{"id":356,"date":"2017-03-18T13:38:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-18T13:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=356"},"modified":"2018-05-14T10:17:32","modified_gmt":"2018-05-14T10:17:32","slug":"in-their-own-words-letters-from-world-war-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2017\/03\/18\/in-their-own-words-letters-from-world-war-1\/","title":{"rendered":"In their own words: letters from World War 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

During World War One it took only two days for a letter to reach the front. By the war’s end, two billion letters and 114 million parcels had been sent and received by Britain. A few of these have been deposited in the archives and offer a personal perspective on the war.<\/p>\n

Gifts from home<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Letter
Letter of thanks: envelope, reference: PE-GOD\/MI\/2\/2\/6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Letters home often featured thanks for letters or other tokens sent to the troops. In 1914 and 1915, soldiers serving in the Dorset Regiment received parcels from children in Godmanstone (ref: PE-GOD\/MI\/2\/2).\u00a0 These contained cigarettes and lighters which were very much appreciated by the men, illustrated by the letters of thanks sent to the parish:<\/p>\n

“We are writing to you to ask you to thank the children for sending those cigarettes and Christmas presents, which we was so glad to receive. We were more than pleased to think we were not forgotten, and to think that they gave their little presents that they might have had, for us.”<\/p>\n

\"Letter
Letter of thanks, reference: PE-GOD\/MI\/2\/2\/6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Football in the trenches<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Then, as now, football was a popular leisure activity. Several of our letters from the trenches mention matches played between battalions and with troops from other countries. Captain Brian W. Fagan was optimistic about his team’s chances (ref: D-302\/1):<\/p>\n

“There are company football matches nowadays. We have got through into the finals and are only waiting for our rivals to be decided upon. We ought to win alright I think. D Company has never been beaten at football yet, the men are fearfully keen on it…<\/p>\n

We lost 4 – 1 in the end, but weren’t nearly so bad as that really.” 26th January 1916<\/p>\n

Prisoner of War camps<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Two postcards in the collection were sent by Len Parsons from Germersheim prisoner of war camp, Germany, to Miss Nino Day (ref: D-PAR\/E\/4\/1-2). Len writes:<\/p>\n

“…we are allowed 2 letters a month so I will write a letter Sunday 12th…<\/p>\n

Time passes very slowly some diff[erence?] to an English hospital where there is plenty to read. Have been treated very kindly. Good-bye, to leave now, eh’, never mind the war will not last for ever” Dated 3rd<\/span><\/sup> April 1918<\/p>\n