Tss. copies of extracts from the letters written home to his family during the First...

Arthur ffrench-Blake was at Eton from 1893 to 1898 and presumably was about 34 when the First World War started. Only those extracts from his letters which relate to the war in the Middle East are reproduced in these two volumes, so we do not know how he dealt with the points raised by his wife in her letters. He sails to Gallipoli as a squadron commander in the Royal East Kent Yeomanry (South East Mounted Brigade) and lands on W Beach at 1 am on 8 October, 1915. The regiment spends 12 weeks on the peninsula, and suffers heavily from illness and the climatic conditions, as well as the arduous fatigues doled out to the men:-

Have got a certain number of men sick, and in, or going, to hospital. Diarrhoea is the chief complaint, and the trouble we have here is fatigue work. The men are being worked to death with digging, making roads, piers and above all dug-outs for the Staff Officers etc. It's a scandal as we have not had a moment for work for ourselves yet. (p.5).

We keep having men go off to hospital with rheumatism and jaundice, and are gradually dwindling away as a regiment. It is very disheartening never getting anybody back who goes away sick ... (p.35).

I have had another go to hospital with jaundice today (Dowling) and fear this will go on every day now if the weather gets bad. It is heartbreaking to see all one's fine men go off like this and a great deal of it from want of shelter, which could have been avoided if the authorities had taken the least trouble. (p.37).

Food is restricted in variety and quality, and he mentions the very occasional good meal that comes his way -

... Had a real good dinner last night with Captain Ball. Soup, salmon rissoles, roast beef and brown potatoes, mashed carrots, apple tart and sardines on toast: (p.14).

Had a great Xmas dinner last night, sardines (hors d'oeuvres), soup, salmon fishcakes, mince, apple pudding, cheese and liqueur brandy afterwards. (p.39).

He describes his personal living conditions:-

I wish you could see us here. I live as follows:- A trench cut into a bank, seven feet long and four and a half feet wide about, four feet deep at back and sloping to two feet at the front, a waterproof sheet over it, two or three sandbags in the entrance (one side only) and this is my house. At night I sleep in all my clothes, boots and greatcoat, three blankets plus a horse blanket over me, one sandbag for each leg (I put my feet in them), and then I can't keep properly warm. (p.27).

After such hardship the evacuation of the peninsula is a much-welcomed move. A month is spent at Mudros, and then a move is made to Egypt. In mid-March their Brigade goes to the Canal zone, and before he goes there he sums up his views on Egypt -

This is a rotten country in many ways. I can't bear the natives, always pestering one everywhere to buy something or clean your boots or act as guide, they make me so angry, as one can't go about in peace and comfort. At all events, so far I have seen no place I prefer to England. (p.69).

And after being a little more than six months away from England, he gets home leave (Egypt to Egypt, 30 March - 13 June 1916). When he returns to the regiment, a move is made to El Furdan on the east bank of the Canal, and fortunately the stay there is only a short one. On 1 August they sail to Sollum, occupying the fort there as well as a number of outposts at which they construct sangars. Ominously, so far as their future as a mounted regiment is concerned, they are ordered to learn infantry drill. (p.125). At the end of the year the East Kent Yeomanry is amalgamated with a West Kent battalion, becoming the 10th Battalion of the East Kent Regiment (230th Brigade, 74th Yeomanry Division).

The following entry is of interest:-

14 February 1917 ... Went and looked at a new wireless job and tried on a thing that fits over one's head and I could hear someone making noises somewhere, but as I can't read "morse" I was unable to understand what they were saying; (The new "detector" for finding out the position of any boat using wire-less signals, installed at No 2 post).

Early in March 1917 the 10th East Kents, with ffrench-Blake now in command, proceed to a camp near Alexandria, and on 17 April move into the Palestine area, and join in keeping contact with the enemy:-

It is wonderful how the men have settled down again to this sort of life after living in quiet for so long. They dig a hole and get into it and sleep, rig up shelters of blankets etc and no grumbles. (p.170).

It is very evident that the letters he receives from his wife mean a great deal to him:-

3 June 1917 ... one's mail is the only thing that keeps one going these times.

7 July 1917. Mail in this morning and two letters from you, they were most welcome ...

17 November 1917. Mail in last night and 3 letters from you, so glad to get them ...

18 June 1918. ... Then last night great joy as another mail in and 4 more letters from you. I do love getting them, will answer them in detail anon ...

He pays tribute on occasion to the men in his regiment and in the Division -

30 June 1917. After tea yesterday I rode down to Divisional Head-quarters to see our guard, and they made me feel real proud, they are as smart as anything I have seen for a long time, and everyone there is full of admiration for them.

4 November 1917 ...... It was a real good show and the Battalion did damned well and I am proud of them. Such dash and go and guts, as it was a devil of a position.

11 November 1917 ... We have marched and no mistake, and the Division has done damned well.

The end of 1917 see the capture of Jerusalem, a major victory at least in the area of propaganda. The next year was in many respects a disappointing one for ffrench-Blake. In April he was posted to a new battalion, the 2/5th Hampshires, and this too had a comparatively short life. From these disbandments and changes he was at least able to get a number of welcome leave periods. He was on leave in England from 23 January to 27 March 1918 and some six months later for 14 days at Port Said. He missed the crucial battle of Megiddo, though he joined his battalion just before the end of the engagement.

After the Armistice he is stationed for a time at Beirut, and then moves back to Egypt in readiness for going home. This entry is of interest:-

7 December 1918 ... It makes one's heart feel very full to read of the wonderful scenes in London and the loyalty to the King and the Service at St Paul's. My eyes were quite dim while reading it, so what must it have to have been there, truly wonderful.

In early 1919 he sailed for home.