"Little Mother"

[Desdichado]

I've been reading through an old research paper of mine from a few years ago and note a reference to a letter written to The Morning Post - I can't tell you the date or even the year it was published - entitled Little Mother. It reads, in part:

"We women pass on the human ammunition of only sons to fill up the gaps, so that when the Common Soldier looks back before going over the top, he may see the women of the British race on his heels, reliable, dependent, uncomplaining..."

It would be nice to read the entire letter if anyone has a copy they would post on here.

At the time, I was under the impression that the letter was bogus; probably written by one of the paper's writers jumping on the "Women of Britain say Go" bandwagon. I haven't changed my mind since. I've read extracts from the private diaries of women of the period who wrote of their fear and dread of their husband, brother or son being sent off to the front. Can anyone provide us with some examples of this from their own sources?

[Pighills]

Just googling and found this - appears to be it in full, but nothing to tell us where it came from etc. Maybe it's a start, I will continue to see if there is anything else.

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap...rley/Mother.htm

[Hywyn]

I believe the year was 1916.

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap...rley/Mother.htm

Hywyn

[Pighills]

This, I think, gives you the answer:

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2006/...and-little.html

[Desdichado]

Thanks one and all. You should be called the "Old Reliables."

[Pighills]

'ere, less of the 'OLD' you!!

[Tonym]

Am I being a bit cynical? I note that the letter was unsigned, was it written by a genuine mother whose son/sons had gone to war? the writer was certainly somebody with a literary skill; a Jounalist? a Politician? or perhaps the Editor?

75,000 pamphlets, even at a penny a time, would have brought in £300, not bad for 1916.

Also the"Bereaved Mother"(?) Would she honestly send her two lost sons back again?

Sorry! but I think that there was a bit of political propaganda there as the manpower situation was getting a bit dodgy and the national morale certainly required a boost.

Tony

[Desdichado]

Tony, that's what I thought when I first read it. It's certainly in keeping with the propaganda that was churned out during the war. Somehow, I cannot envisage a mother writing something like that.

[Pighills]

I have taken the time today to read the 'letter' in full. I have not read the blog - merely glancing over it to ensure it had the detail which was sought.

I'd like to say, from a woman's point of view, what a load of tosh!!!!

I'm trying to get into my head the sort of woman who would write this - I really cannot see your average mother writing this sort of thing. The language and sentiments used do not sit well with how I would feel about sending my son (or husband) to war.

Maybe I'm doing some poor, long dead soul an injustice, for it may well have been written by a 'little mother', but a very strange one indeed.

[Desdichado]

I'm trying to get into my head the sort of woman who would write this - I really cannot see your average mother writing this sort of thing. The language and sentiments used do not sit well with how I would feel about sending my son (or husband) to war.

I have read extracts from private diaries written by wives and mothers during the war and the sentiments expressed are the opposite of those contained in Little Mother. One woman from Derby wrote of her shock at seeing her first amputee, Imagining her husband coming home the same way. Of course she did not communicate these thoughts to her husband but instead sent him cards and letters designed to buoy his morale; usually tales of family life and news of relatives and neighbours. Happily, her husband survived unscathed. Another lady from Stockport worried about her son, a subaltern in the Cheshires and she spent her time knitting him warm jumpers and sending him home-made jam and pickles. She wrote of other mothers in her street who had lost sons and husbands and how she had sat with one who wanted to poison herself and had to be restrained from doing so. The subaltern also came home - a Captain - albeit wounded.

It's funny but I haven't come across much written by fathers and grandfathers with sons at the front, about their private feelings towards the war. I'd very much like to.

[lelly]

I know this chat has not been active for a few of weeks but I would like to say a couple of things. Firstly does any have a copy of the "Tommy Atkins" letter of the 9th inst. which the mother refers to? (an English teacher colleague of mine is trying to find it for his A level class). It may be the key to understanding her motivation.

I would personally speak for the authenticity of the letter. As the mother of a serving soldier, and relation of several others in the forces, you have little choice but to be proud of their efforts to do the right thing where injustice is perceived. "Tommy Atkins" is going to feel no better about himself if he thinks he does not have the support of those at home - or that his efforts are futile. It is also in keeping with the contemporary letters I have from 1914 -1915 e.g. from the mother and aunt of a 15 yr old (16 when he was killed), to a boy in France to young to really be there. They are clearly proud of him, send him cakes and socks in the post, and never once mention that he should come home, or should not have gone. The photos taken of him in the back garden clearly show nothing but pride. Another letter in my possession from one serving brother to another describes the reactions of his mother on hearing that the youngest of the three boys was killed in action. He describes her as being "simply wonderful" , "brave", and "of course she feels it no end, but she is plucky as can be". (Perhaps she took it less well when the author of the letter was himself killed three weeks later).

Lets not underestimate the bravery of mothers in support of their sons in spite of their misgivings about war.

[Desdichado]

Some good points there lelly. I hope your lad is safe wherever he is. Much of the letters and diaries that I have read from the Great War express the sentiments you talk about but I still cannot believe that any mother would think of her son as 'human ammunition'. My gran lost her youngest son in WWII and grieved for him for the rest of her days. She never once doubted the justness of the cause for which he died but to her he was always her little lad.

[SiegeGunner]

It's funny but I haven't come across much written by fathers and grandfathers with sons at the front, about their private feelings towards the war. I'd very much like to.

Likewise, we never hear of anyone whose dying word was "Father".

On the letters front, and in a lighter vein, there is the story, perhaps apocryphal, of a subaltern who wrote to his grandfather, a veteran of colonial wars of the mid-1800s: "Grandpa, these b*ggers have guns"!

Thanks to Lelly for eloquently bridging the years between the Great War and the present day.

Mick