Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 3 August 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Marie Martin

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

This is an open access work licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Letter from Marie Martin (1892-1975) to her mother Mary Lewis Martin (1866-1955). This letter describes the shock the medical staff had when two of the sisters almost drowned while swimming in the channel. The weather in France is very warm and Marie expresses her relief that she is no longer in Malta. She inquires after people at home.Marie Helena Martin later known as 'Mother Mary', was a volunteer nurse during the First World War. She served in field hospitals in Malta, Leeds, and France working for the British army and later went on to become the founder of the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM).

 Medical Missionaries of Mary France Letters, B/F/1/64 https://letters1916.ie/item/438 English Marie Martin 1916-08-03 Hardelot, France Mary Martin Monkstown, Dublin Female World War I (1914-1918) World War I (1914-1918)

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 3 rd August 1916 My very dearest Mother A thousand thanks for your very nice long letter dated July 28 th. I am delighted to hear you are feeling quite yourself again. I suppose this will find you hard at work at home again looking after the family, who I hope are well. How is my darling Andrew & Desmond? also all the school boys & Bee, tell her to write me one of her nice cheery letters with all her news & ideas. Imagine I have never written to M rs Sheil yet infact I have given the Hocks away to some of the men as we were very short of note paper one day. I must really try & write to her to-day - You will be sorry to hear my Tents 8 & 9 have been closed again & my patients have be moved down to Sy & I am there again, it seems such a pity as we have just got the whole place straight & the tents to look very nice, Matron even remarked them to the Colonel yesterday & we have only been open a fortnight. On account of this Diarrhea Epidemic we have been unable to get convoy but it seems to have fairly died out again & we hope to start taking convoys again next week The poor patients were very sorry leaving, I must say we were a very happy party, the patients were very nice, all Australians & the 2 orderlies quite nice men - We all had a terrible shock here yesterday morning when two of the Sisters were nearly drowned. They went out Bathing after breakfast & the tied was rather far out but coming in & there is a very dangerous channell which was dry when the went out & filled in very quickly, one onV the Sisters got a very bad cramp so the other went out to help her, I may tell you neither of them could swim, but unfortunately the one who got the cramp was an ennormous woman & the other small so that the one pulled the other down at last some people on the sand heard the yells also one of the patients undress & went in also an orderly from the Officer's Mess, he went out & just found Sister Robinson in time before she sank for the 3 rd time & was her in thinking she was the only one when he felt something caught round his legs & put down his hand to find it was the other sisters hair round his legs of course she was pratically gone & they had to do artificial respiration & gradually got her round again, ofcourse both their lungs are full of sand & sea water, Sister Robinson is doing fairly well but Sister Prisly is having a hard fight, poor things it is very sad, you can imagine the shock we all got— It is a great pity the beach is so dangerous of course they were told not to go out so far by another sister that was bathing but they only laughted at the idea. Thank the Lord they were not drown & I hope they will get on alright— It may stop all the bathing which will be a great pity as it is very hot here lately & they do enjoy it so much in their off time but at the same time I can quite understand, it is a terrible worry & responsiblity for Matron, when it is so dangerous— I suppose you are having the same glorious weather, it is terribly hot here, I am only two delighted to think I am not in Malta now it must be terrible the heat, we had a letter yesterday from one of the Sisters, she says the heat is over powering & that they are terribly busy convoys of fever from Solonika every day. I hope you have had good news of Tommy lately & that he does not find the heat too much— Oh I wish this war would end soon— I am very sorry the hear about Bernard & Dick O'Kelly & hope they will soon get stronger all the same I think they are well out of France are all the others well I have been meaning to write to M rs O'Kelly but there always seems so much to be done in off duty time but now that my tent is fixed up it ought to be alright— Will you please thank Violet & Ethel a thousand times for the books they arrived quite safely & were a real godsend. The garden must be looking heavenly now, will all the flowers & the Sweet Pea, is Henessy showing anything at Kingstown this year— How I often long to be at home to enjoy it all but at the same time it would be very hard to remain at home & see & know how short they are for help out here & at home I believe they cannot get enough V.A.Ds & are taking people without certificates at home now. No I have not heard anything more of G. Grattan I intend writing to find out how he is to-day I wonder did he get home for a rest by any chance — I hope he did— How are all the relations Granny, Aunt Lissy & Uncle Frank. Now I must close as I want to write to Tommy, did he ever say he got the cake from Busarch With every loving wish & thought I remain dearest Mother, your loving& grateful daughter Marie I am writing to Switzers to send me out 2pr of shoes as I have worn 2pr out already & in the heat & sand we have to change very often. I Am also asking them to send bill as I would like to pay for them Marie Marie Martin Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Martin, 29 December 1915Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Lewis Martin, 18 June 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 27 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Lewis Martin, 21 June 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 17 June 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Lewis Martin, 23 June 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Lewis Martin, 2 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 7 September 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Lewis Martin, 26 June 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Lewis Martin, 20 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Martin, 27 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 17 September 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 18 Sept 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 19 September 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 21 September 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 27 September 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 4 October 1916Letter from Marie Martin to Mary Martin, 13 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 15 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 15 July 1916Letter from Geo. R. Boase to Marie Martin, 10 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 20 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 3 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 8 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 12 October 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Martin, 27 December 1915Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Martin, 27 November 1915Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 23 [January] 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Martin, 15 December 1915Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 4 April 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 12 November 1915Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Martin, 8 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother Mary Martin, 6 February 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 9 April 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 18 November 1915Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, [November'] 1915Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 13 August 1916 Monkstown, Dublin Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 15 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 15 July 1916Letter from Geo. R. Boase to Marie Martin, 10 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 20 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 3 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 8 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 12 October 1916 Hardelot, France Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 15 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 15 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 20 July 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 3 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 8 August 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 12 October 1916Letter from Marie Martin to her mother, Mary Martin, 13 August 1916