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            <title type="main">Letter from Terence Duffin to his sister, Dorothy Duffin, 12 November 1915</title>
            <title type="sub">Letters 1916-1923</title>
            <author>Terence Duffin</author>
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            <p>This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in <date>2017</date>. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.</p>
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            <publisher>Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities</publisher>
            <pubPlace>Vienna, AT</pubPlace>
            <date>2026</date>
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               <p>This is an open access work licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0).</p>
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               <p>This is a letter from Terence (Terry) Duffin (b. 1886) to his sister, Dorothy Duffin (b. 1881). 

This letter is part of a rich correspondence between various members of the Duffin family, a large prosperous family living in Strandtown, Belfast. Several family members served in the war, including Major Terence Duffin, who served as a staff officer with 107 Brigade, and later with Royal Irish Rifles; Major Charles G Duffin MC, Royal Field Artillery; and their sisters Emma, Celia and Dorothy who served as Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADS) in Egypt and France, and with the YMCA.</p>
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              <persName key="#letters1916_person-0305">Terence Duffin</persName>
              <date>1915-11-12</date>
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              <persName key="#letters1916_person-1065">Dorothy Duffin</persName>
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             <seg type="unclear">Hd</seg>Ors 107 Bde <lb/> B.E.F. <lb/> France   My dear Dorothy   I have just heard the <lb/> good news through Edmund <lb/>and am most <hi rend="underline">awfully </hi> glad <lb/> — best of luck to both of <lb/> you — Write and tell me <lb/> all about it if you have time, <lb/> which I suppose you haven't.   Any how the War has done <lb/> you a good turn. I am <lb/> sure all at home will be pleased <lb/> about it.   We are up in the fighting <lb/> line again — All getting <lb/> on first rate though it has <lb/> poured with rain and blown <lb/> hard continuously for 3 days <lb/> — the trenches are in a terrible <lb/> state. I was up today
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            and waded through water <lb/> and liquid mud up to my <lb/> knees — Most of the dug- <lb/>outs have fallen in and <lb/> likewise portions of the trenches <lb/> which means endless work <lb/> getting them repaired and <lb/> horrible discomfiture — Still <lb/> the men keep cheery through <lb/> it all and even prefer it to <lb/> their rest-billets when they <lb/>are doing fatigue work all <lb/>day — Any how the "<seg type="unclear">Beach</seg>" <lb/> suffers as much from the <lb/>weather as we do —    It seems funny when <lb/> You gaze out of a loop-hole <lb/> <seg type="del">and</seg>of a trench and see the <lb/> German lines only a few <lb/>hundred yards away — in <lb/> fact in some places the trenches <lb/> are only 70 yards apart ! 
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             The Brigade Hd. Ors are in <lb/> two houses side by side, in a <lb/> small village about a mile <lb/> from the trenches — Most of <lb/> the village has been fairly <lb/> well smashed up from time <lb/> to time by shell fire — the room <lb/> next to mine is a <seg type="unclear"><sic>comlete</sic></seg>"gonner" <lb/> A shell went clean through it <lb/> some weeks ago and no one <lb/> has thought it worth while <lb/> to square it up since — We <lb/> have a large cellar to retire <lb/> into if the occasion should <lb/> arise but so far we have <lb/> been left in peace.   Apparently there is nothing <lb/> fresh doing at home. — I <lb/> am glad to hear Edmund <lb/> keeps very much better <lb/> and that there is still
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            a fair amount of work <lb/> going through the Office.   I don't know if you <lb/>have seen Major Smith <lb/> lately if so, you will know <lb/> what our latest Divisional <lb/> changes are which I cannot <lb/> mention — I haven't seen <lb/> him for a long time.   Well I must off to bed <lb/> now, I scarcely ever clear <lb/> the office work before 10 P.M <lb/> and it is now 11.30 P.M.and <lb/> <sic>a another</sic>days work before me <lb/> tomorrow.    Write soon if you can   Ever your loving    <hi rend="underline">Terry</hi>   12/11/15. 
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               <persName>Terence Duffin</persName>
            <noteGrp><note target="item__0707.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Terrence Duffin to Edward Duffin, 3 December 1915</note><note target="item__2642.xml" type="mentions">Letter from  Terence Duffin to Maria Duffin, 29 February 1916</note><note target="item__4146.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Terence Duffin to his sister, Dorothy Duffin, 12 November 1915</note><note target="item__4158.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Terence Duffin to his father Adam Duffin, 10 November 1915</note><note target="item__4162.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Terence Duffin to his mother Maria Duffin, 26 November 1915</note></noteGrp></person>
            <person xml:id="letters1916_person-1065" n="Dorothy Duffin">
               <persName>Dorothy Duffin</persName>
            <noteGrp><note target="item__0644.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy to Maria Duffin, 25 March 1916</note><note target="item__0646.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy (Dussie) Duffin to Auntie B, 27 March 1916</note><note target="item__0648.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy Duffin to her mother, Maria Duffin, 30 March 1916</note><note target="item__2696.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy to Maria Duffin, 22 March 1916</note><note target="item__2700.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy Duffin to her mother, Maria Duffin, 31 July 1916</note><note target="item__4146.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Terence Duffin to his sister, Dorothy Duffin, 12 November 1915</note><note target="item__4176.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Adam Duffin to his daughter Dorothy Duffin, 7 November 1915</note><note target="item__4177.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy Duffin to her mother Maria Duffin, 8 November 1915</note><note target="item__4394.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy Duffin to Ruth Duffin, 29 November 1915</note><note target="item__4397.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Dorothy Duffin to Maria Duffin, 28 November 1915</note></noteGrp></person>
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