Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1914-1915 - Part 12

His Majesty's Service.
Mrs Reynolds
Albert Street
Sebastopol
Vic.
BASE RECORDS OFFICE,
VICTORIA BARRACKS, MELBOURNE.

[*here such find healthy chaps practically ruined as far as their employment
goes, one chap from Donald not so far from Ballarat has his rig left arm
off he was a mounted trooper he cannot follow up his professinon
returning. hope you are all well
Bert*]
40 Weymouth St
London
Sept 24^th 1915
Dear Mother
I am getting on all right here and am having a
splendid time. The Dr in charge of this place Mr Herring is a fine sort,
he does every thing possible to make us comfortable, most of the chaps here
have lost either a leg or an arm in the fighting in France & at Galipolli
The people over here are doing every thing possible to make the returned troops
comfortable and able to enjoy themselves, especially the Australian Ladies
over here, the lade Ladies at the Victoria Club are doing splendid work
for the overseas troops and no praise is to great for the splendid work
they are doing. Mrs Osborne asked the Victoria Club to send 6 Australians
round to her house on Sunday at 2-30 pm, I happened to be in the Club
at the time and was asked if I cared to go and I accepted the invitation
Well we were taken for an afternoon at Ranleigh that is the polo &
golf grounds where the King & Queen views the polo matches when the
season is on, there is a fine old mansion in the grounds x it was
built in the reign of George III. We had tea on the lawns under the
large plane trees the tea was served by waiters from the house wearing
long red coats of the olden style, with the old ivy & creeper covered
building & a few pea cocks strolling round the scene was typically
English. Mrs Osbourne kindly invited me to spend a few days with
them as she said I wanted looking after and feeding up, (well no doubt
I do) but the Ladies at the Club promised to send me to a place

and I could not make any other arrangements after they made
that offer. General Birdwood is a son in law to Mrs Osborne. Another
amusing thing occurred at the Club at on Sunday night I called
in for some supper & ordered bread & butter fruit salad & a cup of
cocoa tea, much to my amusement the lady instead of bringing
me tea brought cocoa instead and mind you made with milk,
she said that it would do me more good than tea. I came to this
place on Monday last and was made comfortable. Two of us were
taken out for a carriage ride ^on Tues morning the driver in the livery of a driver
that is the white breeches top boots and long coat and top hat
drove us up the mall to the palace where they were changing
guard we pulled up & watched the band march out after playing
a few selections, we then drove down the Mall again through
Trafalgar-square past St Pauls, Mansion house, Royal Exchange
Bank of England, and the mint. on to the Tower bridge which
we crossed and then drove back over it again we passed the
Tower of London. The famous Tower hill was pointed out to us also
the Monument. and we were shown the old hous'es of Holbourne
the remaining portion of old London, it was a most interesting
ride and the driver was a fine old sort. The fine buildings
here are spoilt by the smoke I was disappointed on seeing
the exterior of Westminster Abbey. Wed afternoon we were all
taken to the play "Hindell Wakes" at the Duke of Yorks theatre.
I am have a bad leg and cannot do much walking. Three of us were
taken out again yesterday in the carriage and were shown the Covent
Garden market, the Temple Bar. Smithfield meat market & again
over the Tower Bridge and where some of the bombs fell
on some buildings. I am getting stronger and I hope before long
I will be able to get back to the old unit again, I must say I am
thankfull that I am not knocked about like some of these poor fellows

Mrs H Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia
[*Sept 24^th 1915*]

40 Weymouth St
London
Oct 6^th 1915
Dear Mother
Just a few lines, you must excuse me for not
wh writing more, but I have not got the patience to sit
down and write long letters, dozens of times I have sat down
to write you an account of the 4 moun months that I put in
on Galipolli but put it off and put it off, but I will make
up my mind to write you a good long letter one of these days
before I leave here, I know you look forward to receiving
my letters especially the long ones, the same as I look
forward to getting yours letters I would give anything
for just a few lines from home, as none of my letters
have come along since I left the peninsula, a little
news of how things are out there in the Sunny South would
cheer one up, and remove that feeling of being all on your
own, and relying on the hospitality of strangers, the
people over here do everything in their power for the
welfare of the soldiers and we Australians have need to
be proud of the way the Australian Ladies have worked
over here for the benefit of the sick and wounded. Some
of us Australians were to go to Lady Robertson's to tea today
but it was posponed till Friday, we were there once before to

tea, she is the wife of an ex Govenor of Queensland. I
got an extension of a fortnight to my furlough, and will

be here till the 18^th I was down at the dentists
today, and have to go again to get my head
hauled off tomorrow, so if you see my name in
the casualty lists dont be surprised. I have to
get one out and have two stopped they are all
back teeth and will take some getting out.
Hope you are all well at home will close now
with love
Yours truly
Bert

Sebastopol
Sund Oct 31/15
Dear Bert
We were very pleased
to receive your 2 letters & 4 cards from
London on Oct 30^th from which I
was so glad to hear you are getting
better, also that you are having a
good time. It is to be hoped a few
more kind people like Mrs Osborne
will come along & treat our Gallant
Hero's, as you all deserve, as well as
need it, for I am quite sure it
would be well appreciated. If you
only had a mate or a friend it
would be much better to go about
with, especially in a place like London.
My boy it is marvelous that you
have got away without injury. I
really wish you could have had
your spell at home, although there
is no telling you may get it yet.
It is Sebas is not much to come back
too, its as dead as can be. things are
very bad all round I can't get a bit
of meat unless I send to town, over

the road is still closed, & Hopkins says he
has enough to do to serve his own
customers, & Carthew has give up this round
Things seem to be all upside down.
Loy Brimacombe has come home
from Camp again for a fortnight
he is in the Ballarat Camp, he has
never been right since he had
Meningitis, Florrie cays he looked bad
the day he came home.
I have not heard how Ellis is getting
on since he went into the Melb.
hospital to under go an operation
with his leg.
Well Bert this is all for the time
so you must excuse it if
uninteresting hoping you are
well & strong by the time this
reaches you with love from
All your loving
Mother

On his Majesty's Service.
RETURNED LETTER.
The enclosed letter, not having been delivered for the reason
assigned thereon, is now returned to the sender.
31.10.1915
Mrs Reynolds
Sebastopol
Vic

UNCLAIMED.
No 622
Pte H.V. Reynolds
1^st Aust Field Ambul
C/o Aust High Commissioner
London
S.W.
[*Not in any role*]