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

Conflict:
First World War, 1914–18
Subject:
  • Documents and letters
Status:
Finalised
Accession number:
RCDIG0000050
Difficulty:
4

Page 1 / 10

N0s ai a ftmn oftn h hamt ell ot of which. I have Rlivaly hoald wollspotsen f & fance it is very nice country all round there & very healtey, so let us hope from Gerfie hill do well there. I bear she must be very unsettled with Perey gone off - I am thankfie he has not cone out tere with his Regt as all the Officers of those Regts seew to get killed here. The numbers have tost from both the New Army & Teritorial Divisioss- i really awful - and there seems to be no reflacing them. I have some Regts & with ovlrs 50 officers on them & possitly useless ones at that eice & fancy may have been in all this recent hard fighting to France & Ido hefte he may have Come through it safely. I Mince re-emfloy went mest have been a tresrcloss - joy to him after so eanng idle. Mourths with ms &bore lite I have hut tean on bourd the tospital ship d. The old Ceptain was awfulty nice & Qiem in. Asked after- rom so. Auncll having travell o of tf from well.
Mo too ga tt eott ae 77 I wvas on her beft wone it ollks, gos near that the Doctor in how will be glad to chango told we he loneduts have tmout the the same men - that I was ther a seare-crom about when the were all very awxioss- and that I had vice put on alleast th s tore in bheight. Wtill some bia London Docta uhs was on board told was Cheypigin as. we teee leaving that de ehad met out here who diduit the firstos General seem to have- wne bost in the grave . th oced see lible one tom beadnt worry nery lite about my healte hewt Chirs, tasnt lits sent me nor faven I seen - the metures fon tell me. of in the Davly thaik hunnete- & which. I fear sound teriber ridiculons & inclined to make we eet sue. goot. Do Fon remenater, Cept Aspimall iy as Sunle. He is now here onthe staff and Got a Brenct. These wretched reent Ppers ad. tim A prtive of his wite up ORI
ee he h Mu M stall Children Cir Cerbeeth Ae of thee tery pleased at Daddy's Brevet 1t Posse Asguiall has h over heard the lnd of it. to get some & mall Amoast I have at laest been able of infermation. ferpry Purch which Fenche These two papers should at all events be sufticent to enable her to claim any persiom to which she may be entilled & I. do hope she may be abole to settle things. Ap All right - And. I trust to get to see pensiomn which may he of some mse to Went Badwovs told me to gon had been wartrig to him about some rent for Falketh, & Couse & Sam so glad to thint that we have at all events got something. S. Ireelly never exfected to get amything. Onse the temant has pard off what he flened on repariss Gon with get thee lent. Will hom please toot Yoin hass book & see I have been credited with about &50 from the Inlia office - f is for some allonance. iot. Caf. Which. Iohred have got. in.
uinch have vly recently arived the he dople tell we have been credited to my ace a home notead of here, so be sire to tell me tf te to the case. sen had been in talidel. Hed win d taa hel hare S with enteric- he is at Malta & hear going on quile avouably, but Apparently it is certain that he with have to go hone. so will protably not rejain we have been very. lueky in getten o Months to Come &S suchi a really nice fellow in a Col. White to suceeed him , he is an Anstralin & an reeptionl one. As nice & able a fellow as I have ever met it is a real pleas me having him on ty staf part Willans has now left. me on prouition to Enguees in Chiep on Sir Ians Staff. ard I have got lote Lessie in his plece. He is suel a dear fellinn. always so hard. working keen and faittrful and I am so glad that thes Means a good step oi him. ut who is to succced. him I do 1 .S ilt. on Wattes. lit
pte. 4 gettinig. him fear tere is little. Chance I Lord Ks sheech in the Horse o Lords was certuonty very lnce,. & I. am only apardl that cll getting a bit jeeloss of mit trapss hill b Australians. thout the letter really are so ar as. We are very gorst endeed that as to spcerted tee, they do stanl out & certainl did so in the actions Lord K. shoke about. have had his speech published in brelens then information bat Peinction gas Co. Iotice Mobabey oneam that no dividends with be hard on Admar haves bitt giey tey will bess on prefereme ones, which draw less dividends ord mariil but go on being faid inesfective of amythin Etse if the Comtanny can lay. I reet heer heay of each. I have. Inamy lase there is withi to be done about tele. Chelien diviclents are haicdt with t Clli. & Deay asked. I Sail
f ft foit mep to iobest ally becance. We may have cambe mhuch aafter. there. I dont feney laying sent of Somerleyton & sums remitted home by the Bank after they Ceased to draw ty hay to Dec. Jartas & Selhay thogt Bot be paid in Rs 2,000 odd as part of hoor Dicks Sstate. & lanks told me. co Certain mmount - about the Seppti raid. In. Budon. He isemplored in conpeation with the Autiain Creft guns at the Admuralty. It Ceeis to bandinay thatts Our. Aroplenes struld not be able to deal with these ships & II. am swe that ee long we stall, be able to clos so - Fam rather hae he wilh. o believer ins Sir Perey &cott. eable to arrange for some Leat smy bime. them oodbye my owe ltle lant & all my love bom bery living be Be on. DMA Meeres 115 Will 3376 &t eat
A MA M Ma] [15 I 1y te Ia wele in 12 Oct 15 535 Sty owen darling Jearty fone. Were Fam ast Mndoos with deer old Lord K. who & tees & shapted to see again & who was I think really peased to see me al have hever seen him so qpitle seft & hind in him memner. the may be took holld of my arm & at once walked me ofl up the deck when he came on boaed was quite uunlike his old rather atrmpt. ste wary wih peaples. We seem to have atonce dropped Into all onr old wenoship o ffoing each ther and Seat see he is quite ghad to have we to talk to as haturally been most interestion Alling me about so much that has been going in us the Seabone attrone all this tiw. He is of courde longing for thed was to be over & to got awon from it aft - but there seame little chonce of there for a lovg cume. yet I am o lord to say ho has agcded to whet I arked hind to do uis to clave Gent Monro in command of this force. As I told him I was quite prefaned to Inslastake the resporsiuulit. Cut this sake & Monros. I fell. it womed hean enormouns take if Moned was removed. It woned only camel Wint unaecessery & very Condesnable comincant. We with
Ace weed of woking charges with out rece net Ming. his own wind which could not help creating a bad imprin in the country & throuhent the service - but it wouuld be very bard Tings on Monro who had been taken from a big Army command io France for this. I had as I think I told yon recended a Wire from the Prime Minister after K. left home depinitall aptontive me as Chiep here, but this I suppletsed, so it has hoves been given out officially given out & conseguentley there is no tronble. Monro with now command the whole force though at present things are rather difficult, as we are both here & K. with weast on treating me as Chiep & refening to te is most win confut about eveytring, while Mongs looks on attle & I awways have to try & reper to Monro, who forturt seems an exceedingly nice fellow( he is 5 &d night well be to wars older then me from hn appearence & doss not tak the offence some men night do - when K. has gone things hit sette down a lot in this resfect & I amsure he hill bear no malice - indeed he shouldp be & I belienl &s very gratefke tiome for whet I have done for him. found as I exfected that K. had heen so arroyed at regonding the force here that he had there his poposals. to something ese opt t. then moved him on
not setted as to th future comnband. Nto thing wheterer it We are having Constank colnespondence with tthe Prume Mminter on the subieck & much in being ancussed, but it is inpossible lans to say as ret what hill happen & I cam noter go unto our I am not too happy about them. but the whole qerestion is mest sstrandinary & Comples for Midlitay & political consides. atous are to some extent antagonistic to each other. Whatewen is its is bond to be a very hord & diftiouft got. Naw s hut to know that I shall be with my menfor this to see them hrough ite cathor then away & out of danger as I shored have bere at Head Quarters on an Island as Chiep. I go back to Anzac directly Lord K. leaves. Lape jut got cm lettey of 1th & 19th Bct. Many thenl lible one. for odening the parafion stoves for me & Iam & me & hope they will arrive all right & will be most ureful. as duringe the winter. the diffently of setting ones clothes day will ver one of our Greatek. Hlate an keeping marin on cold. wet days - havever we will get on all right. I think Enemy thing. Gontane senk out has arived all e short head, though that may have turned right. (excepit. have been. while I ts awary from Anzac) & I expect that befort to vor win. wit ltters telling. Noned. got my. had 0005
I have woi thes this how thmm vnce. Ard Hlease lithe bnt over rund the one tim of faint it puture As I honerth canit it through nearly all yon have ap eaidy sent - here was 9 terible trobulation an Anzac when they thought I might be daring their altranthon & I think then are all plecesed I am not now to do so. I took a Lord K. ashore there yesterday - he was deal keen on seeing the men and s think murch implessed by what he saw for he has wired home saying he had ho i dea we had Taptured such an exceedingty difficult position as it is & wheh has to be seen to be realised . I took him right up to a fuont trench withmn 25 gans of the Turk trenches, but wot pesfect safety I was over anxions aboup him the Colote time we were outside the trenches, for aen can hever till when shelling may not & tark & then Can come anrywpere. indeed I was almast most her vors about him whendrs. Cuntarking for ttey ofter fire at destroyers - however I ade our boat & land well out for the picket boat to cound rough too & I was very f lad he had was af li out to we to see some of our difficulties in that may. o should ever time to leave. Sir John Morre's retreat at Colmnia wired te atsolite chilels heay to thd dificall We with have to meek of emtarking from an dhan bearc 100005

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

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