Letter from Lieut. W.E. Gilliland to Anne MacDonnell, 14 July, 1916.

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Letter from Lieut. W.E. Gilliland to Anne MacDonnell, 14 July, 1916.

1 Depot Des Prisonniers de Guerre,
Philipopple,
Bulgaria. 14th July, 1916. Dear Miss MacDonnell, We are indeed grateful for all your Association is
doing for the British Prisoners of War here. But, might I ask
you to get in touch with Regimental and other Committees which are
sending parcels. The fact of the matter is in far tttoo many cases
tins of provisions and chocolate, and underclothing, are being sold
right and left. This practice is naturally more general among men
who receive parcels from many organisations. There is one man who
gets parcels from ten Societies and I have known him to receive
as many as eight parcels at a time. He is not generous. I suppose
he has had seventy to eighty parcels already. He gave me one to giv
give to some man who had up to then not received any at all. Another point : I have reason to believe that the men, in
response to your Association's request to let you know what they
want, are asking for all sorts of things :- watches, safety razors &c To save time, I am now going to do a preliminary censorshi
censorship of letters at the request of the Commandant. Will you
please ignore all demands for luxuries unless I have countersigned
the letter or card asking for them. It is a bit distressing to put
it mildly, when you find men selling 4.oz. jars or bottles of meat
extracts for twopence, large cakes of chocolate for tenpence and
hand knitted woollen socks for ninepence. There is a ready market
for most things, and I am sure watches and safety razors would be
quickly disposed of. (Sgd) W.E. Gilliland, Lieut. Dear Lady Clonbrock,
Above copy of letter sent
me from I.W.A. will interest you.
Yours
HO Channier.
Galway 18/9/16.

This is a letter from Lieutentant W.E. Gilliland of the Depot Des Prisonniers de Guerre to Anne MacDonnell, honorary secretary of the Irish Women's Association (IWA), founded to provide assistant to Irish prisoners of war. Lieut. Gilliland requests that the IWA liaise with other committees sending parcels to Prisoners of War. The problem is that some prisoners are getting so many parcels from different quarters that they are in a position to sell their surplus. He also concerned that prisoners were now requesting items such as watches and safety razors. A handwritten note at the bottom of this typed letter, addressed to Lady Clonbrock, says that this is a copy received from the IWA and that it will interest her. The note is signed by H.D. Chamier. Lady Clonbrock, Augusta Caroline Dillon (née Crofton), (1839-1928), was an active member of the IWA.

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__5896.html)