From: Witley Camp, Eng.
26 Sept. 1916

Dear Mother -

We arrived here at camp late last evening after an unusually quick and uneventful trip. It just took about 10 days to get from Petawawa here.

We boarded the "Olympic" at Halifax on Mon. forenoon and left the harbour the next morning. The Brigade travelled in 2nd class staterooms and fared well while the infantry had hammocks on the lower decks. The sea was always very smooth and no one got seasick. Everybody wore life belts and in going thru the danger zone, we were accompanied by destroyers while the old boat zigzagged along at top speed. I enjoyed the trip very much but had a rather bad cold taken on train, I guess. We got to port Sun. evening but stayed at anchor in the river until Mon. morning when we disembarked, and after a wait of about 2 or 3 hrs. got on a troop train for camp. The trains seem very queer. The engines and cars are much lighter and smaller than ours and go at a great old speed. I suppose they have to, to make much time as the stations are so close together.

The coaches are painted different colors, some white, some brown etc. and many of the engines are green with brass fittings. We travelled 3rd class which is very good here and the class practically everybody travels in. There are very few 1st & 2nd class cars. The coaches are not all the same length, it depends upon the no. of compartments they are divided into. In 3rd class, there is no communication between compartments which stretch clear across the coach. There is a door on each side. They hold 8 or 9 persons. The platforms at all stations are built close to track and high enough to allow a person to walk from it to car without stepping up. At every place, there is a station on both sides of the track. No one ever crosses the track. Roads and crossings of all sorts are either above or below the tracks which are always double. The coach beds are a great deal firmer than ours. So it is a train can go so fast with so very, very few accidents. There are trains on these tracks all the time. They say that from one of the London stations, a train leaves every minute, night & day. Nobody is allowed on station platform unless he is going away on train or just getting off. They have to show tickets at gates at other side of station.

The stations seem funny. So many advertisements and directions posted up everywhere & everything so strange. Trains & everything pass on left here instead of on right. The train often goes underneath a big city so that you can't see much from a train. On leaving at Liverpool, for example, we first passed thru a lot of train sheds, factories, etc. then thru 2 long dark tunnels and so out of the city. We stopped and were allowed off for a few minutes at Birmingham. Soldiers get a great reception in Eng. I suppose they see troop trains passing every day but as we passed along, from nearly every house within sight of train, men, women & children came out and waved handkerchiefs, cheering us.

They are just at their haying & harvesting here and the meadows & fields certainly look neat & clean and rather pretty with hedges in between. It is mixed farming here, cattle, sheep, etc.

Most of the camps are in south of England, you know, so we had quite a trip south and west thru Eng. I caught a glimpse of some of the college buildings at Oxford and passed thru Reading not far from London. Our camp is only about 40 mls from London.

I don't like the appearance of the cities nearly as much as ours. The houses are of brick and at some of the places I could see rows and rows of long tenement houses all alike and crowded close together.

We will likely get 6 days leave soon or maybe 8, if we are going to Scotland or Ireland. I believe one has to have relations in Ireland to get there. Just for fun, don't go to any trouble to find out, but if you happen to know who & how related to us our distant relatives in Scotland & Ireland are, you might let me know in your answer to this.

Our letters may quite likely be censored and you can understand that there are things about the boat, our route, no. of troops on board & here in camp, and things about the camp that I would like to tell you but that maybe I had better not. I can tell more in other letters maybe. We will be real comfortable here, about 32 men to a house (hut) - one subsection. It is a wonderful camp, the way everything is arranged and everybody in our battery seems greatly pleased. There are many airships near here. I saw five or six from train coming in. Sun. night, or was it Sat. night, Zepps raided Eng. near London, as you will see in papers which would be not far from here. We were on boat then.

It is raining this morning. I suppose we will get lots of that as winter will be a rainy season. I understand they have the daylight saving scheme here in England and that all clocks and watches are 1 hr. faster than they would otherwise be. Coming, we had to keep putting our watches ahead about 40 or 50 mins. every midnight. Time here must be 5 or 6 hrs. ahead of time in Caintown. Everything is so entirely different in England from what I am used to. I can't begin to tell of all the things I see. I expect to have a pretty good time and an interesting one seeing new & strange things & becoming familiar with them.

You needn't worry at all about me here. I am just as well off as I was at Petawawa. I hope you got all those cards I sent. Most of them were handed to people at the station who promised to mail them.

The papers would likely get news of the safe arrival of the "Olympic" and I hope you have seen it before this.

My address is: #304638 Gr. R.G. Brown, 50th (Queen's) Battery, C.F.A., C.E.F., 13th Brigade, Canadian Army P.O., London, Eng. or Witley Camp, Milford (station), Surrey (county), England. I think one is as good as the other but some were saying if latter address was put on, they would not come thru. Anyway, they have to go thru the Army P.O., I think, as you might just as well put on former address.

Love to all,
Gordon