Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 27 July 1915 - 31 December 1915 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
27 letters, paper
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Increasing numbers of George’s friends were joining up to serve in the war effort in different capacities but when he enquired about doing so himself his Headmaster refused him permission as the Government wanted to retain its school teachers. By July Ruth was pregnant and George was restless so he went on a climbing trip to Pen y Pass with Hugh Heber-Percy and toured Yorkshire with his father. On 31 July Ruth moved into Westbrook, her father's house.
On 18 September Ruth gave birth to their first child - a daughter called Frances Clare.
His brother in law, the artillery officer Ralph Brooke, offered to help George get a commission in the Royal Artillery, if he could get permission from his Headmaster to join up. This was finally agreed with Fletcher and Brooke wrote to a friend who ran an artillery training course in Weymouth to recommend Mallory. The training was due to start in January 1916 so George travelled to Birkenhead to spend Christmas with his parents, then a few days climbing at Pen y Pass with Conor O'Brien and Herbert Reade before visiting his sister Avie in Mobberley. He did not spend Christmas with Ruth and Clare.