Tag: tom

Dolly mixture

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Envelope addressed to Miss Crawshaw, 29 etc APO 13-12-14; passed by censor no. 1611 Lce Cpl Crawshaw, 1st Dorset Regt., British Expeditionary Force 13-12-14

Dear Till

I received your letter alright and was surprised to hear that Tom as to another 11 days’ leave he is doing alright. Well Till I am still in the pink and am getting on alright the weather out here is not up to much we are getting plenty of rain so you can guess what it is like in the trenches.

Something seemed to tell me that Dolly would either write to me or you let me have her address and I will drop her a PC if you write to her remember me to her. Yes I think it was good of her as you mentioned. Bert is doing alright what I can see of it when is he coming out here, he is a long time about it, and tell Horace he should put a sprint in it and come out here also. Remember me to old Tango and also Uncle, don’t he wish he was young enough to come back in the Navy I be he wishes he was back again.

How are you all getting on at home still merry and bright and how is Mother still knocking. Please to hear that you are sending me out a parcel, much in not much. No Till I think this is all the news except that I have heard from Muff and she is getting on alright. No I have not received the chocolates no I think this is all the news at present trusting you are in the best of health and also all at home. Tell Aunt I am writing to her tomorrow, don’t forget to write back soon.

I remain

Your loving Brother

Frank xx

PC franked 13 De 14 – censor 1611 (apparently by the name of E Rogers) to Miss Crawshaw, 29 etc

Dear Till,

Just received your letter and was surprised to hear Tom is still on leave, I bet he is going strong not much 3d a pint. Please to hear that you have heard from Dolly send me her address and I will drop her a few lines don’t forget to let me have it.

You want to tell Bert to hurry up and come out here its about time he was out here. Don’t. talk about rain we have had bags of it. Please to hear you are sending the parcel. Have heard from Muff and she is getting on alright. I am getting on alright and still in the pink. You will have to excuse letter this time as have not got time to write a letter. Remember me to all at home and ask Mattie if he got my letter.

No I must conclude trusting this letter finds you all at home in the best of health and I hope to hear from you all before long. Don’t forget D address.

I remain

Your loving Brother

Bid

So two letters were sent today to Mabel both with almost exactly the same content. It’s most likely that Frank received a letter from Mabel having just posted the first one and decided to send out a quick reply. But it could be that he completely forgot that he had written the first letter. Was Frank that below par? He’s so full of life in the letters and asks after all the family. He certainly doesn’t sound like a soldier suffering from depression or shell shock.

Speaking of family, it’s the first time he’s asked after his mother, Ada, since 17th September. She must be a postwoman as Frank uses the same “knocking” allusion for his Uncle Matt. In fact he doesn’t ask after his parents’ much in all the letters he’s sent home so far. I feel Frank looks up to his Aunt Carrie and Uncle Matt more than he does his own parents. I wonder why the Crawshaw family are so dysfunctional? However, as is often the way, the children seem pretty tight knit and the close bond between Mabel and Frank is undeniable.

Frank mentions Tom yet again. I still haven’t found anything else about him. Tom is on leave so he must have been in active service or a Territorial before the war begun. Frank has his usual moan about my Great Grandfather Bert still being stationed in England – and later, a lack of chocolate in the post. Frank also mentions Horace – we haven’t heard about him since August 1912. This could be one of their cousins, either Horace Yates (born 1903) or Roland Horace Spooner (born 1892). If Frank’s “Horace” is either of this pair, then it’s more likely the latter cousin as he’s the same age as Mabel and Frank. I can’t find any military records I can confirm are him, but Roland Horace Spooner survives the war and, I believe, married an Annie Mary Ashworth in 1924.

Tango appears once more. I’ve previously suggested that Tango is Lilian Webster. But the fact that Frank refers to Uncle straight afterwards indicates that she’s an Aunt and married and perhaps old (in Frank’s eyes at least). Lilian is only 25 and appears to be single. So my assumption seems to be wrong again. Muff must be another of the Webster clan. This needs more research and time I’m afraid, but I will return to this later on.

Frank asks after Dolly in both letters. We haven’t heard about Dolly since Frank “chucked her up” back in June. Frank appears to have had a letter from her. He mentions he had a feeling that she was going to write, which is either very prescient of him or something has made him think about girls other than Jessica. Has something gone on between Frank and Jessica?

I’ll return to the second letter, a postcard, tomorrow.

The Dorsets remained in billets for another day. Major Henry Ernest Walshe (1867-1947), CO of the South Staffordshire Regiment took over command of the Battalion.

 

Merry and bright

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PC to Miss Crawshaw, 29 Strathleven etc franked APO 15 De 14 – chage to Censor No 1611 dated 6-12-14– written in pencil

Dear Till

Just a few lines hoping you are in the best of health and still merry and bright I expect by this time Uncle Matt has received my letter by now. I had a letter from Muff and she is getting on alright and they all wish me the best of luck. The weather out here is very wet at present. How did you enjoy yourself along of Tom, have you heard from Jess lately? Remember me to all at home and also Tango. Now I think this is all the news at present hoping to hear from you soon.

Your loving Brother

Frank xx

6th December 1914

The Dorsets spent another day in billets.

Frank has written another letter home but this one is short  and doesn’t really go into much detail beyond asking after family members. The usual suspects are all there: Uncle Matt, Muff, Tom, Jess and Tango. The main detail to take away from this letter is Frank’s comment about the “very wet” weather. The Dorset war diary has become very short on information lately but the 5th Divisional dairy reports snow, sleet and rain on the 5th December turning to frost on the morning of the 6th.

Isn’t “merry and bright” a lovely phrase? From all the lovely things I’ve heard about my Great Grandmother, it certainly sums up her personality.

 

Stopping a Jack Johnson

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5th December 1914

The Dorsets remained in billets at Dranoutre for the day.

Going back to Frank’s letter from the 3rd, the mysterious and continuously ill Jess continues to torment us.

Jess has been ill but is getting on alright now have you heard from her lately I had two letters. Tell Aunt Mrs Coats old man is still with us, yes I would sooner be filling her scuttle and out here only a dream.

Frank mentions another Brixton man: A Mr Coats by the sound of it. I’ll have a look through the records when I get a chance.

We are still on the go and doing our bit to polish the Germans off, what does Albert think of it.

Searching through the family tree I can only come up with one possible Albert. He’s Frank’s cousin by Herbert Webster and his wife Mary. Albert is only 11 so I imagine the war would seem very exciting to him – anyone like Frank in my family would have had immediate hero status in my eyes at that age (and this age of course).

Have not heard or seen them chocolates yet, had a letter from Bert and have answered it said that he stopped the blue bag. I told him that was only half his luck, better than stopping a Jack Johnson.

Here’s another mention of my Great Grandfather, Carl Robert Debnam. He’s currently back in England with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was stationed at Fort Picklecombe in Cornwall in August 1914. I shall return to him later on. He still hasn’t sent Frank any chocolate.

His letter has a mysterious phrase in it: “stopped the blue bag”. The only explanation I can give to this (and I am probably missing some obvious military reference) is that Bert has mentioned that he got stung by a wasp or a bee. It fits Frank’s following reposte of “better than stopping a Jack Johnson”, which, as we all know now don’t we class, is a German high explosive shell. Why a wasp? Blue Bag was a make of laundry whitener which people used to treat bee and wasp stings. It’s an alkaline so would theoretically counter the acid in the sting. Bluing was a way of adding a blue tint to white laundry – a blue tint takes away any grey or yellow hue.  It was probably a throw away comment in Bert’s letter and Frank’s using it as a hook for his joke. Boom boom.

The more I read about Tom, the more I think he is connected to Aunt Carrie and Uncle Matt in some way. Whether he’s a relative or not remains to be seen. Tom has apparently been helping to make the Christmas Plum Duff “he said he was making some Duff am I right” so is he staying in the same house as Mabel? It would be easy to assume so. Tom is home on leave, so we can also assume that he’s in the Army or Navy already. We’ll come back to this at a later date.

The end of the letter mentions that the Dorsets have been spoken to by General Sir Smith-Dorrien. Is this a reference to his visit on the 22nd? Just what was said and why would it be in the newspapers?

British to the Backbone

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PC to Miss Crawshaw, 29 Strathleven franked APO 24 No 15 still censor 137 – ‘No stamps available’ written on top of address side. Card dates 23-11-14

Dear Till

Many thanks for your welcome letter, and how glad I was to receive the parcel, which was very good of you and Aunt to send me out. Will Till I am getting on alright and still in the pink, it is getting terrible cold out here and I have had a heavy fall of snow.

Tell Mattie I would sooner be getting 18 pence and in the warm not much tell him. I have not heard from Tom yet. Jess dropped me a few lines and said she had heard from you. Well Till we are still in the thick of it but we are holding our own and even more.

Well Till Xmas will soon be here and I expect we shall have a cold time of it. Now I will conclude and will write a letter later on Love to all Bid.

23rd November 1914

The Dorsets moved HQ and A Company during the day due to shellfire. But there’s no indication in any records I can find today of where they were or where they moved to.

It seems to me that the fighting has died down a little bit and this is back up by reports in today’s edition of The Daily Telegraph, however unreliable as it has been in the past. Whether the quiet period is due to the freezing weather is hard to gauge. It’s certainly implied in the Telegraph. The ferocity of the recent fighting is undoubted, however. The casualty list runs over two pages today.

The postcard from Frank really doesn’t tell us anything, other than confirm the cold weather reported elsewhere. He has received a parcel from home but it doesn’t even say what was in it. I wonder if it was that cake promised by his Aunt Caroline. Whether it contained Bovril or not is debatable but I can’t resist quoting their fabulous advert copy from page 5 of the Daily Telegraph.

The duty of everyone, whether in the firing line or at home. is to keep fit. This is no time for cheap substitutes. Remember

It must be Bovril.

Bovril is British to the Backbone.

 

 

Letters Like Buses

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Envelope date stamped 18 No 14 addressed to Miss Crawshaw, 29 Strathleven Road, in pencil as usual – letter inside dated 15.11.14

Dear Till

Many thanks for you welcome and interesting [and interesting repeated and crossed out] (excuse the double tap, for the Bhoys and having a joke and of course I am listening to them at the same time as writing to you) letter. I was pleased to hear from you, for I look forward to your letters every day. Well I was beginning to wonder when you was going to send the parcel, for you had mentioned it so often in your letters, although I knew you would send it sooner or later.

I have wrote to Tom sent him a PC yesterday. So Wallie as got a uniform and he is alright, I bet he fancies his luck. Have heard from Jess she is getting on alright, no the suit wasen’t for that but if this hadn’t have turned out, I expect it would have been the case sooner or later. Yes I expect the Lord Mayor’s Show was different to other years it was I believe a military affair so you couldn’t black your nose and see it, hard lines on (a?) Wartie (?), never mind better luck next year.

Yes I could just go some fried spuds nearly forgot what they are like roll on a long time. No I haven’t received those Cigarettes yet from him, what’s happened to him. Glad to hear that you are all in the pink at home and that Aunt is still patching up her Tatts (Totts?), remember me to Tango, give her my best regards and also to old Uncle. Tell her to look sharp and write for tell Aunt I have been expecting to hear from her and Uncle Matt.

Well Till we are having it perishing cold out here especially at night in the trenches it snowed for a while yesterday, so you can guess what it’s like out here. We are still making good progress although they are putting over shells as fast as they can and the villages and towns are on fire so you can guess what it is like, we have been mixed up with the London Scottish so you can guess where we are, that’s if you read the paper and see where they have been. There is a lot of Indian Troops out here and the Gurkhas are the Bhoys for they get mad at them and the Germans shake when they see the darkies with their knives in their hands coming after them they have no fear in them when they start.

You know I mentioned to you that I went to a wedding in Belfast, well I have had a letter from her to say that he is missing and that she has not heard from him she asked me if I could tell her anythink, I have wrote and told her all I know. You see Till it is like this when a big battle starts and our fellows get wounded by bullets or a bit of shell they are sometimes unable to move unless helped, and it is impossible to get to them and so there they have to stop until it gets dark or else you would very likely get hit yourself and when they are got some are in a terrible state and others are missing very likely captured by the enemy so you see how it is. The place is full of spies and one has to be very careful what you do and say, for they even get women to go round to find out things and your positions, so you can guess what it is like. One of our fellows has been awarded the French Legion of Honour and the day it got read out he got killed worse luck.

I am getting on alright up to yet but have got a nasty cold in the kidneys but thats only half ones (mes?) luck. I have not heard from Tom yet but hope to before long, Don’t forget to tell Muff to drop a few lines and ask her about the cake what she is going to send. Now I think this is all the news  this time, for I am just going to have a bit of Tommie, trusting this letter finds you merry and bright and hope to hear from you soon

I remain

Your loving Brother

Frank

xxxx

You wait all month for a letter and three turn up at once.

This is one of Frank’s chattiest letters yet. There’s a lovely burst of life in the opening paragraph where Frank is distracted by some nearby banter and writes interesting twice. The phrase “double tap”, used to denote a crossing out, is a strange one. Could it mean firing a gun twice? I can’t find out any other uses of the phrase, other than drumming and shooting.

Wallie, whom I am assuming is Frank’s cousin Walter Matthew Coulson Webster, was only 14 at this time so I am assuming he signed up for the reserves. He didn’t enter active service until his 18th birthday in 1918 when the war was nearly over. If Wallie isn’t Walter then is he connected to Tom somehow?

Mabel has asked about whether Frank’s suit is for a wedding. He responds quite philosophically about his situation and reveals that he was serious about this relationship and that marriage was the next step. I am more keen than ever to find out what happened to Jessica.

The Lord Mayor’s Show was, indeed, a military affair in 1914. You can watch the show on YouTube and I’ve embedded the first part below. I am not sure what Frank means by “couldn’t black your nose and see it”. Perhaps he thought that women weren’t allowed? Does “black your nose” mean camouflage yourself? You can clearly see men, women and children in the footage. The cryptic “Wartie” could possible be “wartime”. Again, I don’t have the original letters so it’s impossible to see if this is  a transcription error.

 

Those fried spuds sounded so lovely that I had some for my tea. I imagine poor old Frank’s diet has been pretty poor – he must be desperate for a decent meal. I think we can finally agree that Caroline Webster is indeed Tango. The whole paragraph is about her and Uncle Matt. Quite what she’s doing with potatoes in November is beyond me. Perhaps she’s preparing the patch for next year?

More about the letter tomorrow.

The Dorsets enjoyed a fairly quiet day engaged various activities around Hill 63. Major Fraser, the man next in line to command the Dorsets was away acting as the Brigade Transport Officer; although which brigade exactly isn’t immediately clear. I’m assuming the 11th Brigade. So Captain Harold Sutton Williams, a native New Zealander and hero of the Dorsets’ rearguard at Mons, stepped into the breach as CO for the time being. At 9.32pm 11th Brigade was informed by 4th Division HQ that the Dorsets were to be held in readiness to return to 5th Division at Bailleul.