Letter from James Davidson to his mother, S.C. Davidson, 27 December 1915 Letters 1916-1923 James Davidson

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 James Davidson (1877-1916) to his mother, Clara. This letter describes Christmas celebrations behind the lines in 1915: mass in the morning, a football match between in the afternoon, then an 'excellent' dinner for 30 in cafe where billeted followed by party in the mess. The highlight of the party was convincing three French maids that it was an English tradition for maids to kiss the Colonel on Christmas Day. He thanks his mother for all the parcels he has received from her and others.This letter is part of a large correspondence from Captain James Davidson to his parents. Davidson, who was Managing Director of the Sirocco Engineering Works in Belfast, served with 13 Royal Irish Rifles and the Machine Gun Corps. His letters describe his experiences while training in England and serving in France. He was killed on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Davidson Family Papers, D3642/B/8/20 https://letters1916.ie/item/692 English James Davidson 1915-12-27 S.C. Davidson Seacourt, Bangor, Co. Down 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).

 27/12/15 My dearest Mother Xmas has come & gone for another year — I wonder how things will be when the next one comes round. We spent a very cheery Xmas indeed — nothing much during the day — went to mass in the Cathedral in morning to hear the music, in the afternoon there was a football match between the 13th & 11th & then in the evening 30 of us sat down to a most excellent dinner in the cafe where I am billeted. One of the special delicacies was snails — I need scarcely say I did not experiment but many did & quite enjoyed them. The great feature however of the evening came after the coffee. A few of us before the dinner explained to the 3 maids that the English custom on Xmas evening was for the maids to kiss the Colonel; they took this quite seriously & so when the coffee had been served one of them went up behind Col. Savage, made a little speech about following English custom which he did not understand & then much to his surprise bent down & gave him a real good kiss. Of course everyone simply yelled & the poor old Col. did not know what to do or say but attention was soon drawn from him as we insisted that everyone should be kissed in turn & all 3 maids did the round. Quite a tall order but they seemed to enjoy it & it created great amusement as you can imagine. After that we had songs & speeches — everyone had to do something & as I could not sing I was let in for a speech. Later we started dancing & the party did not break up till about 2am so I think we did not do badly. The plum pudding which came the day before was a great success. I also received a Scotch Bun but it has not so far been sampled as till today I could not find out whether it was supposed to be eaten cold or heated. I understand now it is to be eaten cold but it seems most indigestible stuff. Have received all kinds of parcels since I last wrote — one with pyjamas, one from K. with muffler raisins etc. & also 2 from Malcolmson's with butter, cake etc. It was so nice to get all these good things in time — thanks ever so much dear Mother & would you also thank Kathleen for her present & letter. I already have a muffler, but the second one will probably be wanted later on. Malcomson always includes a tin of café au lait which I never use so it would be better if they sent instead say a box of dates, or sweets. There was a special parcel of 4 lbs of butter came in addition to the lb. in Malcolmsons parcel so I am well supplied in this direction & it is really one of the most acceptable things out here. However it will be quite sufficient if you can arrange to have one lb. sent out each week as the Bde. Major & others also get butter sent out to them. No news of any move yet — it will be great luck for us if we are able to spend the worst of the Winter in our present quarters. We are kept very busy & its simply wonderful how the time goes. Was so glad to hear your good news of Hammie. It must have been most interesting to hear all his accounts of the fighting at Gallipoli. With fondest love to all & and best wishes for the New Year. Your loving son Jim On Active Service Sent 31st Dec 1915 Mrs. S. C. Davidson Seacourt Bangor Co Down Ireland James Davidson Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 28 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 12 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 16 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 19 December 1915Letter from Captain James Davidson to Clara Mary Davidson, 6 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to Clara Mary Davidson, 3 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 3 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 2 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 17 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 12 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 22 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to Clara Mary Davidson, 21 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 31 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 1 February 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 11 January 1916Letter from Captain James Davidson to his mother Clara Mary Davidson, 7 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 19 January 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, S.C. Davidson, 27 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 27 January 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 28 May 1916Telegram from Samuel Cleland Davidson to Captain SJ Davidson, 6 March 1916Letter from James Davidson to his sister, Kathleen, 7 March 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 13 March 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary. Davidson, 16 February 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 19 February 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 30 June 1916Postcard from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 25 June 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 28 June 1916Telegram from James Davidson to Samuel and Clara Davidson, 8 April 1916Letter from James Davidson to Samuel Davidson, 9 June 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 12 April 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 18 June 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 16 April 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 21 June 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 27 February 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 29 February 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 21 May 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 5 June 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 6 June 1916Telegram from James Davidson to Samuel and Clara Davidson, 10 April 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 9 April 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 15 June 1916Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 23 April 1916 Seacourt, Bangor, Co. Down Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 28 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 12 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 16 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 19 December 1915Letter from Captain James Davidson to Clara Mary Davidson, 6 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 3 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 2 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 17 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 12 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 22 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to Clara Mary Davidson, 21 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 31 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 1 February 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 11 January 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 19 January 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, S.C. Davidson, 27 December 1915Letter from James Davidson to Clara Davidson, 27 January 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 28 May 1916Letter from James Davidson to his sister, Kathleen, 7 March 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 13 March 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 19 February 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 27 February 1916Telegram from Secretary War Office to the Davidsons, 3 March 1916Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 21 May 1916