RC Sherriff letter summaries
Letter from Sherriff to his father, 2 Oct 1916 to father (3 pages)
Address: ''C'' Company, 9th East Surrey Reg[imen]t, 24th Division, B[ritish] E[xpeditionary] F[orce], [France]. Sherriff has arrived at communication trenches near the Front. He and three others share an iron shed with no furniture, but claims it is ''...quite good enough for me''. He expects he will stay in reserve for eight days and then spend eight days on the front line.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/3/87)
Letter from Sherriff to his father, 4 Oct 1916 to his father (6 pages)
Address: 9th East Surrey [Regiment], 24th Division, British Expeditionary Force, France. Sherriff has not yet been to the Front but has already ''...seen enough of war to disgust me''. He can hear the noise of machine guns and shells at the Front, and does not look forward to his first experience of being under enemy shell fire. Tomorrow he will lead a working party of 50 men who will make some repairs [to a communication trench] near the front line. The shed he is living in is infested with rats and mice, but he is enjoying reasonably good meals at the officers' mess. There are currently two captains and six lieutenants in [''C''] Company, who are ''...all very nice''. He admires the men's cheerfulness despite the hardships they endure. Sherriff notes the impossibility of buying anything but ''...chicory and coloured glass vases'', and asks his father to arrange with his mother for food parcels to be sent.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/3/88)
Letter fromSherriff to his father, 11 Oct 1916 to his father (4 pages)
Address: ''C'' Company, 9th East Surrey Reg[imen]t, 24th Division, B[ritish] E[xpeditionary] F[orce], [France]. Sherriff arrived at the front line yesterday [10 Oct], and has completed one day of a tour of duty which will last for eight days. He has a ''...rotten piece of line to look after'' which is being heavily bombarded by the Germans, and he feels ''...utterly fed up...already''. He is on tour of duty twice during every 24 hour period.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/3/90)
Letter from Sherriff to his mother, 9 Nov 1916, 2 pages
Written at ''...usual address''. Sherriff is mending his dugout after rain caused its sides to collapse.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/2/108)
Letter from Sherriff to his mother, 14 Nov 1916,
In the trenches he suffered from bouts of neuralgia and here describes how the constant sound of shells shredded his nerves.
Written at: ''...usual address''. Sherriff feels unwell and gives a detailed account of how two days of heavy shelling by the Germans is affecting his mental state.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/2/111)
Letter from Sherriff to his mother, 17 Apr 1917
Written at: ''...same address''. Evidently exhausted and suffering from stress, he describes his ‘dread of going into the line again’. Sherriff has seen the doctor, who told him his attack of neuralgia has probably been caused by his ''nerves being out of order''. He has been prescribed some tablets. He is doubtful whether the tablets will help.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/2/163)
Letter from Sherriff to his mother, 18 Apr 1917, 2 pages
Written at: ''...same address''. Sherriff reflects on the friends he has lost at the Front, and endeavours to comfort her (and himself) and tries to prepare his mother for the worst by reflecting on the friends he has lost and the many others who have had to endure bad news from the front.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/2/165)
Letter from Sherriff to his father, 21 Jul 1917
Written at: ''...same address''. Sherriff is staying an extra night in the transport lines before going to the front line tomorrow night, he recalls the pleasures of home life. He feels it is not useful to worry, and points out that every infantry soldier must take his turn [in the front line]. He has his copy of ‘Marcus Aurelius’ as his source of comfort.
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/3/197)
Letter from Sherriff to his father, 27 July 1917.
Sherriff’s letters to his parents are almost invariably warm and loving, but here he reacts with derision to his father’s suggestion that bombing raids on London mean that non-combatants at home are also enduring ‘the hardships of war’.
Written at: ''...same address''. Sherriff has been three days out of the front line. He found being in the front line very difficult, and he is now trying to catch up on his sleep as much as his duties will allow. Sherriff is trying to bear the strain patiently and hopes the war will not last many more months, provided ''...the Russians...pull themselves together''. He is unsympathetic to his father's remark that the occasional bombing of London means civilians are experiencing the hardships of war. Sherriff points out how soldiers at the Front endure bombings night and day on a daily basis, and do not have cellars to retreat to as Londoners do. He is feeling slightly nauseous after a gas [attack].
(SHC ref 2332/1/1/3/199)