Item 2 - Letter from George to Ruth Mallory, January 1916

Letter to Ruth Mallory written from Warwick House, Weymouth

The Weymouth Queen which sailed between Weymouth and the Channel Islands was unloading below his window which was faintly cheering the scene and the grey blight of the everlasting east wind. It had been a very bleak day.

He had selected his landlady and moved his things in the previous evening. It was not the most comfortable room nor the largest but had the right aspect and if the sun ever shone again it would shine on them.

A good landlady, although a trifle lazy, but clean and homely and not avaricious (although she was Scotch). Room cost a guinea a week with light and coal extra. Two armchairs in the room and not much room for clothes in the bedroom. Bed was comfortable and the sheets were linen and rather good. Breakfast was nicely cooked and the damsel who waited upon him seemed alert and willing.

She was not to count on joining him in Weymouth until he could write again after seeing Clarke. He had read most of Hugh’s letters and was vastly impressed and moved.

Postscript – I wonder what you bought in London today?