Letter from 'Ernie' to George Hackney, 18 September 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Ernie

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).

A letter to George Hackney (c. 1889-1977) from 'Ernie.' In this letter, Ernie expresses relief that George is away from the front and recuperating in a hospital in Sheffield. He wryly suggests that George is 'not in the least hurry' to return to the trenches, and refers to the 'broken down' men who he has met after their return from the war, their characters changed dramatically by their time there. Ernie refers to photographic plates which George has sent him to develop, and speaks briefly of photography. He also writes briefly about numerous mutual friends, offering and inquiring after information as to their well-being.This letter is from the papers of George Naphthali Hackney, a Lance Corporal from Clifton, Belfast. Before his time in the army, he worked as a book-keeper for a florist. He was the youngest in a Presbyterian family of six, with three older sisters. In 2014, his collection of photographs taken in the trenches were made available to the public in an Ulster Museum exhibition, and his life and photography became the subject of a BBC documentary, 'The Man who Shot the Great War'. The author of this letter is 'Ernie', apparently a friend of George.

 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Papers of George Hackney, Belfast, D3503/5/1-6 https://letters1916.ie/item/726 English Ernie 1916-09-18 234 Spamount Street, Belfast George Hackney 31 Ward, 'D' Block, Wharncliffe War Hospital, Sheffield, England Male World War I (1914-1918) Culture and the Arts

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).

 234 Spamount St., Belfast 18th Sept. 1916 . Dear George, Your very welcome letter received this morning. Although Jenny told me that you were going into hospital in France, I did not know you would be so soon in England. I am sure you are not in the least hurry to get back any more than hundreds of others. I have heard of chaps who were very anxious, according to the story, to get back to the front, but strange to say I never met one yet. I have seen some of the chaps home on leave since the advance & I never saw such changes in some of them. Some of them appear to be quite broken down I note your request re plates. Re no 7 set. I was going to write to you to say that these had not turned up, but when I got up to the place this morning I found them waiting for me. It is strange that they should have arrived at the same time as your letter. I understand that the chap forgot to deliver them No.6 & 8. I made contact prints of these and gave them to Jenny to send on so probably they are now in France. However I will do the p.c.'s as requested. Also the copy of 42D. Re files 90. This part of your letter puzzled me a bit as I had not the faintest idea to what it referred, and I had not got the note enclosed with no 7 set, when I read your letter. You ordered two cards of no 15D the dog which J.E. was holding. I tried a card one night I was doing some for W.Ewing-who has got badly bitten with the photographic habit - but it did not turn out very satisfactory, and I did not send on. Does this order still hold good? The socks deleted textyou did not receive for the excellent reason that they were not sent on. Mother wrote her letter before she had the socks finished && 'the best laid plans, etc' I suppose you have heard by this time that the one & only W.Campbell has got the D.S.O. I would not be surprised at anything he got, as he is quite capable of anything. By the way, the name of Sheffield reminds me that it was in Watson & Co. 84 High St. Sheffield, that your camera was purchased. I believe I forgot when mentioning Albert Mitchell to put in his No. & Batt, re. I think I left the place blank as I did not know his address at the time I was writing & then closed the letter without putting it in. I suppose however it does not matter now. Did you ever see anything of Jack McMullan since he went to deleted text France? No person here seems to know anything about him. I think I will close with kindest regards from all. Yours sincerely Ernie P.S. Re Daily Sketch. I will think it over. E. From 234 Spamount St. Belfast 14/14815, L.-Corpl. George Hackney, 14th R.I. Rifles, Y.C.V. 31 Ward, 'D' Block, Warncliffe War Hospital, Sheffield. print 4 No 10 Set 8. PC. No hurry back No 7 glad Cancel Files 8c. 15D. not if not worth while. WE. P Crage married WE. DSO Camera Sheffield amichell no number in J mc Mullan Ernie Letter from 'Ernie' to George Hackney, 18 September 1916 31 Ward, 'D' Block, Wharncliffe War Hospital, Sheffield, England Letter from 'Ernie' to George Hackney, 18 September 1916Letter to George Hackney, 21 September 1916Letter from Flossie Briggs to George Hackney, 1 October 1916Letter from Flossie Briggs to George Hackney, 28 September 1916Letter from John S. Campbell to George Hackney, 20 September 1916Letter from Elizabeth Hackney to George Hackney, 1 October 1916 234 Spamount Street, Belfast Letter from 'Ernie' to George Hackney, 18 September 1916