègne in order to preserve secrecy. Then began a day of complicated movements, confusion and delays. I’ll try to explain it as simply as I can without inducing sleep.

Such a large amount of Allied troops were moving along the line that it put tremendous strain on transport systems. The 15th Brigade was assigned four stations along the line. Compiègne, Le Meux, Longueil Ste Marie, and Pont Sainte Maxence. The Dorsets entrained at Compiègne.

The Dorsets still didn’t know where they were going. I think they were probably hoping to get far away from the German guns. But rather than a long train journey they were disappointed when they pulled into Abbeville, stopping briefly in Amiens after a journey littered with stops and delays.

Abbeville station was overflowing with arriving troops so they were sent back along the line to Pont Remy where the Railway Transport Officer immediately tried to send them back to Abbeville. By now the trainline was so snarled up with traffic that this proved impossible. I imagine senior officers were now at the end of their patience with trains and so the Battalion started to detrain.

 

A few notes from yesterday’s letters

Frank’s letter is very playful. He has a really cheeky sense of humour and clearly loves winding his sister up in a good natured way, like all brothers do. Today we’re looking at names in the letters.

Who is Ciss? Is this their sister, Doris? Does he mean to write “sis”? Frank assumes that Mabel is in touch with her so it could well be this simple explanation. Ciss would also be a contraction of Cissy? I cannot find anyone of that name in the immediate family.

Muff now turns out to definitely be someone else other than Caroline Webster. I thought this might be the case from the language in the last letter. Frank writes “Heard from old Muff she wrote me a letter from the old people and hopes I am alright and trusts to see me soon”. Can we assume that Muff is an older member of the family? And is she a Crawshaw? I’m not sure. The most obvious person to investigate first is the maternal grandmother, Phoebe Webster, née Oakley. She’s living in Tottenham in 1911 with her husband Matthew and youngest daughter Lilian. She would have been 72 by October 1914. Is the “old people” an old people’s home? Or could it be that the person is living with the old people. If this is the case then Muff could be Lillian Webster. She would have been 25 in October 1914. Geoff’s notes indicate that he knew an Auntie Muff in the 1930s, so it can’t be the grandmother, surely? I’ll do some more rummaging around Lillian Webster when I get more time.

“You and Aunt are still Tangoing it I would if I was there”. I wonder if this is a reference to the dance craze of the time? The tango was sweeping, or should I say striding, through the Capital on its way up from Paris. Commercially astute tea rooms and restaurants had started putting on Tango Teas, afternoon tea with a demonstration of the tango by a professional dance couple. The excellent Edwardian Promenade blog does a much better job of describing the tango phenomena than I will ever do.

Another name to track down is “stammering Sam”. I think this one is easier to solve. Frank follows this line with “You know that old saying follow in Fathers footsteps”. Their father’s full name is Frank Samuel Crawshaw. Was he also known by his second name? It wouldn’t be a surprise knowing this lot. We find out that Frank Senior probably had a stammer. It’s a bit cruel of Frank to tease his father’s affliction but it appears to be a genial comment, not a barbed one.

“Remember me to Wallie and thank him for his Bovril”. Wallie is Caroline and Matthew’s son, Walter Matthew Coulson Webster. Born in 1900, he’s only 14 at the time of this letter and was just starting work. We’ll hear more about Wallie in the future.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the strange goings-on at Number 60.

Post rest aunt

ellimondo 2 Comments

6th October 1914

from 9085 Lce Cpl F Crawshaw, 1st Dorset Rgt, 2nd Army Corps, War Office – 6 – 10 – 14

to Miss M Crawshaw, 29 Strathleven Rd, date stamped Army Base Post Office 10 Oc 14 – censor 137

Dear Mabel

Just a few lines to let you know that I have received your welcome letter and also parcel which I was ever so glad to get. I have got a pair of the socks on and they are alright. The cough tablets where just right you couldn’t have done better and also the chic only I would have just have had some Frys plane, but still you done your best and I am more than pleased with you. Have just got a cake from Ciss a seedie, I was surprised I can assure you thank her from me. I am writing to her today.

Heard from old Muff she wrote me a letter from the old people and hopes I am alright and trusts to see me soon, I was surprised to hear from them am dropping them a line or two. You and Aunt are still Tangoing it I would if I was there, I hope you are enjoying yourselves, I expect things are much better for Aunt now that Mattie is knocking at the door good luck to him and I hope he sticks it.

Glad to see you are still busy at Stewarts and still mucking along of Stammering Sam. You know that old saying follow in Fathers footsteps its like old May her mar (Man?) was the same.

I am getting on alright and in the pink, Till I am sorry I am unable to send you any money for sending me the parcels but I will make it up to you later on lets hope so. When you next write Till could you manage to send me two red handkerchiefs as I can’t get any and thats what you need on this gaff I can assure you.

I met the other day a fellow who lives at Brixton as well I knew him when we were kids he is full Corporal and he is the Divisional Post Corporal, we had an interesting chat.

Now I must conclude hoping this letter finds you in the best of health and still merry and bright. Did Uncle Matt get his P card he should have done. I have just heard from Jess, she mentioned that she had heard from you several times and also mentions (C?) Roll on Brixton. Now that all trusting to hear from you soon with love to all from Fruity(?_)

I remain

Your loving Brother
xxxx Bid x

Also in the same envelope – same date etc

Dear Aunt

Just a few lines to thank you and Uncle Matt for the kind thoughts as regards sending me that parcel. I was very pleased to receive it and when I found the B paste I thought I was on Furlough at 29 having a afternoon cup of tea a what. Yes Aunt I am very pleased with you, and I shall never forget it either. I am getting on alright and still mucking in along of the Bhoys

Well how are you all, I am glad to see that you are all in the best of health and now that Wallies is working and Uncle Matt still taking out of the knocker you are getting on alright you deserve a little luck mate if any one does ad I hope Uncle Matt will stick it remember me to Wallie and thank him for his Bovril tell him I hope to be able to ask him what up with his hand shortly.

Have heard from 60 and also had a cake from Ciss not so bad mate. No cold tea out here or little drops of lizzie (?), could do with a drop of cold tea now.

Well thats all this time except I was pleased to get Matties letter it was a good one. Now I think this is all the news this time trusting to hear from you soon Aunt sometimes letter take longer than others you can see that by the date. So it is with fondest love to all from your old mucking in chum

I remain
your loving Nephew
BID

So you get two letters for the price of one today. I’ve broken up the stream of consciousness to make it easier for you to read.

Frank takes advantage of their little break and writes home, happily replete with paste, chocolate and cake. The Brigade had received heavy post the previous day so I suspect Frank is responding to various letters and parcels he received. He was very active in sending letters home.

I am going to split these over the week and discuss their contents in more detail as I did with the last letter.

 

At 2:45pm their rest came to an end. Orders were received to march to Béthisy-Saint-Pierre, from there they went on to billets in Verberie, four miles on. The Dorsets’ diary complains that the 14th Brigade held them up for three hours during the second stage of the march. They had marched another ten miles to the west.

At 11:30pm they received further orders that they were to entrain at Compiègne, another ten miles to the north, by 7am the following morning.

On the (Ed.)

ellimondo Leave a comment

Don’t forget to send out the Sunday paper every week all of it and don’t leave out the sporting part me old dear.

Read the whole letter from the 17th September.

22nd September 1914

The Dorsets were put on a state of alert for a return to Missy that evening but it was cancelled at the last moment. Colonel Bols, Captain Fraser and Captain Kitchin went to Missy during the day to reconnoitre. The rest of the Battalion spent the day in or near Jury.

Newspapers had gone through a revolution with the publication of the Daily Mail in 1896. New technologies such as linotype, folding machines and photographic reproduction transformed the mainstream newspaper from densely set, narrow-columned broadsheets to a tabloid layout with prominent headlines and photography. They also had the brilliant idea of putting the news on the front page.

Newspapers began to appear on Sunday with mixed success throughout the Nineteenth Century. While the News of the World thrived with its tales of scandal and murder, others like the Sunday Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday failed within a few weeks of their release in 1899.

The Observer was the only established Sunday newspaper but remained a rather Church-pleasing sober publication. Much more exciting to a young man like Frank would have been the Weekly Dispatch, a Sunday photography-led newspaper.

Sport, at the time, was dominated by football and cricket. Popular football teams in London were pretty much the same as they are today. Frank had a wide choice of teams to choose from. Chelsea and Tottenham were in the only London clubs in the top tiered First Division, while Arsenal, Fulham and Clapton Orient (later Leyton Orient) were in the Second Division. West Ham, Crystal Palace and Millwall were in the Southern Football League First Division. Frank was born a stone’s throw away from Crystal Palace, the home of the F.A. Cup final up to 1914.

1914/15 season was not a happy one for London clubs in the First Division. Chelsea finished second from bottom and Tottenham were relegated, replaced by, of all clubs, Arsenal.

Footballers in 1914 enjoyed the notoriety they do today. The 1914/1915 season was famous for a match fixing scandal in which four Liverpool and three Manchester United players were banned for life. Footballers were also accused of shirking joining the army, while the clubs were accused of bribing the players away from their military responsibilities.

After a sombre F.A. Cup final on 24th April in 1915, Lord Derby told the players: “You have played with one another and against one another for the Cup. It is now the duty of everyone to join with each other and play a sterner game for England.” There’s an excellent article about the 1914/15 football season on When Saturday Comes.

Football’s refusal to suspend the league during the first year of the war earned it a reputation as an cowardly and unpatriotic game. Subsequently its popularity as a Public School game plummeted.

Rugby Union was becoming the main sport for the upper classes. Indeed, the Telegraph lists the following article under the heading Football on the 17th September 1914.

Practically all the playing members of the famous Harlequins Rugby Club are on active service, and the captain, A. G. Stoop, has accepted a commission in the West Surrey Regiment.

Nun the wiser

ellimondo 1 Comment

Pleased to hear about Doris, I should love to see her for its such a long time since she saw her Biddy give her my love and I hope to see her soon as she left that school.

Read the whole letter from the 17th September.

21st September 1914

When I first saw the 1911 census result for Doris Crawshaw it was something of a surprise to find that she was at boarding school in Gloucestershire. The Catholic Who’s Who and Year Book 1908 advertises the St Rose’s Dominican Convent Boarding School for  Young Ladies.

This Convent occupies one of the most convenient and health situations in the lovely neighbourhood of Stroud. The School apartments are excellently ventilated, effectually heated by hot water, and well provided with everything conducive to the health, comfort, and convenience of the pupils.

Pupils are prepared for the University Local Examinations, Associated Board and London College of Music, etc. For prospectus and other particulars, apply to the Rev. Mother Prioress.

How was Doris, a child of seemingly working class parents, at a boarding school on the other side of the country? It’s also the first reference to Roman Catholicism I’ve found in the family tree. It’s a mystery to which I have no answer at this time. One of the most compelling answers I can think of is that the grandparents intervened when Frank Senior and Ada separated. Matthew Webster (1839-1921) left £408 2s 4d to his sons when he dies in 1921. This is worth about £9000 in today’s money, so he wasn’t poor by any stretch of the imagination.

The Dorsets enjoyed a rest day in billets in Jury. At 5.30pm C and D Companies were ordered to review trenches. At 7.45pm the rest of the battalion was ordered to move to “Rapreux farm”, where they bivouacked and prepared to move back into Missy the next morning. At 11:30pm the entire battalion regrouped and retired to billets. Whether this was in Rapreux farm or back in Jury the diary neglects to say. There’s a terrain de Ru Preux road near the pontoon bridge so I’m assuming the farm was originally near this location and actually called Ru Preux.

D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

ellimondo 1 Comment

Pleased to hear about Doris, I should love to see her for its such a long time since she saw her Biddy give her my love and I hope to see her soon as she left that school. Am surprised to hear about the old man getting married again, but I expected to see that come off and he is getting young again, have you seen her, who told you about it, good old mother (????thises) is that what she said you wasn’t to see Doris you tell Mrs C to what a bit don’t bolt her food, Ginger can please herself who she goes and sees, she must be nearly fourteen now.

Read the whole letter from the 17th September.

20th September 1914

This is something of a revelation. I think we get snippets of family discord in previous letters so it’s not a total surprise. Frank’s father has, or is, getting married again. Frank’s parents, Frank and Ada, were living together in 1911. Something then went wrong between them. By 1914 Ada and Mabel are living with Walter “Mattie” Webster and his wife Caroline back in Brixton.

Frank Senior may have possibly already got married again in April 1914 to a Gertrude Watson (as a Frank Crawshaw got married in Islington at that time) but I haven’t been able to prove this is him yet. I need to order the marriage certificate.

Divorce in 1914 was supposedly uncommon and, socially, it was frowned upon. In the first decade of the 20th century, there was just one divorce for every 450 marriages. I took the following statistics from the Guardian’s excellent data blog: 2600 couples got divorced between 1911 and 1914. 1397 divorces were instigated by the man and 1203 by the woman. Incidentally this figure rose to an all-time-high of 165,018 divorces in 1993.

A recent Parliamentary article on divorce cites that only men could instigate divorce before 1923 but I can’t understand how this would be when women are listed as the petitioners in 1911-1914. This is also disproved by this story in the Nottingham Evening News in 1914. It makes for depressing reading so be warned. Weirdly, my other great great grand parents, Reginald and Hannah Elliman, were also getting divorced around this time. For something that was supposedly very rare at the time, especially in the working classes, there was a lot of it about.

I love Frank’s spelling of thesis. He is defending Ginger (Doris), their younger sister as she’s obviously seen her father and her mother does not like this at all. Doris was actually 12 – she was born in January 1902. The school he mentions unearths another Crawshaw family mystery. I’ve found Doris in the 1911 Census and she’s boarding at a school in Stroud, Gloucestershire. More of this tomorrow.

The Dorsets spent the day digging trenches between Le Pavillon Farm and Sermoise. At 7.30pm they were ordered to assemble at Sermoise, but the order was immediately cancelled and they returned to their billets in Jury.