Tag Archives: The Great War

The ‘off’

‘So as not to crowd’ Ludgershall station, as Calderon wrote his mother yesterday, at six o’clock that evening the Blues set off on horseback from Windmill Hill Camp across Salisbury Plain to another station (presumably Amesbury).  The Life Guards had … Continue reading

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5 October 1914

                                                                             Windmill Hill … Continue reading

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4 October 1914

It was Sunday.  Kittie probably went to church.  She fervently believed in the power of prayer, and one can imagine what she prayed for. After lunch, they set out for Waterloo station.  As George was coming out of 42 Well … Continue reading

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3 October 1914

This morning, which was a Saturday,  Kittie suddenly received a telegram from George to say that, in her words, ‘after all a lot of them were getting 24 hours leave and he would be home in a few hours’. When … Continue reading

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1 October 1914

The first attempt at implementing the Schlieffen Plan for defeating France had failed and Moltke was replaced as chief of the German general staff by Falkenhayn.  The Germans now began a second attempt.  Their intention was to invade the rest … Continue reading

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The military situation

In his letter to Kittie yesterday, Calderon wrote: ‘We hear that cavalrymen on the Oise have put their horses by, and are standing in the trenches with the rest.’  This was true and highly revealing.  After 9 September the German … Continue reading

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29 September 1914

It is clear from something Calderon wrote to his wife at the end of October that he did suffer from bouts of depression whilst he was an interpreter with the Blues.   On this day, Tuesday 29 September, he wrote … Continue reading

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‘Connected with the Hamiltons’

A hundred years ago today George V, Queen Mary, the Prime Minister, and their entourages, visited Windmill Hill Camp.  The Third Cavalry Division had now been officially formed and was being reviewed by the monarch. George Calderon described it as … Continue reading

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26 September 1914

Today Kittie left Hampstead to stay with the Pyms at Foxwold, near Sevenoaks in Kent. It was a sign of her desperation, or of her need for comfort, or at least of her desire to be with people she loved … Continue reading

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25 September 1914

[From Windmill Hill Camp, Salisbury Plain] Friday Mrs P., So you didn’t have too much of your sleepy mole?  Well, I don’t know about any more upcomings.  Next Sunday, that’s the day after tomorrow, I certainly can’t; it’s too soon; … Continue reading

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Status

There are no letters from George to Kittie on 23 or 24 September 1914.  At first this seems odd, since he had been writing to her every day.  They were a Wednesday and a Thursday, and you would expect him … Continue reading

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22 September 1914

On this day Kittie had lunch with Nina and Reginald Astley at the Royal Automobile Club and visited Nina’s son Sir Roland Corbet (Jim) in hospital at Grosvenor Gardens. He had a lot of visitors, so, as Kittie wrote George … Continue reading

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The thickness of events…

When writing a biography, you can go for months in its subject’s life without hearing a word from them, as it were: no letters from them to anyone have survived, they are not recorded as having said anything to anyone … Continue reading

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20 September 1914

Calderon had only been separated from Kittie three days, but was missing her.  Yesterday was a Saturday. My servant wanted to go up to see his wife; I thought of my old ‘ooman with a tearful sigh, and told him … Continue reading

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Kittie’s feelings

Kittie Calderon also wrote almost every day to George, but thirty years later she directed that her letters be burned after her death and only one has survived (from which I shall quote on 22 September).  Nevertheless, after the War … Continue reading

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A possible penny drops

Yesterday Calderon sent his wife three large closely written pages of letter, today he sends her four.  He describes tents, ‘messing’, people, clothes, furniture, military equipment, horses, exercises, soldiers, officers, all in vivid detail and thick with names. His back … Continue reading

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