A letter from Jessie Crofton (1865-1923) to her aunt, Lady Clonbrock (1840-1928). Jessie writes after her husband, Arthur Edward Lowther Crofton (d. 1966), had been recalled for service and comments that it is a 'great blow'. She refers to praise he had received from Field Marshal Douglas Haig (1861-1928) and also refers to another relative on active service, Edward Crofton. The 'mushroom' mentioned on the last page of the letter refers to two large craters near the British first line in Wez-Macquart, near Armentières. The craters were likely caused by underground explosives laid by British engineers earlier in 1915. Augusta Caroline Dillon (née Crofton) was the wife of Luke Gerald Dillon (1834-1917), the 4th Baron of Clonbrock, Co. Galway and the daughter of Lord Crofton of Mote Park (Edward Henry Churchill Crofton, 3rd Baron), Co. Roscommon. Aged 75 at the outbreak of war, Lady Clonbrock, worked closely with the Irish Women's Association to send basic necessities to Irish POWs. Many of her care packages went to members of the Connaught Rangers imprisoned in Limburg near Cologne. Arthur served as a lieutenant colonel in the Northumberland Fusiliers during the Great War. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig was appointed to command of the British Expeditionary Force in late 1915 following the resignation of Sir John French (1852-1925). Haig's role in planning the costly Somme offensive in July 1916 gave him the moniker 'the Butcher of the Somme.'