Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 7 of 28

Ward "M".
County of London War Hospital 
Epsom, Surrey 
England. 
March 14^th. 
  
My Dearest Mother & all at Home, 
Just 
a few lines, hoping you are all 
quite well, as I am pleased to tell 
you that I am still going on fine, 
and my leg is, or has, healed well, 
& altho' the Dr has let me up out 
of bed, he wishes me to use a wheeled 
chair for a week, & I am now 
propelling myself about on x one 
these peculiar "engines", of which 
there are quite a number in this 
Hospital, & I look, & feel like a goat. 
As I mentioned in my  
last letter about the sudden 
death of one of our principal 
nursing sisters, I was able to 
attend the funeral service in  
our Chapel, where the coffin

Page 2. 
was placed in the chancel amid 
the many beautiful floral tributes 
from the large number of friends, 
admirers, & patients.  She was a 
most delightful personality &  
looked at me, in the robust health, but 
was affected with heart trouble 
which untimately brought about 
her death.  She was in my 
room only the day before her 
death, & spoke very kindly to me, 
as she always did, & that night 
on retiring to bed, she complained  
of a headache, & shortly  
after midnight, one of the staff 
nurses had a dream that this 
Sister was calling to her, and 
on getting up (knowing that she 
wasn't well) she went into her 
room, (some distance away) 
& found Sister Harrower in a 
fit, & she at once brought two 
Drs, who could do very little

Page 3. 
for her, & she lingered on, without 
regaining conciousness, till a 
little after dinner time, & then 
she died. 
She must have expected 
that her end would come 
suddenly, as she had left all 
her effects, etc, in very complete 
order, even to her disposal. 
Our chapel was filled with 
Mourners, Officers, Matron, Sisters, 
Nurses, Probationers, & other 
people connected with the Hosp 
& also a very large number of 
patients, with whom she was 
most popular; the service 
was Presbyterian, & we had 
2 very nice hymns, Nearer my 
God to Thee"; & " On the Resurrection 
Morning": Some of the Staff, 
who have fine voice,s sang in 
the Choir, & of course, everybody  
in the Church sang too, and

Page 4. 
with the very fine organ accompanyment, 
it was most impressive, 
& at the conclusion, Chopins 
"Funeral March" was rendered 
by the Organist, whilst the coffin, 
was borne by 4 big Hospital 
Orderlies, from the church to the 
Hearse.  The Convalescent Patients 
walked in front of the Hearse 
each carrying a wreath, the 
Relatives in a Mourning coach, 
then marched the Nurses & Sisters, 
& Hospital staff. 
Of course I was 
unable to follow in my chair, so 
went back to the ward.  The 
Australian soldiers have not 
got much of a name with the 
Tommies here, but the whole 
of the ceremonial part of the 
funeral was engineered by 
the inmates (Australian) of 
my ward, myself assisting,

Page 5 
& the Colonel was so pleased 
with the arrangements, that he 
had a printed circular sent 
around to all the Wards, thanking 
us for our efforts, & had I 
been able to get about a bit 
better, I would have "broken in" 
a firing party, & got a gun- 
carriage & six-horse team, and 
made a decent show of it. 
I am afraid, Mother dear, 
that there is still not much 
news for me to tell you, and 
I hope you will be content 
just to know that I am well. 
Snow has fallen again 
heavily, & it lies about 5 or  
6 inches deep, but the novelty 
has worn off, so we do not 
take much notice of it now. 
Two convoys of wounded 
have come in from France 
this last week, & our Ward

Page 6. 
has started to fill up again.  They 
are of course, all Tommies, & a 
very poor lot at that, & some of 
them have only been at the fornt 
for 3 or 4 weeks. The Sister & 
Nurses of my ward have been 
extremely kind & considerate to 
me during my stay in bed, & I'll 
not soon forget their kindness. 
Several of our boys have got 
married since going on furlough, 
but not "this child" when I get 
mine. 
Deepest sympathy for 
Mrs & Miss Miller and also to 
Mrs Taylor & Family, their sad 
bereavements. 
Trusting that you are all 
well & with my fondest love to 
Mab; Chas, George, Rupert, Floss 
& kindest affection to all relatives 
& enquirers, & tons of love for your 
dear self,  I am 
Your loving Son 
Norman