Letters from Harold Edward Elliott to his family January 1916 - June 1916 - Part 8

-5-
old xxx any more. I had a letter from Geoff M^cCrae
He is in the Isolation Hospital at Shubra near
where little xxx Marjory lives with her mum mother
so I wrote to Mrs Milne & told her & she will no
doubt call & see him. He is getting better but
is very weak. If I get to Cairo I must try &
see him. He is practically sure to be sent to
Australia for a 3 months rest
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xxxxx God bless & keep you always my
own darling. Millions of love & kisses for
you & the wee bairnies from Dida Don
For Post [[?]] see first page
2 DRL|0513
 

Tel el Kiber
24^th March 1916
My dearest Kit,
I am sending by this post
a Picture Book of Anzac for the wee
Laddie. I went up to Cairo last
nights with Major Layh & was put
through my initiation as a Mason.
Got me some lovely [[?]] & [[?]]
come I suppose. You can't tell Mr
Land & the people opposite [[?]]
Villa. I forgot their names if you see
them. While up in Cairo I bought
a few little things for you. There is a tiny
little silver breakfast set of salt cellar
Pepper Pot & Mustard pot with spoons for
the Salt & Mustard & a little tray to put
them on. ^This is for you darling Then there are three little silver
Pen or ash trays & a silver box for Baaby's
dressing table with my love. Then there is
a Silver Belt for the wee Dhusachs neck
when she grows old enough to wear
one. I hope you will all like them &
give me a [[?]] for them sometime.
Oh Katie do you know I got into
scandalous bother over that last letter
I wrote to General White. I think
he must have shown it to xxx
General Birdwood & got a whole
heap of nasty letters about my officers
& my complaints. I sat tight & said
nothing until last Wednesday
when the Prince of Wales came
along to see us. General
 

xxxxx

 

-2
White came along all right & I
just tackled him & I made him
own up that these men were no
good but finished up by saying I
should have to take them or leave
myself. I have a great good mind
to come straight home to you. I am
sick & tired of the whole thing. They
know that their men when they get
into action are likely to fairly
mess things up & get the men uselessly
slaughtered but they say we must
take them. Then of course if the 15th
Brigade makes a failure I'll have
to take the blame. It is a lovely
proof it [[??]]. Bye the way
it was lovely to hear what General
Walker told me about [[him?]] recommending
me for Lone Pine & then that
my name had been cut out in
[[?]] & others who were not even in
the fight at all substituted. He was
very indignant or said he was &
said never mind your turn will
come. I just expect it will
now when I sorted up General
White & Birdwood. But isn't it just
sickening. Well [[?]] love lady I don't
think there is much news. The Prince of
Wales who is about 22 I believe looks a
dear wee rosy cheeked boy about 15 or 16
to our ideas. He shook hands with
me & some of my officers & rode around
through the men. I cannot tell whether
he was really interested or not. I guess
 

though he was pretty tired of it
[[?]] before he was through. The only
questions he asked me were [[?]]
the Boxing Stadium we put up
on the Parade Ground & about
the Football
Well Katie dearie pet -not much
news. I suppose Jack & Bob Smith will
be nearly to France by now if that is
where they have gone as we believe to
be the case.
I hope you will receive all the
little silver things all right. They
are of pure silver the man said.
Very soft - Workmanship is high [[?]]
Natives. The women here wear
silver bangles on their ankles & they
are of soft silver often as thick as a
lead pencil & they just bend the
metal round the legs when they take
it off & put it on. A [[?]] in which
all the reckoning is done in Egypt
is only xxxxxx 2½^d so you need not
be alarmed at the size of the Bill.!
Tell me that you love me dearie
& that you will be glad to see me even
it old Birdwood passes me [[?]]
for rorting him up. As I have
done. Pretty good scheme to get
home don't you think to tell them
the truth occasionally. Hope now
darling eh from [[???]]
millions of [[?]] & loves to you &
the dear wee pets.
P.S. I opened this letter again to say that a
dear wee sweet letter came from you yesterday
just after I closed it. The wee letter is dated
 

Tel-el-[[?]
27th xxx
1916
Dearest Katie love.
I gave just received your No 1 &
No. 2 letters dated 13^th Feb & 20^th Feb xxxx so the wee
letter that I got the other day must have been No 3
although I did not notice the number on the back of it. Isn't it funny those little xxxx things calling
Mrs Gerrans "Little Katie'. It will be nice for
you and the wee pets to go over to her place
some day. She was of course Katie M^cDonald in
the old days. She did a lot of trouble like
you had after the Bairnies arrived didn't she.
About the photos. I liked the full face ones
without the cap best. If you have not
already done so send one to Mrs Edwards
& one to Mrs Buckley & one to Mrs Milne
If you cannot spare them you could
get Mr Sears to copy one of the photos
& strike off three for there as I promised
to send them one each.
Mrs Edwards address you will find
on top of her letter to me which I
enclosed with my last letter. Mrs
Buckley's address is Mrs P. Buckley,
Digwell Place, Welwyn, Herts England
& Mrs Milne's is Villa Pallache"
Shubra Cairo. All have been very good
to me indeed. Do I look as sad
 

2
as all that in my photo — Nonsense it is
just imagination I think. I am sad at
times for my boys who are gone & for my
dear wife & wee pets so far from me & I am
as grey [[??]] as my [[singlet?]] but I did not think
sadness was written on me as you say.
I didn't like the one with the cap much at
all neither did Mrs Buckley. I just wish
you could have your arms round me darling
it would cheer me up right good I am
[[?]] especially if you had the wee rogue
of a laddie & dear wee Dhusach to sit me
on each knee & where would dear Mum
sit. She'd have to take the laddie in her
lap & then sit a knee knee. I am glad my boys
speak well of me particularly as I have never
sought to be popular with them but "sort" them
up something scandalous if they do wrong
But they don't mind me a bit - because
 I try to be fair & just to them all, even the
ones I don't cannot like & I try to make all the officers
& Non Coms treat their men in the same
way & the men appreciate it. Now that
I am a Brigadier you won't hear any more stories of my swearing. There is no use denying
it. I did swear sometimes & it did good
Katie. I scared some most to death but
 

3
it made them pay attention to what I
said. I don't like it Katie a bit more than
you do but I do everything calculated to
make my boys do what I want. As a
Brigadier I don't come into personal contact
with the men themselves & I can only influence
them by twisting the tails of the Batt.
Commanders. It breaks my heart to see
the things that are allowed to go on by some
of these. I only wish I was Kitchener for a
bit. I'd have a lovely clearing out of
^some officers I know or a reformation hit no
one seems to have the strength or courage
to bundle them out. It is perfectly scandalous
the men who are permitted to take positions
here. It is really no wonder the Germans
win against such methods. The sweater
& Balaclava ^cap didn't come earie but I
have the balaclava that Nana sent
long ago & a woollen vest the Govt issued to
me so I am all right. Weren't you
a young [[?]] to sit home writing to Dida
when you might have gone to the Zoo with
the little pets. I am longing to know
how they ^children liked the Aquarium. I was
interested to hear of Lyn & Geordie. I
wonder will they be near Mrs Lyne's
 

4
place. I wonder will Jack Geordie arrive her before i
leave. It would be nice to see him again.