Letter from Elizabeth Hackney to George Hackney, 1 October 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Elizabeth Hackney

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

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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. In this letter Liz expresses her hope that George is quickly recovering in Wharncliffe War Hospital in Sheffield. She tells George that their ailing mother's cough has improved, but that her health would be much helped by a visit from George. 'Sis' apologises for not being able to come see George herself, but expresses her gladness that some of his friends are able to make the journey. The enclosed letter, addressed to a Mrs Gallagher from a Mr John A Ewing, appears to be completely unrelated to the main letter, and it is unclear how it ended up in the same envelope. In the letter, Ewing thanks Mrs Gallagher for a recent stay in 'Devenish House'.

 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Papers of George Hackney, Belfast; D3503/4/7 https://letters1916.ie/item/2815 English Elizabeth Hackney 1916-10-01 Belfast, Ireland George Hackney 31 Ward, 'D' Block, Wharncliffe War Hospital, Sheffield, England Female 1977 Personal Relations World War I (1914-1918) Personal Relations

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).

 xxxx from mother in bed 1.10.16 My dear George There is a drawback in having so many of us to write to you. I felt vexed that you had never heard that we received the money all right. I put it in the Post Office on the 7th Sept and the receipt is in your book with the others that is 21 here I believe, and then those you sent yourself. There is nothing I would like better that just to go over and see you for myself it seems so hard that you are so near us and yet we cannot see you as there is not one of us could get away. This is Mother's message — Mother is longing to see you home as she is tired waiting, she wants you to come as soon as you can to see if it will do her any good. Somehow George she cannot be satisfied about you, - wonders how you really are, and I don't think she will be until she can see you for herself. It is hard for you George dear, as I know if it was possible it is home You would be, especially on Mother's account, she finds the time so long with so little variety, but then she has not the strength to be about yet, and we must have patience until that time comes. We hope you are feeling better, but then you have not had much time yet, as it may be slow. We were glad to hear about your excursion it must have been very nice, and such a long day too, it must have been well arranged. I was gathering the things up this morning preparing to write you, when the Doctor arrived it was after one o'clock I think, he said Mother's pulse was not bad at all, seemed satisfied enough and I told him she had slept very well the last two nights, I asked him about you, and he thinks it would do Mother good to see you, as she seems to be fretting about you, so George if you are able to come and can get away, it will be the best thing to do I expect, maybe you will see Willie one of these days I hope you, I am sure he will do his best anyhow, then you will be telling us about Berthas' visit, we are glad some friends can go to see you. It was very kind in Mr Lynn asking that clergyman to call and see you, we said that you always seemed to get friends everywhere. L. J and I are struggling on as usual, Lily's cough is not better yet Father's is greatly improved, but best of all Mother's is quite better, and it is such a relief to us all, as she seemed to cough all night for I think four nights. I will have to say goodbye dear George hoping to have good news about you soon love and kisses. Your loving sister Liz 14815 Lce. Cpl. George Hackney 14th Batt Royal Irish Rifles Y.C.V 31 Ward 'D' Block Wharncliffe War Hospital Sheffield, Eng. Mrs Jas Gallagher, Devenish House, Bundoran, Co. Donegal Dear Mrs Gallagher, Everybody knows that even the best of Army Armies come to an end sometime & we are all very sorry that in our case this has now come true. Nevertheless we should can hardly grumble, as we did not expect our good times to extend so long, It is hardly necessary to state that the best part of all was the good times which we had at "Devenish House", evenings which we will all cherish while memory lasts. We all feel very much indebted to your whole family for the trouble which you took on our behalf at all times & would especially thank your own good self & miss Mamie. As a small token of our esteem & thanks, we wish you to accept the enclosed pair of Damask Table Cloths & Miss Mamie the enclosed Blouse. We do not wish you to measure the extent of our gratitude by the apparent value of the enclosed gifts, as if you used that standard of comparison the value of the gifts would fall far indeed below the amount of our gratitude indeed Trusting that we may all at some future time manage to meet again under your hospitable roof. We beg to remain Very sincerely yours, John A Ewing G.H. Belfast, Ireland Letter from Terence Duffin to his father Adam, 29 January 1916Postcard from M. in Belfast to Piaras Béaslaí, January 1916Postcard from Eileen Corrigan to her mother, Mrs Corrigan, 24 April 1916Letter from the Earl of Shaftesbury to Matthew Nathan, 15 February 1916Letter from G O'Connell to the Earl of Shaftesbury, 1 February 1916Letter from the Earl of Shaftsbury to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 31 December 1915Letter to Elizabeth Dunlap Simpson Fadzen from her aunt and uncle, M-S Greer, 13 March 1916Letter from Elizabeth Hackney to George Hackney, 1 October 1916Postcard from M.J. Stevenson to George Hackney, 22 September 1916Letter from T.J. 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