Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 2 of 28

P.S. Did Mab receive the Turkish driving band, which I sent by
Registered Post last week.? 
N.

County of London War Hospital.
Ward "M". Epson, Surrey.
England. Jan 24th.

My Dearest Mother & all at Home.
Well, I have been to
mighty London!, & I hardly know how to describe it to you
all. It is simply stupendous, marvellous, & amazing, &
other words that I can’t think of at present.
True, I only spent the
day (Saturday), but we were most fortunate in seeing
most of the great places of interest, but night came
really too soon, & we were sorry to return to Epsom.
I will now try and give
you a brief description of my trip. First, it was necessary
to get a “pass” from the Major, for the day, & having no
difficulty whatever, in this respect, in company with a
fellow patient, (who resides in Elsternwick,) we set off in
our new uniforms, at a few minutes before 9 a.m. for the
local station. We booked 3^rd class fares (1/10^d) for Victoria,
(there are no 2^nd class carriages on these trains), & the train
started at 9.30 am. & it consisted of 6 carriages & a small
locomotive, and altho’ the distance is about the same as
Mordialloc is from Melbourne, nevertheless, our little engine
shewed surprising speed, & got us into Victoria at a few
minutes to ten o'clock, a really fine performance. 

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I have always been under the impression that there was
very little land available for cultivation in & around
London, but en route, we noticed any amount of cultivation.
& vegetable gardens, & the whole place looked beautifully
fertile, but when we reached the towns, we saw how it
is, that the population is so congested, as there were rows
upon rows of terraces, all two story high, and jammed
together in a most amazing way. Single story houses, I
have yet to see in England.
On nearing London, we had a
magnificent view of all the suburbs, & the numbers of
streets of terraces was simply astonishing, & indescribable.
Trains, both steam & electric, are
running in all directions, and at terrific speed, & on
looking out of our window, we would notice a train
coming directly at right angles towards us, and then
it would dive suddenly underneath us, or over the top
of us, and would leave us gasping for breath, and gaping
like a pair of country “yobs”. At junctions , goods trains, &
passenger trains & motor trains all seem to meet, & throw
out a silent challenge to each other, & then would all go
as fast as their drivers could make them, for a mile or
two, & then all would disappear, as if by magic, some
into undergrounds tunnels, & some up onto an overhead
bridge, & some would suddenly turn & lose itself among 

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a lot of houses, and this sort of thing increased the nearer
we got to our destination.
At Victoria, we alighted into an
enormous roofed station, with innumerable platforms, &
everywhere, were perspiring engines, panting after their
speedy runs, perspiring porters carrying or pushing great
loads of luggage, calling out "By your leave there”, or
other peculiar utterances; people of all descriptions are
hurrying here and there, all seem as if they haven't a
second to spare; Guards shrill whistles, & the various sounds
of the engine whistles, coupled with the different bells that
were ringing, and the babel of porters calling out the
destinations of various trains, left us that “flabbergasted”,
that we were in two minds, as to starting back for Epsom.
However, we decided to “carry on”, and on
reaching the outside, what a sight met our gaze. Motor 'buses
by the scores, seemed to be quarreling & pushing each other,
little taxis appeared to be trying to separate them, and it
looked as if they were swallowed up in doing so, and then
funny old traction engines would then take a hand in the
brawl, but the motor buses would suddenly get reinforced, 
& seem to overwhelm everything & everybody, and
this was going on all day long. Motor cars of all kinds,
horse drawn vehicles of all kinds, & peculiar looking
vehicles that I have never seen before, and occasionally 

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a small boy on a bicycle, running the gauntlet, and having
some miraculous escapes, and yet appearing most unconcerned, 
indifferent, & unruffled as to what was going on.
As neither of us knew anything of London, we simply
melted into the crowd, and drifted up Victoria St. One thing
we at once noticed, was the absence of trams, but there was
positively no room for these, altho the streets are wide
enough, but it would impede traffic I suppose.
We passed the New Zealand Government
offices first, and there were plenty of soldiers from N.Z.
doing business. The buildings are all very big, but
not ugly, and certainly not handsome. The people are
all very well dressed, and all seem on business but, &
of course there were plenty of soldiers about the city, & I
thought, if there were as many officers at the Front, as
in London, then the Army is well off, in this respect.
Further on, we came to the great Westminster
Abbey but did not go inside & contented ourselves with the
outside for the present. The masonry is very old, and very
dirty, and this was noticable on all the great places such
as the Houses of Parliament, War Office, Admiralty offices,
Horse Guards & Law Courts, Etc, all of which we passed in
turn, and as in the instance of the Abbey, only contenting
ourselves with a casual but interested glance until we
go on our furlough, when we expect to visit them all again. 

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In the course of our wanderings we came to the monuments of
Wolseley; Lord Nelson & other great personages, and these in turn
came in for our admiration.
We are indebted to the members
of the London police for their kindness in directing us to the
various places of interest, & answering our many bewildering
questions with characteristic curtesy, and they appeared
to take a kindly interest in our welfare.
We came to the Horse Guards, and
here, we had the pleasure of seeing the members of the Life
Guards, in their magnificent scarlet uniforms, mounted on
beautiful black horses, & sitting their like statues, on guard.
We were just in time to see them changing Guard at 11 a.m.
and this interesting, & picturescue ceremony was witnessed 
by a large crowd of curious people.
The various places of the city such
as Trafalgar square, Piccadilli Circus, Regent St. Oxford St,
Leister Square, and in fact all the principal streets, too
numerous to mention here, we visited, and the traffic etc, is
simply bewildering, & one simply marvels at the scarcity
of accidents. The shops are all large and fashionable, &
business is terribly busy. The people are splendidly
dressed, & the fairer sex were suitably clad in magnificent
furs etc of all descriptions. The girls are remarkably
attractive & good looking, possessing fine complexions, & 

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very well and stylishly dressed, but the way they give a chap
the “glad eye” is astonishing, and altho' we were not out for
that sort of thing, still we came in no little attention in this
respect. They seem to be very partial to Anzacs.
Scotland Yard (of Detective fame) is a funny looking
old place & very old, & it looks as if it could do with a wash
down, the same may be said of all the Government Offices.
Contrary to our expectations, the War Office looked
the least busyiest of places, and the Admiralty Offices, too
looked as if there was "nothing doing", altho' business
elsewhere appeared to be as usual.
London is a wonderfully fascinating place, and
it is so big too, and each place seems more fascinating
than the one we had just left, and the traffic in every
street is amazing, & buses appear to be knocking their
heads, and tramping on each others toes, & everybody
else's, so to speak, that one simply marvels how their
drivers are capable of extricating them out of the most
holy knots they get into, yet they do.
We got on a bus (on top) I went all through
the city, & what an exhilarating time it was too, swaying
about, twisting & turning this way & that, & all the time
appearing to simply run over pedestrians, & smaller cars,
& then we would pull up suddenly, & then on again, & if
passengers wished to alight, they had to do so whilst the bus 

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was in motion, and it was with interest, we watched the
fairer sex accomplishing this delicate adventure, & they did
it with some considerable skill & success.
We often came to the underground tube
railways, which appear right at the entrance of some
of the principal theatres, and altho' we did not go down
in any of these, we were told by the Police, that they run
in every direction, + to all parts of London & the maximum
fare is 2^d.
We passed the places which were destroyed by
bombs, in the vicinity of the Law Courts, from the Zeppelins,
& theres no doubt about it, they make a fair mess. The Law
Courts are simply immense places, & they look very old,
and very dirty.
We also saw our new Commonwealth offices
in the course of construction, & I am told that only a
few men are working on the job, & the rate of progress
would compare very favourably with that of our Flinders
St Station in its earlier stages of construction.
Now we come to Ludgate Hill, and the
great St Pauls Cathedral, which was the only place
of historical interest, we visited inside, and in fact,
underneath.
Outside, on the steps were thousands of
pigeons, & people were feeding them by hand, and 

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after watching this novel sight for a few minutes, went
inside. What a wonderful place it is, and great size
too, and here were monuments of all the great people
whose remains lie underneath in the Crypt. I am
sorry that we could not spend longer time in going
around, but as there was Evensong at 4 p.m, we had to
push on, so as to see the Crypt before the service started.
The Crypt, as you all know, is immediately
beneath the floor of the Cathedral, and here lie, at
various positions, the remains of Wellington, Nelson,
Marlborough, Wolseley, Roberts, & others too numerous
to mention here, and there is the great State hearse
that the Duke of Wellington was brought home on.
It is a massive vehicle & has his banners, &
rifles & bayonets, & all that kind of thing still on it,
and in fact, it is just as they left it, after he was
buried.
Lord Roberts lies alongside Wolseley, and
of course no monument is erected yet, and all that
indicates his resting place is a piece of wood, about
12 inches long & 6 inches wide, with the simple word
"Roberts" on it, and there is one solitary wreath of
dead & dusty flowers with it, & that is all.
On reaching upstairs again, we found
Service just about to start, & sat down immediately 

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under the great dome, & on looking up, we marvelled
at the work of human hands. The architecture is just
wonderful, & the ornamental scroll work, and painting
something magnificent. It exceeded my greatest of
expectations, & how I longed for you all to be with
me to see such a place.
In the midst of all my different
reflections, the great organ began to rumble underneath
our feet, and gradually rising in volume & tone,
burst out into one great melodious sound, & I can
tell you that it sent a shiver thro' my backbone; we
sat & listened in awe, & then the choir marched in, and
took their places. There were only men in the choir,
and so the rendering of the music, was most weird &
novel, I thought. The service was just a plain Evening
Service, & I need not go into detail of it.
At the conclusion of this, we
found it getting late & very dark, & so went in search
of Tea.  We had had a very good dinner at noon,
of Tomato Soup, Roast Beef & Yorkshire pudding with
a whole cauliflower (small of course) & baked potatoes,
with Xmas pudding to finish up with, for 1/9^d each.
It was very clean, & very nicely cooked, and we
thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. At Tea, we had
a couple of poached eggs on toast, & scones & cake to finish. 

Page 10.
After tea, we made the acquaintance of two very nice young
ladies, who kindly shewed us around. I will not trouble
you by telling you how we did this, but anyhow, we did.
The whole city is most weird at night time, as
it is all plunged into darkness, & one has to keep his
wits about him to dodge the traffic, which has not
decreased in the least. We went down to Marble
Arch, & then on to Buckingham Palace, but as it
was so dark, we saw very little of this great place,
so we went on to Hyde Park and all the great places
in West End. The numbers of people who visit Hyde
Park is astonishing, & Motor Drives, and fashionable
people are taking their constitutional walk before
retiring to bed. There by the Serpentine the crowd
increases, & usually a band plays there, but not
in these times of war. Recruiting meetings were being
held, and Sufferagettes could be heard "cackling" their
grievances aloud, all over the place.
As the time was now getting late, &
our "pass" expired at 10 p.m, we were lothe to make our way
to the station, and on arriving there at about 9.15 pm., we
found that our train left at 9.30, so we reached Epsom
at a few minutes after 10 o'clock, after an uneventful run.
The excitment naturally made its
presence felt on us, for we were simply dog tired when we 

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got out of the train, and our feet ached terribly, but
still we had enjoyed ourselves immensely, and the
energy was well spent, & our only regret was that the
day passed so quickly, but still I will have 6 weeks
to see the place properly, so there is plenty of time to see
the other many places of noted interest.
How I longed for
you all to have been with me, to see such a very
wonderful place; I'm sure it was quite an education
for me.
Well, Mother dear, I am glad to say that
I am quite well axxin, & as I have to xx thro' 3 tests, with
ten days between each test, I expect to be here at least
another month before going on furlough.
I hope you are well & in the best of health.
Give my kindest regards to all enquirers, my
affection to all relations, and my fondest love to
dear Mab, Chas, George, Rupert & Floss Robbie, and
a double ration for your dear self, and hoping
that the time will soon come that we can all meet
again
Believe me to be,
Your affectionate Son,
Norman.
P.S. Still no mail from Melbourne.
N.