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War letters to a wife


Dawson

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For my birthday, I asked my wife for a 1920s/30s hardback edition of one of my favourite books of all time.

that features my second favourite WW1 hero ( after Campion Vaughan) Roland Fielding.

I have had the paperback for some time know, and I collect hardback and original editions,

so I was mighty pleased when I opened my present, and found a signed edition by the great man himself.

It also has a loosely inserted note paper with a short note describing the book and the modifications he had done for the second edition, namely a new letter he had added.

The book was a gift to a certain Major -General Sir Cecil Perein.

The titled note paper even has his address and telephone number, how cool is that!

Ian.

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For my birthday, I asked my wife for a 1920s/30s hardback edition of one of my favourite books of all time.

that features my second favourite WW1 hero ( after Campion Vaughan) Roland Fielding.

Lucky fellow, Ian. His name was Rowland Feilding, by the way. :)

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Hello Dawson

There is a lot of information coming onto the Internet regarding personal letters from the Great War. If you remember much was censored and/or the soldiers did not wish to fully explain the true realities of the war - there is still a lot of information on how the average soldier felt. Here is a sample from the CEF Study Group's list of recommended Great War websites.

Borden Battery

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The Canadian Letters and Images Project

This site features a strong selection of personal letters [132 separate authors] from Canadians in the Great War. The site has been completely redesigned with new features, such as search capabilities, and a greatly expanded range of letter materials. The search feature is a very welcome addition. While the site is still incomplete at this point the university continues to work on it until all the materials have been transferred from the old site. [CEF Study Group - July 2006 - Updated]

http://www.mala.bc.ca/history/letters/

Letters Home from the Front World War I - South Shore Genealogical Society

These letters are transcribed from, and courtesy of, the Berwick Register newspaper, Berwick NS, by Phil and Stephanie Vogler. The Register Extracts and Vital Statistics are at: Berwick Register Extracts Project - a site created by the Voglers consisting of extracts from the Berwick Register newspaper.

[Recommendation by 2004Springy][CEF Study Group - Jan 2006]

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nslssgs/wwone4.htm

Gunner Bertram Howard Cox

The following 38 letters were written to his family during WW1 and were transcribed by his daughter Molly in 2002. Notes in parenthesis are clarifications by Molly. The army censored all soldier's letters involved at battle. Some of these letters had eraser marks, as noted by Bert, most likely concerning locations or movements of soldiers/battalions which had been written about. [CEF Study Group]

http://www.shiawasseehistory.com/cox.html

The Life and Times of a Hero

This website is dedicated to William George Ashby Bentley from 1911 until 1918. The site includes an introduction, summary of early years, letters home, details and maps from Gallipoli, the Somme and Passchendaele. There are maps, photographs and text which summarizes the life and times of this this English soldier. [CEF Study Group - April 2006]

http://www.spoulton.fsnet.co.uk/Book/Index.htm

* Pte. Richard William Mercer - 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade

The website publishes the personal letters sent home by an ordinary Canadian soldier from 1915 to 1919. The site makes extensive use of footnotes to explain and/or elaborate on the background and context of the comments of a young private in the Borden Motor Machine Gun Battery of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

[Dwight Mercer/Borden Battery website courtesy of Brett Payne][CEF Study Group]

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~b...wm_letters.html

*6th Brigade & 2nd Battalion - Canadian Machine Gun Corps

Objective is to collate resources relating to the history of the 6th Brigade Canadian Machine Gun Company, later becoming part of the 2nd Battalion Canadian Machine Gun Corps, during the First World War, and make them available on the Internet. In addition, the website includes war diary transcriptions, the complete transcription of A History of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps by Lt.-Col. C. S. Grafton, (1938) and other personal letters from the Great War. [A Brett Payne website][CEF Study Group]

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~b...c_contents.html

Queens University Archives - The Great War

The website provides a range of documents, photographs, postcards including letters related to the withdrawal of the Ross Rifle. Some material is setup for teachers. [CEF Study Group]

http://archives.queensu.ca/wwi/warfare.html

Archives of Ontario Remembers Our Canadian War Heroes

Some very interesting letters and photographs on this small website that merit a quick review. [CEF Study Group]

http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhi...gray/index.html

Dear Miss Griffis – First World War Letters from Harold to Emma

This Blog site presents an exchange of letters between Dr. Harold Wigmore McGill and Nurse Emma Girffis. Dr. McGill graduated in medicine from the University of Manitoba in 1905, enlisted with the 31st Battalion CEF during the First World War, and served in the 5th Canadian Field Ambulance Corps at the front line in France. Harold’s descriptions of the horrors of war are very frank and in no way censored for her feminine eyes, perhaps because she too was in the medical profession, and he knew that descriptions of blood and death would not shock her. The "Dear Miss Griffis" blog was started in March 2006 as a unique way to share the stories in these letters. Each week the Glenbow Museum posts a letter, beginning with the very first one written by Harold to Emma, dated June 16, 1915. Subscribe to the RSS and be engaged in a true story from the pasts. [CEF Study Group - June 2006]

http://missgriffis.wordpress.com/2006/03/17/love-and-war/

Duty and Service : Letters from the Front

Crouch, Lionel William [CEF Study Group]

http://www.archive.org/details/dutyandservice00crouuoft

Letters to Helen : Impressions of an Artist on the Western Front

Henderson, Keith [CEF Study Group]

http://www.archive.org/details/letterstohelen00henduoft

War Letters of a Public-School Boy

Jones, Henry Paul Mainwaring [CEF Study Group]

http://www.archive.org/details/warletterschoolboy00joneuoft

Letters of the Lt.-Col. George Brenton Laurie (Commanding 1st Battn. Royal Irish Rifles) : Dated November 4th, 1914-March 11th, 1915

Laurie, George Brenton [CEF Study Group]

http://www.archive.org/details/lettersoflaurie00vereuoft

Letters from France

Mack, Isaac Alexander [CEF Study Group]

http://www.archive.org/details/lettersfrance00mackuoft

Letters from Mesopotamia in 1915 and January, 1916

Palmer, Robert [CEF Study Group]

http://www.archive.org/details/mesopotamia00palmuoft

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Lucky fellow, Ian. His name was Rowland Feilding, by the way. :)

Thanks siege gunner, are you a school teacher by any chance?

It was a typing error! Honest.

Also, after his signature he also writes Snowball, was that his nickname?

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Surely if Mick was a schoolteacher he would have corrected in Red ink.

His name was Rowland Fielding, by the way, not Feilding. :P

Steve.

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Surely if Mick was a schoolteacher he would have corrected in Red ink.

His name was Rowland Fielding, by the way, not Feilding. :P

Steve.

Sorry, Steve, but it is definitely Feilding. See attached cover pic of the Spellmount edition. I know that the N&M editions have the spelling Fielding on the cover, but it's wrong, as even their own website tacitly admits — using the correct spelling in the description of the book.

No, I'm not a teacher, but I am an editor and proofreader. I have also researched Lady Dorothie Feilding, a member of another branch of the same family, who was regularly mis-represented as Dorothy Fielding, so I guess I'm just touchy about the spelling, both of the forename and the surname.

Mick

post-11021-1165851866.jpg

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  • 4 years later...

I have just read this marvellous book and can highly recommend it.

However I cannot work out who the 'figure in black' is.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Sean

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