1 The Club,
Malta 17th January My very dearest Mother, Your most welcome
and consoling letter dated Jan;
6th arrived yesterday, it
is terrible not getting any
news of Charlie for so long
but I hope by the time
this reaches you, you will
have had some satisfactory
news as I think the
suspense is appalling. I
personally think he must
be a prisoner for any news
I could gather from the
men although most of them 2 seem. very surprised at hearing
he is missing- I sent you a
card after seeing Massy who
was also very surprised at
hearing he was missing, he heard
from an Officer of the 6th Divs
who was in the next bed to
him at Solonika that Charlie
had been slightly wounded
in the arm & walked down
to dressing station with him
Of course Massey said if he had
known there was any question
about him missing he would
have got more particulars but
the way they all spoke of him
they thought he was alright
in Hospital, When Dicko told
him that Charlie was wounded
but spoke very lightly of it.
Sgt. Currie mentioned lt Turner & said he should know something
as he took over command after
Charlie had been hit . A great
number think he is safely
somewhere in Hospital but
owing to the retreat things
were rather muddled & infor-
mation is hard to get
Others think if he has not
been very badly wounded, he
may have just gone down got
dressed( his wound), & re join them
Otherwise he would be reported
missing but as you say
there is really very little
use in wondering what has
happened to him we must
only trust Our divine
Lord & be ready for his
holy Will. What a
What a brave &good Mother you are 3 & I hope you will very soon
be rewarded by good news of
him, all the Nuns are praying
for him out here & I try &
do my little bit by offering
up my whole day for news.
How I wish I were at home
if I could be of any use but
the worst of it is there is so
very little to do but wait.
I am going off this afternoon
to see a couple more men to see
if they have any news of him
What a brave boy he has been
&never a murmur from him
all the 10th Div. have gone through
words cannot express. I sent
him a large parcel of food
for Xmas but of course it
was no use as it was sent
after he was wounded - 4 Captain Massy was in great
form, he has not been wounded
again it is the old wound
which is gradually paralysing
his hand it was great luck
me seeing him although
I believe he telephoned me
up wanting me to go & see him.
at Blue Sisters & Rev: Mother
wrote which of course did not
arrive till after he had
left Blue Sister but I rang
up B.S. on my own & heard
he was sailing on the Marne
at 1 o'ck. on Thursday last
so I got leave to go down
to the Wharf & had to wait
till four before he arrived
Sister Travers came with me
& we had tea on board
but had to leave immediately 5 afterwards as I had to be
on duty It was such a pity he
did not know as he could
have got all news about Charlie
before leaving. He said Dick
was alright as luckily he
only arrived the day before
the big engagement & they
kept him back , so that is
good news, he reports him
looking very well also Col. Cooper
is back again.- Well a great number of things
have happened since I last
wrote which is quite a long
time but I have been very
busy owing to all the changes.
For the last 3 weeks we have
been getting slacker every day
&the Colonel took it
into his head to close 2 blocks for a bit F. as they have
had the hardest work since
the Hospital has been opened.
so we got orders on Friday to
have all patients moved &
get the equipment & wards
straight, you can imagine
or you can't what it meant
for me of course it meant mostly
scrubbing & sweeping & on
Saturday we were all told to
be ready at 9 O'ck. to go to
Antonio Palace for 48 hours
rest after making up our
minds to this order which
none of us relished very
much. We went to bed very
tired & stayed in bed for
breakfast but when they
went down the others as usual 6 they found a notice saying
orders cancelled &would those
8 ladies go on duty as usual
so up I had to get &down
to the empty wards & the
next order was all differences
must be made up by
one O'clock then there was a fuss
trying to get mattresses etc. back
from fumigator. However we got through
every thing & were really not
so very much out . I only know
I was never so tired in all
my life, all the staff were
off from 1 O'clock Sunday to
Wednesday morning the Matron
said as I had not been
out so long I was not to
take my 48 hours off but the
truth of the matter was she had 7 asked me to go & call on
Lady Matheun with her & I think
she was afraid if she gave me
my time off I would not
go with her. Any how I went
& I hope if I ever go again
it will not be with a Matron
Lady M. is such a nice simple
woman but I did feel a fool
with the Matron there as I had
to be very careful what I
said or I got a glare, it
was so trying when L. M.
asked if we had everything
we wanted & that she had
a great number of Hot
Water bottles & would we like
any for St. G. the Matron
said we had enough. L. M.
said how lucky we were to 8 have everything we wanted
how many had we for each
ward? & the Matron said 12
when we have only 12 for 70
patients so you see how things
are done. However we must
not complain this new
Colonel is making things
look up &the hot weather
will very soon be here.
Did I ever tell you that we
the Staff of 7 upper were the
proudest sisters in the whole
Hospital, as the patients all
clubbed together & presented us
each with a very pretty gold
Maltese Cross broach in gratitude
for all our kindness & as a
token of how much they
appreciate it & what a jolly Xmas they spent at St Georges.
So this is another sign of how
much they enjoy themselves &
we have to thank all the
kind &generous people at home
So will you please thank
them all as I am afraid
as yet have had time to
write nothing but a P. C. to
them - I had such a surprise &
beautiful present from Gerald
a few days ago. he sent
me a beautiful Attache case
from the Silver & Goldsmiths
London, it is a beauty, brown
pigskin with fitted Green
Morocco lining, The funny
thing is I have not had a
letter for a very long time.
I am longing to know how he 9 is getting on I wonder if he
was in London about the 30th
Dec. as that is the date on
the parcel. I need not tell you
it was the greatest surprise
possible he will be very cut
up over Charlie I know as
he is very fond of him.
We really do not know
what is happening out here
just now every day new
Sisters & V.A.D.s are being
sent out & just at present
there is not enough for our
present staff to do as they
are clearing out all the
Hospitals on the Island. How
ever I suppose we must only
wait & see. A Miss Smyth
Sir W Smyth's daughter arrived 10 yesterday so she gave me a
little Dublin News she seems
very disgusted with Dublin
as she says they are not
recruiting as they should
& very annoyed they are
left out of the complusion
She is a very pretty little
thing & I think very clever.
She is sharing our flat but
not in the same room as I
am. What about A. Liyl
has she started on her
travels yet, tell her as she
is coming so late to have
a cotton dress made so
that she can wear it out of
doors without a coat & also
to bring a very light coat 11 & skirt as they say after
this month it begins to get
very very hot. Did I tell you a Captain
Leslie of Dundalk came to
see me the other day Mrs
Mac Ardle wrote to him
about me, He is quite nice
elderly & is finding out all
he can from his men about
Charlie for me, all my spare
time I try & get information
as I know how terrible
the waiting is for news although
I am glad to say have not
much time for thinking
but it distresses me to think
of you all at home but I
feel assured with all those prayers everything will end well
I hope you got my letter from
Birzebbuga safely Well I shall end this now
as I have to meet a
V. A. D. who says the
Matron was looking for
me so want to hurry
back. One never knows
where you are at St. Georges
these times With every loving thought
& the very best of wishes
I live all day with you
although we are so far
parted &only wish I could
do something, Your most loving & grateful
daughter Marie.