Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, April 1915 - December 1916 - Part 3

station remembering that I have 4000 
men whose lives may depend on my
right judgment & coolness in a
critical time. At least I feel that I
shall do better than some at least but I
would do better than the best & I am
afraid. What a sharp little Rogue that 
little laddie must be to pick out the
"wed & brown". Mum will have to watch him
the next time she sees one of them about. What
an interest the dear little chap must take
in his old "Dida's" soldiers too to go & ask
a stranger. Tell him Dida was very pleased
with him. I wonder who it was? I wonder did mum
tell me about this in the letter that went astray. I wouldn't
have missed hearing about it for anything
And Mum had not told of the adventure
of the laddie's part & Lyns Bathing Costume
Poor wee chap - it was a shame to take him
out in the Street like that & you musn't
do it any more. I don't like people to make
fun of my wee laddie. I am delighted to hear
of my little lady Knitting too. Isn't she [[ ^very ]] wee
to Know how to Knit. How ever did she manage to
learn with her baby fingers. Give her a "Tish" from
Dida & tell her I'm sending the Pretty shall 
shawl for [[ ⁱⁿ ]] exchange for her Kind little thoughts 
 

for Dida & Jacky Boy. Tell mum not to worry
about me running myself short. On my
promotion I got 7/6 a day rise so with the
12/6 I got before it is ₤ 1 a day now &
my expenses are only a little more than as a
LtCol.  My promotion to Brigadier General
came along a few days ago dated right
back to 1^st March so all my grievances
on this head are straightened out but there
is no more rise of pay. Oh I forgot I don't
get quite ₤ 1 a day. Out of the 7/6 a day
6^d is Kept back deferred until after the War.
I think that is 8/ a day altogether now
they are saving up for me after the War. That must
be piling up a bit now. The old lady will be delighted
when she draws that at the end of the War & is able
to formally polish off the Old Trustee Coy Dept to
perhaps start taking a house with it. I hope you
will always be able to stop With us. We will all love you
for ever & ever you Know for all you have done & given
up because of your love for the wee pets & my dear
old lady. 
You won't think any more of me because I'm
a Brig General will you. I sorted my
Cousin Minnie because she said she
was more prouder of me being her cousin
because I was a Colonel & not a private
 

But I'm glad you are [[ ^all ]] pleased with the
promotion & I am pleased myself mainly
because I think my old lady will be pleased
& Nana & perhaps you I hope I shall be
able to continue to please you all. It will be
lovely to come home again to you all. If you
think the presents I I send are more than
the trifle you ask for - then Dear Baaby
take them as part of your wages from
Mum & me because you Know you
could be saving more with Mr Gilpin
than with us & so it is only just to
you. I may see some little thing to send
you for a present - "Backsheeh" as the
nigs here call it & our boys have picked it
up. Little black naked nigs chase you
when ever you go near a village & hold out
their hands & smile & say "Backsheeh"
Mister. half piastre - & if you give them
one they don't stop they just chase you
just the same & want. "Half Piastre" some
More & if you get off your horse about a
million of them rush up to you to hold it
& scramble & fight amongst themselves
like a lot of puppies over a bone. You would
laugh at the little rubbishes - but some of
them have such a bright merry smile that
 

 you can hardly help giving them something
for the sake of our own dear wee subhashes at
home. Now Baaby dear I haven't a scrap of
News to tell. I hear our boys have been
fighting in France & that there are about 2000
casualties to date but it is impossible
to get authentic news here. We shall be very
shortly on our way there so if you don't
get letters quite so regularly for a week
or two you will Know what is wrong
Probably I will be able to write to
Katie again once a perhaps time before leaving
Now thanking you once more & a million
times on top of that for your letter. I was
just lovely to get it with all the news of
the wee pets. Millions of love & pogues for
the old lady & the wee pets & for you & love to
Nana from Dida 
P.S. Dont forget to write as often as
ever you can & tell me all the yarns
you can remember about the wee pets
& their little pranks.

France
15/6/16
My dear Baaby,
I received quite a bundle
of letters from you this time. First quite
an old one dated 3^rd March with a message from
the dear wee Dhurach written all by her self
sending love to Dida. Tell her I was
delighted with her dear little message &
will look round & see if I can find something
nice to send her for return. It is queer the liking
the wee laddie has for Mr Trowbridge [[ but he is ? ]]
it appears [[ t his ]] first love Jacky Boy. That [[ ^letter ]] was not
a very log [[ ^long ]] one. But the next two dated the
15^th May & 25^th May [[ ^were ]] were nice fat ones & all just as
nice as ever they can be. You're a darling to write
so much to me as you do. I hope I'll be able to
reward you some day.  I like Mrs Roberts
too. I did not see Eric in Egypt at all & I
don't Know when I will see Jacky Boy again. Even
when they are only a few miles away it is very
difficult t get time off to see them any of them.
It was different in Gallipoli where we were
Not spread over anything like the Same
amount of country. Dhurach is a funny 
little image. Fancy her Knowing about
a "Glory Box". She'll be wanting to have a "boy"
 

next & a glory box of her own I suppose. I'snt
it queer. But you mustn't be sorry Baaby dear if
you don't have a man of your own. We will all love you for
ever & ever for your goodness to us all. I am glad the 
dear little laddie hasn't forgotten Jacky boy. He must
be a queer little image. Do you love him much Baaby dear
I am most dreadfully busy just now. We are in the
Trenches now & already quite a lot of my poor
boys have been hit & a good many Killed. It is very
sad but as Brigadier I dont feel it so much. I don't
get to Know the boys so well & miss them less in
consequence. War is a dreadful thing Baaby. The shells
here are worse than in Gallipoli. They seem to have more
violent explosives or something & many of the men who are hit
are simply blown to pieces in the most dreadful way.
I was interested to hear about Dot & her Bairnies. Mum
forgot to tell me about them. I have at present very
comfortable quarters to live in, a bed to sleep in but we are
quite [[ ? ]] shell fire & at any time our home should 
may go, should our friends the Enemy switch
on. Most of the houses round here are all
shot up to grim rags [[ ^ruins ]] & as a result all the
rumors are that the [[ four ]] still standing up are the 
homes of spies or sometimes that the German
Crown Prince stayed there once & in memory of it 
 

2
the Germans spare the place ever after. I have
my doubts. It will seem strange to me to go
back home & find the wee people nearly [[ ^{comparitively} ]] grown up.
It reminds us doesn't it that we are getting on ourselves
I am delighted that you liked the little silver
things dear Baaby. They are nothalf as nice as
you all deserve. I hope you will like the Dress
pieces. I hope the wee laddies book arrived all
right as it had some nice pictures of Anzac in
it. I ordered some copies of the "Anzac Book"
also for you. I hope it came along 
all right. I think it was one copy for Dhurach
& one for mum. Dont remember if I bespoke
one for you but you will be able to read one
of the others & I don't Know that it would be
worthwhile having one for yourself. The little
lady's cracker arrived all safe by this last mail.
It is beautifully done I think. She is a dear wee lady to
do something like that for Dida don't you think. Oh Jacky's
colors as Machine gun officer will be all red just
like mine [[ ^now ]] only diamond shaped instead of rectilineal
I was delighted with the photos of the wee pets. They
look lovely children healthy & strong. This is a
wondeful contr country. Everything is so fresh
& clean & green & bright. The wars is a Shame [[ PTO ]] 
 

--3--
Such lovely homes all ruined & destroyed
by shells & sometimes set on fire. And yet it
is wonderful. Many of these half ruined houses
are still enhabited by their poor people & even
their children & they all work in the fields except
for a strip about a mile wide on each side
of the Trenches. It makes you very sad to
see the poor little Kiddies playing about
& the shells flying over quite near them.
The Villages are practically all smashed to
pieces for two or three miles back particularly if they
have churches with towers in them. The Germans
fire away at them until they are quite wiped out
just tumbled masses of ruins. At almost
every cross road there are little shrines set up
by some pious person with a crucifix in them
Near the front lines these make excellent sentry boxes
& the is one quite near here which has been
riddled by shells but the actual figure of the
saviour has not been injured in the slightest
& the building still manages to stand upright
though tottering. The people are heartbroken at
the desruction that goes on but say they have nowhere
else to go & they may as well die there as go away
to starve & sacrifice all their property. Hence it 
 

is possible as it was not in Gallipoli to
live decently. There is as much [[ ^many ]] vegetabls
as you like to buy also eggs & even chickens
but these last are Very Very dear & you are
lucky if you can buy even an old hen for
any reasonable figure. I cannot write much
about ourselves by reason of the Censorship
So you will forgive me this time for an
uninteresting letter. 
Bye Baaby darling & God Bless you
Love & Kisses from Dida 
 

France
8/7/16
Dear Baaby
Big heap [[ ^Very ]] sad today
me. Just heard all
the letters you sent on the
22^nd May from Adelaide
have been drowned 
by a submarine & 
all mine that went
the end of May in the
Mongolia have been
drowned too. I only
hope the photos I had
sent out were not
drowned too but I
think they went earlier
Did I mention about 
Ronald Dickson's