Suttor Very, Warminster, England. 1919

Dear Father,

I am writing this from the 2nd Div Concentration Camp at the above mentioned place where we are killing time miserably awaiting the glad day when our boat is to sail. My last letter home described my doings up to 3rd day of my last leave so had better carry on from there.

My next move was to go to Worthing to see the Aunts again in response to a very urgent appeal so I went. The weather was very fine and-sunny and Worthing came in for a fair share of it and the Aunts took it in turns to promenade with me along the sea front to show me off, I imagine. They of course were very glad to see me and soon made me feel at home and they were rather interested to know what I thought I should do for a crust when I got back, to which inquiry I’m afraid I did not give a very satisfactory answer as I did not know, myself.

Well I remained with the 2 Aunts at their home for 2 days and on the 3rd day I returned to Hookham’s place in London and there spent the night. Next day I called on Douglas at his College whilst he was engaged in fossicking out the whys and wherefores of the weevil tribe. He is installed in a laboratory and has lots of weevils, incubators, thermometers and various kinds of evil smells to work with. He doesn’t get much money though.

Next day I went and faced that half cracked old hag at Putney and spent a couple of days with them. Uncle George and the boys and only for this ‘ignoramus” I could have enjoyed myself. Note I went there also in answer to an “urgent appeal’, regular martyr am I not? Well having escaped from Putney without killing anybody, I went down to Vivian’s place at Dover, and I must say I enjoyed myself. Both Vivian and Daisy are quite human.

(Middle page(s) missing. Further search among documents in other places could ascertain if such pages exist and then added to complete this Letter.)

–partly underground to which they fly. What the majority have to be frightened about I can’t say as there is approximately one million houses in and about London for the bombs to hit. Every one imagines it is their house which is to be hit. The sugar scarcity worries them more than the War and they use all kinds of subterfuges to obtain it. If you go into a tea shop they give you one microscopic cube to sweeten 2 cups of tea. c’est la guerre et il est no bon pour moi. Perhaps the most remarkable thing to my mind is the method by which London travels. London is like a gigantic antbed, every one moving in all directions. I could write for a week about it as it is so interesting. One of the chief means of getting about from place to place is per underground electric railway or tube. Under London is a huge underground circular-electric railway cutting all the main streets with entrances to these streets. Then branch railways (tubes) branch off from this inner circle and go to different places. In the inner circle if you over run your station you can just sit in the tube and after about an hour would arrive at the same place again, since you have simply gone around in a circle underground. The other lines are just branches off from the inner circle but all finally reach Charing Cross. They carry hundred of thousands of people daily and must keep moving at about 15 miles an hour or the trains would over run each other. The tube companies also own the motor buses and it is possible to look for any part of London on the bus or tube.

Down in the tubes the temperature is about the same winter and summer and must be the cause of numerous complaints to the London people who are all narrow chested and anaemic looking. I can stand in a crowd and look over the rest of the crowds head and every one gapes and stares at me as if I were a curio. I have often gone from one side of London to the other, about 8 or 9 miles without going on top at all.

In Australia we used to hear a great deal about the slums of London and the poverty etc. It is not exaggerated at all and is an awful sight and makes my poor old heart sore to see the women especially with babies in their arms walking about in the East End. They live on the smell of an oily rag and are 3 parts starved. When we come to think of the hugs sum of 8 millions a day sent on the war it seems awful to think of this black spot on London’s character. For the sum of a million, all of this poverty or a great part of it could be relieved. I don’t know how the dickens they live at all with butter at 2/6 lb, eggs at 3/6 a dozen, bread scarce and meat scarcer. The London “John Hop” is a real good sort, he is a city directory, traffic conductor, befriender of old ladies and little children, guardian of the law and general intelligence bureau all in one and has been very handy to me also London thinks a great lot of him and wouldn’t part with him for the world.

I have seen the Tower of London this trip. I wandered in one day when things were a bit dull and was welcomed by a beadle in fancy dress costume (saw a tip I suppose) and was instructed in the Mysteries of the Wakefield Tower, Raleigh’s Walk, the Bloody Tower and a host of other things. I saw the Armoury and the Crown Jewels etc. also. The crown Jewels did not make me wild with excitement, not being a jeweller and I thought I had seen as good a show in Saunders shop window. The Armoury and the regalia made me real sleepy and only made me feel annoyed that people could waste good money and on such trash. I felt too hungry to see any other musty old vaults and cellars so went and had a good dinner at the Monico restaurant in which I was at the mercy of the waiter and of Lord Rhonds, the food controller. I ate my portion of bread in one mouthful and like Oliver Twist asked for more and it was refused, which made me long for France where we can get all we want. From the tone of my letters you must not imagine that these things are not worth seeing, because I am not much of a judge and have no eye for beauty, and am perhaps too practical to go into raptures about ancient things. If you were here and could see them you would be much more impressed.

I am purposely not doing much sightseeing this trip.

(Back page(s) missing. Further search among documents in other places could ascertain if such pages exist and then added to complete this Letter.)