Correspondence between Field Marshal Lord William Birdwood and Lady Janetta Birdwood, 1915 - Part 18

of which I have always heard well spoken of, &  
I fancy it is very nice country all round there 
& very healthy, so let us hope poor Georgie will do 
well there. I fear she must be very unsettled  
with Percy gone off. I am thankful he has not 
come over here with his Regt, as all the Officers 
of those Regts seem to get killed here! The numbers I 
have lost from both the New Army & Territorial 
Divisions is really awful - and there seems to be no 
replacing them. I have some Regts with only 3 or 4 
Officers in them & possibly useless ones at that! 
Percy I fancy may have been in all this recent 
hard fighting in France & I do hope he may have 
come through it safely. I fancy re-employment 
must have been a tremendous joy to him, after 
so many idle months with no object in 
life. 
I have just been on board the hospital ship 
"Rewa". The old Captain was awfully nice &  
asked after you so kindly, remembering 
you well from having travelled on her.

2) I was on her before about six weeks ago, & 
you will be glad to hear that the Doctor in  
charge told me he wouldn't have known me for 
the same man - that I was then a scare-crow about 
whom they were all very anxious, and that I had 
since put on at least 1½ stone in weight. While 
some big London Doctor who was on board told 
de Crespigny as we were leaving that I "was 
the first General he had met out here who didn't 
seem to have one foot in the grave"!! So you 
see little one, you needn't worry very much 
about my health now!! 
Chris hasn't yet sent me - nor have I seen - the 
pictures you tell me of in the Daily Mail, 
Union etc - & which I fear sound terribly 
ridiculous & inclined to make me feel such 
a fool. Do you remember Capt. Aspinall in 
Simla? He is now here on the Staff and 
recently got a Brevet. These wretched 
papers had a picture of his wife with two

or three small children underneath "all 
very pleased at Daddy's Brevet"!! Poor 
Aspinall has never heard the end of it. 
I have at last been able to get some small amount 
of information for  poor Punch which I enclose. 
These two papers should at all events be sufficient 
to enable her to claim any pension to which she 
may be entitled & I do hope she may be able to 
settle things up all right - and I trust to get 
to some a pension which may be of some use to 
her. 
Frank Birdwood told me to you had been writing to 
him about some rent for Dalkeith House & I am 
so glad to think that we have at all events got 
something - for I really never expected to get 
anything! Once the tenant has paid off what he 
expended on repairs, you will get more rent. 
Will you please look up your pass book & see 
if I have been credited with about £ 50 
from the India Office - for It is for some allowances 
which I should have got in Egypt, but

3)   which have only recently arrived & the pay 
people tell me have been credited to my acc. at 
home instead of here, so be sure to tell me if this 
is the case. 
I told you I think that poor Skeen had been invalided 
with enteric - he is at Malta & I hear going on quite 
favourably, but apparently it is certain that he 
will have to go home, so will probably not rejoin me 
for months to come. I have been very lucky in getting 
such a really nice fellow in a Col. White to  
succeed him - he is an Australian & an exceptional 
one - As nice & able a fellow as I have ever met 
& it is a real pleasure having him on my Staff. 
Genl. Williams has now left me on promotion to 
Engineer in Chief on Sir Ian's Staff and I 
have got Col Lesslie in his place. He is such 
a dear fellow - always so hard working, keen 
and faithful, and I am so glad that this 
means a good step up for him. But 
who is to succeed him I do not quite 
know. I shall ask for Walter Norman, but

fear there is little chance of getting him. 
Lord K's speech in the House of Lords was 
certainly very nice & I am only afraid that the 
troops will be getting a bit jealous of my 
Australians, though the latter really are so 
very good indeed that, as far as we are 
concerned here, they do stand out & certainly 
did so in the actions Lord K spoke about. I 
have had his speech published in orders for 
their information. 
That Primitive Gas Co: notice probably means 
that no dividends will be paid on ordinary 
shares, but I fancy they will be so on preference 
ones, which draw less dividends ordinarily 
but go on being paid irrespective of anything 
else if the Company can pay. I forget how many 
of each I have - in any case there is nothing 
to be done about it. 
All Chelien dividends are paid into the 
Alliance Bank & I have asked Sir A. Ken

4) to invest any balance we may have 
there.  I don't fancy it can be much after 
paying rent of Somerleyton & sums remitted home 
by the Bank after they ceased to draw my 
pay in Dec, January & February - though Bob has 
paid in ₨ 2000 odd as part of poor Dick's 
estate. 
Frank told me a certain amount about the Zeppelin 
raid in London. He is employed in connection with 
the Anti air Craft guns at the Admiralty. It 
seems extraordinary that our aeroplanes should not be 
able to deal with these ships. I am sure that 
ere long we shall be able to do so. I am rather 
a believer in Sir Percy Scott & I hope he will 
be able to arrange for some real surprise for 
them. 
Goodbye my own little lamb & all my love 
to you - Ever your very loving old 
Will   
  
DONATED RECORDS LIST 
3376 
(15) 
3rd Series 

3 DRL. 3376 (15) 
[* Address 
my letters 
in future 
Head Quarters 
M.E.F.*] 
  
H.M.S. Lord Nelson 
12 Oct 15 
  
My own darling Jenny Jane. 
Here I am at Mudros with dear old Lord K who I was 
delighted to see again & who was I think really pleased to see me. I 
have never seen him so gentle, soft & kind in his manner - the way he 
took hold of my arm & at once walked me off up the deck when he 
came on board was quite unlike his old rather abrupt, shy way 
with people. We seem to have at once dropped into all our old 
friendship & knowing each other, and I can see he is quite glad  
to have me to talk to & has naturally been most interesting 
telling me about so much that has been going on in the Cabinet 
at home all this time. He is of course longing for the war to be 
over & to get away from it all - but there seems little chance 
of this for a long time yet. 
I am glad to say he has agreed to what I asked him to do - 
viz to leave Genl. Monro in command of this force - as I told 
him I was quite prepared to undertake the responsibility - but 
for his sake & Monro's I felt it would be an enormous 
mistake if Monro was removed.  It would only cause 
unnecessary & very undesirable comment - he would be 

accused of making changes without reason & not knowing 
his own mind which could not help creating a bad impression 
in this country & throughout the service - but it would be very hard 
lines on Monro who had been taken from a big Army Command in 
France for this. I had as I think I told you, received a 
wire from the Prime Minister after K. left home definitely 
appointing me as Chief here, but this I suppressed, so it 
has never been given out officially given out & consequently 
there is no trouble. Monro will now command the whole force, 
though at present things are rather difficult, as we are both 
here & K. will insist on treating me as Chief & referring to me 
about everything, while Monro looks on! It is most uncomfortable 
& I always have to try & refer to Monro, who fortunately 
seems an exceedingly nice fellow (he is 5 & might well be 
10 years older than me from his appearance) & does not take 
the offence some men might do. When K. has gone things 
will settle down a lot in this respect & I am sure he 
will bear no malice - indeed he should be & I believe 
is very grateful to me for what I have done for him. I  
found as I expected that K. had been so annoyed at 
his proposals regarding the force here, that he had there  
& then moved him on to something else & put me in 

2) command. Nothing whatever is yet settled as to the future. 
We are having constant correspondence with the Prime Minister 
on the subject & much is being discussed, but it is impossible 
to say as yet what will happen & I can not go into our plans. 
I am not too happy about them, but the whole question is 
most extraordinary & complex, for military & political considerations 
are to some extent antagonistic to each other. Whatever 
it is, it is bound to be a very hard & difficult job, & I am so 
glad to know that I shall be with my men for this to see them 
through it, rather than away & out of danger as I should have been 
at Head Quarters on an Island as Chief. I go back to Anzac 
directly Lord K. leaves. 
I have just got your letters of 14th & 19th Oct. Many thanks 
little one, for ordering the parafin stove for me & I am sure &  
hope they will arrive all right & will be most useful, as 
during the winter, the difficulty of getting ones clothes dry 
will be one of our greatest. That & keeping warm on 
cold, wet days - however we will get on all right. 
I think everything you have sent out has arrived all  
right (except the shortbread, though that may have turned 
up while I was have been away from Anzac) & I expect that before 
now you will have got my letters telling you so, for 

I have written this more than once - and please little one, 
only send the one tin of fruit in future, as I honestly can't 
get through nearly all you have already sent - there was 
terrible tribulation on Anzac when they thought I might be 
leaving them altogether & I think they are all pleased I am not 
now to do so. I took Lord K. ashore there yesterday - he was dead 
keen on seeing the men & I think much impressed by what he 
saw for he has wired home saying he had no idea we had 
captured such an exceedingly difficult position as it is, & 
which has to be seen to be realised. I took him right up to 
a front trench within 25 yards of the Turk trenches, but in 
perfect safety. I was only anxious about him the whole 
time we were outside the trenches, for you can never tell 
when shelling may not start & they can come anywhere: 
indeed I was almost most nervous about him when disembarking  
for they often fire at destroyers - however I made 
our boat stand well out for the picket boat to come 
out to - it was a bit rough too & I was very glad he had 
to see some of our difficulties in that way. If we 
should ever have to leave, Sir John Moore's retreat at 
Corunna would be absolute child's play to the difficulties 
we will have to meet of embarking from an open beach