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.

 

 

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.

August 22, 1917 Cable to Bill’s Brother Orville Skilling

Bill sends a cable home from England to reassure the family. Tomorrow I will be posting his long letter refered to here which gives details about what has happened to him.
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February 24, 1917 Quiet On the Western Front

Bill writes a long letter to his father John Skilling in Teeswater, Ontario from somewhere on the Western Front. He goes into a lot of detail about the pay system, frustrations with sending cables and remarks several times about how quiet it is there. Unknown to Bill, his brother Harold has been shot in the abdomen during the Battle of the Somme. Someone had already written their condolences to him “on the loss of his dear brother” before he learned the truth that Harold was in hospital in England.

 

 

January 11, 1917 Somewhere in France Le Havre

Bill is in good spirits as he writes to his mother from “somewhere in France” telling her about his last days in England over New Year’s and the trip across the channel. He is now part of the 16th Divisional Artillery awaiting posting to his Brigade and Battery.

August 11, 1916 London, England

Bill writes to his mother that he has made it into the Royal Horse Artillery!

March 28 - end of April, 1916 Aboard the SS Baltic - Shorncliffe

This long letter was typed by Bill's sister Mae Skilling and circulated to all family members by his father. It is a compilation of several letters starting with his sailing to England on the SS Baltic on March 28, 1916 and ending with his being at Shorncliffe at the end of April, 1916.

He mentions his room mate "Trotter" (Bernard Freeman Trotter from McMaster University) who, posthumously, became known as one of Canada's war poets. Trotter was killed in action on May 7, 1917. Some of his letters which mention "Skilling" can be found at the Canadian Letters Project by searching for "Skilling".

Battalion C.E.F. for rations and discipline are quartered in the Risboro Barracks,

Shorncliffe, occupying 2 huts B13 & B14. The huts are very comfortable 60 x 20

ft with a dozen single iron beds on each

of the public work; buses, trams, lifts etc. the first bus I got on had a girl for a

conductor. She asked us for our fare and I said: "How much to the Strand?"

the reply was rather unexpected, "I'm sure I 'aven't the fyentest ideah". So we

gave her a penny and it happened to be right.