{"id":484,"date":"2014-09-01T19:46:38","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T18:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-249197-772718.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=484"},"modified":"2014-09-02T13:44:58","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T12:44:58","slug":"1-09-14-cant-get-cold-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/1-09-14-cant-get-cold-tea\/","title":{"rendered":"Can’t get any cold tea"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

French picture postcard of [place name deleted] Ancienne Abbaye de la Cour-\u00e0[aother name deleted]<\/h3>\n

Addressed to Mrs Webster, 29 Strethleven Rd, Acre Lane, Brixton, London, England. Date stamped APO 1 Sp 14 \u2013 passed by Censor No 137, and also stamped London Paid 14 Sp 14<\/h4>\n

Dear Aunt<\/p>\n

Just a few hurried lines to thank you for your welcome letter which I was pleased to receive. I am getting on alright and still in the pink can’t get any cold tea now but when I come back I shall have plenty. The weather here is very hot have not had much rain. Now I must conclude hoping to hear from you soon. I hope you are all in the pink.<\/p>\n

Frank<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1st September 1914<\/h3>\n

I think this is the only censored piece of post in this collection. As I don’t have the actual postcard I can’t be sure but I imagine this to be a picture of the Abbaye Notre Dame de Morienval<\/a>, through which the Dorsets had marched the previous day. I also think that this postcard was probably written the previous day too as today is a very busy one for Frank. Interestingly the Abbey\u00a0currently the site of a rose exhibition dedicated to David Austin<\/a>. This is a rare surviving\u00a0postcard to his Aunt Carrie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The language is full of cocksure optimism, typical of a lad in his early twenties. Frank complains that he can’t get any cold tea. He means beer, but I can’t find any contemporary accounts of the phrase in a quick search. I’ll come back to this as he uses it an awful lot. I imagine many of the\u00a0troops were experiencing Ice Cold in Alex<\/a> levels of thirst by this time.<\/p>\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n

<\/div>\r\n \r\n \r\n \n

 <\/p>\n

The retreat was going to continue but the orders were cancelled and the 15th Brigade was rushed to Duvy, a mile or so to the west of Cr\u00e9py-en-Valois. The 4th Division was being attacked to the north-west. The Dorsets and the Norfolks were then moved again up towards Rocquement. This order was cancelled before they reached their destination and they returned to Duvy.<\/p>\n

German cavalry was pushing patrols into the vicinity. British artillery on the hills around Cr\u00e9py-en-Valois started to duel with the German artillery ranged\u00a0against them. The Dorset\u00a0war diary reports shellfire at Duvy but it is friendly fire. The Brigade\u00a0then dropped back to Ormoy Villers, where they halted until 2pm.<\/p>\n

Gleichen eats a mixture of sardines, tomatoes and apples, washed down with chocolate, biscuits and warm water. He does love describing his food. It adds a lot of life to these rather dry military descriptions. The Brigade\u00a0then fell\u00a0back again, south to Nanteuil-le-<Haudouin, where the rest of the 5th Division had gathered. A, B and C Companies were put into outposts along the\u00a0north-western approaches to the town. D and Battalion HQ remained 1\/2 mile north of the town. It was a day of two forces\u00a0testing each other out rather than actual engagement. But they’d heard the guns to their north west throughout the day, and they knew that someone was catching it. The Germans had caught them up.<\/p>\n

The Dorsets had marched about 12 miles, including the operations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French picture postcard of [place name deleted] Ancienne Abbaye de la Cour-\u00e0[aother name deleted] Addressed to Mrs Webster, 29 Strethleven Rd, Acre Lane, Brixton, London, England. Date stamped APO 1 Sp 14 \u2013 passed by Censor No 137, and also stamped London Paid 14 Sp 14 Dear Aunt Just a few hurried lines to thank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Frank can't get any cold tea http:\/\/wp.me\/p4Wjz3-7O #dorsets #ww1 #100yearsagotoday #LivesOfWW1","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[30,56,55,8,57,58],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Wjz3-7O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1148,"url":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/23-11-1914-british-to-the-backbone\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":0},"title":"British to the Backbone","author":"ellimondo","date":"23rd November 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Letters"","block_context":{"text":"Letters","link":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":459,"url":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/29-08-14-postcard-edge\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":1},"title":"Postcard from the edge","author":"ellimondo","date":"29th August 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Postcard Addressed to Miss M Crawshaw, 29, Strathleven Road, Acre Lane, Brixton London, England \u2013 no address, but date stamped Army Post Office 28(?) August 1914 and stamped Passed by Censor No 137. Ordinary postcard with pencilled message above space for stamp \"Will pay the other end\" with another ink\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Letters"","block_context":{"text":"Letters","link":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mons retreat","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1420\/5121626718_fb6aa6e010_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":951,"url":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/24-10-1914-men-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":2},"title":"Men at work","author":"ellimondo","date":"24th October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"24th October 1914 Postcard to Miss M Crawshaw, 29 Strathleven Road - dated 26-10-14 but stamped 24 Oc 14 Dear\u00a0Till Just a PC to thank you for handkerchiefs which I was glad to get. We are still having a busy time of it and also plenty of work. As Aunt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Letters"","block_context":{"text":"Letters","link":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1064,"url":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/14-11-1914-postcards-edge-wood\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":3},"title":"Postcards from the edge (of a wood)","author":"ellimondo","date":"13th November 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"13th November 1914 13. Field Service Post Card to Miss Crawshaw, 29 Strathleven Road, date stamped 18 No 14 - message dated 13.11.14 Multiple choice card on which sender could delete inappropriate phrases and sign (Frank) and date. Undeleted message reads \u201cI am quite well. I have received your letter.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family history"","block_context":{"text":"Family history","link":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/category\/family-history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/McCormack.ashx_-249x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":819,"url":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/post-rest-aunt\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":4},"title":"Post rest aunt","author":"ellimondo","date":"6th October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family history"","block_context":{"text":"Family history","link":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/category\/family-history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":664,"url":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/17-09-14-squat-pencil-rests-snug-gun\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":5},"title":"The squat pen(cil) rests; snug as a gun.","author":"ellimondo","date":"17th September 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Envelope addressed to Miss M Crawshaw, 29 Strethleven Rd etc franked APO 17(?) Sep 14 and London 25 Sep 14 passed by Censor 137 Letter dated 17.8.14 - written in pencil Dear Till, Just a few lines in answer to your welcome letter which I thought was never coming and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Letters"","block_context":{"text":"Letters","link":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankcrawshaw.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}