Letter from McCotter to George Hackney, 30 August 1916 Letters 1916-1923 McCotter

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 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

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A letter from Nellie McCotter to George Hackney (1889-1977). McCotter thanks George for his recent letter, and writes that they have been wondering how George was getting on ever since 'the great & glorious charge of the Ulster division'. McCotter expresses regret that only the 'young and fresh are allowed the privilege of going in active service'. McCotter writes that the display of the Ulster battalions has silenced the pacifists and the Nationalist newspapers. McCotter gives news of 'Arthur', mentions the effects of shell-shock on men sent home from the front, and hopes that George will soon have a chance to visit home. McCotter mentions receiving a letter from a 'boy I thought had been done for' and pities the condition George and 'all you boys' are living in, declaring that 'we don't half realize all you men are doing to keep us safe here in England.' 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'. In 1916 he was injured and spent some time a Hospital in Calais, France, and in Wharncliffe War Hospital, Sheffield.

 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Papers of George Hackney, Belfast, D3503/5/1-6-9 https://letters1916.ie/item/735 English McCotter 1916-08-30 73 Charlwood Street, London S.W., England George Hackney 19 Ward, 35 General Hospital, Calais, France World War I (1914-1918)

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 73 Charlwood St., London, S.W. 30th Aug. 16 My dear George, I was very pleased to get your letter this morning (at present I am at Hale Common, Farnham nr. Aldershot, so your letter went from Mortimer House, to Charlweood St. & on here. I often wondered where you were,& how you were getting along since the great & glorious charge of the Ulster Division, you bet your boots I felt as proud as a peacock when I read all about it later. I would have given anything just to have been at hand to help the boys who were bowled out, but only the young & fresh are allowed the privelege of going on active service wish I was 20 yrs younger I'd be near the firing line. Our Div. got an awful slaughtering, but not a man showed the white feather, 'Carsons goose steppers' made a name for themselves which any regt. might be proud of, a friend wrote me that the Nationalist papers were all dumb on the subject. The enclosed cutting I cut out of the 'Post' & had sent in to Arthur on the 6th not knowing then that he had been put out of action on the way up, bit of shrapnel through left shoulder & one of the R.A.M.C. men turned him, the letter was returned to me last week: so the cutting may interest you or some of the boys. Arthur was in a number of Hospitals before going to a Convalescent Camp at Eastbourne & on the 16thth inst. he & a number of the Ulster boys crossed to Belfast on leave. I saw Y.C.V. on the shoulder of one of the boys, all seemed in good form, I had a couple of hrs with Arthur, he expected to be sent back to the Ulster Div. base at B. Sinclair until further orders. A big number suffer from shell shock Lieut. A Wallace was sent home, has go another mths leave & is at some ng. sea port. It wd do you good to get sent over to Eng. or Ireland for a while not much chance of a cure within sound of the guns. You seem to be luckier in the weather than we are, it has been very wet, awful thunder showers; much colder. Sunday it showered at intervals all day Yest. it never ceased, today has been fine since about 9 A.M. but there is quite a cold feel in the atmosphere. Your Auntie sent me a card from Euston that she was off to Ireland & felt very sad having no one to see her off, if she had written to me in time I could as I was on the idle list for a short time after leaving Mortimer House. Letters just in from Steele, the boy I though had been done for, I nursed him at Tring 1914 & have been writing & sending an odd paper since he went to the Front last year, he has been attached to another Batt. & so did not get the pcl. or papers, but said the boys had maybe more need of them that he had. I do hope to hear a good account of your mother from your Aunt, I expect she is longing for a sight of you, and surely they will send you home for a wee rest soon. Have just heard that Arthur is at Ballykinlar, he will probably be sent out with a draft soon. I pity all you boys when I turn into my comfy bed every night, we do not half realize all our men are doing to keep us safe here in Eng. The Rumanians joining the Allies has given the enemy a bad turn & it looks jolly like as if 'Tins' will have to follow suit, the Bulgarians & Turks must feel jolly sick now that they ever trusted the gentle Hun. & Austria. Well we have got the whip hand now &must keep it until Germany is stripped bare, no peace until they have paid for all their deeds of destruction. Unfortunately we cannot take a Hun life for every foul murder done by them, but they must be made to pay in some way. I am scribbling this in my pts. room. I feel very ashamed when I look at your copperplate writing from the trenches at 11 p.m. With many good wishes & most sincerely hoping that you will get home for a spell Your very sincerely Nellie McCotter I have two nephews at the front somewhere one is in the R.A.M.C. Dr. Norman Davidson & the other Chaplain R.C. Mackleoun you may come across them sometime. RC10/9/16 repd2/10/16 Hospital APO4 Lce-Corp G. Hackney, 14/148 15 1414th (8) Batt. R.I. Rifles, Y.C.V. B. Reg France 19 Ward 35 General Hospital Rear of envelope Two date stamps Army Post Office B 9 sp 16 B 10 sp 16 19 Ward, 35 General Hospital, Calais, France Letter from Jennie Johnson to George Hackney, 4 September 1916Letter from McCotter to George Hackney, 30 August 1916Letter from John Pollock to George Hackney, 30 August 1916 73 Charlwood Street, London S.W., England Letter from McCotter to George Hackney, 30 August 1916 McCotter Letter from McCotter to George Hackney, 30 August 1916