Letter from Louisa Garrett Anderson Page 1

Letter from Louisa Garrett Anderson to Alan Garrett Anderson. Written from Wimereux ('Boulogne Base')

Dearest Alan

Best thanks for letters.

Poor Gladys I am sorry for her. She and [?Mae] were good friends & she will miss him greatly. Anyway it is satisfactory for her to be able to remember that they were friends & had quite a good time together.

I haven't a vacancy here - although possibly there might be one later. I shall be coming home early in January, for a few days, to see Mother etc & I will see Gladys then. Unless she finds it frightfully trying to live at Alde House, we shd like her to go on being there, wouldn't we & then she wd receive payment of £100 a year. All the workers in the Corps are volunteers & none receive any payment. Even the orderlies & nurses are giving their services. Obviously if Gladys can earn £100 a year she shd - & I think she suits our dear Old Lady as well as anyone else whom we are likely to get.

I meant to give Gladys something £25 or £50 when I came back, but I want to see my a/cs first as I don't know what I have after I have paid my London bills for rent etc.

It seems to me that Mother shd pay her the £100 a year for her services at Alde House & any thing that we contribute shd be extra. Of course Gladys is quite young enough to train herself to earn something & probably the best way of helping wd be to assist her to that & to help with the boys' education while they are at school, by a promise of a definite sum every yr. Thank you very much for the [?illegible] sheets. They do very well indeed for some of the narrow mattresses & as draw sheets in the wards, & they are a great help.

Olga (the QM) says don't send any more yet. Other people will come in & give us sheets. Lots of people offer us help & we are no longer stranded for want of linen - in fact we are able to take in 20 new cases at once without rushing backwards & forwards to the laundress who never has anything ready. If we really need more help - I will let you know - but at present my dear hold yr hand thanks & let other people do their bit.

We have sent a lot of men home today. Some had been here for weeks & we felt quite sorry to part with them except that it is so nice to see them well after having been very bad as some were. The yard filled with ambulances to remove them all to the ships & a great deal of hand shaking all round & shy & nice remarks from the departing ones to the effect that they wd mention us favourably, & that if it weren't for their wives & babies they wd have liked to stay on etc. The gramaphone [sic] is an absolute blessing. I can't think how we got on without it. It plays in the morning until the ward dressings start. It begins again after the after dinner sleeps & plays continuously till bed time & emissaries from upstairs come down or from downstairs come up to suggest that 'the other chaps have had it a long time.'

Alec Stevenson passed thro' Boulogne today on his way to the front. He missed the motor bus that was to have taken him & got nearly killed in a motor smash in a red cross car which we got lent to him. It is not a nice start for going back but apart from the shaking he was not hurt. The QM is going to her people for Xmas & when she comes back I will take a few days at home - probably crossing early in January.

Much love LGA

We are going to make an effort at real gaiety here for Xmas day & are going to [?wear] funny noses: & are preparing carrots & Mrs [?Farey] says plum puddings. It has a sad side to it but I expect it is best to do it.
?

Olga/QM - Olga Campbell, cousin of Flora Murray, who was the Corps' QuarterMaster

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