Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, April 1915 - December 1916 - Part 6

so cut up that he took some drink & he was
in such a state with his nerves that he was incapable
of commanding his men if there had been a counter
attack & so he was sent home. I think old
Gribble was very likely trying to bluff Katie
into offering him some more rent not to
sell out. You can be quite prepared for
him asking a rise soon if he hasn't done
So all already. I would like very much to see
the tree house. Katie is [[ ^was ]] so fond of it, but she seems [[ ^now ]]
to be getting out of being in love with it on account
of the Bairnies etc.. I expect if this blessed
old battle was a decent success I'd have got
something out of it in the way of a
decoration. The King is to come & see
us tomorrow. Ill tell you what I think
of him later. I feel a bit scared he may
remember what Symmo said to him about
me when he got his V.C. But I guess
I needn't be. It will have gone in one ear
& out the other. Well dear old Baaby no
more news Thanks millions & millions for
thinking of me Heaps of love & God bless you
always. Yours ever Dida   P.T.O. 
 

14/8/16
Have just come
back from seeing
the King & Prince
of Wales. They were
Very pleasant &
yarned about
our scrap & other
things. The little
Prince is not so
pink & white as in
Egypt. The King is
just a bit gray in some
of his whiskers 
 

France
26/8/16
Dear Baaby,
I got your teeny tiny sperick [[ ^little ]]
of a letter with Katies some days back.
I expect it is pretty hard for you to get
news but always tell me " 'bout the Kiddies ".
Do they still ask as they used to for a
story " 'bout Dida ". I wrote to Katie
just now but forgot to enclose some
photos. Miss Yvonne Fieux was a friend
of Madame Brunet who used to play the
piano for us sometimes. Miss Lucienne
Rooses is the young lady who took the
last photos I sent you. You will see
that as I told you Miss Brunet always
looks a bit sad. She has a nice complection
though & dresses very nicely when she goes
out & when she has a walk & brings out
her color she looks quite nice but
about the house does not always look
much : Her step mother is a nice jolly old
body nearly as fat as me I haven't seen their
Dida but believe he is very nice. The boy is only
lighter & a fine big fellow. The men about
here are quite different to the ordinary
dark little Frenchmen. Lots of them are 
 

quite fair & as you can tell by the names
are rather Flemish or Dutch by race than
French. I have seen quite a number of girls
with really carrotty hair. The men are
fine strapping fellows & look fine in
their light blue uniforms. I have just got
Eric Walker to transfer over from the
Light Horse & have sent his name on
for Commission. The poor chap is very
sad indeed. quite stern looking & never
a smile very different from Ken who
was always bright & cheery but Eric
will [[ ^should ]] make a splendid officer. I
only hope he will have better luck than
the other members of his family had.
You can write "Brig. Genl." to save pushing the
"Elliott" off the next letter. I think 'praps [[ ^{perhaps we} ]] maybe
in about a fortnight we may be taken out of the
trenches for a wee spell. Heaps of work
& not much spell these/days now that so many
men have been Killed & wounded. The others
have to try & do just the same work so
I hope they will hurry up with conscription
at home & send [[ ^out ]] some of those lazy spericks [[ loafers ]]
 

 out who are loafing at home. I like the
last lot of photos very well. The lad
looks a cheeky young rascal. Bye
the way when is Katie thinking of sending
Dhurach to school. The Police Man will
be chasing after mum as soon as the
wee lady is six. So she had better be got
ready to go to a Kinder garten or something
pretty soon. Poor little Dhurach her
troubles will be soon starting then. Perhaps
Katie could get a Miss [[ M^cFacharn ]] [[ ^governess ]] for
a year or two to teach her at home.
Don't let Katie be too saving. Mrs Duigan told
Col Duigan that Katie looked very delicate
& she was sure she could not carry on the
work of a Depot. Will you see that she
does not starve herself & all to save up for
Dida. She is a dear old saving lady isn’t
she, but it musn't go too far. The Government
are Keeping back 8/ a day of my pay now
ever since I was promoted to Col. & 7/6 a day before
that. The Brig Genl is only "skite" & doesn’t carry
any more pay. but the next rise to Major General
springs you up to ₤ 1200 a year & its very
little for the terrible responsibilities of the

position. It is all right to a man like
General M^cCay. He is very brave himself
but I don’t [[ ^hardly ]] think he values [[ ^sufficiently ]] the lives of 
one of his men 2^d or officers either.
I hear he & his wife didn’t get on at all well
I expect he was pretty hard to her. But I must
not complain. He has been very nice [[ ^good ]] to me always
from the Beginning. Even when I was in his
Brigade I think I got on with him better
than any of the others – mainly I think because
I kept stricter discipline amongst my
boys than the others.
I cannot make him out quite. Of 
course as Brigadier & particularly as
Divisional General he does not come
so closely in contact with the men as I do.
I have always believed in getting to Know as
many as possible of the men by name &
talking to them whenever I see them. I am
sure it helps me in judging them for promotion
& that is why so few of my officers turn out 
badly. I always feel very sad about [[ ^{any loss of} ]] my boys
& if I had been in M^cCays position would
have protested about having to attack such
a position without [[ ^better ]] supports Not that

[* it would have done much good I suppose because
the move was ordered from General Head Quarters but
 M^cCay was terribly anxious that it wouldn't [[ ^shouldnt ]] be stopped & made
no mention of the difficulties facing us. His one idea [[ ^{no doubt} ]] was to be [[ ⁱⁿ ]] the first
Australians to have a big fight in France & so get a big splash
[[ of the limelight ]] *]
 

in the papers. As a matter of fact
he was disappointed in this as all
the Newspaper reporters were down on
the Somme waiting for the big push at
Pozierees & so we hardly got any
notice at all although we lost as
many men & in a way scored quite
as big a success as the old 1^st Div.
but there were no fresh troops to
put in here whereas [[ ^down ]] there after the 1^st
Div was fought to exhaustion point they
pushed in the 2^nd Div who lost heavier
still & finally the 4^th Div. We were to have
followed but suffered too badly here to be
worth much there. I wrote some time
ago to Jacky boy but have had no answer
[[ Murdren ]] McKay one of my old boys at Carlton
was 2^nd in Command to Bob Smith & was killed
I am very sorry as he was a splendid fellow
like most of my old boys. Col Alf Jackson
rather disappointed me. He had a regular nervous
break up here & I had to get him sent away
before our big fight. Goodbye Baaby dear
& pogues for you & the Bairnies. now don’t
forget to tell me stories ‘bout the Bairns” next time
Love from Dida 
 

France
27/8/16
My dear Baaby,
Heaps of luck today for me. Big fat
letters from Mum & Baaby [[ ^you ]] with lots of stories
about the Bairnies" & one from Nana too. In your
letter you told me not to get the scarf & the
silk too but I'm not taking any notice of that
if I could have got both to cheer up the old lady
So you just explain exactly what the Scarf 
is like Whether it is fluffy like the [[ Scarf ]]
shawl I sent Katie last year or like the
Dhurach shawl or something quite different
Katie says she could buy it herself chea but
could she get it so cheap as I could get it
here or in Egypt. By here I mean in the
big towns not up where I am now. I didn't
make any change in the amount allotted to
Katie when I got my rise to Colonel. The
rise was 7/6 but the Govt Kept back 6^d & made
the Defferred pay 8/ a day so I draw 19/6 a
day now. It costs us a little more than
in Egypt for our messing expenses. Vegetables
& other things fruit etc are very dear here
Eggs are about 3/ a dozen & you can only
get margarine instead of butter [[ ^{which is not obtainable} ]] for love
or money. We get plenty of Jam for 
 

rations & live quite well. The ration meat
is very good. Frozen of course. I have
not seen or heard from Jacky boy yet but
I hear we are to get a spell soon & so are
they so we may have a chance of Visiting
each other. I think he must be all
right as I have not seen his name
in any casualty list & if he was looking
after the horses he would be pretty safe as
Ronald Dickon was doing for us. Both
he & Russell Goode were lucky. Russell
was in Hospital with a bad influenza or
something of the sort & so was not in the
big fight. He does not look too well
yet. Is the laddie as loving as ever to
poor old Henry Trowbridge  It looks as
if there are a good few "Fogeys" [[ ^people ]] in the 
world, always thinking someone is going
to cheat them. It is very hard on poor old
Henry to be sorted up like that. & I am glad the
wee people console him a bit. They must have
a lot of Katie & you in them to do that in
spite of their looks. Dont you go wishing
you could write like Mrs Roberts. You'll
"do me" as Capt Grills told me. I shall be 
 

delighted to have Scanlon & him back
again. Scanlon is a particularly
fine officer. He was very badly shot
up in the Krithia Charge & is lucky to be
alive. I hope he has better luck than
most of my old boys. Grillo had the
luck of a Chinaman & never got a scratch
either at the landing or later. He missed
Lone Pine though but was through Krithia
& Mieles Port fights. I dont think either
were quite as terrible as this one or the
19^th of July or the fighting at Pozieres
there will be many sad hearts in Australia
I am thinking. What do you think we shall
make of the wee Dhurach. I expect we won’t
want her ever to leave home but just “Hemp Mummie”
Does she still try to “Hemp Mummie”. [[ Will ]]
we send the wee lad to Duntroon to learn
to be a soldier properly & not just pick it
up like his Dida had to. We had some
splendid boys from Duntroon & such a lot have
been Killed. One of mine named Elliott
too was a particularly fine fellow over six
feet high. He might have been some sort 
of relative of ours because his people