Dear old girl

A collection of letters from Pte Dick Armer to his wife Mabel who he frequently referred to as "Dear old girl". His three children were Billie, Marjorie and Dorothy who was born while he was away. Dick had promised to "write every day" and, with few exceptions, kept his promise. The letters were written during WW1 from Camp Borden in Canada, on the train to Halifax, on board ship to England, from Witley Camp and France. Scroll to the bottom of the entry and click on comments to leave a message

Undated letter from Camp Borden

There were no letters on file from the 12th to the 17th of July 1916. However there was one letter which was undated and it looks from the content as if it was written at Camp Borden, perhaps early in Dick's time there. From the letters after the 17th, it looks as if Dick may have journeyed back to London Ontario on a leave of absence.

The reader will also observe that Dick comments on how his wife "isn't feeling well". The family and I have discussed this and it seems she was expecting her third child and perhaps was experiencing "morning sickness".

I've also included a clipping from the Globe on the 12th of July 1916 wherein the L Col of the 142nd makes it quite clear that "London's Own" had nothing to do with the booing of Sir Sam Hughes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi John: You are doing a great job on the blog and I have found out more information. Grandma Armer had malaria when she was expecting mom so this is why she was sick. I am getting e-mails from my friends telling me how much they are enjoying reading the letters each day.

Thanks again for all your hard work, I know there are many people enjoying your efforts.; 12 July 2011 at 12:53
Museum Strathroy-Caradoc said...: Malaria too??!! No wonder Dick was worried. Must have been a terrible load to be sick, pregnant and have two other little ones to care for. Spunky lady!; 12 July 2011 at 12:55