1 Spender
Ulster Division 1915
3 Dec Dear Sir Edward I have heard from my wife today
that she has mentioned to Lady Carson about the
appointment of three R.C. Staff Officers. In case this may give a wrong impression I
am writing to say that one has left owing to ill-
health (Ryan). Both the other 2 Comyn & Mayne
are good chaps & Unionists, & tho' it is not a tactful
thing to have done on the part of the authorities, I feel sure they are not themselves
intriguers. The men seem to have quieted down since Redmond's
speech, & I hope Xmas will go by without any unfor-
tunate incident unless he again attempts any "rousings". You will be glad to hear that there is a general
wish in the Division for the return of the 107th Bdi
& I hope they may be allowed to rejoin at the end of
the month. Unfortunately some of them are not very
anxious to come back as they they were given 2
a bad name. If this may have been the case, I under-
stand they have done very well & lived it down. Certainly
the Regular battalions now with us in their place have
not proved superior to our own Ulstermen- au contraire!. Gen' Hacket Pain will return to England next
week & could not doubt give you any information you
require. We expect the Division to be transformed to another Corps very shortly, &
I personally shall be glad as some two of the Corps staff were
formerly very anti Ulster. Gen' Greenly, who is an old staff
college frnfriend of mine, took a very strong hire against us
then, & tho' he is I think too good a fellow to harbour
any feelings now, it is better for many reasons that we
should be moved. I feel that much that I write is more or less
gossip. Please treat it as such. One would not think of
such things if one had not learnt by some what bitter
experience to suspect it everywhere , & one is probably quite
wrong in doing so. Yours sincerely Wilfrid B Spender