Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 8 of 28

Ward "M".
County of London War Hospital
Epsom, Surrey.
England.
(Mothers Birthday) March 16^th 1916.

Dearest Mother & all at Home.
I am happy to
tell you that I am still getting on magnificently 
and hope to get out on furloughl next week.
My
leg is now fine, & has quite healed, & so I hope
to have no more trouble with it anymore.
This
last week has been rather a red letter week
for me, as firstly, I was chosen to go to
Buckingham Palace to see the King next
Wednesday, & secondly, the Dr took one
home in his Car to dinner on Saturday,
& yesterday one of his friends, a J.P. at
Croydon, came to the hospital & took four
of us Australians from our Ward, out for
a lovely drive, & then home to his house to
tea, & then drove us back to hospital again
also, 3 Patients from each ward had
to be selected to go to Buckingham Palace,
next Wednesday, & I was simply shocked
rotten when the Sister came & told me that
I would go, of course, & the other two would

Page 2.
be selected by drawing by ballot, & an Elsternwick
boy got one of those & an R.G.S. man, the other.
We have not had any particulars as to what 
the nature of the visit is to be, so I cannot
tell you this week, as the mail closes on
Wednesday, but next week, I’ll be able
to tell you all about it.
Dr Peatling very
kindly asked me to come with him in his car
home to dinner on Saturday last, so I went &
thoroughly enjoyed myself. He lives at a
place called Carshalton, about 7 miles from
Epsom, & has a nice house ; - He owns two
cars, a single, & a double seater, and made
a long detour so that I could see the scenery.
It was simply charming, & was pleased
thro’ places called CLeam, Ewell, & Sutton, &
then arrived at Carshalton. Here his Wife
was waiting to give me a warm welcome, & then
she shewed me all thro’ the house, & grounds,
& I enjoyed & appreciated everything. We
sat down to a very nice dinner, & after
a friendly cigarette, went out for another
drive before returning to Hospital, where
I arrived at 5-30 p.m.
It was awfully
decent of him I thought, but he is very

Page 3.
proud of his Anzac patients.
On Sunday, one
of his friends called at the Hospital, & asked
for 4 Australians from “M” Ward, so as
there were only three others, I had to go to
make up the party, as I wanted to stand
aside, having been for a ride the previous
day, but he would not hear of it, & so I
went.
He has a fine big “Overland ‘ car, &
he asked us where we would like to go to,
into London, or out in to the country, so we
preferred the county, so off we went. We
went flying out thro’ Leatherhead andwe
Box hill, Dorking, & some other town, & the
scenery was simply wonderful. Box hill,
is called the Switzerland of England, owing
to it mountainous country, and all the
roads wind in & out in a most amazing
way, & we were simply spell bound at
every fresh burst of scenery; We reached
the highest part at Reigate, & stopped,
& we simply stood agast at the sight. All
down in the valleys could be seen pretty
little villages tucked snugly in amongst
the hills & everything looked so peaceful.
We could see for a distance of 30 or 40 miles
from here, & could just see Brighton, on the South
Coast

Page 4.
We left then for another spin of half an
hour, & we then came to his house. A fine
old English mans home, & grounds; His wife,
a delightful person, received us with much
warmth, & we were made such a fuss of.
They had a fine gramophone, & gave us some
splendid records nearly all the time. We
sat down to a beautiful tea, & afterwards,
he cleared the Table for Billiards. We all
had to play, & I, who had never played
Billiards had to play & great scott, I made
the highest break of the night of 13, the balls
simply flew into the pockets, - not into the
pockets that I intended, but they went in
others, so I didn't care, as it all counts,
anyhow, we spent a magnificent day,
& I'll never forget it as long as I live. We
simply flew back to Hospital at 30 miles per
hour, before is got dark & he said that he
will call down again & take us out some day.
All other motorists gave him a clear
road, because he was taking out soldiers
& this is readily done by all motorists, as
a compliment to us.
Several more of the
Enterics out of my ward have gone out on
furlough, & there are only 5 of the old

Page 5
crowd left now. The Dr doesn't like us to
go out, & simply won’t let us go, as he says
That we have done our share of fighting, & as
for the sister & nurses, when the boys are
starting out on furlough, they shed enough
tears to drown a fish. There are over
1000 Australians that have married to
English girls since arriving in England, so
our average girl will have to shake herself
up if she wants a man after this. The
English girls are far more domisticated than ours.
& they are very pretty too. We passed a
great number of very pretty girls yesterday, &
all gave us the glad-eye. Australians are
in the boom here, I can tell you.
I got a letter from Capt Biddle of our battery
& am enclosing it to usyou, as it concerns the
evacuation; - Well. Mother dear I hope
you are all well; Give my kindest regards
to all enquirers, my affection to all
relatives, & my fondest love to dear Mab,
Chas, George, Rupert, Floss, & an extra
ration for your dear self, & many
happy returns for your Birthday
remain
Your loving Son
Norman.