Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 18 Sept 1916

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Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 18 Sept 1916

1 18-9-16 My very dearest Mother, A 1000 thanks for your
letter dated Sep. 15th I am so
glad to hear you are all well.
& also to hear Tommy is alright
again, it is a great relief to
hear he is not in the fighting.
Yes the Combination have arrived
& I think ought to be quite
warm enough because when it
gets really cold Ihave wool
bodices Ishall put on. I like
Tommy want to be on the safe
side the have had some days
here since Sep: came in terrible
cold & as I just get odd touches
of stiffness Ithink it better to be 2 very careful. The Southwestern just
arrived in time it absolutely
pouring to-day with a terrible
gale, Iam afraid this will
be a very exposed place in the
winter. I am on my own again the
Sister has been taken away
at present Ihave no patients
but we expect to fill up
any day now I have
plenty of spring cleaning
to do but I am just taking
my time over it as we
will want all our energy
when the rush startsâ€”
The casualties are enormous
but we are certainly doing 3 very good work all round.
Ithink yesterdays was the best
when we took 2 miles on a
six mile front with the Catapillers most likely tanks
& Iam glad to say we had
very few casualities in taking
them. Yes certainly the Irish
Div: was magnificent in the
taking of Ginchy a battle of the Somme, however, the history books say the main battle was on the 9th September in which there were high casualties, Marie must be referring to the advances after that date & Iam
glad to say the 16th Div: is
absolutely Irish â€” no English
req to make up their strenght.
Well Imust close now as
I am writing this on duty
but want you to have a line
from me. Iam frightfully distressed
to hear about poor Uncle
Frank & will pray hard for 4 his recovery Imust write to
him to-day â€” & poor A. Maysie.
Ihad a long cheery letter from
Granny yesterday. Ask Nana if she ever sent
that corset ofminetobe
cleaned & settle as the one
Iam wearing is in ribbons
if not will you send it into
Switzers & have it down
With fondest love to all. Your every loving & grateful
daughter Marie

Letter from Marie Martin (1892–1975) to her mother Mary Martin. In the letter Mary thanks her mother for a letter dated from 15 September, writing that she is glad everyone is well. She goes on to write of the weather and explains that she is on her own as many of the sisters have left while she has few patients, however she does have spring cleaning to do. The letter tells of enormous casualties on the front, however it accounts the taking of 9 miles of territory with few casualties the previous day. She commends the Irish who fought at the battle of Ginchy (9 Sept 1916). The Caterpillar that Marie refers to on page 3 is most likely the British Mark 1 battle tank.Marie was a born in Dublin and trained as a nurse at the out break of World War I. Two of Marie's brothers joined the British army at this time, one of whom was killed in action. Marie served as a nurse in Malta, Leeds and France, and later set up the Medical Missionaries of Mary.

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__0117.html)