Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family January 1915 - May 1915 - Part 7

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The great majority of the men have ^now learned their
lesson & will not buy anything from
the niggers now but they would not be advised
by me & had to learn their own lesson in the
beginning.
Sunday 7/3/14
My own sweet wife Here I am again. It
has been a windy disagreeable day but
the wind is dropping now & it is becoming
more bearable. We hope to leave here finally
on Tuesday or Wednesday at latest. There is
still no news whatever of our destination
I still hear same rumors - Africa &
Constantinople get the preference. But
never mind my darling sweetest love
I love you & you love me & if I am never
to return to you love I will still be
satisfied to win such love as you have
given me so pure & loyal & true. My
little angel wife God bless & keep you
My heart is very lonely & very loving to
you these days. I lay awake a long time
last night thinking of you & my wee
pets. Tell them their card was a great comfort
to me & I was pleased to get it from them. I
am enclosing the Bill for the Silks etc. I
suppose expect it was a wee bit extravagant darling
but I wanted my Kit to have some pretty
PTO

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frocks. You have not had many have
you dearie. I hope you will like them
I will save up good & hard so that I can
return the money to you for the sake of
the your Black Book. So forgive me my
darling - Say you forgive your old man - who
loves you so much & is thinking so much &
so often & often of you. Who thinks you are the
sweetest loyalist & truest & most perfect
little wife in all the world & the
tenderest & best little mum to he her bairnies
that ever there could be. So don't think of
black bookie dearie but just be happy because
Dida has tried to show his love for you Not
much of a way maybe Kit - but you know Dida doesn't
know much about showing love or that sort of thing
but he loves you good & true all the same
There is not a lot of room for any other in all the
world my own sweet pet. Be sure & tell Mr
Roberts the money arrived on Thursday
& thank him very much for sending
it along. I will be lovely delighted to get a letter from
you saying the goods arrived safely & that
you were pleased with them but you are not
to say you are pleased unless you really &
truely like them. You see I know that
dear old Kit & I just know if the thought
Go to Back of p4
[*2DRL/0513*]

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coming to me. Wasnt that very foolish now. But
you bewitched me you naughty little girl & made
me love you so now you must take the blame
If I stay long away from you you must have
some more taken at [[Scars?]] & send along to me.
I have still the one you gave me when I left & it
is a great comfort to me darling. I want nothing
as yet that you can send me. If I am away
after June you can send me another two
pairs of underclothing like the last you
got from Foys. It is lovely [[?]] They are fine for the bitterly
cold nights we get here & I dont feel them
too hot in the day time. Do you
know we had close on 15 hundred cases
of pneumonia here through the treacherous
climate. It is always pretty warm
during the day & the men throw off their thick
clothes. As soon as the sun goes down it
starts getting colder & colder & the men don't
put their clothes on again with the result
that they get chilled before they are aware of it
& the pneumonia they got as the result is a particularly
bad sort. I am glad to say the outbreak
of small pox that occurred has now been
finally squashed. Glancing back over what
I wrote last Tuesday I find that I have
repeated myself in some of the things. So please
Go to back of P 3

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don't think I am drunk. Please tell
Mrs Clarkson that her nephew is doing
well. He is a L/Corp & is spoken very
highly of by his officers so he will
in all probability get a lift up
one of these days.
I am enclosing in this a [[poem?]]
written by one of the men here a Mr.
Bean who wrote a lot of lies about
the bad behaviour of some of our men
in Cairo. It was only a very very
few out of the total number who played
up & by writing home as he did
a great many people will believe everyone
was playing up here. I believe "Truth" put
in some scandalous things in
about all the men. That blaguard
Norton ought to be hanged. I believe
Bear has since cabled correcting his
previous report. Some of the men
were very angry & wanted to catch
Mr Bean & tar & feather him. It is a great
pity it was ever sent.
I am very pleased with my boys
just now. I sent five of the real bad
ones away to be sent home & the others
are all doing really well. We have less
men in hospital than anyone else in
Go to rear P 2

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the Brigade & they are coming out daily.
In addition I think everyone is beginning
to recognize that the 7^th can always
be depended on. This will result
in us being pushed up to where the
fighting is hardest & although we may
lose more men than the others those who
ultimately come home will have the
greater praise. We have been first so far
in any thing doing & I should be very
pleased if we were the first in action
of the Australians. I feel sure the boys
will do well. We have done a lot of
shooting lately & they have all become
pretty good shots & will I think render
a very good account of themselves.
Now my very own sweet wife. I will
say goodby & God bless & keep you
& my darling bairnies all safe.
Millions of kisses & all my love to you &
them from Dida Donny
Go to Back of p 8

1 A
it would please me she would tell me
so whether she liked it or not. Such a
[[cheaty]] dear loving person she is. So you just
Mind & tell me the truth, the whole truth.
nothing but the truth like as if you were
in court.
I am sending you a panoramic photo of
the Camp. You must fit it together by the
pinholes. It is taken from the northern
end & you can see very little of our end which
is situated where you can see the dust rising
towards the extreme right hand picture which
has the two pyramids upon it. Mr
Vaughan took it & gave it to me. Mr Norbridge
might cut it so that the edges will ft
exactly & mount it for you or you could
get it done in town.
The middle picture shows the 3^rd Brigade in
the Foreground. They have all gone &
that part of the camp is all vacant
now. I am returning also the snap shots
Geordie & Lyn sent me. I was delighted
to get them but it is difficult to carry
these things about & I would not like to
destroy them. It was lovely to see your dear
sweet smiling face once more & know that
it had only left you a week month back. Come
close & I'll tell you a secret. I gave it a lick for

Mena Camp
Egypt
14/3/15
My darling wife,
Thank you just a million a thousand times
for your the big fat long letter which you finished
on the 9^th Feb. So you wonder what I would do if you
walked in to my tent & s'prised me. Well let me tell
you you'd be so squashed up & kissed that you'd be
just smotherated—thats what would happen to you
the first thing — afterwards I dont know. I expect you'd
be getting your old man into dreadful trouble for
not attending to his work. Aren't you a darling
to have saved enough to stratght straighten sort
up the old black book. I think the essence of all
good wives in the world must have been compressed
into a tabloid labeled Katie Campbell & presented
to me for a wife. Thats what I think of you darling
Well love we are still here. Some of the Army Service
Corps are leaving today & we hope to go shortly.
Some of the 3^rd Light Horse Brigade under Col
Hughes arrived here a couple of days ago
The Doctor is Rupert Downes of who was in
Ormond when I was there. The Victorian part
of the Brigade is not however expected for
a week or ten days yet. There are just odd
Victorians with those who have arrived. The
are mostly Queen West Australians I think.
I was delighted to hear all about the laddies trip
to the zoo zoo & Camp. Isn't he a wee pet. Fancy him

2
thinking so much about Dida me & he such a wee wee
poor laddie just two when I went away. I think
he must be wonderfully bright & sensible for a child
so young & the wee [[Dhusach??]]. It is lovely to hear of
them & know that only 4 weeks ago they were so well
& bright-. You are a darling to be so bright & cheery my
little sunshine girl. Surely you deserve that name
above all others - with your little sweet smile & your bright eyes
& cheery ways - a ray of sunshine seems to go with you
whenever you go to cheer & comfort all that you
come in contact with.
I was interested to hear about Winnie Clarkson I
an glad she is safe over her trouble. You will have
start again - pretty soon or all these [[spinsters?]] ^([[& xxxx xxx xxx?]]) will have
you beaten in spite of your start.
Never mind Kit. I am just delighted with myself for
finding you out & wedding you _ My sweet sweet love
just to shut my eyes & bring of all your sweetness
& goodness to me all the time is a great comfort &
happiness to me. o the all the tent is a great comfort
& happiness to me. My little loving darling wife when
I come back to you I must take you away for a
month & have a new honeymoon will you to
let you see how I love you. I will just be delighted
to do something for you to pay you back for all your love.
I will wait on you & make love to you all day long
& tell you how I love you & how I used to think about
you all the time, & what a comfort & a happiness the sure

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knowledge that I possessed your love was to me. It
is lovely know that there is a sweet little loving angel
wife waiting & watching & praying for you at home with her
two dear sweet bairnies. Oh my love I am happy when
I think of it all. The separation itself is nothing
compared with the Compensation for it all. My own
sweet darling pet. I am sorry to hear that Fogie
is not well. Perhaps that accounts for her rustiness
at times. I hope she will be better soon. Tell
Mr Dent to send in the Bill for the [[?]] Aigulettes
to you. I got the ones I have specially made & they
cost more than the Govt's allowance for them. Tell
him I prefer keep my own & pay him back what
the Govt allowed me for them. I will give you a million
kisses for squaring up the Black Book for me. Don't forget
Nana's debt when you have time to spare. I am so
glad everyone likes your wee little home. I am hoping in
next letter to hear whether you met "Liz". Perhaps
you will be able to tell me of there is anything in
the talk of an Engagement. Fancy poor little xx
Dhusach being afraid of the Elephant. She must
be like Baby & the wee laddie being so brave. Are they
still as fond of Uncle Jack as ever. Uncle Geordie
will feel put out in the cold, but perhaps they love all
their own people the same - What Did Rory say to
them. I hope you got the Brooch for little
Dhusach in time for her Birth day. Fancy her

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being four years old now. Will so0n be school
time for the dear wee mite. I wonder if she
will like it. I hope I am back before it is time for
her to Start. It is not so far round to the little
Kindergarten now is it. I was very glad to hear about
Bartys watch. I hope Mr Roddick is looking after her
mortgage - she is getting the interest for Capt [[Storly?]],
The men here were very indignant with
Capt Bean for writing home the way he
did about their behaviour. Judging from
accounts I have received of the behaviour of the
2nd Contingent in Melbourne there have been
nothing approaching this behaviour amongst
our men here. I sent six men home
because they would persist in getting drunk
& while drunk of course they fought everybody
& broke out of camp for more liquor etc.
But Katie you have no idea of this city
It has more people than Melbourne the
majority of whom have no morals at all as
far as I can see. There are streets full of
bad women All the places flats & you will
find magnificent looking buildings bigger than
the Equitable Buildings every floor of it occupied
by these women. As the rent decreases [[?]]
as you go higher so does the style of the
Rooms diminish & so does the ladies price