On this day 1916...A letter home...

[LEUZEWOOD]

On the contrary Tom, this has been a very interesting thread and there may well be more to add. Smashing photo!

I'm wondering if one of our members with Photoshop could offer to repair it (digital image) for you. One kind member did so for me with one of my photos that had been folded in half.

HI Caryl, thanks for the Photoshop suggestion - my day job is as a graphic designer so needless to say I couldn't resist touching up the image myself some time ago. In hindsight however, I think I prefer it how it is, don't you?

[CarylW]

HI Caryl, thanks for the Photoshop suggestion - my day job is as a graphic designer so needless to say I couldn't resist touching up the image myself some time ago. In hindsight however, I think I prefer it how it is, don't you?

Tom, yes, the photo is obviously a well-loved one, that's had a lot of handling. I just remembered the help that I'd had. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to teach granny to suck eggs. Sometimes I get ahead of myself

[LEUZEWOOD]

No problem Caryl, I really appreciate the gesture, it's what makes this forum so great.

[kjharris]

My two cents worth Folks,

Following on from Sue's comments, nurses often gave more details than the official letter, and the letters were very much targetted at mothers who could not visit their son in hospital or their son's grave. I think that these letters (from both nurses and padres) were encouraged as it often gave enough information that stopped the family writing in for more information.

I know of one letter where the nurse enclosed a lock of the soldier's hair for his mother - had me reaching for the tissues.

cheers

Kirsty

[LEUZEWOOD]

A quick update, the story of my great grandfather and the letters of Sister Lucy Deakin have been picked up by the Education Coordinator at the CWGC, I have posted a separate thread about it here in the 'chit chat' section.

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=200639

[SilverFox100]

Pete,

Many thanks for your input and kind words throughout the course of this thread. I'll be honest, I posted the letters with just a little hope of sparking an interest rather than expectation, but I've been surprised and touched by the responses. There are no tales of cunning or dashing acts of bravery here, just a simple little story all too familiar to countless families during the years of the Great War.

We'd like to visit Lucy's grave as a family which may take a little time to coordinate, so please don't hold back on visiting Llysfaen on my account if you are in the area, it's nice to think that the forum has taken her to heart a little. I can PM the cemetery details if you need

Tom

Thanks for this story Tom have only just found the thread and have read with great interest. In many ways it's great you have these letters as it brings it close to you but it also makes me think more and more what our people went through in wartime. To be injured like that and to never moan, to be able to write time and time again to families about their loved ones. What great inner strengths and empathy our forebears had,!! Having read more and more now of the Great War over these past months it becomes a very humbling experience as one realises what our families went through, and then had to go through again in WW2. It makes you wonder if one could ever have coped with this and then, if you survived, to come back to a 'normal' life. What fantastic people. Mike

[Gunboat]

A fascinating and deeply moving thread. I wish I had the words to say more. The dignified courage of a young man whose thoughts were for his family and the simple act of compassion from a woman who dedicated her life to the care of others.

[richardIII]

Impossible to read this thread without a lump in the throat. I was especially touched by the letter from Pte Duesbury to his family when he had given up all hope of being found and saved, how much did it cost him to think of them rather than himself? I only hope he didn't suffer too much.

Richard

[Fattyowls]

A fascinating and deeply moving thread. I wish I had the words to say more. The dignified courage of a young man whose thoughts were for his family and the simple act of compassion from a woman who dedicated her life to the care of others.

Impossible to read this thread without a lump in the throat.

Gentlemen, you may or may not have seen a similar thread from 2005 which contains letters every bit as affecting. I came upon it almost by accident but I am really glad I did. The quickest way to it is probably via my post on the Sugar Loaf Salient as I can't remember the exact title of the letter one, it's got the word poignant in it which I rarely spell accurately. Ignore my inability to locate the front line at Fromelles and follow the quoted link. I would suggest in advance to have a few hankies ready......Pete.

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=200778&hl=

[Fattyowls]

Thanks for this story Tom have only just found the thread and have read with great interest. In many ways it's great you have these letters as it brings it close to you but it also makes me think more and more what our people went through in wartime. To be injured like that and to never moan, to be able to write time and time again to families about their loved ones. What great inner strengths and empathy our forebears had,!! Having read more and more now of the Great War over these past months it becomes a very humbling experience as one realises what our families went through, and then had to go through again in WW2. It makes you wonder if one could ever have coped with this and then, if you survived, to come back to a 'normal' life. What fantastic people. Mike

Mike, can I draw your attention to the previous post? I tried to quote three posts and the software wouldn't let me. Pete.

P.S. With regard to your beloved boys in claret and blue, I was wondering if you were aware of their name being used for trenches on the Somme?

[SilverFox100]

Mike, can I draw your attention to the previous post? I tried to quote three posts and the software wouldn't let me. Pete.

P.S. With regard to your beloved boys in claret and blue, I was wondering if you were aware of their name being used for trenches on the Somme?

Hi Pete see what you mean about the letters it just makes you think doesn't it how lucky are generations are. No I didn't know about their name being used at the Somme. Do you have any details of this? I know my friends at the local cricket club, virtually all Villa supporters, would be really interested in this. thanks and regards. Mike

[Fattyowls]

Hi Pete see what you mean about the letters it just makes you think doesn't it how lucky are generations are. No I didn't know about their name being used at the Somme. Do you have any details of this? I know my friends at the local cricket club, virtually all Villa supporters, would be really interested in this. thanks and regards. Mike

Mike, rather than me ruin a moving post like this one by introducing football go to http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=196562&page=2 and check out post 37.

[SilverFox100]

Mike, rather than me ruin a moving post like this one by introducing football go to http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=196562&page=2 and check out post 37.

Pete agree entirely and thanks. Mike

[MBrockway]

Gentlemen, you may or may not have seen a similar thread from 2005 which contains letters every bit as affecting. I came upon it almost by accident but I am really glad I did. The quickest way to it is probably via my post on the Sugar Loaf Salient as I can't remember the exact title of the letter one, it's got the word poignant in it which I rarely spell accurately. Ignore my inability to locate the front line at Fromelles and follow the quoted link. I would suggest in advance to have a few hankies ready......Pete.

Here's a link to get there direct: Most poignant war letter?

[Fattyowls]

Here's a link to get there direct: Most poignant war letter?

Thanks for this Mike, I think that my schoolboy error was searching the forum using the word "poignant". It's not as if the GWF is short of such entries.

[Neil Mackenzie]

Great thread Tom.

Given the very unusual middle name I am sure Lucy must have been closely related to the people covered by the Deakin family history given in the link below.

http://deakin.broadwaymanor.co.uk/deakin/samuel-pownall-deakin.html

[Neil Mackenzie]

This page mentions Lucy but no more unfortunately. However, assuming it is the same Lucy Deakin there is a contact for the website and they may have a picture of her. Tom - your details for Lucy are not quite the same as they have her date of death as 1964 rather than 1974.

http://deakin.broadwaymanor.co.uk/deakin/george-deakin.html

[LEUZEWOOD]

This page mentions Lucy but no more unfortunately. However, assuming it is the same Lucy Deakin there is a contact for the website and they may have a picture of her. Tom - your details for Lucy are not quite the same as they have her date of death as 1964 rather than 1974.

http://deakin.broadwaymanor.co.uk/deakin/george-deakin.html

Neil,

Thanks for the info, I had come across this website during my research, and it is the same Deakin family (her date of death is definitely 1974). I do intend to contact them to see if they have any more info, a picture in particular.

I will try and post a more detailed write up on Lucy when I can, and we will hopefully be visiting her grave in North Wales the week after next.

Regards

Tom

[Fattyowls]

Tom

Re-reading this I am struck by how important it must have been to the mothers and families to have the information contained in letters like Lucy's from the hospitals; closure is I suppose what we would call it now. Not all mothers were granted this consolation. Glen mentioned this letter from Mrs Alice Goulding while he was doing a load of stuff for me on the Donaldson brothers.

http://1914-1918.inv...howtopic=177978

As Milton said; They also serve who only stand and wait. At least we now know where Mrs Goulding's son is.

Pete.

[LEUZEWOOD]

Re-reading this I am struck by how important it must have been to the mothers and families to have the information contained in letters like Lucy's from the hospitals; closure is I suppose what we would call it now. Not all mothers were granted this consolation.

Pete, thank you for posting this link, I haven't come across it before. I must say I find it profoundly moving and can find no words to sum it up, it simply speaks for itself.

I can think only of the following...

‘The Mother’ by May Herschel-Clarke

(Written after reading Rupert Brooke’s sonnet, ‘The Soldier’)

If you should die, think only this of me

In that still quietness where is space for thought,

Where parting, loss and bloodshed shall not be,

And men may rest themselves and dream of nought:

That in some place a mystic mile away

One whom you loved has drained the bitter cup

Till there is nought to drink; has faced the day

Once more, and now, has raised the standard up.

And think, my son, with eyes grown clear and dry

She lives as though for ever in your sight,

Loving the things you loved, with heart aglow

For country, honour, truth, traditions high,

--Proud that you paid their price.

(And if some night Her heart should break--well, lad, you will not know.

[LEUZEWOOD]

So it has been almost a year since I posted the letters written by Sister Lucy Pownall Deakin to my great grandmother, and we have only just been able to make the trip to visit her grave - the final part of the story of her life that we have been able to piece together. Sadly, all we are missing is a photo.

She is buried in the cemetery at St Cynfran Church, LLysfaen, a small village where she lived with her sister, very close to Colwyn Bay, North Wales. We laid some flowers on her grave and took a moment to reflect on her life, something that has become an important aspect of our family history. As I stood by her grave side, with views out over the sea, I was reminded of Lucy's own words in describing Etaples Cemetery to my great grandmother, 'The graveyard there is a peaceful beautiful little place by the sea.'

For those who haven't followed this thread, Lucy Pownall Deakin was born in Stockport in 1884. Whilst working at the London Hospital, she joined the QAIMNS in 1914, and served in France for the duration of the war. In September 1916, whilst caring for my dying great grandfather as acting sister, she wrote three letters to my Great Grandmother.

[Fattyowls]

Tom, a lovely postcript to the thread; thanks for posting it.

Pete.

[LEUZEWOOD]

Just bumping this one back up. After several years of digging, and a few serendipitous discoveries, we finally have a picture of Lucy Pownall Deakin. This very kindly provided by her great niece, taken from her mother's (Lucy's niece) photo album. Some interesting pics here also of the Accrington Pals. 

 

 

[Fattyowls]

What a cracking find LW, brilliant work. It's always been my experience that however much you know about an individual the discovery of a photograph enhances your perception so much.

 

Pete.

[LEUZEWOOD]

A cracking find indeed. We've had Lucy's letters in the family's possession for over 100 years, and incredible now to finally 'meet' her.

 

We have also sent a lot of information back to her great niece in return and she now has found out a little more than she previously knew about her family history. 

 

Great pics of the Accrington Pals too. 

 

Cheers

Tom.