Letter from William Montgomery to his parents, Harford and Sara Montgomery, 18 November, 1915 Letters 1916-1923 William Alexander Montgomery

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 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

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Letter from William Montgomery from the front to his parents detailing his daily life and difficult conditions in the trenches, particularly for the men in the company under William's command. The Montgomery family lived in Malone Park, one of the wealthiest suburbs of Belfast city. This letter is part of a large collection that their son, William, a Captain with the 9th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, wrote to his parents, Harford Hugh and Sara Montgomery, throughout the war. His first letter is dated 3 December 1914. Captain Montgomery was a decorated soldier. He was awarded both the Victoria and the 15 Star medals and was promoted to the rank of Major. His father owned a fire assessor business.

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Papers of the Montgomery Family, D2794/1/1/2 https://letters1916.ie/item/2736 English William Alexander Montgomery 1915-11-18 In the Field Harford Hugh Montgomery and Sara Montgomery Monacherra, Malone Park,Belfast, Ireland Male World War I (1914-1918) World War I (1914-1918)

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 In the Field 18.11.15. My dear Father & Mother / / I am in the very best of health & form. Since I wrote you last, I have had the honour of commanding my own Company in occupation of a portion of the British Front Line for a week. My men did splendidly and I am very proud of them. Father you people at home, even if you are gifted with vivid imagination can have no idea of what a poor line of trenches entail in the way of suffering on the men. And again you have no idea of what the human animal can with training & discipline be taught to endure. I had probably the lowest type of men in the battalion as far as ordinary standards go (not for quotation at the Rotary club) I always said that they would never be regimental soldiers but that I didn't care where I took them & that they would never fail me in the field. They have justified that contention & A Coy, which was formerly the black sheep, is today the flower of the flock in the C.O.s opinion with Horaces' Coy a very good next. Horace's was always considered the best Coy. & he is easily the best Coy. Cmdr. But my knowledge of engineering & tool handling is getting scope now. Trenches are all engineering. some of it not at all elementary. Conditions in the line we took over were so bad that some of my men never got lying down at all for a week. No dugout, not even mine, was waterproof & it rained 5 days & 4 nights. There were 6 " of mud on the floors of all the mens trenches dugouts & some of the Sapheads had two feet of water & a foot of mud in them. 3 of my listening posts (2 men in each 2 hours each) had to stand in the mud & water mixture & listen for our lives all week. With no change of clothes no place to sleep except sitting or standing & very little fuel & practically no light. These listening posts are very close to the German lines & run out about 100 yards in front of our own line usually in front of the wire. They are lonely places & occasionally men are lost in them as the result of successful bombing parties of Germans getting who work close up & blow the whole post to Hades or heaven with a couple of bombs. I always say to myself every time I visit a listening post that I must take my revolver or a couple of bombs next time. Maynard Sinclair (about 19 years old) is my second in command at present but I fear he is going to be taken from me my Brigade H.Q. This would be a good big lift for him & he would be in the place where D.S.Os go. He is a grand boy & the makings of a fine soldier On my week in the trenches I only had 3 men went sick someall the others had over 20 & one had over 50. Pretty good but wants a lot of nursing with a rough tongue & the very judicious dosing with raw spirit. I have seen men marching asleep. A most astonishing sight. They have all the symptoms of ordinary sleep walkers. When I think of what my fellows have stood & will have to stand again & I think of some of the people at home who do nothing I go mad. And the cheeriness of the fellows is marvellous. Beautiful and I have heard them described as the scum of the Shankill road, by people not fit to clean their very dirty boots. We have had very heavy snow & frost, but are in very comfortable billets at present & have some fuel. so everything is rosy. Company cmdg. on the line is a job carrying with it great responsibility & great power. For instance I would say more or less casually to Downing at afternoon tea time — William I want you to go out on Patrol tonight to ascertain the strength of the German wire in front. Make all arrangements & choose your men please. You will go out by No 1 listening post = will work left. No 1 machine gun will afford you support by traversing from the post to the right. Advise the gun as to time of going out & report return to me. I am not allowed to go out on patrol mother will be glad to hear. Being too valuable as a Coy Cmdr. funny isn't it? My Aunt Olivia would say I am spoiled in the trenches. It is a pretty imposing show I must admit. I have a dug out well behind the line to which I must retire in case we are attacked or heavily shelled except for purpose of steadying the men. I have a servant there, 3 signallers one always with instrument on his head. 2 orderlies and an observer & behind the line my horse and groom. Our officers mess of six also possesses two cooks who with the six servants do nothing else but look after us. I am in direct communication with a battery of artillery which I can turn out at my own sweet will. It is a most beautiful sight to see our shells landing clear into the enemy/s trenches or bursting over them, or landing into a village they occupy & the houses collapsing. It is most exciting & the men at work always want to down tools & go & look at it much the same as they go to a football match. We don't of course have it all our own way. And the Bosches have the range of our trenches just as accurately as we have theirs. Sleep in the trenches for a CoyComdr at night is one of the many things he does without unless he has great luck & things are very quiet. He never takes off his clothes or boots to lie down. And should only change his boots & socks during the day time. I generally get about 3 hours sleep at a time & that comes mostly about every 18 hours. I have heard men say the strain of command tells on them very severely. Now that I know that seeing casualties & fire do not upset me I have got confidence in myself & up to now have kept cool. It is very extraordinary to note the effect of fire on different people. Almost all my previous real bad eggs, specially drunks, have turned out well. I met one of them the other day in a communicating trench & asked He was wet to the waist & mud to the eyes & hadn't had food for 14 hours & it was pouring rain & asked him how he liked the life — He replied shortly & with his eyes shining _ I just love it Sir & then he laughed & said I never could stand that bloody Barrack sodgering. He couldnt either, he spent 6 months of it in jail. I have another awful bad character whom I have had to see undergo Field Punishment No1 who bears no malice & is in fact thirsting for a melodramatic opportunity to save my life simply because months ago when everyone kicked him I spoke seriously & with kindness to him & gave him a shilling when he hadnt had pay for months. The little blighter never forgot it. His curse is drink. But he cant get that now except under very strict supervision. You should see me at the ungodly hour of 5 AM every morning when in the trenches doling out tots of rum. It is one of my duties to sit on the rum supply. It is never handled in my Coy unless an officer is present. I am terrified of the stuff as it means 10 years penal servitude for any man who gets too much. The men are very funny about it. One said to me the other day when I was dishing it out "Sir just turn your back & let your orderly lay down that for & in half an hour we will be in the German trenches". It is gorgeous stuff. I have used it hot to revive even the almost dead. I found a fellow collapsed on his post one night during my rounds still clinging to his rifle watching his front but unable to stand, burning with fever, & cold as ice. I had him relieved & well beaten took him to my dug out. Fed him rum hot & bread in front of my stove & drove him out to work again with a shovel. He was quite all right next morning except that his feet and legs were swollen a bit. I had another strong man who had awful feet coming along the road following trench reliefcrying as he fell out because he was disgracing his company. I was commanding my coy from the rear at this time just on the look out for such as he. I flailed him with my tongue, fed him neat whiskey from my flask & ordered him back into the ranks. He went & completed the march in the ranks. His feet were bleeding. But I got him home. That was what I was there for. Before I came out the men hated me now they don't because I am so hard with them that they trust me. I feed them kindness in small rare doses. And I never tell them I am pleased with them. They generally know when I am displeased with them. Coy. Commanding is necessarily in war a brutal occupation. This side of the business would suit Bodel but the exposure wouldnt. I think it is time I drew to a close I would just love a packet or two of Macfarlane & Lang's oatcakes & some more of that good honey. Please show this to Emmie, but please please don't make speeches about it. With love WAMontgomery William Alexander Montgomery Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 26 October, 1916Letter from William Montgomery to his mother, Sara Montgomery, 13 October, 1916Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 19 November, 1916Letter from William Montgomery to his parents, Harford and Sara Montgomery, 30 October, 1916Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 29 September, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 16 November, 1916Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 13 December, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his parents, Harford and Sara Montgomery, 18 November, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his parents, Harford and Sara Montgomery, 29 December, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his mother, Sara Montgomery, 23 December, 1915 In the Field Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 26 October, 1916Letter 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, 3 November 1915Letter from James Davidson to his mother, Clara Mary Davidson, 2 December 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his mother, Sara Montgomery, 13 October, 1916Letter 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 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 William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 18 December, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 13 December, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his parents, Harford and Sara Montgomery, 18 November, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his parents, Harford and Sara Montgomery, 29 December, 1915 Monacherra, Malone Park,Belfast, Ireland Letter from William Montgomery to his mother, Sara Montgomery, 13 October, 1916Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 29 September, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his father, Harford Hugh Montgomery, 18 December, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his parents, Harford and Sara Montgomery, 18 November, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to Sara Montgomery, 23 December, 1915Letter from William Montgomery to his mother, Sara Montgomery, 23 December, 1915