Letters from Fred Leslie Biddle to his Mother, 1916-1917, Part 12 of 24

France 
28.9.16 
  
Dear Mother, 
As you will see by the  
address I am once more on the job. 
I arrived back on the 25^th exactly  
the date on which I was hit in July. 
Fortune favoured me on the way over 
as I met Miles our Brigade Major on the 
boat & as a car had been sent for him he 
gave me a lift & I had a good motor 
run back to the brigade where I am at  
present acting as C.O. for a few days. 
Everybody seemed pleased to see me 
back especially Col. Browne who said 
lots of nice things - I certainly was 
pleased to be back among my old pals. 
The wound is not troubling me in 
the slightest & has already faded quite 
a lot. 
The spot where we are was formerly 
a favourite spot for the hatred of the Hun 
but it is very quiet nowadays & Fritz seems 
to be rather depressed.

2 
He appears to have more than he can 
manage on the Somme. 
We strafe him very heartily whenever 
he sends anything over & as ammunition 
is never scarce with us, we do it properly. 
I had a splendid time in London 
& met lots of nice people both in hospital 
& out of it. The time simply flew & 
you will be surprised to know that I 
didn't even see the inside of Westminster 
Abbey or St Paul's. 
The only sightseeing in that way 
that I did was the Tower which was 
quite interesting but I suffer from a 
great objection to the "Here on my right 
hand you see the wonderful Crown  
Jewels.  On my left a trouser button off 
Richard the Lion-heart's riding breeches" 
touch. 
When I found I couldn't go right 
through the Abbey by myself that 
settled the matter as far as I was  
concerned. 
Of course I saw lots of theatres  
& dined in practically every well known

3 
restaurant in the West End. 
Hollis will remember Oddeninos, the 
Trocadero Grill, Piccadilly Grill, the 
Waldorf, Scott's, Simpson's, Les Gobelins 
& many others. 
A favourite motor run was Richmond 
Park through Chelsea, also Battersea Park 
whilst I was in Hyde Park very often 
listening to the Guards' bands. 
Of course I went to Rotten Row on 
Sunday mornings & saw lots of beautiful 
horses ridden generally by the worst 
horsemen & horsewomen it has ever been 
my misfortune to see. 
No doubt the good horsemen are 
on the job over here 
I did see some splendid horsemanship 
in a polo match at Tidworth on Salisbury 
Plain whilst I was in the Base Camp, one 
officer in particular being a perfect  
artist. 
Of the City I saw very little. I knew 
it was the centre of the World's commerce 
but it didn't look it so far as buildings 
went & anyway walking round streets 

4 
reading the names on brass plates isn't 
very exciting. 
The traffic of course is huge, although 
much reduced since the war, but it so 
splendidly handled that one doesn't 
realize the immensity of it until a  
block occurs. 
I remember one day in Piccadilly a 
taxi-driver accidentally stopped his engine, 
& in a few seconds over a quarter of a mile 
of busses & taxis were at a stand-still & 
the block took half-an-hour to clear. 
The C.O. told me he hoped I was 
not back too soon but I told him I'd 
be graciously pleased to accept 10 days 
leave at Xmas & call it square. 
So it is obvious I enjoyed myself in 
London isn't it? 
I am sending you by registered post a 
collarette & a table centre of Belgian 
hand-made lace, made by the sisters in 
the convents. I hope you will like them 
altho' I'm afraid collarettes are not 
worn these times. Still, they'll do for 
the glory box among the other treasures.

5. 
I have just received a letter from 
Hollis dated 24/7/16 which has apparently 
been chasing me round a bit. 
When he was writing it I had been 
three days without sleep & was having a  
great time dodging 6" shells. Funny 
isn't it?  But generally we get off 
pretty lightly in the gunners. 
He speaks of the possibility of being  
in London in December. If he lets me 
know definitely, I will make a special  
effort to get leave & show him round 
the village a bit. Man of the world, now, 
doncherknow! 
I haven't received the letter which you  
say, Jean was writing me to tell me how 
domesticated Hollis has become.  
Lorblimey how luv do change a man. 
 Congratulations to Isabel on her 
further success & I hope it will continue. 
How is the singing getting along. I have 
been waiting to see in the papers that a committee 
had been formed to send a newly  
discovered prima-donna to England England for 
further study.

6  
Sorry that Noel has been off colour 
again but hope he has thrown it off long 
before this. 
Congratulations to him on being commissioned 
in the Citizen Forces. 
Isabel mentions in one letter that she 
was singing at Maribyrnong & met a Lieut 
Holdgate there. Tell her from me she 
needn't bother to know him. Nuff sed, but 
why he should be put into a cushy job 
after being sent back in disgrace, Heaven 
alone knows. 
Sorry to read that Winnie Ikin is so 
ill. When you write tell her I hope she is 
better & give my best wishes to all the 
family . 
So you have heard from Yates 
again.  I am glad to find he is still 
going strong, but I daresay he is sick 
of "trooping". 
Please give my kind regards to the  
Hills for their & thank them from me 
for their kind enquiries & good wishes 
Tell them I have kept the 1^st 3^rd 5^th 
8^th 10^th & 12^th dances open.

7 
I had a very nice letter from Stanesby  
before I was hit enclosing a letter of 
introduction to his people in London, but 
of course didn't have it with me when 
I was hit. Otherwise I should have been 
delighted to make use of it. 
I was pleased to find that Mothe 
you had joined the Comforts Society. 
It isn't that we want the comforts 
really but it must be a great relief 
to all our women folk to get together & 
buck one another up. 
As I have repeatedly told you we 
are not always in the midst of sudden 
death.  The principal enemy we have to 
fight is sheer boredom. But for our 
own folk so far away there is always 
the lack of knowledge of where we are & 
what we are doing which is far worse 
than the "scrapping". There is far too 
much drivel written about the horrors & 
discomforts by writers anxious to tell a 
story. What they never seem to realize 
is that any normal man rapidly becomes 
accustomed to the conditions of life and

8 
sleeps more soundly here than in a 
feather-bed at home. 
Well this has become quite a  
long letter & has no news at all in it. 
I'm really becoming expert at writing 
letters which contain no news at all, 
because the censor doesn't allow real 
news. 
Please give my kindest regards to 
all friends & thank them for their good 
wishes for me 
Love to all the relatives at Berrington 
Ivy Bank &c & special good wishes 
& thanks to the Averys who never forget  
to put a spray or two in the Punch each 
week. 
Also special wishes to Uncle Walter, 
who I trust is bucking up & making 
good progress 
Best love to all at home including 
your own dear self 
Your affectionate son 
Fred