24 January 1916 Somewhere in Flanders

Dear Mother, Father, Norma and Vern:


Harold Skilling (rt)with the Lickley Brothers


Received a big consignment of Canadian mail last Thursday and it was the first decent batch I have had since a long time before Christmas. The letters had all come through in good time and it just seemed like Christmas all over again even though it was 20th of January. Everyone was full of Christmas news and I was so glad to know that you all had such a good time. You would have nearly as big a crowd at home as ever and I guess you would be all tearing around as usual. I was sorry to learn that you were sick on Christmas day, Mother. I was in the hospital then too, but not very sick. Santa Claus was as good as usual I see and he certainly was to me. I sent a card to each of the ladies who packed my box from The Patriotic League thanking them for their part in preparing it. Also to Mrs. Hughes, Colvin etc. who put things in the parcel you were sending. Everyone must have been very busy at home with so many entertainments and dinners coming off. So the school play was "some ripper", eh?

How is the (160th ) Bruce Battalion coming along? I hope they get it going well and make a success. Be sure and let me know all about it when you write. Are Norman Farquharson* and Donald Stewart** going to be in it? Surely they are not going to give those two youngsters commissions! They will have the time of their sweet young life over here if they ever get them.

I am glad the skating is going alright. Tell Vern to write me all about the hockey team etc.

I was out this afternoon to get some photos that four of us boys had taken together and when I could not get them because they were not done, we went over to see Billy Redburn. It is the first time I have seen him since last October. He looks fine and is having a pretty fair time. The good spell of weather we are having is materially decreasing the sick list and neither our place here or there are very rushed. He has some very nice souvenirs that he makes in his spare time. I have not been able to get very many but I guess there is lots of time yet before the war is over.

Say Mae was telling me about some wonderful cures she had for constipation. I wish you would send it. Maude was saying that Bill expected to be leaving for England by the middle of the winter. I hope he gets over here before I get my leave, for then we might possibly arrange to get our leave at the same time. Tell him to let me know when he expects to get over here. Billy Redburn is number 17 on the leave list and expects to get away shortly.

Say I wish you people at home would have some snaps taken of yourselves. I believe Bill had some photos taken. I guess I'll see him in England before long. There has not been a Canadian mail in for almost a week and so I have not had any letters to answer except those telling me about Christmas and there is really nothing in them to answer and there is absolutely "nil doing doing around this joint". I think I'll keep this letter until tomorrow and and enclose those photos of the boys and perhaps there will be a mail in then with some letters from home. The news comes regularly and I like to get it. Say Orville, write and tell me all about the "biz" . They say there is all kinds of demand in England for Canadian eggs etc. How did you make out on your storage stock? Have you much difficulty getting men? If you get time, write and tell me all about things. I must write to Floss so will ring off for tonight and get it done.

Photos are not finished so will not wait for them. Ask Orville if Dr. Fish has joined the Army. He can tell me where to write. I am real well and hope everyone at home is.

Lovingly,
Harold R Skilling

*Norman William Farquharson, a friend of my father-in-law Edward Ray Jackson, died in France March 22, 1918 on his first night night in the trenches. See photographs and more on Ray's blog www.lettersfromww1.blogspot.com
**Donald Wilfred Stewart joined the Bruce Battalion in August 1, 1916 and later served in the Royal Flying Corps; in 1941 he joined R.C.A.M.C. and served on the hospital ship "Lady Nelson" (M.D).

4 November 1915 Somewhere in Belgium

Dear Mother,

Received your welcome letter of Oct 17 yesterday and also Norma’s and Maude’s enclosed. I had one from Bill and another from Mae and Maude on Sunday.

So Bill has gotten into the 81st. It is only a newly organized Batt. I understand, so it will not likely be sending over drafts for sometime. He will no doubt be relieved from carrying a pack in the band, but I don’t know whether I would rather blow a horn or carry a pack. I know I would a hariged (?) sight rather carry the infantry kit than that of the Fd. Amb. In the infantry the pack is placed on your shoulders where it does not bother your movements but we carry most of our stuff bandolier fashion and it presses on the chest and passes under one arm.

Well we have been doing very little this last 2 weeks and we are getting pretty soft. It has been very wet and so we have not been able to get out very often. I was up to a village about 3 miles away yesterday and when I got back I was pretty tired. I am getting awfully fat as all I have had to do was help keep the hut clean and after that there was not much to do but eat. We get all we can eat but there aren’t many frills. Mostly bread, stew, tea and bacon in the morning and jam at night. And to crown it all, we have been getting a tin (1 1/2 lbs.) of butter between 10 men nearly 3 times a week. We have a stove now that we picked up as we passed through “Wipers” (Ypres) and so we can make toast. We are living like princes and if it was not so wet and muddy we would be “jake” (ok).

We are being issued with waterproof capes (long ones that fasten closely around the neck and come down to the boot tops). They have a slit for the arms and so we can be dry and warm now. I expect an issue of new boots soon so we are alright now as far as the wet and cold goes.

Oh no, we are not in as dangerous quarters as the infantry . Of course when the infantry are in the reserve or line trenches is the only time they are in any real danger and when they are in the billets, they are further back than we are. In the trenches there is not much chance of getting hurt if you are careful and do not go sticking your head up over the parapet. There is more danger from civilian snipers than the German snipers. There are a few unscrupulous Belgians who snipe at British soldiers every chance they get. A young lad 16 years old was caught red handed and was shot after a court martial.

The Red Cross is not much protection and the ambulances go around with big bags hung over the red crosses painted on the sides of the car. The fellows who are issued with Red Cross arm bands soaked them in strong tea for awhile so they would not show so much because when they are new they show up too well and offer a good target for the snipers. However we have had no casualties yet and only one man slightly sick.

Say there are a terrible lot of words scratched out in this letter but it is very dark in the hut as we have no windows and I can hardly see what I am writing.

Everyone is asking me what they should send me. Even Uncle Will (William Skilling) and Aunt Aggie (Agnes Skilling Orford) have been very anxious to send me some things, but if everyone was to start sending me a lot of stuff, I would be overloaded. I’ll tell you something – not to bother sending what we can get here. Medicine like aspirin, court plaster etc. chocolate. As a matter of fact the small shops in the villages are much like those of the English villages except that things are very dear and we cannot buy very much before we are broke as 1 franc a day(20 cents) is all we draw in 2 pays a month amounting to 30 francs a month. Small bars of chocolate cost from 2 d. to 6 d. apples from 1 1/2 d. to 2 1/2 d. each other things very much in proportion.

No Norma, we do not have much of a chance to “parlez-vous” where we are now. The Belgians just here speak Flemish which is very much like Dutch. They say “nien” and “yaw” and go clacking around in their wooden shoes. I got a small pair the other day and am sending them home along with a painting I picked up at “Wipers”. We get fooled sometimes when we are trying to display our knowledge of French and get a perfectly good English reply from the woman in the shop. They all tell us that they learned English since the soldiers came last fall.

If you can get a good map with a small scale of Flanders and Belgium, you will be able to follow the places where we go from time to time as we are at liberty to tell our friends where we were a month from the date of writing. A month ago today we were running a Dressing Station at Dranoutre. In a letter to Ettie a while ago I outlined a few of the places we had been and she will no doubt let you know what they are.

Did I tell you that the King and Prince of Wales along with King Albert and Field Marshal French (Foch) had been to review the 2nd Ambulance Division a while ago. We only sent 4 men and a Staff Sergeant and all the other units sent the same proportion of their strength.

Congratulations Norma for becoming President of the ? out of such a large class. I guess the new (Teeswater) Town Hall will be quite an improvement. Does it seat any more? Where did they hold the Fall Show Concert?

I suppose you send these letters around to the rest. I will not have so much time to write after we take over the hospital as I have had this last week and I’ll address all my letters home and then they can be seen on from there.

I am enclosing a few picture cards of some of the places we have been at. I sent a few last week and will put the rest of them in this letter.

Well I think between this and the letters I sent to Orville and Bill you will have all the news of the week so I’ll ring off for this time. I am feeling fine and hope everyone else at home is just the same.

Your loving son,
Harold

24 October 1915 Somewhere in Belgium (near Ypres)

Dear Father and Mother,

Sunday noon and I have just come off of a 24 hr. guard over a prisoner and had to stand or lie on a stone floor all the time with a draught that nearly blew us along the floor coming in under the door.

As you will see we have crossed back here again although we are not in the same village as before we went across the border to that rest camp at the chateau. That was supposed to have been a rest camp for us as well as the patients who were there but it wasn’t very much like it and so while we are here we are not supposed to do too much until we take charge of the dressing station.

It is a beastly cold and cheerless place here. We are crowded 25 men to a small hut without a fire or windows. If we want any light we must open the trap doors in the wall and then it is so damp and cold that we have to close them to keep the wind out. I am propped up against the wall on my bedroll of blankets trying to get this written before dinner. I am afraid I am not going to get it done. My fingers are so stiff that I cannot write very fast.

Some of our men went up to a ruined city last night and were to bring back some bricks to use as a pavement to keep us on top of the mud around our huts. They got into a sculptor’s yard and filled their waggons with marble slabs in a few minutes and then searched around the ruins for a couple of hours. It was very light (on account of a full moon and clear sky) so they brought back quite a few souvenirs. Some of them even got going through the ruins of the famous ‘cloth hall’. I guess you have heard of it and where it is. I am going to try and get on the next fatigue forty that goes up. It is only about six miles by the main road.

There is not very much doing here these days and only a few cases are brought in every day. A man of the RFA whose battery is attached to our division had one of his legs amputated in our dressing station night before last. It seemed too bad for it was only an accident. There are a pretty large percentage of the wounded men who come in who are only hit by accident and some of them are maimed by themselves purposely so they can get back to the hospital.

I got your letter and parcel of sox. They are sure dandy sox and the brown pair are just fine. They fill up my big boots to perfection. The film was in the other ones ok but I guess you have my other letter saying not to send any more as my camera is in the custody of the Col.

The mail has just come in but there was nothing for me. I think it is the advance part of another Canadian mail.

Dinner is all over now and I am going out for a walk so I’ll ring off and get this posted so that it will go on tonight’s mail. Have not got the parcel Mae spoke of sending. Probably it will be on the mail that just arrived. I am feeling fine and am getting fat as a porpoise. Hope everyone at home is well. Tell Verne and Norma to write.

Lovingly,
Harold

16 October 1915 Somewhere in Flanders

Somewhere in Flanders ( near Mont Noir, France)

Dear Mother,

This is Sat. morning and I have a few minutes to myself so I’ll try and get a line or two written home. It seems a long time since I have written a letter home but it can’t be more than a week and a half.

Harold Skilling
c. 1915

Well I got your letter on Monday I believe and sent a card home acknowledging it for I have been so busy that there has been no time to write a letter.

We are in a French chateau conducting an officers’ rest station. It is a sort of hospital for officers who are suffering from nerve trouble or shock. Most of them are pretty fussy and require a lot of attention and even our own officers who live here are making a picnic out of it.

It is a 4 storey building and is situated on a high hill so that it is a splendid outlook over the country around it. I am going to try and get some cards with a picture of the place on it and will send one or two.

A funny thing occurred last week when our section came over here to relieve the section of the 4th Field Ambulance who were here. When I was going through the house I ran up against Billy Redburn. His section was on duty here before us. I hope that we will be able to get out of here next week for I am not struck on the job. We have to take our turn at it no doubt though.

I got most of the papers from home but the one with my letter in, I got from Billy R. I had no idea I had written two columns, but if you are ever going to put any other of my letters in the paper, I’ll have to take more time in writing them so that I can correct them etc. The letter I sent home about my trip to London was a good deal different from the one appearing in the paper.

I am glad that Maude was feeling better when she went back and I hope she gets real ok again before long. I got Mae’s letter the other day and was very glad to hear from her. She is getting along splendidly with the “mill”. (?)  I guess when you all have read my letters you wish that I could use one too. Well I have been compelled to write in so many different positions etc. that I can’t write half as well as when I left home.
Tell Mae to ask Geo. if he knows a Dr. Burgess. He comes from Owen Sound and is one of our Captains. Someone was saying the other day that he only graduated a short time ago. “Red” Irvine’s name is Harold Irvine and comes from Sarnia.

Has Bill enlisted yet and what has he joined?I suppose he will be writing me soon and telling me all about it.

Things are very quiet just now but the big scrap that Mae referred to in her letter occurred just on our right. I do not think any Canadians were there. The noise of the bombardment could be heard plainly however and it was simply terrific. The booms of the guns sounded like distant thunder, and they kept up their roaring incessantly for hours at a time. For five days since coming here there has been heavy bombardments going on in that same district and if the nights are clear, the star shells and flashes of the guns can be seen distinctly.

An officer of the 20th Battalion came in here the other night and he is in my ward. Capt. Hedges is his name from Toronto. He told me that where his Battalion is now was held by the Princess Pats and where a lot of the fighting has been done. He says that the stench is something awful and when they are building up trenches that need repair or new ones, that often they come upon bodies buried there. The place is simply alive with rats and mice. This officer is just suffering from shattered nerves and says it is a recurrence of an attack he  had before.

We are having a comparatively easy time here but I have long hours. I have been put in charge of a ward to see that things are looked after and cannot get out hardly at all. When the fellows get back home, the fellows say they will be first class chambermaids and bellhops. Ha ha!

I had to hand in my Kodak so don’t send any films. I was going to send it home but the Col. is keeping them for us in case the order is cancelled so we can have them when we are going home.

Sometime now if you can, will you send a box of doughnuts or biscuits. Don’t send any soft stuff like tarts etc. for they get some rough handling and only send stuff that will keep as it takes about 3 weeks for parcels to come through. Tell Mae not to send any medicine or drugs as I can get all those things here as we carry a goodly supply and also we get chocolate or at least can buy it. Our rations consist mainly of bread, bully beef stew and cheese with jam, on occasion a tin of butter (so called) but we never get butter and cheese on the same day. If you send any sox be sure that they are good and thick especially in the heel, and only 1 or 2 pair at a time.

Well I had better ring off and I’ll try not to keep you waiting for so long for another letter.

Am feeling ok as the picture of myself that I sent to Ettie (Redburn) will show even if I do look mad. Hope everyone is ok.

Your loving son,
Harold

1 September 1915 Otterpool Camp, Kent

Harold writes a letter to his mother from the hospital where he is working. The last pages of the letter are missing.

Harold Roy Skilling front right
Otterpool Camp
1915

5th Field Ambulance, 2nd Division Canadian Expeditionary Force

Dear Mother,
This is Wed. night and I am on duty in the hospital but have a few minutes of spare time tonight so must try to get a short line written home.

We have been very busy all week and today in the hospital has been busier than ever and we are crowded to the full capacity of the hospital tonight. It has been a rainy day, and also there is a big review by the King tomorrow so that is one of the reasons for a big sick parade. Orders are out in some units around here for the big inspection tomorrow, but there is not any out for us yet so I can’t give you the details.

Things are getting pretty well cleaned up now and all our equipment has been received. The transport have all been issued with new waggons and watter carts and we got our 3 horse ambulances as well which are all we will get here. The motor ambulances of which we are allowed 7, are in France now. (except 1 which the Col. uses as a joy car.)

The last time I wrote I was out on manoeuvres and did not have a very good opportunity to write much and did not feel very much like writing anyway as I was just about “all in” from the cold and thought I would have to report sick, but the next morning I was nearly better. We came thru’ our operations ok and went through a scheme of billeting in Ashford. Our unit was put in a brewery and the Col. was tickled but we were not allowed inside. He is a regular old soaker, but is better now than when we first came over.

Before I forget, I am sending my watch home. (The one I got from the boys) It does not fit in the case, I don’t think, and besides is not strong enough for the knocking around it gets. I was downtown last night for a few odds and ends and got a 13/ Ingersall wristwatch with luminous dial. It is a good reliable time-keeper and stands all kinds of rough usage. You can keep the other one for me and if you can get it fixed, it will do for some one to use. I would have gotten it fixed only the jewel shops around here are so rushed that they can’t accept anymore work to be done in less than a month.

In case my letters from the front will be very strictly censored, could some of you arrange to sent a film for my camera every so often, say once a week. They cost 20 cents and are no. 127 for the vest pocket Kodak (folding). I am going to try and get them sent out with men coming back and trusting to them being sent home. You will have to get them developed as I am not taking a developing outfit with me. I had thought I would like to take it but it is going to be too bulky and as we are only allowed 1 kit bag and 35 lbs. in that, I don’t know what we are going to do with our big boots for they comprise nearly all that weight in themselves.

Here comes a case so I’ll have to ring off now and finish this the first chance I get.

This is Thursday evening just after supper and if I am going to catch the Canadian mail for tonight I must post this right away.

Well the big review is over and we were praised by the King. He said we looked better than any division he had yet inspected that was leaving for the front. He rode past our unit on horse-back about 11 o’clock a.m. and was accompanied by Kitchener and a score of staff officers. They made quite an imposing sight as all the prancing horses and distinguished men with their khaki uniforms trimmed with red. He passed directly in front of us and he scrutinized us closely as he rode by. Kitchener is a very heavily built man and wears a heavy brown moustache. I had always heard him described as one who seldom smiles, but his face was wreathed in smiles as he passed us. (I suppose it one of pleasure at out good appearance, eh what?)

It threatened to rain all day as it usually does on inspection days, but kept off pretty well until we were on our way home and then it started to pour. We got a good soaking as we had to march about 3 miles in it.

Altogether there would be about 22,000 reviewed, and they certainly showed well today. They presented arms at the Royal salute like one man, and there was not a movement as the King rode past. After the inspection they “marched past” in double columns of fours (eight abreast) the massed bands of the division playing regimental marches. At the conclusion of the inspection, and previous to the “march past”, “three cheers” were called for. When a person overhears 3 by 3 from a division of soldiers, it is not soon forgotten. It just seemed to quiver along the whole line, which extended for about a third of a mile and was 4 companies deep and then burst into a big roar.

When we got home all thoroughly wet from the inside out, and outside in also, we were met with few words of praise from the Col. when he was dismissing us. When he had finished conveying the message of Gen. Turner, he said that as we were not standing at attention when the Gen. came around after the inspection to give him this message and instead we were eating out lunch, which was contrary to orders, he would give us as punishment 1 hr. of standing to attention today and half hour every morning instead of physical drill. When we were dismissed everybody just booed and gave cat calls etc. It was ….

( More details on this incident after the King's inspection may be found on pages 50 - 53 in "Stretcher Bearers...At The Double" by Frederick Walter Noyes )

6 August 1915 Otterpool Camp

 Dear Everybody,

Well I am back to camp life again after 6 days in old “Lunnon”. It is a wonderful place but one can only get a glimpse at the interesting places in the time we are allowed. I went up a week earlier than I expected, and Red Irvine, one of my tent mates, went with me. We were on the go from Friday am until Thursday. We left off a route march at 12:30 on Friday ( at least Red did; I was not out that day) and when we came back the next Thursday, we were just  in time to get out for another. We are having long marches and field maneuvers every day now. But I must tell you about my trip to London.

We got there about 4:30 pm on Friday 3o July and after riding around on the underground for nearly an hour trying to find the Union Jack Club, we finally got back to the place where we started and then it was “just around the corner”.That is the invariable answer the “cops” give, when they are asked where any particular place is. “Just around the corner on the left, and then on your right”.

The U.J. club is a place devoted entirely to soldiers, and good clean beds can be had for a shilling a night. They are only single beds though, and and as we wanted to be together, and also get away from soldiers as much as we could just for a rest, we changed our hotel the next day and put up at the Bannington Hotel, Southampton Row for the rest of the time. it is a splendid place and they give good service for 5s./6p. a day including breakfast.

We spent Friday night at the “Royalty” seeing “The Man Who Stayed at Home”. It is a good play and we enjoyed it. When we came out, we knew about as much where we were as if we had just dropped out of the clouds. London is very dark at night now, on account of the Zeppelins, and it is pretty hard to find your way around. After walking about 20 minutes in the direction opposite to where we wanted to go, we were directed to “just around the corner” to Trafalgar Square where we thought we could get our bearings. In about half an hour we found ourselves hovering around The Mall heading straight for Buckingham Palace. Finally however, we got home and were just about ready for bed. It was good to get back into a bed again and sheets felt pretty good too.

On Sat. morning we checked our haversacks and struck off for a grand day. After hunting for a new cap and a few other little necessary articles to make us presentable, we hit the British Museum and spent 2 1/2 or 3 hours there. It was as long as we thought we could spare, although we had not much of a look at each thing, we managed to get over the place pretty well and have a general look at nearly every section. After dinner we thought we would go down to Regents Park. It is a pretty nice place and the zoo has some very rare animals. There are also a couple of Canadian bears there presented by the 32nd Battalion from Canada who brought them over as mascots.

We intended going to another show at night but, as it was the weekend and a big Bank Holiday on Monday, the city was full of visitors and there was not a seat left in any decent show so we just took a stroll down the Strand etc. After dark the search lights can be seen playing on the sky, sweeping all around in wide circles
On Sunday morning we went to St. Paul’s and heard the service and also had a look through the place. It is a wonderful building  but not a very satisfactory place to hear a sermon, as there are too many echoes. It might be better if the place were filled with people but on Sunday there were only a few there.

After church we went over to the Tower of London but found that it was not open.We had a short walk through Whitechapel and then took a bus to Hyde Park.The top deck of the big buses is a good place to view the streets from and as the one we were on passed from the east to the west end, we had a good view of the central parts of the city.

After lunch we went on through the park to Kensington Gardens, and who should we run “kerplunk” into but Will Redburn with two of his chums. I didn’t know he was in town at all.

We left him as he and his fellows were going back downtown, while we were on our way to the Museum of Natural History. It is open on Sundays and it was sure worth our while to go thru’ it. They have a wonderful collection of uniques from India and a lot of splendid wood carving etc. Upstairs they have case after case full of jewels set in solid gold which altogether must be worth an enormous sum. And the best of them are gone just now. They have buried them somewhere until the war is over. There are old antique weapons and rifles etc. of every conceivable shape and design. These collections are noticeable in every museum or such place that we were in, and they have been gathered from every corner of the earth.

After supper on Sunday we went out to hunt up the Jeffs and after a long search we found a directory of Upper Tooting in a hotel and as there were only 3 Jeffs in the book we decided we would try each one till we found the right one. The first we went to was the son of the people Will (his brother) stayed at and we spent the evening there and had a good chat with him. We also found out where his father’s place was. We got back home pretty late and came out to the other Jeffs the next night.

In the am we went up to the Tower again first and spent a good morning there. It is very interesting to get a look in reality at some of the historical places that we have been reading about in History all our lives.We went thru’ every room that the public are allowed into and had a guide tell us the events that made each place notable. The collection of arms and armour in the armouries is great and give a person a good idea of how the early English used to fight.

The Crown Jewels are on exhibition in the Tower and also some of the table service used at the banquet during Coronation festivities. We thought we had spent enough time in the Tower by noon. After lunch we struck across to the Waxworks and found a big lineup waiting to get in but as it seemed to be moving along pretty quickly, we went with it.

I wish that we had waited till another day to go there because the crowd was so dense that we were just carried along with it and could not get a very good chance to look at things closely. It is remarkable how natural and life-like the figures are and all are posed in the attitudes for which they were famous.They are so much so that when Red saw a woman on a step holding an umbrella as if she were trying to attract the attention of some people she was with – she was perfectly motionless when Red saw her – and he was just asking me if that was Mrs. Pankhurst, when she moved off. He was speechless, having been certain that she was one of the images. They already have 4 V.C. heroes set up there including Mike O’Leary.

When we got through the Waxworks, the afternoon was pretty well over so we did not bother going to see anything else but after supper went to the Jeffs. We had a splendid evening there and just struck the house when everyone was at home except Mr. Jeffs who was away over to France with some supplies of some kind. They made us feel very much at home and it was nearly eleven o’clock when we left.
Tuesday we struck off for Westminster Abbey and had a whole morning there. We fell in with an old man who has lived in London all his life and seemingly has made a hobby of the Abbey. He took us around for a while and explained things to us that we would have missed otherwise.While we were there a service was in progress and we had a chance to hear the organ. It is fine but we only heard a few hymns played and they didn’t show the organ up to the best advantage.

In the pm it started to rain and so we “hiked it” for the Tate art gallery and spent most of the afternoon there. I had a small catalogue showing a few the of the pictures that I’ll send. The place closed before we were through it all so we walked around in the rain for awhile and had a late supper. After tea we went to see “Betty” at Daly’s Theatre. It is a musical comedy and is good. We had booked those seats two days ahead to get them.

Wed. was the anniversary of the War and we found out that there was going to be a  grand service in St. Paul’s in the morning and the King and Queen along with several of the ministerial “big guns” would be there. We did not want to go in but went early and stood by the road where we could see the “doings”. We ran into Will Redburn here again and as he was alone, he came with us and after a bit, we all got a place upon the steps of the Cathedral. pretty soon the procession began. It was not a regular procession but a carriage or auto would straggle along one at a time. Kitchener came early and soon Asquith, Churchill, Lloyd George, Balfour, and several other Cabinet Ministers came. Queen Alexandra, then King George and Queen Mary came last. From where we were, we could get a pretty good view of them but it was only a passing glance. There were coach after coach of wounded soldiers brought down to see the proceedings and they were from all parts of the Empire.

After dinner we went over to do up the district around St. James Park where the Horse Guards are stationed. Buckingham Palace is close by too and we had a walk around Whitehall and Downing Street which is the official district. We were not able to get into the Parliament Buildings but had a look at them from the outside. We then went for a short look at the National Portrait Gallery on Trafalgar Square and then got seats for the Coliseum Variety Theatre at night and nearly split my sides laughing at some of the “stunts”. This was our last night in town and as we had to catch an early train we went to bed as soon as we got home.

We had the same bunch coming back on the train that came up together. Some had been to Ireland, others to Scotland and some to other parts of England. We had a great time telling our little experiences and of course we all had been stung and bit by sharpers (?) and each one seemed to be trying to make himself a bigger “goat” than the others. Some parts of London are simply alive with beggars and they can draw a shilling out of your pocket and guarantee to do it painlessly, that is, there will be no pain for you but they seem to be suffering something terrible themselves. When we would tell them not to buy booze with it, they would be sure to say “ Oh I never touch it” when their breath would nearly knock you over with the smell of booze.

I have not time to tell you all the little adventures we had for I am way behind with my correspondence. I found 8 letters and some bundles of papers awaiting me and this is the first chance I have had to get at them. In fact I haven’t had time to look at the papers yet.

On Wed. while we were watching the King at St. Paul’s, the rest of the Canadians in camp were getting soaked at a big review by Bonor Law (?). It just poured all morning and when we came back the next day the place was littered with stuff up drying. I hear we expect the King down in a week or two. But he has been coming so often that we suppose this is just another rumour.

We are getting lots of heavy marches now. We were out with the 4th Brigade ( the one we are attached to composed of 18, 19, 20 21 Battalions). They  were labeled and had to be brought in and dressed as if it were the actual conditions of battle. it was good experience. Quite a few walked in who were labeled “unconscious” and one came in labeled ”this man has a fractured leg, unable to walk”.

Well I guess I had better finish this or I’ll not get any more written. Among my letters was one from Floss.
Hoping you are all ok. I am your loving son and brother,
Harold

Introduction to Letters of Harold Skilling

Harold Roy Skilling was born 31 July 1893 in Teeswater, the next older brother to my mother-in-law, Agnes Norma Skilling Jackson. He was 21 when World War One broke out and eagerly enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces on 21 November 1914. We don't know why he chose to join the 5th Canadian Field Ambulance Corps as a Stretcher Bearer, except that recruitment orders had just come down on November 11th to recruit a Field Ambulance Corps for overseas service with the Second Canadian Contingent.

At Exhibition Camp in Toronto, Harold was first examined by doctors,  measured and attested. He was one of the shortest men in the Fifth at 5 feet 3 3/4 inches. After 5 months of training in infantry drill, stretcher drill and first-aid treatments, other necessary skills and physical conditioning, the first units boarded the train on April 15, 1915 for Halifax. Harold left Toronto in April 1915 and sailed on the S.S. Northland (formerly the Zeeland) of the White Star Line.

Harold arrived in England at the Port of Avonmouth on 29 April 1915. Trains transported the men to Westenhanger in Kent. They set out on foot, marching two miles to Sandling Camp where huts awaited them. On the 24th of May the men moved from Sandling to Otterpool Camp where they lived in tents.

Harold's letters begin on 25 June 1915 at Otterpool Camp. These letters are in poor condition, written in pencil on onionskin paper or other scraps of paper. Many were written under difficult conditions by candle light. Some will be possible to scan but many will have to be transcribed.