Letter #67 November 24, 1917 "The cold footed sons of Canada"

Postmark November 24^th, 1917

Folkstone

CAMC Camp

Westenhaugen,

Kent England

Dear Mother,

          What do you think of your big daughter now.  Some schoolteacher “Eh What” Well Mother I am sure glad to hear she has got through and was fortunate enough to get a school.  She seemed quite delighted over getting 60 a month I don’t know but I have an idea she was trying to remind me that at last she is getting as much in one month as I am in two.  By Jove that’s the limit but believe me I am sure glad to hear she is a teacher it’s a great deal better than a counter hop or a stenographer and there about the only two other occupations that girls take up these days. 

          So at last the cold footed sons of Canada have to do their bit.  I have heard that all those over twenty-one, married or single will have to join.  Will that get Richmond and Ireland, it will be too bad if they have to come. It’s a pity the war would not end before that “The great big cold footed calves”.  Conscripts from Canada.  Mother, all the old boys are proud of them and a great deal prouder of the parents that would try and keep their men at home and see their neighbours boys going back for the second, third and fourth times.  While they subscribe to the cigarette fund and mighty little of that.  It was at one time one of our boasts over here “that Canada did not have to be driven to fight”   Ah well they will get a good reception from us.  The chicken-hearted sissies.  I tell you straight Mother it’s a good job for you that you have no other son if he was brought away from home on that scheme I would lick him before he ever saw a German.

          Do you know it has been raining here for two days steady so heavy that we have no parades of course the boys are not a bit sorry, still it makes it very uncomfortable in camp life.  How has Dad been keeping you tell him I would like a letter by gosh he owes me one now, tell him that its not necessary to wait as long as I did before he answers it.  I don’t know if I told you in my last letter or not that I expect to go to Buxton for a day or so to see my friends.  They wrote and told me that they had made all preparations for a motor party to Rudyard Lake and all they were waiting on was me to complete the party.  Gee they are fine people I would like VV to meet them they are just the kind that she would like.  Well just imagine they traveled very near across England to see me and in this country that’s a mighty long journey.  Gee they nearly went into hysterics when I told them I was here and may have to go to France.  They got the letter in the morning and that night they were on their way here.  They were always asking for a picture of my big sister so I sent them that snap shot of the kid and the cat.  The old man said she had a very sweet face and that she was a very kind hearted girl.  Regular big hearted Colonial and when I asked for the snap back again they wouldn’t give it to me.  They want one of me but I told them that even my mother didn’t have one so it was very little chance of their ever getting one for awhile anyway.

          I would like to have Dad here to see the Aeroplanes ----- -----(censored) and some of the stunts they go through. Gee they are as thick as birds and they sure can handle them down to perfection.  If you could only see them you would sure say that England was as supreme in the air as she is on the sea.  Well Mother one of the boys is going over to the Post office so I am going to give him this.  Remember me to Dad and tell VV that she has been congratulated by her big brother long before this ever will reach her.  Love Chas

Letter #66 October 9, 1917 Lots of Portage boys killed or wounded just recently..

October 9th, 1917
Folkstone

CAMC Camp

Westenhaugen, Kent England

Dear Mother,

By Jove here it is two weeks and not one letter from you.  You know Mother there is something wrong with the mail delivery somewhere. Some of the boys have not heard from Canada for a couple of months.  Well, have you received my photos and say, are they not the limit.  I look like Von Hindenburg. Oh well I promised you one for a long while so now you have it.  The first time I said I would send you one well I had them taken but really they were worse than the last ones so you can hardly blame me for not sending the.  Now can you. I think I inherit the dislike for having my photo taken from you Mother. Because one time, I remember you having your picture taken in Dauphin and you would not even let Dad or I see them for a long while and then you eventually destroyed them.  Do you remember?

          Things in general are just as usual here.  I have a very good job and by all accounts I may be here for some time yet.  Drafts coming in and going out every day but I am regimentally employed and I may say that I like it as good as any job I have had yet and am getting on just fine.  Do you know Mother; I am considerably heavier now than I ever was in all my life so you see this place is agreeing with me.

          I was up to the flying corps the other night and one of the imperials was good enough to show me all around it.  He described all the different class of machines and the different purposes they were used for and all about them.  It sure was interesting.  I was wishing that Dad had of been there he would of enjoyed it.  Gee this place is slow but there is one good thing about it we cant get into to town only about once a week and we cant spend any money here so it enables us to live on army pay or at least try to.

          I suppose by this time VV has settled down and is a full-grown schoolteacher.  I sent her one or two letters but I can’t say if the address was correct or not.  However when I hear from her I will make it a point to write often it will tend to cheer her anyway.  Saw a bunch of the Portage boys the other night and by what they told me a lot of them have been killed and wounded just recently.

          My friends from Dauphin may be down here in a day or so for the weekend and if I can get a day or so pass I will have a fairly good time for a few days.  Gee Mother but they have been good to me you would think I was one of the family and when I was up there on pass they could not do enough for me.  The only thing I don’t like is that they call us Canadians “Gee Whizzers” Just imagine chippers calling us fellows “gee whizzers”

          How is Dad keeping I guess he is feeling his usual self or you would have mentioned it in your letter.  Well Mother I am going to get this off in the Post.  I will have to stop.  Tell Dad and VV I am still well and write often.  Be sure and tell me what you thought of your big son’s picture in the uniform.

Love Chas




(Unfortunately, very few photographs of Charley have survived and this particular portrait that has been a topic of conversation in many of his letters, has not surfaced. However, since Charley likens his mug to that of Paul von Hindenburg, here's a pic of Paul. I think Charley's being hard on himself.)

"Saw a bunch of the Portage boys the other night and by what they told me a lot of them have been killed and wounded just recently."  

Below are the names of 44 mostly very young men from Portage la Prairie who died in 1917. The dead and wounded Charley was hearing news of would have been friends and acquaintances.  In the summer of 1914 when Charley answered the call, he was renting a flat in Winnipeg, he played hockey and worked in a pharmacy. He was just beginning to find his way in the world, beyond home, beyond Portage. It must have been so for most of his contemporaries.  These 44 young men were Charley's age, in their 20's. Dead. Some were students, one was a student at law. They were clerks, labourers, farmers, millers, barbers, plumbers, teachers, tinsmiths and accountants.   These are just the losses from 1917, just the losses from one community in Manitoba.  

Their names. My hope for each of these young men is that someone who knows even a tidbit of their story remembers them and sometimes speaks their names.

Andrew Bremner / Labourer
George William Cochrane / Teacher
George Arthur Cockhead / Fireman
Percy Robert Cook / Farmer
James Alfred Corfield / Farmer
Walter Evan Cox-Smith / Farmer
Gordon Richardon Thomas Cumming / Carpenter
Francis Cuthbert Malcolm Cummings / Farmer 
Elmer Cecil Dalzell  /  Hardware Clerk
William Daum / Hardware Clerk
Alfred Dent / Farm Labourer
Thomas Birtwistle Douglas / Clerk
Charles Samuel Dyer / Barber
H. C. “Jack” Favel / Farmer
Allan Francis / Clerk
John Henry Froats  / Plumber
Arthur Taylor Fulford  / Telephone Lineman
Lorne Talmage Graham  / Farmer
James Frederick Harrison DCM  / Farmer
Edmund Huddlestone  / Farmer
Thomas Kaines  / Labourer
Russell George Kemp  / Farmer
John Frank Little  / Farmer
Alexander Mackie  /  Farmer
Colin Archibald MacLennan  / Farmer
Claude Elliott Matthews  / Farmer
William Lee Mawhinney  /  Barrister 
Albert Milton McCaig  /  Clerk
William Harvey McDonald / Labourer
Frederick Conroy Mills  /  Miller
James Moffat  /  Farmer
John Nicholson  / Farmer
Ira Stanley Nixon  / Tinsmith
Bruce Hutton Parkinson / Bank Clerk
David Peden  / Trackman
Aylwin Murray Pratt  /  Student at Law
Ernest Prout  /  Tinsmith
Henry Alexander Robertson / Broker
John Henry Sanders / Accountant
Charles Samuel Saunders  /  Farmer
Alfred Saxton  / Farmhand
Thomas Alfred Singer / Farmhand
Norman James Thomas MM  / Student
James Harrison Thompson  / Farmer

The names and occupations of these 44 young men comes from the excellent Manitoba Historical Society website Portage la Prairie War Memorial

And my response: "Down by the Riverside"  Sweet Honey and the Rock  

Letter #65 September 25, 1917 "I am sure a lucky cuss."

September 25^th, 1917 (postmark)

Folkstone

CAMC Camp

Westenhaugen, Kent England

Dear Mother,

Have not heard a word from you for at least two weeks I can't make out just what is the matter.  I hope nothing is wrong at home.  I guess not or you would have told me.  Things here are as usual.  Yesterday I went down to the Docks to see a bunch of the boys off.  There were sure a happy bunch all going over for the first time and glad to go, glad to have the chance at the square heads.  It was good to see the spirit they went away in.  The boys were singing, bands were playing, the returned boys were shouting and women crying. Say, it was some mixture.  They will be over there by now and by this time next week they will realize what war means.

          I have the same old job here and by all accounts I will keep it for some time to come although a person can never tell five minutes beforehand what they are going to do with him.  

         My friends from Buxton are down here for a week or so and on Thursday I motored to Canterbury with them.  Went all through the cathedral and all through the hospital that I was put in on my return from France.  It's quite an ancient town and was very interesting.  We visited two of the places that Dickens mentioned in his books probably Dad will recognize the names “The ?? Inn and Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe”  That’s the way they are spelt or were spelt in the days of Dickens. 

          A lot of our boys were turned into infantry the other day and some of them transferred into the kilter’s.  Gee it is a scream to see some of them in Kilts.  I don’t think they are all overjoyed with their lots.  

       Well how is Winnipeg and all the people.  Irelands, Laws and the rest.  You never told me if they will have to join up if conscription comes into effect.  I hope to the Lord they do and then they won't be so darn quick to criticize.  They get a smash of it and then we will be able to see who’s got cold feet and have to hide behind their women folk.  I got no use for slackers and especially when they are from Canada.

          The weather here is surely ideal.  It's as warm as the middle of summer.  How does VV like her job I have never heard from her since she went to Westbourne I hope she likes it alright. I know it will be lonely for her but if she likes the work it will help a lot.  Oh say Mother did I tell you that the hospital I was in in Ramsgate is going to move.  Yes in one of the Air raids a bomb was dropped through the roof into the recreation room doing considerable damage, by Jove I think I got out of there just in time.  You know Mother I am sure a lucky cuss. It seems I have a lucky star that tells me where and when not to move.  Well I have got to get to work.  Tell Dad I hope he is well and that I will ans his letter shortly.  Remember me to VV when you write and tell her I am well.  I will now go back to work or they will be over after me.

With love

Chas 

The " ?? " Inn and the Olde Curiosity Shoppe" Any ideas?  I've darkened the letter and the text below and welcome your input. This particular letter is very faded and I'm finding it really difficult to make out the name of the Inn.  He may have visited "The Little Inn'  in the Sun Hotel. Dickens set a scene in his novel "David Copperfield" at this inn.

The Sun Hotel was built in 1503 and, although the name has changed, the building still stands today. The history of this famous stopping-in place is preserved with a small historic marker in the first floor, as follows

THE SUN HOTEL 

Formerly known as The Little Inn 

Made famous by Charles Dickens 

In his travels thro’ Kent 

Built 1503

The Old Curiosity Shop still stands ...

Charley mentions the air raid attack on the Canadian Hospital in Ramsgate where he had recently worked.  This is a link to an excellent account of that day written by another young Cdn soldier from Winnipeg. William Markle (Mark) Pecover  Company D, 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion.