Letter from Robert Oakley Vavasour Thorp to his father, 31 December 1915

Robert Thorp was the son of Reverend William Tudor Thorp, the vicar of Ellingham. Robert went to Berwick Grammar School. He worked as a teacher in Manchester. This is one of the letters that Robert sent to his father while he was serving in the army during the First World War.

Robert was awarded the Military Cross (a medal for bravery) in 1916. He was killed in France on 22 March 1918.

At the beginning of his letter Robert mentions a “field card” that he sent to his family. This was a pre-printed postcard that was given to soldiers by the army (see Imperial War Museum link). Soldiers would delete sections on the postcard in order to send a quick message back home. Field postcards were also much easier for the army, because they didn’t need an officer to read and censor them.

Robert mentions other members of his family in the letter to his father. He writes about Col, his brother, Collingwood. Collingwood was also in the army, but did not go to France until 1916 (so in 1915 he could get home for Christmas). Robert also mentions Bea, their sister, both Robert and Collingwood wrote to Bea regularly throughout the war. At the end of the letter he mentions Aunt Constance, Aunt Julia and “Totta” who had all sent him Christmas presents, including mince pies and a big box of chocolates.

At the end of the first page of his letter, Robert talks about the waterproof socks that his family sent to him and describes what he is wearing on his feet in the trenches:

The waterproof socks are very satisfactory at least they have served me very well today. I had 1 pair of socks (ordinary), 1 of waterproof, 1 of putties, and 1 of sandbags and I am warm and dry. In these trenches the mud is not so deep, not up to your knees and so they are just right.

Putties (or puttees) were strips of cloth that soldiers wound around their lower legs. British soldiers in India before the war saw Indians wearing puttees and started using them as cheap and comfortable calf protectors. They were used widely by British and Commonwealth soldiers during the First World War.

Sandbags were essential in the construction of the trenches (see Photographs of Northumberland Fusiliers in the trenches, 1915). Soldiers used the material sack from the sandbags for all sorts of things, including trying to keep warm and dry.

Trenches – system of trenches dug into the ground. Not all of the trenches were directly “at the front”. (See Long Long Trail webpage for diagram.)

Billets – soldiers were not in the trenches all of the time. They usually spent a few weeks in the trenches and then a few weeks in “billets”. Billets were building away from the front, often abandoned farm buildings.

Robert writes about the conditions that he lives in and about the work involved in keeping the billets and trenches useable. Pages 3 and 4, in particular, provide a good description of a trench and the efforts needed to maintain it.

In fact it is not a fight against the enemy but against the opposing circumstances of mud, water and the law of gravity. We have been out nearly 2 months and I have not fired a shot but every single day since we landed I have been busy contending against dirt and discomfort. (Page 3)

Writing and receiving letters was extremely important to the soldiers serving abroad during the First World War. Over 12 million letters and parcels were delivered to the trenches each week (see links below for more about the wartime postal service). As well as letters, soldiers received parcels of food and clothing.