Soldiers Grateful for their Socks

The Cross, Great Barford, 1913 [Z1130/5/13]

Friday 2nd July 1915: Mrs. Moor’s Knitting Class at Great Barford has stopped for the time being, but class members continue to receive grateful letters from soldiers for pairs of socks sent out to the Front. Private H. Russell of the 4th Middlesex Regiment wrote to Florrie Hart: “Just a line to thank you for those socks. Have just come out of a long spell in the trenches, 27 days to be accurate, and was marched down for a bath and a change, not before it was needed. I was the lucky fellow to get yours out of the bag, hence these few lines. I have had a few pairs since I have been out here, but these are the first with any note inside, and I wish you the best of luck, the same as you wish me.” Bessie Webb has heard from two more soldiers of the same Regiment who both received her carefully made socks. One of them, Sergeant Holyoak, wrote: “I was the lucky man to receive the pair of socks you sent to our brave Tommies at the front. They came very acceptable after being in the trenches for a period of 26 days. I am glad to think that some of our good ladies at home still think of us, especially as some of us have been right through, and been out here for 8 or 9 months. The weather out here is a bit warm and makes our feet sore after a lot of marching.”

Source: Bedfordshire Times 2nd July 1915