Arthur's Letters - A First Hand Account of Edwardian Life and World War 1 from an Extraordinary Perspective ...Arthur's Letters are an eyewitness account of World War One written from privileged positions on the Western Front, at the front, behind the lines and from the home front. This is not another tale of the Flanders mud and trenches, Arthur's letters are a World War One human interest story written by an intelligent and articulate observer from a unique perspective, not a formal military history.
These primary source World War 1 letters home are an almost unique view of the First World War. Arthur writes about the people, social and political events of the day as they unfolded, and of course the battles and horrors he witnessed first hand. This is Arthur's eyewitness account of WW1 and the rapidly changing times and culture he lived in, there is no political correctness, just an exceptional first person observation of a vanished society. Arthur also travelled around the world and sent a large number of letters home during the period 1892 -1920. I have also published some of those from the USA, South America, and Australia. I add new letters weekly. These letters also show a fascinating glimpse into the privileged world of an Edwardian gentleman. As with all history try to read these letters without the benefit of hindsight ... |
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There is an index for each year 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918 and pre WW1 this gives a month by letter summary for ease of research, and I have also added Arthur's Miscellany - a selection of history related news articles and retweets in an easy to read format. There is also a Site Search box at the top of each page.
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Some Extracts from Arthur's First World War Letters Home:"Front trenches were 25 or 30 yards from the Germans, it seemed so extraordinary, at one point I went to the front line German trench was only yards off, it is hard to grasp unless one sees it." May 29th 1915
"They have taken to bombarding one at night & fly quite low, you can hear them very plainly but hard to see ..." July 18th 1916 "At 2 we were warned of gas & had to put on our masks, when that was over the Bosches started Coup de Main & tremendous noise..." 5th August 1918 "Every day one hears new & more harrowing stories of the sufferings of the unfortunate refugees, many of whom died from exhaustion & starvation. One man said he counted 17 dead children lying on the road & any number died in the trains." January 1918 "There are a lot of bridges blown up, also wrecked Bosche trains along the line. They had filled trains with various things but could not get them away..." December 1918 |
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Arthur observes and writes about World War One in Ireland, England and France from a remarkable standpoint...
WW1 Letter from March 1915
On the outbreak of WW1 Arthur was too old (42) to volunteer for Army service, instead he chose to work on the Western Front an unpaid volunteer ambulance driver, one of the WW1 "Gentlemen Volunteers". He worked under the French Red Cross, Section Sanitaire Anglais S.S.A. No.3, from 1915 until 1919 and saw service along various parts of the Western Front. It should be remembered that the Western Front was over 400 miles long, stretching from the French and German border with Switzerland to the French and Belgian channel coast.
During the later war years, Arthur married and chose to make his home in London, and then Sunningdale, Berkshire. His life before and after WW1 seems to have been nomadic as he travelled extensively around the world. I have also now added a section for his pre world war one letters, a fascinating glimpse into the life of an affluent Edwardian era gentleman, almost a real life "Downton Abbey" lifestyle. He was of Anglo Irish landed gentry descent, born in County Kildare, a Roman Catholic, and was educated in England.
When transcribing these letters I leave the grammar etc. as it was written. I also omit the more mundane sentences or paragraphs, replacing these with "...", however I will revisit all of the letters in time. Text I have added for the sake of clarity is enclosed in [ ] brackets. Some of the words, place names or people names can be difficult to read and I replace those with "??????", but again I will revisit these letters and amend where possible.
During the later war years, Arthur married and chose to make his home in London, and then Sunningdale, Berkshire. His life before and after WW1 seems to have been nomadic as he travelled extensively around the world. I have also now added a section for his pre world war one letters, a fascinating glimpse into the life of an affluent Edwardian era gentleman, almost a real life "Downton Abbey" lifestyle. He was of Anglo Irish landed gentry descent, born in County Kildare, a Roman Catholic, and was educated in England.
When transcribing these letters I leave the grammar etc. as it was written. I also omit the more mundane sentences or paragraphs, replacing these with "...", however I will revisit all of the letters in time. Text I have added for the sake of clarity is enclosed in [ ] brackets. Some of the words, place names or people names can be difficult to read and I replace those with "??????", but again I will revisit these letters and amend where possible.
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Arthur’sLetters.com is proud to be a member of the Imperial War Museum Centenary Partnership and will be working towards ensuring that all "participants" in World War One are suitably remembered not just for the duration of the Centenary commemorations 2014-2018 but for future generations to come. |
