Diary No.5 of Rupert Major Downes, 25 July - 26 October 1916 - Part 7 (2024)

ship just in c̅ 14th A.G.H. in

her. Dined &slept there &talked

much a number of officers

I knew there - as Thwaites (by

the grace of God C.O. & Lieut Col - an

infamy) Clarke, Silberberg, Green

& Joynt. Wilson C.O. of ship &

Lewis his 2nd. Very good ship

well filled out fine Xray

20.9.16 Caught special train

at 1030 from wharf to Cairo-

a long tedious journey & had

to talk & be guide a lot in it:

train went out to Abbarria to

front door of 3rd A.G.H. Stayed

there for dinner & slept there

as Martin's guest.

21.9.16 Went into base in a car

& got to work there & kept it

up all day. Went &saw D.D.M.S.

Senton & A.D.M.S. Gordon Hall &

drove out again in evening

to 3 A.G.H. old Paine. Lunch

& to live at Continental & had

worked hard all aft. Brockway (Kanowna) in

22.9.16 Working all day but

round to see Gordon Hall about

recommendations in a.m.

Maclure & his Mrs - came &

had dinner

23.9.16 Drove out to Dermatological

hospital & had a look round

it Maclure then back

to 3 A.G.H. to lunch him.

Worked for rest of aft. Went

to a swindle picture show of

"Great Battle Victory of Romain"

& did not stay long.

Sunday

24.9.16 Came home to camp by

1100 train after a leisurely

fixing up a few things in

morning & arrived soon

after 6 McLaren & Cunningham

by at 1600 water train; worked

in evening & found D's 95, 6 & 7

& F's waiting for me.

25.9.16 Office work most of

day & had casual ride

round N.Z. & 1st Bdes.

Loveridge in aft. Work for a

bit in evening.

26.9.16 Cold night. Went out to

Kilo 60 by 1000 train Lambert

to see how Isolation & Clearing

hospitals were getting on &

did to get tooth stopped, but

that did not come off.

Back by 1400 train - late &

worked for rest of aft. &
most of evening. Rosemary's birthday.

27.9.16 Wednesday. Thank heaven

that today & I've caught up

this. Work all morn. & aft.

& plenty of it as Hercus went

to Cairo yesterday, G.O.C. talking

as if I had better go to live at

Cairo yesterday as Genl

Maher suggested & a wire today

makes it look more likely but

I strongly hope not as it would

be rotten, lonely lazy & demoralising.

Worked & wrote to D. 102 in evening

telling to come here if she thought

it best & could get leave - I suppose

she'd better not, but I'll be disappointed

if she's well enough not to or cant

get permission.

28.9.16 McLaren came to assist

me & be trained. Worked all morn

besides finishing D's Letter in

aft. & a bit in evening but felt

thick headed as started at 0630.

Wrote to F. in evening & read

29.9.16 news of a victory in France

& Combles taken. 1st Bde. went to

(Romain)

Hill 70 & Yeomanry came here.

29.9.16. Wrote to Nicholas, Hurley,

Fraschi, Mrs Wilson, Eileen Hughes,

Mr Robb, Mrs Wilson & at other

times worked except for a ride

in morn McLaren thro' 1st

Bde. lines. 2nd Bde came in

from front line & Croll over

in aft. & evening.

30.9.16 Worked quietly in day

& rode over near Hod Seifaniya

McLaren in evening & had

some revolver practice.

1.10.16 Sunday. Worked steadily

all a.m. Went over to 3rd

Section now at Mahamdiya

& had tea Lelean & Girvin

who has at last got the well

earned sack & saw McDonald

his successor who has a fierce

eye & does not look open to have

the same liberties taken him

as old Girvin. Croll & Dawson

in in evening for yarn

2.10.16 Went up down to Kantara

in 1035 train the Genl, Martin

& Davies; drove over to station

& caught a crowded 1300 train.

Got out at Ismailia Martin,

had a wander round Customs

house & lake & then walked up

to G.H.Q. where had tea & talk

Genl Maher & walked back

him to lake where Martin

had a swim (Timsah) Caught

2030 train to Cairo & went to

Continental Hotel.

3.10.16 Went to office where stayed

all a.m. & back again for aft.

where kept busy. Went to

books & got my boxes out &

drove out to dinner at Heliopolis

Sir Reginald Oakes where the

Genl was staying & met a very

interesting Mrs Elgood & a bright

& amusing Yankee - Mrs Hutching.

Felt quite a savage sitting

down women to dinner in

a luxurious room & wondered

what I ought not to do & so forth.

4.10.16 Worked in office all

morning - Thwaites & a few others

in. In afternoon went Maclure

& saw Sultan Hassan mosque,

Mohomet Ali mosque & through

the Moushi; had tea at Groppi's

& Maclure & Martin to dinner.

5.10.16 Worked in a.m. in office

& then out to 14 A.G.H. in aft.

in Genls car & went round it

a bit & fixed things Thwaites,

saw Davies - not right yet-,

& Martin. Drove back to

base & had dinner c̅ Maclure

& Lawton at pub.

6.10.16 After office drove back

to pub & picked up Genl at

Groppis & drove back to Kantara

officially appointed A.D.M.S A.I.F.

Left at 1005, got to Benha - 47

km in an hour & 10 min, Zagazig

-82 km in 2 hrs, & Tel el Kebir

in another hour; had a fine

lunch I'd brought us a

bit past there & drove on to

Ismailia - about another hour

had a wash at club & then

to G.H.Q. A very interesting

& most pretty drive over

good road, but hard not

to run over nigg*r kids who

were often very frightened

& ran about like chickens;

just missed a baby asleep on

the road & drove through one

village where there was just

Diary No.5 of Rupert Major Downes, 25 July - 26 October 1916 - Part 7 (2024)

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