“To-day has been a day of rejoicing. We have got our first home letters, piles of them”
RI MS RCB/A/07
22nd July 1915 to Gwendoline Bragg
Robert is still at the camp in Alexandria but he’s finally got some news from home. From the tone of this letter he’s very happy to finally have some letters and he’d much rather hear about life back home than details of the campaigns which he presumably can find out for himself.
A/58 Bgde RFA,11th Div, BMEF
July 22nd
Dear Mum,
To-day has been a day of rejoicing. We have got our first home letters piles of them & two bills I have letters from you written on the 4th 8th & 12th & one from Dad on the 7th A letter from A such a nice one. One from Miss Todd asking Ellison & me to a dance a school magazine two bills and a letter from another little friend. Most cheering they were.
Another mail comes in to-morrow so I suppose we will get some more. I rather think we are off again in a couple of days. I just loved hearing all about what you are doing, and please don’t think that it all seems trivial its just what I like to hear about. I should be bored if you wrote to me about the British progress in Gallipoli or any rot like that. The horses are getting quite fit now & look very well indeed. Their coats have improved enormously.
Of course we have nothing to do but look after our horses here. And we chuck all work for the day at 11. This climate agrees with me no end. I feel as fit as a fiddle. There have been lots of cases of colic through. I will try posting this at the ordinary Po & see what happens.
Cheer Oh. Love to you all.
Bob.
Photos courtesy of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. RI MS RCB/A/07
Notes and General Information
From the description there’s nothing much to do at camp: they may have been waiting for D Battery to catch up, it had been on a separate transport and was almost a week behind (arriving on 18th July).
I’m not sure whether he knows exactly where they will be deployed but it’s interesting he mentions the British progress in Gallipoli because there mostly wasn’t anything to report. The early landings had been a shambles (in all senses of the word) and lack of progress had cost Churchill, who had pushed the plan through, his position in the Admiralty. While there was still fierce fighting little progress had been made and both sides had dug in with trenches.
