Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1914-1915, Part 27 of 27

Look on the back of Page 4 
N. 
County of London War Hospl 
Epsom, Surrey. 
England. 
December 27^th 
(Dear Mabs birthday)  

Dearest Mother & all at Home. 
Just a line to let you 
know that I am quite well & enjoyed Xmas immensly. 
I have simply been overwhelmed with good things 
& presents, & it has been the surprise of my life, &  
being a stranger in a strange land, I expected 
to have a very quiet time, but friends have come 
suddenly on me from everywhere & loaded me 
with all kinds of things, and invitations to 
Xmas dinner in galore, which I was compelled 
to decline. One of my bombardiers (Arthur Maure) 
who is in England told his friends of my whereabouts 
& I got a lovely invitation from them (I am sending 
you the letter) & they offered to fetch me in their Car. 
When I wrote and thanked them profusely, & told 
them that I was still confined to bed, they at once 
came & visited me. One young lady in great furs 
Etc, & an Elderly lady who introduced herself as a 
Miss someone or other, & they made such a fuss 
of me that I though I should spring out of 
bed. And I didn’t know what to say of course, 
& felt an awful fool, & being in a very shy
mood, I could not look them in the face, & here

Page 2 
were they piling parcels of sweets & fruits & books 
and magazines on my bed, & at the same  
time telling me how sorry they were to think I 
couldn’t come to their place, & that Papa would  
be awfully disappointed & I don’t know what 
Mother will say & all that kind of thing. Well 
what could I do or say. You can just picture 
me there in bed like a big galoot just born. 
They stayed all the afternoon & made me
promise that I would come & stay with them on 
furlough & they would come & bring me in their 
Car, & Papa would take me to his country farm 
& goodness only knows what they didn’t say 
to me. After they went & I had recovered from  
the shock, I began to open the parcels & I was 
as nervous as a thief. Here was a tremendous  
box of chocolates (great big ones too), a box of choice  
oranges, a whole tin of beautiful short bread, a  
box of caramels, & toffee & 2 great boxes of Bon 
bons, & Magazines & Papers too numerous to  
mention. The bon bons simply knocked me 
rotten. I can’t imagine why they gave me these. 
I thought they were only for kids parties, & 
I asked the Nurse, & she said of  “Oh Xmas  
is not complete without them”.  I put my 
head under the clothes & simply roared.

Page 3 
Awfully decent of them, wasn’t it.? Then 
a brother of one of our Sergeants who lives in 
England & works at the War Office, came &  
brought me a host of sweets & fruits & Cigarettes 
& an invitation to their place when I go on 
furlough. Then Lady Almonde came & gave 
us each a parcel containing a cake of chocolate, 
a pipe, tobacco, cigarettes & such like, & spoke  
very nicely to us; Then the Red Cross people  
came & more tobacco, fruits, sweets poured  
onto Normans bed.  Then the Postman came  
& brought letters, Christmas Cards Etc, from all  
kinds of people, Sir George Reid, Lady Birdwood,  
Australian Defence people, Red Cross people,  
Australian visitors in England, & from Julia,  
& Harriet as well, & from some of my chaps 
in other hospitals. 
Our ward was decorated with holly & 
green stuff, & mistletoe was hung over all 
the doors, & there was a great deal of kissing 
of nurses, sisters, matrons, & visitors, & games 
& music & dancing was indulged in till 
all hours next morning.  The D^r let me 
up for Xmas day, but I was sitting by 
the fire nearly all the time & took very little 
part in the festivity, but we all enjoyed

Page 4
ourselves immensely. Dinner was of Chicken 
Roast Pork (no stuffing tho’) baked spuds & cabbage  
& Plum Pudding & Custard to follow.  Not too  
bad eh? All the same I was thinking of 
home & everybody, & wished that next Xmas 
I might be home with you all. I’ll supply  
the dinner, now don’t forget that please. 
A few more patients arrived from the 
Dardanelles last night & they were all Tommies. 
No more Australians are coming to England till 
after the winter. Snow fell the other day & it
looked very nice. I still write regularly to 
Gravesend & they always answer affectionately. 
How did you all spend Xmas? I hope  
you all enjoyed yourselves. I have had no  
mail from Australia since September. I have
not been able to write to any of my many 
friends in Victoria & would feel glad if you 
would kindly let them know of me. I hope you 
got my Cable. The Dr says that we must not  
try to get well too soon, as we are here from for a long  
time & will get 6 weeks furlough. Well Mother dear,  
I hope you are all well; Give my love to them  
all & tell Mab that I’ve been thinking of her today. 
Best love to Mab, Chas, George, Rupert & Floss & 
to all relations & an extra big whack for yourself  
from your loving son 
Norman

May Tilton is I believe, in Cairo.  I met a nurse 
who came over with her on the "Orontes" /
Jack Tilton is in the 5^th Battery so I’m  
told. 
I do not know where the 1^st Australian
Division is going to, but I expect 
Suez Canal. / 

Dec 27^th  
1915 
  
1 DRL  266