Fred's letters | Inventory


Inventory number	Letter / Postcard	Date	Sent from	Summary
1	Plain postcard	01/06/1915	Ashford, Kent	We are now on our way.

2	Letter	undated	BEF, France
3	Letter	undated	BEF, France	I would like to know where Charlie got killed.

4	Letter	12/06/1915		Let me know the name of the place where Charlie was buried
5	Field Service Postcard	13/06/1915

6	Field Service Postcard	18/06/1915
7	Letter	19/06/1915	BEF, France	I don't think I am far away from the place where Charlie was buried.

8	Field Service Postcard	01/07/1915		I am being sent down to the base.
9	Field Service Postcard	02/07/1915

10	Letter	05/07/1915	The same address	We are out for a few days rest now.
11	Field Service Postcard	09/07/1915		We had a little singsong during the evening on the 8th. (Fred's 21st birthday.)

12	Letter	11/07/1915	The same address
13	Letter	16/07/1915	The same address	We have been [censored]. My Platoon Officer has been killed.

14	Field Service Postcard	18/07/1915
15	Letter	26/07/1915		Arthur is over here.

16	Letter	02/08/1915
17	Letter	04/08/1915

18	Field Service Postcard	25/08/1915
19	Letter	06/09/1915	Signal Section, 7th Batt ESR	We are still in the trenches and I think it's the worst week we have had for rain.

20	Letter	10/09/1915	Signal Section, 7th Batt ESR	I have got a rotten cold otherwise I feel alright.
21	Field Service Postcard	19/09/1915

22	Letter	20/09/1915	Signal Section, 7th Batt ESR	We are having glorious weather in the trenches this week, but it turns so cold during the night.
23	Field Service Postcard	01/10/1915

24	Field Service Postcard	07/10/1915
25	Letter	08/10/1915	Signal Section, 7th Batt ESR	We are having it rough now. Haven’t had a wash for a week, up to our eyebrows in dirt.

26	Letter	16/10/1915		Made a charge and captured the first German trench.
27	Field Service Postcard	18/10/1915

28	Letter	18/10/1915		We were 14 days without a wash. It's the roughest time we have ever had.
29	Field Service Postcard	28/10/1915

30	Field Service Postcard	29/10/1915
31	Field Service Postcard	30/10/1915

32	Field Service Postcard	12/11/1915
33	Letter	16/11/1915	LCpl Horsnell ESR	It’s a year tomorrow since [Charlie] was killed. It's nice to know that he was buried in a churchyard

34	Letter	25/11/1915	The Piggery, Somewhere in France	We are now well away from the trenches for a little while, but can still hear the rumble of the guns.
35	Letter	29/11/1915	LCpl Horsnell ESR	Well our frosty weather has turned to rain today. But still we must not grumble.

36	Field Service Postcard	08/12/1915
37	Letter	15/12/1915	7th ESR	Shall not be home for Christmas.

38	Field Service Postcard	22/12/1915
39	Letter	25/12/1915	7th ESR	The Huns keep dropping their dear little shells quite close. I suppose they want to hurt someone.

40	Letter	01/01/1916		I saw a chap in the 5th DG the other day who helped to carry poor Charlie down to the dressing station.
41	Letter	10/01/1916

42	Field Service Postcard	18/01/1916
43	Letter	20/01/1916	Somewhere in France	Well we are now back for a rest from the trenches.

44	Field Service Postcard	27/01/1916
45	Letter	28/01/1916	The same address	Well it's eight months next Tuesday since I left England. How quickly the time flies when one looks back.

46	Field Service Postcard	07/02/1916
47	Letter	07/02/1916		They have extended our rest from the trenches, so don't know when we go into action again

48	Letter	11/02/1916	Somewhere in France	Well I suppose you will be glad to know that we are still out of the trenches
49	Letter	01/03/1916	Somewhere in France	I have been in the trenches and out again since I was home.

50	Letter	05/03/1916	Same address	We have had some more snow and it's up to our eyebrows in mud again.
51	Field Service Postcard	11/03/1916

52	Letter	21/03/1916		Don't worry I am only slightly wounded in the left leg.
53	Letter	07/04/1916	Army Post Office S/17 [Étaples]	Don't feel very strong in my left leg.

54	Letter	10/04/1916	[Étaples]	I would rather lay down and die than go sick at this place again.
55	Letter	13/04/1916	Army Post Office S/17 [Étaples]	I am quite alright myself now.

56	Field Service Postcard	20/04/1916
57	Letter	09/06/1916	Dover?	I hope the next time I come home it will be for good and the war will be finished.

58	Field Service Postcard	17/06/1916
59	Letter	16/06/1916	Army Post Office S/17 [Étaples]	Just a line to let you know I am in France once again.

60	Letter	24/06/1916		I am now off up the line again with the best of luck.
61	Letter	21/06/1916	7th E. Surrey’s

62	Letter	29/06/1916	Somewhere in France
63	Letter	12/07/1916

64	Field Service Postcard	21/07/1916
65	Letter	22/07/1916	Same address	Well Mother I should like some writing paper and envelopes when you write again.

66	Letter	01/08/1916	Somewhere in France	It’s been ages since I received a letter from you.
67	Letter	09/08/1916	7th E. Surrey’s	I am most awfully upset about Mother.

68	Field Service Postcard	13/08/1916
69	Field Service Postcard	19/08/1916

70	Field Service Postcard	22/08/1916
71	Letter	22/08/1916	Same address	His Majesty the King has been most gracefully pleased to award the Military Medal for bravery in the field ...

72	Field Service Postcard	28/08/1916
73	Field Service Postcard	07/09/1916

74	Field Service Postcard	09/09/1916
75	Letter	10/09/1916	Same address	I am in the trenches at present.

76	Letter	17/09/1916	Same address	I know you must be a little hard pushed sometimes, as things are such a high price now.
77	Letter	23/09/1916	Same address	It's like a big ball of string, the end must come sooner or later.

78	Field Service Postcard	05/10/1916
79	Field Service Postcard	18/10/1916

80	Letter	22/10/1916	Somewhere in France	It’s rough out here now, wet and cold.
81	Field Service Postcard	30/10/1916

82	Letter	08/12/1916		With good luck I hope to get out of hospital within the next few days.
83	Letter	16/12/1916	Same address	Well Mother I am not feeling well by a long way.

84	Field Service Postcard	17/12/1916
85	Letter	30/12/1916	7th E. Surrey's	I am feeling much better now.

86	Plain postcard	08/01/1917	Somewhere in France	I don't expect I shall get home this winter unless Fritz has got one with my name marked on it.
87	Field Service Postcard	17/01/1917

88	Letter	20/01/1917	Somewhere in France	I am keeping fairly well except for a very bad cold that I cannot get rid of.
89	Field Service Postcard	27/01/1917

90	Field Service Postcard	09/02/1917
91	Letter	16/02/1917	Same address	I think the Huns will get their backbone broken this summer and then I hope it will all end.

92	Field Service Postcard	18/02/1917
93	Letter	09/03/1917

94	Field Service Postcard	17/03/1917
95	Field Service Postcard	20/03/1917

96	Letter	27/03/1917	Same address	With luck I hope we shall finish it this summer and then once more we can settle down in peace.
97	Field Service Postcard	06/04/1917

98	Field Service Postcard	16/04/1917
99	Field Service Postcard	27/04/1917

100	Letter	14/07/1917	Whitecross Hospital, Warrington	The wound is almost healed up, but I hope they will try and make a better job of it for my own benefit after the war.
101	Letter	26/07/1917	Whitecross Hospital, Warrington	We are supposed to be in hospital by 8pm, but more likely I shall be in about midnight.

102	Letter	04/08/1917	Whitecross Hospital, Warrington	I wonder how many more years I have got to wear khaki.
103	Letter	30/08/1917	Whitecross Hospital, Warrington	The hospital is getting full, so of course some of us have got to go.

104	Letter	03/09/1917	Whitecross Hospital, Warrington	I wish for goodness I was getting my ticket. But I suppose I shall have to go out and have another taste of it.
105	Letter	04/10/1917	Eastern Command Depot, Shoreham-by-Sea	What do you think of the air raids? Been letting it rip just lately haven't they.

106	Letter	11/10/1917	Eastern Command Depot, Shoreham-by-Sea	I am swinging the lead as well as possible ... I suppose they will rumble in the end and mark me A1.
107	Letter	23/10/1917	Eastern Command Depot, Shoreham-by-Sea	I am still swinging the lead ... I suppose in the end I shall get A1.

108	Letter	[late October] 1917	Eastern Command Depot, Shoreham-by-Sea	Well the war doesn't seem to improve at all ... It looks like lasting for ever. There’s only one lot Fritz can't drive back and that's the old British Bulldogs.
109	Letter	17/02/1918	Brigade School of Signalling, Felixstowe	What do you think of Fritz walloping Dover?

110	Letter	06/04/1918	Brigade School of Signalling, Felixstowe	It doesn't look like ending yet, it seems to get worse. It makes one sometimes wonder how it is going to end.
111	Letter	[undated] 1918	Brigade School of Signalling, Felixstowe

112	Letter	16/07/1918	Brigade School of Signalling, Felixstowe
113	Letter	[undated: July 1918]	Brigade School of Signalling, Felixstowe	The grub down here is no bon at all.

114	Letter (part only)	[undated: July 1918]		What do you think of the munition strikers? Every one of them wants hanging ... They want sending in the front line and let us go and take their places. I could make munitions alright.

Brothers at War

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Inventory of Fred's letters and postcards