From: Witley Camp, Eng.
2 Nov. 1916

Dear Mother -

I was very glad to get your letter of Oct. 15 yesterday. I think I have received all you have written so far, and I hope none of mine have gone astray as I have written once a week or oftener. While in London on my 6 days leave, I sent you a couple of letters, one of which contained 3 little photographs of myself. I also sent two or three little books I got in London describing interesting places. I received your information & the letter about our relatives in Ireland, but as I have already had my leave and as I have heard that one can't go to Ireland unless the relatives are very close, I guess I won't be able to make use of it. We will likely have 4 or 5 days leave again sometime but I think I would like to go to
Scotland on it and see Edinburgh and other places.

I had a weekend leave last Sat. & Sun. and I and the friend I was with before, spent it in London where we had a real good time and saw some places we did not see before. On Sun. forenoon, for instance, we went to Petticoat Lane in Whitechapel where every Sun. forenoon the lane is crowded with carts and wagons filled with all sorts of things, including eats, drygoods, jewelry, hardware etc. The lane is crowded with people buying things. It is said that you can't go thru this place without being cheated or having something stolen from you, but I kept everything in inside pockets and we went thru twice without losing anything or stopping to buy anything. It is mainly Jews who inhabit Whitechapel which is the East End slums and a rather poor quarter of the city. We had been told that Hampton Court is an interesting place to visit so that afternoon we took an electric train out of Waterloo station and had soon made the 23 miles to Hampton Court. This is one of the oldest and finest royal palaces in England and was built by Cardinal Wolsey & Henry VIII and remodelled by Wm. III. It is not now used as a royal palace and is open to the public. It is situated on the Thames which is, by the way, a very disappointing river being at this place very muddy and little wider than the Rideau Canal. Around the palace are walled court yards and large gardens & parks. Inside the walls of the rooms are covered with large paintings. It is a very pretty place. I bought a few postcards showing views of it which I think I shall try and send you.

I heard when I got back to camp that the 156th Battalion and a couple of others had arrived at camp on Sat., so I looked it up Mon. evening and surprised Willie Dickey. He had no idea I was here. They are going to move on to Bramshott at end of this week. I also saw Basil Connerty and one of the Heffernan's, a friend of Willie Dickey's who seemed to know me. They were not near so fortunate as I was in their trip across as they had a very much smaller boat. It was colder and it took them ten days to get across. There was also some rough weather so that several of them were seasick.

The last 2 or 3 days, I have not been feeling quite as well as usual, having a cold and a slight fever, but I am getting better now and will be as well as ever in a day or two.

We had a thunder storm this morning - isn't that funny having one on 2nd of Nov. It is first I have seen since I came here. They say they have lots of thunderstorms here in Nov. It rains an awful lot - nearly every day. One minute the sun will be shining brightly and the next, clouds will come up and it will be pouring rain.
Best of love to all,
Gordon