Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, May 1917 - December 1917 - Part 10

he will be able to let me have it again
and I will send it out. It still
ought to arrive in time for the half
yearly payment in December. I hear
we are likely to have plenty of fighting
soon but don't know officially - & it may
only be the usual rumor.
31/8/17. I had to stop last night. It has
been raining all night & still looks
dull & threatening. This is all in
favor of the Bosches as the mud
hampers our movements dreadfully
I had a letter from Mrs Edwards who
said she had got a little note with a
sprig of wattle & two gum leaves from
you & also a letter from Violet. You are
a dear old lady very good to write & thank her. She is
far from well herself & I think she
worries a good deal over her boy. He came
in very unexpectedly a few nights ago to
see me. He was wounded in the fighting on
the Somme & has now rejoined his Battalion
& they have arrived in this District
after a short rest out of the line
He is looking very excellent well
indeed & I think has got
much fatter. Geordie is looking fairly
well but has got thinner again. He works
Very hard I think. He called to Lyn for 

some money a week or more ago but it
takes so long to come & he was told
that unless he takes leave now he will
miss his chance of going for a very long
time. When you next send me some
writing paper see if you can get a good
sheet of blotting paper & put with it
as the blotting paper we get over here now
is just awful & practically useless
for drying up any ink & just splashes
it about.
Tell the dear little people that Dida
is just delighted to hear how well
they are getting on at School
Geordie tells me there is no sign of a
Bairnie at Tocumwal yet. I am glad little
Dhusach likes her shawl. She is a dear wee pet
I am so glad you liked the blue silk too dearie
But you are such a darling. I 'specs you'd just
think it was lovely like the Dhusach because
Dida sent it -.
Charlie is still unfit for General
Service. I doubt if he will ever be much
good ^any more for outdoor work at any rate in
England or Europe. He has always got
rheumatism. He has a job at a
Place called Grantham which is only
about 20 miles from Boston where
Nellie lives. At Grantham there is a 

big camp where all the machine gunners in
the Army are trained including Australians.
There they have a lovely camp & comfortable
quarters but how foolish he was to have
got married in his then state of health.
From your description the Lowe's must have
a beautiful home. Lowe thoroughly deserves
all he has got as he has worked for it all
untiringly & is a very good chap. I am
sure Mrs Edwards never got any photos
of mother's father or brother at any time
I wonder how they were addressed. Oh
that Mrs Wills who wrote to you is a lady
who lives at Moorl "The Moorings" at some
place quite near Windsor (I forget its name
for the time -) but there is a famous racecourse
near it. They were Adelaide people
& young Scurry was staying with them
& Jack Geordie & I went down one Sunday
to see him. Mr Wells drove us over
to Windsor & because Mrs Wells is
a member of the Choir at the little
St George Chapel Church in Windsor ^Castle grounds we were
able to get the ^Kings Organist Sir Somebody Walter
Something Raleigh, I think, to take us all over the Chapel
of the Knights of the Garter there & see a
lot of the tombs of the English Kings buried
there. I think I told you all about
it at the time but the lady must

have got the wrong address from somebody
surely. Wasn't it a wonder you ever
got the letter at all
there was one of the 7^th officers named
Campbell staying with her later on
& by him when he was returning to
France she sent a lovely Knitted
Waistcoat with long sleeves just
the very thing for next winter if
it is like the last as it promises to be.
Col Marshall Col Stewart & Col Layh is in
England. His heart is still slightly
affected & he has been given an office job
at the base for another two months. As
the Drs say he will be all right if he
is careful about diet & exercise it is
probably a good thing from his wife's point
of view but - I would sooner be hit any time
than be gassed. It is a beastly thing &
sometimes men linger for year month with
bad lungs & eventually die from the effects.
However I think in Layhs case he got his
gas mask on quickly enough to prevent
lung effects.
There is a new sort of beastly gas the
Germans have now which is very treacherous
It cannot be seen like the other &
has only a slight smell of mustard yet
causes very great sickness & frequently 

causes pneumonia & if it ever penetrates
your clothes & causes big blisters on the skin
all over you if you are exposed to it
for any considerable period although
you get out your mask & save it
reaching your lungs. Its a beastly war
isnt it -. We are back quite near where the
little French lady who used to write to me
lives. I called there just after we got here.
Her father is being sent back for Home
Service very soon. Naturally they are
very delighted. Tell the dear wee people
that I read their little messages to me about
the Helmet & the Buckle & about themselves wanting
Dida back home. Tell them that the messages
were a great comfort to me.
Ickie Auntie Violet sent me a postcard photo of
her ^new Bairnie. I'snt Judith a dear little
thing. She reminds me very much of what
Violet Dhusach was when I left. - in fact I think the
photo of Judith is more like Dhusach as I
remember her than most of her own
photos. She says that her laddie is always
into mischief. So I suppose he & the our laddie
are alike under their skins even if they
dont look alike outside. Violet says
Dinde is like me & you say the our laddie is
like me - so there ought to be some resemblance
between them. I am so glad you
thought of giving the Brass Buckle that 

came with the Helmet to little Dhusach.
I had quite forgotten about it. But you always
do just what is right. I wouldn't like the dear
little lady to feel neglected. It has started to
pour with rain again now & everything
outside looks drenched & miserable - Except
that it is warm & not cold it would seem
to be much the same sort of weather as you
were having when you wrote this letter to me.
with the sun just peering out at 4 o'clock
nearly time for him to be in bed again. I wish I
could be out with you darling for awhile to
have the wee people round me & hear them
talk. Do you think they really knew the
photos or did they only guess it was me.
It seems wonderful that either of them
should remember anything about me.
Those photos seem to have pleased you real good so
dearie. I am so glad I had them taken for
you. They will help you & cheer you a bit like the
photos of the dear wee people & you help me
along. But its a weary world without you my
darlings. If I could just be with you for a week
or a day even what a time that would be. but
I fear it would be all the harder afterwards
I hear that that mad plan of the Govt. to
take the 7^th Div home has fallen through
as I thought it would. It never would
work at all. I had a note from Edith
Adamson. She says that they have had a

lot of heavy rain & frosts in Moe & she has suffered
a lot from Neuritis. I have seen nothing of
Jacky Boy. Does the laddie still talk of
Jacky Boy. I am sorry he is such a mischiefy rascal
but the more active they are in that way I expect
the better they will get on later. It shows that
their little brains & bodies are active & strong
& no doubt he will settle down when he
is a bit older. I am glad he is such a loving little
chap - that will help to keep him doing right.
I don't think he would do anything to make
mum really sad. I am glad he is able to
take his own part & if any one tries to be a
Kaiser Bill to him to sort them up himself.
I remember Corpl Head of B Coy very well.
He was a very fine boy & I was sorry he was
killed. His father I think was a Schoolmaster
& Colonel of the old Rangers. The boy you
speak of is much too young & I hope will
not be sent over to France. We have strict
orders now from General Birdwood not
on any account to allow boys under 19
to go into the firing line. The worst of it is
that these youngsters are so keen to go up
& they are very sad indeed when you
tell them they are not to go up. After
Genl Birdwood spoke to me I had a list
made of those under 19 & I found one little young
scamp only 16 & yet he had made out
at home that he was 18 years old

About moving to nearer the Malvern School I must
just leave it to Katie you. I think it can well
stand over until another 12 months but
I hope I shall be nearing home by then dear
It is just delightful that you do feel so
well. That's a joke about the boy's wanting to
have "Pompey" put on the Cloth. I wish they hadn't
chosen such a gawkish name for me but
I suppose there no chance of their business
changing it & so it will have to be borne.
Yet Genl Birdwood is very nice ^at times but somehow
I never felt full confidence in him. He sticks
to us I think more for his own sake than for
ours & I have never heard that he strongly
protested against us being sent at that Fromelles
job or the first Bullecourt attack & yet he
must have known in each case that the jobs
were hopeless. At the same time he may have
done so then overruled. It would then be his
place to do the job or attempt it as best
he could & say nothing. I can only rely on
my general impression of him. that is all
Thanks for the big strong envelopes. I got a
Church paper from Geoff McCraes father
xxxxxxxxxx which had in it a picture of the
Memorial Window put up for Geoff in
their Church. I will cut it out &
send so back to you. I shall be waiting
for your next letter with great impatience
to hear 1st if the photos for Baaby Belle & the others 

came along & also about Violet's new
Baby. Wi Reg Avery came to see me
yesterday. He is just back from the
School to which I sent him. He says
he thinks he did all right. I will
get a report later on. It is usually about
a week after they return that I get the
report about them. Hugh Morrisons eldest
brother Tom also called yesterday. He is with
one of the Battn in the 4^th Div & they have just come
out of the line. He is a very nice boy. He
married a girl over in West Australia
& lives in Perth. A very nice boy extremely
like his brother Andy who was killed but he
has a moustache. He was at the College in
Ballarat with the rest of us. He is only a
L/Corpl at present. but he knows a lot
of the officers & he will get on all right with
his education & ability. I think I told you
that Mrs Merrylees has heard of her brother
Syd Eyres (another old College boy) He is a prisoner
of war in Germany, but is [[?]],
I dont know of any more news to tell you
darling. The Bosches haven't worried us
with their bombs lately. Capt Street
my new Brigade Major is away on leave.
I wish he'd stop away. I much prefer
young Legge who learned a lot of Wieck's
ways of doing things. I have been at present &
I think I taught him a lesson when I

sacked him that time. He is a lot
different now & is doing good work.
for me.
I should have very much greater
confidence in him that I could
possibly have in Street. I dont know
why the latter is favoured at all I
can see nothing in him but there
you are
Now dear old sweet loving lady. - that is
just about all I can write this time
'cept to tell you again that you are just
the best & sweetest darling in all the world
& that your letters are just as sweet & loving
as you are. God bless & keep you my own
true darling wifelet.. Tell the dear wee people
that I think of them every night & look at
their photos such a lot & they always cheer
me up very much. Tell Dhusach that
I'd like her to write me a little letter
sometime when she is not too busy with her
lessons perhaps when she has a holiday & the
Laddie too if he is able to write yet by
himself. Tell him to try hard to write
nicely but not to be sad if he cannot
write as nicely as Violet Dhusach because Dida
cannot write as well as Mum
Bye dearie love & God bless & keep you
& the dear bairnies safe for me. Millions of
love & kisses from your very own Dida Don