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Boughton, Dunkirk & Hernhill
War Memorials



19 September 1914

British Expeditionary Force

            Lyndhurst, Nr. Southampton


Dear Marm and Dad,


Thank very much for letter which I was very pleased to get today.  I was no more surprised when I found that I had five waiting for me.   The letters have been delayed.


Well Marm,  I am glad to hear that you are all well at home. I have had a letter today from the Town Clerk. They are allowing Nellie 10 shillings a week, and they are stopping seven shillings a week out of my money.  I thought it would be quite as well to send it to Nellie as to have it on the books.   The Police seem very nice to her and I am sure they will look after her and baby.   They have collected 10 shillings for her – that was good wasn’t it?


I am pleased that Edie will like her brooch – one of the best things I could have sent her.  It came off my jacket.


We are about 8 miles from Southampton.  We are going next week.  I will write again before I go.   The camp what we are in is near the New Forest.  It is talked about a lot.

We are having it rather stiff on training, but that doesn’t matter.  All what I hope what I go through, I will return.


I think this is all I have to say this time.   Glad you are all well, and trusting to God for a safe return.  I may not be away long.

Now finish with very best love to all at home.


               Kiss Edie for me,

                From your loving son

                         Fred                  xxxxx   


16 September 1914

No 4 Company,

1st Batt. Grenadier Guards,

British Expeditionary Forces.


Dear Marm and Dad,


Just a few lines to let you know that I am at Southampton.  We  will be here several days.  That address will find me.


Hope you got letter alright.  Wish Edie many happy returns for me.


Well Marm,  I am well and happy;  shan’t be long before we are back.


Now finish with love to all at home.


                 From your affectionate son

Fred

Hope you are all well



16 September 1914

To:  Mrs J. W. Eve,  Boughton, Near Faversham, Kent.

From:  London S.W.


Dear Marm,


I have just received another letter from you this morning. It was a surprise. I am pleased Allan and Edie did write a few lines. I will be allright (sic) for socks.   We have three pairs and I keep them wash (sic).  


I would be very pleased, when I am out there, if you would send me a little tobacco, but don’t send much will you in case it gets lost.  If you post Expeditionary Force and Company, that will find me alright.


I look on the bright side and pray to return safely.  We all shan’t stop out there.  All what I hope, I will be able to shoot a few of them.


Now Marm, again, thank you for tobacco. Cheer up, as I am sure I will be alright.

                             

   Fred

On this page are letters and postcards written by Frederick Eve on his re-enlistment and while waiting to go abroad in 1914 - his optimism reflects the national mood; the letters also express his concern for his family and his appreciation of the things that remind him of home. The last letter, on a postcard, dated from when he was recuperating from a hand wound.


An explanation of the people referred to in Frederick's letters:

Nellie was his wife, and 'baby' was Freddie  Eve, Connie Eve's late husband).

Edie was Frederick's younger sister.

'The Chief' was Frederick's Chief Constable in Rochester Police Force.

Frederick's parents lived in the old Call Exchange in Boughton, which was in the first house with the bow-fronted window, next door to St. Barnabas Church.

His chum Douglas, writing after Frederick's death, was a colleague from the Police Force. :


12 September 1914

To  Mrs J. Eve,  Telephone Call Office,  Boughton

Postmark:   12-08-14  South Kensington, London S.W.


Dear Marm and Dad,


Just a few lines thanking you very much for letter which I was very pleased to get. Pleased to say I am getting on alright, well and happy.   We are going to shift tomorrow to Chelsea Road.   I daresay we will stay there sometime.


I am glad that they sent £1.   I sent it to Boughton so that it wouldn’t go to Rochester as I thought Nellie would be away.   That £1 is an advance of pay with the Reserves.   I hardly know what they will allow Nellie;  it will be so much for her and baby, that’s besides my money.  I am going to send so much of that, so that will be send (sic) altogether.  You can tell the postman that any letters that are addressed to Mrs N.L. Eve will be your address.


It is an excitement.  We go out into Hyde Park every day.   There is 2000 of us, that’s besides the other reserves of Scot and Irish Guards and Coldstreams.  We are all in expectation.   The lot I am with are old Reserves.  We shall be all most (sic) the last.   My battalion, the one I was in, will be the first to go abroad if required.   I am lucky.


Well Marm, I think they are going to allow the Police reserves half pay. That is what they are doing in London, so I think Nellie and baby will be alright.


Now Marm, I will write as soon as we change.  Our letters will be forwarded on from one place to the other.   Well Marm, and all, I am glad you are all quite well, as I am, in the best of spirits.


Now close with very best love to all.

        I haven’t forgotten you,

        From your affectionate son  Fred



12 September 1914

To Mrs J. Eve,   Boughton

Postmark:  Chelsea Barracks, London S.W.      

Dear Marm and Dad,


Just a line to let you know that I am leaving Chelsea 13.00 hrs tomorrow to go to Wellington Barracks to be attached either with the 1st or 2nd battalions.  We will be there some time yet.   I will write you a letter tomorrow or Sunday so I can let you know what battalion I am in.


I daresay Nellie has told what the Chief has done   I think she will be alright now.


I have seen the Major.  I can explain it to you when I write tomorrow


Close, with very best love to all at home


I don’t forget you


            From your affectionate son   Fred



13 September 1914

To:  Mrs J. Eve,  Boughton.

Postmark:  South Kensington   13-08-14

 

Dear Marm and Dad,


Just a line to say we have not gone to Chelsea yet.   We thought we were going today.  We hardly know where we are going.


I had a letter from Nellie to say they are going home tomorrow.   Hope they will get home safely.


None of us know where the battalions have gone to.


 Now close, with love to all,

                     

From you affectionate son

                                   Fred

My battalion, the one I was in, will be the first to go abroad if required.   I am lucky.

We thought we were going today.  None of us know where the battalions have gone to.

I am leaving Chelsea 13.00 hrs tomorrow   ……….very best love to all at home

Nellie came up yesterday to see me.  I was pleased   ………. Don't worry about me as there are thousands the same, if not more


To Marm and Dad.

4 Company, Grenadier Guards, Chelsea Barracks, London.

(no date)


Dear Marm and Dad,

Just a few lines to let you know that I am still in London. I should have gone away last week in a draft, but I was on guard, so they went  before I came off.   They didn't know where they were going at the time, but they went to Wellington Barracks to take the place of the draft that went away to the front.


The 3rd Batt. The Guards are not at Wellington Barracks. They are under orders.


Another draft went from here today at the same place, so I dare say that the Battalion at Wellington Barracks will go any day, so we will do their guards at Buckingham Palace.

They will take us to make their strength up and no doubt, they will keep us here for a while, as we are guarding all the docks.


Well Marm, I am quite well and happy.  I hope you are all well at home.


Nellie came up yesterday to see me.  I was pleased.   She gave me the letter you sent her.   She got up here about 11.20.   I was at the station to meet her.   It was a bit a luck I was able to get off, as it takes such a lot of us to do the guards and    (indecipherable)

I am pleased in one way, that she is back at Rochester, although I would like her to be at home.   I think she will be better off as everybody knows her and me as well.  Nellie told me that the Chief was very nice.   I am glad he was.

I think she will be looked after alright, better than if she was at Boughton.


Young Albert has a Special job.  Hope he wont lock too many up.  (Indecipherable phrases) Now Marm, I will write again soon.   Don't worry about me as there are thousands the same, if not more, Now I must finish, with very best love to Dad, Albert, Allan, Edie and self.

                            From your affectionate son,

                                 Fred


Probably 13-09-14

To:  Marm and Dad

From:   1st Grenadier Guards, Wellington Barracks, London S.W. Date;  


Dear Marm and Dad,


I am writing to let you know that I am attach  (sic)  to the 1st Battalion.  We are leaving tomorrow for Southampton.  We are to be attached with the Colonial troops.   We are the only Battalion in the British Army that’s going with them.   There will be all kinds of troops with us.  We are staying there 9 days and then we are going the Front.


I am quite well and happy.  I will think of you all at home. I trust to God to return. I stand the same chance as the next.  We can’t all expect to remain out there.  They say that we will be the base party for the other troops.   


I am proud I am in a regiment same as I am in.  We have got the finest officers and you are sure that they won’t lead us astray. I am going with a good heart. I cannot do no more.


Nellie and baby, I hope, will be looked after.  I know that you will, at home.   They haven’t allowed her anything yet from the Police Station, but the men are doing what they can, and I am sure Nellie and baby will be looked after by them.. I have enclosed a little badge off my jacket for Edie, so you can have it made into a brooch for her.  You will see me one of these days with a medal – I shan’t half swank.


They reckon the war won’t take long before it is over. It can’t last long.


Now Marm, I hope you are all well at home.   I think that I’m not the only one called up. I will write to you as often as I can, and when we are at Southampton.


Now, I will close with very best love to all.   Marm,  cheer up.  I will be alright, I have got some pals. I have only myself to look after – that will do.


I would like you to see Nellie soon. I know you will do what you can for her and baby.


From your affectionate son                                           Fred.


Wish Edie many happy returns of the 16th for me.


I trust to God to return.  I stand the same chance as the next ………. We have got the finest officers and you are sure that they won’t lead us astray. I am going with a good heart. I cannot do no more.

All what I hope, I will be able to shoot a few of them.......... I will be allright  for socks.   We have three pairs.

Just a few lines to let you know that I am at Southampton

I am pleased that Edie will like her brooch – one of the best things I could have sent her. Glad you are all well, and trusting to God for a safe return.  I may not be away long.

I wonder if you could send me a little bit of Navy Cut to take with me. It is not that I can’t get it here, or have no money, but it would remind me each time I have a smoke.

Probably about 21 September 1914

4 Company, 1st Batt. Grenadier Guards,

British Expeditionary Force,

Lyndhurst Camp,Nr. Southampton.


Dear Marm and Dad,

Just a few lines to let you know that we are still in camp. We are going in a few days, we think, about Sunday.


The King is supposed to come here on Saturday. We have been waiting for the division to be made up. They have been putting us through it since we’ve been here, but just the same, we can’t expect nothing else.


I don’t mind what there is to go through; the only thing is looking forward to get back again, which I hope will be before long.


I am well and happy, but it is another change in life. We are in tents. The nights draw in and it’s getting cold, but I thing that there is others as well as me here – same to one as the other.


We have been going out every day at 8.00 and returning about 5.00 p.m. Been doing about 16 miles a day, besides attacking. I am busy writing this in the tent I am in.


We don’t know how long this war will last. Some say it will be over soon, and some say it will take a long time, but let us hope it is over soon.

I would like a letter from you before I go, to let me know how you are all at home. That address will find me. I wonder if you could send me a little bit of Navy Cut to take with me. It is not that I can’t get it here, or have no money, but it would remind me each time I have a smoke.


I have thought of you all many times. Though I am away, you are still in my mind. It was my duty to go, as being in the Reserves, so I am to make the best of it, which I will do.


It is now seven weeks today since I have been called up. I am surprised in not going out before. Well Marm and Dad, I will write to you, when I do to Nellie, that is, when I get a

chance. I think that is all I have to say this time. Hoping you are all well. Wishing you the best of luck and when I come home, we will have a good old beanfeast.

Now close with love to all. From your affectionate son

Fred.

My letters don’t require stamps, which I send now.

 

I am writing thanking you very much for tobacco. …

I don’t think the war will be long before it is over.

Probably about 23 September 1914



To: Marm and Dad

From: Lyndhurst Camp, near Southampton.


Dear Marm and Dad,

I am writing thanking you very much for tobacco wish (sic) I was very pleased to receive; it is lovely to smoke. I received it last night. It was a surprise as it was so quick.


Well Mum, we expect to be going on Tuesday. We have finished our training, in which they have put us through it a bit stiff, but never mind. I am well and happy but it is different to the Police, but I hope I will be back soon to the old job.


The Indian troops are in France. They are to join us; we are in the 7 Division. I don’t think the war will be long before it is over. It will be a good job for everybody.

We are having nice weather here, but it is rather cold at night; that we expect.


I am sending you a pic of a group of us outside our tent, which was taken last Sunday. You will be able to recognise me with a pipe.


Well Marm, I am glad to hear you are all well at home. I am looking forward for this to settle. I am almost sure we are going Tuesday.

Now Marm and Dad, I think that is all I have to say this time. I will write again before going.

Now finish, wishing you all the best of luck and hoping to see you soon. It may be a few months more.

With love to all, Kiss Edie for me,

From your loving son Fred.


                         Fred                  xxxxx    

We are leaving for the Front tonight. .… I must thank you all for what you have done for me, and let us trust to God that I may have a safe return.


26 September 1914

Dear Marm and Dad,

I am writing to let you know that we are leaving for the Front tonight.


I must thank you all for what you have done for me, and let us trust to God that I may have a safe return. I will pray for you all when Iam out there. I am prepared to take whatever comes before me.


I wish you all good luck. I don’t look on the worst side, and all what I hope is to see you all again. So, cheer up, let us look forward for me returning.


Give my love to all at home, and God be with you all, till we meet again. Now I finish, hoping you are all quite well, and it leaves me in the best of spirits.


Kiss Edie for me xxxxxxx

From your son

Fred xxxxxxxx

I am enjoying the tobacco ……….. Hope you are all well and happy.


27 September 1914

Dear Marm,


Sending you a pic to show you a group where I am in.   It is not a very good one, but you can just recognise me standing.


I have been vaccinated today.   I thought it would be quite as well.   


Hope you got letter alright.   I am enjoying the tobacco.   


I will write again.


Hope you are all well and happy.


Finish with love to all.


From your loving son     Fred.

                                  xxxxxxxxx


I have been vaccinated today.  I thought it would be quite as well.


27 September 1914


To:   Mrs F. Eve, 58 Longley Road, Rochester Kent.


My dearest Nellie,


Am sending you a pic of a group belonging to my compnay. I think you will be able to recognise me standing at the back. Well dearie,  I hope you got letter alright.  Must tell you that I have been vaccinated today.  I thought it would be quite as well.


Well my dearie,  I am not sure now when we are going, but it will be sure to be one day this week.



Hope you and baby are quite well, as I am.


      I will write again,  Your loving hubby                   Freddie   xxxxxxxxxxx


She and baby are quite well.  I am pleased that Nellie has got him, as he is a comfort to her.


1st October 1914

Dear Marm and Dad,


Just a few lines to let you know that we have not gone away yet. We thought we were going last Tuesday, but now we don’t know when we are going.  


I would have written before, only we have had a few stiff days.   We are on a night attack tonight, but not out long.


I have been busy washing.  I am getting my hand in.


I had a letter from Nellie this morning.   She and baby are quite well.  I am pleased that Nellie has got him, as he is a comfort to her.


Well Marm,  I am in the best of health and hope you are,  all at home.  I am always thinking of you.


Well Marm, I will send you a letter, and hope I am not away long.


Now finish with very best love to all at home

      

                              From your loving son           Fred               xxxxxxxx

Just a line to let you know that we are leaving


3rd October 1914

To Mrs F. Eve, 58 Longley Rd, Rochester, Kent.


Dearest Nellie,

 Just a line to let you know that we are leaving, I believe, late tomorrow night.   I would have written a letter, only I am for outside picket (?).  I will write letter tomorrow morning.   


I am sorry to hear you have a bad cold, but I hope, dearie, it will soon get better.


I have sent postcards like this to Wellard, Yarrow Arnold and Mother.


Well dearie, excuse postcard, as I haven’t much time.


Thanks for cigarettes and letter.  Now I must finish, with very best love to you, darling Nellie and baby.


Your loving husband,

Freddie

I am always thinking of you.


Postcard of Leweston Manor, Dorset   written in ink.

Dated ?? 1914,


To:  Mrs F. Eve, 58 Longley Road, Rochester, Kent.

Dearest Nellie,


Just a few lines to let you know that my hand is improving greatly.    I am to stay until my hand is better, and think I will go to London and then they will grant me leave, which I think wont be long.

The postcard, dearie, is of the Manor where I am staying.  It is a beautiful place, isn’t it?

Well dearie, I am very happy and comfortable, but hope to see you soon.

Hope you get letter safely and that you and baby are quite well.

I am always thinking of you.

Now close, dearie with very best love and kisses to baby and yourself.


                           From your loving hubby, Fred





Sources:

The late  Mrs Connie Eve - The original documents have now been donated to the Guards Museum in London


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