Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, January 1917 - April 1919 - Part 16

offended with Fogy & sorted her in
a letter I sent her. I shall be
“mad” with her for ever I Know
but I am just disgusted with
her wit Wrote & told her that
Fogey was always saying the nastiest
possible things about Jack to Lyn to
make her miserable. You need
not say anything about it but I may
try to go into Parliament for
Ballarat when I come back. I have
received good encouragement about
it. I would never have thought
of it but for the fact that it is
represented by a waster named
M^cGrath who came over with
one of the contingents. He stayed
for months into in England doing all
he could to cause discontent
amongst the men whilst any
fighting was going on. They just
when things were at a standstill
in the winter he came across
but never got ^served a anywhere near
the front line, then when
fighting Started again he hopped
off back to Australia. Whilst he
was in England he did everything
possible to block Conscription
coming off sending out Circulars 
 

and so on all round the Country
I regard it is a disgrace to
Ballarat that she should be
represented in the National Parliament
by such a man. I did meet
R. D. – I am sure I told you about
meeting him in London. I did not
Know him from Adam but he found
me out & came to see me. He wanted
a job in the Motor Transport. I
gave him a letter which I 
hope gained him the job but he
never wrote to me or let me know
if it was any good to him.
at all. I didn’t like him
very much. I don’t think somehow
he was very Keen on the front line
work though he did as you
say volunteer which is more than
some of the other blighters did.
I haven’t had a letter from
Jessie Campbell for a Very long
time.
I did have a letter from John
Campbell though recently.
He is a very decent sort of
Chap. Bye Baaby dear &
heaps of pogues
Yours ever
Dida 
 

Dourlers
France
15/12/18
My dear Baaby,
Many thanks for
your letter with the good writing
in it. Tell Gagy ^Dhusach you do credit
to her as a teacher of writing. I
expect she’ll be wanting to give
her Dida a lesson in writing too
one of these days. I am glad you
like the little new house Baaby
dear. It sounds a nice little
place. I wonder if I will see you
all there some time. I am getting
Scandalous very fat lately & not
feeling very well because of that.
We have comparatively little to
do just now & lots of time to
worry. I believe we are to be Kept
hanging about here for months
until peace is formally made &
if so I think I will Volunteer
for service in Russia or somewhere
else. I am fed up of Serving under
Birdwood. He has never given me
a chance. Genl M^cCay. Genl Hobbs
& Genl Monash have commended
me in most flattering terms.
Monash just before he went to his
New job in London said the work
of my Brigade under his Command
had been Brilliance & our little
Sperrik General Hobbs more than once said 
 

on parade in front of all the men
that he considered there was no
better general in Europe. Of course
one has to allow for the fact that he is a
pretty skiting gushing sort of person
but still the fact remains.. I
was sorry to hear about the poor little
laddie being unconscious in the
road with no one by him. What a
young limmer rascal the boy who pushed
him must have been & then to run
away & leave him lying there like
that. You must have got a fright.
Nana was Very lucky to get her
Ullapool Post Cards wasnt she
after the Card envelope had burst open
too. Old Gene Parr must be a
good old Sort to promise to be
Godfather to wee Jacquelyn. I
hope the wee pet she was looking her
best for the Christening all right.
The French people are Very Kind
There is a dear old lady here at
the house I am living in. Her
husband was the Doctor and all
the other doctors were away & he
had ^in consequence to look after a huge district
all by himself & the poor things
had no money to pay him & His
eldest son was a prisoner in Germany 
 

He went on working literally night
& day. Then just after the Germans
were driven out he gave up
& collapsed. He died just a couple
of days before after his son got free. The
latter is a Solicitor by profession
but he was called up for the Army
& taken prisoner so he has nothing
The other boy was at College at
Lille. When the war broke out
all the Colleges were closed. This
boy is now seventeen & has had no
education since & no Colleges
have started since the Armistice
so the poor old body is very troubled
to Know what to do with him
He was to have studied for a
Doctor but he has lost so much time
& they haven’t much money now. It
is very hard – but she is such a
dear old motherly lady. & always
tries to be bright & cheerful.
with it all. She was telling
me that her husband used to go
nearly every year to Medical
Associations Meetings mostly at
Paris but sometimes at London
& Brussels & he used to take her
along & they used to have a
lovely time there meeting all 
 

the other doctors & their ladies
She seems to have been great
pals with her old man. He was
ten years older than she was. She
is forty nine now. I begin to
think I am getting Very old
myself Fancy Only another 10 years
& I’ll be fifty which used to be
seem quite old to me. The 2^nd
Division are away South of us
somewhere so I am not at all
Certain of seeing Capt Drummond
but if I do will give him your
Message.
This is a silly old place Baaby.
The sun goes down about 3 pm
& you have to light the candles
about half an hour or so afterwards
Believe me Australia isnt half a
bad place or would be if we could
get rid of Mannix & a few blighters
of the same Kidney. The Prince
of Wales has come to live at
the Corps Head Quarters now
so little General Hobbs will be
in an ecstasy of delight all
the time. He is great good at Kowtowing
to the Great & so succeeds with
these Britishers. But he was
born a Britisher so of course
he Knows how they like to be 
 

treated. Well Baaby dear I
ex’pect this is not much of
a letter but as the French
Say as their Stock excuse
“Que voulez vous c’est la Guerre”
They always say that if you
grumble about anything that
goes wrong – It is very had to
translate – something like
“What would you have – it is wartime”.
but means more.
“How can I help it – its war time”
or something of that sort.
There is a very nice fine Chateau
or manoror house close beside this
Village. It belongs to some French Count
or Marquis. I am to go to live there
soon. At present an English General
Jackson is there. He was supposed to
move out & let me in a week ago
but all some of these British ^officers are Very
selfish & try to hang on to a good
place just as long as ever they
can no matter who suffers. As
a result a lot of our officers have to
sleep on the floor instead of in beds.
But we will get them shifted
I hope before Xmas as we want to
have a reunion of all the officers
of the Brigade that we can
[* pick up. Well Bye Baaby dear
Heaps of Pogues from Dida *] 
 

Cross Park
Moreton - Hampstead
Devon
19/2/19
My dear Baaby,
Many thanks for your letter
about the little people. I am glad
you didn’t feel it your duty to “gush”
me as I am very worried about
everything. I had a letter from
M^r Begg. He tries to put the best side
forward & suggest that things can
be eventually arranged for but I
fear there will be great trouble on
my arrival home. Katie didn’t
mention anything about “Nervous
Strain” in connection with little Dhusach
& I am wondering what it was
about. I have been suffering greatly
from it myself of late & I am
not pleased with it at all & I
would not like the poor little kid
to go through the same sort of thing.
The greatest trouble is constantly
waking up at night so in the day
time one is constantly dull & sleepy
& tired & generally a good for
nothing feeling. I have tried
sitting quietly, reading and
walking out until I am tired
out but it does not seem to make 
 

any real difference. I was all
right enough while the war was
on but now I have the time to
think & worry which is at the
root of the matter.
I spent 10 days with Mrs Edwards
& then came down here to her sister
Miss Tottenham who is an invalid
lady but very Kind indeed.
I hope you will understand
about the letter I wrote to Fogey Flory We
had just come out of action after
being terribly cut up & had lost
a lot of our old good men
The quarrelling that was going
on seemed just about the last
straw to me.
I hope I never hear the like
again.
With much love & many
thanks Baaby dear
from Dida. 
 

Charleroi
Belgium
18/4/19
My dear Baaby,
Yesterday I got a whole
bundle of letters the first for 6 weeks
Needless to say I was delighted.
Amongst them was yours telling
me about the wee pets birthday. You
made me long to be home there with
you all again. The little flower
is quite well done, Baaby, isn’t
it. Far better than I could do it I
am sure. Today is a nice fine day
for a wonder. We have had nasty
showery weather for most of this
month though with bitter cold winds
I am glad the Kiddies are so obedient
& dont take things without asking
The great heat in February must have
been very dreadful this year. I
wonder will it be hot here this
summer. The spring is very late
the poor leaves daren’t show their heads
yet for the cold but a few days like
this should bring them out everywhere
I remember the “Ginger” Plant flowering
at Windsor but don’t remember that its
perfume was so wonderful. Perhaps Surry
Hills will suit it better for flowering.
Some Belgian Soldiers arrived
here today as we are getting very
scarce now. They looked sturdy
& strong. The people here are very
sorry our men are going though & lots
of the girls want to marry our
boys but it is hard for them to do 
 

so as it is a Catholic country &
the priests don’t like mixed marriages
I am just as well pleased because
as a rule the men don’t get to know
a very nice class of girl. The well
off people are however very charming
very polite, affable & Kind. We have
all a wrong idea of foreign people
I think. at home.
The girls on the farms here work
very hard & some of the farmers we have
with us were quite taken with the
way they work & never grumble
Of course they are pretty poor &
ignorant. & as soon as they got
a little money & knew a little more
they would might change a lot.
Genl Tivey & Genl Hobbs are away for
a trip to Verdun & I am in charge
of all the Remnants at present
We expect to be finishing up about
the end of the month & a fortnight
later they will be no Australian
soldiers in France I think. After
that things should move quickly
in England & I think it quite
possible that I will be home in
time for the laddie’s or mum’s
birthday. This is just about
all the news. Baaby dear.
With love & pogues from Dida.

P.S. Ine’s Jack has a job looking after
posts in France & will have a good
time with trips to Brussells Paris etc