Letters from Harold Edward Elliott to his family January 1916 - June 1916 - Part 11

there is just a gentle cool breeze from the West
not a xxt bit of dust & the air is beautiff
beautifully cool & fresh. There is a rumor
going about that we are all off to France in
about three weeks time & our place will
be taken by new Fresh troops from England
who are coming out but there is nothing official
about it.
We are going to have a great shivoo on ANZAC
Day on the 25^th April. Don’t Know what we are
going to do ^yet quite but there is a lot of gifts
from the Australian People coming out for
us. The people ^left back at the last place we were at are
having a big sports meeting. They can do so there
as the ground is fairly firm. Here it is loose
sand over your boot Tops everywhere so
any sports are an impossibility but all the
men who were onat ANZAC ^Gallipoli at all get a Red
Ribbon & all who were at the landing get a
Blue Ribbon as well. I’ll send mine home
for my dear wee pets ^little ones & they can wear one each
in ‘membrance of their old ‘Dida’. Tell me dear Kiddo 
you love me much as ev  [[text obscured by two layers of white tape]]
“Trismas” Don some day soon  I had a letter from Cousin       [* Omit *]
Minnie in England. She says everyone says the war is to be
over in August. Won’t that be lovely. Millions of love
& Kisses for you & the wee pets from your own Dida
Don 
 

Egypt
20/4/16
My dearest Katie,
Your dear loving letter
dated 13^th March reached me quite safe with
another letter enclosing a whole bundle of old
letters from a lot of people. Thank you very
much dear old girl for writing to all those people
to explain why I had not received their letters
You will be glad to Know that I am much
better than when I wrote the letter you then
answered. As a Brigadeir ^Commander while I have worries
of my own I am spared a great deal of the
petty trials a Battalion Commander has
to put up with & my temper is in
consequence very much improved. I haven’t
lost my temper with anyone except some
of the Staff Officers for quite a long time
Tell the dear wee laddie I am Very
pleased with him because he is so nice good
to poor old M^r Trowbridge. What do the wee
people call him  Can they say M^r Trowbridge
Geor Rory seemed from his letter to have
been very fond of our wee pets when he was
last down with you. I would like to see
the meeting of the four little Cousins when they
meet for the first time. I wonder if they
will quarrell at all. I have answered
Mrs Roberts letter at once. It was very nice 
 

I will try & answer the others as I can
but now I am away from the 7^th Bn & all
their Records it will be Very difficult for
me to trace these men ^about whom they inquire. Probably I will have
to write to Capt Bastin about them & get
his reply before I can write ^reply to them. I am
glad Mrs Black gave you her boy’s photo
He was a splendid boy Katie everyone in
the Regiment officers & men seemed to love him.
I got Baaby’s wee note telling me the £50 had
got as far as the Northcote Post Office all right
so I suppose you collected it right enough
There is not much news to tell you this
time dearie. Everything is going on quite
well & General M^cCay seems quite pleased
with the work of the Brigade in everything
we have attempted so far. I must state though
that with ^some of the Battalion Commanders I have
I view the thought of any large manoevres ^or Battle
with fear & trembling – 
However I am sure they will do their
best however bad that may be as they are ^at least
in fear & trembling of what I’ll say to them
afterwards if they dont.
Bye darling loving dear little sunshine lady
Millions of love & Kisses from your own Dida Don 
 

Egypt
25/4/16
My dearest Kit,
Your dear old letter dated
the 21^st March came along very nicely yesterday
Thank you. I am drefful ^very sorry you didn’t get
my letter. Cannot understand what happened
with regard to it at all especially when the
Photo of Major Layh reached you. Perhaps
our letters were delayed then as it was rumored
here they would be pending the move of the 1^st Aust
Div to France. It was queer your feeling so
sad & anxious about that time which was
when I was in trouble with General Birdwood
Your news about ickie Auntie ^Violet would have been
a complete surprise to me but for the fact of my
having received her wire a day or so previous
I am wondering what the wee pets thought of
her & what she though of them. She had
never seen Billy Booties ^The Laddie before had she.
Thanks for sending the photos off dearie
pet. I hope you didn’t think it a dreadful
bother my dear old love lady. I am glad you
were pleased ^to get with the £50 quidlets. M^r Roddick’s
letter didn’t ^hasn’t reached me yet.. There has been
a considerable scrap ^battle just a bit north
of us here. As I expected ^that Abdul got ^would get
annoyed because we stirred him up at 
 

2
Jif-Jaffa and tried to repay the                        [* tick symbol *]
compliment by carrying off one of
our outposts. He got it in the neck
but some Yeomanry, who went out after       [* tick symbol *]
him, like the gawks they ^fools some of them are are, got lost
or something & met Abdul when they
weren’t looking & got a jolly good
licking. So far as one can learn
they bolted for all they were worth & a lot were
captured. A Turk Aeroplane flew over our
lines here yesterday but didn’t drop any
Bombs. Further north however they did.
I hope We have sent out some of our Light Horsemen
to deal with him but I hope this won’t mean that they
will Keep us out here indefinitely. I wish you
meant it when you say the war will soon be over
My cousins in England write to say it will be over in
August. We, however heard on Gallipoli ^that it was
to be over last October & we have lost faith in the
prophets. The war may be over in August if we
give in to Germany but if we are going to
get to Berlin before we talk about peace
then I’m afraid my wee pets wont see me
for a long long time. It is nearly two years
now since I saw them. Now I don’t Know 
 

-3-
much about it but it is likely that the best
part of another year will be gone before they
see me unless of course I am invalided
I had some more bad luck on Sunday. I took my
officers out about 6 miles in front of our
position to see what it would look like to
Abdul if he came along. By doing this you can
sometimes form a good idea of the parts the
enemy would attack first. Well my big old
Black horse who is looking splendidly shiny
& glossy now began to get very hungry or
something & when I turned his head back to Camp
he became very restive pulling at the reins
& prancing about until I got annoyed &
let his head go thinking a couple of hundred
yards gallop on the Sand would settle him.
So he set sail for home ^at full speed. The ground is loose
sand interspersed with tussocks of course
rough grass. He tried to step ^jump over a tussock
but hit it with his foot & fell right over
sending me flying about 5 yards in front of
him. My helmet was crushed a bit but it saved
my head although I was a bit dazed. When
I got back to Camp as my shoulder felt pretty
sore I got a Doctor man to look at it & he
found my left Collar bone was broken 
 

-4-
not badly but just cracked through So I am
going about with my left hand strapped up
It is uncomfortable but I have no pain except
when I try to lie down & again when I try
to get up. Also as I have to lie & sleep all
the time on my back instead of on my side it
gets very uncomfortable at times. My Servant
has of course to help me to dress & cut my
food up for me but I can write as you see
I can ride all right as long as my horse
doesn’t have to trot or gallop. I can get
along at a walk & also my bay mare has
a nice easy canter that doesn’t hurt me but
to gallop or trot is too painful as it shakes
& jars me so much. It will only be bad ^for a
week or two I think so you neednt worry a
bit – already it is less sore than it was & today
is only Wednesday the 26/4/16. I started this yesterday
& wrote the first two pages. It was A N Z A C
day which we Kept as a holiday & the
men all got gifts from the people in Australia
– preserved fruit, ginger lollies etc. which
they appreciated very much indeed. Also all
of us who were on the Peninsula got remembrance
ribbons to wear on each anniversary. I was
one of the few left who got two ribbons. One a 
 

-5-
red one to show you were at the original
landing & Blue to show you were on the
Peninsula at some time or other. I will enclose
them for you to Keep for me. 
 

Egypt
27/4/16
My darling Kit,
I Have just received
a letter from Violet but none so far from
you. Violets address at present is
“The Howard” Princes Square London W. She
seems quite well. Nothing much in her
letter  She had been only 2 days in London &
liked it but condemned the British people
as dull & cold. Pretty sudden judgment
wasn’t it. Will you, when my Suit case
reaches you take out all the old clothes it
contained & put in my evening dress
Suit also my wedding dress – you Know
Frock Coat etc.  Also buy a leather Hat
box for my old Bell Topper. Also will you
go to A Bruley & Coy up Little Collins
Street – no Flinders Lane just near the
corner of Russell Street & tell them you
want a felt Soldier hat for me size
7. & it must have a puggaree put
on it. You remember to ones I used to
have before the new Khakee hatbands
came in. Now we are going back to the
old thing again & the ones they are giving
us here are not a bit of use at all.
So tell them I want a puggaree of the
old pattern with the green stripe in it 
 

-2-
Perhaps there is a good one on some of
my old hats at home  If so you could
get it fitted to a hat for me.
Then put that into the Box under the
Bell Topper. I think it will be all
right. . Then take them to Cooks
addressed to Brig Genl. H.E. Elliott
15^th Infantry Brigade 5^th Div A.I.F.
C/o Cooks London Office & tell their
London Office to advise me when they
arrive. Probably they will have my
Tin Trunk there also by then as I
am arranging for their Branch here to
send it on there  If Violet has
a house or rooms there perhaps I will
get her to claim them for me.
Now dearest pet ^my dear this silly tx old war
seems to be going on for years & years.
Could you leave your Bairnies, do you
think, to come over to London. I don’t
think you should bring the dear wee mites
& expose them to Zeps & Submarines & all
the other dangers. To only think of exposing
you to it makes me sick with anxiety &
it would be terrible if the Bairnies were there
too but since Violet is there I have been
longing more than ever for the chance of a sight