January 22, 1919 Royal Artillery Mess, Athlone, Ireland

The war is officially over and Bill writes to his older sister Mae about receiving Christmas parcels and his leave to London with his younger brother Harold. Only 8 pages of his letter survive.

 

 

August 4, 1918 The Methodist Manse, Ballinasloe, Ireland

Bill writes to his mother in Teeswater from the Methodist Manse at Ballinasloe, where he is filling in for the minister and preaching several sermons. It is the 4th anniversary of England’s declaration of war on Germany. Bill hopes to become a Methodist minister when the war is over.

 

 

Before Christmas, 1917 Fragment of Letter Home

Only the last two pages remain of a letter home to one of his parents.

November 11, 1917 Visiting at Trafford Hall Near Chester

Bill writes to his mother from Trafford Hall where he is visiting with the Perryn family.


Trafford Hall (also Known as Wimbolds Trafford Hall) 2012
(Photo thanks to Trafford Hall National Communities Resource Centre)



 

  Bill's mother is staying with his eldest sister Floss and her husband Will Guinn in Neepawa, Manitoba.

October 12, 1917 The Sir John Ellerman Hospital, St. John’s Lodge, London N.W.

Bill writes to his older sister Mae that the Board has ordered 3 more weeks at Eaton Hall, a convalescent home in Chester, because of deafness in his left ear from gunfire. Bill describes magnificent Eaton Hall which was the residence of the Duke of Westminster.



Eaton Hall in Cheshire from Morris's Country Seats (1880). Image by Alexander Francis Lydon (1836–1917).

October 1, 1917 The Sir John Ellerman Hospital, St. John’s Lodge, London N.W.

  

Bill is still waiting for his Board Examination and puts his time in by attending concerts (Clara Butt) and operas (Madame Butterfly and Ivan The Terrible) and sightseeing around London on the top of  doubledecker buses.

The “Roy” whom Bill repeatedly mentions may be Roy Thompson from Teeswater area who later married Gladys Jackson. Further confirmation is required.