Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1916 - Part 10 of 28

County of London War Hospl 
Epsom, Surrey, 
England 
March 5^th 
April 1916  
Ward "M".   

My Dearest Mother & all at Home, 
A line to say 
that I have just received your letter, & one from 
Charl, & one from Mip Davidson, & am glad to 
know that you are all well, & this gives me the opportunity 
 of saying that I am now simply great and 
am leaving Hospital on Friday, so you see that 
I am on the eve of a nice 6 weeks holiday. 
I saw 
the Colonel of the hospital yesterday, & he said 
that I could go out Friday, & said that I would 
have 6 weeks furlough, & hoped that I was feeling 
quite "fit" again. I have now been here 4 months 
& cannot say enough of the kindness & treatment 
meted out to me, & will not soon forget it all. 
The weather is beautifully fine, & all 
the trees are in blossom, & shooting into leaves, 
& I have had the chance of seeing Surrey in 
the spring thro' the kindness of several of my 
friends who have taken me for Motor Drives. 
I went out to Boxhill, & Dorking, & one 
or two other pretty towns (55 miles altogether,) 
& had a glorious time last Sunday, but the

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trip was some what marred by us exceeding the 
speed limit & our friend was pulled up by 
the police & his name & number taken, but 
he told the "John" that it did not matter, as 
he was a magistrate on the local bench, & 
would hear the case himself, so his car did 
35 & 40 miles per hour after this, & we thoroughly 
enjoyed it. He took us home to tea where his wife 
& family again welcomed us right royally. 
Yesterday 
I went to the friends place at Cheam, who were 
so kind to me at Xmas time, & Miss Kerr took 
me out in her car all thro' Kingston-on-Thames, 
Richmond Park, Hampton Court, Bushy Park, 
(where all the Deer are) all along the Banks of the 
Thames, & my word Mum, it was lovely, & 
I really enjoyed myself. Miss Kerr was awfully 
decent, & so also was Mr Kerr, who entertained 
me with some splendid, "after dinner" stories. 
His house was a splendid old place, & was 
prominent in the reign, & contained some very 
old relics of King Henry VIII, & it was delightfully  
quaint, & greatly interested me. Of 
course the place is all lopsided. & the stair- 
case is all crooked, but that seems all the 
more unique. 
I have about ₤35 to draw 
at the Pay Office here, so this will keep

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me going nicely on my holiday. 
I hope that 
you got the souvenir Invitation to Buckingham 
Palace, & the Programme which I sent 
by registered Post last week, but I also 
read that some of the Australian Mail has 
been sunk in the "Sussex" by a torpedo. 
I hope that you are all well at home. 
Give my regards to all enquirers, & my 
affection to all relations to relations, & tell 
them that I hope to rejoin the boys at 
the front again soon. 
In addressing my 
letters "Mum", don't put 4^th Aust Field Arty 
as there is a 4^th Bty & a 4^th Brigade; put 
4^th Battery, 2^nd F. S. Brigade, 1^st Ausn Division Co Aus High Comm Eng. 
& that will find me alright 
My fondest love to yourself, Mab, 
Chas, George, Rupert, & Floss 
& believe me to be 
Your loving son 
Norman

28 Cobham St 
Gravesend, Kent 
April 10^th 1916.

My Dearest Mother & all at Home. 
Just a few lines 
to let you know that I am at last on furlough, 
I am staying with our Cousins for a few days 
before going on tour to Scotland & Ireland. 
I left 
Hospital last Friday, & reported at once to our 
Head Quarters in Horseferry Road, where I spent 
most of the time, or day, in getting my pay, & 
furlough & railway passes fixed up, etc. 
My pay 
was satisfactory as there was ₤42, & a few 
shillings & pence waiting for me, so this will 
do me nicely for my holiday. I spent that 
night in London at a Theatre (Shaftesbury) & slept 
at Peel House, (an Australian House) & had 
breakfast in the morning there, 8^d for each 
meal & bed. 
I took a taxi later on to London 
Bridge Railway Stn, where the trains run 
to Gravesend, & as the distance is 22 
miles, it took a little over an hour to get there,

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but I got there in time for dinner, & 
easily found my way, as their place is only 
as far from the station, as ours is. Of course 
they were waiting for me, & gave me a warm 
welcome; Julia is, of course, pretty old, & 
gray, but remarkably active, & is always 
sedately dressed, & with a white cap on. She 
is rather deaf, & one has to do a lot of 
shouting to make her hear, but she is awfully 
decent. Harriet a good honest woman, 
& works like a slave; - Then there is 
another Cousin; - her name is Lily, but I do 
not know her other name, & I don't like asking 
now. She is a grass widow & of course lives 
with Julia & Harriet. Lucy is nice looking 
girl, rather bashful & all that kind of 
rot, but has taken to me kindly, & we 
get along very well together. Her boy is one 
of the shirkers, & called yesterday to tell her 
that he is going into hospital, to undergo an 
operation, & he is very nervous. He has 
been "tracking" with Lucy for 3 years, & never 
takes her out, & consequently she is very shy 
& never goes to any pleasure, other than the 
local picture show once a week, & to

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Church every Sunday morning with 
Julia & Harriet. Lily does the cooking. 
The house is very old, but clean, & is 3 
stories high, & has plenty of stairs, so it 
would not suit you, Mother; - Gravesend is 
almost on the Thames, in fact, portion of it is, 
& all along the banks are old hulks, & old 
warships of Nelsons time, including the "Warspite" 
which is used as a training ship for boys. 
It is quite country looking inland a bit, 
& there is plenty of cultivation round about, 
& there are plenty of nice walks, etc. The 
Main St, is a business thoroughfare, & does 
well, altho' every shop is awfully ugly & old. 
I cannot stop to give you a fuller 
description just now, Mother, as I have only 
just got home, being after mid night, (Lucy 
& I have been to the Theatre up in London) 
& I leave for Scotland in the morning. 
We went to try & get into the local picture 
show on Saturday night, but no soldiers 
are allowed in, on account of some of 
the men in Camp at Clapham, having 
"spotted fever", so I have to go up to London 
each time, & the fare is 3/-, 3^rd class return.

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Mrs Prideaux & Jessie Hay, have invited 
me to go & stay with them in Cornwall, but 
Harriet says that they are a little mad, but 
have tons of money, so I'm going to see them & 
chance the madness. They went to Cornwall 
to live to dodge the Zeppelins. 
Before leaving 
Hospital, four of us gave Dr Peatling, (our Dr) 
a gold brooch for his wife, in the shape 
of our military badge, & he & she were delighted  
with it, & wrote each of us a very nice 
letter (enclosed). He was awfully decent to us 
all, & it is the least that we could do for him, 
altho' we hadn't much "boodle" to buy anything 
expensive. 
I'm quite alright now, & quite strong, 
& I hope you are all the same. I will 
drop you a line each week, as usual, & 
let you know of me. How are you all.? 
Give my love to all the Family & accept 
The same for your dear self, from 
Your loving son 
Norman 
P.S. 
my address)      
4^th Battery, 2^nd FA, Bg^de, 
1^st Australian Division 
C/o Australian High Commn, London, S.W.

of the letter we gave to the Dr. 
Dr Peatling 
Sir, 
On leaving the County of 
London War Hospital, we could not take our departure 
without an expression of gratitude for the 
great kindness & care that we have received 
at your hands since our arrival in England;  
Your many acts of kindness, we can 
assure you, will not be forgotten soon by us. 
Being "Strangers in a strange land", we 
feel that we shall always be indebted to 
you for your great skill & treatment, since 
Your you, since we owe our recovery to 
your great skill & treatment. 
We beg your 
acceptance, on behalf of Mrs Peatling, of a 
small token of esteem, from 4 of your 
Australian Patients. 
K. B. Hollings 
N. G. Ellsworth 
F. J. Davies 
F. S. Garting