George Ryan’s letter home dated 3 Mar 1915

9^th Middx

Barrackpore

Bengal.

India.

3 Mar 1915

 

Dear M & F,

 

Thanks very much for your letters of Feb 4. Sorry to hear about C. Closh.  I saw a letter he had written home in the W. Chronicle a few weeks ago.  I expect you saw it.  I should think he’ll be home for a few days when he comes out of hospital.

 

Well we didn’t go into camp at Jaffapore after all. We marched there & back each day.  Yesterday we went in our shirt sleeves, but we wore our equipment just the same.  We have not gone to-day; we’ve got to stay in barracks as the Viceroy is in or near Calcutta & we might be wanted as guard during the next few days.

 

I’ve only done 20 rounds of my firing, out of 200, so it will be a fortnight or 3 weeks before we are finished. This is not the test though.  I’m only firing the course I ought to have fired at Hythe before we left England.  None of us will get any extra pay however well we do.

 

I had a very bad cold on Mon & Tues & my eyes ached a bit through being out on the range all day, so I went down & saw the Doctor. He gave me a dose of something for my cold which brought it out very quickly.  I was blowing my nose every 5 min y’day but to-day I felt nothing of it at all.  He gave me some lotion for my eyes & advised me to get a pair of tinted glasses to wear while we are on the range.

 

Hope dad has still got something to do. By the papers it seems there’s a great demand for labour but I suppose it’s for skilled labour of a different nature to dads.

 

Trusting this will find you all well,

Y^r affectionate son,

George