Letter from Lieutenant Richard Perceval-Maxwell to Colonel Robert Perceval-Maxwell, 7 October, 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Richard Perceval Maxwell

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 Lieutenant Richard Henry Perceval-Maxwell (1897-1918), to his father, Colonel Robert David Perceval-Maxwell, (1870-1932) regarding his experiences of the war. Richard writes that his battalion could be going over the top soon but that he will not be going over with them. He also recounts recent German shelling activity which has caused some casualties in the area. In contrast to this, Richard talks about a new chaplain who has been arranging entertainment for the men. He also refers to certain positive reports and rumours but declines to disclose them as he doesn't believe them. Lieutenant Richard Henry Perceval-Maxwell served in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) during the Great War, along with his father and brother. Richard was killed in action in July 1918. Colonel Robert Maxwell was wounded twice while serving with the 36th (Ulster) Division during the First World War..

 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Perceval-Maxwell Papers D/1556/27/3/2/3, Perceval-Maxwell Papers D/1556/27/3/2/3 https://letters1916.ie/item/445 English Richard Perceval Maxwell 1916-10-07 France Robert David Perceval Maxwell Male 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).

 10th Scottish Rifles B.E.F France October7th 1916 Dear Father Thanks so much for your letter, We are moving up very soon into the trenches. I am going up but in the event of the Battalion going over the top as it usually does, I have to remain behind in the trenches with reinforcements. They have sent my name in for a bombing course, so I expect it will come round in a week. If The Bosche dropped a few high explosive in here & caused a few casualties One landed in Battalion orderly room of a H.L.I Battalion And wounded the C.O. 2nd 1/c and adjutant & 3 others. It was quite amusing watching the houses going west as we were on parade most of the time about 1/4 mile away. Only a few fell while we went in it. They have almost given up shelling this place as they only have about 1 battery that can reach it. Inhabitants are coming in, a few every day. There was a great joy among the men when they saw a 'madamoiselle' go along the road past their billetd. I wonder if my letters take as long comߞ going ming out home here as ones from England do coming out here. They take a full week. Our C.O. Col Ussher Fergus quite decent but he has great fads. We are not allowed to carry walking sticks on parade and we all walk about with our gas helmets slung over our shoulder. There is another division fast coming in now, I suuppose to take our place sooner or later. There are great reports & rumours going about now very good ones but I dont believe in them much so However I dont think I had better repeat them. We have a Topping Padré here. Any amusements to that the men get are arranged by him. Cinema concerts, he goes round and borrows bands from other units for us and all that sort of thing The Bosche here seems to have the wind up pretty badly as in the last push the Battalion were in they only killed one officer & a few men but of course he managed to hit every other officer. The Battalion was brought out by a Sergeant. The only news we get is through the papers. But that was same with you & Jock I dont think I have any more news to give except that the winter is setting in now I think we have had rain every day since I came up. I dont think I want any kit at present I will write if I do. Well I must end now. so good bye for the present. Yrs aff. Dick Robert David Perceval Maxwell Letter from Robert David Perceval Maxwell to Edith Maxwell, 10 June 1916Letter from Richard Perceval Maxwell to Colonel Robert David Perceval Maxwell, 25 April, 1916Letter from Richard Perceval-Maxwell to Colonel Robert Perceval-Maxwell, 6 May 1916Letter from Lieutenant Richard Perceval-Maxwell to Colonel Robert Perceval-Maxwell, 7 October, 1916 Richard Perceval Maxwell Letter from Richard Perceval Maxwell to Colonel Robert David Perceval Maxwell, 25 April, 1916Letter from Lieutenant Richard Perceval-Maxwell to Colonel Robert Perceval-Maxwell, 7 October, 1916 France Letter from Lieutenant Richard Perceval-Maxwell to Colonel Robert Perceval-Maxwell, 7 October, 1916