Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 18 of 28

Australian Artillery Training Depot 
Bulford;  Salisbury. 
England; July 16 ^th. 
  
My Dearest Mother & all at Home, 
Just a line 
to say that I have not succeeded in getting 
away with a  Draft for France yet, but 
this morning, I wrote to my old Battery 
Commander (Major Biddle) & asked him to 
apply for me to be sent over as N.C.O.s 
have great difficulty in getting away from 
England, so I hope to get a favourable 
answer in a day or two, altho' I expect 
that he must have the full compliment 
of Gun Sergeants over there now, but I told 
him that I could easily find plenty to 
do. 
I have been transferred with the rest 
of the 1^st Division Details from Park House 
Camp, to this place, but we are not 
doing any Gunnery etc, as there are no 
guns available, & we are simply hanging 
around doing nothing, except waiting 
to be sent to France. There are plenty 
of Tommy Regiments here in Camp, of 
all descriptions, from Horse & Field Artillery 

2 
& Cavalry, Lancers, Dragoons, Heavy Artillery, Motor 
Transport Wagons by the thousands; aeroplanes in  
swarms, & Horses & Mules innumerable . Our new 
Division of Artillery (3^rd) which left Australia 
in May, have just arrived at Lark Hill, (a 
couple of miles from here,) & they are a fine 
stamp of men, altho' they have had no training 
with Guns yet, but I expect when they have 
completed their training they will be a "thorn 
in the Kaisers side". Old Billy Mailer has 
charge of the Victorian Brigade (8^th ) & is the only 
Brigade to do any training before leaving Aust^- 
I came back from Penzance on Tuesday 
after travelling all day on the train, my cousins 
treated me fine, & took me for a lovely motor trip 
on the Monday, (I only had 2 days with them) 
but I was glad to get away , as Mr Prideaux s 
eccentricities, began to make me feel uneasy 
at times , altho' he was awfully decent to me 
all the time, but the way he would jump up 
& leave the table to close the gate of the 
house opposite, or to kick a stone from the 
middle of the road, or to put somebodys 
bread knife straight, or somebodys pudding 
spoon turned the wrong way, & such like 
peculiarities, did not altogether make me  
feel as comfortable as I should have liked. 
They gave me 10/- on leaving, to pay my fare.  

Australian Commonwealth Military Forces   
Australian Base Depot, 
Monte Video Camp, 
Weymouth, Dorset 
  
3 
Of course, they want me to come & stay 
longer next time , &  I promised them I would. 
I cannot make out why cousin Jessie 
married him, & I must confess that I think 
that it is because it is ????????? of his 
being well off, but he is good natured enough 
to allow Lizzie Cole , & Fanny Wrinship (widow) 
nee Cole, to live there too, at his expense. 
He 
certainly is not an attractive looking man 
either, as his eyes are excitable looking, 
& his is very skinny, & gray haired,& very 
shabby in his dress, so you see I have 
reason for my opinion. 
For his breakfast, 
he makes a concoction which he calls 
Russian Coffee, & he tried very strongly to 
get me to try it, & it has the following 
ingredients. Tea (ordinary ), Whiskey; Brandy 
Lemons; Tobacco, & some other "gooligum" 
— now fancy drinking this stuff, & 
it stinks worse than a billy goat.  
( over

4 
Needless to say, I politely but firmly 
declined his pressing offer. 
My trip in the 
motor embraced a long trip all through 
Cornwall, & we stopped at Lands End 
where I posted some Post Cards to you, 
also my last weeks letter, & hope you 
have received them alright. We also 
stopped at Logan Rock; & at a very 
pretty seaside resort called St Ives, 
& passed thro' some delightful Cornwall 
country, & returned home at 6.30 pm 
via Marazion, where they formerly lived. 
It was a most delightful trip, & 
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. 
To-day, I walked out to the ancient 
& renowned Stonehenge, & saw all the 
old relics of ancient days:— it is only 
4½ miles from this Camp. The great 
stones are just in the same position 
as we read of them in our school 
books, & it is still an attractive 
rendezvous for motors etc, on Sundays 
Salisbury is an extensive place 
& at present, is looking charming 
with all its fields of corn, oats, wheat 
& wild flowers of poppies & cornflowers etc 

Australian Commonwealth Military Forces
5 
[*Australian base depot, 
Monte Video Camp, 
Weymouth, Dorset*] 
  
England is really a wonderful country, 
& the longer one stays in the country, the 
more one finds out about the place of 
course. For instance, at 4.30 in the 
morning, it is broad daylight, & at 
10-30 at night, one can easily read the 
news paper without any artificial 
light, but for summer, it is very 
mild, & what the "tommies" call a 
hot day here, one would never feel 
it in Australia. 
The light horse who 
were in Camp with us at Park House 
Camp, have gone into Barracks to be 
turned into Cavalry (these are the 4^th  
& 13^th Regiments, both Victorians) & the 
other Light Horse Regiments have 
sailed for Egypt again, & my word 
arn't they cursing too, as they badly 
wanted to go to France, but only the 
4^th & 13^th are going to France, with 
the Divisions to which they belong. 
(over

6 
Oh, I say — Yardley got out of his 
District Court Martial alright, but he 
still has his "cold footed" job at Weymouth, 
so I am not taking any further interest 
in him now. None of the boys have 
anytime for him. 
I expect to get leave 
again next week, & if I do, I am going 
down to Gravesend to stay a few days 
with them there. 
I say mum, if you 
want to invest any of my money in 
anything, War Loans, or in property, etc 
please do so, but do so in your own 
name, in case anything should happen 
to me, or just do anything you like 
with it. Have a good "blow-out" & 
take some booked seats at the theatre 
on the strength of it. 
Now I must close, 
hoping you are all well, as I have had 
no mail for 6 weeks now, so I want 
you to address my letters to 29 Cobham St 
Gravesend, Kent, & Cousin Harty will 
post them on to me to wherever I am sent to 
So with love to all 
from your loving son 
Norman