March 14, 1918
Dear Mar,
There is nothing to write home about happening here but here goes a letter about it anyway. Am able to break the monotony of hospital routine by getting outside now. All the crocks have to be in by 6 PM, so the privilege is somewhat limited.
Was down to the movie show this afternoon and it reminded me of the “Empire” as the pictures were American made. You know those funny chases etc. etc.
Being so far north as this, very few Canadians get this far. The Canadian Red Cross people have been very kind. They send me all Toronto papers and I have been out to meet various people and to several teas etc. under their arrangements. It rather sounds like charity but I have met some very nice people, mostly Canadians residing England.
We occasionally get a concert party to come around and entertain us. Some of them are very good. We were going to have a chance to see “Bubbly” but it has been cancelled (a musical comedy).
March 17/18
Have given this letter as you will notice three days grace in which to have something to happen about which to write but a watched pot never boils.
Received a letter from Herbert Dixon and it was dated sometime in November and looked as if it had been around the world judging from time and postmarks. He is with the Brigade now as dispatch rider which is very him.
Well Mar, I will write you again shortly and expect to hear from you soon. You have been doing most of the writing so I guess I owe you some don’t I?
Your loving brother,
Vincent
This letter that Vincent writes to his sister is the last one I have of him writing home and will mark the end of this portion of the series. At this point he is still at the hospital in Manchester England, but will be head home in about half a month, as it shows that he only stayed that that hospital until around April 6, 1918, in which he was shipped to a hospital in Canada.
It is a short letter in which he seems to be writing more out of the fact that he feels he should be writing a letter home and not because he has anything particularly interesting to say. I still found a couple of things that are somewhat interesting that I would like to point out.
The first is that he mentioned the Empire Theatre when talking about going to see the movie show. The Empire Theatre was around in Peterborough between 1914 and 1921, but though it was not around for a particularly long time, Vincent and his family must have still gone at least a couple of times if he brings it up in the letter.
The second thing I want to touch on is the mention of the Canadian Red Cross. I don't know for sure but I am guessing they weren't his primary care givers, but probably checked up on him and tried to keep him somewhat entertained, as he mentions going to various outings and engagements with them. Here is a little bit more information about the Canadian Red Cross I happened upon.
He also mentions a comedy that he was scheduled to attend that unfortunately was cancelled called "Bubbly". I was able to find some information about it. Here is one of the sites I came across that seems to have the most information about it.
The only other thing that I want to mention, as he brought it up in his last letter as well, is Herbert Dixon. I'm pretty sure it is the man that these documents belong to but I'm not 100% sure. Unfortunately for Herbert, it seems that he is killed in action around September 1918, making it so close to the end of the war.
There are a couple of words that I wasn't 100% confident about so as always the letter will be displayed below.
Thank you all again for reading these and going through this journey with me. This will not be the end of the project, it will just turn towards more research based and hone in on more specific things that Vincent was a part of or mentioned. All 44 letters will remain on the site so that you can read, reread, share, use for research, and so on as much as you please.
Thank you again.
Michael Ritchie
