P71/28/21/16

Letter number 16 with numeorus mentions of local men and events including:

Dec 1916

From: 1916 To: 1916

- hopes that the letter will reach them by Christmas and observations that Germany was “feeling the allies’ pulse with regard to peace”; - Don Cox and Edwin Cox had been home on leave; - Bert Seamarks was currently home on leave after a rough time in the trenches, twice buried in dugouts, he had grown and was now 6 feet tall; - Arthur Warwick had returned to Kempston Barracks with eye problems; - Arthur Church was due a home leave soon having been disappointed that the yeomanry (Bedfordshire Yeomanry?) had not been in action; he had been trench digging and burying the dead and is described as “a plucky little fellow”; - Walter Church had been wounded in the upper arm and was in hospital in Cardiff; - A.Lacey and W.Warwick were well; - Charles Warwick carried stores and mentioned a cinema being run at the base; - Victor Harding had had influenza; - Walter Curtis had gone from Canada to the front and noted how numerous the rats were, one having bitten his friend’s nose; - Sergeant Jim Cox had recovered and rejoined his Regiment, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, referred to as the Shiny 7th, which is noted as having gained more laurels in his absence; - Arthur Goldsmith was at the front and felt that the Germans would have been “nicely on the trot” but for the weather, he had attended signalling classes; - Roger Curtis was a cook for 21 officers at a School of Instruction; - Sidney Glidle and Victor Ruffhead were both well but were pestered by flies in Mesopotamia; - mention of a mail boat having been sunk in the Mediterranean; - William and Hermon Hulatt had met at the front and both were well, Hermon wishing he could join William in the Bedfordshire Regiment; - R.Ruffhead and Walter Bowyer were in County Donegal [Ireland] and were interested in gunnery instruction; - Chris Allen was feeling better and was on light duties in Sussex; - Sergeant Bartram had recovered; - George Ruffhead was on police duty at Aldershot; - Charles Harpin was at the front with the Leicestershire Regiment; - Harold Bowyer, groom to a major and John Parrott were both at Halton Park, Tring [Hertfordshire], John Bowyer having been on a musketry course and expecting to man a Lewis Gun on active service; - Lieutenant A.Matson had dislocated a knee at football though his slight wound had completely healed; - Rev.J.Gardiner was very ill with little chance of recovery

item

Cox, Don,
Cox, Edwin,
Seamarks, Bert,
Warwick, Arthur,
Church, Arthur,
Church, Walter,
Lacey, A.,
Warwick, W,
Warwick, Charles,
Harding, Victor,
Curtis, Walter,
Cox, Jim,
Goldsmith, Arthur,
Curtis, Roger,
Glidle, Sid,
Ruffhead, Victor,
Hulatt, William,
Hulatt, Hermon,
Ruffhead, Reginald,
Bowyer, Walter,
Allen, Chris,
Bartram,
Ruffhead, George,
Harpin, Charles,
Bowyer, Harold,
Parrott, John,
Bowyer, John,
Matson, A.,
Gardiner, J.

STEVINGTON, World War One, First World War, general correspondence, Germany, Kempston Barracks, Bedfordshire Yeomanry, Cardiff, cinema, influenza, Canada, rats, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, Germans, cook, Mesopotamia, boats, County Donegal, Sussex, Aldershot, Leicestershire Regiment, groom, Major, Tring, clergy