Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 14 of 28

Hut B7.
Australian Intermediate Base, 
Bostall Heath.
Abbey Wood
29^th May. 

My Dearest Mother & all at Home, 
I am 
very pleased to say that I am still 
in the very best of health, thanks 
to this splendid camp & its surr- 
oundings, & I have done no work 
whatever, except as Sgt-in-charge of 
the Guard on 2 nights. 
There are very 
few men & officers in Camp now, & 
we are all being transferred from 
this place, either to Weymouth, or to 
Salisbury Plains, sometime this 
week, as this place is wanted 
for some other troops. 
It is funny 
here; The trumpeter, at 6 a.m. 
sounds Reveille; - no body gets 
up; - at 6.15, he sounds ¼ 
call, - still no appearance of any- 
one; - then at 6-30, the "fall in" 

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sounds, & nobody "falls in"; - so 
at 8.a.m., the "cook house" sounds, 
& then men begins to get up, & 
wash. After breakfast, at 9.30 
the "fall in" sounds & we then 
report ourselves, & the officer takes 
our names, & tells us to "clear off" 
& so we are "off for the day". 
The 
girls around here all day long, 
come from Woolwich; Plumstead;  
& Erith; & have simply gone mad 
over the Australians, & there are 
some very fine girls, & of course, 
some pretty "crook" ones, but I 
have managed to get hold of a  
very fine girl;- Her father is 
one of the Head Foremen in 
Woolwich Arsenal, & she has 
got 4 Certificates for the Pianoforte, 
& 3 for singing; & she also 
plays the Organ in the local 
Church, & she has several 

Page 3. 
other abilities, including Painting; 
Drawing; Cooking, etc, etc. -  
Now Mother don't go & say, "- 
there, I knew he would, sooner 
or later", because there is nothing 
whatever in it, I assure you, - 
only it is a treat to meet such 
a fine girl. 
The Australians 
here, as usual, have a bad name, 
thro' one or two "playing up", & so 
the rest of us have to suffer for it, 
but people who are not so 
narrow minded, soon begin to 
realize that we are not all 
bad, & treat us very decently. 
It 
is the young girls who frequent 
the camp day & night, who 
cause the mischief, & they 
have to be driven out of the 
mens huts at all hours of 
the nights, & they sneak into others 

Page 4.   
then, & pull the blankets off 
the sleeping men, & other things 
like that, so you can see what 
we have to put up with. 
There 
is no doubt that our physique 
is a great deal better than that 
of the "Tommies", altho' the I say 
so myself, & I am often asked 
by people, " what is the secret 
of the Australians physique", & 
I tell them that it is the free 
life we lead in Australia & 
sun-worship which you people 
do not go in for", & I have 
succeeded in making scores of 
them envious, & they all want 
to go out to Australia after the 
war. 
There are still thousands 
of chaps about here in civilian 
attire, who will not enlist, &  
they don't seem to care a damn 
about it, either. 

Page 5.   
They are awfully afraid of us 
lads, & always avoid us if 
possible, & if they have girls 
with them, we promptly go 
over & relieve them of them, 
much to their disgust, & we 
sti only do it for devilment. 
Altho' we have got a bad 
name, the girls are only too 
glad to walk out with them us. 
in preference to the "Tommies" or 
the other boys. 
The "Tommy" officers 
are always complaining to our officers 
about us not saluting them, but 
our officers tell them "off" pro- 
perly, & incidentally, to "go to Halifax." 
I 
have made application to go to a 
school of gunnery, whilst I am 
"unfit for duty", but it is doubt- 
ful if this can be arranged for 
the present, owing to shifting Camp 

Page 6.   
I have had no letters from home. 
this week, but expect them later. 
I hope you are all well: - 
I long to see you all again, & 
it seems years since I was home, 
& so it is. 
All are well at Gravesend" 
& send love to all. So also does 
Sister Griffiths-Baker from whom 
I have had 2 letters, but I cannot 
see her as she as at Manchester. 
I 
have met some of my splendid 
gunners over on Leave from France, & 
all the promotion they got was 
I stripe (acting):- now isn't that 
a shame:- these men went right thro' 
it all from the start. 
Well, Mother dear 
I will now close with love to you 
all, & an extra ration for your 
self, I am 
Your loving Son, 
Norman.