Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 16 of 28

AUSTRALIAN BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET  
24^th June 1916.

Dearest Mother & all at Home,
Just a line to let
you know that I am still in perfect health, &
am still stuck in this godforsaken hole, altho'
I hoped to have left it before this, but the
previous orders re our transference to Bath
have been cancelled for the present, so goodness
only knows how long we will be here now.
It is
a "champion" depot for N.C.Os getting reduced
to the ranks, & seldom a day passes but what
some poor chap is stripped of his stripes, & for
nothing at all, & the person who is chiefly
responsible for this, is the Depot Sergeant
Major, who is a  ---  of a man, & has
no principles of decency in him at all, & 
is always looking for trouble, & he has been
promised a liberal amount of chastisement
by hundreds of boys, but he is never to be
found after tea time, until Reveille next
day, & then he commences again, & generally
commences on the Sergeant in-charge of the

AUSTRALIAN BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET

2
main guard, & it generally ends in the poor
Sergeant being put under arrest for some-
thing or other, & up he goes for Court Martial
for calling the Depot Sergeant Major a
 - ÷ +- ¥ ÷÷ -O- - ^I--_I -I-- !
I have been fortunate enough to dodge
Guard in this Depot so far, but I expect
to get it this week, & if he troubles me at
all, I'll let him have it without the
least compunction, despite the consequences
When a Draft leaves for France or Egypt
they generally give him the usual war cry:-
"Some say Good old Joe (his name); Others
say Hang old Joe; Others say Dam old Joe;
but what do we say? --- old Joe.
Friday last, we had a Route March,
(with full Infantry kits & rifles) of 15 miles,
& I did the distance splendidly, & was
thoroughly satisfied with my condition, &
performance, whilst a lot of Infantry men
"knocked up", so you can see that I am
absolutely in the very pink of condition 

AUSTRALIAN BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET

3.
My Australian letters have started going astray
since I left Abbey Wood, & I have only had 1
since leaving there, & I am thirsting for news.
I do hope that dear Mab; Chas; & George
will not think that I am ungrateful for their
letters, because I am not, & if I wrote to
them, it would contain the same news that
I send to you, so I hope that the one letter
will do for all.
There is absolutely no news
to tell you from this Camp, as we all live
in wooden huts, (an improvement on the
tents) & so we are able to exist much better
in the conditions. The Sergeants Mess is
a pig sty, & wants cleaning out "neck
& crop", & I generally have my meals at
the Y.M.C.A. hut, & I am not the only
Sergeant who does this.
Leave is available
after 4 pm till 11 pm, & one can only
go into Weymouth, & as it is a small
place, & only the Esplanade to go to, I 

AUSTRALIAN BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET

4.
generally go in once a week, & spend the
remainder of the time in Camp reading etc.
There are no Artillery Drafts for France
yet awhile, as there are no Casualties there,
& so they must be having a good time. My
old Corporal, who is now Sgt on my gun, tells
me, this week, not to come back to the 4^th Bty,
as things are very miserable with them all,
& they are always quarrelling with the Officers,
Well Mother dear I have finished
for this week as there is no news. - I hope
you are all well, - Give my affection
to all relations & my kind regards to
all enquirers, & to the family, my fondest
love, hoping to see you all next Xmas
time, if not before
Believe me
Your loving son
Norman.
P.S.
I would like you to send me a paper
or two occasionally now please Mum.
N.

AUSTRALIAN BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET
Park House Camp,
Tidworth, Salisbury.
England. July 3^rd.
1916

Dearest Mother & all at Home,
As you can see
by the above address, I have left Weymouth,
I am now situated here, but are not attached
to any Batteries, as there are none here, but
only a few reinforcements for the 4^th Division,
& these are a very poor lot, & know nothing
whatever of Artillery work, & have never seen
a gun yet, & according to their statements,
have no desire to do so, but we are not
allowed to mix with them, thank goodness,
& are now awaiting a shift either to Bath,
or France.
What we have seen of Salisbury
is a very fine place; - beautiful undulating 
country, with fine grassy feilds, &
plenty of targets, & splendid manoeuvring
ground, & there are camps & barracks all
around the plains, which occupies a
vast amount of country in Wiltshire.
(over

2
We expected to come to a barren, sandy
sort of a desert, but only a small portion
of the plains is like this, & all the rest
is like what I have previously described.
There is barracks for all branches of
the service, & there is of course, a special
railway line running right around the
camp for military purposes, & also fine
roads, & there are Rifle ranges in
galore & trenches & barbed wire, & all that
kind of thing, on all the hills, for
instructional purposes, & then there is
also Artillery ranges, & guns can be
heard booming all day, & every day.
Not
far from our Camp is a big aerodome,
& machines are flying over our Camp in
big numbers, like a flock of great
birds, & accidents often occur I'm
sorry to say, & men killed & injured.
There
is only an occasional farm house about
here, & there is nothing to do, & nowhere to
go, except to "stew" up in our drill
books, & this is a good opportunity for
all aspiring N.C.Os etc, who are going
for promotion.
Girls are very scarce, altho'
a lot have followed us from Weymouth &

[*You will be pleased to know that I managed
to dodge a Main Guard at Weymouth before
I left, Thank goodness.*]
AUSTRALIAN BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET

3.
Abbey Wood to try & catch "hubbys".
There
are only 54 of us all told, & no Officers, & we
occupy 2 huts, & we are living like "fighting
cocks" & have the very best of food, & plenty
of it, & for drill. the Serjeant Major & myself
are instructing the remainder to go
for promotion, & a very willing lot the
boys are too, altho' they are from all
states in Australia, but are happy.
We
are all getting 4 days leave, & I have
written to our other Cousins (Hay) in
Cornwall, to see if I can come & see
them, so in my next letter I hope to
tell you all about them.
I am sending
poor Harriet Cole, £1 next week, as I
know she will appreciate it, altho' she
no doubt will not want to take it, but
it takes here all her time to make ends
meet, as things are so very dear, here.
(over 

4
She contemplated giving up house in Kent,
& taking a flat closer to London, & of course,
take Lucy with her; as she said that she
could not keep things going much longer,
& I gave here a couple of £ then, & I will
try & let her have a trifle now & then if
I can & it won't break me, & she was
awfully decent to me when I stayed
with them.
I do not smoke & do not
drink or gamble, & there is nothing to
buy in this place, & so can saz save a
little now.
I have had no letters for a long
time, from anywhere, & am "hard up" for
news, but I know that you always
write to me, & the letters will turn up
some time or other.
I've met some more
Sth Yarra boys in this camp who came
away with the cycle corps lately.
I hope
dear Mother that all are well at home.
Give my kind regards to all enquirers
& affection to all relations, & my fondest
love to you all at home, so hoping to
hear from you soon
I remain
Your loving son
Norman.