The 100th anniversary of the First World War is now finished but the records will continue to be preserved at the Archives and accessible to current and future generations who want to know more about the time period. In addition, this blog will remain on our website as an additional resource.

From April 2016 to April 2017, this blog featured the First World War letters of one Manitoba soldier, George Battershill, of East Kildonan. Most of the letters were written to his mother or to his father. The blog follows the letters that George wrote in the same week, one hundred years ago.

June 2016 Posts:

• 27 June: One Manitoba Soldier: Nine days in the trenches
• 20 June: One Manitoba Soldier: Somewhere in Belgium
• 13 June: One Manitoba Soldier: “Not in the trenches yet”
•   6 June: One Manitoba Soldier: Somewhere in France

27 June 2016

One Manitoba Soldier: Nine days in the trenches

The collection of George Battershill’s letters for this week includes 6 letters written to his mother, father and two of his sisters. These letters were written after George’s first nine days in the trenches. Despite the possibily of being censored, George described some of what he saw and experienced.

George wrote to his sister, Carrie:

“I was at Ypres and it is the hardest place on the line to hold + I saw some fighting 2 bays away from me.  10 ft.   1 man’s head was blown right [off] and we found it in the mud behind the trenches…”

On the same day he wrote to his father:

“Three boys lifted their heads above the side of the trench + German snipers picked them [off] like nine pins right through the head for one of them and in the neck for the other two. So my head remained down close to the bottom of the trench.”

Search Tip: Search the Battershill family fonds in Keystone for more information. All of the George Battershill letters have been digitized and can be read from the database (if you can’t wait for the weekly installments!).

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20 June 2016

One Manitoba Soldier: Somewhere in Belgium

In the first two of this week’s letters, George Battershill writes to his mother that by the time she reads the letters he will be in the trenches. The first letter was written from France and the other three were from Belgium.

On June 26, George wrote to his mother about being in the trenches: “I have been up there twice now + it don’t appeal to me at all.” George asks his mother to send writing paper (and cigarettes) as he has run out of stationery and is using paper torn out of his notebook.

Search Tip: Search the Battershill family fonds in Keystone for more information. All of the George Battershill letters have been digitized and can be read from the database (if you can’t wait for the weekly installments!).

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13 June 2016

One Manitoba Soldier: “Not in the trenches yet”

This week’s letters from George Battershill were all written to his mother, from France. George seems to be catching up on letter-writing while he waits to go into battle.

He describes hearing the sounds of battle in the June 16 letter: “I can [hear] the big guns plain from here + they are making some noise.”

In the last of the three letters, he begins by saying “Just another line to say that I am not in the trenches yet but expect to be in them pretty soon.”

Search Tip: Search the Battershill family fonds in Keystone for more information. All of the George Battershill letters have been digitized and can be read from the database (if you can’t wait for the weekly installments!).

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6 June 2016

One Manitoba Soldier: Somewhere in France

One hundred years ago this week, George Battershill landed in France. His letter of June 7 was written from Southhampton, England and the next two letters for the week were written from “Somewhere in France.” This begins a long run of letters written from “somewhere” in France or Belgium.

As George wrote: “All of the letters are censored over here so I can’t tell you where I am…”.

George’s first impressions of France were positive. In his June 11 letter written to his Mom, he says:

“I am laying on my stomach writing this letter and I am up in the hayloft of an old barn + just now there is a great big pig snoring underneath me. France is a fine country and the people here treat the soldiers fine.”

Search Tip: Search the Battershill family fonds in Keystone for more information. All of the George Battershill letters have been digitized and can be read from the database (if you can’t wait for the weekly installments!).

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