Letter from Hercules Scott Highfield Dickson to Baker Family, 1916

France 
12 June 1916 
  
No 118 9 
L/cp Dickson H.S 
20th Battn 
A.I.F 
France 
  
PS. 
Just been chewing 
one of Ernie's Sugar 
Gums. 
  
Dear Mr & Mrs Baker, 
Here we are again. 
Arrived home last Thursday morning after a most 
enjoyable stay in the City of London. Found Ernest 
quite well but awfully fat, in fact he is taking to 
cycling to keep off condition. He is in excellent humour 
today, having received mail from home, also from  
his wife. Kindly accept an apology from 
Mr Thomson (Tom) & myself for failing to ring you 
up before leaving the City. It was our good intention 
to do so, but owing to an appointment & some hurried 
business on Tom's part, we found it was too late. However, 
I must say, we will never forget the Motherly welcome 
you gave us & only hope it is our luck to see once 
again. We never tire of speaking of the feed we had, 
Billy Jones is just the same. I have been a little 
off color since my return but today I am feeling quite 
ok & hope to be myself quite soon. After seeing you 
my health was good during our stay in London, in fact 
I blame the big dinner for fixing me up. I have not 
seen Tom or Roy Armstrong since my return, as 
Ernie goes with the rations at present, my turn comes 
next week. Our trip home. was a sad & dreary

one for all the boys returning from leave, this is 
quite natural as you will agree. However, I have 
settled down again, but it took some doing. 
Today is wet & cold, so Ern & I have just finished 
fitting our stove in the hut. We had it outside when 
the weather was hot, but we won't go to that trouble 
any more. Everything is lovely & green now, 
the crops are quite high, it seems a pity there is 
any war. We missed Newmarket Races after all, 
slept in too late, Gee we were wild. We had a  
nice day at Richmond & Kew Gardens. Had a boat 
on the River, met two wounded Australians & took 
them for a row. So you see we were quite good boys. 
I suppose the girls would say we were mean. 
We also saw the Tower of London, St Pauls & numerous 
other places. We were quite experts at finding our 
way about with the assistance of the tubes. We felt 
quite downhearted when we heard that Lord Kitch 
was drowned. It was sad to think he went so soon 
& just when he was wanted. It is now 
3.30 pm & Ernest is asleep, he generally has 40 winks 
in the afternoons. When is peace coming along? 
I suppose you will know sooner than we. 
I suppose you heard about some of the Aust boys making 
a raid on the Germs, yes they brought back some  
prisoners with them. Never lost one of our boys. 
hurrah? Well I will close now. Give my 
Kind regards to Miss Baker, & tell her I will 
try harder to ring next time I get home to England. 
Kindest regards to Mother & Father from 
one of the boys 
Herc S. Dickson